Traveling Fools

Gary, I too am the trip planner; be it a cruise or a 6-week cross-country RV journey. DW leaves it up to me. Like many of you, I will spend hours researching what to do at our destinations, or if on a road trip what to do in between stops. I don't use a spread sheet. Instead I use a calendar....easier for DW to visualize. In 2008 my Mom took all of us kids on an Alaskan cruise. The only "rule" was that all of us would meet for dinner. We were free to do what we wanted at port calls, but it was a must to meet for dinner. We kids would rotate spending the days in port with Mom. It all worked out well. Oh, no one had to make up rooms, cook, or clean the dishes. What a reunion! So very true.

We have done this on most of our cruises, even the ones with foreign itineraries. You should be able to buy traveling wine bags at your local wine store. You are not going to be lugging suite cases for any extended time, so weight will be minimal, especially if you are traveling with two suite cases and put a bottle in each bag.

Depends on what kind of X-ray machine they are using

Yes, please define the traits of those "certain type of people who book the Retreat". You have made an unfounded categorical statement inferring that ANYONE booking a suite falls into the class of being a "certain type" . It is a very derisive statement. We have cruised in all classes of cabins, but now our preference is a suite. I doubt you could pick us out in a crowd. We drink in Michaels (or whatever the name is now) because the coast of drinks are part of the fare we paid for our cruise. We are fortunate, but with one exception not extravagant. That exception is that at least one night for dinner we like dressing up. Sometimes in suit and tie and sometimes in a Tux (anniversary cruises). We do that for us and not to show off, and we have done that in all classes of cabins we have booked in the past. Yes, sadly we have encounter two couples, ironically on the same cruise, who felt they were superior than the rest of us. One couple were soap box actors who had booked the Penthouse and the other couple was a retired U.S. Navy Admiral and his wife. The two couples gravitated together. They treated the other suite guests as untouchables. Did it bother the rest of us? Hell no! That said, there is no excuse for bad manners obnoxious behavior! Like a CC acquaintance I have made on the NCL forum (Sthrngary) is fond of saying, "If You Can't Respond With Class, Empathy and Professionalism; Simply DON'T respond."

Thank You both for answering my question.

Getting ready for Nov AZ cruise. It will be our first with AZ, so I have a question. What is the Atlas bar?

Medium sized turbo prop as I remember.

We have been to Iguazu and highly, highly recommend you visit. The flight times out of BA will govern the number of days you will need for the visit, but plan on the trip taking at least 3-days. 1-the day you fly there, 2-Whole day on Argentine side, 3-Morning visit to the Brazilian side followed by your afternoon return flight back to BA. Again, you are going to be in BA...take the time to visit Iguazu. You won't regret it!

If its part of your package you have paid for it and can "slam" as many shots of it as you would/can any other selection. That's not to say they might cut you off if you get too slammed.

Recently made some on-line reservations for our Jan 7th sailing. I had to complete the transaction before the reservations were made and recorded. I didn't get charged, but still had to complete the transaction

Great review Sailor Jack!

Dubai's old airport was in deed a cultural melting pot. For many coming from remote, rural areas it must have seem as if they had passed thru a time warp. Very true. And you don't really require a lot of time to visit some of the nearby sites. While visiting some of the old forts, I kept looking for a charge of the either a light brigade or encounter of a French Foreign Legion type of event to happen.

You are assuming there has been a decline in the number of people cruising. While perhaps there has been an increase in complaint threads and posts of CC's X forum that can't be equated to a decline in passenger bookings. With an average of 56,000 passengers sailing on a weekly basis just on X alone, X (or any other line) can't (won't) keep track of former passengers who are no longer sailing. 99.9% of the time they have no idea who you are until you have booked and then that focus is limited to the crew on the ship which you have booked. And even then not until just prior to your booking. There are any numbers of reasons prior passengers are not booking cruises; one and done-not their thing or not their type of line, health, age, interest, etc. When was the last time you received a survey from X, or any other line (cruise or air) that asked why you aren't traveling with them more often? Or, Hey...what is it going to take to travel with us again?!? You might get that kind of question from a TA, but not lines. With some unique exceptions, X, RCCL, Carnival, Oceania, Azamara, MSC, or any of the other lines don't know who we are. They don't have a code book that deciphers our online pseudonyms for them and if they did they wouldn't burn sunlight and corporate dollars trying to figure out who we are. The best anyone can hope comes out of a thread like this, is that someone in corporate monitors them. Not that they will do anything other than monitor them. The days of perceived intimacy a frequent cruiser had with their chosen cruise line began to sink with the replacement of 6-700 passenger ships with those that now carry closer to 3,000.

As you have read, it has been stricken from the list. It was on it las year during our Polynesian cruise. They ran out of it at the bars mid-way thru the cruise. DW got her fair share!😁 And, I got my share of Macallan!!

Kind of rains on the parade of some of the complaint postings.

Good news! Booked on her in Sept '24 for a Greek Intensive.

No

Only in Japan

DW is German from the wine country...know all about it! Have spent some quality time in the Champagne region, but those stories are for another thread!

Have witnessed an occasion when an intoxicated older woman at the pool fell and hurt herself. Not a pass out, a bloody fall. Have also seen passengers who have one toooooo many while sitting in the hot tub need assistance in getting out and back to their cabin.

Happened in Japan too....sometimes there wasn't a separate stall only a latch on the door.

Sounds delish!

MamaFej...Off topic, but we could be related. One of my many-great great grandfathers was a young protégé of Roger Williams.

True to a point...evolving wants and expectations. We don't cruise a fraction of what many posters here on CC do, so can't really comment on the stated "hyper" increases in fares. But, those that do cruise that often have found their cabin/suite niche and are able to see a hike in prices and relative decline in the perks that came with what they have paid for in the past. Is X concerned about the comments made here on CC and a possible migration of customers to other cruise lines over this. Not likely. While there is a base of X fans on this forum. They only represent a very small fraction of the approximately 56,000 passengers booked on their cruises each week. Really dissatisfied, loyal X fans will chose to move on to other lines that cater to their changing needs/wants in a cruise line. X needs only to maintain its' current perceived image to capture the business of either new cruisers or those who onboard needs are evolving and moving away from a line with a perceived age (young or old), party demographic. I think the observed trend in this thread relating to X's changes with the reported reduction, or elimination, of some of their 14 or more day itineraries and more apparent emphasis on shorter Caribbean cruises deserves an explanation by X.

Last September, book a RS for a Greek Intensive itinerary for our 50th anniversary next Sept. Checked yesterday on the pricing. About $1,000pp more.