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Sadly, I have to agree. The food was one of the best things we liked about cruising. Now, we keep our expectations reasonable so that we are not disappointed.
For us, when cruising, the three things we look for are
* Value (this is different than price. It's not how much it costs. It's what are we getting for the $$$. And
how much are the extras going to cost us - like wine, drinks, extra cost restaurants, etc. But it's only a
vacation, not a car, so we simply don't spend big bucks on luxury cruise lines.)
* Itinerary
* Which cruise line (this isn't about the ship itself. This is about who our fellow passengers are going to be
and what we can expect from the service. For example, we don't have kids and don't especially enjoy
traveling with kids all over the place, so we stay away from Disney and RCCL. We gravitate to
Celebrity and HAL.)
For a peaceful experience, with good service we love HAL. The main reason we like NCL is the total casual dress, the full freestyle, and we have cruised them so many times, we get all the special perks. As for kids, we just choose to stay away from family seasons and stick with the off season. We did one in Jan this year and are doing another the first part of December.
Food and service wise: I remember our first cruise and it was a cheapo line (now out of business) It took the wait staff about 2 days to know grandma drank coffee and the rest of us wine at dinner. By the time grandma was fully seated her coffee was poured and the wait staff had brought us the wine list. This never would happen today, not even with assigned seating. But, there are a lot of positive things about cruising today over 30 years ago, as well.
We are considering migrating to Holland America as we are in our 40's with no kids and would rather not hear them so often.
HAL is a great line, but you might find it a little to subdued if you are accustom to Carnival. you might want to think Celebrity for instance or just try and cruise during the off season, when most of the kids are in school.
Posters have noted 'posh' and 'cheapo' lines. Can they be noted? Frankly, I'm new to 'cruises and I don't want to get ripped off. Is it true you get what you pay for? Or must you do your research carefully? Like what are the worst cabins on a ship that you should never buy even if you can get it for 10 dollars???? ...........;-)....
Posters have noted 'posh' and 'cheapo' lines. Can they be noted? Frankly, I'm new to 'cruises and I don't want to get ripped off. Is it true you get what you pay for? Or must you do your research carefully? Like what are the worst cabins on a ship that you should never buy even if you can get it for 10 dollars???? ...........;-)....
something next to, above or below a night club or auditorium
immediately below a top side deck as you can supposedly hear the deck chairs being dragged about
some people who are sensitive to the ships motion would be better off staying away from the front and back of the ship, although with the bigger ships and mostly calm sailing in places like the Carib and Alaska, I wonder how much they really move between front and back.
For us, the best cabin is in the back of the boat as you are out of the wind entirely and the view can't be beat.
The higher you are up on the ship and closer to front you going be rockin'. It was fun working out at gym in far front, top and hit a swell bicep curls get real easy or real hard LOL. Middle and closest to deck makes for calmer ride.
Posters have noted 'posh' and 'cheapo' lines. Can they be noted? Frankly, I'm new to 'cruises and I don't want to get ripped off. Is it true you get what you pay for? Or must you do your research carefully? Like what are the worst cabins on a ship that you should never buy even if you can get it for 10 dollars???? ...........;-)....
There are no "worst" cabins, it is a matter of what you want. Some people are content to cruise more often and are happy with inside cabins, others want outside or balcony cabins and still some, who have the money choose suites (don't I wish?) The closer you are to the front of the ship, the more rocking you will have if you hit even mildly bad weather and there is the dropping of the anchor. For us, inside and front never works, we have had both. The rear offers the nicest views and the most peaceful and quitet sailing. Mid ship is the smoothest.
As for cheapo lines, versus posh, again this is up to what you can afford and what you want from your cruise experience. Some people would hate the mass marketed lines, others would be miserable on the luxury lines.
We just got back from a Carnival cruise Sunday. We chose it b/c of the itinerary, it was different than the "usual" Caribbean routes you find - Aruba, Curacao (unfortunately we didn't get here b/c we got rerouted due to TS Dorian), Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos. I had only been to Aruba prior to this. So I guess I go for itinerary first, although flying to your departure port is a PITA.
I prefer sailing out of NYC over other places since I'm in NJ, plus there's nothing like seeing the skyline, Statue and sailing under the Verrazano. But with this past cruise, the stops trumped all.
The Port of Baltimore is very convenient for people in the Maryland, D.C. and Southern Pennsylvania area nmnita. You show up at the cruise ship terminal and, you're on the boat within 30 minutes vice all the hassle of getting to the airport, the flights and using a cruise ship transfer to get to your cruise ship.
One down side to using the port in my opinion is it is far from all the cruising sights such as Bermuda, Bahamas, the Caribbean or Northeast Canada and Maine. Getting to Bermuda alone took over almost 2 days at sea when I did Royal Caribbean's Bermuda cruise from there in April.
Apparently, the port isn't super popular as Carnival announced it would be pulling out of Baltimore in 2014. Right now, their ship the Pride sails every week I believe. I don't know at this time if any other cruise line will take their place. Royal Caribbean conversely made it very clear they're not leaving. They'll even be flying a special flag on Grandeur of the Seas which says "Don't Give Up The Ship!" It's some kind of reference to the War of 1812 and would tie in with Baltimore's Fort McHenry.
Should not take that long to get to Bermuda from Baltimore on a cruise ship. Bermuda is a one port call so the cruise lines virtually take their sweet azz time getting there so they can keep the casino open as once in port it closes. Took that long for my kids to get from Bayonne to Bermuda as well and over two days back, they had all of 3 days in port.
It only took two days from NYC to St Thomas last time I cruised which I would think it a much longer distance.
We just got back from a Carnival cruise Sunday. We chose it b/c of the itinerary, it was different than the "usual" Caribbean routes you find - Aruba, Curacao (unfortunately we didn't get here b/c we got rerouted due to TS Dorian), Dominican Republic and Turks and Caicos. I had only been to Aruba prior to this. So I guess I go for itinerary first, although flying to your departure port is a PITA.
I prefer sailing out of NYC over other places since I'm in NJ, plus there's nothing like seeing the skyline, Statue and sailing under the Verrazano. But with this past cruise, the stops trumped all.
Me too and that is one awesome sight as you go down the Hudson
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