Crusing facts

[happy daze john in oz]

Just returned from my second ten day cruise with Royal Caribbean International on the Rhapsody of the Seas. My last voyage was back in November 2008 and there have been a few changes since then.
The cruise up to New Caledonia was good though weather was a bit of a mixed bag with some heavy seas resulting in 'Huey' calling bags being strategically placed along the companionways. We were scheduled for five ports of call but only managed four. We had been going to Mystery Island, an uninhabited island, to anchor in the lagoon and be tendered ashore. On arrival early morning there was a 35 knot south easterly blowing and four to five meter swells. The ship was all over the place like a mad womans knickers and after two attempts the venture was aborted. The island still remains a mystery. Back on the open sea in similar conditions the ship sailed very well with little pitching or rolling. The skipper came on the PA and apologized for not being able to get into the lagoon, admitting that the modern day cruise ships do not handle strong winds close to land and had he continued there was the chance of running aground on the reef. He said that up to 25 knots they are alright and can cope with seas such as we had, but the size of the superstructure on modern ships is such that they act as a sail. The remainder of the cruise was very good. If anything since the last one the company has improved the service and variety of food and entertainment offered.

We have now sailed with three cruise companies here in Oz and all have some very significant differences.

Poor and 'Orrible (P&O) have the worst reputation of any cruise company operating in Oz, the more people I meet on ships the more horror stories I hear about them. Company policy on gratuities is you pay the stated amount unless you sign a waiver. A refrigerator in every cabin but no alcohol to be brought on board, no beverage making facilities in the cabin, but an iron may be brought on. The food and general service is well below that of some second class restaurants and the entertainment, you would get better in the local club at home. One cruise for us was one too many.

Princess Cruise Line. Now the third largest cruise line with 17 ships and two on order. Those of you who remember the T.V. show the Love boat will be familiar with this company. Their first ship, 'Sea Witch' was the ship used in the series. In the cabin a refrigerator but no beverage making facilities though you are permitted to bring on board a thermostatically controlled hot jug and iron. You are also allowed one bottle of wine per person to be brought on for personal use at the port of embarkation. There is no limit on the size so a Two litre bottle is allowed. This is the only company I know of that allow this. On Oz cruises there are no compulsory gratuities, it is left to the individual to tip if they see fit. The food and general service is some of the best you will find anywhere, and the entertainment first Class. Many of the on board shows include international acts. A company that does all it can to make the cruise a memorable one.

Royal Caribbean, second largest cruise line. In the cabin no refrigerator though for a fee one can be supplied. No alcohol to be brought on board but beverage making facilities in all cabins but no irons allowed. Gratuities are a bit of a mixed bag added work as follows. If you book on line directly with the company then gratuities are automatically included in the fare. If however you are a member of their 'Crown and Anchor' club, which anyone can join after one cruise, you will then get a $250 credit to your cabin and this sum is taken off you final account. If you book with a travel agent then no gratuities are added. However you will be encouraged to pay them at the end of the voyage. On the final night ALL cabins are given four enveloped duly marked, Cabin Steward, Head Waiter, waiter Assistant waiter. The recommended rate and the one charged if you book on line is, Cabin Steward $3.50 per person per day, Head Waiter $2, Waiter $3.50, Assistant waiter $3.00. There is no charge for the wine steward as ALL alcohol purchases include a 15% gratuity. For those who have pre-paid one credit note per passenger is supplied, these you place in the various envelopes prior to handing them over. The crew member then hands them over to the purser and their bank account is duly credited with the amount. For our ten day cruise the cabin steward got $70, the head waiter $40, the waiter $70 and the assistant $60. The wine waiter got heaps, as did the bar crew!

One morning I happened to meet with the staff Capitan while having a coffee, he was quite amazed that I knew what a staff captain was saying I was the only passenger he had ever met who knew about the role. All others though he was the captain of the staff. During our conversation he made the point of saying that there was a lot of false information about crew and their conditions. I explained that much of this I had spoken off with the Sous chef on my previous cruise with them. On the second last day of each cruise there is an information session with the skipper, staff captain, chief engineer, chief officer and a number of senior officers in the main theater, it includes a Q&A session as well.
I attended to see what was on offer this time, it was very informative. The company recruits from all over the globe and holds employment seminars in many countries during the year. Those selected for employment are then sent for an extensive company training session, if they prove worthy they are then offered employment. Employment contracts are for six months at the end of which the company pays the air fare Home and they can one or two months unpaid leave. If they wish to rerun they are give a date time and place. They are only allowed two hours grace on this and if not there within this limit their contract is terminated. Crew have to pay their own way to this point. On this ship there were crew from 57 different countries. Total crew numbers 740 for a passenger number of 2400. A ratio of 3.2 compared with one of 1.88 when on UCL all those years ago.

Crew facilities are excellent with the majority in two berth cabins, those for married couple have an en-suite the rest use the communal facilities. They have an INTERNET café so they can keep in touch with family and friend. We were shown details of the Pig and Crew Mess would put some shore facilities to shame they are so good. On deck four aft they have an open deck space where they can have B-B-Q, dance nights and they also have two gyms.
Many of the crew are long term employees who speak very highly of the company. All crew including officers have to care for themselves, there are no peak stewards or officers stewards, and no Tiger.

I got on very well with the dinning saloon crew and they were keen to compare times and conditions with me. The hours of work are of some concern I believe though the rates of pay are far better than we are lead to believe and the skipper touched briefly on this in his talk. There is a company policy on the maximum number of hours any crew member can work in any one day and there is overtime. The maximum hours are as follows,
Waiters, assistant waiters, wine waiters, 14 hours per day.
Cabin attendants 11 hours.
Bar staff 12.
Cleaning, laundry, general maintenance 12 hours. The laundry operates 24/7
Galley between 11 and 13 depending on their rank.
Junior gold braid that is, Restaurant managers, entertainment officers, assistant pursers and any others 12 hours.
Senior officers still do the 4 hours on 8 off but are expected to do about 10 hours per day.
All gold braid get some form of leave pay with the skipper doing ten weeks on , ten Weeks off all on full pay.

Now to the rates of pay, can only comment on the waiters as they were the only ones who told me what they earn. For a waiter $500 per month, yes $500 not $50 as some tell us. Assistant waiter $400 per month.
So with gratuities they can earn a very good living and that is why some stay so long, Benjamin a giant of a man from Grenada has been with them almost 15 years.
Once they have worked 331 hours for the month they are then entitled to overtime paid for all hours over ten per day for the rest of the month. Which means they can have about 7 days with overtime per month.
$500 may sound a bit high to many but consider this. It amounts to only $6000 per year. Some cabins with balconies can cost as much as $5000 per person for a ten day cruise.

The standard of food and general service is some of the best you will find anywhere. The evening shows have international acts and on this ship there were five different musical outlets to enjoy. For those of you who have not cruised but are thinking of it I highly recommend Royal Caribbean.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi John
Yet another good account of your Trip,as always you do give so much nice info on what goes on these days!
A lot different from the old times i must say!
I was looking at the TV last Eveningand saw the Oasis of the Sea ,another huge Passenger Ship,now i think the largest ever! Wonder what a trip on her would set one back!
But still for me,the old ones were more enjoyable ,at least you could feel you were at Sea !
But they do seem to make their Money nowdays with all these massive Ships,so they must be doing something corect!
Cheers and thanks again !

http://twistedsifter.com/2009/11/oas...t-cruise-ship/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MS_Oasis_of_the_Seas

[Captain Kong]

I arrived home last week from 30 days onboard the ROTTERDAM. Holland America Line.
The itinery was great to islands I never knew excisted in the Marqueses, Tuomotu, Tahitian and Kiribati and the Cooks. Also the Hawaiians.
The accommodation and the public rooms were well aoppointed. She is not one of the big giants, only 1300 bloods,
The passengers were made up of Big Fat Americans, " what do Americans eat???. EVERYTHING "
They should have been charged more for the extra tonnage and the stores they eat.
A lot of Germans, who were up to their old tricks, by getting up in the early hiours and grabbing all the sun beds around the pool, placing towells, books and items of clothing on them to reserve them then going back to bed. I never sat on one in 30 days. Ignorant gits.
there were only a few Brits and a few more Canadians who were ex Brits, they were good company and we all stuck together.
I was not impressed by the catering, food was indifferent, service in the dining room was again indifferent, I guess that is why they pay the Indonesians $50 a month. That is all they were worth.
Cunard Queens have the best catering, service and quality of meals, very elegant and professional.
Another annoying feature was the early morning keep fit fanatics who start jogging and galloping around the promenade deck, which was just above my bunk, like a herd of wilderbeasts. They started at 5 am and the noise increased as the time went on. Many complaints to the Pursers staff and the hotel manager went unheeded.
I went up there at 5.30 am one morning and scattered them, all I was ANGRY. I chased them all over the deck, with a few choice words in seafaring language. but next morning was the same, eventually I got some ear plugs off an engineer and it wasnt too bad.
In my cabin, every night was a Loud banging, boom boom, at two minute intervals, I could not find the source of this, The bulkhead shook and with each bang. I had the hotel Staff, the Pursers staff in my cabin but no one could trace the source, I went down into the engine spaces to investigate and met the Chief Officer there, What are you doing down here. passengers are not allowed. I told him I was a retired Master and as no one would find the source of the noise I was investigating myself. He came to my cabin and the noise was diabolical. He said he would try to solve it. 25 days later they still could not find the source of the noise.
Meanwhile I got a $1,000 upgrade, to the deck underneath the prom deck with all the keep fit loonies galloping around.
In Hawaii I bought a bottle of gin, at the gangway they searched my bag and it was confiscated. I got it back at the end of the trip. Now what gives these people the right to do this?.
I go on the old Queen Mary quite regularly, not once have I been searched. I go into hotels and not once have I ever been searched. These cruise ships are only floating hotels so what is the difference.
last time I went on a cruise, on the Minerva, Swan Hellenic, to the Antarctic, I was never searched. I enjoy a tot at the end of the day. Again on the Minerva on the Antarctic run there is a free bar with no limits.
Also I sailed home from Fremantle to Liverpool on the Funchal, a Portugese ship. I had a few mates with me, we took several cartons of wine, and gin, rum and whisky bottles for the 38 day trip. My cabin was used by six of us for a drink before dinner. very nice.
The Chief Officer who I met in the Engine room later took me on the bridge to show me around. She was a bit old fashioned but had the lastest NASCAR gear there.
On Cunard I never had one bottle confiscated in eight voyages.
I would not sail with Holland America again.

[John Rogers]

Thanks for you informative post John. The wife and I have been making two cruises a year and after the first two we have always taken Holland America,for Europe River cruises we take Grand Circle,also an outstanding company with great crew and food. We will be on our14 Th cruise with Holland America this year and we plan to stay with them until all the kids inheritance habeen spent or we run out of plastic.


Happy Sailing.
John

[happy daze john in oz]

Captain Kong, I know what you mean about the antics of some bloods sorry to hear you did not have such a good voyage. I agrre about the food, for some it is an olympic sport, higher, wider, bigger. But I have found with both Princess and Royal Caribbean that the quality of passenger has been good with very few problems. Had the Germans done that with R.C. they would have discovered the towels had been removed, this company is very firm on the issue of seat reservations in any part of the ship. Their policy is that the facilities are for all on a first come first served basis.
Cunard I know rely on a different clientage to some of the cruise lines and no doubt pay a better rate than others.

[Captain Kong]

Hi HD John,
I did have a good voyage because of the Run. I went to see the islands as they are off the usual track and it was the only way to see them and for that I was very pleased and glad that I did it, I saw things and places I have never seen before after a lifetime at sea, magic,
I have just found out after making the voyage to see old friends out there who never showed up, on Rarotonga, Tahiti and Moorea, The Rotterdam had done the same voyage again just before I did and they all came down to the ship to see me and not being there they thought I wasnt coming. Communications with these lads in the islands is not the best. I will have to wait two years before I can do it again. Next February I am booked on Cunards Queen Elizabeth to San Fransisco, Pago Pago , Fiji, NZ coast and Melbourne and Sydney, from there it will be to Alice, the Rock and across to Perth then Singapore.
It was only the service and certain types of passengers that get up yer nose. But if you go on a cruise ship you will always find them and after 30 days of seeing the same animals performing it is a bit too much. There were people there in wheel chairs so fat their legs could not support their weight wanting and shouting for more food. "One young lady around 20 years old, in a wheel chair, she must have been thirty stones or over 400 pounds shouting all day "Mommy, I`m hungry, I want more burgers". after eating her way through several plates of them. Mommy was almost as big. Pigs. The sizes of these pigs were unbelievable.
In Cunard you have a different class of people, they are more elegant and better behaved.
I dont like to spend several thousand dollars to eat with the animals I saw on the Rotterdam.

[Graham Payne]

John, thanks mate will try R.C next time, the food on P&O not so good nowadays and suppliments payable on the "White Room", " Rhodes" and " Sindu" restraunt's etc etc.

[Glan Phillips]

Hi Brian......just a brief comment on your last post. The years that I spent on cruise ships sailing out of Florida ports, I saw more than my share of passengers with body type...."few extra pounds"....thats putting it politely !....Stuffed themselves, and I mean STUFFED, at breakfast, lunch, dinner and never missed the 'midnight buffet'. Some schedules we departed at 8am, bound for the Bahamas, if there was a strong Northerly wind the Gulf Stream could be nasty.....never fear, they would dig into breakfast as if it was their last meal.......then be observed "looking for HUEY"......but, returned again to replenish what had gone over the side !
I cannot figure out why people taking a cruise would want to go jogging around the bloody ship at 6am in the morning, followed by hours in the ships fitness centre....oh, and also 'rock climbing'.
Maybe they were from another planet where none of those facilities existed shoreside !
I was fairly lucky apart from one vessel where my quarters were situated directly above one of the main show lounges......the show was a very loud Brazilian theme, my deck would rumble and vibrate throughout their performance, fortunatly it ended at 11pm.
After a week or so I considered myself fully qualified and capable of becoming part of the show, full knowledge of the songs and dance routine !!!
Best of luck on your future cruises.

Cheers....Glan

[happy daze john in oz]

John, thanks mate will try R.C next time, the food on P&O not so good nowadays and suppliments payable on the "White Room", " Rhodes" and " Sindu" restraunt's etc etc.

Graham mate I thinbk you will enjoy them. I also highly reccomend Princess Cruise as well, there is noit a lot to choose between the two and you do not get to second and third largest and best unless you are good and these are very good. Hope you do not leave it too long before you go again and enjoy.

[Captain Kong]

If you are thinking of a cruise, Do your research before you book anything. Where do you want to go to??? make a lists of all places you never went to or a list of all the places you want to go back to, but be careful of feeling sad because it is not the same anymore, I went back to B.A. two years ago, and all the bars I knew on the 25th May street, viente cinco de mayo calle. all gone, not one bar from the old days there, No Texas Bar, No Marina Bar, No lighthouse Bar , No May Sullivans Bar.,etc All gone, only shops and banks. Montevideo, All gone, except for California Bar, closed and up for sale, se vende, Calleo, Nothing left. There are no sailor bars left, all gone, no sailors go ashore now like we did. they are in for a few hours on a container ship. so bars closed. I nearly wept.
So check out where and why you want to go.
I have just done a good one on the Rotterdam, to all the Polynesian Islands, some I have never even heard of, fascinating and would do it again. The ship was OK not too big,1,300, but the service not as good as Cunard. again if you have never sailed Cunard you would not notice, but the itinery cancelled that. I saw and went to places I had always wanted to and so was happy.
I did a realy good one two years ago, on the Minerva, 200 passengers, Swan Hellenic to the Antarctic, a lovely small ship and the places we went to were completely fascinating. Landing in zodiacs in the Antarctic was realy something, all the mountains covered in ice and huge icebergs everywhere, free parkas you keep. surrounded by the Seals, Elephant seals and millions of emperor penguins. Keep out of the way of the Elephant seals, they get a little agressive if you go near their cows, I found that out when one chased me breaking my shoulder bones and ligaments, We followed in the footsteps of Shackleton. Half Moon Bay, Deception Island, Elephant Island, South Georgia and Shackletons grave with a tot of hot Rum, then out to the loneliest island on the Planet, Tristan da Cunha with only 290 residents and one pub. No ships or planes go there, then on to Cape Town. 35 days well spent.
Cruising has given me the chance to see places a lifetime of seafaring could never do.
Chose your ship wisely. Do you realy want to climb up the back of the funnel now called a wall, or surf board ride in a pool. Can you imagine, 3000 people want to climb the wall today, or 3000 people want to surf board ride in the pool, It would be chaos. It doesnt show that on the Ads.
Do you fancy your chances on a ship of 5000 plus 2,000 crew if there is a massive boiler room explosion and the allyways are blocked by Big Fat ladies screaming. ?
So chose what suits you the best, How long do you want to go for?? is another one. I always choose long ones, from three to eight weeks. makes it worth while going.
Check out the accommodation
Where is your cabin going to be?. is it underneath the prom deck where you have all the keep fit loonies galloping over your deck head like a herd of wilderbeasts at 5 am.and you have just had a late night until after midnight. or is it under a galley. Clanging steel dishes on steel work surfaces at two in the morning after the late suppers. and again at five am when they start the early breakfasts.
I had that one on QE2, FOR 48 DAYS, no sleep, We got a £3000 credit note for that one.
Check your itinery Do you want to be in port every day, island to island, one port the same as the last one. You have paid for the services of the ship, in port you dont get it, ashore all day, buying your own lunch etc.or do you want several days at sea between ports so you can use all the facilities on the ship that you have paid for and get into a daily routine??

Think about it, then Enjoy.
Cheers
Brian.