Cruise Junky

I have the Premium drink package for this trip next April. My personal goal is to make my way through the entire martini menu during those 5 sea days :)

They aren't banned for another year - November 2014.

yeah, I know...hard to miss as its on every news story. 20% reduction for next year.

I think you can safely book a cruise to Venice in 2016.

 

Italy will have, what, 30 different governments between now and then? Many of them controlled by Berlusconi - who must have money invested in cruise lines. ;)

 

That plus the glacier pace of construction (with the greens who want to protect Venice having announced that they will try to block the new canal designed to protect Venice...), should insure that nothing changes for another 5 years at least. :D:D:D

that's the issue though.. large ships are banned until the new canal is built, 2 years in italian time is probably closer to 10. They may never let the large ships back.

Ships will not be banned from Venice. There will be a limit to how many can use the canal that borders much of central Venice. Ships will still be allowed to enter the cruise port from a different direction. There should be no change in the number of ships visiting.

 

One of the reports mentioned that 650 ships visit each year. Yet, it also mentions that only 5 ships per day will be allowed to use the current route. Divide those 650 ships by 365 days and that averages out to less than 2 ships per day. If no more than 5 ships visit each day, it appears that nothing will change.

They will be approaching from a different direction, when the canal opens in 2016 in the meantime they are banned. And your math is flawed, med cruises usually run May through October with a few stragglers in the winter.

Good thing I'm booked for May 2014 on the Silhouette, then!

Keep an eye on your itinerary. There's going to be a 20% cut on large ships going in next year, that will be affecting itineraries already in place.

There's still plenty of time to visit Venice before the new rules come onto place.

Only next year if you want a new ship. No more grand med from Venice for a lot of new builds. The old smaller ships will have to take over

I also find it strange that a regular mid aft balcony is more than a deluxe mid aft balcony. At least on my Princess personalizer. :confused:

Ah, princess pricing works in mysterious ways ;)

For our cruise leaving 3/30/14, I am seeing a significant increase. We are in a

a BB category balcony which we got for $2300 (for 2 people, and includes taxes etc). If I do a mock booking for the cabin next door (same category) the price is over $3000 right now. (I misspoke when I said $900 difference, it is $700).

 

Yeah, I can see the BB is up...I see it as low as 1,170 and now at 1,419 (before any TA reductions or specials.) On the other hand, I see a BD at 1,139 now and it was 1,454. There are 8 balcony categories up and 12 that are down.

The price of a balcony cabin next to the one we have booked on the Royal in March is showing a total of $900 more than we paid. Doesn't look like prices are dropping to me!

I have no idea what category of balcony you're in, but on checking today, 3/4 of the balcony cabin categories have dropped quite a bit. There were a few that were up though but most were down.

Wow the ban as of November 2014 is huge for the big ships. No more Grand Med. for Royal or Regal. Rules out the Solstice Class ships too.

Someone asked me about the balcony cabin(s) beneath the bridge. I took a couple of photos:

 

 

 

Here are photos of my standard balcony cabin. It was very adequate and I think it was about the same size as my balcony cabins on the Crown and Diamond earlier this year.

 

 

 

The closet/dressing area is a bit smaller as the bathroom wall is angled. The wardrobe shelving is much narrower, just one "pile" wide:

 

Pam, you were in a standard balcony cabin right? Which would explain why you have the tiny table, but Jackie's mini suite had a table two could eat off.

Cunard actually falls under Carnival UK, headed by David Dingle. They are based in Southampton England at Carnival's 2nd major headquarters, called "Carnival House". The same is true of P&O. Princess Cruises in California is only responsible for North American sales, marketing, and reservations for Cunard. They have no say in the day to day operation of the brand or how it's managed. Think of Princess as a general sales agent (GSA) for Cunard in the US.

 

Both Cunard and P&O recently had their own shake ups. The President of Cunard (Peter Shanks) and Managing Director of P&O (Carol Marlow) were both let go after years of service for Carnival. Their positions will not be filled, and instead the highest ranking executive at both brands will be a Marketing Director. In addition, there will be something called an "Insight Director" who will cover both brands.

 

What all this means I don't know. But there sure has been a lot of shaking up at Carnival Corp. as of late.

 

Ernie

Interesting, I didn't realize they fell under carnival UK.. Thanks

Has anyone actually seen alcohol confiscated at the government operated port scanner embarkation checkpoint by either government or Princess personnel before boarding the ship?

Boarding in Vancouver once they had 3 ships in Port, NCL, HAL and Princess. NCL had to go through their own line and the booze/wine was being pulled. The lines dedicated to HAL and Princess there was no issue. This was before NCL started allowing wine to be taken on.

Thinking more on it, could this be an attempt to dissociate the other brands from Carnival (the line)? It's pretty much the only one left in the main grouping.

I thought that too but then why not add in Cunard too.

Do you have a model # for the Sonys?

MDR NC6. They are about 3 years old now though.

I have a pair of Sony that I like. I bought Bose about a month ago and took them back, might be good for a plane but not great sound the rest of the time, plus I didn't like that the battery always had to be on for them to work. The Sonys are pretty good.

 

Despite the minor problems with ship design and having to deal with some of the rudest people I have ever seen on a cruise ship it was a good cruise. We made some new friends and met up with old ones.

Have heard that a few times about this cruise. So bizarre and uncalled for. :eek:

Tea and water drinkers? As far as I can recall, there are no specific limits on their consuming of said beverages. If one doesn't like the wine/ alcohol policy, protest with your wallet and take your business elsewhere. Yes, I do follow the rules because that's the right thing to do. If Princess or others do not, that is on their heads, not mine!

I have. I haven't cruises with RCL since they changed their rules and we're definitely doing more land trips now or booking with cruise lines that have drink packages. I get tired of people who drink water with dinner or have a bill of $50 at the end of a cruise lecturing me about "Smuggling" when my onboard bill is $1,000 > Who's really cheating Princess?

I don't want to subsidise the cheats

Ahh, see that goes both ways. I don't want to subsidize the tea and water drinkers with my bar bill.

Yes you do keep your lounger but have to leave the area during the staff lunch break although some crew don't mind Pong is on the Royal at the moment and he doesn't mind

 

What? you have to leave the Sanctuary during lunch? is this just on the Royal, I've never heard of that.

To all those onboard now, welcome to Ft. Lauderdale (tomorrow!)

 

Sunday, not tomorrow

Thank you Bob. I found this site which shows the suites in photos instead of artist renderings.

 

http://maritimematters.com/2013/07/royal-princess-decked-part-two/

That penthouse balcony is a crime.

@Bob... is Holli ok? you seem to mention eating alone alot.

We were able to do this on the Emerald this year and also the Diamond but not the Caribbean.

 

Vickie

We had the option on Ruby last year.

Hope I haven't made a mistake booking this cruise... we are on the marina deck mid ship :( seems like its having lots of problems

Read Pam's posts on the live thread about Marina Deck. You might want to move.