Mach

We've been on cruises with outbreaks and, knock on wood, so far we've never had the virus. We do as stated above, "wash my hands frequently and thoroughly, avoid touching my face". We've also been on a couple of Holland America ships that had the virus on the cruise before. After the ship has been cleaned they use servers in the buffet line for the first couple of days of the cruise and normal table items like salt and pepper shakers are removed.

Reviews have very little influence on me... pretty close to none, in fact. For over 5 years I was a moderator at another cruise oriented web site, a very large one, and I saw virtually hundreds of reviews. Most people who are pleased with something, in this case a cruise, say little to nothing. Someone who is upset about a purchase, event or a cruise tends to be vocal. That's been the case forever and the internet has made expressing one's displeasure VASTLY easier.
Most of the negative reviews have almost nothing to do with the cruise line, the way the guest was treated on board or even the destinations involved. The complainers mostly kvetch about issues that the cruise line has no control over... most frequently other passengers. I've seen people complain about too many kids on board; not enough kids on board; noisy neighbors; overly expressive neighbors; guests who are too fat (believe it or not...); people who laugh too loud in the shows; the people they've had to deal with on shore tours; people talking with their mouths full and so on and so forth..
On rare occasions, complaints are valid and, if they're brought to the attention of the staff, are most often corrected on the spot. Some complaints can not be corrected. I've personally witnessed a passenger complaining (loudly...) to the folks at Guest Services that the costumes on stage in the evening show were too revealing. Do these people not ever go out on the pool deck?
So, at least in my eyes, a negative review is a way for an individual to 'get even' with the cruise line regardless of how nonsensical the gripe is. Sadly, many neophyte cruisers read these diatribes and believe what they read.
Very recently, in the last few days, a report from the government (if you can believe what comes from the government...) claims that a very large percentage of online reviews are faked... people hired by a company to either post kudos for their product or negative reports about a competitor's.
As has been said for thousands of years... caveat emptor...

Ya' know... I cruise to be at sea. Rock walls, ice skating rinks, Central Park, bumper cars and such aren't things I have any interest in. Please don't tell me that I'll find things on the ship that have only been found on land. I DON"T WANT LAND! I want the SEA!!! Why the heck would I want to spend thousands of dollars to get on a ship and see what I could see by visiting the mall?
A SHIP is a ship. It's not an amusement park. Let if be... please...

I don't recall hearing anything about this in our local news, radio or papers. Amazing as to what cruiseship stories get "exploited".
I agree, machines breakdown. It's a shame that it has to spoil someone's vacation.

The brand new Royal Princess lost power in the Med over the weekend and is making her way to Naples for repairs...
http://www.maritime-executive.com/article/Royal-Princess-Cruse-Ship-Loses-Power-in-Middle-of-Mediterranean-2013-09-23/
As I've said in the past, a cruise ship is a machine and machines occasionally break...

Spot on... and don't let anyone tell you that other lines have different systems. The ships of every cruise line are built by the same shipyards. Those shipyards use the same basic construction for every cruise ship. Where are the big bucks spent during construction? They're spent on obvious things that will attract guests... rock walls; theaters; specialty restaurants and such not on mundane items like back up generators.
All we have to do is look at the problems other lines have had with propulsion issues and other power related problems to see the facts of the situation. Color every cruise line with the same crayon, please.

I think this story is overly dramatic. It only took about 2 months after the Triumph INCIDENT for Carnival to announce they were going to invest seriously in upgrading their vessels. BUT, how many of the other cruise lines have jumped onboard with Carnivals idea to upgrade? I haven't heard of one line!!! ALL cruiselines pinch pennies when building ships, not just Carnival yet they are the only one's upgrading. This is the first year we will actually be cruising twice in the same year in our past 9 cruises and the Carnival INCIDENT didn't cause us to change our mind on cruising. I agree with mach on the "newbies" or what I call the "NObies" (those that will never take a cruise) that base their opinion on a few small incidents over-reported by the media. Cruising is still one of the most safest and inexpensive forms of vacation you can find ANYWHERE!!! Just ask those that have perished in plane crashes..........

It's been my experience that the perception of Carnival Cruise Lines, and cruise lines in general, has only fallen among those considering a cruise for the first time or those still very new to cruising. Experienced cruisers have pretty much brushed off the incidents and have overwhelmingly cited the amazing safety record of cruising as the reason.
Not a single one of my hundreds of friends who cruise have considered cancelling or even changing plans for upcoming voyages. They HAVE been very pleased by the price reductions, however!!!

I have not used NativeWay but many of my friends have and they've been very pleased! They have an excellent reputation in the industry and are quite highly regarded.
I'm sure anyone who books with them will find the experience highly gratifying.

Happy Birthday, Jason! Have a fantastic one!!!

Cruise line insurance is not always the best. Many still use Berkeley. You want an insurance company that has 24 hour international access, emergency assistance and followup, including arranging medical evacuation. A number of river cruise companies use Travel Guard, which has just such services.

My first cruise was back in the early 90's... 93 or 94... not sure but I am sure it was on the SS Norway and I believe I sailed out of Miami. The ports of call were of no importance as shortly after we sailed we met horribly foul weather and the primary source of entertainment was watching people run into walls and make mad dashes for restrooms.
I spent little time on the open decks because of the conditions but I did become friends with several bartenders as I was almost the only customer they had for the 7 days!!!
It really was a lovely ship and remarkably big for the time frame... over 1000 feet long and very well appointed. It would be several years before I would return to the sea but the Norway stands as my first...

When the entire thing about the Triumph reared it's ugly head I can't tell you how many clients I told 'It's a machine... occasionally, things go wrong.' citing issues with cars not starting, washing machines needing repair, etc.
It's a ship... it's not perfect. Nothing is. Something will break eventually. Face it.
Now, if we could get the media to treat all cruise lines equally...

OK Mach...We had Steve on our Ecstasy cruise too...he played "The Devil went down to georgia" during one of the shows. Killed it...was awesome!!! And we were right down front......

Now, THAT'S funny!! Ya' know, we had the Ecstasy here in Texas for over 5 years and she was wonderfully well received! Carnival has an award, the Crystal Eagle, which is awarded each year to the ship and crew with the highest passenger satisfaction rate. The Ecstasy won it all 5 years she was here. A great deal of that was due to her having and absolutely fabulous cruise director, Steve Cassel. The guy is amazing! You would swear he's your nerdy uncle but, man, can this guy play a fiddle! He does a fantastic show called 'Extreme Country.' Here's Steve with our mascots...

Well, how funny is that? We sailed on the Ecstasy 1 week after she had that fire in the aft of the ship years ago. I remember watching the news the week before our cruise and they announced a report of a cruise ship called the "Ecstasy". I yelled at Chrissy who was in the other room "Honey, come look at this, this is the ship were going on next week"!! What a mistake that was. After the commercial, the news returned with video of the ship with smoke billowing up from the aft. DOH!!!!

Sarge, the folks on the ship knew what had happened and that's likely the reason I never saw the little cigar sniffer again. Also, friends of mine in Miami who work for Carnival had been reading my daily installments about the cruise and emailed me to get the details. I'd be quite surprised if he continued with the cruise line after we returned to port...

I answered 'Yes, we have and still do on every cruise.' to the first and 'No, never thought about it.' to the second. Lemme do a little bit of 'splanin here...
With the exception of one cruise we have tipped our cabin steward and wait staff extra. I have never seen people work so hard to make sure that our vacation is going to be everything we expected and more. They deserve a bit of an extra show of appreciation. However... on one cruise the cabin steward didn't get anything extra and I'll tell you why. On the first day of the cruise, embarkation day, we got our suitcases unpacked, met our cabin steward (a nice enough Indonesian chap) and headed off to dinner. The food and service were very good and we were off to a great start. We went to the Welcome Aboard Show, as we always do, and were greeted by the cruise director right after the show. As we were chatting with him we were approached by a little guy in a security uniform who interrupted our conversation with the CD. He asked if we could confirm who we were and we did so gladly. He said, rather abruptly, 'My Chief needs to speak to you, follow me.' He headed off, little legs scurrying leaving us in his wake. I called to him and asked him to slow down, which he did, and where we were going. His response... 'To my Chief.' OK... I could see that Stitch was a bit distressed and I was just a bit concerned myself. Did the previous guests leave drugs in our cabin or some such? We were headed toward our cabin so I assumed that would be our eventual destination. In the distance I could see three more people wearing the same uniform as the little security guy was. Yep... they were outside our cabin door.
Upon arriving at our cabin the Chief of Security introduced himself to my wife and I and quite politely asked if we had any weapons on board. HUH? WEAPONS? Now, I'm a gun owner and have a concealed carry permit and occasionally travel with a weapon but never on a cruise!!! I told him 'No... no weapons' as my mind swirled about trying to figure out what the heck was going on. The he asked if I had any ammunition in the cabin and it struck me... my cigar cutter! At first glance it looks like a .44 caliber cartridge but, it breaks apart to play Transformer and become a cutter to slice a plug out of the top of my cigars. Here's a picture...

As I figured out what was going on I told the Chief of Security that I knew what he was referring to and invited him into our cabin. EVERYONE followed me in. There, on the counter, was my cigar cutter which had been nicely tucked away in my travel humidor... a rather solid little device with no windows in it but, none the less, there was my cutter. I picked it up, explained what it was and demonstrated it to the Chief who immediately cracked up laughing and apologized for the error and inconvenience. I told him not to worry and it wouldn't affect our cruise. They wandered off and I heard the Chief offering some advice to a few of the folks who were with him as they headed down the hallway.
Now... the bottom line. Someone, and it had to be our cabin steward, opened that humidor, found the cutter and alerted security. He never appeared at our cabin again. He never said a word... never left a note... nada. I got a rather nice bottle of champagne and a tray of chocolates for my bride from the Cruise Director with a nice note but never heard from the cabin steward. He didn't get tipped extra.
So, as you can see, someone really has to do something untoward to fall into that category of not deserving a bit extra tip from us...

When the entire thing about the Triumph reared it's ugly head I can't tell you how many clients I told 'It's a machine... occasionally, things go wrong.' citing issues with cars not starting, washing machines needing repair, etc.
It's a ship... it's not perfect. Nothing is. Something will break eventually. Face it.
Now, if we could get the media to treat all cruise lines equally...

Spot on... absolutely dead nuts accurate. I agree with everything you said.
Despite dress codes becoming more relaxed I would not wear shorts to the main dining room. Having said that, I really don't care a great deal how others in the dining room dress but I do prefer to have those sitting near me dress better than min standard.
Also, I'm a big fan of traditional dining. I enjoy knowing who I'm going to be sharing my table with and who my wait staff will be every night. For me... and my wife... it's an important part of the cruise experience.

And the funny thing Mach, was when we sailed from Tampa the first time this past May, when the shuttle arrived at the terminal, there were people everywhere. My thought was "crap, gonna take hours to get onboard". When we got in the terminal, it was empty!! We walked right in and were directed straight to a waiting window. And as I posted in my review of the Jewel in May, RCCL also does a great job of having the embarkation photo op off to the side of the gangway for those that wish to have their boarding pic taken. Unlike past experiences with other cruise lines that FORCE you to have an embarkation photo taken thus causing a line to board. Were going in November Mach, why not pack a bag?

Great job, Sarge, and thanks! I love sailing from Tampa... the folks are fantastic, embark and debark the easiest I've found anywhere!! Having the Florida State Aquarium right across the street is a great plus and a wonderful place to visit.

I like smart casual. Formal is OK too but I prefer the relaxed feeling I get dressed smart casual. I would like to see dress codes followed a little better. If you say its formal then be sure that men at least have a jacket on. It seems dress codes have really slipped over the years. Sign of the times maybe?

Nope... haven't seen a thing on the news outlets about and I get several feeds including the Associated Press. Not a peep.
Now, if it had been CARNIVAL I'm bettin' the situation would be quite different...
There was barely a peep on the news, regardless of where you get your news, when the Millennium first had problems and I'm betting there will be none this time, either...