Cruisemates Blog » Kuki

A Growing Trend In Caribbean Cruising?

Kuki — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 06:47:52 +0000

Winter comes and cruisers minds turn to escaping to the warmth of the Caribbean. That statement has been true for many years, and continues to be true.

The cruise lines continue to bring the majority of their fleets to sail Caribbean itineraries during the winter months, and they continue to sail full, even with the growing numbers of ships in those fleets.

Almost every day multiple ships are tying up at piers or anchoring off of small islands throughout the Caribbean, delivering thousands of people to the area. However, there seems to be a growing tide; cruise ship passengers staying onboard during ports of call rather than touring the islands and booking other excursions.

It used to be, if you happened to stay on board the ship while in port, you were pretty much the only ones on board other than crew who were working.

These days it seems many more people are no longer cruising to visit the islands. The growing primary intent seems to be to enjoy the warmth of the Caribbean, but not the islands. A growing preference to simply enjoy it while staying on the ship. In addition there are more people who may disembark the ship in port for only a couple of hours; long enough to do a bit of shopping, and head back to the ship before lunch.

There is most likely a variety of reasons these people are deciding to stay on the ship , or quickly return to the ship.

- One reason may be the fact these often small islands are being flooded with tourists. With multiple ships in port, many days the ships are dropping 10,000 -12,000 passengers onto an island where the infrastucture is incapapble of handling the crowds well.

- There is a segment of cruisers who cruise only in the Caribbean; some of this is due to the move to homeport cruising and their desire to avoid flying anywhere.

After multiple visits to the same islands, these people take a “been there, done that” attitude, and choose to remain on the ship.

- Another segment feel that since they have already pre–paid their food costs in their cruise fare, and therefore, even if they leave the ship for a short time, they should return to the ship by meal time, rather than pay extra for food in the islands.

- Over recent years the cruise line’s newer ship have added amenities and activities which make them more like land based resorts; adding water parks, flow riders, even ziplines, and rope courses. Making many of the activities available in the island port redundant in the minds of many cruisers.

The type of people who enjoy resort vacations, and land based all-inclusives, are very likely never to leave the property. That same attitude is becoming more common place on cruise ships.

There’s also the segment of cruisers who would prefer the ship simply sailed out, and spent the entire length of the cruise at sea; enjoying lanquid days floating about. With the excpetion of “special” short voyages to introduce a ship (normally tied to some sort of charity event) cruises to nowhere are not allowed under American law. This results in those people who would prefer cruises to nowhere making them that by ignoring the fact the ship is docked or at anchor at an island.

It is more likely that it’s those people who are repeat cruisers who are choosing to stay on board more often. I think it’s likely first time cruisers will spend their days off of the ship.

No doubt there’s other reasons that this trend is growing, which I haven’t thought of, which our readers can add.

Are you one of the group more likely to stay on your ship while it’s in port, or will you make certain you are off of the ship, to experience as much of every island that you can?

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

Should Cruise Pricing Be Transparent?

Kuki — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 06:58:19 +0000

On Jan. 26, 2012, in the United States, it became law that in the interests of public transparency, airlines publish pricing which includes all taxes.

This law allows the people searching for airfares to see the total costs, rather than the airlines promoting seemingly low fares,only for the consumer to find the actual total cost to be considerably higher.

From the consumers point of view, I imagine most of us would like to see cruise pricing handled in the same way.

The situation with the manner in which cruise pricing is presented and promoted has improved in recent years.

In the past, cruise pricing was more complex. When you saw an advertised cruise price, and it interested you, once you called to book, you’d find the advertised price did not include port charges or government taxes ,then referred to as non-commissionable costs. The term non-commissionable costs was really just important to travel agents, as it meant they weren’t being paid a commission of that portion of the total cruise fare their customers were paying.

Customers thought the “port charges” portion of the fare referred to the costs cruise lines were being charged by the ports of call they were visiting, but to the cruise lines it became a vessel to dump all sorts of costs of their operations into, to eliminate paying their travel agent partners commissions on those costs.

At this time, however, most cruise lines are publishing and advertising fares which include the port charges. Most also require the travel agents they work with to advertise their fares the same way. But, they also state “government fees and taxes are additional”. Thus the advertised price you might see is still not truly your final cost as a consumer.

Now that the U.S. airlines have been forced to offer prices inclusive of taxes, one might think the cruise lines should follow suit. As I stated, as consumers of the cruise product we’d all like to see or hear the “bottom line” when asking for a quote on a cruise.

As this new law took effect, a member of the House of Representatives is already presenting legislation to repeal the law, and several airlines have filed suit in Federal Court on constitutional grounds.

I have no thoughts on the constitutionality of the law, but frankly I believe there is some seemingly reasonable concern to their objections to the law.

Their argument is this law requires the taxes to be hidden in the costs of the ticket, and those taxes could be increased by the government, without the customer knowing the increase in the fares was due to the tax increase. At initial glance, that does seem like a reasonable objection.

There seems to be a simple solution. Why can’t they advertise the total price, adding… this fare includes taxes of ”$X” ? As could the cruise lines simply reverse their description; rather than saying the price does not include government fees and taxes, they could say… this fare includes government fees and taxes of “$X”.

However, like most things in life, nothing is that simple.

In pretty much every other thing consumers purchase government fees and taxes are not included in the advertised price. When shopping in department stores the price tags do not include taxes; when eating in a restaurant the menu pricing does not include taxes; when purchasing an automobile the price tag does not include taxes; when booking a hotel room the price does not include taxes.

Basically the full price of your purchase does not appear until you are paying, or about to decide to pay. Why do we expect the airline (and possibly cruise) business to be different?

Simple – because it would be more convenient.

As you can see, the issue is complex enough that I can have a pretty good arguement with myself. What do you think?

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

The Service Dilemma; Under-trained Staff & Under-trained Cruisers

Kuki — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 22:36:35 +0000

Note : This blog post (below) was written prior to the Costa Corcordia tragedy, and originally intended to run last week. I held it back a week because I felt I had to consider what, if any, hand the general topic of the blog could have had during the Concordia incident.

As the cruise industry has grown, and spread it’s ships throughout the word, it is my hypothesis that a new problem has shown up; lack of training.

On the “mass market contemporary” cruise lines, some cruise lines are even leaving the training of their service staff to outside contracted companies, followed by further training once they are on board in their working environments.

At the same time, other than the luxury lines, the cruise lines have cut back on the ratios of staff members to paying passnegers. Combining the factors of lack of advance training, with the larger numbers of passengers they are expected to service, in my view has led to drop in almost all levels of service. All of this further affected by the ever growing demand for staff to man the growing fleets.

It’s not that the service staff aren’t doing their utmost in an effort to please the passengers (and their employers), but it seems the processes are sort of set up to lead them to being unable to succeed in delivering a level of service once commonplace.

Add untrained passengers to the mix, and it rather naturally leads to some levels of dissatisfaction by everyone concerned.

I’m not suggesting passengers should be required to take classes to learn what is expected of them as a passenger, or what they should have a right to expect from their service staff as a passenger.

However, there are so many resources, like CruiseMates.com available for cruise passengers to familiarize themselves with cruising, ports of call they are going to visit, finances involved, dress, and shipboard activities. Yet, like cruising itself, where a small percentage of the population even goes on a cruise, the percentage of those who do cruise but do so with no effort to learn about what they are getting themselves into is also disproptionally high.

I’d guess the percentage of cruisers researching is similar to the percentage of people who cruise vs those who don’t. And, in some cases, those who take the time to “study” may end up at some sites, where the “experts” turn out to be vitriolic and annoyed by questions, or when their responses are questioned. The amount of misinformation passed around on some sites only adds to the problem; not dissimilar to when service staff aren’t trained properly.

It’s an odd phenomena, as the cruise lines have been doing quite an admirable job of designing and engineering gorgeous ship, filled with an ever growing list of amenties, as well as upgrading the entertainment and dining choices on their ships. Yet, as they improve in the areas they are directing their concentration to, they seem to slip in other areas; unable to keep the entire package to equal standards.

At least training service staff could be managed with much more dedicated training. I’m unsure of exactly how they go about training the passengers better, but certainly the travel agents should take that responsibility more seriously, rather than concentrating only on the sale.

That was the extent of the blog I had intended to publish last week. Now with the Concordia event of Fri 13th I find I must add some thoughts in relation to the Costa Concordia incident.

I have to admit I do feel as if the situation of under-trained staff (in all areas, not just service staff– which was the part of the equation I originally chose to address in the blog) does allow for the possibility that the cruise ship environment is perhaps not as safe as those of us in the industry wish to believe it is.

Perhaps those of us who are historically supportive of the cruise industry have minimized some of the previous safety “incidents” as anecdotal, which could have done as much disservice to the industry and our readers, as those who have historically been, and continue to be, overly critical , and sometimes sensationalistic, with their negative commentary of the industry.

In the aftermath of this terrible tragedy, which certainly leaves a mightmarish image in our minds after viewing pictures and video of a modern cruise ship laying on her side, we should at least be considering and discussing what actions should be taken to improve the safety on board for both passengers and crew.

That thought leads me back to my premise in the original blog I wrote and delayed publishing; better training and much improved information sharing is essential for both crew and passengers!

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

The Cruise Cult

Kuki — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:52:41 +0000

I originally wrote a blog on a different topic for today, but due to the tragic events involving the Costa Concordia this past week, I’ve chosen to lighten the subject matter of my blog this week.

So, let’s talk about the “Cruise Cult”.

I think it would most certainly be wrong to have thousands of members of the cult, dressed in plaid shorts, sandles, and loud Hawaiian shirts, adhorned with 3 cameras hanging around their necks, standing at airport entrances, attempting to hand out cruise brochures to everyone entering an airport terminal.

That’s so “been done” by previous cultists.

The cruise lines themselves do a reasonably good job of promoting their industry, but they don’t really seem to account for the atitude of the true cultists; those amongst us who revere a cruise above any other vacation; those of us whose minds turn to thoughts of rebellion, when even a family member suggests an alternate form of vacation.

Those of us truly devoted to cruising must come up with a strategy built for the 21 st centry to enable us to bring the millions of the uninitiated into the fold.

Last centuries strategy of extoling the virtues of food being available 24/7 to the percentage of the population already overweight proved effective for it’s time.The incredible momentum by the cruise lines of late to paint a cruise as an ultimate family vacation, leaves the door wide open for the truly dedicated to reel in the converts by telling them the truth about a cruise as a family vacation.

To hook em you don’t want to be telling them about all the great family” together time” they’re going to have on a ship. For “today’s parent” you want to stress how much time they can enjoy away from their children on a ship; how they are free to lay all of the responsibility for their children’s enjoyment and actions (and blame) on the ship’s youth counselors.

Today’s society is as selfindulgent as any in history, so it’s particularly easy to convert people to cruising by pointing out that nearly any selfindulgent activity they enjoy on land is available on a cruise ship.

To those who were part of the “Theme Park Cult”, it’s easy to point out that many of today’s contemporary ships pretty much have a version of their theme park favorites on ships. On various ships now, everything from surfing on flow-riders, ziplinng, waterparks, and state fair style candies and foods can be found if they pick the right ship.

These days many well known contemporary entertainers are being showcased on ships. And it’s easy to point out to the enetertainment buffs that booking a cabin immediately below or above a showroom will allow them to hear their favorite acts multiple times without ever entering the showroom.

There truly is a multitude of ways to draw people who, until now have refused to cruise. But we should realize the unintended consequence of our actons; the more people we draw into our world of cruising, the higher the demand; the higher the price goes.

As a result of our success, drawing people into the cult we may make it too costly for us to indulge our own addiction.

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

The Very Best CruiseMates Group Cruise Yet

Kuki — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:59:44 +0000

Over the years we’ve had quite a number of CruiseMates Group Cruises. They’re all great fun because of the comraderie, and the fun events that the host and groups organize. However, I believe the very best group cruise yet is coming up in 2012.

It’s going to be a breeze… on the brand new Carnival Breeze. What is really going to set this group cruise apart is the absolutely fabulous itinerary we’ve chosen. Though the itinerary is unique, the ship is sailing from (and returning to) Barcelona, Spain; making air connections to and from relatively painless.

12 nights on the ship, plus a complimentary overnight pre-cruise stay in Barcelona, included in the cruise fares… which start at just over $100/night/per person.

The fun begins June 26, 2012. From Barcelona the group will sail to Marseilles, France, then on to Livorno, Italy – for Florence, Pisa, or a day trip through the Tuscan region; from there the ship will head to Civitavechia (Rome), but on this itinerary the ship will actually overnight, making it possible for those who wish, to overnight in Rome, to have two full days to see all there is to see Rome.

After Rome the group gets to visit one of the hidden gems of the region, Dubrovnik, Croatia, and then sail on Venice, Italy, where once again the group will get to enjoy a rare overnight stay, enabling time for a true exploration of this magical city.

Once you’ve explored all the nooks and crannies of Venice, you set sail for Messina, Italy (Sicily) where the variety of tours are almost endless.

This group is being hosted by top of the heap, CruiseMates Community Leader and all round incredible guy, Mike Mastellar, and his lovely wife Betty. We couldn’t have chosen better hosts for this European jaunt. Mike and Betty will be arranging some optional private tours, as well as CruiseMates group activities onboard… and the participants from CruiseMates are going to absolutely love cruising with them, and benefit from their knowledge of the areas you’re sailing to.

By the way, aside from the complimentary hotel night in Barcelona, members of the group will enjoy a complimentary dinner in the ship’s specialty Steak House, as well as a complimentary cocktail party!

The link to review all the fabulous details of this group cruise, and booking information is right here…http://www.cruisemates.com/articles/CMcruise/Breeze2012.cfm

Book now to join the group!! It’s a BREEZE!

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

Compromise Is Necessary To Cruise

Kuki — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 06:52:43 +0000

People who have cruised previously are quite likely the #1 reason new people choose to cruise for the first time.

Whether it’s family members pushing you to join them, or friends, or people in your work place, raving about how superb their cruises were, that’s likely the reason you set out on your first cruise.

As devotees to the cruise vacation, we all understand, and brag about the great value in choosing a cruise for our vacations. And I have to admit cruising is addictive to a great many of the people who try it. On every ship sailing these days, there is almost always a large percentage of passengers who are repeat cruisers. There are many good reasons that people do “fall in love” with cruising, and stick with it, at the expense of other vacation choices.

But even the most ardent cruiser has to admit that there are areas we must comprise in, from our inner visions of what makes an ideal vacation.

The number ONE thing we comprise on is space. One is required to book into some of the ship’s highest categories of available accommodation in order to get a cabin that is at least as large as a standard 3 star hotel room. Typical accommodations on ships range from 150 to 250 sq. ft. of space. And that space includes the washroom/toilet area, closet space, seating area (if there is one), and bed (or beds). Without stepping up to the more expensive suite categories, the actual available “living area” can easily be as little as 100 – 150 sq. ft.

Admittedly, it is magical just how well designed these cabins are, with incredibly efficient use of space. Yet, it would be foolish to not admit we’re compromising desired space, for the value other aspects of the cruise can offer to make up for it.

It’s not just in the cabins where we comprise on loss of space. No matter how many times I hear people say or write that they never felt crowded on a ship, with the possible exception of the smaller luxury cruise lines, I simply do not believe it. It is the degree of crowding that one is willing to accept as being crowded (or non crowded) that matters. It is a matter of how much you’re willing to compromise to realize tolerable crowding.

The thing to realize before you even go on a cruise, on a contemporary ship, is you are sharing a finite amount of space on a ship, with anywhere from 1000 to 6000 other bodies. You may certainly find the occasional empty lounge to sit, relax, and have a drink in. But once you head to some of the more popular pubic venues on board; like the showroom, comedy club, etc.you’re going to encounter some crowding to accept and deal with. I’m certainly not trying to say that these issues are intolerable, or even uncomfortable, but I do think understanding they exist as a reality on board will lead people to have more realistic expectations of “the package” that is a part of a cruise vacation.

Crowding, in some form or other, should be expected when boarding a ship, either when first embarking on your voyage, as well as boarding and disembarking in both ports of call, and at the end of the cruise.

Number TWO on my list is the variances in cuisine and culinary expectations, from the reality. The availability of food on board is never an issue. The image of a cornucopia of food available is a true one. On most ships food is available 24/7. However, through media advertising and word of mouth, it is easy to believe that dining on board is always a state of fine dining, where you can indulge in perfectly prepared foods at every meal.

While there are on occasion perfectly prepared, delicious, meals served on ships, those will normally be found in the now common “alternate restaurants” available (at an extra cost). The majority of passengers on a ship take their meals in either the ship’s main dining rooms, or buffets. In most of those cases the meals would be classified as quite good to excellent (with an asterisk). The asterisk is the understanding that you are eating banquet food, that is not prepared a la minute (when it is ordered).

The reality here is that we are not truly compromising that much. I think it’s very rare that any of us are true gourmands, who only eat in the finest of restaurants all of the time when we travel… or when we’re at home. However, if you are expecting a full fine dining experience, your taste buds are going to have to comprise. The one huge advantage in the dining room on a ship, compared to a land based restaurant, is that if any item is not to your liking, the service staff will normally happily exchange it for something else. Or, if there’s is a selection that you fall in love with, at no extra cost, they will bring you more.

Number THREE on my list of comprise necessary is your time.

You are comprising the time you spend in ports of call your ship visits. By the very nature of cruise ship travel, your time to visit each place your ship stops is limited. You’re required to choose what sites are must sees on your wish list, and activities you must achieve to satisfy you.

The advantage of a cruise is it allows you to travel in a leisurely manner to more places than you can easily visit on your own. You do, however, have to comprise on the “completeness” of your visits. You comprise on the amount of time you have to interact with the local culture of each place you visit.

Cruising is not the right vacation for everyone. If you love camping; if you’re an RV enthusiast; if you’re a devoted sun-worshipper who wants to spend every minute of your vacation on a beach; if you seek immersion in a culture; if you’re the type of person who has to be on the go every minute; etc, etc, etc… a cruise is not for you.

If you understand the comprises you are going to be making, you’re going to get big bang for your vacation dollars on a cruise!

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

Recommended New Year’s Resolutions

Kuki — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 06:45:41 +0000

In a few days we’ll all be saying goodbye to 2011 and in an evening full of revelry, nostalgia, and excitement, we’ll be welcoming in the year 2012.

Half the world got married on 11-11-11, and half of those people may still be married on 12-12-12. For those of us married already before 11-11-11, half of us will still be married by 12-12-12. For those who weren’t married before 11-11-11, we can only hope you have the common sense to still be single by 12-12-12. Or if you do get married, we can hope that you at least married for a good reason; money.

Of course, none of that has anything to do with the topic of this Blog; New Year’s resolutions.

It is a fact that 89.4 % of New Year’s resolutions made are broken by Jan. 6; another 9.7% by Feb. 18. With those statistics in my mind (the same place the statistics came from) I am offering a list of highly recommended New Year’s resolutions, which will leave you complete, satisfied, and feeling good about yourself when you break them.

-Resolve to never lie to yourself again- It will make you feel so much better when you resolve to face yourself and your life head on, preparing to take on events in the coming year with a total attachment to their reality.

But, really, everyone lies to themselves; whether it’s about their looks, weight, intellect, friends, fiances, etc. So, when you break your resolution, you’re going to feel so much better about yourself, the fact you didn’t keep your resolution will seem inconsequential, because you’ll feel so much happier.

- Resolve to do something that ticks at least one item from you bucket list.

Being unable to complete this resolution might leave you distressed, unless you combine it with #1, and simply lie to yourself, telling yourself you have plenty of time left to complete every item on your bucket list. You’ll end up very elated knowing you have such a long life, full of adventure, ahead of you.

- Resolve to only use the stairs on your next cruise -

You are going to be so happy when you break this resolution, because when you take the elevator to the lido deck, the extra energy you have enables multiple trips to the buffet. Not to mention the extra exercise you get lifting your fork to your mouth, with varying amounts of weight on the fork. You can end up having a really good workout, breaking out in a sweat, without the nasty effort required to walk up the stairs.

- Resolve to budget better for your next cruise. Making this resoluton will immediately make you feel good because you’ve made yourself a responsible person.

When this resolution is abandoned you’re going to feel so much better (at least temporarily) because you are going to do more, and drink more and have a truly wonderful time… at least the parts you remember. By the time the gravity of the situation, and how much you over-spent comes up, it is likely to be dwarfed by other problems in your life.

- Resolve to never read this Blog again, because the guy writing it is such an idiot.

But, when you come back to read my first Blog of the New Year, you’re going to be very pleased with yourself, because there’s been one area where your good judgement has proven to be valid; you were right about the idiot.

And that gives you something to build on in 2012!

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

What Your Cruise Is Really Going To Cost

Kuki — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 06:58:14 +0000

When it comes to money matters, it’s not cruise pricing that settles the equation of how much your cruise is going to cost you.

One might have thought, a couple of years ago, when the cruise lines put a policy of “flat pricing” in place; basically disallowing travel agents from cutting their commissions to offer discounted prices to the their clientele; that figuring the actual cost of you cruise would be simplified. But there are still many matters that muddy the waters.

On the part of the cruise lines, when setting their cruise prices, they do not simply post the bottom line. Nor do they allow travel agents selling their cruise to advertise the final price. In fact they insist advertising travel agents list only the cruise fare… and then somewhere in smaller print list “ government fees and taxes are additional”.

There are different pricing levels for the various “categories” of accommodations on-board, and of late it’s been a growing trend for the cruise lines to expand the number of categories on their ships. It’s bit like the airlines adding baggage fees and premium seat charges. Though nothing on the ship changes, the small differences in pricing based on the cabins location on the ship can suddenly turn into quite a windfall of revenue to the cruise lines.

Aside from the cost of your cruise fare + the port fees and taxes, there is an actual plethora of costs involved in the real cost of your cruise. Some are hidden costs (such as gratuity recommendations automatically charged to your shipboard account), and there are also many voluntary expenditure options, which can quickly escalate the final costs you’re paid, once your cruise is over.

It is the cruise lines job to separate you from as much of your money as possible, as far more of their profits are derived from what you spend above the cost of your fare, than from the money you spent purchasing your ticket. Onboard casinos; retail sales (even with all the sale and 50% off signs visible); sale of excursions in ports; shipboard photographers and videographers; alcohol, soft drinks, specialty coffees, and alternate dining venues, are all available and designed to attract you to spend your money. Heck they even make money by offering recommended stores in their ports of call, so they can make money via your spending on shore.

As good as their systems are for them to make money from your spending habits, that isn’t anywhere near the end of costs as you try to figure out what your total cruise spending will come to.

Your own spending habits must be taken into consideration, so there’s no “one size fits all” system to get to the answer of … What Am I Going to Spend? Some passengers will never even walk into a casino on a ship. Some people will spend $100s of dollars a day during their cruise in the casino. Some who never thought they would gamble in a casino, find themselves drawn in by friends and spend $40 for a bit of entertainment value.

Every one’s drink consumption can vary drastically from individual to individual, whether it’s alcohol consumption, soft drinks, specialty coffees, or juices. The costs of all of those purchases, in whatever quantities, adds to your total cost calculation. As does shopping patterns (on board and ashore). Some people only buy the simplest souvenirs, others shop for major purchases, while others are impulse buyers when the situation presents itself.

One area many cruisers forget to add to the equation or budget for air transportation costs. This does not refer solely to flights, if you have to fly into embarkation/disembarkation ports, but also transfer fees, taxi services or rental vehicles in ports of call.

While, “how much money” is one of the most commonly asked questions asked on cruise web message boards, unfortunately there is no set or simple answer. However, I believe I have a figure in mind that can serve as your standard if your spending habits are close to the “average” or “mean” spending of a cruise passenger.

Without budgeting “high roller casino expenses” or “major retail purchasing” in most cases I believe one should expect their final tab for their cruise to be the cost of your cruise fare (including port and tax), multiplied by 2, with an addition of somewhere between 10 -20% of the cruise fare.

So… if you look at the all in cost of your cruise fare multiplied by 2.2 you’ll at least be in range of your actual total spent. This figure wasn’t attained using any mathematical study, or using any well developed algorithm. It is solely based on my 17 years watching the industry, over 65+ cruises. I could certainly be wrong. And if your totals are much higher than that, I won’t be indemnifying you for the difference. I’m a writer, not a psychic.

- A View From the Kuki Side of Cruising -

OCCUPY Cruises – Bailouts for the 99%

Kuki — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 06:53:08 +0000

Through my unscientific research, and very questionable systemic anaylsis, we learn that only the top 1% of the population has the means, or contacts necessary, to sail in the top suites onboard a cruise ship.

And of those who have most, have done so on the backs of every other cruiser onboard.

We the 99 % are expected to pay a larger percentage of our income for far inferior accomodations than the rich have available to them (with the exception of the few filthy rich who are too cheap to pay for better suites).

It’s been said that the 1% are the job creators. Afterall the numbers of staff required to service the 1% suites guests is a substantially higher ration than what is necessary to service the 99%, and that doesn’t even include the private bulters. But isn’t it the 99% who are bearing the extra burden of housing, clothing, and feeding those extra staff needed to serve the 1%?

While the numbers in the 1% have grown, filling even more luxury suites as more are added, the numbers of the 99% have been reduced, based solely on their inability to cruise because they don’t live close enough to an embarkation port.

When cruising began it was strictly for the world of the 1%. Then as Capitalism began to work as planned, a great middle class grew, and slowly they discovered it was possible for them to cruise. They could be on the same ship as the fantastically wealthy; eat in dining rooms which had been the exclusive property of the rich; and in fact may even be seated at tables in the dining room right next to the filthy rich. They were ordering from the same menus as the 1%, and drinking from the same water fountains as the filthy rich.

At the time the system worked perfectly, because the 1% super rich were paying high enough fares that they were indeed supplementing the fares the middle class were expected to pay.

Now, because of higher expectations and the lobbying efforts of the 1%, the system has been turned from it’s core. Just because they are paying higher fares, the 1% now suddenly find themselves dining in restraurants and dining rooms exclusively for their use. Sundecks, and swimming pools are hidden from the masses, exclusively for use of the 1 %.

The 99% are left to eat cake (and a more restrictive list of desserts). They are being forced to eat foods which fit more directly in value to what they are paying for their cruise fare. And they are not going to stand for it! If the 1 % are no longer going to subsidize the more luxurious cruise experience, the 99% are now going to insist government regulators step into to ensure they can continue to receive the level of cruise goods and services they themselves, through no fault of their own, are not willing to pay for.

I’m 99% sure I’m right.

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -

Rules – Which Are Enforced and Which Ignored

Kuki — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 06:58:27 +0000

Beginning with new rules, established to come into practice in the new year, most of the major cruise lines, have severely restricted or banned smoking in both public and private areas of their ships.

This change in indusry policy was made pretty simple because less than 20% of the population still categorize themselves as smokers.

Unlike other “suggested rules for behavior” onboard, this does seem an area the cruise lines are intent on enforcing; going so far as to put specific fines in place for those who disobey or choose to ignore the rule.

Yet, there are other less obvious and pershaps considered less aggregious activities, which are listed as unacceptable behavior. that the cruise lines choose to either ignore enforcement of the established rules, or simply remove the rules makig those actions unaceptable.

While most every cruise line used to celebrate the tradition of cruising by asking guests to dress formally at least a couple of times during the course of a cruise, the most popular movement in the industry today is to do away with any mention of “dress codes”. By doing so, their claim is they are reacting directly with the more casual nature of dress their customers are demanding. While I believe that this is at least in part true, I also believe the move is also in part responsible for some unintended consquences.

One of which is the changing cuisine; referred to by more traditional old time cruisers as “cutbacks”. I think there’s little doubt that cruise ship menus have been “dumbed down” to match the dress codes. Even simple moves, like combining salad selections, with appetizer and pasta selctions, were made with the intent to reduce the consumption of food by passengers. They still haven’t limited the numbers of item selections passengers may order, but without question the menu groupings are designed to make you feel ordering more than one item from a a grouping is out of the norm. They want you to feel if you are ordering more than one item from a group, it means you are over-eating.

And if you carefully examine the menu selections on the contemporary cruise lines, it’s simple to notice the lesser quality, more inexpensive ingredients, which go into the menu designs. They are assuming the more casual passenger will also be satisfied with the more casual culinary offerings. Today, if the casual passenger is interested in a more upscale dining experience, they must partake in one of the ships price to dine, alternate restaurants. But, they also supply cost included restaurant options, offering more casual cuisine, which also just happens to feature foods which are less expensive to serve; like pizza, burgers, hotdogs, pastas, etc.

What began as a move to more casual dress onboard, has also led to the development of a more casual atmosphere onboard. It has led to change in the interior design work on ships to make them fit in better with the casual atmosphere onboard.

All of the cruise lines make an attempt to stop passengers from bringing their own (cheaper) alcohol onboard. Their explanation is that the move is in the interest of safety onboard; giving them the ability to control the amount of liquor guests consume aboard. However, I don’t believe anyone’s recent experiences on cruises tell the tale of seeing less overly inebratiated passengers onboard.

During my years in the business of the retail sale of alcohol, all our servers were required to take a course to give them a better understanding of the signs when customers are nearing the point they should no longer be served alcohol. I don’t believe any cruise line currently offers or expects servers to have this training. On cruise ships, it’s most likely if your “sail and spend” card still works, you’re considered sober enough to order more liquor.

One of the most reported and seeming simplest areas to address in passenger complaints is the “saving of deck chairs”. Every cruise line prints boldly, in their onboard daily newletter, that “saving deck chairs” is NOT allowed. Yet, on every sailing of every ship, people continue to see people who get up early, run out on deck with a few of their private belongings to stack on loungers that are in locations they prefer, then leave them, to proceed with their plans for the remainder of the day.

The cruise lines claim they just can’t come up with a workable solution to combat this practice? Really? They are capable of coming up with innovative and technologically advanced operation systems for nearly every area of operations on the ship, but they can’t figure out how to control “chair hogs”?

Is it possible that because it doesn’t constitute a safety hazzard in their minds, and doesn’t have any direct impact on increasing the revenue onboard, they don’t consider it an issue worth addressing?

It seems to me that of the decisions regarding which of the “rules of behavior” they are going to implement and enforce, those decisions are being made by judging which will displease the most passengers, and which will be taken in stride with little or no negatives reactions, and which will cost the least to enforce.

- A View From The Kuki Side of Cruising -