jimbo1683

3 minutes ago, Pear Carr said:

Which ship and where are you going? 

Queen Victoria Rotterdam and Bruges this time around.

Sorry I asked this before and can't find the thread now. We are just 2 months away from our first ever cruise. My husband has suffered seasickness in the past when travelling on cross-channel and greek island ferries. I know this is different, but he needs to have a good experience otherwise is going to be reluctant to go on cruises in future. We have a Club Britannia mid-forward cabin.

What non-drowsy medications, herbal remedies, other tools and techniques would you recommend to ward off seasickness?

8 hours ago, wowzz said:

Taking obc into account, we are paying around £3.5k for a balcony on Britannia to the Baltic next September, and just over £4k on Sky Princess going to the Med in April, but that does include the Princess Plus drinks package.

My own "line in the sand" for cruises departing the UK is around £4.5k for two weeks. More than that and private villas start to becone more attractive! 

That's a huge amount of money. You're looking in the wrong places for villas.

5 hours ago, beg3yrs said:

The customization is actually just a sticker. It can be printed at the port.

 

All they have to do is make and apply the sticker and then code the ship's software with the unique ID of the new Medallion so it's associated with you. Very fast.

 

It can be done at the port and on the ship.

Is it like a hotel key card when you checkin and they just put the key card on a machine to code it?

Really interesting to read the perceptions of the Fred brand here. As a very new cruiser with little/zero knowledge of the industry until a year ago, my perception of Fred Olsen was that it was the two-and-a-half star, beige, past it's best british seaside guest house version of a cruise line for the over 70s which visited wet and windy islands in the North Atlantic. (Harsh I know). So I'm really suprised to read about the high prices mentioned here but less suprised, therefore, to read about low occupancy and a company which seems to be struggling to know what it is.

I have had a look and some of the itineraries sound good to me, but as many of you have said, the prices and lack of balcony cabins, and for me the traditional dining approach, isn't going to encourage me to book.

44 minutes ago, frankp01 said:

Because there are only 29 days in February in leap years. If the 'Day' drop-down allowed 29 days for every year there would be a lot of mistakes where folks chose 29 even in years that aren't leap years. Can you start with the year and work to the left? That is, enter the year, then the month then the day.

Would there really though? No more so than somebody with a birthday on literally any other day of the year accidentally selecting the date after theirs. Perhaps 28th Feb babies might do it more often because they're used to just selecting the final february date.

5 hours ago, SC10snut said:

I have read through this entire thread and I'm still confused.  If I haven't gone for the Better or Best package, will I be charged the Crew appreciation fee on a daily basis?  If I purchase the beverage package separately does that eliminate the crew appreciation fee?  If not, is it still possible to go to the desk and have it removed?

In the past I have chosen to tip the cabin steward and all other attendants accordingly.

Many thanks..

Your confusion is really confusing! 

On my confirmation email from Princess it very clearly states: You have booked Princess Plus and will recieve the following...Pre-paid crew appreciation for all guests in the cabin...

Do you not have a confirmation email from Princess that tells you what you have booked or access to their website?

19 minutes ago, Lady Arwen said:

I don’t know specifically about Hawaii, but we have a European cruise for September 2023 and all excursions are available to book.

Similar - we have a cruise booked for next May and we booked an excursion when we booked the cruise last summer.

1 hour ago, AnnieC said:

But that isn't what they concluded. They built the new ships to cater for families, the families who will no longer have disposable income for holidays. Mortgage-free oldies did not feature in their future planning, and, in the main, seem to have already moved on to other cruise lines, or alternative holidays.

Whilst I agree with this perspective for the short term - a few years - aren't cruise ships intended to be in service for 30 years or so? In which case surely cruiselines have factored in the economic cycle of several recessions and good times over that period.

Those mortgage free oldies are going to pass their multi-million pound suburban semi's down at some point, and it'll probably be cheaper to go on a cruise than to sit at home in the dark and cold.

3 hours ago, Happy afloat said:

Is the problem they have with providing the family attracting facilities of RCI and others the fact that, due to the limitations of school holidays in the UK, they would only be feasible to families at limited times? And therefore, possibly not cost effective in terms of investment? I'm thinking Easter and summer break, so 9 or 10 weeks a year. How many would be willing to pay a fine for taking a couple of kids out of school in term time?

BTW, I have no idea about what holidays they get, or what the rules are, in the USA, for example. 

There's a half term roughly every two and a half weeks isn't there?

The price of fuel has been falling - certainly in the UK in recent weeks (down 15% in the last 3 weeks at my local forecourt) - so it would be a very hard sell to convince Brits it was a legitimate need.

Over time there is going to be fewer and fewer people who have experienced 'small' ships so the large ships become the norm (if they're not already) and that's what people will know cruising to be. It's just another industry trying to change and stay relevant in a rapidly changing world.

3 hours ago, exlondoner said:

Any isn't brioche a sweetish dough? Why would I want that with a savoury filling? 

It's an enriched, very soft dough and very usual to find in savoury meals nowadays - brioche burger buns etc.

Im looking at a very short Hamburg 2 or 4 night cruise on QM2. As it's so short I'll go for a lower cost cabin. Two have caught my eye - Atrium View: i think there are just 12 of these cabins on deck 5 and 6. I can't see any videos of them. Wondering if there is any noise floating up from the Atrium?

Second are 5242 and 4210, inside cabins which appear to be situated by themselves but potentially surrounded by a crew area. Any insight on the good or bad of these cabins?

8 hours ago, 1980dory said:

 

Secondarily, how does one request the gluten free options (if available)?

How would you normally request gluten free options?

On 8/16/2022 at 5:06 PM, richard_london said:

 

To me it seems the best suites are smaller, and there are less of them.

 

Seems strange to downsize these, but is it possible these suites don't sell on some voyages and it is more profitable to have more Queens and Princess Grill suites at the expense of the top suites?

 

 

 

 

I suppose somebody who is going to/can fork out for one of these suites is going to do so regardless of the smaller size as they are still the biggest and most luxurious on the ship? But also, like you say, maybe they're more often used for upgrades/perks/'VIPs' who aren't paying full market rate for it.

23 minutes ago, exlondoner said:

 

It really isn't necessary to think the worst of Cunard's motives, unless you really enjoy it. It didn't clash with afternoon tea, or the other things really. But it stopped us choosing some of the wines with our dinner.

It's a bit hard to imagine that this much thought has gone into the wine tasting schedule. The purpose of it surely is to help promote certain wines for sale so it's a poor marketing tactic to put it at the end of the cruise, which to me suggests the opposite of a deliberate attempt to save money and more likely the result of a junior activities coordinator putting it in the wrong place on the schedule.

18 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Maybe on these ships the disliked young adults, plus many other ones less unpleasant,  will all migrate to the water flumes, leaving you to enjoy the pool deck in solitary splendour.😆

Who said anything about them being disliked? There's nothing wrong with different people wanting different experiences. I very much doubt you'd enjoy coming on an Atlantis cruise with me.

Just now, waltd said:

Nope.   We like to pick and choose our seats so we go early to get our favorite location.   I think too many people would reserve seats and then not show up.     It's worked fine the way it is for the last 35 years.  What's next.  charging for the shows.😱

Nevermind, you're not getting my point.

3 minutes ago, skynight said:

What happens with your plan is that people do the reservation thing the minute it becomes available. Then, lets say, you have a seat reservation. It would not be a specific seat, just one of the 900+ available. In the evening people line up early standing to be the first ones in when the doors open so they can select the best seat locations for them. At some point, maybe 20 minutes pre-show, those waiting for the no shows will be allowed in. Your concept of arriving 5 minutes before the show probably will not work well. Your seat may be gone.

In the Princess model theater doors open early, maybe an hour. No problem standing in a line. Go in and sit down, relax, talk, read and so on. I would rather sit and wait than stand in a line and wait.

 

Why shouldnt seats be numbered and allocated as they are in theatres and cinemas

30 minutes ago, MissP22 said:

What's wrong with arriving 20 or 30 minutes before the show begins? 

Most people do without much of a problem.

Either that of have your spouse hold your seat for you. My husband always gets the seats early and when I arrive he goes and gets our drinks. 

Can do. I just prefer to spend precious time in other ways.

22 minutes ago, ldtr said:

if I liked that approach I would book Royal Caribbean which requires tickets. I prefer Princess with the current system

Great

25 minutes ago, skynight said:

Not a good plan. Would turn me off. Too much pre-cruise structure for a vacation. Rather go with the flow. Furthermore, it does not solve the problem, more demand for seats than seats available. It just pushes the problem backwards in pre-cruise time and those familiar with the system go on line first to reserve. 

Doesnt have to be pre-crusie. At some point during the day presumably you decide if you want to see the show and at what time in order to plan what time you will eat dinner.yes changes thd time at which the queue happens but also removes the wasted time getting there 45 mins early for what, a 45 minute show? Id much rather know i had a seat and show up 5 mins early, or know i didnt have a seat and choose an alternative way to spend my evening.

41 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Out of interest why would water slides turn you off?  They are set way up on the top decks, with a seperate end pool which is nowhere near the swimming pools, and because they loop around existing superstructure they don't impact on any other features of the ship. 

Because it indicates that the target market skews heavily to families and young adults. I hope they enjoy it but it indicates an environment I don't wish to holiday in.

On 8/10/2022 at 2:30 PM, Windsurfboy said:

 just to be contentious the carbon footprint of a pet dog is same as a small car, never heard a word said about dogs, thats because holidays are easy pickings. 

 

 

Children more so...