ChinaShrek

I know many of you will find this silly but I wouldn't mind being the guy (or gal) that says washi, washi to the passengers as they enter the Lido for lunch or dinner. I don't know if I could do all three shifts but I could do two of the meals. I see them more as a greeter. Their positive attitude brightens my day and makes we want to wash my hands. Maybe I'm crazy?

That would explain why they look good but taste awful.

But how many of those people are heavy gamblers? I have no interest in a free cruise that doesn't have a casino but you might. I am finding the response from gamblers especially useful.

The only problem I have read about Flight Ease is that they do not always ticket your flight unless you ask them to do it. There are several posts here about people who had to contact Flight Ease to get their flight tickets after final payment as it was not done automatically.

How long would that take? I want to eat and be done under an hour. There's lots to do!

Well, I don't speak Italian and I am not going to use my phone to decipher what the Italian means while eating. Furthermore, if vongole means clams, where is the shrimp then? The English is actually more precise and helpful to this monolingual foode.

It's funny. I never liked the sound of Spaghetti Alla Vongole but I do like Spaghetti with Shrimp and Clams. I will happily order that. Less pretentious too!

WOW. Why are they so bad?

Do they actually have real bakers on these ships? I feel like most deserts are sitting in a freezer frozen and thawed for mass consumption.

I am not sure who is to blame but I cannot stand kids who run up and down the corridors after 9 or 10pm. It happens mostly on Carnival cruises but I have also seen and heard it on Royal ships. I have a theory: parents let kids run wild at night to tire them out. I want a nice quiet cabin at night so I can sleep. If they had decks without children I would book them.

I guess this is why I have a travel agent but I still like emailing the TA and not calling them.

I wonder what percentage of people even call a TA or the cruise line (PCC, for example) with questions or concerns after they book a cruise. I agree that I hate getting people who don't know what they are doing when I call customer service but lots of people retired or changed jobs during Covid. It's a fact of life. Furthermore, I think most Gen Z and Millennials hate making phone calls and talking to real people and that frankly is their future market. Personally, I also wish most things were automated. I do not like calling customer service at all for anything. I hate phone trees, call backs, etc. I would suggest the cruise lines would solve a lot of their problems if they allowed us to "fix" or adjust everything online much like the airlines do.

I agree with this and worry about people booking a cruise with HIA only 2-3 months before the cruise departs. Very few excursions will be available on some cruises with upset people.

I have no desire to print out any paper for a cruise and this includes cash,

He's nice when I book my cruise but after that I have to call the general number of the Travel Agency to get any service. For example, if I want to add Club Orange to a cruise, I have to email a general support email and see if someone else will do that for me. I like getting 10% back in OBC or I would have moved on.

In theory I agree with you, but my TA is actually really busy and has actually stopped taking new clients. He will book the cruise and give me OBC and that's it. If I need any service, he says he has no time to help. Being aggressive would get me nowhere.

I am a high school history teacher as well. I completely get it. I love traveling but hate missing my classes.

I never thought about booking last minute cruises. People say they can be a good deal but the late boarding time would be annoying for me .

I'm not going to judge the OP. I got stuck with a 2:30pm check-in time once because I forgot all about checking in. Never again!

I think the HIA promotion is also causing excursions to fill up fast but I hope HAL adds more buses/times. Several Iceland and Scotland tours are already booked for July 2024 and waitlists have been added. In 2022, several excursions sold out on my Norway cruise but not until 2-3 months before. 10 months is crazy.

I just agreed with the other person's comment and do not agree that your decision is the best way to manage this forum. Until Allstate shuts down people looking for posts about AARP have to wade through posts about Allstate, which I understand is until the end of October. I suspect Allstate will start something new in a year and two and what will happen then? Keep all threads focused on one topic, please!

I agree with this comment. It seemed to be a way to keep the post count going.

I also travel solo but I like sitting with other people for dinner. I would not want to book the CO if I have to be seated alone all the time. I would want to be seated at nice round table for 6-8 people. Is that going to happen in CO?

It ties up a lot of cabins that other people cannot book. One should think of other people and not just oneself. It is also provides false financial data to HAL and the share holders. They think these cruises are going to be paid in full when many are not.

Book the reservation under Passenger #1. Send passenger #3 to the shore excursion. Only the name will usually be asked for.