jmediii

Did you start with basic reviews of the VOS? https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/getreviews.cfm?action=ship&ShipID=83

 

I would be more curious with simple reviews of what she is since that's the one you may be sailing vesus what ship on Carival she is not. You may want to try the Royal Board as well ......

Yes, I did but as I am familiar with the various classes of Carnival ships, I was curious what Carnival class of ships this RC boat was comparable to.

Wife and I have taken all of our cruises on Carnival and love it but she’s a teacher so we’ve only ever cruised during the summer. Now our twin girls are of the age we want to start taking family vacations (but not a cruise, that’s our time to cut loose [emoji3]) so the summer is reserved for that and we’re looking at her spring break for our cruise. The prices are obviously high but having only cruised Summer, we’re used to that.

That being said, I decided to check out Royal Caribbean and they had a cruise on the Vision of the Seas that was considerably less than Carnival. Any feedback on this boat? I can see it’s an older boat, what class of Carnival ship is comparable?

Also, as we’ve only cruised on Carnival, I’d take any comparison feedback on the two lines in general but since I know there are more threads on that elsewhere I can search that out if this needs to stay on the narrower topic of what Carnival ships compare to RC’s Vision

Thanks in advance.

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I'm 31 my wife is going to be 30 this year. I think tastes change as you continue and find new things.

 

We love the Alchemy Bar - you'll create a group of regulars and friends by the end of the cruise and you'll get to know the mixologists as well.

Our last cruise our guy even had our card number memorized where he would just have us sign off when he saw us if he was busy or we needed to run somewhere else.

 

The comedians are hit/miss sometimes but just depends on what type of person you are for those.

Casino is the casino... win some... lose some... as long as you are OK with it - it's all fun!

 

I would say just have fun and do your thing - enjoy a drink - enjoy the beach - or go crazy and do every activity on board!

My wife (31) and I (35) are almost the same. We love the Alchemy Bar. They always seem to have the best bartenders there. Comedians are usually solid and something we try to do. We spend a decent amount of time in the casino...I love blackjack but not a fan of Carnival's rules and the autoshuffler so we've started playing roulette the past couple of cruises. We check out a show or two but they're not usually our thing. Cheers! is the best and worst thing that happen for us. On one hand, it gives us some freedom to try things we might not normally try but for those "beach" ports it makes it hard to justify hanging out on the beach when we have prepaid drinks and an empty pool on the boat.

I'm waiting for my PVP to email me back to confirm but it looks like we're getting another $100 in OBC ($50 per person) for our balcony room on the Liberty in July. That's on top of the $380 in OBC price drops we've already got.

I think that the only people crying foul here are the ones that don't understand pricing or who want to write their own terms and conditions.

Bingo! +1

Well, my thoughts are that if you advertise Kids Sail Free it should let kids sail free with you no matter what rate you book under. End of story. No strings attached - kids sail free - should mean exactly that. I don't understand why anyone would defend Carnival for this deceptive advertising. That's mho.

Well, you know what they say. Opinions are like buttholes, everyone has one and some of them stink.

Would you get upset if you had a coupon for 50% off of a non sale item at your favorite store? Similar premise here. You can use their "coupon" (KSF offer) but you can't use it on an item already on sale. (another discounted rate)

Would you complain?

No.

Actually, it is true. I've just looked at two cruises with "standard fare" prices that don't have the kid's sail free. They are 389.00 for passengers 1 and 2.

 

With the kid's sail free promotion...the average cruise price is almost 800.00 bucks. ONLY the ones with KSF are jacked up like that, at least during the times we want to go.(Granted, I haven't checked them all)

 

They ARE jacking the prices up to make the same amount for KSF and that's their option as a business owner, but I think it's a pretty crappy one, too.

Show me a 7 day cruise with a $400.00 Fun Select rate (The actual base/standard rate) and I'll stand corrected.

You are looking at already discounted rates.....not the "standard" or base rate.

Also, if you'll read my title, the point was that Carnival simply doesn't compare to other lines with this promotion. Other lines give you what is their standard offer for you and then the kids also sail free.

 

For example: When we sailed with RCCL's promotion, we got to use our balcony discount as past guests and the kids still were able to sail free. (other than port charges and taxes, of course) They didn't use only their highest fare for the promo and call it a discount that is equal to other rates. Actually, on some of the bookings we've looked at with Carnival, kid's sail free is higher than any other offer.

 

NCL tops that with allowing their past guests to use their PG rate AND kids sail free. Their deals with this are off the charts! (just FYI)

 

Carnival is the WORST line for this promo and that's what I said. They'd do better to dump this one as it's not comparable to other mass market lines.

You also said this:

"And to the cheerleaders who'll say this is from standard pricing: No, it's not. Interior rooms on a seven day Carnival are NOT 800.00 to a 1000.00 bucks a person even with standard prices. Ever. They typically run anywhere from 300-550.00 dollars for the 1st and 2nd passengers. That's what they should be and the 3rd and 4th passengers should be FREE, like the promotion suggests."

Which isn't true......

And to the cheerleaders who'll say this is from standard pricing: No, it's not. Interior rooms on a seven day Carnival are NOT 800.00 to a 1000.00 bucks a person even with standard prices. Ever. They typically run anywhere from 300-550.00 dollars for the 1st and 2nd passengers. That's what they should be and the 3rd and 4th passengers should be FREE, like the promotion suggests.

What do you call their "Fun Select" pricing then? I just pulled up multiple 7 day interior rooms and they are all in the $1,000 range. If you book under anything other than "Fun Select" (the standard/base fare) you've been booking a discounted/sale rate.

Quoted from somewhere else: I've also heard that you can stick your sign and sail into a slot machine, download the money onto your card, then go cash out at the casino cage. I've never done this but I have read on here about others doing it.

Technically, you can do this. But they frown on it. I did this on our last cruise and after the 2nd or 3rd time, they froze my card from casino transactions and I had to go speak to the Casino Manager. No big deal and he laughed it off but said I can't do that anymore.

Yeah, we just got $380 OBC due to this sale. PVP took care of it in 2 mins.

Ok, so I know "only I know what works best for me..." yada yada yada.

That aside, I am currently booked in a balcony 8C on the Liberty. I have the opportunity to get almost $400 OBC if I switch to the current sale but I have to give up my room and let Carnival choose for me, still a balcony though.

I don't see a lot of downside here but I've never let them pick for me before and I've never been on the Liberty so what would y'all do?

Thanks,

jmediii is perfectly right.

 

There are people out there that need to respect teachers more and think about how taking their child out of school effects things. Our headteacher (and many others within the county) will not allow teachers to set work for holidays as it takes time away from the other 29 in our classes whos parents keep them in school.

 

She often says (paraphrased) to parents 'i will not authorise this holiday or expect my staff to set work, you should carefully see what your child is doing in class and plan the work for them accordingly while you are away'. I work in a school where this is a regular occurrence due to most of our families being from pakistan and children are taken to their parents' country for 2 months at a time.

 

In the uk a teacher taking a holiday in school time (except extenuating circumstances like a funeral etc) would be given a written warning. I would never dream of taking time off for a holiday so maybe its not jmedii's wife that needs a new profession but your friend if she does not take it seriously. I hate it when i am out for a course and my class are taught by someone else.

 

Teachers are in their jobs because they care about kids and their education, not to pander to every parents demand. If i gave in to every fussy request this year i would have no time to teach/plan anything.

+1.

That's part of the job. Not any different then a student being sick and needing to make work up. If she doesn't like it she can chose a new profession.

People like you are just one reason why teachers do not get the respect they deserve. Catering to parents like babysitters/daycare workers is not "part of the job".

It is, of course, different than a student being sick and to say otherwise is just daft. Being sick is spontaneous and presents a health issue for all that come in contact plus the student is not able to perform when sick.

Vacation is voluntary and planned in advance.

Not to stir the pot but I hate when people make it seem like teachers are the only ones that are under paid, work hard and do extra work to make up for someone else slacking.

No one said that so you're making an assumption. I in no way think this and did not say or infer that. What I am saying is that too many parents nowadays treat teachers, esp. elementary and middle school, like day care workers and babysitters. I'm glad schools are starting to put their foot down when it comes to needless requests like this.

If parents want to take their kids out of school needlessly, fine. But the burden of that decision (chasing down missed work, possible 0's on tests, etc.) should fall on the parents, not the teachers. Teachers shouldn't be obligated to put packets together ahead of time or give make up tests just because parents don't respect the job that teachers do.

Completely agree with this. It is taken so seriously in the UK parents are fined for this type of behaviour in extreme cases. Its also more about being the role model for you kids 'hey its ok to skip your responsibilities for a holiday'.

 

Also, I have never seen a US classroom in operation but the UK system is very much active learning anyway so children are heavily engaged inside and outside the classroom with karate punctuation etc and whatnot. As a teacher and a cruiser I cant see how a Caribbean cruise (heck even Europe in some ways)can offer more of an education unless their parents are up to date on techniques and the curriculum (even set work wont have the teacher imput it needs). Yes there will be a heavy dose of geography,maybe history and some different vocabulary experiences but that doesnt really compare to a week of school does it?

 

 

Anywho, enjoy which ever cruise you decide to take OP.

+1. Many schools have banned giving work out ahead of time to discourage from this practice.

Another thing that many parents do not realize is that it also creates a funding issue (at least in Texas) for the school. Funding is based, in part, on attendance and issues like this can great impact a schools already low funding.

Also, a Caribbean cruise didn't make anyone a NHS student. And Who's Who is a scam to get parents to buy books and keychains, so I wouldn't beat my chest about that.

Some could argue that teachers are becoming the ones with the entitled attitude. Our town (and certainly this doesn't mean every town) teachers make over 70K per year on average. They have about 3 months off per year. They work from 8 AM to 2:30 PM (I watch them rushing to their cars while I wait in line to pick up my kids). Their Union forced a 7% raise this year, which is unheard of in the private sector in this economy. The have an assistant, they grade tests and homework before lunch (tests are graded and sent home the same day they are given).

 

Some of us families simply can't afford to go on vacation during school vacation times because prices increase dramatically. So the teachers can suck it up. But in our town they don't even suck it up because they won't give assignments, won't re-do tests, or give extra credit. The kids just lose the week. That is fine by me if the kids are doing well anyhow. At least before 7th grade when High Schools start looking at absences.

First of all, teachers in Texas make around half of what your town pays and second, I agree that a strong teachers union ruins teachers but Texas does not have that either. What we do have is parents that feel like their child is the ONLY one in the class and that the teacher needs to drop everything to accommodate their family vacation.

On the other hand, you proved my point. Why should teachers be obligated to give assignments in advance, re-do tests, or give extra credit just because the parents decided to pull kids out of class??

Last night I spoke with my SIL who has been teaching for 20+ years. She said she is happy that families take time to do memorable things together and never has a problem providing what the family needs. She explained to me that over the years she has figured out that kids who have an involved and active family are typically her best students in terms of behavior and achievement.

I won't go round and round on this because you (royal you, not directed at the poster above) can always find a dissenting opinion somewhere but I'm not referring to the students being an issue. It is the entitled attitude of some parents that I'm talking about, where there is little to no regard for the impact in the classroom.

To each their own but in my opinion most kids get 3+ months off per year, that's the time for vacations.

Whether they tell you or not, teachers (my wife included) HATE kids getting pulled out of class for vacations. They are underpaid and their jobs hard enough already without having to worry about catching little Johnny up on missed work or the demands from parents that they put packets of work together ahead of time.

It still looks like a suit

Using that logic, a cruise ship "looks" like a cargo ship. The lapels are just one example. There are also many that you would see "from the back."

All I'm saying is, there is a distinct difference between the two and the majority of people know which is which. Just because you may not doesn't make it true for the majority.

While I do not advocate for a full on black tie formal night, the lax dress codes on formal nights in the MDR are one of my only disappointments on Carnival. It's not that hard to pack/wear a suit or at the very least a coat and tie.

And I'm not some old codger that's stuck in his ways either. I'm in my early 30's.

There are tuxedos now that look very similar to a regular suit. They can be worn with a "regular" style tie rather than a bow tie so sometimes you can't really tell the difference. http://www.finetuxedos.com/tuxedos/designer-tuxedos/behar-slim-fit.html

The lapels on your example are a dead giveaway that it is a tux.

Some men will be in suits/tuxes/jackets (as if anybody can really tell the difference between the 3)

I'm assuming this is sarcasm because it is very easy to tell the difference.

On my last cruise, I didn't have the best experience with our doc. I came down with an odd rash on my feet, hands and in my nose. It burned so bad that I was up all night icing my hands and feet. I tried looking some stuff up online and all I found was some odd stuff about a nickel allergic reaction looking like what I had.

I finally went to the medical center when they opened that morning. The nurse (?) said it was an allergic reaction and gave me benadryl and a steriod cream. Few hours went by and nothing.

So I went back and she had me meet with the Dr. He looked at my hands and feet and said I had chicken pox. I told him that I had a full blown case as a child and didn't think I could get it again. He then said it was shingles and prescribed me some meds and let me go. I was freaking out a little because not 2 days earlier my niece was born and I held her so I called home to give me brother a heads up.

Right after I hung up, the Dr. calls me and asks that I come back down. I walk into his office and he has GOOGLE open to the same search I did earlier that night and says I have an allergic reaction to nickel. I tell him that sounds odd to me but he's the doc so I go with it. He also tells me to stop taking what he gave me earlier because it will just make it worse.

So I go thru the whole cruise with this weird stuff on my hands and feet (and in my nose). The pain finally eased up about day 3.

When we get back, I go to my regular PCP and he tells me that I have (had at this point really) Hand, Foot, Mouth disease. He got a real big kick out of what the ship doc told me and said that he's have a hard time trusting a cruise doctor.

We're booked in 7370 on the Liberty for our next cruise. Looking forward to it. First time on the Liberty and we've heard good things.