FLSteve11

No one's denying that some of the adults on board break rules too. It's even been talked about already in this thread. It's just that the video was of a young kid breaking the rules, not an adult, so that's what's being discussed here. Not only just breaking rules, but doing something dangerous that could've hurt him or others. To me, that's much worse than an adult wearing a T-shirt or flip flops in the MDR.

Of course, killing your wife trumps jumping into a pool too. :) Not sure there is much more dangerous than that.

IMO Princess does the best in Alaska. I sailed to Glacier Bay and it was great to be so close to see the glaciers.

We specifically sailed Princess earlier this month to do Alaska, which included Glacier Bay. And they really do an excellent job at it (and their lodges on land are rather nice).

TBH 3 drinks coupons are not enough.

On Harmony the DL drinks waiter brought me 3 drinks in 20 minutes and we only popped in at 5 pm for a couple of snacks.

 

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3 drinks in 20 minutes! This might be a drinking issue, rather then a DL issue :) Though also might be why they might start to kick people out of there if so many drinks are poured.

AJ, I agree 100% with your observations and questions. I think it likely comes down to age of majority (or consent). I am guessing, but you would probably find that the legal department determined that an 18 year old (legally an adult) could not win a lawsuit based on discomfort or Corruption of a minor. If they went with 16 or 17, they would be allowing minors in. Maturity wise, I think you are 100% correct that there is little difference, but legally it is completely different. Even though they are not strictly controlled by US Law, it helps them in court to follow as many as they can. Why you have to be 21 (not 18) to go to Serenity, I have no earthly idea.

I don't get that last one either. Do they not card people for drinks there, that's the only real reason I can think. So now at 18 you can do just about anything in the world except drink in the US (or US based ships) or <gasp> go onto Carnival's Serenity deck! :) (I'm sure I'm missing others, but still seems kind of ridiculous. But I don't make the rules)

I understand what you are saying but the huge number of C&A members should have a detrimental affect to RC riding roughshod over us especially if everyone stopped booking with them if they threatened to do that.

If all the new ships get the SL, extra perks should be given to D+ members to offset the loss of CL access.

 

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Right now I think having the 3 drink coupons, on top of having a Diamond Lounge, more then takes care of losing access to one of two lounges. I can now go to a whole bunch of lounges to get my drinks if I want to.

Maybe people in your roll call are not logged in? I can see way more excursions when I'm not logged in than when I am.

I was thinking that too. If you're not signed in and look up general excursions for a port, you'll see every possible one that they have for that location. If you sign in, it will remove any that are not available for your specific sailing, for whatever reason (usually time/date issues).

Both Anthem and Adventure have visited there.

Thanks! I'll check it out more then. It's one of the few islands I've missed

Royal Caribbean goes to Martinique. I have been there thrice.

Does it? I haven't seen it on any of their itineraries, or at least the ones I've checked. I'll have to look again. I know I've seen it pop up from time, just not when we're sailing.

The Disney experience certainly adds to it. But IMHO Castaway Cay is the best private island we have been to and Disney Palo the best restaurant we have eaten in, land or sea. The entertainment was, well Disney and the food, service, and room size some of the best we have had on all our cruises. But the Disney experience puts it over the edge in making it worth the high premium to us...if we had kids to share it with. But that is just our opinion.

 

Our very first cruise was on Disney Wonder in 2001. It was a 3 day cruise combined with 4 day Disney World. My kids were 4 and 7 and we went with family friends who also had kids that were 4 and 7. I have so many wonderful memories from that trip. The only down-side was the cruise was too short. In 2004 we were planning a vacation again with the same family. We asked the kids, who were 7 and 10 at the time if they wanted to 7 night Disney World or a 7 night cruise. It was unanimous. Everyone wanted the cruise so Disney Magic it was. Those were our 2 most expensive vacations we have ever taken either before then or since. I don't regret them for a moment....but I won't repeat the expense without the kids to share it with.

I agree with you. Castaway Cay, it's a great island! Well laid out, lots of activities, just a lot of fun. One of the first to have a dock too instead of tendering. The shows are very well done, but they are "Disney" shows, off-shoots of their movies and songs. If you hate Disney movies, you won't like them. If you at least don't mind them, they're very enjoyable. They have the best cabins (outside of the very cheapest inside), big with split bathrooms and a tub in each one (for kids). The buffet is really good (come on, crab legs and shrimp at the lunch buffet, how can you go wrong?). I really enjoyed the 3 MDR (you rotate between them, and your wait staff rotates with you, so you keep them). There are just many nice touches to the whole ship. They also have one of the best adult areas onboard, the whole back of one deck becomes adult only pubs, lounges, etc

But it IS expensive! If you have young kids, particularly girls, it's hard to beat. You pay for it though. :)

Thanks for you input. Every thing I have read on the Escape has really made me look forward to sailing on her...and I agree the Epic was pretty smoky but I'm kind of sensitive to the smoke and have felt that way about almost every ship casino except on the elegant nights on Princess where it was smoke free. I'm looking forward to the shows on the Escape. My DD was a competitive dancer for 9 years so I am used to, and like, almost all styles of music though we find ourselves critiquing a lot of the dancing in the shows out of habit :o.

 

As for the Fantasy we got a great casino deal on it. We paid less than 1/4 what we are paying for our NCL Escape cruise so I am going into that with much different expectations. While we are expecting the better entertainment and hopefully better food (since we have 4 SDP for one of our promo's) on Escape we are happy with less entertainment and good food on Carnival for the price we paid. I'm thinking our Fantasy cruise will be our restful/relaxing cruise and NCL will be our drinking and partying cruise (we have UBP for our other promo). We have no trouble enjoying either type of cruise.

 

Someday we will do the RCL Oasis class...may not be next year as the 11 night Breakaway looks really good to me. We sailed out of NY to Canada last year on our anniversary in October on CCL Sunshine. We got really lucky and hit Indian Summer. It was in the upper 80's on our sail away and many people were caught with just colder weather gear and lugging around sweat shirts and jackets, while in long sleeves, and sweating away. Luckily I was watching the weather and threw in some much lighter clothes for us. I was sitting out on the Serenity Deck in my Swimsuit :cool: .It was a different story on our way back into port so we are well aware of the what the weather can do that time of year.

 

As for the Disney Dream class, that won't be on our radar until we have grand kids to spoil. While we loved the Disney Magic and Wonder our kids were between the ages of 4 and 10 when we sailed them. The perfect age to get the most out of the Disney experience. I have a real hard time paying the Disney premium without the kids to share it with. Maybe in another 10 years or so :D.

I thought it was my favorite NCL ships out of the 8 cruises I've done on them (6 different ships). I liked the crew, I liked the newer areas, and it seemed a bit better spaced out. It's still a little smoky (compared to other lines), but not bad. Certainly not like Epic was. After Midnight wasn't awful, but should have been a 45 minute show (I know it's pulled off broadway). Most people don't go for big band music for that long, since you don't know any of the songs. At that point a lot of people left. The Bray Pack show was a lot of fun though (and 80s tunes). We do the SDP choice too. We drink 1-3 drinks a day so packages aren't worth it for us.

Fantasy is fine, just a big letdown in what we normally see. Like I said, I don't think it's Carnival (since we've sailed them enough), but more the ship and sailing.

Oasis is awesome overall. Many things to do and even better entertainment then NCL mega ship. (Food is ok, not bad, but nothing special, in the MDR. Depends on the cook really) We sailed Breakaway for Thanksgiving, so it was definitely cool leaving and coming abck to NY.

That works. We've done Disney 3 times, it's too expensive for us to do it more. Maybe when the new class of ships come out (or if there is a good Florida resident sale, which pops up for them sometimes) we'll go again.

Perhaps - I don't claim to be a marketing expert like some in this discussion seem to think they are.

 

I don't know about other luxury lines because I haven't researched them, but a comparison of the Carnival Pride - which is not a huge ship - shows:

Carnival Pride

Tonnage: 88,500 GT Length: 963 ft (294 m) Beam: 106 ft (32 m) Draft: 25.5 ft (7.8 m) Decks: 12 decks

Viking Sea

Tonnage: 47,800 GT Length: 227.20 m (745.4 ft) Beam: 28.80 m (94.5 ft) Draught: 6.30 m (20.7 ft) Decks: 14

So the Viking Sea is considerably smaller - so not the same amount of space. It carries 930 passengers, while the Pride holds 2124.

 

The Viking experience is what you pay for - as well all that extra space.

 

I know fully well that Carnival, RCCI and NCL are not in that category - just saying that it is an option, for us anyway, and it's an experience we prefer going forward. And definitely an experience we prefer over an Oasis type ship. I also fully realize that it's not for everyone, but to hear some tell it their preference is the ONLY option out there.

 

We do a lot of traveling and have 1 Carnival cruise, 1 Viking Ocean cruise, 1 Viking river cruise and a fly in and stay trip to Bermuda booked.

Yes. Nothing wrong with the Viking ship, I've heard great things about it. Hopefully I'll sail it sometime (though will likely be down the road, after DD is done with schooling and such). Viking is definitely not a mass market line though. It's a luxury line, and quite a good one it seems. (Is there a bad luxury line though, come to think of it :) )

It's definitely available. That's what the luxury lines are more towards (outside of Cunard's big ships), smaller, more intimate, luxurious, with some neat features that aren't water slides and such. There's absolutely nothing wrong with liking smaller ships, it's just not what the larger mass market lines are doing anymore. We loved our Avalon river cruise last year, and hope to do more of them. Probably will try another next year. We sail a mix of "smaller" ships and mega ships (though enjoy the larger ones overall when with family). Once DD is done, we'll likely try out more of those smaller, nicer ships. The price on those is a lot higher as well, it's definitely not a mass-market experience.

You do notice that none of the mass market lines are building anything even as small as the Pride anymore either (since we were talking about new builds, not older ships). At best they might bring back an older, smaller ship and retro fit it (like Fathom was, or Empress of the Seas, really only back to go to Cuba's shallower harbors).

I didn't say anything about 100% compliance. Rather, I was asking about whether any curfews are being enforced in a substantial way, with penalties actually imposed, so perhaps to have some impact on applying a cost of noncompliance when it occurs. Here's the thing: There are myriad posts about misbehavior by teens going unchecked, and no reason to think that the cruise lines are going to do anything to keep teens from disrupting someone else's vacation other than ask the teen to go back to their cabin. I don't see this situation changing. I see misbehavior continuing as it has, with no change forthcoming, both because there isn't any real intention to enforce a curfew and no practical means to do so without it causing too much blow-back on the cruise line to be worth the blow-back they are getting from the disruption.

I think that's pretty much what RCL does. I believe they just bring the teen back to the cabin. If the teen continually breaks curfew, then they reserve the right to confine them to that cabin (like a quarantine). I doubt that ever really happens though, since I would think most teens, and parents, get the hint the first time if it's done. Plus it's probably a few times before they would do that. If it was really bad, they would probably take them (and family) off the ship anyway, rather then let them keep doing it multiple times. People do get kicked off the ships, for things like fighting and such.

How long ago was that, though? Sounds like they've instituted a curfew these days. Whether or not it's enforced is another question. Kind of like Carnival. They have some good policies in place that, if enforced, would avoid some of the biggest customer complaints. Problem is, they don't always like to enforce them.

I think the enforcement is the bigger thing. The curfew has been around for awhile from what I remember. Some ships don't bother enforcing it. Or at the least look the other way if someone is just minding their own business, not causing a problem, and doing something contructive. Particularly if they look older and could be 18+.

I don't buy that it is an IP issue for 2 reasons.

 

1) I can switch browsers on the same computer and it'll work.

2) Computers on the same home network using a standard ISP will report the same IP address in their requests, and that would be the IP address assigned by the ISP to your router.

 

I've had cookie problems with the RCI website from time to time, and clearing them out fixes things. But then even Cruise Critic is guilty of cookie problems. I'm not sure what they are storing, but after awhile the cookies exceed browser cookie transmittal capacity and I get a 400 error and the browser says it's because of the cookie string length in the headers.

I was thinking the same thing (with number 2). The home router would be the IP address that got sent (and the individual machines handled through their router addressing). I was figuring it was more of a cookie issue, though assumed they had done other browsers to test that. I end up using 2 browsers at home, partially because a couple of sites I use to won't work with one or the other. So I'm used to flipping to a different browser to try things out.

I think Martinique would be interesting. Or Guadeloupe

I read somewhere that Turks & Caicos is pretty much exclusively for Carnival.

Yes, been there on Carnival. It's really not much more then a beach day. Though it is quite a pretty place! Toured the island once and didn't leave the beach the second time. :)

Not different for Pinnacle. I cannot explain what was going on in the situation you mentioned, but that's not the norm.

Thanks! It was definitely a lively discussion there, and interesting to watch. Though she was NOT happy (as you can imagine)

That's not the norm. Once two people are linked, they both have the same level, whether they sail together or not.

Is it different for Pinnacle then? Or do you keep the same status. I know they do keep the individual point totals in the system. (I have a few more points then my DW, even though we're D+. It shows on the screen the same, but inside they know the difference. If she sails without me I won't gain more points until she catches up).

They definitely were not honoring her Pinnacle status onboard which her husband has, when he was not sailing with her. There were many talks about it in the lounge :)

The "too big" was his opinion based on our experience. I won't change his opinion or try to minimalize it. It is his opinion. I think some of it had to do with us going over Christmas time too and the ship was packed. I'm hoping for a different feel on the Escape since we are going mid-September. He does like the feeling of knowing where he is. He never got that feeling on the Epic. He always felt lost. He has really loved our trips on Freedom, Glory, Splendor, and Dream....mostly because the lay out became familiar to him after our 8 day Freedom cruise. The Escape makes him nervous again because of its size. Hopefully the layout will be a little familiar to him since we sailed on Epic. What will really help him is the UBP promo we got ;p. Maybe it will help him forget how lost he is :D.

You know, I'll agree with your husband a little. The Epic for some reason just FEELS long. I think it's mainly because the two main elevator banks seem to be set fairly far to the bank and front. So there is a long way between the elevators in the middle. Then there is no real breakup of the deck afterwards, particularly going through casino which stretches much of the deck. Other ships (using Oasis again as an example) have their elevators more centrally located to each other, so it's not as long a walk from the elevators to another one or the ends.

I actually like this idea. Instead of bigger boats there could be smaller, more luxurious, creative cruise ships and adults only ones wouldn't be bad either. European river cruises have this market covered but should expand more to the seas.

 

 

The only reason mega ships really exist, in my opinion, are for the families and giving everyone of all ages something to do without everyone being crowded in a few areas. I couldnt possibly cover everything in 7 days on Allure but I appreciated all of the areas they had so that you didnt feel you were in over crowded pools or theaters. Ice skating rinks, the aqua theater, zip lines, and rock climbing walls, flow riders are all for families and adult thrill seekers. I love the central park and board walk areas of the Oasis class ships because those are places to go sit and relax. It wouldnt be all bad to me to have a very creative small or midsize ship with an interior courtyard, interior balcony rooms, and nice amenities. Adults really do want to have those places to get away from kids on ships besides bars, especially ones on a couples trips (Thats why I seek all inclusive vacays with adults only resorts ) The Solarium in the oasis class is great, why cant carnival do something like this instead of Serenity which is just a closed off area of lounge chairs and 2 spas. But it would be nice of a cruise line to get more creative with ships. I dont think we need bigger boats, just more creative ones.

I think what you're talking about is something like Windstar Cruises (go check them out, it's pretty much what you are talking about). They're out there. It's just that their price point means they only make a limited number of people who can afford it, and being smaller less people sail so you hear less of them. So you hear less of those lines.

Yes, Megaships biggest selling points is many different activities for multi-generational groups (families primarily), and for those who want many different things to do. The other point on the business side is economy of scale. They can make more money from more people being on one ship.

Carnival is starting to get into that though, starting mainly with the Dream class and expanding with the Vista. It will be interesting to see if the 180k ships are another expansion of things onboard. I suspect there will be, since that's the trend on all lines like it.

Are there such options? My spouse considers 100,000 GT to be "way too small" but if that weren't the case, is there actually a cruise line that could match the price we're paying for our Western Caribbean cruise, in a balcony cabin, but on a small ship?

At some point there will be. I would think P&O has smaller, older ships. Celebration has a small older ship in West Palm (though does 2-night cruises mainly). Right now the mass market lines still have relatively small ships (Fantasy Class on Carnival, Vision on RCCL, Sky on NCL) in good supply that are not mega-class. These ships are still in the 70k size. And then a whole other class in the 90k range through many lines. So it's very hard for them to compete. Once those are gone, it's likely that a couple of low cost budget lines will move in, like Celebration is trying to do. And they may never go, there are certainly ports that won't work for larger ships, and at the least the 90k class of ships will stick around for awhile.

Thank you for saying this! I thought I was the only one who noticed - and there are a few who seem to think we are all entitled to their opinion. I speak only for myself, but I have encountered many who do not like the mega ships and prefer a smaller more intimate experience without all the bells and whistles.

 

We do like the Pride. It's a lovely ship with a good layout, nice adults only Serenity with a pool (at least for now) and the port is within driving distance so it works for a quick getaway. We have sailed on the Splendor and that's about my limit as far as number of passengers. I do not want to be sailing with 5000 of my closest friends ;p

 

Price is not high on my list of consideration when choosing a cruise, so we are able to move on.

Very true. There is nothing wrong with liking smaller, more intimate ships. It's just not the direction the main mass-market lines are going. For more then one reason, but mainly it's for financial reasons (can make much more per ship with more people on it), and for the wants of it's primary customers, which are now generally familes, active people, and those who want to do more then relax. Not that you can't do that, but it's not the main focus. Those who want those, will then naturally go looking to another line that meets there needs more. Which is great, that's why there are multiple lines doing varying things. You're heading to Viking, which is a smart choice if that's what you're looking for in a cruise and can afford it.

For those who want a low-cost, small ship, they'll then have to look at lesser lines. At some point there will probably be some ultra-low cost, small ship cruise lines that will move in. The budget-motels of the cruies world, it's just not profitable for them yet, and possibly may never be depending on regulations. Most people who want low cost are generally those who don't mind how big the ship is, so long as you can still relax on it.

Tell that to Viking!

Slight correction then, and I think you already know it. There is no real money to be made in making smaller, mass market ships. The luxury lines can do it because they pay a much higher premium for people to sail in the same amount of space. They're not even remotely in the same category as Carnival, RCCL, NCL, or even the premium lines (like Celebrity, HAL, Princess).

Im sure that 939.00 pp is for a neighborhood balcony but even though I havent checked, I doubt their oceanview balconies are as expensive as on Magic.

Probably, the CP and BW balconies are almost always cheaper then the outside ones.

I assume John has many fewer points than Laura, so if they unlink now, before Laura reaches PC, then John will be stuck at D+ for a while.

I don't think the link counts when you're on your own anyway. Unless I'm wrong. One of my last RCL cruises, there was a lady who was sailing with her husband. He had Pinnacle status, she had it onboard through him normally. But this time she was sailing on her own and was only given D+ status (because he wasn't sailing with her). She was very annoyed by this in fact. Not sure if this is a norm, or what happens with all levels when someone sails without the spouse who has a larger level.