How to Spend More Money to Get a Better Cruise?

[fisherguy]

[quote name='kryos']It's funny, but I actually look at HAL as being two distinctly different cruise lines. HAL is clearly not mass market in that they do some really exotic voyages that you won't find on the mass market lines like Carnival and RCI. But yet, HAL does plenty of run-of-the-mill voyages as well ... seven dayers to the Caribbean and Alaska, ten to 12-dayers in Europe, etc. That part of HAL is no more "premium" as far as I am concerned than is Carnival or RCI.

As for a cruise line slotted between mass market and luxury ... what about Disney? In some respects I think they meet all of the requirements you list ... soda included, decent coffee, free ice cream, etc.

Blue skies ...

--rita[/QUOTE]

But is the regular non fee dining on Disney equivalent to the specialty restaurants found on the mass market lines? I don't know myself since I have not sailed Disney before. Princess is very similar to HAL in that they also offer itineries to exotic locals but I don't think the food and service is drastically different on any of their ships regardless of where they sail. I am paying about 750 pp for my alaska cruise on the Oosterdam this August but I would certainly pay 1050 to 1150 if it offered what I described in my last post. On my first cruise on Sitmar 20 years ago, I paid about 1100 (cruise portion) for my Caribbean cruise. The service and food quality was very close to what we find in the specialty restaurants today and of course there were no extra charges for soda at dinner and ice cream was free.

[hammybee]

[quote name='fisherguy']
I think that there should be premium cruise line slotted between the mass market budget lines (Like it or not HAL is one of them) and the Luxury lines like Crystal and Seabourn. I personally would pay 3 or 4 hundred more if the food and service were comparable to the specialty restaurants and we didn't have to pay for soda's, ice cream and decent coffee. To me, the cruise experience is more important than the actual ports and that is why I would be willing to pay more for a better experience. For people that find ports to be more important, the mass market cruiselines with more variety of port destinations (bigger and more ships) would be more attractive. [B]I can't see why someone with some deep pockets couldn't purchase a few of the older ships from the mass market lines (i.e. something like the Dawn Princess) and operate them in the caribbean and alaska. [/B]Judging by some of the posts on here, there must be some kind of demand for this.[/quote]

Consider Oceania, Azamara or Regent which are positioned somewhere between mass market and the top of the line. All three are increasing the number of sails from U.S. domestic ports.

[hammybee]

[quote name='fisherguy']But is the regular non fee dining on Disney equivalent to the specialty restaurants found on the mass market lines? I don't know myself since I have not sailed Disney before. Princess is very similar to HAL in that they also offer itineries to exotic locals but I don't think the food and service is drastically different on any of their ships regardless of where they sail. I am paying about 750 pp for my alaska cruise on the Oosterdam this August but I would certainly pay 1050 to 1150 if it offered what I described in my last post. [B]On my first cruise on Sitmar 20 years ago, I paid about 1100 (cruise portion) for my Caribbean[/B] [B]cruise.[/B] The service and food quality was very close to what we find in the specialty restaurants today and of course there were no extra charges for soda at dinner and ice cream was free.[/quote]

$1100 in 1988, expressed in 2008 terms is about $2000. The price of gas broke $1.00 in 1988.

There is no additional cost for ice cream on HAL. If you want a better cup of coffee, you pay for it. I find the regular coffee to be better than what was served on HAL almost 20 years ago. It's subjective, like the whole experience.

I can't imagine what kind of coffee or food you would have, for $107 p/p, per day on land when accommodations, some entertainment and transport are included.:)

[Hutch&Pat]

[quote name='kryos']This is the concept I've heard bandied about with regard to the new builds ... bigger and bigger ships ... up to and including the Genesis class. You will sail with thousands of other people, but will have your own customized cruising experience. Several of the cruise lines, from what I understand, have such customization options on the drawing board even today.

As you so accurately point out, we already do this sort of thing with specialty restaurant dining and with shore excursions. We pay extra to have a premium experience. Why not take it a step further? After all, why should I have to pay for things that don't matter a crap to me, while you pay for things that are not important to you? For example, I'm sure some of my cruise fare goes for dining. Okay, what if the cruise line told me that I could reduce the cost of my cruise by say $250 for a two-week cruise by simply not having a spot in the traditional dining room. I could be in the "bare bones" walk-in restaurant (think NCL) where I could take any one of my meals at a significant reduction of my cruise fare. Only problem is that those restuarants would be the ones with the long lines (since they don't take reservations), and they would be the ones with lesser quality food choices. Well, maybe food is not that important to me and frankly, the Lido would work fine in my case. I could save the money, leave the formal clothes at home, and just dine in the Lido everynight.

Now, while dining is not important to me, maybe onboard "edutainment" is. I want to take part in special onboard educational programs while on my cruise and it just so happens there are some excellent choices being offered on my sailing (think Cunard's Enrichment programs). For example, there may be a series of lectures being offered on sea days on several topics, one being photography for example. The lectures are free to anyone onboard who may want to attend, but for those who purchase the "photography enrichment package," they get priority seating in the front rows for those lectures, plus a series of maybe three or four smaller, hands-on classes. They may also get a couple of shore excursions where a professional photographer accompanies the small group and helps them to take some great pictures. The cost for this "enrichment" program? Oh, merely $500 ... but don't forget, that includes two shore excursions as well. Well, for me that $500 might be worth it. To you, it wouldn't be. You'd rather enjoy fine dining. So, you spend your money on the "fine dining package," while I make do in the walk-in restaurant and the Lido, and I'll blow my $500 on edutainment.

Bottom line is that we both get a great cruise experience, because it is customized to our own personal preferences, and HAL (or whatever cruise line this happens to be) makes more money with the options than they would have off of the basic cruise experience offered previously. Sounds like a win-win to me.

Blue skies ...

--rita[/QUOTE]

Just dawned on me -- I think I've been on a few of these 'cruises' (i.e. Greece and Italy and Maine and Nova Scotia etc) where even the cabins were optional/extra. Talk about 'chair hogs'! Was so glad to have a cabin to hang out in with the family -- people staked out floor and you had to step over them and ... one even put up a small tent for privacy. I guess they kept some pathways cleared, but it did seem to be wall to wall and deck to deck with people on the floor. All dining was extra. One did have a casino for 'entertainment'. This is why my I made the first comment about this becoming like Easy Cruise if it keeps taking steps in this direction. Why even require folks to pay for a cabin if you're not going to require people not paying for anything extra to stay in it? If folks just want transportation, those ships certainly supplied it and they were not paying for any of the amenities that I opted for and paid for. Yes .... they were 'cruising experiences' but not the kind that we look forward to with such fond memories.
Pat