rjrpar

We are going to Alaska for the first time in August. We want to do the Bering Sea crab fishing tour in Ketchikan. I priced the tour both from HAL and directly through the tour operator and the price is identical. We booked through HAL to make sure it didn't sell out but if it had been cheaper going direct, I probably would have opted to book privately.

Obc from credit card rewards are definitely refundable. Your TA example is different.

Pretty sure it is credited back to the credit card. Only obc from the cruise line is "use it or lose it"

think $50 pp for Murano's is crazy, the 4 course meal you have already paid for in the MDR would cost about $75 in most restaurants [or more here] so an extra $50 is $125 I just don't see the value.

 

Though on another line I usually hit the steakhouse once per cruise because $25 for a really good steak isn't too bad.

The price of a meal where we live comparable to a MDR meal would be about $25-30 and that is a stretch. It is banquet quality food, with very small portions (yes, I know you an order seconds). Just think how disappointed you would be if you ordered a $14 shrimp cocktail and received 5 tiny shrimp with watered down sauce. I am not complaining about the food or it value, just trying to be realistic.

I can't believe that people would pay $50pp to eat at a specialty restaurant where food quality has diminished in the last 10 years. As mentioned earlier, the quality is not on a par with the popular land based steakhouses.

People dress on Celebrity the same as on RCCL, Princess, etc. Capris are fine in the MDR on casual nights. Now, I've been on Carnival and have seen a few people dressed very inappropriately for most other cruise lines, which would stand out on Celebrity

I could be way off base but you are comparing a b2b to a 14 day cruise. The drawbacks to a b2b are extra travel days, a port day in FLL, and some duplicate entertainment in the theatre. To us those drawbacks are worth a significant part of your savings

If I had my 84 year old MIL, I sure wouldn't take a bus. I would take a private tour, see the island, it is beautiful

We cruise X and NCL, enjoying both. Celebrity is our first choice, but Celebrity's prices seem to be growing faster.

Celebrity has better food and consistently better service. I would agree that the NCL specialty restaurants are excellent, but we find the food is about on the same level as Celebrity's MDR. The difference is that you have to pay extra for the specialty restaurants.

 

NCL's shore excursions tend to be higher, but we usually book private tours.

 

NCL's entertainment is slightly better than Celebrity.

Everyone is different but we find Celebrity food in the MDR to be good but on a par with other cruise lines. To compare it to specialty restaurants on other lines seems a real stretch

If you don't mind me asking, what made this tour a bad experience for you? I'm going in November and would like a heads up... thanks

A lot of people like Spencer. When I said we had a bad experience I am not implying that all his tours are bad. We caught him on a busy day, 3 ships in port and he even admitted that he had some extra people helping him. The beach was overcrowded when we arrived and many from our group had to eat standing up, not enough chairs. Returning to the ship was hectic, his speedboat arrived late, some people were tired and worried about missing our ship. A few people and Spencer got into a shouting match on the little dock. It was not pleasant. Never again for us, we been on many excursions and this was probably the worst.

Pretty hard to enjoy any beach day for less than $100. Food, beach chairs/umbrellas, drinks, etc.

WOW! Don't people have a right not to like a cruise. We were on the Quantum a month ago and thought it was very overcrowded, especially the buffet. Got real tired of waiting in lines.

We cruise both lines and think they are about equal, some minor differences but they usually offset. One exception is that entertainment is usually better on RCI. Just got home from the Quantum and the shows were great, especially Mamma Mia. Saw it on Broadway last year and there wasn't much difference, really surprised us.

We have been on 4 different cruise lines and rooms generally become available around 1:00pm on all of them. The room sttendants need that much time to prepare. We check all luggage but one small rolling bag so that we can explore without much difficulty

We usually spend $50-150 at each port. You can't possibly go on a cruise and bring no cash. We bring about $1000 and always have some left over. We don't gamble

Yes, 2 years ago and never again. Many people won't agree, but we (and about 75 other people) had a bad experience.

We took a cab to Shipwreck in Feb. '15. It was so bad looking that the cabbie said, 'you don't want to stay here. let me take you someplace nice" He drove down the road about 5 minutes to Carambola Beach Club, it was very, very nice. He said he was proud of his island and that Shipwreck, in its current condition, was not what he wanted us to remember about St. Kitts.

Be careful in all the major European cities. I have a inexpensive money belt which makes me feel a little more secure.

I was in the same position last year. I waited and we are happy with our upcoming August HAL cruise. Be patient, there is plenty of time.

Calories in any regular soda add up quickly. If one drinks 6 vodka tonics in a day, the tonic alone is 500-700 calories

$13 doesn't seem too bad. You can't compare to what you pay at home; beers are $.75 at home. I can't understand why people will pay thousands of dollar for a nice vacation and then complain about about a few bucks here and there.

Empty most of our 14 day cruise. What is the cost, seems like it was $5-10 in 2014?

Do you take a passport when cruising to Alaska? this is our first Alaskan cruise and not sure if we really need to. We are US citizens.

I know you need a passport if you are going into the Yukon (Canada). We usually bring our passports on all cruises, never hurts.

Your question is so general, it is difficult to respond. Need to consider ports, #of days, cost, etc. in general the Med is so port intensive, the ship is less important than in the Caribbean. We did Carnival at a great price and had a great time, most mass market cruise lines are very similar.

We do not like aft cabins if they provide no side view, like a wraparound would. Found it frustrating to only see behind the ship. Also, on larger ships, it is a long walk