BruceMuzz

It wasn't my intention to change the world, it was more me venting frustration....

 

I've had a typical girls nightmare, shop with money in your pocket and you see nothing to buy, shop without money and you see lots to buy....

 

A day wasted. Think I should get hubby to plan holidays in future as he us getting an easy life!! ;)

You did make the mistake in thinking that cruise lines want more children - and their parents - to take a cruise. Except in a very few rare cases (like Disney) we do not.

Children cannot gamble or drink alcohol.

Children rarely go on expensive excursions.

Children rarely make spa appointments.

Children do not purchase jewelry.

Their parents spent all their money on the children and school, so have very little left to spend onboard.

The parents often cannot afford to tip for the children, claiming that the children are no bother for the staff and make their jobs easier (exactly the opposite of reality).

Children often bother the passengers who do spend money on our ships, chasing them away.

We did the $149 unlimited plan. Service withe the new provider doesn't seem as strong in Alaska as MTN was. Several times in port there was no signal. I had no signal in Skagway mid day and called Guest Services- they said it was due to the mountains or weather. Two hours later a full signal-nothing had changed in our location or the weather.

 

It was nice not to have to worry about minutes and fighting to get minutes back that had "disappeared".

 

I miss having a dedicated Internet person aboard. Everything is now handled be the Librarian and Front Office- seems like they just had canned answers to read when a problem happened. My only complaint on my post cruise survey was the internet- very unreliable and usually slow.

Irregardless of the ship you are on in Alaska, you will encounter signal problems. The internet satellites orbit around the equator, creating a very steep angle for reception so far North.

If you sail from Vancouver, the terminal building will block the signal all or part of the day, depending on the height of the ship and your location on the pier.

At Skagway, the mountain next to the railway pier will block the signal for most ships at least part of the day. If you are on a very big (tall) ship, the afternoon tide will usually raise you up enough to get an OK signal by midday. If you are on a small ship, you may get no signal at all.

But if your ship is moored all the way out at the ocean end of the railway pier, the earth's ratation will sometimes get you lined up with the satellite by mid to late afternoon.

Glacier Bay has frequent outages and interruptions due to the high cliffs in certain areas.

Tracy Arm, Hubbard Glacier, and a few of the other fjords sometimes have similar challenges.

Alaska is famous for dense fog banks. These are more common later in the season, but already this year we have seen quite a few. Dense fog will often seriously slow or completely wipe out the internet signal.

I don't have to choose either. It's a waste no matter how it's viewed.

All the cruise line companies have struggled with this issue for years.

The paper is not that expensive, but now the latest ISO Certification for the cruise lines requires a substantial reduction in paper usage and recycling.

EVERY cruise line has conducted study after study on this issue.

The results are unanimous.

For every passenger who claims that he/she immediately throws the paper flyers away, there are about 10 more consumers who read them and make a purchase.

When those paper flyers are not distributed, sales drop anywhere from 30% to 50%.

That 30 - 50% translates to hundreds of thousands of dollars on every cruise.

If we take away the flyers, we would have to increase your cruise fare to cover the losses.

Is it a waste? Yes.

Is it going to stop? No.

Some of you guessed correctly.

Some of you missed it entirely.

The daily feeding budget for every cruise line is based on how much you pay for the cruise.

In the Caribbean, where the semi-professional tourists are paying $299 for a 7-day cruise, the food budget is quite low and limited.

In the Med, where more experienced travelers are spending $100 or $200 per day (or more)for a cruise, the cruise line can afford to purchase better quality food and more variety for them.

Why not more local sourcing of food?

Because the US Public Health Service doesn't like it.

They require that any cruise line with ships that call at any US Ports MUST purchase all protein food items from US Certified Vendors. US Certified Vendors exist only in the USA.

Why not more fresh food on ships?

US Public Health Service claims that eating fresh fish is dangerous to your health. (It's a good thing the Japanese have not heard about this)

Most protein items on most cruise ships - especially fish and meat - must be frozen for at least 72 hours before preparation and serving to passengers.

Why not more local dishes from the area the ship is sailing?

Finding the ingredients for those dishes in the USA and then shipping them half way around the world is often difficult and expensive.

No matter how good the ship's Indian Chef and his Filipino Cooks might be at producing a local Vietnamese Dish onboard, many passengers will complain that it is much better when eaten ashore. And they are usually right. So why spend a lot of money to produce an inferior local dish onboard when the ones who really want good local cuisine can just go ashore and have it?

I have never heard of this Caribbean Virus.

But I have been losing a lot of sleep lately over the "Restless Leg Syndrome" that is sweeping over America.

It has put off many people who had originally planned to fly to America to take a Caribbean Cruise. Now it is just too risky.

Singapore has 2 cruise terminals in different parts of the city..

And why are those 14 day Alaska cruises such a bargain?

They have to nearly give them away to fill the ship.

Giving them away to fill the ship means the company is losing money.

Should Princess offer more of these cruises so they can lose even more money?

For many years HAL tried the 14 day Alaska cruises. They were rarely able to fill the ship - even when they did nearly give them away. So they cancelled the idea.

Then this year, they decided to try it again. Guess what. They cannot fill the ship, and are losing a bundle on this latest attempt.

I'm quite sure that Princess doesn't want to join in that sort of fun.

On all the Mass Market Cruise Lines the numbers are nearly identical.

On average, 2/3 of passengers want open seating and 1/3 want fixed seating.

On average, 60% of the pax want to eat early and 40% want to eat later.

So all the Mass Market cruise lines have designed their operations to best accommodate those average numbers.

The challenge occurs on one-off cruises, like repositioning voyages or Family holiday cruises. Or on cruises with large groups onboard.

The demographics are skewed one way or another on those particular voyages; nearly everyone wants to eat early or late, or nearly everyone wants fixed or open dining.

The ship's layout and staffing cannot successfully accommodate those changes.

Your best bet is to visit the F&B Director when you board, and see what he can do for you.

I make about a dozen trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic flights every year.

If I cannot fly Business or First, I won't fly.

If I have to go on a US Flag airline, I won't fly.

For Trans-Atlantic, I will consider Virgin, any of the Middle Eastern companies, or Air France. Lufthansa is OK if I cannot book the others.

For Trans-Pacific, I will look at ANA, Cathay Pacific, or Singapore Air. Korean Air has Krug Vintage Champagne in Business and First (US$400 per bottle in my home town), so I am often tempted by that.

Experienced cruisers have known for many years that it doesn't matter the size of your suitcase or trunk.

After you unpack it, you give it to the stateroom steward for storage until the end of the cruise.

He delivers it back to you the last day of the voyage so you can pack it back up again.

How then, do you explain that many of the bartenders and waiters on the PG have been there since it was owned by Regent. Additionally, how do you explain that they are financially sound and generally sail at 90% capacity or higher?

The bartenders and waiters on PG are paid pretty well. That's the reason they stay. I worked for Regent (previously Radisson 7 Seas) and am very well versed on their financial situation. The last year they made a profit was 1996. I wouldn't call that financially sound.

The investment company that now owns them has been struggling for years to turn it around, but has been generally unsuccessful.

That ship enjoys high occupancy primarily because it has no competition in that area. If it had to compete with mainstream cruise lines, it would be an even greater financial failure.

Hi,

We are embarking on a cruise on the Diamond Princess on the 2nd June. We'll be spending a couple of nights at the Shinjuku Washington Hotel in Tokyo, prior to the cruise and wondered if anyone could help with some advice on how to get to the cruise port from Shinjuku? What train do we catch? Please help!!

The Washington Hotel is quite close to Shinjuku station - the largest train station in Japan.

There are dozens of trains every day from Shinjuku Station to Yokohama Station.

Perhaps the easiest one for you would be Narita Express. During the day it runs about every 30 minutes or so.

The trip from Shinjuku to Yokohama is less than one hour.

Narita Express trains have luggage storage at the end of each car.

1. Walk or take a taxi from your hotel to Shinjuku Eki.

2. Take Narita Express to Yokohama Eki.

3. Take a taxi to Osanbashi Cruise Terminal in Yokohama.

There are cruise lines that have folded the "tips" into the fare. The problems in doing so are far from insurmountable. To give you an example, Azamara did it a couple of years ago. They're part of the Royal Caribbean group. There is also no tipping required or expected on Seabourn, part of the Carnival group. No tipping is required for dining room and cabin staff on Crystal. If these lines have the ability and resources to do it, so do other cruise lines.

 

Also if my memory serves me correctly, various cruise lines have in the past, and perhaps even currently, eliminated tipping on itineraries primarily serving passengers who come from countries where tipping is not part of normal culture or practice, primarily Australia and the UK.

 

While BruceMuzz's post is not without a kernel of truth, it's chock full of hyperbole, because eliminating tipping has been done, is being done on some cruise lines, and the sky didn't fall (nor did fares increase 100%).

That is true. Eliminating tipping has been done on several cruise lines.

Holland America did it for many years. All their best staff quit and went to work for other companies where they could make more money. It nearly bankrupted the company, and forced them to sell to Carnival Corp just before they were about to go out of business. HAL are still recovering from that idea. They now have a standard daily hotel service charge for all passengers.

I worked for Seabourn for many years. They had a strict no tipping policy. The basic US$1,200 per person per day fare included the tips. The company has never made a cent of profit. They also have the highest crew turnover rate of any cruise line on earth. They recently (and very quietly) started allowing the staff to accept tips in order to hold on to them longer.

Silver Sea does not allow tipping. Although they are the most expensive of the luxury lines, they have never made a cent of profit. They built a new ship and then had to tie it up for 2 years because they couldn't book enough passengers to operate it.

Thompson Cruises has no tipping. Their crew is paid peanuts and provides the expected level of service that monkeys might give you. If your idea of cruising is like camping out at sea with lots of pasta and pizza to eat, this is the line for you.

P&O / Princess in Australia has added gratuities into their Australian fares on selected ships. Now they cannot fill those ships because the other companies are advertising lower fares. They are slowly pulling out of Australia and moving to Asia (with a daily service charge).

All the major cruise lines (about 225 cruise ships) that are making a profit now have a standard daily service charge.

This is not a coincidence.

Bruce Muzz....you've opened my eyes to aspects of cruising, many times.

Would it not now be the time to explain to people in the official brochures, about the need for tipping? Better still, to simply add it to the price? The minor line, Thomson, does that, so it's not just the luxury lines who can manage this.

It seems that the majority will pay the designated tips up front, which must mean that they are having to cover for those who don't. I know several in the UK who think it's all a bit of a cheek, and will only literally "tip" rather than give the designated sum. Other nations, too, where tipping is not a big deal, don't understand this way of covering a person's salary.

Oh, I know the pros and cons, but I think for the crew's sake there needs to be change.

Jocap,

I agree with you. We need a change. But that change will not be easy.

This entire concept of tipping in lieu of regular wages started on the White Star Line in Britain over 100 years ago. Although it has gone through many permutations, the original concept is still basically there; great service staff will receive plenty tips and be happy to stay on the job; poor service staff will not receive very much in the way of tips and be quite happy to leave.

But now it is much more complicated than it was a century ago.

Most of the tipped crew are not from Britain, but from all over the planet. Each one of the sometimes hundreds of nationalities represented in a ships crew has a different set of tax laws that apply to his or her earnings. In most of those countries, gratuities are not taxed, but earnings are. If passenger fares are increased to cover the gratuities, the total earnings of the service staff will all be taxable - in effect further reducing their salaries.

Currently most cruise lines pay tipped employees around US$1 per day plus tips. The staff's official salary is very low, meaning they have little or no tax liability in their home countries. If we change to a salaried system, many countries would not only require the crew to pay income taxes on all those earnings, but would also require the cruise lines to pay local payroll taxes on those total earnings. The cruise lines would be forced to increase your cruise fares much higher to cover the substantial financial losses by the crew and the cruise line companies.

Each one of the sometimes hundreds of nationalities represented in a ships crew is a member of a national maritime union - often from their home country. Each union has negotiated a contract with the cruise line, specifying benefits and earnings (including tips).

If the cruise lines change the system of paying their service staff, all the labor contracts with all the unions would have to be renegotiated, which could take decades.

My employer just finished a 3 year negotiation with a single labor union that represents about 15% of my crew. The issue was changing the day of the month they got paid. That was the only issue - nothing else.This took three years to negotiate. Can you imagine how long it would take - and how much it would cost - to change the entire earnings system for crewmembers represented by 20 different maritime unions in 20 different countries?

And if the tipping concept is removed, we are haunted by an age-old argument from our passengers. If the incentive of tipping is removed, and everyone has a guaranteed salary instead, where is the incentive to do a great job?

Recently enacted Maritime Labor Laws make it nearly impossible to fire a poor employee on a cruise ship. In many cases, if we are able terminate a poor performer, my company is hard-pressed to find a suitable replacement for him. We just do not pay enough anymore to attract top performers.

In most cases it is better to have a warm body doing a poor job, than nobody at all.

I still agree with you that some sort of change is desperately needed. But nobody seems to be able to come up with a change that will make the situation better - unless you and I are able to convince your fellow cruisers to pay a 100% surcharge on their cruise fare.

It helps if you understand the difference between WIFI and Internet.

WIFI is a wireless connection - usually between a computer server and your personal device.

WIFI is generally free of charge to everyone.

But if you want to use that free WIFI to connect to the ship's Internet service via the server, you will have to pay for the internet connection.

On more modern cruise ships, you are able to use the free WIFI to connect to servers that deliver daily programs, check your onboard account, make tour or restaurant bookings, and many other services which are free of charge.

Your friend has to remember that the cruise line staff isn't living on land in the country the ship is departing from. Comparing what wait staff or hotel housekeeping makes in the US or another 1st world country to what cruise staff makes is really off base.

 

In many situation the cruise staff is making much more on the ship than they would doing a comparable job in their home country.

Remember all those passengers who complain that service on ships is not as good as it used to be?

They are correct.

Overall earnings for service staff on ships have been dropping for the past 25 years.

A waiter on a cruise ship today makes less than half of what a waiter made 25 years ago - and that is not factoring inflation.

How many people do you know who would take a 50% salary cut and still continue to work?

I don't know very many.

Most of our best service people quit many years ago - precisely because they could earn more money - with less work - in their home countries.

Now the new service staff we get on ships are only there because they are unable to find work back home. As soon as they do find a job in their home countries - they are gone.

Yeah yeah I know you don't go on a cruise to watch TV. But I do like to watch TV when I am relaxing in my room.

 

We have only been on 2 cruises so far, Carnival and RC. We may try Princess next. On Carnival there was a lot more TV to chose from. I don't expect live TV don't get me wrong but a little variety is wished for. RC was horrible. Very few channels and at least half of those weren't in English. Sailing to and from the US I would just expect more English.

 

Are all the RC ships out of the US generally the same in this aspect?

 

Is one cruise line or ship much better than all the rest with this?

 

So far with our limited experience, the Carnival ship wins this category hands down.

 

But that is why I am asking you guys with so much more experience. Is one line better or is a ship by ship difference? Who is best?

 

Thanks! :cool:

You are correct.

Most people do not go on a cruise to watch television.

As late as the mid-1990s, there were cruise ships from the bigger lines that had no televisions at all in staterooms, and perhaps just one or two in lounges.

Cruise ships are not legally allowed to broadcast live television broadcasts to paying passengers - unless they purchase very expensive decoding licenses from satellite companies. That is why most cruise ships do not carry network television broadcasts - except for special events like Super Bowl or World Cup Games. The decoding license for showing the Super Bowl last year on my ship alone cost us US$40,000.

A few cruise lines (Carnival and Disney) - who carry more of a mainstream American clientele - have worked out deals with local American broadcasters to receive slightly delayed broadcasts from local networks, effectively getting around the requirement to purchase an expensive decoding license.

But many cruise lines today are carrying less than 50% American clientele. Except for the 7-day "milk run" cruises out of US ports, the majority of our passengers have little interest in watching American television on a cruise ship.

I did 153 7-day cruises on a ship in Hawaii. Loved it.

I also did 168 7-day cruises on one ship in Alaska. Now every time I see a bald eagle, I start looking for a shotgun. I'm willing to bet they taste like chicken. But I still want to know for sure.

Volendam, I was reading another thread about what to pack and several wrote about bringing a clock...Seemed strange as most hotel rooms have a clock or clock radio. Am I understanding right, that most of the staterooms don't have a clock?

Most ships do not have clocks in most cabins.

Those cruise lines that tried to put clocks in cabins had them all quickly stolen by passengers.

I worked for one cruise line that tried to place alarm clocks in all staterooms.

They all disappeared in one week.

Then we bought 220 volt alarm clocks that would not work in America.

They all disappeared in one week

Then we hard-wired them into the walls and placed signs warning that the 220 volt clocks would not work in America.

They all disappeared in one week.

We tried one more time, super-glueing the clocks to the top of the bedside table.

The passengers pried them off the tables, destroying the table tops.

We gave up.

Thank you. I stand corrected:D

 

On the other hand, why do they have a Hotel Service Charge if it's not a hotel?:confused:

If it's a Hotel, why do they give you free food, free room service, and free entertainment?

Hotels charge for food, room service, and entertainment.

If you look on the Stock Exchange for Cruise Line Companies, do not look in the Hotel Section. You won't find any.

Cruise Lines are listed under Transportation Companies, along with the airlines.

Haneda is much closer to Tokyo than Narita.

But Narita has much better transportation to and from the city.

Haneda was recently renovated and is really nice.

But bear in mind that most international flights from Haneda are very late at night or very early in the morning. At those hours, there are very few options for getting to and from the airport. An expensive taxi ride is usually the only viable option. If you are lucky to arrive/depart during the day, there is a monorail that takes you into the airport, several bus transfer companies, and 2 subway lines that you can ride if you can manage your suitcases.

Narita is much larger, with many more transportation options - especially at early and late hours.

Can't speak for HAL or other lines, but I do know that as recently as 2008 (is this many years ago?), NCL still had perc dry cleaning machines.

I think NCL was just about the last one to get rid of those machines. The perchlorethylene chemistry used in those machines was highly carcinogenic - and deadly to sea life.

Since dry cleaning is included as a perk for paying for the suite - and they have a dry cleaning plant onboard - I think it's pretty reasonable to expect it to be done well. After all, food is included and we're not all bringing on our own meals.

Your mistake is assuming that cruise ships have a dry cleaning plant onboard.

They do not.

You should use your SEO to investigate the reasons why ALL the major cruise lines removed dry cleaning plants from their ships many years ago - and substituted a more eco-friendly wet cleaning system that unfortunately does not work well with all fabrics.

Hey all!

 

This is my first review so please bare with me! LOL

 

Thanks for the invitation, but if I "bare" with you my wife will kill me.

Your husband probably won't be very happy either

Partial quote

 

Did you mean Norwalk Virus or Norovirus?

 

Norwalk Virus was a strain of virus identified in the 1970's. That virus was only one of many that has evolved, so the current umbrella term is norovirus. (A current strain of norovirus is GII.4 Sydney, which was first identified in Australia and appears to be particularly virulent. )

 

Norovirus is not most closely associated with the United States. It is a virus that knows no geographical borders. The country with the largest population that also has access to medical care (and compliance with public health recommendations to report contagious illness after proper lab tests) will no doubt have a higher statistic regarding reports of gastrointestinal illness, while lab tests are necessary to confirm a diagnosis.

 

The claim that "The CDC estimates that 10% or more of Americans suffer from Norwalk Virus every year. That is the highest percentage - and the highest number - of any country on earth...." does not seem quite right, especially from someone who reports working closely with the VSP and giving training courses to cruise ship personnel.

When I refer to the Passenger Vessel Services act of 1886, I usually (incorrectly) call it the Jones Act - because that's what most of the population calls it.

When I refer to one or more of the members from the family of Calici Viruses, I usually (incorectly) call them NLV or Norwalk - not because it's correct, but because that's what most of the public understands.

Are you naive enough to believe that most or all Americans who have the "three day flu" or "stomach flu" (which is usually NLV) actually pay to visit a doctor and have a lab test to determine which virus they have already recovered from?

Norwalk Virus, a strain of the Calici Virus, was identified in Norwalk, Ohio USA - not Norwalk China. It has thrived very well in a nation of people who refuse to wash their hands after using the toilet.

You should not believe the numbers I post on the internet. Try Google or another good search engine. You will find many thousands of reports from reputable organizations that will give you the numbers. Surprisingly, nearly all of them agree.