I hope you have a most enjoyable trip. I have no intent to jinx you in any way, but I've not had good cruising experiences lately. I wonder if others have had experiences similar to mine?

I took my first cruise perhaps 25 years ago and it was nothing short of elegant. It was expensive and on what was an upscale line at the time. We found both the service and the food unexpectedly superb and everything was great. Very memorable in all respects.

We've taken two cruises in the last two years, one on one of the smaller/high end ships and one on one of the larger and more popular carriers. Both cruises were in Europe, not that that matters, but were with two of the larger cruise lines that are also active in North America.

One way to describe a comparison was that if that first memorable experience could be likened to riding around around in a luxury limousine, the most recent two were like riding on a crowded city bus. We experienced consistently indifferent and inept service, lousy food, perfunctory amenities, and far too many boorish people. The dining room food is mostly bad and I think it was to encourage passengers to pay an upgrade (up to $40 per day per head) for "specialty restaurants". What we got for that was dinner in a smaller setting but still lousy food coming from the same kitchen.

I might give "cruising" one last shot sometime. If so, it will be with one of the lines that specialize in great service on smaller and more intimate ships. Or maybe not, I may have taken my last cruise.

I think there are too many ships, too many rooms to fill so with much lower fares in many cases, and the whole experience has been downgraded from what it once was.

I'm a cruiser and have been for 29 years off and on.

This will be my 19th cruise.

Have reached platinum status on one cruise line.

Have traveled on several cruise lines, and love Princess, which I took grandson to Alaska on.

My first with Royal Caribbean!

So did that mean you agree with dropping from "limo to bus service" type of thing or not? I'm curious because I have only been on two cruises. One I don't remember, I was two, and one was upscale and over 20 years ago. Are they downscaling and trying to get you to pay up for eating?

Each cruiseline has pickup service at the airport. They hold a sign up for the cruiseline, have you on their check list and you follow them to the bus that takes you to your ship.

When you signin online with the cruiseline, you give them you flight number, time, if you are flying, so they can add you to their checklist.

I've cruised twice to Ak, many times to the Caribbean, East, West and Southern, and have done a Mediterranean/Greek Isle cruise as well.

This ship, Guy Fieri, has a restaurant, one of which you pay to eat at.

I won't as there's the early seating with the group I'm traveling with. Plus we always meet for breakfast at the buffet and same for lunch.

I've been on two cruises - one to Bermuda, and one to the Caribbean/Central America. I love cruising, mostly because I don't like flying and cruising lets me see things I wouldn't be able to otherwise! Will probably go to Mexico and maybe Hawaii soon now that I'm on the west coast.

I think a lot of it depends on the cruise line that you pick. Some are meant for older, quieter crowds, and some are party boats, think spring break. I've heard Royal Caribbean is more of a younger, energetic crowd.

I liked the sit-down restaurants but didn't care much for the buffets. I think charging for the specialty restaurants is absurd. I'm also not a fan of the crowds, so it's sort of a toss up because the bigger ships have more to do, but there are more people.

I like to get a balcony room and then I can sit up there and avoid all the crowds while enjoying the view.

I've been on Norweigan, which was much quieter and smoother but the ship was older and reminded me of an outdated Vegas casino. :) The other was Carnival and we felt every single wave, which I'm sure isn't the ships fault but I didn't like it. The food was pretty good though.

I'm against paying extra for the meals. That sounds wrong. Our meals were glorius and made the cruise special. I am fully against standing in lines for buffets at all times. I don't pay good money to go places and have to wait on myself. That takes the pampering right out of it. Thanks for the answer!

We have been on 2 cruises both Carnival out of Cape Canaveral one to the East Caribbean & the other to the West Caribbean. I loved them both. We always took dinner in the dining room at the late seating so we could do the excursions. It was fun dressing up for dinner. Next cruise I go on I am going to gamble the first part of the cruise. They say you win more at the first part to keep you coming back.

What I like about cruising, is that you unpack once and see some wonderful countries and have fun adventures. I have done Christmas shopping while on a cruise in the duty free shops...

Love Love cruising...wish we had the money for Prince Charming & I to go ALONE on one....but with the moving costs we can't....oh well

I love cruising also and have been on 5? I think. We took a family cruisetour to Alaska in July and I have to agree with Snidely that the food was not great, but not horrible. But my motivation for cruising is to see a lot without having to unpack. I love being on the ship, I find it very relaxing. I love having a gym right there, love walking the deck, love being able to drink and not worry about driving. I think they are a blast. I've only been on Princess, but my next cruise will be around the Hawaiian Islands, and I think that is Norwegian? Can't remember, but it will be a different line. It will be interesting to see if there is any difference.

We've been on 11, I think.
We found a good deal yesterday on a five-night cruise out of Tampa, with Royal Caribbean. We leave Saturday, very last minute.
Our sixth cruise with them. We enjoy cruising.

Last spring we went on a Celebrity cruise, that was the best food and service of an cruise we've ever done. But we always enjoy them.

Glenda, you will have fun. Especially since you will have lots of friends with you.
We love the Broadway-type shows. We've never been to the pay-extra restaurants, except once to a Johnny Rocket's, cause we had coupons.

I haven't been disappointed in meals cruising. If you don't like something, they will replace it.

Never go to those specialty dining rooms where they charge big bucks.

Always enjoy the breakfast buffet's and on one cruise line they have a deli, where I always ordered from and it was free.

I'm a cruiser and sticking to it!

Gotta have a balcony!

Are you guys (sorry - PI, politically incorrect) ...

... characters ...

... trying to seduce me??

o j

You will have a wonderful time! I've been on 7 cruises, and Royal Caribbean is my favorite line. My father and brother are currently on a Royal Caribbean cruise (they return to FL on Saturday, and then board another Royal Caribbean ship 5 days later for an 11-day cruise to Aruba and other southern Caribbean ports). This is my Dad's 50th or 51st cruise (he is a diamond-plus member), and my brother has been on a few more than that. They both much prefer Royal Caribbean...and they have sailed on ships from all the lines.

Now see? I spend so little time in the cabin, i dont care if it has a balcony. We all have our own priorities! Ah, the pool boys misting you as you sit poolside. Ah.

Glenda,

I just got off an 8 night cruise on the Independence of the Sea this past Sunday! PM me for all the details and must dos!

Tried to email you, but it said you are out of the office :o(

We bought a specialty restaurant "package", a slight discount compared to paying each night individually, after having miserable experiences in the dining room the first two nights. I think there were 5 of these restaurants, maybe 4, what I remember is that one was for sure better than the dining room, one was the same (mediocre) and at least two were worse. I don't think we're all that picky, I never say a peep in a restaurant if something isn't right, I just don't go back. Our friends travelling with us were in agreement about the food.

The buffets on this ship (it was a Celebrity cruise) were best avoided. The food was repetitive and unimaginative. We had breakfast in the dining room (it was hot and freshly made), lunch on shore when in port, and then dinner as discussed.

I agree with sleeperblues, some of the conveniences on a cruise can't be beat. Sea air, no repeated packing/unpacking, the gym, walking the decks, etc.

One would think that on cruises where you spend just 8 hours in port and then off to the next place, that these too short tastings of various places would stimulate an interest to return for a longer visit. We've never gone back to anywhere we cruised to. Have any of you? That tells me that those locations really weren't worth the trouble to see.

Perhaps when we're older and less mobile, cruises will come back into our travel plans. Hopefully, they'll be better then.

This post was edited by snidely on Thu, Dec 5, 13 at 13:46

I have been on Celebrity to Alaska and found food to be delightful.
Baked Alaska night

My favorite was on Golden Princess to Ak with grandson almost 3 years ago. We had an extended balcony and a mini suite.

I have done the Carribean most and past few cruises I have chosen to stay on board days we were in port, as I had already been and just enjoyed being on ship and less people :o)

This post was edited by glenda_al on Thu, Dec 5, 13 at 17:10

glenda, you seem to pull out one non sequitur after another.

Have a nice trip.

My brother for years would go on cruises and would talk of the great time they had, mentioning many of the benefits that others here have brought up as well: meals included, only unpack once, the shows and the other amenities on the ship. However it has never really appealed to me. The "only unpack once" sounds good, and not having to find accommodations in each new spot visited sounds great, but the rest of the experience did not seem enticing: shows? pass. gambling? I don't think so. Going somewhere "exotic" and then eating glorified cafeteria food? Bleah. And no matter where you go, even if the place might otherwise be a great place to visit, it is instantly crowded with people from the ship.

However a couple of years ago, my wife was teaching on the Semester-at-Sea ship, which went out for a month-long voyage around the Caribbean, I went along as a plus-one, and had the best time of my life. She had to teach her class during the 12 days at sea, but on the days in port, she (and all of the students) were free to travel in and around the port country.
The "voyage" was similar in many respects to a commercial cruise, but I think the differences are a big part of what made the trip more enjoyable for me.
Some key differences were:

• no casino -- its been replaced with the largest library at sea.

• spends more than 6 to 8 hours in each port -- we had two or three days in each port

• rather than broadway-type shows there were sometimes lectures or movies about our upcoming destination

• small enough that it can stop in smaller, less visited ports

• we were allowed to bring aboard no more than two bottles of alcohol per person per port.

The differences to me seem analogous to the differences between a credit union, and a large nationwide mega-bank, ie. same ostensible purpose, wildly different practices and methods employed in service of that purpose. For instance I'm sure there is someone at each of the major cruise lines whose job (in part) is to determine what the optimum level of quality for the food served in the regular service should be, to nudge people towards the pay-extra-restaurants, without driving people away altogether.

Admittedly, since I've never been on a commercial cruise, I'm comparing my experience on the SAS ship with my cynical, pre-conceived notion of a commercial cruise. So even if you are a person who thinks "Cruises are not for me" there may be something similar, but slightly different that could be the time of your life.

Friends who cruise say that a cruise is NOT for ME. And I agree with them. Unpack once, don a swim suit, and hit the beach for free Tequilla.

Glenda--I can't believe your Alaska cruise was 3 years ago already! I remember the beautiful photos you shared.

You're going to have a fab time. I've never been on a cruise, I don't know if I will ever have the opportunity. I wouldn't mind trying it.

I think my biggest problem is I can not take the heat. I guess my cruise would have to be to Alaska. I'm good with that!!!

I was on a Hawaiian cruise a few years ago with my work. A number of us qualified for a cruise. I can't remember the name....Star something. It had a number of restaurants in it, which were all included in the price. That was nice. The food was good in the restaurants, and okay in the buffets. Orange juice was extra, believe it or not. I think the days of assigned seating with the same group every day is over.

We did the day trips at the ports.....horseback riding, touring a fruit plantation type thing, (loved that), various things to do.

Wouldn't do it again. I prefer going someplace, and doing day trips around and seeing the local sights.

Sorry, I have never been on a cruise, cannot swim, and do not like water. But I will take a RV anywhere the 5th wheel and truck went and saw so much especially in Canada. Lots of good memories, but I do wish you the best in your cruise. Just not for me.