dockman

So if the food is so bad and if OP is such a high roller why in the world is he waiting for his "comp" dinners in the more upscale restaurants where the fee would likely be less than one bet in the casino? Seems paying for meals or at least see if pinnacle etc would please OP would make more sense than trying to get around psva rules and getting off the ship. And if gambling is the main draw why not ask what the odds are on the games before accepting a comp cruise? It would take five minutes on cruise critic to get those odds spelled out. Also as mentioned by many it might be a good idea to do a bit of research by asking front desk if getting off early is even possible without major hassles? It is amazing how much an hour or so of research can save /prevent/mitigate a variety of problems when traveling so you can at least be aware of what you might expect and if it is not working help you avoid the trip altogether rather than be miserable.

no offense but sounds to me like you should stick to high end vegas resorts for better food, better accommodations and higher stakes gambling.

NCL seems to be leading the race to have more and more and more pay extra options for food. Some don't care and like all the extra restaurants. I sorta like the way ships operated for decades that almost all food in all restaurants was included in your cruise fare. It is my understanding that the extra cost restaurants were originally put in place with the idea that a lot of passengers were celebrating anniversaries, birthdays, retirement etc and would maybe want to go to a more private and higher quality paid restaurant once as a special night. Guess they found out that many people were willing and wanting to go more than once and thus it has expanded ever since to the point that on some ships there are more extra fee restaurants than include in your cruise fare restaurants. For me I prefer to go with included restaurants rather than extra fee and that overall allows me to go on more cruises with the savings. And far as i can tell i have never felt deprived in any way. Up to you.

Do not judge an entire cruise or ship because you do not like one or two meals. It is oh so easy to just order something else. IMO anyone who cannot find something very good and tasty to eat on a cruise ship is not looking very hard. The size of my gut after a cruise is proof that I seem to find just plenty of things that i like to eat.

Doubt it will be perfect but seems current system is not exactly perfect either by looking at number of people complaining about calling and getting incompetent or poorly trained humans.

In a few years all calls will probably be answered and dealt with via an artificial intelligence device that will also likely know the answer to just about any question anyone can dream up. Don't like that? Go to a website where a virtual AI assistant will be able to give you an HD tour of the ship including any specific room, restaurant, club, etc that you want to see on any ship. Want a shore excursion? HD video to show you up close all the details. Want to see your ports in HD video? No problem. And when all this is fully implemented it will save the cruise line a ton of $$ as speaking to a real live person on a payroll will be greatly diminished if not totally eliminated. Don't think it will happen? Observe how quickly people have adapted to self service check out machines at walmart/costco etc and how quickly human check out counters are being eliminated or greatly reduced.

21 days on crown in june...no mattress or toilet problems...actually no problems with much of anything other than a few irritating passengers who must have grown up without any parents to teach them manners 101.

sounds like a lot of the adults on typical cruise...eat, sleep, sit/lay around...how about getting her to bring a few good books to read ? a break from social media might actually be a good thing.

OK thanks. I was hoping to actually read the rules that changed designs after the concordia event. Just seems hard to believe that a wide promenade cannot be designed by marine architects that would not mess up the lifeboat deployment when it seems they are able to design such massive new ships. If the extra space for a wide prom deck comes from the "inside portion" of the ship i don't understand how that would impact the life boats that are hanging out closer to the water? In other words how does a more narrow prom deck impact the lifeboats? Of course i am no engineer or architect but just curious.

Can you please provide a link that shows what lifeboat changes have impacted the ability to have a wide promenade deck after concordia. I have looked and see all kinds of information but nothing regarding how a wide promenade comes into play. Thanks. https://www.shmgroup.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-lifeboats/#:~:text=SOLAS Requirements for Lifeboats&text=The number of lifeboats and,the port and the starboard.

Any reason NOT to bring a piece of paper that weighs a fraction of an ounce just in case you might need it? Or at least have a pic of it on your phone?

A wide promenade deck only feet from the ocean with nice teak chairs where one can sit and watch and hear and "feel" the ocean next to you as well as walk lap after lap in relative peace and quiet to me is probably the single most enjoyable part of a cruise. Having a "walking deck" on the top levels unprotected from the weather and trying to look down 15 or so floors through often dirty plexiglass and 15 or so laps to the mile is a totally different and not all that pleasant experience. How many hours have i spent sitting on the promenade decks and walking laps? A LOT. Sadly these wonderful wide decks are being removed by the bean counters who apparently have prevalied in efforts that the deck space be enclosed to open more shops selling a bunch of stuff that i have zero interest in buying. It's not like there are not plenty of shops already as well as a zillion malls back in hometowns where one can shop til they drop. To each his own but i do often feel sad for people who go on cruises and hardly if ever experience the joy of just sitting outside and being close to the ocean as they are too busy playing bingo etc.

I was on the crown for 21 days may/june 2023 and ate most of my meals in the lido....i thought the food and service were very good. I am not a picky eater but i don't recall having a bad meal at all.

I was on crown for three weeks alaska in may/june...had opposite experience in skywalkers ...good pupus and good service all around. Every night good selection of food and more than enough for the dozen or two people who showed up.

NCL breakaway has 20 restaurants....six of them are no extra fee. My experience was the no fee restaurants were jammed packed to the point that a lot of people gave up and ended up going to a fee restaurant. Not my idea of a stress free cruise to be more or less forced to go to extra fee restaurants or wait in long lines to eat included restaurants. Princess would be my choice.

Did you wear blues shoes with an orange bow tie and recite mary had a little lamb while crossing the toes on your left foot facing east?

I don't see any HAL ships leaving SEA on sep 15 then yvr on sep 16...i don't see any other cruise lines on that itin either???

I have been fortunate to cruise on a variety of ships back when many of them had some excellent lecturers....sadly on HAL and Princess this seems to be going the way of the libraries and walking decks. I have no idea how it works now but i believe there was an agency in LA that provided cruise lines with the lecturers and vetted them to make sure that they knew their subject and equally importantly knew how to present it in an entertaining and interesting way to a mass market audience. There were many who got standing ovations and packed the theatre for their every presentation. At one time I also believe that the cruise lines would provide a free cruise to a qualified lecturer in return for him/her doing several lectures (not including airfare). Now it seems more and more that there are either no lectures or nobody vets them to see if they are also good speakers. The last few I have seen/heard were quite frankly about as exciting as watching paint dry. Yes they had credentials from some university and were no doubt experts but they had no charisma not to mention their graphics looked like something a 12 y.o. did, hard to read, etc. ...and worst of all, imo, are that many of them seem to just read from a prepared text. I wonder what would happen if HAL/Princess put out a few emails asking for qualified people to apply to do lectures on various cruises....require a resume along with a short video of the person actually giving a lecture to see if they also have speaking skills? I could be wrong but I would think that they would receive a lot of interest? But of course someone would have to review and make the decisions which might cost some $$ so the bean counters would kill it. Long ago i remember crystal had some deal with microsoft and msft provided some very talented people who did a series of lectures/classes on using the web etc...every one of them was standing room only. Another one provided lectures on retirement with info on finances, health care, wills, etc...it too was standing room only. I think cruise lines underestimate how many passengers especially on longer cruises with lots of sea days would prefer to learn something rather than endless bingo, newly wed games, trivia, etc

It never ends. I have quite enough various tech issues to deal with off and on at home without going round and round on an app that obviously still has lots of faults while on vacation.

As always up to you. Personally i prefer more on the sunny side but alaska can be very pretty in all different conditions....except when it rains all day everyday which i have also experienced...I have been to alaska in may june july aug and sept...i seen fire and i've seen rain..i've seen sunny days that i thought would never end....to quote James Taylor... weather comes under the category of things out of our control so just take it as it comes...i hope OP will get at least a few sunny days as it really can be spectacular when you can see long distances and not all low cloud fog banks....

i did 21 days....back in late may into june first 10 days rained almost every day, foggy, cold and pretty dismal....next 11 days not a drop with nice sunny skies....u never can be quite sure in alaska....as for ports when raining...better have a good umbrella and be flexible...i think a lot of shore excursions would not be good at all if raining...the gondola in juneau was covered in clouds at the top so can't imagine anyone wanting to do that as no visual at all...

I seem to find better deals for singles on princess lately than on HAL....too bad as i prefer HAL but not to the point where I am willing to pay all that much more of a premium...there have been some incredible prices on princess for alaska all summer especially on their older ships...still paying full single supplement but prices so low it's not so bad and i am pretty flexible all around and don't mind older ships..in some cases actually prefer them to the latest newest ships which seem to charge a lot more as perhaps they have more demand for people who like new....i am not really all that hard to please and as said don;t need a lot of bells and whistles...

Me too. I just do not really like the big monster ships. I do not need a choice of 20 restaurants many of which are an extra fee. I do not need rock climbing walls, water slides, go carts, etc. I much prefer a smaller ship where over a week or two a lot of the staff will recognize you and vice versa...as well as if you do meet interesting people you might actually see them again. Not to mention the fun of being one of 5000 or so getting off in a port. Give me a couple of dining rooms, a nice buffet, maybe a burger/pizza/ice cream bar and i am fine. Give me a nice full promenade deck for walking, sitting in a nice teak lounge chair looking at the ocean close by and not an open air 10 laps to a mile joke of a walking/jogging path with no protection from the elements and the ocean 15 floors below that u can try and see through often dirty plexiglass. A decent library and some decent enrichment lectures is a plus. I guess some are bored with what i consider to be an ideal relatively quiet hassle free cruise without all the bells and whistles and shopping mall , circus atmosphere. Of course I know some think that bigger is better and more and more choices is what they want. Good for them if that is what they want. I do not.

I was on HAL years ago when we stopped for the day at Port Angeles... I have been to a lot of ports but still remember how many locals turned out to meet the ship and go out of their way to welcome passengers ashore and how friendly they were....

i was on crown for 21 days alaska this summer...no complaints on my bed/matress...i was quite comfortable...no idea if new or what but worked for me