BruceMuzz

The biggest mistake the mass market cruise lines ever made was marketing their product to the ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME, ME demographic.

Where these individuals ever got the idea that we care what they think or want or need is beyond human understanding.

From my observation, without questioning a Lido Manager, the large bowl of Bread Pudding appears to now be located BEHIND the Ice Cream station, presumeably for 'regulated' portion distribution, rather than (formally) having been made available in a 'publically' accessible location! Really, just another type of cutback! :(

One could just assume the negative angle on this one and start shouting "CUTBACK".

But we all know that anagram of the word "Assume".

Although it is hard to understand how a dish made primarily with leftover stale bread )that is normally thrown away) could be part of a cutback program.

Or one could ask the staff and find out that the US Public Health Service is cracking down on any buffet food items that are not located behind / under the required sneeze guards.

Leaving an uncovered chafing dish on a buffet counter for self service is no longer allowed.

Several cruise ships recently lost points on USPH inspections for this very reason.

When I visit my family in Tokyo, we go to some very special restaurants - all of them serve very special delicacies.

For very special Japanese Beef, we have 3 choices; Matsusaka beef (松阪牛), Kobe beef (神戸牛), or Yonezawa beef (米沢牛). In Japan, Matsusaka beef is generally considered the best of the top 3 brands "Sandai Wagyuu" (三代和牛). And it is the most expensive of the three brands. The Matsusaka Wagyuu cattle are treated and processed in the original Kobe Beef style that you Westerners have been hearing about for all these years. Matsusaka also only uses a very special breed of female calves from Mie Province for their beef products.

But the restaurant prices for this beef in Tokyo are about half of what you would pay at the tourist restaurants in Kobe.

Japan has a very enlightened view on alcohol.

They do not impose an sin taxes on it.

In fact, they don't impose any taxes or duty at all on wines or spirits.

So a bottle of wine in Japan will cost you about half of what you would pay for the same bottle in California (unless the wine is made in California).

Japan has many close connections with Europe, so you will find a very wide selection of European wines there, at very attractive prices.

Champagnes are especially good bargains.

I can buy a bottle of Veuve Clicquot Orange label in Japan for less than my cruise line pays for it wholesale and duty free.

Australia/New Zealand and South America have also made some major marketing campaigns in Japan, so you will find wide selections and great bargains from there as well.

Unfortunately, the American wine producers have never figured out how to successfully market their wines in China and Japan. You will find a small selection of California wines at high prices.

Note: The supermarkets in the basements of many department stores have some very upscale wine shops inside - with amazing selections of wines and spirits. But the alcohol prices there are as high as they are in the USA.

You need to find outlet stores like Yamaya or Don Quijote to get the real bargains.

Royal Viking Line was the top of the line. No cruiseline out there now even comes close. Rather than cheapen the experience in order to cut prices they shut down. Still get credit on Cunard for cruising RVL. Cunard, and therefor Carnival, owns the right to the name. We cruised only with them until they stopped. We were on the last cruise of the Star before it became Norwegian Star.

Not quite right.

I worked on Royal Viking Star until she briefly became NCL's Westward. Soon after that she was sold to Royal Cruise Line and became Star Odyssey (1993??).

Then when Royal went under, the ship was sold to Fred Olsen and became Black Watch.

She is still there.

Norwegian Star was built by Star Cruises in 2001, shortly after they bought NCL. It was originally planned to be a gambling ship in Asia, but instead they gave it to NCL. I worked on that one as well, in Hawaii and Mexico.

Knut Kloster, who was running RVL in it's later years, vowed that he would never cheapen his product - even if it killed him.

It didn't kill him - but it killed his company.

By the way, he absolutely detested American passengers, and blamed their demand for cheaper and cheaper cruises for his downfall.

Cruise Lines make profit and stay in business when passengers spend money onboard.

If the passengers don't spend much money onboard, the cruise line must charge more for the cruise - or go out of business.

As soon as your kids start buying cocktails, spa appointments, excursions, photos, casino chips, artwork, and jewelry on ships, the cruise lines can afford to lower the price of your family cruise.

Most restaurants in Japan are open on most public holidays.

But must you have Kobe Beef in Kobe?

There are actually many different companies in Japan producing Kobe-style beef under several different brand names.

The most expensive Kobe-style beef you can eat is in Kobe.

They really see the tourists coming.

But in Tokyo or Osaka, you can have the same meal for substantially less money.

We agree.

You sit on a public toilet that was recently used by someone still infectious from NLV.

After doing your business, you fail to wash your hands - or fail to wash them properly.

Or he/she failed to wash their hands properly and touched the door knob that you are now touching.

You are still OK so long as you do not put your contaminated hands into your mouth, nose, eyes, or ears (or pockets or purse, or handle your room key).

The virus still has not entered your body. You are safe. You alone control your fate and your health.

But then you put a finger into your mouth or nose or eyes, or handle some food.

Now you have NLV.

With these facts, many of us would be willing to grant HAL may be an exception to the CDC statement that 70% of NLV is spread by food preparers/handlers. Perhaps they are the exception to the rule?

 

There is not yet any way to totally prevent the contamination and spread of NLV. But being a cruiser who has spent years of my life aboard HAL ships, I do think they do the best reasonable job possible. Yes, I have seen 'slip ups' but none of us are perfect. :)

 

Or could it be the case that in land-based operations only, 70% of NLV is spread by food handlers? They have very lax standards in land based restaurants, and there are no negative consequences for employees who are not clean.

Ready to eat foods in buffets are the prime suspects in many NLV cases.

Heating foods to high temperatures and keeping them hot for serving is a great way to kill Norovirus spores.

But that idea doesn't work with things like salads, cold soups, sandwiches, cold appetizers ,and cold desserts.

Buffets are also notorious for failing to keep hot foods as hot as they should be. This encourages growth of viruses.

Is it the food handlers / preparers, or the consumers who are contaminating the food on buffets?

Common sense would tell us that it is probably both.

But let's look at what Holland America started in their buffets a few years ago. Realizing that buffets are the highest risk areas on a cruise ship, they decided to prevent possibly infected passengers - and people raised by wolves - from touching the food or serving utensils in the buffet for the first 2 days of a cruise.

The rationale was that infected passengers - even those who were not yet aware that they were infected - could not have a chance to contaminate the buffet food until most or all of them were recovered 2 days later.

The very same crew members still prepared and handled all the food. Many additional crewmembers were assigned to handle the utensils and serve the food to the passengers. The only other change was that it was protected from contamination by passengers for 2 days.

Results?? The number of reported cases of suspected NLV for passengers on HAL ships dropped significantly.

The number of reported cases of suspected NLV for crew on HAL ships remained the same - very low.

The CDC awarded HAL a special commendation for introducing what the CDC called the best NLV prevention scheme in the cruise industry.

What does this tell us?

#1 - Avoid buffets on ships if you want to avoid contracting Viruses.

#2 - Increasing the number of crew handling and serving food did not increase infections - but actually significantly decreased the numbers.

#3 - Preventing passengers from contaminating food reduces infection numbers.

In many countries (USA and Canada for example) private vehicles are not allowed onto the pier.

In some countries, the officials can be paid to allow a van to come onto the pier to pick you up. It may be possible for you to meet the driver elsewhere, but you may end up taking a long hike through less than desirable circumstances to do it.

I recommend following the drivers suggestion to pay the $20. He probably gets a cut of that money, so will probably be reluctant to offer alternatives.

I'm not sure what else we can do, assign a government paid employee in every restroom of every eating establishment? I think locally that “wash your hands” signs are required in both the bathrooms and kitchens of all restaurants. But it’s like texting while driving, we know it’s dangerous but people are still doing it. It is a lot easier to control food preparers on a single ship than a single city. But even then, ships still get Noro.

 

The point of the report is that most Noro is transferred by food preparers and us as a culture just need to get better about washing hands. I am amazed even at work at the number of men I see leaving a restroom without washing their hands. I admit I’m shy about saying something, but how many of us are starting to get more vocal with texting while driving?

 

Burt

It's all about standards.

If you work at McDonalds and come to work sick, you get paid.

If you work on a ship and come to work sick, you get fired and sent home at your expense.

A few years ago the Amerian Hotel and Motel Association sent their food sanitation training materials to my ship.

We threw them away.

The standards in the manuals were so poor that my ship would fail a USPH inspection if we followed them.

I just heard this on ABC News.

 

(WASHINGTON) -- Norovirus, while commonly associated with cruise ships, is much more prevalent than most people think, according to a new report out Tuesday from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

 

Health officials say the illness is responsible for nearly half -- 48 percent -- of all of the country’s foodborne outbreaks and sickens 20 million Americans each year.

 

But, as the report finds, foodborne outbreaks involving norovirus are not caused by the food itself. Rather, they are caused by food handlers who carry the infection themselves and spread it through unhygienic practices like coming to work while sick and not washing their hands adequately.

 

What may be even more interesting about this foodborne bug is that norovirus is not restricted to any type of food in particular. In fact, all types of food can potentially be affected, as more than 90 percent of contamination of food with norovirus happens in the last food handling step.

 

“Norovirus is one tough bug,” noted CDC Director Tom Frieden, who added that although norovirus is called “food poisoning,” the illness actually comes from people -- that is, from infected food workers who come into contact with food.

 

Read On ABC News Radio: http://abcnewsradioonline.com/health-news/cdc-report-norovirus-more-common-than-you-think.html#ixzz33edl9Y9t

 

Shak

It's unfortunate that the local health departments in America are not enforcing the much higher standards that the US Public Health Service maintains for foreign flag ships.

In America, 1 in 10 people has Norwalk Virus every year.

On Ships, the number is something like 1 in 5,000.

It is fine to disagree, but to manufacture statistics doesn't look very good.

 

Noro is easily spread and not all who contact the same items become ill. Therefore, you could wash your hands thoroughly, then touch anything that harbors the virus and you could carry it to another item or person.

 

Your advice to call out another person is not a good thing to do. It can only lead to problems.

If you do a bit of research on NLV, you will quickly learn that by far the most common method of infection is Fecal-Oral; in other words, from your a$$ to your mouth.

The second most common method is touching a surface that an unclean person has touched before you.

The third most common method is ingesting food or liquid that an unclean person has contaminated.

A distant fourth is inhaling spores that an infected person has aerosolized by vomiting in public.

Options 3 and 4 are quite rare. If you are unlucky to be a victim of those situations, you are a member of a very small minority.

But options 1 and 2 - the most common methods of catching an NLV infection - are entirely under your control.

There are very few avenues for NLV spores to enter your body; mouth, nose, ears, and eyes.

In most cases, you get to decide if they can enter. Your hands can go unwashed for a week and they can be loaded with NLV spores; you will not contract the Virus if you keep those dirty hands out of your mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. Once again - not rocket science. Just common sense. And Good Personal Hygiene.

I have been on over 1,400 cruises in my career (37 Years). Until recently I was shaking hands with many passengers who later admitted being ill with NLV. I have personally visited many cabins where passengers were vomiting everywhere, and the cabin was entirely contaminated. I have personally pushed many wheelchair bound passengers who were deathly ill with NLV.

I have assisted many times in cleaning up vomit in public areas of the ship, deposited by NLV affected passengers.

I have entered public toilets where NLV-affected pax had literally exploded from both ends, with the results all over the floors and walls.

I have managed many clean-ups on ships that had terrible NLV outbreaks, with hundreds of people sick, seemingly everywhere.

So how many times do you guess I have contracted NLV in those 37 years on ships?

NEVER.

I NEVER allow the virus to enter my body.

I NEVER use hand sanitizers. They do not work very well on viruses.

I NEVER eat in buffets - that is the best location to get infected.

I NEVER use public toilets - that is the second best location to get infected.

I ALWAYS wash my hands properly - very, very often.

I NEVER put my hands into my mouth, nose, eyes, or ears unless I am sure that they are properly clean.

It's that simple. No rocket science involved. No special procedures or tests necessary.

The Number 1 Cause of death in America today is not Cancer - but obesity-related illnesses.

Aren't ALL the cruise lines being hypocritical by offering us all the food we can eat, around the clock, (knowing that many cruisers are unable to control their personal behavior) while advertising a healthy luxury cruise?

I say bean sprouts, brown rice, and tofu only, twice a day. And no pizza, ice cream, or desserts.

Turn off the elevators and force everyone to walk their chubby a$$es up the stairs.

And what about alcohol?

Alcoholism is a very serious problem in America.

The cruise lines are happy to hold Friends of Bill W Meetings, but you can't get to the meeting without passing one or two bars. Sometimes the Friends of Bill W Meeting is held IN a bar!!!

Talk about hypocrisy.................

Close all the bars. The cruise ships should be DRY.

And don't get me started on lawn mowers.

Every year in America, over 500 people are killed by riding lawn mowers. Thousands more are injured - every year.

Yet your local television station runs ad after ad about beautiful lawns. And you and your neighbors oohh and aahh over someone's beautifully manicured yard.

Very hypocritical my friends. People are dying out there - and you do not seem to care.

Pave it over and spray-paint it green.

Just came back from Japan/cruise last week. We spent a week in Japan prior to the cruise. I don't think anyone should buy the JR Pass if you're not traveling far. The JRPass does not cover NEX.

You are correct about the distance thing.

For local travel it is not worth it.

But a one way passage from Tokyo to Kyoto on Shinkansen is the same price as one week of unlimited travel on all JR trains (except Nozomi Shinkansen) and ferries in Japan with the JR Pass.

I bought a JR Pass last month and used it on Narita Express twice; once from the airport and once back.

Countless studies have linked the smoke and fumes from the types of fuel burned by cruise ships to several different types of cancer.

Knowing that, wouldn't it be hypocritical for someone who is alarmed by the high incidence of cancer to even take a cruise?

After decades of development, the best currently existing NLV test requires a stool sample and about one week to get reliable results. And it is quite expensive.

By the time we get the results, the people suffering have recovered, gone home and back to work, and have forgotten the entire episode.

I predict that by the time cruise ships are floating around distant planets rather than on Earth's Oceans, there will be a quick, easy, and affordable test as you describe. Unfortunately you and I will be long gone, and no longer worrying about unclean behavior.

Meanwhile, if we could just educate those people raised by wolves on how a civilized human wipes his/her bottom and then properly washes hands afterward, we wouldn't need to spend all that money and wait for all those years.

We don't need any rocket science for this.

Very confusing especially dragging luggage. :(

If you are travelling heavy:

Taxi from Peninsula Hotel to Tokyo Eki. 10 minutes and around 1,000 Yen.

JR from Tokyo Eki to Shin Yokohama Eki or Yokohama Eki. 60 to 90 minutes. Prices vary.

Taxi from Shin-Yokohama Eki or Yokohama Eki to Osanbashi Cruise Terminal. 10 to 15 minutes; 1,000 to 1,500 Yen.

After the cruise:

Taxi from Osanbashi Terminal to Shin-Yokohama Eki; 10-15 minutes; 1,000 to 1,500 Yen.

Shinkansen from Shin-Yokohama Eki to Kyoto. 2 hours. Check out the Japan Rail Pass for great deals. I recommend Green Car tickets.

After Kyoto:

Shinkansen from Kyoto to Tokyo Eki; 2 hours. Transfer to Narita Express (runs every 30 minutes or so.) If you have a Japan Rail Pass, there is no charge for Narita Express. Tokyo Eki to Narita takes exactly one hour.

We are taking the Diamond Princess in October. I hope you come back and let us know how your trip went.

 

We're staying at the Peninsula in Tokyo for a few days pre-cruise. I understand that Tokyo Station is the closest station? We want to take a train to Yokohama.

 

When we return we need to take a train to Kyoto where we will stay a few days and then we need to take a train from Kyoto to Narita where we plan to stay the night before our flight.

 

Can you help us with the train routes we must take? Thank you

The Peninsula Hotel Tokyo is in Yurakucho District. Yurakucho Eki (Station) is directly across the street from the Hotel. This station has local trains and subways. But one stop away on the JR is Tokyo Eki, where you can catch a train to anywhere in Japan.

A few stops in the other direction on the JR is Shibuya, where you can catch the Minato-Mirai line to Nihin Odori Station in Yokohama, just a few blocks from the cruise terminal.

Coming back from Kyoto. You can take the JR to any number of stations to transfer to Narita Express; Yokohama, Shinagawa, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Shibuya.

You could also stay on the JR until Ueno Station, and take the Skyliner from there to Narita.

But Bruce -- how then do you explain what RC has done, in the last 10 years? When we first started cruising with them ('02), the focus was on good food, beautiful ships, great entertainment. Then, they started focusing more on attractions for families: flow-riders, carousels, Shrek and Barbie. Meanwhile (to us, anyway) things like service and food quality declined. As folks who don't cruise with kids, we quickly realized that we were still paying for all these attractions that we had no use for -- and we switched to Celebrity. Of course, I know that X is part of RCCL -- so, it's a win-win for Richard Fain. But, my point is that this was a clearly thought-out strategy on the part of management -- to attract families with kids.

Royal Caribbean and Carnival are currently locked in a battle to the death to control the cruise market in the Caribbean. Caribbean cruises are primarily marketed to those who are too cheap or too poor to take a "real cruise". That includes much of what is left of the American Middle Class, and their children.

For the time being, this is the status quo. Sadly, the only way Caribbean cruises can make a profit is the Wal-Mart approach to sales; High volume, low quality, and slim profits.

But Royal Caribbean has recently learned that their fleet of mega-ships can perform much better in Asia and Europe. The Asian and European Middle Classes have much more disposable income than the Americans.

The Asians and Europeans still want the bells and whistles for the kiddies, but they are willing and able to pay their way.

RCCL is going to get a bit more sophisticated in Europe and Asia, while still appealing to the families and children there.

The older RCCL ships will remain in the Caribbean to catch the low hanging fruit, and Celebrity will keep a few ships there to catch the people who cannot tolerate the white trash on Carnival and RCCL.

I agree the Captain would only in the most unusual circumstance overide the doctor's recommendation the guest be medically evacuated and most assuredly if in port there would be little question.

 

However, my point is on a ship, the Captain is the final word in all circumstances. He relies upon his specialists in medicine, engineering, plumbing, security etc but the last word is Captain's.

 

That was my only point and I 'stand by it'. :)

The Captain will always be the one who will be blamed or praised thus he/she is the one who has the final word.

 

Sail,

Under international maritime law, the Captain has the final say on every subject except one.

The Ship's doctor has final say on any medical issue.

Legally the Captain cannot over-rule him/her.

The logic behind this based on the doctor's specialized knowledge - and the fact that the medical condition could possibly affect the Captain.

I bet you love the cafeteria too...

For the past 10 years, all the mass market lines that offered open and fixed seating reported the same average numbers:

66% wanted open seating

34% wanted fixed seating

This year, something has changed:

73% want open seating

27% want fixed seating

They are the Dutch Islands of the Carribean and belong to the Netherlands

Aruba recently broke it's legal and political connections with Netherlands and the other 2 islands

I don't believe that is true.

The US Government requires passengers on an open loop cruise between 2 US Ports to visit a foreign port that is not part of North America or Central America.

Most Caribbean Islands do not satisfy this requirement.

Aruba, Curacao, and Bonaire do satisfy the requirement.

So at least in the eyes of the US Government, the ABC Islands do appear to be part of South America.

Isla Margarita, just a few miles south of the ABC Islands, is usually considered part of South America.

Devil's Island, just South of the Eastern Caribbean Islands, is often called part of South America. Brazilian Immigration lists it as a South American port.