Rackham

2 hours ago, FSUFAN said:

I'm doing sushi class next week on the Quantum with one of my sons, my daughter and son-in-law.  Mrs Fan and the other kids/spouses did not want to participate.

Question for anyone who has done this class before:

How many rolls do you make? 

Is there a large selection of "stuff" to put in the rolls?

It is my understanding that you get sake during the class. Is this correct?

 

I did the class on Anthem back in February of this year. Off the top of my head, the rolls were spicy salmon and tempura shrimp. The handroll was California. We also made two pieces of shrimp nigiri (butterflied shrimp over rice which was pressed together). No sake was served and there was no choices given as to what type of sushi we were making.

Besides what's been said, consider how much time will you actually spend in your cabin, and (if traveling with others) could you use the additional space for entertaining and how often would you be hosting in your cabin?

Quickly glancing over your post history, if this is your 3 person, Oasis sailing I'd personally skip the Jr. Suite for an additional $2,400. That amount would pay for a multitude of add-ons which most people would get more enjoyment out of than booking an upgraded cabin. Or for that amount, you might be able to book two cabins instead of one and get more space with two bathrooms.

I'm assuming this means the prix fixe menu at Izumi is about to go up in cost aboard the ship. The in-app menu for Allure is showing $34.99 for my sailing this summer versus the reserve now price of $35.99, marked down from $39.99.

17 hours ago, Margo1000 said:

Totally agree Matt,

The C&A perks were the reason RCL grew their brand to where it is today. You of all people should be aware the reduction of any of these coupled with the increases in base fares, specialty dining and once a day cabin service plus increases in gratuities have an affect on the overall experience.  Princess's Crown Grill is up $10 to $39.99 - but we just got off the Jewel's May 12th sailing 12 night return to Amsterdam and the  Chop's Grill (one visit only) is now $89.99 unless you buy the 3 pack. If your members want clarity or confirmation perhaps you could confirm that for them. It is indeed fact.

No need to insinuate I'm a liar.

Any chance you've got something showing $89.99 for Chops? Current pricing aboard Jewel, on the sailing happening right now, isn't even close.

15 minutes ago, instaGator said:

While I also do not advocate holding your breath, it is important to note that in 2023 Royal will depart 116 cruises from Tampa on Radiance and Vision Class ships.  And while these cruises are not nearly as profitable as Oasis Class sailings, they still make money and provide additional exposure with the “new to cruise” segment.  It is difficult to imagine that Royal will completely give up on the Tampa market once the last Radiance Class ship goes to the scrap yard.

I'm somewhat of a split opinion on this. On one hand, yes, Royal is making money in the Tampa market. On the other hand, the ships Royal is porting there are basically paid for (and then some) at this point and so Royal needs to port them somewhere unless they're being sold off. Before the pandemic, Royal was going to start the process of selling off, or transferring, the Vision-class out of its fleet [https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/2019/10/16/grandeur-of-the-seas-leave-royal-caribbean-fleet]. Leaving Tampa means potential RCL cruisers driving over to Cape Canaveral, the nearest Royal port, which is less than 3 hours away. I doubt a three-hour drive will deter someone from cruising with Royal if they're wanting to.

In a multitude of ways, Royal today is reminding me of Walt Disney World in the late 90s-early 2000s. While never cheap, WDW pricing wasn't completely nuts (even if there's a ton of people willing to pay those prices). Then the Walt Disney Company figured out that prices could dramatically increase, and people would still be willing to pay. Royal seems to be going through the same process where they're raising prices, people are still buying, so the price increases once more. It definitely helps Royal in this endeavor with the number of passengers who've never sailed before aboard their ships. These passengers are less likely to understand the sheer volume and choice of food already included in the base fare. They're also more likely to have FOMO if they don't book a specialty package and they have no idea about what the pricing used to be like.

Speaking of prices, I strongly suspect if there's a Discovery-class (or any new and midsized ship class) introduced, prices will be more akin to a new Oasis or Quantum-class ship versus the current Voyager-class ships. While it's a "no duh" position, I suspect a certain love of the older ships in the fleet isn't just due to their design. It's also due to pricing.

As usual, people want to toss around terms they don't understand and become outraged due to misunderstandings (edit: not referring back to FSU with the outrage, posts elsewhere and several articles are rather inflamed). Here's how occupancy is calculated by Royal which was found in less than 30 seconds of searching the Web; also happens to be standard industry practice:

"The occupancy rate, which the company refers to simply as "occupancy," is a key metric gauging the amount of available passenger capacity being utilized. It is calculated by dividing passenger cruise days by the available passenger capacity, as measured by available passenger cruise days (APCD). Passenger cruise days are a metric calculated by taking the number of passengers carried during the measurement period and multiplying that by the number of days of the passengers' respective cruises. The measure of capacity assumes double occupancy per cabin, which is why occupancy rates greater than 100% are possible—sometimes cabins are occupied by more than two passengers."

From https://www.investopedia.com/royal-caribbean-cruises-q1-fy2022-earnings-report-recap-5271089

Cruise ships aren't hotels. People aren't sleeping on the floor when the ship has an occupancy rate of over 100%.

4 hours ago, Thom Cruise said:

2. Drinks package should be available on a day rate, or even 12 hour time limit. 

If Royal had a better IT backend I could see them doing this like Disney theme park tickets. The more days you drink, the bigger your discount. Only valid during the sailing it's purchased for; a sailing day is defined as the same as for the C&A drink vouchers. Pricing would probably start around $150-$175 per day, then drop down so that a 7-night package is at least marginally more expensive than the current package rates.

And I was on a 7-night, Anthem sailing in Feburary 2023 and their Windjammer was the best that I've had over multiple sailings on different Royal ships. Can't comment on the MDR since I didn't partake on this sailing. 

Currently Loyal to Royal as they deliver good value versus what I'm spending to cruise with them, and they provide what I'm seeking in this style of leisure travel, for the most part. It certainly helps, but isn't the sole reason for loyalty, them having regular departures from a port that's easily drivable for me and a loyalty program that really starts heaping on the benefits after cruising with them solo 7 times (will be Diamond after a Christmas sailing this year). Due to upcoming cruises either booked or planned between 2024 through 2027, will probably not consider branching out until 2028 due to loyalty status hitting Diamond+ in 2027.

Looking in the app for Allure, the chicken wings are under Favorites. Appetizers are a whole three: tomato or chicken noodle soup and chicken tenders. I'm assuming the appetizer that's now being counted as an entrée is the chicken tenders. So from my perspective, this situation is either from Royal leaving outdated room service menus in the cabins or people not realizing that the menu isn't what they think it is when it comes to appetizers. Could be both. Not seeing anything about limiting to one or two entrées. However, the change wouldn't surprise me with how much room service food, left from the night before, I've seen outside cabins in the early morning. 

I suspect it's not the size of the ship which is impacting service, it's the amount of inexperienced crew aboard. Larger ships will possibly have a greater number of crew who are still developing their skills versus a smaller ship per guest aboard. So problems that might be easy to point out (or directly fixed) by the experienced crew aboard when they're witnessing issues with the inexperienced staff, are either not being seen or simply do not have the time to intervene once the ratio of experienced to inexperienced reaches a certain point. 

8 hours ago, steverk said:

The life expectancy is about 30 years, but it can last longer with a lot of love.  By 40, you're looking at a really tired vessel.

So, there are several things Royal needs to consider in the amp/replace decision. How much does each option cost? How long will the amp'd ship last? How much interest will there be in each ship?

One other issue we haven't mentioned is average ship age.  If they continually amp every old ship, then they will have a bunch of old tired ships at some point in the future.

Voyager, Radiance, and Voyager-class vessels will be hitting the big 3-0 within a decade. Freedom-class not too long after. 

I would expect if Royal will be introducing a smaller ship compared to Icon, we'll hear about it within this decade. It'd give them something big to market after their final Oasis-class ship. With that said, off the top of my head, the three Icon-class ships combined have approximately the passenger capacity of Vision and Radiance-class together, if not more. If Royal decided to get out of the small ship business, they could send off their smallest vessels without taking a capacity hit from a before and after Icon-class perspective. I suspect, however, that Royal will decide to introduce a new ship class with around 4,000 capacity to take over the role Radiance and Voyager-classes currently fill. It's highly unlikely with their current business strategy that we'll ever see a new ~2,500-passenger Royal Caribbean ship.

 

And back again with another ticket for the ChatGPT cruise planning express. This journey is back to what got my interest going with the possibilities of using AI for cruise planning. Specifically using ChatGPT to compare cruise itineraries. There are often several itineraries that look almost identical, but differences can be hard to spot when browsing. The prompts this time will make it easy to compare similar itineraries. These prompts also work well for completely different itineraries. However, to reduce the likelihood you'll encounter issues with ChatGPT when comparing itineraries with no port overlap, consider comparing only two itineraries at a time.

Step One: Getting the Itinerary into a ChatGPT Friendly Format

Please download the attached Excel workbook. It's been updated with a new spreadsheet specifically for comparing cruise itineraries (and a new prompt with the cruise travel guide for GPT-4 users...) 

After opening the workbook, and changing to the "Itinerary Comparison" sheet if not already selected when opening, (just like last time) we're copying and pasting itineraries from Royal's website that we want ChatGPT to compare. See the previous post in this thread for how to copy if you're just joining us. However, unlike last time we've got to do it twice or three times per comparison (once for each itinerary) we're making. Please note that even with using GPT-4 inside ChatGPT, their computers can start having issues with more than three itineraries. Two is best, three is acceptable.

Step Two: Copying the cyan cells to ChatGPT

Copy both cyan background cells to ChatGPT (C1 and C2) and send. If the comparison is cut off before it's finished, send the reddish background prompt to have it finish writing the response.

Comparison Overview Prompt using two AK itineraries.

For each cruise itinerary listed below, start with a header for the itinerary including the itinerary title, ship, and day of embarkation; then for the body, write detailed descriptive paragraphs about the ship and ports of call visited (with at least one sentence describing each port of call), how the itinerary compares to the other itineraries provided, and describe who this itinerary would best be suited for. End the response with a comparison summary in one paragraph. Responses should be in paragraph form only. Respond in the style of Rick Steves crossed with Guy Fieri.    
Itinerary 1: Itinerary Title: 7 Night Alaska Glacier Cruise; Ship: Radiance of the Seas; Day of Embarkation: 09/22/2023; Itinerary: Day: Vancouver, British Columbia; Port: ONBOARD; Radiance of the Seas; Day: DAY; Port: 1; Vancouver, British Columbia; Day: Departs at 4:00 PM; Port: 2; Cruising; Day: Day at sea; Port: 3; Sitka, Alaska; Day: From 2:00 PM - 8:00 PM; Port: 4; Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier, Alaska; Day: Sightseeing from 10:00 AM - 3:00 PM; Port: 5; Juneau, Alaska; Day: From 7:00 AM - 3:00 PM; Port: 6; Ketchikan, Alaska; Day: From 10:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Port: 7; Inside Passage, Canada; Day: Sightseeing; Port: 8; Vancouver, British Columbia; Day: Arrives at 7:00 AM; Port: ; ; 
Itinerary 2: Itinerary Title: 7 Night Alaska Adventure; Ship: Radiance of the Seas; Day of Embarkation: 04/26/2024; Itinerary: Day: 1; Port: Vancouver, British Columbia; Departs at 4:00 PM; Day: 2; Port: Inside Passage, Canada; Sightseeing; Day: 3; Port: Juneau, Alaska; From 2:00 PM - 10:00 PM; Day: 4; Port: Hubbard Glacier, Alaska; Sightseeing from 2:00 PM - 6:00 PM; Day: 5; Port: Icy Strait Point, Alaska; From 6:30 AM - 3:00 PM; Day: 6; Port: Ketchikan, Alaska; From 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM; Day: 7; Port: Inside Passage, Canada; Sightseeing; Day: 8; Port: Vancouver, British Columbia; Arrives at 7:00 AM;

Finish writing the response prompt. Only if ChatGPT ended while writing the response to the above.

Please complete response.

ChatGPT has now written a brief comparison of multiple itineraries specifically for you! If you'd like more information on the compared itineraries, continue on to step three.

Step Three: Times in Port and Sights to See

On the right-hand side of the spreadsheet, there are several prompts to generate more information relevant to deciding on an itinerary. Unfortunately, even with the latest AI model (as of this post), it can't really keep ships straight within a class. So GPT knows Oasis-class versus Vision-class, but getting specific on that's aboard Allure versus Oasis yields hallucinations. 

Top experiences, as decided by ChatGPT, per port of call in the categories of Cultural/Historical, Natural, Chill, and Thrill.

Create a table with the following columns: Cultural/Historical Experiences, Natural Experiences, Chill Experiences, Thrill Experiences. Rows of the table are ports of call.  For each cell in the table body, determine the best three experiences or shore excursions based on the port of call and column titles. If the port of call is marked "Sightseeing" only include what is possible to see and do from the "Ship" listed in a related itinerary; do not write "from ship" as part of the response. Each cell with experiences should have three unless there are none for that column and all three experiences should be placed in the same cell separated by commas.

If ChatGPT didn't have enough experiences or shore excursions in each cell, you can have it regenerate its response, paying closer attention to experience count, using this prompt. Change up the number to match what you asked for with the earlier prompt.

Please regenerate with three experiences in each cell if there are not three there.

[Only works with GPT-4] Have ChatGPT create a table with all itineraries' ports-of-call listed and length of time spent in port. If the table doesn't look like a modern, word processor type table (see the attached pics or PDF for an example), then click "Regenerate". If port times are off, click "Regenerate". You should only need to "Regenerate" once, if any.

Please create a table listing the ports of call as columns and the cruise itinerary titles as rows.  Calculate the length of time spent at each port of call per itinerary and enter it in the appropriate cell. If "Day at sea" appears in the itinerary, sum the total for the itinerary in one column and do not include "Cruising". If no time is spent at a specific port on an itinerary, insert a - in the corresponding cell. If a port of call is 24 hours or longer, record on the table time in days instead of hours. If a port of call occurs multiple times on an itinerary, enter into the cell the total number of hours or days spent at the port of call on that itinerary. Include the cruise itinerary date as a column after the itinerary title. Include units of time with time in port. Do not list on the table the times the ship is in port.

Attached to this post, besides the updated Excel workbook (still no security risk macros) and walkthrough picture, there's the output using model GPT-4 for three Alaska itineraries in PDF format, the time in port and experience tables from a stress test consisting of three different Iceland & Ireland itineraries ranging from 12 nights (2x) to 15 nights (1x).

Bonus Prompt for the Travel Guide Prompts! For GPT-4 users only. GPT-3 will hallucinate or refuse to work. Run the initial "prime the pump" prompt before this one. This is another prompt where if the result looks wacky, regenerate the response. ChatGPT can have issues, but from what I've seen, the issues are usually obvious.

Based on calendar date and port-of-call, generate a table listing any annual local holidays or celebrations happening on the listed calendar day for that port-of-call.

"That's cruising, Steves and Fieri style!" - ChatGPT
 

Alaska Cruise Options.pdf ChatGPT Travel Guide.xlsx

Misses the part about complaining on online message boards. That's a stage, right?

2 hours ago, miscam2005 said:

We are going on Quantum of the Seas next month.  We booked this ship because of all the extras they had for my 16 year old.  When I went to the RC website, it looks like all of the Ripcord, Northstar and escape rooms are full. I never got any information saying it was open for booking although I do know previously it said things were too far to book.  Does anyone know if we were able to book ahead of time and we missed it or is it something we need to do once we board the ship? 
 

thank you

Unless something has changed, the complementary sessions on Ripcord and Northstar aren't bookable until connected to ship's WiFi. Also, people do cancel sessions before the cruise so it's worth checking often to see if anything opens up.

2 hours ago, mistertomatohead said:

Huh? What does this even mean? It's literally in the name. 

"About
Royal Caribbean Blog is an unofficial fan blog written for other fans of Royal Caribbean International. The Royal Caribbean Blog is not affiliated with Royal Caribbean International"

From: https://www.royalcaribbeanblog.com/

45 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

So many questions about posts like this.

Almost if people used ChatGPT to construct a message board rant.

Couldn't be ChatGPT. It's actually articulate.

Edit: Le ChatGPT Rant. Not providing the prompt, though it's rather simple. From GPT-3.5 (the free-to-use model).

Hey fellow cruisers,

I need to vent about the absolutely infuriating experience I recently had with Royal Caribbean. Brace yourselves because this is one rant you won't want to miss! So, here's the deal: I had been eagerly anticipating a dream vacation to the Greek Isles on a Royal Caribbean cruise. I meticulously planned, saved up, and counted down the days, only to have my dreams crushed when the company decided to cancel our cruise to charter the ship to a private group. Can you believe the audacity?!

Let me start by saying that I understand chartering happens occasionally. However, it's how Royal Caribbean handled the situation that has left me fuming. They couldn't have cared less about their loyal customers who had booked and paid for this cruise months in advance. It's like they waved a dismissive hand, saying, "Sorry, but we've got bigger fish to fry."

First and foremost, communication was abysmal. I received a generic email, buried in my inbox, informing me of the cancellation. No personalized apology, no explanation, nothing! I was expected to accept their decision and move on as if my vacation plans were insignificant. Well, let me tell you, they were anything but insignificant to me!

What really irks me is that Royal Caribbean clearly prioritized profit over customer satisfaction. Instead of valuing us, the ones who have been loyal to them, they sold out to this private group. I understand that money talks, but what about the people who have supported the company all these years? Do we not matter anymore?

It's not just the cancellation that angered me; it's the lack of compensation or alternatives. Sure, they offered a refund, but that doesn't make up for the countless hours I spent planning and researching this trip. And what about the emotional toll this has taken? The disappointment and frustration of having your long-awaited vacation yanked away without any meaningful explanation? It's simply unacceptable!

To add salt to the wound, Royal Caribbean had the audacity to suggest that we book another cruise at a discounted rate. Are they serious? They expect me to trust them again after this colossal letdown? They think a few dollars off will miraculously heal the wounds they inflicted? No, thank you! I'll take my business elsewhere.

I used to be a staunch advocate for Royal Caribbean, always recommending them to friends and family. But after this experience, they have lost a customer for life. There are plenty of other cruise lines out there that value their patrons and wouldn't dare pull such a stunt.

So, fellow cruisers, beware of Royal Caribbean's lack of respect for their customers. They may seem enticing with their glossy brochures and tempting itineraries, but when push comes to shove, they'll ditch you in a heartbeat for a private group. Let's use our voices and make it clear that we deserve better treatment and transparency from the companies we choose to support.

Thanks for listening to my rant. Together, let's hold Royal Caribbean accountable and ensure they learn from this disgraceful act.

It seems like this question comes up about once a month. As others have already said, Royal doesn't sell points. You've gotta sail to earn.

Unlike airline programs (or hotels for that matter) status with Royal is kept for life under the current rules. Thus, if Royal was selling C&A points, I'd expect the per-point cost to be based on their most expensive sailing of the year, for a balcony, and the expected onboard spend for that cabin. Points would probably be at least $2,000 each to purchase based on a very quick price check on their website. Royal wouldn't be basing the per-point cost on a transatlantic, aboard a Vision-class, which seems to be the general expectation for people asking this question.

21 minutes ago, Jill said:

Well it would be nice if they told you you had to book once onboard. Izumi isn’t done this way. I also was going off what I was told in another post to book then go to guest services once onboard to get the credit back as OBC.  It really should be in the description. It’s just not very clear. It’s only $100 but still. Most of the time Chefs Table is sold out before you get onboard 

Izumi is only allowed due to how they're currently handling it. If Royal is now not allowing the switchover on the Chef's Table, it's probably a mater of time before Izumi is treated the same.

Continuing on our journey of using GPT for cruise planning. This time? Custom cruise travel guides using ChatGPT.

Yeah, we're going to do it. And I'm going to make this easy.

Before we begin, this doesn't replace something like Lonely Planet or quality Internet searches. There are still hallucinations (sometimes hilarious) that could derail, or at least disappoint, the cruiser who follows these blindly. With that said, it's an easy peasy way of rapidly getting a custom overview of a cruise without the marketing speak. This is a beginning point, not an ending point. This could also be a decent way of getting other people in your travel party excited about the cruise if they're like, "Book it, and we'll come along with whatever you decide," sort of personalities.

Step One: Getting the Itinerary into a ChatGPT Friendly Format

Download the "ChatGPT Travel Guide.xlsx" and "Cruise Itinerary Copy for ChatGPT.png" files attached to this post. There's no macros in the workbook; it's 100% built-in Excel functions. The workbook also contains step-by-step directions too.

We're starting on Royal's website and searching for the cruise we plan to create a guidebook for. After finding the cruise, click "View X dates" then click "Explore this itinerary". The "Cruise Itinerary Copy for ChatGPT.png" shows the process of copying the itinerary from Royal's website and successfully pasting it into the spreadsheet.

Here's the steps:

Open "ChatGPT Travel Guide.xlsx".

Select the itinerary, including the debarkation day's time, right click, choose "Copy". I found it easier starting at the bottom with the selection, and selecting up to the itinerary name instead of selecting from the top down.

(This is assuming Excel on Windows. If you're not running Excel, you want to do a plain text paste.)

Click into cell A3 of the spreadsheet. Click the little down arrow under "Paste", then "Paste Special".

Click on "Text" in the selection box that appears, then click "OK". If you successfully pasted correctly for this sheet, your itinerary should appear in C3 in a ChatGPT friendly format. 

Update the date of embarkation for the cruise in cell F1.

Save the workbook if it's not autosaving.

Potential issue: If the pasted itinerary is shorter than the one already in the spreadsheet then days from the previous itinerary will appear in the ChatGPT prompt area. Double-check the pasted itinerary to make sure there's no extra ports or times and such lurking below.

Step Two: Generating the Itinerary Table in ChatGPT

Navigate to https://chat.openai.com/ if you're not already there.

Change your model to GPT-4 if you have a paid account. It's not even funny how much better GPT-4 is over 3.5 for this, but work with what you've got if you aren't willing to pay. Just be aware that the output with 3.5 is more prone to errors and may lack details found in GPT-4. This has been tested with both.

Copy cells C2 and C3 together and paste into a new chat on ChatGPT, then send the message and watch the magic happen.

Example: After copy/pasting the itinerary for the Panama Canal group cruise (that I won't be on) into the spreadsheet, I'm copying over to ChatGPT this:

For Cruise Information, please create a document with the header as the Itinerary Name, list the ship underneath, then create a table for the Itinerary with Column 1 being the day(s), Column 2 listing the calendar date starting with the date of embarkation, Column 3 being the port-of-call or "Day at Sea", Column 4 being the departure or arrival time or the times in port.
Cruise Information: Itinerary Title: 7 Night Costa Rica & Panama Canal; Ship: Rhapsody of the Seas; Day of Embarkation: 03/16/2024; Itinerary: Day: 1; Port: Colón, Panama; Departs at 4:00 PM; Day: 2; Port: Cartagena, Colombia; From 9:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Day: 3; Port: Panama Canal, Panama; Sightseeing from 10:00 AM - 10:00 PM; Day: 4; Port: Cruising; Day at sea; Day: 5; Port: Puntarenas, Costa Rica; From 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Day: 6; Port: Quepos, Costa Rica; Tendered from 8:00 AM - 6:00 PM; Day: 7; Port: Cruising; Day at sea; Day: 8; Port: Panama City (Fuerte Amador), Panama; Arrives at 7:00 AM; 

All prompts which are being copied to ChatGPT are red in this post.

Step Three: Generating the Itinerary Description in ChatGPT

The hard part is done. Now we just need a few prompts to complete things. Here's one for it to write a brief overview of the sailing.

Please write a description of this cruise itinerary in the style of a travelogue using no more than one paragraph per two ports of call.

Step Four: Generating the Ports-of-Call, Sea Days, and Sightseeing Overview Descriptions in ChatGPT

The following prompt will need to be updated a few times if your itinerary is over 3 nights. Due to how ChatGPT works, it starts having issues asking for more than 3 nights at a time. For this itinerary, I would update it after the first send to say "For Days 4 to 6" and then "For Days 7 to 8". Sending the message before updating the days being asked for.

For Days 1 to 3, in descriptive travelogue form, please list the cruise day, the calendar date, port of call, times in port, a description of what makes the destination interesting in one paragraph, and a paragraph containing three popular things to see and do and three local things to eat or drink. If the day is marked "Cruising", instead of the previous portion of the prompt, please provide the cruise day, the calendar date, a fun fact about the ship, and three ideas of things to enjoy aboard the ship listed in the original prompt. If the day is marked "Sightseeing", instead of the previous portion of the prompt, please provide the cruise day, the calendar date, and provide one to two paragraphs on what to look for from the ship for what is listed on that day in the "Port-of-Call or "Day at Sea" column. Do not include shore excursion suggestions or must try food and drink when the day is marked "Sightseeing". Do not create numbered or bullet point lists. Do include the cruise day, the calendar date, port of call, and time in port as a header before the descriptive paragraphs for a particular day.
 

Potential issue: Please keep the following in mind going forward. We're generating a lot of text, and ChatGPT may be having memory issues at this point depending on length of sailing. If the quality takes a dive, or it starts hallucinating (like the completely wrong port, seen it happen while testing), start a new chat, resend the itinerary table prompt in step two, then continue where it left off. If ChatGPT suddenly stops in the middle of a sentence, you can ask it to finish writing the previous response and it will.

Step Five: Generating More In-depth Ports-of-Call, Sea Days, and Sightseeing Descriptions in ChatGPT

If you haven't started a new chat and resent the itinerary table prompt sent in step two, now's the time to do so. In fact, based on testing, you'll need to do this process (new chat, resend itinerary prompt) every three to four cruise days in the itinerary during this step. Otherwise, major hallucinations creep in and/or quality nosedives at least from recent testing.

While there's one prompt to rule them all for this step in GPT-4, I've found ChatGPT works better and faster if you choose the correct prompt based on whether it's a Port Day, Sightseeing Day, or Sea Day. Change the "Day 1" to match the itinerary day you're generating this for. So for day 5, it would be updated to "Day 5". You shouldn't need to specifically mention the port name. The one exception to this is for itineraries that have multiple ports in one day or a combination of sightseeing and a port visit. Then, try changing the "Day 1" to "Day 4 - Juneau", for example, if on day 4 the ship is sightseeing in the morning, then visiting Juneau in the afternoon to generate only a description for Juneau. I have found more often than not GPT-4 will choose the correct thing when it's a mixed day. But if it doesn't, now you know how to fix it.

Port Day: For Day 1, in descriptive travelogue form, please list as the header: the day with the calendar date, list the port of call underneath, and times in port; the body of the text: two to four paragraphs detailing a description of the port of call including what makes the destination unique or special in this itinerary without using stating special or unique in the response, and short, bullet point lists, with brief descriptions of each list item: must-try food or drink, shore excursion ideas, and popular souvenirs from this port of call.

Sightseeing Day: For Day 1, in descriptive travelogue form, please provide as the header: the cruise day with the calendar date, list the port of call underneath, and the sightseeing times; then narrate concerning the flora, fauna, historical, natural, and human accomplishments to look for from the ship for what is listed on that day in the "Port-of-Call or "Day at Sea" column in the style of Sir David Attenborough. Do not include shore excursion suggestions, must try food and drink, or popular souvenirs and do not mention the style you are writing in.

Sea Day: For Day 1, in descriptive travelogue form, please list as the header: provide the cruise day, the calendar date, and list "Cruising" underneath the date; the body of the text: one to three fun facts about the ship written as one to two paragraphs without using the word fun, and three suggestions for things to enjoy aboard the ship listed in the original prompt. Do not include shore excursion suggestions, must try food and drink, or popular souvenirs.

If you're running in GPT-4, this prompt doesn't work well in GPT-3.5, there's one prompt for this (which I don't recommend at this point due to system overload, you'll probably need to start a new chat more often using this):

For Day 1, if COLUMN 4 of the itinerary table contains “Sightseeing” then respond using the directions for SIGHTSEEING, ignoring PORTDAY and SEADAY; if COLUMN 4 of the itinerary table contains “Day at sea” then respond using the directions for SEADAY, ignoring PORTDAY and SIGHTSEEING; otherwise please respond using the directions for PORTDAY, ignoring directions for SIGHTSEEING AND SEADAY.
PORTDAY:  In descriptive travelogue form, please list as the header: the day with the calendar date, list the port of call underneath, and times in port; the body of the text: two to four paragraphs detailing a description of the port of call including what makes the destination unique or special in this itinerary without using stating special or unique in the response, and short, bullet point lists, with brief descriptions of each list item: must-try food or drink, shore excursion ideas, and popular souvenirs from this port of call.
SIGHTSEEING: In descriptive travelogue form, please provide as the header: the cruise day with the calendar date, list the port of call underneath, and the sightseeing times; then narrate concerning the flora, fauna, historical, natural, and human accomplishments to look for from the ship for what is listed on that day in the "Port-of-Call or "Day at Sea" column in the style of Sir David Attenborough. Do not include shore excursion suggestions, must try food and drink, or popular souvenirs and do not mention the style you are writing in.  
SEADAY: In descriptive travelogue form, please list as the header: provide the cruise day, the calendar date, and list "Cruising" underneath the date; the body of the text: one to three fun facts about the ship written as one to two paragraphs without using the word fun, and three ideas of things to enjoy aboard the ship listed in the original prompt. Do not include shore excursion suggestions, must try food and drink, or popular souvenirs.

Step Six: Copying and Typesetting and All that Jazz

Congratulations if you've made it this far. You've now got ChatGPT to quickly generate for you a mini-travel guide's worth of content for a specific cruise itinerary. Let's combine it into one document for future reference. At this point, it's a simple copy-and-paste job (you'll want to do a plain text paste) into a Word document or your favorite word processor. Then spending a few moments massaging the text so it looks nice.

An example is attached to this post, "AI - 7 Night Costa Rica Report.docx" which is a completed mini-guide, using the above prompts, for the Panama Canal group cruise in March 2024.

ChatGPT Travel Guide.xlsx AI - 7 Night Costa Rica Report.docx

Back with more GPT-powered cruise planning stuff after experimenting with ChatGPT. I thought I'd condense things into one, new thread since this is going beyond itinerary comparisons.

Before we begin, I'm using GPT-4 for testing and its output for examples. This model has far fewer hallucinations (when it's wrong, but it thinks it's right) and far more capabilities versus 3.5 (the free tier).

Terminology:

• Prompt: What the AI is being asked.
• Response: What the AI writes based on the prompt.
• Model: Which AI system is used to generate a response. ChatGPT is the human-friendly interface to the GPT-3.5 and GPT-4 models.

General Tips:

• Be as specific as you can about what it is that you want. The more limits you can put on the result, the closer the result will be to what it is you're imagining.
• ChatGPT knows what tables are and can generate them.
• It can also format its output in a particular style if you tell it what the output should look like.
• ChatGPT also has limited processing and thinking power due to how it works. Try not to overload the system with your prompts. You can always ask it to expand part of its answer in a later prompt. If it stops responding in the middle of a response, you can also ask it to finish the previous response and it will.

So, for example, here's a prompt that will have ChatGPT create a table from a list of cruise ports with five popular shore excursion destinations for each.

"Generate a table for the Cruise Ports list and their popular to visit cities and major attractions from the port during a shore excursion from a ship. Use the format for the table: Column 1: Cruise Port, Column 2: Destination 1 (travel time), Column 3: Destination 2 (travel time), Column 4: Destination 3 (travel time), Column 5: Destination 4 (travel time), Column 6: Destination 5 (travel time)

Cruise Ports list: [PORTS GO HERE]"

Naming "Column 1:" may or may not be necessary, though I found it was somewhat inconsistent with correctly setting up the table when I did not. Also, I used ChatGPT to break down my list of cruise ports by region into lists of 7, City, Country combinations separated by semicolons, which were then used with the above prompt. They looked like this: St. John's, Antigua; Oranjestad, Aruba; Bimini, Bahamas; Grand Bahama Island, Bahamas; Nassau, Bahamas; Perfect Day at CocoCay, Bahamas; Bridgetown, Barbados

After spending a little time formatting the output into a spreadsheet workbook, the end product is attached to this post in Excel format. A list of the top five, as GPT-4 sees it, shore destinations for ports-of-call in the Americas and Europe.

Cruise Ports to Attractions Travel Times.xlsx

On 5/1/2023 at 1:27 PM, zekeO said:

Hi everyone - Has anybody ordered the Bud Light? Can you confirm the size of the cans, not sure I trust if they are tall cans like the pictures
 

16oz or 12oz

The cans were 12 floz on Anthem in February. 

5 hours ago, Starrynight0154 said:

I’m curious if the adult only area will be complimentary 

It's my understanding that it will be complimentary. Basically, think of a ship's Solarium, but it's a beach and seriously supersized.

As long as the snacks are prepackaged and unopened. Blue Lagoon might have something against outside food or drink, but I don't remember being checked for either last summer.