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Post by cytoglycerine on Feb 2, 2011 17:13:52 GMT -5
The only thing, at all the restaurants they had little Asian people at the doorway with a spray bottle to sanitize your hands. They would all sing out "Washy, washy, clean, clean". Got to the point I heard it in my sleep. Seriously?  That is bizarre! But otherwise, the cruise was good?? |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2011 17:21:11 GMT -5
Seriously? That is bizarre! Maybe the language was, but the message was for a good reason. There have been some major outbreaks of illness on cruise ships. |
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Post by cytoglycerine on Feb 2, 2011 17:22:52 GMT -5
The alcohol was pricey, but they had a special every happy hour that was quite reasonable. At the end of 7 days, our liquor tab was $250 for the two of us (but that included a $50 bottle of wine) How many drinks did you get for that $200 (the $250 minus the $50 bottle of wine)? I'm Canadian, and our liquor is taxed to death, so I'm used to paying very high prices in comparison to what Americans pay for booze. Do you happen to remember how much a bottle/pint of beer cost? Or a simple mixed drink (like a rum & coke)? |
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Post by cytoglycerine on Feb 2, 2011 17:26:51 GMT -5
Seriously? That is bizarre! Maybe the language was, but the message was for a good reason. There have been some major outbreaks of illness on cruise ships. Oh Jeez, really?? I didn't know that!  Maybe I should check with my Doctor to make sure that it's okay for me to actually get on a cruise ship....  |
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Feb 2, 2011 19:24:08 GMT -5
cytoglycerine
This is approximate - from memory.
We usually had a couple (each) of the happy hour specials. I usually had a glass of wine with dinner. Then we usually had a beer or two after dinner.
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Post by Deleted on Feb 2, 2011 19:43:08 GMT -5
Maybe I should check with my Doctor to make sure that it's okay for me to actually get on a cruise ship.... I did a quick Internet search and the outbreaks have been the Norovirus. To be fair, this is not restricted to cruise ships. Last year, a planeload of people including teams of swimmers from 2 colleges came down with the norovirus on the plane from Houston to Columbus, Ohio for the NCAA championships. They actually delayed the start of the championships one day because of it. My nephew, who was in his last year of eligibility, was one of the people who had it. Through a superhuman effort, he and his team won anyway. Cruise ships do everything they can to avoid these epidemics since the remedy is to take the ship out of commission and disinfect the whole thing, which usually means cancelling a couple of cruises. |
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Post by greeneyedchicka on Feb 2, 2011 21:53:09 GMT -5
It is true that you have to pay extra for soda and alcohol. There is also typically a restaurant or two on-board that are not included in the "free" food portion of the cruise, so if you want to eat at them, you will have to pay extra. How much can I expect these things to cost? I know the alcohol isn't free, but is it at least reasonably priced, or am I going to be paying $10 for a rum & coke? Do you know if the cruise allows you to bring your own liquor onto the ship? Also, the restaurants where you have to pay extra, is it full cost, or just a "cover charge"? I read that on one of the RC ships, there's a Johnny Rockets restaurant that has a cover charge of something small like $4.95, and you can have pretty much all you can eat for that cover charge. Has that been the case in your experience? I've never heard of such items...And to be honest, I never considered the possibility of sea sickness. Can I buy these things at a regular pharmacy? I'm sure they're available on the ship, but would probably cost an arm and a leg. I am not a drinker, but my son wanted the drinks with the umbrellas in them, so I got him some non-alcoholic ones, which were $7.95 a pop for the less expensive ones. Others were over $9.00 each. I paid $24.95 for an all you can drink soda card as well. We ate at Johnny Rockets on board! It was neat because it was right next to the water. I don't recall if it was a flat fee or not. They also had a fancy Italian place on board that required reservations and was a full price restaurant. You may want to ask your doctor about the sea sickness patches, as some are prescription only. OTC ones like Dramamine only last for 6-12 hours while the patches last for up to 72 hours and work faster. It all depends if you think you may be susceptible to getting sick or not. |
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Tennesseer
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Post by Tennesseer on Feb 2, 2011 23:09:12 GMT -5
Hi All! As most of you know, I am currently battling with thyroid cancer - No worries though, I am winning this battle hands down so far, and as a "light at the end of the tunnel" type motivation, Hubby and I have decided to take a cruise once I'm done with my radiation therapy, which will probably be in late March/early April. Right now we're looking at a 7 day cruise from New York down to Florida and the Bahamas with Norweigan Cruise Line. We've never been on a cruise before, and are not quite sure what to expect. If any of you experienced cruisers could offer up some tips or advice, that would be greatly appreciated! Thanks ;D I think you should go with the cruise you are already looking it. As you are coming off radiation therapy you will need to build up stamina. Your cruise will mostly be at sea, so that will give you plenty of time just to relax on ship. Other cruises have a number of ports of call and you could find that tiring. Start simple. If you enjoy your first cruise you may become more adventuresome in the future. |
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Post by cytoglycerine on Feb 3, 2011 9:27:29 GMT -5
cytoglycerine This is approximate - from memory. We usually had a couple (each) of the happy hour specials. I usually had a glass of wine with dinner. Then we usually had a beer or two after dinner. Okay so that works out to about 60 drinks over the length of the cruise (2 happy hour specials plus a glass of wine plus avg 1.5 beers is 4.5 drinks each per day) for only $200, so less than $4 each on average...sounds like a pretty good price to me! However, this is in stark comparison to what greeneyedchicka said: Are alcoholic drinks actually cheaper than non-alcoholic drinks on the ship??? |
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Post by cytoglycerine on Feb 3, 2011 9:36:41 GMT -5
As you are coming off radiation therapy you will need to build up stamina. Your cruise will mostly be at sea, so that will give you plenty of time just to relax on ship. Other cruises have a number of ports of call and you could find that tiring. Radiation therapy for thyroid cancer is totally different than radiation therapy for other cancers. There's not a whole lot of tiredness (or other negative side effects) associated with the actual radiation, it's more due to being off the thyroid medication. So as soon as I start up my thyroid pills again (which will be a week or two before we board the cruise) I should be right as rain! However, you do have a good point about too many ports of call potentially being tiresome. Hubby and I are more interested in relaxing on the boat anyway, which is partially why we chose a cruise with so many days at sea (3 full days in just a 7 day cruise) |
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Post by Deleted on Feb 3, 2011 10:20:42 GMT -5
The only thing, at all the restaurants they had little Asian people at the doorway with a spray bottle to sanitize your hands. They would all sing out "Washy, washy, clean, clean". Got to the point I heard it in my sleep. Seriously? That is bizarre! But otherwise, the cruise was good?? LOL Not as bizarre as it sounds. It was very cheerful actually. And once you got over the surprise it was comforting to see everyone elses' hands getting sprayed as you went into the buffet. I enjoyed it very much. It was fun, in the good clean family sense. |
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Gardening Grandma
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Post by Gardening Grandma on Feb 3, 2011 12:01:59 GMT -5
Okay so that works out to about 60 drinks over the length of the cruise (2 happy hour specials plus a glass of wine plus avg 1.5 beers is 4.5 drinks each per day) for only $200, so less than $4 each on average...sounds like a pretty good price to me!
qualification - that was from memory so not totally reliable and I had wine with dinner some, but not all nights. The beer we drank was Chinese (so quite reasonable), the happy hour drinks were (I think) $3-$4. But when we drank imported liquor or wine, it was a lot more. But, I do think it probably averaged out to $4 to $5/drink.... This was an American operated river cruise - in China. I would imagine prices would be higher in Europe or Med
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Post by boosmom on Feb 3, 2011 14:48:03 GMT -5
We went on Celebrity and we loved it! It was the Alaska route which was great. Of course, the ship was more older couples, so we seemed to be the youngest ones there, but the food was good, especially the meals in the dining room vs. the open buffet. And we ate in the specialty restaurant (cost $25 pp which would cover the gratuity as well) and it was basically fine dining, great food, goat-cheese souffle to dream about. Yum! We definitely picked up about 5-10 lbs by the end of the cruise! DH got some beers and I had some of the mixed drinks, usually about $6 - $7 plus they add on a % for gratuity included when you sign for the drink. When we went, the tips for the staff were not included in the cost, you tipped based on what you wanted, but the service we got was great.
We'd definitely go on another Celebrity cruise, or willing to try Princess or Royal Carribean. NCL was not as well rated by another person I know who goes on cruises. But, he said hard to beat the price.
If you may get seasick, get a room low in the middle of the ship, less rocking motion to feel on the open sea. The rooms actually can be more expensive than some of the other rooms for this very reason, but it was worth it. I could definitely feel the motion and did get sick. Luckily, Alaska is mostly inside passage cruising so it wasn't too bad, and I took bonine every single day.
Have a blast!
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tractor
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Post by tractor on Feb 3, 2011 15:53:57 GMT -5
We did a Disney cruise last year, had a blast. We're going to try and take the kids on another cruise this August so we're shopping around right now. It will be our last trip before the oldest starts high school and life as we know it comes to an end.
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crockpottin
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Post by crockpottin on Feb 4, 2011 13:33:28 GMT -5
I've been on three cruises, one to Bermuda and two to various parts of the Carribean. Two of the times were on NCL, and the third was Carnival. I loved all the cruises! That said, I have to put in a quick plug for NCL. I know that there's a lot of people who feel like it's "bargan basement" vacationing, but I've never had a bad experience with them. I do tend to like a more casual style vacation, though (I'm not much for formal nights or assigned tables for dinner), so that might be why I'm totally fine with the "freestyle" NCL thing. I guess you'd have to decide how important the formal cruise dinners are to you; if it's not a big priority for you, then NCL should be fine.
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katkuddler
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Post by katkuddler on Feb 4, 2011 14:05:40 GMT -5
I have been on 5 cruises, the first over 30 years ago, the last one just 3 months ago. I feel the quality has come down greatly over the years. Now there is constant hard sell for art, jewelry, and pictures. When you're at sea there is nothing to do but bingo or classes for cooking, dancing,art, exercises, etc. The evening shows used to be first class broadway type shows. Now a lot of them are washed up singers and magicians.
All that being said, the food is still excellent and the pampering from the staff is still there. And that is mostly what I go for. I take as many shore excursions as I can so I can experience the area. The port area around the ship is nothing but shopping.
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xia
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Post by xia on Feb 5, 2011 11:44:45 GMT -5
My experience is only with R. C. cruise line and I absolutely loved it, can’t wait to be able to go again.
Its true lots of things are extra but it’s really not too bad. If you are a soda drinker definitely buy the soda pass, you can use it anywhere on the ship to get soda (bars, casino, restaurants …), I’m not much for sodas so I liked the unlimited supply of free coffee, tea (cold or hot), usually at least one type of juice and lemonade.
As for “adult beverages” I think beer was $4.50 and the frozen mixed drink I favored was $8.
From my experience the stores in ports have highest prices when the ship first docks and more discounts as day goes on. Also the shops on the ship usually have “sale” on the last day so if you really like something and quantity is not limited wait till last day to see if it goes on sale.
Since you pay for everything on the board with your sea pass you can go to service desk at any time to see what the “total damage is so far”.
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