JoeyandDavid

Theses are the food establishments closest to ourhotel .. we can pick one and meet there or we can have food delivered to the hotel and take advantage of their breakfast room which they have graciously said we could use on the night of the 8th... comments ???

Apparently even the whales prefer the Royal Caribbean brands

did you get my email... that has the link written out??

yes i do.. and that is one of the reasons I started this thread... I want to give them another chance(David doesn't so I better be right if we do this or I will NEVER hear the end of it ) it's just hard...

Welcome Crystal.. cruisetarp(Marylou) who will be by in a moment to say hi is from Pennsylvania as well.. we have a few crazies in PA.. But I wanted to stop by and say Welcome to you..

that is honest....

Hey howard.... I group emailed on this and your email came back did you change your address?

Good Morning! Great news! We finally got the hotel situation worked out...(fingers crossed) glitches can sometimes be rough.. So here's the story... Float the Holiday inn Express is in charge of placing the bookings in the system.. she has confirmed to me that this has been done (again) and has apologized several times for the inconvenience.. Flo has requested that you either call her or email her to confirm your reservation if you call ask to speak to her and here phone number is 1-305-592-4799 ...Flo's email address I finally think we have this down.. so "Connie Can Go Crazie!!" As always if you need further assitance let me or John know..

we haven't heard from Ray in quite a while..

interesting observations

lol you are too funny... but you made your point well.. thank you..

yeds i did James.. i am trying to bait Carmen as well.. and maybe Miss C or Jason..

Joey, it isn't the price you pay that will influence the crew members performance, it will be that there are less crew members to give you the service. That in turn will increase the amount of work that the remaining crew members has to do. All of this influences the performance. so you are saying howard that they in addition to lowering the fares.. they are reduciung staffs as well?

Our first cruise many years ago was on the Carnival Ecstasy it was a party cruise.. crew members not friendly if you didnt buy drinks wait staff left alot to be desired and the food as we rembered it was just so so..we have never considered them again.. My question now becomes... tell me why, we should give them another chance after 8 years??

James a very excellent point.. you know it shouldn't be that way .. one should have nothing to do with the other... but it does ..it always does.... or ....is that just peoples justification for accepting poor service?.. The price i pay for my cruise should not influence the crew members performance.... but sometimes it does....and sometimes i re-adjust my tips... thats how the game is played ...IMHO

That's not shameless. But I also hear the samr thing on cruise prices - just waiting on a summer slam to RCCL prices for Mexican Riveria. Mariner of the Sea??

NEW YORK (AP) -- A survey of December cruise trends showed that bookings and pricing trends remained weak but did not seem to be getting significantly worse, a Susquehanna Financial Group analyst said on Wednesday. Robert LaFleur maintained "Positive" ratings on both companies. The survey of travel agents was conducted by SFG Research. "Clearly, the economic and financial crisis that gained critical mass this past fall has consumers more wary of big ticket commitments like cruises, and the lines have had to respond to this by price incentives," the analyst said. LaFleur noted the economic downturn is prompting cruise companies to rethink some long-standing practices. He cited Royal Caribbean's statement during its fourth-quarter conference call that the company would no longer follow its current strategy of slashing prices to whatever level necessary to fill every cabin. "(Royal) would rather sail with some empty cabins than drop prices below economically sensible levels," LaFleur said. On the positive side, LaFleur said lower fuel prices will benefit the companies and early reports are indicating that bookings picked up last month as "wave season" began. The three-month period of January through March is known as "wave season," when cruise bookings usually surge. "At this point, even a non-disastrous wave season could be seen as a positive catalyst," LaFleur said. He noted that both Miami-based companies have been slashing costs to cope with weaker revenue, particularly Royal Caribbean. "(Royal) is also trading under a heavy cloud of insolvency risk," LaFleur said. "While it clearly has the more stressed balance sheet, the combination of financing guarantees, current liquidity, and still-meaningful operating cash flows should get them through."

(sorry for the sahmless plug...)"Connie Goes Crazie" is a great deal too!

This is not suprising... you follow the money... RCL and it's brands...recently opened branch offices there as well..

Carole long time no see..... Hope you have a great time

no worries glad you enjoyed it Ed.... any suggestions for us.. this will be our first time..

I know your excited now that your SDM..Congratulations

Best of luck Barbara

Lisa hope you have a great time! Bon Voyage!!

the whole industry is putting out some pretty remarkable deals.. for the well positioned traveler it's almost like being a kid in the candy store