luvtheships

May I just ask a question here?

Can a pax sit and eat on the waterfront WITHOUT paying for a premium restaurant? Or is the seating just for up charge venues?

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Will NCL be next?

Eventually all ships will be smoke free including the casino. All in good time but it will happen

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i hope not. some people do smoke and are considerate to non smokers. looks like no more carnival for me glad i booked the breakaway. yeah :D:D:D:D

Please stay on your balcony to smoke and do not cluster in the casino. I hear it is sort of an open air type of casino

Personally I never book a balcony but I am booked on the breakaway and am concerned about casino smoke even though I won't be in there I understand I will have to walk thru it

What a stupid layout

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Exactly....sailed Celebrity...and loved the smoke free inside!! Plus we got free drinks with their 1-2-3 Go promotion...so booked again!

Celebrity has had some excellent deals as well recently. I will be giving them a serious look see

Ship was full...by the way!

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:cool:Yep!! Guess where all the smokers will go?? Right where they are allowed to smoke!! Then all the haters will complain about that also!!:rolleyes:

Oh don't worry a smoke free casino will be next. I give it 2 years.

Good

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Oh prices for European cruises most certainly will go down but the resident rates will be offered to the folks from Venice and Barcelona and thereabouts. Not the Americans with expensive airfare.

Of course we sailed on July and I know August resident rates were not as attractive.

We paid under $1500 each for 12 days on ruby whereas the slain arcs and Italians were paying 600 e for 24night b2b. Approx $900 us

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And I bought at just under $37 :D Life is good ;)

 

The people who think that "taking their dollars to NCL" is going to matter to Carnival are delirious. I see a return of many people who went over to RCL when they banned smoking in addition to the additional revenue from the people who only book IS or OV to avoid the smoke. The net outcome for Carnival is, the people who booked the IS and OV will now move to balconies, smokers will book the previously vacated IS and OVs but at a $250 premium. Sounds like a win/win to me. And if you don't believe me, go back through this thread or over to "a blog" and read how many smokers are saying they will simply pay the $250 fine and book the IS or OVs.

But those smokers who think they can just pay the $250 over and over again are mistaken as they will cause too much hassle for carnival in the long run

I pity the cruiseline if I happen to be booked in an ov where the previous pax smoked and got away with it.

Fwiw every other ov and is pax will be complaining constantly about the smokers

Why? Because the is and ov pax are fully aware of the no smoking clause because they just are as they either don't smoke or booked the room because it did not have a balcony. And want to avoid smoke!! All pricing issues aside if course.

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Last year, our family of 4 cruised out of Barcelona on a 12 day Carnival cruise for $1200pp and airline tickets were about $1500pp. We are now planning a NCL 14 day cruise for next June on the Jade that leaves out of Venice. Right now, the price is about $1750pp give or take a few dollars. The total for 2 interior rooms was $7650 approx. I haven't booked it yet, but feel the need to in case the price goes up even further. We have been checking airline tickets throughout the year, and t seems like the best time to buy those are 10 months ahead of time......we are expecting to pay around $1200-1300pp for air into Venice.

 

As far as price goes, I feel it is high compared to what I paid last year, but still feel happy with it because it comes down to $136pp/day.......I have mixed feelings about it.

 

I also agree with going on a longer cruise.....if you are spending all this money to get there, make it worth your time and get as much out of it as possible.

 

Enjoy your cruise!

That is just around what we have paid for 2 ovs for 6 pax

Ruby princess

Carnival freedom

Both July both 12 day

Next time I am just getting a start and end date to our trip. Which will be approx 18 to 25 days at this point

I know what we want to do and what cruise we want plus what pre and post cities we want as well

I will buy airfare far out and if course insure it

Then as it gets to final payment and they drop the prices I will book something at a deep discount and just arrange our days to be where the ship is I am somehow sure that we will be able to find a few ships to our liking with availability! Lol.

If not well then we just a a few extra countries by land.

All of us have been to Europe several times so we are actually excited about this idea.

However if it were the first trip best it all be nicely arranged and booked ahead of time.

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Maybe his wife is elderly or disabled or frail or ill or needs help in other ways

Why does everyone think that he " allows " her to use they pool.

If my spouse had lets say a bad back but I knew water exercise was helpful to them but I knew using the pool appeared dangerous or crowded or whatever I would without a doubt say " are you crazy, with your back in that crowded pool you will hurt yourself! You can't go in"

Oh and maybe if I came on cc I might post something like " I couldn't allow him/ her to use the pool"

Sheesh

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GREAT NEWS! But, I wish it was a total smoking ban.... it's time to try again.

Sit tight

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Well since carnival monitors these boards I bet you might have just given them something to think about. Lol

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HAL will be addressing this by the start of 2015. They will ban balcony smoking by either 4/1/15 or 6/1/15, I am not sure which at the moment.

I am sure I will be corrected if I am wrong but isn't Hal under the ccl corporate umbrella?

Just askin' and yes I know they are individual subsidiaries

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Lots of good info on here! I was planning to get to the pier around 10:15. Should we arrive earlier?

When we did the overnight on the gem we got there 1030 and the main lot was definitely filling fast. By 2 pm they had the cars along the driveway going up to the lot too

With the ba being so huge I would get there 930 but you need to remember they have to get the other pax out before you can park although I would think it would be a moving process as spots open up

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You drive up the ramp that says parking. You pay the bill

You stop the car and let the dog sniff for contraband. You park. You take the elevator to the terminal while wheeling your luggage

It is the easiest parking of any port i have been to but just too expensive!!!

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Not what the announcement says

 

Says you will be charged a $250 cleaning fee

 

" Guests who smoke in their staterooms or on their balconies will be assessed a $250 cleaning and refreshing fee on their Sail & Sign shipboard account. Information on this fee is included in Carnival's ticket contract."

 

So i will pay the $250 simple as that

I hope that is $250 per day as they have to clean your cabin daily

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Im a smoker , and if i want to smoke on the balcony i will still do it , I will just pay the $250.

 

I do like the idea of having one side of the ship smoking and one not

 

I do understand how non smokers dont like smokers , but its legal and we have the right to smoke

 

my 2 cents

Actually you do not have the right to smoke in a location that has banned it

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But I'll bet you will still gripe about dress/chair hog rules.

 

I think they probably will end up tossing you off the ship so be careful.

Oh they will absolutely toss them off the ship

I wonder if the travel insurance will cover them since any expense they incur would be due to breaking rules that they blatantly ignored?

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Are any of the smokers out there truly surprised by the change?

Probably not but can't admit it

The next thing will be that they are " addicted" and should be afforded special services

I actually had a nurse use that line on me 20 years ago when I complained that the new mother next to me was smoking in bed while nursing her baby!!!!

Bottom line. Nurse that allowed it suspended and head nurse came in to profusely apologize that the other nurse allowed the smoking and it won't happen again

They were probably concerned I would report it up the line

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Indeed. The non-smoking ship thing worked out so well for them...

 

I think we'll just rent a house at the beach next year.

As long as the owners if the rental allow smoking in their beach house

Also be prepared to leave a hefty deposit that won't be returned if smoking is detected

Don't be surprised if the neighbors turn you in

Don't be surprised if the rental agent checks the house on a regular basis

Times they are a changin'

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He definitely has high standards for his company. Wish more businesses were operated like Rome Cabs.

And he is a heck of a nice guy too! We always book day tours with him and we book him early. We did his Etruscan tour in 2012 and it was perfect.

He is very pleasant to spend a day with and not at all Intrusive. Like spending time with an Italian cousin. Lol

Btw it should be noted that stefano rarely if at all does the transfers. He does the port and city and specialty tours so book him early if you are using Rome cabs for an excursion.

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Yeah, I happily priced and booked mine online. My point is, unless someone did a mock booking, they wouldn't have known it was there. Also, it was the only Thanksgiving week cruise that was included. Generally that week is excluded from specials like this. Now it has vanished, so it makes sense to think it might have been a mistake. I'd doubt it would simply sell out faster than ther included cruises, when no one even would know it was included unless they had done a mock booking. I'd think those that are actually listed would sell out of eligible cabins more quickly.

 

Who knows. Just my thoughts. I'm just glad we booked when we did.

I don't know what all the disagreement is about but the bottom line is this

Find your cruise and just price it out regardless of ksf icon

If it qualifies great if not well does it really matter if that is the cruise you want anyway?

The only alternative would be for the pax to be able to say " I want to find a cruise that qualifies so I will look at several"

I could only book one ship at one particular week and no ksf icon was or is present but it priced right

I am pleased but then again if it didn't price out I might not have booked nor would I have looked for another cruise.

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We were excited to gear that Carnival was going to offer one way cruises next year and have been saving to do that. However if they do away with being able to smoke on the balcony it looks like an all inclusive land vacation is a better fit for us.

If you can find one that allows smoking in the rooms and public spaces

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Non smoker here, love the idea of a ban, although the smoke doesn't bother me, as I grew up with it when visiting my grandparents. End of the day, you won't be able to stop people from smoking, you're going to have people that will always think they are above the rules.

 

As for tipping, I'm totally okay with the increase, I always tip above and beyond what they gratuities are.

Of course they will stop pax from smoking on the ship via fines removal from the ship and eventual cruiseline blacklisting

I can't believe you actually believe on this day and age that the ship won't be able to stop them from smoking.

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I really think its funny that everyone gets so hot on the smoking subject.

 

Let people smoke on their balconies. The ship is traveling at 21 knots. There is no lingering smoke, its outside!

 

Some people aren't going to stop being offended unless they shoot everyone that smokes.

Either you don't cruise often or have never had a balcony

Btw people smoke on the balcony when in port and no wind

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As a few others have said, as a smoker I try to be considerate of others when smoking. Should I be aware of others on adjoining balconies I extinguish my cigarette. I choose not to smoke in the casino because I acknowledge how uncomfortable the lingering smoke can be in such an enclosed space. I too am annoyed by other smokers who discard their waste with disregard.

I don’t think I would reconsider cruising with Carnival should they choose to prohibit smoking on balconies. Other lines have done so and it doesn’t negatively impact my decision to consider cruising with them.

Smoking can indeed be a significant annoyance to non-smokers. It is my decision to smoke but it is my obligation to try minimizing any imposition on those who do not. In a closely populated space such as a cruise ship this can be a challenge. As such, I make the effort to abide by the rules and (more importantly) be a considerate person.

This is what I found to be the case on my heavily European populated princess cruise as well

It just seemed classier for them to NOT upset others with smoking

The last thing someone should want to do us seriously upset someone with their behavior

Doesn't a messy drunk just look foolish and upset others?

Same for an inconsiderate smoker who doesn't care about those around them

Kudos to you for being considerate. I do not smoke or drink to excess but I am still considerate if others

I do not play loud music nor speed race nor make a glutton of myself I removed my screaming kids when they were little. I let others bypass me if I was walking too slow for them etc

In other words I just did what needed to be done so that others would not ridicule me

I do not really live by what others think I just respect myself enough to not be made the butt of jokes and complaints. I think those Europeans on my ship realized that too and that is why they were able to refrain from causing problems and chose to just not smoke onboard

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