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I enjoy cruising. We are leaving on another one in just 25 days.
This will be our 1st time on Carnival so I'm curious how it compared to Royal Carribean and Celebrity.
So far RC is the best fit for us so far...but Carnival is a wee bit cheaper so we'll see. Not that it really matters...I'll be on vacation, I don't have to cook, clean, plan the meals or the activities.
Granny, so long as you aren't expecting someone to be waiting on you hand and foot, you will LOVE Carnival. We do - it's our favorite cruiseline. First, you will love the size of the stateroom - 25sq ft bigger. When we took our first non-Carnival cruise, we felt like sardines. Brand new RC Brilliance of the Seas and it was so dinky I was thrilled I had brought my organizers (the cheap dollar store over the door things) - TWO of them plus suction cup hooks (for mirrors).
The next thing we love about Carnival is that there isn't someone hovering all the time and I don't feel like the wait staff wants to be my special long-term buddy. I don't mind having a different waiter, honestly. In fact, I don't mind going to the buffet - in fact, I prefer it.
On Carnival, you can get room service ALL the time - for free! And the food is free. And the pizza bar is open 24 hours a day (you can get more than just pizza).
Oh, and you can have access to the theater any time you want. Just want to sit and chill? There's always seats. Looking for something just a little different to do? bingo, silly games, rehearsals you can watch.
No professional shows; just decent music, dancers, and silliness.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chickrae
Haven't been on Celebrity but I would take Carnival over R.C any day. I think Carnival has more children on board but with the camp carnival they keep pretty busy. If I can get a great cruise for cheaper that's what I do. You can't beat the carnival prices. It's all a matter of preference though. good luck
Carnival prices are great. We are going on our first Norwegian cruise in 2 weeks only because we got our stateroom for free.
celebrity does little things that win us over every time, bringing you chilled towels by the pool on hot days, sorbet too, glass of champagne upon embarkation, etc. Teak deck chairs with cushions, not those lounge chairs with the vinyl straps. Also their smoking policy is stringent, I don't want to smell that stuff if I'm sitting out on the balcony. Don't know if the other lines still allow smoking in the casino, celebrity does not. Food was great.
Yes more $ than carnival which I have never been on but like minded friends of ours went on both and won't go back to Carnival. What put me over the edge with RC was the last cruise, a couple of years ago, just a quick getaway 4 nights from Tampa to Mexico.
1) food was horrendous, literally for 4 nights nothing interested both of us for dinner, even the everyday choices of salmon, chicken etc were dry, overcooked, I suspect kept under a heat lamp until requested. The sirloin steak? I could have retreaded the tires on my F150 with it and I ordered it rare..I don't know where they got their meat from. The buffet for breakfast was mundane and often cold or dry. Lunch often consisted of one of the previous nights dinner choices prepared in a different way. Hamburgers and hot dogs by the pool were vile, pizza? If you want to call it that, but that may be my NY upbringing and Italian heritage being bias.
2) in the buffet for breakfast there was a hard sell for fresh squeezed orange juice....$4 a glass plus tip I think. That was a turn off.
3) really hard sell for drinks by the pool, to the point I was sleeping, hat over my eyes, server tapped me on shoulder to wake me up to ask me if I wanted a cocktail. Are you kidding me? No I generally don't drink while I am sleeping.
I know Celebrity is owned by RC but difference is night and day, we will pay a few hundred extra to get a little more pampered and eat well.
I have heard that people should always get a balcony because it is often hard to get a deck chair to sit outside. Is this generally true?
Also, tipping - they add $11 per person per day? We were perusing a world tour and this would be a goodly amount for us. Do people get a bit more conservative with tipping on longer trips?
We, obviously, have not been on a cruise.
If a person signs up for one do you get sent a list of recommended clothing to bring? Maybe a few cocktail dresses, and clothing appropriate for the weather you'd be encountering on a long, hundred day, cruise?
Do people bring all that luggage with them on the plane to the point of embarkation or can some be sent ahead?
I'm not sure about the availability of deck chairs, but a balcony is such a worthwhile thing to have if you can possibly afford it. It's so nice to have your own little private space.
We would go out on ours right before bed, or first thing in the morning--there's something so decadent about being out there in your pjs. When you come back from doing something and your partner wants to snooze, you can hang out on the balcony (because lots of times you don't want to hang out in a public area, yet you aren't quite ready for a nap either).
Here's a little tip--try to get a cabin at the rear end of a ship. Those rooms tend to be quieter and the view from the balcony includes the wake from the ship, which is kind of fun to watch. The down side is you'll also have the farthest walk from the elevator, but for us that was just fine.
I'm not sure about the availability of deck chairs, but a balcony is such a worthwhile thing to have if you can possibly afford it. It's so nice to have your own little private space.
We would go out on ours right before bed, or first thing in the morning--there's something so decadent about being out there in your pjs. When you come back from doing something and your partner wants to snooze, you can hang out on the balcony (because lots of times you don't want to hang out in a public area, yet you aren't quite ready for a nap either).
Here's a little tip--try to get a cabin at the rear end of a ship. Those rooms tend to be quieter and the view from the balcony includes the wake from the ship, which is kind of fun to watch. The down side is you'll also have the farthest walk from the elevator, but for us that was just fine.
Well, we are thinking of it, but it will be a while before we do. I get seasick and thought I should stay near the center of the ship because of that.
Yes. I know that there is a lot of confusion, sometimes, on what laws apply. Certainly, so close to shore, Italian law would here. People do not realize that when they set foot on a cruise ship, they give up a lot. It is fine if there are no problems, but there is often a bad situation if you need medical assistance. People have died or been permanently maimed because the doctor on board could do little and decided it was not an emergency. Sometimes the doctor is just some random Md. who gets a free trip for working on the ship for a time.
There have been cases in which a person insists she wants to be airlifted to shore where she can see a competent doctor and the captain decides not to let that happen. They are trained to keep costs down and everyone quiet and happy and no bad press.
I don't know the laws of other countries, or my own, well enough to make an intelligent comment. I do know that here you cannot sign your rights away regardless of what a contract says.
How would one go about getting a good lawyer who is versed in international law, I wonder?
Those dollar amounts in the Costa contract appear to have been set years ago with no provision for inflation.
The Warsaw Convention (and later the Montreal Convention) set liabilities for air carriers in a similar fashion. Currently, an international air carrier is liable for damages up to 113,100 Special Drawing Rights per passenger (currently around $175,000 according to wikipedia).
According the article you linked, Costa is liable for up to 46,666 SDR (or about $71,000 currently).
Now I'm more versed in aviation law than cruise line law, but in the Montreal Convention, that limit only applies if the carrier is not negligent. From all the reports I've seen, it looks like the captain of the Costa Concordia was pretty negligent in his actions, so that limit of $71,000 could be out the window.
I'd expect several points of that contract to be challenged in court, particularly whether or not the victims can file a class action lawsuit and whether or not they can sue the parent company, Carnival.
Quote:
Originally Posted by goldengrain
How would one go about getting a good lawyer who is versed in international law, I wonder?
I'm sure after such a high profile incident such as this, many of the survivors have probably already been approached by experienced maritime lawyers. The lawyers may have the best intentions in the world, but the cynic in me can't help but think all the possible airtime on the cable news channels doesn't factor in just a smidge...
Well, we are thinking of it, but it will be a while before we do. I get seasick and thought I should stay near the center of the ship because of that.
Sometimes you pay a little more for mid ship but it's well worth it. The rocking of the ship isn't felt as much. We usually get deck 7 or 8 (empress deck has been my favorite on Carnival) Our friends were on deck 10 at the very tip of the ship and were constantly feeling sea sick.
I don't think anyone responded to my question concerning tipping.
I guess it is customary that they add $11 per day per person to your bill?
Is that the rate that everyone pays?
On longer, grand/world voyages, doesn't that add to be quite a bit?
If we were to compare prices for these trips, what other extras to they tack on that you might not be aware of?
I know the port excursions are supposed to be expensive if you purchase them through the cruise company, so you just go ashore and there are hawkers there who will take you around for lower prices?
I guess there are no 'all expenses paid' cruises, or are there?
Guess I should discuss all this with a travel agent.
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