Originally Posted by Jim B.

Back in 1998 I talked my wife into going on one, all over the Caribbean on a Royal Caribbean (supposedly one of the best ones there, back then) cruise.

I was not impressed that much actually. You had to forfeit ALL the booze you brought on board only to have it returned at the end of the cruise: THIS apparently is to prevent budget conscious passengers to NOT drink their OWN booze or buy any ashore during the course of the cruise, and instead buy it at ths ships's on board liquor store where the mark-ups are staggering.

Or buy the ships excellent mixed drinks at $9.00 each. Over and over (you were approached about every 5-10 minutes at the shows if you did not have a drink in your hand. Or if you were on deck trying to enjoy a sunset. (which is a TOTAL romance-breaker by the way).

I had selected a more inboard room (giving up the view) so the rocking of the ship could not be felt. But it was the tiniest space I have ever been in, all you could do was lie down in the bed, not even stand up 3/4 height. Like a jail cell; this to reinforce the idea that you should only be there to sleep bathe, wash up or use the toilet. I would guess jail cells are much much bigger.

The musicians at one of the shows on this trip was a rock band that was "HOT" back in the 1950's that I thought was long buried and forgotten.

It was the "Coasters" so we were treated to their rendition of "Little Egypt" over again, in my case 40 years later, something I could have done okay without.

The american mid westerners simply adored the food. Residing in San Franciso, though, where TRUE great food is available, my wife and I were singularly UNimpressed.

We thought that at best it was EXCELLENT cafeteria food.

The servers were all hired from awful 3rd world shyteholes like Pakistan, Croatia, the Phillipines, and India (shown on their badge nameplates) so they could be hired to work for cheap I guess on the "rationale" that they were being offered a standard of living they could not get elsewhere. (I heard THAT one all the time from wealthy and upper middle class Peruvians when I used to go to Peru a lot in those days).

The middle of the cruise ship had a huge gambling casino there, It was a new boat but the carpets were already filthy in the casino area, and probably this was because they had designed the ship so that you could NOT traverse it at all without going through that casino. (Talk about sledgehammer subtlety!)

Also you just about choked to death because in that Casino, it was so thick with cigarette/cigar smoke. It was awful.

And ALL the employees (except the waiters and cooks) had their hands out for tips. Always. That was terrible. But it is evidently de riguer and accepted.

One the last day you were given a final "BILL" and you had places to check off to give
Tips to just about EVERYONE that worked on the boat, it seemed. even for people and things you had never seen nor heard of. The rationale for all this tipping I believe is from the tradition that people who woked in jobs that required tipping is because their wages were so meager. This reinforced that idea. But if you tipped liberally to all those that expected it, and on the final bill, I think the cost could easily double for your cruise ship experience..

So if you believe the ads everywhere about what bargains cruises are, any such notion will be made hash of when you disembark for the final time. Or if you got stuck with the dreaded "single supplement" - which alone could double the bill.


..And on the first day of the cruise, we had learned that ALL our luggage had got sent to Puerto Rico.

I hope it had a good time.