expectthebest

Does anyone know if you can ‘bid’ into any haven rooms from a family ocean view room or can it only be 2 levels down from the Haven so line the club balcony

Thank you for the quick response!!

Bird- thank you sooo much I will be doing some reading tonight before bed.. yes it will be on the joy

Hello Fello Critics: My wife (44)and I (48)could really use some advice..don’t tell her I just told all of cruise critic her age!! 🤣 we usually book a springbreak cruise from NY or NJ b/c kids are out of school for the week. We always wanted to try Bermuda but it was never offered in Mar b/c of cold I guess We are planning to book the 6/2/24 to 6/9/24 7 day Bermuda cruise out of NYC tomorrow. We are planning on a club balcony for the bigger bathroom (2 sinks) because we have 2 active boys ages (6) and (13) we live in the Northeast so we will drive to the pier (2 hours) Has anyone taken a cruise to Bermuda in early June? Anyone recently been on the ship? I just read a potential dry dock from Jan-Feb so wonder what improvements she needs? it seems like a nice ship from our little research.. is the 2 nights in Bermuda overkill? Is there any strategy to make the most of the 2 days docked there? We are “beach people” and like to relax bc our jobs are stressful. how is the local bus from pier to a beach/ town area? Or is it better to get a Uber/ taxi? we are not big drinkers at all.. I can see the booze pkg is “free” but comes with a $600 gratuity add on.. so not sure if any of you think maybe just pay for a couple drinks a day Al a carte ? can you rent an umbrella/ chairs in beach area? Bring Cash I guess? is there any good shrimp tacos recommendations? if anyone has any tips/ tricks that would add to our potential cruise experience overall I will be forever grateful Thank you for helping!!! -Mark

I’m sorry for your loss.. I can’t even imagine.. good that you will always have the memories to reflect back on a live well lived..

I bet if this keeps up that consumers in the car market will just willingly drive to the car lot and happily pay ‘sticker’ for their RAV4 If this continues.. how long until the dealers start to create their own “stickers” and pad in a lil extra and see just how far people will go to pay an inflated sticker price on a declining asset

I love replies and posts like this.. when it’s put in perspective yes it’s a first world problem.. I am tired of hearing everyone say that the cruise lines need to ‘recoup’ for the last 2 years.. that is BS they took the write offs they need to move on.. I used to live in the garden state for the first 19 years of my life

My friend.. I don’t want to be the one to tell you this but I added up all the money you had spent on your cruises over the last 25 years and adjusted for inflation with and annual rate of return of 4% and well if you want to know I’ll tell you… The total comes to 3.79 million dollars.. just think if you didn’t like cruising so much that money would be in your bank lol

Spanish for “exactly” here to help

Ok.. Last thought on shrinkflation since you bring it up and it seems like a ‘hot’ button for most.. here is an excerpt from my open letter I mailed not long ago: Hello Food Makers, If you are going to shrink the size/ volume of the food we are used to buying do me one favor… please also shrink the packaging to match the new size of the reduced product that you are charging me a premium for.. did you ever see a guest at a wedding in a much to big suit? It looks ridiculous!!! Well the packaging on my Reese’s peanut butter cups recently reminded me of that!! The packaging was so big and loose that one of the peanut butter cups actually had enough room to ‘flip’ over.. also I used to be able to stack 2 Reese’s cups and place them both in my mouth at the same time.. now I can do it with ease and actually thought let’s try 3 of them which turned out to be a bad idea.. and what happened to the cardboard tray that the 2 cups used to rest on??

Thank you for including the picture of the delicious McD SEC on a muffin.. now I am starving!!! Do you remember when McD decided to allow breakfast to be ordered 24 hrs a day?? Those were some good times my friend. I digress.. speaking about Haven.. we have been fortunate enough to stay a few times by way of upgrades but never the rack rate right out of the gate.. I feel like if a family of 4 can and is willing to pay 12k for a nice haven cabin for a week that family may want to look at some higher end cruise lines that cater specifically to the well heeled

By ‘out of the woods’ I mean that more people are comfortable getting back on a cruise ship which for the last 2 years these same people were held up in their home just looking out their windows. I do agree with what you are saying about the costs and I can’t imagine having adult kids moving back in to the family home.. Their room has already been converted to a study!!! Lol

Birdi- your response nails it.. I don’t expect more with fixed pricing on consumer goods.. but when a ‘service’ is involved.. which cruising is 60% service I do expect MORE.. now admittedly I do still enjoy the value menu at the drive thru from time to time lol but that is a different situation.. see, when cruise companies decide to increase their prices which obvi needs to happen from time to time.. they should also make sure their guests are feeling APPRECIATED.. how many times have you passed a cruise employee in a hallway or in a dining establishment and instead of the worker looking you in the eye and asking how are you or a simple good morning.. they are looking down and to the left.. IYKYK

You are showing screen shots of a 5 day cruise with NO airfare for $4500.. I do t know.. for me that seems pretty high.. but thanks for doing the comparison bc at least NCL example includes drink pkg which is a nice feature.

Agreed!! THIS post is exactly what I was expressing.. you pay all this money and the service is at a amateur level.. Cruises used to roll out the red carpet!!

Fellow Cruisers, Here I sit perusing the ‘24 cruises for next year and I must say the prices for balcony and above for family of 4 are becoming borderline INSANE!! My wife tries to get me to calm down by rationalizing that everything goes up and it’s just part of the overall VALUE of cruising. My question to the critic community: During Covid.. I understand running a business especially the cruise business must have had its set of challenges.. I get it… Now most areas are out of the woods and have been for over a year and the vast majority are ready to set sail again.. but at what NEW cost of cruising?? Are these extremely high prices here to stay? Cruising 10 years ago used to be a cheap vacation that allowed you to see parts of the world for minimal cost.. Now that cruise fares have risen to unattainable levels are we settling for poor service and very low expectations that seem to be the new normal? I feel like if I am paying in my opinion a premium to cruise I should be getting premium service that should mirror the higher costs? what are your thoughts?

I agree.. last ship we were on was breakaway out of NYC and was a good deal so that what I had in my mind…

Yes… it’s the viva I think… so that will make a huge difference now that you think about it

That is a great price… I didn’t check how full the ship is.. or who the officers are that are on the ship so that may affect the price a bit as well

Hello Cruisers, It’s been 3 1/2 years since we last cruised on NCL.. and boy have these prices gone sky high!! I know all things must go up in price… but a club balcony out of San Juan next March for $8100 for my wife and I along with our 2 children…is insane… it’s not even a suite or the “Haven” then we add airfare out of Philly and it tops out at just over 11k…. Not a typo… $11,000 Dollars… was hoping to book a club balcony and then upgrade to the Haven with a little luck.. but now.. I think this cruise is off the table… Am I the only one who thinks these prices have made cruising out of reach for most families?? Thanks for listening,

Great advice!! I didn’t think to compare 4 adults vs 2 adults and 2 kids.. I just wish if the price was $2500 for 2 in a balcony and then you can add 2 ‘free’ kids to the booking and still net to $2500 but I completely agree with these answers.. so thank you friends!!!

Hi Cruisers, If a promo of kids sail free is 100% true then why is the price of 2 adults in a cabin less then a cabin with 2 adults and 2 kids? im not just talking the taxes… the actual price of the first 2 adults in both scenarios is not the same? Am I missing something?? Should I call RCL customer service and find out? Has anyone on here experienced this pricing arbitrage ??

We were very happy for our first sailing with RCL… we will sail the line again!!

Thanks Franncos!!

Just off Anthem 3/5-3/12 at the pools we showed our room key and they could tell we were booked in a suite..they just said take as many as you need and I said what time do we need to return them and the deck attendant working the towel station said suite guests don’t need to return them or worry about anything… by the 3 rd day they recognized me and never asked anything for the rest of the cruise