dockman

Most all ships that bother to post a sign suggesting which direction to walk on prom/walking decks say go counterclockwise. Here is why: Ever wondered why runners always circle the track counterclockwise? Interestingly, more than a century ago, runners actually raced clockwise. At the earliest modern Olympic Games, such as those held in Athens in 1896, athletes ran events like the 200m, 400m, and 800m clockwise around the track. However, many runners experienced discomfort or even pain running in that direction. Recognizing this issue, athletic authorities around 1913 officially switched track events to a counterclockwise direction, a practice that's been standard ever since. Science now supports this choice by showing how counterclockwise rotation frequently appears throughout nature. For example: Human blood circulation naturally follows a counterclockwise path. Electrons orbit their atomic nuclei counterclockwise. Even on a larger scale, natural celestial movements share this pattern: The Moon orbits Earth counterclockwise. Earth itself revolves around the Sun counterclockwise. The planets of our solar system orbit the Sun counterclockwise. Our Sun and solar system rotate around the center of the galaxy counterclockwise. Entire galaxies themselves rotate counterclockwise. Moreover, certain cultural traditions have embraced this natural phenomenon, such as Muslims performing the ritual of circling the Kaaba in a counterclockwise direction for the past 1400 years. This commonality suggests there's more to counterclockwise movement than mere coincidence, it aligns runners naturally with a fundamental rhythm of nature.

maybe i am selfish but it is perfectly ok with me if less people want to do the mexico west coast cruises as it maybe means softer demand and likely lower prices for people like me that have always enjoyed the nice warm weather, scenery, and the mexican ports (well most of them anyway). ..$42 for 7 days is $6 a day...people spend more than that on a beer....maybe cutting out a beer or two a day would be a good idea for people like me whose stomach would likely say thank you....of course that is not likely to happen,

Early to bed, Early to rise Generally applies.

That is just what mr google says...no comment on fair or not fair just what it appears is being planned. The press has done a lousy job of getting some clarity to is it $42 per port or $42 per itinerary and created a lot of confusion. But for right now I will assume it is per itinerary as per port i do think would indeed have a much more negative effect on demand. $42 will just disappear into overall pricing and quickly be forgotten. Maybe it will have some very minor impact on demand but I doubt it will be much of a game changer for most people.

We shall see...BUT...if the stock markets continue to go down down it is highly likely that demand for cruises and many other "luxury" vacations will also go down. There are millions of potential cruisers who have already seen some big drops in their 401 k type investment. Add to that the what if real estate also takes a big plunge and people feeling of being "wealthy" will also take a nose dive. Throw in yet another wild card of boycotts of travel to the usa by some as well as potential of americans not being so welcomed in some countries and we shall see. Cruise and vacations in general are normally some of the first purchases that get cancelled when people are more concerned re their finances. Some people will likely just decide to postpone and sit it all out for a while to see if and when the uncertainty calms down. It's all about supply and demand and if demand goes down the prices will also usually go down. Econ 101.

per mr google it is per itinerary not per port...so not that big a deal for typical mexican cruise The Mexico cruise tax, a $42 fee per passenger, is charged per cruise, not per port. This means that regardless of the number of Mexican ports a cruise visits, the fee will be charged once per passenger.

per mr google it is per itinerary not per port...so not that big a deal for typical mexican cruise The Mexico cruise tax, a $42 fee per passenger, is charged per cruise, not per port. This means that regardless of the number of Mexican ports a cruise visits, the fee will be charged once per passenger.

per mr google it is per itinerary not per port...so not that big a deal for typical mexican cruise The Mexico cruise tax, a $42 fee per passenger, is charged per cruise, not per port. This means that regardless of the number of Mexican ports a cruise visits, the fee will be charged once per passenger.

Yes but it is obvious that generally very few crew members ever seem to confront a guest and obviously do not want to tell their manager or have not been instructed to immediately call a manager to handle those issues..or if they do the manager does nothing as they don't want to get involved...that is why it needs to be a senior person who has as a primary responsiblity to handle guests complaints and theoretically has the experience to do so and the backing of even more senior manager where guest still refuse to cooperate. Some guests no doubt will still want to see the captain etc to complain which is their right but like most other biz the captain will expect his senior guys to shield him from almost all of the complaints.

I do wish the cruise lines all had one semi senior person who the crew could simply relay a complaint like this to and then the senior person would show up to deal with it. I do not think it is right or fair or effective to expect a crew member to have to confront a guest....a senior person on call or even security should handle situations like that.

I was around when the airlines cut travel agents commissions from often 15% and up to 5% then eventually to zero. The reason was that so many agents were rebating half or more of their commissions was to get primarily corporate accounts that were dealing direct with the airlines to switch to their agency for a big rebate. Eventually the airlines got tired of losing direct clients and determined...correctly...that if agents were rebating half of the commission then we must be paying them too much in commissions. Cruise line bean counters no doubt look at the agent commission line often and see it as a place where some day they will cut. Meantime seems more and more cruisers are learning to book with agents who give them a big rebate either cash or gift cards or obc or whatever...and then many like to brag about how they booked with the cruise line direct where the cruise line paid staff no doubt answered many questions only to have the booking switched to an agent meaning the cruise line then also paid full commission to the agent to "take over" the booking. Yes cruises are different than airlines but bean counters are always looking for places to cut expenses and you can be assured that this is an area that will someday be changed. Sadly many agents who provide excellent advice and service and do not rebate a chunk of their commission pay are being undercut by agents whose main selling point is how much of their pay they will rebate to get a booking. Many old time agents who really know their stuff and have cruised dozens of times have already retired or giving it up and being replaced by much less experienced agents whose service and expertise may well be minimial but hey they offer a bigger rebate so naturally a lot of people will go to them. The book Who moved my cheese? offers some good lessons in this regard.

It is only an overreaction if there have not been many other cases of people who are not as well behaved as you. Don't blame the people who react negatively...blame the people who are not polite and controlled like you and no doubt perhaps even most others. It is not realistic to ask the crew to use their discretion and have to judge who is following common courtesy and who is not. Just like there are no doubt many cruisers who bring blue tooth speakers and use them very quietly in their rooms but unfortunately there are always others who do not care and play them loudly or in public places. There is a reason that more and more lines are banning musical instrutments and blue tooth speakers. There is little doubt the reason for these bans is that many people are not polite and not considerate in their use of instruments or speakers and other guests have complained to the cruise lines. Sadly the polite ones like you get caught in the net.

If you are blaying black jack normally only the higher limit tables still pay 3 to 2 while the other tables offer the super sucker deal of paying 6 to 5...doesn't seem like a big deal but it is if you are actually playing basic strategy and want to win or lose less. If you are not playing basic strategy the casino LOVES you and loves to take your money very quickly.

yes the food was so bad on crown that i only gained five pounds in 15 days...i found the food to be just fine and from the looks of the loaded plates i saw being carried away from the lido lines it appeared that so did a lot of other people.... I would bet that in most restaurants around the world that there will nearly always be people who love the food and a few who hate it....all a matter of taste perhaps along with mood, external events such as health and feeling good/bad and many other intangibles to include good/bad service that may impact the dining experience...heck when i was young and in lust i don't even remember eating the food...

next up...bagpipes.... hey u let a guy play a flute and a trumpet so why can't i play my bagpipes?? there is a very good reason that ships have a variety of rules but no matter how many rules there will always be a few "special" people that rules or even basic common courtesy do not apply......one persons music is another person's noise.....silence is golden but very difficult to find on a cruise ship...not everyone wants to hear others music, or telephone calls, or videos played on smart phones, or music from a bluetooth speaker or people who walk into a quiet place where there are many people quietly reading books who don't care, don't notice and start yacking away.... look for outright ban on passengers bringing musical instruments onboard soon. along with more and more things like bluetooth speakers etc....

or a good ota that has a website that works better than the princess site?

Actually if cruise critic posts are any guide it is more like the same old princess that for some very strange reason seems incapable of getting their IT systems working properly which one expects from a major corporation. One of the mysteries is do their execs not care, not notice, or do care and do notice but not have a clue how to hire a professional company to once and for all get the bugs out or redesign an entire new system? Seems a bit embarrasing for a big powerful company that sells a product costing thousands of dollars per transaction and supposedly run by some of america's best and brightest highly compensated executives.

Beware the scammers. It is a growing industry and will no doubt get more and more convincing for cruises flights and all sorts of travel products...along with most other products. The one you got re it being a discount if you prepay gratuities is much more convincing than port taxes as everyone as far as i know pays port taxes with their cruise fare there are some who wait til they get onboard to pay gratuities ..and they make a great target to pay now get a discount scam. Probably will also be extended to buy drinks/wifi/grats package and give me your card info and get a special discount scam deals....It is all a big numbers games to scammers who may send out thousands of emails and if only 1% work that can be big bucks.

cxl

cxl

Did a search hoping to see crime rates may have dropped in ACA...apparently not. Bit surprised that HAL is going there again. I would guess that maybe the shore excursions will be chosen carefully and maybe even some kind of extra security around the port as one incident and ACA will no doubt go right back on the avoid list. To add to it all Americans may not be very popular with many mexicans these days for political reasons. A 2023 study found that Acapulco was among the 50 most dangerous cities worldwide, a notable shift from a period where only one Mexican city was on that list, before 2017.

I have many fond memories of both cruise ship visits and post cruise land stays in ACA...i see that a few are now adding it back as a cruise port. The last time I was there it seemed to be full of brazilian tourists. Once upon a time ACA was one of the very top resort cities in the world full of celebs and movie stars...the Las Brisas Hotel which I assue is still there was a fun place with all the pink jeeps and people keeping eye out for movie stars who stayed there often.

Dear Princess: Be easy to do business with and go out of your way to be transparent. Hire someone to fix all the website and medallion problems that have been going on for years. Love Your clients. Invoice to follow for some sound advice that obviously none of your high paid execs have yet tried.

A simple sensible solution indeed....Do not hide something like this way down in fine print..put it right up front at the time of booking as you suggest. Then anyone who proceeds does so at the risk of getting moved and has been warned prior to booking. Problem solved....assuming of course princess IT crowd can fiure out how to do a pop up window...if not maybe they can check with some high school web designers who can teach them.

and sometimes more than the $100 shown here...