Lack of daily activities

[elaineb]

38 minutes ago, mfs2k said:

My first Carnival cruise was in the mid 80's.  One of the activities I participated in was skeet shooting off the stern of the ship.  

 

I don't think they'll be handing passengers rifles with live ammo in 2019.

 

They also had a golf "driving range" where you hit a bucket of golf balls off the stern of the ship into the ocean.

 

I don't think that's happening in 2019 either.  Plastic straws ruined it for everything else. 

Haha.  Now they have a golf simulator which I won a session at a Trivia contest and gave it to my brother.  

 

[hcat]

Hope those who want more action on X do not  mean they want the  daredevil stuff some  other ships have introdued!

 

This is a link to sad  accident story on Royal C..  The sea,  sun,  and sky should be  the main attraction.

 

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-county/sarasota-man-sues-royal-caribbean-after-cruise-ship-accident/1864322821

Edited March 21, 2019 by hcat

[villauk]

48 minutes ago, hcat said:

Hope those who want more action on X do not  mean they want the  daredevil stuff some  other ships have introdued!

 

This is a link to sad  accident story on Royal C..  The sea,  sun,  and sky should be  the main attraction.

 

https://www.wfla.com/news/sarasota-county/sarasota-man-sues-royal-caribbean-after-cruise-ship-accident/1864322821

 

 

Can’t view the attachment in Europe. What happened?

[Baron Barracuda]

Not too long ago X had a decent arts & crafts program.  DW spent 14 days on Eclipse constructing a beautiful origami swan.  Now, after they pretty much wiped out entertainment staff, all that's left of the art program is (seriously) coloring book pages and colored pencils.

[could travel all the time]

37 minutes ago, Baron Barracuda said:

Not too long ago X had a decent arts & crafts program.  DW spent 14 days on Eclipse constructing a beautiful origami swan.  Now, after they pretty much wiped out entertainment staff, all that's left of the art program is (seriously) coloring book pages and colored pencils.

Of course don’t forget about the ever so present art auctions ..would attend just to do something 😒...

 

Yes, don’t except anything overly exciting. We were happy with napkin folding and the like. Couldn’t find even that on our last cruise 😔

[cangelmd]

On 3/17/2019 at 2:09 AM, chemmo said:

 

If we did cruise together we could enjoy...

 

Some nice relaxing drinks in a bar

Some nice relaxing chat about past and future cruises

Some nice relaxing conversations about our home towns and families

 

Meeting and making new friends is another aspect of cruising we enjoy and another reason why we like the laid back and relaxing bars on Celebrity.....

 

 

 

 

You are on! We have a cruise planned for August and another in late November - going for Elite status this year. We enjoy meeting new friends from the UK, and really anywhere!

 

 

What I’m reading are good ideas, but kind of all over the place as to what would constitute “better/more activities”. In my line of work, you really, really don’t want to add staff unless that person brings in more revenue than they cost, or you have to add them in order to preserve existing revenue.

i think as someone else has pointed out that it will be impossible to go back to the good old days, because the corporate world now is all about increasing stock price, but I would think that some carefully planned additions to staff and programming might pay for itself.

 

I think the real problem is that Celebrity’s long term strategic issue is related to growth and they aren’t interested in us or what we think at all. They need growth, and the most profound growth (100% growth) comes from bookings by peopl who have never cruised. I think that is what the Edge is all about, and while cutbacks in programming are exactly that- cost saving measures- reinstating those cutbacks may reflect what the precious new cruisers want.

Having said that, I do also think (but only a opinion) that Celebrity fills the “relaxation” niche in the overall RCCL brand, and corporate is unlikely to spend money on lots of other activities when those cruisers can easily go to RCL proper.

Another unsolicited opinion is that with the ballet partnership, they are trying to address the entertainment issue in a way that they think their clientele MIGHT like, but it remains to be seen if this is window dressing or a true improvement in the entertainment. It does make Celeb “different”, and maybe that is enough.

[Magik Bee]

EDGE entertainment was awesome!! And it really was so amazing - we can’t wait to do it again!! Weren’t all the cast members just the best compared to the older ships?!?!

[could travel all the time]

57 minutes ago, Magik Bee said:

EDGE entertainment was awesome!! And it really was so amazing - we can’t wait to do it again!! Weren’t all the cast members just the best compared to the older ships?!?!

Really?!! That’s great to hear! And encouraging 👍👍

[goofysmom99]

1 hour ago, Magik Bee said:

EDGE entertainment was awesome!! And it really was so amazing - we can’t wait to do it again!! Weren’t all the cast members just the best compared to the older ships?!?!

Have you BEEN on any other ship to make a comparison?

[Magik Bee]

1 minute ago, goofysmom99 said:

Have you BEEN on any other ship to make a comparison?

 

I'm looking forward to trying the other ships, especially the smaller ones, as the REVOLUTION gets done! Looking forward to APEX especially!!

[DebInAntigua]

10 minutes ago, Magik Bee said:

 

I'm looking forward to trying the other ships, especially the smaller ones, as the REVOLUTION gets done! Looking forward to APEX especially!!

 Ok, I’ll bite. 

 

Why??? What is it that you are bee-side yourself over about the APEX? 

[hcat]

1 hour ago, Magik Bee said:

EDGE entertainment was awesome!! And it really was so amazing - we can’t wait to do it again!! Weren’t all the cast members just the best compared to the older ships?!?!

Are you perhaps related to an Edenist or B Rizzles mom?

[hcat]

3 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

Can’t view the attachment in Europe. What happened?

From WFLA  website :

"On Feb. 9, 26-year-old Casey Holladay was on board the Mariner of the Seas with his friends and decided to use a brand new attraction, "The Skypad." It’s a series of trampolines enclosed in a cage. Users attach themselves to bungee cords and can perform acrobatic flips in the air. That afternoon, things went horribly wrong. The bungee cord snapped and Holladay plummeted nearly 20 feet onto the hard deck below."

 

He was seriousy injured and survived...litigation pending

Edited March 22, 2019 by hcat

[markeb]

4 minutes ago, hcat said:

Are you perhaps related to an Edenist or B Rizzles mom?

 

Wish I could track the IP... I'd take a bet that the answer is yes.

[markeb]

Going way back to the OP's original comment, I'll confess that my wife I have found the activities a little sleepy on the two X cruises we've taken. And I don't need wall to wall trivia, and I certainly don't need poolside sexiest legs contests. Never really been one for lectures and talks.

 

Most of our cruises, before we "grew up" and the chronic shoulder took me off flowrider, etc, were on RC. On many of their ships, there's just too much to do. But I do remember, on what I think was our very first cruise with them, the port shopping person put on a spectacular talk on wristwatches. She was actually into them, and knew them (one of my weaknesses in life as well). Yes, she mentioned places in the islands to buy them, and that was almost certainly the real intent, but it wasn't presented that way.

 

My wife talked me into going to something similar on our last X cruise. It was run by the onboard shops folks, and maybe one of them knew the difference between a hairspring and a balance wheel. It was all but a total sales pitch, like the wine tastings, whisk(e)y tastings, etc.

 

Our first cruise with X was on Reflection and there was an amazingly talented rock band playing. But they shut them down at probably 10:00. I'm getting older, but I'm not dead yet!

[goofysmom99]

31 minutes ago, markeb said:

 

Wish I could track the IP... I'd take a bet that the answer is yes.

Sort of like whack-a-mole.

[markeb]

5 minutes ago, goofysmom99 said:

Sort of like whack-a-mole.

 

If they were definitely breaking the terms of service, the admins could probably block the IP. That at least increases the level of effort (go through this on a site I mod).

[richsea]

Anyone looking for a steel drum player or a piano bar should consider Princess. Our last 4 Princess sailings to the Caribbean have ha a steel drum player and nightly piano entertainment in Crooners lounge featuring Perry Grant or Sammy Goldstein, who is as good as Perry but without the campy schtick.

[villauk]

4 hours ago, richsea said:

Anyone looking for a steel drum player or a piano bar should consider Princess. Our last 4 Princess sailings to the Caribbean have ha a steel drum player and nightly piano entertainment in Crooners lounge featuring Perry Grant or Sammy Goldstein, who is as good as Perry but without the campy schtick.

 

 

We thought the activities were far better on Princess last year than on our last few X sailings. Their production shows actually made sense! Personally, the piano bar is lacking on X - even Royal have the Schooner Bar. Cutting all the activities staff to the bare minimum didn’t help. 

[jkgourmet]

7 hours ago, goofysmom99 said:

Have you BEEN on any other ship to make a comparison?

 

Prior posts show that this was MagikBee's first cruise.  

[BridgeMates]

6 hours ago, villauk said:

 

 

We thought the activities were far better on Princess last year than on our last few X sailings. Their production shows actually made sense! Personally, the piano bar is lacking on X - even Royal have the Schooner Bar. Cutting all the activities staff to the bare minimum didn’t help. 

 

Agree with you.  Why aren't they taking advantage of that beautiful white piano on the Edge?   The Schooner Bar is a very popular entertainment spot and just makes folks happy walking by!

We sail next month....come on Celebrity......get someone on board the EDGE to play the piano with songs we all know and love.

 

[hcat]

FYI everyone

Just read a great Cruise Critic Article with photos on new Exciting ships..

 

https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/3703/?et_cid=3224288&et_rid=16760876&et_referrer=NULL

 

Rec everyone take a look... you may find a new choice for a future cruise.We are going to take a serious closer look at the Princess ship...looking forward to reviews. Brief highlights below... ( hope that's okay?) 

 

Norwegian Encore...10,000 sq ft vitual reality space, go Kart track that extends over the sea, 90 version of Kinky Boots, Cavern Club  with standup standing room performances.

 

Carnival Panorama... sky zone trampoline park with 12 lane trampoline court, aqua park, sky ride, ropes course (Mex Riviera)

 

Carnival Sunrise...built on bones of Carn Triumph, waterslide, waterworks play area, ropes course...

 

One of the Carnival ships has a fam friendly exclusive area,,,sounds interesting!

 

Sky Princess.....MUTS, Adult Only Sanctuary, Enclave--- large thermal suite area, La Mer  specialty  restaurant, Jazz lounge, piano bar

 

[hcat]

18 hours ago, richsea said:

Anyone looking for a steel drum player or a piano bar should consider Princess. Our last 4 Princess sailings to the Caribbean have ha a steel drum player and nightly piano entertainment in Crooners lounge featuring Perry Grant or Sammy Goldstein, who is as good as Perry but without the campy schtick.

 

We are looking for reggae, shows that make sense, and a piano bar although not a big Perry fan...Lively  music but not ear splitting!

 

Wish X would step up and offer same,..prefer to stay with X...but Princess Sky looks interesting,  we'll see ?????

[44cruises]

It seems to me that some of this depends on the cruise director. There are no cost activities that some develop but others do not bother.  We enjoy seeing recent movies. They could run one at 10am and 2 pm but few do so

[jkgourmet]

When Princess starts to offer the alcohol package and free gratuities at fares that compare to X, I'd be the first one on line to book.