Soft Pretzels
By Dave | September 10, 2008
Sorry, this is just a completely random post. I thought it was a good idea so I have to post it.
I was sitting on the sofa watching Family Guy when I got hungry. So I went to the kitchen and made myself a soft pretzel. As I’m eating the pretzel, a thought about cruising popped into my head. To be honest, I don’t even remember what that thought was. But something clicked and I thought to myself, “do they sell soft pretzels on cruises?” On all the cruises I’ve been on, I’ve never once seen soft pretzels given out.
So this led me to think, wouldn’t it be great if they had a pretzel stand on the cruise ships? It would be like Carnival’s pizza station. They give out pretzels all day, fresh and hot. Wouldn’t that be great? I know I’d love it. If you’d wait for them to cook, you could even order specialty pretzels like cinnamon/sugar pretzels, cheese-filled pretzels, etc.
Isn’t this a good idea? Please someone tell me this is already happening in the cruise world and I’m just completely oblivious to it!
Topics: Opinions | 1 Comment »
Tags: pretzels
Carnival Miracle Re-Route Causes Havoc
By Dave | September 7, 2008
An article was posted over at The Cruise Log by Gene about the re-routing of Carnival Miracle due to Tropical Storm Hanna. What happened was, the cruise, which is exactly what I sailed on a couple months ago, was supposed to go to the Eastern Caribbean (Grand Turk, San Juan, St. Thomas), and was re-routed to he Bahamas and Nassau. Then, Nassau was dropped from the list and was replaced by Newport, Rhode Island. From what I gathered, this caused a major uproar among the passengers. They were protesting in front of the purser’s desk, dropping all their tips, etc. It seems the captain’s “attitude” was the straw the broke the camel’s back.
Being on this same cruise and ship just a couple weeks ago, I find it just a bit easier to relate to the people in this story. My view is pretty split on this. I do understand their concerns and anger. You pay to go on a cruise to the Caribbean and you end up going to Rhode Island. And that’s after your itinerary has been changed several times on you. For a lot of people, their vacations only come once a year. This is a huge disappointment understandably. We probably would have been quite upset if our July 4 sailing went to RI instead of the Caribbean.
On the other hand, Carnival’s policy does state that they can change the itinerary at any time without notice. Also, Carnival’s Vacation Guarantee plan states that if they weren’t happy with the changes they could leave at the first port and receive a refund. So while I do understand their gripes, they had the chance to back out and receive money back. Not to mention that sailing during hurricane season is always risky, and Carnival is only doing what’s safest for the passsengers, ship, and crew. Sailing through hurricane waters is not fun, and those people probably would have been much worse off had they kept their original itinerary. While I’d probably be upset as well, I’d rather go to Rhode Island than be sick.
It’s easy for me to say that though since I wasn’t on the cruise. What would other people have done in this situation?
Topics: Cruising | No Comments »
Tags: carnival, carnival miracle, hurricane
Disney to Consider Alaska Cruises
By Dave | September 1, 2008
I don’t really follow Disney too much, but this headline caught my eye. It seems that Disney might begin some cruises to Alaska starting in 2010. At first I thought this was strange, but then I read that they already have sailed to the Mediterranean.
This is just my opinion, but I don’t think Disney should cruise from anywhere other than Florida or California, since that’s where Disney World and Land are. I mean, as of right now they shouldn’t. They only have two ships in their fleet so there isn’t a whole lot to work with. I always thought that a lot of Disney’s cruisers went to a Disney park either before or after the cruise as part of the vacation. Obviously I’m wrong, but that was always my conception. Now, if Disney were to expand their fleet, adding a few more ships, then I could see them sailing from non-Disney areas. Until then though, it just seems silly to me for them to sail away from their land-based areas. I know that might sound crazy or stupid, but that’s just my opinion (at least for now).
Topics: Cruising | 6 Comments »
Tags: alaska, disney
Holiday to Leave Carnival
By Dave | August 24, 2008
Carnival’s oldest and smallest ship, Holiday, has been rumored to leave the fleet late next year (2009). Carnival has yet to make an official announcement yet, which is why this is still just a rumor. However, I assume it’s probably true considering how old the ship is. When this happens, the Fantasy will become the oldest Carnival ship in the fleet, and the Fantasy-class, which has been Carnival’s most successful class of ships, will become the smallest of the fleet. I will update when/if Carnival releases a statement.
Topics: Cruising | 1 Comment »
Tags: carnival, holiday
Carnival Re-Classifications
By Dave | August 16, 2008
For those considering booking a Carnival cruise, there’s some important information regarding Carnival’s cabin classifications. Effective yesterday (August 15, 2008), all new bookings made for the Carnival Valor will have these new classifications in effect. Pricing and cabin requests on existing reservations won’t be affected.
So what are these new classifications? From what I gathered, they’re more specific than before. Previously, categories were based on cabin type and deck (6A, 8B, etc.). With the new system, there will be more defined cabin classifications. Instead of just cabin type and deck, there will also be classifications based on location within the deck (aft, forward, mid-ship) as well as “proximity to key public areas.” That most likely means how close you are to places such as the Lido area, the showroom, dining room, etc.
The purpose of these changes is to give guests the ability to better select a cabin based on their needs. You can expect these changes to be implemented fleet-wide by the end of the year (2008).
Topics: Cruising | 1 Comment »
Tags: cabins, carnival, news, re-classification
Some Helpful Items
By Dave | August 14, 2008
Over the years, as well as online, I have discovered some helpful items to take on cruises. Some of them would be more obvious than others (especially for experienced cruisers). Here’s a list of what I’ve found useful:
- Bungee cord - if you have a balcony stateroom, you can use this to keep the balcony door open at night to get a nice breeze. This obviously depends on the type of door your room has.
- Power strip - it doesn’t necessarily have to be a surge protector. Just a strip for extra outlets. A lot of ships only have one standard and one foreign outlet. So by bringing some extra outlets of your own, you can keep the clock (see below) plugged in while you charge your iPod or charge your phone.
- Water bottles - some cruise lines allow you to bring water on board. We’re fine with the tap water available on board, but for excursions or walking around off the ship, it’s a lot cheaper than buying the $5 bottles of water they sell on the ship. Alternatively, if you’re flying or don’t feel like carrying the extra weight, you can just bring an empty water/sports bottle that you’ll fill before you get off the ship.
- Shampoo - if you don’t want to use the ship’s shampoo, bring your own.
- Clock - as I mentioned earlier, bring your own clock. For some reason, none of the ships (at least that I’ve been on) have clocks in the staterooms. This certainly puzzles me. It seems like something that would be essential. Whatever the reasoning though, there are no clocks in the staterooms, so if you want to know what time it is when you wake up in the morning, bring your own clock.
- Laptop - I would only recommend this if you plan on sending a lot of e-mails throughout the cruise. The reason I recommend this is because the Internet is always very slow on the ship, so if at all possible, you should type of up your e-mail prior to connecting to the Internet. So when you do sign on, all you have to do is paste your e-mail and send it and not waste your time typing. You could consider this a bit cheap or something, but at 75 cents a minute, I think it’s wise to do this.
That is what I can think of off the top of my head. If I think of more, I’ll add them next time. If anyone has any more hints, add them too.
Topics: Cruising | No Comments »
Back to Back Cruises
By Dave | August 12, 2008
Okay, maybe the picture was a bit of a joke… But this is something I’ve always wanted to try. For those who have never heard of such a thing, I will quickly explain what a back-to-back cruise is. No, it’s not two cruise ships lined up next to each other. Back-to-back cruising is when you go on two cruises, one right after the other, typically on the same ship. I suppose it could also mean going to two completely separate cruises, one right after the other. But I think the most common usage means staying on the ship when everyone else disembarks for the final time, staying on for another cruise.
But whichever usage you use it for, this is something I have always wanted to try since I got into cruising. The italicized usage of “back-to-back” is what I want to try most though. At the end of the week, I always think to myself, “just a few more days.” Take a B2B would accomplish this. Another great thing about B2B cruising, I’m assuming, would be having the same waiters all over again. I assumed this because I’m not entirely sure how this would work. Anyone else know? If I were to go on a B2B cruise (on the same ship of course), would I get to keep my cabin and/or wait staff? If the answer is yes, then this would be awesome, especially if you have a great staff. If no, it would still be great to get to know a new set of waiters, while still seeing your old ones onboard.
Enough rambling. I don’t really have much more to say about this. It just popped into my head and I thought it would be interesting to mention, and hopefully get some feedback on 
. This is something I have added to my lifelong to-do list. Hopefully I will get to it some day.
Topics: Cruising, Opinions | 3 Comments »
Tags: back-to-back
Another Reason I Love Carnival
By Dave | August 10, 2008
Ever since they’ve been giving them out, I’ve been collecting Carnival’s past guest ship pins. They’re just a funnel with the ship’s name on it. If you’re a past guest, you’ll receive a pin for the ship you’re sailing on, along with a little thank you note. Anyway, I’ve been collecting them, and I recently went to add my new Carnival Miracle pin to the collection, only to discover I lost the collection!
Well you can imagine how disappointed I felt at this point. All the pins I saved up, gone. Now I either had two options: attempt to sail on all those ships again, something that would take years and lots of money; or I could ask Carnival to send me replacements. So I contacted them online, and within a couple days I received a response saying that my request would be fulfilled, and as soon as the pins came in they’d ship them to me, at no charge!
Yesterday, they came! I received pins for every Carnival ship I’ve been on, except the Sensation, which doesn’t have pins for some reason (or so I was told). So that made me happy. I certainly wasn’t expecting Carnival to send me all those pins. I’m sure other cruise lines might do something similar if the situation arose, but as of right now I’d have no way of knowing. What I do know though, is that Carnival has once again gone above and beyond what I expected! Yet another reason why I love Carnival. 
Topics: Countdown, Opinions | 3 Comments »
Tags: carnival
New Cruisers Tip #9: Choose the Right Line
By Dave | August 8, 2008
All cruise lines are not created equally. Some are geared toward families, others toward adults only. Some are meant for fun, while others are meant for pampering and luxury.
This tip for new cruisers deals with the aspect of choosing the right cruise line. All too often, I read about people who had a lousy cruise because the environment was right for them. I don’t necessarily blame them for this problem, but like any other vacation, you should do your research prior to booking.
Sometimes it’s obvious. Disney Cruise Line is geared toward families; the kids specifically. While I’m sure it happens, you probably won’t find an eldery couple taking a retirement vacation onboard the Disney Magic. Other times it’s not quite as obvious. If you’ve never been on a cruise before, and having done no research whatsoever, you just might not know what kind of cruises “Cunard” has to offer.
One of the best ways, in my opinion, to get a good idea of a cruise line’s target audience is to go to their website. Of course, this would be my first choice since I pretty much live on the Internet. But if you’re not quite as net-savvy, calling the cruise line and getting a brochure will do the trick as well. (Another quick tip: the brochures are usually free. I order them every year at no cost to me, not even shipping.) By doing either of the two methods above, you will probably get a good idea of what the cruise will be like. If every other page shows adults in fancy clothing, it’s probably not the ideal line for your family. On the other hand, if you’re an older couple, if the first picture you see on the brochure/website is a kid going down a water slide, that might not be the best line for you either.
Another great indicator, although not nearly as foolproof, is price. The typical rule of thumb is: the more expensive the cruise line, the more adult-oriented. Again, this is not always true. Disney is very expensive, but is geared toward young families. But this is certainly something to keep in mind as well.
Bottom line: do your research. Find out more about the cruise line you’re interested in prior to sailing. This will help assure you have a good time on your vacation.
Now, here’s a short list of a handful of cruise lines, in order from most kid-friendly to most adult-oriented. (Based on my own opinion.) If you click on the line you’re interested, you’ll be redirected to their website so you can begin your research.
- Disney Cruise Line
- Carnival Cruise Line
- Royal Caribbean International
- Celebrity Cruises
- Princess Cruise Line
- Cunard
- Crystal Cruises
Topics: Tips for New Cruisers | No Comments »
Tags: cruise lines, demographics
I Have PCD
By Dave | August 6, 2008
PCD (Post Cruise Depression) is what I’m going through right now. With nothing booked yet and with a cruise just ended, it’s hard for me to get into the groove right now, which is why I haven’t posted in a little while. Hopefully we will book another cruise soon so I can get back into posting.
Either way, I’m posting today because of some exciting news (for me at least). A thread was started on Carnival’s online forums about the port of Philadelphia. For a little while it was just some members, myself included, talking about why Carnival should sail out of Philly. Well, the Carnival rep who posts on the forums finally responded to the thread. She let us know that she has forwarded our comments to the appropriate people in Carnival. This is very exciting. Maybe we will finally see some headway on having Carnival start sailing out of Philly. It wouldn’t start for a couple years — at least until the Dream and/or Magic come out — but hopefully it will start eventually. There used to be quite a few cruise lines that sailed out of Philadelphia. Now only one (NCL) does. And it’s one of their smaller ships too. Double bummer for me…
I will definitely keep everyone updated on this news as soon as I find anything out.
- Carnival Pride to Sail out of Baltimore
- Carnival Dream - First Renderings
- More Carnival Dream Pictures
Topics: Cruising | 2 Comments »
Tags: carnival, philadelphia
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