Honolulu Blue

They used to have a midnight buffet on Journeys cruises. I know because I tried to attend one way back in 2016. It was jammed with passengers. Not a good experience. I haven't tried to go there since then. They may have gotten rid of it. They don't advertise it anymore. P.S. I'm a big fan of the horse races!

I've found that it's not unusual for terminals at ports of call to look like warehouses. ALL the ones in Hawaii when I went there in 2018 looked like that, even Honolulu. They may or may not have improved things these days. And some of the terminals in embarkation ports are nicer than others. San Pedro always struck me as being sparse and out of date. Galveston isn't much better - at least the terminal that Princess and Carnival use. I'm sure Royal's new terminal is far nicer. Probably not, but I DO select itineraries (and their cruise ships, and cruise lines) based on where they sail from. All else equal, I prefer to sail from ports with better terminals.

You bring up some good, interesting points. The responses have been interesting also. I'll put my two cents in and apologize in advance for not acknowledging those who commented earlier with similar notes: It's much less expensive to provide Internet access on land than at sea I rely less on Wi-Fi access on land these days with very fast 5G access almost everywhere All cruise lines that I'm aware of DO provide free WiFi access these days - mostly to power their apps. Some offer very limited access to the Net for free (mostly their own sites). Virgin Voyages provides free Internet on their cruises. Yes, I know they're small compared to other mainstream lines, but they're part of the scene. Some cruise lines offer packages that include Internet, among other things I'm sure corporate headquarters at all the cruise lines are monitoring Internet use, costs, and revenue closely. At the point where they think they can make more $$$ by providing Internet access for free to all customers than by doing what they do now, they will make the switch. It might be different at different cruise lines.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I've done some music themed cruises in the past and have more scheduled. None are electronic music themed, but some of them have an artist or two that favor the synthesizers. They were great! Lots of the music that I like and enough of everything else to make it all worthwhile. I hope you can find a cruise or two that suits your interests so you can have as much fun as I did.

Thanks everyone! There's a lot of good information here. I'll study it in more detail later, when I'm ready to book my B2B.

Only when the cashier is open. Unless... I know Carnival and NCL have kiosks where you can break bills. I don't remember any on Princess that perform this function. Do they have them? I didn't spend much time in the casinos on any Princess ship I've been on, so I certainly could have missed them.

It's OK. I apologize for confusing Elite with Diamond.

I'm considering taking a B2B on Princess and have a few questions about the experience: 1. The B2Bs I'm considering consist of two cruises of seven days each. They are (will be) listed both separately and as single cruises. Can some of you summarize the advantages and disadvantages of booking both as a single cruise booking # and as two separate cruises? 2. Let's say that I'll have 12 cruise credits by the time I sail on this B2B. I'll be sailing solo, so that means I'll get 2 credits for each cruise - if I book them separately. Or will I get all 4 credits if I book the B2B as one cruise?? 3. Assuming that I will have 16 credits at the end of the second cruise, when will I get my Diamond status? On my next Princess cruise? On the second cruise? Or on boarding the first cruise? 4. How easy is it to link these cruises if I book them online separately? 5. As a CCL shareholder, I would get $100 in OBC for each of the 7-day cruises, but $250 for a 14-day cruise. Can I tell whoever handles the OBC shareholder credit these days that I'm really on a 14-day cruise when I have these two 7-day cruises? 6. What perks and bennies is Princess offering to B2B sailors these days? Thanks in advance for your kind and informative responses.

First of all, @jimb cruisin, I'm sorry for the loss of your spouse. I hope things get better for you in the future. 🙏 Second, unless there's a life insurance component to your travel insurance, I struggle to see much that you'd be covered for. Since you're going to go on the cruise anyway, Celebrity won't reprice the cabin for one occupant. Port fees will be refunded no matter what (though they might need some nagging and reminding). And excursions can be refunded right now regardless of reason. Perhaps insurance can cover any nonrefundable airfare, if applicable?

I got an e-mail from the Super Legends Cruise saying that they're almost 70% booked already, after being (unofficially) available to the public for just one day. It sounds like they're on schedule to sell out eventually.

A couple of interesting items in the UDC's latest FB post. First, they disclosed that cabins are over 90% sold out. I don't think the UDC has EVER sold out in their history, so that would be a nice feather in their cap when they're able to do it. And second, they said in a P.S. that "We have some exciting things in the works that we hope to share VERY SOON!". Hmmmm, I wonder what they mean? 🧐 Whenever I think of BIG news and the UDC, my mind immediately goes to KC and the Sunshine Band. They'd be great to get, of course. But it's probably not that. We'll see soon enough what they have in mind.

This was brought up briefly at the Q&A Mr. Lazaroff had on the McDonald LaBelle Cruise. He did mention the difficulty in having the same artists on for three consecutive weeks. I don't know how best to resolve it, but obviously the demand is there for additional cruises.

Thanks for the article link. The article mentions Ovation OTS in addition to the Edge. This situation worries me a little because I have a transpacific sailing on Ovation in a few months. If Hawaii is angry enough and fast enough and has enough enforcement power to force a ban on RCI from Hawaii or its waters, then that cruise could be in jeopardy. Yes, I know, it's a series of unlikely events, but you never know. I'll keep monitoring this in lurk mode.

The 80s Cruise provided us with an update on its performers. There's good news and bad news. The good news is that Warrant, Dokken, and Firehouse will be joining us on this cruise. I think Firehouse is the best band of this group - though I have heard of all three. "Don't Treat Me Bad" is my favorite Firehouse song. I assume they'll play it. More good news is that we have an awesome band for 2026 - Quiet Riot! You can probably guess what the bad news is... Quiet Riot is now OUT for this upcoming cruise. They cited a "scheduling conflict", which the cynic in me interprets as they got a better 🤑 offer somewhere else. OK, maybe not that. Maybe when I get a free moment, I'll figure out where they plan to be while we're cruising. In the meantime, I'm banging my head. I'll do a metal health check when I'm finished.