muskyfins
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Posts posted by muskyfins
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Wow.....just wow. This is a great review thread. Thanks for so much effort.
Don't keep us waiting......
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Well- a little good news for anyone paying attention to this thread.
American Airlines changed my flight times for the flight I was booked on getting me home later but with the same departure by making my layover in DFW longer. So I called them up ready to do battle, but to my utter amazement, they were willing to change us to a non-stop that leaves at 1:25 and arrives an hour earlier (because of no layover) for no change fee. So now I have an extra half hour of breathing room and I get home an hour earlier which is good since I have plans that evening to attend an event.
I have to credit AA on this one. As I said, I usually fly with another airline and stuff like this is almost always a fight.
And the kicker, I got straight through with no hold time and talked to an actual American citizen who spoke English.:cool:
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We are Royal Diamonds. Sailed once on the Jade, albeit in a 2bedroom suite, and had a great time. Sure, the Jade isn't a WOW type of ship, but we enjoyed NCL.
The MDR food was better than we had expected. We liked freestyle dining concept a lot. Here is a compilation of the MDR food we ate.
[YOUTUBE]xOimIZW3xEw[/YOUTUBE]
We found the buffets to be pretty good too. Here was dinner.
[YOUTUBE]ic9vxaMs48M[/YOUTUBE]
This was the lunch buffet on embarkation day.
[YOUTUBE]rvZV0Q3QPyE[/YOUTUBE]
Awesome videos. Thanks.
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Yes-I should have been more careful with my wording.
I should have asked "How fast can I get through customs and out to my car?"
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Thanks for all the info.:)
Believe it or not, Houston is one of the few major US cities I've never been to. But I live in Chicago, so I'm familiar with weird traffic situations. Same goes for NY and LA. It makes me laugh when my clients in Atlanta or Minneapolis or Cleveland talk about avoiding the bad traffic. :D
We're not in a suite. Every other year we spend a little more and on the off years, we try to save a little money. This is the save a little money year, so we booked a balcony.
My airline program is with Delta and about half the time I get the pre-check, but this flight will be on American, so i'm going to work on that. So far we're in business class, but we'll see how that goes.
And I hate carry on. When I travel for business, I check everything except my laptop and wallet. But Mrs Muskyfins doesn't exactly travel "light" and the $25 per checked bag is pissing me off for some reason this time. Maybe I'm just getting tired of it, but we'll each have one carry on and of course put the problem items in the checked bag.
We were "tentative" about the Jade at First, but the more we look into it and now that it's booked and becoming "real" we're getting excited.
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They are limited, I think for the smaller ships they say only 80 are passes are available, something like that. But if all 80 people decide to show up at the same time on a cold, rainy sea day, it will be crowded in the spa. There's not a whole lot you can do about that.
Wait!...What?:confused:
Are you telling me that a ship that carries 3000 people only has enough room for 80 spa guests? So if we decide one day to go get a massage, we'll be screwed? Or if I decide to take a steam, I need a coveted pass in advance?
I believe I'm missing something.....
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That's one of the best "amateur" videos I've ever seen. Makes me look forward to seeing the Jade first hand in a few months. Thanks for sharing.
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I'm a less experienced cruiser than and I have no first hand experience to draw on.
However, I will say it seems like the reviews are bi-polar. One person says best cruise of their life. Next review (sometimes on the same sailing as the previous poster) says worst cruise of their life.
I went through the same thing with reviews until my head hurt and I wanted to smash something.
I guess my advise is to take the reviews with a grain of salt.
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You must be getting a terrific rental deal on the car if the rent plus parking fees will be the same as a couple of taxi fares. Not to mention the time wastage picking up and dropping off the car.
Transfer transport plans aren't set in stone yet. And, I'm not getting a deal on the rental car. But The taxi companies I checked with are looking at $125 each way (50 miles), so for $250, I can rent a car and travel a little more on my own terms versus relying on a taxi. If we can split with another couple, I'm looking at under $200 round trip. I travel a bit for business and the time spent to drop off rental car is probably less than the time spent waiting in line for a taxi.
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I would need the answers to additional questions before making a 'guess'. What port (for those not familiar with the ships)? Bayport Tx What day of the week and how many ships will be in port (impacting the number of passengers trying to make flights)? Saturday and 2 I know of Are you parking at the port or at off-site parking? Port in rental car Finally, I presume you need to return the rental car. Will that require a shuttle to the terminal? Yes, but not part of my question. If I'm on my way to the car by 10, I'm golden. By 11 I can make it happen. I travel quite a bit and once I'm in the car, I've got it from there.
Replies in red
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Good stuff.
Yes-- I mean what time will I be heading to my car parked in the lot?
I expect to rent a car and leave it there. Hoping to find another couple that wants to split the costs and will end up costing about the same as a taxi, but we can travel on our own schedule.
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So, we're booked on the NCL Jade for February 13, 2016. Itinerary says arrives at 8 am. Me, being new to cruises and thinking they're pretty good about being on time, I book a smoking deal on airfare departing at 12:55. I figured, if I'm off the boat by 10 am and to the airport by 11, I'll be good.
However, I see lots of folks commenting on how long it actually takes to get off the ship and that's only if it's on time to start with!!!:eek::eek::eek:
So, I put another one of those polls on this thread. I think they're kind of fun. But, I ask, in your experience how likely am I to be off the ship by 10 am? 11 am? Of course I'll take the proper steps to do whatever is necessary to facilitate that too.
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Carnival Freedom
Norwegian Jade
Decision by Monday
Welllllll.........kinda.
We are booked on the NCL Jade. :D But I'm still undecided.:confused:
We talked to some friends of ours who we hang out with quite a bit and have similar partying tastes and habits. We were trying not to involve them, but they have been on something like 8 or 10 cruises. We didn't know it, but surprisingly, they have only ever been on NCL. Said they loved it. So that was a new big factor. They actually met some new friends who live close by and we have hung out with them and get along great.
So we were dead even between the Carnival Freedom and the Jade. Same ports of call, same size ship, same number of passengers, within a hundred bucks of each other when ALL costs were included. That's when I called the TA and he kinda pushed NCL. Part of the problem was Carnival's system was down and he couldn't access it and I believe he wanted to make the sale. (which I didn't care for, but other than that he has been great). He claimed to have sailed both and felt that the service was better on NCL, blah, blah, blah.
So I booked it. Wife and I will be having a re-cap conversation tonight, and I'm 90%+ sure we won't switch, but I just want to double check that were comfortable with the decision. I'm kinda weird like that.:eek:
I also got a smoking deal on airfare, booked on my own, but I might be cutting it close. I guess that's a story for a different thread.:cool:
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Not sure why you are only considering RC Brilliance. Nice ship, but one of the smaller RC ships. Not as much in way of entertainment ....... Any reason you are not considering 7 days on Oasis, Freedom or Voyager class of ship? Assuming perhaps price but would definitely think a those classes would be a better fit. especially feel if flying would not do less than a 7 day - not worth money spent on air fare.
The primary reason the Oasis and others are out is price. We decided we had a budget this year of $3000. We had to draw a line in the sand somewhere and that was it. That is the cost of cruise and airfare not including taxes.
At dinner tonight we narrowed it down to
Carnival Freedom
Norwegian Jade
Decision by Monday
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What a difference a week makes!!!
First-I took the quiz and it said RCCL. Wife took the quiz and it came up Celebrity. Most on here are saying RRCL with Carnival in second place.
With all this in mind, we actually expanded our search and narrowed it down a bit differently with some significant new results. We are stuck for sure with the week of Feb 13-20. No other options with scheduling until mid-March and that's spring break. We're also committed to not less than 5 days to ensure adequate unwinding from work. So, to keep us in budget including air fare differences between Florida and Houston (and wife says balcony is a deal breaker) we're left with
Carnival Conquest 6 nights FLL - Inexpensive cruise, good itinerary, high airfare, moderate to poor recent reviews on CC,hassle of Miami
Carnival Freedom 7 nights Houston - More expensive, but cheaper air fare, less crowded air ports in Houston, better reviews, itinerary not as good as conquest
Carnival Triumph 5 nights Houston - Short cruise, lower reviews, cheap air fare, not so good itinerary
RCCL Brilliance of the Seas 5 nights Tampa - short cruise, good itinerary, $375 credit, pricey for duration, moderately high air fare
Norwegian Jade 7 nights Houston - NCL reputation of nickel/diming, cheap air fare, free drinks, not as good itinerary as others
Norwegian Spirit 7 nights Port Canaveral(This one pending air fare costs) Excellent itinerary, higher costs than any other on list, NCL reputation with nickel/diming
Main Choice right now is between Conquest, Freedom and Brilliance.
Planning to make a decision and be booked by Monday night.
Again, many thanks to all who've chimed in-it has made a difference and helped make our minds more at ease.
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I have been on the newest ships of all the major cruise lines, most recently disembarking the brand new Norwegian Escape.
Reading your first posts, I went right to NCL for what I think best suits you. But I picked RCI in the poll because nobody has nightlife like them. The Broadway shows on their newest ships are the best at sea. I also picked RCI because NCL will kill you in nickel and dime charges.
I'm glad to hear your thoughts on NCL. Even with the nickel and diming, they have about the least expensive packages going. And, that's what is keeping them in the game.
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For what it's worth-while i was doing a little more research on cruises, I cam across a picture of a woman lying on a chair sipping a drink at the pool, and I thought-"that's us". When we started looking at cruises, we figured we'd never get off the boat. Not because we didn't know about port activities, but because we didn't care. Our plans most days would be :
7-8 am wake up/dress
8-9 am breakfast
9am-2pm (insert activity here, but could be on ship-shop, explore ship, possibly excursion or beach bum, rock wall, billiards room, etc)
2-6 pm pool bar
6-7 pm get ready for dinner
7-8 pm dinner
8-10 pm shows, entertainment, casino, evening swim
10pm-(midnight?, 2 am? later?)dance club/disco/piano bar/blues club
I also want to take another opportunity to thank everyone for their input and all future input to this thread. I will continue to post as we make our decision and the factors leading up to it as well as leave a thorough review of whichever cruise we end up taking. Hopefully all of it will help others in the future. What the heck did we do before the internet?!?!?!?:cool::eek::cool:
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Here's a little bit of Cruise Critic advice. Over time, you'll learn what members marry themselves to one cruise line and only suggest to others that one cruise line, despite any obvious differences between the person asking and the person answering. You'll tend to get better advice from those who aren't brand loyal .
Here's a little quiz you can take. Give it a go and see what comes up.
http://***************/advice/how-to-book/pick-a-line/quiz-what-cruise-line-is-right-for-you
This is what I was hoping to avoid. I'm sure there is plenty of the Ford/Chevy or Coke/Pepsi wars regarding cruise lines. I was trying to ask the questions of atmosphere regardless of whether or not it was someone's favorite or if they thought the food was bad. Or whatever. I'm asking about atmosphere.
I did the quiz, but I won't post the results until I give the poll on this thread a little more time. I don't know how accurate it was, but it was kinda cool.
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"4+ stars?" -at $1000/wk?? Cruise, land, even "staycation," you're a few stars off.
The best "bang for the buck" in what most folks would consider 4 star cruising is a premium line like Oceania. But, alas, you won't find many "buckets of beer" being ordered.
Sorry. I was talking about the "rating" or whatever the correct term is on the travel agent websites we use. I don't want to break any forum rules,lets just say one of them has a 6 "banana" rating max. We would be looking for 4 bananas or better. Oceana has all 5.5 bananas.
Same goes for reviews here on CC or something like trip advisor. Must be at least 4 "dots" or 80% to be in the running unless we feel like taking a gamble.
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......On Princess, my experience has been the nighttime "club/disco" has always been a teenagers paradise. Not usually adults in there, and we prefer to chill at the bars.
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WOW!!! This is insightful. Where is the adult nightlife? Bars I suppose?
The nightlife at land based AI's hasn't been all that great which is another reason why we're looking at cruises.
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Upon further review: the OP needs to clarify what type of resort vacations they usually go on. If anyone has been to one of the high-end all-inclusives in the Caribbean or even Mexico they would likely be disappointed by their first cruise on any of the mainstream lines. One of the luxury all-inclusive ships might be the best bet: virtually no kids, country club atmosphere and dress, and no one would bat an eye at a two-fisted drinker. Now the question of budget; land based AI resorts range from fairly inexpensive to super-pricey, so should the OP be used to the latter they should be checking out Seabourn, Crystal, or the like.
So this is one of our primary concerns. (being disappointed) But we're going in open minded that this is something different.
To be clear, we're not country club people, but our party style is a bit like that. Mimosas at breakfast to vodka/rocks after dinner. But more important than drinking per se is finding the fun atmosphere. We've been places where the on site "club" has about 4 people in it after midnight. Someone mentioned no nightlife after 11 pm or something. We're definitely looking for the nightlife. Where's the pool bar cocktail group having fun from 3-6 before heading to dinner? (again more adult themed rather than kids and splish splash)
Maybe we're over thinking it? Maybe the kids/family activities are other places than the adult activities. Someone mentioned an adults only pool. Do many ships have adults only pools? Maybe kids aren't allowed in the pools with bars? Certainly they're not allowed in any bars.
As to budget, that's one of the things that led us to cruises-the low price teaser fares. $499 per person stuff. But that is quickly escalating into $1000 pp or even a bit more for 7 days. At those prices or a bit more when you factor in all the nickel/dime stuff, we could pick lots of AI land resorts. We're usually 4+ star type places, with the better reviews. Total budget this year is looking to be in the $3000 range.
We looked at Seabourn and Crystal-way off the mark. Admittedly, it seems this NCL drinks included thing is the best bang for the buck, even after figuring in about $300 of misc fees.
Many thanks for everyone's help. Sorry to be such a newb and sounding like that guy.
PS-due to our overbooked schedule, we have 1 week thats a good fit and 2 or 3 others we could make work if we had a compelling reason.
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Good stuff everybody. Keep it coming.
Should have mentioned....We're looking to go mid-February (before spring break gets rolling, but when we're tired of winter)
We're not necessarily looking for no kids, but when we're at the "cocktail hour at the pool bar, I don't want to be splish splash with the kids throwing a ball around or chilling on the pool deck lounge area with a bunch of kids running around.
I guess we're seasoned drinkers!!! (And at home we don't drink at all during the week.) If I'm drinking beer from 2 pm until 2 am, that's 12 hours. Just to keep a little buzz going, I'm 2-3 beers an hour. Especially in the heat. That's way more than 15. Even if we start at 4-it's over the max.
We had been leaning toward NCL with the all inclusive deal since that's what we're used to, but we've seen some folks here on CC talking about how they nickel and dime people lately. And I believe they all offer a drink package that when factored in puts most of what we've been looking at (NCL, RCCL, CC, Carnival) on even price points.
Thanks for the info so far-look forward to more of it.
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I would like to know about the "flavor" or culture or atmosphere of different cruise lines. Not so much which is better.
Wife and I are early 40's grown kids and we like to party. Not sloppy falling down stupid or anything, but I've seen something about a 15 drink max for packages, and folks who couldn't imagine hitting that number. We could.;)
We usually go on resort vacations and this will be our first cruise. Seven days Carribean/Mexico/Bahamas. We're looking for something with more of an adult vibe and not a bunch of kids running around. (nothing against kids, and I'm not suggesting NO kids, we're just looking for a more adult environment):cool:
So which cruise lines seem more appropriate from your experience?
I can give sample itinerary of what we're looking for if it's any help.
Thanks to any and all for your input.
What about Couples Cruises
in Theme Cruises
Posted
The same way you would ask in any other vanilla nightclub. My opinion only, but when you're just getting to know someone, even most "casual or light" lifestylers aren't exactly introverts. So something maybe between the ladies especially to the effect "have you ever done something really crazy?" or even a little more suggestive without being overbearing. Even maybe "last time we were on a cruise it got a little frisky....." gauge their reaction.