Maybe I Spoke Too Soon!

[island lady]

9 hours ago, Aquahound said:

 

Majesty holds a special place in my heart.  I loved every cruise on that ship and I would happily sail her again if she was still around.  

 

And we adored her twin sister, Monarch...for many years.  Best crew on the high seas, always remembered our names and the things we liked.  

 

Best upper tier party pulling into Nassau late in the morning.  The ones they host now on the large ships...are totally lame.  

[matj2000]

12 hours ago, Ret MP said:

  I've done my homework!  But, it has a lot of other factors.  The stabilization system.  The size of venues vs ships capacity and the utilization of the venue(s). 

 

 

 

[island lady]

8 hours ago, Ret MP said:

I'm sailing on the USS Enterprise with Cpt Kirk.  I hear their service and food is out of this world.  Can't say much about their Ports of Call yet.

 

LOL...we flew AA down from Maine last month.  The captain came on the speaker and introduced himself as Captain Kirk.  We all got real quiet and then cracked up...and apparently it was his real name!  😄 

[papaflamingo]

8 minutes ago, island lady said:

 

LOL...we flew AA down from Maine last month.  The captain came on the speaker and introduced himself as Captain Kirk.  We all got real quiet and then cracked up...and apparently it was his real name!  😄 

I am a retired Delta pilot.  In 1988 I was a Delta Flight Engineer based in Los Angeles.  When I was young I looked a lot like Charles Grodin.  Anyway, it turned out that on one 4 day rotation,  I looked like Charles Grodin, the First Officer was a Jack Nicholson "twin," and the Captain's real name was James T. Kirk, AND we were flying in and out of LAX.  The Flight Attendants had a lot of fun with that.

  🤣

Edited October 3, 2022 by papaflamingo

[island lady]

19 minutes ago, papaflamingo said:

I am a retired Delta pilot.  In 1988 I was a Delta Flight Engineer based in Los Angeles.  When I was young I looked a lot like Charles Grodin.  Anyway, it turned out that on one 4 day rotation,  I looked like Charles Grodin, the First Officer was a Jack Nicholson "twin," and the Captain's real name was James T. Kirk, AND we were flying in and out of LAX.  The Flight Attendants had a lot of fun with that.

  🤣

 

OMG...that's hilarious!!   😄  We had a great time on a river barge canal cruise once in France.  Most of the boat consisted of a travel group of retired Delta pilots and their wives.  What a fun and great bunch of people! 

[loman]

51 minutes ago, toad455 said:

 

The Ecstacy's final cruise is next week and then it's heading to the scrap yard. Apparently Carnival didn't do much to the ship when it returned to service post-COVID and only kept it around to fullfil it's Mobile itineraries for 2022.

Its an embarrassment to the company to float that scrap heap . No wonder their stock price is tanking with management thinking its ok to keep that mess in the fleet this long. Should of gone to the scrap yard pre - covid .

[PolicromaSol]

There's nothing wrong with smaller ships. You will find plenty of activities regardless. (Assuming you don't get tempted to nap the cruise away.) I find that smaller ships seem to make up what they lack in fancy features with more sit-down activities and the like. 

[Toddcan]

LOVE the Freedom class!!   I'm the opposite - I've never sailed anything larger than the Indy, Freedom, and Liberty.  I've been on all 3 of those beauties.  In March, we're trying out the Anthem. 

[DrivesLikeMario]

We love the smaller Radiance Class ships and prefer to only book them.  They can get into smaller ports, have a much smaller passenger population that tends to be more well-travelled and interesting in our experience.  The big ships are great for young families, but we've been there/done that.

[Ret MP]

I usually make my wife and I custom T-Shirts with iron-ons for embarkation day.  Just a little fun for us to do and a laugh or two.

We purchased orange colored plain Ts and I made mine first because I usually put a ton of stuff on mine.  Man, I was so proud of the T that I made, had some great stuff on it.  Tried it on and it fit perfectly and the iron-ons were perfectly placed.  I couldn't have been any more happy with myself and the T. 

My wife, THE PARTY POOPER, told me to take the T off and look real hard at the back of it.  Okay, I'm thinking that there is a space or two where I could add some more iron-ons.  So, I go back into my office, take the T off and look and look and look.  Nope it all looks perfectly proportional 🥸, too me.  So I yell out, "MARIAN WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT"?  She replies, "Look at the name of the ship on the iron-on".  

Well, it's got "Ovation of the Seas" not "Independence of the Seas".  About 7 or 8 Iron-ons wasted and a $6.95 T-shirt (from Michael's) wasted.  

 

IT'S ALL HER FAULT, I tell ya!  I would never make that kind of mistake.  Not me!  🙄🤪😜

 

What the hell was I thinking!!!!!!!

[island lady]

2 minutes ago, Ret MP said:

I usually make my wife and I custom T-Shirts with iron-ons for embarkation day.  Just a little fun for us to do and a laugh or two.

We purchased orange colored plain Ts and I made mine first because I usually put a ton of stuff on mine.  Man, I was so proud of the T that I made, had some great stuff on it.  Tried it on and it fit perfectly and the iron-ons were perfectly placed.  I couldn't have been any more happy with myself and the T. 

My wife, THE PARTY POOPER, told me to take the T off and look real hard at the back of it.  Okay, I'm thinking that there is a space or two where I could add some more iron-ons.  So, I go back into my office, take the T off and look and look and look.  Nope it all looks perfectly proportional 🥸, too me.  So I yell out, "MARIAN WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT"?  She replies, "Look at the name of the ship on the iron-on".  

Well, it's got "Ovation of the Seas" not "Independence of the Seas".  About 7 or 8 Iron-ons wasted and a $6.95 T-shirt (from Michael's) wasted.  

 

IT'S ALL HER FAULT, I tell ya!  I would never make that kind of mistake.  Not me!  🙄🤪😜

 

What the hell was I thinking!!!!!!!

 

As long as you made it on to the right ship...that was the most important.  😄 

[Ret MP]

5 hours ago, matj2000 said:

 

 

 

[five.]

All the Carnival hate in this thread, but we just had our first RC cruise a few weeks ago and I've had 7 Carnival ones. After watching all the YT videos, I expected for RC to blow Carnival out of the water. Both the ships, food, clientele. I was a bit letdown on food and clientele. Really enjoyed the shows and ship in general though.

 

I even commented to my wife late on the cruise, "things I never saw on Carnival, that I've seen this week:"

1) used tampon in the middle of the walkway

2) multiple bathrooms that people had peed all over the place (in one, the urine was an inch deep)

3) woman in front of us puked

4) a grown man had poop running down his leg, coming from the pool area

 

I know all those things have probably happened on the big C, but I've never witnessed anything like that. The paid food on RC is amazing, but the good stuff is hidden behind a paywall. The free food in MDR, wind jammer, and various small places were only ok. We will be back on RC, but not Oasis class.

[Ret MP]

19 minutes ago, five. said:

All the Carnival hate in this thread, but we just had our first RC cruise a few weeks ago and I've had 7 Carnival ones. After watching all the YT videos, I expected for RC to blow Carnival out of the water. Both the ships, food, clientele. I was a bit letdown on food and clientele. Really enjoyed the shows and ship in general though.

 

I even commented to my wife late on the cruise, "things I never saw on Carnival, that I've seen this week:"

1) used tampon in the middle of the walkway

2) multiple bathrooms that people had peed all over the place (in one, the urine was an inch deep)

3) woman in front of us puked

4) a grown man had poop running down his leg, coming from the pool area

 

I know all those things have probably happened on the big C, but I've never witnessed anything like that. The paid food on RC is amazing, but the good stuff is hidden behind a paywall. The free food in MDR, wind jammer, and various small places were only ok. We will be back on RC, but not Oasis class.

Believe me, I'm no apologists for Royal, however, I will defend my decisions as to why I like this, that, or the other thing and I respect those that don't like the same things I do, that's their business.  But, I do want to point out that judging one class of ship because of food and/or service, Royal or not, isn't logical.  For example:  If someone says that the food on the Harmony was terrible on their cruise and they will never cruise on her again is kidding themselves and/or others.  The kitchen staff you had on the Harmony, within a short period of time, will be gone and moved on to other ships in the fleet or in-between contracts and at home.  The chef that prepared that Lobster Bisque that you hated last night will be preparing it on the Quantum next week or next month and the chef that will be preparing the Lobster Bisque, next week on Harmony may be the best Lobster Bisque chef in the world, or not.  I hope that makes sense.  

 

And like you said, your examples/issues can happen on any cruise line.  I had a cabin on a Carnival ship (Sunshine), on the Spa deck (one of the brand new decks that was added to the ship which was the Destiny before it was the Sunshine), the toilet in the cabin had a very loud running water sound coming from behind it, I mean it was loud.  We called within a few minutes of getting into the cabin for the first time.  That sound ran for the entire cruise and no one responded, at least not while we were in the cabin.  Oh, the bathroom smelled like piss the entire time we were there.  

[five.]

14 hours ago, Ret MP said:

But, I do want to point out that judging one class of ship because of food and/or service, Royal or not, isn't logical.

Fair point and well laid out argument. Our wanting to try non Oasis class ships has more to do with wanting to try some of the smaller ships with less people and find some layouts that are more suited to quiet relaxation.

 

I hated that Solarium did not have the multi level pool and our favorite spot to lounge ended up being on the secluded areas of deck 5. We were cruising during Fiona and the weather that week made the Solarium very hot. At one point I was like "never another oasis class" thinking that it was all the glass keeping the heat in with no breeze. But luckily an old-timer was complaining and said that it had more to do with Fiona than the class of ship. She said other cruise ships in the area were having the same issue.  The last day or two were more normal feeling with some breeze. I had never really experienced a cruise with no air flow like that, it was a bit unsettling to be full underway and be dead calm.

 

I will say one of the reasons we did choose Harmony was Sabor because we love Mexican food. It was so good. All of the specialty places we tried were excellent.

[papaflamingo]

15 hours ago, five. said:

... I expected for RC to blow Carnival out of the water. Both the ships, food, clientele. I was a bit letdown on food and clientele....

You pretty much stated it all here.  It's EXPECTATIONS that can often determine the enjoyment of a cruise.  I've done over 37 cruises on various lines.  Our first was on Royal Caribbean and that set the bar for me. We did 4 Carnival and enjoyed them all, but still are/will be fans of Royal Caribbean.  I think mostly because I am familiar with Royal Caribbean and have come to expect certain "things" on board.  As for Carnival, I thought the food was superior to Royal, especially the Pizza.  I haven't sailed Carnival since 2007, but IMHO they had the best pizza at sea, bar none.  

But I still prefer the decor, entertainment, ,etc. on Royal.  

Bottom line is managing realistic expectations.  That's what these boards are so useful for.  By reading a variety of comments regarding a specific ship or cruise line allows you to get a pretty good feel for both the good and the bad.  

Regardless, I feel the worst day cruising is better than the best day on shore. Happy cruising! 😎

[five.]

Yep, all cruise ships / lines have their positives and negatives and any day at sea is better than being at work...