mnocket

Love it! Can I steal this line?

Perhaps, or perhaps you are overly impressed without knowing their certification levels. As I pointed out in my previous post, a Level 1 certification can be obtained by taking a fairly short online course followed by an exam that almost everyone passes. Here's another example of an online course. This one is a 4-week online course followed by an exam that 98% of the students pass. WSET LEVEL 1 AWARD IN WINES - ONLINE – Wine Academy of Las Vegas (wineacademylv.com) Without knowing the certification level, WSET / CMS bona fides mean very little. I'm not saying it's impossible, but I'd be very surprised to find a highly trained and certified sommelier working on a cruise ship rather than a find dining restaurant where they would be far better paid and given access to a far better wine inventory. It's theater. Theater isn't bad, many people enjoy it. Nothing wrong with that.

The first level sommelier test is offered at the end of a weekend course, and around 90% of students pass it. The next level, the Certified Sommelier, has about 66% of its applicants passing. The Advanced Sommelier exam pass rate is about 25%, and the Master Sommelier pass rate is around 5%. Sommelier Exam: 27 Question Categories to Anticipate (binwise.com) I don't know if the "sommeliers" on cruise ships even take a weekend course and pass the Level 1 exam. Highly trained sommeliers are going to be found in fine dining restaurants, not on cruise ships. It's theater.

Given how prevalent this seems to be, I'd wager the F&B manager already knows this is going on.

First, I suspect it's actually someone from Marketing or Customer Service answering the questions, not Laura. Second, companies do these kinds of things as Sales & Marketing exercises. While it's understandable that many people expect to get candid answers from these sorts of Q&As, it never happens - regardless of which company is doing it. It's no more genuine then when companies tell you how important your call is to them... while you sit on hold. Sorry your disappointed - I am too, but I'm too much of a skeptic to expect much better.

Fairly misleading. 3,000 staterooms = 6.000 capacity when using the 2 pax per stateroom that is the industry standard for measuring full capacity. So somewhat more passengers than Oasis class ships.

I repeat my earlier advice.... There are some people whose minds are closed to opinions that differ from theirs, and who hold personal opinions based on a narrow experience base. When encountering such people, it's best to just ignore them. Arguing with anonymous people on the internet is rarely productive.

My advice is to ignore comments like his. Some people just can't seem to accept that someone else's expectations being different than there's doesn't make them inferior.

You might want to check out Post #22, It links to another article that says it was indeed an NCL excursion.

I could be wrong, but I strongly suspect that it isn't Laura who is answering the questions. I suspect this Q&A is purely a marketing effort from start to finish.

It's not clear, but it sounds like they may have been on a ship tour and were abandoned. Maybe someone knows the details? Family of nine left behind in remote Alaska and charged $9K by Norwegian Cruise Lines (nypost.com)

Here's a rather high-level summary of the different categories of cruise lines from mass-market to ultra-luxury. As in most things in life, you do tend to get what you pay for. Exploring Cruise Line Categories: From Mass-Market to Ultra-Luxury - Sophisticated Travel And here's a very brief summary of the best-known (to Americans) cruise lines. Cruise ship guide: 20 popular lines explained - The Points Guy I hope this helps.

In cases like this, do they change your connecting flight without you having to pay an increased fare?

How does that equation go? Something like.... Experience - Expectations = Satisfaction With their "Finest Cuisine at Sea" boast, Oceania sets the expectations for many people extremely high. It's really not that surprising then that some are left disappointed. As with most any product/service, if you believe the marketing hype, you are bound to be disappointed - especially if you have a broad frame of reference.

So I'm guessing with a day pass the typical 3pm room availability is waived? The only time I've used a day pass was at a resort in the South Pacific. It allowed use of the pool & beach and included lunch, but no room.

It looks like, other than the umbrellas, the cabanas are identical. Are there some service differences that account for the premium price?

Comments like this one make me wish we had a downvote button.

We tried an adults-only all-inclusive resort in Cancun a few years ago. We enjoyed it so much we returned the next year to try a different AI resort. I've avoided Mexico for decades, but these vacations worked out great as, other than the private car hire for transportation between the resort and airport, we were totally content within the resort grounds. If you're a "the ship is the destination" type of person, you may find adult-only AI resorts work for you too. I do think it's important to stick with adults-only resorts, and to seek out the higher-end (albeit more expensive) properties. The two I've tried are.... Valentin Imperial Riviera Maya , Official Website (valentinmaya.com) and All Inclusive Adults Only Resort in Cancun | Excellence Playa Mujeres (excellenceresorts.com) With these sorts of things, advice from others only goes so far. You never really know if it's a good fit for you until you give one a try.

That makes sense.

I'm surprised they would do this from a safety perspective.

Ah, I get your point. I interpreted... "debark the ship , stay a few days , or a week ect …. then return from Aruba back to port Everglades on the next scheduled cruise ?" differently. I thought OP meant 2 separate cruises, but I see he could mean purchasing a single cruise and trying to take a gap in the middle - which I agree would be a problem.

I really don't understand all the comments questioning whether cruise lines would allow this. Using a cruise ship as an alternative to air travel is actually a common practice for some people - typically between the US and Europe, but I see no reason why Aruba would be any different.

The issue isn't that there aren't any new-built small ships - the issue is that there aren't any that are affordable to many people. Given this, I suspect that there will be those people who conclude that since they find overcrowding on mainstream cruise ships unacceptable, and they can't afford the alternatives, they will reluctantly forgo cruising in favor of other vacation alternatives. That said, there must be plenty of people who are still willing to accept the pros & cons of what has become of mainstream cruise lines, or they wouldn't be building so many new ships. The cruising experience on mainstream lines simply isn't what it once was, and for many it is no longer enjoyable despite the value proposition.

If that sort of thing continues, where tourists are attacked, I suspect a lot of people will reconsider.

The anti-tourist protests do seem to be taking on a more aggressive tone. It seems some tourists in Barcelona were recently attacked with water pistols. That might disturb one's meal on a sidewalk cafe, now wouldn't it? Spanish anti-tourism protesters take aim at Barcelona visitors with water guns - CBS News