Deal Breaker

[dltvermont]

We did an interior once, the cost was nice but my wife hated it, so back to balcony we go. I dont think it would be a deal breaker for us though.

 

That being said, if after our '23 and '24 cruises masks and testing etc are still in place, that will be our deal breaker. I dont mind people that "want" to do such things but mandatory just puts a dent in it for us. We havent even cruise post pandemic yet and the "test stress" is already there. If things arent back to normal, we will move on to AI's.

[CruiserLucas]

No deal breakers for me that I can think of. Not even interior or balcony issue. I've had 2 interior cabins and 3 balcony cabins. The balcony was nice, but I realized it wasn't a necessity to me. And maybe I'm weird, but I love the absolute pitch black room for sleeping that you get with an interior. Our next cruise we booked is a guarantee interior, which really doesn't bother me. I can sleep through most anything if we get a "crummy location" lol

[KmomChicago]

The only absolute deal breakers I can think of are the ones mentioned earlier, air conditioning and functioning plumbing in the rooms. If it was cheap enough I think we could put up with cold cereal for breakfast, grilled cheese for lunch, hot dogs for supper. And maybe more cereal for late night snack.

 

I am done with the pre-cruise Covid tests though. . . she says after having gone through it 3 times. I won't cruise again until that's dropped because it adds another layer of stress, uncertainty and expense at basically the last minute before we need to leave home to travel to the debark port. So there you go, deal breaker.

 

Thank you very much to all of you with the must-have balconies - you are a reason why we can sometimes get our insides and oceanviews so cheap. If this sounds sarcastic, I don't mean it that way.  I understand the desire, and I appreciate it and anyone can see new cruise ships have balconies everywhere for a reason.  However, they have not managed to eliminate insides and they need bodies in them.

 

I agree this also points to the final, inevitable pending death knell to what is left of Fantasy class. I would think it's also a problem for the Margaritaville cruises / f/k/a Bahamas Paradise as they are trying to benefit from their rebranded refresh using a ship with just a few balcony suites. 

[cruisingguy007]

13 minutes ago, KmomChicago said:

I am done with the pre-cruise Covid tests though. . . she says after having gone through it 3 times. I won't cruise again until that's dropped because it adds another layer of stress, uncertainty and expense at basically the last minute before we need to leave home to travel to the debark port. So there you go, deal breaker.

 

Gotta agree with this. We have two more on the books but are hesitant to book anymore until this is done away with. It's nerve racking and really sucks they joy and anticipation out of pre-cruise jolliness. I was stressed up to the point that everyone cleared their test. Usually, we are pumping ourselves up pre-cruise but it's hard to feel spirited when it could all be dashed at the last min. Hope it's gone by the end of the year. 

[jetsfan58]

4 hours ago, jsglow said:

I find the 'balcony' answer interesting.  No wonder the older Fantasy class ships have to go away.  Sunshine class and Spirit class completely changed that dynamic for what appears to be a very large cruising segment.  My guess is they'll be around for many years.

 

We're in the minority, I suppose.  The price differential between an OV and a Balc needs to be very skinny for us to upgrade.  Sure I like a Balc.  But not enough usually to pay for it. Sometime we should try an Inside again but the extra space of the OV seemingly makes a big difference to us. Sail on.

We solved the issue many years ago; we are inside only and love the money savings!

[Drazil65]

Thank you very much to all of you with the must-have balconies - you are a reason why we can sometimes get our insides and oceanviews so cheap

 

LOL.. Our pleasure, glad we can help (and you're welcome)!  

[Eli_6]

I am with @KmomChicago on the testing.  We are flying to the UK tomorrow and I am sweating bullets about one of my kids turning up positive right before we get on the cruise ship.  Not to mention the fact testing in a foreign country is a pain in the behind.  So many people are coming down positive with this new BA5 variant and over the next few days we will be in two of the busiest airports in the world between Heathrow and IAH. Thank goodness that at least my husband and I don't have to test since we have had covid within 90 days.

Edited July 13, 2022 by Eli_6

[1kaper]

3 minutes ago, Eli_6 said:

I am with @KmomChicago on the testing.  We are flying to the UK tomorrow and I am sweating bullets about one of my kids turning up positive right before we get on the cruise ship.  Not to mention the fact testing in a foreign country is a pain in the behind.  So many people are coming down positive with this new BA5 variant and over the next few days we will be in two of the busiest airports in the world between Heathrow and IAH.  

Welcome to being Canadian 😜

I didn't stress much about it for our first cruise this year.  But I booked a second with a friend and was self testing every day leading to the cruise.  It was very stressful. 
We also bought insurance both times to cover us if we had to quarantine in the US.

Literally the day after I booked with my friend my son came down with a bad cold.  He tested negative for covid but I found out later I was testing him wrong.  I never did end up with it though.  My husband did while I was away. 

Edited July 13, 2022 by 1kaper

[jetsfan58]

20 minutes ago, Drazil65 said:

Thank you very much to all of you with the must-have balconies - you are a reason why we can sometimes get our insides and oceanviews so cheap

 

LOL.. Our pleasure, glad we can help (and you're welcome)!  

Don't forget to mention that the money savings also adds up to many more inside Carnival cruises! 

[Sea Hag]

Deal breakers for me: no working plumbing and no water in the ocean. Everything else, I can work around.

[LoungingMcCoy]

Definitely COVID testing.

 

I would probably still cruise with the COVID testing, even though it sounds like a hassle, but DW is a solid "no".

 

We scheduled potential cruise time vacations in January hoping the testing will be done by then.

[Joebucks]

On 7/12/2022 at 1:05 PM, no1racefan1 said:

Too many sea days. I wouldn't book something in advance with a lot of sea days, and I'd be super disappointed if multiple ports got cancelled. Granted,  it would probably be something out of their control....but I'd still be rather disappointed.

 

I came in ready to say no deal breakers, but I have to agree with this one. First sea day = great energy. Second = still fun. Third = not the same. God forbid the weather isn't amazing on a sea day either. Completely ruins the entire day.

[MsTabbyKats]

Another benefit of living a few minutes to the pier by cab.....pre-cruise testing is a non-issue for us.  I don't even think of packing until the test is done...and we wait for the test results on the spot.  

 

@KmomChicagoI always thanked the people in the NCL Haven for subsidizing my "relatively cheap" cruise.

[jemrtt]

On 7/12/2022 at 11:35 AM, shipgeeks said:

I suppose the only deal breaker for me would be finding out we were booked on a 99% charter by a group we are not in synch with -- maybe music I can't stand, or nude cruise.

 

Wholeheartedly agree! This would be a dealbreaker for us. 
Speaking of…how does one do a search to find out if the cruise they are looking to book has been chartered by a large group?

 

Sorry to go off topic! ☺️

[Eli_6]

2 minutes ago, jemrtt said:

Wholeheartedly agree! This would be a dealbreaker for us. 
Speaking of…how does one do a search to find out if the cruise they are looking to book has been chartered by a large group?

 

Sorry to go off topic! ☺️

I don't think they are on the main site for booking.  

 

And I agree...I would not want to accidentally book a nudist cruise. 

[cruisingguy007]

3 hours ago, Eli_6 said:

I don't think they are on the main site for booking.  

 

And I agree...I would not want to accidentally book a nudist cruise. 

 

Hey now, Virgin voyages has made a business out of freaky-deaky perv cruises. There must be a market for it. Who doesn't want to see a bunch of middle aged folks trying to relive their glory days? 😆

[DrSea]

13 hours ago, CruiserLucas said:

No deal breakers for me that I can think of. Not even interior or balcony issue. I've had 2 interior cabins and 3 balcony cabins. The balcony was nice, but I realized it wasn't a necessity to me. And maybe I'm weird, but I love the absolute pitch black room for sleeping that you get with an interior. Our next cruise we booked is a guarantee interior, which really doesn't bother me. I can sleep through most anything if we get a "crummy location" lol

I love the absolute pitch black dark. I have stayed in suites and but preferred is actually insides. The pitch black room makes it so easy for me to sleep until noon or to grab an afternoon nap. I get strong armed into booking rooms other than insides due to my guests. But insides are my favorite.

[DrSea]

My deal breaker is having staff that doesn't speak English on the entire ship. As a stupid American, I can only speak English. IDK if there is a single cruise line out there that has an entire ship that doesn't speak English. Please enlighten me if there is such a cruise line. But I sometimes sail with some people in their 60s. If there was a medical emergency and I couldn't communicate to the ship doctor, then that would frustrate me immensely. Part of the reason why I cruise is that I know that there will be a ship doctor who can speak English. It's why I don't like going on land vacations by myself. Being stuck in a different country where no one speaks English during a medical emergency sounds terrible to me. This plan isn't full proof as I may have a medical emergency while in the port. But that is <8 hours and I reason that it is less likely to happen.

[sparks1093]

15 hours ago, jetsfan58 said:

Don't forget to mention that the money savings also adds up to many more inside Carnival cruises! 

As far as saving money goes for an inside it's valid for some, but we only cruise once per year at best. If we were cruising several times per year then the savings from a few cruises might help fund another cruise, but we aren't there, yet. (And it could also be a valid consideration if the savings helped pay for something else on the cruise, such as Cheers, that otherwise would be out of reach.)

[dltvermont]

20 hours ago, cruisingguy007 said:

 

Gotta agree with this. We have two more on the books but are hesitant to book anymore until this is done away with. It's nerve racking and really sucks they joy and anticipation out of pre-cruise jolliness. I was stressed up to the point that everyone cleared their test. Usually, we are pumping ourselves up pre-cruise but it's hard to feel spirited when it could all be dashed at the last min. Hope it's gone by the end of the year. 

 

Exactly our thoughts (along with Kmom's)

[EngIceDave]

8 hours ago, DrSea said:

My deal breaker is having staff that doesn't speak English on the entire ship. As a stupid American, I can only speak English. IDK if there is a single cruise line out there that has an entire ship that doesn't speak English. Please enlighten me if there is such a cruise line. But I sometimes sail with some people in their 60s. If there was a medical emergency and I couldn't communicate to the ship doctor, then that would frustrate me immensely. Part of the reason why I cruise is that I know that there will be a ship doctor who can speak English. It's why I don't like going on land vacations by myself. Being stuck in a different country where no one speaks English during a medical emergency sounds terrible to me. This plan isn't full proof as I may have a medical emergency while in the port. But that is <8 hours and I reason that it is less likely to happen.

Isn't AIDA German and a German speaking cruise line

[DrSea]

4 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

As far as saving money goes for an inside it's valid for some, but we only cruise once per year at best. If we were cruising several times per year then the savings from a few cruises might help fund another cruise, but we aren't there, yet. (And it could also be a valid consideration if the savings helped pay for something else on the cruise, such as Cheers, that otherwise would be out of reach.)

That's fair. For me, I will wake up at the crack of dawn when I get an OV or higher. They aren't blackout curtains and the light bothers me. So I do strongly prefer insides. I get really cranky when I can't sleep. 

 

There are a few exceptions, but there are other considerations too when getting rooms with windows (how hot is it outside, which affects the room temperature when the AC is not as strong as it should be). 

[DrSea]

Just now, EngIceDave said:

Isn't AIDA German and a German speaking cruise line

I will never cruise with them then, haha. I need English speakers. 

[bguppies]

I've stayed in everything from the Garden Villa suite on NCL (look it up, it makes Carnival's best cabin look like a broom closet. Don't get me wrong, it was awesome)

My niece and nephew slept in the 3rd bedroom's closet, the room was so big.

Down to an inside cabin on the Fantasy class.

 

Balconies and suites are not a deal breaker for me.

 

I have rarely ever gotten my moneys worth from a balcony cabin.

I spend too little time in the cabin awake.

Prefer the darkness of an inside cabin and much cheaper price versus additional space in a suite versus how much more it costs.

 

Location would be one. (over/under the theater or galley or under the pool deck or buffett etc.)

 

Price is the primary deal breaker for me.

 

Itineraries and length don't matter much .

Any day on a cruise that I don't have to cook and clean up is good to me.

If I lived near a Florida port I would be happy taking 3 day weekend cruises all the time.

I'm happy with my upcoming 4 day cruise from home. (Charleston)

[sparks1093]

18 minutes ago, DrSea said:

That's fair. For me, I will wake up at the crack of dawn when I get an OV or higher. They aren't blackout curtains and the light bothers me. So I do strongly prefer insides. I get really cranky when I can't sleep. 

 

There are a few exceptions, but there are other considerations too when getting rooms with windows (how hot is it outside, which affects the room temperature when the AC is not as strong as it should be). 

I'm the same way but DW has got to have her balcony. She gets to deal with a grumpy me if I don't get enough sleep so she can only blame herself.