iancal

This is just one of the reasons why we often prefer land trips to cruise travel, or combine a cruise with a land trip.

We often find the cruise environment to be very 'antiseptic' when it comes to food and to accommodation. This is not a criticism of the cruise industy as we understand the challenge and the desire to deliver what customers want and expect. When we travel to Asia or Europe we do not want to spend our entire time in a 'Marriott' style environment.

We were in Thailand last year. It took us a few days to realize that some of the small, local eateries that we frequented really dumbed down the spice for certain tourists. We asked one place to get it back up to speed when we ordered. While eating, we casually glanced over and saw the entire family watching us to if we would eat the spicy dish. We did. It was wonderful.

We just returned from a SoS Med cruise. We have done several Celebrity cruises over the past two years. This was our first RCI cruise since 1998.

We liked everything except the MDR. We found that the food quality and prep was not nearly as good as what we have experienced on Celebrity. It appears to us that RCI was really cutting the food budget. This would make us think twice about another RCI cruise.

Only other complaint was the movies-the free ones. We get much better ones at home, on the TV. Not really certain why RCI bothers or perhaps it is to encourage folk to use their pay for view.

All else was great, especially the Diamond Lounge.

We really do not care what other people pay.

We only care about what we pay. If the price goes down after we pay, and sometimes it does, so be it. Makes absolutely NO difference to us other than give us more experience for the next time we buy.

We do our research, understand what the prices are, understand what a good price is, and base our buy decision on this. Do not care what the TA or the cruise line say about increasing/decreasing prices.

This is a supply/demand business. Why on earth would we believe what the cruise line tells us about the price at a given point in time? Their objective is to sell cabins at the highest cumulative price point possible. For mass market cruise lines this typically translates into a price curve of some sort. The trick is to be on the most advantageous place on the curve based on your personal cabin and cabin location preferences.

Both. We will not sail a preferred itinerary on a ship that we do not like. The opposite is true.

We have several cruise lines that we prefer. But, within those preferred cruise line fleets there are ships that we would and would not consider based upon personal preferences or ship condition/maintenance.

Lots of ships and cruise lines out there. This has never been a challenge for us. Especially since we do not limit ourselves to one cruise line.

Some people are strange.

If they book a cruise and the price goes up some feel good about it. If the price goes down they do not feel quite so good.

Yet nothing has changed about their 'buy' decision. They were happy with the price when they booked. So why are some people suddenly so happy, or so unhappy if prices change?

We usually buy inside the cancellation window. We have a strike price and if it hits we buy. Once we have bought the game is over. We may have the the lowest price, or we may not BUT we are still happy with our choice and with our price.

Cruise pricing is really not much different from airline or hotel pricing. The inventory has zero value once the ship has sailed, the plane has left the gate or the hotel room is empty all night.

How many different fares do you think there are on a given transatlantic flight or on a night in alarge hotel?

We just finished an RCI Med cruise. We booked in Sept for an Oct. Cruise. We were already in the area. Cabin price did it for us, along with some good airfare to get home. If the cruise fare on this particular ship/itineraryhad not been attractive we would have either selected another cruise (we were watching several) or simply extended the land portion of our trip.

almost the same for retail. Who does not watch the prices and buy when they know there will be a sale or when they know prices will be reduced? Any complaints about that dress, suit, shirt etc. that someone got on sale?

If there are no longer any last minute deals on RCI we are confident that there will be on another of our preferred cruise lines.

One could argue that some cruise prices would actually be higher if the cruise lines did not realize revenue from cabins that would otherwise sail empty. Something is better than nothing. It is why we usually book inside the cancellation window. Used to wish we could take advantage when we were working. Now that we are retired we can...and do. This is a supply and demand business-prices go up and down based on vacancy rates.

What's the downside?

Other cruise lines/ships have lots to offer. No one cruise line/ship is the be all and end all for us.

It depends. We did a Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 transfer in early Sept and it was very fast. Twenty minutes at the most. Changed our opinion of going through LHR.

BUT, yesterday we did a Terminal 3 to Terminal 5 transfer. It was awful and took an hour just to get from Terminal 3 to 5 and through security screening.

THEN, our plane was at Terminal 5's B32 gate. We took a elevator down to the train, and a train to B gates. Then escalators up. After that a walk to our gate to catch our BA flight. But no, there was more. No skyway at this gate. We had to walk down two flights of metal stairs to board a bus that took us to our plane...that looked to me like it was on the tarmac beside T3. Then again stairs up to the plane. Not certain how those with physical infirmities dealt with this.

So, we are back to where we have been for the past 10 years. We will avoid LHR whenever possible in favour of AMS or FRA. IF we MUST use LHR and transfer, we will budget for 90-120 minutes....assuming there is no security alert and screening is moving at the normal (slow) speed.

We have done select dining on our at least our last three Celebrity cruises. No issue, no wait. We reserved for some of them. 6:45/7:00/7:15 PM most nights with no waiting whatsoever.

Our experience is that Celebrity really have their act together on this. They do it well. I think it is gaining in popularity. On our last cruise, Select was full and people were not able to switch to Select from traditional once they boarded the ship.

If you prefer it, change your request ASAP. Just got off an RCI cruise. Their select was the same...well managed. We waited once, the first night, for ten minutes. That was the only time we had to wait.

Thanks very much. We dock in Parma in two dys. Just trying to finish before my poer ends.

So

Number 1 bus to Plaza Espagna

Stoller train to end station

Bus Number 210 to return to P. Espagna

Correct? How long should the budget for time from the time we get on the train until the time bus 210 brings us back?

We were on a Vueling flight today. Palermo to Rome. The flight was fine. Cabin was in good condition-very clean. Staff great from check in to flight crew. The did a wok through passenger count twice.

Bottom line.. Would we fly them again? YES.

We have found Choice Air pticing to be unattractive for domestic and European return trips.

But, for one way, to or from Europe they seem very good. In Early Sept. We booked an RCL cruise with one way return Barcelona to western Canada. The fare was $465 USD with very good connections. We were pleased.

Yes, as long as you have a credit card in good standing.

Our experience is that they are more alike than different.

We see the biggest differences between cruise lines in the ship itself.

The cruise lines, at least the mass market ones, are really becoming vanilla. I think that cutbacks have reduced them to a common denominator.

We really have not found a great deal of difference in the level of service or warmth of the staff between Princess, HAL, Celebrity, Carnival, NCL. We are about to find out about RCL in a few days.

All of those cruise lines can produce a great, a mediocre, or a poor cruise experience. Expectation is part of it but we find that ship condition, ship management, and staffing levels are key. And of course food and entertainment budgets.

We really do not think that HAL is any different. And our comments are based on today's cruise experience. Not fifteen, twenty, or more years ago when fares, in real terms, were double or triple and the service, food, entertainment, etc reflected that.

We have had great meals, poor meals, great entertainment, abysmal entertainment, great service, and mediocre service on each of them. So now we select based on ship instead of cruise line.

Really, why on earth would someone give you a free cruise?

Of course it is a scam.

We get a call every few weeks from 'the Captain' offering us a free cruise. We cannot afford free. It is less expensive to book and pay for it ourselves.

We make certain that we understand the pricing matrix on several cruise lines and on one or two itineraries. We establish a buy price that we are comfortable with. When the right price hits for the right ship and right itinerary we book. For us it is normally 45-60 days out.

I do not think that there is a magic formula. This is supply and demand based. What really matters is your personality, your flexibility, your time commitments,and the availability of good air fares (if applicable).

We had some fabulous fares ion several Med cruises and air when the economy was bad and some TA's were recommending that clients not visit Greece or Turkey. The reason for the latter completey escaped our logic but we certainly took advantage of it. Too much CNN I think.

On the odd occasion when we do book early we monitor the pieces and cabin categories for potential price decreases or cabin upgrades. In the past we have always seemed to be able to get one, sometimes both.

If it is a toss up for us we now typically go with Princess.

We think that there ships are better maintained and we order their dining and their smoking policies.

We still like HAL but it has lost a lot of it's lustre for us.

We usually book inside the final payment window. We use an on line TA who rebates part of the agencies commission back to us in the form of an on board credit. Works for us but we are fairly flexible and are retired.

Very much agree with cousin Terri. We go to Italy often, in fact we are there now. Venice can be more expensive if you do not plan or if you eat in the expensive tourist traps..or feel that you need to go to Harry's to have a few of those $15 drinks.

It would be a shame to pass through Venice and not spend one time there.

If we fly in or out of Venice it is usually to either Franfurt ( our preference) or London. And it typically means an early morning flight to connect.

We definately like HAL betters better. My understanding is that Princess has upgraded the beds. let's hope so otherwise you may need a mattress topper. We wil find out in Feb.

One other thing. We thought that HAL coffee was bad. But Princess coffee was even worse. We will get a coffee card on our cruise.

IF you are flying home the same day it may actually be easier for you to get a flight from Venice if you can find a good fare. Just be careful which airport you depart and arive from as there are two possibilities in both cities. We just booked Palermo to Rome next week for $70 each baggage charges etc all included.

A shame to pass on Venice. If you cannot fly home from Venice and must spend a night in Rome, the only real increase in cost is the difference in cost between a Rome hotel and a Venice hotel.

We usually book B&B's in Venice. We find them much less expensive than a hotel and often more comfortable. Venice does not have to be outrageously expensive if you are a careful traveler.

Both have a wide variety of ship sizes in their fleets.

We find the level of service and then e friendliness of the staff to be identical-no discernable difference from our perspective.

Food and entertainment too subjective and too variable to say other than most cruise lines that we have been on have better entertainment than HAL.

We keep edocs. We do not print much and most especially not all the cruise line printouts.

We have a hard copy page with our cruise reservation number, our flight numbers/locator numbers, and any hotel reservation IDs. We print Priceline or Bookingdotcom reservations a week in advance (we often travel for 5-8 weeks).

We do print confirmation page/contact data for private excursions. No fancy binders or portfolios, just a small bulldog clip. We are at the end of a eight week land/ cruise trip. I would say that we left home with 7-10 sheets of paper, which quickly became 5 as we moved along.

We do keep receipts. Just shove them into an envelope for credit card verification when we get home..if we have not already done so mid trip.

If it is a Caibbean cruise our experience is either the first two weeks in December or the very first week in January. But the Early December timeframe can yield some extremely attractive fares.

Having said that, we have picked up last minute, well within a month of sailing, attractive rates on a ten and a fourteen day cruise respectively over the last two Christmastimes.