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  #21  
Old August 14th, 2009, 05:30 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
skipfromla
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Posts: 28
Default Cruise or not

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:01:24 -0500, Becca wrote:

Skipfromla wrote:
If we are going to spend that much money on a cruise, we expect great
service and food. If we can be expected to be treated like cattle, I
have no interest in cruising.

Skip


It is nice to see you posting again, Skip. Sorry we could not make it
to the soirée in Vegas, but maybe next year.


You two were missed.


At one time NCL was my favorite cruise line. Like you, I had no
problems with their service, food or entertainment. I am not sure about
all the details, but NCL has changed owners and management. They made a
few changes, so now they charge for many of the restaurants on the
ship. I have not cruised with them in 4 years, but some day I will give
them another try.


There are many other cruise lines out there, and the food, entertainment
and service on those cruise lines is very nice. Cruise prices are
pretty good right now, so it is a great time to cruise. Royal Caribbean
moved the Mariner of the Seas to California and it is a wonderful ship,
I really enjoyed it. I hope you give cruising another try.


Becca


Becca,

What a pleasure to hear from you, as always. Now that we have the
time and, for some unknown reason, the money, we'd love to go on
another cruise. I'll give George a call when I'm closer to making a
decision and ask his advice before I book one with you guys.

Thanks and see you two at the next Lost Weekend, I hope.

Skip
  #22  
Old August 14th, 2009, 05:51 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
skipfromla
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Posts: 28
Default Cruise or not

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009 16:47:04 -0500, "George Leppla"
wrote:



Hi Skip... welcome to r.t.c.


Thanks George. I found this NG in 1998 when I was looking for info on
cruising because we were getting one as a retirement present. I got
lots of helpful info and advice with a minimum of hostile people such
as CK. I'm glad to say the ratio of helpful to hostile seems to have
remained the same, low on the hostile side.

Skip, NCL has changed a lot since 1999... and not for the better. But the
entire cruise industry has changed a lot in the past 10 years and some of
the changes are pretty good (and some not so good).


Sorry to hear it. We voted our cruise on the Wind as the best
vacation ever.


While most of the mass markets lines have some sort of "freestyle",
"personal choice", "my time" type of dining, it is true that traditional
early or late seatings are available on most ships. While I like the
freedom of being able to go to dinner any time I want between say 5:30 and
10 PM, you do give up the familiarity of having the same waitstaff for every
evening. For me, not a big deal. For others who like having the same
waiter every evening, they rather have traditional dining.


I'm not intractable about having the same waiter all the time but we
did on our cruise; after the first night he knew exactly what we
wanted and gave us the best "restaurant" service we'd ever had. Our
waiter Montgomery was always pleasant without being intrusively
friendly, helpful, gave great personal service and had an upbeat
personality.

On the one "freestyle" night while we were in port, we dined aboard
and were having a minor problem with another waiter. Montgomery
shooed him away and took over. I don't know whether he did that
because of his positive work ethic, really liked us or just wanted to
impress us for a larger tip. In any case I did appreciate his service
for what ever reason there was. I do appreciate good service and
would like that to be part of my next cruise.

\

One thing for sure... back in the 90's, a waiter usually has between 16 and
20 people per seating. Now, they are more likely to have 24. I think the
food has improved since the 90's pretty much across the board (except for
NCL)

Cabin service has remained good on most cruise lines. Many have doubled the
number of cabins that a Steward may have, but they now have assistants. The
assistants may not have the language skills necessary to inter-act with the
passengers.

The big positive change is in the ships themselves. Cruise lines have been
touting the "ship as destination" and the advances in facilities is
astounding... including ice skating rinks, flow-riders, outdoor movie
screens, rock climbing walls, glass making facilities, expended gyms... you
name it. it is all about the facilities, now.

One other thing has changed..... prices are now cheaper than they were 10
years ago. We recently booked a group where inside cabins sold for less
than $500 pp for a 7 night cruise. I don't know what you paid for your NCL
cruise in 1999, but I'd bet that booking a similar cabin on a similar
itinerary now would be the same price... or cheaper.

BTW - I sailed on the Norwegian Wind twice and her sister ship the Norwegian
Dream once. They started out as the Windward and the Dreamward and they
were both cut in half, and had a new mid-section added that gave them more
cabins and a little more public space. They were nicer as they were
originally built... but I enjoyed them both.

If the Wind was the last ship you were on... you will be amazed at the new
ships.


Thanks, George. When I get to the "lets start making plans" time,
I'll get in touch with you It's an honor and pleasure to have you
and Becca assisting us. By the way, you need to be in Las Vegas next
Los Weekend. You guys were missed.

Take care,

Skip

  #23  
Old August 14th, 2009, 05:51 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
skipfromla
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default Cruise or not

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009 21:12:11 -0400, Charles
wrote:

In article , Skipfromla
wrote:

If we are going to spend that much money on a cruise, we expect great
service and food. If we can be expected to be treated like cattle, I
have no interest in cruising.


You might want to look into some of the more boutique or luxury cruise
lines. The mass market cruise lines don't have wonderful food anymore.
I think the service is still pretty good but if you have 3000 people on
a ship it is not going to be the same as on a smaller ship of 1000 or
less where the staff will remember you and your preferences.



Thanks. I'll look into it.
  #24  
Old August 14th, 2009, 05:52 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
skipfromla
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Posts: 28
Default Cruise or not

On Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:56:02 -0500, "ND-TX" wrote:


"Skipfromla" wrote in message
.. .
In 1999, we took an Alaskan cruise on the Norwegian Wind, the only
cruise we've been on. The service couldn't was wonderful and I don't
see how it could have been better, possibly because of assigned meal
seatings with the same table, same waiter, same cabin steward and tips
in cash at the end of the cruise. The food was wonderful, so good in
fact, we never went to the one extra-pay restaurant.

We were thinking of taking another cruise but after speaking to
several friends about their resent cruises, we may not. Every one of
them said the freestyle dining and tips that are added to your bill
that don't reflect service levels, have caused a severe decline in
service. They also mentioned that the quality of food and attitude of
the crew had been less than acceptable.

Some of my friends, just about all of them cruising on different
cruise lines, were told essentially the same thing by crew members,
that there was no point in going that extra mile in service to the
passengers because they don't get more in tips if they give good
service and don't get less if they give minimal service or maybe even
poorer service. The crew member also said that the tips are now also
going to the salaried people behind the scenes, not just those who
live on their tips and went on to say that the company was charging a
percentage of the tips for a processing fee that comes out of the
pockets of the crew. I have no idea if all this is really true but it
sounds like it could be.

If we are going to spend that much money on a cruise, we expect great
service and food. If we can be expected to be treated like cattle, I
have no interest in cruising.

Skip

We just got back from an Alaskan cruise on Serenade OTS (Royal Caribbean).
Our 6th cruise, 5th on RCL - and the best so far, though we never had a bad
cruise. The service was better than ever, the food was good (though I'd say
a notch worse than before). No, we were not treated like cattle. We loved
the cruise overall so much, we immediately booked another cruise in
November. Call us crazy, if you will.

Of course, this is RCL, so "free-style-cruising" is optional, and automatic
tipping too. So we chose assigned seating (early) and personal tipping.
Service was very personal. Waiters remembered our names, eating/drinking
habits, etc. We shared a lot of laughs, hugs at the end, etc. Cabin
attendant did his job well.

I know RCCL has free-style cruising (which most likely requires automatic
tipping), meaning random waiters every night - and therefore random service.

On RCL even during open seating (breakfast, lunch) the service was good. It
was just better in the evening.

Sorry, I'm rambling.

Happy sailings everyone.

NND-TX



I appreciate what you hafe to say. What rambling? Thanks for your
comments.

  #25  
Old August 14th, 2009, 06:45 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Susette
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Posts: 867
Default Cruise or not

Skip

I think you wrote a lovely note asking for experiences. I think your
friends experiences were a bit off, but they have a right to their
opinion. I am not BIG on NCL- but we can say what we want they have
changed the dining on cruising. is it for the best? really not sure,
I like the traditional dining but I understand the need for people
wanting to eat when they want. I also can see 2 alternstive Rstaurants
too but some are getting out of hand, and Say what you all want to
say on NCL But RCCL is going to get the same way with OASIS of the
seas and ALLure. They will have more PAY fors then FREES I feel.I have
been on 41 cruises, First one was 1984 on Chandris Brittanis and the
food was tremendous, There has not been food like that on the other
cruises I have been on, BUT the cruise then was more then some now!
So something has to give and its usually food, also when the ships
grow larger the passenger count is larger so that means cookin for
more, something may not be as we remember it in 1984
Cruise food was declining in 1999 BUT a first cruise is always the
most remembered. the Food is still palatable You may be getting more
choice meat then Prime meat....Still I do not have to cook it or clean
up its a good thing. Some lines haver better food then others too as
some has said SOMETIMES there is some people who like something more
on one line then another but another person will disagree. Its a
matter of opinion. I do know that in 1999 there was some decline
starting for the old time cruiser.. and it went really down people
did not like carnival food But then arount 2004 or so the Food issue
seems to be taking hold and things taste better and although it same
menu items on the same line a different cook does make the difference

Do not let someone elses opinion change what your opinion is, Nor feel
tht you can not ask here. You will get different opinions but then
from them you can make a choice.

Oceana, Azamara, Regent all have great food from the folks I have sent
and they report back...

Service the service is good there are sometimes sailings where you
find a few that are not good. We have found this on Princess but that
dont mean all princess employees are bad.
the ones that are bad get their names put on the exit forms, the
cruise lines DO read them.
With so many ships out and not alot of time to train the service folks
like the "Old Days" things have changed but its not horrible!

Go and see and you will be happy you did its still a fantastic way to
travel.


Susette
Cruiseoutlets and Travel
www.cruiseoutlets.com
Come sail with the Viking Group 6Dec09
  #26  
Old August 14th, 2009, 08:01 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Neal Eckhardt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 102
Default Cruise or not

On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:14:35 -0700, Skipfromla
wrote:



Thanks for your response. It's entirely possible that the people I
spoke with had unreasonable expectations. I didn't question them, I
just listened to their comments. I'll call some of them and ask
specific questions to find out exactly what the problems were. I'm a
realist and know that nothing is ever perfect.

I appreciate your answer as opposed to those who seem to think I was
bashing cruising and evidently pricked their egos while having the
audacity to post such things in their personal newsgroup.


Last year, we invited another family to join us on a Carnival cruise
(the Freedom). All we heard the whole trip on how RCL was better at
this, and RCL was better at that. When she told us that RCL did a
better job of wiping out the sink in the stateroom bathroom, I replied
that you probably paid twice as much to have RCL wipe out the sink a
little better.

Six months later she was calling us to join them on the Carnival
Splendor the following year. All things need to be put into
perspective.

--
Neal

Never go to a plastic surgeon whose favorite artist is Picasso.
  #27  
Old August 14th, 2009, 08:16 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
skipfromla
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 28
Default Cruise or not

On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 15:01:34 -0400, Neal Eckhardt
wrote:

On Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:14:35 -0700, Skipfromla
wrote:



Thanks for your response. It's entirely possible that the people I
spoke with had unreasonable expectations. I didn't question them, I
just listened to their comments. I'll call some of them and ask
specific questions to find out exactly what the problems were. I'm a
realist and know that nothing is ever perfect.

I appreciate your answer as opposed to those who seem to think I was
bashing cruising and evidently pricked their egos while having the
audacity to post such things in their personal newsgroup.


Last year, we invited another family to join us on a Carnival cruise
(the Freedom). All we heard the whole trip on how RCL was better at
this, and RCL was better at that. When she told us that RCL did a
better job of wiping out the sink in the stateroom bathroom, I replied
that you probably paid twice as much to have RCL wipe out the sink a
little better.

Six months later she was calling us to join them on the Carnival
Splendor the following year. All things need to be put into
perspective.



How true.
  #28  
Old August 14th, 2009, 09:02 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Surfer E2468
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 1,757
Default Cruise or not

You cannot go wrong with PRINCESS,HAL,or CELEBRITY,we sailed NCL 3 times
The wind we did hawaii,and it was a nice cruise,but the other 2 ships
were awful,the worse was the NCL MAJESTY,they has no place at all to
relax on the pool deck,(no lounges) only a small round table and 4
chairs. and very fwe lounges on the upper deck either.People were just
putting towels on the deck and laying on them. Not at all
comfortable. Very,very small buffet,hardly any choices of anything.
Even in the dining room ,it was mostly just hamburgers andhot dogs.





cruise lover(~~~~~)






..

  #29  
Old August 14th, 2009, 10:05 PM posted to rec.travel.cruises
Warren[_1_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 476
Default Cruise or not

On Aug 14, 4:02*pm, (Surfer E2468) wrote:
You cannot go wrong with PRINCESS,HAL


I wasn't impressed with HAL at all. Just another mass market line,
mediocre food
and poor service in the dining room.

Princess isn't what it used to be either.

The wind we did hawaii,and it was a nice cruise,but the other 2 ships
were awful,the worse was the NCL MAJESTY


The Wind has been gone a few years already and Majesty leaves the
fleet in the fall. The remaining ships
in the fleet all entered service within the last 10 years, most of
them 90,0000+ tons
and very modern.

Your experiences with NCL are obsolete.

Warren
 




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