stevefrisco

You can’t afford NOT to smoke on cruise vacations, unfortunately there’s so few places to smoke in compliant with CCL and RCL rules!

Nope. Not buying that analogy. Voting and voting with ones wallet are different things.

 

I "Vote" because I have a vested interest in the direction the course of events take, in the place I live.

 

I cruise because I want a vacation. If I don't like the outcome, I'll vacation elsewhere. (and enrich someone else's coffers). Those that are savvy enough to know me as a customer will see me remain a customer.

 

Rule #1. Don't annoy the customer.

Surveys and voting are both flawed because everyone's opinion has equal weight. I have only voted once because I don't think my vote should be counted the same as others. I also want the 22nd amendment repealed.

Regarding surveys, I only fill them out when I want to get extra praise for a staff member from higher ups. I don't usually bother for McDonalds or whatever though some of my friends at work do because they come with discounts. That is sort of like being paid i guess.

you can buy in port and bring it back on too, we brought 12 packs back on every island once. You could just bring one 12 pack then grab another one if going someplce with a drugbstore

Again I ask, would removing this perk be a cutback, addition, enhancement or added option?

Just playing devil's advocate here. Imagine for a moment this news were true. Would this news be the announcement of a cutback, change, addition by subtraction or outright addition?

From about 11-1 or 2ish, they have out buffalo chicken sandwiches, grilled ham and cheese, hot dogs and sauce plus some cookies in addition to the pizza. The stuff on the buffet is not very good in my opinion.

How much is it normally? One of my dad's rules to live by is "drink cheap vodka and expensive orange juice" so he'll be happy about this option.

White Hennessy and Diet. If made just perfectly, you can taste the grapes through the carbonation

I bet on the downlow they are the Duggars!

Glad I wasn't the only one thinking Jim Bob Duggar or maybe Gil Bates was taking a family trip!

Hopefully not in for a rude awakening next week or in May!

It's the only ship with edible Eggs Benedict, I don't know why there's is so good compared to the others I've been on. I usually stick to Blue Iguana and the MDR so I'm not an expert on buffet food.

Many posters have written that once you go balcony, you never go back to an inside. That is how I feel about drink packages on board and it's how I know I'm going to feel about the Havana area. My last four cruises have all had a restricted area of the ship I could go to in order to escape the crowds. Three times on the escape in Vibe and our recent cruise on the MSC Seaside in an inside cabin in their Yacht Club. I would try seeing which cruises in the future have inside Havana availability and pull the trigger. I checked on two sailings in Oct and Nov of this year and they were both sold out.

I think we're the oddball lot re: balconies. We've tried balconies a few times and just don't see the big deal. I don't think we utilize them enough when traveling in a large group. I just had my first oceanview and enjoyed it on deck 1. Not sure I'd enjoy it as much higher up in the ship. For me, I cruise partly to get away from work and catch up on sleep. Nothing beats the darkness of an inside cabin for sleeping, especially when the cabin stays nice and cool!

There are six different types of cabins in the Havana area. Inside, lanai, aft balcony, premium balcony, aft corner balcony and suite. I checked for some of the sailings later this year and not all of the categories were available, especially the insides. So, here is a sampling of the prices for a non early saver in each of the categories for an eight day sailing to the Southern Caribbean at the end of the summer in 2019, leaving on August 24.

Inside.....$2292

Cabana (Lanai) cabin 5219 $3712

Aft balcony cabin 6471 $3702

Premium Balcony cabin 6467 $3802

Premium Vista balcony (corner) cabin 8465 $4022

Suite $5652

As a comparison, Spa 9 insides are 2092 and Spa 9 Balconies are $3282

These prices are all inclusive of taxes and are for two people.

We have sailed on the NCL Escape 3 times and each time we were lucky enough to obtain Vibe passes, which is the closest thing to the Havana area that there is with the other cruise lines. No kids allowed and about 75 passes sold per sailing. Private bar, hot tub, padded loungers. It's a respite from the crowds and I believe that this is what the Havana area is. As soon as I found out about it, I snagged a cabin for the end of August out of NYC and again on the sailing I just provided numbers for. Both times in an inside. No need to drop an additional 1420 just to have a lanai. That 1420 will pay for Cheers, gratuities, specialty dining and still have some left over. :D

Thanks so much for the info. I agree re: the 1420, that goes pretty far in the casino for me:D I looked into that vibe pass, those seem like a great value. A lot of options it seems. We personally prefer inside cabins to any category so we are extremely flexible. I am vacillating though between wanting the cheapest cabin on the ship and trying something like Havana or Cloud 9 or whatever is similar on another line. Thanks again re: the info on the vibe passes, I've been invited by a few gambling buddies to go on one of their comped cruises, I'm sure I'll get on one in the next few years.

 

Entertainment --- Over the last 20 years, the entertainment style has not changed that much. Game shows, hairy chest competition and bingo have dominated the daily entertainment. As we have grown older, these activities do not appeal to us anymore. We have talked with many fellow passengers that desire to stick with Carnival but have grown older and taste have changed. With a large segment of the population quickly approaching retirement, a restructuring of on-board ship activities to a little more diversification, may make good sense for Carnival. It would cost Carnival little to include talks on ocean environment, island ecology, weather, food preparation, cake decorating, photography, and etc. Having said this, we recognize that 2/3 folks on a Carnival ship are in the 30 to 55 years old and may like the Carnival recipe for entertainment. To not introduce some mind engaging activities, Carnival runs the risk that their older passengers may find Carnival cruises have become boring and have lost their appeal.

 

 

I am in my early 30s and completely agree with this. I've cruised quite a bit this year so the traditional activities have lost their luster for me, even trivia is repetitive.

I would love talks, seminars, and enrichment activities. The art talks used to fill this void a bit but they are so sales focused (logically) that I can't do them anymore. I think I'm pretty knowledgeable about art and art history and I don't find the talks enriching at all.

One of the most enjoyable activities of my past year of frequent cruising was a seminar by a magician teaching people his tricks. He did 3-5 of these throughout the cruise and they would build on each other while also functioning as standalone lectures. People of all ages were in attendance (truly from kindergarten to 90) and everyone seemed to enjoy them.

I know these lectures were special because this cruise had a magician who did shows. However, I believe that members of the entertainment staff could probably give lectures on Geography, Music, Culture, Cooking, Art, Investing, History etc without being expects in the subject. All they'd really need is a power point and a few hours of prep time.

There's no need to be an expert. As a college professor, I get at least 2-3 questions that I don't know the answer to every hour of lecture. I politely tell the student that the question is interesting and I promise to look up some information on the subject for the next class meeting. Usually the same question will come up the next semester or the next time I teach the class so I learn something too and improve. I'm sure if they gave the same speech every week, there would be a similar effect.

I haven't been on Royal in some time but I do remember Royal having lectures like this and I enjoyed them. Maybe CCL used to as well years ago.

If you're reading this Beards, I'd be happy to help set this program up :)

Depends on the sailing and when you want to book. We just had two open up for our July 3rd. Sailing in the Horizon and they were a steal. Way down from when we first booked.

 

 

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I just checked a few in the fall, they seemed a little more reasonable. The first I saw was more expensive than a Suite which blew my mind! They are all balconies correct? I saw a couple more that were 200 cheaper than a suite, still more than I'd like to spend but maybe with a casino perk or something it might be reasonable if we do the Vista.

Really hadn't considered doing a Havana until you made the comment about how uncrowded it was. I'm scared of new ships on any lines because I'm don't like to feel crowded. I guess that's why I always seem to be on the Pride:D.

Before your comment about Havana Cabins, the one newer feature that really interested me was a Cloud 9 cabin. We've had people in our group do them and I've made friends with people in them and I didn't understand what the big deal was. Now that I've been on a health kick the past couple years, I think I'd enjoy having one with the old lady if we ever do a cruise by ourselves. Do you prefer Havana to Cloud 9? Do any perks overlap?

It makes a huge difference, almost like being on a different ship then the rest of the people on the ship.

How much more are these cabins? I was thinking of trying a new CCL ship this fall but that's not a ringing endorsement.

edit: I just did a mock booking, they are almost double the price of normal balconies! Holy cow!

Guess it depends on how many passengers there are. Frankly passengers are 99% of what offends me on any cruise line.

I agree with this with qualifications. I am not offended by 99% of passengers but other passengers do create or contribute to most things that are offensive on cruises. 95% of passengers are normal people to great people. There's others who treats other guests and crew badly, cause trouble and uncleanliness.

I always have fun in Grand Turk but it does really bother me how the horses are treated there. Shows how well-off we are as Americans that we can give thought to animal welfare I guess. Hope you have a good time!

Ive actually priced some of these all inclusive luxury lines during their off seasons and once you count everything they include (tips, drinks, excursions, airfare, etc) they really arent much more than a Carnival or Royal Caribbean cruise after you pay for all those things.

 

Seabourn has a 7 day cruise leaving tomorrow from Barbados going to some cool places that mass market lines cant even go for 2299.00 pp in a Veranda suite. All inclusive.

I've done the same, it seems like there's a lot of deals to be had on the "higher end" cruise lines if you are flexible and play your cards right compared to the advertised price. I don't see CCL or Royal (the lines I watch most closely) have much variation in their prices unless there's some sort of natural disaster like last year's hurricanes. Just my two cents.

So on a site like Cruise Critic, opinions only matter if you're the super rich? Since nobody rich would ever take a cruise (even though they're often cheap enough to shop the 99 cent store), all criticisms are therefore null and void. If you're going to lean on an ad hominem, I say go big or go home!

 

Forget cruise brands, let's go with brands in general. When you see a yelp review for your favorite gas station, or Amazon review for your favorite frozen pizza, my guess is you don't need these coping techniques, because those brands haven't become an extension of your identity. "The 1% wouldn't eat DiGiorno, so this review doesn't count, they're just delusional. Phew!"

That's not my point, my point was that anyone who tries to act like one line is super upscale compared to another is delusional! There's very little differences between the mass market cruise experience compared amongst themselves vs when compared to the vacation experiences of the mega rich. People who get really upset about Carnival bashers should channel their energies into feeling sorry for the bashers instead of trying to change their minds!

And then they lose customers because of the raised prices. So much for that balance sheet.

Alternatively, in the short run they make up for the small (or non-existent loss) with the revenue from the higher prices. In the long-run they stop losing repeat customers with a diluted product and gain more new customers from positive reviews which both help the balance sheet!

If Carnival is the bottom of the barrel as you keep trying to imply, how can anything one sails who sails the lowest of the low ever be considered elitist? ;p

 

Kind of like calling a redneck from West Virginia an elitist. :')

I really can't make out what you are getting at with the first part of this post. But to your second statement, I do take offense to being of Appalachian descent. There is nothing is wrong with the people of WV, in fact, they are some of the finest that I've ever encountered.

Just like cutbacks, being an elitist is all relative. I've encountered plenty "rednecks" in WV who are elitists about plenty of things, my uncle is a tobacco elitist, only chews the specialty kind his friend sells, think of him as a chewing tobacco foodie of sorts. Every one of my WV family members has strong feelings about automobile brands, that smacks of elitism.

226 gained weight from last cruise and aftermath. At 38 inch waist now, goal is to get to 34 by America's birthday!

While I personally think they are lame and haven't done them in the past several cruises, it is disappointing that some people do seem to enjoy them and they list them at such awkward times. They don't make money or lead to more revenue in general for the line so I understand them not wanting to do much, but I think they could generate revenue AND make it a fun event for people who like these types of things by having discounted drinks (both virgin and alcoholic) and putting them at a time and place that is more convenient. Maybe even have a couple throughout the cruise wouldn't be a half bad idea.

Like I said these things aren't my jam, I don't like networking parties for a similar reasons, so I'm not giving these critiques or suggestions selfishly.

The other day in my doctor's waiting room I became engaged in conversation with a female retiree over cruise lines removing 'do not disturb signs' as a new safety precaution. She immediately displayed a snarl, flipping her hand in arrogance and said "you must be talking about Carnival or those other little lines", "Royal and HAL would never do such things". She thought I was a downright liar when I said "Do you know HAL is owned by Carnival?" . Most if not all my friends who cruise, scoff at Carnival and tell me its to low brow for them. Then I found out they all take 4 day or less cruises to the Bahamas, Key West or Cozumel at the very most. When I tell them I don't even consider a cruise unless its at least 7 days and goes to farther reaching places than home, they don't even want to talk anymore.

I personally cruise for the casino discounts, if other lines gave me free cruises every couple months I'd jump ship (pun clearly intended), but as it stands the only line that values my degeneracy is Carnival. Cruising as frequently as I have the past year, I am getting disappointed in the lack of entertainment and am glad my next two cruises are relatively short on sea days. Would I have that feeling if I'd only cruised once or twice in the last year? I'm not sure.

I believe that cruising is a middle-class endeavor, not matter what line you choose. It's delusional to think otherwise. I once heard another lady in my department put down CCL in favour of RCL and it didn't bother me, just gave me insight into her psyche that I would not have known otherwise. The 1% or probably more accurately the .1% are not taking cruise vacations (or all-inclusives for that matter), they own or charter boats or rent mansions/upscale villas/upscale non-all inclusive resorts in the Caribbean or Hawaii. If you let delusional people hurt your feelings about putting down your preferred cruise brand, you probably need to work on stepping out of yourself and situation and analyzing the bigger picture!