Eddie Wilson

Was on a cruise once where 4 people from the same room number were called for over an hour. Every 10 minutes an announcement, different languages, held the ship from being cleared. I had booked a flight which left just before noon. We made it to the gate at 11 am.

I have experienced the older smaller ships are allotted much less in entertainment experience.

I think It may be or could be a manufactured action. The auto industry has become habitually hooked on the Covid originating “Market Adjustment” sticker added to windows of cars. Most dealers have too much inventory, 60 -90 days. They want to pull that days in inventory to 30 to 60 so they can keep charging the adjustment. So they can afford to slow production a few months. An opinion

Is anyone keeping score? First sailing: Nordic Empress Oldest Ship: Sovereign Newest: Quantum (I think) Favorite: Allure

Not only using the vouchers on water. Speciality coffee and fresh OJ are options.

Right on. DW and I Chaired an annual charity event years ago. The planning started not quite a year in advance. During Planning meetings, accountants suggested we lower the quality of the give away prizes to “Net more money than past years.” We did the exact opposite of that suggestion thinking....this is the one event we want everyone to remember all year, and anticipate for next. it worked well. The CC boards used to be full of reviews of spectacular cruises, unbelievable meals, large tips to fabulous staff.....and anticipation for the next cruise But what are the boards themes now? Obviously not entirely, but lots of threads about... Food is worse, glacier cruises without glaciers, removing tips, moving to Virgin, fewer and fewer staff, lesser services, unmotivated staff, ....I suspect the accountants have been given too much input. Oh for the times of fondly remembering and anticipation for the next. Eddie

So what exactly is the root cause for such a decline in food quality? Corollary question, why do hotels charge the same or higher rates and don’t provide daily room service? I think the fall-back answer has been the same for everyone since the restart, ..... Post Covid, we just can’t hire enough people...... Is it really they can’t hire enough or DON’T want to???? I have a feeling in the 90’s, and all the way up to Covid shutdown the number of kitchen personnel per passenger was higher. I have NO actual proof of this. Preparing quality en mass meals is labor intensive. But if they condense the menu, create short cuts in mass preparation, one can supply the number needed, unfortunately quality is sacrificed. My pure quess is, they cut the numbers in the kitchen per capita. I mean, the cutting in half the number of times the room steward services a room, means they have to carry far less room stewards. Cutting the menu could be the same. Cruise entertainment staff numbers are lower than prior decades. My guess at this moment in time is they want to operate with fewer people on all staffs, rather than hire more staff to up quality. I am hoping they are still studying and find an optimal middle ground, where the quality of all facets of a great cruise, and the numbers of personnel to meet their financial requirements can be beneficial to all. At this moment this thread, and many others like it indicate the CC crowd at least, a percentage feels the pendulum has swung to far away from the quality side. Just an opinion, Eddie

That is exactly what I am trying to avoid

If you are price conscious, you may wish to steer away from the new ships for a year or three. For what it’s worth, DW and I did 2 Alaska cruises this summer, one on Princess and one on RCL. Apples to apples RCL cruise was 80% the cost of Princess. In addition we brought kids and grandkids on RCL. We almost booked a 5 to a room cabin for them, as we booked this WAY early, they were still available. But the price for two adjoining ocean view rooms was nearly the same, which provided them lots more room and two bathrooms. They cherished the two baths over the possibility of one. Last haphazard point about RCL pricing. I have always been a super in advance scheduler, hoping the early bird routine. But lately, I find many great deals on the 30-60 days to sail horizon. Of course that is more difficult to wait for certain people and groups. Eddie

I posted the question and would like to clarify a bit. I have been on several cruises with two consecutive Sea days and found the very relaxing. Im more worried about .....does one get fidgety by say day 3? Or perhaps humdrum by day 4? Or irksome by day 5? Or mind-numbingly monotonous eventually. Sounds like the answer is......definitely maybe......, depending on the mind set of the individual. So if we book a Trans Atlantic I promise I will go in with a bright mind set. Eddie

A few weeks ago I posted a topic.... This video should be played on a LOOP on all cruises..... This thread is a tangent of that one. In My post a few weeks ago I wrote........ Are you a Cruise Buffet Loser? Saw this one yesterday by Tony at La Lido Loca and wished it were played on ALL cruises, not just Royal. Lists about 10 Buffet Loser Moves, which unfortunately I believe I have witnessed perhaps all. PERHAPS.......a cruise line could make a friendly PSA version of the YouTube post and it may nice up people and lessen spread of any virus or germs, including norovirus. Eddie

Thanks for all the guidance. Plus, I think you have helped me hit the trifecta, as that Copenhagen west bound sounds like a winner. Looking into it now. Eddie

We love to hang at Solarium, and lounge, unwind as you say.....just not sure we can do it for a week.

i have suggested in the past to test just how inexpensively we could take a cruise? No extras, inside cabin, discount air carrier (in Ohio, so don’t have the option like many of you to just drive over to a dock). One of the old self move companies had a slogan, “Adventure in Moving”, this would be like “Adventure in Cruising” Im sure they still provide food and drink. Eddie

DW and I are contemplating a trans Atlantic cruise. We don’t mind intermittent sea days, but generally book port heavy itineraries. DW is worried 6 consecutive days at sea she will go batty. Do they have more and or different things to do on board? Can only handle trivia so much? Thanks for any help.... Eddie

Best of luck to not catch anything. When Covid protocols were in place, DW had a Dr visit 100 hours before a cruise, they gave her a test during her visit, negative. BUT, we had to take a monitored one 48 hours prior, and she was positive. Eddie

DW and I have sailed 4 or 5 times post Covid. Our most recent cruise was the first I have ever rated MDR food less than 5 out of 10. For our first dozen cruises going way back it was always 10 out of 10. We particularity found the entrees to have suffered. We do like the ambiance of MDR, the fine dining white linen, classically set table, staff trained in fine dining service. Apps, sides and deserts were good. But to top a classically set fine dinner with a really lousy cut of beef, chicken or fish. But RCL has done a lot of correct things over the past 30 years, and here is hoping for improvement. I would expect they realize the issue and can match the meal with the ambiance in this post Covid economics.

I think that your word “anymore” sums it up, Tony and Don aren’t losers, they are leaders in their field. During Covid they provided up to date information and kept we untraveled informed on everything from lift & shifts, credits, return to sailing forecasts and new protocols. They were so good at it they were copied by many others. But all of them really have their place in helping the new or not savvy with experience cruiser. Many on this forum, are neither new nor lack cruising experience, so perhaps like me, watch them less. So I won’t agree with you on name calling, and Don’s personal life and serious health battles, are not generally on his cruise related channel, but on a more personal channel. On last thing, I happen to learn manners from my mother while sitting around a kitchen table. I learned some manners, just not all of them. The original post was just a wish that more of us knew more of them.

I seriously did not think any cruise line would actually play that video on ships. My point was a veiled commentary regarding some of the customers of cruise lines. I agree most vloggers are not fully viewable, at least for people with moderate cruise experience. Tony is witty with a personality. When together with his wife Jenny they can be hilarious at times. I am not a subscriber to any channel.

Long shots work every once in a while. Dear Mom was on a Florida beach, took a thin silver chain with small stone off before entering the water, and placed it in her shoe. Next day or so, was at lunch, thought she had a pebble in her shoe, so took it off and dumped it out under the table without looking. She put two and two together when she was back home, wondering where that piece of jewelry was. She called the restaurant, low and behold they had it and forwarded it to her.

Yes I agree, but Isn’t that mostly all programming today? This one had some legitimate points. I wish the dude who ate/slurped (or more accurately attempted or missed) his cheerio’s in the elevator we were sharing would have viewed it. It’s numerous times better than the videos posted by many people, which are the digital age equivalent of, “Do you want to see my vacation pictures of XYZ?”

Are you a Cruise Buffet Loser? Saw this one yesterday by Tony at La Lido Loca and wished it were played on ALL cruises, not just Royal. Lists about 10 Buffet Loser Moves, which unfortunately I believe I have witnessed perhaps all. Eddie

DW and I did miss the twice a day room steward service on our most recent cruise, and the double whammy of course was the daily room gratuity charge increased. 50% reduction in service coupled with a 10% fee increase......hum. Please don’t do another double whammy on us with charges on previously free items while at the same time lessening the quality of the MDR. Our last cruise was the first ever in which I rated the MDR entrees low, low, low. The only night I stopped for a slice of pizza was when the MDR was poor. I would have paid for the pizza that night. I just dont understand a beautiful dining room, white table cloths, table set for elegance, staff trained in fine dining service, and then blow it with a low quality entree. Guess what part of those evenings we remembered? If MDR quality is....fine dining...then I wont mind paying for pizza cause I generally won’t need it. Dont nut get me wrong, we still are loyal, I hope we had an outlier week on the entrees. Everything else was what we expected. Eddie

We actually visited Anchorage in Aug 2021, after it sort of opened but not to cruise ships. Crowds were smaller and excursions were thankful customers had returned. So the day we did the 26 glacier tour, they asked if anyone had a flight to catch that evening, or any other pressing matter to remain on their posted time schedule. Not a person objected and at no added charge they therefore extended the tour by a little more than 2 hours I believe. So we were well late getting back to Anchorage. I imagine now they stick to their schedule mostly. On a different excursion the next day, same thing happened. On that one they made a 4 hour tour a 7 hour tour, again no added fee, but I am sure the tips were great. And if if one of you planned restaurants to visit is the 49th State Brewery, plan on going at a very off time, or plan on a long wait....the place is always packed.

If you are spending a few days in Anchorage, the BEST excursion we have ever been on was the “26 Glacier tour”. Pick up was at the Captain Cook hotel, which by the way we feel is the nicest hotel in town. We have also stayed at Hilton and another, I believe Marriott. For 26 glacier a bus will transport you down to Whittier about an hour scenic drive down the Turnagain Arm. Whittier itself is interesting, but not much other to do as it’s so small the entire population lives in one, 190 unit building. It is flat out beautiful. If you have a car and want to see a beautiful rustic neat ol place, drive up the main highway to Talkeetna for shopping, lunch, and don’t miss Shirley's ice cream. Eddie