backkkk

amh04 · April 2012

Hey ladies,
We're back from our HM. We enjoyed it overall, I don't think we are going to be much for cruising again unless its with family. But we had a great time in St Thomas and St Maarten!
how is everyone?! Did I miss anything?

kyrgyzstan · April 2012

Gorgeous photo!

shan87 · April 2012

Are you gonna do a recap/review? I'm curious.

Irishcurls · April 2012

Glad you had fun!! We need more wedding pics!

amh04 · April 2012

Irish - I just got a text saying they were done and uploaded to their site - just waiting for H to get home to look at them, its killingggg me.

My review of our Carnival cruise:
So we left on Saturday, we had quite a few things go wrong. We had been told when we booked it that because it was our honeymoon the ship would give us something complimentary - that it really varied on the ship. When checking it, they told us to go to Guest Services, and we did. They didnt know of anything and said basically, sorry too bad. Didnt offer to do anything. Then we asked them to fix our dinning time, we selected Eat when you want when we booked it, they gave us 815pm seating. Well because H has horrible acid reflux and a hernia - he cant eat late, or he'll literally throw up - we have to eat and be done before 8. They told us again too bad. Thankfully we went to the dinner manager and he fixed it for us for the next day on. So we had to eat the buffet - it was horrible. I wanted to cry, H was pissed. BUT we did win $150 in a Spa Raffle. So thursday we got a couples massage

2nd day - Nassau - Long story short. We got there at 830, nothing was open. We had to be back and onboard by 130. We walked 20 minutes to the Fish Fry Cali recommended, and they didnt open till 1230 - 1. So that was a no go - so we ended up walking around and then went to Senor Frogs. But I hated the place. It was gross and dirty, and I just didnt care for it nor do I want to go back to try again.
3rd day was a sea day. I had a meltdown over money. Things we werent expecting to cost so much costed more, and things we were not informed of being charged for we were. Just ridiculous. But we spent the day tanning and had a frozen drink or two.
4th day - St Thomas - BEAUTIFUL! Loved it there! We went on an excursion to Magens Bay - which was breathtaking! Then we went to two lookout points, and then blackbeards castle - which was a tourist trap. I got in a arguement with the guy working there when he tried to tell us when he showed everyone how they dipped their bottles that at Makers Mark they just show you a video -- umm no buddy your wrong, we watched the little old ladies do it and dipped our own. thank you very much. After we went to a bar called MoJo's - they had swings as barstools and it was wonderful. OH we ate lunch at Cuzzins and it was pretty good!
5th Day - St Maarten - LOVED IT! We went on a snorkeling cataraman, and saw dolphins up close - like 3 feet away (we were on the net portion of the boat). They escorted the ship there and back - the captain was happy and said he'd never seen that happen before. Saw naked people on the beach. Snorkeling was a blast and so much fun! We loved the rum punch! We spent the rest of the day walking around, took a taxi to 'downtown' and had lunch on the beach there, it was decent we waited like an hour for our food and saw the waiter once, chated with a couple who worked on the ship. We walked by this gorgeous Catholic church that was feet from the beach. We stopped and drank often, walked back and did a bit of shopping.
6th day - Sea day - we had a couples massage, relaxed all day, the seas were really rough.
7th day - another sea day and just relaxed.

Overall - I don't think we'll do another cruise unless its with family. We were really upset about the cost of things being so high, and about things we weren't told about being charged for when we booked. We were each charged gratuity per day, it ended up being $160 for us both for the week - which I would be okay with had they told us before hand so we could of prepared for it. AND i would of been okay with it, had they not charged gratuity on every single drink you bought. Want a daquiri - okay its $8.50 + 15% = total. Umm.. so I pay grautity twice now?
Also - there were only two really small pools, and they were flooded with kids - it would of been better had they offered an hour or even a half hour of adult swim but they didn't. I just wasn't too thrilled with it all, it wasn't very honeymoonish - we were bored a bit, and just wasn't all that fun if there isn't other people with you. We went to a few shows, a couple comedy shows, visited the casino, played bingo and won some money thank god but overall - we enjoyed ourselves.. just not sure if its something we'll do again.
I wouldn't recommend a cruise as a honeymoon either, at least not if the couple hadn't been on a cruise before. If a couple had been on cruises before and loved them, then yeah go for it. But not for first time cruisers.

amh04 · April 2012

Sorry for the long review - I just wanted to be complete

I would of posted it earlier but it was too much to type on my touchpad.

Edit - I also do want to come off as too complaining or anything. We really enjoyed being together and spending uninterupted time together. We loved the more formal dinner and had a great time there the rest of the 6 days. We really did love St Thomas and St Maarten. I just think it started off rough for us on the first two days being less than steller. But we did really enjoy the rest of the cruise.

Just wanted to clarify.

Beachy730 · April 2012

Not to sound like a bitch, but cruise lines make it very clear online that you have to pay gratuity, and they even tell you how much it will be. So maybe they didn't tell you specifically when booking, but it's all over online and anyone who has cruised before could have told you that.

As for getting charged gratuity on drinks, yes that's above your required gratuities because the bartenders don't get an automatic tip. Your required tips go to the stateroom attendant, your water, assistant waiter, and matre'd (if I remember correctly). But I know for a fact they don't go to the bartenders.

Not gonna lie, almost all of your complaints sound like lack of research on your part. Most likely you would have been better off picking a different cruise ship if you wanted the pool, as many of them have adult only pools. I know i'm partial to cruises, and I'm sorry you didn't love your honeymoon, but I really think your complaints fall back on you guys, not cruises in general.

amh04 · April 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_backkkk?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special Topic Wedding BoardsForum:13Discussion:b35172a0-c78d-4d5b-9782-ee6c9d45c550Post:40a74603-c808-4dd8-a6e7-91d0a344f0ab">Re: backkkk</a>:
[QUOTE]Not to sound like a bitch, but cruise lines make it very clear online that you have to pay gratuity, and they even tell you how much it will be. So maybe they didn't tell you specifically when booking, but it's all over online and anyone who has cruised before could have told you that. As for getting charged gratuity on drinks, yes that's above your required gratuities because the bartenders don't get an automatic tip. Your required tips go to the stateroom attendant, your water, assistant waiter, and matre'd (if I remember correctly). But I know for a fact they don't go to the bartenders. Not gonna lie, almost all of your complaints sound like lack of research on your part. Most likely you would have been better off picking a different cruise ship if you wanted the pool, as many of them have adult only pools. I know i'm partial to cruises, and I'm sorry you didn't love your honeymoon, but I really think your complaints fall back on you guys, not cruises in general.
Posted by dnbeach12[/QUOTE]

We didnt book it through the cruise lines website, we booked it with a specific representative and found the price on the ITT website. While there could of been a miscommunication since H took care of everything, I didn't feel like it was explained as well as it could be. Regardless of your knowledge/opinion, I felt like there were just too many hidden charges on top of the inital cost - I think it'd be easier had it been rolled into one cost or whathave you.
They did slack off on their customer service solving issues - don't promise something you're not going to give/do. I'm huge in customer service since I did work in that field as a manager for a while, so that's one area I hate when its slacked off on.
Anyways, my opinion was asked and I gave it. As honest as I could give it. I wasn't hands on in this department, since this was H's job. My only regret was not being more informed as apparently I should of been so we could of better prepared for the cost of certain things. We only went with carnival since H's family use them all the time. We'll see how it goes when we cruise/if we cruise with H's family now that I know more or less what to expect.

But I will say - on a limited budget it's a great option. There is a lot to do and its nice seeing more than one place. would just prepare for an additional $300 on top of excursions, thats including the gratuity charges and maybe a $100 of alcohol. This is only a Carnival review, not an entire cruise review - and just my opinion.

Beachy730 · April 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_backkkk?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:13Discussion:b35172a0-c78d-4d5b-9782-ee6c9d45c550Post:841f7d71-6cce-41d3-916f-ec08f36f6208">Re: backkkk</a>:
[QUOTE]In Response to Re: backkkk : We didnt book it through the cruise lines website, we booked it with a specific representative and found the price on the ITT website. While there could of been a miscommunication since H took care of everything, I didn't feel like it was explained as well as it could be. Regardless of your knowledge/opinion, I felt like there were just too many hidden charges on top of the inital cost - I think it'd be easier had it been rolled into one cost or whathave you. They did slack off on their customer service solving issues - don't promise something you're not going to give/do. I'm huge in customer service since I did work in that field as a manager for a while, so that's one area I hate when its slacked off on. Anyways, my opinion was asked and I gave it. As honest as I could give it. I wasn't hands on in this department, since this was H's job. My only regret was not being more informed as apparently I should of been so we could of better prepared for the cost of certain things. We only went with carnival since H's family use them all the time. We'll see how it goes when we cruise/if we cruise with H's family now that I know more or less what to expect. <strong>But I will say - on a limited budget it's a great option. There is a lot to do and its nice seeing more than one place. would just prepare for an additional $300 on top of excursions, thats including the gratuity charges and maybe a $100 of alcohol. This is only a Carnival review, not an entire cruise review - and just my opinion.
</strong>Posted by amh04[/QUOTE]<div>
</div><div>Well after your review you didn't say I wouldn't do a Carnival cruise for a honeymoon, you just said I wouldn't do a cruise in general. And that's totally fine that you have your opinion on it, i'm just pointing out that most of the stuff you're complaining about falls on you/your H, not Carnival. We've cruised Carnival before and made sure to get one with an adults only pool.</div><div>
</div><div>And honestly maybe part of the problem is that you went into it thinking it was a trip for "limited budgets." I would probably never recommend it to someone as a limited budget vacation because of how quickly everything adds up if you want to do excursions and have drinks and what not. </div><div>
</div><div>Like I said, you're more than welcome to your opinion, but I'm also welcome to say where I think it's wrong. Even if my H was completely in charge of planning a trip I still would have done some research on it to get a better idea of things. I definitely don't consider tips to be a "hidden fee." </div><div>
</div>

Irishcurls · April 2012

I will say cruises never strike me as a budget vacation; we dropped a significant amount of money on a wine package, gratuity, excursions....we knew going in it would add up but really liked the idea of seeing a lot of places at once without having to move around. Sounds like St. Maarten was great though!

amh04 · April 2012

I guess I could have been more specific - we thought it would be more or less for limited bugdets after we had looked into resorts/hotels/flights etc for going to the Virgin Islands and other tropical places were amounting to over $4k - so the price seemed much more friendly, all in all it was still half the price of some packages we were quoted. I know time frame as a lot to do with it, and march is in the middle of spring break season so I'm sure that doesn't help out price wise either.

divinemsbee · April 2012

AMH-I will say that right or wrong I have never wanted to go on a cruise. They don't appeal to me, and a lot of it is because of similar things to what you stated. It's one of those things that seems really really easy to screw up. I think it's made out to be a really easy one-stop-shop kind of vacation, but of course, it's anything but. I realize that most vacations require some planning, but it just seems like an awful lot of work for what it is; I also think that if I ever were to go into it, I would know I was getting screwed price-wise by both alcohol and anything I had to buy aboard.

That being said, I'm glad you ended up having a fabulous honeymoon!

Beachy730 · April 2012

In Response to <a href="http://forums.theknot.com/Sites/theknot/Pages/Main.aspx/special-topic-wedding-boards_military-brides_backkkk?plckFindPostKey=Cat:Special%20Topic%20Wedding%20BoardsForum:13Discussion:b35172a0-c78d-4d5b-9782-ee6c9d45c550Post:a836930e-d363-4458-9d9e-768dcadb91f3">Re: backkkk</a>:
[QUOTE]AMH-I will say that right or wrong I have never wanted to go on a cruise. They don't appeal to me, and a lot of it is because of similar things to what you stated. It's one of those things that seems really really easy to screw up. <strong>I think it's made out to be a really easy one-stop-shop kind of vacation, but of course, it's anything but.</strong> I realize that most vacations require some planning, but it just seems like an awful lot of work for what it is;<strong> I also think that if I ever were to go into it, I would know I was getting screwed price-wise by both alcohol and anything I had to buy aboard.</strong> That being said, I'm glad you ended up having a fabulous honeymoon!
Posted by divinemsbee[/QUOTE]

<div>Your ignorance about cruises is pretty clear. But by all means, don't cruise if that's not what you want to do. They certainly aren't for everyone. But both of your arguments against it are pretty offbase. Yes alcohol is expensive, but it generally balances out against an all-inclusive. </div><div>
</div><div>Honestly, I couldn't care less what type of vacation or honeymoon people go on or don't go on, but it's a huge pet peeve of mine (especially on this board) when people knock something or give opinions on something that they have little to no knowledge on, or when blame is unfairly placed. </div>

divinemsbee · April 2012

Beach--I get it. You like cruises and you've never had a bad experience with this cruise line because you did your homework and have had a little luck. It's not so much the tipping part for me, it's not even about the "extra" money, I know enough to know that happens everywhere, even if it's an all-inclusive. Alcohol will always cost extra, excursions will always cost extra, I just prefer to be in situations where i know what everything's going to cost and can choose to go elsewhere if I don't like it. I know that in Disney you pay $12 for a hotdog and $8 for a bottle of water, it's kind of the same with cruises, except with different things. Prices are inflated when you are within a scenario that is completely controlled by a company. I don't think it's unfair to say that prices are inflated on a cruise ship any more than it is unfair to say that prices for certain things are inflated inside Disney parks. Both statements are true, you're paying for the convenience of having what you want when you want it, but they are inflated prices.

It's that when AMH and her H went to change something that may have been their own screw up, but also may have been a screw up on the part of their representative, that they pretty much said "too bad, you're here, get used to it." I think most people have, at one point or another, worked in the service industry, and that's just shoddy customer service. They were told there was a little honeymoon extra, there wasn't, so they took it up with the right people, they were told "too bad." I get it, sometimes people don't realize they should have set that up ahead of time, so, I'll give the cruise line the credit that they deal with this all the time and there's nothing they could do.

But the food thing seems like it was a really big deal, and I can't imagine being a customer service rep and just saying what amounted to "too bad, that sucks for you, I can't help you." It seems like AMH and her H really thought they booked the right thing and it turned out someone screwed up, and it was likely the representative or the ship. And, at least every place I've ever been employed, sometimes you fix the customer's problem even if the customer made that problem. I know that not every customer service person who works for this organization would have handled their situations so seemingly poorly, but she had a bad experience with them, and it's totally valid for her to give her experience of it, and for anyone to judge based off of that. I don't think that's unfairly placing blame on this ship's customer service, someone there screwed up, if not in their booking, then at being a good customer service rep.

I'm not trying to say that I think cruising is wrong or a bad idea, I'm just pretty sure I wouldn't like it. I don't like the idea of being trapped on a boat, I like destinations more than journeys, if that makes sense. I also hate the idea of not getting much choice over things. Who knows, maybe one day I'l be proven wrong. I also have no intention ever to sky-dive, but if that's what someone wants to do, they can and should, and I know a good many people who have had a fabulous time doing it.

kara811 · April 2012

All I will say is, might be nice to use an actual TA next time! I haven't travelled quite and a bit and H and I normally book our own trips but for our HM we chose to go with a TA. Just less hassle that way and she made sure all the hotels knew we were on a HM and we were given fruit platters, wine/champagne or complete room upgrades. With every resort/hotel/cruise, there are always "extra" fees but gratuity isn't really one of those. I would also suggest researching thoroughly before going on a trip. Amh: so did you use a ITT Rep? We have used ITT before for a few trips and other ticketing stuff but have never had a problem with so I'm just wondering.

kara811 · April 2012

eta: my kindle is so stupid. I mean I HAVE travelled quite a bit. Ooops

backkkk

Re: backkkk

Choose Another Board

Search Boards