dockman

took a lot of special engineers to come up with something that ugly.

Do any ships still go to acapulco or ixtapa? I have some good memories of those places a few decades ago but i guess the violence has basically eliminated cruise visits?

Ah the memories. I have spent a lot of hours walking these type decks, reading books, looking at the ocean, feeling the ocean breezes, smell the salt air, look at water mere feet away rather than through dirty plexiglass 15 or so floors above the water.. no piped music, no get your bingo card announcements , feeling like i am at sea on a ship and not just floating around on a giant theme park/shopping mall.....one of the very best things that kept me cruising for decades. Rapidly disappearing.

I simply made an observation and curious as to what other cruisers have experienced.

so i simply walk by a bar and the bartender charges a drink to me rather then the person who ordered it and is likely standing or sitting at the bar? sounds a lot like a glitch in the IT that picks out a random person just walking by to display to a human..so am i supposed to not walk by a bar...sorta hard to do.

As said it was never adjusted and to go stand in line and go through the whole story again was just not something that was worth it for $3.....i would bet there are lots of people who end up paying for drinks they never ordered...point is they need to fix the problem with their technology that just somehow decides to charge me for a drink when i just happened to walk by a bar...i never once sat down at the bar.

Last cruise i got charged for a coke from some bar. I do not drink coke period....but to try and convince front desk that i did not buy any drinks from any bar and certainly not a coke I felt like it was somehow my job to prove i didn't do it. Was promised it would be adjusted but it never was so rather than waste my time i just paid for the darn coke as was not worth wasting my time to save the $3 bucks or so. Of course not so much the money but the point being why does it fall on me to deal with the fact that your technology obivously has some issues?

I recently did a 14 day and later a 20 day cruise on two different princess ships. One thing I certainly noticed was how many people seemed to be sitting in the bar areas drinking all kinds of cocktails most all day and evening long. Especially on sea days it seemed to be what most passengers did. Also seems lot more drinking out by pools and in fact most everywhere on the ships. No doubt there are more people buying the packages that include up to 15 drinks a day. I did seem to share the elevators etc with more people who had obviously had perhaps a few too many. Has there been any noticable increase in public drunkeness or rude behavior or trips and falls? So the question is how much more is the typical package buying cruiser sucking down now then they did a few years ago when they bought and paid by the drink? Do they really want all those drinks or is there an attempt to "get their moneys worth" since they paid for it? I also enjoy a few drinks but am not sure i have the will power to avoid the temptation to not drink too much as it's all "included" just like the buffet can be very tough on a diet since it's "all included".

the best? Water.

Has anyone ever gone to a BB King show on HAL that was not full? Standing room only for everytime i have been. So HAL has/had a winner that obviously their clients love/loved. So in the USA they cannot find a company that can provide good bands that will sign contracts for at least a few months to play that kind of music? Somebody is not looking very hard or the pay is so low that the bands say no thanks. Hell charge a $5 per person cover charge if you have to and the place would most likely still be packed every show. TRY harder HAL.

Yokohama is also an easy bus ride from NRT or HND....frequent departures and you board right at exit levels of airport...ask any of the info centers buy a ticket and away you go....i think easier than riding the train especially if have luggage...goes to city center in Yokohama or last stop is at the Intercontinental hotel yokohama next door to ship terminal...both easy metered taxi ride to ship port. Nice clean professional buses with bathroom .

just what i don't want on a cruise is more sugar

BB King seemed to me to be one of the most popular enertainments introduced to holland ever...it was standing room only for every single show when i last saw them...It brought a new life and fun to holland that was sorely needed...so naturally some exec decided that they should be phased out. Maybe convert the space to a jewelry store or another art gallery might be a higher priority to the bean counters.

Would like to try Cunard but never found any what i would consider good deals on an itin that i liked.

I am thankful that I have done dozens of cruises over the past 30 or so years and was fortunate to experience a more intimate, relaxing, time where ships had nice libraries, nice wide teak promenade decks, more elegant dining, more talented enrichment speakers along with learning programs..where with less passengers the staff knew you by name and would often remember you years later.... Holland has provided me with a lot of wonderful memories of cruising without all the bells and whistles, without people being encouraged to drink themselves silly and sit and scroll on phones, tablets all day with the packages being pushed. In those days it just seemed overall a more civil group of passengers, with more diverse conversations, more courtesy and civility. More passengers who did not require or want piped music into most every public area, did not want or need a medallion to open their door or to get a drink. . It was a quieter more simple time that i find is being replaced by bigger flashier "shiny things" which apparently is what sells now. Now it seems that the marketing hype is bigger is better, more people, more rock climbing , go karts,water slides, more pay restaurants, more 15 drinks a day packages ,more shops, more nickle and diming at every turn. Reminds me more and more of a combo theme park and shopping mall. Not what I want on a cruise. Of course I know that the entire industry is changing where the massive new ships appeal to many and apparently make more $$. I guess I am just an old man talking about how good it all used to be. But i suspect there are a lot of people who remember fondly and prefer the cruise experience of years gone by. I will finish out my life of cruising happily on the smaller older ships and let others have the "joy" of 6000 passengers with all the bells and whistles. Frankly after 7+ decades I have had enough of bells and whistles. To each his own.

sounds like semi organized chaos...just what i don't want five mins before curtain time

so were all the reserved seats used or if not at what point/time were they released for anyone to use?

I am frequently thinking of asking some of the people i know that same question these days.

Maybe like airlines they have algorhythms that calculate every price when to go up or down....if the cruise shows sold out or very little avail i would think that might force people to go ahead and book for fear of missing out...get a lot of bookings then open it all up again to get more?....airline prices and availablity can change in a matter of seconds even depending on how many people just look online at a particular date and city pairs....or where you are looking from as well as your past travel history and all kinds of info that they have about flights and passengers....don't think the cruise lines are nearly as sophisticated yet as they are way behind even on relatively simple apps but i would guess they are working on it.

If you book obstructed views at lower prices sometimes with some research you will often find that not all obst views are equal...some are totally blocked with a lifeboat hanging right over your window...others have way better views and some have almost completely unobstructed views...you can see pics of some of the views and try and pick the best views..i did 20 days on diamond and had an obstructed class room but had wide open view....you have to book way in advance to get these rooms which is what i do...once booked i have them mark do not upgrade and so long as it is not a room which holds 3 or 4 which i hate no problems...on diamond i hit the jackpot with great view plus location that i loved...

It obviously doesn't work for everyone but i recently did a 20 day cruise from japan to australia with no wifi at all...i did it on purpose to get away from the non stop barage of politics and conspiracy theories....i also vowed not to watch any of the news channels. I checked my email at port stops on free wifi but only looked for any emergency type messages and did not click on anything remotely political, did not look at stock prices, etc. All of my bills are already set on auto pay as well. The first few days were a bit like withdrawal from an addiction..but after that passed I ultimately found that my mood was much improved, my stress levels had declined and i would look at all the passengers who as usual could not go five minutes without looking at their phones or tablets with a certain amount of "pity". I did more reading, more sitting on deck looking at the sea, more listening to music, went to more shows etc. It seems to me that the pushing of the package has resulted in more passengers sitting in bars drinking and scrolling on their phones all day than I recall pre package days...maybe for some that is a good thing...to each his own but it is not a requirement by any means. Again i realize some people have to stay in touch for work etc...but fortunately I am not one of them.

same on diamond princess in september

hoping for a better outcome for OP who i think deserves more than gee tough luck....

So what is stopping them from at least an apology and an offer of some sort of compensation or upgrade for disrupting the clients vacation plan....

I think the point is at least tell the customer the truth and offer them at least some sort of obc or upgrade would be the appropriate action. Not sure doing some "power" upgrades six months away makes much sense?