CptSticky

Some folks like to enjoy the outdoor aspects of cruising. EN pool deck is so much nicer than Radiance ships.

 

To each his own. ;)

At your level and mine, the difference between CL's is stark.

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I've only been on 1 cruise, with another scheduled for Oct so my experience is limited. I agree with this post. When I chose which ship and cruiseline to take for our first, I compared ships based on passenger capacity to size of ship so we wouldn't feel crowded. (It was Enchantment of the Seas vs whatever like ship Carnival was running for a similar itinerary.) Making the general population squeeze into smaller and smaller areas to cater to the minority of suite passengers is not good and will eventually, if the trend continues, lead to them losing customers.

 

 

 

Paying more should get you more, but as nbsjcruiser pointed out, there is a line somewhere that once it is crossed, the cruiseline will start losing the customers that fill 95% of their boats. This isn't a Karl Marx stance, it is a free market stance. It's their ship that they can do whatever they want with, but they should be careful as to not cross that line. The ship doesn't sail without the cash from the 95%.

 

 

 

I don't care if a suite guest gets a fancier dining room as the MDR is fine with me, but if the general cruiser is crammed into smaller and smaller spaces to give the suite passengers more room and exclusive areas on a ship, I'll choose something else for my vacation.

Fair enough statement. Not sure I can agree on your choice of EN for space per passenger. I believe that Radiance class has more space per passenger and with all that glass much better views.

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So after reading this thread I've come to the conclusion that they're two types of cruisers. Those who worked hard, saved all their lives and another group who believes in "fair".

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Thanks :eek: I guess you're perfect :rolleyes:

That or they don't mind violating CC's TOS

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Thanks for all the replies, I think we'll take a tram to the fort and walk back. DW is just getting over a broken foot so not sure how much walking she'll be able to do by October.

 

 

 

What is this senior golden pass you speak of? Can Canadians get one?

 

 

 

Thanks again,

 

Tony

Sorry but I don't think so.

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We have done several Celebrity cruise recently and really enjoyed the separate suite class dining rooms that Celebrity has installed on their ships. The food and service are much better than in the regular dining rooms on other cruise lines (extreme luxury lines excluded). I would like to see this benefit included on other cruise lines but so far the only one I have seen it on has been Celebrity. Has anyone heard of any rumors of this being talked about on RCL ships?

 

Thanks and have a great next cruise.

Already happening on the "big girls". It's called Coastal Kitchen.

I see JJ listed as being in the CL and DL on two different ships at the same time. Am I reading the spread sheet incorrectly?

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Never yet in the Caribbean but many times in other parts of the world our passports are collected by the ship. Did anyone hear about the woman who had her passport stolen out of her zipped purse in St Petersburg? The Russian authorities would not allow her to board the ship and her husband was not allowed off the ship to join her. She went to a hotel but no passport no room. Finally spent the night with the tour employee. Have never tried to use it but I keep a picture of ours in both of our phones.

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We've had that one on Radiance. Loved it. The one we will never book again is 1600. Love the aft but this one is really chopped up. Honestly 1602 the JS next door is actually better.

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Just a reminder, both forts are free with your senior golden pass.

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This may help .This is the Travel Pass plan from Verizon Wireless.

 

http://www.verizonwireless.com/plans/travelpass-countries/

This looks interesting. Do you know if this has to be signed up for in advance or is it automatic?

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I went from Thousand Oaks to LAX to Monrovia and back to Thousand Oaks. OMG. What a day on the freeway. If it wasn't for over turned cars, construction close downs etc life would be great. Honest to God, coming home there was a guy in his mid 20s wandering around the freeway. Tried to get into numerous cars. 911 was busy. Did I mention the guy walking down the freeway trying to get in other people's car.

 

Then we had the tree in the lane. I could go on.... What a day

 

Look, every freeway in LA is a crap shoot. The 405 and the 101 is another joke. You can never, ever, say for sure. Leave lots of room for changes, accidents, life in general.....

For years I had heard about how bad traffic is up in the Bay Area. Then one time I had to cross from Morgan Hill to Novato during rush hour. Everyone told me that I was doomed. It was bad, BUT nothing like a typical 10 fwy commute from West LA home anytime after 3:00.

When we finally board the ship, no complaints. I too survived a major cancer scare 6 yrs ago this coming Sept and guess what, we have 4 cruises planned between July 2017 & April 2018. Now I should worry about the little things that we encounter on a cruise, I think not.

Good for you Gay.

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Neither the single trip, nor Trekker plan is available in our state from Geo Blue.

Don't you hate that. I don't understand why policies can not be sold in some states.

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My Medicare Advantage covers emergency but not urgent care outside the US. So I bought an annual GeoBlue. It covers urgent and evacuation. At our ages (mid 60's) it was very reasonable but will start to rise in a couple of years. I can afford to lose any particular cruise so I don't see the value of insuring on an individual basis and with the number of cruises that we take would not be a good value.

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And that is exactly what it might come down to - how we all feel on a particular morning. I absolutely love sea days on a ship itinerary, but feel guilty about creating one for myself on a port day. Have a feeling I might get over that by the fourth or fifth port, though :D

Well you can always do what we consider a successful port stop. Get off, grab a local beer, a frig magnet and a hat pin and get back on for lunch. You get to sleep in, get off and still have most of the day on board.

I guess that I should also mention in full disclosure that we almost always do at least B2B and often multi B2B so getting off at every port just isn't that big a deal.

Thanks all.

 

I was afraid that this was a pipe dream. The rent a car suggestion may be a solution. Can I rent a car at the Universal Sheraton and drop it off near the princess pier? Will the RAC company drop me at the ship?

 

That means:

 

8:00 - 9:45 Drive from Universal to Sony and Park

 

9:45 - 11:45 - Tour

 

11:45 - 12:15 Get back to car

 

12:15 - 1:15 Drive to port

 

1:15 - 1:45 Drop car and transfer to ship

 

Still pretty tight. Thoughts please!

My thought is go in a day early.

I wouldn't do it. Never know what's going to happen in the LA freeways.

 

9:45 -Tour is an hour (assuming).

10:45-30 minutes to get to your transportation

11:15- an hour to port.

12:15 - arrival

This leaves no wiggle room for traffic. One cruise we 'flew' down the freeway only to be stuck in horrible traffic at the port of dot. Took over 30 minutes to get into port.

 

 

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Don't you wish cruise ships left from ONT?

I always put a couple extra hours into any LA traffic situation and then cross my fingers. Santa Monica to Ontario 3 1/2 hours if you are lucky.

Thanks, CptSticky - all good info.

No problem. That was from the old gray cells. If you need something more specific about an island I can go back into our journals (the wife journals our cruises and is in book 4 I think) and look.

Reading lots of threads about things that seem too trivial to ruin a vacation. After all, we're on a cruise ship right? What silly thing can ruin your vacation. I'm going to miss baseball but I watch tons at home. Small thing but I will miss my Mets

For you it's not really small stuff if you are sweating it. It might not be your Mets, but there should be a game on in a bar somewhere. If not, well you would be in a bar. Does that help?

On our New Year's 10 day Princess cruise, we have six ports back to back, and as I value my sea days, I would like to break up those port with at least one sea day. Of the following three ports, which one would you leave out and why?

St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Barbados. Of these, we have been only to Barbados (for an island tour. )

 

The other 3 (St. Thomas, St. Martin, Gr.Turk) are ones we really want to go back to. Grand Turk mainly because it's sort of like a sea day on land and it will replace Princess Cays, the private island, which is not on our itinerary for the first time. :(

 

When I first started cruising back in 2006, I was absolutely floored that anybody would want to stay on the ship on a port day! LOL

What I have to say might not apply because it looks like they are all pretty new to you and are all pretty old hat to us but..... First, you missed a really good tour in Barbados. They have a cavern tour that is great (almost the whole time is on an electric tram and the caverns are still "alive"). We have also done a rum tour there that turned out hilarious (well after too much rum anyway). St Thomas is where we always grab a gypsy cab for a tour (make sure it stops at Beacon Point!). The one we would skip in a heart beat is St Kitts (been there way too many times, don't like monkeys in diapers and often don't bother getting off the ship). Sorry, can't remember Gr. Turk, might not have been there.

So sad. We were looking forward to sailing with him again. Always one of our favorites.

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I have been reading all the threads about hints for first timers. I am more excited everyday. I am bringing a highlighter and probably getting a lanyard. I also made my count down clock. Is it really 242 more days??? :eek: I better quit reading and get in shape for the the ship steps I am going to take. :D

Don't forget Post-it-notes.

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AW Boo!

I paid about 50K for my 365 Diamond points!

Wow, that is actually very cheap. I figure our first 700 cost up $250k. Guess I should have sailed cheaper cabins:p:eek:

British TAs tend to work a bit differently I think. He won't be getting any more business from us anyway .. . For some reason RC sent them a cheque for our refund

Maybe they had paid RC by check.