Sweet Dutch Girl

There's still a difference of clocking in at work and being there for 12 hours a day vs other everyday life stuff.

Everyday life stuff is a job...to think otherwise is to be in la la land. Most of us "normal" folks would love to not have to cook, or clean our homes, or do laundry, the grind of shopping, commuting (sometimes 2 hours a day), shoveling snow or mowing lawns, being a chauffeur. Normal living isn't working 8 hours a day and then doing nothing...few of us can afford a housekeeper, a gardener, a nanny.

People who own their own businesses often work 12 hours a day seven days a week. And still have to do everyday life stuff. Same with farmers....ask a dairy farmer how many days off they get each week.

Everyone makes choices about "how to earn a living and how to support a family" and we shouldn't be using our personal barometers to judge whether people are being treated "wrongly" when their paying job takes up more time than a basic 9 to 5.

I'm sorry if I'm reading you incorrectly but I just get the feeling you are incensed by the working environments on a ship....and I just don't see it as a "bad" thing. Two different opinions.

Most workers on land also get a day or two or three off a week and get to see their families at some point too. Not so much for the workers on the ship. They never get a full day off and it will be months before they see their family.

 

I would rather have the option of going home and doing nothing whether it's on land or on the ship. They're not confined to a "tiny room" aboard the ship just in case you didn't know :rolleyes:.

Ask a working mother with kids how many days off she gets a week? She doesn't have someone cooking her meals, or washing her clothes. And off duty crew members don't get to hang out at the bar, or the casino, or the pool whenever they wish.

Most crew members work with 6 month contracts and paid transport from the ship to home and back with a 4 week leave if they re-up.

I'm not saying that life on ship is ideal, but neither are the lives of most of the middle class. I just feel that this "feel sorry" for ship board workers is misplaced and overly exaggerated. My grandfathers worked in coal mines and in ship building for next to nothing, and many people still do in more economically challenged parts of the world. They would probably love to "work on a ship" even if it meant missing their family for extended periods of time.

I'll bet those members aren't working as hard and as many hours. 70+ hours is the norm for those on a ship.

Most people work 8 hours a day, commute for about an hour, spend an hour fixing meals, clean their house, do their errands. Bet most of them work 12 hours a day.

What would ship board workers do with a 40 hour workweek. They don't clean a house, run errands, prepare their own meals, commute, etc. I'd rather keep busy then sit in a tiny room for 8 hours a day if I worked on a ship.

It's all relative.

Very true. In many cases the majority of parts on vehicles that are assembled in the US are manufactured here.

And American cars destined for foreign roadways are built outside the US. As everyone has proven, it is a global economy. I wouldn't be surprised if "made in America" labels were actually produced in China.

Whatever... It's none of my business.

Totally agree. A corporation's business plan only affects me viscerally if the price for a cruise begins to exceed what I can afford and what I deem fair in today's market.

When I read all this moralistic highground that people spew out of one side of their mouths while condemning cut backs, price increases, any economic change that impacts their personal pocketbook I can't help but smile that wry smile of irony.

And all of this "at this time of year" nonsense. What makes the last few weeks of December any different than the first few weeks of January...the end results are exactly the same when it comes to changes in one's job status.

All this altruistic hyperbole about a subject most cruisers don't know swat about is a bit amusing...especially when you take into account that we all exist in a global economy. Just counted the number of "foreign" cars parked outside the range of my window....they far outnumber the "domestically" produced. Wonder how many people condemning Carnival drive a "foreign" car?

I'm searching for a single cup coffee maker as a Christmas present to me. I have read about a gazillion reviews, watched a hundred you tube presentations, read all the advertisement and I am as confused now as I was before I starting researching.

Two reviews can be polar opposites. Unless you "know" the person reviewing the item, whether a cruise or a coffee maker, you have no way of of knowing how personalities play a part in someone's concept of their experiences. Personal biases always play a part, as does the glass half full or half empty correlation.

I can think of lots of books I wouldn't have read and enjoyed, or countless movies I wouldn't have seen and been mesmerized by if "reviews" shaped my life. I need to take all reviews with that proverbial grain of salt and in the end only I can judge, by personal experience, whether the review was warranted or not...and I refuse to repeat elements in a review as fact when nothing has been actually proven to me that a person's review is indeed without bias.

Time for Carnival to send some new ships to the West coast

Are there major cruise lines who invest their newest ships to the West Coast?

The west coast has very limited foreign ports of call...especially when considering the weather traveling north, or the state of once desirable locations on the west coast of Mexico.

I would think that cruiselines would reserve their "best" ships for ports of departure where there are innumerable ports to visit.

Does Carnival ever go to Oahu? I was searching for a Hawaiian cruise and I would like to see Pearl Harbor in Oahu. I know that other cruise lines go there but I was wondering if anyone knows if Carnival EVER go there. Thanks

Yes they do. But if you are thinking about going to Pearl Harbor and visiting the Arizona Memorial be sure to book an excursion well in advance. It is a popular tourist site and the boats going to the memorial are always full. We got there one morning at opening and no transportation was available for hours. Do your homework.

"Pays to know what you're talking about"? I was asking a question that I didn't know the answer to. Thank you for answering it.

And accusing me of throwing a hissy fit? Um no. Actually, I ordered the 12 pack for my upcoming cruise. I was merely putting forth another view point for those of you who just don't get why people are upset at these "small" but important changes. I was hoping to do so in a way you might could understand where others were coming from, but I guess I failed at that. I'm sorry. But have fun paying your $53 for a bottle of water in a few years because not enough people were upset over the initial price increases.

This "logic" escapes me. Those of us who don't order water or are OK with the current pricing are the ones somehow responsible for the never ending price increases and are the ones to blame. It's only the good folks who are forever caterwauling about every upcharge and change that are doing the right thing. There is a lot of self-importance implied in that chain of thought.

Well I just think that regardless of if it was the flu or norovirus doesn't really matter. And I cannot believe people get so nasty about my wanting to let carnival know what happened. .

 

Snide remarks are not what someone who is miserable wants or needs to read.

You are presenting an opinion and a topic on a public forum to people with a myriad of different opinions and, maybe, personal agendas.

This is not a one on one forum with all responses directed directly at the OP. And many posters, "moi" included, tend to broaden their responses to encompass others who read the forum.

Many seem to take online forums and postings very personally, (I am even guilty of that when it strikes a chord) even though we do not know any of the posters nor do they know us. If someone is going to post and/or respond they are opening themselves to a multitude of varying messages that may/may not support the initial post. Don't want to really know how other people feel...just don't post on a public forum.

Ok, maybe it's because I'm not quite feeling well yet but usually I let snide remarks just go but dang,

I'm not complaining, I love carnival. I'm not trying to get anything from them I just think they need to know when they mess up on something important like this that can cause the company to lose money when the headlines of another norovirus spreads thru one of their ships.

 

So, being rude to me about asking what and if I should mention this to them is just plain wrong,

You do know that not all stomach upsets are norovirus...With between 3to4k passengers plus 1k crew on a ship a handfull of stomach issues would be the norm not the other way round. To insinuate that your experience was an outbreak of norovirus without proof is really unconscionable and just continues the myth that cruises are little more than petri dishes for health issues.

Wonder if people rip their bosses a new one when they get sick because a fellow employee came to work sick, wonder if parents raise a ruckus with a principal when their kid gets sick because another student wasn't quarantined, wonder if people who go to concerts, sporting events, parades or any other group outing want an apology from the organizer if they get sick after the event.

Can't understand why people think a cruise line can be any more effective in controlling health issues than any other entity dealing with people in close confines. Sheesh!

WATER is free (or at least it is covered in the cruise fare) on all cruises. It may not be exactly the tasting experience some folks want, it may not come in a convenient collapsible plastic container, it may not have all the "marketing" bells and whistles that consumers crave, it may be desalinated (millions of people the world over are alive because of desalinated water) but it is life sustaining water.

I could care less about "bottled water". A glass straight out of the tap is fine for me. So just like fru-fru coffee, soda, alcoholic beverages I don't want to be "paying" for someone else's beyond the norm choices. And, hopefully, people do realize that a pack of water costs a lot more than just the wholesale price of the plastic and the water...that's a whole other paragraph.

If you "like and want" bottled water...pay for it. Eventually all the complaints about price increases really do fall on deaf ears and become more and more about self-entitlement than cruise-line defects.

How in the world can someone be allergic to water?:confused:

Sulfur "intolerance" is a real dietary condition but the sulfur in some waters (the rotten-egg smell is some municipal waters) is negligible when placed in line with common high sulfur foods like onions, garlic, eggs, dairy, cabbage type vegies, legumes.

I would think water on a cruise wouldn't be nearly as worrisome as what someone is actually going to eat.

Ice tea, lemonade, coffee, hot chocolate, soups, gravies, water served in the MDR, water in a scotch and water...all concocted with ship's water. Bottled water, no mater its source, isn't healthier, doesn't contain less chemicals, isn't a "no sodium" alternative. It is just a convenience.

Worried about what is in "water" bring along a Britta pitcher and a filter (no one will stop you) and a tumbler and make your own bottled water...and you can use it when you get home, too.

Or try these: http://www.thekitchn.com/5-water-bottles-with-builtin-filters-product-roundup-190450

For those of us that lived in a world before disposable plastic bottles we know that it is possible to live without "bottled water"....but, ahh, the younger generation has been programmed and marketed to believe that water is only "good" when it "costs" something. I am sure all the hype has made a nice profit for beverage manufacturers the world over, not just for the "retail" end like a cruise line.

Never ever seen any signs that "forbid" someone from taking food from the service area, whether it be dining room, buffet, or any other venue. A cruise is often advertised as a "foodie" experience and where you "consume" it is of no interested to the cruise line.

Haul all the food you want from the service area. Just try and be careful when carting it around from area A to area B. If you really like to load up on cookies and fruit bring along some zip lock bags. Like to cart around beverages, invest in a tumbler with a lid or grab some packaged beverages.

Most of the other passengers won't bat an eye. It's only here on cruise critic where people tend to judge. Enjoy your cruise and eat where and when you want.

And, I agree. Check with your steward where "dirty dishes" are meant to be left.

I absolutely cringe every time I hear a parent say they only saw well-behaved kids on a cruise and never had or saw a problem. First, let me say, I have kids, grand kids, and been around hundreds of kids. Will your kid, pop open a beer, or pull out a cigarette in front of you? No, they won't, but turn your back, and they will. Sure, maybe not all, but I can assure you, once they get into a "cruise gang" on the ship, and the parents are hiding in the casino, things happen.

 

The other thing I cringe is that the very same parent that won't let their kids walk to the bus stop in the morning for fears of being snatched, allow their kids to roam freely with 3500 International strangers on a ship and with "friends" they just met.

 

Yes, I allowed my kids to hang out, but I would never say, they were angels, or well behaved always. They were like me, my cousins, my brothers, and all my friends. We just always hoped they would make the right decisions.

Having cruised over spring break many a time I can, unequivocally, say that kids are more well behaved on cruises than the adults who are with them. Kids, are for the most part, results of their upbringing and if they are well behaved on land a cruise ship isn't instantly going to change their natures. If they have been nurtured well they will act accordingly.

We, as the adults, make sure our kids have something to do. We bring along board games and meet up as an extended family to play on "boring" sea days. We invite them to join us for meals and they usually tag along even if "together" time isn't mandatory.

Our kids "know" that a cruise, or any vacation for that matter, is a treat and that their behavior will be the measuring stick as to whether they are "invited" again in the future. Trust your kids to act responsibly, even on a ship full of all sorts of people, and they will. Helicopter them and restricting them because of the "what ifs" isn't creating good kids...its showing distrust and lack of faith in one's own parenting skills.

To the OP...if you feel your kids have learned their life lessons let them enjoy the cruise and let them "free to fly". They won't disappoint.

Dollars are far more desirable for Mexican merchants to receive. They will hold onto them and convert when the exchange rate is in their favor. A little homework before heading to port: convert the current peso to dollar amount and bring along a little cheat sheet indicating how many pesos in a dollar, a five, a ten and a twenty. Then always offer less than the conversion amount and bargain with the seller. They will bite.

When buying from brick and mortar stores, in hotels, or in "better" restaurants use a credit card. Your bank will convert when paying the bill and even with a small service fee this is safer and more reliable than carting around wads of cash.

No one gives a darn about my salary when they use my services. Why should they? I "choose" to do the job I do and, apparently, I am "happy" about my compensation or I wouldn't do it.

There will always be those who complain about their salaries, their hours, their working conditions. Isn't that human nature; to always want more whether it be benefits, less hours, salary, working conditions. As hard as it is to comprehend, by some, people "do choose" their jobs for whatever reason...if only to ensure food on the table, etc.

Also, people who are "confined" when working, like those on a cruise ship, probably aren't as "hours orientated" as those who commute to work. What would a ship board employee do with the other 16 hours each day and a 48 hour weekend if they worked 40 hours: there isn't a lot an employee can do on the limited space of a ship, nor can they afford to leave it at every port.

These employees eat prepared meals, they wear uniforms washed by others, they don't have to commute, they aren't taking care of children during their off hours, they aren't grocery shopping, running errands, cleaning their own homes, doing gardening or outside chores.

No, I wouldn't want to work on a ship but if I did I'd want to keep busy and stimulated.

You will never be asked for proof of parentship or relationship with a minor. Thousands of families have assorted last names.

It would be wise if the person traveling with the minor gets a power of attorney for medical decisions if they are not the custodial adult to protect themselves "after the fact"....otherwise nothing is needed (at least by the cruise line or customs).

The cabins are paid for at this date. Even if someone makes an insurance claim it doesn't affect the person who is still sailing. Enjoy your two cabins.

60 days on a single cruise ship, traveling well worn paths...not my idea of a good time. With all the wonderful travel adventures that abound in our world I can sure think of many more options for a 2 month trip. If I was concerned about unpacking only once...I'd just stay home.

This is not a Carnival issue, nor "fill in the blank" cruise line issue. This is people, for whatever reason, wanting to be first off. It's like all the inconsiderates who block your vision at a sporting event or concert as they leave before the game is over or the event is finished because they want to be first to the parking lot.

We never have an issue with debarking because we eat breakfast and then congregate as a family in an out of the way area and just wait until the last few numbers are called. Our luggage awaits in isolated splendor, the lines are pretty non-existent for customs. We have lunch at the airport, take an afternoon flight, and always take the day after our vacation concludes to unwind, unpack and get caught up.

Why people choose to end their vacation in chaos and "TIME" stress is beyond me.

Room is being made up once and not twice.

 

No ice in the evenings or fresh towels so obviously we are getting less than before.

 

So you go to grocery store and they discontinue gallon size of milk and replace it with half gallon at same price. Still willing to pay the same for less?

If you need ice or fresh towels call and ask for them (or does your mouth and fingers not work while on vacation)...or are you just too lazy?

Again, basing tips on what is expected because it happened on some cruise in the past is not what tipping on "the current" cruise is about. If your room is cleaned and you are given fresh towels in the am why do you think that someone not stopping by your cabin and refreshing ice that you may not have used or picking up your towels that you left strewn across the floor because you were too lazy to hang them up warrants their tips being slashed. You still got 90% of the room service you expected. If you want oto cut your tip by 10%, be my guest...but to insinuate that you received only half of the services offered is ludicrous.

And paying for commodity is not the same as tipping for a service. If withholding tips is your thing....have at it. There is always some excuse for someone not tipping, legitimate or not.

OK..I'll bite.

What services do people expect in the morning from a steward, and what services do they expect at night?

Personally I'm fine with my bed made in the morning, fresh towels once a day (personally I hang up wet towels after use and I wash in the shower so towels do stay clean), my trash can emptied, and bathroom surfaces given a wipe. Toilet paper kept stocked, tissues kept stocked, and (if I have detritus laying around) a quick clean up.

Don't give a hoot about ice (get my own when I need it), having covers turned down, continual fresh towels (I guess some people were never taught to hang up towels to dry), towel animals, a full time maid, someone to move my discarded clothes from chair a to b, or pick them up from the floor, someone to pick up after my kids because I'm too lazy to do so.