evagoblin

It doesn't hurt to make suggestions, I have a few anecdotes, couple of them you might find funny. On Celebrity they have made to order smoothies, in the morning at home, I just drink smoothies, have no appetite to eat in the morning and they cost $5 (or something like that) which I felt was quite unfair as I was saving them money not eating all high fat meats and high carb breakfast selections (if I was allowed to bring my blender, I'd just take fruit and do it myself). I called the customer service and said they should include that in one of their drink packages, lo and behold, when I was planning my transpositioning cruise and I called and asked about it and now they ARE in their drink packages (and the packages did NOT go up in price!) And you could still buy them individually.

Another time, the first cruise I was on, was a Fall cruise, most of the cities, I was not interested in most of the cities, Boston, Portland ME, but WAS excited about the last stop Halifax which had many artifacts of the Titanic, but because of a hurricane we could not stop there. Very disappointed, I contacted the Cruise Director and said that being we couldn't stop there we all should get some cruise credit that we could use to amuse ourselves on the ship. The cruise director personally called me and told me that because of what I said everyone was getting a REFUND of some amount of money. Feeling pretty proud that I had done something that helped everyone, I was bragging about it at the cruise shop, and the sales girl arched her eyebrows and replied, "Those are the port charges, they HAD to refund that"..ahh why couldn't she just let think that even though I was not a person in any sort of power, that I had done something to make the world a little better ;):loudcry:;);p:rolleyes:!!

My last story is when Clinton was in power, I took a tour and the tour guide said something about the President of Panama (or a cabinet officer) knew Clinton personally as they were in college or law school together. When I was at the airport and having to pay the airport tax was very annoyed (at myself too since I could have cashed them at the hotel first) that they didn't take travelers checks and in order to pay for it, I had to go to the ATM machine there, and between what Bank of America charged and the ATM service charges I paid more in fees than the airport taxes. I decided to write to the White House and said, Look Mr. President, I don't expect you to do anything about it but can you talk to your friend the President or Minister, I don't expect a street vendor or a small business owner to take a travelers check but they SHOULD at the AIRPORT. I also, lied through my teeth, and said I am bi-lingual in Chinese and English and could help them in their re-election campaign (I am a liberal Democrat but NEVER EVER voted for any Clinton, I felt that Hilary was lying when she attacked Gennifer Flowers, and I felt her defense of her husband helped elect him, who as President, disgraced the office and thus brought about the loss of Congressional seats of Democrats and the defeat of the Democrat's presidential candidates.)

Everyone laughed at me, but lo and behold, I got an answer that my suggestion was forwarded to the State Dept. and about a week after that the State Dept. contacted me and said that it was a good idea, and now they were taking TC at the airport. The funny thing about this was during the second election I kept getting calls which since I didn't answer the phone, voice mails from the Clinton campaign. It later came out, that the Chinese government was funneling money to the Clinton campaign https://www.nationalreview.com/2017/07/chinese-illegally-donated-bill-clinton-reelection-campaign-media-downplayed/ and I always wondering if that was why they bothered to deal with my small issue and was why they were so persistent in trying to reach me, naiive me I thought it was only my one little vote, not even an electoral one :DLMAO!!!

Thank you for the ONE person who didn't take umbrage and understood that I wanted to HELP people with this suggestion not HURT them, it would be a paid option that only people who wanted it would have to pay for, it wouldn't be FORCED on all others who would ALL have to pay for it, with higher fares.

Well it IS interesting to see all the replies, as I said this is on repositioning cruises, with not a lot of port stops, and as they said in Italian, mi dispiace, did not mean to offend by saying NCL passengers are cheap, should use the euphemism, fiscally prudent. I am, I don't have time and am too cheap to go to movies or subscribe to all those streaming service since I ALREADY am forced to pay for cable through my HOA and have hundreds of TV shows to watch when I DO have leisure time so downloading movies is NOT an option and wouldn't want to watch on a small computer screen.

I DID say in my FIRST post, that this was a transpositioning cruise, that is ONE of the reasons of many, despite reaching almost Ambassador status I am no longer cruise on NCL and will be taking HAL for this cruise although it costs more and has less port stops. I am making this suggestion NOT to bash NCL but so they can give prospective passengers more reasons to take them vs other ones. I think with all the new ships being built and more cabins to fill, cruise ships would rather hear about how to attract more passengers, not for them to find reasons for them NOT to cruise on their line. HAL who usually attracts an older demographic, will have a $170 fee for unlimited internet on their 15 day transpositioning cruise. I remember attending a town hall type of meeting on NCL, a transpositioning cruise which had mostly older people in the crowd, a man stood up and said, "if you want to get the younger generation to cruise, have free (or cheap, can't quite remember) internet and people cheered and clapped for 5 minutes.

As for those who criticize me for watching TV (MOVIES not shows) I already mention the dearth of activities I find on NCL ships especially as one who has cruised them many times, so when I have a cruise like that, now I would like to watch movies or read books, (their libraries are usually not very good either) as ordinarily I don't have much time to read or watch movies but I don't understand why so many are so hostile to my watching movies on TV on a cruise, I once had a cabin mate, who spent almost every waking minute, playing the same computer game over and over and over again, never leaving the cabin except to eat (with the sound on late at night, and it was just sound effects with no instructions for the game, not even music) and some people play board and card games so why not want to watch movies, different strokes for different folks!

Last but not least, when someone mocked me about how NCL will have cheap cabins but nickle and dime for everything, it IS true (talked to someone in the industry), the person who laughed knows VERY little (politely I won't say he knows nothing) about business (gave another example below ). Travel agents MUCH prefer booking passengers on those high end voyages which include everything because they can make more money as they make commission on the complete cost of the cruise which is not broken down. On a line like NCL where a passenger doesn't pay for all the fee based perks until they get on the ship, the T.A. make no commissions on them.

It's like with newspapers, I entered a contest my local paper had and not reading the fine print, did not realize that I started a subscription, when I started getting the paper, I contacted them and told them that I didn't want a subscription but I knew that newspaper does not make their money on the subscriptions they charge their customers (even though the charge for a much thinner paper at $1.25 per issue-which is how much the LA Times used to charge for a Sunday paper heavy enough to kill a small dog is much higher than years ago, for a much thicker one, which was .10) but on what they can charge the few companies still advertising in the paper for a guaranteed subscription base (the number of people who would see the ad) and if they wanted to keep me as a subscriber for those reasons and not charge me for it, they could do so. I guess I was ABSOLUTELY right, because they keep delivering the paper without charging me (I not only talked to someone on the phone but sent an email so they understood.)

Not all people can afford that the Haven, and I don't want all the other amenities just the movies.

I posted this on their FB page as I hoped others beside readers on here, might also second my suggestion but the post was never posted (unless they review them first). It was somewhat negative towards the cruise line (in a positive way :hearteyes::hearteyes:) but I see that they haven't removed from their FB page people who just insulted them!

My suggestion for NCL (and hope many, MANY, you second this on their FB site, does no good here) is that NCL has a movie pass for the fee based ($5.99-7.99) movies shown on TV, purchase a package like $10 a day for as many movies as one wants for the whole cruise, or if it's a longer cruise, maybe have weekly packages at a little higher price per day or a day pass if they want of $15 for one whole day of unlimited movies but still cheaper than per movie which also should still be available.

Most people I think, don't see live musicals so often and may just prefer movies, plus the fact if you are a frequent cruiser like I WAS with them, you have seen the shows already (even though I prefer NCL price and itineraries for my U.S. to Tokyo cruise, with so many sea days wanted to go on a cruise ship with a good library of both books and movies -HAL has 2000 movies you can see on their FREE On Demand system, and for your jokesters referring to HAL demographics, NO, they are not just ones you would see on Turner Movie Classic channel!) tired of NCL's cheap entertainment of just trivia games with schlocky prizes or worse yet no prizes a'tall or fee based games, like Bingo and Deal or No Deal and everything else interesting usually fee based. NCL usually doesn't have many lecturers but on the few cruises that they DID have them on, they were packed (people taking the transpositioning ones are different from Carib. passengers, people WILL go them and again, that's not a real expensive form of entertainment for NCL.)

On NCL, the free movies are pretty banal and worse, you can't get a schedule of them and just have the luck `to see it from the beginning to end. They could also use it as an another option for their Free At Sea, it might cost them less than the free excursion and for sure the free internet minutes.

Most people who cruise on NCL, let's face it are cheap and will NOT spend $5.99 on up per movie so they lose that revenue but with packages, passenger may be willing to pay for that, (of course, knowing NCL's propensity for nickle and diming they may not have done this already because they can't ) but as I first said, I hope others who read this, will second this. The IDEAL solution of course, would be just to have movies on TV for free, but of course, that's NOT NCL, their philosophy is sell the room cheap so you don't have to give too much to the travel agent and make money on everything else!

If not, can (hope NCL is reading this) at least, give people who come to the front desk, a schedule of when the movies start and stop (so if you want to do a shipboard activity you can see if you will have enough time to see it to the end,) if you are too ah..thrifty..to give every stateroom one?

If it is such a trivial amount I guess RCI doesn't need it and can include it at no charge like they did for 40years

I agree with you completely, no one should judge another if they complain about something. I disagree completely with those who say that if you can't afford it don't take cruises, FREE room service is one of the pleasures of cruising so now I know, I will take cruises on lines only that include that (one of the reasons and I guess this should be on the thread about food waste is that I DO like to taste all the courses, and it would take up too much space on the table-I DID a couple of times convince people at my table to serve plates family style so everyone could try each dish but know that will not happen often) wish they had small plates as do not want a large entree but unfortunately it's not done due to probably the extra time that cooking different courses would take, and if served in my room, would not be judged by others about what food I did or did not eat. People who judge others for what they do or do not eat or what other people do or do not want to pay for, are the people in my opinions who should NOT be taking cruises, a cruse should be what one does enjoy doing not worried about what others may think.

Probably should not take food in the theater but sometimes if one doesn't have time to eat, and wants to get a good seat and has to go there a half hour early, I can see why one would take it, I don't as it's too much of a hassle although on a small ship on HAL from Africa to England (30 days starting from $999) I did bring it in for the afternoon lectures.

I've had nights when I didn't feel like changing into better clothes and I've gone to the dining room and ordered an escargot to go. They've brought it to me on a covered plate and I take it up to the Windjammer and have it with my dinner there. Gotta have my escargot.

Is this on RC, as that is the thread this is on. I know on NCL, they will not allow you to take something from the dining room EXCEPT in the speciality dining room where they did deliver it to my room, but maybe it was because you pay for each item a la carte (although we used a speciality restaurant coupon.)

Do NOT under ANY circumstances get off one cruise in Port Canaveral and get on another in Fort Lauderdale I want to post this to direct people to a story I wrote in the thread

"How to get from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale Cruise port"

warning people the perils of trying to go on back to back cruises from those two different ports on the same day, they may not be far apart but the logistics if you do not drive yourself make it almost impossible to do. Scroll to the last post by evagoblin.

I want to post this to direct people to a story I wrote in the thread

"How to get from Orlando to Ft. Lauderdale Cruise port"

warning people the perils of trying to go on back to back cruises from those two different ports on the same day, they may not be far apart but the logistics if you do not drive yourself make it almost impossible to do. Scroll to the last post by evagoblin.

Want to warn people (altho most people I feel are smarter than me) about the difficulty of getting from Orlando to Fort Lauderdale by public transportation if you are going from one cruise ship to another. I had booked one cruise in Orlando and then another in Fort Lauderdale the day the first ship returned as when I googled it, I saw that it was only three hours plus to get Orlando so booked it thinking I can very easily get there not thinking that I was to relying on public transportation and not driving directly to get there. (The roommate for the second cruise wanted to go to one of the ports on the second cruise which they took off the second cruise otherwise I would have taken the second also out of Port Canaveral!!)

I found out to my chagrin, that a bus transport service that would go from port to port would leave Orlando before my first cruise would return, Greyhound which made many stops would arrive after, the train would be too slow, however I mistakingly rejoiced when I saw a Florida based airline, Silver Wings, would fly from MCO to FLL, leaving at 1:40 it would get there at 2:45, and it takes less than 15 min to get to the port (had to check in by 4.) It was cutting it close but I would definitely make it (at least get in line waay before 4), this was a Fl. based airline with no flight originating in the bad weather east and I had trip insurance for delays. I was at the airport early and to my horror as I am waiting in line, I see the flight time change from 1:40 to 2:40. I quickly called my travel insurance company to see if they will cover the cost of a taxi (yes, I am from CA, L.A. no less, but I stopped driving when I was traumatized by hitting a motorcyclist-he was so obviously at fault that the cop apologized when giving me the ticket, said he HAD to do it as I hit him, but for me to fight it, but he never turned the ticket in!) but they would cover it ONLY if the flight was delayed more than five hours and this was only ONE hour. I did not think of a car service driving me down although I did think of a taxi but none could go there. I called the cruise ship saying I am sure that I could make it by 4:30 but was told that if I got there one minute after 4 they would not let me check in. (On most of my other ships, there were many that had left late, and I had been told that sometimes it was delayed for passengers but not sure, but it could be for passengers on cruiseship air tickets or a group delay, so foolishly I thought despite what I was told that they may wait.) Around that time also, the flight departure time was changed to twenty minutes earlier leaving at 2:20 PM so I thought I could still make it.

Well, Murphy's law being what it is, it did leave closer to 2:40, Silver Wings (NEVER take this airline) does not let you put the carryon on the airplane where I could have sprinted off the plane as soon as it landed, but in a separate hold from checked bags (and the crew unloading it was delayed) and the car service that I DID hire in FLL so I would not have to look for a taxi was not there and had to wait at least five minutes. I got there 10 minutes before the ship was to depart but the gangplank was pulled and the people would not radio the ship (probably wouldn't have mattered anyway.)

If you are so foolish as I to book two cruise from two different ports on the same, than a cheaper alternative than flying to the second port and staying in the hotel awaiting arrival of the ship (and you have extra hassle with immigration) is either Lyfting or going on Craigslist under ride share. Often when I travel I put an ad in the personals section and meet a man that I have dinner and sitesee with, but for some reason although there were many ads for people to transport long distances I was hesitent. Do NOT take Silver Wings and if you are in FLL do NOT take Fernando's Limo, not only does he gouge chargng twice as much as the other companies, but he does not use licensed chauffers in company cars, the guy picking me up told me he was a friend of the owner's using his own car, I might as well have hired Uber/Lyft for half the cost of a taxi instead of something that cost 4 x more (and then the cc showed even a higher price that I am disputing and to add insult to injury, he was not there waiting for me (the whole point of hiring them) and those 5 minutes waiting for him (may have made a HUGE difference!) Even if you have been on ships that HAVE waited for passengers, NEVER, EVER think that it will happen for you, because I experienced it in the past, I thought that was a possiblilty and literally had to pay a huge price for that thought.

I was doing some research of cheaper options than the Cruise ship shuttles and went to Cruzely.com who had an article about the shuttles but since one he mentioned, had bad reviews and one nothing, me being me, did research posted it in the comment section which is awaiting moderation and not wanting this good research go to waste, (why, I do this, sigh, when I have SO many other things to do, I do not know, my small way in making the world a little better I guess, :D) decided to post the results of my investigations here!!

The first thing I want to point out (and you have to double check their websites for the times) is these independent shuttles have earlier times that they stop service from MCO to Pt. C. and vice versa, so if a flight that arrives later than I PM or want to leave the ship after 10AM, you may be better off taking the cruise ships shuttle.

• As said on the Cruzely website, Travel Orlando on Yelp does have low star reviews, disturbing that a rep. from the company does not respond.
  The lowest priced one at $14 (which may be the only way that can get customers based on their reviews) Port Canaveral Cruise Shuttle now has reviews and yes, there are a couple of five star ones on Yelp (that are two-three years old), which brought their ratings up but the bad ones (latest 2017) are REALLY bad and there is no rebuttal by the company, bad enough their shuttles are late, cancelled with no explanation and no refund, luggage (on a vehicle???) not being there when arriving but someone caught the driver rifling through the luggage!! Maybe they’ HAVE improved because of these complaints (as often happens) hope somebody (not me) takes a chance on them and if they have improved writes a good review!!!
  That company should not be confused with another company which is only .95 more $14.95 OW and $28 RT (and that may be worth your piece of mind) with a similar name that and has mostly five star reviews on Yelp, their star rating was brought down with some lower star reviews but the complaints are addressed by a rep. from the company that states that they take the complaints seriously and have changed things so it would not happen again, but the problems could stem from the fact that they contract out to a third party to provide the transportation and this company is https://www.goportcanaveral.com. They had one negative review on Cruise Critic but written 5 years ago.
  Called Cortrans who on Yelp and CC here, with all excellent reviews and their good service may be due the fact that they own their vehicles and drivers directly work for THEM. They are still cheaper than the cruise ship and only $6 more than the low rated cheapest.
   
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As I said in my original query, the review that I am talking about is the general review NOT the ones posted by members.

I was reading about the Brilliance of the Seas and the reviewer said that there was a lot of cigarette smoke in the hallways etc. I wanted to know if that was still a problem but didn´t want to read each review, by the members to see if this was still a problem. I guess I could just post a question, but was wondering why the CC (not those of the members) but the general review has not posting date. Also I was going to suggest that the readers review have something next to it so a person can scroll down quickly as see the when and where their ship went, if you wanted to see something about a specific sailing.

And BTW, if someone was recently on that ship, can you answer that question?

Due to their miserly prices, I took a lot of NCL cruises but now with an inheritance (if you want to leave your heirs money, buy housing in the San Francisco Bay Area, in almost 40 years the property appreciates almost 10-20X what you pay for it!) I want to try more of the upscale cruises. Since NCL owns Oceania, I thought of buying stock (kind of my rebate on traveling on the more expensive cruise line :D) but does anyone know if you get the same stockholder perks that you get on NCL and also I think that I have been told that if you are on a certain tier level on Royal Caribbean, you would be on the same tier level on their sister company ships, Celebrity, would that work the same way on NCL where I am a Platinum and Oceania? I admit with all the benefits and privileges of Oceania that may be a moot point as a low tier on them is better than a high tier on NCL :p!! NOT interested in the Haven, as a solo traveler, do not stay much in the room, so do not need the space. I realize that this may not be answered as probably as most people on NCL cruises do not take Oceania and vice versa;-) but maybe a travel professional or someone that knows a lot about them can answer. BTW, Oceania´s office is closed this weekend (and NCL bookers do not know) so can not ask O now and another reason to post maybe there is ONE other person like me who wants to do this and know also !!

Oh, I did not see this thread, I posted a similar thread under There IS a difference between "Travel and booking," others reading this might find it helpful...

One of the reasons, that the Amazon (and for than matter India cruises) are so cheap at the last minute, is the whole visa thing, India allows you to use an Evisa in three seaports but NOT Bombay and Brazil makes you go through the whole hassle also with theirs, but I was told directly by Brazilian embassy that in 2018, they absolutely, positively, will be using the evisa (though I forgot to ask, if it could be used in ports) maybe someone else could ask, I had to send multiple emails and almost was going to call them before they replied.

I am not an agent for them, but they DO have those kind of sailings you want !!!

Cruise and Maritime Voyage (this is a British line, where the currency on board is pound sterling but they also have a NO children policy!!) has only a 25% single supplement on ALL sailings (maybe they do not need to gouge as there is no Arison family member to support ;p!) and on selected Azamara sailings and I think some of the higher end like Crystal do that occasionally, in fact on the Crystal Amazon cruise coming up the single is CHEAPER than half the double!!

What I find really, really upsetting is many of the upscale cruise lines have a 2 for 1 offer, so two people pay half as much but eat twice as much as one person, where the solo traveler pays twice as much and eats half as much (I tended to waste a lot of food because of my invisible roommate!)

I travel solo ... I like travelling solo. I accept that I will frequently have to pay 200% pricing and hunt for normal pricing that is lower, so that the 200% doesn't sting so much.

 

I've been looking around for last minute price drops on some of the routes I would really like to do, if I can get them at the "right" price, and these are some of the recent examples I've found of solo gouging:

 

RCCL "Arctic Circle" in early June - the price has dropped to $1294 (Cdn pricing) per person for an inside ... so you would think something around $2,500 for a solo, right, an acceptable price for my budget? Nope - guarantees are not available to be booked as a solo, so lowest pricing for a solo is around the $4,500 mark - so not 200%, or 300%, but almost 400% supplement!!! I have seen Celebrity do this (guarantees not available for solos) before (frequently), but now RCCL is doing it too! I like the RCCL product (and sail them frequently), but this is just blatant gouging [iMO]!

 

NCL have a no/low single supplement promo currently running. However that seems to be only for very few categories of cabins, so if they are sold out, then it's back to 200% supplement. On some ships the guarantee categories (X categories) are still available at no/low supplement. HOWEVER, with those guarantee categories you then don't get the current perks of beverage package, credits etc. So the choice then is take the no/low supplement but be the only one on the ship that doesn't have the perks, or you can pay the double supplement and get the (single) perks (as there is only one of you in the cabin). So, pay the same/close to every other passenger but not have the same perks, or pay double what every other passenger has paid and get half the perks.

 

I would really like to do the Norway coast up to the Arctic circle, however the pricing is just crazy on some of these sailings. While I appreciate that this is a popular route with less cruise traffic and smaller ships, however $6K, $7K and up for an inside cabin for a solo cabin is, in my books, a rip-off - the luxury lines of Viking Ocean and Azamara are not much more than that, and you get all the extras that those lines offer.

 

Okay, vent over ... I'm having a very frustrating day of cruise hunting!!!

A few years ago, I took a cruise and they had a curtain between the beds and couch, that was pulled back but you could release the strip holding it back and close it part way, and it was nice because it gave you a semblance of privacy, has anyone taken a cruise on them lately and do they still have it (and if you do what kind of room was it?)

Thanks

Almost 10 years ago, I took a cruise and they had a curtain between the beds and couch, it was pulled back but you could release the strip holding it back and close it, and it was nice because it was almost like a suite with two rooms, we had a balcony room with a sofa bed in the sitting area. I am booking a cruse on the new Symphony and from all the pics it does not show that it has that curtain and then tried looking at some of the other ships but because they are updating the site I can't see pics of the room now, googling it I do see some rooms that do but now sure how old the pics are. Has anyone sailed with them recently and know (not just the balcony but ANY category.)

Thanks for replying

so that is not allowed on this site's boards? I do know about Cruisemates.com and Travel Companion Exchange, does anyone know if using Fodors or Frommers boards one can find cruise companions or know of any other sites one can use? I do NOT think using Lonely Planet's boards would be a good idea, they would look down on cruises because they are TRAVELERS NOT tourists LOL :rolleyes:!!!

Hello folks...My hubby & I are planning a cruise to Europe' date=' using any of the major cruise ocean lines. (no river cruises) Other than NCL, what other lines offer smaller rooms & discounted prices for a single traveler, as we would like to take my sister. thank you[/quote']

 

Cunard has retrofitted their ships and now has solo cabins.

Go to this site:

 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1408

Thanks easyboy for taking the time to write but the next answer was better as it was specific to my question, contacted Carnival and told them where the agents should be able to find the answer if they (and I think they SHOULD) do not know the answer.

Read the two columns on here about going to Cuba but said nothing how to get visa and Carnival customer service rep. says they do not get it for you (too bad, maybe that's why on a 7 day cruise they are under $300) in Russia Royal Caribbean got them, in Vietnam?Cambodia, Holland America got them and in Argentina and maybe Chile, NCL got them, you can include a link but like to hear from passengers who got them if they had to mail them in, how long it took and any positive/negative experiences.

On the Bahama's cruises they offer that which means all you can drink, liquor included, if you compare the cost from this year to next the fares are much higher, (because they advertise a $199 fare-they have one, way in Dec of 2016). Why oh why, can't they just offer a unlimited beverage package for free when they have the freestyle promotion, for those that want it, instead of everyone, especially those who don't want to drink, paying for it (in a sense, with higher overall fares), heck if people want that they can go to a Sandals resort (which, sigh, is probably why they are doing that.) I, for one, would rather them bring back the lobster in the free dining rooms and free room service, which those resorts do NOT have. Let's hope it doesn't spread, and hey cruise critic members shall we bombard them with emails and start a petition so they don't :mad:! (I feel like Steve Allen reading the Daily News on T.V.!)

I started a thread on the Africa and Middle East forums and I don't think we can have two threads same topic, so please go to that and post your reply, like to know the opinions of others on this trip.