Often cruise review’s confuse the “cruise” with the “ship.” Cruises vary and change in character from week to week, departure to departure. Ships remain the same. On the pages that follow, you will find information and opinions on SHIPS! Care has been taken to attempt to separate out information regarding the particulars of the vessel, from the unique aspects of any individual cruise experience. What remains is static information; information, along with derived opinions, that will remain constant, regardless of: to where the vessel may sail; the time of year; weather conditions, and the varying demographic of fellow passengers on board. With that in mind:
Don’t look for any specific information on dining room service or food: it changes from cruise to cruise, depending on the Chef on board, and your own particular wait staff.
Don’t expect information on specific entertainment. That too changes, depending on cast members, performers, sea conditions, and personal tastes of the spectators.
You will find no information on ports of call. Ships, unlike land based resorts, move! Ports vary, and are affected by weather, as well as dynamic local population behaviors and attitudes.
Reviews covering topics such as these require timeliness. I find that impossible to provide! A review concerning entertainment, from a passenger disembarking a vessel on the same day as another boards, is worthless, if the cast happens to have switched! A review of a Caribbean Island means little if the weather or political climate happens to have changed during the intervening week. A review concerning food quality and presentation can be rendered useless if the Head Chef happens to have disembarked along with the reviewer. For these reasons, my PARNAMI Cruise Page makes an effort to avoid these topics of concentration.
Beyond that concerning nationality, and general attitude, you won’t find much information regarding crew members. All ships have terrific staff on board, along with the occasional “bum”. When a crew happens to stand out as uniformly accommodating or uniformly apathetic, mention will be made. It is unlikely such pervasive attitudes could, soon, be changed, and my encounter will tend to reflect an attitude likely to be encountered by future cruisers.
What you will find is information about the vessels on which I’ve sailed or become familiar. Those site’s including a “Ship’s Tour” will take you onboard, for an in depth, familiarization tour of the public areas of interest on the ship. Representative stateroom photos and comments should provide assistance in the booking process. In general, the tours will take readers about the ship, pointing out positive aspects, occasional trivia, and the screw-ups of design that also appear.
Everything you read, should reflect the ship, AS IT SAILS TODAY! Most everything that is likely to have changed since my experience on board, purposely, has been omitted. You will find some of the tours to be quite lengthy, so make certain you have a comfortable chair, and something to drink while you move around.
After you have finished, I hope you find your time to have been well spent, and that you have located the vessel that best suits your personality.
Truly, CRUISING IS LIKE BEING WIDE AWAKE……….AND DREAMING!
Have fun!
Mel
E-mail me at "PARNAMI@aol.com"