rodndonna

Exactly, that's why Easycruise didn't survive, I think their business plan expected people would still spend a certain amount in board, but the people drawn to those cruises were out for making it the lowest cost possible. Why we would we eat or drink on board a Greek Island cruise where we were in port until 3:00 am everyday? I have no idea what they were thinking ....but it was a dismal failure. (We LOVED it though)

That was the original EASYCRUISE model. We loved it (it was SUPER cheap), but sadly it didn't survive as most people ate and drank off ship and only had our room attended to once a week (you had to pay for that, towel change was at an additional cost, sheet changes at a additional cost ...). It was closer to a floating hostel than hotel ...

On our Rotterdam in September there were a couple of stations just outside guest services for helping people with Navigator. Not sure how long or often they were there as we were not using or looking, just happened to notice them at some point. I think it was early in the cruise.

You're initial post was what the one I was still referencing below, but yes - if you respond to my post and say 'YOU"RE ..." - I would normally take that as you were referring to me. There are more constructive ways to deal with the OP's question regarding how prevalent Covid is on cruise ships and what that means for them in their personal risk assessment.

Where did I say I was still worried? I'm not, and ave been travelling (including 3 cruises ) for the last year. That doesn't mean I disregard the health concerns of others so blatantly.

Was he at least covering his mouth or making some attempt? On our Norway cruise on the Rotterdam last month, I was amazed how many people sitting in the Ocean bar would continually just cough openly, with no attempt to cover their mouths. Where have these people been for the last 2-3 years? It was so bad , I asked my husband "do you think it's an older generation thing?", like maybe we could avoid it on a younger ship. (I don't think so sadly). I honestly cannot cough in home own hone, alone, without a reflex of bringing my arm up to cover my mouth.

We have only flown in and out day off (I can hear people on this board gasp) and have booked both with and without Flightease this last year (3 cruises). For the case where we booked without, we just used Flightease as a guide for acceptable arrival and departure windows. I think for Fort Lauderdale the cutoff was for 11:00 flight departures, so that would be my rule of thumb when booking independently.

Similar for our cruise. We were late Sept on a round trip Rotterdam and had similar mix - I would say a slight majority (55-65%) Dutch (based on accents and Dutch info sheets in mailboxes). The remainder was a mix of English speaking passengers - American, Canadian (seem to be chunk of us), non-Dutch Europeans, Australians etc.

I agree, a liability and maybe a pain in the butt for crew? I was (am) a fan of the behind the scenes tours, and although I miss them, I always felt a little conflicted when we did the tour for all the crew that had to work in the areas that were being toured that day. We had to be a big pain the butt for them. Even though I miss them, overall I think these videos and the Q&A with the captain session are a better way going forward (and they are free!)

That sounds like what I have read regarding a special 'vegetarian' menu they have, where apparently, you have to ask for the menu the evening before and select what you want for the next night. I was not aware of that but we are going to try it on our next cruise as our preference is vegetarian (which coincidentally often ends up being Indian)

That being the case I would recommend booking with cruiselines that don't. There are a lot of options out there. Booking more than once with a company I believed was pulling "bait and switch" with their itineraries would certainly not be an option for me.

You realize you are responding to the actual OP themselves?

I agree - I think the reputation for 8th floor aft's being noisy is overstated. We had one on Eurodam and loved it, and now have one booked on the NS. Of course, that reputation makes them the more affordable of he afts, so perhaps better that it keeps the bad rap 😉

I love smoothies (got me through almost 3 years in adult braces), but depending on what the OP is looking for, the free ones at the bars may not cut it. I only ordered one once, and found it to be more like a "slushie" (like in Convenience stores) than a smoothie. You can get really good smoothies where they sell the Gelato, but sadly, not included. )-:

Wow - is that an option for you folks? Can't you book through a US based agent? I agree though - if there was a cabin I wanted - secure it now. If you can do better on-board, cancel and rebook. My 'very' limited experience tells me they would just award the extra OBC "on board booking" OBC. I recently received a "thanks for sailing and here is $X OBC for your 'next new' booking" a couple of weeks after a cruise we did. I had just booked (a week earlier) a new cruise, so I just called in and asked "I'd rather not cancel and rebook that booking for the extra OBC, can you just add it?" - and they did. (-:

I had just assumed it was because they may not consider them all valid after the restart. Not just with excursions, but I tend to treat reviews of everything as "pre Covid" and "post Covid". With the ship excursions, they might have to renegotiate and may end up with different suppliers of the tours than pre-Covid (so would the review be then valid even if it is the same 'tour')?

If it were 'me.....I can only dream....., but.. "Christmas" "Antartica" and "Signature Suite", I would be booking it now over waiting 2 months for the better choice of suite Then I would still sit down with them on board, explain why I booked early and see if they would include that extra OBC....

Same here. I also like to think it would provide a more fair distribution of our tips rather than ones we have direct contact with. Not sure on the history of why it was started, but I much prefer it.

We've sailed both (and like both), but give Carnival the leg up on having more diversity in passengers (yes - that can also be a 'con' but I find HAL a bit homogenous). I also find the passengers on Carnival are actually more likely to be enjoying themselves and less pretentious. I don't recall anyone on a Carnival cruise chewing my ear off on how much better "it used to be", how much better "another" cruise or cruiseline is. On our recent Alaska cruise (our first) the sunny morning of Glacier Bay we are all in awe in the Crow's nest when a guy then bends my ear for like 30 minutes on how "this" is "OK", BUT, it's nothing like my Antartica cruise .. blah blah blah. I know he was trying to be helpful (I guess), but can we focus on this place and it's wonderfulness for now...???

My husband thought he counted 12 Costa ships under CCL (after one was transferred out recently or something like that) so we have our bets on Costa.

I know our card (Canadian TD Visa) was (still is?) 120 days as I attempted to reclaim flight costs for the defunct "Interjet" airlines. Sadly in that case it was a slow road to oblivion for Interjet as they issued credits at the start of the "2020 ugliness" cancellation and then just never came back. Luckily it was pretty cheap flights (-:

Although I don't use the pools on cruise ships, but I would go 99% certain the answer would be no. If they were allowed, even 2 or 3 of those in the pool at a time (you wouldn't be the only one) would make a very small pool become less than tiny (and difficult to navigate around for others) If you are visiting beaches though, it does look comfy!

I can see obvious benefits on doing B2B including cost savings (for those of us who fly), but also curious, can I ask what (if any) discount is applied when you book a B2B? Do you pay the full fare against both cruises (as if booked separate) or is there generally a discount applied to the second leg (like around 10%,20% ?)

We've only sailed HAL since 'you know what', but I will say if you had told me in 2019 what we were going to be facing for the next 2-3 years, I would have never imagined any of the cruise lines to survive, at least without government bailout, and I certainly wouldn't have imagined them to be able to adapt policies to navigate through it (however unpopular that makes them).

They supply masks and guests are asked to change regularly and go guest services if they need more. On our cruise a couple of weeks ago when masks where 'recommended' we had them in the room (3 each) and they were available from any bar or guest services if you asked for new ones. They were surgical masks, but I would say if you have masks you like, I would bring them.