olindacat

On 11/24/2023 at 5:29 PM, ChatKat in Ca. said:

New Ship for you on a high end itinerary would make a difference in the experience.

We were on the SS Mariner in Mexico with a new crew and post covid,

My wife and I did our second Regent cruise in November on the Mariner. We had a great time and thought the staff really slaved to make people as happy as possible. 

Ours was from NYC to Miami, and very affordable in relative terms. There were complaints about the heads not flushing well on many floors, and we had the problem here and were, but it was resolved quickly.

The activités on-board were enough. We participated in everything we could and enjoyed the cruise director's sense of humor and really all of the workers.

The food and beverage was great. Yes, we found some differences between the last trip (pre-Covid) and this one. The ref in Prime was so tough we just didn't finish our meals. We dined there 3x and struck out each time. Others were happy as larks, so everyone's mileage may vary.

On Silversea, if I recall correctly, and our pre-Covid Regent trip: I think the wines might have been better, there was Caviar liberally served. This trip they had Caviar on Sunday morning in the buffet, and each serving was one spoonful given to us by a server at a station, so we would've had to make spectacles of ourselves if we wanted more 'helpings'. I noticed that detail.

There was a huge outdoor dinner by the pool one night. An ambitious effort with so many lobster tails running off a BBQ even the most diehard seafood fanatic would have needed their stomach pumped if they went bonkers! The drawn butter was missing bowls in which to ladle the stuff. I asked a man, and it turns out he was the executive chef! Super nice, went crazy himself trying to find a solution. That's how hard they tried on our 'cheapo' cruise!

The F&B director, Nico, was always around. Very friendly, made a call to get us a table at another specialty restaurant personally. Having lived on Maui for decades, we are spoiled when it comes to things like sashimi. They tried, but the tuna was soggy and nothing close to what we've had before on Regent or Silver Seas, but whining about this is a cheap shot really. When you think of three meals a day, plus snacks in between meals, bars and other things happening, for so many people it is massive. They did an exceptional job. 

Just go to a Marriott and compare!

But seriously, if we were to really focus on every single little F&B aspect, we could spend hours doing so. Food is very subjective. The alcohol options were aplenty. Premium brands of every imaginable liquor was there for unlimited consumption. There was always a sommelier hovering to provide wines, even if some were not our favorites so what? They were included, abundant, and we could have anything else if we wanted too. The wines were fine. 

The shows were great, there were changes in who did what, and even a movie (Barbie) with popcorn!

Regent includes free laundry, and you do not have to have sailed on their ships 20 times to get this treat. If we go Silver Seas we can possibly get this comped depending on who sells us the ticket, or the mood of someone behind the scenes, but I do not think this is 'included' for everyone. Not having to sit by a washer/dryer on my vacation was nice as that is the point, for us. To do as little domestic work as possible.

We went on many free excursions. Lots of snorkeling to see turtles and sea life. We know the Caribbean well, having been to the BVI and other West Indies since we were teenagers in the early 1970s. The loss of sea life, coral reefs looking bleached, etc., were so sad to see. 

We booked our cruise about two months ahead of the travel date. Most of the excursions were booked solid by then. While on board the man in charge of these was Axel, and he managed to always find a way to fit us onto a snorkel boat as stand-bys.

We followed their online site for the cruise pretty closely. I do not recall ever seeing any mention of dancing specifics, or who would be performing what.

I'd give Regent high marks for our two experiences on that line, with our most-recent just a month ago. 

No, we have only done 10 cruises, but we have traveled the world in our lives, and stayed at some pretty nice places, enjoyed many fine restaurants and hospitality experiences. These are ships! Amazing what they do on them. 

I had been eyeing Crystal during the pandemic, and when they went under I was bummed for them and their loyal following. We were literally reaching into our pockets around the time this all went down.

I'm back here reading this thread now because I'm still curious. This line, and Seabourn are next for us. I really do not want to do loads of laundry so have been hesitant to book Seabourn as I am not paying $50 per load/bag, which is what I think they charge. I'll see what Crystal's deal is regarding same.

I hope Crystal does very well. Having four competitors in the 'six star' arena is good for us, methinks. We have cruised on Oceania four times. That line nickel and dimed us to death, but these were all pre-pandemic. Perhaps they have stopped those practices, but we will avoid that line in the future as a result of our own experiences. Just not worth the hassle of combing though hundreds of posts to see if they've improved their game. The 'blew it' with us... for now,

There was a big dinner buffet poolside last night. A ton of food, and everyone in the F&B dominion breaking their butts to pull off a daring event.

A Brit head chef was so personally dedicated toward making things right. Impressive was he, and every worker on this ship. The staff doesn't get the praise they deserve. Really hard work, but they don't make you feel bad ever.

I have so much to say and will, as the comments upthread are all valid points but considering the strong positives, all mostly can be figured out, and worked around.

We worried the cabin and boat would be in poor condition, and yet this vessel is so beautiful compared to anything else we've seen along the journey.

1 minute ago, Jim Avery said:

Here you go, a link to our roll call

Thanks! (I never knew what a roll call was as I'm not here often. So helpful.)

Wondering if I missed any threads on this cruise? Can anyone tell me if so? Or, if not, may I ask:

1. Anyone do this before, and do you recall what excursions you did and liked, any we should avoid?

2. Dining: I'm aware I ought to have booked all of these things sooner, and am behind. Having never been on this ship, am wondering about dining venues that people liked and/or disliked most, availability, etc.?

Thanks for helping.

I was thinking of booking the Sept 7 Alaska to Japan trip, but the reviews on the review section of this site have scared me to death!

I don't have to shop, cook, clean, or fold laundry so it'll be fine....

On 8/15/2023 at 9:49 AM, 1teach53 said:

This is the same experience we had earlier this year. Plus toilet that didn’t flush & flooding from bathroom into the walk in closet. Not 5 star!!

Geez. Yesterday Marie and I booked the NYC-Miami 10/31 trip after I did some hunting for deals out of the Big Apple. I'm kind of bummed to hear this ship is in this condition, and some of the comments about the food and service upsetting to read. Should I jettison my reservation? (I think I can still back out.)

We did a fall RT out of NYC in 2017 on the Navigator and thought the whole thing was great.
 

I tried to get hold of them by phone and email but no luck. (Sunday.) Not the end of the world, I'll just skip it since the manila envelope is a tad of a tight fit 😉. Don't want to schlep the thing all the way there and have It blow up in my face. I should have arranged this way earlier. Thanks for responding.

Does anyone know if I'd get my bike rejected at the terminal in Manila if I try to bring it onboard the Spirit 1/23? I was curious if anyone here has ever brought a non-folding bike onto a Silversea vessel before, and what issues or non-issues they encountered. I know I should have thought of this sooner, and asked them, but... life is fluid....

Where do you really want to go? Mass market or Luxury? Best bang for buck usually Inside cabin on mass/ premimun ship like Celebrity, Princess or HAL. I never get tired of Transatlantics combined with Euro cruises,Early or late season finds excellent pricing. River cruises grossly overpriced for your wants/needs. Agree AK should be done by itself.

We can't go where we want because we only have this and part of July we can do this on. If we could, we'd go in November/December to SA Amazon or W./S. Africa. Just not in our cards. So, we must play with what we are dealt with, and that leaves us with: Alaska (not probable now that Lamb insists Tinkster be delivered to NYC for TLC by family while we are away), Bermuda (likely because it is low-risk and we can take a taxi to and drop dock), TA (improbable as Cunard -- our only real option -- seems like it may be very formal -- also very pricey for beers and what not after looking at their drink packages that don't seem to include booze?), Med (it's a player but we are sort of been there done that mentally so maybe not good idea), N. Europe (we've never been to Russia so that's appealing, arctic circle on Legend has me tempted ut suck a small vessel I'm afraid I'll burst a vessel of my own if I am trapped on such a tiny little boat), Carib (we live on an island so going to more is like Bermuda more about the boat, and the choices out of NYC are limited so we'd likely fly down to Fl or wherever but we did do Mexico, Central America, Panama Canal, Carib 14 days Oceania in mid-2000s and ports were great places to see, once for us as very poor, depressing in so many areas….

Have you checked out HAL's 14 day Alaskan cruise? We have done it 2 times and loved it. It has ports most cruise lines do not do -- Anchorage, Icy Straight Point, Homer, Kodiak.

Not yet. I am not sure Alaska is still in the cards. We'd have to fly backwards to get there as we have to carry a dwarf kitty from Mauito NYC so she can be watched whilst we goof off.

If we decide to go to Alaska, we will look at HAL. I appreciate your telling me about them. Thanks a mil!

If you do it...let us know what you did, how you did it, and if you came in on budget!

I will. I'm not sure we'll do 30-days of cruising though. Just dunno. For sure, I'll detail out what we do, as I owe you all at least that much :-)

As a benchmark, when we did our B2B in Europe, including all expenses--airfare, airport parking, pre and post hotels and meals, some shore excursions, a couple of tours in Rome, admissions for DIY things, subway/bus fares, the whole nine yards, it came to $20K for two people. We spent nothing on gambling, and total alcohol bill for three weeks was maybe $200, including house wines at cafes to get the WiFi password.

 

Could I have shaved some of those expenses? Yes, but not to the level you'd need to given what you are trying to do.

I dunno. I have air and hotels covered. That's a big chunk right there. I'll have someone drop us at airport so no parking costs. $200 for three weeks on alcohol… nope, I can't do that. You've got me beat there :-)

I have NO idea how much they cost, but have you thought of doing a river cruise in Europe? I've heard they're amazing!!! It would be an entirely different type of experience!

I have. But they are foreign to me. I was actually looking into an Africa trip, as the Lamb wants me to take her someplace exotic, but after seeing how many days in hotels they (the line) were offering as a part of the 'trip' I looked up the name of their boat in that vicinity and found it was operated by the boat owner themselves, with direct bookings online… and they were considerably less if booked directly.

I don't imagine they all work like this, but I did look at some European river cruises and they do seem to have the hotel and front and back end, with bus xfers or whatever. I always feel like an old cow being hauled around in a bus (a lot) so avoid them if I can find my own way. Just a bad habit also I get sort of penned in on the darn this and start to have massive anxiety attacks (another story), so while I am intrigued but eh concept, I haven't had luck (yet) finding the right one. Have you found anything yummy to share?

Just a PS to my post above. :) We like sea days after a very busy land trip or port intensive cruise. It's wind down time.

 

I book cruises as soon as they are released and I always save money. For 42 nights SA on Celebrity the price has doubled. So shop wisely.

 

We are going to Alaska in August, 7 nights south to north in a GS (RCCL) and then two week land trip. The land trip will cost waaaayyyy more then the cruise.

 

We also will never book a cruise that we don't also have a land trip either before or after the cruise.

 

OK too much information. :)

One nice thing is I have some SPG points I can use to cover hotels in some places that are brutal normally, like London or whatever. I also have air miles to take care of flights. My previous post was an incomplete thought… I was explaining my travel plans for summer to illustrate where I might go. I could easily skip Africa and go to Europe and then Europe to Asia. I already have our tix OGG>NYC and SIN>OGG. I can easily get to Asia from NYC via Europe and cruise there (Europe). Only, I must confess the Med is a place she and I have been to 1000 times. We are not millionaires and can't even pretend to fit into some of the ritzier places like Monaco…..

Never too much information!

:)Take your time and do lots of research, don't just take CC posts advice because we don't know you. :)

I don't know me either ;-) Thanks for helping. We are flying to NYC this weekend. Actually, Marie is on Sunday. I'll follow on a separate flight early next week. We will likely try a 7-day Bermuda run out of the city or Bayonne. As we need to bring out animal (Tinky the cat) to NYC, I am going to forego Alaska for now.

We had planned on flying on miles via Cathay to HKK and JNB. Do some animal watching in some African reserve someplace, then zip back to Maui after a side-trip to SE Asia to pedal off some blubber, which I think we will have accumulated on the cruises, and which (ahem) we have been accumulating steadily as we age for some time….

Agree. No sweat. $15K would definitely get you 3 cruises-balcony cabins-on very nice ships Maybe gtys, but balcony. Shop carefully, deal with a TA that provides OBC's. Research ship excursions and private excursions.

Sorry, but what are OBC's?

36 days at $120 average per day (includes tips) uses up 8800. That is conservative. You can probably get more days than that if you are careful. Replace a HAL, Princess or Celebrity for Cunard and you will have some extra perhaps. Spend the balance on air, excursions, pre cruise hotel, and a few pre cruise days at ports in Europe (local family run B&B's vs higher end hotels).

$120/day balcony , is that $60pp/day? Now that's pretty cheap. Best I've found was OV GTY $178/day ($89pp) out of Bayonne on NCL Breakaway.

No issue. You can do this if you truly want to. It comes down to good shopping, setting your priorities and passing on some of the over priced on board items like spas etc (get them while you are in Turkey!). Make your

$15K count. You will have a blast.

Thanks. We are very flexible. We were thinking about going uber-cheap to start, bumping it up a notch for #2, then bonkers on #3. But, after having actually courtesy-booked and priced things out, I can see where $178/day becomes $400/day quite easily. But $400/day*30 days is $12k (I think), so I think you may be right, by jove!

But it takes work on your part. You need to do your research-this will save you big bucks and enhance your enjoyment and your appreciation of where you happen to be travelling. If you are serious about this, you need to start your research NOW.

I am. Day and night, like an obsession. I've even exposed myself here right now with this thread ;-) Scared to death I'm going to get blown out by some demigod here.

Option B is to blow it all on one cruise. Big luxury suite, lots of on board spending, etc. etc. We typically go with Option A but we travel anywhere for 4-6 months each year.

Lamb (wife) and I're 52 and have 25 more years before we can retire. So, this is our one trip for the next 4-5 years unless we win Lotto or miss a squirrel and strike oil :-) (just kidding, I'd never hurt a squirrel…)

That budget is huge! You should be able to do more than 3 cruises in nice cabins by booking last minute, or at least within a month or two of sailing. Perhaps you could try Celebrity, HAL, or Princess for the transatlantic instead of the pricier lines? Check airfare before booking your cruise so you don't get stuck with a huge cost. Check with different travel agents. Sometimes they buy up a block of cabins and will sell for less or with OBC close to sailing. Avoid paying list price. Have you thought of flying to Europe for a cruise and returning along the northern route to see Scotland, Iceland, Greenland, & Canada? That's an interesting cruise with ports most days. Eight days at sea to get from Point A to Point B gets a little old. Whatever you do, I wish you a wonderful vacation.

Thanks, Granny. Yes, I was looking at several options to return to US mainland via the north. They are very pricey compared to some other TAs and repositioning cruises, but the itineraries are nice. We've gone into Norway and Iceland via Oceania before.

Haven't had much luck with travel agents. I have dealt with three via crystal ************ and they were really nice but just couldn't make the NYC>Haifax>Reykjavik>TA work. Was going to take up whole budget!

I have a spreadsheet and look for web offers and compare based on stars and price per day pp. Six-stars include booze and tips (is my rule of thumb), but having never gone that route not sure it is worth it. I drink a lot, and a sweetie, but not sure I can either drink enough to justify the fare or if they'd stop serving me to save money ;-)

In any event, I will try not to pay retail. Gives me hives just thinking of doing that!

As others have said, we don't know you or your likes/dislikes.

 

If it were me, I'd do Alaska BIG, not just the cruise, unless you do HAL 14 day.

 

My first 7 day cruise to Alaska whetted my appetite to see more. We then did an 11 day cruisetour to the tune of $3000 pp. The longer you stay, the more money it's going to take.

 

Europe on the other hand ended up costing us $6000 pp for a 21 day trip. If I'm paying the airfare & investing the time to get there, I want to see as much as I can for the bucks I'm spending. While the 12 day cruise itself was $2200, it didn't take long for the cost to escalate.

 

Just these two cruises would be $18,000 for two people, which is over your budget of $15,000.

 

I can't imagine you are going to get anywhere near your proposed budget on an Oceania cruise. Good luck with your planning, and have a great trip, whatever you decide to do.

I know I can't do an entire trip, inclusive of air and hotels and xfers and all the ancillary things it takes to make Europe happen, for $15k. I use miles and SPG points to take care of the bulk of our airfares and hotels. If I were paying for our flights, which are J or F all the way, it'd be impossible for us.

So, I was trying to confine this to only the cruise portion. I know for sure Alaska has tours galore that can gobble up money quickly. Heck, just going off the boat into any Med port can be really costly, like a Venetian gondola ride or a charter plane to Tikal, all things we've done among many.

The $6k pp for 21-days is about what I was looking at to go Seabourn to arctic from like Copenhagen or Stockholm. On Legend I think. I'm still considering it, but I am terrified of feeling claustrophobic on such a tiny boat….

Cruise lines are a personal choice as are itineraries. Without more specifics you are not likely to get a lot of responses with solid answers because we don't know what you like, what you prefer to do on your cruise, and what type of room and experience you are looking for.

I suppose the more you do them, the more you are right, Sherilyn. Even my wife and I differ in terms of likes and dislikes. But, even in cursing, there are limits and there are opportunities that can be unearthed or shared with others. I guess I was looking to hear what others would do because I could then compare notes.

If I list what I like/dislike then I will probably get solid information about what I may have already found. By hearing from anyone, about what they might do with my budget, it may unearth a golden nugget I hadn't thought of….

I like what I can't afford: owner's suite, two-hour massages, chauffeured cars everywhere, six-star hotels before and after, F-class air, and so on. I can afford: air on miles, a bucket, maybe two (or three) of cold beer every (sometimes other) day, one or two meals (for two) in non-MDR fee restaurants, an OV cabin (maybe verandah if there's a promo) in a TA or repositioning cruise (but alas, there are none except for Cunard) in June (that I can find, that make sense).

We are not crazy about mobs, but then when I look at a cruise on say the Seabourn Legend, I am petrified of being on such a small vessel for so long at sea for many days, probably making my fellow passengers miserable :-)

So, an Azamara or Oceania or Seabourn Quest or Crystal medium-sized boat would be nice, but maybe not touchable as all of these boats are about $1k a day on average.

In looking at mass market lines, I guess Celebrity might be a fit dunno. Been to that forum, RCCL's, Oceania's, Crystal's, Cunard's, Seabourn's, Silversea's, Regent's, NCL's, HAL's, and Carnival's too.

Been to all of their websites, and Google'd images to see how they all looked.

Franky, it is overwhelming! So, I resorted to this thread and am grateful that I'm even getting replies. Thanks for yours!

I would pick the first cruise and budget that one out and see where that leaves you. Be sure to factor in costs such as hotel and air.

 

Keith

Wow! For some reason my email notifications stopped and I didn't know any one had replied since my last message. Sorry 'bout that everyone :-)

Keith, thanks for you input. I have learned in my brief 52 years that nothing I plan every goes accruing to plan. So, I plan for the worst to happen.

In researching a cruise, even if I allow for taxes and fees and gratuities somehow I will wind up over even that. I have a feeling, even if it is an all-inclusive luxury one, I'd still average about $200/day in incidentals. My biggest 'costs' are booze, Internet, and the daily excursions/activities they sell at each port.

As I mentioned is has been some time since we last cruised and now I see beverage packages are out there, as well as some Internet packages and some prepaid gratuities. So, I hope to knock that down a tad. My partial reason for the thread was because in researching some lines, many f them in fact, I would literally have to courtesy hold/book a ship to get access to their pricing for beverage packages, for example. That's okay for one line or even two, but all possibilities seems crazy, and not all line websites will let me even do that.

Also, I am find that many are very slick about what they charge for say a Stella beer. I can't find that on too many websites. And, in many cases, I can't tell if a given beg package will carry that given beer for example. So, I'm pressed to ask for help. Not just for beer, of course, you get the idea….

Anyway, I just figured some here might have their own take on how'd they'd make the best of that money. I'm fairly confident I can get on boats for that. I was just curious what some of the experts here might do. Non-experts too :-)

It depends when you go, how you book, and how particular you are.

 

Balcony cabins were going for 700-1000 this month on 7 day Alaska cruises-HAL and Princess. Saw a few 12 day Baltic cruises from C'hagen for $1200.

 

We usually book just inside the final payment window. Hard to f'cast.. it is all based on supply and demand. Over the past two years we have done four Med cruises. All balcony, all for $100-$110 per day. On Celebrity. One thing for certain, as you get closer to departure date prices can go up and down in a period of 24 hours. Understand the prices, and book when your deal hits. Save you money for on board spending and land tours.

 

Shop around. We are finding that air 30-40 days out is no different in price that 3-6 months out.

 

Good luck.

I know there are bargains out there for sure. And, savvy shopper like you will find them. Would is interesting is how you'd get the most for your money? I guess I am trying to lure you into telling me what and why, like every other noob must do. In the camera forums we'll talk about what we'd buy and why. Perhaps the way I wrote my post doesn't encourage that. But, if anyone feels the urge to share exactly what cruises they'd buy and why, it might prove to be insightful.

Is cruising in general a commodity? How many out of 100 do you think spend whatever they want and not feel the financial pain of it? How much is your vacation dollar worth to you or what is your priority?

We are just looking to use our dollar as wisely as we can and the suggestion that a Transatlantic may be too much money for what it offers was very insightful.

Not big on shore activities organized by ships. Too many bad experiences.

I don't think 15K will cover 3 cruises! At least, it wouldn't for us! As you said, incidentals rack up the bill!

 

I would pick the 1 cruise I most wanted to do, along with any excursions that are "must-dos", and if there's money left, I'd do home improvements or invest that extra money!

Sorry: cruise fare only. I have $3k for Alaska on Celeb, $3500 Cunard NY-Southampton. That leaves $8500 for Europe.

The spirit of my post is more about best use of acorns in June. But with 50k posts here, I'm guessing you've given enough advice in your time :-)

Thanks for your input. I was leaning toward Seabourn Legend 21 days with OV for $12,400 but got scared away by reviews.

We haven't cruised/vacationed in over five years. We have done tons of research and before we pull the trigger wanted to do one post first.

Our plan is to spread our budget, $15k, next month over two or three cruises. We plan to do a seven day stint in Alaska, are contemplating a transatlantic on Cunard, and then one in Europe.

We are fearful of the incidentals costs running out of control. This happened to us last decade when we did Oceania and RCCL.

If you were in our shoes, how would you spend your own $15k given such short notice? Many thanks. First post, but have followed threads here for several years.