hrhdhd

Article from Cruise Critic. Full of generalizations, but talks about trends in marketing and/or pricing for cruisers in different countries.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=759

Please remember that pooled tips and then sharing them does not mean that the tips are divided equitably. There can be any number of ways to share the funds that are collected, and many may have nothing at all to do with whether any server had provided any kind of service. Tips may be shared based on seniority, job classification, hours worked, # drinks served, date of hire, # hours worked, glass breakage, gender...there are many ways to divide a pie.

 

Also please remember that the ultimate decision may not be one in which individual servers may have a choice.

Again, can I ask your source for this info. Thanks.

May I ask your source for believing that pooled tips are split equally? If that is your assumption, it's just as evidence-free as cbr663's suggestion.

Plus I have spent numerous hours at the SeaView Bar and honestly the way some of the pax treat these kids I find appalling.

I simply find your statement very disrespectful to these hard working crew members.

You mean like calling men and women "kids"? ;)

Many? I don't recall ever seeing an ad that said "We're no better than our competitors" ... or not quite as good as them. Even Avis when admitting they were Number 2 said "We try harder", therefore we're better.

Actually, there are a lot of ads that say something like, "No other {whatever} works better!"

That actually means that the other {whatever} works the same.

I'm not surprised at all. I believe that the reason that theses suites are so often offered as upsells is because the vast majority of passengers actually do not want them. I state this as no offence to any poster on this site who enjoys these suites, but after paying full price for a Neptune Suite myself, I would never go back to one. It would have to be a very low upsell amount to convince me to travel in one again. I have read numerous times of posters being offered these upsells at low prices and continue to turn them down. These cabins are just not that attractive to a lot of travellers.

I agree. For a decent enough price, I'd sail in one again, but those who say either "you can't go back" or "you won't want to go back" are not speaking for me.

My next solo cruise is in an outside, for example.

Sorry, as I said I don't remember clearly. But the Orlando airport is as I said. Airports all become a blur after a time (thankfully).

Here is the explanation of how the baggage process for international and domestic flights differs at MCO (Orlando International Airport).

http://orlandoairports.net/arrive/index.htm

The initial baggage claim area for international flights is not accessible to the general public; it's not even in the main terminal. International passengers do have the option to put their baggage on a carousel that will take their luggage to the regular baggage claim area once they have cleared immigration and customs; maybe it is that second step that you remember.

I don't believe that posters are disagreeing. Several posters have simply try to point out that the "do as I say, not as I do" philosophy is not readily embraced by all.

And we have a winner! :)

Just to point out I was actually "there" the day the Westerdam sidebar went away (March 2013). For those cruisers accustomed to traveling in a Neptune Suite it was a big deal. It was a "perk" that went away. Many, many of us were curious if it would ever return and be the same as HAL's other Neptune Lounges. May I ask how many Neptune Lounges you have experienced and on which HAL ships? To you it wasn't a "big deal." To some of us it was. Tolerance for our opinions, okay.

Er, but OP can dismiss other people's big deals, which may include, but are not limited to, "is the food hot enough? cold enough? did the stewards smile enough? did I wait too long for my drink? did someone have more mariner's stars than me? is someone in a better cabin? a worse cabin? was the tour exactly 4 hours or did it end at 3 hours and 50 minutes?"

We each have our "big deal." If yours is the sidebar in the Neptune Lounge on the Westerdam, that's cool. But don't belittle my "big deal" that I would like my food to be hot.

I don't have any particular advice for you, but I wanted to say that I would be as upset as you are to have had two bags go missing, never mind be jerked around with the request for an itemized listing of contents when the settlement was apparently already decided.

Wait--just thought of something. Maybe if you post a (much) shorter version of this on HAL's Facebook page you'll get some response. I don't do Facebook, but I have read of people getting some acknowledgment of an issue by posting on social media.

Good luck. :)

I have booked directly with PCC at HAL for years. I pay full price for the "S" and "SA" cabins. No upsells for me.

As you said already in post 134. :rolleyes: And as someone else pointed out, there's not much room for an upsell from an "S."

I now have a few pairs of Jockey's Skimmies Slipshorts and find them useful for skirts and dresses when I don't really want to wear shapewear but I'm worried about lines or show-through. They come in several colors, lengths, and styles; the wicking ones are good for warmer weather.

Quite a few colors are on sale at jockey.com

Just as we can't generalize that all couples spend more than all solos, we can't generalize that all solos spend more than all couples.

Do some solos spend more than some couples? Sure.

Do some couples spend more than some solos? Of course.

Arguing by anecdote is not helpful to determine spending habits overall.

We use an AquaPac. They don't seem to have the one we have (bought many years ago), but something like the Keymaster is enough for a couple of cards and some cash.

http://usstore.aquapac.net

Count me also as one who would never leave valuables in a van. Yikes!

I had one child in a state university and one in a private university. Both school's policy was that parents were not entitled to any information. Worked for me!!! I had enough involvement in the lower parts of their academic education.

 

And I agree, HAL did not give out any cabin number. But after reading posts about ex-husbands and stalkers, I have softened my original views. I would definitely voice my concerns to HAL.

Information about the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) can be found here: http://www2.ed.gov/policy/gen/guid/fpco/ferpa/index.html

An 18-year-old, being an adult, is entitled to privacy. At the institution where I work, we routinely have parents strong-arming their offspring into signing away their rights.

And yes, I don't like my in-laws and would be livid to discover that their cabin was across the hall from mine when I hadn't provided them a cabin number or booking number.

Agree that HAL needs to modernize their systems. Have heard that they are also working on the daily program to be provided on your 'device'.

As long as they keep some paper programs for those of us who don't use "devices," that would be fine with me.

The only overcharge we've ever gotten was for several drinks in one of the lounges long after we had gone to bed. :p

I was once billed for drinks at the bar on HMC when I hadn't even gotten off the ship. :confused: When I said that to the person at the front desk when I went to have the charge removed, she didn't seem to believe me. I had to wait while she went through a box of paper receipts, found the one that supposedly I had signed, and it wasn't even close to my name or my signature.

I have had at least four incorrect bills on HAL (different sailings) and none on other cruise lines.

An overcharge for a can of soda might be silly, but it is an overcharge nonetheless. I don't care to pay for items I didn't consume.

We check our bill during the cruise and again the last morning. I agree that the delivery of the final bill is occurring later and later.

Thanks for sharing as I've never heard of the ExOfficio brand before. I checked out their website and love that they have items to wear to keep "bugs" away. I clicked on their "sale" and found a couple of things I like. Not that I'd get them to be able to pack lighter...I'm the oddball on this board that's still checking a large suitcase, carry on, and tote bag:eek:, because that's the way I roll...LOL! But I have been giving consideration lately to trying the "pack lighter" way of traveling. I just can't bring myself to do it yet. But, when I do...this brand, ExOfficio, has some great items that I would buy so again, thanks for sharing.:D

I am also an oddball, if that's what we now call people who check a suitcase (gasp--how socially awkward I now feel! [Not.]).

Anyway, it's certainly a disconnect that the same people who will chastise us for "overpacking" by saying that no one notices what we're wearing so we should wear things multiple times will also criticize people for wearing so-called "travel" clothing because they stand out in a crowd. :confused:

Looking at the ExOfficio site, I see multiple items I might wear even when not traveling, so maybe those cookie-cutter tourists are also dressing in their style. It just doesn't happen to be yours.

they should throw in some internet time along with a lot more.

They do throw in a lot more: gratuities, all drinks (coffees, wines, alcohol [except for a few "premium" brands that most people can live without], sodas), shuttles to port, one special shore excursion, self-serve laundry, great staff, terrific service, nice itineraries.

And for solos, a 125% supplement. As a solo, I can get better deals on Azamara than on HAL, that's for sure.

But the internet time is part of their loyalty program, Le Club Voyage. On one's second cruise, the loyalty tier includes those free internet minutes.

Of all the mass market cruise lines, HAL has the worst internet perks (not to mention service). Some HAL ships do not even have cabin WiFi. As to frequent cruisers, we just came off a 25 day Princess cruise where DW and I were given 1000 free internet minutes because we are Elite. But as a 4 Star Mariner we get zip, nada, nothing! On Celebrity we also get hundreds of free minutes and on RCI we get a bunch of free minutes (not sure of the current scale). It is the same on nearly every line we cruise (we have been on 14) except on HAL <snip>

I got 87 minutes of free internet on my 2nd Azamara cruise. That's pretty sweet.

True, true, to be more precise, a citizen of the United States. But when I travel most people call me an American:-)

Indeed. No one is going around calling themselves "United Statians." People from the U.S. are called "Americans." People from Canada are called "Canadians."

Agreed - it does seem that people go to a lot of effort to save a few dollars on sodas. <snip>

It's actually very little effort to grab two 12-packs, put them in a rolling bag, and roll the bag to the cabin.

And it's not a few dollars. I can get two 12-packs for $6 ($5 if I hit a really good sale). That's 24 cans for $6 vs. 24 cans for $48 (assuming about $2/can onboard). If I saw $42 on the ground, I'd pick it up.

Makes it worth my while. No one's forcing anyone to bring soda on either. :)

I'm a relative "newcomer" to the cruise critic forum. The smoking issue for me and my wife is an important one. I can understand that long-time contributors (tens of thousands of posts) find my interests in this controversial issue to be tiresome and boring. For me, the comments and opinions, however, help clarify our personal issues with the HAL smoking policy. Could you please show some tolerance and understanding of our continuing interest in the smoking policy and its application to Holland America Line?

Thank you for your common-sense plea. Naturally many of the posters with tens of thousands of posts have achieved that level by making unnecessary comments unrelated to a poster's question, such as the one you replied to.

Don't want to see another smoking thread? Move along. Or don't even click on the title when it clearly indicates the topic.

Of course you can bring more soda on at each port. However, I'd rather know I have the soda I want (some brands/variations are harder to find), pay the sale price I can find locally, and spend my time exploring the port than looking for a grocery store.

YMMV.