I didn't see anyone like this on the boat, but I'm known for being pretty oblivious. Past cruisers, did you see these near-stowaways on the boat? Know anything more about it?
kimmiek291976 said...My mom & I booked for the last cruise at the end of March. Once we were on the boat we saw people who were MUCH older and they didn't look like NKOTB fans. Turns out they had so many EXTRA rooms that the same trip we paid $2000 PER PERSON for, people got to book as a last minute trip special for $200!!! They were senior citizens who lived in Miami and because they saw the "deal" booked themselves! So people pd $200 for everything we did. They even had the color coded wristbands...so the way I see it..I think plenty of rooms will open up. The way I looked at it? I was pissed that people got to book days before and pay $200! That's the people everyone should be bitching about!!
I saw absolutely no one like this at any event or anywhere on the boat. If it happened, its news to me.
ReplyDeleteIt's Kim..
ReplyDeleteI met the 1st couple on Saturday morning at breakfast (in the buffet part) & we thought they may have been someone's parents. We got to talking with them & THEY were shocked because they weren't told that it was a cruise with 2000 woman. (her husband joked he was happy) The lady said that they are frequent cruisers and that week they saw rooms ava. for that cruise..$200 apiece. They live in the area and do it often.
Sunday morning while sitting by the pool we met another couple..this one w/ 2 kids..same story. Live in the area..open rooms..cheap.
I didn't want to start any problems with my post..sorry if I upset anyone. I just thought it was wrong that they were able to get on so cheap. I guess it's common anywhere ships sail. The ship wants all rooms sold so at the end they know locals will buy tickets. I heard it's common. Again..sorry if I upset anyone :(
I did not see any such people. If they were indeed on board, I was completely oblivious. But...don't you think senior citizens would have stood out on a cruise such as ours???
ReplyDeleteMy friend & I saw quite a few elderly people at breakfast on checkout day. We were like " where did these people come from" because we had not seen them at all the whole time. We thought it was weird. We figured they must have been in the casino. At first we thought maybe they were grandparents of some of the fans, but there were a lot of them. I didn't notice any wristbands, but I wasn't looking either. I don't know what their stories were, but I'm not surprised by Kim's story. It makes sense if it wasn't sold out, airlines do the same thing. I just remember saying to my friend "I wonder if they knew it was a nkotb cruise with 2000 screaming women, poor things". LOL!!!
ReplyDeleteMelissa
@mustangmelissa on twitter
I was on the cruise last year, and the only "older" people that I saw were either parents of fans, parents of the guys or other NKOTB entourage members/parents, and the people who run Rose Tours. Believe me, I saw all types of people, just not many "seniors" and I am a people watcher extraordinaire, lol!
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure if someone was pulling your leg, or what - but I really don't see the cruise being sold last minute to random people. The entire cruise ship was basically rented to Rose Tours for SSNKOTB, so Carnival, Expedia, whoever might sell last minute deals wouldn't even have had access to those rooms. I also heard of fans who wanted on last minute and were told that it was sold out. Also, I would think that if they had some rooms available, NKOTB management/Rose Tours would have spammed the hell out of nkotb.com to try to sell the rooms.If they couldn't sell them I think they probably would have given them away with some sort of contest - it would have been good PR, positive word of mouth, etc.
Nothing against the person who started this, but I really have a hard time believing it. If it did happen, whatever. I spent an amount I was comfortable spending, if someone got on cheaper, great. I don't see that happening this year though, more people seem to be interested in going, and the fact that we have more time to pay the cruise off, I think more people can "afford" to go, which I'm guessing will lead to less cancellations than last year.
WOW, I'm glad someone else was able to confirm what I posted. I don't understand why anyone would think I was making this up..what would be the point? I was on last yr and I'm on this yr. Those people we met were very nice and told us the same stories. Open rooms..cheap. I just didn't think that it was fair. Just my opinion, I didn't know it was going to cause a stir. And they elder couple we met told us they were offered a wristband but chose not to get it since they were not there for the function going on. The younger couple did have wristbands and said "since it's included, why not". If people can get on cheaper, good for them. I'm there either way. Again..didn't think I was going to tick everyone off..just tried to tell people on the WL to have faith.
ReplyDeleteI was also on the cruise and saw the older people there. Some of them did not have the wristbands and thats how you knew they didn't book thru NKOTB site. One older man was talking to the Captain and told him he always waits till days before a cruise because he can cruise at any time so he and his wife took the trip because of price, not because they knew what the trip was about. There were quite a few elderly people there. They were more evident at the dinners. Then you could kind of tell they were not there for NKOTB. I heard the man talk to the captain myself so I know what she's talking about. All cruise lines do this . Lynne
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say to this is POOR people who booked not knowing what kind of cruise it was. That must have been crazy. Although they probably had fun just staying away from where the crowd was. Bet they will think twice and ask what kind of cruise it is before booking it the next time though lol.
ReplyDeleteThank you to everyone who's confirming what I said. It's really been bothering me that I was pretty much called a liar. Also Thank you to the people who sent me an email telling me their "old people" sightings hahaha I figure 2000 girls gave them the time of their lives and plenty of stories to tell lol We're suppose to be going to have fun.."Christina" took this to a differnt level that I wasn't even going too. This isn't suppose to be a catty bitch fest...this is NKOTB followers having a great time with each other. The girl who put this awesome site together certainly mean for this to happen. She's nice enough to update people and help people out. So Katie Thank you for this and I hope that the NK's see what you're doing to help their fans!Again..nothing I said was to start a bunch of craziness. Are we grown woman in our 30's or 13 yr old girls? Let's go and hope everyone that wants to be there can get there. I am excited to have another yr of memories and another yr of meeting great fans. I'm done on this topic & I'm sorry that some people have their own ideas on how cruise ships & any other business's work. 261 days till the time of our lives!
ReplyDeleteThat's really strange! Not saying you're lying or making it up but maybe the older people made it up because they were embarassed to go to a NK cruise at their age?
ReplyDeleteIt was a chartered cruise. Once a boat is chartered the date is taken off of the normal available crusie dates and only acessible / bookable through the agency that chartered the boat (Check carnival - next year's cruise is not on their site for booking. You have to go to Rose Tours and their it is only accessible if you click on NKOTB cruise). My friend wanted to get on the boat about 1 week before because she did get some extra money but when she called Rose Tours there were only the very expensive rooms available and she couldn't afford that much. I assume if they so desperately wanted the boat full they would have given her a discount too, as she was happy to pay up to $1500 instead of giving the rooms away to people a week later for under $300.
I only can assume that if these older people were not NK fans that they turned up at the port on the morning of the cruise to see if there are any places left on a boat. Like when you go to the airport in the hope to get a cheap flight. Maybe some people cancelled in the last few days or didn't show up. If they did receive the rooms so cheaply they shouldn't have given or offered them the wristbands for the events because the special events were what made the cruise so expensive for everyone else. I also cannot imagine that they weren't told that NKOTB and fans were on the cruise. We are fairly humane (not sure if that's the right word) but for example, Motley Crue (or at least one of their members) does a cruise. Imagine the older people had ended up on that boat? They were offered wristbands as well, so they must have been told what they are for? Also, there can't have been too many older couples because it was mentioned after the cruise that there were only around 50 male cruisers on the boat. A few were male NK fans and some female fans mentioned on ning that they brought their boyfriend / husband, which I guess would be 3/4 of the male passengers. Maybe there were around a dozen older couples and they might have congregated in the same place together to get away from the crazies. If you happened to be in the same place at the same time, of course, you would notice them. It also would explain why hardly anyone saw them on the boat.
Well, I don't think this will happen this year, though. There are just too many people on both waitlists. I guess even if everyone who is on the boat now would cancel, it still would be sold out with the waitlist people.
I've also heard of getting extremely good rates on a cruise booking last minute. Cruise lines are always offering deals to last minute travelers. I do not doubt there were some last minute travelers on the past cruise.. If I could have done it, I would have. :)
ReplyDeleteI look forward to retiring, because I'm sure I'll be cruising last minute plenty of times.
I get brochures from Princess daily (yes. Daily!) about last minute deals.. granted Carnival probably didn't do that route, but like someone suggested, I bet if you show up at the port day of, you can get on fairly cheap.
I love cruise ships, they're beautiful :)
Kaffy
I can confirm Kim's information. I felt so bad for this girl (that I don't know) that I called Carnival's 1-800 # & asked some questions. I was told that it's 100% true. Travel agents get an email 2-4 days before EVERY cruise, celebrity or not, that has open rooms. They then contact their customers that live wherever the port is, in this case Miami. Then they get to purchase the same cruise for just a couple hundred dollars. When they book this cruise they are told it's a celebrity cruise and that you book at your own risk. So if you don't like the people or the celebrity you just do other things on the boat. The rep also said that RT does not "rent" the ship. They sponser the cruise but they don't have control over all the inventory. It may not be listed with the other cruise's but it's open to the public. AND that it's not listed because they like to offer the rates to the frequent travelers who keep their business going during the slow seasons.
ReplyDeleteI cruised with my husband last yr and he spoke with a gentlemen in his 60's who was traveling alone. He said he was staying in Atlantis and decided to come home early, so he booked a room on Thursday and got on board Saturday when we ported. He was on late Saturday to Monday when the trip was done for $150. He was entitled to everything we were. So it does happen and I'm told often.
Just because people don't see everything that happens in 4 days doesn't mean it's not there.
Kimmie,
ReplyDeleteI hope you don't think I was calling you a liar. That was not my intent. I just found it odd, considering it was a chartered cruise. I don't think YOU are lying at all! :)
Christine,
ReplyDeleteI'm so sorry for being bitchy. I never "blogged" untill this so I guess my attitude came through lol I hope everyone can get on..it's an experience of a lifetime.