Beachdude

So! How are the breakfast restaurants in Bermuda?

Burt

I don't believe Carnival has completed that project. They're still sailing with portable feel good generators strapped behind their fantails.

Thank you

Burt

Easy solution, stop being a penny pincher or upgrade to premium package and stop complaining.

As I said in another post, this stinks of "bait and switch" and I have a feeling you would change your tone if it happened to you while buying a car. And it is against the law in many places.

Burt

And that's the way celebrity ships are (supposedly) designed....which is why it's important, at least to me, to understand what happened.

Yep, I fully agree.

Burt

Carnival spent some 700 to 800 million backing up their systems due to similar failures ;). when a ship looses all power ,it should have a back up system in place to take over from the failed system ;)

Of what I understand, Carnival change the power systems so that one power system at failure doesn't take out the other power system. The back up system IS the other system, not an additional system.

Burt

Yes, IF! Nothing has been determined yet! Furthermore, some of us who aren't even cruising until next year are trying to help get this sorted! Evidence was produced today to demonstrate that at least 2 products people are in a tizzy about - Heineken and Corona - ARE STILL WITHIN THE CLASSIC PRICE!!!

The guy who originally claimed the almighty Baileys was off, later said it was on again! There is further reason to believe that the price clip for wine has actually risen by a dollar. I suggest you keep your powder dry for the moment - maybe even Johnny Walker himself may stride in in his RED jacket!

Well this has the appeance of "bait and switch" and if we were talking about cars, I imagine there would be a little less patience in the tone. But you are correct, lets wait and see the facts. I hope it's soon, we sail in one month.

Burt

With all of the posts I have seen lately from Celebrity cruisers not happy with Celebrity changes, I am becoming concerned that maybe we should run not walk away from the three celebrity cruises we have booked.

It is all in perspective, the cruise industry is making an adjustment as a whole, so the discussions of changes can be seen in most of the forums. New cruisers have it easier because they have few or no experiences to compare the changes. Those of us who have been cruising awhile are noting the changes and our feelings of those changes. The good news is that the basic rates of cruising aren't changing much, the bad news is the cruise lines have to make cuts to keep those prices down. But you will be OK, I am sure you will enjoy the cruise.

Burt

Tunnels is my favorite because while it is protected by a lava reef, it still has a lot of deep holes and lava formations where the big fish like to hang. I'm embarrassed to say I have snorkled Kee'e although I have been there many times. I am not sure there is a better beach anywhere in the world to watch a sun set. I will give it a try next time. It literally is at the end of the road, so it is easy to find. Great hiking there as well.

Burt

Burt, it is two kinds of people who spend a lot of time posting, ones who have too much time on their hands (me) an others who are mad at the world and look to argue about anything however tiny their difference of opinion is. I have run into people on forums, whose opinion was pretty much the same as mine on whatever subject we were discussing but still they would single me out to argue. Not sure why? maybe because I still too much time posting?

 

Hey, no psychologist needed!

Yes, well said. ;)

Burt

Not a haunted ship, but a haunted beach house in Hawaii.

First morning I woke the front door was wide open when I know I shut and locked it.

Turns out the all night party down the street was a tv in another room of the house that wasn't being used.

Then one morning I was shaken awake pretty violently to open my eyes to nobody there. I had been getting up at 6:00 each morning to sit on the beach and watch the sun rise and then swim. I overslept this particular morning by 5 minutes.

The TV came on again in the middle of our last night we were there.

We never really thought about a ghost until the last day when we added the stories together. We jokingly call him the beach dude ghost. No relation.:cool:

Burt

After doing both, we personally enjoy land trips in Hawaii more than cruising. Land trips are more laid back and relaxing even with site seeing. We find the limited time in ports with cruise ships to be hectic trying to get much in and getting back to the ship on time. Kauai requires at least two days to see it, even then you still haven’t really seen it until you sit on the beach to watch the sun set. There are no deadlines with land trips. The only advantage cruise ships have over land trips in Hawaii are the meals. You pay a lot to get the same quality of meals on land.

Burt

What a strange post! Why would anyone stay at Poipu Kauai when they could rent a beach house in North Kauai?

Burt

Something I have observed over the years is the ship crews have a hard time reacting to abnormal situations. They are trained hard and their responsibilities are so repetitive that they just aren't good at reacting to unusual situations.

We had a friend who was injured at a port show up just as the ship was about to pull the gangway. She needed assistance to walk but nobody offered to walk off the ship. When I pushed my way to help her (only 20 ft. away) they stopped me because no passengers were allowed off the ship. When I asked one of the crew to assist her (an officer) he said his responsibility was pulling the ganway. The must of been a dozen of us there at the gangway enterence waiting for her to limp up the gangway.

I was casually repeating this story to a crew member and she said that everyone is trained so hard that they become robots. She siad there was no reason a crew member couldn't help our friend, they were likely just waiting for someone who is assigned that duty to go do it or tell them to go do it. She said its a mariner thing, crews of most any ship are trained to perform a specific duty, nothing more nothing less.

Burt

We are not concerned if our toilet or AC malfunctions and is repaired quickly.

 

What we want to avoid is being without plumbing or A/C for days on end.

 

I know of one ship where the crew actually refers to one cabin area as the 'flood zone' because toilets backup and flood on a regular basis throughout the cruise. And have done for months on end. This is the type of ship that we hope to avoid.

 

I think that some cruise lines are cutting back on standard maintenance-preventative and otherwise. I call that 'cheating' the customer because that is who will eventually suffer.

Well I can understand where a review of the ship would help here, but I wouldn't go so far as to blame it on cruise lines cutting back, you only need to see the plumbing design to understand why some ships have standard issues.

Burt

We experienced a non-functioning toilet on Caribbean Princess last March. My husband called in the problem to the front desk, and they said someone would come up to look at it. No one came. Within an hour or so, the toilet started working again. There had been no communication from the maintenance department: no one came to repair, no one called to say the repair visit would be delayed -- and there was no further communication from the front desk: no one called to ask if the toilet had been fixed -- nothing. Though I was glad the toilet healed itself, I wondered about the customer service. [/quote

 

Plumbing in ships is complicated and the few times we've requested the tolet or shower drains get fixed or unclogged, the work was done outside of the room down the hall. And yes you are right, nobody came and told us it was fixed, but I'm not sure that is a problem.

 

Burt

I find that folks who aren't influenced by reviews generally are repeating previous cruises, ships or cruise lines like those posters who show their last 20 cruises on the same line. I have hard time imagining that someone shopping for something new or different doesn't read reviews. If you aren't reading reviews to learn, you probably need to expand your horizon.

Burt

In my 20 years of cruising, I've never watched the hairy chest contest because for me it just sounds boring, but my lovely wife Sally thinks they are fun.

I think the poster was really expressing a pet peeve, not rude behavior. But she does raise the point about bringing babies on board. Twenty years ago when cruising was more of an elegant getaway, bringing a baby would be strange. Back then elegance came at a cost, so families generally waited until the kids were at an age they could enjoy the experience. Todays cruising is more of a family vacation, so I can understand that reasoning.

I personally have two minds of babies cruising, on one hand I'm glad families are taking time to be together. On the other, I can't see how cruising is enjoyable for the baby or the family. But, if they are willing to try, so am I.

Burt

Depending on who you believe in the CC Celebrity forum threads, CC with either be

 

1. An exclusive luxury cruise liner with no shorts allowed, tuxedos required for dinner, butlers for every cabin and lounge chair police; or,

2. A hip trendy ocean liner with loud hip hop music, cut-offs, tank tops and flip flops for formal night, and a water slide into the MDR.

Yes, this appears to be the dilemma of all the lower end cruise lines. Up until 9/11, cruising was about elegance. But the industry took such a hard hit that it started restructuring by reducing staff and amenities. Not all at once, but little by little was saw the food quality change and the staffs get smaller and less skilled.

Some of the lines (Carnival) even lowered their prices to keep the ships full and it worked. But, with lower prices came a different demographic cruiser with different expectations. Elegance was no longer the theme or even a theme at all. Family entertainment was the new black and some of the cruise lines are changing to get those customers. The Love Boat has become Six Flags over a barge. With the water park tubs, climbing walls, and parachute rides, Carnival, Disney and Royal Caribbean are looking more like gerbil towns than cruise ships. Floating family theme parks is the cruising trend of today.

So I am also curious where Celebrity is going to fit into the modern American cruise vacation. Can loud music really pull in a younger crowd without driving away the older cruisers who sit in higher comfort and amenities? I wonder, will Americans forget even how to spell eligance and leave it to Europe and Asia to be the place of what was once an American dream.

You know what the Americans say, it’s my vacation and ………

Burt

If people get blasted, lectured, called names, belittled and told they are ruining the cruise for others when they ask if they can eat while not wearing formal attire (which is only suggested) having it happen when asking about breaking a clearly stated rule for which they screen at boarding is a given. :rolleyes:

 

Must not have lurked around here for long. :)

Rules are rules TC, you know that. It is a fundimental truth of human nature that those who stand tall judging risk the most of being cut down as hypocrites. ;)

Which leads to a lesson of learned behavior from my 35 years of marrage: "Be picky of the hills you're willing to die on". :D

And a lesson I've learn about forums is "if you have to post more than once in a thread to defend a principle, than it's personal and about you, not the principle".

I'm not one who goes to races to watch the crashes, but I humbly admit a weakness for enjoying these rum runner threads. So much information is passed along. :o

Burt

I didn't yell at them, I simply pointed to the sign and spoke in a calm manner. Their attitude was "Yes, there are signs, but I'm ENTITLED, so they don't pertain to ME"

It doesn't really matter, when someone is breaking the rules, any approach without the authority to enforce will be taken as confrontational.

Burt

There really is not a easy answer to your question because the reputation is well deserved. I think getting with a tour is the best way to enjoy the Ocho Rios stop, but the venders still have their little tricks. Your 15 year old is a possible target for drugs, so keep them close when not with the tour group. I don't think Ocho rios is dangerous so long as you stay with the crowd, it's just very uncomfortable. We don't even consider peir shopping, but then we quit considering any cruise itineraries with Ocho Rios.

Burt

I think all workers who serve the public should at least be at least pleasant. They can certainly set the mood of the situation as well as the whole ship. Greeting folks with a smile starts everything from the moment in a positive direction.

Burt

I think it is a fair question, but my first thought after reading the post was why are some folks so tied up with the smuggling subject? Is it the new dress code discussion? :confused:

While I do think th equestion by itself is fair, I question the real reason to start the subject because I have seen several smuggling threads started under some clever disguise for the real intention of just getting debate going again. The subject really pulls some peoples strings and honestly I don't understand it.

Burt

Wow Jimbo, you cruise Carnival a lot. You must really like them a lot.

Burt