Posted on 02/26/2012 11:54:47 AM PST by Kartographer
Twenty-two Carnival Cruise Lines passengers were robbed of valuables and their passports during a shore excursion in the Mexico seaside resort of Puerto Vallarta, cruise officials said late Saturday. The passengers were robbed Thursday during a guided trail excursion, according to a statement released by the cruise line. The cruise line did not provide details of the robbery, saying only that there were no injuries and the tour was suspended on future sailings under further notice.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I might check out some of the Inland Passage cruises from Seattle to Alaska. An older, mellower crowd.
Chinga Mejico.
What do you think of European river cruises, i.e., Viking, Uniworld? We’re thinking of taking one next year.
We don’t go to eat; we go to relax. The cruise line loses money on us, as we don’t gamble, drink, or take their expensive tours.
To unkus: Alcohol is very expensive on cruises. Even soft drinks are outrageous — at least on the cruises we’ve taken.
“I might check out some of the Inland Passage cruises from Seattle to Alaska. An older, mellower crowd.”
My sister and my wonderful brother-in-law were on a similar cruise, and they just loved it.
Ya got a point there. Most of the wealthy with a brain avoid them like the plague nowadays.
But they still do big biz with the teen set during graduation. Makes the kiddies feel like queens and superstars for a few hours...Then reality bites hard.
“We don’t go to eat; we go to relax.”
Where did I say you did go just to eat?
I used the term in general from what I have seen. Did I miss something?
It sounds like I hit nerve somewhere.
Are you fat?
“It sounds like I hit nerve somewhere. Are you fat?”
No; not fat, Joyboy.
Madam, what is a “Joyboy?”
Is that part of your profession?
I have no basis for making a statement based upon my own experience on those. My time aboard ship was on a Royal Caribbean ship, and most of the “big” lines all do almost exactly the same thing as each other. Centered around July, they do Baltic cruises which are Scandinavia, Russia, Estonia, typically starting and ending in Britain, but they can start & end anywhere. If they go to more southern Europe, the Mediterranean, they have a few more months of operation, maybe even all year. If the rivers you are going to peruse are in northern Europe, think July + or - a month. If southern Europe, those might go all year around.
The smaller cruise lines are quieter, smaller vessels. Some are very high end, probably examining the competitive pricing will tell you. The Royal Carib boats have roughly a 3:1 pax to crew ratio. As one data point, the Jewel of the Seas, had 2200-2400 pax and 850 crew on board. Some of the smaller boats have under 1000 pax. The smaller boats are going to have fewer rock walls and bowling alleys and that kind of silliness. They will all have many bars and casinos, that much you can count on.
I don’t think you can go too far wrong with almost any of these. If they suck, they get talked about and people would flee. If they portray themselves as top drawer and really cost a lot more than the competition and are only mediocre and fail to meet gourmet standards, people will bolt. It is a very, very competitive industry and there are very few lines that have any particular handle on any one destination. So if one makes folks unhappy, they will suffer. They all seem to try to do a good job, all the workers are watched carefully and rated and the lines really try to keep things under control, quality wise. Sometimes they slip up. When that happens, they know passengers will start demanding refunds and offsets, etc; and the cruise lines HATE to give away money. The recent Italian episode was apparently one drunk captain trying to impress a gal he was working on. Yes, pretty danged bad, but not typical of the industry as a whole.
Just try to go with a boat built within the last say ten years and a reputable cruise line.
Thank you, MayflowerMadam. I only drink red wine and that sparingly. I was just curious.
My sister and my wonderful brother-in-law were on a similar cruise, and they just loved it.
Nice! Yes, that’s the way to go.
Wine and beer with lunch and dinner are included, and you are allowed to purchase wine and bring it on board. The cruise itself is pretty pricey: almost $9K for two people. (That's the part that's holding us up ;-)
I’ll never cruise to Meheeko, no way! That’s why I’ve just book a cruise in Italy (As a kartographer, you probably know where that is.)
Nice pic.
We’re looking for a cruise in 2013 but I’m death set against setting foot in Mejico, unarmed anyway. [’-) and we’ve done the Canal before. Jamaica, St. Thomas , the Turks, Tortola are on my list, no Mexico if I can avoid it. Galveston is hosting big cruise ships too.. decisions decisions..
I’m not sure what cruise line you were on, but on every cruise line I’ve traveled on, you can buy booze in the duty-free store, but you can’t take possesion of it until the night before final disembarkation. To prevent people from doing what you described, mixin’ their own.
You think St. Thomas is safer?
Approximately 150 pax, no Vegas-type shows, no casino.
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sacre bleur! I hope they have cheap wireless.
the wine thingy sounds good. smaller ships are more ‘intimate’ too.
no casino, not even penny slots .. EU rule no doubt *-?
no shows? yikes.
any bingo? wifey would be bummed if not
that sounds like a great trip.. how many days.. I don’t cruise for anything under 10 these days. I hate all the packing/unpacking. ;-]
I haven’t been there in 10 years or so.. but I would say Yes. that is not saying that they don’t potential for bad things to happen. heck, that can happen on a cruise ship. that this happened on a tour.. not good.
We hit Caribbean and mexican ports in past cruises, lately we’ve been more alaska bound sailing out locally from san fran, no flying, love it , did a couple canal cruises before the bottom fell out of mexican ports and finally made it to europe recently.. I’d go back to any of them except mexico for now..
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