Cruise ships in Weymouth Bay

[Sway]

condor said:

Presumably the staff being in the balcony cabins means the cost will go up for the paying passengers.

I'm currently in Torquay and see there are a few cruise ships in the bay.

I'd imagine if the cruises are at reduced occupancy rates, there'll be spare pax cabins of all flavours available...

Some of the suites with included butler are quite nice - but on the ships I went on they were always near the kids clubs which I though was odd...

Interesting hearing about new ships now having much larger medic facilities - just like militaries, they always seem to be designing for the last 'war'. When I was dabbling, it was all about scrubbers and laundries...

[Sheepshanks]

Insert Coin said:

99 day round the world cruise, literally my idea of heaven.

Just need the wife and I to retire, boot the kids out and we’ll be gone sailing around the world.

The guy who owns our village garage was telling us about a cruise he and his missus had been on - a 'half around the world cruise", which I think he said was 119 nights. Massive list of countries it called at.

I asked if had been a once on a lifetime thing and he said, oh no, we do the same kind of trip every couple of years!

Must be more money in running a village garage than I'd have guessed.

[21TonyK]

Going OT a bit but those who have a better idea than me...

How sensible do you think of a RC cruise from Florida in November for a couple of 80 year olds?

[towser44]

Sheepshanks said:

Insert Coin said:

99 day round the world cruise, literally my idea of heaven.

Just need the wife and I to retire, boot the kids out and we’ll be gone sailing around the world.

The guy who owns our village garage was telling us about a cruise he and his missus had been on - a 'half around the world cruise", which I think he said was 119 nights. Massive list of countries it called at.

I asked if had been a once on a lifetime thing and he said, oh no, we do the same kind of trip every couple of years!

Must be more money in running a village garage than I'd have guessed.

'Only' costs about £10,000 I think for the basic inside cabin

[Sheepshanks]

towser44 said:

'Only' costs about £10,000 I think for the basic inside cabin

I looked it up based on what he described and it was £30K each.

[megaphone]

21TonyK said:

Going OT a bit but those who have a better idea than me...

How sensible do you think of a RC cruise from Florida in November for a couple of 80 year olds?

The main issue with 80 year olds is getting to and back from Florida, if they're ok with flying and all aggro at airports then they will be fine, they are usually met and transferred to and from the ship, as long as they book a package.

[towser44]

Sheepshanks said:

towser44 said:

'Only' costs about £10,000 I think for the basic inside cabin

I looked it up based on what he described and it was £30K each.

Was definitely way less than that for the cheapest cabin (£10 - £12k max per person). We looked as my parents had the P&O brochure a year or 2 back.

[Sway]

Yeah, not cheap - and not for me at my current age, but definitely see the appeal.

Iirc, doing individual legs of a world cruise has advantages, as they tend to have more nights in port so you can actually experience a bit of what you're seeing.

When working in the industry I only did two trips, a transat and the canaries back. The one port I managed to blag some free time for it felt like but the time I'd gotten into town, it was pretty much time to turn back.

[condor]

I got the round the world cruise brochure a few weeks ago and it started from £16K .
I thought I'd start with a small round the UK one first as my planned first cruise for last Easter failed to happen due to Covid.

[Sway]

towser44 said:

Sheepshanks said:

towser44 said:

'Only' costs about £10,000 I think for the basic inside cabin

I looked it up based on what he described and it was £30K each.

Was definitely way less than that for the cheapest cabin (£10 - £12k max per person). We looked as my parents had the P&O brochure a year or 2 back.

If you saw the cheapest cabins, and were willing to spend £10k pp to live in one for 3+ months, you're more accommodating than me!

[21TonyK]

megaphone said:

21TonyK said:

Going OT a bit but those who have a better idea than me...

How sensible do you think of a RC cruise from Florida in November for a couple of 80 year olds?

The main issue with 80 year olds is getting to and back from Florida, if they're ok with flying and all aggro at airports then they will be fine, they are usually met and transferred to and from the ship, as long as they book a package.

Its not so much the air and general travel (they do that every few months living between UK and Mallorca). My old man just got out of hospital with a lung condition and with people talking of ships increasing medical facilities, reduced passenger numbers it sounds like the cruise companies are just assuming they will have covid cases.

I'm probably being overly sensitive but they've both been shielding for the past year and all of a sudden they're of to Spain next month and then Florida and cruising after that. Part of the trip is to finalise the legalities of his brothers death (from covid) as well.

All for getting back to normal and I am being cautious (I wouldn't even get medical cover for a trip like that) but long haul flights and cruising would be way down my list in their position.

[Sway]

21TonyK said:

megaphone said:

21TonyK said:

Going OT a bit but those who have a better idea than me...

How sensible do you think of a RC cruise from Florida in November for a couple of 80 year olds?

The main issue with 80 year olds is getting to and back from Florida, if they're ok with flying and all aggro at airports then they will be fine, they are usually met and transferred to and from the ship, as long as they book a package.

Its not so much the air and general travel (they do that every few months living between UK and Mallorca). My old man just got out of hospital with a lung condition and with people talking of ships increasing medical facilities, reduced passenger numbers it sounds like the cruise companies are just assuming they will have covid cases.

I'm probably being overly sensitive but they've both been shielding for the past year and all of a sudden they're of to Spain next month and then Florida and cruising after that. Part of the trip is to finalise the legalities of his brothers death (from covid) as well.

All for getting back to normal and I am being cautious (I wouldn't even get medical cover for a trip like that) but long haul flights and cruising would be way down my list in their position.

The medical facilities thing is a bit of a curveball. Can't remember the specifics, but the average number of deaths per cruise of entirely normal causes is higher than you'd (or at least I'd) thought...

When a good chunk of pax are well into advanced years.

It'll be more a selling point than anything - when noro rips through a ship it's pretty 'stty' in more ways than one!

[paulguitar]

Sway said:

when noro rips through a ship it's pretty 'stty' in more ways than one!

Crewmembers' most feared phrase, 'OPP level 3'.

[Sheepshanks]

towser44 said:

Sheepshanks said:

towser44 said:

'Only' costs about £10,000 I think for the basic inside cabin

I looked it up based on what he described and it was £30K each.

Was definitely way less than that for the cheapest cabin (£10 - £12k max per person). We looked as my parents had the P&O brochure a year or 2 back.

He descibed a cabin with a balcony.

As another poster said, an inside cabin for 4 months doesn't bear thinking about. My FIL always had an outside cabin even on his 2 week jaunts. I think he was typically paying around £4K.

[eldar]

Sway said:

The medical facilities thing is a bit of a curveball. Can't remember the specifics, but the average number of deaths per cruise of entirely normal causes is higher than you'd (or at least I'd) thought...

When a good chunk of pax are well into advanced years.

It'll be more a selling point than anything - when noro rips through a ship it's pretty 'stty' in more ways than one!

I believe the Fred Olsen cruise line has a fairly high passenger death rate thanks to the customer demographic.

[paulguitar]

eldar said:

I believe the Fred Olsen cruise line has a fairly high passenger death rate thanks to the customer demographic.

When I've worked for them I have often wondered if we will still have all of the audience members at the end of the gig!

[Sway]

A mate is pretty senior at FO...

Let's just say from what I can gather, the ships are about as geriatric as the pax, and I'm not overreaching to say they've had some bloody close calls.

[Likeomg]

paulguitar said:

Crewmembers' most feared phrase, 'OPP level 3'.

OPP is completely different now... the 3 levels no longer exist. as you can imagine it's fully OTT.

my good friend is ICO so I get the inside scoop on the stuff relating to Covid (new medical position reporting direct to scpt Infection control officer)

[paulguitar]

Sway said:

A mate is pretty senior at FO...

Let's just say from what I can gather, the ships are about as geriatric as the pax, and I'm not overreaching to say they've had some bloody close calls.

The trip from Dover to the Tenerife on an Olson ship in rough weather was one of the longest weeks of my life...

The good news is they've bought a couple of former Holland America ships, which should be a step up.

[paulguitar]

Likeomg said:

paulguitar said:

Crewmembers' most feared phrase, 'OPP level 3'.

OPP is completely different now... the 3 levels no longer exist. as you can imagine it's fully OTT.

my good friend is ICO so I get the inside scoop on the stuff relating to Covid (new medical position reporting direct to scpt Infection control officer)

I'm expecting significant changes, but still really looking forward to getting back.