F...Hidden Costs, Fees and Magic Numbers

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by gibbsisgod

I am planning a cruise for the summer of 07 and Carnival is on my list of possibles. Was the cruise experience good or was the whole darn thing not worth the money?

First of all, and biggest of all, they messed up the billing, that is huge! Second, they sold me false art. I went to the auction they had the paintings on the computer and said they were "hand painted thomas kinkade's", I asked specifically if they were prints...they said "absolutely not, these are hand painted paintings from the Thomas Kinkade Gallery, not painted by Kinkade himself, but painted by his apprentices." I bought 8 totalling $1800 worth and knew I could resell them for $700-$900+ a piece. When I got them, they were prints, also could be called posters. What a scam. I got all but $300 back saying it's an "auction fee", if I don't like it I can sue. I looked into it and since it was done out in international waters and they register in the Bahama's our laws don't apply. I took that one in the ass. I had a room that was not told to me to be an obstructed view or any problem. It was over the galley, so at all times you'd hear a large BOOM and flushing water. It kept me awake a lot. They did not care one bit...no refund...no discount...nothing...we had to deal with it. They also missed our excursions at Nassua. We left at the SAME time that a Royal Caribbean cruise left St. Thomas, and we were 5 hours late to port. They first said that the waters were too rough, then said the perveyours in Nassua all cancelled. When we finally got to port, the same ship at St. Thomas was there and they were comng back from their excursions. We encountered a slew of other issues too, on the 2 carnival cruises we went on. But we have never once had a problem with Royal Caribbean. It costs a tiny bit more, but I am telling you, it's worth it. Royal Caribbean treats customers like gold, Carnival is more interested in getting you in and getting you out and taking as much money as possible along the way. I totally would not recommend Carnival.
To save space I did not mention the slew of other issues we had. Hope that helps in your decision process.
Which cruise are you looking for?

[Redskin]

Originally Posted by gibbsisgod

I am planning a cruise for the summer of 07 and Carnival is on my list of possibles. Was the cruise experience good or was the whole darn thing not worth the money?

I personally never enjoyed the cruise and my whole family hated it also.
We were always rushed, had to pay for all the drinks (over priced drinks at that), Was not very relaxing becuase of the time scedule, and when you got to spend your 2 hours at a place you didnt get to do anyhitng spectacular and if u did you had to do it through the cruise line. Personally i would rent a little house in the bahamas drink kalik beer and daquiries all day long and do what i wanted to do or lack of activities if you prefer.

We went on Royal Carribean and if its your thing the customer service was good the people were fantastic and so was the food but hey you pay out the ass. Cruise has to be your thing to enjoy it.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by saden1

Seems like women are keeping land lines alive. I just don't get the need for them but then again I'd hate to deal with the mathematicians over at Verizon.

Oh and my bitch about Retention Representatives was about Vonage. They suck. I mean, they expect that you stop using their internet to talk on the phone. WTF?

Holy crap, that is 23 minutes long.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by Redskin

I personally never enjoyed the cruise and my whole family hated it also.
We were always rushed, had to pay for all the drinks (over priced drinks at that), Was not very relaxing becuase of the time scedule, and when you got to spend your 2 hours at a place you didnt get to do anyhitng spectacular and if u did you had to do it through the cruise line. Personally i would rent a little house in the bahamas drink kalik beer and daquiries all day long and do what i wanted to do or lack of activities if you prefer.

We went on Royal Carribean and if its your thing the customer service was good the people were fantastic and so was the food but hey you pay out the ass. Cruise has to be your thing to enjoy it.

2 hours at a port? Why? Every cruise I have been on has a minimum of 6 hours in port. Most are 8ish hours.
No matter what, you need to pay for the alcoholic beverages, but you get water / lemonade / OJ / fruit punch / ice tea etc for free (no carbonated beverages unless you buy them or buy a card.
I absolutely love cruising, it's the best way to travel, and it's generally cheaper than any other vacation you can get. You can go on a 7 day cruise with an oceanview room and pay from $500-850 per person...that includes all food and entertainment...and they are great shows...they have comedians flown in and everything. There is something constantly going on on the ship as well. You can do nothing, and veg, or do everything...it's your choice. It's great, and my wife and I are addicted.

[saden1]

Originally Posted by jsarno

Holy crap, that is 23 minutes long.

The first 5 min is all you need to hear, the rest is just rinse and repeat.

[jsarno]

Originally Posted by saden1

The first 5 min is all you need to hear, the rest is just rinse and repeat.

I am still listening to it...it's driving me nutts...I have an MBA in finance, so I am fully aware of what this guy is talking about and these guys are driving me crazy that they are not understanding.

[MTK]

Originally Posted by gibbsisgod

you guys should switch to Cingular, the network with the fewest dropped calls!

That's what I have, believe me there are still dropped calls

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by Mattyk72

I'd love to dump my land line but the wife wants to keep it.

Just do what I did...

I dropped all calling packages including long distance...so it's basically just a local line with a dialtone. When I have to call long distance (which I don't do a lot), just use one of those 10-10-### numbers that was popular a few years ago, they're like $0.20-0.30 to connect and for the first 20 minutes...but they're like 2 cents every minute afterwards. They're pretty cost-efficient if you stay on the line for a while, which usually happens since I call my family so infrequently...gotta catch up.

I have Verizon and with DSL INCLUDED...my phone bills are about $45-50 a month.

I only keep the line because I need it for my Dish Network receiver. I'd go Vonage if I didn't have to keep a land line for my TV.