New Royal Carib ship

[MrsMoose2001]

Well in the Globe and Mail today (canadian business newspaper) it says

Royal Carib ordered the most expensive cruise ship a 1.24billion (us$) vessel that will hold up to 6,400 people. based on 2 per cabin it's 5,400 but since most cruise ship cabins can hold more than 2 it's max is 6,400 to be delivered in 2009 360 meteres long and 73 meters high called Project Genesis, this is copied from the Globe and Mail writeup.

 

Now try getting all those people to wear formal at the same time?

That is bigger than some towns.

What are they going to have 20 or more restaurants? How many crew will they need to feed all those people and where oh where will they keep the food to feed that amount of people. How can they even have a "main dining room"? It will be like a town hall as opposed to a dining room if they try to get that in all at once.

 

I can't even see 1,000 people in a dining room all at once.

 

Any thoughts?

[momofmeg]

Well in the Globe and Mail today (canadian business newspaper) it says

Royal Carib ordered the most expensive cruise ship a 1.24billion (us$) vessel that will hold up to 6,400 people. based on 2 per cabin it's 5,400 but since most cruise ship cabins can hold more than 2 it's max is 6,400 to be delivered in 2009 360 meteres long and 73 meters high called Project Genesis, this is copied from the Globe and Mail writeup.

 

Now try getting all those people to wear formal at the same time?

That is bigger than some towns.

What are they going to have 20 or more restaurants? How many crew will they need to feed all those people and where oh where will they keep the food to feed that amount of people. How can they even have a "main dining room"? It will be like a town hall as opposed to a dining room if they try to get that in all at once.

 

I can't even see 1,000 people in a dining room all at once.

 

Any thoughts?

 

If you go the RCCL board there is plenty on the new Freedom of the Seas. I will never cruise it. Too many people (3600 PAX) on my Mariner of the Seas cruise last Oct., Sea days were horrible. You would not believe the pool area and the windjammer. In spite of ice kating, rock climbing, minature and regualr golf courses, and in line skating-everyone was by the pools and the pool areas were just not big enough for 3600 PAX.

[Ehpride]

The new 6400 passenger ship is the Genesis project, not Freedom of the Seas. I couldn't imagine being on a ship with that many people, although I suppose if you had enough crew and space, it'd work alright. Embarkation and debarkation could take forever though!

[Happy ks]

No thanks, not for me!

 

I'd rather cruise smaller ships and would love to cruise Oceania, Windstar or even the Radiance class of RCI. I'm not even interested in the Voyager class ships, those are too big for me.

 

OK, I know, I'm going on the QM2 in a couple weeks, the largest pax ship afloat at the moment. But, I'm not going because of the size of the ship, I'd actually prefer it to be smaller. This was just a once in a lifetime opportunity to sail on this ship and it just happens to be on our anniversary.

 

We may decide to do a crossing on her in a few years, we'll see.

[momofmeg]

The new 6400 passenger ship is the Genesis project, not Freedom of the Seas. I couldn't imagine being on a ship with that many people, although I suppose if you had enough crew and space, it'd work alright. Embarkation and debarkation could take forever though!

 

Goodness!-I did not realize they are now doing even a bigger ship. The way things are going I will soon no longer be cruising-all the lines are going the mega ship way and as far as I am concerned bigger IS NOT better.

 

I had read so many posts going on and on about the voyager class ships and how great they were. It was a big disapointment to me. I won't make the same mistake with Princess with the "grand class" of ships or Carnival with the conquest class.

 

Saturday we are going on Celebrity Zenith, a small ship and with only 1300 passengers, about one third the passengers of Mariner. It was also half the price and I bet we like this ship 3 times more. I will let all of you know in about 10 days I guess. I could be wrong-if I am I will admit it.

[MrsMoose2001]

Have a wonderful cruise, healthy, happy, safe travels momofmeg. I hope you really have a great time.

[judyzoo]

I really much prefer the smaller ships; and the size of the Genesis is, I think, outlandish. Not just too many people, but overall the real cruise experience gets lost somewhere. Sad to say, however, that eventually if we want to cruise it's going to have to be on a monster ship because there will no longer be any smaller ships sailing.

[judyzoo]

I really much prefer the smaller ships; and the size of the Genesis is, I think, outlandish. Not just too many people, but overall the real cruise experience gets lost somewhere. Sad to say, however, that eventually if we want to cruise it's going to have to be on a monster ship because there will no longer be any smaller ships sailing.

 

I hope this isn't a double post; having a bit of trouble right now with this board.

[Cruise Arizona]

I guess I just like a traditional cruise as a way to get away from things.

 

If I want to in-line skate I go to the local park with my kids.

If I want to ice skate I go into town and skate at the rink.

If I want to rock climb I go into the climbing place in town.

 

If I want to meet interesting people and share good conversation I go on a cruise.

 

If I want to relax and enjoy carefree days at sea where the wonderful staff takes care of me, I take a cruise.

 

If I want to enjoy fine dinning in formal attire I go on a cruise.

 

If I want sometimes excellent(Sometimes not) included entertainment I take a cruise.

 

ect.

 

I just like a traditional cruise, not a floating Mall of America. I want to get away from the everyday world and enjoy the elegance of the traditional high seas experience.

 

Celebrity Infinity was bordering on being too big for me.

[Sassy Chassis]

They won't have dining rooms...they'll have "chow halls" :eek:

 

I won't be booking this new monster ship.

[MrsMoose2001]

My curiosity is how will they feed all those people? How many restos will they have to have let alone crew to take care of all those people. Even large hotels I don't think can accomodate that many people.

 

How do they process all those people for shore excursions? This is totally mind boggeling to me who only had one cruise with 700 people (full ship) and 4 restaurants and a crew of 400. Multiply that raito and they will need over 3,000 crew. which make it close to 10,000 people on one ship if at full capacity, but even if at 5,400 (full at 2 to a room) and add 2500 crew that i close to 8,000 people on one ship, I can't picture it at all.

 

And considering the crew wants to get off to call home, 8,000 people trying to get off a ship in port? This is really mind boggeling to me.

 

How will they even do the laundry if people want laundry service?

[surfklutz]

Sounds like hell on water to me.

[ryansmemom]

It sounds like a nightmare as far as I'm concerned.:( Waay too Big!!! Personally I like smaller ships. I cannot imagine myself on a ship half that size. I enjoy personalized service.

 

Embarkation and debarkation will have to be a nightmare. Just thinking about the lines makes me twitch. Here in Bucks County, PA there are towns that have fewer residents.

 

Linda

[momofmeg]

My curiosity is how will they feed all those people? How many restos will they have to have let alone crew to take care of all those people. Even large hotels I don't think can accomodate that many people.

 

How do they process all those people for shore excursions? This is totally mind boggeling to me who only had one cruise with 700 people (full ship) and 4 restaurants and a crew of 400. Multiply that raito and they will need over 3,000 crew. which make it close to 10,000 people on one ship if at full capacity, but even if at 5,400 (full at 2 to a room) and add 2500 crew that i close to 8,000 people on one ship, I can't picture it at all.

 

And considering the crew wants to get off to call home, 8,000 people trying to get off a ship in port? This is really mind boggeling to me.

 

How will they even do the laundry if people want laundry service?

 

Oh they will be able to feed everyone-it is just the quality suffers-that is how I felt about the Mariner-my sovereign cruises the food was tons better.

 

As far as I am concerned-they can forget the main dinningroom-just put in a huge windjammer and maybe other pay extra resuarants besides Chops and Porotofinos. Maybe they could also put in a fench restuarant and a mexican restuarant.

 

Now that would work-if they had a bunch of pay extra restuarants all with their own kitchens-so it is not this huge mass of food being prepared-that would work.

 

But I still would not go on the ship-because I also hated the crowds on Mariner-it was so congested on sea days and also on the promande in the evenings.

 

I hope some of the cruiselines read these boards. It seems MOST of us want the small ships and not the big mega ships-if they don't watch it they will lose alot of clientale.

 

I guess I will have to do this-cruise only once every 2 or 3 years and just go on a more luxury line.

[Happy ks]

Unfortunately, momofmeg, Cruise Critic and other cruise related message boards represent a very small percentage of the cruising world. While many of us here would not like it, there is a whole great big world out there filled with people who have to have newer bigger better (:confused: ) all the time.

 

I'm sure the dining thing will be solved by having several "main" dining rooms, not just one or two. There probably will be an assortment of fee restaurants and that will be just fine. Options are always good.

 

I'm also sure that RCI has not made the decision to develop this project without doing a careful study. Although, there has to be some chest beating and posturing involved somewhere!

 

For others, like me, it is a sad piece of news. Bigger is not always better and while I do enjoy and appreciate a modern cruise ship, there has to be a limit. These ships are merely floating resorts, the ports are becoming secondary. I've even already made the decision not to cruise the Caribbean on a cruise ship because of the crowding, these behemoths are only going to make that worse. The only down side, for me, is that they may discontinue building smaller ships in favor of the floating malls.

 

I guess it depends on what you want, sometimes people want to cruise to a destination, sometimes, it is all about the ship. I've done both and will do so in just a couple weeks.

[momofmeg]

Unfortunately, momofmeg, Cruise Critic and other cruise related message boards represent a very small percentage of the cruising world. While many of us here would not like it, there is a whole great big world out there filled with people who have to have newer bigger better (:confused: ) all the time.

 

I'm sure the dining thing will be solved by having several "main" dining rooms, not just one or two. There probably will be an assortment of fee restaurants and that will be just fine. Options are always good.

 

I'm also sure that RCI has not made the decision to develop this project without doing a careful study. Although, there has to be some chest beating and posturing involved somewhere!

 

For others, like me, it is a sad piece of news. Bigger is not always better and while I do enjoy and appreciate a modern cruise ship, there has to be a limit. These ships are merely floating resorts, the ports are becoming secondary. I've even already made the decision not to cruise the Caribbean on a cruise ship because of the crowding, these behemoths are only going to make that worse. The only down side, for me, is that they may discontinue building smaller ships in favor of the floating malls.

 

I guess it depends on what you want, sometimes people want to cruise to a destination, sometimes, it is all about the ship. I've done both and will do so in just a couple weeks.

 

Oh I know all that- they say less then 1% post on messageboards-and like one post said RCCL is going for the athletic type people who really do not want to dress but want a lot of activities. (Hey I wish those were on my cruise-problem was-everyone was by the 3 small pools instead of ice skating, rock climbing etc.)

 

Actually Iwas thinking of what you said in a post-about going for the more upscale lines-I guess I will do this too as the older ships get retired-I just will not cruise as often as those lines take more bucks.

 

But maybe with all these big mega ships-every now and then RCCL could make a small ship for those of us in the minority.

 

Have you been on a voyager class ship yet? The food just was not good in the main dinningroom-although the simple windjammer fare was decent and the specialty restuarants were great. Now that was my experience on Mariner of the Seas.

 

I will say this though. I loved the promande area, I just spent time there more in the day time then in the evening and I also enjoyed the ice show. we also did minature golf and it was a nice little plus-and since we were there on our own- (no one else there) we pretty much had that little golf course to ourselves- so we were able to get away from the crowds doing that. So some things I did like about the voyager class ship-just not the dinningroom food and the crowds.

 

By the way-what do YOU think of there being a surfing area on that Freedom of the seas ship? I wonder just how many would use it? I know I wouldn't but if that was just a nice big huge pool-now that would be great.

[Happy ks]

I have not even considered a Voyager class ship. The Radiance class would be more to my liking.

 

I'm not a surfer and not a young person, the surf thing holds no interest for me. The rock wall, well, I've watched a few kids climb up them and cheered for the ones who made it. I prefer my feet on the ground, or deck, if you will.

 

The promenades and malls don't hold an interest for me, nor do ice skating shows. Actually, a ship that primarily focuses on family is not a huge draw for me and the Voyager class and Carnival ships market mainly to family. There's a great market for that and I'm happy it's there, just not for me. I'd actually love to go on another Disney cruise (my first!) but I'd want to go at an off time, when children are in school. The Disney ships are beautiful and probably much different than most people realize. Disney ships have all adult areas, so you can really vacation on them without the loud kiddies around. I hardly gamble, so I don't miss the casino.

 

I'd also probably cruise the Caribbean, but only the Southern route, or perhaps on a small charter that doesn't go to the "typical" port stops the cruise ships make. We have friends who have chartered yachts and sailed BVI, that would be more to my liking. We have a friend who always has a boat, he's in Hawaii now, living on his boat. We have been to the San Juan Island chain (Washington State) a few times during summer months with him, so we know we like small boat travel.

 

I don't hassle the buffets, rather like to be served. I don't expect gourmet food on a large cruise ship, but I've never gone hungry. All in all, we really like to be on the ocean, the feel the smell and the motion of the ship are my favorite parts of cruising.

 

So far, our favorite place to cruise have been Hawaii (x's 2) and Alaska. My dream cruise(s) at the moment is the Med or Greek Islands. Caribbean just sounds so crowded and commercial to me. The mega ships will make it more so.

[Cruise Arizona]

The two recent cruises I've been on were on the Celebrity Mercury and the the Infinity. One of the things I liked about them was that even though they both had over 2000 passengers, they never felt crowded except for maybe when people gathered in the lounges just outside the dining room before meals.

 

I saw some pictures of a Voyager of the Seas cruise that someone had taken of thier family around the pool area. People were wall to wall it seemed like in the pool. We had horrible crowds at our trip to Disney world last year, but we felt like that was to be expected and unless we took the kids out of school to go at an off time, that there was just no way to avoid this.

 

Celebrity fits the bill for me right now, but if they follow thier sister company and start going to bigger and bigger ships, I think I will have to got into the every other year, or every three year mode on smaller ships like Raddison ships.

[MrsMoose2001]

Oh they will be able to feed everyone-it is just the quality suffers-that is how I felt about the Mariner-my sovereign cruises the food was tons better.

 

As far as I am concerned-they can forget the main dinningroom-just put in a huge windjammer and maybe other pay extra resuarants besides Chops and Porotofinos. Maybe they could also put in a fench restuarant and a mexican restuarant.

 

Now that would work-if they had a bunch of pay extra restuarants all with their own kitchens-so it is not this huge mass of food being prepared-that would work.

 

But I still would not go on the ship-because I also hated the crowds on Mariner-it was so congested on sea days and also on the promande in the evenings.

 

I hope some of the cruiselines read these boards. It seems MOST of us want the small ships and not the big mega ships-if they don't watch it they will lose alot of clientale.

 

I guess I will have to do this-cruise only once every 2 or 3 years and just go on a more luxury line.

 

I agree with all of the ladies here, even though I don't plan on another cruise anytime soon, I would not go on a ship like that, and neither would DH. He thought 700 people (full ship) was a lot of people. He refused to go on any ship that held 1000++ people when I was planning Alaska and for a while I thought we would just be flying to Alaska and doing it that way.

 

I have another question, if I may, because I'm a bit confused, y'all talk of the "fee/speciality" restaurants? Would that not be a detraction from the cruise draw for some? The lady that I know here who loves cruising, loves it because it's "all inclusivie" and she feels gets the best bang for her vacation $$ , that is a big draw for her plus the fact that the ship moves to different ports. Her sole reasons for cruising. I don't think she would care to pay extra to eat in a restaurant when she paid already for food? I'm totally confused now, everyone talks about the main dining room being nice and special and then they talk about specialty places being better? I'm not criticizing or anything, keep in mind I had only one cruise and all 4 restaurants were included, no extra charges so I don't get it? Are the "pay restos" better than the main dining room? What is a windjammer restaurant?

.

We would take one cruise as it's basically the best way to go to Antartica, and I would do it on Raddison again as I think the limit it to 400 people or maybe even less. Probably won't have a formal on that one like they didn't to Alaska. Just no plans right now, I'm not rushing for another cruise.

 

I would have to agree with the poster who said that the people who post here are probably a minority. When you think about all the ships x the PAX they can hold, and how many people post here, it is a definite minority.

 

I also agree that RC probably did a study and put a lot of thought before buying a ship for over 1 billion dollars. I'm curious as to the # of restaurants, stores, type of rooms they will offer, etc etc.

 

I do have an opinion as to why they offer all the stuff like mini golf/skating etc etc. If they are going after the families, they need to keep the kids/teens occupied. Radisson is not considered kid friendly because it doesn't have any of that and that's also why we went. I don't want to be on a ship with kids running around, but the big ships obviously want families and therefore need to offer activies for families, or even if the kids are off on their own, they want to keep them busy. And I would bet that some 20somethings would like that sort of thing. I think I read an article and Caviargal would know more being the expert, but I think I read where the trend is more to "adventure vacations".

 

Even the shore excurisions I read are going more "adventureous".

 

I still have trouble comprehending 6400 people plus crew all on one ship. As Ryansmom said that is bigger than some towns. I hate crowds, always take an isle seat at a theatre, could never do it. Controlling health issues could also be a potential issue, I'm just thinking the amount of germs floating around in that environment and it's enough to make me cringe.

 

Keep in mind also that if they can't control 1500++ people to adhere to dress codes, how will they control that amount?

 

Just mind boggeling.

[momofmeg]

I have not even considered a Voyager class ship. The Radiance class would be more to my liking.

 

I'm not a surfer and not a young person, the surf thing holds no interest for me. The rock wall, well, I've watched a few kids climb up them and cheered for the ones who made it. I prefer my feet on the ground, or deck, if you will.

 

The promenades and malls don't hold an interest for me, nor do ice skating shows. Actually, a ship that primarily focuses on family is not a huge draw for me and the Voyager class and Carnival ships market mainly to family. There's a great market for that and I'm happy it's there, just not for me. I'd actually love to go on another Disney cruise (my first!) but I'd want to go at an off time, when children are in school. The Disney ships are beautiful and probably much different than most people realize. Disney ships have all adult areas, so you can really vacation on them without the loud kiddies around. I hardly gamble, so I don't miss the casino.

 

I'd also probably cruise the Caribbean, but only the Southern route, or perhaps on a small charter that doesn't go to the "typical" port stops the cruise ships make. We have friends who have chartered yachts and sailed BVI, that would be more to my liking. We have a friend who always has a boat, he's in Hawaii now, living on his boat. We have been to the San Juan Island chain (Washington State) a few times during summer months with him, so we know we like small boat travel.

 

I don't hassle the buffets, rather like to be served. I don't expect gourmet food on a large cruise ship, but I've never gone hungry. All in all, we really like to be on the ocean, the feel the smell and the motion of the ship are my favorite parts of cruising.

 

So far, our favorite place to cruise have been Hawaii (x's 2) and Alaska. My dream cruise(s) at the moment is the Med or Greek Islands. Caribbean just sounds so crowded and commercial to me. The mega ships will make it more so.

 

 

Well I don't expect gourmet food either-just if it is supposed to be gourmet I want it to taste gourmet-or just make simplier fare. That was my problem with the voyager class dinning room-the food was just not good-if they would stick to simplier fare and not try to make all those fancy dishes-that would be okay-problem is the fancy dishes' quality goes down when they are making those dishes in huge volumes. I did like Chops but that was a small restuarant and there was no more then I would say 20 people in there in the two hour time period I was there. So I would think easier for the chef's to keep the quality of the food. The Windjammer was simplier fare-salads, roast beef, ham, simple steamed veggies, so not so hard to make masses of that stuff. If they had served the same fare in the main dinningroom I think it could have been made well.

 

The promanade was simply an area with a couple of bars, a few shops,( but no more then any cruiseship has), and a coffee shop. Sometimes they would have musicians there just like they do up on the lido by the pool on cruisehsips. It was nice-and I really don't see why a small cruiseship could not have an area like that.

 

We took a cruise on Disney Wonder and I agree with you-the Disney ships are beautiful, I loved all that marble etc.-it had the feel of an expensive hotel. The only other ship that I have been on that I thought was as beautiful and as expensively decorated was HAL Statendam. Now I did think both of the RCCL ships I have been on were tastefully decorated and attractive-but they just did not have that expenisve look that the Statendam and the Disney wonder had.

 

I really thought Disney did the adult only areas well too. We loved the adult's only pool area, the adult's only lounges and Palos. Our cruise had tons of kids but it was not a bother to me as we could get away from them and I really enjoyed seeing the little ones get all excited when they saw "Cinderella" "Belle", "the beast", "Donald" etc. they would get so excited whenever they saw the characters around ship-heck I even enjoyed that! (There were not many Mickey siteings though-I wondered about that.)

 

I am considering the Jewel of the Seas for a european reposioning cruise-but it does not do the med-it does England, Ireland, France and Belgium-the one I want to do-I am really not interested in doing the med as long as the Iraq mess is going on. My two sister-inlaws went to Italy 2 years ago- and a couple of times had people who were nasty to them when they realized they were Americans. People really hate Bush over there and hate us too-just because we are from the US. Things would have to settle down alot for me to go over there where I could be hated just for simply being an Amercian.

 

We have been to the carib most-but that is becuase we live in GA and that is close to us-we have also though been to Alaska once,Bermuda once and flew to San Juan once to do the southern carib. It is not so much I feel the carib is crowded as I am sick of Nassau and Cozumel-I have been to both of those ports TOO MANY times.

 

Like you said you were doing on your next cruise-this last time we went to Nassau-I simply stayed on ship-I had no interest whatsoever in getting off ship.

Now to go to Bermuda we had to fly to New York-but Bermuda is really close enough I beleive a cruiseship could go from Charleston or Jacksonville-every once in awhile Carnival will do one from Charleston to Bermuda-but I guess not enough southerners want to go there or something. I sure would love it if Celebrity would possibly take a few on the Zenith to Bermuda from there.

[momofmeg]

 

I have another question, if I may, because I'm a bit confused, y'all talk of the "fee/speciality" restaurants? Would that not be a detraction from the cruise draw for some? The lady that I know here who loves cruising, loves it because it's "all inclusivie" and she feels gets the best bang for her vacation $$ , that is a big draw for her plus the fact that the ship moves to different ports. Her sole reasons for cruising. I don't think she would care to pay extra to eat in a restaurant when she paid already for food? I'm totally confused now, everyone talks about the main dining room being nice and special and then they talk about specialty places being better? I'm not criticizing or anything, keep in mind I had only one cruise and all 4 restaurants were included, no extra charges so I don't get it? Are the "pay restos" better than the main dining room? What is a windjammer restaurant?

 

 

 

True the specialty restuarant is an extra fee-but when the dinningroom food is not good-at least there is something else. I have heard this is something the lines are doing to keep prices down and the trend is at some point that if you want the 4 star food you will have to go to the specialty restuarant. I would be fine with that.

 

I know alot of the lines have stopped the mid night buffets except for the "gala" buffet and that is not the eleaborate thing it used to be. Fine by me. I never ate those buffets anyway-I just went to look and see what eleaborate chocolate carvings and ice carvings they had. If it keeps the prices down by not doing these things I will be fine with that.

 

The way I see it why should we pay for services we don't use? For example I do not drink carbonated drinks-they used to be included-now they are pay extra-does not bother me-I don't drink them anyway. So I am willing to pay an extra $20-30 for my filet mignon-I will do that-no biggie to me. I don't buy all those cokes and I drink very little alochol so I can afford the filet mignon.

[MrsMoose2001]

I understand a bit more I think about the restaurant thing. Your way of thinking makes sense to me, but and this is in no way a criticism of what you wrote or the way you think, I happen to agree with you but in general I know several people who would be put off by the fact that they have to pay extra for the specialty restos if they already paid for food, but have to pay to get "better".

One couple in particular it would not be about being able to afford it, it would be about paying twice in their view (since I know them well and how they think). For them they would be paying for food twice.

 

I see your point, no disputes from me, but in general doesn't that distract from the "all inclusive" draw of a cruise?

 

I thought the mid-night buffet was a big draw for people? Radisson had no mid-night buffet. I didn't care, didn't even think about it really.

 

One lady who had never been on a cruise thought the food was the big draw of going on a cruise (aside from special ports like Alaska, Antartica, etc).

 

I wonder if the cruise lines won't do away with "all inclusive" food eventualy if they do the speciality restos. Maybe include breakfast and lunch and a dinner or two of the formal nights, and the rest all speciality style where you pay for the type of food you want.

 

I also agree with you, if you are trying to do gourmet food, you have to have the proper ingredients, not mass-produced and the proper training also. Just because a person is a chef, doesn't mean they can prepare all types of foods properly.

 

To be honest, I was not imprsssed with the food on Radisson either. It was good, but I won't say great. Signatures was the gourmet Cordon Blue restaurant (included) and I ate there, and it was good, but not any better than any other high end french and I have had better high end french on land. The best part of that meal was the chicken soup. Not quite as good as my mom's but it was very close to hers. The best thing on Radisson out of all the food, was the one scone I had at the one high tea I attended. I don't eat a lot of deserts, I ordered a chocolate souflee as that is the one thing I do like once in a while and I ordered it once, as they will make you special requests if given 24 hours notice. It was fine, bug not any better than any land resto I'd had it in. I had a cheeseburger for lunch on sea day and it was not really good, nor were the fries to go with it.

 

I agree with you and regardless of the level of the cruise line, unless they have small restos with smaller kitchens, I don't think it's possible to make really high quality food for such a large number even if 700 is considered small for a cruise line, if you understand what I'm saying.

 

I actually find this thread intersting. Thanks for the info, I'm learning and even if I don't plan on cruising soon, I can talk intelligently with my friends who do cruise at least once a year.

 

Thanks again

[momofmeg]

I understand a bit more I think about the restaurant thing. Your way of thinking makes sense to me, but and this is in no way a criticism of what you wrote or the way you think, I happen to agree with you but in general I know several people who would be put off by the fact that they have to pay extra for the specialty restos if they already paid for food, but have to pay to get "better".

One couple in particular it would not be about being able to afford it, it would be about paying twice in their view (since I know them well and how they think). For them they would be paying for food twice.

 

 

 

To be honest, I was not imprsssed with the food on Radisson either. It was good, but I won't say great. Signatures was the gourmet Cordon Blue restaurant (included) and I ate there, and it was good, but not any better than any other high end french and I have had better high end french on land. The best part of that meal was the chicken soup. Not quite as good as my mom's but it was very close to hers. The best thing on Radisson out of all the food, was the one scone I had at the one high tea I attended. I don't eat a lot of deserts, I ordered a chocolate souflee as that is the one thing I do like once in a while and I ordered it once, as they will make you special requests if given 24 hours notice. It was fine, bug not any better than any land resto I'd had it in. I had a cheeseburger for lunch on sea day and it was not really good, nor were the fries to go with it.

 

I agree with you and regardless of the level of the cruise line, unless they have small restos with smaller kitchens, I don't think it's possible to make really high quality food for such a large number even if 700 is considered small for a cruise line, if you understand what I'm saying.

 

I actually find this thread intersting. Thanks for the info, I'm learning and even if I don't plan on cruising soon, I can talk intelligently with my friends who do cruise at least once a year.

 

Thanks again

 

Mrs. Moose no you did not "get" what I was trying to say. I had cruised RCCL in the past on an older ship Sovereign of the Seas-that ship had around 2000 PAX and two main dinningrooms besides the windjammer. I cruised that ship twice and both times the food was very good. Being an older ship and a small ship it did not have the pay extra specialty restuarants. At least it didn't when I cruised her but that was before 2004 and the refurbish.

 

What is happening now that they are making these huge ships is the main dinningroom food, because the food is made in such a large volumes is just not good. But these ships have specialty restuarants where you have to make reservations and these restuarants only take a few passengers in comparrison to the size of the ship- there is an extra fee-there you get things like filet mignon and porterhouse steaks. You can still eat in the main dinningroom and on formal nights they do serve things like lobster and prime rib-it just did not seem as good to me as it had on the sovereign and I think it is because this ship took so many more passengers-that the volume of food causes the quality to suffer. also you do not have to book the pay extra restuarants. That is a choice-you can eat in the main dinningroom every night if you choose.

 

but you went on Radisson-a line MUCH more upscale then RCCL, Celebrity, HAL, Princess, Norweigan or Carnival. As far as I know Radisson is not making the mega ships and because they charge more for their cruises-I doubt they will ever have the pay extra specialty resuarants. On Radisson you get that food every night.

 

I am not fortunate to be able to afford a line like Radission except for maybe a once in a lifetime type thing. But if I did cruise them yes I would be a little upset if I paid their price and then was expected to pay an extra fee for filet mignon in a specialty restuarant- but I don't think that will happen. RCCL is not an upscale cruiseline.

 

So you and your friends need not worry unless they cruise a line like RCCL, Carnival, Celebrity, Norewegian or Princess.

 

Now Jane cruises the more upscale lines and she said she has also cruised princess once or twice. Maybe Jane could explain it better.

[MrsMoose2001]

Actually I did get what you were saying, I was simply saying that even on the Radisson with 700 people the food was not great and I was not impressd.

 

I did not say what cruise lines my friends went on, I know one couple cruised Carnival, and one lady who loves to cruise has been on HAL, RC, Norweign and Carnival. Another couple I know cruises on Princess and another couple went on HAL. I only know one man who went on Crystal and he also was not impressed.

 

My point was that what you said was that now with large ships you didn't find the food good and it was better in the "fee" restos. That was my point, that the lady I know who loves to cruise,would not be happy having to pay extra for the "speciality" restaurants. I don't think you undersood what I was saying.

 

I saw your point completely, I agreed with you, but my question was a general question, if someone goes on a cruise thinking that the food is all inclusive and then finds that it is better in a "fee" resto would that not be a draw back for the cruise. ?

 

It's not about what cruiseline, my point about Raddison was that even on that line I didn't think the food was good. But after that it wasn't about which cruise line, it was a general question, when people cruise, and they expect the food to be all inclusive and then finding out they have to pay extra regadless of the cruise line.

 

I personally don't care as I don't plan on another cruise, it is a waste on DH and myself. We are paying for a lot of stuff we don't use and would not use regardless of what line I went on.

 

I was not arguing with you, I was agreeing with you, but I asked a question to you as an experienced cruiser as far as the "fee" restos were how it would play out if the way bigger ships had more and more speciality restos and if more people who to pay extra how you felt it would affect those lines. It was not dircted to you personally.

 

I hope you understand what I was trying to ask and say. This was nothing to do with you personally.

[Happy ks]

For a long time, I've considered what the attraction for cruise food (for some people) is that you can get it in quantity. Hence, the popularity of the buffet over the seated dining. Plus, some cruisers out there just don't go to many high end restaurants to really know the difference.

 

I go with the knowledge that I will be eating banquet quality and paying a bit extra will kick it up a notch. I've never gone thinking I am eating gourmet food. There are a few popular chain restaurants around here that get high marks from many people. We've been to a few and almost without exception are disappointed. We sometimes go to our local Denny's (chain breakfast restaurant) and can get a better tasting burger for far less $ and surprisingly more gracious service than our local Cheesecake Factory. We actually prefer a little Mom and Pop place, where the food is real good consistently, they remember your face and you can let them decide what you would like to eat.

 

But, a cruise is what it is, either you like it or don't. I read these boards a lot and am surprised at how some people run themselves into the ground trying to have a good time. Questions like, how soon can I get off the ship in port?, which seating is better to be able to make sure I go to the midnight buffet?, do I have to dress up, I want to be comfortable at dinner (hint, buy clothes that fit!), as well as people being upset because the seats considered prime are saved by the pool, show room, theatre, buffet. They are upset with lines and waiting, because, they want to do the most popular things onboard at the same time everyone else wants to do them. These things make me crazy, I suppose I'm not a good competitor and don't really care to be part of the "in crowd" to participate in all the activities. We go to relax, we steer clear of the crowds, prime seats for us are in back, next to the exit to slink out if we are not entertained. Then we get to the people who are so anxious to get off the ship, onto a plane to get home again, in record time so they don't have to wait hardly a moment. Those same people are going to be loaded down like pack mules, because there is no way they are going to put up with waiting even a moment for their black suitcase to jump out at them and their property is far more important than anyone elses in the room or on the ship. Finally, if they aren't completely happy with their cruise vacation, they look to the almighty CC board to advise them just how they can get back some of their discounted cruise fare.

 

Therefore, you get the mega ships and multiply all these factors by even more thousands than are already there. No, thank you very much, I'll stick to the smaller ships and find our quiet niches away from the madding crowds!

 

There is another poster on these boards, some of you may be familiar with him, chesterh. He wrote a book "What time is the midnight buffet?" that reads pretty much like a very lengthy review. I'd advise reading it, especially if you're a first time cruiser. While most of what he wrote was not news to me, but there were some interesting observations. I read so many people ask about where to shop in X port. He states that many people really only visit the port town, right where they can see the ship. They never really visit the islands at all, never meet any of the residents. That, to me, is being a tourist instead of a traveller. There are some places I don't care to visit while cruising, but if it is some place new, I'll get off and make my way to a new experience. I can always shop at home or on the internet.