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RCVoyager

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Posts posted by RCVoyager

  1. 7 hours ago, bobroo said:

    Know what makes a lot of sense to me? Intentionally leave the last row of seats in coach on every large aircraft---EMPTY! Just don't sell 'em.

    They will always be there for flight crew emergencies, people who missed their previous flights, people who require multiple seats, and people who have a lot of money and need to fly immediately.

     

    What could be so hard?

     

    The problem with that is prices would go up for everyone.  If you take an average jet, say an MD 80, holds about 125 people in 1st class/coach combined and remove 10 available seats, you're talking about over 8% of available revenue.  They would have to make up that money, and those seats would be empty at least 50% of the time.

    While it could use a few tweaks, the current system of overbooking and buying back a few seats (with restricted travel vouchers rather than cash) on a small percentage of flights works pretty well most of the time for the airline and the travelers.

  2. 10 hours ago, clmsnskr said:

    I'm ok with airlines overbooking, but how about saying that on the ticket you purchase For example: "The flight you have purchased this ticket for is currently in an overbooked status.  Your ticket currently does not have a seat available.  Your are currently #x in overbooked standby queue.  In the event that a seat becomes available for you, we will notify you via e-mail, phone, text and/or by displaying your name on the Gate Information Display in the terminal.  If you are not able to be assigned a seat, then we will automatically rebook you on the next available flight to get you to your destination within 2 hours and compensate you by granting you $y.yy towards a future flight."

    It's really not that difficult of a concept to me.

    Most of your proposal sounds good, but it's not really how things work.  For instance, many destinations don't have another flight available within two hours.  Secondly, most of the time, flights are not overbooked at the time of purchase.  Third is that bad weather anywhere in the country can put any airline in a bind.

    Where I draw the line is forcing paying passengers off a flight on which they purchased a ticket, were assigned a seat, showed up on time, and played by all the rules only to be forced to leave for another individual who did not do those things.  If the airline is in a tight spot, they should up the ante until the number of people needed come forward. 

    What happened to United on the Chicago/Louisville flight was to accommodate a flight crew who needed to get to a destination (not paying customers).  Most pilot contracts are written so pilots would not have to wait more than 1 flight to be deadheaded when necessary.

    I think the price listed on travel websites should actually have seats available for that price to be assigned at the time of booking.  Just last week, we booked our family on a trip.  At the time of booking, there were no seats available at the quoted price.  We had to upgrade (at about $10 per person per leg) to more expensive seats.

     Another thing that would help would be that airlines be forced to use other airlines to accommodate passengers who have been displaced through no fault of their own.  The airlines will do this, but they are reluctant to do so.

  3. Was your 2013 trip on the Jewel a chartered music cruise?  There are companies out there (sixthman.com for one) doing just that.  They are booking every genre of music you can think of with about 20 acts on board.  There is an annual Rock Boat Cruise, oldies cruises, Southern Rock, Country Music cruises, Barenaked Ladies is scheduling another, ect.  They give the regular entertainment staff the week off and then rock the socks off the passengers.

    I've been on three such cruises.  Two of them were amazing.  Ships and Dips l & lll were headlined by the Barenaked Ladies.  The lineup was amazing.  There was music about 20 hours a day.  BNL took an 8 X 10 photo with every party as they boarded the ship and gave a copy to each passenger of their photo.  Not only did they play two full length concerts during the cruise, they appeared multiple times each day.  Don't even ask me about the Barenaked at Sea photo on this family forum!  But you can google it.

    In the sail away concert on the pool deck, they said that they were on board with their families.  They asked for privacy when seen with their families, but asked the passengers to approach to say hello, pose for a photo, or ask for an autograph when they weren't with family.  

    The undercard was just great.  In fact, the band, Gaelic Storm, has become an absolute favorite of most of my family and many of our friends.  We now see them regularly when they are close by and have occasionally traveled to see them in Dallas or Chicago with other family members.  Gaelic Storm s great for so many reasons.  One of them is that after every show the entire band comes from back stage and poses for photos, converses with the fans, and signs autographs.  They know many of the fans who see them often, and that is the case with my family.  In fact, at one Indy show a couple of years ago, their merchandise people showed up late, and Patrick asked me to run the merchandise table for until the people showed up, which they did just before the show.

    But to answer your question, I don't think you will have that experience on a regularly scheduled cruise.  In fact, I'm not sure how you booked such a cruise without knowing it the first time.

     

  4. Cayman is a favorite for our family.  7 mile beach is world class.  Stingray City is a lot of fun.  Shopping is good.  One hint would be the party boats to Stingray City are usually very crowded.  We have arranged small boat trips on the island outside of the cruise line.  I think there is a Diver Down there that you could contact.  If they can't do it, they will know someone who can.  

  5. Funny that you call the Navigator a small ship... because it is not.  The Voyager Class, Navigator included, were the largest in the world when they were new.  The growth of ships has escalated at an unbelievable rate since these ships were built.  

     

    But, back to your question.  To me, the Voyager class is the sweet spot of cruising.  The ships are a great size with an awesome layout.  The ships are built to handle and disperse the crowd.  They don't have all of the bells and whistles of the Oasis and Quantum classes, but they have a lot.  

     

    We did the ABCs last year and really enjoyed the islands.

  6. To reach Cape Liberty, the ship has to clear the Verrazano Bridge. Anthem manages it with only 16 inches of clearance, so there's no way an Oasis class ship, which is larger, could ever fit.

     

    And as already noted, the O class does seem to be designed for warmer climates, especially spaces like Central Park that may not hold up well in a late September or early October frost.

    Wow.  Just 16 inches.  That's crazy.  That must be a highest of the high tide measurement?

  7. My family and I have cruised a lot.  As a group we stay away from NCL unless the cost/itinerary is substantially better.  The reason is the poor food quality in the MDR.  It is so bad they force you into the upcharge restaurants.  It's like eating at Applebees or Bob Evans 7 consecutive nights.  We prefer to do the upcharge once a week, not every night.  

     

    These thoughts are those of mine and several family members and your experience could be different, but I doubt it.

  8. I have a 13 year old very shy daughter and we are cruising this year

    I had a bad experience with Carnival where I signed her up for kids club when she was 11 and their policy stated that she would always be in an adults care during their program and they left her alone in a hallway on our floor before the event was supposed to be over

    My question is, does Royal Carribean make sure that young teens make it back to their parents every night?

    I smell a late pick up or some other circumstance that is out of the Carnival's control.

  9. Probably available in April and September or October only.  We did a 12 night on Carnival a few years ago.  It was in April and went from Ensenada, MX for 5 days across the Pacific and then 7 days around the islands.  Repositioning cruises are a little wacky because little unexpected things happen because the cruise line and staff are out of normal routine.  We flew into San Diego and home from Honolulu.  I think a similar trip may be available from Vancover.

     

    It was an awesome experience.  Great price with upgrades.

  10. The website to go to is Sixthman.net.  I've been on three of their music cruises.  If it is a genre you like, the entertainment is amazing.  Sixthman takes over all of the entertainment for the entire ship.  the headliner usually does 1 or 2 full shows during the cruise and several other appearances.  The undercard is everywhere all the time.  

     

    In January of 2007, my brothers and I were on the Ship and Dips Cruise (Barenaked Ladies).  BNL was awesome.  They were everywhere all the time.  The best part was the undercard.  We all go to know a band called Gaelic Storm that we had never heard of.  It has been the favorite for all of my family and many of my friends who we have exposed to them.

     

    I highly recommend these cruises if you find a genre you like.

  11. I am sure there is someone on this board that could!...

     

    But those ships are expensive!

     

    I wonder if I could start my own go fund me page to support my cruise habit?!....hmmmmm

    I once was in a discussion with the owner of Sixth Man.  They are the company that leases the ships for music cruises.  10 years ago, the cost was $250,000 per day to lease the Carnival Triumph.  That would make the cost to purchase way up there.

  12. I've not done one of these cruises on RCI, but I've done three of them, and yes, we received all of our credit all three times.

     

    I really don't understand why these cruises aren't more popular.  How many of us really want to see the production shows on board?  Come on admit it.  To have all the entertainment replaced by entertainment you actually really like (assuming you pick a theme cruise that is a theme you like) is a great thing.  

     

    My first was January 2007.  My group of brothers were in our 40s and really enjoyed the Barenaked Ladies.  BNL was great, but the huge bonus was all the down ticket bands and acts that none of us had heard of.  You may not like them all, but you may find one you like more than the headliner... and we did.  10 years later BNL has faded, but we remain huge fans of Gaelic Storm and their music is in the background of all family functions.  My parents, in their 80s now, and my 9 year old, consider themselves big fans too.  None of us, and I'm guessing few of you, had heard of them 10 years ago or even today.

     

    All the same food, all the same ports, but great entertainment rather than something you tolerate to please your wife or someone else in your travel party.

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