I had read that historically there were few if any empty cabins on cruise ships.  If a few weeks out there were empty cabins they just lowered the price enough to fill the ship.  Now with all the bad publicity I wonder if there are ships traveling the Caribbean out of Florida that actually had empty cabins.  If you have cruised in the last few weeks what have you observed? 

The coronavirus

It scares me to death.  I would not want to be trapped on any closed place without easy access to a hospital or my home with this going around.  Right now 7000 passengers are waiting for permission to leave the ship in Italy because some passengers may be sick with the virus.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/news/2020/01/30/coronavirus-costa-cruise-ship-passengers-held-onboard-amid-tests/4618718002/

What are your thoughts about cruising during the internationally spread coronavirus?

If you read my previous posts about our cruise from hell in January, you may remember that both of us were sick during the majority of the time and did not have a good time.

But Mr. Library Gal got very sick about a month after we got home from the cruise.  He had a sudden pulmonary embolism and only lived because he made it to one of the best hospitals in America in a timely manner and they were able to diagnose his health issues quickly and provide quick treatment.  We are always talking about what if this would have happened while we were on the cruise.  Would the medical staff have the skills and equipment to stabilize a very sick patient in time?  What about the hospitals in the Caribean Ports of Call?

This is an honest sincere question.  What experiences do you have regarding getting very sick on a cruise ship traveling from one Caribean Island to another?  Would you have peace of mind cruising if you had some type of chronic condition that may involve hospitalization at a moments notice?

Something like this would be my greatest fear:

https://www.travelpulse.com/news/cruise/cruise-passenger-medevacked-from-ship-denied-medical-service-by-hospital.html

According to this linked article one in four couples sleep in a separate room.  So our situation is not that odd:

https://www.rd.com/advice/relationships/why-married-couples-sleep-in-separate-beds/

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/should-i-sleep-in-a-separate-bed_n_572278e5e4b01a5ebde51c14

I want to share a little secret about my husband and me, just between you and me. At home, we sleep in our own room.  Why:  Both of us have terrible insomnia and have completely different sleep schedules.  I like to go to bed late and sleep in during the morning, while Mr. Librarygal goes to bed early and wakes up early.  Both of us snore, can't use earplugs and just prefer having our own space.  When we travel and have to share a room, we sleep very poorly and are run down as a result. 

So when we cruise, we bite the bullet and spend the extra money and get our own cabins.  Can you relate?  Anyone else sleep in separate rooms from your spouse or SO at home, and spend the extra money to get your own cabin when you cruise?

Do you think people on the smaller higher end cruise ships are more likely to seek out new friends and conversation than people on large megaships?

13 hours ago, Nic6318 said:

I will not allow the poster below decide what type of vacation I will take in the future.  If he or she followed my posts, they would see I have gone on 6 cruises and generally enjoyed them.  Yes, I had some problems but I like the idea of visiting a different port of call most days instead of sitting at a resort in one place for a week.  Next time I hope to upgrade to Viking or Crystal for a better experience and go to islands that are more interesting and less commercial.

 

I don't know why you are bothering. It seems apparent, cruising isn't for you. You did seem to complain about everything. Maybe, try some land based vacations. Trip Advisor would be a good resource for your search.

 

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Green and scenic are important but seeing a unique and local culture and way of life is key!

My last cruise experience on Carnival was not good. The price was right but not much else.  I have decided I like the idea of cruising but need a more deluxe experience.

I have been looking at cruises on the 5-star cruise lines for a potential vacation of a lifetime in 2020.  I can splurge but want to get value for my money too.

We are looking at Viking Cruises, Regent, Silversea, Seven Seas, and Crystal.  Yes, they are expensive but I expect they give a superior product.

I would like to hear from people who normally cruised on the typical popular Large Ships (Carnival, Norwegian, Royal Caribbean and Holland America) and decided to try one or more of the deluxe brands listed above.  What was your experience in the 5 Star Cruiselines?  What differences did you see?  How was the food, the cabin, the service, etc?  After splurging could you ever go back to a Carnival type ship, or were you too spoiled?  Or maybe you felt cheated on the 5 Star Ships and went back to Carnival or Royal Caribbean?   Tell us what you think! 

We have been on six cruises in the Caribbean so far and they are all looking the same now.  The standard ports of call all seem to get the most interest (Such as San Juan, Key West, Grand Cayman, Cozumel, Saint Thomas, The Bahamas, etc.) We have seen them all and don't plan on returning.

On our next cruise, I want to move to a more deluxe ship with better food and service.  But perhaps more important is I want to visit the Caribbean islands that have a unique beauty, are green and mountainous with rain forest, have a unique thought-provoking culture, that would leave me with wonder.  Maybe the Southern Caribbean islands would be more genuine and less of a tourist trap.  I am wondering about places like Martinique, Grenada, Saint Lucia, or Saba. I have not seen these places and don't know much about them.

I have not been to the less commercial touristy Caribbean Islands on a cruise.  Which islands are the most awe-inspiring where I could experience both local culture, beautiful scenery and a feeling I am off the beaten path?

I still call them immigrants because they were not working in their home country.  You can call them what you want!

I loved the "immigrant" workers on the ship.  Hard workers and so friendly and helpful.  They were the only saving grace of a totally negative cruise experience.

But these nice and hardworking immigrant cruise workers could do little about the noise that kept me awake most of the night.  This was due to rude people who made lots of noise and a lack of soundproofing in the construction of the ship.

I was comparing the food in the ship to places like Old Country Buffet and various cafeterias I have eaten at like Luby's, Morrison's and Piccadilly and most Las Vegas Hotel Buffets.  I consider the food quality at these places to be about a "5" on a 1-10 scale.  The cafeteria food in the Carnival Horizon is about a "3"

A person can only eat poor quality food for so long before your body and mind rejects it and it leaves a negative impression, and then you can go hungry. 

This situation was on the Carnival Horizon.  I asked a number of people on board about buying these things and were told they no longer sold them because the stores made more money selling expensive watches, etc.  The doctor did not sell these things either.

3 minutes ago, Texas Tillie said:

You didn't get much sympathy on your last thread, so you decided to try another approach. There is not one person who has cruised for any number of years who says the food on any except the luxury lines is the same quality it was 10 years ago. The mass market lines have found that they have success appealing to people who want to spend the least amount of money possible to get on the ship. That being the case, something has to give.

 When our cruise director was introducing the staff he brought up the cooking staff and told everyone about the GREAT food onboard and people cheered and cheered.  So at least that crowd thought the food was great.

On our last cruise, we got sick and ran out of over the counter drugs, mouthwash and needed a new toothbrush.  Went down to the ship stores and could not find anyplace that sold over the counter drugs and toiletries. The shop that used to sell those things now sold expensive handbags and jewelry. This is insane!  We were too sick to leave the ship to attempt to find these things onshore.

Do other cruise ships sell things like toiletries and over the counter drugs on board in your experience?

We recently traveled with a large group of family on one of the largest Cruise ships.  Everyone had a different experience on the boat but there was one thing nearly everyone agreed to:  the food quality at the buffet was just awful.  Poor quality ingredients, tasteless and in many times cold and tough. Why did we keep going back to the buffet?  Because it was easy and did not include going to a place where we had to wait for a waitress.

What happened to the Cruise Ship Buffet?  It used to be so good with twice the selection.  The food quality used to be pretty good. used to be tasty.

Was everyone in our group who complained about the buffet wrong? 

13 hours ago, donaldsc said:

This is a quote from one of the OP's 2012 posts about the kitchens.  The bold facing is mine.

 

"They had 100s of immigrant workers doing "prep cook" assignments"

 

DON

 There are hundreds of workers in the kitchen who are from foreign countries doing prep and cooking duties.  Can we all agree to that?

11 minutes ago, davekathy said:

Never experienced any noisy neighbors or noisy people (what you described) walking by our cabin all night long. Did you report the noisy neighbors to GS? You can't expect a cruise ship to be like a library. 

We were in the middle of the ship and just one of the hundreds of doors that people pass as they move from place to place.  Lots of the fellow cruisers on the ship were part of large groups and would party all day and night.  As people walked up and down the hall at 3:00 AM they made lots of noise and I was woken.  Complaining to Guest Services would have been a waste of time because the hallway noise came from random people who walked by a drunk at the middle of the night.  By the time security would have come, they would have moved on and 30 minutes later another group would be making noise.

Our last cruise on the Carnival Horizon was not so great.  Terrible food- rough seas- loud neighbors- seasickness, uncomfortable bed, etc.

Bty the 3rd night my we thought seriously about attempting to get off the ship early.  We thought, "why not just get off the ship in Mexico, check into a hotel and rest and recover and then fly back from the Cancun Airport?"  It seemed so much easier than waiting until we got to Miami and having to put up with the unpleasant cruise for another two days and then deal with the 2-hour wait and hassle of getting off the ship.

We Googled the topic online and it appeared that convincing the management of the cruise ship to let us and our bags early in Cozumel Mexico would be challenging and expensive.   So we stayed on the ship and were miserable and sick for the rest of the cruise.

Should we have pushed it and attempted an early departure from the miserable cruise?  Anyone here done it?

After a full day of activities on the cruise, I was ready for bed at 10 PM.  I was so tired!  But the noise outside my cabin kept me awake.

All night there were people walking by my room yelling, screaming, pounding, and talking loud.  I could hear the people next door moving furniture and watching TV.  On the other side, our neighbors had their television on loud and played a radio all night.  In general, I was only able to sleep about three hours a night.  I was so tired, I was not able to enjoy myself during the days. 

Yes, I brought a white noise machine and earplugs but the noise was so bad, they did not help.

Your experiences with noise from outside of your cruise cabin?