gerryuk

I am shocked nobody has mentioned Costa yet. Come on you know you love them. 😉

For me Costa Toscana is one of the best ships i have been on, having said that Costa Firenze, is the worse. 

Will you not be defrauding the insurance company with your idea? 

This is the closest i could find....

How Do I Negotiate a Deal on a Cruise? | Getaway USA (azcentral.com)

1 hour ago, sparks1093 said:

As for the cruise lines, I am sure that if they have unsold cabins left just prior to sailing they have set the price as low as they can in order to sell them. 

But obviously they are not selling them, if there are empty cabins on departure. If the cabin is $4000 and you offer them $3000, then $3000 is better than zero. Now you could spend more on the ship or spend nothing, but $3000 is still better than zero. 

18 minutes ago, Kristelle said:

I dislike haggling  and would not do it.

 

 

But 99% of homeowners do it, or try it. Don't know how it works down under, but here in the UK most people wanting to buy a home never pay the asking price, unless they are desperate to buy that particular house. If the house is on the market and you want to buy it, you make a offer to the seller, its up to him / her to decline the offer or accept it. If they are selling at 500k i would look to see how long that property has been on the market, if its been on the market for a long time i would make a offer 450k. The seller could decline and run the risk of never finding a buyer or come back and and say that they would accept 480k. No difference to haggling with taxi drivers and venders, you may just want to call it something else, though.

1 hour ago, Mum2Mercury said:

This is what I was about to answer.  The people who work the customer service lines aren't authorized to change prices.  

They have supervisors, couldn't they make a call upstairs?  

Hypothetically speaking....

You live next to a cruise port and notice that a cruise ship is leaving tomorrow and you like the itinerary. When you do a mock booking online, you notice that there a loads of unsold balcony cabins. The price of the cabin is $2000 per person, based on double occupancy. 

Would you ring the cruise line up and tell them that you are prepared to pay them $3000 for the cabin but not a dollar more? What would the cruise lines response be?

Most people are happy to haggle with vendors, taxi drivers and the like. Would you try to haggle with the cruise line, or is that sort of behaviour beneath you?

Just to point out, i don't live next to a cruise port so this would be of no use to me.

There are 195 countries in the world, 133 countries boarder the sea. Many wont have ports to handle cruise ships, and many cruise ships would never visit certain places like North Korea.

Highly unlikely that you will ever be able to go on world cruise and visit more than 100 countries.  

17 hours ago, Eric from San Diego said:

I would love to cruise on Costa.   After all, if I travel to Europe to enjoy the cuisine and culture, then a European ship full of Europeans should be wonderful.  But trying to schlep luggage and me from California to Marseille or Genoa or Savona (where is that?   Do they have an airport?) does not seem practical.   

 

Plus I don't understand Costa's practice of embarking and disembarking passengers at every port they stop at.  Having new people on board every day seems like it would destroy the sense of continuity.   

Savona is generally the main embarking and disembarking port for Italians. Barcelona is the main port for many Europeans and those outside Europe. Its very easy to get from the airport to the cruise port in Barcelona. 

I wish all cruise lines did the same as Costa, hell who wants to que with thousands of others during embarkation, when with Costa it is usually a few hundred at most, at each port.

I also think it is good business practice for Costa. Many people who board cruise ships go on a spending spree for the first few days, then they cut their spending down. New customers every day is money, money, money.

1 hour ago, navybankerteacher said:

 

 

If you do not want to be filmed, wouldn’t you understand that others probably would not like it as well?  As long as they do it to others you feel it’s OK ?  

Absolutely not, its not ok. 

I have been on Costa Toscana twice, Barcelona to Dubai and also the return. I cannot answer about suites as i was in a balcony. The ship is beautiful but it is a mega ship. 

There is a dedicated kids club, also one for teenagers. The teenage club is also going at 11.00 at night, they like to do things later on Costa. Yes to bars and entertainment.

11 minutes ago, MacMadame said:

So vloggers can't go on vacation?

If your vlogging you are working. If you are a vlogger and go on a cruise without filming then you are on vacation, there is a big difference. 

Remember every click you get on YouTube equals payment. I read some ware that the inland revenue (tax office) in the UK are starting to look into payments to vloggers who are not paying tax on this money.   

39 minutes ago, mom says said:

And I would argue that legally there is no expectation of personal privacy while in any public area.

 

 

A cruise ship is private property, the owners have every right to stop people filming on their property.

1 hour ago, leaveitallbehind said:

I'm confused - are you in favor of the vloggers and upset with MSC, or support their actions with telling them to stop filming?

 

 

I would support any cruise line that asks people that are continually filming to stop.

As you will be aware, a couple of vloggers from the UK, stormed off a cruise ship with MSC after they were told to stop filming. The incident is discussed at length on the MSC board, please go over there, for that topic.

I would be interested to hear your comments on vloggers generally. Personally I believe in general, vloggers have been good for the cruise industry, but it seems to me that there are so many of them now, its at saturation point.

For me i don't mind people filming and taking pictures on the ship, as long as they don't film me. I do not want people filming on the next table to me in the restaurant or buffet, even if they are not filming me. I think filming in those areas should be banned. 

I think the time has come for the cruise lines to come up some rules and regulations regarding filming on their property. 

Will be interested to hear your take on this, but please don't discuss the vloggers from the UK, go over to the MSC boards for that discussion. 

Costa, again.

On 3/5/2024 at 12:07 AM, kaysha2004 said:

Can we stay on the topic of this thread?  Any other solo bargains out there?

Costa 

I know that you are in the US, so probably of no use to you, but Costa in Europe generally has low or no single supplement. I have been booking them for years, travelling solo and always find their prices reasonable. They do not however have solo meet ups.

Don't forget that Costa is primarily Italian. Not many Italians on these boards for obvious reasons.  

Don't know the schedule for World Europa, but it may have something to do with the current state in the Gulf Of Aden and Red Sea. Costa have cancelled their Toscana return from Dubai to the Med due to the war. Toscana will return from the Gulf with no passengers and very few crew, with military assistance or will have to sail the long way around Africa. If its the long way round that will have a knock on affect for future cruises on the Toscana, perhaps that is what is going on here with Europa?

Costa have cancelled their Toscana return cruise from Dubai to the Mediterranean, due to the war in the Gulf Of Aden. Other lines like MSC have done the same. 

Toscana will be brought back to the Mediterranean with military assistance or will have to go the long way round. If its the long way round via Africa, then other cruises on Toscana will be affected. Costa are offering full refunds. So sad for those affected, but safety comes first. 

No library on Toscana or Firenze. 

If you decide to go down the solo cruising road, stay well clear of Celebrity Cruises.

Costa are probably the cheapest way to go Cruising. They do world cruises, transoceanic, world cruise segments and the like. Just because they are cheaper than most, does not mean their product is bad.

11 hours ago, Bill B said:

Does anyone have experience with booking Back-to-Backs when they had a specific room for the first cruise and a 'guarantee' on the second? If so, was anyone assigned the same room for both cruises?

Costa do embarkations / disembarkations at most ports on the cruise you are on. It is unlikely you will be assigned the same cabin as it may well be sold. Go to reception a couple of days before your first cruise ends and ask them if you have to move or not.