leaveitallbehind

The segment booking is not new to RCCL - or others, for example Celebrity - who do this routinely on certain repositioning cruises. For example, Australia to Vancouver (and reverse) is sold in segments or as a whole. Our 2019 RCCL Hawaii to Vancouver was one segment of that repositioning cruise. They have also done that in the past with new launches of a new class of ship, again as a positioning cruise to it's ultimate region for cruising. Quantum of the seas had a three + segment option with it's inaugural sailing. The RCCL world cruise you reference is a new itinerary that is a truly a round the world itinerary that is sold in four segments or as a whole. You also reference MSC with optional boarding and departure ports. The interport boarding option is also something RCCL does on certain itineraries where passengers can board and depart at two separate ports of call within the same closed loop itinerary. The ports are selected with the initial booking and is locked in as such and you must complete the full closed loop itinerary. In this manner it is not an "on and off bus" concept, however. This, too, is not new for them. Ex: Barcelona or Rome boarding and departure ports for one of their western Mediterranean itineraries.

@shipgeeks what cruise line did this occur with?

All of the cruise lines you mention have casinos on their ships. Disney, however, does not. Disney, however, along with Royal Caribbean, and NCL's primary demographics are families with children. Princess, along with families, has more of an adult focus. Celebrity's demographic is adults. Celebrity would likely fit you best amongst those IMO. What you need to look at is what is the global presence of each as some have more ships and more world regions covered than others. You also need to look at repositioning cruises amongst those lines as the primary source for longer cruises as most itineraries are typically 7-night repeats. As far as a "bus to go to different places" and a "lower cost way to see the world", I'm not sure cruising would provide either. It is, IMO, a fairly economic way to see the world v flights and extended land stays and touring might be, but it is not low cost. But as the lines you reference are not considered high end luxury lines, they would provide a more cost effective way to cruise. However, some of the higher end lines would provide the longer itineraries that would better facilitate "seeing the world". I would suggest contacting a travel agent who specializes in cruises and start there with your requirements and allow them to help determine the best fit for you.

What was never clear in your discussion was WHEN this occurred, only that it occurred, which is why I asked for clarification. Having this discussion in advance makes perfect sense and would not be an issue - but that timing was not clear. And I am not making it into a negative - my responses all along were assuming it was done at the terminal at boarding - which I indicated and stated that was the reason I would not be happy. I am glad you clarified that. And unless I missed it, you still have not identified on which cruise line this occurred with you.

OK so I see that with a voluntary situation, in which case I most likely would still say no - if done at the terminal, already there, packed, have to get a flight back home, etc. - not likely worth it. But what would be the case if everyone offered said no - as I think would be a very possible likelihood. If they were truly overbooked, would they not be forced to bump someone at the terminal? How would you react to that? Or was the overbook offer made in advance of the actual sailing date? BTW - on which cruise line did you experience this?

I am not challenging your comments, but I have heard of this when a ship is being unexpectedly redeployed to a different region or itinerary, or being taken out of service for unplanned repairs or maintenance. If being oversold can happen, then perhaps we have been fortunate as in 50+ cruises over 31 years it, gladly, has never happened to us. As mentioned in an earlier post I would not react well if it did.....

There is no preferred side, and as mentioned you will likely be outside for a good part of the day, so you can go anywhere on the ship as the situation would arise. The most interesting part IMO is transiting the old locks. We did so on Jewel of the Seas a number of years ago and at the time, she was a Panamax ship with only a few feet of side to side clearance. We were on the starboard promenade deck at the time and were able to reach out and touch the side of the lock(s) when we were in them. Your balcony will also provide an excellent vantage point for your transit.

Most independent tour operators are well in tune with the various ships' times when in port and arrange their schedules accordingly. We have never had an issue in the past when we have done that, and I would not be overly concerned. You could contact the tour operator to confirm his understanding of what the ship time would be. (However, ship time is at the Captain's discretion and while it typically would be the same from itinerary to itinerary, it may not always be consistent.) I am not sure how to confirm what the ship time will be prior to a cruise other than perhaps going to the roll calls of previous itineraries and inquire there - often they remain open for post cruise discussions. That may provide some insight as to what it was on previous cruises. I will add that with RCCL you will typically be able to leave the ship within about 30 minutes of the scheduled dock time, and you will need to be back on board by 30 minutes prior to the departure time.

Even with the less capable current connectivity, with the internet plans offered on board and the number of people purchasing them, there already is a large number of connected people using their devices on a daily basis for posting photos, checking emails, surfing the internet, and accessing the many social media sites. Not sure if this will change dramatically, but certainly better, cheaper (if in fact it becomes so) service will attract many who maybe are not as connected on board currently. But so be it. As others have suggested, what other passengers do on board regarding the internet has no affect on me or how I enjoy my cruising.

I have not cruised on Edge class but have been on Solstice class ships and they are very nice ships with a good selection of specialty restaurants, if that is of interest. Edge is the newest class which has taken the Solstice class to the next level in terms of venues and design. One key thing to keep in mind is that Celebrity's primary demographics is adults and atmosphere and cruising style has an adult orientation to it. Unlike RCCL, which focuses on families with many whistles and bells on board for family activities, Celebrity has none of that and as a result, very few families with children typically on board. Princess is somewhat of a blend of families and adults with a bit more of an adult focus. Carnival, on the other hand, is very much family and young adult oriented and the on board atmosphere reflects that, although perhaps somewhat less so on the Hawaii type of itinerary. If I were choosing, I would stay with Celebrity or Princess, or since you experienced the Quantum class ship on RCCL and if you enjoyed that, I would include RCCL. When we did our Hawaii - Vancouver repositioning cruise in April 2019 it was on Ovation and we very much enjoyed the itinerary and ship. BTW, Carnival would not be in consideration for my choices. Just personal preference.

Thanks. My reason for asking was to understand if Viking accepted a deposit with a booking and then deferred final payment as is typically done, but with the option at that time of the ACH payment with a discount or standard credit card payment. Or did they require full payment with the booking and only held a short reservation date without requiring a deposit. Again, thanks for clarifying.

Celebrity only offers the spring and fall repositioning Hawaii (one way) itineraries and offers no cruises anywhere out of San Diego. If they did it was a number of years ago.

Post covid, certain activities were paced in their ramp up to return. But in our four cruise experience on both RCCL and Celebrity since the '21 restart most of the normal on board activities have returned. (Bingo, trivia, glass blowing (Celebrity), etc.) In general, just about everything with cruising has returned to "normal" since the restart - in particular the high rate of bookings!

They offer both - round trip and one way - of 13 (one way) and 16 (round trip) day itineraries. Mainland departure ports are LA, San Francisco, and Vancouver. Here is the link to that information: https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/results/?trade=H The HAL itineraries are of interest as well and I was not aware of them - thanks for adding. Also, most of the repositioning cruises I mentioned originally have their origins in Australia, to include the south Pacific and Hawaii en route to Vancouver for Alaska itineraries, and visa versa, and are in that 30 day plus range in total.

As example, both RCCL and Celebrity offer repositioning cruises in April and October on several ships that typically are in the 10 - 13 day range between Vancouver and Honolulu and offer ports of calls in Hawaii. Typically the April itineraries are from Honolulu to Vancouver and the October itineraries are from Vancouver to Honolulu. We have done the April sailing a few years back on RCCL Ovation and found it very enjoyable with 5 days in Hawaii and 6 days on the crossing with a port of call in Vancouver Island en route to Vancouver. Princess cruises offers routine long itinerary Hawaii cruises from the mainland to Hawaii between December and April. I believe they are the only mass market cruise line offering this.

The OP stated that he and his wife have been there many times and that he has been there on business more than 60 times. From that I would think he has an understanding of the land travel. He is looking for information on cruises to and from there, most likely to provide an alternate form of transportation v flying, either to or from a land trip. Just my opinion.

Did you have to convey a deposit at the time of the October booking - and if so, how did you make that payment?

I've not heard of that as I also have not factually heard of intentional overbooking. That doesn't mean it can't or doesn't happen, I just am not aware of it. It's not like an airline with point to point transportation with more options than the one flight if it is overbooked. I think it would be pretty difficult to deny someone - especially if they travelled a distance to get to the port - boarding by saying "sorry, we are overbooked". I know how I would react........

I guess the weather certainly can differ as in our two cruises our experiences were as I described them. Maybe we were just more fortunate.

Mum2Mercury said: "Really? I've never heard that before, and I'm surprised." This actually is a true statistic - at least so a few years ago. This is what led to many of the mass market cruise lines implementing a non-refundable deposit option to help reduce this cycle. While resulting in a lower fare, it restricts changes and cancelations through a penalty with the deposit. Some lines require this with no option for a refundable deposit with suite bookings to mitigate changes within that category even further. As a side note, when it was first introduced it had the benefit to the cruise lines of also being a price increase tool as the refundable deposit fares in place became the non-refundable fares for new bookings, and the refundable fares were then increased so that you paid more for that booking flexibility. At the time we had several bookings via a refundable deposit in place and doing mock re-bookings on each resulted in our then refundable deposit fare being essentially that of the new non-refundable fares and the refundable fares were now measurably higher.

I understand, but in this case the OP confirmed that it would be an ACH transaction, which is a direct cash payment from your bank account to the provider by way of a third party conveyor. Not processed via a debit card or a check. So in that manner it is truly a cash payment. The discount offered is likely an offset to the credit card processing fees paid by the provider. (Viking, in this case).

You typically depart late afternoon on day one and by early afternoon the next day (day two) the weather is comfortable enough to be outside. At this point you would typically be off the coast of the Carolinas and still with some benefit of the gulf stream, so it gets warmer fairly quickly. The return would be similar in that the last full day at sea would gradually get cooler from the morning and by late afternoon it would probably be cold so as to be back indoors, and would remain so until you dock the next morning. We have done a December cruise similar to the one you describe a couple of times and that was our experience. So you maybe lose two of the seven days outdoors due to the cold, but not four as you suggest. December in the north east US is typically still relatively mild in terms of winter weather, so you should not be risking too much.

I think they do. It apparently is just their option to avoid the credit card transaction fees. But it still relies on a third party involvement (ACH) who must have some skin in the game as well. I, as you, prefer not to have my accounts accessed directly by a third party - even when secure - and would still opt for the credit card payment method.

Well that at least clarifies how the cash payment would be made and it is, at least in this instance, unique to Viking, as I am not familiar with that type of payment being an option with any of the mass market cruise lines. ACH is typically a safe method of a cash transaction, if you are OK with having your account accessed directly. I would check for more clarification with the TA you used for the booking to see if it is a good option for you. Personal preference, I guess.

Am I missing something? I am not familiar, at least with the mass market cruise lines, with a "cash with discount" option. All payments are via a credit card, and with no payment option discount. Where would you go, and with whom, would you make a cash payment? How did you make your deposit payment? Are you referring to a big box TA? If so, any payment option discount would be through them and not the cruise line. As to credit card benefits, as @crystalspin mentioned, different cards offer different membership benefits, but third party insurance is always a good idea to investigate.