Tenderpaw

Cruises aren't good for "in depth" at any port. BUT they are good to get a taste of a lot of things quickly, only unpack once, and have accommodations that are of a known quality level. I'm kind of picky about accommodations and thus tend to stay at chain hotels after some thread bear/dusty experiences in Europe, so knowing that the cruise ship cabin will be at a certain level is a plus for me. Regarding "why would you settle", life is full of choices and there is only so much money in my case so sometimes second or third choice is better than sitting at home.

I hope that is the case, but I doubt it. The cheerleaders used to excuse the cost cutting by saying "cruises are so much cheaper now". But they aren't really anymore but the cuts keep coming. Yep, I'm cynical when it comes to corporations and costs.

I hope that is the case, but I doubt it. The cheerleaders used to excuse the cost cutting by saying "cruises are so much cheaper now". But they aren't really anymore. Yep, I'm cynical when it comes to corporations and costs.

It doesn't cost thousands of $$ to stay at a hotel and keep your status. Not the same.

There is definitely a demand bubble right now for travel, and maybe cruises in particular. As for how people are affording, well its revolving credit card payments for many. Prices will drop eventually. All the cruise lines except for MSC took on massive debt during COVID. I hope they are paying that down while they are awash in cash as this won't last forever. There are still deals, you just have to hunt for them and you might have to "settle" on not your first choice.

My wife and I are ending a QM2 cruise in July in Brooklyn and would like to see a few sites in NYC prior to an evening flight home, specifically the 9/11 memorial and museum and maybe a couple other things. Considering the logistics of luggage and disembarking, what is the best way to do this? I see Cunard has some excursion offers, but none reference an airport drop or how to handle luggage. I don't have a return flight booked yet as i wanted to figure this out. I haven't been in NYC in about 20 years and while i have good memories, the logistics weren't fun. I'd like to see a few things over 4-5 hours and get the hell out. Thanks.

The prices are crazy, but I guess people are willing to pay them. Lots of actual premium products with better service, better food, better accommodations, and a better itinerary are out there, so hard pass for me at these current price levels. We are on the Icon in an inside for what i thought was a stupidly high price at the time, but is WAY cheaper than prices today for either the Icon or the Star. Friends that booked the Icon in the first couple of days it opened have a mini-suite for just a bit more than our inside on the same voyage. Royal better hope the predicted recession doesn't hit.

Point taken, but i wanted to cash flow it and not think about it. Sure, i could set the money aside monthly, but i didn't want to think about it. The small amount of "interest" on that cash isn't worth it.

We have a cruise scheduled on the Icon that we booked with a reduced deposit through the Future Cruise program. I decided to set up a payment plan of $200/month through Royal's Flex Pay program to pay off the balance, but according to the rules, we can't do that because we didn't pay a "full" deposit of $500. Since we paid a reduced deposit of $200, we have to pay $300 first, and then we can start making payments. This is stupid. Royal is fine with me waiting until the final payment date to pay the balance due, but won't allow me to do the automated payment plan where they would get their money faster. Yes, i know i can pay every month, but I don't want to think about having to do that. I also know i could just pay the $300 and then do the payment plan, but now I think i'll wait because the deposit requirement is stupid and illogical.

This statement has a lot of truth. We did a 18 nighter on Celebrity and found the service to be Royal level pre covid. They still had a lot of live entertainment, although i think Royal still does too. Food on Celeb was very disappointing and was not even pre Covid Royal level. They cut that and Royal has too. This said, a long Carnival cruise will be fine as the trouble makers can't afford the time or the money for those types of cruises. I'd go on a 14 night Carnival Journey cruise anytime.

Having just sailed on a 18 night Celebrity cruise as an Elite, i can tell you the Celebrity loyalty program is not as good because not only are the free drinks limited to the happy hour, it is also a limited free drink menu. I don't see Royal's program offering more benefits and I can totally see the free drink vouchers going away in favor of a limited menu during happy hour. If any combining happens, it won't be in our favor. Look for another tier to be added, fewer perks made to sound like an improvement, and harder to earn points. When Celebrity changed to their current program, i was 3 cruises away from Elite under the old program. With the change, i needed 3 7 day cruises in an inside to get there.

Carnival and Royal are both mass market cruise lines. Celebrity is supposed to be a "premium" cruise line, but having sailed on all 3, its only slightly/barely more premium. You still get cabin service twice a day and the passenger count is a bit less. Food is the same quality as Royal and a huge step down from Celebrity's food a few years ago. There are jerks sailing on all 3 companies.

We were on the Eclipse on the cruise previous to the OP's cruise which was Sydney to Honolulu. The food wasn't the greatest. The eggs in the buffet were literally in liquid and the omelet station had long lines. There were premade cheese omelets that were tasty. Prime rib was excellent. Burgers in the mast grill were very good (big surprise). Had a great meal at Tuscan. Spaghetti bolanese was great. And there were other great meals too. But the menu was uninspiring some nights and we went to the buffet. One meal entre in the MDR was pork and beans! Seriously? We enjoyed the cruise, but the food was lacking especially for a "premium" cruise line. We were on the Allure and Odyssey last year and the food in the MDR was better than the Eclipse, but this was pre menu downgrade in January. Buffet on Eclipse was probably a bit better than on the Royal ships. At the risk of being propagative, the cruise lines LOVE when folks say "oh, food is subjective" or "they're feeding thousands so that's why it sucks". Well, they fed 1000s years ago and it was way better and it was subjective then too and there were fewer complaint. They are just cutting costs.

If I were you, i would do the long Carnival cruise. As has been said, the atmosphere will be laid back and the demographic will be more seasoned travelers. There aren't going to be a bunch of obnoxious drunks by the pool. A long Carnival cruise will be pretty similar to a long Royal cruise. There is a lot of snobbery from "loyal to Royal" types against Carnival as seen by some of the comments here suggesting that you shouldn't even ask your question on the Royal board. Carnival has gotten bad press from some of the incidents on their cheaper cruises, but Royal has had incidents too that are documented on Youtube. And I've experienced Royal not enforcing rules too.

Well a lot more folks are homeschooling now. Or they are just pulling their kids from school. We homeschooled and took our kid on lots of cruises. Never did we do lessons on the cruise because its vacation. However some homeschoolers do lessons on cruises, it just depends. It was a blessing to be able to travel freely with our kid and he got to visit a lot of interesting places. And he has since graduated college and has a full time job.

I can understand if the weather is bad. I can even understand occasional late evening "kids take over the Solarium" on longer cruises as a kids club function. Disney does this usually at 10PM 1 or 2 nights on longer cruises. But as a daily thing, no. No kids.

I found those potatoes to be delicious. Does anyone know if they are elsewhere on the new menu or are they gone? I'd love to have that recipe... The tenderloin was good too and paired excellently with a lobster tail to make surf and turf. I guess that is why its gone. We haven't cruised since December, so we haven't experienced the revised menu.

I think it depends on the Captain. Was on the Odyssey in November and there was one. The captain was very outgoing and made at least one announcement every day and had a great Captains Corner on the last day. He was also out and about a lot. Was on the Allure in December and there wasn't one. And you didn't hear much from the Captain during the cruise. Or see him much either.

And its happening, just as predicted. https://cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/2023/03/royal-caribbean-international-trimming-housekeeping-services/ All in the name of "sustainability". Raise the per diem, lower the service.

Politeness goes a long way in these situations. We had a problem with lack of AC and an odor in our cabin on the Allure in December. Initially we were told all was fine with the AC and the smell wasn't mentioned. But then that night, we got a call offering to move us to another cabin of the same category. We took it and were all moved in less than two hours. The new cabin was cool and had no odor. We later figured out the odor we were smelling was marijuana. Long story on how we deduced that. Now, if there are no extra cabins and they can't fix the problem, they will tend to stonewall you, especially on temperature issues.

I ran across this review today, and having sailed on the Wish in September, found it to be pretty accurate. While the kids spaces are amazing, the adults areas are weak and the ship seems like a downgrade from the older ships. I hope they correct some of these issues on the coming new ships, but somehow i doubt they will. And yes, there folks leading the design who had never been on a cruise and were proud of that fact.

Thread officially derailed!

LOL! Another standard response to almost every thread about cruise line cuts! "Find another vacation type!" No! I don't want to. So I'll complain. That's how you stop the BS cuts, by complaining. But so many of you just want to go along. They could cut the dining room completely and make it extra charge and there would be people saying "no problem, i only eat at the Windjammer". Or, "find another vacation if you don't like it".

My purpose was to show yet another cut. You are entitled to your opinion, but I find it amazing that folks are so willing to go along with these cuts just because it doesn't impact them. Every thread about a cut has dozens of responses saying "I don't care it doesn't impact me because I XYZ". I am against anything the decreases value for my $$ paid for a cruise and I resent the continuous cutting of benefits that has taken place over the past 20 years. This is regardless of whether the cut actually impacts me. Only one stateroom service per day is a major cut, even if it doesn't impact you personally because you don't need it. Its still a cut. Sure, go along and don't complain, but eventually they will cut something you actually care about. I don't want to give these cruise lines an inch in cutting value, thus I complain.

LOL! "It doesn't matter to me because of XYZ" covers most of these! It doesn't matter because I'm single, It doesn't matter because i already request it just be once a day, It doesn't matter because I just took a P&O cruise/Carnival cruise and they do it this way and it was fine, It doesn't matter because that's what hotels do, It doesn't matter because I use my towels 4 days, It doesn't matter because I'm loyal to Royal...