# Ever been on a cruise?



## 97guns (May 26, 2013)

i just got back from my second ever, a trip to alaska and the glaciers. food and service was pretty good from princess, got to try some stuff that ive never had before. lobster was on the menu for the last night but i was also able to try duck a la orange, dessert souffles, truffles, gumbo, beef wellington, vegatable turines, lamb shank,  smoked salmon locks, venison and some other stuff i can't recall. had to pass on the escargo though. the best dinner rolls i ever had were on te table every night along with all the pizza, burgers, sandwiches and pastries i could handle 24/7.

the only thing keeping me from booking another right now is the pay of the service people. i youtubed some stuff when i got home and it is sickening the pay these people get not to mention the 12 hour days they work, we tipped the dinner service and room service people nicely, was well worth it.


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## bakechef (May 26, 2013)

That's the whole reason that cruises are so cheap.  If they had to pay at least minimum wage to everyone on that ship, the fares would be in the thousands per person.  The whole reason that we cruise is that it can be done relatively inexpensively.  We don't buy a lot of alcohol, and we don't do many excursions, usually just a cab in port.

Not every cruise is inexpensive, especially Alaska ones, but if you compare what you get for the money it would be nearly impossible to get that kind of vacation for that price on land.  

The auto gratuity that is added to your onboard account is part of their pay (also auto gratuity on bar tabs).  We also tip above that for spectacular service.  They are paid a very small monthly pay, they are provided a cabin (often shared) and food.  The auto gratuity makes up the rest of their pay.  Most cruise lines treat their staff pretty well nowadays, there is a lot of competition for seasoned crew.

These crew members can make a lot of money if they are good, yes the hours are long, but they are used to working hard and the money that they make is far more than many of them can make at home.  We've spoken to many crew members that really like their job, and sign contract after contract.  Nobody is forcing them to sign additional contracts.  

I've been on 12 cruises and talked to a lot of crew.  It's a great job for those with the right personality.


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## forty_caliber (May 26, 2013)

Hawaiian islands.  South pacific.  I really like the ones with long open sea runs between stops. 

.40


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## Andy M. (May 26, 2013)

I've never been on a cruise.  SO has in a prior life.


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## Dawgluver (May 26, 2013)

My sibs and I took Mom on a Caribbean cruise (Norwegian) years ago.  She loved it.  The bar bill was a rude awakening at the end  

I agree with Bakechef, the workers make more than they would in their home countries.  We prefer to stay on an island we've fallen in love with, that is also a major cruise ship stop (Cozumel) and the island takes very good care of cruise ship staff, having a number of restaurants catering to them.  A couple who are good friends and restaurant owners there actually met while working on a cruise ship together.  

I would love to do a Mediterranean cruise sometime, BIL and his ex went several times, and loved it.  Alaska would be nice too, but we're snorkeling fools, and that might be a bit chilly!

I guess I'd be leary of a Carnival cruise after all their troubles.


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## jabbur (May 26, 2013)

I'm leery of taking a cruise.  Titanic and Poseidon Adventure notwithstanding, I have terrible motion sickness.  I'd hate to pay for a cruise and spend the trip in bed trying to keep my stomach inside my body.  We still talk about every so often though.  Maybe in a few years for our 35th anniversary.


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## Kayelle (May 26, 2013)

I'm very fortunate to have been on thirteen cruises in the last six years, on both the oceans and rivers throughout the world. Ocean and river cruises are quite different from one another but both are really a remarkable way to see the world. The people who crew these ships make up a huge part of what makes cruising so enjoyable with their classic good humor and efficiency. They make it obvious every day how much they appreciate their jobs and I can honestly say I've never encountered one of them who has even been in a "bad mood". As was mentioned, their token wages and long hours are subsidized by mandatory gratuities from the passengers at the end of the cruise but there are many of us who have favorites and gladly give them more than suggested by the guidelines. The vast majority of them send everything they make to their family back home, as their room & board are provided on the ship and they are living much better than their families are. They certainly deserve respect


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## bakechef (May 26, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> I'm very fortunate to have been on thirteen cruises in the last six years, on both the oceans and rivers throughout the world. Ocean and river cruises are quite different from one another but both are really a remarkable way to see the world. The people who crew these ships make up a huge part of what makes cruising so enjoyable with their classic good humor and efficiency. They make it obvious every day how much they appreciate their jobs and I can honestly say I've never encountered one of them who has even been in a "bad mood". As was mentioned, their token wages and long hours are subsidized by mandatory gratuities from the passengers at the end of the cruise but there are many of us who have favorites and gladly give them more than suggested by the guidelines. The vast majority of them send everything they make to their family back home, as their room & board are provided on the ship and they are living much better than their families are. They certainly deserve respect



Couldn't have said it better!  The crew are often the highlight of our cruises.  Our cabin stewards on this last cruise were out of this world fantastic and personable, we talked to them every day, probably the best that I've encountered on 12 cruises.


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## GotGarlic (May 26, 2013)

DH and I went on a cruise several years ago, to the Bahamas, another island in the Caribbean, and Key West. My mom and her husband were in KW at the time, so we had lunch with them  We loved it. We're planning to go on another one this fall or winter. I'd love to do a Mediterranean cruise, too. My dad and his ex did a river cruise on the Rhine through France and Germany and loved that, too. I can imagine the scenery was wonderful.


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## Kayelle (May 27, 2013)

jabbur said:


> I'm leery of taking a cruise.  Titanic and Poseidon Adventure notwithstanding, I have terrible motion sickness.  I'd hate to pay for a cruise and spend the trip in bed trying to keep my stomach inside my body.  We still talk about every so often though.  Maybe in a few years for our 35th anniversary.



Jabbur it sounds like you're a perfect candidate for a river cruise as there's obviously no issue with sea sickness. We have been on some remarkable river cruises through Europe and this summer we'll be doing another one in Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg. 

As far as sea cruises are considered, I used to get terribly sea sick before I discovered that taking meclazine every morning, even the worst of seas don't affect me anymore. It works like a charm without any side effects for me at all.


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## Addie (May 27, 2013)

Dawgluver said:


> My sibs and I took Mom on a Caribbean cruise (Norwegian) years ago. She loved it. The bar bill was a rude awakening at the end
> 
> I agree with Bakechef, the workers make more than they would in their home countries. We prefer to stay on an island we've fallen in love with, that is also a major cruise ship stop (Cozumel) and the island takes very good care of cruise ship staff, having a number of restaurants catering to them. A couple who are good friends and restaurant owners there actually met while working on a cruise ship together.
> 
> ...


 
And again, they had a fire on one of their ships at two in the morning last night. Another ship from another company was on standby in case there was to be an evacuation. They had the fire out by 5 a.m. Thank you Carnival, but I think I will stay right here at the bus stop and continue to wait for my boat to come in.


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## Kayelle (May 27, 2013)

Addie said:


> And again, they had a fire on one of their ships at two in the morning last night. Another ship from another company was on standby in case there was to be an evacuation. They had the fire out by 5 a.m. Thank you Carnival, but I think I will stay right here at the bus stop and continue to wait for my boat to come in.



Addie, for once, this one wasn't Carnival. It was Royal Caribbean this time and a Carnival ship was standing by if needed. Carnival had a horrible reputation even before the string of recent disasters and I wouldn't travel with Carnival if it was free.


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## Addie (May 27, 2013)

It was July 4th. The Enterprise Aircraft Carrier was in port in Boston. They were going to bring out the U.S.S. Constitution (Old Ironsides) and turn her around as they do every July 4th. So the whole fam damily goes out into the middle of Boston Harbor on my BIL's boat so we can watch the ceremony. Now when OI leaves her berth, any boats in the harbor cannot have their engines running and must stay where they are until OI is back in her berth. On the way out to where we were going to drop anchor, I was fine. But once the boat stopped moving, the water was a bit rough from all the boats around us moving. I got seasick. And I mean REALLY seasick. I remember hearing the guns from OI giving a salute to the Enterprise and the return salute. I was laying on the deck and didn't see a thing. I do not remember being airlifted by the CG off the boat nor three of the four days I spent in the ICU. I had a severe second degree sunburn and was severely dehydrated and had sun stroke. 

You can not even get me to stand on a dock today. I can't even watch the bow of a boat cutting through the water on TV. I immediately get dizzy and have to heave. I have to take meclizine twice a day today. It is the only way I can keep my balance and not spend the day hurling. Otherwise, I would love to go on a cruise. I love the ocean.


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## Dawgluver (May 27, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> Addie, for once, this one wasn't Carnival. It was Royal Caribbean this time and a Carnival ship was standing by if needed. Carnival had a horrible reputation even before the string of recent disasters and I wouldn't travel with Carnival if it was free.



I'm with you, Kayelle.  It's been said that it's cheaper to go on a Carnival cruise than it is to stay at a Motel 6 or Super 8.


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## Aunt Bea (May 27, 2013)

I have thought about taking a cruise but, it is not easy to find one that will make allowances for a single person traveling alone.  In most cases you are required to pay for two full fairs and although I understand it, I still think it is unfair. 

If I do go believe me I will carry a buffet bag in order to get my money's worth!


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## Kayelle (May 27, 2013)

Dawgluver said:


> I'm with you, Kayelle.  It's been said that it's cheaper to go on a Carnival cruise than it is to stay at a Motel 6 or Super 8.



Yup, a classic case where you get what you pay for. I've known people who got sucked into the prices but floating beer bottles in the pool and vomit in the public restrooms because of the party animals isn't my idea of a good time.  I feel really sorry for the crews on Carnival.

I've never been anything but happy on Princess, and they have a pretty good bang for the buck.


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## Dawgluver (May 27, 2013)

Aunt Bea said:


> I have thought about taking a cruise but, it is not easy to find one that will make allowances for a single person traveling alone.  In most cases you are required to pay for two full fairs and although I understand it, I still think it is unfair.
> 
> If I do go believe me I will carry a buffet bag in order to get my money's worth!



I recall reading about some free service that will pair up single cruisers with another (same-sex) with similar interests, so they can share the fares.  Sounded like a good idea.

I think a cruise is really something everyone should experience at least once!


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## 97guns (May 27, 2013)

FYI

Carnival Corporation operates as a cruise and vacation company worldwide. The company operates in two segments, North America; and Europe, Australia, and Asia. It provides cruises to various vacation destinations with a fleet of 100 cruise ships under the brand names of Carnival Cruise Lines, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and Seabourn in North America; and AIDA Cruises, Costa, Cunard, Ibero Cruises, and P&O Cruises in Europe, Australia, and Asia.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 27, 2013)

A cruise has never sounded like fun to me.  Day trip on a tour bus, fine...but I want to get out and climb on the scenery. Shrek and I want to do the bus trip through Glacier so we can both see the scenery.  Not enough scenery on a ship.


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## Addie (May 27, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> Addie, for once, this one wasn't Carnival. It was Royal Caribbean this time and a Carnival ship was standing by if needed. Carnival had a horrible reputation even before the string of recent disasters and I wouldn't travel with Carnival if it was free.


 
Oh great. You go from one disaster ship to another for rescue. I think I will stay on dry land.


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## 97guns (May 27, 2013)




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## Addie (May 27, 2013)

Aunt Bea said:


> I have thought about taking a cruise but, it is not easy to find one that will make allowances for a single person traveling alone. In most cases you are required to pay for two full fairs and although I understand it, I still think it is unfair.
> 
> If I do go believe me I will carry a buffet bag in order to get my money's worth!


 
Sorry Aunt Bea. I can't go as your roomie.


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## bakechef (May 27, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> Yup, a classic case where you get what you pay for. I've known people who got sucked into the prices but floating beer bottles in the pool and vomit in the public restrooms because of the party animals isn't my idea of a good time.  I feel really sorry for the crews on Carnival.
> 
> I've never been anything but happy on Princess, and they have a pretty good bang for the buck.



I've been on Royal Caribbean,  Princess, NCL,  and Carnival (5 times).   I've never seen conditions like you describe.   I stayed away from carnival for a long time because of that reputation,  but was pleasantly surprised on my first carnival cruise,  actually kind of shocked.   The ship was spotless,  and the food some of the best I've had at sea so far.  My most recent cruise was their oldest smallest ship on a 7 day spring break cruise with the youngest mix of passengers yet,  mostly college students.  Even on this trip I saw no out of control drunkenness.  

Other lines have prettier ships,  but the experience over all was far more similar than different.   My best cruise was on Royal Caribbean,  and my worst by far was on Royal Caribbean,  Carnival hasn't come close to as bad as my trip on Voyager of the Seas,  even as bad as it was we had a good time,  because I'll salvage a situation any way I can! 

I avoid any cruise less than 7 days, the cheaper cruises for 3-4 days attract a much more party hardy crowd.


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## jabbur (May 28, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> Jabbur it sounds like you're a perfect candidate for a river cruise as there's obviously no issue with sea sickness. We have been on some remarkable river cruises through Europe and this summer we'll be doing another one in Russia from Moscow to St. Petersburg.
> 
> As far as sea cruises are considered, I used to get terribly sea sick before I discovered that taking meclazine every morning, even the worst of seas don't affect me anymore. It works like a charm without any side effects for me at all.



I know they have the patches for motion sickness.  Just not sure how drugged I may feel.  We have a few years to figure it out I guess.  We had talked about taking one for our 30th but we couldn't swing it financially.  We had just finished paying for college for our youngest and had too many things that needed repaired on the house that we'd been putting off.


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## Addie (May 28, 2013)

Back in the 70's I took the ferry from Seattle to Kodiak twice. Does that count as a cruise? I went to visit a friend who lived there. I went when the salmon were running. Both times I never ventured far from her porch. I could see the grizzlies and they weren't that far off. I helped her with smoking the salmon. And I brought a mess of it home. I did get to see a very large piece of the glacier calve off and into the sea. It was just at the end of summer while it was still warm enough to be melting the ice. Now that is a sight to see. Also got to see pods of whales and Orcas. But I saw them in Puget Sound every year. I was more imprressed with seeing the glacier break off. Sure did rock that ferry.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 28, 2013)

jabbur said:


> I know they have the patches for motion sickness.  Just not sure how drugged I may feel.  We have a few years to figure it out I guess.  We had talked about taking one for our 30th but we couldn't swing it financially.  We had just finished paying for college for our youngest and had too many things that needed repaired on the house that we'd been putting off.



Motion sickness tablets are over the counter.  Meclizine is the generic name.  Buy a bottle and try it out on a weekend to see how it effects you.  Then you will know how you react to it.


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 29, 2013)

I just love how Carnival gets a bad rap from people who never sailed with them. I like Carnival and enjoyed the food, the people and everything about our cruises. I've never seen any beer bottles in the pool or anyone throwing up. 

I love the sea days more then being docked. 

One thing I have learned though is that I won't do anymore Christmas cruises. We aren't into children and there were a lot of them on the Pride during our cruise. 

For the week we did during spring break, I had south more fun watching the college kids having a blast but even then I never saw anything get out of hand. I did, however, had a blood sugar crash that left me look like the story above about unruly guests. It was bad and at the time my husband didn't listen to me about how I would need to be treated if something pile that happened. I could have died and he didn't know what to do. He knows now that diabetes is very serious but I'm sure people were talking about what a mess I was.


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## Andy M. (May 29, 2013)

ahoymatey2013 said:


> I just love how Carnival gets a bad rap from people who never sailed with them...



I'm glad you enjoy your Carnival cruises.  But you just have to see a few horror story reports on the news make you think another cruise line might be a good idea.  

Carnival has had well publicized sea going disasters.  I believe if other cruise lines had similar problems they would have made the new as well.


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## Kayelle (May 29, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> Motion sickness tablets are over the counter.  Meclizine is the generic name.  Buy a bottle and try it out on a weekend to see how it effects you.  Then you will know how you react to it.



To expand on that info a little: Dramamine is dimenhydrinate and is sedating.
Bonine is meclizine and is typically non sedating.

Meclizine is the generic medicine in Antivert (Rx med) for  vertigo.

 It typically will work in a short amt of time but max  benefit may be obtained by taking for 24 hrs prior to travel. I take one every night before bed time when cruising.

Since we travel a lot I buy Meclizine in bulk on line as the brand name Bonine is expensive. 
I would never be able to fly or cruise without it!

Ahoy, I'm glad to hear you enjoy Carnival and also glad you were not on  the floating beer bottles cruise. I have no reason to believe my friends  were making up a story however.


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## Addie (May 29, 2013)

Kayelle said:


> To expand on that info a little: Dramamine is dimenhydrinate and is sedating.
> Bonine is meclizine and is typically non sedating.
> 
> Meclizine is the generic medicine in Antivert (Rx med) for vertigo.
> ...


 
I take the meclizine for vertigo. Only I take a really strong dose. I take 25 mg three times a day for vertigo. And that is every day. When that doesn't work, then my doctor puts me on promethazine. That knocks me out long enough for my vertigo to get under control. I wouldn't wish vertigo on an ex spouse. I can't look up at tall buildings, turn to quickly, even turn over in bed, or even go around a corner to quickly. I have to concentrate on every step I take.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 29, 2013)

I've only used the meclizine for vertigo, never for motion sickness and I know I can use it and still drive to work.  But, I can't say the same for Shrek, it knocks him out every time.


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## bakechef (May 29, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> I'm glad you enjoy your Carnival cruises.  But you just have to see a few horror story reports on the news make you think another cruise line might be a good idea.
> 
> Carnival has had well publicized sea going disasters.  I believe if other cruise lines had similar problems they would have made the new as well.



Thing is,  right now anything that happens on a Carnival ship,  or any other ship is going to be all over the news. Things happen all the time,  that most would never hear of.  

Carnival has been in the news lately,  no doubt.   Azmara,  an upscale cruise line had a fire last year and had to be towed.   Royal Caribbean just had a fire.   One of Royal Caribbean's newest mega ships had a fire recently that luckily didn't leave it disabled,  I can only imagine what a ship of 6000 passengers would have been like broken down.  Princess had a major fire that caused major damage a few years ago.   

This is just a small sampling of accidents that aren't carnival issues.   The stories that you heard of the Triumph on the news were quite a bit different from reality.   One person published their travel journal and said that she didn't realize how much they were suffering until they watched the news.   I looked for any info I could since I had a carnival cruise coming up.   There was no sewage running down the walls or shortage of food.  Look up the first hand accounts, they are out there.   The conditions on the Triumph weren't ideal,  but far from dire. 

My point is,  there are issues on every cruise line.   These ships sail 7days a week 365 days a year with a year or more between dry docks.   Since the triumph incident the news jumps on everything, things that you would not have known about before.

Here is a cool site where you can look up all kinds of issues.   http://www.cruisejunkie.com/events.html


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## Andy M. (May 29, 2013)

bakechef said:


> ...This is just a small sampling of accidents that aren't carnival issues.   The stories that you heard of the Triumph on the news were quite a bit different from reality.   One person published their travel journal and said that she didn't realize how much they were suffering until they watched the news.   I looked for any info I could since I had a carnival cruise coming up.   There was no sewage running down the walls or shortage of food.  Look up the first hand accounts, they are out there...



How do you explain the first hand videos shot by passengers and shown on TV of food shortages and sewage running down the halls.


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## Addie (May 29, 2013)

I have to agree with you bakechef. I have a friend that lives in Windsor, Ontario. Her husband is a cruise ship chef. When he is out, everytime they hit port, he sends her a letter. One time he mentioned the *tonnage* of food they had taken on board at their last call and now were going to replace it at the present port. The cruise ship companies have contracts at each port to replace what was used up between ports. So when they were saying that they ran out of food, I seriously had my doubts. 

As far as the toilets overflowing with sewage, I had my doubts about that also. On big ships toilets flush into a large tank down in the bowels (no pun intended) of the ship and then pumped out when they are far out at sea. Non biodegradable items are not removed until they are in port. They are stored in locked containers. 

Well fed passengers do not make for interesting news. Clean toilets are a subject of interest to no one except the user. I have the feeling that there was more of a party atmosphere than one of total discomfort and serious health questions.


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## Addie (May 29, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> How do you explain the first hand videos shot by passengers and shown on TV of food shortages and sewage running down the halls.


 
File footage?


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## Andy M. (May 29, 2013)

Addie said:


> File footage?



That must have taken all those videos on a secret Carnival cruise disaster and hid them away for when they might need it.


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## bakechef (May 29, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> How do you explain the first hand videos shot by passengers and shown on TV of food shortages and sewage running down the halls.



Do you have a link to those videos? Sure there were some stopped up toilets that people used regardless of them not working.   My point is,  the news made it seem like a floating sewer.   Reviews from people on that trip tell a different story.   There will always be people willing to exaggerate to get attention. 

I read from a passenger that after they boarded the bus after departing the ship,  that meals from the Honey baked ham store were passed out,  she said "this would be the fifth meal of the day" 

There was some food hoarding early on,  but after that started happening,  they started passing out food instead of the normal buffet style.

Reminds me of when the Splendor had trouble,  the news was reporting that they were being airlifted Spam which happened to be untrue as well.


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 30, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> I'm glad you enjoy your Carnival cruises. But you just have to see a few horror story reports on the news make you think another cruise line might be a good idea.
> 
> *Carnival has had well publicized sea going disasters. I believe if other cruise lines had similar problems they would have made the new as well*.


 
See, that the thing about CNN & FOX, Royal seems to have more jumpers then Carnival but they pick on Carnival about everything because they are the largest cruise line out there.

you never hear about the rescues Carnival do with stranded ships like the one that just happened again over the weekend where they saved a few men's lives that were stuck out at sea for a week or longer.

The way CNN covered the Triumph was totally out of hand. Go over to cruisecritic.com & read the Carnival board from people that were onboard that ship.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the news made it out to be. Carnival had opened up their bars for free so the fun could continue but guess who ruined that nice gesture??? That's right, the drunks who abused the free drinks. There was plenty of food but Carnival made the mistake of allowing the guests to take the food from the buffet lines so people were taking the meat & cheese out of the other sandwiches & leaving just the onions, again, not Carnival's fault that people acted like they had to go into full survival mode.

The so called sewage running on the floors came from the water that was used to put out the fire. Have you ever seen water that put out a fire? It's dirty.

Now, I'm not saying that this was a dream vacation cruise. There were complications especially for the handicapped people who normally stay on the lower levels. They were stuck on their decks because the elevators were not working so they did have a bit of a difficult time coping. Yes, Carnival made some mistakes & they have put forth better standards because they learned from it.

No one died but I do think 2 passengers had to be airlifted for medical reasons. 

Carnival sets the costs for cruising for all the cruise lines just like Wally World does with other stores by trying to be the cost of items at fair price.


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 30, 2013)

ahoymatey2013 said:


> No one died but I do think 2 passengers had to be airlifted for medical reasons.



A much higher percentage than that head to the ER on a daily basis on dry land...


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## Andy M. (May 30, 2013)

bakechef said:


> Do you have a link to those videos?...



I saw them the old fashioned way, on TV.  I'm sure if you check Youtube you'll find some.


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## Andy M. (May 30, 2013)

ahoymatey2013 said:


> See, that the thing about CNN & FOX,...



I watch neither CNN or Fox.  The three major networks provided the footage I saw.

I'm clear on what I saw and have my opinions.  You're welcome to yours.  I don't care to argue whether or not this actually happened or if it's a conspiracy of the media.


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 30, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> I saw them the old fashioned way, on TV.  I'm sure if you check Youtube you'll find some.



No you won't. What you will find is dirty water claiming to be sewerage.


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 30, 2013)

PrincessFiona60 said:


> A much higher percentage than that head to the ER on a daily basis on dry land...



You got that right. I also wonder how many people get taken off airplanes after landing. 

The news makes so many people form opinions instead of actually telling the whole truth, it's sickening


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## bakechef (May 30, 2013)

It was annoying getting ready for vacation and people would ask where you were going. I hated telling people that it was a cruise because they would almost always make snide remarks, and I just got tired of making a case for why I liked cruising. I just started saying that I was going to the Caribbean and leaving it at that. 

I'm not the type of person that would put down someone else's vacation choice.   When someone tells me where they are going and it's somewhere that I didn't enjoy I think up some positive stuff and leave the negative out of it if I can.


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## Andy M. (May 30, 2013)

My intent here was never to upset anyone.  I certainly wish the best vacation cruise for everyone who decides to take one.  I hope my discussion of whether or not the media was reporting accurately does not diminish anyone's vacation pleasure.

I respect your choices and expect you to respect mine.


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## bakechef (May 30, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> My intent here was never to upset anyone.  I certainly wish the best vacation cruise for everyone who decides to take one.  I hope my discussion of whether or not the media was reporting accurately does not diminish anyone's vacation pleasure.
> 
> I respect your choices and expect you to respect mine.



No harm, I just get a bit defensive lately when it comes to cruises.  Like I hate to show any excitement just avoid the comments.

I've had so many wonderful experiences with friends and family on the high seas with every cruise line that I've sailed.  Cruises aren't for everyone, no vacation will be perfect for everyone.  

I don't care for camping, roughing it, but I know that many people just love it, I could come up with a list a mile long why I don't like it!  I grew up camping in a 30ft. RV, that was fun for me!


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## PrincessFiona60 (May 31, 2013)

Oh, I love camping and roughing it!  Shrek hates it...


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 31, 2013)

Andy M. said:


> My intent here was never to upset anyone.  I certainly wish the best vacation cruise for everyone who decides to take one.  I hope my discussion of whether or not the media was reporting accurately does not diminish anyone's vacation pleasure.
> 
> I respect your choices and expect you to respect mine.



I'm only upset with the news media. I'm just so sick and tired of their scare tactics. 

I love camping also. I no longer rough it but I like going to my camper.


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## Addie (May 31, 2013)

ahoymatey2013 said:


> You got that right. I also wonder how many people get taken off airplanes after landing.
> 
> The news makes so many people form opinions instead of actually telling the whole truth, it's sickening


 
I was sent on a job at Logan Airport. I was working in the office for the Director of the facility. He had a speaker whereby all traffick from the tower was piped into his office. A call came that the red light on the panel of a UPS plane was on showing a fire in the hold. The plane taxied up to it's unloading dock and the fire chief went out to the plane to see what the problem was. No problem. They continued to unoad the plane. 

What were the chances of a FedEx plane coming in an hour later with the same problem? It has never happened at Logan. Proceeded in the same manner as the UPS. No fire engines, no panic, no change in any part on the airport. To watch the news that night you would have thought a plane loaded with deadly chemicals had crashed. Fire Engines racing across runways, people running, etc. The fire engines the news showed weren't even airport ones. Theirs are yellow and the city's are red. They even showed a quick spot of the foam truck covering a plane. 

According to the news report, the towns that lived around the airport were in mortal danger from a chemical explosion and evacuation was considered. 

The Director never even got up from his desk to see what the problem was. Nor did he issue any directives for any needed action. Life went on as usual.


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 31, 2013)

Never let a free panic go to waste. I wonder what all the news programs would do if they actually have to report the truth?!?!?


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## ahoymatey2013 (May 31, 2013)

Hey Andy, read this review about Royal's fire. 

We had Birds-eye view of Grandeur Fire - AFT Balcony Suite 7154 **LONG POST WARNING** - Cruise Critic Message Board Forums


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