Royal is good, probably the most classy, higher income, a bit older and more settled crowd, Carnival is a younger, more single, more party, lower income crowd. Norweigian is good also. One thing about shore excursions. I know a little about this. In my other business, we were partners in some tours in the Caribbean. We sold tours on contract to the cruise lines. The cruise lines mark these tours up 100%, in other words, the tour you pay $80 for, we recieve $40. We also sold it on the dock at the port were the buses load for $40 or possibly 20% more. If it makes you nervous to do it on the dock, you can often book in advance these tours by simply searching google for the tour and call the operator direct, and save 50%.
Just so you know, Shore Excursions are the number one most profitable source if revenue in not only net profit, but gross dollars also. Number 2 is the bar, and number 3 believe it or not is the casino, which I would have always thought would be number one until I got into the business.
Because it is the number one profit center for them, they will hard sell and use scare tactics to prevent you from buying on the dock. They will tell you they are not responsible for your security, but you are safe with any regestered travel agent. The most popular scare is that the ship will not wait for you if you are late. In reality, I am not aware of anyone that did not make it back to the ship in a few years I was in the business.
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Frank Serafine
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