BruceMuzz

The best side of the ship to watch the Panama Canal transit is the OUTside.

You are thinking that the cruise lines are subcontracting with local providers and taking a cut. You are correct. But you failed to think about liability insurance. In many cases the local tour operator does not carry liability insurance. If you privately book a tour with him and something bad happens - good luck to you. The cruise lines have a lot of experience with lawsuits from litigation-happy passengers. They typically require at least $1Million liability insurance for every passenger on every tour. Some lines require $2 Million. Who pays for that liability insurance? The tour operator pays first and then passages the cost to the cruise line. The cruise line passes the cost to the people on the tours. If you happen to go on a cruise line tour in Alaska, the liability insurance premium is not very high. But if you are on a tour visiting Dinosaurs on Komodo Island, or sailing amongst Crocodiles on the Amazon, that $1 or $2 Million Liability Insurance Premium will be quite high. Somebody has to pay it - that’s you. But if you are fond of gambling - like me - you can skip the insurance by booking locally and save a lot of money.

We have been seeing this for about 7 years now, especially up North and on the West Coast of Australia.

Your Agent is correct. It appears that your cruise will be nearly full, is experiencing a lot of movement and changes in bookings. The Yield Computer is playing it safe by slowing down new bookings until all the changes have calmed down. The computer will leave a certain number of cabins empty to accommodate the Guarantees, but your chances of getting a good cabin out of this are diminishing. The best cabin assignments will go to “special” Travels Agents, Frequent Cruisers, and full fare passengers. Guarantees will get the leftovers.

Try Rome2Rio. It is not the best, but very good and easy to understand. English Language Train Schedules for Japanese Trains are very comprehensive and utterly confusing at times.

That is true. The cruise lines employ very sophisticated Computer Yield Programs that can predict when a cruise will not fill up. If that is the case, then there is no reason to delay assigning Guarantee Cabins. If it is a new itinerary or one with an inconsistent history, the computer will delay the assignments for a time, waiting to see what develops. Most of these assignments and upgrades or done automatically by the computer programs, without the knowledge of the Head Office or the Ship.

Due to the sophistication of computer programs used by the Yield Department, as well as mountains of historical data, it is extremely rare today that a cruise line needs to bump passengers due to over-booking.

I have never lived in Australia. I do spend quite a bit of time there every year when my ship makes a circumnavigation of Australia and New Zealand. When my crew and I go ashore in Australia, we often visit restaurants and bars. As soon as the locals realize we are not Australian, we find all sorts of “special charges” on our bills: holiday taxes, group service charges, special taxes, etc. These charges are not small change - but rather large amounts. When we ask about them we are told that this is mandatory. Yet when we ask Aussies about them, they have never heard of such things.

Yomiuri Shinbun today announced that several of the major Japanese Train Lines are planning to add a new feature to their turnstyles next year. People (essentially tourists) will be able to use a smart card (Visa, Mastercard) to enter and exit the stations. The smart card will be automatically charged for the train ride. This will make it easier for foreigners to use the train systems.

A little background on cruise line bookings: On average, every mass market cruise ship sailing in North America sells every cabin 8 times before the cruise actually begins. Mass Market cruisers are rather fickle. They change their minds - and plans - very often. This helps to explain why the cabin or category you wanted to book - but it was not available yesterday - is available today. This also makes it very difficult for any mass market line to tell you how many cabins are booked, as the number changes so frequently. It also explains why you often must wait endlessly on the telephone for someone from the cruise line to assist you. They are all busy switching cabin bookings. Guarantee Cabins can be a mine field if you do not know how it works. Why would a cruise line give you a discount to let them choose a cabin for you? Because there are always undesirable cabins on any cruise ship. These cabins are difficult to sell - unless you sell them very cheap. Switched on cruisers and travel agents know which cabins these are, and carefully avoid them. Novices do not know about them and take their chances. Sometimes you get lucky; sometimes you don’t. Essentially, Guarantee Cabins are often “leftovers”. Not always, mind you, but often. Some cruisers do not really care about the cabin - so long as there is a bed and it is cheap. These people are always happy with any cabin and give great reviews for booking Guarantee Cabins. Some cruisers like to gamble, and some of them win. They get nice cabins - or even better - nice upgrades. Smart cruisers who gamble with Guarantee Cabins do their homework and choose categories that have very few cabins in them and/or sell out often. This nearly assures a good upgrade and possibly a good cabin. How do the mass market lines know for sure that you will have a cabin assignment when booking a Guarantee Cabin? On nearly every big mass market ship, on nearly every sailing, there is a no-show / cancellation rate of just over 1% on sailing day. Doesn’t sound like much, you say? 1%+ of 3,000 cabins is 30+ empty cabins. That is a lot to play with, and the cruise lines are very good at playing that game. One cautionary note: After managing far too many of those “Walmarts at Sea” for too many years, one fact was always very clear. The passengers who pay the least are the ones with the highest expectations, and usually the ones who complain the most.

These numbers vary by cruise line. In 2023, the majority of cruise lines have hotel service staff working 8 / 9 / 10 months on, and 1 or 2 months off. There is a lot of discussion about shortening the working contracts, but: 1. Many crew do not want a shorter contract. They need the money. 2. Air tickets for crew are a major cost for cruise lines. Shortening contracts would require more air tickets.

Not sure which cruise ships you have worked on. But on the 31 ships I have managed, most of my crew is married with several children. They are paying rent, house payments, utility bills, medical bills, and schooling for kids. The spouse needs to stay home to care for the kids, so it is a single salary family. The money they earn onboard is usually their only form of income. MLC2006 regulations currently stipulate a 91 hour work week. My crew often works more than that. They all work multiple split shifts, 24/7. No days off.

Salisbury - next to Peninsula Hotel in Kowloon.

A surprising number of Vegans and Vegetarians on a cruise ship suddenly become Omnivores when they spot a streak or a lobster tail that appeals to them. Last week we had a strict Vegan who explained that she is Vegan only in the Western Hemisphere. Since we are cruising in Europe, she announced that she was able to eat everything.

In America, tipped service employees have a special income tax category where they are paid lower than the legal minimum wage. But they are taxed not only on the lower wages - but also on the tips they receive. In many US states, the income taxes more than wipe away the actual wages, to cover the additional tips they receive. If a waiter in an American restaurant has a very slow week, the taxes take his actual salary, and he is left only with the lower gratuities he received. If it was a slow week, his actual take-home earnings are very small.

And if business is slow, that 20% is a smaller number of dollars. So that “some” that goes to staff is probably smaller too. Same result.

But if the restaurant is not busy, the result is the same. The service staff earn less.

How about you Len? When was your last cruise? When is your next cruise?

Last week - and next week.

What year was that?

As you have not cruised for many years, how could you know which is best? Since you last cruised, more than 12 new cruise lines and over 100 new cruise ships have gone into service. At RCI, the guy who was in charge of Food Services is no longer with the company. The entire program, including Gluten-Free Diets, has changed.

Note that visa requirements vary, based on how you get to many countries. Flying in and cruising in for a day often have different sets of rules.

Not quite correct. You tasted the wash that was required by Shipsan, the European Health Agency that governs everything that cruise ships sailing in Europe do with food. If you had been sailing on a cruise ship in North America, you would have tasted the wash that the US Public Health Service requires on all ships that call at US Ports.

On a cruise ship, undercooked poultry is very risky. In very clean places, like Japan, raw chicken (Chicken Sashimi) is a delicacy and a favorite of mine

Your Cruise Line is not being upfront with you - or perhaps they do not yet have a berth assignment this far out from the cruise date. There are 6 International Cruise Ports in the Tokyo Area: 2 in Yokohama and 4 in Metro Tokyo All 6 ports are called - at one time or another - a Tokyo Cruise Port. If you Google Tokyo Cruise Port, you can find schedules for ship calls at all of these ports. To narrow it down a bit, 3 of the International Terminals are located in Tokyo Bay, where any ship calling there must pass under the Rainbow Bridge. This bridge is quite low, so only small ships can access those Terminals. If your ship carries more than around 1000 pax, it will not fit under the bridge. To narrow it down further - 2 of the Downtown Tokyo Terminals are used almost exclusively for Bay, River, and Dinner Cruises. Your ship most likely will not go there. If your ship is small enough, it could call at Harumi Terminal in Downtown Tokyo - a very desirable and convenient place. Your ship will most likely call at the new Tokyo International Cruise Terminal, located just South of the Rainbow Bridge and just North of Haneda Airport. If it does not call there, the other 2 options are Osanbashi Terminal in Yokohama, or (if Osanbashi Terminal is full) or (if your ship is too large to fit under the Yokohama Bay Bridge), Daikoku Container Terminal in Yokohama Bay. Tokyo Tours are offered from all 6 Tokyo Cruise Ports.