Bazfan

30% sounds like a good bargain, enjoy your cruise! 

Just to reiterate what others have said, many times it is cheaper to pay the price of two people in a double cabin than it is to have a designated single cabin. Seems daft but it’s true. 

Thanks MrFun In The Sun x think the penny has finally dropped duh! Instead of paying two lots of £1000 as in my e.g. you only pay one and a half £1000,

which gives you a good saving. I will look out for this on my future cruises

Try for when second person is 50% off. It translates to 150% for one person. That's what I got for my solo Pacific Northwest cruise on Explorer.

Im not quite sure of your logic here, and if I am missing something please put me right, If the cruise is e,g £1000 then the second person would pay £500, Therefore the cost to each person is £750. A single person would pay the £1,500 which is 100% supplement. You will still have paid the price of 2 people

Thanks Sauspud

Its not the volume which makes it hard for me but more the clarity of the speech. Hard to explain. But thanks again.

Wow, it does seem to be a more 'common problem' than I thought .

And I do get the impression, from lots of posts, that the ship's company see people with mobility issues more worthy of help (and so they should have assistance, Im not disputing that) than people wth hearing problems. I'll have to check things out with the special needs people and possibly guest services.

Thanks, I'll look into it, I know real emergencies are few and far between but just in case....

I am not totally deaf but I have problems with the clarity of speech so a captains announcement sounds like it could be in a foreign language!

I will be on my own in the cabin so could I arrange for a member of staff to come and get me in the case of a real emergency in the night. I have given up hoping for tv info with subtitles,Any tips please

Thanks Parsman, I had the same trouble on CMV earlier this year. Wonder if there's any reason for it

I noticed in all cabins on the Balmoral there is 'an interactive smart tv' Although Im not altogether sure of all its functions can anyone tell me if there are subtitles on messages, films, the news etc. I am not fully deaf but I do rely on subtitles.

Thankyou

Thankyou Langley Cruisers for those kind words, now I've dipped my toe into the water, so to speak, I will feel comfortable contributing to other threads.

In reply to Nic 6318 I have read, and enjoyed,and got helpful hints from cruise critic for quite awhile and my own personal opinion is to pay gratuities, but the ladies words have stayed with me since my last cruise and I just wondered what people's views were. It wasnt a case of 'to tip or not to tip' just her view on it. The lady and I werent discussing tips,( I wouldnt do that cos its personal) she just excused herself to go to guest services to remove the tips and that was the reason she gave.

Thanks for your replies, I shan't give her words any more thought!

I dont want to start yet another thread about tipping because at the end of the day only you can decide but having said that my question is about tipping!

A couple of months ago I was talking to a lady ( we were both solo travellers) and she said because she had paid almost double for her cabin she didnt pay tips cos, in her words," they had got enough money out of her."

I have always paid the gratuities but it did get me thinking. Do you think she was right?