Let's talk FOOD!

[zap99]

10 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

I think maybe the reason room service toast is still soft centred is due to it being wrapped in a paper napkin, probably while still warm.

At breakfast "can I have some bread please. No that's a roll, sliced bread please. It's like toast, but not toasted"

[Scratchrat]

Is room service free or extra charge?

[Harry Peterson]

18 minutes ago, Scratchrat said:

Is room service free or extra charge?

Chargeable, I'm afraid - except for suites.

[Eddie99]

Breakfast isn’t charged

[Scratchrat]

Cool, thanks 🙂

[wowzz]

Although the room service breakfast is "continental" with the option of hot paninis,  not a "full English". 

[Scratchrat]

30 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Although the room service breakfast is "continental" with the option of hot paninis,  not a "full English". 

I don't think I'd want a full english smell in my bedroom 😛

[wowzz]

32 minutes ago, Scratchrat said:

I don't think I'd want a full english smell in my bedroom 😛

Just open the balcony doors!

To be honest, eating room service meals in most standard cabins, especially inside ones, is not much fun. 

[Scratchrat]

1 minute ago, wowzz said:

Just open the balcony doors!

To be honest, eating room service meals in most standard cabins, especially inside ones, is not much fun. 

I go for interior rooms.

 

If i wanna see the outside world, I'll go onto open decks for free 😄 

 

I literally only use my room for sleep.

[Harry Peterson]

8 minutes ago, Scratchrat said:

I go for interior rooms.

 

If i wanna see the outside world, I'll go onto open decks for free 😄 

 

I literally only use my room for sleep.

That’s a very sensible policy for anyone spending little time in the cabin.  We’re at the other end of the scale, spending a fair bit of time there, so cabin space, location and a balcony are essentials for us. Pointless if you’re out all the time though.

[wowzz]

2 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

That’s a very sensible policy for anyone spending little time in the cabin.  We’re at the other end of the scale, spending a fair bit of time there, so cabin space, location and a balcony are essentials for us. Pointless if you’re out all the time though.

That would be us as well. The thought of having to find somewhere peaceful to sit, away from other people, especially in bad weather, makes us plump for a balcony cabin every time.

[Selbourne]

20 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

That’s a very sensible policy for anyone spending little time in the cabin.  We’re at the other end of the scale, spending a fair bit of time there, so cabin space, location and a balcony are essentials for us. Pointless if you’re out all the time though.

Same here. In all honesty, we would rather not go at all than have to cruise in an inside cabin. Even prison cells have windows! We spend a lot of time in our cabin, especially when the ship is busy, sitting on the sofa reading and watching the world go by. We always have a balcony cabin, even though we spend very little time on the balcony. We just love the constantly changing panoramic views and the ability to pop out on to the balcony when there is something interesting, such as a view or dolphins etc. We often sleep with the curtains open and enjoy waking up to see our transit into a new location from bed!

[Scratchrat]

9 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Same here. In all honesty, we would rather not go at all than have to cruise in an inside cabin. Even prison cells have windows! We spend a lot of time in our cabin, especially when the ship is busy, sitting on the sofa reading and watching the world go by. We always have a balcony cabin, even though we spend very little time on the balcony. We just love the constantly changing panoramic views and the ability to pop out on to the balcony when there is something interesting, such as a view or dolphins etc. We often sleep with the curtains open and enjoy waking up to see our transit into a new location from bed!

 

While I understand that completely, we all cruise differently.

 

I'm lucky enough to have a balcony out to the harbour here at home so I suppose sitting on the balcony out to the water is pretty normal for me now and seems like a "home thing". On the ship, I like to just use the room as somewhere to sleep, wash and get dressed and then I'm out in the bars, the coffee shop areas, in the spa etc... and on port days I'm making full use of the ports!

[Eddie99]

Understand totally, and have taken trips on that basis,

 

Just a thought ... imagine if the worst happened and you were quarantined!   Aarrrgh!

[Harry Peterson]

We took advice from several people before starting cruising, and they fell into two quite different camps.

 

Both are very valid viewpoints.  One approach is to go for the cheapest possible cabins on the basis that you get more cruises that way.  Sound commonsense, particularly if you spend little time in the cabin.

 

The other of course is always to have a balcony.  Fewer cruises of course, unless you’re loaded, but it really is an altogether different experience.  The joy of going onto that balcony at any time of the day or night, whatever the weather, wherever you are, is indescribable. Sitting reading, a few drinks, lunch, afternoon tea, whatever, in peace and quiet - wonderful.

 

The last few cruises we’ve had suites. Not as expensive as you might think when bookings first open, but ridiculously expensive later on. The huge extra space, the location, a coffee machine, beautiful breakfasts in the Epicurean, outside in good weather, make it worth the extra for us, but we don’t cruise several times a year. I’d rather one or two with a bit of luxury.

 

No right or wrong answers though. A lot depends on how much time you spend in the cabin.  Having said that though, the more accommodating your cabin is, the longer you’re likely to spend in it, and I reckon the money saved on drinks and coffees around the ship go some way towards the extra cost!

[Scratchrat]

15 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

We took advice from several people before starting cruising, and they fell into two quite different camps.

 

Both are very valid viewpoints.  One approach is to go for the cheapest possible cabins on the basis that you get more cruises that way.  Sound commonsense, particularly if you spend little time in the cabin.

 

The other of course is always to have a balcony.  Fewer cruises of course, unless you’re loaded, but it really is an altogether different experience.  The joy of going onto that balcony at any time of the day or night, whatever the weather, wherever you are, is indescribable. Sitting reading, a few drinks, lunch, afternoon tea, whatever, in peace and quiet - wonderful.

 

The last few cruises we’ve had suites. Not as expensive as you might think when bookings first open, but ridiculously expensive later on. The huge extra space, the location, a coffee machine, beautiful breakfasts in the Epicurean, outside in good weather, make it worth the extra for us, but we don’t cruise several times a year. I’d rather one or two with a bit of luxury.

 

No right or wrong answers though. A lot depends on how much time you spend in the cabin.  Having said that though, the more accommodating your cabin is, the longer you’re likely to spend in it, and I reckon the money saved on drinks and coffees around the ship go some way towards the extra cost!

 

Yeah, it's the experience you want that matters.

 

For me, I'm the same on land. I will always stay in cheaper hotels and have more spending money. It's just a place to rest my head. 

[wowzz]

I can understand both points of view regarding balcony or inside cabins. Indeed, on a cruise in the Caribbean,  where you are virtually guaranteed good weather, and lots of ports, the cost saving of an inside cabin may make sense. However,  if the weather is likely to be inclement, a balcony cabin, strangely enough, seems vital. On our last cruise, the final three days were spent battling through force 10 gales back to Southampton.  The public areas were packed,  and in places resembled a refugee camp. The ability to stagger back to the quiet and space of the cabin, and watch the waves crashing by, was worth every penny. 

[Scratchrat]

18 hours ago, wowzz said:

I can understand both points of view regarding balcony or inside cabins. Indeed, on a cruise in the Caribbean,  where you are virtually guaranteed good weather, and lots of ports, the cost saving of an inside cabin may make sense. However,  if the weather is likely to be inclement, a balcony cabin, strangely enough, seems vital. On our last cruise, the final three days were spent battling through force 10 gales back to Southampton.  The public areas were packed,  and in places resembled a refugee camp. The ability to stagger back to the quiet and space of the cabin, and watch the waves crashing by, was worth every penny. 

 

I mean there are fun things you can do in your cabin without a balcony >.>

[Selbourne]

1 hour ago, Scratchrat said:

 

I mean there are fun things you can do in your cabin without a balcony >.>

Given the average age of most cruise passengers, I presume that you mean sleeping 😂 

[Scratchrat]

22 minutes ago, Selbourne said:

Given the average age of most cruise passengers, I presume that you mean sleeping 😂 

 

Haha! Well I took my first cruise at 23! I'm 34 now 😛

[Harry Peterson]

5 minutes ago, Scratchrat said:

 

Haha! Well I took my first cruise at 23! I'm 34 now 😛

You and Vamp are the future of cruising!  I’m not sure that’s fully accepted yet by some people, but it’s hard fact.

[wowzz]

3 minutes ago, Harry Peterson said:

You and Vamp are the future of cruising!  I’m not sure that’s fully accepted yet by some people, but it’s hard fact.

I agree to a certain extent, but when you are young and healthy, there are, imho, better ways of seeing the world. The odd cruise yes, but you miss so much by being restricted to cruise itineraries.

Obviously if you have children, then your options are much more limited.

Edited June 11, 2020 by wowzz

[Scratchrat]

Just now, wowzz said:

I agree to a certain extent, but when you are young and healthy, there are, imho, better ways of seeing the world. The odd cruise yes, but you miss so much by being restricted to cruise itineraries.

 

Remember that not all "young" people are the same, just like we'd all be fools to assume that the older cruisers on here are all boring old farts 😛

 

Me and my other half are quite particular about home comforts. We wouldn't want to do backpacking, or travelling like that. We like nice hotels, cruises and stuff like that.

 

We do go to Disney World in Florida for 2 weeks every 2 years and do 1-2 cruises a year when we can.

 

In 2010 when we went on the first cruise, we thought it would be boring and like butlins at sea but we had a blast and we were in our 20's going to bed at 10pm cos we were exhausted! The old folks were still singing in the piano bar when we were in bed!

[Harry Peterson]

9 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I agree to a certain extent, but when you are young and healthy, there are, imho, better ways of seeing the world. The odd cruise yes, but you miss so much by being restricted to cruise itineraries.

Obviously if you have children, then your options are much more limited.

This is true.  Even with children too.  We started cruising quite late, and enjoyed it more than we expected to, but that was only after many years of family holidays across Europe which the kids still say they loved.

[wowzz]

1 hour ago, Harry Peterson said:

This is true.  Even with children too.  We started cruising quite late, and enjoyed it more than we expected to, but that was only after many years of family holidays across Europe which the kids still say they loved.

Although we had a couple if cruises when we were in our 40s, it is only in the last couple of years that cruising has formed part of our holiday  portfolio.

We would have missed so much of the world, let alone Europe,  if we had restricted ourselves only to cruising.