HabitualLineStepper

There is talk about Brightline opening a station 8 miles away from Port Canaveral. That will compete with the shuttle service from Port Canaveral to Orlando International Airport that is currently $15 per person.

I am not as pretty as the others and travel alone. It was the same host each night.

NCL charges one of the highest service charges in the industry. Have you noticed any improved service? What are your thoughts? It seems that on every other NCL cruise I go on, service issues arise, which is atypical compared to other cruise lines that I sail on. There would be no waiter service at O'Sheehans that eventually causes customers like myself to just get up and leave or the main dining host(ess) consistently seats you by the kitchen or worker stations that are heavy trafficked and noisy.

Are these the types of new ideas that we should be expecting from the new Celebrity leadership? Fresh out of the oven cookies are only available if you want to pay for them? I guess we are relegated to eating stale old cookies if we want them for free?

Are mobile telephones filled with your own germs. I don't let anyone touch my phone.

It is a study published on the NIH website. That gives it some validity. The small sample size with such a large proportion of negative results was a little disturbing. You would think that they need to conduct this test many times over before they found such results. Children? In the US, people 18 and older are considered adults. Using children as test subjects is much harder to do in the US.

I just came across this. What is everyone's take on cruise lines exclusively using these refillable dispensers? I did notice on HAL that I am able to flip up the top of the dispenser. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3126420/ https://viewfromthewing.com/hotel-manager-explains-why-bulk-toiletries-in-your-room-arent-safe/

The industry is oversaturated. With all the positive stories I keep hearing about Virgin Cruises, one major line must exit the business for the industry to thrive. Will it be NCL?

To be consistent with the trend as typically used as the excuse, NCL needs to also charge a high "resort fee" separate from gratuities and the regular fare. They can say it includes water and usage of the gym. Perhaps, and again in alignment with the industry for long term stays, just have housekeeping once per cruise and a closet full of towels and linens.

I doubt that is the case and agree that the appetizers are superior over the entrees. The entrees are difficult to correctly make and requires preparation time with the right methods and sauces. They are certainly edible, but throughout my many times eating there, I never expected nor have they ever been as good as neighborhood take-outs, let alone an authentic Asian restaurant.

On the Gem, the CD gave us many opportunities to keep eating with the low number of activities going around the ship. It was either mind/trivia games every three hours or O'Sheehans/Buffet/Bar/Personal Card Games.

Thanks! https://www.royalcaribbean.com/faq/questions/jones-act This trip probably wasn't applicable because the embarkation and disembarkation ports were the same unless someone decided to disembark in Florida. Doesn't Carnival allow any passenger dissatisfied with the cruise to disembark at the first port of call to receive a refund?

Did everyone need to pay a fine? Didn't this violate the Jones Act because it never stopped at a foreign port?

I only see Carnival Corp ships in this schedule.

I was on the TA from Barcelona and also agree with most of the comments made about the subpar quality so far. Early on in the cruise, some cruisers I met commented that this was a 'cheap cruise' and therefore at that moment I accepted that things were not going to be up to par. With half capacity, the shows would only have one seating. It just proved to me that they would cut cost wherever they could including running out of certain foods. At first, the Cruise Director blamed her sickness for not being visible, but even after her recovery, she was only visible on TV and the late night parties. They said she was lured over from Disney Cruises and I was curious to see what she would bring over. Overall, it didn't matter to me because her team was absolutely wonderful and they more than made up for her lack of presence. There were definitely a lot of people that were sick on this cruise. Early on in the excursions, there were people unmasked and constantly coughing on the buses. Gradually, you would hear more and more people with that similarly sounding cough on the ship including the dining room. The announcements started to change to infer there was something floating around. Some people blamed it on the new carpet, but you can hear that the cough sounded like a respiratory illness resembling a cold/flu. Sadly, by the end of the cruise, I caught whatever was spreading around the ship. Out of my three NCL cruises this year, I can definitely say that the taste of the food on this trip was the worse. On a few days, the food was so salty in the MDR, that I could not eat it. It truly tasted like you were eating a spoonful of salt. The fish and meats were often overcooked and dry. Even the Korean Chili wings didn't taste like usual. By the end of the cruise, the main dining service improved a lot. However, O'Sheehan's continues to be spotty. Sometimes food never arrived with no explanation given and customers including myself just got up and left. I would expect no refills on ice water, since I have experienced this on other NCL ships, however waiting for over 15 minutes and not getting any food was just unacceptable. Even leaving a note for the GM at guest services for an unrelated issue produced no acknowledgement nor reply. Again, all of these things didn't bother me since I accepted early on that this was going to be a 'cheap cruise.' With that lowered standard, I had a wonderful time. The weather didn't always cooperate, but I loved the ports, the people I met and made the best of everything that was offered.