Just Cruises Plus

Effective March 1^st, Royal Caribbean will begin adding tips to your ship board account.  Each day, you will see a $12 per person charge on your account.  All of the other cruise lines have been automatically adding tip for several years so Royal Caribbean is playing catch up here.  You are able to change the amount of the gratuities by visiting guest relations while on board.

What We Like About It

First, it insures that the staff are rewarded for good service.  Second, you don’t need to bring as much cash.

What We Don’t Like

We just returned from a Royal Caribbean cruise (before automatic tips).  We requested that the gratuities be added to our account.  When we did this on previous cruises, Royal Caribbean gave us a “chit” to place in envelopes which we gave to the appropriate staff.  Now they give you nothing except the envelopes which they say are for additional tips.

Frankly, I resent that.   When I asked why they didn’t provide “chits” for the envelopes, they said that it is to save paper.  I notice that they are not worried about paper when they are urging folks to go to the spa or bingo or the shoptalks, all moneymakers for them.  Royal Caribbean raised their recommended tip a whopping 23% since 2010 so you should not feel compelled to give additional tips.

While selecting the last minute promotions to post on our website, I noticed that some of the prices were pretty steep.  They didn’t seem to be much of a deal to me.  For example, I was struck by this week’s last minute “deal” for the Navigator of the Seas’ March 9^th sailing.  The last minute deal for a balcony is $1379.  That seemed pretty close to the regular price so I checked and confirmed that the last minute “deal” is only $70 less than the regular price.  Why?  Because the ship is very close to sold out and Royal Caribbean doesn’t need to fill many cabins, so they can offer a miniscule discount.  For the March 23^rd sailing, the price is a little lower at $1299, but still not much of a deal.

For the March 30^th sailing, the price drops to $999 for a balcony.  This represents a significant discount but it still did not beat the discount for Celebrity’s Reflection on March 9^th or the Silhouette on March 16^th.  They are both $749 for verandas.

Cost Per Day

I like to look at the cost per day to determine value.  The price for a balcony on most major cruise lines runs in the area of $200 per day.  This drops to about $150 per day during tropical storm season and through January (except for the holidays).  The verandas on the two Celebrity cruises mentioned above have a daily rate of $107.00 — an excellent rate.

If you really want to take advantage of a fantastic value and you need to catch up on your reading, take a transatlantic repositioning cruise.  On the Brilliance of the Seas, you can take a cruise from San Juan to Lisbon for $49.90 per day.  You’ll pay more for a Motel 6 room with meals at Burger King.

Wait Until Last Minute?

Do consider waiting for a last minute deal if you are flexible and looking for discounts.  Remember that the amount of the discount is correlated with the time of year that you cruise and the space left on the ship.

Don’t wait for a last minute deal if:

-You need a room for 3 or 4 people.
-You want to be mid-ship (so does everyone else).
-You have your heart set on a particular cruise.  Many cruises sell out and therefore do not offer last minute deals.

We update our website with a sample of last minute deals every week.  Feel free to check them out.

Heroes – The staff of the Carnival Triumph.  From all indications, the staff worked tirelessly to make the passengers as comfortable as possible even though they had to suffer the same privations as the passengers.

Heroes – The vast majority of passengers.  They made the best of a very difficult situation.  I experienced a multi-day power failure on the Norway and I can tell you that it’s no picnic to be on a ship with no air conditioning, limited bathroom facilities and cold food.

Goats – The news media who emphasized the negative and engaged in fear-mongering.  Their “news coverage” was an embarrassment to the profession.

Goats – Carnival Cruise Line management.  They have a lot of questions to answer.  My main question is…why do all of the major incidents happen to Carnival Corporation ships.  Two years ago the Carnival Splendor went dead in the water off the West Coast. Last year, the Costa Concordia (a Carnival subsidiary) went aground with loss of life.  Also last year, a Costa ship lost power in the Indian Ocean and had to be towed back to port.  And now we have another serious incident with a Carnival ship.

To Carnival Management…. Are your problems due to:

a) Poor ship design

b) Poor or deferred maintenance

c) Poorly trained technical crew

d) Bad luck

Carnival cruises are generally lower priced than their competitors.  Is this an example of “you get what you pay for”?

In response to the question we posed two weeks ago, the island that is known for its 365 beaches is Antigua.  Congratulations to Gina Nichols of Ambler, PA whose name was randomly selected from the 13 correct answers.

Antigua is located in the Southern Caribbean and is part of the Leeward chain of islands.  It is far more low key than the faster paced islands of St. Thomas and St. Martin.  It also has less rainfall than most of its neighbors.  The reason for the low rainfall is that its hills are not as high as those of its neighbors.

Long Bay - one of the many lovely beaches on Antigua

The effect is that it is a great place to enjoy days of sunshine on it’s many beautiful beaches.  Another effect is that, with less rainfall, they are not able to grow very much so much of their food comes form the nearby island of Dominica, where the mountains are higher and the rainfall greater.

Antigua is divided into 6 parishes – all named for saints. The largest is the colorful city of  St. John, which is literally steps from the cruise ship dock.

St. John, Antigua

While in Antigua on our cruise, we arranged for a private tour for four, independent of the cruise line, because it included more places and was less expensive.  During the tour, we passed through local villages on our way to Shirley Heights, where we got spectacular views of English Harbor and Nelson’s Dockyard.

View of English Harbor from Shirley Heights

We also drove through Indian Town to visit Devil’s Bridge, a natural bridge caused by hundreds of years of wave action.

Devil’s Bridge

Tourism is currently the largest contributor to Antigua’s economy.  The “high” season is November through April, when northerners are trying to escape the cold, but it is beautiful year-round.  There are some great resorts in Antigua, including Sandals.

If you visit Antigua, and you are looking for some quality local arts and crafts, you might spend some time in St. John, but the main attractions are the beaches and views from the country side.

This coming week, some of us from Just Cruises Plus are sailing out of Baltimore on a cruise to the Caribbean. One of the islands on our itinerary is said to have a beach for every day of the year.  What is the name of this island?

Contest Guidelines:

Responses to this question must be emailed to us by Thursday, February 14th.  Names of all respondents with the correct answer will be placed in a random drawing for a $25 gift card.

The winner of this week’s contest will be announced in two weeks.

Last week’s photo contest asked for the name of the village shown in this photo.  We provided two hints:  (1) It is located on an island in Europe, and (2) Two famous lovers stayed here — one a composer and the other a writer — in the winter of 1838/39.

Contest Photo 1/4/13 - Valldemossa

The name of the village is Valldemossa.  The winners of the contest and the $25 gift card are Matt and Rhoda Refsin of Huntingdon Valley, PA who were randomly selected from 11 correct responses.

Valldemossa is a tiny, quaint village nestled in the mountains of Majorca, one of the most beautiful of Spain’s Balearic Islands.  Its main landmark is a former Carthusian monastery built in the 14th century.  The main church is still in use but most of the monastery is now a museum.

The most famous guests of the former moastery, now known as the Royal Charterhouse of Valldemossa, were the Polish composer, Frederic Chopin and the French writer and early feminist, George Sands.   The particular room in which they stayed is a point of controversy. 

We loved our one-day visit to Valldemossa (and the Monastery) and recommend  a visit here  if your ship stops in Majorca.   Additional photos of the village and the monastery are below.

Valldemossa - a picturesque street.

An outdoor cafe in Valldemossa.

Valldemossa with a blanket of fog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

View of monastery gardens through glass door.

A third 250,000 ton behemoth will join the Oasis of the Seas and Allure of the Seas in 2016.  These ships are twice as wide as most passenger ships and therefore they can’t even dream of passing through the Panama Canal.  Royal Caribbean built a superstructure on each side of the ship.   Between the superstructures are “Central Park” (mid ship) and “Boardwalk “(aft).  The superstructures house all of the balconies, most of which face the ocean.  However you can get a balcony overlooking Central Park (quiet and not very interesting) or Boardwalk (where there is lots to see and HEAR).

The ships are truly amazing, which they need to be since the number of ports that they can visit is very limited.  Royal Caribbean built a port facility at Falmouth, Jamaica just to handle these giants.  With a zip line, ice skating rink, rock climbing walls (2) and flowriders (2), the ships are a dream-come-true for young people.  Mature folks are not forgotten either — the very professional broadway shows, water shows and late-night comedy are a must see and are included with your ticket.

With over 5,000 people, one would think that getting aboard the ships would be a nightmare – not true.  We were on the Allure in less than 15 minutes of entering the terminal.  Congratulations to Royal Caribbean on their people moving skills. 

From our viewpoint, they got everything right – almost.  If you like to commune with the sea, be sure to get an oceanview balcony.  There is no “Promenade” and, for the most part, much of the outdoor space is directed inward (between the superstructures).    There are two jogging tracks which face the ocean but without a balcony, you would have to actively search for a spot with a clear view of the ocean.

Last week, we asked for your opinion on Royal Caribbean’s new beverage packages.  We got some serious responses as well as humorous ones   A large majority of respondents would not buy the packages, in most cases because their drinking habits are moderate.  Some felt that having a liquor package might encourage irresponsible drinking behavior.

Based on the price of drinks on Royal Caribbean ships, the break even point would be about five drinks per day.    While a ship is at sea, this might not be too hard to do.  However, when your ship is at a port and you are off the ship, you might have a hard time breaking even.

If you enjoy alcoholic beverages these packages could be a good deal.  However, plan to spend your non-drinking time in the gym because that is a heck of a lot of calories you are consuming.

We completely agree with those who were outraged by Royal Caribbean insistence that if one person in the cabin purchases a package, everyone over 21 years must also buy it.

Of those who responded, Malachy Chodorov of Warwick,PA was randomly selected to win a $25 gift card.

Last Wednesday, Royal Caribbean announced  two new all-inclusive beverage packages.  The classic package is $45 per person per day.  That adds up to $315 for a seven day cruise.  This gets you all the beer and house wines you can drink plus free sodas and juices.  The Premium package is $55 per person per day or $$385 for a week’s cruise.  You get the beer, wine, soda and juices plus frozen drinks and cocktails using premium brands.  There’s a big catch however.  If any person in the cabin buys the package, everyone (over 21) in that cabin must also buy the package.

They have rolled these beverage packages out on 13 of the 22 ships in the Royal Caribbean fleet.  What do you think?  Will people buy them?  Email us with your opinion by this Thursday, December 20th and we will enter you into this week’s $25 gift card drawing.

The winner of this week’s contest will be announced next week.

Celebrity Reflection

Last week’s trivia question was a tough one which may have required a bit of research for some of you.  The question was:  “Celebrity Reflection has four godmothers.  What do they have in common?”  Either of the following qualifies as the correct answer:

– They are all employees of Celebrity or Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (Celebrity’s parent company), or;

– Either they or someone in their immediate family is a breast cancer survivor.

Congratulations to our $25 gift card winner,  Marv Dubin of Blue Bell, PA, whose name was selected from the 8 correct responses.

The breast cancer cause is one that has been adopted across the Celebrity brand, according to Richard Fain, Chariman of Celebrity Cruises and Chariman & CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.  Celebrity Cruises’ support of the cause began in 2008 with an event on Celebrity Solstice to raise funds for breast cancer screengs for low-income women.  Since then, Celebrity has shown it’s support through multiple other initiatives, both outside of and on board Celebrity ships. 

Of the four employee godmothers, two can be found aboard Celebrity ships.  Megan Mathie is a glassblowing artist who has been aboard Celebrity Eclipse and Celebrity Solstice.  In honor of her mother and sister, both breast cancer survivors, on every cruise she and her team host a “Hot Pink Glass Show” where she shares her story with her audience and through her art.  Javanka Goronjic, whose mother is a breast cancer survivor, was AquaSpa Manager aboard Celebrity Constellation before joining Celebrity Reflection for the inaugural sail. In a tribute to her mother, Jovanka donated her hair for the creation of wigs for cancer patients.