The Media Machine- What happened to just reporting?

Folks- today I would like to talk about the growing trend in the media of sensationalism. The practice of taking reporting the news to a level that diminishes the actual 'news' and delivers a 'story'. And there is an important distinction there. News' is defined as "information about recent events or developments." Meanwhile 'Story' can be defined as "a factual or fictional account of an event or series of events." This can further also be defined as "the plot of a novel, play, motion picture, or other narrative work." The reason I point this out is because we now live in an age where we need to be drawn in. We are a culture that only keeps reading or listening if we are affected or connecting on a personal or emotional level. News in and of its self isn't flashy. News in the 21st century is competing to draw in viewers that would sooner checkFacebook on their smartphone for some quick news blurbs rather than pull out a newspaper or wait for the eleven o'clock news.

trend in the media of sensationalism. The practice of taking reporting news to a level that diminishes the actual 'news' and delivers a 'story'. And there is an important distinction there. '

As such news has risen to the attention-seeking challenge and goes into over-drive affecting your psychological responses to what it's reporting. While this isn't only an issue relating to the Cruise industry, I have noted that ever since the infamous 'Poop Cruise' of the Carnival Triumph, the media goes into warp speed when it comes to reporting on any story involving something negative aboard a cruise ship. Take this recent headline regarding the Carnival Spirit and storms it endured in Australia earlier this week: "Passengers speak of terrifying ordeal on battered Carnival Spirit" - Daily Mail 4/22. And in case you missed this story, the Carnival Spirit was on its way back from a 12 day itinerary to Sydney. Unfortunately the Sydney harbor was being rocked by a pretty severe storm which caused the port to shut down for the day. This caused the Spirit to have to ride out the storm outside the harbor. Now I don't mean to suggest this wasn't a pretty bad storm- there were 40 foot swells and heavy winds up to 85mph. For your average cruise passenger I'm sure it was quite a negative experience. After all most of us are used to a smooth sailing and ships that usually have the option to track around a storm instead of right into it. However the thing to understand is that ships are built to endure far more than we give them credit for. In the case of the Spirit, the captain had to await till the port would reopen when the storm abated. His ship was obviously up to the challenge. Had he feared for the safety of his ship, crew, and guests, obviously he would have sailed away. Words like 'battered' in the title are used to set the scene. You had waves crashing against the hull of the ship. Again I'm sure to many this was a little disconcerting. When you continue to read the article is where it gets worse. "4000 passengers and crew trapped for two days on cruise liner smashed by 40ft waves as epic storms battered Australia relive ordeal after boat finally limped to port." Now if this doesn't paint a picture to make you fear cruising ever again, I don't know what will. The ship was 'smashed' by waves implies the hull began to buckle. The boat 'limped' to port implies that she lost power or engine capacity of some sort and barely made it to the dock with the engines sputtering. But I suppose it makes for a more interesting read than "After braving the storm for an extra day, the ship cruised into port under full power. Many reportedly got seasick."

One can't even accuse them of misrepresenting the facts because the facts are there- buried under the tinsel of an exciting adventure story. What it is though is a purely sensational version of what happened. It was designed to evoke compassion for the poor passengers who endured a LOT more rocking than they were used to. It was designed to make you question the safety of cruising which has been a hot button issue in recent times. With events like the Splendor fire, the Triumph incapacitated, the fire aboard the Grandeur of the Seas, and most notably- the sinking of the Costa Concordia. But in light of all those events I almost think the Spirit should be painted in a better light. Here is a ship that got into a tussle with Mother Nature, she took some hits, and kept on ticking! I don't want to downplay the discomfort of the passengers, with larger than usual waves slapping the hull I'm sure it was a bit off-putting and resulted in a lot of seasickness. But the ship didn't lose power, she didn't lose engines, or control of herself, hot food continued to be served, passengers still had the option to be entertained. I think the best of a bad day was made and the Spirit should be applauded, not made a terror subject.

In today's reporting I just believe you need to be able to cut through some of the theatrics of story-telling to really understand what happened. And this is not just a problem when reporting on the cruise industry, but in all news anymore. Sensationalism is what gathers viewers and readers, but if you're not aware of it you can be easily sucked into the predetermined view of the reporting without the benefit of allowing yourself to think about on your own. It's very much the same in cruising with folks that read cruise reviews on Cruise Critic and only use them to decide if they will sail a ship or not. As a society I think it's important to not be spoon-fed our opinions but endeavor to find out for ourselves what is what.

With that I will now remove myself from my soap box! Thanks for reading everybody!

Life at Sea, like in Real Estate, is all about Location Location Location!

Without a doubt one of the first things that can sink a cruise is realizing you picked (or were assigned) a less than ideal cabin. I've read reviews for years where a cruise was completely ruined for vacationers simply because of their cabin location. Whether it be the sounds from cooks in the galley, or you have a night club right beneath you, a game of basketball going on above you, a Broadway show taking place beneath you, or the dreaded crying child next door. The possibilities for a bad cabin are endless, now for some it's a simple case of 'Grin and bear it'. For other's it's going to result in a nasty-gram to the cruise line… who let's face it- will send a stock apology letter and continue counting their billions.

This is a classic buyer beware scenario. Now however if you are the type that isn't bothered by noise, or you are out being part of the party until the wee hours… well you can probably cease reading here! However for those who want a few tips when planning and picking their ideal cabin here are some things to note.

AVOID The Following: Cabins right above the main theater/comedy club/ship's disco/main galley. These cabin's will undoubtedly have a certain amount of noise associated with whatever event is taking place beneath them. If you are a fan of staying on deck 1 you may just want to beware of the possibility that your cabin may lie directly above the Crew Lounge, which is the scene of nightly 'morale boosting events' And from what I understand the crew knows how to get the party started better than most of us can ever hope to!

Likewise AVOID The following: Cabins right below the main lido deck in general, but specifically where lounge chairs reside. In the early morning hours deck hands begin sliding loungers around the deck to prepare for the days sunbathers. You will also want to avoid being below the gym as folks tend to drop free weights and forget that jogging in place above you comes across to you as a stampede abandoning ship!

So once all of these major locations are checked off your list, here are a few other things to consider:

-          Families with children tend to stay towards the Forward end of the ship as it often provides easy access to Children programs such as Camp Carnival, Night Owl's, Club 02, etc. This also is prime location for quick access to the gym/spa, or down a few decks to the main show lounge.

-          Cabin's on any floor near the stairways or elevator banks are both convenient, but also potentially hot spots for sound.

-          Be careful of cabin's that share a wall with an elevator shaft or maintenance closet (usually shown on deck plans as empty non-labelled rooms).

-          For quieter spots go Aft down the corridor as far from the stairs/elevators as possible. Many who love the action want to be near easy access spots. So walking far down a corridor is not for them.

With all of this in mind, when I'm booking my cabin for a cruise I tend to stay Mid-ship towards Aft or in the Aft section. I prefer deck's sandwiched between two other 'residential' decks so as not to absorb entertainment sounds (Most ships this will be decks 6 or 7). And for some reason I have this non-sensical superstition that I have to be on the Port side of the ship. (Don't ask I have no valid reason for feeling this way!)

Lastly just remember these tips apply to all cabins, so don't risk thinking "Well I paid for a suite so it will be perfect". You can pay for a suite and it can be poorly located! So whether you're staying in an Interior, Ocean View, Balcony, or Suite… play with the deck plans a little bit to determine the best spot for you based on what your personality is, and what you most want to be able to get quick access to on your vacation! Sadly… I have no tips for avoiding noisy neighbors!

Thanks again for reading!

Disconnect at sea? Or Connect Me!

In the major motion pictures "Star Trek: Generations" there is a scene in the beginning of the film in which Captain Jean-Luc Picard and his First Officer, William Riker, are celebrating the recent promotion of crew member Worf aboard a holodeck representation of a 19th century sailing vessel. Gazing across the water the two have the following exchange,

Picard: "Will, ... just imagine what it was like. No engines. No computers. Just the wind and the sea and the stars to guide you."

Riker: "Bad Food. Brutal discipline. ... No women!

Picard: After being advised he was receiving a communication, "... The best thing about a life at sea was that no one could reach you. This was freedom, Will."

While we are still sailing the seven sea's aboard nautical vessels and not shooting through space aboard starships, we have begun to enter an age where it is becoming increasingly easier to connect and communicate with those back home. Recently Carnival announced enhancements to its internet connectivity programs for guests. In the past if you did wish to connect home it required a pretty significant investment in the form of paying for internet minutes, and connecting to a service so slow it made you fondly remember the days of dial-up on services such as America Online (AOL)! On one particular cruise my fiancé and I were in the midst of buying a home and had to check e-mails daily to provide information to the mortgage lender. All told I think we spent $45 to send and receive about six e-mails! (That's how slow these satellite connections were!) But I digress!

As I mentioned Carnival has begun to rollout their new solutions for internet connectivity for their guests, and if you are anything like me, you heard bits and pieces about the Social Network Package or something about a new App you could download on your smartphone and use to communicate to your fellow cruisers at sea! So I did a bit of investigating to find out just exactly what is being offered on a cruise ship near you!

The Internet Package's-  (As near as I can tell any prices I came across were for youraverage 7 day cruise)

Social Media Package: This is offered for $5/day or $25/cruise

This I expect will be the most popular offering as it provides guests unlimited access to your favorite social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. Allowing all the connectivity junkie's going through withdraw for a week to stay connected to their world and to upload pictures and tell everyone back home about the massive bar tab they accumulated at Senor Frogs!  

The Value Package: Offered for $16/day or $60/cruise

So if social networking isn't all you care about when you connect, this is the package for you. In addition to having access to your favorite social networks, this package offers you full access to the internet. So if you want to log on to your financial institution to raid your children's college fund to pay off your casino or bar tabs, this is the package for you! However you will not be able to access your favorite music streaming sites such as Pandora or iHeart Radio with this package. For those services you would need…

The Premium Package: Offered for $25/day or $99/cruise

With this package the digital world is again your oyster! Carnival boasts that this package provides you connectivity at 3x the speed of the Value (and I assume Social Media) package. This means you not only can post your latest duck-lipped drink of the day selfie, but NOW you can Skype with your friends back home while guzzling down a frosty Shade-Ade and panning the camera around the lido deck making them feel inadequate for still being at home in the rain and cold!

In addition to the internet packages, Carnival has also developed a free to download App available on both iOS and Android platforms. It is called Carnival Huband it offers the following:

-Day by Day schedule of events onboard. Need to find where 80's sitcom Trivia is being held? Now you know! This feature is essentially a digital "Fun Times" that you can access on your phone or tablet. You won't need to carry around the tear-off schedule from your nightly Fun Times anymore.

- "Favorites" feature that allows guests to see what events and activities fellow guests are participating in. I'm not entirely sure how this functions but I suspect you click into "Punchliner with Kevin Hart (I wish) and see what other Hub users have clicked that they are "going" to this event. (Think: Facebook Events)

- Information on casual dining options. I'm guessing the menu for the night's Lido deck, Sushi, etc.

- Searchable deck-plans with key areas highlighted. Can't find Cherry on Top? Or the "Inch of Gold Sale" outside the Fun Shops? Now you can pull out this handy app and have your intuitive map of the ship to guide you. (Think: Ship Mate App)

- Itinerary Details, current ship time, arrival/departure times for upcoming ports. This is a handy feature, however if you're like me you've already committed the itinerary and times to memory weeks or months before you even embarked!

-Access to your current Sail and Sign account. Truly leaving you no good reason not to have a clue how much you've spent on your week of excess! You now have access to your Sail and Sign account on your in-cabin TV, the new(ish) Sail and Sign Kiosks located around the ship, and NOW in your pocket!

In addition to all these handy features, I think the true brilliance of this app is for a flat $5 fee (for the entire week) you can also send and receive text messages from fellow guests also using the app through the ship's Wi-Fi. Very similar to Facebook Messenger. No longer do you need to mess with post-it's playing a ship-wide game of hide-and-seek. No more established meet ups where you hope everyone remembers. Now it's easy to send your wife a quick text "Hey I'm going to the Alchemy bar for a drink while you spend two hours primping for Elegant Night!" or in my case, when my fiancé Lauren has a tray of food on lido and can't seem to find the table we are sitting at, "Hey Honey Bunny, we're six feet behind you!!! Stop panicking!"

Now there are going to be the Picard's out there who see these advancements in communication as ruining one of the greatest parts of  cruising- being disconnected from the world. I've already seen comments made on other message boards to the effect, "I put my phone in airplane mode and don't look at it again until we disembark." Or "I cruise to get away from my job! If I had access to my e-mails I'd be a slave on my vacation!" But fundamentally it's just an option given to you. By no means do you have to invest in being connected. I myself am on the fence on this topic. I enjoy for a week I don't feel that monkey on my back forcing me to check my Facebook account all the time. On the flip side- I have used post-it's, I have arranged meeting times, and I even tried walkie-talkies on one cruise. Communicating with those in your party onboard is truly one of the biggest pains in the rump. Post its fall off the surface they were stuck to and someone misses seeing them. Arranged meeting times only work if someone is wearing a watch and didn't fall asleep or get caught up in some fun. And walkie-talkies only work within a few decks of each other since the entire ship is made of signal absorbing steal. I am therefore ecstatic about this leap in shipboard communication and cannot wait for the opportunity to try out the group messenger feature of Carnival Hub. Will I invest in an internet package? I think I feel more like Captain Picard on this one!

Thanks for reading!! See you at sea!

Service our Service Men and Women?

This seems to be one of the bigger scenarios of frequent requests to cruise directors- Bending of rules for our military service men and women. Now first and foremost I want to get this out of the way- I have the utmost respect and admiration for anybody that chooses a career in our armed services, police, fire, and medical. I have a handful of friends and family who have served as well. I like to thank each of them for their service in maintaining our freedom's and protecting us. However does that job necessarily come with automatic perks in civilian life? [READ: Entitlements]

For any of you who read cruise boards, or notes to John Heald (or any other cruise directors you may follow); how many times have you see the request that sounds like this:

"My son (or daughter) is leaving for [insert branch of Military here] and we are taking one last vacation together on [insert date]. It's our last chance to spend some fun time together before they go into a career sacrificing and protecting the rest of us. I was hoping that because of their specialness that I could implore you to provide [insert special request here] and while you're at it we have 15 other people traveling with us can we all partake in [insert special request here] as this would make it special for my son (or daughter)."

Now there is always some variation to the letter and request but the basic foundation of the request is the same. Sometimes they want recognition on stage during a show, sometimes they want access to the Captain, sometimes they want cabin upgrades, etc. The question to me is this- Do cruise lines, and indeed any business in civilian life OWE these entitlements to service men and women? Is it even right that these requests are made (Often in this case) by the parents of said men and women?

In this writer's humble opinion the answer is no… and in talking with some folks that I know that have served, here is why: Common opinion is that its great if special perks and or entitlements are offered to individuals, but it dishonors the uniform in a way, if perks are just asked for or are expected. It's fabulous that many retailers and restaurants offer military discounts, but again these are OFFERED to the individuals, not asked for. Often times there are special military sales and discounts on cruises themselves… I don't follow the logic of why a cruise line should be expected to offer someone free tours, or free meals, or recognition on stage, or special meetings with the officers and captain of the ship. I think these requests are too bold and go too far, save for one- In the case of the adults-only areas of a ship where you must be 21 to access and enjoy, (Serenity Deck on Carnival cruise ships), I fully support a change in the rules that would allow for service men and women under 21 to use the space as well… though if you ask me I think anyone 18 and up should be allowed access to these facilities in general.

This might anger some parents but, I think if you want a treat for your son or daughter- it would mean more coming from you- pay for them to take a special tour, or pay for them to have an upgraded cabin or steakhouse meal. I would imagine your son or daughter would be even more thankful to you for what you provided them, than if you simply asked the cruise line to provide a handout.