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Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please



 
 
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  #11  
Old July 30th, 2004, 12:57 PM
Juliana L Holm
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Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Just a quickie. I know that a lot of people are taking a "Try it you'll
like it" attitude toward dress on Celebrity. I'd like to suggest a different
tack. If you can rethink this, you might consider a cruise on Norwegian,
Royal Caribbean, or possibly Carnival (depending on the ship) or on
Princess.

All of these cruise lines will let you be casual at dinner, and not feel
funny about it. I suspect with Celebrity you will either cave or feel a
little like a fish out of water.

All of these cruise lines will have good exercise and activity oriented stuff.

The ports probably won't be the same. How important are they?

Julie

In rec.travel.cruises Otis McNatt wrote:
Hi,


My wife and I have traveled many places and done many things, but
have never taken one of these things. I know that many of you here
have to be old pros when it comes to this subject, so I thought I'd
learn from your wisdom.


The cruise that I'm eyeing is one from the Celebrity Line, which
is a 7-nighter. It departs from Ft. Lauderdale on 9-18 (haha, prime
hurricane season) and returns on the 25th. The ship's name is _Century_.
It will make seven stops along the route (San Juan, St. Maarten, etc.)
and they only have some interior rooms available at this late date, except
for the highest-end room type which we're not interested in. I think the
cruise for both of us is listed at about $1300.


I've tried to educate myself a little on this by reading reviews and
some generic advice for first-timers from a commercial site, but I'm
still a little unclear on it. We're not into flashy entertainment or
fancy dinners where you have to dress up to enter. We're more into
working out and relaxation in an environment different from our daily
round. This ship and cruise seems to maybe be for us. But I've read
that on this ship, there are two formal dinners per week, where formal
dress is required. Now I know that I must look incredibly uninformed,
but what do the people eat who don't want to participate in such a formal
dinner? Are there other alternatives? And as far as the roughly $20/day
tipping that I've read is to be expected from us, how does this work?
Some cruise lines apparently pre-charge the customer (at booking I guess)
for the expected typical gratuities, and there was another option that
was similar. Why not just tip as you go, as we do normally on land when
we get service for something? As you can probably tell, I'm totally in
the dark on this whole thing.


I know that there are lots of differect types of cruises attracting
different types of people. Have any of you ever been on this particular
trip with this line? Just what is the dress code, or am I making too
much of this? Are there lots of hidden charges I should know about
beforehand? Do most of these lines offer shuttles to/from the Ft. Lauderdale
airport? Anyway, I think we'd probably get a kick out of this, but I'm
just wondering if it's too much of a hassle for a vacation...
Many thanks for anyone with good advice.


--
Otis


--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
  #12  
Old July 30th, 2004, 12:57 PM
Juliana L Holm
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Just a quickie. I know that a lot of people are taking a "Try it you'll
like it" attitude toward dress on Celebrity. I'd like to suggest a different
tack. If you can rethink this, you might consider a cruise on Norwegian,
Royal Caribbean, or possibly Carnival (depending on the ship) or on
Princess.

All of these cruise lines will let you be casual at dinner, and not feel
funny about it. I suspect with Celebrity you will either cave or feel a
little like a fish out of water.

All of these cruise lines will have good exercise and activity oriented stuff.

The ports probably won't be the same. How important are they?

Julie

In rec.travel.cruises Otis McNatt wrote:
Hi,


My wife and I have traveled many places and done many things, but
have never taken one of these things. I know that many of you here
have to be old pros when it comes to this subject, so I thought I'd
learn from your wisdom.


The cruise that I'm eyeing is one from the Celebrity Line, which
is a 7-nighter. It departs from Ft. Lauderdale on 9-18 (haha, prime
hurricane season) and returns on the 25th. The ship's name is _Century_.
It will make seven stops along the route (San Juan, St. Maarten, etc.)
and they only have some interior rooms available at this late date, except
for the highest-end room type which we're not interested in. I think the
cruise for both of us is listed at about $1300.


I've tried to educate myself a little on this by reading reviews and
some generic advice for first-timers from a commercial site, but I'm
still a little unclear on it. We're not into flashy entertainment or
fancy dinners where you have to dress up to enter. We're more into
working out and relaxation in an environment different from our daily
round. This ship and cruise seems to maybe be for us. But I've read
that on this ship, there are two formal dinners per week, where formal
dress is required. Now I know that I must look incredibly uninformed,
but what do the people eat who don't want to participate in such a formal
dinner? Are there other alternatives? And as far as the roughly $20/day
tipping that I've read is to be expected from us, how does this work?
Some cruise lines apparently pre-charge the customer (at booking I guess)
for the expected typical gratuities, and there was another option that
was similar. Why not just tip as you go, as we do normally on land when
we get service for something? As you can probably tell, I'm totally in
the dark on this whole thing.


I know that there are lots of differect types of cruises attracting
different types of people. Have any of you ever been on this particular
trip with this line? Just what is the dress code, or am I making too
much of this? Are there lots of hidden charges I should know about
beforehand? Do most of these lines offer shuttles to/from the Ft. Lauderdale
airport? Anyway, I think we'd probably get a kick out of this, but I'm
just wondering if it's too much of a hassle for a vacation...
Many thanks for anyone with good advice.


--
Otis


--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
  #13  
Old July 30th, 2004, 02:24 PM
Otis McNatt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Juliana wrote:

Just a quickie. I know that a lot of people are taking a "Try it you'll
like it" attitude toward dress on Celebrity. I'd like to suggest a different
tack. If you can rethink this, you might consider a cruise on Norwegian,
Royal Caribbean, or possibly Carnival (depending on the ship) or on
Princess.


All of these cruise lines will let you be casual at dinner, and not feel
funny about it. I suspect with Celebrity you will either cave or feel a
little like a fish out of water.


Thanks for touching on this Juliana. I was beginning to suspect that
I'd happened on a cruise line that emphasized glitz, and that they
were not all the same.

I realize that since the cruise business now caters to the masses, that
dress codes may be desirable because I know how some people are. Some folks
would show up for dinner wearing their grungy old sandals and tank tops,
with all their pimples showing...YUK. Then again, you can put a nice suit
or evening gown on a boor, and they're still boorish; but I guess they
would look a little nicer anyway. But the bottom line is that my idea
of a tropical vacation does not include packing a suit for any reason.
And my wife feels the same way. Our idea of "casual" does not require
slacks, or "golf" wear, as Ive read. If we can't wear shorts everywhere,
then we don't care to be there.

And thanks a bunch to everyone who posted. All were read, and all were
informative!

--
Otis
  #14  
Old July 30th, 2004, 02:24 PM
Otis McNatt
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Juliana wrote:

Just a quickie. I know that a lot of people are taking a "Try it you'll
like it" attitude toward dress on Celebrity. I'd like to suggest a different
tack. If you can rethink this, you might consider a cruise on Norwegian,
Royal Caribbean, or possibly Carnival (depending on the ship) or on
Princess.


All of these cruise lines will let you be casual at dinner, and not feel
funny about it. I suspect with Celebrity you will either cave or feel a
little like a fish out of water.


Thanks for touching on this Juliana. I was beginning to suspect that
I'd happened on a cruise line that emphasized glitz, and that they
were not all the same.

I realize that since the cruise business now caters to the masses, that
dress codes may be desirable because I know how some people are. Some folks
would show up for dinner wearing their grungy old sandals and tank tops,
with all their pimples showing...YUK. Then again, you can put a nice suit
or evening gown on a boor, and they're still boorish; but I guess they
would look a little nicer anyway. But the bottom line is that my idea
of a tropical vacation does not include packing a suit for any reason.
And my wife feels the same way. Our idea of "casual" does not require
slacks, or "golf" wear, as Ive read. If we can't wear shorts everywhere,
then we don't care to be there.

And thanks a bunch to everyone who posted. All were read, and all were
informative!

--
Otis
  #15  
Old July 30th, 2004, 02:47 PM
Juliana L Holm
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Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Just a followup. Of the cruise lines I suggested, only Norwegian will let
you be casual every night in every venue. The others will have formal nights
(Norwegian has an "optional" formal night.) where at least some of the dining
rooms will expect you to have a jacket. The difference between these and
Celebrity is that you won't be terribly in the minority, and they will have
more options for casual dining. Plus ont he semi-formal nights on these
lines a polo shirt and dockers will do just fine.

Your "Golf wear" as it were.

However, if you truly want to wear shorts in the dining room every night,
then I have to heavily recommend Norwegian Cruise Lines. They will accept
this, you will be able to eat anywhere at any time. (On their optional formal
nights there might be one dining room off limits to shorts, but another dining
room will have the exact same menu.)

Norwegian has two cruises to the Caribbean going in September; the Norwegian
Sea does the Western Caribbean and the Dawn does the Bahamas (not really the
Caribbean) from New York.

If I were you, I'd choose one of these for September departure instead of
Celebrity. You can choose the more interesting ports on another voyage (I
also highly recommend Norwegian's Winter Southern Caribbean itineraries out
of San Juan. Thanks to Spirit Air, San Juan is much less expensive to
get to than it had been.)

Julie

In rec.travel.cruises Otis McNatt wrote:
Juliana wrote:


Just a quickie. I know that a lot of people are taking a "Try it you'll
like it" attitude toward dress on Celebrity. I'd like to suggest a different
tack. If you can rethink this, you might consider a cruise on Norwegian,
Royal Caribbean, or possibly Carnival (depending on the ship) or on
Princess.


All of these cruise lines will let you be casual at dinner, and not feel
funny about it. I suspect with Celebrity you will either cave or feel a
little like a fish out of water.


Thanks for touching on this Juliana. I was beginning to suspect that
I'd happened on a cruise line that emphasized glitz, and that they
were not all the same.


I realize that since the cruise business now caters to the masses, that
dress codes may be desirable because I know how some people are. Some folks
would show up for dinner wearing their grungy old sandals and tank tops,
with all their pimples showing...YUK. Then again, you can put a nice suit
or evening gown on a boor, and they're still boorish; but I guess they
would look a little nicer anyway. But the bottom line is that my idea
of a tropical vacation does not include packing a suit for any reason.
And my wife feels the same way. Our idea of "casual" does not require
slacks, or "golf" wear, as Ive read. If we can't wear shorts everywhere,
then we don't care to be there.


And thanks a bunch to everyone who posted. All were read, and all were
informative!


--
Otis


--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
  #16  
Old July 30th, 2004, 03:54 PM
Lee
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Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

(Otis McNatt) wrote in message . com...

We're not into flashy entertainment or
fancy dinners where you have to dress up to enter.


Of the mass market cruise lines, Celebrity is probably one of the
fanciest, if not THE fanciest as far as dinners go. Entertainment -
you can attend or not. If it's not your thing, just skip it. Easy
enough. There will be a couple of Vegas-style production shows while
you're on board, as well as a variety of other acts like comedians,
magicians, jugglers, headliner singers, etc. The onboard entertainment
is included in your cruise fare, so you can always try out a show, and
if it's not to your liking, you can quietly leave the venue.

We're more into
working out and relaxation in an environment different from our daily
round. This ship and cruise seems to maybe be for us.


The nice thing about cruising is that you can relax as little or as
much as you want. Many cruisers are on the go from morning 'til night,
and some don't participate in any activity. There's never any pressure
to join in - it's your vacation...do what you want, when you want.

But I've read
that on this ship, there are two formal dinners per week, where formal
dress is required. Now I know that I must look incredibly uninformed,
but what do the people eat who don't want to participate in such a formal
dinner? Are there other alternatives?


Formal dress is the "suggested" attire for formal nights and most
folks abide by the suggestion. There is a buffet available if you
don't want to dine in the dining room on formal evenings. However, the
meals in the dining room on formal nights are maybe the best meals of
the week. So, if you can muster up the energy to dress up a little,
you might find that you'll really enjoy yourself on these evenings.
Everyone in their finest really adds a lot to the festive, gala
atmosphere. I find formal nights to be fun. My work uniform is jeans
and tees, so I rarely get the opportunity to dress up in my everyday
life. I don't find it to be a burden. And, my husband looks HOT in a
tux, as most men do :-).

And as far as the roughly $20/day
tipping that I've read is to be expected from us, how does this work?


It's actually a bargain, if you think about it. The $20 (that's for
the 2 of you) covers your dining room waiter and assistant waiter as
well as your cabin steward. You'll have the same dining room staff
(dinners) and steward all week. In the dining room, you'll be enjoying
4-6 course meals every night and for the fantastic service you'll
receive, you'll only be tipping something like $3.75 per person to the
waiter and what...$2.50 for the assistant for each day? $3.75 goes to
your cabin steward who will, invisibly, make up your room twice a day,
refresh towels, ice, etc. and take care of any other requests you
might have during your week. Personally, I've always found the
suggested tipping amounts to be a bargain, compared to what I'd pay
for similar service at a land restaurant.

Some cruise lines apparently pre-charge the customer (at booking I guess)
for the expected typical gratuities, and there was another option that
was similar.


I find that having my tips added to my onboard account is a great
convenience. Means I have to take less cash with me, AND I earn FF
miles on the tip amount. I'm going to tip anyway, so it might as well
benefit me in some way. Even though I don't hand cash to my
waiter/steward, I do always write them thank-you notes, telling them
how much I appreciated their hard work during the week, and how it
made my cruise more special.

Why not just tip as you go, as we do normally on land when
we get service for something? As you can probably tell, I'm totally in
the dark on this whole thing.


Do you really want to carry cash around with you all the time? And,
what amount would you tip your waiter and assistant waiter each night?
A percentage of your bill? You don't get a bill!

Are there lots of hidden charges I should know about
beforehand?


Covered by others, but basically what IS included is your room & board
(some beverages, no alcohol or soda), entertainment in the various
venues on board, transportation to the various ports and back to FLL,
miscellaneous activities on board, use of the gym and some exercise
classes (some classes carry an extra charge - at least they do on some
cruise lines)...anything else is extra. Photos, bingo, alcohol, soda,
casino, shops, etc.

Do most of these lines offer shuttles to/from the Ft. Lauderdale
airport?


Airport and port are very close. Just take a cab.

Anyway, I think we'd probably get a kick out of this, but I'm
just wondering if it's too much of a hassle for a vacation...


Cruising is the opposite of "hassle" at least for me. When I need to
get away and I'm not in the mood to stress over details, planning,
etc., I pick a cruise.

Have a great time.

Lee
  #17  
Old July 30th, 2004, 04:14 PM
Sue and Kevin Mullen
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Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please



Juliana L Holm wrote:

However, if you truly want to wear shorts in the dining room every night,
then I have to heavily recommend Norwegian Cruise Lines. They will accept
this, you will be able to eat anywhere at any time.


I know about Freestyle Dining, but never knew that you could wear shorts
in the dining rooms on NCL.

sue

  #18  
Old July 30th, 2004, 04:21 PM
HDawson228
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Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

Consider that cruising in general is a rather refined and to some extent more
elegant than a week at the beach or a mountain cabin. Even more so than most
all-inclusive resorts. Cruising just may not be for you. It's not for
everyone.
  #19  
Old July 30th, 2004, 04:36 PM
Juliana L Holm
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Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

In rec.travel.cruises Sue and Kevin Mullen wrote:


Juliana L Holm wrote:


However, if you truly want to wear shorts in the dining room every night,
then I have to heavily recommend Norwegian Cruise Lines. They will accept
this, you will be able to eat anywhere at any time.


I know about Freestyle Dining, but never knew that you could wear shorts
in the dining rooms on NCL.


They advertise Freestyle including wearing whatever you like to dinner. Like I
said some of the dining rooms enforce a dress code (always filled by a polo and
pair of slacks at the most picky) but there is invariably another dining room
with the same menu that will let you in. Their upscale restaurant, Le Bistro,
will require slacks, also.

In my two NCL Cruises I frequently saw shorts in the formal dining rooms. I
won't wear them, but I have seen them. They don't bother me.

--
Julie
**********
Check out my Travel Pages (non-commercial) at
http://www.dragonsholm.org/travel.htm
  #20  
Old July 30th, 2004, 05:05 PM
Ray Goldenberg
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Posts: n/a
Default Clueless first-timer needs advice about cruises please

On Fri, 30 Jul 2004 11:14:42 -0400, Sue and Kevin Mullen
wrote:

I know about Freestyle Dining, but never knew that you could wear shorts
in the dining rooms on NCL.


Hi Sue,

I would not gather from the following that shorts are acceptable at
dinner.
Quote from NCL brochu
Q: What is appropriate dinner attire?
A: We don't require you to wear a tie or other formal attire to
dinner. We do request however that guests wear "resort casual" attire
to dine in any of our specialty or main restaurants.
Q: What exactly is "resort casual attire?
A: Resort casual is a much more comfortable way to dress for dinner.
Basically, it's slacks, a dress or skirt for women.

Best regards,
Ray
LIGHTHOUSE TRAVEL
800-719-9917 or 805-566-3905
http://www.lighthousetravel.com
 




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