Creating an "All-Inclusive" Cruise on a Mainstream Cruise Brand

[Sthrngary]

Hello All: 

 

I have been on CruiseCritic.com for many years now. More than most, not as many as others.  I have always attempted to by the “voice of reason”, attempting to take the “high road” on many difficult subjects.  You may or may not know me for my OP-ED’s on The NCL Haven, Doing Haven Lite or the NCL Premium PLUS Beverage Package.  Many call me, “Mr. Haven”.  I am honored.  Well during covid-19, I got bored and did a series of YouTube.com videos on cruising.  I called it the “Cranky Old Man Series” because my family calls me a “Cranky Old Man”. 

 

The series is very informal, it was not done professionally.  I did it myself and the editing is just ok, but the message is clear.  I wanted to show how with a little “due diligence”, you could create as close to an “all-inclusive, luxury and elevated cruise experience” as possible.  I wanted to focus on always having a “Realistic Expectation” with our cruise vacations.  These videos sell NOTHING, I do not endorse any Travel Agents and I NEVER ask for anything other than feedback.  I share this upfront so that the gods at CruiseCritic.com see I am not selling ANYTHING and not attempting to break policies or rules.

 

This five-part series tells a story in order.  The titles let you know what is being presented.  They go in order building on what was already presented. I was bored today and watched them ALL again.  They are informative and answer many of the questions I get asked here every day.  I will post the link below of the “YouTube Playlist”.  If this post is still on CruiseCritic.com in the morning, I will know did not break any rules.  Here is what will be in the Playlist:

 

• Episode 1: Introduction to the All-Inclusive Cruising Experience.
• Episode 2: What I want from my All-Inclusive Cruise Experience
• Episode 3: Data Collection from Social Media.
• Episode 4: What I don’t like about Cruising and Fixing It.
• Episode 5: Pre-Cruise Preparation
• BONUS: NCL Joy (H2) Haven Deluxe Owners Suite with Large Balcony

 

I hope my efforts in some way assist you and help you enhance your cruising experience.

 

"Cruise well and enjoy every moment."

 

The Playlist Link is: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr9nz5r1Vg_MoFU7f9raAozE_3N46DGa2 

Edited July 12, 2023 by Sthrngary

[amygutman]

@Sthrngary You are a terrible human being. Honestly...I just got home after a 12 hour shift and all I really want to do is go to bed but now I am compelled to go to YouTube and at least start your series of videos. 

 

How dare you further interrupt my already limited sleeping hours by teasing me with this offering? You, sir, clearly do not have my best circadian interests in mind by selfishly producing and posting these videos. 

 

Sigh...off I go you bookmark your channel. 

 

🥰 Warmest, Amy

[cruiseny4life]

My boss will concur with @amygutman as my day will now be spent perusing your YouTube offerings. I can't wait to see some more content from the cranky old man. I raise my thermos of iced coffee to you as my way of thanks. 

[brer111]

I actually love reading your information and will watch your YouTube late today. 

[omahabob]

I can't watch it. I might do it. And then my wife would kill me over yet another hit to our budget.

 

Must ..... not ..... watch!

[Sthrngary]

22 hours ago, omahabob said:

I can't watch it. I might do it. And then my wife would kill me over yet another hit to our budget.

 

Must ..... not ..... watch!

@omahabob LUKE, the force is to strong between us.  Your mind cannot fight the force.  You must, you will and then you will BOOK.  That best part of these video's is it does not matter when you go, where you go, or what brand you have; you can elevate your cruising experience  and still have "Realistic Expectations". 

 

In the past, my approach to things I did not like on a cruise was to grin and bear it.  A great example was a below average butler.  Not to get to deep but, what it the butler that was below average or the environment that butler was in was the issue.  My light bult went off and clearly, in most every case, the employee was put in a situation that did not allow for fair compensation for fair work provided.

 

The creation of the "Butler letter" with "Pre-Cruise Tip" was born.  Most of the issue we have on cruises is NOT the ship, cabin or other hard assets.  It is a people issue.  Whether crew or guests that have an attitude.  There is a solution as long as we all go to what made it a problem in the first time.  Then we create to solutions that makes OUR cruise enhanced.

 

A little deep of an explanation but bottle lines to experience are all about relationships with people.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[CDR Benson]

As with Dr. Gutman and cruiseny4life, I cannot resist the lure of your YouTube offerings.  The planner within me won't allow it.  And I know they'll be entertaining as well as informative, my friend.

 

 

 

Edited July 14, 2023 by CDR Benson

[smillerholmes]

Absolutely love the way you give back to the community.  I also fear watching will cause budget busting.  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

[Beach Life 1]

I am so looking forward to watching.  Thank you so much. 

[Sthrngary]

8 hours ago, smillerholmes said:

Absolutely love the way you give back to the community.  I also fear watching will cause budget busting.  Not that there's anything wrong with that...

@smillerholmes Worry not!!  My approach works for the Haven or what I have called "Haven Lite".  Example of Haven Lite.  As much as I love the Haven, when the 7-day fair is $3,500.00 plus, it is a budget issue for myself and other sometimes.  Especially if you are going solo which I ONLY did once.  However, what if you got a Club Balcony Suite for lets say, $850.00 per person.  I would end up getting a meal package, Vibe Beach Club Free At Sea Plus and not come close the the Haven Price.  Hence, "Haven Lite".  All done through planning. 

 

My hope is when I get done with my week on the ship, my bill under the door is under $100.00.  You can do this from a VIP section or an Inside Cabin.  Just take some Due Diligence.  

 

NOW if you want to "bust the budget", I have been know to do that quite well.  I recently did it on a Oceania Cruise.  Long story short, I originally booked a Four-Category Upgrade to a Penthouse with a butler and thought I found the best deal in the world.  Then months later I saw a new promotion and the fare gods were looking after me.  I got a reduction for my cabin of $1,800.00.  I was thrilled.  My final step was to have my travel agent call for an "Paid" upgrade.  Oceania does not do "Bid" upgrades like NCL.  Through a comedy of errors by the Oceania Agent, I got a upgrade to what would be about the same size suite as a NCL (H2) Deluxe Owners Suite with Large Balcony.  It was called a "Vista" suite.  My daily rate per person for the second biggest suite on board was $470.00 per day.  No need for specialty meal packages, or upgrading internet, or other things I am used to gaining or upgrading.  

 

Now I know that is not chump change however a Haven Suite on most sailing for 7 days now is $3,500.00 or $500.00 per day.  That is for a smaller of a Haven Suite.  

 

The moral of the story and the story that the I am telling with the video's is, Due Diligence and strategic planning can make your cruise vacation enhanced.  

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[RNnNC]

And it begins, as I preplan for Mediterranean 2025!

[Sthrngary]

Thanks to all for the comments here and on YouTube.  The most comments I have received was to provide my Excel Calendar which I have sent to everyone who asked.  The second most requested item is very difficult for me to send.  It is my detailed Journey Document.  The reason why it is difficult is because it is so personal.  Everything from copies of my Passport, Drivers License, Covid Card and the list goes on. 

 

The purpose of this document is twofold.  First, for me to have an idea of what to expect from the cruise and ports.  Second, to answer the most commonly asked questions by my wife and this cruise my guests.  They tend to make fun of all my preparations so early. Yet about 5 days before the cruise, they start asking questions and challenging "WHY" we are doing things a specific way.  That "Arm Chair Quarterbacking" used to get to me.  Now, I give them this multi-page journey document and say,

 

"I gave you all the opportunity to research, plan and do due diligence.  You made fun of me.  This is the work down over months without any of your help.  If you want to change something, Call Your Congressmen."

 

In my heart of hearts I know they all appreciate just going on a great vacation with all the pitfalls proactively thought out.  Yet, wanting to change something as simple as a popular "Specialty Restaurants" on board on board a ship that is sold out, is almost impossible.  I just let them try and enjoy their frustration.  When they go to a port and immediately want to take a cab to the city center and I explain, the cab will be $140.00 and the train which is just as fast is $10.00 gets a challenge like, "Why are you being such a Know-It-ALL". "Do you know that for sure."  My answer is "YES, it is on page 27, mid-page.  I have a YouTube video to support it.  But feel free to find out for yourself.  I will be going to the train station.  See you later."  Funny how the follow me and won't talk to me for an hour because of my attitude.    

 

Now am I exaggerating, SURE. But not by much.  Sometimes luxury for me is knowing the facts and taking pro-active action on them.  What I know is I would rather take a train, leave when I want and come back when I want than to take a Cruise Line bus, waiting an hour to fill up before leaving with a specific time to catch that bus to come back to the ship.  Same walking tour.  Cruise line $179.00 per person.  Train to city center, $10.00 per person.  You choose.  All it took was some research and my now famous Journey Document.  Hope you like my story.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[CDR Benson]

I am more fortunate, in one sense, than you are, my friend.  The Good Mrs. Benson no longer questions my actions in preparing our cruises.  She knows I love the planning of them, down to the last detail.  She's witnessed how my arrangements have circumvented most problems and minimised the impacts of difficulties that couldn't be foreseen.  And she's grateful for my work.

 

The GMB acknowledges that I am the "cruisemaster" for us, and it's nice to be appreciated.

 

At the same time, though, it puts me under the gun not to screw up somewhere, heh.

 

 

Edited July 17, 2023 by CDR Benson

[Sthrngary]

26 minutes ago, CDR Benson said:

At the same time, though, it puts me under the gun not to screw up somewhere, heh.

 

And, in this one simple statement, you totally and completely get me.  I thought I was alone in these thoughts.  Thank you kind sir.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[brer111]

On 7/17/2023 at 6:29 AM, Sthrngary said:

Thanks to all for the comments here and on YouTube.  The most comments I have received was to provide my Excel Calendar which I have sent to everyone who asked.  The second most requested item is very difficult for me to send.  It is my detailed Journey Document.  The reason why it is difficult is because it is so personal.  Everything from copies of my Passport, Drivers License, Covid Card and the list goes on. 

 

The purpose of this document is twofold.  First, for me to have an idea of what to expect from the cruise and ports.  Second, to answer the most commonly asked questions by my wife and this cruise my guests.  They tend to make fun of all my preparations so early. Yet about 5 days before the cruise, they start asking questions and challenging "WHY" we are doing things a specific way.  That "Arm Chair Quarterbacking" used to get to me.  Now, I give them this multi-page journey document and say,

 

"I gave you all the opportunity to research, plan and do due diligence.  You made fun of me.  This is the work down over months without any of your help.  If you want to change something, Call Your Congressmen."

 

In my heart of hearts I know they all appreciate just going on a great vacation with all the pitfalls proactively thought out.  Yet, wanting to change something as simple as a popular "Specialty Restaurants" on board on board a ship that is sold out, is almost impossible.  I just let them try and enjoy their frustration.  When they go to a port and immediately want to take a cab to the city center and I explain, the cab will be $140.00 and the train which is just as fast is $10.00 gets a challenge like, "Why are you being such a Know-It-ALL". "Do you know that for sure."  My answer is "YES, it is on page 27, mid-page.  I have a YouTube video to support it.  But feel free to find out for yourself.  I will be going to the train station.  See you later."  Funny how the follow me and won't talk to me for an hour because of my attitude.    

 

Now am I exaggerating, SURE. But not by much.  Sometimes luxury for me is knowing the facts and taking pro-active action on them.  What I know is I would rather take a train, leave when I want and come back when I want than to take a Cruise Line bus, waiting an hour to fill up before leaving with a specific time to catch that bus to come back to the ship.  Same walking tour.  Cruise line $179.00 per person.  Train to city center, $10.00 per person.  You choose.  All it took was some research and my now famous Journey Document.  Hope you like my story.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

I would love your excel Calendar. I end up doing all the work for all our trips 

[Sthrngary]

1 hour ago, brer111 said:

I would love your excel Calendar. I end up doing all the work for all our trips 

@brer111 My pleasure.  I hope you can down load it. You may have to put the file as landscape and mess with it a bit.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Cruise_Agenda_Template.xlsxCruise_Agenda_Template.xlsx

Edited July 28, 2023 by Sthrngary

[brer111]

11 minutes ago, Sthrngary said:

@brer111 My pleasure.  I hope you can down load it. You may have to put the file as landscape and mess with it a bit.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

Cruise_Agenda_Template.xlsxCruise_Agenda_Template.xlsx 21.06 kB · 5 downloads

Got it and it works perfectly~Thanks

[Sthrngary]

11 minutes ago, brer111 said:

Got it and it works perfectly~Thanks

You have to make changes to accommodate your trip.  That is why it is editable.  Enjoy.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Dorhead1230]

On 7/17/2023 at 9:29 AM, Sthrngary said:

Thanks to all for the comments here and on YouTube.  The most comments I have received was to provide my Excel Calendar which I have sent to everyone who asked.  The second most requested item is very difficult for me to send.  It is my detailed Journey Document.  The reason why it is difficult is because it is so personal.  Everything from copies of my Passport, Drivers License, Covid Card and the list goes on. 

 

The purpose of this document is twofold.  First, for me to have an idea of what to expect from the cruise and ports.  Second, to answer the most commonly asked questions by my wife and this cruise my guests.  They tend to make fun of all my preparations so early. Yet about 5 days before the cruise, they start asking questions and challenging "WHY" we are doing things a specific way.  That "Arm Chair Quarterbacking" used to get to me.  Now, I give them this multi-page journey document and say,

 

"I gave you all the opportunity to research, plan and do due diligence.  You made fun of me.  This is the work down over months without any of your help.  If you want to change something, Call Your Congressmen."

 

In my heart of hearts I know they all appreciate just going on a great vacation with all the pitfalls proactively thought out.  Yet, wanting to change something as simple as a popular "Specialty Restaurants" on board on board a ship that is sold out, is almost impossible.  I just let them try and enjoy their frustration.  When they go to a port and immediately want to take a cab to the city center and I explain, the cab will be $140.00 and the train which is just as fast is $10.00 gets a challenge like, "Why are you being such a Know-It-ALL". "Do you know that for sure."  My answer is "YES, it is on page 27, mid-page.  I have a YouTube video to support it.  But feel free to find out for yourself.  I will be going to the train station.  See you later."  Funny how the follow me and won't talk to me for an hour because of my attitude.    

 

Now am I exaggerating, SURE. But not by much.  Sometimes luxury for me is knowing the facts and taking pro-active action on them.  What I know is I would rather take a train, leave when I want and come back when I want than to take a Cruise Line bus, waiting an hour to fill up before leaving with a specific time to catch that bus to come back to the ship.  Same walking tour.  Cruise line $179.00 per person.  Train to city center, $10.00 per person.  You choose.  All it took was some research and my now famous Journey Document.  Hope you like my story.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

 

On 7/17/2023 at 10:10 AM, CDR Benson said:

I am more fortunate, in one sense, than you are, my friend.  The Good Mrs. Benson no longer questions my actions in preparing our cruises.  She knows I love the planning of them, down to the last detail.  She's witnessed how my arrangements have circumvented most problems and minimised the impacts of difficulties that couldn't be foreseen.  And she's grateful for my work.

 

The GMB acknowledges that I am the "cruisemaster" for us, and it's nice to be appreciated.

 

At the same time, though, it puts me under the gun not to screw up somewhere, heh.

 

 

You are…my people 🥲. I research so much before vacations (not multiple-chapter documents @Sthrngary, but I will when I retire 😜) and for the most part, DH and my mom just sit back and let me figure everything out. But I do, on multiple occasions before any trip, ask about a dozen times, “do you have an opinion on X?” “Is there anything specific you want to do as far as Y?” “Do you care which night is which specialty?” Etc. Because then when I get shrugs, I tell them that’s fine, but I better not hear a word of complaint about how I planned everything. Sometimes I do think it’s their sinister plan to just be able to complain that I messed something up when things go wrong though @CDR Benson, lol.

 

The week after our Joy cruise a couple weeks ago, DH’s sister, BIL, our nieces and nephew, his mom, and his grandma boarded. It didn’t work out for his vacation for us to go with them that week. They had a great time, but the things that he said they were complaining they didn’t like or had issues with (example—not knowing men needed long pants for LB and OB), I just kept saying “but that info is all over the Internet! It’s ON the NCL site!” And his answer is always, “Not everyone researches things like you do.” I mean, fine, not everyone is going to obsessively pore over CC to the point that we know exactly when and what liquor brands are changing or the dates of show closings and stuff, but I’ll never understand when people don’t even Google the basics or neglect to read the FAQs, and then complain 🤷🏻‍♀️. I’m far too anxious to leave much to chance with planning, and then have things be a mess or lose lots of precious time on vacation straightening out issues that can be avoided with advance planning. All that being said, traveling with a little kid can still throw wrenches into even the best-laid plans lol!

 

@Sthrngary, will definitely be checking out your videos! Thanks for posting!

[Pitzel]

5 hours ago, Dorhead1230 said:

I’m far too anxious to leave much to chance with planning, and then have things be a mess or lose lots of precious time on vacation straightening out issues that can be avoided with advance planning. 

Yes! THIS!!!

My family refers to me as their "travel agent" because I research absolutely everything and prefer to either plan ahead of time or at least know what my plan A/plan B/plan C options are for a given situation. My in-laws, in fact, will just ask, "So, where are we going on our next cruise?" because they know that I probably have a good idea of the best ships, itineraries, and deals going on.

Fortunately, my husband knows this about me and knows that the planning adds to my excitement for and enjoyment of each cruise. For my 40th, he surprised me with flights to Florida and said, "I would have booked a cruise to surprise you, but I know that you would miss out on all of the research and planning. So, here are the 5 cruises that leave out of Florida that week and that would work with our flights. Go ahead and pick your favorite one and we'll go."

[Sthrngary]

7 hours ago, Pitzel said:

"I would have booked a cruise to surprise you, but I know that you would miss out on all of the research and planning. So, here are the 5 cruises that leave out of Florida that week and that would work with our flights. Go ahead and pick your favorite one and we'll go."

Wow, great spouse.

 

Cruise well and enjoy every moment. 

[Candy Apple 12]

18 hours ago, Pitzel said:

Yes! THIS!!!

My family refers to me as their "travel agent" because I research absolutely everything and prefer to either plan ahead of time or at least know what my plan A/plan B/plan C options are for a given situation. My in-laws, in fact, will just ask, "So, where are we going on our next cruise?" because they know that I probably have a good idea of the best ships, itineraries, and deals going on.

Fortunately, my husband knows this about me and knows that the planning adds to my excitement for and enjoyment of each cruise. For my 40th, he surprised me with flights to Florida and said, "I would have booked a cruise to surprise you, but I know that you would miss out on all of the research and planning. So, here are the 5 cruises that leave out of Florida that week and that would work with our flights. Go ahead and pick your favorite one and we'll go."

I’m my family’s “travel agent” also. I just wish I could get the travel agent commission!