rj59

I always bring a plastic tray on the bottom of my luggage, especially for carrying soups in the buffet and for minimizing trips and for eating outside somewhere if the buffet is too packed--there's a little nook by the lawn club on Solstice I went to a few times, or I went down to the Spa Cafe tables when it was closed. My other alternative to room service was ordering take-out rolls of sushi--I ordered a veggie roll last night and had it for breakfast this morning at 5:30 am, along with rolls and bread and fruit from the buffet. I got pretty miffed when I skipped the MDR one night but wanted a creme brûlée delivered to my room but was told it would be $10. I made sure to mention in my survey that the Princess ship I'll be on in a week delivers for free to wherever I'm at, at any time, so the petty price-gouging isn't going to get money from me, but will play a part in driving me to lines that don't charge for room service.

I got refundable OBC refunded in cash last night on Solstice, I just had to wait until after 7 pm. I used non-refundable OBC for eating lunch and dinner in the sushi restaurant, trying a new roll or ramen every evening, and taking a take-out roll for a late-night snack. I also found the experience much more pleasant than the MDR, with an all-female staff (other than the sushi chef) eager to chat with me, so it was a much nicer experience than the MDR, and the cost isn't that high, $10-13 for a good-sized roll or $10-16 for soups (lobster ramen, yum). Then you could also try excursions that might open up a new experience or pleasure, or something you might have balked at because of cost. At one time the I-lounge sold some Apple products, although on Solstice last week I just saw some binoculars for sale there, but something useful like that might be more valuable than jewelry or watches or 'art'. On Alaska cruises last summer where I didn't have to fly, I bought bottles of rum with leftover OBC.

The same thing happened with airlines, going with basic economy and creating enough pain for you to pay more for less--on a flight today I shivered and remembered when I could get a blanket. When I was told a few days ago it would cost me $10 to get a creme brûlée delivered to my room after I skipped the MDR for sushi, I sat down in the MDR and said "I just want 3 helpings of creme brûlée". They also included a really nice tote bag for the beach towel left in my room, and said I'd have to pay for a taken towel, but didn't say anything about the tote bag, so it went home for me and they can get the free advertising from it when I'm shopping. There is choice, fortunately, between cruise lines, but also in different kinds of travel--the idea of going to an all-inclusive resort in Cabo instead of a cruise is tempting, or better yet, just renting an AirBnB by a San Diego beach. Older people are also deciding that it's more pleasant to sit at home to watch movies, and I think there's a danger that people will decide it's just not worth going on a cruise, or to Disney, or to places like Vegas (just sitting in its airport today for 3 hours horrified me). That's especially true for a solo cruiser like me with limited income, since low fares and waiving single supplements have been common, and I'm not sure significantly higher prices and cutbacks and degradation of the experience are enough to keep me coming back in the future, especially since they're making an obvious attempt to reduce astronomical debt and gain profitability and price share through the wallets and patience of cruisers.

I was on Discovery Princess in November, and they had a Love Boat deck party one night, with the black cruise director dressed up as Isaac from the show--very fun. Before Covid they'd have original actors from the show recite parts of the safety drill on the TV and muster stations (alas, no Charo showing off her flotation devices and giving a coochie coochie). There's evidently a new Love Boat, so they're promoting that, along with nostalgia for the original. Discovery also does the impressive backing out of the San Pedro channel. Carnival goes out of Long Beach, far from the San Pedro pier, and if there are more than 2 ships in San Pedro, one has to go to a far pier by the harbor entrance--I had to go there for Solstice in November.

I got off Solstice this morning, I didn't even realize prime rib was gone. But then I stopped eating in the MDR after the first evening, when the waiter begged me for a 10 rating on my survey. Instead, I went to the sushi restaurant and had a different roll or ramen every evening with the charming ladies there, and grazed at the buffet--their fresh pasta station is better than the cold, stale pasta in the MDR, and their salad station offers more variety. At least it wasn't as shocking as HAL last month not serving lobster at all, nor the creme brûlée that I used to love. I tried to get creme brûlée delivered on Solstice from the MDR, but got the 'that will be $10', since evidently with 1100 crew and 940 pax, they just couldn't find anyone to deliver (next time I'll go to the MDR every night and sit down to order creme brûlée). Fortunately, there is still choice, so on my Princess cruise next week I know I can get food delivered anywhere on the ship for free, I'll get prime rib presumably, a full evening buffet, and really fine desserts. I just can't wait for the outcry when all the lines start rationing eggs.

I went on an excursion on Cabo last week, a woman on a mobility scooter went on the tender, although she had to go to the midship exit with an electric ramp of some sort and the rest of us waited for her. The same process whenever the bus stopped--they unloaded the scooter from storage under the bus. The local tenders were happy to take any devices, since the area by the driver is easier to access for the disabled than on ship tenders.

What’s next in entertainment cutbacks? “The Million Dollar Duet”? The Fab Three in the Cavern Club (sorry, George). None of it can be as bad as HAL, which got rid of its singers/dancers and now every ship has a choice of 3 dance shows and a nature documentary. Every music venue is tied to a corporate sponsor and every musician can only play from an approved setlist. Booring.

I try to find what's best on each ship, and go with that. So on Solstice I gravitated towards salads and Indian in the buffet, I ignored their desserts (except for baclava at lunch on Greek day), and stuck with their strength, which is the variety of ice creams. In the MDR I like their salmon, which is basic, pasta is always a reliable option, and I've tried a couple of vegetarian options I found tasty, like butternut farroto and mushroom risotto. Oh, and I like the variety of butters on X. The only good cookies I've had were on Ovation of the Seas, because they made them fresh in the buffet area, so I could get them hot out of the oven, but a few pastries like lemon tarts are fine in Al Bacio. I only eat pizza on Princess, and only burgers on Carnival or HAL. I'm fairly new to Celebrity, and was a little off-put by the subtle and not-so-subtle attempts to get people to buy or upgrade packages, but as on all cruise lines, I resist the nudges and sales pitches, particularly when there are shore options for drinks, wifi, and excursions, and I'm happy to let gamblers, drinkers, foodies, wine-lovers, 'art' buyers, suite residents, and photo purchasers subsidize my cruise.

Wow, I was raving after my first Celebrity cruise in August about how interesting their buffet was, with lots of Indian offerings and a rotating manager's special that included several kinds of creme brûlée. If this is a fleet-wide choice, it actually also impacts the crew who eat there every evening.

What I do is add all the travel offers, in the hope that they'll target cruise offers to me that way.

It does get depressing, especially when you've been with a line for a long time and you see the cutbacks over the years, particularly now in obvious cost-cutting, revenue-enhancing mode, now that ships are full of a lot of people who haven't experienced anything better. I was a long-time HAL devotee, but on a 7-nt cruise lasts month they didn't offer free lobster at all, nor the creme brûlée that used to be sublime, and like NCL, they only had a single, lackluster lunch menu for sea days. But at the same time, I count myself lucky, because I got on my first Celebrity cruise last August for $500 to Alaska solo, booked Apex for $600 for a week, and when I got home booked the Solstice 4 more times with an average fare of $250 for an inside solo, two of the cruises all-inclusive. I also picked up 100 shares of RCL when a Carnival crash made RCL tank, and since then it's given a handsome profit, plus the extra $100 credit for each cruise. So I'm excited about Celebrity now, although going forward, they'll probably be out my price range, and I had to pass up a nice Spain cruise because at $2500 for 9 nts solo, it just wasn't in my price range. I see the menus for my Solstice sailing in 4 days disappeared, except for desserts, so it will be interesting to see what pops up. Hopefully they won't also jack up the prices of all the drinks as well to push them out of the standard drinks package.

I can see how with full ships, room service demand is going up and taxing capabilities, which I especially noticed on my last Princess cruise, where people were ordering a slice of cake delivered to them in the buffet, and the poor delivery people had to track people down using their Medallion. At the same time, if a line like Princess allows you to order any room service item or drink anywhere, anytime, for free, that gives them an advantage, although it seems all the lines are following each other in cuts and increased fees, such as gratuities, just as most of the airlines went with basic economy and cut out most meals, and unfortunately, cruise lines seem to be following that trend, by making the basic service so unpleasant than people are urged to upgrade, and ships are becoming larger and fuller, with public space like outside promenades and Sky lounges removed. Fortunately, consumers have choice, so if the race to the bottom continues, I can look at all-inclusive resorts or other forms of land travel, or as I did during Covid, enjoy the world through travel videos.

I noticed the same thing for a May trip around Ireland, with many ports not having any excursions at all, or only a few. I would imagine that since it's a rare itinerary, where places like Galway and Dingle don't get large numbers of cruise ship tourists at once, and with the local tour companies having to negotiate pricing and having enough staff and transportation, it's something that needs to be worked out. In cases like Alaska or Cozumel, you have the challenges of many ships descending on a port at once, so the local companies also need to make sure of enough capacity, and they also have some pricing power so can negotiate with cruise lines against each other. Then for all of it, NCL has to decide how much to charge in order to maximize profits without encouraging people to take local tours or stay on the ship consuming free food and drinks. Oh, and they've been cutting down on ground staff and trying to manage full ships sailing everywhere now, so planning future excursions might get pushed back.

It's part of the trend lately to increase costs of gratuities, specialty dining, and packages, and cut back on secret deals like the soda package. It's because they have a ton of debt and full ships now, so they have pricing power. Personally, after buying the non-alcoholic package, I got sick of soda and espresso, and am quite happy with the buffet soft drinks and Lavazza coffee, and I usually just bring back a 2L bottle of Coke Zero in the first port anyway. The RCI CEO said explicitly that they're going to try to make cruising equal to land/resort travel, that they'd trying to market to loyal cruisers more to increase revenue from them, they want to make as much money in pre-cruise revenue as possible, which is quite evident in the heavy Celebrity marketing off and on ship and rising fares and costs. As with other inflation and increased costs, some people adapt by choosing other options. That's one reason I'm cruise-line agnostic, so I can compare costs, experience, and itinerary.

As a solo cruiser, Celebrity got me on a last-minute Solstice trip with family to Alaska last summer and created new fans, only possible because of the cruise-only rate. I wasn't a fan of the nagging to buy drinks packages wherever I went, but on my next one I bought a cheap non-alcoholic one. I got very lucky and some some a couple of ridiculously cheap all-inclusive Solstice sailings, January for $300 solo, and April Pacific coastal for $200 solo, and then I also booked Apex onboard for March for $100/nt. My sister finally yielded to the barrage of Celebrity marketing emails and is going on a Spain cruise in May. So having cruise-only options paid off for them in our case, and if people want packages and specialty dining and Aqua and other elite options, then I'm happy for those options too, since they in effect subsidize my lower costs. (Having suffocated from casino smoke on Princess and HAL cruises now that ships are full, I have to say the thing I love most about Celebrity is smoke-free casinos).

I read a news release about the upgraded desserts earlier today. I was afraid they'd just charge for things like chocolate journeys, but they look like new desserts, with gelato and other things put into something impressive. Personally, with military and shareholder OBC, I usually skip Plus, especially with the elite minibar giving plenty of alcohol and cheap wifi. As a solo cruiser, I'm not seeing many of the solo discounts that have been common since re-opening. It's to be expected with people switching from buying up as much stuff as possible during lockdowns, to purchasing experiences and services now that society is open again, and the cruise CEOs have been explicit about finding ways to make the cost of cruising more equal to land/resort travel, and to shrink their significant debt and raise their dismal share prices. Fortunately for me/unfortunately for Princess, their experience is so good for someone without Plus, especially Elite, that it's difficult for me to justify upgrading. HAL and Celebrity are more direct about degrading the normal experience and encouraging upgrading to a package or to a higher one, but that just irritates me into obstinate refusal and makes me return to Princess, which I think offers the best standard cruise experience.

If you want a more cruise-intensive visit to Ireland, Norwegian Star is going all the way around Ireland in May, going out of Southampton. It visits Waterford, overnight in Dublin, Belfast, Dingle and Galway on the West coast, Cobh and Killybegs. I booked because I've been to Dublin several times and did day trips around the country, but I've never seen an Ireland cruise that goes around the entire island. The ship leaves most of the ports at 9 pm, so there's time for touring, dinner on the ship, and visiting a pub or two before sailing away.

It's too bad, but as with all price increases, it will encourage people to adapt. They want people to view plus and above as a deal, to avoid the pain of paying higher drink prices/wifi/gratuities. Being a cheapskate contrarian, though, I confront inflation largely to simply choosing cheaper options. I'll use my minibottles on board, instead of bringing them home and using my OBC for cocktail or beer sampling, as I currently do. I'll spend my money on alcohol and espresso in ports instead, supporting and meeting locals. I'll make use of the free wine allowed on board. I'll drink less onboard and use wifi or roaming data in ports. More importantly, if overall cruise prices more expensive in comparison to land travel, I'll simply switch to land travel or cruise less. That's even more tempting now when I'm comparing the experience of full ships, with lines and stress and buffet zoos, to last year, with the pure bliss of 800 people on the Majestic for a week in Mexico. That's the risk of price rises for businesses---people will simply choose not to eat out, or go to movies, or travel as much, or switch to cheaper brands. It's not an enviable position for Princess and CCL, with a ton of debt, rising interest rates, rising costs, and with a winter season of multiple viral risks. That said, I've tried the other lines, and I think Princess has done the best job of dealing with all those issues. Celebrity actively punishes you in order to persuade you to get a package and then to upgrade---most of their beers are over $10, and the cheapest espresso drink is $5. I just got off HAL, and it was a nightmare of cutbacks---no lobster, no creme brulee, a single lunch MDR menu, none of the 5 Dutch beers were available in their Dutch cafe, and only sparkling wine was served at a loyalty reception. I've liked NCL in the past, but suddenly raising gratuities to a minimum of $20/day is a bit much, as is their sneaky practice of giving 'free' drinks packages that come with a $20/day automatic gratuity. Princess has also been the best of all lines in giving discounts to solo travelers like me, which I value immensely.

I'm going on the K this weekend, and the forecast for Cabo is a high of around 80. I was there 2 weeks ago, also with pleasant weather. It gets chilly as you go north on the sea, but Puerto Vallarta is usually hottest and Mazatlan also warmer than Cabo, often unpleasantly so, so before going to the ship I usually head to the air-conditioned mall across from the port. I just load the cities onto my iPhone weather app, along with San Diego. A lot depends on the winds and October-November, hurricanes--I missed one by 12 hours in PV in October. For phone service, you can just find a bar or restaurant with wifi ("Tiene wifi?")--they'll most likely input the password for you. My favorite is an outdoor cafe/bar along the Malecon in PV, where I can get cheap beer/margaritas/chips, use their restroom, and sit and watch the crowds stroll by. Alternately, T-Mobile works, but your cell provider may have a foreign data pass or by-the-minute usage--I paid $5 or so for some email checking on Xfinity last trip, but they also sell $5 daily data passes if you call ahead of time. Then you can either pay for slow wifi on board and be frustrated, or suffer until you make ports, or just surf the free NYT access they used to offer.

Aomori in the far north of mainland Japan is across from Vladivostok--I could see it when I was stationed nearby in the Air Force. I believe I've seen it on a cruise itinerary, and they have a truly amazing parade and festival of Nebuta lantern floats in summer.

I tried Celebrity for the first time last summer, and one of their refreshing features was the ability to use OBC to book excursions and packages before the cruise, and they even promoted it. Of course, they were hoping you would spend more that way, and they aggressively try to upsell drinks packages and their barely usable wifi once on board, so they see it as a winning option for them and for passengers.

I'm going on the Volendam from SD to Vancouver in May, mainly because it's the last smaller ship left, apart from Zaandam, and the only older one I haven't been on yet. Like the disappearing Alaska glaciers, I want to walk around a pretty promenade outside before they're all gone. It will be a bit strange to think of the Ukrainian refugees who lived on it, but then so many HAL ships sat near-empty for quite a while, or were used to repatriate crew, or were stuck in limbo with crew who weren't allowed back home.

They don't enforce boarding times, do they? I've never had one enforced in SD, Vancouver, or Seattle, nor on any other line, except by RC after reopening last September. I went on the Noordam from SD to Vancouver last April, and just walked straight through at noon or so, since most of the pax were in transit from the Panama Canal. In Vancouver they always just sat you in groups and boarded in order, and in SD were given boarding group cards, with the 4-5 Star and suite guests boarding first. None of the Princess, RC, or Princess cruises I've been on have enforced the given boarding times, which is fairly unworkable anyway, since so many people show up on airport transfers and so much depends on flight schedules and traffic. It's also probably not a good idea to tell a lot of passengers who are cranky from travel and stress to go wait in the hot sun with no place to sit until it's their assigned boarding time. I used to show up by 11:30 for the embarkation lunch, which was evidently paused last year, which was as disappointing and Carnivalesque as the single lunch menu for an entire cruise. I'll see if that's changed when I board the Koningsdam this weekend.

I usually go to Mexico, so skip the excursions and just go for a walk, or stop for a beer or coffee. I also like to stop in convenience stores and pick up a beer or soda and sit to people-watch. You can also look at booking individual activities--a lot of ports have electric or regular bikes for rent, or googling local activities also can turn up museums or sites off the beaten path. You might also check out shoreexcursionsgroup, which sometimes has some interesting alternatives to ship excursions--next week I'm doing an e-bike tour of Mazatlan for $45. You can also be a little adventurous, so in Puerto Vallarta I like taking the city bus to and from downtown, instead of getting ripped off by taxis. Another thing that allowed more random roaming is finding out that Uber works in Mexico, if I have a data plan, so if I get lost or too tired to walk back to the ship I just order an Uber. My tip for roaming on your own is to have some obvious headphones or earbuds on and either play music or pretend to be listening to music, since it helps limit the aggressive vendors in most ports, and it helps keep you from engaging with strangers trying to accost you.

For some reason I remember a hot chocolate machine, maybe it was Royal Princess, since I like to make a poor man's mocha, filling up have a mug of hot chocolate and then adding coffee. I think I might have to go the coffee card route on Discovery on Monday, since I'm feeling guilty over the 20 or so minibottles of booze sitting on my fridge now and the 8 bottles of rum I brought home using extra OBC on Alaska cruises this summer, carrying them in a duffel bag on my back while riding an electric bike from the pier to my car.