CruizinSusan70

It would certainly be a negative for the dedicated HAL cruiser who hasn't cruised on anything larger than 100 K tons and wants to cruise on Princess to Alaska for a change of pace.

You're correct about to each their own, but you were incorrect about the majority of cruisers wanting more intimate ships. If this was indeed true, then that would be how the mainstream line would be leaning with their current builds. So it looks like you'll be relegated to older rust buckets from the mainstream lines or more expensive cruise lines like Viking, Seabourne, Azamara, etc to cruise on the smaller ships that are not "Behemoths".

My pleasure. Some of the ships even have solo balconies.

Looking forward to seeing Glacier Bay northbound and southbound on our 14 days on the majestic in a month. And there is nothing dreaded about the Prima Class on NCL as well as the Excel Class on Carnival. Obviously you have not sailed on the Prima, Mardi Gras or Celebration.

Kind of difficult to compare Oceania with Celebrity and Princess let alone the entry level lines since Oceania is well known for their food. But then again, there's nothing in the Oceania fleet that's going to compare to the two Sphere Class ships for overall amenities.

Since you get free laundry on Princess, I have a question for you. Is it similar to free laundry on Carnival for their Platinum and Diamond levels in which all of the laundry is done in hot water. After a shirt got ruined years ago, we have not used the perk since.

MSC, NCL, RCI and Celebrity all have dedicated restaurants for those staying in upgraded cabins. The question though is whether the menu will be constant like some of the aforementioned are or whether the menu will rotate on a daily basis.

The OP likes to cruise on the newer ships from both RCI and NCL. If you're used to sailing on ships that are 150-230 K tons, it's a major difference to cruise on a ship that is 99.5 or smaller, which is the entire HAL fleet. People are off loaded for excursions no matter where the ship sails. And with the length of time in port being extended while cruising in Alaska it's OK that there are more passengers disembarking. When you're in port for up to 14 hours, not everyone is going to be rushing off at 700 am. Maybe yourself and others like the smaller ships. There are numerous threads that contain posts about people hating the Royal Class, so it's obvious that they will never set foot on a Sphere Class ship. Yet there are others that enjoy the amenities that the newer ships offer. We did 14 on the Discovery last year and loved it. Have future 14 day bookings on the Majestic and the Enchanted. When we're on the Majestic in a few weeks, we'll be booking B2B's for fall 2024 and winter 2025 on the Sun. I will infer that we won't see you onboard. Please don't use the phrase that "Most cruisers will tell you that smaller ships are more desirable than the big ones." That may be true for you, but the last time I cruised on a ship that was under 100 K tons was 12 years ago, and I've cruised over 30 times since then. Some people like vanilla while others like chocolate. That's why the newer larger ships are enjoyed by some while the older vessels are loved by others. Going back to 2009, when the Oasis OTS debuted there have been 45 ships built by the mainstream lines that are 130 K tons or larger. Mainstream new builds under that number total 4. The Celebrity Equinox at 122 K and three ships from HAL. If most cruisers desirability was with smaller ships, then why such a disparity with the size of new builds over the past 14 years?

I mentioned a dozen besides NCL, after factoring out the 3 from Virgin, the remaining 9 are: Anthem OTS 26, Ovation OTS 28, Quantum OTS 28, Spectrum OTS 28, Celebrity Beyond 32, MSC Bellissima 32, MSC Meraviglia 32, P&O Arvia 32, P&O Britannia 27. And the Celebrity Apex has 24.

I always thought you two were hussies.😉

I will infer that the one line that people choose to be loyal to because of the perks is Royal. They used to give their free drinks during happy hour and now it's 4 for Diamond, 5 for Diamond+ and 6 for Pinnacles. This is a very important perk for those loyalists that like to imbibe since Royals drink package is the highest amongst the main stream cruise lines because it's not available as part of a package similar to Celebrity, Princess, NCL or MSC. And because of their frustrating Dynamic Pricing policy, the dollar amount fluctuates depending upon the ship you're on and the time of year you sail, often resulting in newer ships having outrageously high rates for the package.

That would make sense since Celebrity is part of the Royal family and that's what Royal did previously before they went to the 4-5-6 voucher system.

I thought that the sea witch logo for Elites would be black and would be easier to see than the microscopic text that is on the edge of the medallions. We had them for our B2B last year on the Discovery. Wouldn't the sea witch be gold, red, gray and black for gold, ruby, platinum & elite levels.

Is that anything similar to mystery date?

Didn't think that writing had anything to do with it. Aren't Elite members given black medallions?

RCI gives 4 with Diamond status and 5 with Diamond Plus. So, which is it and what other lines give out free drinks with certain tier status? Not Carnival, NCL, MSC or Celebrity.

You mentioned that you like to sail on the newer ships of RCI and MSC. You should definitely choose Princess since the the largest ship in the entire HAL fleet is 99.5 K tons. The Grand Class of Princess has 7 ships, four of which cruise Alaska. Grand, 2008 107 K tons, Sapphire, 2004 115 K tons, Crown, 2006 113 K tons, Ruby, 2008 113 K tons. The Royal Class of Princess has 6 ships, three of which cruise Alaska. Royal, 2013 141 K tons, Majestic, 2017 143 K tons, Discovery, 2022 141 K tons. All 7 Princess ships that sail to Alaska are larger than anything HAL has and the 3 in the Royal Class are all 10 years or younger. We will be doing Alaska for the first time in a month on the Majestic for 14 days.

Including some posters that are delusional to think that the bartenders receive a certain % of the daily service charge when in fact their monies come from the pool that Princess allocates from the Plus and Premium packages as well as the 18% from a la carte drink purchases.

The best option would be a black car service from your area. We'll be parking at the lot since our cruise is 7 days in July. Kinda bummed about the daily increase from 30 to 45 a day, but what can you do.

You're on vacation, you're not driving, so there's nothing wrong with the consumption of a few spiked coffees.

I can reverse it and ask you to show me where it's stated that Princess divides the 16 bucks between everybody. Back in the day you handed envelopes to your waiter, asst waiter and room steward. When things became automated and charged to your credit card, a certain percentage was set aside for misc people such as those that work in the buffet. I've never seen any cruise line state that the daily service charge is spread around between all the employees. And I have cruised on Princess, Celebrity, Carnival, Royal, NCL, & MSC that are currently cruising.

No, not at all. Read my post again. Not a single penny of the 16.00 DSC goes to a bartender or someone from the specialty restaurants. The bartenders get their tips from the 18% added to a la carte drinks and whatever percentage of the drinks package pool they receive.

No, not at all. The 16.00 daily service charge is split among your room steward, the MDR staff and miscellaneous behind the scenes people. Has nothing to do with the bar tenders. Those that remove their tips and stiff the staff is a pet peeve of mine. Have seen them line up on the last sea day at guest services en masse on many Carnival cruises and my lone MSC cruise. By the way some people post on the Princess boards you can infer that there are some that cruise on Princess do it as well.

The 16.00 per day is divided between your room steward, the MDR staff and a certain percentage goes to behind the scenes miscellaneous people. Has nothing to do with tipping at the bar.

No extra tax charged on Royal or Celebrity when embarking from Bayonne.