caladezi

How about a Crispy Cream donut shop?

...and wear clean underwear.

Or at least wear some underwear.

The girls are all dressed up in their cocktail dresses and heels and the boyfriend in his scruffy jeans and shirt tails hanging out.

Hey Ma: If you check out all of the fashion setters like the young upper mobile guys, you will see that the latest trend is jeans with dress shirts with the tails not tucked in along with a sportcoat or sometimes even a formal jacket. A tie seems to be a thing of the past, except for old farts who think that they are still in fashion.

We once sat at the table with the Cruise Connection bus driver at the lunch stop in Naples, Fl on the way to FT. Lauderdale. Driving the bus is pretty much the same as driving a boat so I guess that counts with dining at a Captain's table.

If you don't like my flip flops, wait until you see me walk into the MDR in my THONG!

Our third vacation choice is the beach. Shark attacks were way up on the East coast last year.

I guess we will just stay home. NOT!!!

Our sharks are not terrorists!!! They are just hungry.

The only deals in the Caribbean are liquor

That doesn't even hold true any more. I can often get the same and sometime better prices at a store like Total Wine without all of the problems associated with buying booze on an island and bringing it home.

Best not to go referring to it as the "Retreat", though. Depending on the ship, the "Retreat" is either an area of private cabanas, or an area of the aft Lido Deck. The word "Retreat" is never used to refer to the spa area on a HAL ship.

As seen on HAL:• THE GREENHOUSE RETREAT† is a social relaxation center that

offers therapeutic mild sauna and steam grottos to gently cleanse and

purify the body. Feel free to move in and out of grottos and showers

as you wish, and then relax on heated ceramic lounges and allow the

pressures of life to rinse away. This is a his and hers social experience,

and you can come alone or with friends. We encourage the use of

The Greenhouse Retreat before and after all spa treatments. Daily and

cruise passes available

Only on the X board could two bottles of water cause so much grief!

Last time I remember we were able to "sit down" in the Lido at lunch.

There are obviously many people who are satisfied with a drink package and a lounge chair and that's fine, but for those who have experienced all the other offerings that Celebrity used to provide, it's a bit disappointing.

Perhaps Celebrity's new policy is to give the passengers enough to drink and they won't notice all of the other cuts. They can just walk around like zombies with a smile on their face.

Thanksforyourreviewbutithinkthatyouforgottousethespacebar.

OK, so the Canadian dollar stinks and tourism from Canada will be affected. Given that, who or what is to blame and how do you fix it? Do Canadians think that prices in the US should be lowered to accommodate the weak Canadian dollar? Should the Canadian government somehow subsidise the economy to make up for the exchange rate? Perhaps if you really want to go on a cruise, go in an inside cabin rather than a suite for the time being. I don't know how to solve the problem but I'm getting tired of hearing how Canadians are going to wreck the American economy by not shopping here or taking a cruise.

So how will HAL respond? Options include raising the fares even more to make up the revenue shortfall but that's probably unlikely. Doing nothing is also probably not ideal as you want to fill those cabins. Offering targeted discounts to Canadians for slower filling sailings - probably very likely. That's what Oceania is doing.

 

Fares for Canadians are at an all time high - my prediction? They will go higher, stay the same or drop! The situation has to cook for a little while longer until we see how HAL adapts.

Are you actually saying that HAL or any other line should sell a cabin for less to a Canadian based on the fact that their dollar is worth less than ours? If they were to do that I think the backlash from Americans would be huge. I HAL wants to lower fares for everyone that would be great, but to single out Canadians based on their weak dollar would be ridiculous and totally unfair to the American customers. If you haven't noticed, ships are sailing pretty full these days and with or without the Canadians who are hurting due to their poor government decisions, will continue to sail full. BTW, there ARE still many Canadians who continue to cruise without all of the woes.

When our dollar was strong, Med cruises were begging for customers, and the Euro was low we did lots of travel in the area-cruises and independent land trips.

 

This past summer/fall we ruled out a Baltic and Med cruises in partly because of increased pricing and partly because of our weak dollar. We ruled out the UK because of the strength of the GBP. So we ended up in the Greek Isles. The euro exchange rate was reasonable for us so that is where we went for a fabulous six weeks.

 

This winter...no Florida, AZ, or Caribbean cruises for us. Exchange is awful. We simply look for different alternatives. So it is going to be the beaches in Thailand and Vietnam. We spend just a little more on air and a lot less on travel-in part due to exchange and in part due to location. Cuba, DR, and Mexico were also on offer.

 

My guess is some Americans will be making similar choices. Only they may be deciding on a ski holiday in Whistler or Banff rather than Colorado or Utah. Or they may be deciding to spend an extra week in Vancouver, Quebec City/Montreal/ or the Rockies. Good for them. I hope they have a wonderful time and snap up some great bargains (for them). It will be of great benefit to us if they do. Far from resenting it, I am happy for them. We did the same in other countries from time to time.

 

 

No use crying about the exchange rate situation. There are three choices. Buck up and pay. Stay home and sulk/keep your powder dry until the FX rate improves in 18 months or so. Or find an affordable alternate vacation option that is a little easier on the pocketbook-either land based or booking a cruise in another country at a lower FX adjusted cost. We feel fortunate to have all of these three options.

Excellent and most intelligent post on this subject. I love Thailand and Vietnam and I'm sure that you will have a great time.

Many people would love to stay in a suite but due to the high price can not afford it. Many would love a balcony or even an ocean view cabin but it is beyond their ability to pay that much. They settle for an inside cabin and a pizza cut into six slices from room service because that's what their bankroll will allow. Some cannot even afford to buy that inside cabin because the price is still too high due to their weak currency and opt out of cruising or traveling to Florida and just stay home. Many of those people might just find that there is much to see in their own country that shares their own currency.

 

Would you feel better if we all rejoiced at having to pay a 42% mark up on our cruises?

You are not paying a 42% markup on anything. The fact is that you are buying a product (your cruise) in the US at US prices. If you were paying with Euros, it would be fewer Euros but not less in cost. If you paid with Tai Bahts it would be way more bahts but the same cost. You just can not compare your Canadian dollar to the USD because it is not worth as much. Therefore, you are not paying a markup but rather just exchanging a less valuable currency for a more valuable one. The only way that everything would be equal would be if we all paid for everything with gold bullion and even then some will argue.

The same cannot be said for our local lobstermen who take their boats and traps out to waters quite south of Maine. :)

 

The pound where I buy my lobsters get them from our local fishermen.

 

But did those lobsters illegally migrate into US waters from Canada?

I would just like to point out that "Maine" lobsters and the lobsters from Eastern Canada, are the same species and live under the same cold water conditions. They are identical, after all, the Canadian lobsters just live up the coast a ways. Restaurants often sell either one, depending on their supplier. And you are right, they are both delicious.

Do the Canadian lobsters feel inferior to those living on the US side of the line? The only place that I can think of that remains constant with the USD is the Cayman Islands where the exchange rate has been .80 Cayman to $1.00 USD ever since I can remember. That means we spend $1.25 of our dollars to get $1.00 in Cayman value. This rate has been constant for years and has not fluctuated. Some years that good for us and some years not, but that's how it is.

I don't understand why the Canadians blame the US for their poor economy and diminished value of their currency.

It's one thing to make a simple mistake; it's quite another to be obstinate and insist that your erroneous recollection is correct. I suggest that you make a simple Internet search on the implementation of the Euro before making yourself look foolish in future posts.

Check it out!

http://useconomy.about.com/od/inflation/p/Euro-To-Dollar-Conversion.htm?utm_term=us%20dollar%20vs%20euro%20history&utm_content=p1-main-1-picture&utm_medium=sem&utm_source=google&utm_campaign=adid-858106e6-7178-4593-9550-6897b6b964de-0-ab_gsb_ocode-35381&ad=semD&an=google_s&am=broad&q=us%20dollar%20vs%20euro%20history&dqi=&o=35381&l=sem&qsrc=999&askid=858106e6-7178-4593-9550-6897b6b964de-0-ab_gsb

Then check the chart after the Euro was actually used as currency.

Your recollection is faulty. When the Euro was implemented, the exchange rate was 1 Euro for $1.1789 USD, not $.85.

 

Ironically, what you wrote is the inverse of what was implemented. One dollar equaled approximately .85 Euro.

Sorry MadMan but you are wrong! I was in Europe when the implementation took place and the Euro was LESS than the USD which is why many Americans invested in the Euro at that time.

When are they going to eliminate Blu? Is it going to be used as a suite overflow restaurant? OMG, where are the Aqua Passengers going to eat now.

Anyone remember receiving your cruise docs in the nice leather (later plastic) holder about the size of a legal size envelope. It was delivered from your TA or mailed direct from Celebrity but was definitely from Celebrity and their method of delivering those long awaited documents.

You should also be aware that the child will be expected to pay the full gratuity as an adult.

I also dislike it when someone sits near me in the theater or at dinner for that matter and passes gas.