S-and-J

I suspect somebody will do this.  The people on the cruises I have been on tended to be well-educated, fairly well-informed and cared about damaging the environment, but want to go on cruises.  I would guess there is a demand for cruise ships that use cleaner fuel and produce less CO2 per distance travelled.  Personally, I would not expect the initial ones to be perfect, but experimental compromises.  Just as some of us were content to pay extra for green energy at home, there will be people who are up for this and will ay a premium for it.  And I think the novelty factor might attract people.

There will be critics and cynics, as there always are.  (The best effort at green criticism I've seen so far: pointing out Greta Thunberg's School Strike poster had been written with a plastic-cased marker pen.)

One challenge will be getting the balance right between giving a pleasant holiday experience to the passengers and keeping to the ethics of the concept.

Incidentally, rather than / in addition to wind turbines that generate electricity to provide propulsion, how about having sails?  🙂

4 hours ago, soonernstlouis said:

@S-and-J

We also found spending several hours on a sunny beach to be tiring.  But we love the beach (live in the landlocked Midwest), so we plan little else if we go there.

That's the beauty of a cruise.  Some people have a lazy dinner, booze and pool cruise, some have a dancing, nightlife and lounge-lizard cruise, some have a history and exploration cruise, some have a casino and tux and Captain's table cruise, some have a relaxing catch-up-on-my-reading while someone else does the cooking and cleaning cruise, and some people get to try a different beach every day cruise.

Why would anyone ever stay in a hotel?

I had a very bad time of CMV Magellan a few weeks ago, being stiff and unable to sleep.  After a couple of bad nights I asked the cabin steward what he could do to help and he had no idea.  So I asked him to put the spare blankets under my sheet when he made the bed and that helped.  Then I had an idea and fetched the spare quilt - I slept on top of the bed quilt and put the spare quilt over me.

So for the final five or so nights I was OK.

I don't know what the problem was because normally am I OK with a firm bed.

Before our first cruise I also did loads of research and booked us on a tour for every island we went to.  But we were so tired, especially after 36 hours of getting to the ship, that we did not do half the trips we had paid for.

We have learned our lesson: travelling to the ship, and being on a moving ship, are both tiring.  It is not possible for us to cram in loads of activity and have a holiday on a cruise.  So, since then we have been more careful about not booking day long excursions every day.

On our most recent cruise - scheduled at the end of my doing a Master's Degree as a bribe to complete it - we knew we would both be tired because my wife had also started a new job.  So, we spent two weeks on board and only got off twice and did not bother with trips.

So...

On 11/5/2019 at 5:35 PM, shortyjoesmith said:

Before my first cruise, I received some very good advice. A coworker told me to make sure to book an excursion at ever port I went to.

... I don't think that was necessarily good advice.

On 8/31/2012 at 3:42 AM, birthdaycruise50 said:

 

I've been on 3 cruises and am planning my fourth I wear my sail and sign card on a lanyard around my neck so i don't lose it,

Oh, is that what S&S stands for.  In the UK S&S stands for something else, something unsavoury.

"What's for dinner, mum?"

"S&S"

"Sorry I asked."

On 5/27/2010 at 1:09 AM, MissRabbit said:

The day I stop gawking at my surroundings and the enormous beauty of the ship, is the day i stop cruising.

This.

We have cruised twice with P&O and once with Fred. Olsen.

After they way Fred. Olsen treated us - lying about the itinerary, really unpleasant and disinterested staff, a rude tosser of a Captain, and then giving everyone norovirus (we were one of 5 cabins not to get it) - we agreed we would not go with them again if it was for free.

It was one of those cruises which, had it been our first, would have been our last.

Our first cruise was - purely by chance - the maiden voyage of (the original) Ocean Princess in 2000.  It was, by a long way, the best of our seven cruises.  Everything was perfect.

They had put on board all their most experienced staff and it showed in their quiet confidence and easy way they made everything happen.  Also, many of the passengers were very experienced travellers and happily gave us great advice that has since served us well.  And we were interviewed by a charming cruise journalist (who, I am 95% sure, was from Cruise Critic) who told us more than we told them.

But, we have heard tales of others who have done maiden voyages and regretted it.  If a new car can be a lemon, presumably, so can a cruise ship.

Either way, you leave with a story to tell.

Not a cruise ship, but the night ferry from Jersey back to the UK.

The pilot boat came out to escort us, then it caught fire.  They had a fire in the engine compartment.  The ferry stopped and went into rescue mode.  Announcements to staff of what to do and for us to sit down and keep out the way.  Our crew fired off flares and started launching a boat.  They also got fire equipment and hoses out.  Meanwhile the RNLI (the UK lifeboat service) sent out one of tie inflatables - wow! can those things move!

By the time the RNLI got to the pilot boat, the crew of the pilot boat had put the fire out.  Our ferry then started up again and we carried on without a pilot.

Because it was night time it was particularly interesting, with the fire and flares and who knew the RNLI boats have a blue flashing light like the emergency services?

There was a small spectacles case - with prescription glasses therein - stuck behind the hair dryer shelf in the bedside chest of drawers on our last cruise.  My wife took it to Reception and they said they would contact all the previous occupants of that cabin to determine the owner.

Simples.

Of all the times my wife and I feared we'd not get back to the ship before it sailed, we never thought it might be because she ship buggered off!

Well, those on board - and those ashore - will be dining out on this story for a while.

The pre-tipping philosophy encourages unfair behaviour: that passengers who have not paid in advance of service delivery should be disregarded or ignored in favour of those who have. Bar staff that intentionally do not serve people in the order they arrive, table staff who serve your table only occasionally while they hover over their favourite tables.

That sounds like a miserable cruising experience for the majority of the passengers as they get taken advantage of by over-rich, selfish, people who want preferential treatment.

I'd like to know which cruise lines promote, encourage or support pre-tipping so I can avoid using them.

Hi,booked to sail on the magellan, has anyone got a bar menu with the drinks prices on

I do not recall the exact prices but they went something like this (+/- 50p):

Planned drinking:

one mocktail of the day before lunch - about £3

one cocktail of the day with lunch - about £3

one pre-dinner cocktail - about £4

one glass of sparkling wine with starter - about £4

one glass of house wine with main course - about £4

one glass of port with cheese - about £4

Planned spend: £22 per person per day

Drinks package: £17 per person per day

Actual drinking:

Sitting up in a sequence of bars until 1:30 to 3:30 with our table partners: about £58 per day for us; one couple spent over £100 per day a few times.

On previous cruises on other cruise lines where "cocktail" meant one shot of spirits + some bottled fruit juice + lots of soda water @ US$8 per drink and the awful wine was even dearer, we spent about £40 per week and were miserable because of it. "Can we afford a cocktail of the day?" "I don't know, it depends on what it is?" On CMV's Magellan the sequence was to order the drink, taste it, then try to guess what it was from the spirits in it :p

If you like a drink on holiday, the drinks package is worth it.

can anyone tell me if you are allowed to bring your own alcohol and soft drinks on board when boarding in the UK or at any ports of call

Also, bags are scanned on entry to the ship when returning from port visits. Duty free items bought on board are retained for collection on the last day of the cruise.

However, I'm not sure how they would know if you had spirits in your suitcase.

The all-inclusive drinks package was £17 per person per night - it cost us £408 and when I totted up the bar bills we had got through just over £700 of drinks.