Tapi

- Never an inside (that’s like vacationing in a broom closet) - Oceanview at a minimum - Balcony most frequently - Suite for a special occasion Next four cruises I have booked are deluxe balcony, ocean view, suite, boardwalk balcony.

Our personal record was an 8:45am flight out of FLL after arriving at the port of Miami. But everything aligned perfectly: - We were out of our cabin by 6:30am and had all of our luggage with us for self assist. - ship was cleared promptly before 7:00am - short lines at customs. - we requested an Uber. Driver showed up literally in 60 seconds. - No traffic that early in the morning on a Sunday. - Once in the Uber, I realized that we’d be in FLL by 7:45am, so I got on my phone and listed on the standby list for the earlier flight, checked in and got our mobile boarding passes. - At the airport, bypassed the ticket counter and headed straight to security (all of our luggage was carry on) - short lines at the security checkpoint - We were at the gate by the time boarding started. - back home before our original flight was even supposed to depart. So it’s doable to get on an early flight, including 11:00am. Just make sure that all of your ducks are in a row and have in the back of your head a backup plan of action should you miss your flight.

Bottom line is that, being “rich” doesn’t mean that people are willing to spend $20K on a suite on a cruise. Case in point, one of my pilot friends. He brings in $500K a year, lives in a multi million dollar new house, drives matching new Land Rovers with his wife (who also has a 6 figure income), kids are in $40K/yr private schools, goes skiing to high end resorts every spring, and takes golf trips with his buddies to Pebble Beach. But he says no way no how will he spend suite money to go on a cruise. Anything more than a balcony is a waste. More interestingly, he’s one of those guys that will still stop at the gas station for candy and hide it in his pockets when he goes to the movies. And he won’t go out for Mexican unless it’s $2.99 Margarita Tuesday. 😂 Everybody has priorities. Even “rich” people.

Glacier Bay for us was the absolute highlight of our Alaska cruise so I’d look for an itinerary that includes it. We sailed on the Westerdam and, while the quality, service, and cuisine were much better than anything we’ve ever experienced on Royal Caribbean, we found the ship to be a bit on the gloomy and depressing side. We then sailed on the Nieuw Statendam (part of HAL’s Pinnacle class along with Koningsdam and Rotterdam) and we loved it. More modern, brighter, and tasteful while still maintaining the traditional touches that HAL is known for. If I could do Glacier Bay on a Pinnacle class ship, that would be my choice.

Strictly talking mass market and premium lines, I’ve been most satisfied with Holland America (in terms of quality, freshness, variety, consistency and presentation). Second place goes to Celebrity. Royal Caribbean and Carnival are pretty similar and close to the bottom. It’s not that they’re bad, (there’s plenty of selections). It’s just that nothing truly stands out.

You got that right. Start this thread at one of the luxury cruise line message boards, and you’ll get some truly eye opening and humbling answers. On Royal Caribbean and other mass market lines, the suite people are the top 5%. On the luxury lines, the suite people are everybody; 100%.

Doing a quick search for flights this summer, it seems like your best bet may be Delta Air Lines. They fly from London Heathrow to Seattle and then on to Fairbanks. For the return both British Airways and Air Canada fly nonstop from Vancouver to London Heathrow. If mixing and matching airlines is too expensive, you can price the entire trip on Delta. On the way there you can fly London-Seattle-Fairbanks, and then for the return you can fly Vancouver-Seattle-London.

From a fellow Catholic, I can tell you that Mass services was not one of the things that I had thought about when I booked a cruise on HAL, but it turned out to be a highlight of our cruise. Our ship departed on a Sunday, and they had mass scheduled for 4:30pm that day. Now, normally, I would’ve been out on deck for the sailaway party with drink in hand. But we decided to attend Mass instead. We noticed that the ship had started moving as we were getting up for communion, and I realized then that we were at the right place for sailaway. Perfect way to start our cruise. P.S. I still had time to make it to the pool deck for sailaway after mass was over. 😂

It’s all relative. One of my friends just paid $10K for a 3 night cruise on the Disney Wish. And that is just one of 3-4 vacations he’s taking with his family this year. 🤷🏻‍♂️ For him, it’s chump change.

My vote would be for the Rotterdam. We’d sailed on Holland once before (on the Westerdam, sister ship to the Zuiderdam) and we didn’t like the ship one bit (felt very gloomy and depressing). It turned me away from sailing on HAL again. We then decided to give HAL another try, this time aboard Nieuw Statendam (Rotterdam’s sister ship). We absolutely LOVED this ship. It’s modern and airy while still maintaining some of the elements of traditional cruising that HAL is known for. In my humble opinion, it perfectly ties the past and the future. We’ve sailed on most major cruise lines and on all types and sizes of ships (check my signature). The Nieuw Statendam ranks as one of my absolute favorite ships and cruise experiences, hands down. Rotterdam may be HAL’s largest ship, but compared to the rest of the cruise industry, she’s fairly small (in relative terms). I think she’s the perfect size. -o- Have you been to Grand Turk before? I didn’t care too much for it. You arrive at a Welcome Center (built by Carnival). Nice beach and pool area with a surfing simulator, a Margaritaville restaurant, and pool cabanas that you can rent for the day. If the only ship in port is your HAL ship, it will be fairly quiet. But if you’re in port with another ship (specially from one of the other Carnival brands), get ready for the pool area to be packed and the party hopping. The beaches are indeed beautiful and the water is breathtaking. But the island is fairly small and, outside of the Welcome Center, the choices for sightseeing and exploration are somewhat limited. There’s really not much to see or do. If you’re NOT the kind of person that enjoys spending the day lounging by the pool or the beach, you may be a bit disappointed.

Well, I just checked the online TA that I use and it is listing mini suite category MF for $299. Most expensive suite listed is an owners suite S2 for $774. It’s not a casino rate and it doesn’t specify that it’s for “new bookings only” either but it does say “special deal”. I wonder if they could honor the price if the OP calls “wanting to upgrade” out of pocket. Let’s say that the OP calls the TA and says that they see an S2 for $774 and wants to pay the $75 difference to upgrade. I wonder if they’ll accept it, or if they’ll tell them that the $774 doesn’t apply for people already booked in which case they could tell them what rate does apply if they want to upgrade. I’ve had the experience where they say that the listed rate is for new bookings only, but I’ve never had them say that I can’t upgrade at all, even if I’m willing to pay the difference.

And that’s the one thing that we can agree on concerning this topic. 😂

Same to you! Since you mentioned that your spouse is on the 787, I figured that it may be easier for him to lump work days together since there are longer trips on the widebodies than on the narrowbodies. I am a 737 guy so I always have to get a bit creative with my schedule if I want a bunch of days off in a row, piecing together shorter trips. My buddy on the 350 never has that issue, plus he has no kids so he’s constantly taking last minute long cruises! (Envious 😂)

You’re correct. But the actual size and layout of cabins next to each other may be identical except for bunks that come out of the ceiling or a sofa that converts to a bed. IMHO, no reason for Royal to charge more for the 1st and 2nd guest when the square footage of the two cabins are exactly identical. Another thing that I don’t agree with is when Royal charges more if the cabins have a connecting door. Once again, the cabins could have the same exact square footage and layout as cabins without the connecting door. There’s no denying that this sneaky cabin classification is a way for Royal to make a few extra bucks from families that must either have the bunk beds or the connecting door to accommodate their families. If these practices were an industry standard across all cruise lines, I’d accept that this is just the way it is, but it seems to me that Royal is sneakier than others when it comes to these classifications.

Because some of these promotions are bogus. Two scenarios that come to mind with Royal based on what I’ve seen in the past: - A cabin just for 2 may be in one category while a cabin for 4 is classified in a higher category which will have a higher 1st/2nd fare. Literally, the cabins could be identical and right next to each other, but Royal classifies them differently. A sneaky way to generate more revenue from families that must have rooms with a 3rd/4th bed. - The kids sail free promotion may have a different code which forces you to pay a higher 1st and 2nd fare in order to take advantage of the 3rd and 4th “free” cruise fare. Other cruise lines offer true “kids sail free” promotions without any gimmicks where the 1st/2nd fare doesn’t change, and you’re not forced into a higher category. But I’ve found that Royal is super shady when it comes to this type of promotion. Alternatively, price out 2 cabins next to each other with a connecting door. A handful of times (on both Royal and Celebrity) we’ve paid less by booking two double cabins than one quad cabin.

We chose the Portofino Hotel and Marina in Redondo Beach, halfway between LAX and San Pedro. Classy, beachfront hotel in a quiet location. There are a few restaurants within walking distance. Very safe and pleasant area. Nice views from the room of either the ocean or the marina. We walked a few blocks to buy some things that we needed for the cruise and it was a very relaxing walk to the small shopping area with drug store, supermarket and a few restaurants. The hotel provides free bike rentals which we took advantage of. We followed the boardwalk past the Redondo Bech pier and along the beautiful beach. One of the highlights of our stay. We took an Uber from the airport to the hotel and then another Uber from the hotel to the port on the day of the cruise. https://www.hotelportofino.com/

Thanks to everybody who has commented on this thread since we are first time P&O cruisers as well! All opinions and reviews are greatly appreciated. We’re from the USA, and outside of these cruise message boards, it hasn’t been easy to get information about P&O since it’s not marketed or advertised over here. Just finding one travel agency in the USA that could book this cruise for us was a tough task. Yes, I’ll admit it. I was initially drawn to P&O because the price was about 40% cheaper than what Celebrity or Royal were charging for a similar itinerary. But we’re truly looking forward to our upcoming cruise on the Britannia this summer! We’ll make sure to go with realistic expectations at par with what we paid. Thanks again for all the comments. Keep them coming.

On the sailing that I’m considering, the difference in price between the forward facing penthouse and the courthouse penthouse is about $400pp. Thanks for the analogy as it paints a clearer picture of what to expect. When we did the outside YC suite on MSC, it didn’t bother me to have to walk to the Yacht Club facilites, but I guess it’s because I got used to it and didn’t have any point of reference.

Airline pilot here too. I haven’t seen any massive discounts lately if booking far in advanced, but I’ve seen some killer deals if you have the ability to cruise last minute. I have a buddy who flies the A350 and he just did the Symphony transatlantic for $299, balcony stateroom. He booked it like 2 weeks before sailing. I’m normally planning a year+ in advance so I can never take advantage of the best last minute deals.

It’s somewhere between luxury and mainstream. It may have some elements from a luxury cruise line but not all of them. Kinda like flying Premium Select on Delta, which falls between Economy class and Delta One. At Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, Oceania is between NCL and Regent Seven Seas.

It’s a very useful tool. It makes me feel like I’ve already been there and I explore more confidently. 😀

I just clicked on the link. I need to check it out! Thank you.

LOL. Not feeling like you’re stalking me at all. The Explora Journeys board doesn’t have a lot of participants just yet, so discussing different topics with the same people shouldn’t come as a surprise. I do wholeheartedly thank you for your very helpful comments. It’s exactly people with your kind of experience who I want to hear from. Truly appreciated!

Thanks for sharing your experience. I guess kinda like buying the smallest house in the nicer neighborhood?

I weighed the two options and I think that I prefer the larger suite over location. When we did MSC Yacht Club, our suite was not inside the complex (forward facing duplex), but we loved the extra space. We were traveling with our kids at that time so the extra space was more crucial, but this time it will only be my wife and I.