Hlitner

I wish. The piano tuner was at Port Everglades (Dec 9). But we sure do love longer cruises (3 months would be nice). No future bookings on HAL (we have lost faith in the current product) so, unless you find yourself working on one of the smaller luxury vessels our paths will likely not cross in the near future (our loss). We spend our winters in Puerto Vallarta, where, until recently, we enjoyed many visits to a piano bar (Incanto). Unfortunately, that place recently closed and our community is desperately in need of a new piano bar. We have at least one excellent piano entertainer in town (Mark Hartman) but no good bar venues for him to perform. Hank

Interesting that you mention piano tuning. It is very common, on turn around days in Florida ports, to see (and hear) local professional piano tuners doing their thing. It happens to us, a lot, when on Princess where they have a real piano in the atrium. In December, we were aboard when a tuner was working on the Sky Princess atrium piano and he told me he is busy, every Saturday and Sunday tuning cruise ship pianos. By the way, you are terrific on any kind of piano/key board :). Hank

Ahhh, Ok, a few things about your post to keep the record clear. Since Venice is now closed to cruise ships, the wonderful views (in/out) of Venice are to be no more except for some lucky folks who will spend the big bucks for some very small luxury ships. We would also point out that no cruise ship has ever cruised on the Grand Canal. The ships used the Giudecca Canal to get to and from the cruise port. The Grand Canal is simply not big enough to handle cruise ships not to mention that all the local traffic would be like trying to drive a large ship down 5th Ave in NYC :). We do agree that boating on the Grand Canal is an amazing experience. Folks can do it quite cheap by simply taking a Vaporetto (Line 1 or 2) around Venice. So much fun, Hank

We found it interesting that Explora Journeys (the new luxury line owned by MSC) has purchased 3 large Steinways for each of their 6 ships (of which one is already sailing). We had a drink with the Explora Journeys staffer who did the deed (went to Steinway to buy the pianos) and he mentioned that even the Steinway folks were not used to getting an order for 18 pianos (which are to be delivered over a few years). The also contracted with Steinway and Sons to periodically provide "Steinway artists" to perform on many EJ cruises. These are accomplished pianists (from around the world). There were several performing on our 18 day cruise. Not as much fun as a decent piano bar player but interesting to hear accomplished pianists on world-class instruments. The issue on cruise ships is not so much the weight of pianos (which can be handled) but the cost! It is laughable that some ships have faux piano cabinet shells with an inexpensive electronic keyboard mounted inside. Hank

Cruise lines, in theory, do their best to estimate port charges/fees (docking fees, tug fees, pilot fees, etc) and allocate them down to the passenger level. Sometimes they underestimate and the cruise lines generally eat the extra charges. Other times they over estimate and will sometimes refund the overage (we have had credits to our onboard accounts on numerous cruises). I recall one HAL cruise when we had lots of problems docking in Halifax, due to a heavy off-shore wind. The Captain and Pilot decided to bring in 2 large tugs to help maneuver the ship to the dock. Both tugs worked for over an hour trying to push us against the wind....to no avail. Finally, our Captain abandoned to port. HAL refunded the port fees for that voyage (done the following day) but still had to pay the extra cost for those two tugs. Bottom line is that the system is not perfect (there has actually been at least one major lawsuit, over the issue, decided in Florida courts). Sometimes the cruise lines win (and make a few extra dollars) and other times they lose (it is very rare to be charged extra for underestimated port charges). Hank

Like many things in business, the cruise lines will generally do what is best for them. Lines that are very popular (with lots of long term bookings) tend to have different strategies then lines that primarily deal with the shorter term ( less than 2 week) cruises. And even in the shorter cruise market, non-refundable deposits are sometimes used as a strategy. A good example would be MSC who has, on some of their ships, a ship within a ship concept called the Yacht Club, The Yacht Club is only about 5% of the ship and is actually an enclave with its own decks, restaurants, pool, etc. It costs a lot more money then most outside the YC, and has proven very popular. It is not uncommon for YC suites to be sold out more than a year in advance while there are hundreds/thousands or remaining cabins outside the YC. So MSC has now made the deposits on YC suites, non-refundable, while deposits on the remainder of the ship are refundable. They simply want to discourage folks from holding YC Suites and keeping them out of available itinerary. Those of us who happily book the YC are generally fine with this policiy since it helps keep some of those suites on the market for folks who are serious about taking the cruises. Hank

This only happened on Sea Days (or some days when a ship did not get into port into after lunch hours. We tend to take longer cruises which often involve many sea days (i.e. trans Atlantic, trans pacific, etc) so we found it a common occurrence.

Lately that has been our eperience. But you can sometimes find pretty decent Business Class/First Class fares although they are often "P" fares also sold by many consolitators. Hank

I do think that SB uses a deliberate (and smart) strategy of having trivia during the early lunch hour. It effectively meters the number of folks who show-up at the Colonnade around opening time. We noticed a similar strategy on a recent Sky Princess cruise where some popular activities were scheduled to conflict with the prime times for lunch. Hank

We started hearing some rumbling about this more than a decade ago while on a HAL cruise. Apparently, there are many folks who routinely book mulitple cruises (sometimes for the same time period) with no intention of taking most of those bookings. Why not? They can book 10, 15 or 20 cruises with relatively low deposits and block out their favorite cabin/suite locations. Then, as they near the final payment time they simply cancel the booking for which they have no interest. The problem is that when folks do all these faux bookings, they pull their selected cabins out of inventory. This negatively impacts many others, who are serious about a booking and cannot get desirable cabins or any cabin (if the cruise is sold out). We were told there are two ways to deal with this problem one of which is to increase deposits (some luxury lines have large deposit requirements) or keep lower deposits but make them non-refundable. Some lines offer multiple options so folks might be able to get a lower price if they make a non-refundable deposit or pay more for the cruise with a refundable deposit. By the way, you will also see some changes in the hotel industry. The old model where you could make bookings (with no deposit) and cancel up until the day of arrival have been disappearing. These days it is more common to pay more for refundable deposits and also require that cancelations be made several days (or even weeks) in advance. Lately we have noticed that mental rental car companies now offer lower rates for those who are willing to either prepay or provide non-refundable deposits. As a couple also in our 70s, we support these changes in the cruise industry. We rarely cancel a booking, and do like the ability to have a larger cabin inventory from which to choose, when we do book. If we are not sure about a cruise we generally do not book. Folks that are concerned about situations that might later force them to cancel (such as health issues) always have the option or purchasing various types of travel insurance including "cancel for any reason" waivers. Hank

Not surprising in a city known for its relatively high minimum wage. Economics was one of my majors and also a lifelong obsession. While higher minimum wage does help increase the standard of living for some folks, it also encourages businesses to look at innovative ways to reduce jobs. These days, high tech and robotics offer many options. In our free society folks are also making decisions to move to places with lower cost of living, lower taxes, more safety, etc. Another economic impact is that businesses simply close, because they no can no longer get a decent return on their investment. Some cruise lines are also implementing lots of changes such as fees for room service, increased tips (with such exotic names as "crew appreciation"), revised itineraries and shorter port times (to reduce cruise miles and slow down speeds for fuel savings), etc. One line is experimenting with robotic bar tenders and at some point, there will likely be robotics used for many onboard functions. Some changes are good and others....not so good. Hank

We have no problem accepting these different kinds of cruise line business "models." Since DW and I generally avoid cruise line excursions (like the plague) we had to compromise in order to book "O." We have already booked just enough excursions to use up the credits and will suffer through the group tours. Our 35 day Vista cruise was actually a pretty good deal (even with Simply More) and should satisfy our curiosity about O (somewhat spurred on by Flatbush Flyer's many online comments). If we like the product there will likely be more future O cruises, and if not we will just book more cruises with other lines. Free choice is a wonderful thing :). Hank

We also were surprised when we were planning our recent trip (last March - May) to Japanl. For whatever reason, many of Japan's banks (both major and smaller) have never tied their system into the various worldwide nets (i.e. Visa, Plus, Cirrus, etc). That does seem to be changing (we did see some bank ATMs that had network stickers) but slower than most of the world. On the other hand, we had few issues using Visa/MC credit cards in many places. Another strange issue are SUICA Cards. These are one of the two, very common pre-paid cards used for transportation (i.e. metro, buses, etc) in many parts of Japan. Those of us who like to do independent travel should really look into getting a Suica or Pasmo (a competitor) card. SUICA cards can be charged up with extra Yen at terminals found in many places (such as train stations and 7-11s) but this can only be done with cash (yen). You would think that these high tech systems would be credit card friendly, but that is not the case.\ On the other hand, Japan can be very high tech almost to an extreme. We went into one restaurant in Tokyo that did not use any waiters to take orders or hand out menus. On each table was a QR code and one used that code (with a working Smartphone) to pull up the menu (this is not uncommon in our own country). However, one had to than use the phone to order the food (there were no available waiters). A waiter did bring the food to the table. By using this method, some restaurants can really reduce the number of needed staff. A week later we ran into the same format at a nice restaurant in Kyoto. What do folks who do not have Smartphones do? I imagine they dine elsewhere or quietly starve :). Hank

I want to put one of your comments into perspective. We have cruised on 16 different cruise lines (our upcoming O cruise will be our 17th line) and O is the first ocean cruise line (out of 17) that forces folks to pay for excursions (whether they want them or not). Yes, we do know there are some others (i.e. Viking, Silversea and Regent quickly come to mind) which we have avoided...until now. I mention this because cruisers do have lots of choices between lines/ships (which is why we have never cruised on O until this year). Hank

We book all of our cruises through various cruise/travel agencies but always do our own air (and land arrangements). We see the cruise line air options (like Flightease) as just one option out of many. Hank

It’s like being charged for a free PG meal (5* gets u 2 free per cruise) or a 4* not getting their discount. A long standing problem which is only fixed when one points out the error.

And after reading my last post I bet you are thinking about Chad! ROFL. I should also mention that on one Prinsendam cruise, we met one of the HAL dance hosts who told us his favorite trip was to Myanmar and along the Idywadee River. When I asked him about the the danger of traveling in that part of the world, he insisted it was really not that much of an issue. Hmmm Hank

I am just going to think out loud and toss out an idea. If you are wedded to the idea of an RCI Excursion than you must live with the options offered through RCI. However, if you are open to doing some things on your own than there are plenty of options. For example, you could take public transportation (train or bus) to Aix en Provence which is actually a decent tourist city in its own right. While in Aix, there are places where you can rent bikes (just look online) and then ride out of the city to the nearby countryside. You should also be able to find some private tour options, but of course, these will come at a much higher cost. Hank

You can certainly find some interesting online info about ATMs in Japan, but you might want to consider that many Japanese ATMs do not work with our ATM/Debit cards. This is certainly changing, but can still be problem. However, there is a saving grace in Japan and it is called 7-11. There are 7-11 stores (just like the 7-11 stores in the USA except they have even more stuff) everywhere in Japan. And those stores have decent ATMs which do generally work fine with our North American ATM/Debit cards. Just a tip :). Hank

Certainly a double edged sword. But we have learned much (about travel) from others and it has served us well in more than 50 years of extensive (and often independent) travel. Just asking well traveled folks to tell us about their favorite cruise/trip has paid many dividends. Many of our travel decisions have been influenced by what we learned from others, while on cruises and driving trips. It is fascinating what you can learn from folks. On a recent HAL cruise, we were surprised to find ourselves sharing a table (DW, me, and Tony) for 3 with a true travel expert. He was Tony Wheeler, who is an Aussie who happened to be the founder (along with his DW) of the Lonely Planet Guides. What a treat (I guess he enjoyed our company because he joined us for a 2nd dinner). DW asked the inevitable question which was "what is your favorite place to visit." Tony thought a long time and finally said "Chad!" I would have expected him to say "India" but he made it clear that his favorites did evolve with the present and he did not live in the distant past. We have yet to visit Chad, but who knows :). One thing for sure is that nobody will visit Chat as part of a cruise. Hank

There is the reality that when you put a large group of folks in a confined space (ie. cruise ship, airport, bar, etc) everyone is going to risk greater exposure to germs/viruses. Over more than 50 years of extensive travel, we have learned a few simple tricks to lesson (not eliminate) our personal risk, but do accept the reality that socialization (which is something we love on ships and in travel) does come with a risk. Much of what we do is simply common sense! For example, we do try to avoid being close to folks who are constantly coughing or sneezing! Another favorite trick (which anecdotally seems to have been very effective) is to simply avoid elevators as much as possible. On cruise ships, we often use the stairs to move between a few decks. Not only does that get us some needed exercise, but being stuck in an enclosed chamber (with minimum ventilation) like an elevator is truly tempting fait. As a matter of personal habit, DW and I also love to maximize our time outdoors which does provide obvious benefits. Noro (norovirus) is a problem everywhere, but more of a problem when in cruise/travel mode. For some miraculous reason, DW and I have managed to avoid noro in over 1500 days of cruising and many years of worldwide travel. Why? We think it is a mix of common sense and a lot of luck. The common sense is to routinely wash one's hands with warm soapy water. As to buffets, we do try to use some common sense but do not go out of our way to avoid the various spreads of food. I do appreciate that some cruise lines (especially the premium/luxury lines have done much to eliminate much of the risk associated with buffets. Eliminating or lessoning the sharing of serving utensils does apparently have a big impact in reducing noro risk. I will mention that we have seen some cruisers who are so "obsessed" with germaphobia that it really impacts their travel experience. On one Seabourn cruise we met (at a distance) a lovely young couple (in their 30s) who would constantly wear masks, avoid being near anyone, and (we learned from a conversation) spend most of their time in their suite in order to avoid exposure to other folks. No doubt one can reduce their risk (of catching various diseases) by simply being anti-social and minimizing being near people. But this couple never went into a bar, did not go to shows, or do anything that increased their exposure to others. They seemed happy enough (we had our conversation in the MDR between tables) but not sure that kind of life would suit most folks (certainly not me). Hank

We have found some of that old cruising "charm" on a few of the smaller luxury ships. We have particularly enjoyed our time on Seabourn (ships with 450 or 600 passengers) where much of the charm is to be found just meeting and chatting with fellow passengers and crew. Although we also like some of the really large vessels (especially with Princess) we do agree with you that it is just not the same as cruising used to be. Hank

We did all those usual tourist things (using the local bus system to get around town and up to some of the suburbs) and had an enjoyable day. But let me try to put Marseille in perspective. One could fly into Newark Airport (you can even get non-stop flights from the UK) and spend an entire day in the city of Newark, New Jersey! You can even find some touristy things in that area and go home thinking, I had a nice day in Newark (as long as you were not mugged). And, of course, there would be no reason to go a few miles distant to New York City. And that is how I think of Marseille, kind of like Newark with much of Provence being akin to going through the tunnel (or over the bridge) to New York City. And guess where 99.9% of visitors spend their time? It is not that Marseille is a terrible place (like most cities it does have some charms) but rather that it is the gateway (for cruisers) to one of the most beloved regions of France. We used to suggest that first-time visitors to this part of France read Peter Mayle's "A Year in Provence" to get a feel for the region. My goodness, I believe that Peter Mayle had the audacity to write of Provence and barely mention Marseille :). One interesting factoid about Peter Mayle was that although his roots where English, he chose to live out many of his senior years on Long Island, NY. But eventually he did return to Provence (the Luberon) where he made his final home. Hank Hank

Reminiscing, I recall that the Marco Polo had a tall Norwegian Captain who was a delight. We met him somewhere on the ship and he took an interest in us when he learned we lived in Central Pennsylvania. Why? He was a big fan and expert on the Amish, which has a big community in the Lancaster, PA area. He quickly had us invited to his table, and put DW next to him so they could talk, the entire meal, about where we lived and the Amish. Such a small kind of thing, but a memory of a man and age long gone. Hank

The situation with overcharges on HAL, goes back a very long time (perhaps more than a decade). The issue, for us, is not as much about an accounting error but the fact (and it is a fact) that multiple errors (often for similar reasons) can occur again and again and again. Calling it to the attention of Guest Services simply gets a message sent to the appropriate department (i.e. beverage, PG, etc) and eventually it does get fixed. But each and every overcharge becomes a separate issue. In our case, there the first few times the Guest Services folks would follow up with a courtesy phone call saying the overcharge and been corrected. But after it happened (many times) Guest Services stopped calling or even acknowledging our messages, but simply corrected the overcharge. After several weeks I mentioned to Guest Services that perhaps we could "help" by meeting with the Hotel/General Manager...but as you can imagine despite 3 requests for a meeting none were even acknowledged. Why? They obviously have a serious accounting issue onboard HAL ships, are well aware there is a problem. and simply refuse to discuss it with customers (even those of us who are 5*). They fix the errors that are caught by the passengers, and likely keep all the overage from the many errors not noticed by passengers. Others (not me) have actually speculated that the errors seem to be deliberate and could generate a lot of extra revenue when one considers the number of passengers and ships. We are not that cynical...but one must admit that problems that exist over many years, and are not corrected, could be construed as deliberate malfeasance. I would imagine if the accounting errors were in favor of the passenger the company would move heaven, earth, and the sea to fix the internal problem. Our most common overcharge was for drinks that were slightly in excess of the drink package. So, for example, a Cosmopolitan costs $1 over the Signature Beverage Package limit and should be charged $1.18. But, in many cases the entire drink charge (not just the overage) would be charged to the account. Day after day...even after it was pointed out to the bar tenders, bar manager, Guest Services, etc. The other issue has to do with free meals in the alternative restaurant (such as for 4-5* or HIA) that somehow get charged at the full price (when it should be zero). Hank