Many open staterooms

[serendipity1499]

No offence taken. We also have taken two week cruises. This is the first for a 27 day cruise. Booked a guarenteed cabin in hopes of the upgrade. My husband also just retired from the airline business. Just built a new home and decided if we could do that together we could be on a cruise ship for 27 days. When they do a cruise that long do they just repeat everything on the second two weeks.

 

Now I understand..When you book a guarantee there is a good chance of an upgrade..We pick out our cabin in advance..I'm leery of booking a guarantee, as have heard of those who've gotten the worst cabin in the category they booked..We're afraid that they will give us either an obstructed view or a porthole or a cabin on the Promenade deck....We want to be as close to the water as possible & enjoy looking out of our large window..

 

Our Prinsendam cruise was 25 days, & we never had repeats of shows, Menu's etc. As Ruth says they may have a similar main course, but it is usually presented quite differently... And we only had one Mariners Party..But on a two segment or separate cruises, I'm not sure what they do..

 

What airline did your Husband work for..Unfortunately my Airline went "Belly up" several years ago & now we pay for our Economy Flights.. DH was so spoiled when we flew First/Business that now he's decided that he no longer wants to fly..It's like pulling teeth to get him to fly one way now..Business class would cut into our travel budget too much & we really enjoy the longer cruises..

[CoconutFish]

Dear RuthC, you are so experienced: could you expalin the actual difference between "back to back" and "segments"?

 

The Boston to Boston transatlantic that you have sailed several times and the Pacific Rim cruise, for example, can be taken "whole" or : first half or second half".

 

Thanks for all your knowledgeable input to these boards!

[chasetf]

My wife and I are booked on the Rotterdam on April 20 from Lisbon to Athens. This is our second cruise and the first on HAL. I was curious about how the cruise was selling. I went on to the Travelocity site, which allows you to select the available staterooms. I went through all of them and there are many still available in each catagory. Is this normal for a cruise that sails in less than 90 days? Thanks for an opinion.

Brag

Another reason may be is I notice the ship stops in Tripoli. The site I see the itinerary on has the following note:

IMPORTANT NOTE: Libya will not allow U.S. citizens and persons born in the U.S. to disembark in Libya. Due to current restrictions in Libya the cruise line may not be able to allow passengers with Israeli passports, Israeli stamps in their passports, or passengers born in Israel to embark on a cruise that visits Libya.

Given any American that books this trip will have to give up a port, maybe the Americans are passing it up.

[RuthC]

Dear RuthC, you are so experienced: could you expalin the actual difference between "back to back" and "segments"?

I'll try---and thank you very much for the kind words.

A back-to-back is two (or more!) cruises sailed in succession. They are listed as two separate cruises in the brochures and are sold that way with different voyage numbers. There may be different discounts for the two different cruises. Most of the passengers will disembark at the end of the first cruise and will be replaced by a new set of smiling faces. Those staying on get a new card for the new cruise.

Segments are portions of one cruise that can be booked separately. The entire cruise has one voyage number; I'm not sure how the segments are numbered. Many, if not most, of the passengers take the full cruise. As far as menus, entertainment, parties, activities, etc. go it is treated as one.

The World Cruise is one cruise, but passengers can book "segments"---thereby taking a portion of one cruise. Some of the Grand Cruises can be booked that way---an example is the current voyage of the Prinsendam around South America. It was sold as one cruise round-trip from Ft. Lauderdale. There were also three segments that could be purchased separately; (I understand the middle segment which included Antarctica had to be purchased in combination with one of the other two).

It's a matter of focus---one big cruise with individual parts, or several smaller cruises adding up to a longer time away from home.

Does that make any sense? Clear as mud? :confused:

[CoconutFish]

Dear RuthC:

 

Clear as chocolate! :)

Actually, this does make sense, especially about the voyage number. I never thought of that and will drag out the documentation for the South America we took a few years ago (Buenos Aires to Seattle) to see if there were two voyage numbers.

Thanks again!

[Crusin-Suzan]

Good Morning everyone. Just got back from Naples Florida and its colder that anything down here.

My husband flew for American. Luckily he made it to the end. He flew for lots of other airlines before that.

Thanks for the lowdown on the cruise information. I never knew that. Our cruise is one cruise with two segments.