mcrcruiser

Cost of Cruises definitely has gone up . Although we have a outside hamdicap cabin we can get to the promenade viewing very easy .The balcony on this ship are suites

I jusr looked at my file folder total with port taxes botton line cost $5638 total - $200 deposit = $5438.00 & that was with the $600 off from the TA ,We also got Club Orange Forgot to say the we bought the $100 each FCC & used that as a deposit .So if you add up the ONV the HAL gives on the on board FCC & within 90says that is how we got the $500 OBC from HAL .Still nor a cheap cruise $201.36 per night each of us .The OBC covers all the gratuities of $434 . We will have some OBC left for Canaletto & Pinnacle for lunch .Our 18 night on Koningsdam Hawaii Jan30 ,2024 was a tad less with club Orange than this 15 night cruise

It was a very good deal

In most cases the Travel Agency will give a On board Credit .In the last HAL cruise we booked on board koningsdam, Dec 20, 2022 for the 14 night Solar Eclipse Mexico on Zaandam ,14 night cruise we got $500 OBC from HAL for booking on the ship & that it just came out with in the 90 day period .Then when it went to my TA they gave me $600 off the cruise price that I got on the ship . We booked into a EE handicap cabin The Deposit was just $200 for a cruise that topped $5000

There is a problem with this is that you usually will never get a cabin of your choice or a great location on the ship if you wait until after final payment . Take the OBCs from HAL if booked with in 90days & take the Travel Agent OBC . IMO best ways to save & get your pick of cabin types & locations

If you want more for your money use a good Travel Agency , most of the time they will drop the cost & or give you on board credits . If the On board Credit is totally from the Travel agency & you do not use it you get credit for that amount against your credit card on file .This is the best way to save ,another way to save is book any HAL cruise within 90 days of them listing the cruise & HAL will also give you on board credit .That one from the cruise line you must use it or loose it .so now you have 2 ways to save . CC shows some Travel Agents names advertised for new cruises .you can check them out .you will find the info for Travel Agents on Cruise Critic on the top of the page under the words "DEALS" or "Find A Cruise " .These are at the top of the page where you login

Personally, we don't feel it is worth the money that HAL charges for the Have It All promo with out the PPD Gratuities included . In Fact they could take out the Excursion Part & replace it with PPD Gratuities

Yes it does includes bottled waters

Change is in the air . CCL needs more revenue to pay the interest on that huge debt they carry . Interest rates are going up more to bring inflation in line causing more pain for CCL ,RCL & NCHL . In fact any corporation with high debt on their books will suffer . Now how does CCL handle this debt servicing ? They have to raise prices to not only pay the interest but to reduce the debt simultaneously . In addition they need to cut waste & maximize use of their labor force .This is reality because to not do this means BK

you can add RCL huge ships to that list

So what do you do or have done about this issue ? If it bothers people that much speak with the supervisory level or if need be the Hotel Director , should it not be solvable at the lower levels .It could take action to change things unsuitable or problems with behavior .Say nothing & it remains the same & accept it that way . We all have choices

Well meat loaf could be substituted with penne pasta marinara with meat balls & Italian sausage ,Yum !! (they have Italian sausage because pizza has it on it ) .Add a salad with arrugala leaf lettuce , small tomatoes ,black & green olives & a glass of Chianti wine .

Hmmm

Some one needs to kill this lobster story . If you don't like the size or hungry order some thing with it .Simple fix

Actually the oldest ships modernized for todays way of cruising is the old SS United States ; which, the hull was built to do 40 knot speeds . I believe she was made to be a all suite ship in today s market .she was introduced in the 1950s Here is some info :https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ss-united-states/index.html

That's the past but the future can be a very different experience . The moving word of these days is : Change

In the CNN business on line news the headlines where about how much trouble going forward corporations carrying high debt would be in .This all makes sense as interest rates keep rising the cruise lines debt that they must service gets higher & higher . This means that they will be in a lot of hurt & how this translates down to the physical products or services will definitely be different than before all this debt & rising interest rates occurred There is no question in my mind that the cruise product is going to change & change considerably , for the cruise lines to have any chance for survival . However ,understaffing would be a death blow in the long term .Prices will continue to rise in line with interest rate increases & even more

Are you serious ? We understand decent value received but we also understand decent value not received ;as most people understand . Since when does any cruise line give you more than you paid to receive ? This is a business not my family members or close friends

Curious what is the typical entertainment now on Soltice .We are booked B2B cruises in March TIA

The complaints are very similar to post covid on Holland America ,who we sail on more now because we can board from San Diego, our local cruise port . We do have B2B on Soltice this March . We will decide on X when we sail how things are in reality . We are Elie + but candidly we won't fly any longer & X rarely sails from the world Cruise Center in San Pedro ,Ca

All good & bad things end ;which is the way of life

This is the best word " IF" is to describe the current state of the cruise line business .Yes if this & if that will or could or maybe seems to be the current going around . Ultimately the facts will speak for themselves & loudly . All I care about is that I receive value promised for my paid vacation .Should that not happen , then we stop using that source

We have read all the posts which of course is very time consuming . My take away is even though we have legitimate complaints ,HAL management is looking the other way whether we like it or not .imo ,they probably are saying ,we are getting revenue results ,so why change things until it impacts revenue . Not some thing we like to see & experience . So we accept what we get or we decide to go else where with our vacation dollars . Each of us will need to evaluate what we get for what we pay out & from there make our decisions They run HAL but we run our spending

We are waiting to include many trips . Allianz insurance company ,a giant company writes yearly policies .when any one get to age 70 trip insurance rates escalate quite a bit in price , We can get $5000 trip cancellation & $5000 trip interruption plus $50,000 medical ,$500,000 medical evacuation ,$2000 luggage damage & $2000 lost luggage .Our total quote for that yearly insurance is $715.00 for any trip under 90 days .We will buy that policy following out 2 Celebrity March 2023 cruises ;because we insured them individually . We wish we knew before buying insurances for those 2 cruises that Allianz sells yearly policies .We could have saved enough to pay for the Allianz policy entirely .Every quote is based on age at time of getting the quote ,mid 80s all insurance is high .This is the best tip to save big bucks for our fellow cruisers

You might look into Norwegian airlines . A couple of years ago I was looking at their prices for premium seating & they were the best of all airlines