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Saturday, October 31, 2009
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
What will they think of next!
Can you imagine being at sea zipling down the center of the ship or watching the watershow from your inside balcony or having a drink in the ice bar. Well you won't have to wait much longer. Royal Caribbean's new Oasis of the Seas and Norwegian Cruiseline's Epic will have more than you could image.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Review of MSC Orchestra
We cruised on MSC Orchestra on Jan. 10, 2009 for 7 nights. My first impressions were not that great, this was the first full sailing with passengers. The ship is very nice, no complaints about the ship at all. I also feel that inspite of the some of the bad things, we had a great cruise vacation. I also believe once a little time goes by, most of these problems will disappear.
The problems were with the crew, having found out that a brand new crew was just put on board, they moved the more experience crew to a different ship. It seemed like the crew did not know how to handle a ship of this size nor how to handle people in general and were a little rude. Here are just a few examples:
It seemed like the buffets stations were empty unless you went when it first opened. If you ask a question all you got was a shake of their head, since they didn't speak English and didn't understand was you were saying. They also didn't change the times of breakfast and lunch according to when you arrived and left ports. Many other cruiselines alter the times to make it more convenient. There was one day, when we got back from a shore excursion and went back to the boat to get some lunch (since we didn't have enough time to eat in port) and there was no food was to be found anywhere. We even asked. That's the first time that I've ever been on a cruise were there was no snacks available or any buffet open throughout the day.
When arriving at ports that required tendering (a smaller boat that takes you to the port if the boat is too big or not enough dock space) you had to obtain a tender ticket with a number on it. You had to wait for the number to be called to go down to the appropriate deck. Well instead of only have the announcement in one specific area of the ship, the announcements were heard everywhere so people were gathering around where they needed to get off making it over-crowded. Since there were so may people no one was checking to the tender numbers and everyone was just pushing to get on.
The main dining rooms were located mid-ship, where most have them either in the front or the back. I had second seating which was originally schedule to start at 8:15 nightly. The waiters and the asst waiters didn't quite have the system down yet so the first night we basically missed the show, which started at 10:00. After the first night, they moved up both first and second dinner time by half hour (7:45 for us) so that we would have enough time to make it to the show. Well that didn't work either. First seating still ran over therefore we didn't get into the dinning room until about 8 and we finished around 10:15 every night.
Thing did seem to get a little better as the week went on, but only time will tell.
The problems were with the crew, having found out that a brand new crew was just put on board, they moved the more experience crew to a different ship. It seemed like the crew did not know how to handle a ship of this size nor how to handle people in general and were a little rude. Here are just a few examples:
It seemed like the buffets stations were empty unless you went when it first opened. If you ask a question all you got was a shake of their head, since they didn't speak English and didn't understand was you were saying. They also didn't change the times of breakfast and lunch according to when you arrived and left ports. Many other cruiselines alter the times to make it more convenient. There was one day, when we got back from a shore excursion and went back to the boat to get some lunch (since we didn't have enough time to eat in port) and there was no food was to be found anywhere. We even asked. That's the first time that I've ever been on a cruise were there was no snacks available or any buffet open throughout the day.
When arriving at ports that required tendering (a smaller boat that takes you to the port if the boat is too big or not enough dock space) you had to obtain a tender ticket with a number on it. You had to wait for the number to be called to go down to the appropriate deck. Well instead of only have the announcement in one specific area of the ship, the announcements were heard everywhere so people were gathering around where they needed to get off making it over-crowded. Since there were so may people no one was checking to the tender numbers and everyone was just pushing to get on.
The main dining rooms were located mid-ship, where most have them either in the front or the back. I had second seating which was originally schedule to start at 8:15 nightly. The waiters and the asst waiters didn't quite have the system down yet so the first night we basically missed the show, which started at 10:00. After the first night, they moved up both first and second dinner time by half hour (7:45 for us) so that we would have enough time to make it to the show. Well that didn't work either. First seating still ran over therefore we didn't get into the dinning room until about 8 and we finished around 10:15 every night.
Thing did seem to get a little better as the week went on, but only time will tell.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
MSC Orchestra is almost here
MSC's newest ship, MSC Orchestra, starts its inaugural season on Jan. 2, 2009 for a 2 Night New Years Weekend Cruise. Departing from Fort Lauderdale, Florida and calls to Nassau,Bahamas, Fort Lauderdale,Florida .
I can't wait, we are sailing on it January 10, 2009, Western Carribean itinerary with calls to Key West,Florida, Cozumel,Mexico, Georgetown,Grand Cayman, Cayo Levantado (Samanà - D.R.), Fort Lauderdale,Florida. I will be sure to post my reviews of the ship and cruiseline.
Kids 17 & under sail free with paying adult.
Saturday, October 25, 2008
When is the best time to book a cruise?
When is the best time to book a cruise? That all depends on when you want to travel. If you are limited on when you can take a vacation because of school breaks or preset vacation dates, early is the best. I can't stress this enough. Well, how early is early? As soon as you know that you want to go on a cruise, contact your travel agent (hopefully you'll call me) to determine what's the best cruise for your needs and book it. You can book some cruises two years in advance! I recently booked a cruise for Sept. 2010 on the Oasis of the Seas. Historically, the ones that book early get the best cabin rates as well as the best selection of cabins. Don't worry if rates happen to go down, your travel agent can adjust your prices, as long as there is still is availibilty on the exact cruise.
If your thinking of going to Alaska, now is the time to start planning your cruise.
Monday, October 6, 2008
The dates for next years cruise with Nickelodeon are listed below.
Nickelodeon and Royal Caribbean have announce plans to do TWO cruises next year!
July 26 - August 2, 2009: 7-day cruise through the Mexican Riviera on the Mariner of the
Seas®
August 9-16, 2009: 7-day cruise through the Eastern Caribbean on the Freedom of the Seas®
Nickelodeon and Royal Caribbean have announce plans to do TWO cruises next year!
July 26 - August 2, 2009: 7-day cruise through the Mexican Riviera on the Mariner of the
Seas®
August 9-16, 2009: 7-day cruise through the Eastern Caribbean on the Freedom of the Seas®
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