Stockjock

My father (RIP) was a professor of law and economics, and an NFL agent. I work for a big Wall Street firm and I know more about investing and making money than he did, but he knew far more about economic theories than I do. But dad loved to gamble. He had photo after photo of himself winning big jackpots on the slots and shaking hands with the casino manager. $10,000 here, $8,000 there, even $20,000. He loved showing these photos to others. In fact, I still have those photos, even though he's been gone for many years. It all seemed so simple. Play the slots and win a ton of money. But when he passed, I got to clean up his estate, which was not only insolvent, but quite messy. And despite all of those photos showing him winning, if memory serves, his actual losses were somewhere between $600,000 and $800,000 (closer to $800k, I think). His only saving grace was that he had a great teacher's pension to barely keep him afloat, but because the estate was insolvent, largely due to gambling, my sister and I didn't inherit a penny. Of course, that's not the main point. The point is that gambling is typically a losing proposition. The odds are often much worse on a cruise ship than a land-based casino, and of course those odds *always* favor the house. When dad passed, in with his belongings, I found about 8-10 small checks waiting to be mailed. $12 to Discover card, $16 to Visa, $8 to MasterCard. He was trying to pay at least a tiny bit on his credit card balances, but those small payments didn't put a scratch in terms of what he owed. After he passed, I checked his answering machine. I couldn't begin to count the number of messages from creditors due to overdue bills. It's hard to imagine how much stress this must of put on him. Dad, who was a smart, highly-intelligent, educated and charismatic man, was broke. I attribute this to gambling. Because I work for a big Wall Street firm, people sometimes think that investing in the stock market is gambling. I don't see it that way, because you can be wrong initially, but be right later. And a properly allocated portfolio stands a good chance of recovery, and then some, even in a lousy environment. But gambling losses tend to be forever. I do gamble every now and then, but not much. I think my last loss was about $120, which I can handle. Pretty sure I'll never be offered a "free" cruise by the casino department. And that's okay.

When did you book, when did you sail & when did you get your assignment?

I feel obligated to share that, yes, I too received this survey and completed it. I shall anxiously await the 1 club point that will hopefully be awarded. Woo hoo.

It seems like most of the upgrades occur after the final payment date, from what I can gather. That's still a nice upgrade.

I was on Eclipse 3 months ago, and also 7 years ago. The condition is on the better side of okay, but I'm comparing it to newer ships or ships that have been revolutionized. But okay doesn't mean bad and we had a nice time on Eclipse. Here's a video I made of our cabin, FWIW.

One of his hits, which apparently Don Henley once sang along with him. And if you can't tell, Mojo's music had a silly, joking, tongue-in-cheek tilt to it. But I remember his shows as being a lot of fun.

He died of a cardiac event, and I think the chartered cruise is still at sea. That certainly puts a dark cloud over the event. I remember him well, from his days performing here in San Diego. https://www.msn.com/en-us/music/news/mojo-nixon-unabashed-outlaw-cult-hero-dead-at-66/ar-BB1hWOL6

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but you booked Fantastica and you got Fantastica. BUT...because you are in the YC, they won't differentiate you from the other YC guests, as I understand it. So technically, Fantastica. In practical terms, I believe you get all YC benefits. To contrast that, years ago, I booked Fantastica and was "upgraded" to Aurea. And at that time, Aurea included a drink package. But I didn't get that part, as I had only booked Fantastica. BTW, I put Aurea in quotes, as the cabin itself was inferior to the Fantastica cabin I'd initially booked. In fact, later, they removed the Aurea designation from that specific cabin, which was in a bad location at the front of the ship. Different situation for you, I believe. Again, hopefully someone will correct me if this is not accurate.

When did you book, when were you assigned and when was/is the sailing?

When is the sailing? If it's outside of the penalty period, you could cancel and rebook.

Did you receive a complimentary upgrade or not? If so, what was it?

I've not done YC, but I'd like to at some point. I am far from poor, but generally, I tend to be frugal (not cheap, there is a difference). That said, their offer seems reasonable. I'd give it a shot.

Even though MSC customer service is highly variable, I've had disastrous encounters w/them, and other times when things went smoothly. Glad that they took care of you and sorry to learn of the decline in health of your wife.

I recently booked a Norway Fjords cruise at a pretty good price, but drinks and wi-fi were not offered as an included option. I suspect that will change at some point, so I'll just check periodically and rebook when I see that option. Pro Tip: Unless you have a cabin that you absolutely cannot lose, if you've booked Fantastica and later see a better promotion, you're usually better off cancelling the original booking (only if there's no penalty) and rebooking. That's because Fantastica allows for one free change. So if you change the original reservation, you've used up your one free change. Conversely, if you simply do a new Fantastica booking, you'll still have that one free change option in your pocket.

I think you should have gone on the cruise. I've read so many opinions that I disagree with, *especially* pertaining to MSC.

I like them both, but there are distinct differences. Let us know if you have any specific questions.

I mostly sail on MSC or Celebrity, so I have some experience in this area. In my view, Celebrity has the best entertainment in the theater. But in terms of discos and such, MSC tends to be more lively with people staying up later & more audience participation. Celebrity can be a bit sleepy, in terms of late night entertainment. But MSC's announcements in English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, and Brazilian Portuguese can grow tedious, at times. MSC has a younger demographic, although there are passengers of all ages. Celebrity offers the better cocktails and far more interesting bars, such as the Martini Bar and World Class Bar. MSC is trying to do some bars w/craft cocktails on their World Class ships, such as World Europa, but they are sometimes not included in your drink package and generally Celebrity's drinks are a lot better. That said, MSC's drink package is typically much better priced. I've been on Seascape's sister ship, Seaside, and enjoyed it. We'll be on Celebrity Ascent (newest Edge-class) this summer. Both seem like good choices. Not sure I can pick one at this time. Generally, I'd expect Seascape to be more affordable. If the pricing was the same (it's usually not), I'd take Celebrity, but MSC typically offers a better value, imo. You didn't ask about food, but... In terms of the buffet, Celebrity's is usually better, but MSC is solid. In terms of MDR, MSC is "pretty good" and seems to be holding steady in terms of quality. Celebrity is also pretty good, but I've noted a sharp decline in food quality over the past few years (cost cutting). MSC seems better organized in terms of dining room waits and such. I've encountered some frustration and long lines waiting for dinner on Celebrity, and generally, that's not the case on MSC. Both have very good specialty restaurants. I'd probably give Celebrity the slight nod, but MSC's are generally very good and tend to be much better priced, especially if you book a dining package pre-cruise.

I think my first Celebrity sailing was on Century around 2008 or so. The food was amazing. On par with an outstanding land-based restaurant. In the MDR, we ate a filet mignon of a high quality and large lobster tails. Then, we went on Eclipse, and the food was excellent. Not as good as on Century, but still of a high quality. Next, we went on a NYE cruise on Summit, and I'd say the food was very good. This past summer, we sailed on Infinity and the food was ok. This fall, back on Eclipse, and again, ok food, not much different than the "non-premium" cruise lines. We'll be on Ascent this summer, and I'm hoping they won't continue to go downhill in terms of the food served in the MDR.

Maybe I'm reading this incorrectly but I suspect there may be confusion between the shareholder benefit and a stock's dividend. As many know, a common stock may pay a dividend but is not obligated to do so. That dividend can be increased, decreased or eliminated at any time. I believe that when covid hit, most or all of the publicly traded cruise lines suspended/eliminated their dividend. They had bigger fish to fry, huge expenses related to maintaining empty ships, and paying a dividend was the least of their worries. The same thing happened to most banks during the financial crisis of 2008. Many resumed paying a dividend once the economic outlook normalized. There are different tax rates between qualified and non-qualified dividends, but I am not here to address that, as while I work for a big Wall Street firm, I'm not a tax advisor, and besides, these stocks aren't currently paying a dividend anyway, to my knowledge, so it's a moot point (or as my former manager would say, "a mute point", and no, I never corrected him). Most or all publicly-traded cruise lines choose to provide a shareholder benefit, under certain circumstances, to passengers sailing on their cruise lines. This could be $50, $100 or perhaps $250 in onboard credit, mostly depending on the length of the sailing. This has absolutely nothing to do with dividends. Also, to my knowledge, this is not a taxable event, although there's probably some snarky person out there who will insist that the IRS will kick down your door and arrest you for not trying to report your shareholder benefit. But again, to my knowledge, this is not a taxable event, or certainly no "normal person" would try to report it, and again, unrelated to the dividend, if any. And since I am with a big Wall Street firm, I have to say that this is not tax advice nor is a recommendation for or against any securities.

When we visited the Speakeasy a couple of weeks ago, another couple tried to follow us in and our guide basically slammed the door on their faces and locked it, lol.

I talk a lot about MSC vs. Celebrity, as those are the 2 cruise lines I mostly sail on. Both have their pluses and minuses. But I recently got back from 7 nights on World Europa out of Barcelona over the NYE holiday. So here's what I booked. 1 bedroom Aurea suite w/a huge balcony. Most spa services 40% off w/Aurea. 2 "Easy Plus" drink package for 2. 3. Wi-Fi for both of us. 4. 4 specialty restaurants (we paid for 3, 1 free due to diamond status). 5. Excursions for 5 of the 6 days that we stopped at a port. 6. Chocolate dipped strawberries in the room (minor thing). 7. They also included 2 bottles of sparkling wine & other snacks. 8. I think we got $200 OBC. Total cost over the holiday? $2577 for the two of us. Imagine with something like that would cost for a similar experience on Celebrity, particularly over NYE. Here's the cabin I booked.

I had contacted Celebrity on Instagram regarding the missing points. While they haven't yet been credited, I do now show the pending points for the December webinar in my points history, so I presume they'll be credited soon.

I just ignored the question, as I thought the answer was obvious.

My favorite cruise lines are Celebrity and MSC. That said, I do notice a deterioration in the Celebrity experience, mostly in terms of the food served in the MDR. MSC seems to be holding steady or improving in most areas. But sure, I like Celebrity. But some of that "wow factor" has left the building (or is it ship?).

The only cruise line where I've personally seen really bad, drunken behavior was, wait for it, Carnival (shocker). Physical fights, hammered passengers, rude behavior, yelling matches, etc. Won't say we'd never sail on CCL again, but we try hard to avoid it. I think the best comments so far is that the Maitre D should have asked them to quiet Junior down or leave. This isn't quite the same, but we were on MSC about a year ago, and they do enforce no shorts in the MDR on Gala Night. So one young man, in shorts, was refused entry by the Maitre D. The guy snuck in through a different entrance and sat down at the dinner table The Maitre D saw him and practically dragged him out by his ear, physically escorting him to the door. I must admit that I did enjoy that.