buddylover

Never seen networks on Princess.

 

I understand the background noise, at home it's rare for me to not have it on.

On the ship I usually keep it on some channel.

Princess did not have any main networks either, BUT they offered FREE current movies (no extra fees) and there was much more to watch on Princess.....CCL only offer a VERY limited choice. We don't cruise to watch TV either, but we do enjoy hearing a link to the world when getting ready for dinner/evening....to each their own.....and CCL does not provide anything worthwhile to even listen to in our opinions.

We didn't find the Magic overly crowded except for Sea days by any of the pools. And it is FAR less crowded than the VISTA, which was the most congested ship in ALL venues that we have ever sailed on!

We struggle as well to find a deal. We love to cruise and being retired we have cruised Celebrity the last 5 times but Celebrity is just pricing us out. Ive checked NCL pricing at first through the booking process it seems reasonable then the service promo charge gets added on. Taxes and fees and you cant book sailaway if you want drinks included so that adds to the price. I know taxes fees and gratuities are with all cruise lines but I just struggle to find a deal we can afford lately. We like a OV or bacony. We are in our 60’s and and like a somewhat older mature crowd which is why we havent looked at Carnival.

Maybe we should do a totally last minute cruise, pick it, follow till after final payment and see what the price goes to. Not sure... seems like alot of people are having a hard time finding a deal.

Don't rule out CCL due to age.....we sail CCL a lot (although their pricing has gone WAY up too)....just sail when kids are in school and you will find the crowd to be older. We, too are in our 60's and sail mid Jan-mid Feb, find very few children on board and most of the pax are our age or OLDER on CCL! That is a misnomer and a rumor that CCL only has young party pax.....so far from true. It just all depends on what time of year you book just like all of the main cruise lines. They all fill up with kids over school vacations....not just CCL!! Try it you may be able to afford a cruise then!

One more thought, if NCL is reading this (LOL).....we wish they would offer "Free Gratuities" like the other cruise lines offer at times. If NCL offered Free Grats we would definitely choose that as No. 1, then the dining package....wishful thinking I know!

Depends on what the offers are:

1. If we are travelling with family and 3rd/4th for Free are offered, we choose that with the dining package......

2. If travelling alone, we choose Dining Package first then UBP as second choice.

We always go for the Dining Package either way!! We don't use our phones on vacation, so the wifi is not attractive to us!

Don't sail during school holidays.....

 

EXACTLY!!! If you sail when kids are out of school you will find the ships on ALL cruise lines filled with kids......if you want lesser amounts of kids, choose times when they are in school (of course, some pax take kids out of school to cruise too...LOL). We always cruise when the chances of ships being over run with kids is slim to none and have never had a problem on CCL with problematic kids that are unsupervised in masses!! And I don't think that unsupervised kids during school holidays is specific to ONLY CCL....it is the same on all the mass cruise line (NCL, RCI in particular)......not much difference in the demographics of the passengers in general! (only the NCL and RCI pax will beg to differ on that!!)

have been on more princess than Carnival. like princess better. Carnival is more of a party ship and the crowds tend to be younger. that said it is hard to have a bad cruise. mostly commenting on desserts as I am diabetic. sugar free deserts tend to taste like cardboard. unless a very brittle diabetic I would suggest eating the real thing. we tend to walk a lot more on vacation than normal which helps keep blood sugar in check.

The connotation of "Party Ship" is a little deceiving. CCL has more to do in to the night than Princess, but not sure that constitutes the moniker of "Party Ship". As to the demographics (age in specific) I think it has to do with what time of year you sail. We have been on many CCL cruises (when kids are in school and not out on vacation time) where the average age was above 60 and very few children. I will say that on our Princess cruises we have seen very few children as well. But I don't sail when kids are out of school and at those times of years all cruise lines attract older people without children (many of whom are retired) and can sail at any time. ;p

I had to post after hearing about J. Heald saying that they are going to stop giving out the "ship on a stick". I haven't seen any posts yet (but I have to admit, I didn't look too hard;p).

 

It got me to thinking about all the people who are constantly complaining about the cutbacks. I don't know about ya'll, but I can live without the chocolates, table cloths, "ships/stick" etc. The one thing I never see mentioned is all the upgrades that have been done.

 

So with that said.... how about a positive post for once! :D

 

Name your favorite upgrade you've seen on the ships. I'll start it off ..... Guys Burgers!!!! Absolutely love them!!

BIGGEST laugh of all is your thread and how you began it.....with a COMPLAINT that you profess you don't care about but will bring out all those who possibly do care about ANOTHER cut back. So why post this at all??? And then pretend to be a 'positive' poster???......LOL!!! :rolleyes:

It's like asking Coke or Pepsi.... You will get both as answers!

 

Go to both and formulate your own conclusion? Expensive, I know....

 

Both private islands in the Caribbean, so both terrific. However now I would give Labadee an edge due to construction at Coco Cay.

OK Kids, here is the poster who said "Both private islands in the Caribbean".....which is totally incorrect as you all pointed out (Labadee is NOT an island, and Coco Cay is not in Caribbean)......LOL!!! So stop the bickering.....hahaha

We have done this several times out of different ports. In fact, we are doing this again in Feb 2019 (cruise out of Miami)......we always cruise first, Orlando second. At most ports in FL there are rental cars at the ports.....so we get off the ship, take the rental car company shuttle to their 'port' location, rent the car and then drive to Orlando. At the end of our Orlando visit, we drive ourselves to the Orlando airport and return the rental car there. This way, you only need the rental for the days AFTER the cruise (the Orlando portion). In Feb, we are renting from Port of Miami, driving to Orlando (staying for 3 days), then returning the rental to Orlando (MCO) airport. Really easy and cost effective too!!

We have been on several different cruises with large groups (on various cruise lines).....it would be preferable to NOT sail with large groups in our opinion. They not only close down venues for the group only, but at other times there are just large groups 'hanging together' clogging other venues too and it can really get 'old' fast. We cruised with a large Naval group (800), a Star Trek "Trekkies" group (500), a Polka Group (750) which was the worst ever because we weren't able to stop at 2 ports due to weather on that cruise so they didn't pick up new entertainment and the Polka accordion players so kind heartedly (tongue-in-cheek) offered to fill in the gaps and played Polka music in every venue on that ship.....my then 22 year old son vowed to NEVER cruise again (a promise he has kept). These groups can be very overwhelming and they definitely change the 'tenor' of the cruise.....and the cruise lines do NOT notify other pax in advance of theses partial 'charters' (we were NEVER notified). I would stay away if you know in advance.......but only MHO!!!

For the comedy shows - do you have to get advanced tickets on the Magic or do folks just line up at the door before show time? I read somewhere on here that some ships were doing tickets that "are gone hours before the show." This hadn't been my experience previously on Carnival ships, but it's been about two years.

 

Thanks!

We didn't need tickets when we were on Magic....just wait in the long lines!!!

They went away years ago. Carnival found something that benefited the customer and decided they had to do away with that as quickly as possible.

Love it!! LOL (but unfortunately SO TRUE!!)

Sure, Royal will have an older generation of folks aboard. NCL is the same as Carnival.

WHAT?? Have you been on RCI - exact same demographic as CCL....we've been on both. OP, we do agree with you about the Vista as it was our LEAST favorite ship to date. It was the one cruise we were not sad to leave....over crowded is an understatement...and everywhere!!

Very interested in the responses as well! We have always avoided this time of year due to both cost and the number of kids on board (ours are grown)!

Not much anymore.....not even good "news" stations!!

 

I do enough laundry at home. When I'm on vacation or cruising, doing laundry is like cooking my own meals or making the bed.......better to let someone else do it. JMO, YMMV. - Bob

LOL....I am with you completely.....I try to avoid doing laundry on vacation. However, to answer OP, avoid doing laundry on "Elegant" Night at any time of day, but for sure the afternoons. Other days, early in the day or later in the early evenings are best!!

I always fly in day before flight as I usually go in winter. this cruise I will be going at the end of September from nj to florida same day. I would be going early am . how many people have flown same day? any problems?

We also fly from a part of the country affected by weather (winter to be specific/snow), and do what you are doing. When weather is NOT an issue, we have flown in the 'day of' in the morning (to save hotel cost). But in winter, when snow and weather can seriously affect our arrival at the port, we fly in the day before. Has worked out perfectly for us!!

From your titling, I assume you mean 'layout' of ship? The Glory is the same as the Liberty and a completely different "Class" of ship from the Pride. The layout is different as is the size of the ships. Some folks prefer the layout to the Pride class over the Liberty class of ship due to the galley cutting into the ability of walking straight back to the MDR (on Liberty). Personally we prefer the Conquest (Liberty) class of ship. It is personal opinion of course.

Try calling - we tried twice when we found the same thing on line. The first time we got NO HELP (and it was with our PVP). So we then called the general NCL tel no and the rep who answered was able to get us ALL the reservations we needed, and she even suggested some changes to some of the entertainment to fit it all. She DID IT ALL - it was amazing and we were so relieved. So do try to call NCL - and if they can't help on your first call, try again with another rep (unfortunately another call, but worth it if they are able to help)!:D

If there is something you absolutely want to do, yes make reservations as early as possible. If something is sold out online before you board though that doesn't mean you won't be able to do it. They don't always book 100% of available spots before you board.

Yes, you are correct, they only open a portion of the available reservations before embarkation. However, on the Bliss, it has seemed to be a constant negative that everything became booked by mid day of embarkation for the whole cruise....so that's a big risk if you really want to do something or eat at a specific specialty restaurant! Calling in and talking to an NCL rep helped us get all the advance reservations we needed (even when they were not available on line to book)!!

Just another thought to throw out there...aside from food/entertainment being included, a plus for cruising for us is that your hotel 'moves' with you and you get to see different places. At an AI resort you are at one place only for an extended time frame. For us, we are not 'beach' lovers, so we enjoy the different itineraries and ports that a cruise offers that an AI does not!!

]I find that the TA and NCL price to be similar[/color] -- so know your price before you book. The only thing the TA is good for is any additional discount they can offer. I think their commission rate is between 10-15% of the cruise cost.

 

The problem with the TA is if you need anything change' date=' they will have to call NCL on your behalf to do it..like a middleman so it can be annoying.[/color']

Right, I am under the same impression.....I don't believe that TA's can charge a different price from the cruise lines for the cruise itself. What a TA CAN DO is offer 'incentives' (like prepaid gratuities, OBC etc) that may not be offered by the cruise lines. But for sure, you do lose 'control' over your booking and ALL changes must be handled via the TA for you with the cruise lines. The cruise line won't talk to you or make any changes for you. We have done it both ways, it depends - if the 'perks' are good enough, we use the TA, if not we book direct and have a little more 'control' over our booking IMHO!!

I think some people just like to complain

Sorry Cathi007, but I respectfully disagree. We are NOT complainers and found the Epic to be very poor in layout, decorating, food quality and crowdedness. Like I stated above, it was our least favorite ship ever! Of course opinions are subjective, but NOT merely because people "LIKE TO COMPLAIN???" To each his own and everyone is entitled to his/her opinion.

Nice to get an 'unbiased' view of a cruise. However, I think the reason why you found it all so great is that you had nothing to compare this ship to....so that was GREAT for you guys!! I am happy you had such a great cruise. I believe that the more 'negative' reviews were from folks who have cruised for a while and more frequently and had a 'basis' of comparison of the Epic to other ships (in layout, food, elevators etc). Of course, opinions are subjective, and everyone has a different one! As someone who has cruised a fair amount, we found the Epic to be our least favorite ship of all times.....so you can see there are differences of opinions......but we had a good sized 'basis of comparison' when coming to this conclusion about the Epic!!