Is cruising better or worse in 2023?

You're listening to the Cruise Tips TV Unplugged podcast. Today we're exploring the question, is cruising better or worse in 2023? Welcome to Cruise Tips TV Unplugged. I'm your host Sherry, and we invite you to join our Cruise Loving family as we travel the world creating cruise videos and vlogs. In this podcast, we talk tips, tactics, and strategies to help you make every cruise your dream cruise. This is going to be interesting. Do you have an opinion about it? I don't have a firm answer one way or the other. I think I have opinions on both sides. There goes our audience. She's not going to tell us. But you do have thoughts on both sides of it. I have thoughts on both sides of it. I went to our audience and asked them for their thoughts on both sides of it. I actually thought that we'd have a little bit more of a polarizing sort of response. I think I thought people would be way more apt to say, it's this or it's that. Really, there were a lot of people who said, you know, there's things that are better and there's things that are kind of worse and there's things that just are. You know what I mean? There's just things that are sort of maybe unchanged. So I think it's an interesting conversation though. And the things that I want to talk about are pretty specific. I want to talk about embarkation and debarcation. I want to talk about cutbacks in general. Food, service, loyalty programs, pricing for cruises. And then I want to talk about a controversial topic, which is illness on board. Like, you know, where are we better off now than we were before COVID in terms of like the illness questions is sort of what I want to address. Yeah, I think that's good. It seems to me like you may be leaving two important things out. Okay. What are they? I'll write them on my list. Crowds? Oh, how could I forget that? That's huge. And the mustard drill. Yeah, I kind of think that e-master is part of embarkation, but let's add that as its own thing. It sounds good. You know, crowds was one of the biggest responses that people shared with us. So let's actually start with that because I think that's one area where it's pretty hard to deny the fact that cruise ships are more crowded. Now, whether or not you think that's better or worse in keeping with the title of this podcast, certainly personal opinion. There may be some people out there who think a crowded ship is better. Actually, are they more crowded or does it just feel more crowded? Because, I mean, they hold the same amount, right? Right. Like, did we just get really spoiled when COVID sort of started to do lighten, right? And we were able to go on these cruises where we were sailing at 30 to 70% capacity. The question then is, did we just get spoiled or do they really feel more crowded? Well, they definitely feel more crowded. The question is, are they more crowded? Right. And I don't know. I don't know either. So how is it that a cruise ship could be sailing at more full capacity than it did before the pandemic? Yeah. You know, that's the question. So I can personally, the only super duper crowded cruise experience that I can glean from to answer this question is our wonder of the seas cruise. And that was the most crowded cruise I think I've ever been on. It felt that way. But the question is why? So many people. So why is that though? There's so many reasons it could be. It may not be anything other than the fact that it's a brand new ship. Super popular, right? It was also kind of a school break and we didn't really know it. It wasn't like, there's a middle of January, so you wouldn't think that it was like spring break or winter break. But there were a ton of kids on and we just found out that there were some interesting breaks that people were cruising for. You know, going pre-pandemic, there are situational things that can make a ship feel more crowded. Okay. For example, if you, and this is personal experience, if you take a, you know, a two day, three day cruise, for some reason, those feel more crowded. Because everyone's out. You know, everyone's out going crazy. And you know, they're like at the pool deck and stuff like that. But if you're on a seven day, I think a lot of people rest in the room and rest, you know, hang out on the balcony. And I'm wondering if what we're feeling right now is kind of like a situational thing where people are just, they have been locked up so long that they're just out and going crazy on, you know, on the bedex and stuff. I don't know. It's just a theory. That's really funny. Like before cruising was so, you know, before the pandemic, it was so routine for people that they would take long naps, stay in their state room, spend time on their balcony. And then you know, you know, you're going to have the same capacity rules, right? Sure. So, yeah, I know, just a theory. It's a good theory. It's very interesting. I like it, Mr. Cruz tips to be so the crowd thing. Yeah. I mean, it's, I think that it's, it's pretty indisputable. So here's another way of looking at this and a question that we have to pose to you, our listeners and to just the cruising world in general. We have heard stories of these cruise lines over booking the ships. Yeah, that happened to you. So at least once that I know, I know that I'm going to be able to see the cruise line. So I'm going to be able to see the cruise line. So I'm going to be able to see the cruise line. I'm going to be able to see the cruise line. So I'm going to be able to see the cruise line. Yeah, that happened to you. So at least once that I know. Right. Like airplanes every single time they sail, excuse me, the airplanes fly in an overbooked capacity, right? They overbook, then they make those announcements when you're sitting at the gate. They say, Hey folks, you know, the flight is oversold. If anybody wants to get bumped, we'll give you money. So our cruise line is now doing this as a revenue grab is the question. And I think they are. They're overbooking in some cases. I'm sure that there's certain cruise lines who are absolutely not doing this, right? But there are some people who have been bumped and basically have been told, Hey, look, your cruise ship was oversold were bumping you. So I don't think it's happening all the time. But I think that, you know, from a revenue perspective, the cruise lines are doing something to ensure that they sail at more full capacity. And so we're feeling those crowds. Well, I was going to say that even if they overbooked, those people are just going to get moved to a different sailing because capacity is capacity. But what you're saying is they're making sure that they are at full capacity by overbooking. Yeah, I think in some cases they are. And the reason that they can do that and that they do do this, if you're wondering why would you overbook a cruise ship is because undoubtedly they're going to be cancellations and no shows to every cruise. So there are without, there's no way that 100% of the people are going to show up on cruise day due to illness, emergencies, work, whatever. There's always going to be people who fall out of the process and who cancel. And so in a way they can overbook, right? They shouldn't though. I mean, I understand from a business perspective, but it's a bad PR move. It's a bad PR move. And I feel like the airlines have been doing it for so long that they don't care about their, they don't care about PR. Yeah, they don't care about PR. I mean, what are your options when you're flying? Right, right. Yeah, you have to get from Friday to Friday. Yeah. And if they all do it. Even though the airlines also come on and say, we know you have a choice in hair travel. Well, you might not. So funny. Okay, so that was, that was sort of the, I think the, the discussion about crowds summed up, but really our audience, that was one of the number one things that they reported as having changed for the worse is that they just, it really just feels more crowded. Now that may also be because of another one of our points here, Mr. Cruz did CV, which is staffing levels, which is equatable to service. So let's talk about the service element for a moment and how that might be making a ship feel more crowded, right? If a cruise ship, for example, is staffing fewer bartenders because they're having staffing issues or because of recessionary conditions or economic conditions or recovering from the pandemic conditions, whatever economic conditions they are, is that bar going to feel more crowded? Yes. Of course it's going to feel more crowded is, you know, and you could take this and spread this theory all over the ship. Except the buffet, right? I mean, because I don't see that. Yeah, I know it's just, yep, you're right. I immediately thought of wonder of the seas and the buffet and how it was just insane. It was so crowded that twice we just left. Yeah, well, we couldn't have found a seat if we wanted to. There was no seats. There were no seats. Yes. That is very, very, and also swimming pools. I suppose you could say that, you know, there may be less servers or something like that. I don't know. In the buffet, there are some things that have servers like, you know, the sliced meat or something like that. Slice meat station. Yeah, and that's true. There are some other areas that I can think of where it would not apply. The crowding would not equate to the staffing, like pools. Yeah. Right. Just general crowding on the ship, the feeling of being crowded, the feeling of a lot of people. Interesting. Okay, so going back to this discussion of service on ships. So let's talk about some of the areas where people are saying that service is kind of crummy. First of all, I think it's important though to say that in general, the reports that I'm reading, hearing, and seeing from people about service on cruises are that it's definitely improving. You know, first, I think what happened was we all went back to cruising after the pandemic and the service was amazing because the ships were sailing at like 30 to 60% capacity. So you were getting a lot of attention. That combined with the fact that the crew was ecstatically happy to be working again, made it so the service is great. Then what happened? Then cruising came back with a vengeance and the ships were sailing at full capacity, but the cruise lines hadn't yet for whatever reason been able to staff fully. So then you have this collapse in service and a huge amount of dissatisfaction among cruisers because they're like, look, A, I'm paying more than I used to pay for my cruise. And so I don't want crappy service, right? And B, what's the problem? Like why can't we make this work, right? If so many people need jobs, why can't we get them to work? Well, lo and behold, it turned out to be very difficult to get people back onto ships. There were massive barriers to getting people to back to work due to lots of different reasons. And it was just tough. It was a tough, a really tough time. So I'll go ahead. Well, I feel like in our personal experience, there hasn't been a big breakdown in service. Is that your opinion too? Yeah, I think that will be my opinion. I have felt like we've had some of the best dining service that we've ever had on cruisers since the return, even on full capacity ships. Our last two sailings, including Wonder of the Seas, the most crowded cruise we've ever been on, probably some of the best dining staff we've ever had, especially on Royal Caribbean. Obviously, when you think of a more premium line like Princess, for example, or Holland America, the expectation of service in the dining room is a little higher because the guest to staff ratio is going to be different. But on Royal Caribbean, I would say, is actually some of the best. Yeah, it was. In Princess too. Yep, Princess for sure. You're saying that's to be expected. To be expected on Princess, because it's more of a premium experience. So you should be getting, I think, a little bit more of a premium dining experience. The service experience, to be honest with Princess. We had just above and beyond service in the main dining room on Wonder of the Seas. I would agree with that. It was phenomenal. It was crazy good. And they were really busy. And we rotated servers a few times. I mean, we, out of the seven nights we cruised, I think we probably had the same servers at least four nights, three or four nights. But the other nights that we rotated to other sections, the service was just as strong. They rushed to our side to get our order. They made sure we felt special. They were fast. They made sure drinks were fresh. It was amazing. Okay. So let's talk though, Mr. Cruz, to be about something that our community brought up. And that is state room service. Because a lot of the cruise lines have gone down to just one service a day, right? So pre-pandemic, pre-recessionary economic conditions, whatever we want to call it right now, right? Like there's all these other things going on. You were looking at almost every cruise line having two cleaning services a day from your state room attendant, right? So it was pretty much like when you woke up in the morning and you first leave your state room, maybe you went to breakfast or maybe you went on a short excursion, the staff would pop in and do that first cleaning. And then after you showered for the evening and you, you know, you're back from your day and you've gone to dinner, there was a second service, which in some cases was kind of a turn down, but really they would make your bed again and they would clean things up. They would give you fresh towels, tidy things up, and sometimes put a towel animal, maybe even if you were lucky, some chocolates on your bed. And now some of the cruise lines are still doing two. Some of them are doing just one. Some of them are even giving you a choice. They're saying, hey, do you want one or two? And if you do want one, which one do you want? I think that's actually a master stroke on behalf of the cruise lines who are giving people a choice who say, look, you know, you get to pick. You get to pick if you want one or two and do you want evening or night. I think that's so cool because then you're guaranteeing your guest satisfaction, right? And there will undoubtedly be some people who don't want the intrusion of the state room cleaning. There are people out there who don't like having someone come into the room multiple times a day. So I think that that could work if they employed it as a strategy, maybe a little bit more difficult to track, right? Like, because now the room stores have to be like, okay, you know, is 403 a are they once a day or twice a day and at the morning or afternoon? But I think it could be a really good way to have people remain happy and to not have people, you know, have them feel like their privacy is being intruded upon. Have you noticed any particular line that has had complaints about service? I think that Carnival, it took a pretty big hit for it at one point and I think real Caribbean at times and potentially even Norwegian, but I'd have to go to the message boards and really see what people are saying. Well, now we've been on Carnival many times within the past couple of years and we haven't had any problems. So interesting to hear that. I feel like though, one of our cruises they'd gone down to one cleaning per day. Yeah, you know, I'm okay with that. I mean, I think it's nice to have the morning cleaning and then the turn down. Right. But it's not necessary. It's just a bonus kind of at least for me. Which cleaning would you choose if you had to choose just the one? The morning because you want your bed made. Yeah, I mean, I can make my own bed. Right, but you're not going to. It's nice. Yeah. I mean, you might pull, we would pull the sheets up and things, but you're not going to like make the bed where you like fluff the pillows, organize them and all that, right? I'm not. But it make towel animals. Yeah, I can do about it. You know, we should start doing is making towel animals for our stewards. Just really bad ones. Yeah. Like the worst towel animal. And I say, I don't mean bad like in bad taste. I mean, like really the skill level will be really that'll be hilarious. Leave them a note and your own personal towel animal. Oh, let's start a movement. You probably forgotten, but junior and I were making towel animals. We had that book and we had a while and that was one of our goals, but then the whole pandemic thing happened and we didn't get to do it. Oh my goodness. Okay. Well, I think we should start a movement. Leave your room, Stuart, a towel animal with a funny note. Just see what happens. Put a $5 bill on it every single night. Like incorporate money into it as a tip. That'll be so fun. I might do that. Okay. I always come up with these weird ideas and then don't usually make them happen. So forgive me guys. My share, the Sherry starts a movement. It will probably never happen, but know that if you do it, I want to see a photo. Okay. So we talked about crowds. We talked about service. Let's go back to the beginning and talk about embarkation. What would you say is embarkation better or worse than it used to be? Well, here's the thing. In my opinion, the embarkation process was really hitting its stride right before the pandemic happened. I mean, we were shocked about how fast we were getting on, particularly princess cruises. And then the first few cruises back as expected, it was way worse. But now I think it's getting back up to where it was before. And when you say that it was way worse for the first few cruises, because that was because everyone had to take COVID tests. And you had to show proof of vaccination. So it's because there were these new steps in the process. It was no fault of the cruise lines. But when you're having to do COVID testing, sometimes in terminal for unvaccinated people. And then you also had to show proof of vaccination. You couldn't do a contact list. Just walk on the ship thing. But I would say in my opinion, it is back and it's better than ever. I think that embarkation is phenomenal. I mean, we've had some exceptions to this, but for the most part, I can't remember sitting down in a cruise terminal. No, it's been a while. It's been a while. It's been a while. It's been a while. You're talking about when we first started back, because a lot of times you're waiting for the results of a COVID test to come back. Yeah. But I think about our last Princess cruise before the pandemic, and it was lightning fast. It was too fast. We were having a hard time keeping up. It was phenomenal. You're right. It's true. You're going to have to expect with cruise lines in bigger ports like Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and Orlando, where the ports are just very sophisticated. You expect completely curb to ship in a very short time. It's these other ports that are smaller and where you can't get on the ship as early as you can in some of those places where it might be a little slower. Okay. So, yes. So, we were in agreement. Embarcation is phenomenal. So, what happens after you get on the ship? We have to talk about E-Mester. E-Mester is one of the things that people said, it's so much better. We love it so much. We absolutely never want to go back to the old way of doing muster. And we all know what happened with Norway. It was Norwegian, right? They went back and it was a disaster. And thankfully, the cruise line listened to their guests and said, hey, you know what? Safety is important, but we want you all to be satisfied with your cruising experience and let's get back to the E-Mester. So, let's hope that the great majority of cruise lines stay with this one. There are still exceptions, friends. Not every single line does E-Mester. Yeah, I really like the E-Mester. And not only that, but muster drill in general is something that you would dread. Everyone dreaded it. No one wanted to do it. And I got to tell you that every single cruise after the pandemic, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it because you get to interact with these people and they're fun and they're happy and they're friendly and it's pleasant. I can't think of a single time where I'm thinking, oh, that wasn't that great. It's so true. And I think what you're talking about when you say interact with these people, you're talking about the staff that man the station where you have to go and have your cards get. It's true. They're so delightful. Oftentimes, it's one-on-one. Now, I think on one of the carnival ships, they had like three or four people. So there was a mini crowd, a micro crowd, but everything else is kind of like one-on-one. Yeah. Yeah, I think on one of our carnival ones, they put us in the casino and we sat with about 20 other people, but it was five minutes. Oh, I don't think it was that many. Really? Oh, was it smaller? Yeah, it was smaller. It was maybe 10 tops. Right. Well, then, you know, okay, so we all agree. E-Mester's wonderful. I think we need to talk then about illness and germs and just where we're at because to me, the first thing I thought of when we started talking about E-Mester was how much less of a risk you have of immediately getting sick right when you're on the ship. Because when you previously, when you would do the muster drill, it would almost always be held in a public space, like a theater, right, or a restaurant, or even crammed together on the open decks. So immediately, you were coming face to face with lots and lots of other people, like in a crowd setting. And we've all probably become a little bit more sensitive to that since COVID. I mean, I think a lot of people feel like, um, back to normal. I never, you know, I never really cared about that. But in some cases, you're like, uh, do we really have to go back to these big crowd scenes, you know, like we used to, did we, did we not learn that when you are on a cruise ship, there are indeed more people. There are actually more risks of becoming ill because you are in, it's like you're in a small city with thousands of your, you know, thousands of strangers from all over the world. And the risk is there. They're exotic germs. They are what we are. Sure. We are bringing our exact, like we are all doing it, right? Yeah. You know, what's important, I think, yeah, at least as far as I'm concerned is I'm not specifically just thinking COVID. I have never wanted to be in a room full of people bringing all their germs with them because the odds of being exposed to something are so high and even a cold. I don't want, I don't want to cold. Right. On my cruise. No. Don't want to get sick. I just don't, I mean, throw the COVID stuff out there. I mean, of course I don't want COVID either, but I don't want to be jammed in there where it's very likely that you're going to be exposed to something. Yeah. My personal opinion, of course, you know, if you're flying, then, you know, all that's are off because you're getting your germs in the air. But think about that too. All the people flying there, they're getting all those flight germs in there bringing them to the muster. Yeah. Exactly. Bringing them to muster. So, so the illness thing I have to tell you, I feel like we're back to where we were before COVID. I feel like you're just as likely to get something. Oh, 100%. And you can get to, and I mean, anytime you cruise before, there are people who talk about getting the cruise crud, the cruise cold, the cruise cough, that's all for good reason because, you know, we do get sick when we travel. People get sick when they travel. It makes sense. You're exposing yourself to new viruses, more viruses. So let me ask you though, we know they can do something about this. What do you think that they could do? This is the part that I... Or let me say, is this something that we could fix and that they should fix? I think so. And I, you know, I was interviewed by a few news outlets before cruising resumed. But in multiple interviews, I said to people, the solution to this problem, going forward, if we're going to fix this going forward, is to allow more flexible cancellation policies on behalf of the cruise lines. That's huge. That's what you're looking for me to say. And we talk about this all the time. They, you can... Right now, if you're sick, if you have a positive COVID test, maybe you could get a future cruise credit. But unless the cruise lines are willing to say, if you are ill, if you have the flu, the cold, whatever it is you have, you may cancel your cruise and there will not be a horrible penalty for it. In fact, they might even consider giving refunds. But right now, you don't have a choice. And I have been personally in this position where I was like terrified. I'm really afraid to get sick because if I go on my cruise, I just can't get my money back. So what are you going to do if you get a cold or the flu? You're probably going to go on that ship, dang it. And that bugs me. I don't like it. I personally don't want to be put in that position. And I feel like I've been put in that position. And it's frustrating. So this may be a strong opinion. And I'm sure people will DM me and be like, calm down. But I'm sorry. I think there is a solution to this problem. And the cruise lines are really putting themselves at risk, to be honest, of having more contagion on board because you can't get out of it. You cannot back out of your cruise if you're sick. It's really hard to do. I agree. And I think that there's more that could be done. And in my opinion, and this is going to be one of those, you're going to get DMs. Oh, I'm going to get DMs. I know what you're going to say. I'm not going to get DMs. I'm not going to get DMs. But you are. Okay. I kind of look at this as a wake up call because it was a serious global pandemic. But what happens if the next one is worse and we're thinking, wow, we could have fixed this permanently last time around and we didn't. Right. I thought you were going to say you missed COVID testing, pre-careers COVID testing. Yeah, I think that some kind of testing is appropriate, a quick test. Now I'm not about proving that you've had the shots and all the boosters. Right. That's not me. But testing to see if someone is sick before they get on the ship, 100%. And the reason why isn't to ruin your vacation, it's so that you can have your money back if you're sick and you shouldn't be on that ship. Yeah. Oh, I'm going to get the DMs, Mr. Chris. That's okay though. That's okay though. We want to protect the cruising consumer. This is our goal. Right. Like I, that that will be my main concern is making sure that you don't have to feel like you could cruise. I mean, even if it was something as simple as a temperature thing, just like they like what they did in Japan is you're getting on the ship or getting off the ship. They just hit you with little temperature things. Check the forehead. Okay, go ahead. Some of them are mounted. You can't even, you don't even know what's happening. They're like, they're in the room. But you know, people are probably going to say, nope, that's too big brother for me. You know, I don't want that. All right. Well, we better move on so that I don't get a bunch of angry DMs from people about the illness thing because I just, I don't know. I personally, having crews during flu season is rough, man. You're like, okay, this is a, you know, if you're cruising December through February, whoa, that's stressful. Well, you know, the thing is like, it's, who wants to be sick on their crews? So it seems to me like it would be a hard thing to argue with if you're trying to minimize the possibility of being sick. Exactly. You're right. People, people don't want to have their privacy intruded on, but really that's not what it's about. It's about trying to protect everyone. Exactly. The minimal fashion, right? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Let's talk about debarcation, Mr. Cruz, who's TV. I got to tell you, this is when I don't think has changed much. I don't think it's better or worse. I think it's about the same. Deebarcation is debarcation. You either choose to self walk off or you get luggage help. If you want to do the self walk up, you have got the early morning wake up calling. You better get your booty off the ship, right? Like, I don't think a whole lot has changed with debarcation. I know, if I think you're right, but if I had to say anything has changed about, I would say that more people are doing the self debarc. I wonder why that is. I don't know. I don't know either. But have you noticed that too? Yeah, it does seem like there's like everyone's self debarking. Yeah. I think it depends on the Cruz line too. It used to be that it was, you know, you have a very small amount of people who were doing the self debarc and everyone else was, you know, putting their luggage out. And now it just seems to me like everyone's getting off by themselves. Yeah, interesting. Well, that's all I'm going to say about debarcation, because I did not, I have not heard from our audience. This was something that they wanted to talk about. Okay. Now we've got to talk about some, some touchy ones. First, we're going to talk about cutbacks and the cutbacks that people brought up to me were things like the Cruz line loyalty programs, right? Like, Princess, for example, has knocked some of their elite benefits back. Like, for example, they no longer offer free internet for elite and I think it's platinum. They offer a discount on the medallion package, right? And there's just some things that have gone away. Now I think cutbacks are one of the things that really upset Cruzers the most. And this is something we've talked about before on the podcast. Remember the Tommy, Tommy Casabona series? This is where we were like, okay, you know, how many cutbacks are we going to tolerate here? Whether it's less free lobster in the dining room, whether, you know, maybe it's, gosh, I don't know. I'm trying to think of other examples right now. Honestly, it's usually surrounding food and beverage, right? Yeah, charging for room service. Yeah, charging for room service is food and beverage types of things. And then at the same time, in addition to having cutbacks, what's also happening is the prices are going up, right? So you're paying more than you've ever paid for your Cruz, for your drink package, for your short excursions and for everything, but yet you're getting less. Well, we knew that they were going to be trying to make up some time for, you know, basically being closed down for two years. But my question to you is, do you think this is going to continue forever? Or do you think they'll get to a point where they have made up that lost money and they start offering better deals? I think it'll absolutely be supply and demand and that yes, it will stabilize. In addition to supply and demand, it's going to be a guess satisfaction will reflect in bookings. So as long as the cruise lines are filling their ships with these cutbacks, they're going to hold on to them to return to profitability and then some and then some. But yet you will see people taking their money elsewhere at a certain point, right? Whether it's, you know, the Princess Loyalist, we were talking about saying, you know, I'm an elite, I'm done. I'm going somewhere else because of the fact that I don't feel like I'm getting as much more from my money. But where are they going to go? Are they going to go to Holland America and get more for their money? Are they going to go to an all inclusive? What are they really going to do? Or are they going to wait it out and hope that the cruise lines sort of balance things out? I really do think we're going to see a balancing over time. And I think that, you know, I hate that I've said the word recession like five times already in this podcast because that's always a really hard thing to talk about. But I do believe too that if the economy continues on the path that some people think it may be right now, that you might see leisure travel soften in general, cruising other types of leisure travel. And if the prices go up for airfare continually and cruises, you're going to see a softening in bookings. And that's where you're going to start to see adjustments as well. Right. So. So what about what about just cruise pricing in general? I think undoubtedly this has gotten and I'm not going to say the word worse. I'm just going to say it's become more expensive because this is, you know, this is not only a industry recovery thing. It's an inflation thing, right? And I'm sorry, but guys, it's not 2008 anymore. It's 2023. Yes, cruise prices are more than they used to be. Everything prices are more than they used to be. And we've hashed this out before on past podcasts where I've made this speech where it's like, look, prices go up for things. The prices are going to go up for gas. The value of your home is going to go up. The cost of goods and services is going to go up. And over time, that is just naturally going to happen. But what I'm hearing from people and the thing that's hard and I think people are saying it's worse, that pricing is worse, is this. They simply can't afford it as much. If the prices are so much higher, they're saying, I just can't go. Or I can only go once a year and I used to be able to go three times a year. So that to me is a bummer. That's concerning. And that's something I'm hearing from people. And so in some senses, I hope to see that this balance is out a little bit and matches sort of the rest of the world. But we shall see, right? Mr. Curtis of Stevie, we shall see. Whoa. You've got one more topic and that is food. Oh, oh, food. Subjective subjective food. How do we even talk about this? I think it might be too subjective. Yeah, it might be. But I got to tell you, I do want to share that our audience almost resoundingly said, they feel like the quality has gone downhill a little bit. But I will say that there were a lot of people who also said, look, I'm not going to say it's worse. I'm not going to complain because a cruise is a cruise and my vacation is my vacation and I can find good food. But just in general, people feel like the quality of cruise, cruise food has gone downhill a little bit. I think I would say I've noticed that. I would say in general, I've seen some weird things on cruise ships that I hadn't seen before. I'm not going to name a cruise line. I'm just going to give an example of one cruise line. One cruise line that I like that would be considered a little bit more premium. Your salad bar used to have a few more bells and whistles. You might have some fancier cheeses and you might have some antiposto type things. Then I noticed on one of my more recent cruises that they had a very large bowl filled with what I'm going to call frozen veggie mix. You guys know the stuff. It's the peas, corns, carrots, and lima beans mix that our moms used to microwave in 1976 or maybe not microwave in 1976. You would get it in the freezer and it was like, oh, the dreaded lima bean carrot corn. Whatever mix. That was served in a massive bowl on this elbow. I was like, where did this come from? I don't remember the frozen veggie mix before. I don't like the frozen veggie mix. It was just this weird symbol to me of like, okay, you're cheaping out. This is a cheap move. Do I blame the cruise lines for having to save money, Scrimp? No, I don't. They're all trying to recover and do what they can to make ends meet. I've noticed it. Have I had a bad meal on a cruise ship since the return? No, probably not even a single bad meal. I've had probably some of the best meals that I've ever had in cruising. I think specialty dining is perfectly great and is still a totally amazing value for what you get and I haven't seen specialty dining decline at all. What I would say too is that in general, even though food is sort of subjective, you guys, I think it's really important to continue to fill out your comment cards at the end of your cruise on this one. Even though food is subjective, be specific with the cruise lines. You guys, tell them what you miss. Tell them what you like. Tell them what you don't like and be calm and even keeled about it. The more of us specifically say, hey, I miss this. I miss that. I don't like the frozen veggie mix. I do want you to bring back nuts in the salad bar and maybe 10 times the salad dressing instead of two. Be specific about what you want and speak to the cruise lines after your cruise so that they can improve and that they can get back to where you're going to be a satisfied guest. Mr. Cruise's TV, I hope that this was an interesting dialogue for people. I hope we didn't ruffle too many feathers. We don't like to do that. Here at Cruise's TV all that much because we know that everyone has strong opinions about these types of things and you deserve to have a strong opinion about it. You work hard for your vacation dollars and this is your right to have a strong opinion. So if we said something you didn't like, we're sorry. We still love you. Hope you still love us. And continue to stay in contact with us about your cruising experiences. I think that's a wrap, Mr. Cruise's TV. Thanks for co-hosting with me today. Sure thing. Alright friends, until next time, we'll see you on the high seas. Thanks for listening to CruiseTipsTV Unplugged. If you like our show and want to know more, check us out at cruzetipstv.com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook and Instagram by searching CruiseTipsTV. We'd love if you'd leave us a review wherever you're listening to this podcast. Subscribe to the show and tune in next week. Until next time, we'll see you on the high seas. ♪♪♪♪