sanger727

As mentioned, many of the ports in Asia are quite a ways from a seaport. We ended up doing a river cruise in Asia and it was great - aside from an unrelated covid issue. Ho chi Minh - def do the cu chi tunnels. In Hanoi we did an overnight Ha Long Bay cruise. In Bangkok, you can hit the main temples in one day. We did a canal tour and floating market on the second day.

I don't think staffing would be a concern. Newer cruise ships have included water slides, wave runners, rock walls, ice skating, 3d theaters. Every entertainment venue requires staff. A new entertainment feature that they can 1. charge for and 2. requires no infrastructure would be equally or more feasible than any other entertainment feature being considered.  

Man, this is an expensive lesson to learn. I would seriously reconsider ever planning a trip with these people in the future. 

On 12/11/2023 at 7:11 PM, Heidi13 said:

 

To introduce in the cruise industry, due to the need for a pool, you are limited to new tonnage. Even a small 10' x 10' pool only 3' deep will contain 9 - 10 tons of water. Unless you can find space low down, it is a lot of weight to add, and will most likely have a negative impact an existing ship's stability. As Bruce also noted, they have limited space for additional crew members.

 

You are most likely looking at new classes of ships, as the redesign of future sister ships, of existing tonnage, could also entail expensive redesigns.

The hardware used is a virtual headset. The most profitable way to add this would be to assign a pre-existing pool on the ship as virtual snorkeling during certain hours. Many ships have two pools and could use the secondary pool during certain hours will little inconvenience to guests.

You may be a bit early for Fall 2025 cruises. 

Also, something as specific as ireland or iceland to new york will be extremely limited. I think you'll be limited enough just trying to get from Europe to New York during a certain month. Unless you are really just looking for an option to avoid flying, you would be better off just planning to tour Europe and fly home. 

Generally speaking, most countries prohibit many fresh food items from being brought in - fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, etc. You can usually bring factory sealed items without issue. Granola bars, protein bars, etc. 

Just keep in mind, the fact that you can send/receive imessages without purchasing a wifi plan is a glitch. The ship can fix that glitch at any point. There is certainly no promised benefit of being able to use imessage without an internet plan.

1 hour ago, Bers said:

The rental was really an ask from mom, and we don't plan on venturing far from home base and only with a mapped out plan. I have driven in the fast-paced chaotic countries, third world included, though TBH, it was with the military and with our own vehicle so the thought of all the details that goes along with a rental has certainly caused a bit of....contemplation, but I'll take each situation as it comes. My last trip to Tampa pulled the same insurance scam on me that you're speaking about, so I'm familiar with that nasty scene. I do appreciate the warnings. 

 

I certainly understand these two vacations are not complete parallels, but they're certainly similar and I thought I could help others who had the same curiosity that I did. 

If you decide to rent a car, be sure you educate yourself on the many common scams.

The 1st one being the insurance

2nd, is the game where when you refill your gas tank, the gas station employee pocketing your larger bills and telling you that you didn't pay enough

3rd its common for the police to pull cars being driven by Americans over on their way to the airport. They will have some "violation" that you committed and you can either fork over cash or have to go to the police station to receive a citation.

If you don't plan to venture far out, taxis and transfer companies will be much easier and cheaper. 

Norwegian and Celebrity are not significantly different. The biggest difference is that NCL doesn't have a "traditional" seating option for dinner. They are 100% anytime dining throughout the ship. I think the shows on NCL are much better than on Celebrity. The food on Celebrity is marginally better. But with those two, there won't be much difference.

Paper visas are very expensive and difficult to get. We had to get those for a trip last year. E-visa is by far the best option if your arrival location is on the list of allowed entry points. You should be fine at a seaport. We were unable to use an e-visa at a river crossing. 

There are a couple things out of balance. First, you shouldn't rent a car in Mexico, so all you would need is transport to/from hotel. Like a cruise vacation, if you leave the resort you would usually do so on an excursion. 

The included drinks has some value, even if you aren't a big drinker. Unlike on a cruise, your soda and specialty coffee should be included.

Also, a cruise ship can't touch the space you have at an all inclusive. Your room will be bigger, can walk out to a large pool and large beach area.

We enjoy both vacation types, I wouldn't make the decision over a difference of a few dollars. It's whether you want to spend a week in one place with a lot more room and go out on a few excursions; or see multiple places over the course of the week.

1 hour ago, Joebucks said:

I honestly don't understand this request, as it come up from time to time. Is there some shortage of information in the world? If I wanted to learn about a port, there is more info out there than I would know what to do with. Then you need a $10,000 cruise to learn. What makes the cruise line the authority in information?

 

On the other hand, I'd understand wanting to experience the best tours with the best tour guides. Seeing the world seems more in line to what cruising brings, and the best of the best tours would be a great experience.

 

What am I missing?

I think this is more about preferred entertainment. If you want to cruise to A, B, and C; you choose a certain cruise. However, you will usually have some sea days and free time on the ship. Some people choose to fill that time at the pool, playing bingo, playing trivia, listening to live bands, etc. It sounds like the OP prefers live lectures to fill the free time. 

This is determined based on whether you go through security in Paris. I’ve gone through airports that do it both ways. If you are flying through without entering the country, you will likely be able to keep your carry-ons with you.

On 12/8/2023 at 2:07 PM, Elaine5715 said:

Which is why I said, I don't know what the answer is but every predator found assaulting kids since background checks were started passed the background check.  If I was a parent, I would give more credibility to my instincts than being comforted by background checks.   

I don’t disagree. But you aren’t going to meet all of the staff at kids camps when you drop them off. 

2 hours ago, complawyer said:

 

Sanger727. While i certainly enjoy traveling with friends, part of my enjoyment is sitting down, and working out the logistics prior to traveling.

Personally, it's not something i would spring on anyone (regardless of how friendly we are)

 

And that's your choice. I can think of a handful of time when I was on trip that we invited other friends for. Most of the time they said yes. I can't think of a time when we invited someone on a trip and would have been upset if they showed up anyway.

Now, on both sides of the equation - the supriser or the one being surprised. I would not expect that the new couple would hijack the vacation and expect the other couple to change their plans. But, if I thought someone would do that, I wouldn't have invited them on the trip in the first place. 

1 hour ago, Mick B said:

Careful now,

In some cases, for people who are not based close to the cruise port, they may already be in transit or may have arrived at the port area the day before or a few days before if they want to extend the time away from home. In these circumstances the device they carry with them that receives calls or e-mails may be turned off to avoid stupidly high roaming charges. They aren't going to find out until they find somewhere with wi-fi or turn up at the port.

Any such notification of cancellation for people travelling from afar really needs to be at least a week before although in an emergency that may not be possible.

We will ALL have to watch to see if any events that start to unfold get resolved in a reasonable manner.

 

I for one have a transatlantic cruise booked for next April from FL to the UK and I have already paid in full for not just the cruise, but the flights to the US and the transport to a hotel. plus the hotel and transport to the ship. We have no flights booked home as it is a one-way cruise. Imagine if we turn up at the port and are told our cabin is no longer available for some reason. How would we get home and where would we stay in the meantime. The whole holiday is to celebrate my wife's 60th birthday. There would probably be no compensation deal that good which would wipe the tears from my wife's eyes if something like being bumped happened.

It's about time some of these companies realized not just the upset they cause to people who get treated badly, but also the fear of such treatment happening in the future which may deter some from bothering with this sort of holiday.

I know ironically that cancelling or not booking due to fear would actually probably guarantee spare cabins, but that's not the point. The point is that companies need to pull their finger out and sort out whatever the issues are that cause such bad situations.

 

Mick.

 

I really don't think there is any cause to think that this is an issue. There is one article about one sail on Royal that overbooked. And one poster from facebook saying that their room was downgraded. Mistakes happen, and it appears to be very unusal when it does.

I looked into this recently. cellular at sea works through your cell phone service but only works at sea. It connects with cellular at 5-10 miles from the port. The main downside I see to this is that for cellular at sea to work, you have to turn roaming on. But you have no coverage on land, so you will have to remember to cellular or roaming off at least 10 miles from a port.

I personally would just plan on using your free wifi minutes and use the $10 travel pass in port if additional time is needed. if you log in, do a wifi call, or imessage text, and log back out again. You won't use 90 minutes. 

3 hours ago, Elaine5715 said:

Thanks for reinforcing the fallacy.  

Background checks aren't an ironclad safety check. But they still have to be done. A cruise line would get sued for a ridiculous amount of they hired a convicted sex offender to work with children. There is no way to determine that the person you are hiring has not committed a crime in the past. A polygraph is better than a background check, but is still flawed. Unless a parent never lets their child go to school, camp, sports, church, daycare, etc, there is no way to ensure that they won't be a victim of abuse. Not sure what you think the answer is.

13 hours ago, Illbcruzn4life said:

what nationalities work in camp ocean. I thought it was mostly canadian and american.  I haven't had any little ones for 3 decades so I don't really pay that much attention.

The employee is question was from the Philippines. I very much doubt fingerprinting or a background check would have been insightful there. 

I've never experienced or expected a TA to stay on top of promos for my booking. Every sale is relative since the prices constantly change. 2nd person free for your sailing isn't necessarily cheaper than what you booked at paying full price for both people. A TA can't possibly stay on top of prices rising and falling for every trip for every client. 

1 hour ago, SophieM said:

We’re still on the fence, too, for the YF vaccine. Our doc isn’t familiar, and Mercy no longer has a travel medicine clinic. I’m planning on contacting the Health Dept. 

 

Jane

I found that yellow fever was very difficult and expensive to get locally. None of the pharmacies in my area had it or would order it. The only option we found was to go to a very expensive private travel clinic - no insurance accepted of course. Passport Health | Immunizations | Travel Clinics (passporthealthusa.com)

I ended up not doing the yellow fever. It wasn't required for my destination and the vaccine was going to cost around $400. 

11 hours ago, DebbieCruises said:

Our cruise is not for another ten months, so probably not filling up too fast yet, but I get your point. I just was making the point that that NCL has an excellent marketing department and plays word games (quite successfully) to fool everyone into paying more and more and more and believing it's just the way way "it should be" by putting it in the FAQ page or frequent reposts. 

 

I know I'm kinda old and been sailing a long time, but when we started, we paid tips of $3.50 pp per day in little envelopes at the end of the cruise on the SS Norway.  Now we pay $20 pp (or $25 pp in the Haven) per day DSC, plus 20% for the beverage package, plus the 20% for the dining package charges.  Oh, yes, we always paid an extra $ or so tip for a drink plus the $3 or $4 charge for the drinks, as well as the extra tips paid to the room stewards and others, but now... we pay soooo much more for the cabin to begin with, as well as everything else and still they want us to pay more and more and more tips, gratuities, daily service charges, or whatever terminology they decide to use this year.  Yes, we do continue to tip, and we appreciate the service beyond measure or we wouldn't keep cruising, but it does make me wonder.  We love to cruise in spite of the fees.  I wonder what the next term they will use for tip/gratuity will be.  Let me get my thesaursus.

I guess this depends on when you started cruising. $3.50 in 1970 is equivalent to $27.75 now. Prices always go up. 

This all seems to be going off the rails and out of context. There are many people who enjoy traveling with friends. Having a history of taking trips with these people and the fact that they were invited in the first place, makes this almost certainly a positive surprise. 

It has been noted that most of you would not like random, uninvited friends crashing your vacation. That is fair. 

42 minutes ago, Homosassa said:

Thanks for posting this.

 

I was about to post the same about what my daughter (BA/MAT at the time) was told about the Royal Caribbean Corporate  policy for  employment in the youth programs on board their ship.

 

She was also told fingerprints would be needed for that in depth background check.

I'm curious if countries like the Philippines keep high enough quality records to do a useful background check. 

2 hours ago, aborgman said:

 

No, the goal of an employer is to make as much profit as possible in any legal way.

 

If providing better service does that, they will do that. If providing worse service with lower labor costs does that, they'll do that.

Not necessarily. Small businesses rely on repeat business and referrals. They may focus more on a positive customer experience even if that is somewhat less profitable.