Cruise Questions for November

sailingrose · November 7, 2008

Do away with the specialty restaurants and bring the good food back to the dining room!

Cheryl, if it was all inclusive it would raise the cost.....not sure that would work for those that save a long time for a cruise. I love the thought though.

rogue · November 7, 2008

Our first cruise was back in 1975 on the Leonardo Da Vinci, an old Italian Line ship that sailed round trip from New York to the Caribbean. It was our senior class trip from nursing school. There were about 18 girls and 2 guys from our class. Cindy and I haven't even began to date yet (but I think that was where we began to notice each other). The other guy and I were treated very well by the Italian crew. I think that they saw us as able to "introduce" them to any of the young girls that they would want. Of course, that wouldn't happen, but we did take advantage of it. We got a free bottle of wine at our table for every lunch and every dinner on the cruise, we went ashore with the crew and never had to buy lunch, etc. It certainly left me with a good taste for cruising. In 1999, our 1st went off to college and we finally decided to try it again, and have cruised just about every year since.

shipaddict · November 7, 2008

I don't know if I would go so far as to make cruises all-inclusive, but I do think they should give cokes and juices free of charge. At least the cokes. How much does it really cost them to do that? C'mon loosen the purse strings a little!

Joanandjoe · November 7, 2008

Be careful of what you wish. Our last cruise and are next one were, and eill be, on Regent, which includes all wine, sodas, drinks (other than some premium ones), and tips. There are almost no announcements, and nothing like a hairy chest contest. However, the price is quite high. For mainstream lines, all inclusive would probably be too expensive; but it would be nice if the cost included sodas and basic tips, and if there were fewer announcements.

The change I'd really like to see is not making us get off the ship at the end of the cruise. Obviousl;y, that's not going to happen.

I'll settle for less nickle and diming on mainstream lines, since it gets really annoying.

Longboysfan · November 7, 2008

Night time trivia every night....

Battle of the sexes trivia where the numbers have to be even.....

Usually the women outnumber the men 2 to 1.

Maybe monster team trivia with unlimited team sizes......

I am not a fan of the free soda as people waste enough on the ship.

rogue · November 7, 2008

I think that I would like to have less anouncements. The nickle and diming doesn't bother me. It lets me chose the things I would want to pay for. If they didn't nickle and dime you, you would end up paying more for things that you will never use.

paulduella · November 9, 2008

Our first cruise was on the Big Red Boat, back in 1991. We took my 17 year old daughter and that was the year we vowed never to take her on vacation again! It was 4 days at Disney World and 4 day cruise to the Bahamas. The second thing we vowed was a 4 day cruise was not long enough. We had an inside cabin with one twin bed and one set of bunk beds. My daughter refused to sleep in the top bunk so my husband did. The shower was so small you could hardly turn around. There was no formal night. It was in May, so we had alot of high schoolers on their senior trip-we saw no shaparones. Five of them were at our table and they were either missing at dinner or drunk. We had great fun doing the scavenger hunt, the dancing, the food, the warm sun and water. They did not have "cash free" status yet, we paid for our drinks at the time we ordered them. I remember one time I ordered a pop and had $0.25 change. The waiter gave me 5 nickles so he would be sure to get his tip!

What I wish they would do away with is the photographing every where!!!!! The lst cruise we were on, last Aust/Sep., 2 weeks round trip to Alaska, on a HAL, there was scant attempts to take our picture, not like Carnival and Royal Carribean. My husband takes enough for all of us. That last cruise he took over 4000. But they all look great.

elfed · November 9, 2008

To answer the 2nd question first and I realise some folk may vehemently disagree with me,but I would ban smoking virtually anywhere inside the ship and private balconies. Casinos to have a seperate closed off smoking section.Also on the outside, a top deck area-way up on the star or sky decks- another smoking section. Nothing annoys us more than to be sunbathing near one of the pools and smelling cigarette or even worse cigar smoke.

Question 1 now I've got that off my chest!!!! My first cruise and I think I have mentioned this before, was with my son on the now scrapped Costa Riviera in 1990. We went to the Eastern Caribbean. We sat at a table for 10 for dinner and I thought the whole experience was wonderful. We bought the movie of our week and I often view it as I looked so slim in those days!!!LOL.

Regards,

James.