DRWhit

On 1/5/2022 at 2:48 PM, COCOYOTE said:

Just saw this on the SeaDream website regarding Covid testing:

 

Effective January 7, 2022, all SeaDream guests will be required to provide a negative Rapid COVID-19 PCR result from a test taken within 1 day of embarkation OR a negative RT-PCR COVID-19 result from a test taken within 3 days of embarkation.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what is a Rapid Covid PCR test, how is different than a RT-PCR test, and why would SeaDream want a Rapid PCR test taken from the day before they give you another Covid test?

 

We are planning on getting to St Martin a few days before we board, and this might get a bit troublesome.

I would say “No” to cruising with an indoor mask requirement at present.  We were fortunate to take three cruises in 2021, all without an indoor mask requirement, so I will be able to wait until Omicron hopefully burns through and indoor masks are no longer required.

 

I think it’s OK that folks love travel and cruising so much that they are willing to ignore the current CDC advice to avoid cruises, regardless of masking requirements.  

 

 

We haven' taken a whole lot of cruises, but we have done one on RCI and one on Celebrity, and liked them both.

 

I thought the food was better on Celebrity, and it tried to be a bit more upscale with a lot of the little touches like handing out ice cold water and towels during the re-boarding tendering process at port, and a better tote bag.

 

I thought RCI was a bit more energetic and lively with regards to planned events, and was a very fun cruise. Also the larger FOS was an amazing ship.

 

But we did the Celebrity during spring break and there was plenty of fun and energy on that cruise as well. I will be very surprised if you don't end up liking Celebrity.

 

We have been wanting to go back on Celebrity to try one of their newer ships, but I just am not a fan of their Caribbean itineraries, not enough ports.

Oh my goodness! My wife I just booked a Southern Caribbean cruise on RCI, so I was looking at your thread. As I was reading it, I realized I was at your parents wedding in Jackson MS!! Tell them that Pam and Doug say hello and give them our warmest regards!

 

Its kind of funny how things turned out... your dad and I worked together back in the day. We both were bachelors and ended up marrying Mississippi ladies. I have two daughters. Like you all, we love to go to Disney (in fact I have one daughter who went to school and is now working at Walt Disney World), and we also love to go on cruises.

 

I can tell you have a wonderful family (no surprise, given your parents!) and I know your parents are very proud of you. Man, it seems like yesterday your dad and I were single guys in Mississippi. And now, we both have families with grown up girls, going on cruises. And I run across this thread on an internet site. What a life! :)

I hope you have a great trip, and I look forward to hearing the results.

I don't see the difference that Happy seems to see between HAL and Celebrity. Both were positioned to be a premium brand between mass market and luxury. Both pursued an active growth strategy and added a several new ships in the late 90's and 2000's. Now that the economy has gotten a bit tougher, both brands find themselves competing with the mass markets, especially for Carribean cruises. Celebrity's prices are basically the same as HALs.

 

The concept that HAL could have added all the new ships, and then somehow added enough cruisers to fill them while still charging higher prices than mass markets, Celebrity, and others; seems to be the unsupported position to me.

 

OK, slight revision here. I have misquoted Happy. He says that HAL should have bought out Oceania and Regent instead of adding their newest 6 ships. That's an interesting thought, but I think since HAL is owned by Carnival, it would have been Carnival that would be doing the buying. Maybe they could have, but that seems a bit out of character for Carnival, who seems to like growth through expansion. Also they already own Seabourn.

DRWhit:

I agree with you that a wife like yours deserves the very best. I hope you fit that description.

Yes, she is great. Sadly, I am lacking in many areas, but try to make up for it others.

What is it? What is the crucial marketing difference between a discounter and a truly premium brand?

From what I have seen, its usually an appeal to the "snob" in people to pay a good bit more for a product with maybe slightly better quality (not trying to sound ugly, but that's the best way to say it that I know of).

 

For example, my wife and I just went refrigerator shopping and got it narrowed down to two refrigerators. They were both about equal in size and features. One was an Electrolux, that looked to me to be marginally better made. Supposedly that brand is well known as a top of the line brand, used in very nice kitchens. The other was a Samsung, also supposedly a good brand, but more in line with all the other brands.

 

The price difference was very large with the Electrolux much more expensive. The dealer said that Electrolux would not let them discount their list price and would pull his license to sell the product if he did so. The snob in me said lets get the very best, we can afford it, and she deserves it. My lovely wife (who is somewhat of a frugal-lista) said she just could not justify such a price difference and she wanted the Samsung. So we ended up with the Samsung.

Those of us who do care and do have the money to spend on higher fares for cruising aboard ships in good condition and with proper service will eventually tire of HAL and move to Cunard or Seabourn where CCL can pull more money from us for roughly the product we originally came to HAL for.

But in making that move, you could just as easily move to Azamara, Oceania, Regent, or some other line not owned by CCL. That would teach them!

Since HAL is owned by Carnival, you have to look at it as what is good for Carnival rather than what is good for HAL. Carnival already owns Seaborn, so an upscale of HAL to luxury might just compete with that line. Plus, it would be hard to fill all of HAL's ship on a luxury basis, I would think.

 

But who is to say all HAL ships have to be in the same market? I would think they could look at how The Prinsendam is doing and judge how effective converting other ships to that model might be.

 

Since CCL also owns Cunard, Princess and HAL, it seems to me that with HAL they are just more interested in controlling total overall cruise market share, rather than some specific niche.

Everyone on the ship has AYWD.

Probably a bad name for their dining program. It implies you get to dine as you wish, but that doesn't always happen. We wish to dine downstairs on the fixed late setting, but that's not an option.

No, they are not. The food in the MDR is fine, why would anyone pay to have different food? But people pay for water in a plastic bottle,when you can get all the water you want for free, which is something I have never understood. So what do I know?

 

I would add that these extra cost food places seem to take up a lot of space on the ship that could be better used, I think.

I think a lot of men do not like to wear ties because they don't have shirts that are fitted for their neck size. Its that top button, not the tie, that tends to choke them.

My first cruise was on the "Starship Majestic" of Premier Cruise Lines many moons ago. Here is a photo from Copper's wonderful post #1220 about her. In retrospect, it was a great crew and a wonderful ship.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oddly enough, I enjoyed the cruise a great deal, but did not get the cruise bug. A few years later we tried another cruise on a Carnival ship out of New Orleans, and I really did not have a good time. I had some back problems and was worried about sea sickness, so I took Dramamine. I was in pain from the back and sleepy from the Dramamine the whole time.

 

It wasn't until last year that I tried another cruise, this one on Royal Carribean's Freedom of the Seas. I ditched the Dramamine, the back was in good shape, and we had a wonderful time, so I think I have the cruise bug now.