Stateroom_Sailor

I'm guessing drinks are about $12, so you're going to need 9 per day to see savings, pp. If someone is a light weight and only wants 6 drinks, the other person will need to offset it with 12. I could see a market on a 3 night booze cruise in the middle of Spring Break, but why would they expect such customers on a longer premium brand? Or maybe they think a % of their base is gullible and won't do the math! Then again, it might take a lot of alcohol to get through that "Goop at Sea" Gwyneth Paltrow sailing!

I am trying to assess the same. I found this video interesting, where we can see it for ourselves. This couple favors fun ships, so they didn't like the lack of activities. Since HAL packed their best shows into this 3 night cruise, a longer cruise would have especially not been for them. 10 min and 35 min in, the food doesn't look bad. Smaller portions must be the cost cutting strategy. 30:20 their shower was in poor shape, 35:45 rust. They also complain that nearly the entire ship was hot. Where the AC units down, or are they cutting costs on temperature control? Personally, I am not too worried about the food portion sizes. If they're going to cut food costs, I prefer it this way. If I am still hungry, and can have a 2nd appetizer, or a small snack later. I'm less trilled about the maintenance and temperature onboard.

$89pp, are they looking for alcoholics that pass out in the hallways? "That's a good deal honey, I am going to spend $120 per day on booze anyways!" I've had a few complaints about my last X sailing, and it was met with pitchforks from a mob of cheerleaders. Celebrity is advertising itself as a premium line, but recent reviews focus on cuts and price increases. One recent review claimed they had no vegetables, which matches our last experience in Blu. I quickly feel malnourished if all I am eating are proteins and starch. I had to fight for it, but I did pick up a future cruise credit for Azamara while onboard. We're considering going around the South American horn next. Azamara charges the same price as HAL. When the ultra premium market makes sense, we're in.

I'm in the middle here. On one hand, there's the issue of using their profits on stock buybacks. IMO, the mass market as a whole purchased too many ships with too many cabins, as if cruising demand would never stop growing, which makes them vulnerable to global threats, recessions, poop cruises, and generational shifts in demand. Take a company with more careful growth like viking, who was also exposed to the pandemic, bounced back with fewer scars. On the other hand, look at the prices at the grocery store! These cruise lines are locked into cruise fares booked months prior, and can't raise them quick enough to keep up with inflation. Profits made 147 years ago, or even 147 days ago are long gone. Holland America doesn't have as many new ships, but they're tied financially to Princess, Carnival, Costa, P&O, Cunard, etc. I would rather pay inflation adjusted rates and keep cruise standards up, then save money and see more cuts.

This is in response to the time frame, for anyone who hasn't sailed Carnival recently. Around this time, Carnival wanted to excel above Royal Caribbean in the fun ship category. They had a similar concept to Oasis Class, called Project Pinnacle. https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/revisiting-carnival-s-forgotten-pinnacle-project.html Hearsay, but I was told by several on the Carnival forum that the line reversed course and started slipping in 2009. Our first cruise was in 2011, and I noticed no issues yet. The buffet was not bad, similar to a mid-tier casino's, and the MDR was extremely good for the money. The beds were very comfortable. Our next was the Elation in 2015. I couldn't even sleep on my mattress. For the first 2 days of the cruise, crew were swapping mattresses around, dragging them down the hall, for hours. I saw no new mattresses, so assume they swapped the more worn mattresses around until they were paired with easy sleepers. The buffet was gross, dried out and poor quality. Luckily they had a Mongolian Wok for lunch, and the MDR had not yet changed. Our 2017 Carnival Pride cruise was largely inferior on all fronts, which was our final test. The new pizza station was better, and our reposition cruise had "Academy of Fun" enrichment talks. Everything else was the same as our prior cruise or worse. We brought mattress toppers in preparation. If Holland America and Princess have been hit with downgrades the last couple years, I can just about guarantee that Carnival Cruise Lines has not gone unscathed.

I would suggest buying early whatever you can, beat inflation. Speaking of which, I should probably pay the tips off on our next two cruises.

Last cruise I ran $500 in OBC through the slot machine, playing the $1 machine at max, and cashed out the balance. Luckily ended with $720.

Another thing, nearly everyone was Platinum or Diamond, so the VIP lines were much longer than the regular lines, and clearly not a hit with everyone. When we landed in Costa Rica, some were frustrated with the lower tiers getting off the ship last, seen as holding up the tour. "He's just gold status, why did they let golds on the ship?" If 100% of the ship had been Diamond cruisers, they would have had to clear the whole ship the same way... From what I can tell, some of the men were given $50 gift certificates for the salon, likely to attract the couple for additional sales. I have long hair, and decided to have it cut to my shoulder blades. The stylist lifted my hair up, cut it in seconds, then laughed at me afterwords. "Oh my goodness, lol, I guess you can have a little man bun!" I was back to an awkward stage of growing my hair out for the next 3 months. It took 6 months to grow to where I asked it to be cut. I talked to another passenger who got a $35 shave, and this same stylist did a quick job with him, where he had to finish the shave back in his cabin. Carnival didn't care, that's a licensed contractor, the the salon manger didn't want to hear about it. IMO, go into it with low expectations, and be pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't do anything longer than 10 nights. Some of the people commenting are Carnival cruisers who dabble with HAL, the notion that everything on Carnival is just as good or better is false. Some things like games, shows, and their steakhouse might be better, but certainly not across the board.

When someone talks poorly of Carnival, do you assume they're picking on a specific race of people? Why can't bad behavior come from anyone?

We did Carnival the Carnival Pride in 2017, 14 night partial Panama Canal. Passenger behavior was terrible, not in the stereotypical booze cruise fashion, but an older crowd that wasn't used to 14 nights. The longer the cruise went along, the more frustration and hostility emerged, especially when all the exciting ports were behind us. The final day was full of profanity near the pool, pushing and shoving in the buffet after blatant line cutting in the buffet, and purposeful spreading of a cold by sneezing on each other or contaminating the food. We saw a woman sneeze in her hands, and rub them all over the jello! Good news is that you'll avoid that on an 8 nighter. However, we had stabilizer issues, and avoided an engine room fire by 1 cruise. Our balcony door handle fell off, and was nearly stripped from all the re-drillings. Some friends we made had mold in their vents. Perhaps a dry dock will save you there too.

As long as Koningsdam visits unique ports inside the Sea of Cortez, and triple Denali and Yukon cruise tours in Alaska, the Pinnacle Class could still offer an edge over their competition. Hawaii on the other hand would be more of a wash. I would probably still choose HAL over other mass market lines, because I like the low key pace, and I don't see much advantage elsewhere currently. I've got a future cruise credit with Azamara. We're also eyeballing Oceania, Windstar, and Viking. The ultra premium / luxury-light market has more of our interest outside of HAL. As far as entertainment we fly from Las Vegas. We have fun staying a couple nights there post-cruise. If possible, we mix in concerts, hockey, and shows. Soon Las Vegas will have a Universal Monsters theme park. If there's a Six Flags or Busch Gardens in port, we'll take a day pre-cruise to go. This is in part why I just don't need heavy entertainment on a ship.

We started with Carnival and left due to corporate integrity, declining passenger behavior, and cuts to food and maintenance. We tried Royal Caribbean once, but didn't like the dining or the diehard loyalists. We loved our first three Celebrity cruises, but left due to a self-righteous CEO, maintenance issues, integrity, and food shortages. There were virtually no vegetables to be found on our last 12 night cruise, until they rounded up frozen mixed veggies on day 11. I first sailed on HAL in 2018 at age 39. I've only sailed on Nieuw Amsterdam, so have no experience with the older or newer ships. We like modern ships and entertainment, but it is not why we cruise. Pre-pandemic, we've enjoyed HAL's food, service, cabins, price, and itineraries. In 2023, it looks like HAL may be slipping as well, but exotic itineraries for the money will likely remain worth a consideration.

My review was of the relevant age targeting and energy presented in a HAL commercial from 1988, which was the commercial linked within my comment. I never claimed that HAL was targeting 20 year olds within the other commercial, but don't assume other premium cruise lines aren't trying.

Here's an ad from 1988, which looks meant for professional baby boomers. These people were probably much younger than the average passenger at the time, but this seems like a better strategy. It neither makes the cruise line look stale (at least for 1988), nor does it jump the gun by unrealistically targeting 20 year old Gen X.

People are giving this more of a pass because they're Holland America fans, IMO. If a private tour operator in St Lucia was showing photos of the Pitons for an island tour, and then once onboard the bus declared that the Pitons had just been pulled in favor of Sugar Beach, it would be understandable if there were a sudden emergency. What if they kept doing this bus after bus, and this tour operator had a reputation for holding nothing back in their pitch? Maybe seeing Sugar Beach would be an upgrade for some, but that's besides the point.

In late April, those Skagway rocks are going to fall far and wide, and disrupt your port access to Edinburgh. HAL is just clairvoyant enough to get a jump on making the changes now.

We have a passenger on our roll call that called HAL to see if they could transfer the White Pass Rails perk to an excursion in a different port, and were told no.

Well, Princess is also owned by Carnival... As far as MSC, we had a cruise booked with them for an entire day, followed by a shakeup with a change in what was offered at each perk level. People in the middle of their cruise had coupons and amenities rejected, as cuts were made overnight fleet wide. It is not a line known for integrity. "Well, MSC does it too," should never be acceptable.

It was announced 1 day after final payment that Skagway would be dropped from our upcoming 14 night Alaska cruise, and replaced by Victoria, BC. While the situation may have been out of their control, the timing is suspicious for many of us. Most would prefer an alternative for more time in Alaska, as some already live in BC, or are seeing Victoria during the first leg of their B2B. We were originally in Sitka on May 17th, which was shifted to May 16th, so one option could have been an overnight. Here is my larger complaint, some of us booked during the 150th Anniversary Sale, which included a free White Pass Rails tour for cruises that stopped in Skagway. Since Skagway is being dropped, so is the perk. The cruise actually got cheaper in December when the promotion was over, which luckily we took advantage of, having recently done the full Yukon Cruise Tour. Everyone else seems to be out of luck. I am pretty sure that excursion was built into the price of the Skagway cruises during the promotion, maybe not $1:$1, but certainly accounted for. These passengers should be given an equivelant excursion credit.

We don't stay up for the show so do not care. Besides, there's no noticeable cuts to the gelato.

Maybe it is time for passengers to be given two mandatory 8 hour shifts per week. Raffle system, free scoop of Gelato at the end of each shift and Captain's Toast.. Port day shifts also include a bonus loyalty point.

As of 3rd Quarter 2022, Royal Caribbean was at 90.42% debt/assets. Carnival was at 86.34%, Norwegian 97.87%. Keep in mind these are considered junk loans, so come with high interest rates. Since interest rates have risen in general, this debt will only become more burdensome as their loans mature. I'm not sure how Sycamore is doing with debt, but surely is better than this. They just purchased Lowes in Canada last November.

Yes they are. The sooner someone like Sycamore buys these types of assets the better, even if they're rebranded under a new cruise line.. We're personally going to stick to the healthy companies such as Azamara and Viking. One could like Seabourn's reviews in January 2023, but there's no telling what cuts will be implemented by the time of embarkation.

I agree about the sweet spot, especially when it comes to value compared to declining conditions the next level down. I'm even seeing occasional deals on Luxury Lines. Seabourn going from Iceland to Denmark, $2,700. Nearly the same itinerary, same number of days, same size cabin (entry level suite), HAL is charging $2,100. Seabourn's price includes drinks, specialty dining, gratuities, and port charges. I truly believe that the mass market overbuilt, as if we'd never see another recession, poop cruise, or any kind of global crisis ever again. Just within the time we've sailed from 2011 - 2019, there we very steady and noticeable cuts. The super premium lines were in better health to survive the shutdowns.

We quit Celebrity in 2019. There were mass shortages, hardly any vegetables on our entire cruise, amongst other problems. I believe things got better before they started to decline again. Luckily we snagged an Open Passage on Azarama while onboard X. Holland America was great in 2019, but current reviews are atrocious! We're burning through our gfitcards, and looking at the Luxury-Light/Super-Premium markets.