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We just did the 3 day Halloween on the High Seas Cruise. Short and sweet. It was a great cruise and very fun for our child. I do have a couple of logistics issues to address with DCL but not complaints. 1. Please have the Halloween party and trick or treating on deck 3. Its so hot outside at 4:30pm people in costumes are roasting on the pool deck. Maybe utilize the D Lounge for the party or the main theater? Or better yet have the Halloween party at 10 pm on Saturday night and move Pirate night to Sunday. Dont schedule both for the same night.

Over all the food was good. Animators Palate is still the weak link of the 3 with terrible food choices and quality. We took a suggestion on this board to go to Cabanas that night and it was much better. 3rd night we did Palo and it was amazing as usual. The staff was very good and friendly and entertainment was the usual Disney shows. Ship and staterooms were clean as expected. There were the typical obnoxious few drunks on the ship but they were easily avoided. We had a great time but will probably not return on Halloween Cruises in the future unless they make some changes as I mentioned. above.

How often do repeat cruisers get off the ship at Nassau?

If your goal is to "not have to wait at a table' date='" as you stated, there are lots of counter service options on the pool deck a swell as munchies at the Cove Cafe and Vista Cafe. You also have room service.

 

Actually, we've found Cabanas dinner service to be very nice--not crowded, not noisy, and better food quality than in the MDR. This is probably because it is prepared when you order rather than mass food preparation. It is far better than most of what is on a buffet at other lines.[/quote']

That is a very useful comment for us. Thank you. We have been on numerous Disney cruises and always found the rotational dining food is terrible. We will try Cabanas this time.....

We will have a great time after all it’s a cruise was just upset seeing everything sold out

 

 

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Many things at Disney are upsetting when it comes to booking. Fast Pass + for the Avatar ride is the worst! Also getting a Cabana on Castaway Cay can be very difficult unless you book a concierge room. But sadly the world is an imperfect place. Try to enjoy the cruise in spite of your frustrations.

I'm curious how you came to this conclusion that they have such a lack of training? Cruise ship security guards actually do have extensive training and some cruise lines even send them to FBI courses. One step further, security officers are typically required to have a military background. I've even provided defensive tactics training aboard cruise ships and was pleasantly surprised how well they did.

 

He might be able to justify those kicks if the guy he was kicking had the other guy in a choke hold, but there are much better tactics to combat something like that.

I only came to that conclusion when a law enforcement professional posted on this thread that he could see from the video the security team had little training.

I like how everytime these videos surface that only show a glimpse of the total event people become armchair critics of security. I can promise you that if you were just spit on, kicked and punched moments before the video started, you would be kicking the person as well. You would be pissed and hurt. And with almost no training you would do whatever you could. Bite, kick, punch etc. So don't pin all the blame on security until you see the video of the 10 minutes leading up to this fight. I think the security people did the best they could given their lack of training. And as far as trying to get the cameras away that is perfectly justified. Because people go edit the video and show only what they want you to see. And of course there are legal reasons.

I will be retiring at the end of July, with 31 years of law enforcement experience. I taught defensive tactics for 4 recruit schools. Maybe Carnival will hire me to teach their "security" team pressure point control tactics, ground fighting and a few other techniques!! It just might be a good retirement job for me! Give them a week of training then I would have to go on a cruise every month, just to check things out of course!!! I might be on to something here!!!!

 

What their security team did shows they have zero training. They are on international waters, they can lock them up if they want- easily justified.

Thats a great idea! Free cruises while you train security. You are on to something...

When we went in March 2017 the lines were so long my daughter got to go on only 2 slides. Complete waste of money.

God, where do I begin...

 

There have been a lot of times where I've stood in line at Guest Services and listened to some REALLY entitled people go off on the reps, screaming obscenities and threatening to have the reps fired, or say that "I pay your salary", which might be true but that isn't an appropriate thing to say, I don't care how mad you are.

I see that once in a while as well. Even in the concierge lounge. Its true the employee cant fight back but I can on their behalf. I have more than once interjected myself by saying to the person.. you are crude, rude and socially unacceptable. Go back to your cabin and surf the internet until you find someone who cares. That really ticks them off. Its glorious. At Christmas on the Oasis I watched a 20 year old boy refuse to go put a collared shirt on in the Coastal Kitchen. He was telling the head waiter he didnt have to follow the rules because his dad spent $28,000 on this vacation. I turned to him and said "please leave you trailer trash child". He almost punched me! It was very funny. After the kid left the Head waiter smiled and thanked me. Lots of good desert surprises from then on at our table!

Funny on our last princess cruise, this SNOB , yes I will call this woman a snob, stood in a full elevator and when someone asked about eating at the buffet, she stuck her nose up and said "we dont eat pig slop"

 

Some of us choose our words more carefully, and others just spew out whatever comes to mind

That is so funny! How come I never meet people like that? I would have replied "Well perhaps you should try pig slop to see if it would improve your attitude?"

100% agree. We have used the same TA for 30 years. Can you book direct? Sure and 90% of the time it's not an issue. But, when things go wrong it's nice to have a TA you can call who won't put you on hold or give you the run around.

Another thing I tell people is why would you not use a TA? There is no cost to the consumer, only benefits. Not using one absurd. When I have a problem I call my agent on her cell phone. I laugh at the people who call the 800 number and get routed to a partially english speaking young person at RCCL HQ in Miami after a 30 minute wait!

My brother is an MD and research scientist working on cold and flu DNA mapping (as well as other viruses). There is no prevention for the cold virus and flu shots are like a box of chocolates.... Nothing can help you stave off the common cold virus including massive Vitamin C or any other product. Best advice has already been given. Wash hands often and don't touch your face. (I also use only my knuckles to press elevator buttons. ) And if Americans would wear face masks when sick like they do on Asia, it would make a huge positive impact.

No advantage to booking online. A good TA is worth their weight in gold thats why I have used the same one for 15 years.

March 2016 we cruise Oasis, Never will return. It was a gift from the financial company. Very nice ship, food, entertainment, etc.

 

The but is that I do not like the crowds of people, it is so many people more than 6000 passengers that personalized attention and quality to the client is lost. Even dogs go up as escorts for passengers who do not show any disability.

 

My next cruises will be with Celebrity

This is simply not true. Yes they usually have 5,400 passengers (not 6000) but they also have a 220,000 ton ship. In terms of people per square foot of public areas, Oasis class have more than the smaller ships. Number of guests without considering size is irrelevant. We just came off a fully holiday occupied Oasis and there were several times where our daughter was the only child on the carousel and time where my wife and I were the only people in central park.

I can tell you on Oasis the Diamond Lounge is very nice as is the Suite Lounge. However Suite lounge bar is open all day and most of the evening. Diamond Lounge was not as robust for getting drinks.

I always tip in cash as I suspected its more advantageous to the staff. Sounds like that is true.

Thats interesting because I was on the same cruise with the OP and just posted a 5 star review...especially service. I found everyone I encountered to be amazing and accommodating. However I did not interact with MDR.

Thanks for review, never read anything that bad on costal kitchen before, we sail next year in a owners suite, do not want to deal with stairs of loft.

Of course food taste and quality is in the eye of the beholder so what I feel is buffet quality mass produced food might seem great to someone else. When I posted that comment I was thinking about two items specifically. The shrimp cocktail came with 3 medium sized, previously frozen shrimp. If you know shrimp you know the difference between previously frozen and fresh. Also I ordered a seafood linguini and it came with 3 small shrimp, one mussel and one small calamari ring. It was comical but also disappointing. I did order the free range chicken at one meal and it was good. My daughter ordered the strip steak and it was nice and tender. Maybe it was just the seafood items since thats what I tend to like.

I find that on all cruise lines I travel frequently, people are on their 5th, 10th or more contract. No surprise there since once you get into the routine of a certain employer its preferable to go back to them unless something is really bad.

We had a great time again on the Oasis. This was our second cruise on Oasis and we had a Crown Loft Suite which was a great room. Going up the stairs to the loft is challenging when you have had several drinks and the ship is rocking! The staff was awesome and the food was excellent. We dined at the various premium restaurants each night so I can't comment on buffet food or MDR food for dinner. Of the premium, Chops grill was our least favorite. They were the only ones who enforced the $10 extra charge for an additional entrée item. The other restaurants would bring out a lobster or other main course for the table to try at no charge but not Chops. Also I felt the service at Chops was lacking and the waiter we had was overwhelmed. Did not offer any extras. 150 Central Park was completely the opposite. Outstanding service and lots of extras. When it was time for desert we couldn't decide so our waiter left the table and came back with one of everything! Now thats service! Same at Giovanni's which had the same great service and extras. The Hibachi gril was also outstanding. The ship was decorated for Christmas and was beautiful. The Suite Lounge was outstanding and the bar tenders were awesome. The Coastal Kitchen which is the private restaurant for suite guests was marginal. We had dinner there twice and the food was what I would expect at the buffet. It was not very good and in the future I would pass on dinner there. The hurricane damage at St. Thomas and San Juan was noticeable but not as bad as I thought. The weather was perfect. My only real issue with RC is the cabana reservation process at Labadee. We were told yet again on this cruise that we could not make a cabana reservation until 7 days out with our suite concierge. So at exactly 7 days out we emailed them to get an overwater cabana. We were told the hurricane destroyed all but 2 of the over water cabanas and all we could get was a beach unit. However when we got to Labadee, NO units were destroyed and all the over the water units were fine and people had reserved them! When we asked the local Barefoot Beach manager he said there was almost no damage from the hurricane and he didn't know why we were told that some cabanas were destroyed. We ended up with one of the worst beach units as far away from the beach as possible. This was very upsetting to know we were lied to about the hurricane damage and the fact that others we able to secure cabanas before the 7 day mark. That is unacceptable customer service. Overall it was a great cruise and I give the Oasis 5 stars!

If you tip an employee in cash, obvioulsy there are no payroll taxes taken out. But if you go with the automatic tips billed to your account, are those tips subject to withholdings and put on the employees paycheck? (Withholdings defined as those dictated by their country of citizenship, if any.)

I guess it is all about perspective. My feeling is you are more at risk walking around Las Vegas after dark than Cozumel. I think the island is quit safe compared to other tourist destinations. Of course there is crime just like there is in your own home town. Just be aware of your surroundings and you will be fine.

I had a conversation with a German tourist about this on the Liberty a while ago. His personal view as a German is that each year he cruises he sees Americans are getting fatter and more obnoxious. The word he used would roughly translate to "slobs". It is an interesting observation as I feel we are a "its all about me" society at the moment. I guess the solution is to start raising children to respect the world around them. But since many parents don;t it is a hard thing to teach.

Certainly there seems to be variation from one ship to another which is normal. I was only commenting my my cruise on the Eurodam. A lot of folks said "enjoy Disney" however we don't do Disney anymore. Too expensive for what you get. NCL is our favorite but we will continue to try other lines and ships and post feedback. But so far the Haven suites on NCL are the best in my book. The whole Haven experience leaves most of the other lines in the dust. If you haven't tried it, please do just once. :)

Of course the whole cruise was about Alaska and that was fantastic. Minor frustrations on the ship did not diminish the glory of Alaska at all. In fact having the naturalist on board in Glacier Bay was very nice. They said other cruise lines don;t do that so kudos to HAL for that great experience.