AlyssaJames

I've seen a similar anecdote several weeks ago on another forum. I won't speculate on the cause but people are definitely finding themselves moved to different cabins. Very weird. Hopefully a temporary thing.

The only downside is that there's no way they'll keep running this special forever. 🙂

Ah, I think I might be the opposite. When the craze was (and maybe still is?) for beds to have 12" of memory foam on top, I used to regularly wake up with my back out. 🙂 Maybe it was just too much of a good thing.

What makes the mattresses in the regular cabins 'bad' for some people? I've bounced back and forth between balconies and suites quite a bit, and I guess the difference isn't registering for me. Are they too firm for some people or something?

The post the person you’re replying to was asking about a prior post saying that many cruises might be moved to a port an hour away—NOT Adossat. That part seems to have been a guess. I asked questions trying to clarify here:

I've never sailed outside of N/Central America, but I will be on a VV cruise that disembarks in Barcelona next fall. All the media I can find about the evolution of the Barcelona cruise ports (including stuff from the last two weeks) says stuff like this: (CNN) "By 2026, all cruise operations will operate from the Adossat wharf." (Lonely Planet) " ... Instead, passengers will alight at the newer Moll d’Adossat terminal at the south end of the city (near Montjuïc), then hop on a 30-minute bus transfer to reach the center." I can't find much about the Tarragona Cruise Port (the distant one) other than a press release about its construction status.

I think a lot of these prices also changed dramatically after the Brilliant Lady delay caused a massive flurry of rebookings. Their overall cabin inventory for (at least?) one quarter dropped.

Sorry, I was just using the quoted part as a jumping-off point for some thoughts I had, about how people who expect and post about unlisted 'extras'--and then cause everyone else online to expect those extras--create even more confusion about the service people expect in higher-level suites. (Across all lines.) (I don't like overly attentive service either--at most I appreciate someone who can get me some extra reservations if needed.)

Having sailed suites on a number of lines now, there's also this particular trend that bugs me: people online asking what 'extra' things they should ask their (butler/concierge/rock star agent) for. And the corollary, people bragging about all the extra things they got their butler to do. (I remember this a lot when I was reading DCL forums.) "Most people don't know this, but your concierge will get in a helicopter and fly back to the mainland and bring you McDonald's if you want. Most people don't know this, but your concierge may surprise you with a visit from all the Disney Princesses for your kids." Then people who previously didn't care about a McDonald's Life Flight or Disney Princesses feel cheated if they don't get those things ... because someone else claimed to have them. (And the people saying "What should I ask my butler for?" ... I guess don't feel like they're getting their money's worth if they don't send the butler off on some weird towel animal/random entree collection errand.)

For the price I paid for 12 nights in a Seriously Suite next September (the day the itineraries were released), you can't even get an XL terrace now. Here's hoping the price increase doesn't come with a quality decrease. We all knew it was too good to last during the first 1-2 years, but I'd rather pay more than feel like I might as well be on NCL w/r/t quality.

If there's any chance you mean seven years ago (2016) and not six, I was on the October 15 sailing of Escape and got my first (and only, so far) dose of noro or possibly food-borne illness. I thought I was going to die. (We all started hitting the med bay around midnight on day 2 or 3.) I'll be on Scarlet in early December, and I've been watching the illness situation. (Obviously it 'should' be fine by then, but I'm sad to hear it hasn't been wiped out already, and the soap situation seems inexcusable.)

Sure, Jan

Interesting data and doesn't surprise me at all--and I'm on more discussion sites than just CC. The two lines I see the most 'quality drop' complaints about are X and RC. I did something similar pre-pandemic with NCL--I noticed that Breakaway consistently had the lowest average review rating of all of its sister ships (Getaway, etc), and when I did sail Breakaway the complaints (at that time) were borne out. (In a word, the ship was gross. I understand it's had an extensive refurb since then.) So while there are a lot of 'food is so subjective ...'-type dismissals, it is possible to spot trends in reviews, ratings, etc. If it wasn't, I wouldn't get a zillion consumer surveys per day in my inbox, to say nothing of the ones that pop up on every website now.

Single data point: dining reservations opened up for my window at basically midnight on the dot last night. Prior to midnight (for maybe 30 minutes?), you could see the available times but clicking one resulted in a white screen. It started working (albeit slowly) at midnight.

I was on one of those last year with a friend who was a first time cruiser. 900 pax and no solo supplement on XL sea terraces, which were going cheap anyway. I made a point of telling her repeatedly, “it’s not going to stay like this”. That said, I’ve been on some sold-out sailings now and they’ve been able to scale up to bigger crowds pretty well.

Welp. We had a fun few years. My furthest booking is 12 months out, hopefully they don't turn the product into NCL that soon. 🙂

Hah, and I thought Princess's upcharge 'specialty' desserts were ridiculous. (Twelve bucks each.)

I have to say, as a "what if they lose my luggage*" worrier (not saying it's rational), having your room ready when you board and then having your big luggage show up not long after that makes embark day so much less stressful. (*and no I can't carry it on, I have never mastered the art of packing ultralight and I don't plan to. I do carry on all my 'important' stuff like meds and at least one change of clothes.)

It jumped out at me and I thought that the placard was from (whatever the pub is called now, which is where I used to always get the prime rib special on the last night of my cruise). Does look weird. But I'm also a person who noticed that a lot of the 'special' Haven restaurant's foods were the same as food elsewhere on the ship, just with different plating.

The Wake on Scarlet has (in my experience/memory) usually had a little salt cellar in the shape of an oyster. It might be easy to miss or assume it's just some kind of table deco, I don't know. It's to the far right in this picture: Bigger picture, I've only sailed once on Valiant (about ten months ago) and I do remember feeling like everything was underseasoned compared to the same dishes on Scarlet. And as an auto-salter, I'm in favor of this 'bring your own' idea. Edited to add: and now I'm wondering if there's a specific issue with an (executive chef? I don't know the hierarchy off the top of my head) on Valiant who 1) under-seasons and 2) got tired of people asking for salt and insisted it be removed from the fine dining places? Hah.

Thanks for your service. 🙂 Here’s hoping you’re not in an industry with particularly nasty customers, but I suppose everyone’s getting pretty demanding these days.

I understand being frustrated but there’s no reason to take it out on front-line call center workers. People who are owed refunds will get their refunds.

This is for a sailing in just a few weeks’ time? This seems odd and not something that should have been affected by the recent shakeups (as far as I know).

Re: "Food is so subjective", this is a bit of a cop-out. If you don't like a particular seasoning or ingredient, or you only like your steak cooked one way, sure, that's a subjective preference. Grading of beef is not subjective. Quality and ripeness of produce is not subjective. Bulk store chocolate vs. culinary-grade chocolate like Callebaut or Valrhona is not subjective. (well, unless you'd rather taste sugar than chocolate, I guess.) Just some examples. That phrase is a pet peeve of mine.

This is why we were one & done with Disney. People talk up the adults-only/child free areas, but limited dinner offerings means you're locked into a looong dinner with people letting their kids run absolutely wild & full volume. And don't believe people who tell you the late seating is quieter. 🙂 During one of our late-seating dinners, some kids were literally lying on the ground in the path of the servers bring large trays to tables, while their parents looked on adoringly.