redlef

I understand that but its sure a long way to go to find out how much your cruise will actually cost..

That may be true, but did you ever buy a car?

.... So if you paid $300 per person for the cruise, your "gratuity tax" is 24% of your cruise. If you go the suites and pay $4000 per person, you pay the same $12 per day DSC, and your "gratuity tax" is only 2% of your cruise cost. ......

A person who pays only $300 for a one week cruise which includes hotel, food, round the clock service and entertainment and then complains about having to pay $84 to the people who wait on you for that week --- all I can ask is "Geeze, what do you want?????

$384 works out to $55 a day. You couldn't stay at the worst fleabag hotel, eat McDonalds 3 meals a day and get a pay-per-view movie for that much money. Even if it's a "mass-market" cruiseline, it's not a Winebago at a state park. I don't see anywhere on land you can get a week long vacation like a cruise for $384.

I did not see any questions, unless you want to count "huh?" for anyone to help you with, advise or give council to. I read your post as a rant or the need to vent. Perhaps I missed the question you were looking for an answer to.

Are all posts required to have a question?

Isn't it okay for a person to rant, if they feel the need to vent?

So what if someone wants to stir up the pot (and I'm not saying that was the OPs intention). If you don't want to play, there are plenty of other threads to read.

Would it be such a big deal to live and let live?

Plattworx,

Some of these "cruise critics" should really be called "New Poster Critics," because they are so quick to tell you what you should do and why you're wrong for not seeing it their way. I get a real kick out of people who join a thread to tell you how "extensively" the topic has been covered, as if everyone in the world had time to sit on their computer all day and generate 5000 posts.

If your TA didn't tell you about the daily charge, they did you a disservice. I don't know what you can do about that. However, I would like to suggest that many are misinterpreting the word "discretionary."

You see, we wrongly assume it is at OUR discretion, when NCL really means it is at THEIR discretion.

Not that looking at circumstances that way changes your situation. I hope the $168 isn't that big of a burden for you and that you enjoy your vacation and decide it was worthwhile in the end.

There is one thing I don't recall being told though. They claim there are more lifeboats than passengers (blow up ones I think). But what I don't recall being told,where they are located if my lifeboat (as above) is not accessible.

Scroll down to message #69 on this page for a photo and description:

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=676040&page=4

I think they should go back to the old way of doing the muster drill. Meeting at your life boat with your life jacket. Going to a meeting room seems a little ridiculous.

Agreed. Even if that's not the way it's going to "go down" when the time comes, training that includes instruction and activity is better than training that just includes instruction.

Preparing for the unthinkable is very difficult. People will panic, and one paniky person will get another person who is on the verge of panic to lose it.

Nobody was reported as dying because they lacked a life jacket. Going to your room for the jacket is silly. And if you're in the back of the ship, going to the front of the ship if that's where your muster station is, is equally ridiculous. All you'll do is clog up the hallways and restrict movement of others. So sometimes, a little commons sense is useful, but how do you train 4200 passengers, a third of them already drunk, to use common sense?

I wonder how many people on the Concordia actually got off the ship at their assigned muster station in their assigned lifeboats?

I think muster is useful because it lets the passengers know that if the unthinkable happens, there is a plan to help us. Maybe it's not a perfect plan and maybe an unnannounced "Plan B" will actually be the way we escape, but at least the crew realize there's a slim possibility of the need of an escape plan and they've got one. (which probably includes the possibility of the passengers panicking)

If there's open embarkation in European ports, maybe there should be mandatory muster for new passengers. They can certainly make sure they take your picture, I'm sure they can make sure you get five minutes of emergency instruction as well.

The fact that there were so few casualties shows that in spite of panic, mistakes, unclear instructions or bad training, the system as a whole is pretty darned good. I bet that cruise ship travel is probably one of the safest forms of travel in the world.

I have in the past year carried on beer, in my carry on and gotten thru the scanners, It was only 1 beer, but after travelling for 4 hours to the pier and being shown to my room, it was a great surprise to get it thru. Unlike my cruise of 6 years ago, my brother in law and I went to the package store and bought 2 cases of beer and a case of wine and had the porters deliver them to our cabins. They, then kept our collapsible coolers full of ice for the entire cruise. Cruising has changed, as has the alcohol policy, don't get greedy and you may not end up in the naughty room. It is still more convenient to just order the drink on board than to run back to the room for another refill on your beverage of choice. Llimited budget, order the bucket or buy the drink card, go to the same bartender after tipping them in cash $5 the first day. Especially if you buy the drink of the day and have the same person waiting on you. You will spend much less money than drinking in different venues with different bartenders. Go to the shows, sit in the same area, have the same server you tipped 4 days previous, you'll get a lot more for your money. A corkage fee will be paid for any bottle of wine/ champagne you bring on board. It doesn't matter where you drink it, on deck, restaurant or in your room.

You're saying that a $5 tip got you free drinks?

What were the seas like? I do enjoy not having to fly but the thought of rough seas :eek: always make me shy away from this itinerary

You can get a Nor'Easter, but you won't get a Hurricane, and that's all the predicition you can really consider about the Atlantic 3 months from now.

We had a snow storm during Sail Away 3 years ago and it was really fun. I've got my fingers crossed for snow when we leave in January (although I hope everyone traveling to the port leaves themselves plenty of time to get there safely).

Thanks

 

Any stories and experiences out there?

I never missed the boat. One time, because of work schedules, we had to fly in the same day of the cruise, which still meant leaving the day before.

It was JFK - Heathrow - Barcelona. Leaving JFK at 2PM, arriving in Barcelona 11AM local time, with the ship leaving at 4PM.

I went on Kayak and made up a list of every possible flight from Heathrow (and Dover) into Barcelona that might have worked for us if we had a problem getting out of JFK. I had something like 40 or 50 possible direct & connecting flights calculated from London to Barcelona between 7AM and 3PM. (I was on British Airways and didn't want them to say "we can't help you" if there was a possible flight on a comptetitor, so I had them all listed out.)

Not the ideal situation, and I worried about it quite a bit, but we didn't have to use our contingency plans.

Yep, that's been going on for quite some time now. When I received mine, a close look at the card revealed that it wasn't associated with Carnival, and when I researched it further, I found that it was a "Vacation Club". I "googled" the club to find a large number of people who had sued the "club", and others who had paid their money, but hadn't received anything of value yet. Bottom line,,,I trashed the card.

As you stated,,if it seems too good to be true, it probably is! As a matter of fact, in this case "IT ABSOLUTELY IS! :eek:

 

"SKY"

I throw those out regularly, nobody's giving you a free cruise. Maybe a free trip on the ferry between NY & NJ if you're really lucky.

Even the "real mailers" from travel agents and the cruise lines are misleading at best. "Book today and get a 5 category upgrade." Yes, it's true, but it just means you're on deck 8 instead of deck 5.

I like that 7 day trip someone mentioned from San Diego to St. Thomas. I wonder if they go through the canal or around the Cape?

I am cruising from Miami in November and am wondering which is the better airport to fly into, Ft. Lauderdale and then take a shuttle (which I have done in the past), or directly to the Miami airport. The Ft. Lauderdale option is pretty stress free, but I would appreciate opinions from those who have flown into Miami.

I'd fly where ever it's cheaper, also including the cost of ground transportation. Miami might be crowded, but it's not that bad -- and FLL can be pretty busy too.

 

 

You're right about the NCL no single supplement fares: the Oct 28 NY - Miami 12 day repo dropped as low as $799 with 0% supplement for a balcony cabin.

 

Is that for the '09 cruise? I've got cruise buddies on that one.... (Pat, you wanna rebook?) :p

 

Nancy

That was the 08 cruise. And I found out about it on this message board. Booked it about a month prior to leaving.

Hey Nancy,

 

That Norwegian Gem Trans-Atlantic is one to keep our eyes on in the next several months. It very could end up having a reasonable single supplement offered at some point. If I remember correctly, NCL came out with some 'no single supplement' fares in July of this year.

 

Happy New Year everyone (especially Nancy ;) :))

You're right about the NCL no single supplement fares: the Oct 28 NY - Miami 12 day repo dropped as low as $799 with 0% supplement for a balcony cabin. I got in a little higher, but am definitely keeping my eyes open for similar bargains.

Just found out about the 0% single supplement for the NCL Jewel on its 12 day repo cruise from NYC to Miami, so I'm taking the plunge and doing my first solo cruise since becoming a widower. Certainly can't beat the price.

Anyone else going?

If I wanted to to kick back and relax, I would care more about the climate than the ship or destination.

If i wanted to sightsee, I would defintely choose the destination first.

I am looking forward to a trip on the Queen Mary one day, and that would be just for the thrill of being on the Queen Mary, so I would look at how easy and how expensive it would be to get onto her.

We're on the Jewel to the Med this summer. The Jewel's schedule fit our vacation schedule better than the other ships in the area. If we had taken RCI's tour, which leaves the day earlier, we would have had to fly on a Friday, which was about $500 more expensive per ticket than our Saturday flights.

Some ships have better food, some have better service, some have better decor, but they're all better than a day at work. I won't starve on any of them.