antique sailor

AHOY SHIPMATES,

I am old enough to remember the class structure on CUNARD that they were forced to change back in the 80-90's and have gradually RE instituted it cleverly again over the past 10 years.

The ONLY reason this works on any Cruise Line is because passengers are gullible enough to PAY extra rather than demanding better foood/n service in general.

I too am a stockholder and enjoy the profit but I'd gladly have happy customers in volume.

AHOY SHIPMATES,

Whatever happened to going on a cruise, getting good food (all you can eat) and having a great menu with LOT'SA CHOICES and a variety of deserts all for the price you paid to book the cruise ???????

antique sailor, in the end each person needs to figure out what works for them.

 

For my wife and myself, part of the pleasure we get it so dress nicely and we also like to not wear the same things often so for us we will take quite a lot. For a 110 sailing eight large suitcases and two carry ons for us. Some would do it with a few suitcase less and they are happy with that choice. The latter would not work for us but it does for some.

 

Keith

AHOY AGAIN,

Consignment Shops and Good Will stores can save you a lot, and noboby on the ship knows where or when you got what your wearing. and if it's really ugly you can always say it was a gift from your grand kids and you feel obligated to wear it.

AHOY SHIPMATES,

I can resist no longer. I've been reading this thread with interest and have seen some very good posts and some extreme views also. DW and I have done 5 complete 110-112 day World Cruises since 1997, and seen a great deal of change during that time. We have done all on HAL but many of our friends have done them on both CUNARD, and HAL. We have cruised on the QE2 etc. also.

The FORMAL nights are more formal on CUNARD. That requires more clothes and a "stuffier" atmosphere. Holland still has dress code (laxly enforced) and you will see tuxes. We have taken a large fold over suit case for the dress up stuff, 2 large suitcases for regular clothes, 2 large soft dragalongs, a shoulder bag each and a fanny pack each, and done well. (We do have free laundry service, but DW still prefers to do her delicates herself about every 10 days. The ships laundry will destroy most normal clothes on a 4 month cruise. When using the ships pool or hot tub, you MUST rinse the bathing suits out thoroughly after each use do to the chemicals used in pools/tubs.

Take 2 bathing suits, and I recommend a $6.00 pair of the water moccasins I also take a second pair (all black) for formal nights after my feet have swollen from the extra salt in the food and the long hours at night at the poker table. NO ONE ever notices them and I'm comfortable.

I could write a book but no on would finish reading it. bottom line

YOU are on there for a long time and spent a lot of $$$$ to get there.

In about the third week you may begin to get in a rut. Look in the mirror and evaluate your schedule....eliminate a few and try some new activities, and you will discover some new things. Keep smiling but avoid those who dont make you smile.

HAVE A GREAT CRUISE.

AHOY SHIPMATES, WE LIVE IN JAX FL about 10 miles from port. We cruise on FASCINATION about once a month and really enjoy it

AHOY SHIPMATES,

Have enjoyed many of the common sights from the balcony when we have been lucky enough to be upgraded to one.....but the most exciting view was from the flightdeck of a Carrier is 1958 It was one of those days when the water was so calm it looked like glass. All of a sudden the largest TURTLE I have ever seen( Much larger than an automobile) surfaced , turned to watch us for about a minute ,then went down again. We were probably the biggest thing it had ever seen also.

Of course since sailing on the cruise ships I've seen many whales but mostly in the LIDO buffet line.

I have really enjoyed viewing responses to this question. It may be that members of Cruise Critics are a self-selected group or in a broader sense it may be that cruising attracts a certain kind of person, but there are many similarities (with a few unique differences) among attitudes. Assuming that these responses are representative, and I think they are, then cruising seems to be a healthy and cathartic form of escape from the pressures and drab routines of daily life. Also, as I mentioned in a previous post, is an undercurrent of the love of the sea and the adventure of foreign ports-of-call.

 

I’m sure you’ve noticed that most people posting have a fairly lengthy list of cruises in their signatures. Makes sense or they probably wouldn’t be on CC, but it certainly is a community where love of the experience is evident. If you can’t be on a cruise - read about and discuss them! DW spends hours every day immersed in this activity.

 

One negative aspect that bothers me, though. The trend to larger and larger ships may be undermining some of what’s been so attractive about sailing. On the smaller vessels there seems to be more of the sense of the sea, you couldn’t avoid it (not that you’d want to). On the larger ships attention is turned inward - becoming a resort that floats. With those additional thousands on board, the sense of community is diluted. For all that, though, it’s still the way to go.

AHOY SHIPMATE, i WAS BORN WITH THE ''AT SEA DNA'' and now with lots'a time to spare and TV commercials gradually taking over the IDIOT BOX I find myself on Cruise Critic a lot more.

I SAIL on two widely different classes of ship which have completely different types of passengers. When on board,. I spend many hours a day just people-watching. I have always been an "observer" due to years of semi serious low stakes poker playing. Even the threads on CC for different Cruise Lines begins to show a vast difference in personalities. IT"s very entertaining and not condescending in the least, just very interesting.

I never thought about cruises until friends and I went on an "all girls" vacation, back in 1999. Our husbands couldn't get off from work.

 

Well, we've been cruising ever since as a group with our husbands.

 

My favorite reason to cruise is to sit on my balcony or pool deck, and watch the sea.

AHOY SHIPMATES,

I ENVY YOU, I'VE ALWAYS WANTED TO DO AN ALL GIRLS CRUISE BUT MY WIFE REFERRED ME TO THE FINE PRINT IN THE BY-LAWS OF OUR ORIGINAL CONTRACT AND THAT IS ONE OF THE NO-NOS. i HAVE DISCOVERED THAT CRUISING WITH DW IS VERY PLEASANT .

AHOY SHIPMATE,

I LIKED THE NAVY BUT IT HAD SOME NEGATIVE THINGS that civilian Cruise Ships have corrected.

1) I can have a girl in my cabin.

2) I can drink on board.

3) I can gamble on board.

4) I'm not in a duty section/stand no watches.

5) Don't have to salute NOBODY if I don't want to.

6) I know when we are getting home.

It is a great way to spend that meager Soc Sec check my former employer sends me each month.

The list is almost endless but these seem to sum up the positive reasons that are important to me at my age. LOL

Wherever you eat' date=' watch for stray bits of lettuce in a sandwich or other directly washed vegetables. I have some pretty ugly mummy tummy memories--and I usually have a cast iron stomach. And what I believe was the offending lettuce was from a meal at a good hotel.[/quote']

 

AHOY SHIPMATES,

While it is certainly prudent to take all sensible precautions when eating ashore OR on the ship there are some things to keep in mind.

1% of sickness is actually food poisoning ie; your bodies reaction to a particular food (peanuts for example). 10-20% is a food borne illness due to something in the food that you are not used to( DELHI BELLY, MONTEZUMAS REVENGE, BAD ICE , etc in a drink) 80% is due to DIRTY improperly washed silverware,dishes,plates, and your own hands. This can happen any where any time at any level of the social chain when you are out of your normal routine.

 

How do I know these numbers? I was a dish washer, cook/baker senior cook, Food service Officer, and Inspector of all food on Aircraft carriers in the NAVY for many years and we all know what some sailors do ashore. The obvious thing to do is blame the food on the ship the next day when sick, so investigations are done quite often to find the connection between those affected and find the common link so the problem can be eliminated if cause was from something on the ship. Med. Dept. does this on cruise ships every time someone gets a sore tummy. I cruise a lot and eat most any where BUT try to be CAREFUL

Yesterday my mother arrived back in Sydney after a wonderful cruise on the Century. She enjoyed the food at the buffet, but had problems on several occasions with the meat in the MDR.

 

The lamb and veal were so tough that her waiter offered to cut it up. Not only for her , but for other passengers having the same problem. Does anyone know where Celebrity purchases it's meat or is this perhaps a cooking issue?

 

I know this is a first world problem as any cruise is a good cruise, but it wasn't an isolated event on this particular trip.

AHOY SHIPMATE, ONE reason or a combination of three; cheap meat of poor quality(denied by cruise line), over cooked, and cooked to far in advance and kept too long in a warmer before being served.

LET THE FLAMING BEGIN..

They do not have them on all carnival ships. Ships with 3 & 4 day sailings do not have them. We haven't been able to buy them on the West Coast in the last few years, because those are the only ships we have had here year round.

AHOY SHIPMATES, DARN !!!! I THOUGHT I KNEW EVERYTHING.

4, and 3 day s, are not long enough to be considered a CRUISE , just a boat ride . I will bring this up at the next shareholders meeting. LOL

is there a future cruise desk on the miracle?

yes. As on all carnival ships

you're lucky that it also runs on battery power because ship's electricity cycles at different rates so an electric clock will not always keep proper time. A battery clock is always running on the same "speed" so there will be no time deviation.

ahoy shipmate, good point!!!!!! Fortunately we''e too poor to afford foreign ships and all us ships are set for our standards.

I have my 5th and 6th cruises coming up in the next month or so. :) There are two weeks between when I return from the 5th and leave on the 6th; will that be enough time for the 5th to be credited and for me to be recognized as Platinum on the 6th? (On HAL, they advise that cruises will be credited 7-10 days after completion.) Should I wait to print out my boarding pass (I understand it's marked in some way?)?

 

Thanks,

AHOY AGAIN SHIPMATES,

TWO SUGGESTIONS 1 ) Timex still makes the best watch for the price with the INDIGLO light for night use

2) My DW gave me the perfect present before one of our cruises, an inexpensive child's ROCKETSHIP clock that projects the time on the ceiling at any angle you set it at. Is electric but also has batteries. We always take a small multi-plug adapter (with NO surge protector) with short ext. cord so it can stay plugged in. We have used it on many HAL and Carnival cruises with no problems from the crew.

She found it in the toy department of Bed Bath n Beyond. SEA U AT SEA

i'd never have thought of this! Great idea, i'm on it!

 

 

Sent from my iphone using forums mobile app

ahoy shipmate.........don't pack the picture in your luggage lol

Any shopping outlets in Waikiki/Honolulu? Heard that prices are high in general in Hawaii, hoping that we can find some good bargains. :)

 

Thanks!

AHOY SHIPMATES I found that best bargains in HONOLULU are at the huge Flea Market held several days a week at the HULA BOWL (football stadium) near the ARIZONA MEMORIAL. Several city busses run by there all day long.

Yay, I am grateful to find this thread and pick everyone's brain!!!

 

We are sailing for the first time as a family 1/3-8...Hubs, myself, DD (7), DS (4), and my parents. We are booked for the night before the cruise at the Fairfield Airport location. My parents are flying and we are driving.

 

Re: VIP parking...how long does it take once you disembark to get back to the car lot?

 

And an unrelated parking question...how cold is the water in the Bahamas in Jan? Trying to figure out if the Dolphin encounter would be worth it if the water is frigid!

Thanks all!!!

AHOY SHIPMATES,

V.I.P. Parking is best Approx 30 min from luggage pick up to arr at your car under normal conditions (po po happens)

Water is warm in the Bahamas Dolphin tour is a popular one. So is the sting ray one at half moon cay

AHOY SHIPMATES,

carnival is the easiest to book on line. They have the easiest to read and compare rates for the CLASS cabins and you can see which ones are still empty. I always book directly with them. My TA sez his commission is so small that it isn't worth his time . We are friends and he is being honest.

HOLLAND AMERICA is just the opposite It is almost impossible to find out anything about cabins avail, price etc. I ALWAYS book thru my TA and he does all the follow up with OBC's and price reductions before and after final payments. IF you are a "NEWBE" it might be wise to use an agent the first few times, and shop around for one you feel that you can trust.

Thinking about booking the Pinnacle Grill for Christmas Eve but don't want to be in conflict with any special events. Can anyone who's been on board 12/24 give us an idea - regular showtimes, midnight mass, etc? Thanks a bunch!

AHOY SHIPMATES,

YOU may want to book now. It will probably be full at the last minute.

Santa usually visits on Christmas AM with presents for the kids etc.

ENJOY IT.. YOU paid double for it!!!!

We cruised from Jacksonville in February and used a park and shuttle company. I'll look and see if I still have the name of it and post it here.

 

We had good service from them and it wasn't expensive at all.

AHOY SHIPMATES,..........Parking changes every few months but we have found that V.I.P. parking on AIRPORT rd. (next to Park n ride) is the fastest ,better busses and most professional. The total cost with tax is $37.and change . same as the other one. No reservations needed. If you book on line some of the websites charge $5 more. You cannot get in till 1045 because the port will not let anyone in till 1100. Hope this helps. SEA you in JANUARY

gary

AHOY SHIPMATES, I cruise Carnival often and go solo occasionally .

they sometimes don't list solo prices way in advance but if you call the booking number or customer service desk they and fix you up

AHOY SHIPMATES,

It has been my experience that the BEST place for Whale watching is on the LIDO deck any time it is open day or night. Only danger is getting run over when the serving line first opens. LOL DW has suggested that I DO NOT SEND THIS POST. Something about being tacky?