This is a typical American cultural way of working. Book a cruise from Australia through an Australian website and the fares are all inclusive. So much better and clear and a legal requirement in some countries.
@@PsychGirlRaven I'll just take my money elsewhere. Last year we sailed from Seattle to Sydney and they wanted me to use my phone to book in for breakfast and lunch in the main dining room. The problem was that I’d left my phone at home in Australia. They eventually got the message and I had to laugh when their system crashed half way through the cruise and they had to print paper daily programs for everyone, not just us Luddites. We're about to take our 4th cruise for this year and none of them have been back on Carnival. Admittedly there were many more issues apart from them wanting me to carry a phone with me. Happy sailing. 😀
@@PsychGirlRaven Sounds good. Does that mean the PA system on the ship is disabled also? All I heard for a week was "Bingo Bingo Bingo in the Bingo room". I dont want to hear the captain telling us about water aeorbics at eight in the morning. Too dang early and like the aerobics crowd, I have to use the bathroom and I am not even in the swimming pool.
@@PsychGirlRaven Some people are just fine with a book they brought from home to read. Not everyone needs to "busy" themselves 15 hours of the day while on vacation.
So glad we jumped from Princess to Viking. They don’t charge for room service or specialty restaurants. And all their ships hold 980 passengers. We don’t pay any more overall on Viking since so much is included in your fare. When I added up everything we paid extra for on Princess, it was very close to what we pay up front on Viking. And it’s adults only!
After this next cruise we may be switching to Viking as well. Currently we usually travel on Princess or NCL but will be looking for a change for the cruise after Hawaii.
Viking including gratuities is something I’m really looking at. I start booking next month. I was really interested in ncl, because of the solo cabins. But I’m afraid I won’t remember my cruise with the “unlimited drinks”. 😂
As the owner of one of the oldest travel agencies in Texas, I had an interesting conversation with a senior Royal Caribbean employee that flatly stated that RCCL's ultimate goal is to have only two things available for no additional cost on your cruise: your room & a restricted buffet. No dining room or even shows without a fee. (this has subtlety started with their new dining room rules & fees) Very literally, almost EVERYTHING on board will have a fee. In the trade, RCCL is called the "nickle & dime" cruise line for a reason. As long as people keep accepting restrictions & paying for what used to be included, this will accelerate their intentions.
Cruised with them for the first time since 2016, two weeks ago. And I didn’t remember it being so bad. Cruising with them again next month in star class. With that price, I better not have a single charge on my folio by the end lol
It’s not just RC it’s the other lines too & NCL is more often called the nickel & dime of the sea they make others look like all inclusive resorts. All the lines have changed many things but I highly doubt they will only provide a limited buffet & charge for all entertainment or all food offers. The lines aren’t idiots they will push as far as they can but they realize people often cruise for the convenience & the cost is still less than a land vacation with multiple restaurants & entertainment.
We have thought the same thing about RCCL - it’s more expensive than Carnival AND seems to nickel and dime a lot! We were thinking the opposite should be true, when you pay more up front then less for upgrades later. We prefer Celebrity and NCL, haven’t cruised on Royal for a while.
I think sadly you become more a walking wallet instead a guest. (Like Disney is doing in USA and Europe 😡😡😡 And I will no longer go to Disney by this reason.) Btw European cruises are all very bad and I'm from Europe 😳 Better don't go!
Enjoyable video. What do I foresee disappearing from cruises? Me. They've either gotten too large & crowded or small but much more expensive than in the past.
@@outandabout9794 ship was beautiful, there were two pools but I barely used them. Not important to me since I live in Miami. If the pool is the only thing you’re worried about I would still give it a try.
Just got off the NCL Bliss. The observation deck was fabulous and the "snacks" were so much better for breakfast or lunch. High quality sandwiches, soups, quiches, desserts.
What do I foresee disappearing from the massive overcrowded stingy nickel and dimeing mainstream cruises? Me! I’m sticking to the all-included small ship bespoke cruising experience.
Going to the evening show after diner use to mean get up from diner table, walk to auditorium, pick a seat, sit down (maybe order a drink), watch the show. Now it’s get your reservation for the show (while you are still at home) and hope the show is not sold out. This to me is terrible and adds to the growing list of things you have to worry about on your cruise. I prefer the way things used to be, more relaxed.
I think affordability is going away. Soon it may be cheaper to take a land vacation, especially for families. Cruise companies are charging more for everything but the services aren’t getting better. Unfortunate.
The videos are only from the Low class cruise ship lines. Look into a higher class of ship and it might be what you are looking for. The "family" ships seem to be the ones with all the problems.
Some valid points here. With many ships as the destination along with the private islands i would love to see more lines stay longer or overnight. Some ports i can definitely skip.
I was really unhappy with the constant selling RC did when I was on my last cruise. The food quality seemed to cheapen the last few years as well. My next family cruise will be on Carnival, and my next adults-only cruise will be on Virgin.
It seems that, with a price being put on most of the luxuries, cruising is going to be more expensive. This is fine for the Upper Classes, but cruising is going to be more of a stretch for the rest of us. And with more activities on board, I''ll bet that some line is going to offer a "cruise" with the ship staying in the port for the whole time. I'm glad that I did my cruising when it was smaller, more personal and affordable!
Personally I think the cruise-lines are shooting themselves in the foot. With the tremendous increases in fares along with the reduction of services and all the nickle and diming, many of the lines are doing, is going to come back and bite them in the butt. In fact this is how bad it is getting. I took a 5 day cruise the beginning of July and never met or saw my room steward. We had breakfast room service on a port day. Disembarked, roamed around the port for about 5 hours, came back onboard to our room and the room had not been cleaned up along with the breakfast dishes still on the table on the balcony. I normally pre-pay all my gratuities along with giving the room steward anywhere between $75-125. This cruise I didn't leave the "extra" tip and I had customer service remove one day off the room gratuities. This was the first time, after 21 cruises, that I did that. I have one more cruise booked the end of 2024 and that will be it. No more. The size of the occupancy keeps getting larger and larger and the venues are getting smaller and smaller. If you don't make dinner/show reservations way in advance, you stand a good chance of getting locked out UNLESS you pay the EXTRA premium for Concierge Service or Butler/Genie service. In my opinion, COVID killed the cruise industry, and with some of the cruise lines now showing big profits and with an increase in bookings, they are realizing they can take advantage of their customers while they can. HOWEVER people are going to get tired of paying all these extra charges along with lower customer service and reduction in venues, shows etc. and eventually find alternatives to cruising.
My biggest problem is all the extras disappearing... years ago I went on Anthem of the Seas and I thought this was THE best ship ever. Year later I went on it again and the escape room was gone, the high wire training was gone, the people coming out of the ceiling during the Spectra's Cabaret show GONE. Add on the poor customer service, we arrived and our restaurant reservations were gone in the computer, even though we had a printed copy, they put us from a private table to a huge table with strangers. When we went to get the famous Roast Beef sandwich, it was soggy and disgusting. I could go on, but I think I've made my point...
I went on a transatlantic cruise on the Independence of the Seas & they had a small movie house that showed films all day! It helped pass the time on so many sea days! A few yrs. later, they removed it & put in a few more cabins!/ My daughter's family is going on the Anthem, in Nov. & they already told her that they are cancelling a port (Nassau) because of a bad engine! They knew this, a month ago & are still going to miss the port on 4-5 cruises! RCL isn't what it used to be!
The single cabin didn't seem worth it to me for a few reasons. When I did the math between that and a single supplement, it ended up being about a $10 difference. (That was while back, could be changed). Another thing was that it was down in its own area with its own 24hr canteen and such for just single cruisers. Didn't appeal to me as I could just imagine it would be like an animal farm. I like quiet nights. So I would say just resign yourself to getting skunked like single travelers tend to anyway or don't cruise. I'm not going anymore.
@@cijmo That's good to know. I've never tried. I looked at a cruise w Celebrity today where a 2 person Veranda was $858, and a Single is $1,831! I'll just book the 2 person & say the other didn't show. 🤷
@@DrixxMadisonThat’s shocking. They expect a certain additional revenue per customer - they can’t get that from a missing second passenger so it sounds as if they simply charge you for it. Check the small print in case they charge for a missing second person (I’m afraid I don’t trust them).
@@misterg1157 I checked some forums and the fee shouldn't go over the full price for 2 passengers anyway. 👍🏼 However, a last minute cancellation incurs more fees.
I would like to see the return of security on ships. On a recent Royal Caribbean cruise people walking all over the ship with no coverups or shoes. Females in skimpy thongs sitting on eating venues chairs with bare butts. They were also on elevators with bare butts in peoples faces, especially young children. It was disgusting.
OH MY. People were on a ship in the middle of the ocean in international water and they................were bare foot. OH MY. The horror. Cruising is not for everyone. It's not.
Things change with the demand. Vegas isn’t the 99 cent shrimp and free show kind of a place anymore. Cruising will evolve. Not all the changes are inherently bad. I like things being more all inclusive, but I also like having a lot more food options. One way or another the cruise line has to balance the books by including it in the fare or upcharging after.
1. Room service was never always free. Very few cruises I've been on have had free room service. 2. Specialty dining has been a thing for many years, even before covid. We have done it occasionally, when the cover charge was about $15. There's no way you get $45 pp of extra value in those places now, and that's not even factoring in the fact that you've already paid once for food. 3. I doubt many people cruise to visit theme park islands where they are forced to pay exorbitant prices. if that becomes a thing, we won't be cruising any longer, or will choose to stay on board on those days. 4. The cruise package add ons Princess offers are far too inclusive, so people end up paying for stuff they don't want or use. They don't factor in that some people don't want or need all or indeed any of the stuff in the packages. Not everyone drinks and eats to excess. If they sold more tailored packages, it might be more attractive to people. As it is, we don't buy them because it's not worth it for the one or two things we might like now and then and those certainly aren't going to cost $130 a day. 5. On board wifi is a joke. It is too painfully slow to actually do anything and on larger ships, you have literally thousands of people all trying to use the one point of contact. We've never had any issues with wifi in port. Infact many have tents for this set up dockside. Even in a remote port in Greenland we were able to access wifi on shore. I guess if you are that welded to social media, it may come as a shock to have to do without on sea days, but frankly, I'd rather spend my time enjoying what I've paid to do than spend my holiday with my eyes glued to a phone screen.
I will gladly pay more for all inclusive cruising. When I first started cruising the things that drew me to it are mostly gone. I liked room service, turn down service, dressing for dinner (not formal but putting pants and a collar shirt on) group tables, and yes formal night.. when people started to complain about the "nice things" and everything went informal.. the cruise lines learned that they could change the way they did business because their target audience changed. So they slowly tested the waters on making it casual and ala cart. For some this is fine.. but for us older folks.. Cruising is a luxury vacation and we want to be treated like it is.
I watch these videos and wonder "Why?" My personal view of hell is to be trapped in close proximity to thousands of strangers with no way to escape. Which is how I view cruises. But then, I'm a solo long-distance motorcycle rider.
I had a close friend that always said that he would NEVER cruise for the same reason you mentioned. After finally taking one, he realized just how wrong he was and in less than a year has been five with more already paid for ... and is asking me to help him with more. Personally, we've been sailing for 40 years ... if it were that bad we wouldn't have been so many cruises that I honestly can't remember how many. Give it a shot, you might find a new fav vacation! Just remember to avoid the botton-of-the- barrel cruise lines like Carnival & Norwegian ... we learned this the hard way. Any of the RU-vid guys that promote those lines, aren't being straightforward & you don't want your 1st cruise to be as bad as you're thinking it may be right now.
I keep the paper daily schedules so I know where I was that day of the cruise. On a couple of cruises that said "just photograph them on your phone" I made a point of showing them my 2G dumb phone and asking how they expected me to do that. I then photographed them with my proper camera, and when I got home printed them out so I still have paper copies to keep.
I will not sail on a mega ship! The thought of being on a platform with thousands of other people will never be to my liking! Getting away and staying away from crowds and crowded tourist destinations especially during peak travel times during summer months. My criteria for an enjoyable vacation! GH
Meh. I think the trend of humongous ships are coming to a close, except for the most basic of cruise itineraries. Too many interesting ports are rising up and removing their welcome mats for the megaships.
Sure, I was on a cruise a year ago and nothing on my IPhone worked! I would not be happy if ships went all phone for activities etc. I’m going again in 2 weeks, we will see if it has improved!
I want the paper schedule. I keep it as a record of my cruise. I show it to my Friends if they are interested in cruising. Free advertising for the cruise line.
I think the amount of people cruising will decrease over the next 10 or so years so the the cruise lines are trying to make a profit now. Save money, cruise less.
They will lower their prices again. this is how supply and demand works. They are relying on everything to generate income now. IN six years it might be the casino supporting the whole trip again.
As far as the ports not wanting ships there are loads of other places to stop & when businesses start to close due to lack of tourists the ports will start yelling wanting them back.
To be honest, the only reason I take cruise is because I can visit more ports and save on the food, transportation and hotel otherwise. That means it only makes sense on the European and Alaska cruise. Caribbean cruise never! You have much better food, all you can drink alcohol, huge swimming pool in the cheaper all inclusive resorts.
I just disembarked the Scarlet Lady. It was so refreshing to experience the VV product. Unlimited dining, room service, pizza and ice cream. Free entertainment included tips and WiFi. If they introduced a premium drinks package, that would be incredible. I was tipping the servers and bartenders extra, and they were so surprised to get extra tips and were so grateful.
So on my cruise, I had $300 in bar credit due to the offer I booked -- essentially drink package included. I'm not a big drinker (had two on the cruise), and looking back, I should have been buying everyone something. Didn't even cross my mind.
@@Cruzelycom Thats awesome! We also got the $300 and bought 2 more Bar Tabs. I am embarrassed to say that we did go over in the end!! LOL People in our cruise Facebook group for our sailing who did not drink much were offering to buy people drinks the last night.
The size difference between the Grandeur and the Symphony was striking. Give me the Grandeur any day. I'll be hard pressed to book anything other than Vision or Radiance class ships.
Cruise line prices will go up and the onboard items will get more expensive, except for most of Carnival prices are pushing many loyal and long term customers out the door.
@@PsychGirlRaven For now but there is a rapidly approaching tipping point that will cascade over the industry. The airlines are already planning on a possibly significant reduction in pleasure travel and many of the metrics that watch indicate it.
Time to move up into a more suitable line for experienced cruisers. The introdctory ones just make sure you can deal with the paper walls and the cheap plastic lawn furniture you sleep on is not creaking against the paper walls too much from all the loud snoring next door. Yes, it is really this bad. Why do you think everyone drinks so much?
That is good they found a way to add it back on to the ticket. You know as well I do that Karen and Chad-weiser will spend their whole cruise chasing jackpots in the casino and have no money left to take care of the "help".
I, too like to keep my daily planner's as souvenirs. And while on the cruise can use them to make sudden adjustments to change of plans. If I just had my phon
See what I mean, if I just had my phone as a planner or reminder of what deck that I need to be on, I'd be spending all my time getting mad at the phone that I can barely use.
Pretty much all what you said is true. You only forget 2 things that are disappearing: 1) Gala nights: Yeah; most mainstream and premium lines still have them, but the ambiance is not the same, nor the menus ever differentiated from other nights. With huge luggage flight limitations, most cruisers are now facing hard choices and they're deciding with their feet on letting the formal clothes at home. Society is also running more informal. 2) Professional photographers: Gone are the days when a pro photo with the Captain or either way a pro photo with your group was actually nearly "mandatory". Not anymore. on most lines the Captain's reception has been changed during Covid and by the most part every cruiser do have their own smartphone capable of very decent photos - Oh, well... Sometimes even better photos than the supposedly pro ones by yourself!...
I KNOW a LOT of people like the paper one because they like to take a highlighter to it. On our last 2 cruises on Carnival and NCL respectively, there was a paper daily planner in a slot just outside the door.
Last minute cruise deals are disappearing... Years ago you could book a cruise same day of sailing and receive a huge discount because they wanted to fill cabins. In recent years, because of the demand of cruising this is not an option anymore..
I think the TSA controls some of that. Can you think of an easier target on the open seas than a cruise ship with 3-5 thousand people on it? Last minute travelers are people who happened upon a good deal or people who want to do nefarious things on board without detection.
Things i miss already that are GONE Midnight Buffet and black tie nights those were so luxe and fun Also quieter sea days just relax sip a drink in the viking crown and basically rest before arrival Now its do do do do all day and night Worse Unless your on a special and EXPENSIVE expedition cruise educational touring in port...nahh even in Europe its sun fun and the drink Something disturbing about that
I'm in favour of many of the "free" items disappearing, especially food. I'm a light eater and hate it that my fare and drinks package subsidizes the land whales who eat 12 meals a day of4 appetizers, 2 main courses and 6 deserts, followed by a midnight snack of 2 gigantic pizzas, all swilled down by 14 or 15 drinks a day. Then they waddle slowly down the hallways blocking everyone else while they puff, wheeze, fart and groan to their cabins. They need bloody cranes to take 10 minutes load them on and off tour buses and they squash the deck furniture with their enormous weight usually hoisting their disgusting unwashed feet all over the upholstery. Blech. Inclusions in the fare and drinks packages were fine when passengers were mostly sensible, polite, restrained people. The loathesome greedy louts now taking over will wreck a whole lot more than they already have. Covid merely accelerated the degradation of society in general and cruising in particular.
@@bmrman95 Not making fun, criticizing some guilty of the deadly sins of greed and sloth, and the cruise lines enabling them. I feel sorry for the fatties and hope they do better, especially as an ex-fatty myself. But pretending they are not behaving badly does not help. Bless your kindly heart as well.
Again fat shaming doesn't make you look any better than the mean words that you use. Too bad that you lost your empathy, with the pounds that you say you lost. I hope that you find that empathy again.
I’m willing to pay a small fee for room service but I object to the tiny menu offered. I used to be able to order from the main dining room menu and have it delivered to my room.
My first cruise in 1993 was on a ship with less than the smallest Royal has now. Only 1 theater, dining room and buffet, a few bars, 1 pool, ping pong and shuffleboard. Room service was free and we could get sodas, OJ and iced tea there or in the dining areas. Since then the ships now have 3 performance areas, multiple pools, water slides, rock climbing, ice skating, multiple snack areas, etc. With a greater time line, one could see so much is included now that we shouldn't complain. With that being said, I'd like to pay to get on and be able to do whatever is available. If there aren't enough time slots, the cruise line should do a better job matching options with passenger counts, so not everything becomes a line to wait in.
Regarding the ability to disconnect: I really like it! I've only been on two cruises, but I didn't get the wifi package on either of them. I turned my phone on airplane mode and only used the ship app. It was kinda great. I don't think I'd get the wifi package unless it was free or included with my stateroom. I DO think, however, that shipboard messaging through the app should be free. You should still be able to message your spouse or party members without paying exorbitant fees.
My husband and I are waiting for visas and have been saving for a cruise and it's sad by the time we get to go it will stink and it seems a all included resort would be the better choice!!! Sad because a lot of people are saying the same
I agree. Right now is the best prices on the Carribean. As hurricane season winds down is the best time to go. No crowds, water is still very warm. Skip the ship and live your own life instead of being on someone else's itinerary. You sound like you want to cruise just to say you went. It is more of a hassle than it is worth ALOT of the time you are on board. Wait until you try to find a chair next to the pool. The vultures are putting towels out at four in the morning for a 3:00pm ten-minute visit to the chairs. The worst selfish behaviors always show up when cheeze whizz afficanado's start drinking.
Hopefully the small charges on extra food will help reduce the enormous amount of waste. I don't understand people who order or carry out pounds of extra food and then leave what they don't want rotting in the halls outside their rooms.
You don't think the buffet is going away? Have you been on the NCL Prima? The buffet is getting the usual corporate tactic in the if you can't raise the price reduce the size! The buffet on the Prima is like a snack bar!
Interesting. No, I don't think buffets will disappear (though I wouldn't mind it!). It's still the most efficient option to feed lots of people at once.
Excuse me, but why should they not charge you for all the extras. People do not care they will pay. If you say enough is enough someone will take your place. You should charged 200 person per day and pay surcharge for pool, restaurant, and drink(included coffee). Ports should limit ships to no more than 1500 passengers. And no more than 2 ships at one time. I grew up with comfortable flights, and cruises. New generation of passengers are rude and not intelligent enough to be polite with other customers.
Alaska ports have 5 or 6 ships daily, tours are booked 90%,use to be june July August. NOW April may just julaug Sept even to October! Guess ev1 tired of carribean 😮
Indoctrination is not education. Its always been a scam. "Climate Change" formerly "Global Warming" formerlly "Global Cooling" has never had anything to do with science. Those air turbines are a billion dollar fraud and an disaster for birds and insect. They cut down forrests to creat massive solar panel farms. Trees in case you failed science absorb CO2 and produce oxygen. Its impossible to get away from using oil. Everything is made of plastic, derived from oil. Unless you are wearing 100% cotton or wool your clothes made with oil. That elastic on your cotton underwearl, oil derived.
I remember the old days of cruising where you couldn’t use your phone at all, now it’s a must. I also think the days of cash tips will go away as well. Also the need for a physical id or passport.
I can’t see the requirement for passports disappearing any time soon for international cruises. You can’t even go to the U.S. from Canada anymore without one. I don’t like the idea of the printed daily planner ceasing to exist either. Granted, we haven’t cruised since pre-COVID. We have always prepaid our gratuities, excursions booked through the cruise line and anything else we can so we don’t have any surprises at the end.
actually we do but we don't have any control over it. You can't get tailored packages so we don't buy the add ons at all. We pay as we go and it never comes to anywhere near what the add on packages cost as we don't drink or eat to excess. If they start making it all inclusive fares, then it just isn't worth it to us. We'll go elsewhere for holidays.
@@dmitripogosian5084 well if you've got money to throw away on something you don't need or want, you're welcome to do so. Some aren't quite that wealthy. It's nt necessary to think all the time. You get a bill at the end of the cruise and you can check it as you go along. Personally, I'm not prepared to fork out $600 for something that is likely to cost us $200 tops.
If your are too lazy to go a restaurant for food, then the cruises should be charging the ‘delivery fee’. That Americans still get guilted into ‘gratuities’ is something that NEEDS to disappear
I am with you on your choices. If you are too lazy to walk down to the cafe to get food, I dont feel one bit sorry for you. It's 300 feet with an elevator. Lets not be too stupid.
Just for your information. Mentioning NCL is providing wireless in his package is a joke. This package is more a scam than everything else. This package didn't give you a flatrate for the whole cruse it, only gives you 150 Minutes which is in the "buy process" nowhere mentioned.
The thing i want included is wifi. I mean we pay for it on land so why do we need to pay for it in the ocean? I know some cruise does offer it free but not ALL of them. Also soda i mean come on. Some have the fountain machines on their boats why not make that free.
Maybe you should stay at a Motel 6 if you just want to text your friends all day about how jealous of you they should be. Sitting in a cruise ship room to tell everyone how great it is. Not my idea of a good vacation. Live in YOUR own moment. You are not a reporter. Get off your plastic bed and do something fun.
I am concerned about the lack of printed schedules. You noted that passengers use an "app" on their mobile phones. Not sure how this works, because MY phone does not work outside of the United States! My phone would be packed away in my luggage and only taken out again when I disembarked in my home port in the United States. Now, I have been on exactly ONE cruise. It was a small-ish ship - I think about 800 passengers. I don't think I am interested in sailing on one of those 5,000+ passenger ships. I think a huge ship would be confusing and disorienting. Thanks for your good research.
You need to get a grip on life if you need an itinerary to go on vacation. You are supposed to relax, not make yourself busy doing native crafts and attending book club meetings. You should speak to a counselor if you cant even relax on vacation.
Puzzled by your reply -- Iare you sure you meant this comment for me? As for the cell phone, I want to GET AWAY from the phone, not haul it around with me when I am on vacation. I would certainly want to know what the daily activities are on the ship, so a printed schedule would be most helpful to me. I do not understand the comment about book club meetings -- ? @@thomasallen6980