Biggest Waste of Time on a Cruise Ship...

[Wilda]

This has been an enlightening "read." I agree that on a cruise, if it is an activity you enjoy, it is not a waste of time. However, there are lots of time wasters, and almost all of them seem to involve standing in line. :(

 

Agree. I am selective about what I stand in line for. I am getting better with not going to GS unless it is something I absolutely, positively need a resolution to :)

[apensa]

Cathy......GS???? Guest Services??

[Life is Good Cruising]

Cathy......GS???? Guest Services??

 

I believe that is what the poster meant, Guest Services.

[mapsmith]

In thirteen cruises, I have only been to Guest Services twice. Once on MSC to get my MSC Club Card Registered. Second time, looking for the Daily (NYT) Newspaper sheet that Carnival used to produce each morning.

[dorisis]

Waiting for everyone to show up for the obligatory safety muster. It is the worst when it is hot and we are on an outside deck standing in tight, crowded lines. It was even worse when we had to wear the life vests.

 

Now at least we often can sit comfortably inside and not wear life vests. Still, I wish folks could show up in a more timely manner and not keep so many people waiting.

 

I know the muster is a vital part of the cruise experience. But I wish some folks would take it more seriously and arrive on time, so we can all get on with the fun parts of the cruise.

 

I agree!

[Harry and Lucille]

Sleeping.

[BruceMuzz]

#1 ART AUCTIONS.. The cruise lines must get a HUGE cut.

#2 BINGO There they get another big cut.

 

I'm not saying cruise lines shouldn't make money but art & bingo on a ship do not work for me. Not even the free champagne.

 

Actually Art & Bingo DO work for you - for exactly the reasons you mentioned.

The cruise lines make so much profit on these two activities that we are not forced to raise prices in other areas in order to make a profit.

You save twice;

1. You don't waste your money on Art and Bingo

2. You are charged less money for the things YOU like.

[momofmeg]

Searching for a table for lunch in the windjammer on a sea day. MDR so much more relaxing

 

This is so true and on sea days I am not in a rush. On port days I do usually grab something at the windjammer or order room service. If it has been a LONGG port day and I took a LONGGG excursion; I may not even go to dinner in the dining room, but instead order room service or grab something at the windjammer.

 

Bottom line, it is our vacation so we should do what makes us happy. What works for one may not work for another.

[kelkel2]

I would have to say that I think the shopping talks are a waste of money. If I am really interested in learning my way around a new port I just grab the map and move on. Of course on my first cruise I had no idea. But seriously this is really just the cruise lines promoting the stores they get a kickback from and to me it's really annoying. I mean we all know what Diamonds International is by now and that there's one in every stinking port LOL!!!

[momofmeg]

Lol! Bruce, I am not interested in either of those myself;however I still spend plenty of money on ship. I just spend it where I want to spend it, in the specialty restaurants a ship sponsored excursion (yes I prefer those, got burnt a couple of times on excursions put together by people on roll call. At least with the ship's sponsored excursion I have place to register a complaint and it is not simply the money is gone and no where to address my complaint) I do not drink alcohol but I love specialty coffees and I usually buy in the gift ship at least a couple of trinkets, although never the overpriced jewelry which I don't wear anyway,since it is not my lifestyle. (I am not an extravagant person,so the few times I dress to the 9's; costume jewelry is fine for me) I also buy a couple of the formal photos as it saves us going to a professional photographer at home, which is just as pricey; but at least on ship no one bats an eye if I only want to buy only a few of photos for around $100 instead of being pressured to spend $500 and up the way professional photographers at home do.

 

I also usually tip above suggested tips, especially when I have an outstanding steward or server. However, if they do not do a good job, well the recommended tip is enough I feel. I have never reduced service charges, since I know the tips are shared and perhaps not everyone involved is a terrible worker. However, I have given bad reports though on those whom that deserved it. (In 22 cruises that has happened maybe 3 times?)

 

Bottom line I do have an on board account to pay every cruise; maybe not as much as a first time cruiser;but hubby and I spend enough to pay another person's fare every cruise it seems. I spend money on the things that I enjoy and never feel obligated to spend money on things I do not enjoy.

 

You know what? if some people like bingo or the art I do not mind. My thinking it is provided because many do like it. I am okay with that. As I said in my above post it is our cruise/vacation and so we should do what makes us happy and others can do what makes them happy. Outside of obnoxious drunk harassing me or a bratty tweenie running wild, (which has happened to me and has taken away some of my cruise enjoyment;) I do not care what other PAX do.

[momofmeg]

Funny you say that, because when I was on a cruise on the Celebrity Summit, it was announced that lobster (a whole lobster, not just the tail) would be available on the last night, but a lot of people at the second sitting were told that lobster wasn't available, because it had all been eaten by the people at the first sitting and the people with Celebrity Select dining who ate early, and the rest of the lobsters had been ordered by people at the second sitting who had their orders taken first.

 

On RCI Mariner of the SEAS (this was back in 2005) the amount you could order was limited to prevent that. the waiter did bring a couple more later after all orders were taken to be split among the table for those who wanted it. (8 top table)but basically they said there was a limit, no more than 2 per person.

 

All I could think was there were too many greedy people ordering more than 2; that caused them to run out on a previous cruise,which made them need to implement that rule. Maybe Celebrity needs to follow suit.

[greenline]

waiting for the damn elevators.

 

lol

[obnurse]

packing to go home :-(

[Lady Chew]

Biggest waste of time ... not much, on the ship, that is. We just avoid the things we don't want to do.

 

Off the ship, however, is another story. Ship excursions make you wait in the theater before you are called, then you have to wait while the bus is loaded, and wait at every stop to unload & reload ... takes forever each time and is extremely frustrating.

 

that is why we hardly ever take ship excursions any more!

[taglovestocruise]

On RCI Mariner of the SEAS (this was back in 2005) the amount you could order was limited to prevent that. the waiter did bring a couple more later after all orders were taken to be split among the table for those who wanted it. (8 top table)but basically they said there was a limit, no more than 2 per person.

 

All I could think was there were too many greedy people ordering more than 2; that caused them to run out on a previous cruise,which made them need to implement that rule. Maybe Celebrity needs to follow suit.

 

We were on Mariner in 2009 traveling with our 25 year old son and girlfriend, our son had 4 lobster tails for dinner and then the waiter brought him 2 more just before dessert and told him he could get more after midnight at the Promenade Café.. which he passed on.. We were at late seating..

[momofmeg]

We were on Mariner in 2009 traveling with our 25 year old son and girlfriend, our son had 4 lobster tails for dinner and then the waiter brought him 2 more just before dessert and told him he could get more after midnight at the Promenade Café.. which he passed on.. We were at late seating..

 

Well that was 4 years earlier. All I could think was either there were a bunch of greedy people the previous cruise or else they were not able to get enough supplies of lobster tails on port day. That is the only time I have ever seen a limit like that. BTW we had first seating.

[tlatrice]

It can't be a waste of time if it's what you CHOOSE to do; so where you eat or what you spend your money on - isn't a waste of time on vacation as determined by the person actually ON vacation. ;)

Those things we HAVE to do - (muster drill, wait to get off the ship) can feel like a waste of time, but like many other posters here I simply try to make them enjoyable parts of a wonderful vacation.

 

 

Right!

[cruzincurt]

"We were on Mariner in 2009 traveling with our 25 year old son and girlfriend, our son had 4 lobster tails for dinner and then the waiter brought him 2 more just before dessert and told him he could get more after midnight at the Promenade Café.. which he passed on.. We were at late seating.."

I don't think I'd brag about that.:rolleyes:

Edited August 26, 2014 by cruzincurt

[momofmeg]

"We were on Mariner in 2009 traveling with our 25 year old son and girlfriend, our son had 4 lobster tails for dinner and then the waiter brought him 2 more just before dessert and told him he could get more after midnight at the Promenade Café.. which he passed on.. We were at late seating.."

I don't think I'd brag about that.:rolleyes:

 

Maybe that is what had happened on the cuise before mine so the matr'd decided to make a limit to ensure everybody got at least one! a lot of teen boy on the cruise! Lol!L Seriously though, my gut feeling is they knew they were short, perhaps were not able to go their normal amount so they rationed it out so many each seating. And that is the way it should be done. If they do not have plenty, it would be unfair to let many have 4 or more and then some people at second seating get none.

 

That just seemed like bad planning on the part of the Celebrity matr'd if they ran out. All he would have to do is politely say is they were running short so the lobster could not be unlimited to ensure all that wanted it could have it.

[vacation luvver]

I had only one lobster. I don't know if a lot of people ordered more than one, and if they were served more than one. All I know is that I heard later on that a number of people who ate late ordered lobster and were told that there weren't any left.

 

I just thought of another time-waster. On a cruise I took more than 20 years ago on a cruiseline that isn't around today, the dinner menus were put on display hours before dinner time, and the waiters would pass around the menus, and we would read them and made our selections, and then the waiter would say that they were all out of that item. So we would chose something else, only to be told that they were all out of that item, too. So we would ask, "What DO you have?" and the waiter would say one or two items, and we would make our final choice.

 

At first, I thought that it was because we ate at the second sitting, and that was why they always ran out of what was on the menu, but I eventually found out that the cruiseline had changed the food items that were available, but they were too cheap to print up new menus, so the waiters were instructed to go through the charade of distributing the out of date menus to us and letting us read them over and decide on what we wanted to eat, and then they told us that they were all out of whatever it was that we wanted.

 

Until we caught on, I don't know how we could have avoided wasting our time reading the menu and deciding what we wanted to order.

[momofmeg]

I had only one lobster. I don't know if a lot of people ordered more than one, and if they were served more than one. All I know is that I heard later on that a number of people who ate late ordered lobster and were told that there weren't any left.

 

I just thought of another time-waster. On a cruise I took more than 20 years ago on a cruiseline that isn't around today, the dinner menus were put on display hours before dinner time, and the waiters would pass around the menus, and we would read them and made our selections, and then the waiter would say that they were all out of that item. So we would chose something else, only to be told that they were all out of that item, too. So we would ask, "What DO you have?" and the waiter would say one or two items, and we would make our final choice.

 

At first, I thought that it was because we ate at the second sitting, and that was why they always ran out of what was on the menu, but I eventually found out that the cruiseline had changed the food items that were available, but they were too cheap to print up new menus, so the waiters were instructed to go through the charade of distributing the out of date menus to us and letting us read them over and decide on what we wanted to eat, and then they told us that they were all out of whatever it was that we wanted.

 

Until we caught on, I don't know how we could have avoided wasting our time reading the menu and deciding what we wanted to order.

 

What a sham. The cruiseline must have thought PAX were idiots. I feel for the waiters, they probably got a lot of flack for something not their fault.

 

As far as lobster; I do not eat any type of meat so I have none. My daughter will eat one. My husband usually wants 2. That particular cruise the waiter voluntarily brought a lobster tail for them to split since a few were left after they were rationed out. So they actually ended up eating more than normally, lol!

Back to people ordering/eating more than 1; on cruise that we did not do traditional dining on HAL, we had a table mate one night who had 3 of everything and ate very slow. (wife apologized and said he had new dentures) That night because we wanted to go to the early show and did not want to feel rushed, we had gone to dinner when the dining room opened (5:30)-well we missed the show. The next night we requested a table for 2 in order not to waste our time lol!

[dancinman66]

I quite often won't go for lobster. Depends how good it is

Waiter let's

Me know but often there is a better choice

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

[whataboutport]

Well lobster on cruise ships are often warm water spiny lobsters. Those should be grilled instead of steamed or boiled like Maine lobster. Usually they are steamed or boiled and are tough and dry unfortunately. If you are able to have fresh spiny lobster grilled, they are delicious.

[travelgoddess1]

I had only one lobster. I don't know if a lot of people ordered more than one, and if they were served more than one. All I know is that I heard later on that a number of people who ate late ordered lobster and were told that there weren't any left.

 

I just thought of another time-waster. On a cruise I took more than 20 years ago on a cruiseline that isn't around today, the dinner menus were put on display hours before dinner time, and the waiters would pass around the menus, and we would read them and made our selections, and then the waiter would say that they were all out of that item. So we would chose something else, only to be told that they were all out of that item, too. So we would ask, "What DO you have?" and the waiter would say one or two items, and we would make our final choice.

 

At first, I thought that it was because we ate at the second sitting, and that was why they always ran out of what was on the menu, but I eventually found out that the cruiseline had changed the food items that were available, but they were too cheap to print up new menus, so the waiters were instructed to go through the charade of distributing the out of date menus to us and letting us read them over and decide on what we wanted to eat, and then they told us that they were all out of whatever it was that we wanted.

 

Until we caught on, I don't know how we could have avoided wasting our time reading the menu and deciding what we wanted to order.

 

I think I know why that cruise line isn't around today. :rolleyes: :)

Edited August 27, 2014 by travelgoddess1

[BruceMuzz]

One of my favorite pastimes is watching those corpulent types on a ship waiting for a lift to take them DOWN ONE DECK, all the while complaining that the lifts are so slow.