mcrcruiser

first the cruise lines raised their cabin prices substantially from pre covid & instituted saving food waste programs . what ever that means is to be determined by each individual . comparing hotel & food cost to cruise line costs is easy . If we are paying $400 to $500 per fay to cruise how much does it cost us to take a hotel &v then buy our meals . Then add airfares if needed & pre hotel stays & rental cars before the cruise plus the added tips per day .Very soon a person can figure out what is their better value . This is the best way to answer your question .We are always evaluating cruising vs land trips

Higher costs to buy a cruise cabin & getting less & less value does not cut it for us

Cruise lines like any other business will charge where they can get away with the extra charges .however ,that does not mean that we will continue to buy their product . These higher prices & lower value just don't make for a happy camper . There is a time coming when this will change & in our case that may be sooner not later . nickle & diming me will not continue because we will go on other holidays

Some are hot & some are not !!

Yes we run into that on another cruise line

Interesting that you remembered those details .That vessel was pre WW2 vintage .something like the orginal Queen Mary now a hotel in Long Beach Calif

what you say here makes a lot of sense .so seems that we won;t see any new ships for HAL for a while perhaps in several years . The question always remains does HAL fit into the future marketing & business plans of CCL corporate for future growth If not ,i am sure there are other cruise lines that would add HAL to their line up

We need to check out BB kings for check to check dancing .Thanks for the tip

dancing to that loud music io is not dancing . HAL should set aside one venue for people who like check yp check type dancing

We should have been clearer .Danving more like ball room style musiv.That music is for the younger set .imo dancing by yourself is not dancing

HAL coud make this a dace area with a band ,That would be a nice touch . Then comedias ,the dancers can all usr the world stage ie

That is a great idea & move it with comedians into the World Stage

Bruce there is a right time to buy & a right time to sell . imo I like to buy when a stock gets beat up if they are fundamentally sound they i sell into a rising price .Markets have ups & downs As well as the stocks they hold .Actually with a very weak US dollar & will get weaker in 2024 imo gold coins were & still are the best against domestic & world problems . imaging having bought gold coins when they where cheap during the Nixon Presidency .Because I am a numismatist I have owned old gold & silver certified coins gpt a very long time .I loved collecting US coins that had to do with US history .so it became my hobby for over 70 years

We have done exceedingly well with CCL stock . Their miami top management has done a bang up job tackling the debt as other problems . We exoect the stock to keep rising unless there is a black swan hitting the market in 2024

It will fill up for those people who like a lot of activity aboard .like our 57 year old daughter & her 562c uear old husband , both are in excellent shape & health because they work out every day . This size ship obviously is not for every one but ,those mega ships with all theri separate neigborhoods you do not feel crowded on board ,Getting on & off that size ship is a different story .People like all the activities & 3 shows daily

Crystal i was eluding to a totally different class sized vessel . We have sailed the small medium & large HAL ships .We did not always sail only from San Diego port .Only recently because my DW can no longer fly ;however ,we have been on the prior Rotterdam from Tampa port to the Western Caribbean ,she was like 57000 gross tons .We sailed on Eurodam & Osterdam as they once sailed from San Diego . Now we sail on Koningdam which we like a lot but We also really liked eurodam & we sailed to Australia on Nordham back in 2015 .That was a very nice voyage as well . Over all we are happy sailing HAL ships .Could they improve with different entertainment yes ,That is about all we ask if they bring back the broad way shows & somew really good mainliners . That we miss from our Celebrity many sailings

Bruce CCL is well on it;s way lowering the big Debt with record bookings & higher prices .They also instituted a program to limit waste across the entire fleet ..We realize the priority of lowering the debt because of the drag on the bottom line but ,imo CCL management is managing the debt very well at this moment . We just do not need a black swan event hitting the stock market in 2024 & on ;which could radically change things rather quickly in the number of bookings .So we can only hope that does not happen in a very difficult world .As of now we own a lot od CC L shares & doing exceptionally well with their stock plus the extra OBCs

Thanks for all your posts .we loved reaqding your thoughts & in put We hope HAL does not leave the Carnival Fleet of Cruise Lines .However ,if they did get bought out then perhaps a line like MSNC would add a ship between the Volendam size & the Pinnacle class size ship . In the immediate future I think they are loosing bookings because lack of having Broadway style shows on the World Stage as well as some music & dancing later in the evening around 11 PM to 1 AM .Another good item to add would be pickle ball court A plus would be if HAL could add the Dutch Cafe & Tamarind to their older vessels

We see that Princess is adding are ships however ,HAL is not . Why is this happening ? TIA

It seems to us that the port taxes/charges keep increasing even to Mexican riviera ports .both the Pqnama Canal Taxes & Alaska raxes are very high

We don't think that HAL will have many 2026 cruises on their web site before the fist qtr of 2024

Yes HAL prices are considerably higher than pre covid . They uped their prodes t help Carnival Corporation lower their huge debt load . Carnival corp also has a no waste food program in place . .We are 3 star Mariners with HAL & Elite Plus with Celebrity .We sailed both lines post pandemic . O honestly can say that Celebrity had better food in the MDR & great dervice .along with much more live entertainment ,like the stahe shows & atrium entertainment . We were never bored on the Soltice where we did N2N cruises this past March . Because Celbrity rarely sails from the West coast & Me DW can no longer fly is the reason we sail on HAL ships fro our home port in San Diego . HAL is known for long itineraries & that imo is the only other diffrence between the 2 cruise lines . Mind you that we have adjusted to HAL but ,at the same time wish they had stage shows in the World Theatre. another thing we noticed I had to ask doe our win gift in Trivia with HAL not with Celebrity . Thise things do stand out in my mind .;because ,when will the raised cruise fares equaly a better ventertaunment package on HAL ships . another interesting this is Princess is adding new shios but ,there are no new ships planed for the HAL fleet & Hal has 2 ships built in 1999 & a much slaler fleet than Provess . Perhaps that is telling but we can not be sure at this time what it truly means for this cruise line for the future

Thanks folks for your recent posts🙂

Thnks for your posts . My DW likes fish so she will find it pleasing .I do not like fish so I may be limited . I am hoping that the Lido has carved roast beef with hot vegetable sides .That is my speed .I also will eat sussi ,Calif rolls only .amy salad works for me / Then I can find decent deserts ,if it is the Lido

If you have cruised recently on HAL ships what is your opinion of the food quality & number of selections for dinner Please add the Lido in to the mix for selection & quality . We will be cruising in 3 months on Koningsdam Thanks in advance for your replies