BruceMuzz

I hear you. However, since the ship operates a full time dry cleaning plant and sells the service as a suite perk, I didn't expect this much of a mess. We have to trust them to cook food, sail the ship, and whatnot, so I was expecting a little more.

 

Thank goodness I only sent 1 vest and not my tuxedo. I would have had to wear my shrunken jacket and tiny tux pants on formal nights. (With a sign taped to the back that said, "Tuxedo Made Extra Awesome by HAL Dry Cleaning."

Correction.

There is no cruise ship in the world operating a full time dry cleaning plant.

The required chemicals for real dry cleaning are not only dangerous, but carcinagenic.

ALL the cruise lines removed their dry cleaning plants many years ago, and replaced them with a wet cleaning process that is far safer and environmentally friendly - but not as good for delicate fabrics.

Most cruise lines not only brag to passengers about the new process, but also warn that it is not a good idea to send delicate or expensive clothing for this cleaning.

The United States Public Health Service does not only monitor cleanliness of galleys on ships.

They also have a lot to say about Swimming Pools, Jacuzzis, and Hot Tubs on ships.

In recent years they have set limits on high temperatures in hot tubs and jacuzzis.

The claim is that higher temperatures cause more heart attacks, and increase the chance of legionella infections.

The cruise lines have complied.

You may also have noticed that the volume of bubbles in jacuzzis on ships has been reduced.

USPH claims that excessive bubbles also encourages legionella infection.

Crusie lines have been advised to reduce or stop bubbles in jacuzzis and hot tubs.

Your tax dollars at work............................

42 years ago I was a room service waiter in a Hilton Hotel in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The prices listed in this thread for full bottles of spirits delivered to your stateroom now are nearly identical to the prices we charged at the Kalamazoo Hilton 42 years ago.

But the bottles we served were the smaller "Fifths", not liters.

And Hilton added a 25% Service charge on top of those prices.

classicwhaler,

You made the same error that many cruisers make.

You booked the wrong excursion.

You took the "Fishing" tour when you should have taken the "Catching" Tour.

You'll find HAL very similar except for MUTS and the wine policy. Hal has a tendency to be slightly older demographic but that's relative.

The average Princess passenger, Fleetwide, Worldwide, Year around, is 58 years old.

The average HAL passenger, Fleetwide, Worldwide, Year around, is 57 years old.

My ship does the Japan - Vancouver (via Alaska) repo in April or May nearly every year.

Typically from Tokyo the weather is cool, and gets progressively colder as we head North.

By the time we get to Northern Russia, there is plenty of ice in the water and outside temps are cold.

Plenty grey skies, wind, and rain, with occasional snow.

Two years ago the ship got stuck in an ice field off the Russian coast and had to be pulled out by a Russian ice-breaker.

The Aleutians are very snowy and very cold.

Most businesses are still closed for the Winter.

Very few tours are available in Alaska.

Vancouver is warmer, but typically cool, grey, and rainy.

The demographic onboard is mostly older pax on fixed incomes, and people who do not like to fly.

To me this a quite dangerous practice. Rarely, very rarely people do not get checked in properly when the come back aboard and don't hear their name called. If security were to open the safe and take out passports to give to the port agent, the passenger would be in real trouble. They could be on the ship and the passports ashore.

 

Best thing to avoid any problems, keep you passport with you at all times. You do keep your credit card with you so what is the problem.

I have managed 27 different cruise ships for 11 different cruise lines on 1,451 cruises (not days) over the past 37 years.

During that period we have left thousands of passengers behind in ports when they failed to return on time.

Most of them had locked their passports in their safes and our Security Officer retrieved the passports and entrusted them to our port agent for safekeeping.

Not once in those 37 years and 1,451 cruises did we have a situation where the guests were actually onboard and the passports were left behind in the port.

I have a friend who visited family last week. The toddler got sick and soon 5 out of 9 were sick with vomiting and diahrrea. Was this norovirus? No one went to the doctor so we'll never know.

 

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Forums mobile app

Most people who suffer with Norovirus are not on a cruise ship - and most of the sick people do not report their illness to a doctor. They just take a few days off and recover.

The CDC has recorded over 20 million Americans who reported having Norovirus last year.

How many more millions of Americans had it and did not report it?

People usually think they have "the flu", "the 3-day flu", "the stomach flu", or as the Brits call it, "Winter vomiting illness".

Quite often it is Norovirus.

There are no available tests that can give you a reliable quick answer if it is Norovirus or not.

Even if you did know that it was Norovirus, there is really nothing special you can do about it - except try not to give it to someone else.

How's the record for European ports ... specifically Copenhagen? And what is the lowest period of occurrence, mid-summer?

Viruses usually have a "season".

Flu virus and Noro virus have almost identical infection patterns.

You don't see too many flu virus outbreaks in mid-summer - but it does still happen.

Same goes for Noro virus.

EVERY - and I mean EVERY - single ship sailing from a US port this time of year has passengers with Norovirus onboard.

Some of them know they have it and are trying to hide it; some of them caught it on the airplane or in the hotel on their way to the ship and do not yet have any symptoms.

My colleagues at CDC estimate that EVERY cruise ship that sails from a US port at any time of the year has an average of 60 passengers with Norovirus onboard.

It is only because the ships are so carefully cleaned that we all do not come down with it.

Firstly, you may be surprised to learn that there are more Spanish speakers on this planet than English speakers.

There are many cruise lines out there that do not cater to English speakers. As a result, you will not easily find them on mass market cruise websites.

Since their products are specifically designed for the enjoyment of cultures different from yours, they do not want to take the increased risk of booking passengers who will be disappointed with the experience.

Sail, this is not directly pointed at you, I just wanted to point out that at least you tried to be nice about along with a few others. Then again look at the reply by Peety3.. grow up? Stop whining?

Comments like that are not needed overall.

 

I'm also diabetic, currently on pills but my PC is threatening to put me on injectables so the tap water in the room concerns me also. And no, I'll guarentee that the ship water isnt purer than my well water, no way no how. Its one of the reasons I drink mainly bottled water, now maybe the ship water is purer than some bottled waters. ;)

 

I'll say that some of you tried to help the OP, but I've seen time & time again people like Peety who just troll the boards & give this whole forum a really bad name. I'm also gonna be a first time cruiser & was sharing this forum with others I know are going on our group cruise.. but now I dont due to garbage like those specific responses.

 

Fricking "clickish" people & trolls. :mad:

Actually the Center for Disease Control REQUIRES that ship's water must be more pure than any well water.

Well water - regardless of where the well is located - contains many minerals, metallic ions, and some bacteria (mostly harmless - but not always).

Before the ship's water gets to you, it is passed through a ceramic filter that stops anything larger then a few microns; all bacteria and most mineral salts. Then the water is exposed to high intensity ultraviolet light that kills any living anything. When it comes out of the tap, it is absolutely pure.

We are required to monitor water quality every hour and keep logs for the CDC to Audit, to ensure that we constantly meet or exceed their extremely high standards. Any discrepancies or failures have dire results.

In Alaska right now there is a very strict new law governing the purity of treated waste water that ships are pumping into the sea. The ships are struggling (and succeeding) to meet the new standards, but when they tested fresh well water from Alaska wells, the "fresh well water" was not pure enough to meet the new waste water standards.

Then they tested the water from many Alaska rivers and streams running into the sea. Not one could pass the new Alaska standards.

It is my understanding that you could take the cruise and go ashore in any Cuban ports. Your problem would be returning to the US. If the immigration official notices the Cuban stamp in your passport, you could be arrested.

Cuban Immigration Officials are very accommodating with American visitors to Cuba.

Instead of stamping your passport, and possibly causing you problems at home, they offer to stamp a paper that you can carry in your passport while in Cuba.

After departing Cuba, you simply remove the paper, and all is good with US Immigration when you return to the USA.

Curacao liqueurs are not very special and not very expensive - except if you buy them on the island of Curacao, where they are more expensive.

In many places in America you can buy the very same Curacao Liqueurs for less money. When you get them home, they will taste exactly the same as the over-priced bottles you can buy in Curacao. And you will not have any hassles with packing them in a suitcase or paying import duty for bringing them into your country.

14-day cruises in Alaska have never been very popular - at least not popular enough to fill ships very week of the season.

Every cruise line has tried them, and given up after having to nearly give away the cabins for most of the season.

Then after they all stop this itinerary, one cruise line ventures in again, hoping to capture the entire 14-day Alaska cruise market in order to fill the ship and make a profit.

But as soon as one ship is successful, the other lines also introduce their own 14-day itineraries, diluting the market again and making it unprofitable again.

So then they go through the entire process yet again, giving away cabins and losing money, then cancelling the itinerary until the cycle starts all over again.

We were told on a galley tour that all of the water served in the dining rooms and buffets are filtered water. The only water NOT filtered is that out of the sinks in the cabins.

ALL potable water on cruise ships - even the water in the toilets - is filtered several times before it gets to you. ALL potable water is also exposed to high intensity ultra-violet radiation to ensure that nothing is living in it when you consume it.

But the water that goes to the restaurants, bars, and ice machines is filtered one additional time at the dispenser. Next time you get near a water dispenser or ice machine on a ship, you can easily see the blue plastic filter device on the back of the machine.

I got a great deal on a 14 day cruise on the Coral last year. I was surprised to see that they chose not to offer that option this year.

You got a great deal last year because they could not fill the ship unless they basically gave away the cabins.

That is a great strategy for a charity, but not so brilliant if you are a company trying to make a profit.

If they had to give it away last year, why oh why would you be surprised that they don't want to do it again?

Really, North Americans are the ONLY ones who don't properly wash their hands afterwards, REALLY?

No. There are many unclean people out there. But it is the Americans who always want to try to take antibiotics, rub on chemicals, drink immodium, spray Lysol, take special tablets, drink special tea, buy specail hand wipes, and all sorts of other crazy things, when the simple answer is WASH YOUR HANDS PROPERLY AFTER USING THE TOILET. THEN KEEP YOUR HANDS - clean or dirty - OUT OF YOUR MOUTH.

Norwalk Virus developed in, was discovered in, and was named after, an American City, Norwalk、Ohio.

Norwalk virus is most prevalent in Canada, Germany, the UK, Australia, and the USA.

But the USA has much higher NLV outbreak numbers every year than all the others do.

The primary cause of Norwalk infection is lack of handwashing, or lack of proper handwashing, after using the toilet. It is that simple. No rocket science involved.

The secondary cause of Norwalk infection is putting dirty hands into mouth, nose, and eyes.

I leave it to you to guess who doesn't wash their hands.

You self-medicating types are probably our worst enemies in fighting ourbreaks.

As mentioned, nearly all hand sanitizers do not kill viruses. They only give you a false sense of security by thinking you are sterile, when you are not.

The few hand sanitizers that do kill viruses are rarely used properly, and are rendered useless. If the "dwell time" (the period of time that the sanitizer stays wet on your hands) is less than 3 minutes, no sanitizer in the world will help you. It takes 5 full minutes to be completely successful. I have never witnessed a passenger who had wet hand sanitizer on his hands for 5 full minutes.

Where do you keep that hand sanitizer container?

Probably in your pocket or purse - 2 of the most unsanitary places on earth.

After removing the contaminated bottle from your pocket, you "sanitize" your hands, then use your clean hands to place the contaminated bottle back into a very unclean place.

Guess what, your hands are contaminated again !! Not smart.

When your body is invaded by Norovirus, it makes every attempt to get that virus out of your system as quickly as possible. This usually involves repeated vomiting and diarrhea.

Drugs like Immodium prevent your body from using it's natural defenses (vomiting and diarrhea) to get the illness out of your system, keeping you sick longer - and contagious longer. A very stupid and dangerous idea.

Why is it that in the 21st century, we have to debate all this childish nonsense with adults from North America, when the best solution is just properly washing your hands after wiping your bum?

I'm assuming you are simplifying this. Otherwise, we have to assume that you pay $7.80 for Franciscan Chard and $30 for Dom Perignon. If you have a 667 percent markup across the board, (15% wine cost) passengers should expect really good wine service, even better than the Four Seasons & Ritz Carlton.

 

If you really do try to keep a consistent 15% beverage cost, that explains a lot. Soft drinks should have the lowest cost percentage, followed by liquor, draft beer, bottled beer and then wine. (Glasses of wine, then bottles.)

 

Interesting stuff. Thanks.

I don't work for HAL, so I cannot speak for their markup or service.

But it is common practice to have an average markup on certain categories of beverages (some higher and some lower than the average).

Champagne is a completely different conversation, as most cruise passengers only drink it if it is free. Champagne sales in the cruise industry are near zero - at any price point.

Equating price to service quality is a great concept - but I rarely see it very well demonstrated in practice.

Starbucks has one of the highest markups on coffee in the business.

They charge you $32 per gallon for so-so coffee that you could make at home for a few pennies - and they don't give you any service at all. You have to wait in a long line to pay the extortion fee.

And they give you a Styrofoam cup?

What's that all about?

At those prices you should get Inari China - and a kiss.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village beverage vending machines now sell you a 12 ounce can of Coca Cola for $3.25. No glass, no ice, no napkin, no straw, no lime slice, no smile.

That's about a 1200% markup.

Service quality?

You are lucky to find a machine even working.

I fly Asian airlines exclusively because they provide far greater quality and much better service at fares that are much lower than the American carriers.

So much for equating price and service quality..................

This is probably the unpopular stance on this subject, but it's soley my opinion so here it goes.

 

Even if a person does smell the herbal scent. What's the big deal on just walking by and letting it be ? To each his own. I seriously doubt that anyone bringing a little herbal-essance onto the ship is going to be trying to deal it. I'm quite sure the amount would be minimal and they are not going to want to sell or share. Their stash is golden.

 

I may be flamed by this, but like the songs says, Just walk on by and Let it be. MYOB. It may be illegal, but how is it directly affecting you ?

If your standing close enough to smell it, the worst that could happen would be and extra trip or two to the buffet. There are better things to do on the ship then try to directly police others.

 

BTW: my above opinion is for on the ship, that is, if one is successful in getting their herbs on. I would never buy or try to bring any herb products on or off the ship in a port of call.

 

 

Cari H.

 

 

.

A bit more of "the big picture" might be helpful here. Please bear in mind that I have no problems with people smoking pot - but just not on my ship please.

First is the ventilation.

Cruise ship cabins are arranged in groups of 3's and 4's for electrical connections and ventilation. That is, they all share the power and the air. Whatever you might be smoking in your cabin ends up in 2 or 3 others. Your neighbors might not appreciate that.

As a fire safety precaution, the air pressure in your cabin is slightly higher than the air pressure outside your cabin. In a fire emergency, this causes flame and smoke to move away from your cabin rather than toward it.

When there is not a fire emergency, this over-pressure air in your cabin causes any smoke inside to vent out to the corridor. Your neighbors might not appreciate that.

The Captain of a ship is largely (and legally) responsible for nearly everything that takes place on his ship. In many countries we visit, the local authorities don't have much of a sense of humor about his responsibilities.

Some of the countries we visit are actually looking for reasons to give us trouble.

If it can be somehow proven that a ship Captain knowingly allowed passengers to bring illegal drugs into a country, he could be arrested and lose his license, the ship could be impounded, and we all end up on CNN.

There is just too much at stake here.

We really don't care if a passenger is willing to risk his career, his freedom, or his life in order to get high.

We just don't want him risking ours.

Duplicate

IF our account was available on TV for review we would not need to get a print out from time to time or even get a final hard copy statement. Just let me check in on the TV, and email me a copy of the final. Just like our hotel or resort accounts.

 

HAL is so behind the curve, in so many areas, one has to wonder if they will ever catch up or if they have purposely chosen to remain in the past from a technology perspective. Just one more disconnect between reality and their marketing/target customer.

Repeated experiments over the past decade have proven again and again that when cruise passengers have quick and easy access in the cabin, to their account balances for the cruise, onboard spending takes a significant nose-dive.

Ships that do not offer this service enjoy significantly higher profits than ships that do offer this service.

Maybe those Dutchmen in Seattle are smarter than you think......................

We live in Puerto Vallarta in the winter, and there is a local bar/café owner (who is actually a pretty savvy American) who sells good beer and lousy margaritas for $1. That is $1...all day long. Most of his competitors think he is nutz as they sell the same beer for $2- 4 and their Margaritas often are sold for about $5. But the man (his name is Troy) who sells that $1 stuff has his two places packed all day (and evening) with folks drinking lots of inexpensive booze...and even buying his inexpensive food. While he is make a good profit on volume, many of his competitors that thought he was nutz have already gone out of business for lack of sales.

 

So here is a message for cruise lines. Instead of marking-up some wines over 1000% it might be nice to settle on a simple formula of marking up lower cost wines (say less then $40 retail) by $10 a bottle. And higher cost wines could be marked-up by $20 a bottle. Wine sales would quickly go through the roof, passengers would be happy, they would be willing to try to better wines, and all would be good! Instead, the cruise lines have these ridiculous mark-ups....many passengers settle for a free glass of water...wine sales are not very good...and everyone is sad.

 

We know one local restaurant in the states that marks-up all their wines by only $10 a bottle. Just about every customer in that restaurant buys a bottle of wine..and what the restaurant loses on their low mark-up they more then make-up on very high wine sales and a restaurant that is always full. Folks eat their mediocre food, because they are attracted by the wine. The place next door that marks up his wine by over 300% has lots of empty tables, and not much wine is sold at the full tables.

 

And this idea makes even more sense in alternative restaurants. If the Pinnacle would sell excellent wines at a small mark-up...passengers would be lining up around the block (I guess there are no blocks on ships) to eat at the Pinnacle....even with the new higher prices charged in that restaurant. We often cruise on another line where they get up to $45 a person for some of their restaurants, and they are often not full. So the line quietly discounts that $45 fee to attract more diners. But if they offered good wines at low mark-ups they would not have to discount that $45 fee. If I could buy an excellent $60 wine for $75....I would have no problem paying the $45 restaurant fee. But that $60 wine would now cost me over $250 so there is no way I would buy that bottle...and most of the time we will not even pay the $45 restaurant fee.

 

Hank

Your Mexican friend's idea is a sound one - but only in a restaurant that can make a profit selling food.

In Mexico - like many other countries - restaurant owners actually make profit selling meals to people.

In America, only fast food restaurants can make a profit selling food - and that food is Coca-Cola.

If McDonalds started selling soft drinks at cost - maybe 10 cents or so - they would be incredibly busy until they went into bankruptcy a week later.

Cruise lines are quite different.

Firstly, we make no profit selling food - even in the specialty restaurants.

The specialty extra charge Steak House on my ship loses an average of US$10 on every passenger we serve (even considering the part of their cruise fare they already paid for the food).

The very last thing I want to do is encourage more people to dine there.

Then we need to deal with the accountants.

Have you ever wondered why there are so few wine bars around - even in places like Oregon and California? In wine country, one might expect to find a wine bar on nearly every corner. But no.

Most wine bars serve wine at very reasonable prices - which means it is nearly impossible for them to make a profit.

The typical land-based bar in America - in order to be profitable and remain in business - must maintain a beverage cost percentage under 15%.

If they purchase a bottle of spirits for $15, they must sell it for at least $100.

When they sell spirits by the shot or drink, that is not a problem. In fact, they usually get quite a bit more than $100 for that bottle.

Beer is a bit more problematic. If one serving costs them $1, they must charge $7 for that beer in order to make a profit. But often times they charge less, and end up losing money on beer sales.

That's still OK, so long as they serve mostly spirits - making a good profit there and covering the losses on the beer.

Then we have wine.

A $10 (cost) bottle of wine must be sold for at least $70 in order to remain profitable at 15% cost. But that's ridiculous. Nobody wants to pay that much money for a cheap bottle of wine.

But so long as they do not sell too many bottles of that wine, they can afford to sell it cheaper - at a loss - and hope to sell enough spirits at a good profit margin to cover for the losses on the beer and wine sales.

But if they make the prices on beer and wine too attractive, the average patron will buy mostly beer and wine INSTEAD of spirits - wiping out any profits and putting the bar out of business.

Now you know why most bars in America do not have great wine lists and do not push wine sales. They can't afford to do it.

As I mentioned, cruise ships are a bit different.

We don't really sell food - and could never make a profit on it anyway.

Then we need to forget that old grandma story about cruise ships getting duty-free alcohol and saving a bundle. It no longer works that way. The average cruise ship that purchases alcohol in US ports pays about the same - or a bit more - for alcohol than the average land-based bar does.

The average cruise ship purchasing alcohol outside the USA pays substantially more in transportation, handling, and warehousing fees.

Most cruise line accountants have never worked on a ship - but they have worked for land-based hotel and restaurant companies.

They believe that a cruise ship should make the same beverage profits as a land-based hotel.

We never do, by the way.

While a land-based bar or restaurant must make at least an 85% profit on beverage (including the 15% maximum cost) to remain profitable, cruise ships are very lucky to make a 75% profit on beverages (with a 25% cost). We do have the advantage that the beverage department on a ship is not absolutely required to make a profit in order for the cruise line to remain in business. But if we do not make a certain profit there, we are going to have to make up the difference by charging you more somewhere else.

Then we have a few other factors to consider.

1. The American public is not very fond of drunks. They disapprove if we push alcohol too actively.

2. More alcohol sales results in more drunks, which results in more fights, accidents, broken bones, and more lawsuits against the cruise line. Already most of the legal departments have put a stop to pub crawls, 2 for 1, and other promotions that encourage more drinking.

3. The Beverage staff, Bar Manager, F&B Director, Hotel Director, Corporate Beverage Manager, Corporate F&B Director, and VP of Hotel Operations all receive bonuses for reaching sales targets AND cost percentage targets in the bars. And of course we all lose those bonuses if we do not reach those targets.

So what do we do?

We need to protect bonuses and satisfy the accountants by staying profitable with a good cost percentage, without increasing overall pushing of alcohol in order to remain politically correct and keep our lawyers happy with minimal lawsuits.

Easy answer - Concentrate on the high profit / low cost items (spirits), and reduce the opportunities to purchase low profit / high cost items (wines and some beers).

Do you see what is happening?

We do not want you to purchase any wine on a cruise ship (and certainly do not want you to increase your wine purchases). But we do want you to purchase other alcoholic beverages. - especially those drinks of the day in the souvenir glasses with the paper umbrellas.

And please try to restrict your visits to the extra charge restaurants. My budget can't handle it.

Every major cruise line has a section in the main laundry that is reserved for washing and drying contaminated clothing and linen.

Extremely hot water and special chemicals are used to ensure no cross-contamination.