chessbriar

Looks like I am slow to the post here and the topic has been rolling. Just was shocked when I saw an R ship for sale with Princess badges. Here's hoping

Sorry, I'm late in getting back to the question. I don't recall the price, you can find in on their web page. We were on a bit of of time crunch as we booked the golf cart and the Woodwind. So we had just 1/2 the day with the golf cart. So we headed south and had plenty of time to do the southern loop. Got back with enough time to head back down to the donkey sanctuary for an hour or so. If you want to do north and south, rent a car. But I would check the seasons with regard to the Flamingos. In February they moved to the south. We have family do the bus trip to the north hoping to see the flamingos. They saw 3 we saw hundred

http://cruiseship.homestead.com/cruiseships.html

Looks like her on the right column of pictures

This Princess page seems to match up on refurb dates

https://www.princess.com/learn/ships/pa/amenities_publicrooms/ship_facts/

This Princess page matches up on last refurb

https://www.princess.com/learn/ships/pa/amenities_publicrooms/ship_facts/

I was playing on internet and for some reason put in cruise ships for sale and stumbled across this add

http://cruiseship.homestead.com/1999_Cruise_Vessel.pdf

Unless this in an old add for the Adonia/Royal Princess, Princess might be looking to unload their last r-class ship.

Your thoughts on whether you think Azamara should add another R-class ship

I did a search of cruise ships for sale and found this

http://cruiseship.homestead.com/1999_Cruise_Vessel.pdf

Unless this in an old add for the Adonia/Royal Princess, Princess might be looking to unload their last r-class ship

No problem on answering questions. We did the afternoon sail, 3 hour.

Once you contact them and they acknowledge your booking, you need to do nothing more. About a week or two, they will contact you to give you more details and confirm you still want to come. No deposit, pay onboard, cash or credit card.

Our sail was fully booked. We all sat side by side but not packed. Based on how they broke us into groups, I'd guess about 25 people. and 5 crew. It's a short distance they sail. It's mostly about time in the water.

Woodwind offered the best snorkel tour I have seen. Not that the snorkeling was the best, it was great, but they got everyone snorkeling. Even non swimmers were in the water. They had several kinds of masks to provide the most comfort. They offered wet suits to those who wanted them as well as swim shirts to protect from the sun and scraping. It was a long snorkel that required very little swimming. Non swimmers could just float along.

They did a great job with helping everyone out of the water as well. Providing a tow line to hold onto for those waiting to board. The guides were right there at the ladder to help everyone off with their fins, making climbing the ladder so easy.

Once back aboard, they provide drinks and a "boat snack" it was a local dish of noodles, vegies, and chicken. I was so well fed, I skipped dinner that night.

This tour was a wonderful end to our series of ports and offered so many great memories. My Daughter's first snorkel trip where she actually snorkeled. She had a blast.

Another option to consider for seeing Bonaire is Bonaire Cruisers. You rent a golf cart for the day. We did the south side of the island and were done by noon and had time to go see more. The best part is they would let you know where to see the best things including the Flamingos. We planned to head north, but were told Flamingos had moved to the south part of the island to mate.

We had family do a tour through the ship to see Flamingos, they went north and saw 10 if they were lucky. Following the advise given to us by Bonaire Cruisers we saw over 300.

We were on the road with our cart by 9. Saw the Donkey Sanctuary, the Sea Salt "mining", the slave huts(both white and red), the light house, Lac Bay and oh so many Flamingos. We finished up about 12:30 and went sailing on Woodwind, best snorkel ever. This was by far our best port stop ever.

It was a fun way to see the island.

Another option to consider is Bonaire Cruisers. You rent a golf cart for the day. We did the south side of the island and were done by noon and had time to go see more. The best part is they would let you know where to see the best things including the Flamingos. We planned to head north, but were told Flamingos had moved to the south part of the island to mate.

We had family do a tour through the ship to see Flamingos, they went north and saw 10 if they were lucky. Following the advise given to us by Bonaire Cruisers we saw over 300.

It was a fun way to see the island.

Be forewarned with regard to renting from Avis. Just because you rent a car from Avis, doesn't mean it will be there when you arrive. We booked an SUV for 9am. We weren't cleared to debark until almost 9:30. When I got to the Avis office, they didn't have a vehicle for us. They blamed vandals, but in talking with locals, we were told they take whoever comes first regardless of reservation of not. They tried to send us to Budget in the Rennaisance, but they only had small cars and we were a part of 5 traveling with 2 - 70+ year olds, lots of walking and tight cars won't work.

I will be contacting Avis directly to let them know how their franchise is operating in Curacao

One thing I have learned from cruising and reading the posts here, is take everything with a grain of salt.

Far more people will post to complain than they will to praise. Even though far more people usually have a wonderful cruise. There's no agenda here just unhappy people want to vent where happy people want to relish their fond memories.

I have read many bad post about ships I were preparing to board. I went into the cruise with low expectations and pretty much every time walking off the ship having a wonderful vacation.

I just remember to tell myself, I am cruising with thousands of people who are there to have a great time and hundreds of cruise staff doing all they can to make sure we do have a great time. Many times if we don't have a great time, the fault lies on us and our expectations. Then there are times when you just feel jinxed.

Here's hoping you have a great cruise.

We did a Suite gty on the Monarch a number of years ago. We were put into a Grand Suite. Nice cabin.

On Celebrity we did a Suite Gty and were assigned a Royal Suite, never have had a better cabin.

The price has to be right to get us to look at suites, in both cases the prices were right. We have also booked a GS straight up. Sometimes we like to have the extra room.

The sad part for the OP is the cruise following his won't be released until early 2017. There is a while to wait to book the second leg

The OP is also comparing a ship and crew that does 4/5 night cruises with a ships that are newer and doing 7+ nights

Question to Kittylunrnurse, can we expect to see your comments after you do the Azamara cruise? I'd love your comparison there as they are seen as a step above X

We do both X and RCCL, we know what to expect and have great cruises on both. There are things from X we miss on RCCL and things on RCCL we miss on X.

The family pool is shallower than the sports pool. He should be fine in there to stand. Water wings would be fine, but you should always stay close because accidents can always happen.

Have a great

Did you not try to catch the ship at the next port of call?

Yes your TA received their commission once payment was made in full. Your not making the ship would not have had an effect on their bottom line

Sorry to hear of your misfortune. That sucks

Where to start, I know it's probably been said by others and there is so many directions one can go on this.

A gratuity is a gift that the receiver of a service gives as a thank you for good service. How is it a gratuity if they charge you automatically regardless of how good/bad the service is? Let's call it what it is, a service charge or a tax.

Changes in policies by the cruise lines with regard to gratuities have saved me big over each change. When I started cruising, tipping was by our choice with recommended amounts. I loved my service and generally tipped 30-50% above recommend amounts. Cruise lines change that to a mandatory fee automatically added to my account. The quality of service dropped and I no longer felt compelled to tip extra as in my mind, it became a service charge.

With regard to drinks, I don't drink a lot, so when I do get a drink, I would tip the server extra either on paper or in cash. Just as a thank you. Now with them raising the gratuity it feels more like a service charge instead of a gratuity. They are doing this because the bar servers aren't getting as much because of the drink packages. So charging me extra is a penalty to me and has me funding the tips of those with the drink packages.

Even when I get the drink package through the 123 program, I wouldn't be using to the value of 5-7 drinks per day. Maybe 1/2 that, so they would be receiving tips at a rate of about 36%. Once again, I'm feeling a little punished.

With the increasing my gratuity to 18% and me having no choice, it is a service charge they are increasing and I am unlikely to tip extra. It will save me money, but hurt those who need it.

One last question, as X collects the 18% tips from us to give to their employees. How do we know 100% of that amount goes to the bar servers who work so hard for it. Or does X deduct say 2% out of that to cover credit card fees and another percentage out of that for administrative fees for the people who are hired to monitor and distribute the tips.

Funny thing is as I type this, the above is how I feel and what I wonder. But to be honest, I jumped at the chance to cruise on Reflection with the 123 package, paying for more room than usual to ensure I got all 3 perks. Maybe I would be inclined to pay a little more to ensure I don't have to worry about paying for drinks and tips on board.

Maybe in time, X rolls everything into one charge that includes all the service charges, then allows us to tip those who we feel have gone above and beyond.

I'm going to have to continue to think about how I feel about this. I will say though, I appreciate NCL calling it a service charge instead of gratuity. It feels more honest

Should not be a problem

Simon has received another promotions. Head of Operations in Shanghi. He will be heading up their expansion in the far east. I've known him for 14 years, but how far he has come in the last 8. Making the transition to HD from CD and just taking off from there.

Good for him.

I was looking at Late 2016/Early 2017 cruises for X and was surprised to see X moving Connie to Dubai for the season. Looking at what they are charging, I'm not surprised they are doing it though. I hope it works for them.

I'd like to see Elite plus members added to the short list.

I wish I could help recommend Carnival, but I did one cruise and never will again. RCCL and X handle my needs. I just don't have the experience on Carnival to help. I would go the RCCL route myself.

Good Luck

Everyone has a different perspective. What is important one one, may be insignificant to another. My perspective on cruising really changed my last cruise when my father in law had to be evacuated from his cruise vacation due to an injury. I cruise to spend time with family because who knows how much time we have with them. That's what important to me, not the fact the ship may have some wear and tear.

That being said, my last two cruises on X have been on Summit and Century after several on S class ships. It was so nice to come back to the smaller ship. The larger ships are just too impersonal. On the S class I feel like a passenger, on the M and C class, I feel like a guest.

Give me Century or an M class ship any day over a S class ship. Yes, they are beautiful ships and we've had great cruises on them. The smaller cruises have been so much more memorable.

I hope the OP finds a cruise line that meets their needs at a price they like. Good Luck