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#11
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Advice in choosing a cruise
On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"
wrote: "Janet Wilder" wrote in message eb.com... On 1/16/2011 12:42 AM, unfrostedpoptart wrote: On Saturday, January 15, 2011 9:31:06 PM UTC-8, Stu wrote: Carnival would as well handle your want list. Make sure you get travel insurance, and stay away from the party cruises unless that's all you want to do 24/7. Not from what my wife and I just experienced. We just went on Carnival Triumph and the ship's facilities and entertainment were pathetic compared to our cruise on Royal Caribbean's Mariner of the Seas last year. It sucks that RCI is pulling out of the US west coast. I'd never try Carnival again. I guess we'll give NCL a try next. Their ships look pretty good. If you prefer RCI to Carnival, you'll probably hate NCL. IMHO, NCL has appeal only to those who don't know that there is anything better out there. Also be prepared to spend money to eat at the specialty restaurants as the regular food venues are pretty awful. The paid specialty restaurants aren't much better, but better than the included fare. If you are used to Royal Caribbean's well-trained crews, you will be unhappy with the level of service on NCL. Look for cheap flights on Southwest Airlines and find a real cruise. Personally, if someone gave me free tickets for an NCL cruise, I'd give them back. No cruise is better than an NCL cruise. We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said he was never cruising again. I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not particularly like the ship. We are taking a second RCI cruise because I thought that we should give them a second chance. The crew and service on this one are MUCH better than on the first one, but the design of the ship and cabins is still poor compared to any other cruise line we've been on. Things just don't work the way they should - storage is poorly thought out and insufficient (I want to open the bathroom cabinet without my toothbrush falling out on the floor) and the only way you can get out of bed without crawling down over the foot is to have twin beds like those couples on 50's TV. I buy computer time and each time I log on, it says I have the package rate for the minutes, but charges me at the highest rate. I wouldn't totally discount NCL...of our 52 cruises, five have been on NCL...the first way back in 2000 on the Norwegian Sea sailing from Galveston and one of the most fun filled and best cruises we have taken; then we took the Norwegian Crown to South America and that was very good...perhaps having a penthouse helped there and it had a great narrator onboard while going through the Panama Canal that made it very interesting, as well as visiting and mingling with the gentle and kind people of Peru and Chile. The next one was on the Norway.. and who could say a word against that wonderful ship?...I can still hear her mighty horn! A wonderful memory that will always remain for anyone who ever sailed on that magnificent cruise liner. We have taken the Norwegian Spirit twice because we liked the ship and service so much and our most recent NCL cruise was the Norwegian Gem last September that had a Mediterranean itinerary leaving and returning to Venice. The ship itself did not impress us with its gaudiness and the service was not up to par... The head of guest services told us that the crew was mostly new and would have to make a lot of adjustments to provide the type of service they were striving for and during our conversation, she asked that since we had cruised so often, would we give her an idea what we expected and had gotten on our cruises with the other cruise lines. She wrote down all the comments we made, covering a whole large sheet of paper! We got treated to dinner and wine in Le Bistro for that information...the service and food there was impeccable! The itinerary was port intensive with lovely Split, Croatia and the beautiful islands of Corfu, Santorini, Mykonos and Crete which really made that a memorable cruise for us. I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for us might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next month. We find that ships, like people, have different personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie cutter" ship experiences! I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor. The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance) good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore. |
#12
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Advice in choosing a cruise
wrote in message ... On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle" We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said he was never cruising again. I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not particularly like the ship. I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for us might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next month. We find that ships, like people, have different personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie cutter" ship experiences! I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor. The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance) good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore. Did I miss something?...You are posting from an RCI cruise from what I gather, but you did not mention which one. Ask them to give you some horseradish for your cocktail sauce! ;-) By the third day, I usually end up getting a couple appetizers or soup and dessert...Having an entree every day is too much food for me. Have a great rest of the cruise! --Jean |
#13
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Advice in choosing a cruise
On Mon, 17 Jan 2011 21:49:27 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle"
wrote: wrote in message .. . On Sun, 16 Jan 2011 11:51:04 -0600, "Jean O'Boyle" We disliked the first RCI cruise we took so much that my husband said he was never cruising again. I really love the NCL ships but HAL is our favorite.. We took a Celebrity cruise last year and loved the service but did not particularly like the ship. I can only speak of the NCL ships that we have taken...I have heard many derogatory statements about NCL, but this is my story! Does every cruise line or ship meet all our expectations? No...but I guess the closest for us might have been the RCL Oasis that we took last October. We are looking forward to seeing how the Celebrity Eclipse compares when we take her next month. We find that ships, like people, have different personalities...that's what makes cruising such fun! I don't like "cookie cutter" ship experiences! I don't think the bigger ships would suit us. We've been on the NCL Crown twice and really liked the smaller size. We also did back-to-back on the Pearl (after our first RCI cruise) and liked that ship and I've also done the Jade. Really like the ship and decor. The menu on this RCI cruise is good but they don't have (for instance) good cocktail sauce for the shrimp and there is no hot fudge sauce. No cranberry juice is available anywhere on the ship. I like the appetizers better than the entrees so sometimes I get three of them and no entree at all. Dinner service was excellent, but breakfast and lunch are incredibly slow. The buffet is extremely difficult to negotiate and disorganized. Also they seem to have an awful lot of east Asian dishes. There's a lot of 'menu speak'. I got kung pao chicken and it wasn't anything like what I get on shore. Did I miss something?...You are posting from an RCI cruise from what I gather, but you did not mention which one. Ask them to give you some horseradish for your cocktail sauce! ;-) By the third day, I usually end up getting a couple appetizers or soup and dessert...Having an entree every day is too much food for me. Have a great rest of the cruise! --Jean We decided to give RCI a second chance and are on Enchantment out of Baltimore. We are doing b2b Bahamas and Caribbean itineraries. I'm still not sold on RCI, but I will have/am having a good time. Just because there are some things I don't like doesn't mean that I won't enjoy myself. I complain and then forget about it - I don't let one or two things that I don't like keep me from enjoying the good things. |
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