Honolulu Blue

This post reminds me of why I don't do laundry onboard. Thanks for sharing. I apologize for bumping this, but I wanted to note your concerns about Princess and the Emerald in my records, and this is the best tool I have to do this.

Hey, I remember you! I've followed some of your adventures on Celebrity, NCL, and MSC. Alas, I seem to have missed the posts on your Emerald Princess cruise. I'll go through it later. I'm sorry for what you went through. I've done three cruises on Princess since 2021. They were relatively short (5, 7, and 5 days). They were quite fun, especially the 80s themed ones. I didn't notice too many problems. And I received a pre cruise cabin upgrade each time. I'll be on the Emerald in August. I hope I'll have a.better experience than you did. 🙏 Anyway, I'm following along, so I'll give the microphone back to you. 🎤

Thank you for sharing your experiences. I can't say that I've ever had a fire situation on a cruise that involved me as a passenger. I've heard drills for fires and announcements that may have involved fires, but none of those involved any action from me.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced their newest inductees last night. Not in any order, but Cher, Kool and the Gang, Foreigner, and Dionne Warwick made the cut - among others. I saw the former lead singer for Foreigner, Lou Gramm, on The 80s Cruise last year. And I saw the band itself on the 70s Rock and Romance Cruise this year. Kool and the Gang I saw on the 2022 and 2023 editions of the UDC. They're scheduled for the 2025 edition. This photo is from last year: Cara Lee did a convincing job of looking like and sounding like Cher on the UDC last year: One of Dionne's biggest hits, "Then Came You", was with The Spinners. They did this song without her in 2022 on the UDC. They'll probably do the same in 2025, also on the UDC.

I've never had a true muster call, but I had the opposite happen a few months ago - passengers and crew were sent to our cabins and told to stay there for a couple of hours. Here's that thread:

I too miss sailing from SJ on Carnival. I've partially scratched that itch by cruising with other cruise lines from there. The last year or two before the pandemic had the Fascination leaving San Juan at 6 PM. I don't know why.

Quickie comments: My one overnight on Carnival was in Honolulu on a cruise from Vancouver to the islands several years ago I recently had an overnight in Nassau that wasn't on Carnival It's tricky to find overnight stays on Carnival cruises, but I think they still exist I've had some late stays (10 PM or later) in Aruba and Curacao When Carnival sailed out of sunny San Juan, some of their departures from that port weren't until 10 PM, since the first port was nearby St. Thomas.

I'm updating this to note that CC itself has done an article on one of the TS themed cruises (In My Cruise Era). It's at In My Cruise Era: What You Need to Know About the Taylor Swift Cruise (cruisecritic.com) . It adds a little more info about that particular cruise and also the fact that that particular one is sold out.

Let me briefly tell you all about my experiences with the medallion: Regal, November '21 - Fort Lauderdale. Medallion was mailed to me (it was before Princess decided to charge for this privilege). Majestic, April '22 - San Pedro. I picked up the medallion. Delay was a minute or two. Ruby, April '23 - Galveston. I tried to pick it up. Big mistake! Because almost everyone else needed to pick up their medallions also, I had to go in a separate (long) line to do that. It delayed me about half an hour, which I didn't like very much. 🤬 The lesson I took from this is to not bother with delivery for cruises except for those out of Galveston. My next Princess cruise is in August out of Boston, so we'll see what happens. My medallion is currently set to be picked up.

Some personal notes that may be useful to you or others: I keep track of almost all my e-mails related to all my cruises I've kept almost all the papers related to all my cruises - even the ads (mostly). I keep all of them in an individual envelope. I've kept all my key cards and medallions I found a neat binder that holds my key cards and has room for plenty more. The medallions are an awkward fit here, so they're separate. I've kept all the prizes I've won on my various cruises Going on all the ships of a cruise line doesn't interest me personally, but it does sound like fun. I have done 13 different Carnival ships. And I take lots and lots and lots of photos on my cruises. Let's close this with a photo from one of my most recent cruises, because why not? 🙂

@Sarnia 432: Thanks for sharing.

True and true. Good points. 👍

Yeah, Polaroid pictures had their heyday in the late 70s and early 80s and slowly fizzled as film cameras became better and film processing became more available to the masses. 35mm film was most common. Digital wasn't a thing in the late 80s or early 90s. Thanks for both of those links. The two country cruises out of Galveston that were mentioned in the latter link are partial charters, unlike our favorites. That's great for those that are with the charter, not so great for the rest if the passengers who have no access to all the cool shows. ☹️

I want to spotlight a couple of articles I read while randomly surfing the internet. First is a list of summer music tours at https://ultimateclassicrock.com/2024-summer-tours/ . Chicago is listed, as is Pat Benatar, Sebastian Bach, Styx/Foreigner and Doobies/Steve Winwood. I'll be attending Chicago's show in May. I saw PB last year and will probably skip her this year. Mr. Bach was on TEC earlier this year. He got generally good reviews for his appearances, but I still don't want to buy whatever he's selling. I saw Styx last year and Foreigner this year. I'll probably skip their show this year, even though I know I'll enjoy them both. And, of course, I just saw Michael McDonald last week on the cruise with his name on it. I'm still toying with the idea of heading over to see him and the Brothers and Stevie. It should be a good time. Left off the list was the NKOTB thingie. ☹️ But that's OK. The other article is about some music cruises that will be sailing later in 2024 and early in 2025 at Music cruises set sail on the high seas in 2024 and 2025 - The Points Guy. Jamrock, OCC, UDC, and R&R were listed, among others. TEC was NOT listed. ☹️ Again, it's all right.

I found the time to sign up and pay for VIP access to Paula Abdul at her concert in Columbus on August 23. It cost $333 and includes a little more than I thought it did. Taking it directly from the Ticketmaster site: "FOREVER YOUR GIRL" MEET & GREET UPGRADE - Official Meet & Greet with Paula Abdul! - Strike a pose with Paula - receive one Polaroid photo AND one professional individual photo with Paula Abdul. Your favorite dance move is welcome!* - Autograph session - bring your favorite memorabilia to be signed by Paula Abdul** - One special Paula Abdul jewelry charm - Commemorative VIP laminate & lanyard - Dedicated VIP road crew available on-site to ensure a smooth concert experience - On-site perks such as priority check-in, VIP priority lane into the venue for ease of entry, and an on-site customer service mobile number *One Polaroid and one professional photo per transaction **Limit of one item signed per guest. All items are subject to review. Any prohibited items will not be allowed into the venue or meet & greet area, in accordance with venue policies. Please check your venue policy for more information on prohibited items. Some comments: I assume the meet & greet, photos, etc. are after the concert, though they could schedule it before. I'll let you know for sure when I find out. Polaroid? Really?? Polaroids were out of fashion when Paula was hot, and I don't think they've gotten any more popular in the 30+ years since then. I'd rather have a selfie; it would save a step. The autograph session was not mentioned in previous notices about this VIP session. It's nice. I'll have to find something for her to sign. I have the "Forever Your Girl" CD; I'm sure she'll see A LOT of those. 🙃 It's nice that I get VIP access for the venue through this. I'm not sure how many of its services I'll need to use. I'm not a big lanyard wearer, but on this occasion it's appropriate to have one. I might even wear it. The charm... whatever. I'll probably give it away as a gift. Overall I'm very happy to be able to add to my concert experience with this VIP package. Thanks Paula! Don't underestimate how much I like and have liked Ms. Abdul and her music. I like her more than Sheena Easton, and I'm sure you're sick of me talking about her. 😄