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Royal Caribbean lectures?
If you've sailed Royal Caribbean, can you tell me what, if anything,
they have in the way of Port Lectures? I'm looking for good, clear information about the ports before we get there, and not just shopping or tour sales info. Thanks very much for any info you can share. Rusty |
#2
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
On 3/9/2010 6:32 PM, Rusty wrote:
If you've sailed Royal Caribbean, can you tell me what, if anything, they have in the way of Port Lectures? I'm looking for good, clear information about the ports before we get there, and not just shopping or tour sales info. Thanks very much for any info you can share. Rusty I think the quality of the nonshopping port lectures really depends on the particular sailing. RCI does have them and in our experience they were OK, but not as good as those on Celebrity or HAL, but again, it all depends on the person they happened to have hired on your particular cruise. |
#3
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
On Mar 9, 11:32*am, Rusty wrote:
If you've sailed Royal Caribbean, can you tell me what, if anything, they have in the way of Port Lectures? *I'm looking for good, clear information about the ports before we get there, and not just shopping or tour sales info. Thanks very much for any info you can share. Rusty Rusty, My experience isn't very current, as I quit going to those lectures after popping in one or two when we first began cruising--they were, indeed, mostly about the shopping. I think some port lecturers may volunteer, or offer on questioning, a modest amount of practical information and tips to folks who want to explore independently, e.g., transport options, currency exchange and ATM locations, Internet cafes, etc. But overall, the port lectures aren't intended to be either educational or support for independent travelers. The cruise line (a) prefers you buy their shore excursions, and (b) is going to offer only the most conservative independent touring advice on the theory the majority of pax are ill-equipped to safely and comfortably navigate an unfamiliar destination. If you really want to learn about where you're going, I think you'll be better satisfied by doing your own research and reading in advance. All of the travel guides have terrific online sites, and your local library will stock a good variety of current editions. If you are interested in options for independent touring, as a supplement to travel guides, this group has a lot of experienced travelers--feel free to ask us about your ports and tell us what kinds of activities you're interested in, any age or health considerations, etc. Also, the port-specific discussion forums at Cruise Critic (BoardsPorts of Call) are full of up-to-the-minute info and tips by fellow cruisers. I also think the port guides published by the editors on that site are very helpful for an overview. http://www.cruisecritic.com/ports/ If you are onboard and find yourself wanting to know something fairly specific, you can try to catch the port lecturer and ask. Also, the folks who are on the Cruise Director's staff (they host the games and activities), the singers and dancers, etc., are generally terrific resources, as they go into port for "off time," thus have done all of the touristy things and beyond, as they've had to rely on ports for buying the usual goods and services of life. Diana Ball Austin, TX |
#4
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
On Mar 9, 2:32*pm, D Ball wrote:
On Mar 9, 11:32*am, Rusty wrote: If you've sailed Royal Caribbean, can you tell me what, if anything, they have in the way of Port Lectures? *I'm looking for good, clear information about the ports before we get there, and not just shopping or tour sales info. Thanks very much for any info you can share. Rusty I should qualify my remarks by adding, it also depends on where you are going. (My knee jerk response was based on Caribbean and similar "vacation" cruises because that's on the brain right now--we're heading out for the Carib on Sunday!) When we've cruised in Europe, and also in Alaska, the port lectures were a step up with some historical and cultural info (including a few dedicated educational lectures--I'm remembering a professorial type who talked on St. Petersburg and Russian history) and a bit more in the way of practical advice for DIY'ers. I particularly recall our Celebrity sailing in the Med--there was a fellow titled "concierge" who not only helped with onboard needs, but was always available to provide traditional concierge services for folks headed into port, i.e., making restaurant recs and reservations, helping pax locate an attraction and learn admission hours & fees, etc. We had changed our plans for Rome, and I wanted to get off the train from port to town before it reached the terminus at the central station--the concierge looked up the schedule online and printed it out for me. Diana |
#5
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
On 3/9/2010 5:32 PM, Stu wrote:
We ran into him in four different shops while we were shopping, even one that was not even on his list, nothing was said. He asked how we enjoyed St.Martien was all, never asked if we had been to the other shops. Hell, we even had a beer with him (he bought) at a little sit down place just off the dock. You actually think he was shopping with his own money there? Or was he picking up his kickback for sending customers there? Nice that he paid for your drink, although I think these folks get free food for sending customers there, did you actually see him pay the check? Also, it was the cruise line's list, not his. I am surprised he would go to a store not on it -- I wonder if he could have gotten fired for that. Bill |
#6
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
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#7
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
Our last cruise was on Celebrity and I had been to most of the ports
before so I didn't go to any of the lectures, but I can tell you that the maps that they handed out were useless unless you wanted to shop at their 'preferred' shops. *There was nothing on them about any points of interest whatsoever. Rosalie, thanks for mentioning the useless port maps. I've complained about them on comment cards for years, but random rants aren't persuasive. Maybe the next time there is a group cruise, if everyone in the group complained about the port maps, someone in corporate would take notice! It would be such an easy and inexpensive job for the line to produce a utile map. Diana |
#8
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
On Thu, 11 Mar 2010 08:09:35 +0100, peter
wrote: On 3/11/10 2:44 AM, in article , " wrote: Nice Ray, and you expect people to book with you. But he's right. Ray is never right. He's a spammer, rude and a fraud. Even a stopped clock is right twice a day, and I suppose that goes for you too. I've always known that tour guides get a cut. OP didn't ask about tour guides. But the tour guides for the excursions get a cut too, and the ship gets a cut for the shop being listed as "approved". It's endemic in the tourist industry. The only really good port lectures that I've been to have been on HAL. They had both a port lecturer AND a shopping lecturer. Same on almost all Celebrity and RCI cruises. OP asked: "I'm looking for good, clear information about the ports before we get there, and not just shoppingor tour sales info." Ray didn't address the first type of lecturers at all. The reason that the lectures concentrate on shopping is because the ship gets a cut. The only lines that I've been on that had actual PORT information are HAL and NCL. The lack of map information on Celebrity was QUITE annoying and leads me to believe that the port lectures would also be deficient. I took an island tour of St. Croix but Celebrity told me no information about the places that we would stop on the tour so I did not know that there was a National Park on the tour. I know about the one on St. John, but didn't know about St. Croix. I asked the future cruises person about it and she said it was because of liability. Absolute balderdash. How can there be liability for noting the location of a museum or church or the central square? When we went to make out our comment cards (on Celebrity) we were told that we could only have one per cabin, but Bob and I don't agree on everything so he went an got another one so he could fill out his own. When they called us up to ask if we had any other comments, I gave them another complaint about the port maps. I am unhappy to read that Diana Ball has been complaining about this for years. It would seem such a simple thing to fix. |
#9
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
They're free. It's like complaining about the Yellow Pages carrying
advertising. They're not free, they are included. Diana |
#10
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Royal Caribbean lectures?
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