NMTraveller

One would have thought that the supply chain would have been fixed by now, but ... Anyways I went to the paint store to get some paint and they are all out of the paint that I use. I live in a big city... Waiting, waiting so I can paint my house.

If I book a UK only cruise with Fred Olsen will there be any Covid restrictions? Are there currently any?

The 14 day ABC cruises were the best. I will miss them. Few kids. Multiple days in Aruba... Do not other cruise lines have these longer intineraries? I would not do a cruise without a Bonaire snorkel.

Booking on board is kind of hit and miss. If you want to select specific restaurants on specific nights they might already be booked up. However if you just want to sample the different restaurants and the nights do not matter then you should be able to dine in all of them. We only do specialty dining as the venues are more intimate and quiet. We get there early and find the first restaurant and book.

I don't recall them ever having set times. On the S class I did not run into a case where I could not find a heated lounger.

I prefer seafood myself ...

Infinity Plus One 🙂

SAGA could be the way to go if they have excursions for "slow walkers" or people that are not able to walk that far. We have a couple in our group.

England, Scotland, and Ireland would be fine with me. Just looking for a cruise that does not have all of the requirements and hoops to jump through. Perhaps I will look at Fred Olsen or SAGA. Thanks.

Touche' Romeo 🙂

I don't have an agenda. I do have opinions. However it seems like you may have an issue with people who have differing opinions?

And I thought everyone trying to name it something other than an open/close windows was ridiculous and mental gymnastics. And the biggest proponents of the IVs apprear to be suite guests who have real balconies.

I was just wondering if England is still having their England only cruises? I recall these being mentioned a year or so back. We were looking at going to England due to the lifted Covid restrictions. However if we could do the same on a cruise that would be even better.

I don't think that it meets the definition of a piazza either. Perhaps pizza would be more appropriate due to the high cheese content. 🙂 Imagine someone listing their house as having 37 Infinite Verandas on the MLS. I wonder how that would end. But soft, what light through misnamed open/close window breaks? It is the East, and Juliet is the sun.

Oh it is most definitely false or misleading advertising according to USA standards. You are correct in that they can call it whatever they want. They are a foreign based company and subject to different laws. One would think that they would want to minimize the confusion. However it appears that they are making money off of the confusion and new ship hype by selling an open/close window for the price of a balcony/veranda.

It does not meet that definition either. Real balconies can be named verandas. The gigantic balconies on the HAL Neptune suites are called verandas. No similiarity at all to the open/close window.

Because it is really not a balcony at all. It is an open/close window. It is just false advertising and confusing to everyone involved. Perhaps some of the disappointment for those who book the open/close window could be avoided by a proper description and name. Everyone has their idea of what a balcony is. And this is not it. Perhaps if they named/described it properly we would not have to hear about the complaints about this cabin class while on board.

This. The Pacific Coastal IMHO is better than the Mexican Riviera. The people on the Mexican Riviera are rather poor and many will be begging for money. On our cruise they told us not to wear fancy jewelry. It is a different atmosphere from the Florida Carribean islands. You will also note that several cruise ships pulled out of there 10 or more years back for the obvious reasons.

My old house had over 100 IV balconies.

For Juliet balconies I see two types. One is the traditional Juliet balcony where you can go outside for a couple of feet or more in other words stand up and you are truly outside. The other is the more modern cheesed up version where it is just an open/close window. I have twenty some Juliet balconies in my house. Yet only one true balcony. The latter version of the Juliet Balcony where it is just an open/close window seems more of a marketing ploy than anything else. Would most architects even regard open/close windows as a Juliet balcony? I would think not.

I don't like that they are not a balcony. You sit in a skinny box. Mostly CONs. However whether you like it or not depends upon if you spend a great deal of time out on the balcony. We do spend a great deal of time on the balcony. We spend little time in the cabin except for getting around to go someplace. It is a very poor fit for us. However if you rarely use the balcony and instead would like an extension of your room this set up may be for you. But please don't call it a balcony. It is just an open/close window.

Thanks. I think that you have clearly settled this debate. You can clearly see from the outside and the inside that they are just windows and not balconies. Carry on.

You bet. Would you like a very small portion of faux popcorn? We have infinite popcorn in a 2 oz bag. It is not popped corn, but popped quinoa. The price has been adjusted for the marketing hype. Endorsed by (Goop) Paltrow and Alice in Wonderland.

Thanks for the heads up! You used to be able to get a cabin with a decent sized balcony without worrying about it. Now I guess you have to check the square footage, size, and see if it is a real balcony. Oh the cutbacks ...

Actually S-class has 52 sq ft verandas (real balconies) and the IVs are 42 square feet. The problem with the IVs is they are a long strip vs a more square shape. Try laying down at all angles in the box. I bet you can't do it. The skinny strip box in the video just looks ridiculously small. It is just ridiculous. Did Carnival design this? Heres to large real balconies for everyone 🍷