RobinKY

On 10/28/2023 at 7:47 AM, Mary229 said:

I think before making any of these decisions you need to go on a long cruise or two.  This is akin to the advice I would give to someone who wants to move across country in retirement - rent first, in the case of cruising in retirement - try it first.  
 

We had a similar idea and are now plowing through a bucket list of cruises, we prefer to sail 30 to 45 days at a time. We found 1. Long term social life on cruises can become a bit stale 2. Just how many times do you want to visit the same ports over and over. 3. It may become difficult to maintain your exercise/health regimen.  As I did when I moved in my youth we chose the best area for our economic advancement close to 2 airports.  We find we now have a nice financial nest, can maintain that nest by our low cost of living and with two airports we can travel anywhere at a moment’s notice.  

That is good advice, thanks.  My plan is to look at apartments near Ft. Lauderdale in the next 2-4 years and look at 14-21 day cruises to take while working onboard a few hours each day.  Treat it like "luxury living".  Do 1 to 3 cruises each year until I retire.  I prefer a slow, quiet pace and maybe the longer cruises (14+ days) allow for that.  I have been blessed with a rewarding career, live frugally and I don't have any other expensive hobbies.  

My first retirement cruise I am thinking about the 110-day HAL pole to pole cruise but I maybe I need to ease into that with a 30-something day cruise.

I also need to look at the benefits of establishing a Florida residence for tax purposes and cruising discounts.

I am 52 and plan on retiring in 2031.  I am single and make a good living.  My kids are almost out of college and I have grown accustomed to being alone.  I really enjoy cruising but obviously family and work obligations limit how many cruises I can go on.  My work schedule is becoming more flexible, especially since technology has allowed more remote working. In 3-4 years I am seriously thinking about taking several long duration cruises a year, maybe rent an apartment near a port for time on land as well as keep my home in Indiana (at least until my kids get settled).  I am looking for advice on the questions below.

• How often do cruise lines give breaks to solo cruisers on traditional staterooms, including balconies?
• Any tips for cruise lines that offer solo cruisers staterooms?
• How feasible/expensive is connecting to the internet for several hours a day to get work done?
• How good are last minute deals?
• Which cruise lines have the best loyalty programs?
• Which cruise lines have self-service laundry?
• What advice to meet other solo cruiser to hang out on occasion or eat together? Any particular cruise line better for solo cruisers?
• What is the protocol if I have a family emergency during a long duration cruise?

22 minutes ago, Ourusualbeach said:

FYI, Royal has changed the apply by dates.  All apply by dates and sail by dates are now Dec 31, 2022 or later.

 

Not sure what you were talking about with getting some as credit to be used for shore excursions alcohiol etc.  FCC's cannot be converted into OBC and can only be applied against cruise fare.  

 

The good news is that Royal has made many changes over the past 3 month to all of their FCC;s and a lot of the previous difficulties have been corrected.  I would call back in 7 days and inquire about the reissue of FCC so that you can apply it to your kids reservation.  Recently I have had them create residual value FCC's (which is what yours is) on the spot and be able to apply it right away.

Thanks that is good to know.  I thought I was under the gun to book by end of April 30.

I had $2,400 FCC from cancelled cruise last summer.  I have to book by April 30.  I just booked a cruise with me in one cabin and my w kids in another cabin.  Since my kids were under 21, that was story in itself.  I had to call to book them in their own cabin.  I finally got it booked over the phone and when I told them about the FCC the rep said I could apply it to my booking with some credit applied to my booking (I guess I could use it for excursion, alcohol, etc) or split it 50-50 and apply to my kids booking.  I just said split it 50-50.  The rep processed my FCC and said the other half will be on a new voucher and I need to call to redeem that when I receive the new voucher.

Has anyone experienced something similar?  I sure hope they don't send me a new voucher next week and then say it expired on the original April 30 expiry date.  

Me (48) and SO (46) are looking at Mediterranean cruise either next summer (July-August) or fall (Sept to early Nov).  We have only done Caribbean cruises in the past.  We are just beginning our research and it's overwhelming.  We will not be bringing our kids.  She wants to try MSC or Costa to get the European experience.  Any tips you have?  Mainly about:

• Summer or fall?  Fall seems to be cheaper.
• Pre-cruise trip stay (Most likely Rome)
• Ships to avoid
• Best ports and tips on exploring or excursions
• Safety tips while in port
• Currency
• Drink packages (MSC offers one but it's only on drinks up to $6 - maybe drinks are cheaper on Med cruises)
• Dining - we are use to American food.
• Items to pack
• Communication back home.  We both have teen kids
• Other

Next summer I will be going on a sabbatical for 2 months.  I will have a couple trips planned with kids and one just with SO, which will probably be a Med Cruise.  I will have 4-5 weeks to fill up, although financially I cannot vacation during those entire 4-5 weeks.  Any ideas for cruises or other trips that would just be me?  I prefer not to be off the grid too long (more than a day or two at a time).  I assume I'd be paying for two even tho cruising alone. 

Has anyone done a train vacation?  I was looking at a Chicago --> Seattle --> San Fran --> Chicago train trip.  How do they compare to cruises - food, sightseeing, interaction with others?  I know nothing about train vacations.

14 hours ago, smithop said:

 

Are you talking about the one on the port side, aft?  We just got plates of food in the buffet and took a table in the sports bar then ordered drinks.  The garden buffet was near the forward door and the rear door was next to the great outdoors buffet.

 

They did have some nice hot wings, but as you say, a limited menu.

Yes that is the "sports bar".  It seemed most people used the "sports bar" for extra seating for the garden buffet.  I went there once to watch college football around 3 PM and there was no food or drink service.  I did walk thru it on Sunday and was packed with people watching NFL but I believe their food was from the buffet.

14 hours ago, lazydaz said:

You mentioned teens, I'm taking my two teens (ages 15, 18) to Alaska on the Sun next summer.  Is there enough activity to keep them involved.I've been on the Sun before and loved it.

I wouldn't say a lot to do for teens but others may feel differently.  Me and girlfriend each have 15 years olds (boy and girl) and they hung out and roamed the ship together.  They met another group of teens and hung out at night.  We let them stay out until the ship's 1 AM curfew.  There is a teen club I believe but our kids didn't use it.  They said you have to pay for it.

Our 17 and 18 year old daughters are a bit more quiet and like their alone time.  They hung out by pool.  They both enjoyed some battle of the sexes type game in the lounge in the evening. They both enjoyed the food, buffet and ice cream A LOT.

If your teens go through a lot of clothes like mine, plan ahead.  I made wrong assumption about laundry and they ran out of clean clothes.  I wasn't going to pay a couple hundred bucks for laundry service.

5 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Just an FYI - neither NCL nor Royal Caribbean have self assist laundry on any ship. I know Carnival and Disney has it. I know my parents have mentioned Princess and HAL have it, but not sure if it's every ship or not. Just in case it's important for you on future cruises!

Thanks for info - I have done laundry on Carnival before and just assumed all ships have self assist laundry.

One other comment - NCL Sun does not have self assist laundry.  We had 4 teens and A LOT of dirty clothes.  We assumed they would have laundry facility but you had to pay for NCL to do your laundry.

4 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

The food there sucks anyways so you weren't missing much. Ironically people complain about other NCL ships only having soccer and having no NFL games! 

Yeah my son went there another time and it was very limited menu.  I think he had chicken tenders.  Not sure why they call it a "sports bar" when they only show one channel of sports on all the TVs and they are showing sports (Turkish League basketball lol) most Americans don't watch.  Every sports bar I have been too has 5+ different sports/games going on. 

Sports Bar

One thing I forgot to include initially was the Sports Bar.  I am a college football fan and the Friday after thanksgiving is a big day for college football.  Me and my son went to the sports bar late afternoon. They were not serving food.  They only have one sports channel available which is played on all 10 TVs in the sports bar.  They had it set to the Turkish basketball league games.  The next day, even bigger college football day, they had European soccer on.  Very disappointed in that.  I asked someone and they said they only show NFL football games. 

16 hours ago, Pauser said:

Thanks. We've had the same experience on the Jade, Jewel & Dawn. Unless you ask or you know beforehand, you won't be told.

I wish I knew that.  I would have enjoyed a sit down lunch with better food than the hamburgers and hot dogs they had at outdoor buffet.

I just bid $160/person X 2 people to get balcony.  The bidding meter said "good" or "fair" IIRC.  I did not get it.

12 minutes ago, smplybcause said:

 

Most people that drink opt for the free at sea beverage package. Which is the cause of why the package is so high outright (they charge you 20% gratuities when you pick it free). The per drink costs are a little inflated too, but they're only a buck or two more than Royal for what I order. 

 

 

The buffet on the Sun is just odd layout. Much prefer the design of the buffet on the -Away class ships. They'll get busy but it's mostly a straight line of individual stations you can hop in/out of line on. Haven't been on the others to compare. 

I don't recall having the option to get the free at sea package when I booked.  Is that on all NCL cruises?

15 minutes ago, Pauser said:

Thanks for posting this. Was one of the dining rooms open for lunch on embarkation day?

 

Glad you enjoyed your cruise!

I don't believe so.  They seemed to direct everyone boarding to deck 11 for lunch at the buffet.  Then they directed my party to the outdoor buffet which was pitiful - hamburgers and hot dogs and miscellaneous items.  The indoor had 2X more options including carved roast beef. 

I did have lunch at the MDR once and it was really good.  Again much better than the buffet.  It just takes a lot more time than the buffet.

Went on 5 day over Thanksgiving.  Here's my mini review

Pros

• Food in the MDRs was really good.  I am a fairly picky eater and found lots of options to choose from.  I wasn't disappointed in any meal I ordered. IMO much better than Carnival food.  I usually try to avoid the buffets because of the madness of all the people and the quality of food is not nearly as good as the MDR.  I did find some Asian items on the buffet that were good.
• Service was good and very friendly.
• I thought the ship was clean and even though an older and smaller ship, it is a nice ship.
• Check-in and disembarkation was really smooth.  Probably smoothest of any cruise to date.
• Shows/entertainment were good.

Cons

• This is very picky and typical of most cruises but service routine in the MDR is very regimented - water, bar order, bread, order entrees, eat, dessert.  Same with breakfast.  I found it difficult to get more bread at dinner or more coffee at breakfast.  Overall the MDR service is really good.
• Alcohol is very expensive.  The unlimited package was like $95/day (not sure if tips are included in that) so I didn't get it.  I ordered a classic margarita (8 ounces maybe) and it was $15.  I opted for the self-assist rum runner package instead which lasted most of the cruise.
• Pool and outside bars seemed understaffed during peak times.  I had soda package and it was a pain a couple times just to get a soda.
• The live music at the pool is very loud.
• The buffet is crazy busy and food is a bit blah.  Not sure why so many people opt for the buffet over the MDR.  TIP - when boarding don't be steered to the buffet at the back of the ship.  There are more options at the indoor portion of the buffet.

It was a hold.  My actual statement balance ($95 lol) was posted today.

3 minutes ago, dexddd said:

Our holds have been early on for roughly $300 for four of us then cleared by time off ship.

 

What did final statement say?

My account statement was $95.36.  It has not hit my CC when looking at my CC account online.  My GF's actual charges were like $20.  I think that charge plus an extra $12 mysterious charge hit her account already PLUS the $200. 

Me and girlfriend just got off a NCL cruise yesterday.  We had two separate bookings.  We each were charged $200.  She has called their customer service twice and has been hung up on both times.  Does anyone know what this charge relates to?  Is it a hold charge until my actual statement balance is cleared by my credit card?

2 hours ago, BaumD said:

Is smoking is an issue with you (either yes or no), you should check smoking policy of European lines vs. US lines. Lots more smoking allowed on European lines.

 

Yes we are both anti smoking especially when eating.  Do they have smoking sections in dining rooms?

3 hours ago, Markanddonna said:

You don't want to go to Europe to have an American Style Vacation, do you? We really aren't that much different in America since so many of us here have European ancestry. We found plenty of American style food on MSC and just hold onto the assurance that their pizza buffet area has the best pizza at sea. You won't go hungry!

 

That is good to hear about the food.  I do want something different than the typical Caribbean cruise.

What about other standard food - deli sandwiches, eggs, waffles, or other ethnic food that is common in America like Asian, Indian, Mexican?

11 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

As long as you are inclined to accommodate her wishes, why not really go along and sail MSC ?  

 

That will be a more “Italian” experience than RC or NCL could offer, the pricing is likely to:be comparable, and from everything I’ve heard the overall experience will be good.

From what I have seen, MSC (and Costa) seems to be $2-300 cheaper per person than RC or NCL.  We will have 6 in our group

36 minutes ago, Bizmark'sMom said:

Does it have to be the Mediterranean? Maybe it would be easier if your first trip abroad was a cruise of the British Isles. There's no language barrier that way, but things are still different enough to remind you that you are not in the US. 

I would like British Isles better but my girlfriend is dying to go to Italy. 

That is interesting.  I did not know that every port people are leaving and arriving.  I am not an experienced international traveler and can see myself getting stressed navigating thru foreign country not knowing the language.  My girlfriend really wants to get the European experience, especially at the ports - eating local cuisine.