FiredogCruiser

This was the way it was on the Pride as well. Our instructor was the Alchemy Bar manager, and very knowledgeable. However, I would assume that since Dewers sponsors the event, a large portion is scripted and common across the fleet.

On 12/18/2019 at 12:36 PM, crewsweeper said:

I was with you on that thought, initially,  But on the Vista they pour a number of single barrel, unblended whiskies, common styles None tasting like any Dewars bought in your local packie.  The "instructor", one of the barkeeps at the Alchemy, talked about each offering in detail and then encouraged us to blend our own.  Mine is still "aging in the bottle". As a long time single malt drinker who has been to a number of tastings and comparisons over the years, this was worth the small tariff.  Most of the people in the class were "regulars" at the Alchemy, so it was a fun group.

I took the class on a recent Pride cruise to Bermuda. The way it worked for us, you signed up for it on Monday (the first sea day) at the Alchemy Bar. It was limited to 15. The class was scheduled for Friday afternoon, a sea day on the way back. You were asked to stop by the bar and confirm your attendance on Thursday. The class was a couple hours long, held in David's Steakhouse and very interesting. Discussed countries of origin, aging, distillation, blending, etc. Sponsored by Dewers. Very enjoyable afternoon.

We were in town for a conference for several days. While there I took the opportunity to explore the port area, as there was the Carnival Elation, a small ship, in port on the day we arrived, which we could see from our hotel room. I have to say, it was the strangest arrangement I have ever witnessed. I could see were the confusion and irritation comes from. I spoke with some locals, and found out several things. First of all, they were planning to make improvements to the port, to improve the flow of both vehicles and pedestrians, as they are well aware of the issues. Second, was that not all the locals are supportive of the cruise industry being located were it is. It seems many would have liked the cruise port relocated to a more remote area that would have eliminated the traffic congestion/parking and ship transfer issues. Patriots Point area was mentioned. And third, I was told businesses were about equally divided on their enthusiasm, as many do not seem to benefit as much from the cruisers as they had anticipated. Made me wonder what perhaps they had been promised to expect. Oversold maybe? As we like the city, and the area, we had considered perhaps returning for a cruise there at another time, but have decided to wait and see what the improvements to the port we were told about actually entail.

We also booked Havana on the Mardi Gras for Jan. 2021. Like others we have been comparing the differences between the Horizon and what we are seeing for the Mardi Gras, and I guess the best way to put it is we have concerns. We too will withhold final judgement until we actually experience it, but it does seem as though with this newest configuration, they are attempting to put more higher cost cabins into the Havana category, while at the same time somewhat reducing the amenity's exclusiveness, which in my opinion would reduce the 'premium' value. It will be interesting to see if Vista and Horizon Havanas generate loyalties similar to what the Spirit class ships have, over the newer version. 

I wonder if the timing of announcements regarding Freeport visits has anything to do with the scheduling of what ships and when aid deliveries are to be made.

On 9/6/2019 at 6:42 AM, MrsGrohl said:

I just returned from the Sunrise on Wednesday (9/4). We had a very similar experience with the other passengers that you did; LOTS of very obnoxious, disrespectful, rude teens (as well as many of the adults). We are a family of 4, myself, husband and two teen boys (14 & 17) and even my boys were amazed by the behavior of the other kids. Our cabin was on deck 11 (under the serenity deck where you would think it would be somewhat quite), on the last night there was a large group of teens (25-30) who were up there all night running wild, screaming and yelling (very vulgar language) also running down our hallway.

 

The pools & hot tubs were incredibly overcrowded, but no more than any other ship I've been on. That said, again it was the bad behavior of the passengers that stood out (rude & obnoxious).

 

As for the ship itself, I guess I'm just not very particular; there were things that weren't great but it really didn't bother me at all. We didn't experience longer lines on the buffet than any other ship, although at times finding a seat was difficult. I think my biggest complaint was the air conditioning, there were times it was so hot both in our room and on Lido by all the tables.

 

The cruise director definitely made our cruise!! He was so entertaining, and brought the diverse crowd together. 

 

My older son met 3 nice kids at the club that he spent some time with, but my younger son said the kids were so bad he never went back to his club (so he spent most of his time with us which he was fine with). Overall, we had a great vacation.

 

 

As avid cruisers for a number of years, who cruise one to three times per year, across five different lines to date, it is my observation that there has been a general decline in decorum which seems to have accelerated in the past couple years. While it is present, in my opinion, across the industry, Carnival seems to have attracted more than their fair share of 'problem cruisers'. Perhaps it is the concentration on marketing short booze cruises promoting the cheers packages which encourages excess drinking, which leads to less than stellar behavior. I fully understand the necessity of promoting the profit making aspects of the product in order to keep the entry prices lower, but at some point a higher entry cost, with less emphasis on alcohol consumption might be desirable. I base this opinion on my observation that on longer duration cruises, especially the journey cruises (of which we have been on several) the atmosphere is considerably different. Recognizing that Carnival is the Fun Ship line, it just means one needs to do their research, and understand what they are likely to encounter before booking.

7 hours ago, LMaxwell said:

 

It's all about the money.  I didn't say they haven't "changed" "added" "replaced" "substituted" one item for another.  I am just saying it is all about cost.  In this case they determined guests aren't willing to pay additional; therefore they can reduce costs.  

I guess I look at it as more of a reallocation of limited resources. If it is true that the increase in the number of P & D's is actually a burden (which I question) then I can see reallocating limited laundry time to satisfy additional P & D laundry perks replacing the laundering of table cloths. Not necessarily a cut, but using a limited resource for something else.

I think I would pass on both, but if had to pick one, would take Vista out of Galveston. Have sailed from Long Beach before, but Galveston would be a new port.

7 minutes ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

In my book, too many D&Ps is when Carnival staff in the terminal tells everyone in the priority waiting area that they can’t guarantee cabins will be ready upon boarding because of the large number of D&Ps on the cruise and to expect luggage to take longer than usual getting delivered to the cabin. I have already heard this three times this year (Sunshine, Horizon and Breeze) and it is only August. 

I have heard this as well, and then learned that less than 10% of the passengers were P or D's. I believe the issue has more to do with reductions in staffs, and fewer people being assigned to ready more rooms than anything else. I also question the impact of wildly varying times for the ships to be cleared to disembark. With ships carrying more passengers, it takes longer to load and unload 4000 than it does to handle 2100. With smaller ratio of staff to passengers, and reduced time to accomplish the loading and unloading, I think the arguments regarding P & D's gets overdone, and becomes somewhat of an excuse. Another, and in my opinion bigger problem, is the number of people who simply will not follow assigned boarding times, and want to be on board as early as possible, as if an hour or two difference in boarding will make or break their vacation experience. An example of why I enjoy the Spirit Class ships the most, but even there the ratio of crew to passengers seems to be being reduced.

59 minutes ago, Stick93 said:

Interestingly on this cruise of 3900 people had under 200 p&d cruisers. 

I am interested in knowing what actually constitutes 'to many' P & D's. On any cruise I have taken the actual number of P & D's has always been a relatively small percentage of the total passengers.

I believe that currently the number of people who actually believe that the rules don't apply to them,  has never been higher. Look at the mess almost every cruise with self disembarkation. Look at the mess in tender ports. Pushing and shoving at elevators. And on and on. I see more rules and stricter enforcement coming, as a direct result of passenger behavior. Especially so on entry level lines like Carnival. To counter, we avoid the crowds, are happy to be near the last ones off, and tender according to excursion instructions. We take our time and marvel at some of what we see. Sometimes its quite a show!

Time will tell, but New York does not have the best track record for on time completion of projects. Nor do they have a good record for timely starts to projects, which might account for the relatively short notice given to the cruises affected. I have seen projects where construction equipment was purchased, then stored at the manufacturer's yard for months waiting startup, only to see congradutory press accounts of how 'on time' the delayed project was. I remember one project where the startup was delayed an entire construction season, after equipment was purchased, only to then have to rebid the labor. I believe the delay was caused by political fighting over naming, which led to permits being held up from being issued. Talk about cost overruns. Taxpayers paid however. Prime contractor had to pay for equipment storage for over a year while waiting. 

Agree with Spirit being the best class. Our favorite is the Pride. We have numbers 5 & 6 booked on her currently. Never seems crowded. Love the location of David's, and always had a good experience there. Food, service and quiet conversation all. Also enjoy sitting in a comfortable chair by a window on a sea day with a good book, a good drink, a good view interspersed with some stimulating conversation with a new acquaintance. May be just me, but I find the 'pace' more relaxed on the Spirit Class ships. Never had a problem finding a seat at our favorite bar for example.

We have been on the Dream twice, and had fun both times, but the 'pace' seemed more hurried. (I am too old to be hurried!) As a result spent far more time than usual for us, on our cove balcony, rather than out in the public areas.

Often could not find seating at a bar we wanted to try on the Dream. Wait service, if seated away from the bar, was much slower due to the increased number of passengers being served by what to me looked like the same number of servers per lounge as found on the smaller class ships.

I have to also point out that we have had excellent experiences on the Fantasy Class ships. One trip on the Elation to Progresso to enable to visit Chichen Itza was especially memorable.

As I tell DW, age & experience is a good thing!

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

There are many factors that influence it.  There were about 3700 on the ship.  New York is a seasonal port, it is school break, new (or modified significantly) ship, draw of the specific ports in the cruise and it goes on.....    

What I am trying to understand is why the consternation over what is a relatively small percentage of passengers currently. What any business is looking for is growth. Preferably profitably growth in all sectors. That said I would believe that the corporation, not necessarily the specific line, would want to grow those numbers and be interested in how they could do that. My thought has been you do that by offering cross brand programming and marketing. Differing profit centers. I don't want to generalize, but older passengers tend to drink less than they used to. Less bar revenue. But they often book more expensive cabins and suites. Maybe not at the same enormous profit margins as the alcohol, but never the less dollars. As a shareholder, I would like to see marketing aimed at more demographic specific customer. And then finding a way to reward the demographic category IN ADDITION to the brand. In my opinion that creates growth.

36 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Royal has already done this with cococay.......  I would HATE that for HMC or even Grand Turk.  IMHO amusement parks tied to a cruise line are about the worst idea....but that is just me.  You may be right tho.....

My wife is not a great fan of amusement parks either. But neither are we ones to sit on a beach all day. I suspect the market for the amusements is there or the companies wouldn't be so willing to attempt to install them on ships. I think that eventually the ships and private islands will become the draw for general mass market cruises, and travel and or cultural experiences will become the domain of specialty lines. I foresee the islands offering more, including resident staffing, live entertainment, and other activities to justify limiting the adventure. A Bermuda multi-day experience at a corporate owned destination with a captive revenue stream, with each diversion offered its own profit center.

20 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

It is an anomaly, for sure.... I was trying to show the extreme.  That said on our most recent cruise there were 15 diamonds and just shy of 240 plats.....these numbers continue to rise (plats more so than diamonds....as we would expect).

Just out of curiosity, how many passengers total? I would guess that those numbers totaled below 10% of the passengers and 5% of cabins booked. Although I would imagine that the length of cruise would impact the numbers, perhaps more than the itinerary.

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

They have tried to unify the loyalty plans, several times in fact.  There are so many anomalies in terms of attainment, recognition and more that it failed.  Royal was able to do because their number and lines are significantly smaller and more easily integrated.  

Rather than unify the existing plans, I would suggest creating an entirely new plan. You could leave the current plans in place, or perhaps make some modifications to them to eliminate duplication with the new plan. I would envision marketing creating incentives to move up, like GM did with Cheve to Pontiac to Olds to Buick to Caddie. Dealers, in this case T/A's, given the option to reward loyalty within the corp brands. New incentives, not attempting to combine perks from exiting programs . Could be pricing, could be special sailings & itineraries, could be access to select sailings on revolving lines limited to a specific criteria. New and different rewards. Not necessarily more expensive, but properly priced. Points awarded based upon totals across all lines for the program. Cross-line marketing on B2B and S2S combination adventures.

1 minute ago, jimbo5544 said:

I do not know, but John addressed this on our Journey cruise on the Breeze in an open Q&A session.  His thoughts (and he specifically said these were his thoughts, not those of corporate) were that they were growing and exponentially so, and that is would have to be soon addressed.  Made total sense to me.  Not that it was normal, but on that Journey cruise there were 340 diamonds and 1800 plats.......

Don't you think that the Journey cruises are intentionally marketed to a different clientele, in other words aimed at the plats & diamonds?

7 minutes ago, jimbo5544 said:

Agree, we have to wait and see.  They are adding Bolt, if it is the same issue I doubt it will go away (the ride).  But I have heard nothing....

I suspect that over time the private islands will be offering more of this type of activity in attempt to make the islands mini Disney World profit centers, keeping the entire cruise experience (and revenue stream) within the corporation. Would also allow them to avoid the political unrest situations, as most recently seen in Puerto Rico.

16 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I don’t see that ever happening. From a business perspective FTTF is a great program that generates revenue with minimal cost to run the program. There is no question in my mind Carnival’s main focus is on the blue and red cruiser, who tend to spend significantly more money than more experienced cruises. Providing perks for loyal passengers is not high on their priority list. I don’t think Carnival would worry one bit if a significant number  of Platinums and Diamonds moved on to a different cruise line and never cruised on Carnival again. 

I think you are right. I have always been amazed that from a business perspective, as Carnival Corp grew by acquiring other lines, they never adopted the old GM philosophy of creating corporate loyalty incentives to move up in quality (and price) line over line staying within the corporation. Attract the younger crowd/newer crowd (Blue and Red as you put it) and incentivize moving up in lines, price and quality as they age, gain cruising experience, and, hopefully, become more affluent. As a shareholder in Carnival Corp. the only incentive I have to stay within the corporate family of companies is the shareholder OBC. I think the current approach of every line going for the bigger and bigger ships, needing to attract more passengers each cruise to cover the overhead is actually a race to the bottom, as opposed to a clime to the top. Recognizing that some would opt to plateau prior to reaching the top, so long as the entire journey was corporately valued in a common loyalty program, I believe would generally allow the lines to maintain quality levels more easily, while at the same time creating a sustainable marker for mid-size or smaller ships at a profit. Just my opinion I realize. But I have had conversations with crew members, and received interesting feedback opinions ranging from general support of the idea, to those wanting to exclude a certain 'class' of passengers from their brand/ship.

We always stay at the Chateau Lemoyne, a Holiday Inn property, on Dauphine Street in the French quarter. It is right around the corner from our favorite restaurant, Arnaud's at 813 Bienville Ave. We have sailed out of New Orleans three times now, (twice on the Dream and once on Elation) and always come in at least a day early and have dinner the night before the cruise, and walk the French Quarter. Must get a Cafe du Monde fix as well. The hotel doesn't offer shuttle service, but the concierge has always arranged a correct sized taxi service, to handle luggage, to meet our scheduled arrival time at the Port. The staff has also been very accommodating regarding a late check out time. We have also stayed at this hotel for non sailing visits to New Orleans, for conferences/ business and never had a bad experience.

We once were booked into the Crowne Plaza on Canal Street for a conference, and it was such a bad experience we packed up our bags and walked over the the Chateau for the remainder of our stay. We were amazed at the complete difference in service and valve given from two IHG properties.

Thank you so much for the information. We had been looking for a T/A that would get us in to Southampton mid-week before a weekend Queen west bound departure to NYC. That would give us several days from which to base out of Southampton allowing a visit to Portsmouth and Stonehenge, and have had little success in finding an itinerary to match our schedule. So we started looking at a Cunard B2B as a possible plan B. Complicating the issue is that we are Carnival Corp. shareholders so were looking to stay within the Carnival Corp. family of lines for the on board credits offered, a thought which probably ought to be discarded.

I realize there is much more to see at the Dockyard besides the Victory, so based upon your information, I guess we are back to trying to work out the original plan, but perhaps going outside the Carnival family. Will keep working on it, because at my age I have no desire to fly to England again in today's cramped plane environments. (The trip was distressing enough when getting paid for it.)

For years I have had a bucket list of famous ships I have wanted to visit. Over the years we have visited:

USS Yorktown aircraft carrier, Laffey destroyer and Clamagore sub at Patriot's Point SC

The Olympia Cruser, Becuna sub and Dilegence schooner in Philadelphia

USS Constitution, Old Iron Sides, in Boston

The North Carolina battleship in Wilmington NC

USS Midway in San Diego

USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in NYC

USS Missouri at Perl Harbor Hawaii

I have two remaining on my current list:

USS Nautilus nuclear sub at Groton, CT which we plan to visit next summer, and

HMS Victory in Portsmouth

I always need something to plan for in the future.

Thanks again.

What is the proximity of the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard to the Cunard Terminal? Could one tour the HMS Victory on a turn around?

On 7/17/2019 at 3:29 PM, boltpeople said:

I read your review with much anticipation and was saddened to hear that you do not recommend going to Bermuda in October.  😔  I am seriously considering the Pride cruise to Bermuda this October.  My schedule is hard to get a week away but I can actually get away during this time frame and was looking forward to going to Bermuda, but now I wonder if it’s worth it???  I may not get a chance to go in spring or summer months for years.  Do I risk it and go now?  If I do go now, should I splurge on a balcony or extended balcony or is the weather too bad to enjoy the balcony?  Thank you for any advice you have for me.  

We are going to Bermuda on the Pride late this October, then staying on for the Journey Cruise the next two weeks as a B2B. We have been to Bermuda in October before and loved it. Not being big beach people we found it pleasant weather for walking around and simply enjoying all things Bermuda, and plan to do so again. We plan on visiting the Crystal Caves, the Aquarium, Swizzle Inn (I need a new cap, my old Swizzle Inn hat is wore out) and I want to visit the Gosling Rum store in Hamilton. (Lord Hawke in the Ted Bell Hawke series of books is a Gosling rum drinker, and it is referenced frequently in his books. I'm not a big rum drinker, but since Bell's next book in the series won't be out until next year this will be my Hawke fix for this cruise.) I am positive you will have a wonderful time should you decide to go.