In Defense of the Budget Cruiser

[Jameseric]

...ample storage space for my overflow items.

What I think we need to know at this stage of subtle one-upmanship, is where the polo ponies ride....

 

Only a shade more seriously, I had better stop tracking this string. Remember when tuxedo clad George Burns, oozing with earthy class, would step onstage after the Burns & Allen Show with his lovely wife to close the final moments with "Say goodnight, Gracie." Which she sweetly always did? Let's not lose that kind of gentleness.

[sail7seas]

I always book an inside cabin and don't care what anyone else thinks. I find that the closet space in my main Neptune Suite is often too small to hold my evening clothes and so the inside cabin provides excellent and ample storage space for my overflow items. Who cares if someone sees me going into an inside?

 

What I think we need to know at this stage of subtle one-upmanship, is where the polo ponies ride....

 

Only a shade more seriously, I had better stop tracking this string. Remember when tuxedo clad George Burns, oozing with earthy class, would step onstage after the Burns & Allen Show with his lovely wife to close the final moments with "Say goodnight, Gracie." Which she sweetly always did? Let's not lose that kind of gentleness.

 

 

I think it's too late......... it's gone already. :D

 

 

(my underline)

 

[Lizzie68]

OMG !

 

We are budget cruisers and will be in our first Neptune Suite in two days. Maybe we should reconsider if this is what will happen to us :D !

 

I do recall many years ago we were invited to a Suite Party with the Captain; our cabin was 776 on the Ryndam (inside). A man came up to me and stated, "What a great party. We don't have to mingle with those other people :eek:

 

LOL! On our first Neptune upsell, and our first Suite Party, we met an older guy with a rather nice young lady (drop dead gorgeous, actually) who I rather liked. It turned out to be his "companion" that he met the week before. By the end of the cruise she looked like she wanted to jump overboard! It was a 3 week cruise, I expect the proposition looked good to her at first. In spite of her "profession" she was very pleasant to talk to and rather classy compared to some others there.:D

[Tina G]

We always book guarantee cabins and open seating dining. At least once in every cruise, we share a table with someone who feels he needs to impress us with his wealth, importance, and cabin grade. It only proves that money can't buy you any class.

 

Our financial status has changed in the past two years, but our cruising style won't. There is no need for us to upgrade. We enjoy traveling to so many beautiful places and HAL suits us very well. I do wish they would bring back the string quartet, though.

Edited June 28, 2015 by Tina G

[dlg64]

I did not want to hijack another thread, but I felt compelled to stick my two cents in. Some of us budget and do without for many months in order to afford to cruise. To us, a $200/300 difference (double that if the cruiser is a solo) in price for a guarantee is worth risking an inconvenient location or a less desirable cabin, especially for longer cruises. After all, the ship is merely a means of transport to amazing cultures and sights that we would never experience otherwise. The "insignificant" price difference might pay for an excursion we previously thought too expensive, a pre/post cruise hotel, or part of our airfare.

 

No, we do not want to cruise on a budget cruise line. Although it was once implied on this forum that if one needed to worry about the pre cruise credit card hold, that perhaps one shouldn't be cruising, we find the ambience, itineraries, service, and, above all, the people we meet on HAL worth sacrificing for.

 

Totally agree with this entire thread page... i too save long and hard for my holidays and as a Nurse really NEED the rest... I have only done 1 little cruise and am hooked and now on the countdown to my first "real" cruise of 14 days. I am looking at my budget for spending $$ and so far I love the researching for DIY excursions, will have massages on land, not much of a drinker, love to people watch (which is very cheap!!) and hope that this cruise will be the first of many that may 'fit my budget' but also fill my 'need to feel like a princess' !!

Roll on Sept...:)

[dfish]

Seems so, but it's a can that needed to be opened. No matter how many people say that there's nothing wrong with taking a lower category cabin, or that it's no one else's business, your perception that there are subtle digs posted is spot on.

 

How often does a post contain info that is extraneous to the bulk of the post? Things like having sailed 100 days last year, am Titanium on HAL, Superior on Princess, and Grand Poo-Bah on some other line, and the number of cruises or type of cabin are oft-repeated by some posters, when it has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making.

Those are put downs to the budget cruiser.

 

And, sometimes, not so subtle digs. Thanks, RuthC. As usual, you are spot on.

[DaveOKC]

OMG !

 

We are budget cruisers and will be in our first Neptune Suite in two days. Maybe we should reconsider if this is what will happen to us :D !

 

I do recall many years ago we were invited to a Suite Party with the Captain; our cabin was 776 on the Ryndam (inside). A man came up to me and stated, "What a great party. We don't have to mingle with those other people :eek:

 

Hopefully the man was just kidding!

[cruisemom42]

Seems so, but it's a can that needed to be opened. No matter how many people say that there's nothing wrong with taking a lower category cabin, or that it's no one else's business, your perception that there are subtle digs posted is spot on.

 

How often does a post contain info that is extraneous to the bulk of the post? Things like having sailed 100 days last year, am Titanium on HAL, Superior on Princess, and Grand Poo-Bah on some other line, and the number of cruises or type of cabin are oft-repeated by some posters, when it has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making.

Those are put downs to the budget cruiser.

 

<applause>

 

LOL! On our first Neptune upsell, and our first Suite Party, we met an older guy with a rather nice young lady (drop dead gorgeous, actually) who I rather liked. It turned out to be his "companion" that he met the week before. By the end of the cruise she looked like she wanted to jump overboard! It was a 3 week cruise, I expect the proposition looked good to her at first. In spite of her "profession" she was very pleasant to talk to and rather classy compared to some others there.:D

 

Thanks for the laugh. In the bilges we don't get that kind of entertainment. I imagine if he'd offered her three weeks in an inside cabin, she may not have been so eager. :D

[G&G]

Hopefully the man was just kidding!

 

Unfortunately not !

[lahlah57]

Totally agree with this entire thread page... i too save long and hard for my holidays and as a Nurse really NEED the rest... I have only done 1 little cruise and am hooked and now on the countdown to my first "real" cruise of 14 days. I am looking at my budget for spending $$ and so far I love the researching for DIY excursions, will have massages on land, not much of a drinker, love to people watch (which is very cheap!!) and hope that this cruise will be the first of many that may 'fit my budget' but also fill my 'need to feel like a princess' !!

Roll on Sept...:)

 

Being a nurse.....you deserve the best cruise ever. I respect a hard working individual who has planned and saved for their truly deserved vacation!

You are smart and have a definate plan once on board.....budgeting to get what you want deserves no explanation!:D

[IFlyHarder]

No one needs to defend their choice of cabin!

I enjoy traveling with the lesser classes. I look at is as an anthropological experience akin to spending time in Mali or Bolivia.

[POA1]

Hopefully the man was just kidding!

I actually edited my post to add a smiley face. Then, I took the time to note that the reason for editing was to add a smiley face because someone was bound not to realize it was a joke. I guess I'll have to start each post with a disclaimer stating that it contains "humor content." I'll also need to end each post with a bunch of legalese. (Think car ads.)

[kazu]

I honestly do NOT think "Budget cruisers " NEED to defend anything;" For MANY years that's what we were -whether we sailed WITH my hubby's parents or on our own; when we both retired we decided the MOST important thing we wanted to do was LIVE the history of OUR world [ we retired in 2000] so we did a World cruise and several "Grand" HAL cruises plus a few more. NOW I think we TOTALLY made the RIGHT choices and I'm SO glad we did because our age would change those decisions NOW [2015]

The bottom line is it is nobody ELSE'S business what you decide OR why. We often HAD inside cabins and now we don't. What we LEARNED would fill an encyclopedia.

This subject annoys me more than you CAN know; I had a woman who NEVER worked outside her $$$$$$ home say VERY nastily to me "I HEAR- ALL you do is cruise!" Our home is wonderful but smaller/modest; OUR cruises are NOT -they are WORLD calibre. AND we've LOVED ever single one and I OWE her NOTHING[ OR anybody ELSE for that matter!]

I doubt I will ever ever go to my GRAVE saying "WE should have saved more!"

Just remember- there ARE things that aren't anybody ELSE'S business........

 

I Love, love this post. DH and I decided we would travel while we were in reasonably good health and while we haven't done world cruises, we have done some pretty incredible itineraries of 30+ days.

 

We do scrimp and save for these cruises. We don't eat out, don't change cars, and don't do a lot of things that others take for granted as we would rather cruise.

 

We have been in every category but inside.

 

I hear you on the comments. We have heard them too. But, it's no one's business what one chooses to spend their money on or what one chooses NOT to spend their money on ;)

[qsuzi]

I Love, love this post. DH and I decided we would travel while we were in reasonably good health and while we haven't done world cruises, we have done some pretty incredible itineraries of 30+ days.

 

We do scrimp and save for these cruises. We don't eat out, don't change cars, and don't do a lot of things that others take for granted as we would rather cruise.

 

We have been in every category but inside.

 

I hear you on the comments. We have heard them too. But, it's no one's business what one chooses to spend their money on or what one chooses NOT to spend their money on ;)

We also are traveling as much as possible while we are in good health. We live economically at home, i.e., rarely eating out, being frugal in our purchases, etc. We were raised to save as much as possible for later in life so that we could to enjoy things like cruising. Thankful that life has been good to us overall.

Edited June 28, 2015 by qsuzi

[DaveOKC]

We also are traveling as much as possible while we are in good health. We live economically at home, i.e., rarely eating out, being frugal in our purchases, etc. We were raised to save as much as possible for later in life so that we could to enjoy things like cruising. Thankful that life has been good to us overall.

 

Same here. We lived below our means for most of our lives and saved for college and retirement. Now we can enjoy what we have, while we can still do things on our own.

[iancal]

Booking inside the cancellation window saved us enough money on our Feb/March Australia cruise to pay for both our airfares home, with a two day stopover in Honolulu to break up the trip.

 

Opting for a last minute balcony gty was not hard to do given the rewards. That is how we look at it. We simply apply the savings to pay for additional travel or offset the cost of planned travel. And not in any way ashamed of it.

Edited June 28, 2015 by iancal

[sunsetbeachgal]

We also booked our June cruise on the Eurodam inside of the cancellation window, had our eye on the voyage for awhile and just couldn't pass it up when the prices fell. Then when HAL started emailing with upsells, we jumped at the second round of upsells and treated ourselves to our first ever Neptune Suite. With the reasonable price we paid for the cruise plus the amount of the the upsell, we felt it was a true bargain! I appreciated that suite so much!!

Edited June 28, 2015 by sunsetbeachgal

[navybankerteacher]

Seems so, but it's a can that needed to be opened. No matter how many people say that there's nothing wrong with taking a lower category cabin, or that it's no one else's business, your perception that there are subtle digs posted is spot on.

 

How often does a post contain info that is extraneous to the bulk of the post? Things like having sailed 100 days last year, am Titanium on HAL, Superior on Princess, and Grand Poo-Bah on some other line, and the number of cruises or type of cabin are oft-repeated by some posters, when it has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making.

Those are put downs to the budget cruiser.

 

Being more inclined to see the glass half full rather than half empty, I really do not take comments on how well someone has done as "digs" or " put downs".

 

Some people are just happy with what they got, and perhaps for how little, that they talk about it - sure, it might be seen as boasting - but not really being derogatory to others. The recent posts by sunsetbeachgal, iancal, DaveOKC, above, among others, might be seen as a celebrating good fortune - but certainly not as put downs.

[RuthC]

Being more inclined to see the glass half full rather than half empty, I really do not take comments on how well someone has done as "digs" or " put downs".

 

Some people are just happy with what they got, and perhaps for how little, that they talk about it - sure, it might be seen as boasting - but not really being derogatory to others. The recent posts by sunsetbeachgal, iancal, DaveOKC, above, among others, might be seen as a celebrating good fortune - but certainly not as put downs.

You must have missed the part where I said "...has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making."

There have been many posts over the years where comments about number & length of cruises, or accommodations on the ships, are slipped in to a post that has nothing to do with those factors. Those are bragging for bragging's sake, and are digs---whether intentional or not.

[CowPrincess]

Seems so, but it's a can that needed to be opened. No matter how many people say that there's nothing wrong with taking a lower category cabin, or that it's no one else's business, your perception that there are subtle digs posted is spot on.

 

How often does a post contain info that is extraneous to the bulk of the post? Things like having sailed 100 days last year, am Titanium on HAL, Superior on Princess, and Grand Poo-Bah on some other line, and the number of cruises or type of cabin are oft-repeated by some posters, when it has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making.

Those are put downs to the budget cruiser.

 

As usual, beautifully expressed RuthC.

 

The entire thread makes me think of the quote about "For those who understand no explanation is necessary, for those who don't understand no explanation is possible" (or something like that ;) )

[sail7seas]

You must have missed the part where I said "...has nothing to do with the point they are otherwise making."

There have been many posts over the years where comments about number & length of cruises, or accommodations on the ships, are slipped in to a post that has nothing to do with those factors. Those are bragging for bragging's sake, and are digs---whether intentional or not.

 

Do you not think that mention of considerable number of cruises gives someone new to the forum some idea of how experienced a traveler the poster might be? When you mention having done VOV several times, it lends a certain authority to what you say. You've been there and done it, more than once, and likely the information you are sharing is valuable.

 

[RuthC]

Do you not think that mention of considerable number of cruises gives someone new to the forum some idea of how experienced a traveler the poster might be?

There are times when credibility should be established, and times when degree of experience makes no difference in an answer. No one needs to post the number of cruises they've been on when someone is asking about the menu on the first night.

 

I would never mention the Voyage of the Vikings, or how many times I've done it if someone were asking about one of the ports visited on that ship. It's not necessary. I would say I had been to that port, as it establishes I am speaking from experience.

 

There's a difference between saying I've been on 50+ cruises (which I see no need to post) and saying I've been to a given port 5 times when the poster is asking about that port.

 

See the difference?

[midwest 852]

There are times when credibility should be established, and times when degree of experience makes no difference in an answer. No one needs to post the number of cruises they've been on when someone is asking about the menu on the first night.

 

I would never mention the Voyage of the Vikings, or how many times I've done it if someone were asking about one of the ports visited on that ship. It's not necessary. I would say I had been to that port, as it establishes I am speaking from experience.

 

There's a difference between saying I've been on 50+ cruises (which I see no need to post) and saying I've been to a given port 5 times when the poster is asking about that port.

See the difference?

 

Well said Ruth thank you.

[iancal]

My point about booking inside the final payment window to save money or to get an upgrade is that we do it precisely because we are on a budget. Nothing whatsoever to do with bragging. Besides, we have met lots of people on our travels who do exactly the same. And we exchange travel tips, web sites, and experiences.

 

The further we make that travel budget stretch, the more travel we can enjoy. Our travel is all about trade-offs and getting as much perceived value out of our travel budget as possible. I do not think that we are very different from anyone else.

[tpwolfe]

We are about as budget as it gets. We always book an lowest priced inside cabin We only sleep and shower in the room and the rest of the time we spend on shore or out enjoying the ship. We are trying something new for our next cruise we purchased our airfare for the cruise first when the price was low and waiting to book the cruise after the final payment is due and when the price should drop. It a gamble but we think it's a good gamble. We are paying $558.00 for airfare for the both of us. When I check the price a week later the price jumped to $640.00 a person. If the cruise doesn't drop to a price we like then we will be out a $400.00 airline change fee for our next cruise but if the cruise fare does drop to what we want then we can book the cruise without worrying about what the airfare will cost. We can also be patience when booking the cruise because the airfare is already taken care of.