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I can’t recall. I must admit we’re not bingo players. 😃

I discovered MSC lured by their very affordable prices, frequent kids sail free promotions (we are a family of 4), and their loyalty status match program (they will match whatever status you have with another cruise line or hotel brand to their equivalent status). That meant that, from our first cruise, we already had some added perks, including an additional fare discount. For reference, what cruise lines have you sailed on? In terms of quality and overall product, I think that they are one step above Carnival and at par with Royal Caribbean. Unless you’re sailing in the Yacht Club (their ship within a ship concept), MSC is solidly a mass market cruise line. What I like about MSC: - As mentioned before, pricing. Their competitive pricing and many promotions truly add value and make cruising more affordable. - Their ships are tastefully decorated. Even if it isn’t s luxury cruise line, the ships are welcoming and pleasing to the eye. - Their newest ships have that “wow” factor, somewhat like Royal’s newest ships. They’re truly marvelous. - The overall atmosphere. Contrary to other cruise lines that cater heavily to one nationality or demographic (for example some American or British cruise lines catering heavily to cruisers from their home country), MSC is very international, and it attracts cruisers from all over the world. You can expect important announcements to be made in up to seven languages, and for cuisine and entertainment to appease a broader clientele. MSC does have its quirks and idiosyncrasies which will be more apparent if you’ve cruised aboard other cruises lines, but I don’t find any of them to be deal breakers. About cuisine and drink packages, we’ve done the easy package before and it was good enough for us. But we’re simple drinkers, just enjoying wine with dinner and a few beers throughout the day. Cuisine at the main dining room and the buffet is at par with what should be expected on a mass market cruise line. Nothing truly outstanding. If you appreciate finer cuisine, you may want to consider their specialty dining. They do offer some packages if you’ll be going to their specialty restaurants multiple nights. Enjoy your cruise!

Number one rule from savvy cruisers: Drive/fly at least one day prior to the cruise. Not only are you allowing yourself extra time in case of unforeseen circumstances (car issues, traffic, accidents), you will arrive in Galveston to relax, get a good night sleep, and then be rested, refreshed and ready to enjoy your cruise without stress. Remember that, if for some reason you don’t make your departure time, either you will have completely missed your vacation, or you will need to pay a lot of money in catch-up air transportation, hotels, etc. The money spent on one hotel night prior to your cruise is cheap insurance to ensure that you make it to your cruise. Speaking of insurance, it’s also very smart to purchase a travel insurance policy that will cover all the things that can go wrong after the cruise has started. Medical complications and an evacuation can run in the tens of thousands of dollars without insurance. About laundry, I’m usually all about packing lightly and then sending my dirty clothes out to get laundered sometime during the cruise (even if available, I won’t do self service laundry on vacation. I’ll be glad to pay to have my clothes washed and folded). But since you’re driving and don’t have to worry about airline charges and restrictions, or about lugging bags through airports, etc, I’d be more inclined to packing enough clothes for the entire cruise. Just keep in mind that cabins aren’t that big, with limited storage space, so you still need to pack somewhat smartly.

Book nonstop flights at convenient times even if more expensive. Give myself plenty of time at the airport to check in. Fly in 1-2 days before the cruise. Relax and explore the embarkation port before starting my cruise. For decades, this has always been my strategy and it has worked very well.

There’s definitely pent up demand from all the people who haven’t cruised since COVID started and who are now out in droves looking at cruising again this summer, combined with a capacity reduction from all the ships that were scrapped. I agree about RC prices. They are insane. I started looking at prices for their new Icon of the Seas when the itineraries were first announced, and within a few weeks, they had almost doubled. They’re charging luxury line prices, even for the crappiest cabins and apparently people are buying. To get a decent price, I had to look into 2025 and they’re still higher than what I’ve seen before.

Have you looked at other cruise lines besides Carnival? Traveling with children, I’ve found great deals on other cruise lines, most frequently on MSC. They usually have 3rd/4th guest either at greatly reduced or free rates which make the total cost of the cruise cheaper than Carnival. Summer time, as well as traveling during holidays, almost always require planning in avance to get the best prices and cabin selections. While some people are looking at what’s left for the summer of 2023, I’m already looking at the summer of 2024. In fact I have deposits for our family cruises for 2024 and 2025. 😃

We started our son sailing at 13 months old and his first cruise was on Carnival. If I had known them what I know now, I would’ve started him on one of the cruise lines that offer programs for babies and toddlers as young as 6 months of age, as well as pools and facilities that accommodate children still in diapers instead of Carnival. In others words, either Royal Caribbean or Disney. I would’ve then switched to Carnival once he turned 2 and could attend the kids program. That first cruise was a bit rough and exhausting as we adjusted to sailing with a baby, and as we realized that Carnival was not the best choice for kids that young. In addition to no program or facilities for kids that young, our son couldn’t go in pools because he was still not potty trained. That limited what we could do around the ship. But we learned as we went along, and the more we cruised, the more we learned. By the time we started our second child cruising, we were pros. Some basic suggestions: - pack as lightly as possible. - don’t bring monster sized strollers. A collapsible umbrella stroller will be sufficient in most instances. - bring more diapers than you think you’ll need. - bring a small bag with your baby’s favorite toys or forms of entertainment since Carnival wont provide that. - during the day, find an unused lounge and let your kid play around freely. - the kids club may provide “free play” times where your baby will be allowed to attend. But you’ll need to be present and stay with them at all times. - plan on having one parent rest while the other one takes the kids out for a few hours and vice versa. You don’t want both parents to be exhausted. - prepare yourself mentally for things not to go as planned. That cute family photo that you were planning on taking on elegant night at the main dining room could potentially turn into an early night at the buffet with an exhausted, half dressed child having a meltdown (not that it happened to us 🤣). - not required, for highly recommend that everybody has passports. It will make your life much easier. Some suggestions will work better than others, and you’ll figure out what works best for your family as you go. The good news is that, the more you cruise and expose your children to this type of travel, the easier it gets.

Having sailed all the major cruise lines including Carnival and Royal, I think that MSC is closer to Royal than to Carnival. Their newer ships have that “wow” factor that Royal’s newer ships have. Ambiance is quite different than the American cruise lines since they cater to a more international clientele though, and some Carnival loyalists hate MSC because it’s not quite as “fun”.

We flew down from Atlanta strictly for the cruise (no pre or post cruise stay). It wasn’t bad. We left Atlanta at 8:30am and we were eating lunch at Riviera Beach by 11:00am before boarding the ship. On the return, we debarked at 8:00am and were back in Atlanta at 1:00pm. We didn’t pay for the airfare (we flew on standby as airline employees), but we saw several people with Margaritaville luggage tags both on the flight down and back. Considering what a short and cheap cruise this is (we paid a cruise fare of $49pp), there was no way that I would’ve taken it if I’d had to pay more for airfare than the actual cruise, or if I’d had to spend money on hotels before or after the cruise. But reading other message boards and Facebook groups, it seems like there’s a lot of people sailing on this cruise line who are super happy to spend, not only on airfare, but also on all sorts of packages, upgrades and add ons that somewhat defeat the main reason to take this cruise (which is because it’s cheap). It boggles my mind when I read from people who booked this cruise for cheap, but then spent extra not only on airfare, but also on upgrade packages, drink packages, steakhouse, massages, priority embarkation, VIP sections, priory luggage delivery, shore excursion assistance, extended stays, etc etc. It’s a 2 day cruise on an old, budget minded refurbished ship! But to each their own.

Yikes. Sorry that you had that experience. It would’ve soured me as well. To be honest, when I first got on the Westerdam, I had a hard time pinpointing anything that supported their claim of excellence. My elderly parents were traveling with us and it wasn’t until I mentioned this to my mother that she started pointing out all the little details about their service and quality that I had missed. I’m sure that her impressions would’ve been different had we encountered what you experienced. With all of that said, there have been times when I didn’t have the best first experience on several cruise lines I’ve sailed on, and it wasn’t until I tried them again when I finally developed an appreciation for what they had to offer.

Your assessment is correct. We are in our late 40’s, raising teenagers. For us, Music Walk as well as the World Stage with the Step One Dance Company performances and Planet Earth documentaries on Nieuw Statendam were some of the activity and entertainment highlights on that cruise. They definitely appealed to my age bracket. I find myself a bit too old for the type of energy and crazy, mind numbing activities aboard lines like Carnival (which 20 years ago appealed to me), but too young to fully embrace a subdued cruise experience where entertainment is mostly centered around lectures, culinary classes, and similar enrichment opportunities. I find that HAL’s Pinnacle class offers exactly what I’m looking for at this stage in my life. A little bit of old, a little bit of new, all combined in a perfectly sized, modern but traditional feeling ship.

HAL has been tweaking their product to attract a younger clientele, specially on their newest class of ship. There are more activities geared towards 30-50yo’s. The children’s program activities and facilities have been upgraded, as well as better staterooms that will accommodate families, all in an effort to attract families. I think that the newer ships have a modern, airy, clean look, while still maintaining that traditional feel that HAL is known for. Also, you can find the Pinnacle ships more often operating shorter (7 night itineraries) in popular regions which tend to attract younger people as well. With all of that said, HAL still offers longer itineraries to more exotic locales that appeal to an older clientele aboard the smaller ships on the fleet (that have a more “old school HAL” feel).

Our first cruise on HAL was on the Westerdam and it almost made me not want to sail on HAL again. The ship was dark and gloomy. Felt very depressing. Service, cuisine and attention to detail were great, but there was something lacking about the entire experience that just made me not want to sail HAL again. That all changed when we sailed on Nieuw Statendam. It was like night and day. Absolutely loved this ship and experience to the point that I consider it one of my favorite ships I’ve ever sailed on. HAL is definitely doing something different with the Pinnacle class than with the rest of the fleet, attempting to attract a younger clientele.

Wow, all of those changes look like great upgrades to me, not cutbacks. Lincoln Center Stage performances moved to the World Stage with new visuals will most likely be amazing.

My experience doing specialty dining on the last night of the cruise has always been very enjoyable. No difference in service or quality. It’s a nice way to wrap up the cruise, unless you really need to go to the MDR on the last night for all the farewell hoopla.

We loved sailing on Nieuw Statendam. (Rotterdam’s sister). Compared to our last Celebrity cruise aboard the Solstice, the ship felt less crowded and easier to get around. I thought that Solstice’s layout was a bit wonky. HAL’s Pinnacle class of ships is wonderful. They feel modern and airy, but traditional at the same time. At 99,000 tons, they are “smaller” but in my opinion, it’s the perfect size with a very easy to learn layout. Music Walk is indeed a very enjoyable part of these ships. One moment you’re listening to a Top 40 band at one venue, and the next you’re listening to a classical music ensemble at another. The main theatre is different than on more traditional theatres aboard other cruise lines. It’s circular, with floor to ceiling LED’s covering more than 180 degrees of the theatre. Shows are simple, but combined with technology, they’re visually impressive. We thoroughly enjoyed the shows by the Step One Dance Company (click on that hyperlink for a preview). Overall, we thought that Nieuw Statendam blew Celebrity Solstice out of the water. We enjoyed both cruises greatly and would gladly sail on either one again, but Nieuw Statendam just felt a bit better in almost every category (service, cuisine, entertainment, etc).

In Stavanger, we’ve booked the Lysefjord Cruise - Experience Preikestolen tour directly from Rodne Fjord Cruise. You board just a short walk from where the ship docks. On this tour, you don’t hike Preikestolen, but see it from Lysefjord. https://rodne.no/en/fjordcruise/lysefjord-preikestolen/

I’m also looking at something similar. I haven’t looked at trains or shuttles, but this is what I’ve researched. One option is a one way car rental. It’s a 2 hour 45 minute drive and it looks like it’s pretty straight forward and economical. The other option is to fly from Quebec City to Montreal. It’s about a 35 minute flight. I’m learning that the difference in price between flying from Quebec City to Montreal to Atlanta (where we live) vs driving to Montreal and then flying from there to Atlanta is negligible once you factor in the cost of ground transportation. I’m leaning towards flying from Quebec City to simplify things, specially since the price difference is minimal.

Dog lovers reading this will know how sad this feels. Take comfort in knowing that most likely your cruise will help you heal your aching heart. I’ll share my anecdote in the hopes that it helps as well. Back when I was away in college, my family had planned a cruise for the end of the semester. The plan was for me to fly to Miami to meet my parents who were also flying in. A few days before the cruise, my dad had hinted how my 13yo dog who’d been my best buddy since I was 7 year old wasn’t doing too well. I was hoping that after the cruise, I’d come home to say goodbye. When we all met at the Miami airport at baggage claim, my dad broke the news that they’d had to put my dog down the day before. She was suffering too much and they couldn’t leave her in that condition. Talk about worst timing. I never had a chance to say goodbye. I cried (like sobbing out loud) so hard until we got on the ship the next day. But once we were onboard, I calmed down, and while I still had sadness in me, the seas had a calming and nurturing effect. In retrospect, it was the perfect place to be to heal. I hope that the pain you’re suffering and the sadness subsides soon, and that your upcoming trip helps you get there. 💕 🐶

I’d never used them before (I normally use insuremytrip), but I was looking for a policy with CFAR protection (cancel for any reason) for a cruise we’re taking next year. Squaremouth offered a policy that was literally 1/4 the cost of the cheapest policy through insuremytrip. I did read the fine print to make sure that everything that I need covered is indeed covered.

I think that on a shorter itinerary, you don’t get to experience in full things that are unique to Disney, like the rotating restaurants concept , specially if you’re thinking about adding one of the specialty restaurants. Chances are that you’ll have to skip something. We chose a 7 night itinerary on the Fantasy. Very glad we did because otherwise, we would’ve been too time limited to enjoy everything that Disney has to offer. We wanted to experience as much as possible since our plan was to sail on Disney only one time. It was a wonderful cruise and I’m glad that I can say that I’ve sailed on them and got the T shirt. Disney does excel in customer service and entertainment and the ship was beautiful. But it’s hard to justify sailing on them again unless we were hardcore Disney fans, which we are not. A big percentage of the overinflated price you pay is for pixie dust, not for a product that is truly that much better than other cruise lines.

If you already know what you’re looking for, price it out back home first. Then compare it to prices onboard and prices at the ports of call. A few years ago, I was shopping for a specific Tissot watch. I figured how much I’d spend if I bought it back home. I then went on a cruise to the Bahamas. The best deal was actually at an authorized retailer in Nassau. Cheaper than the stores on the ship too.

- Book as early as possible - Carnival (and other cruise lines) allows you to make monthly payments so that the cruise is paid in full by final payment date. The earlier you book, the smaller the monthly payments will be - Don’t be afraid to try other cruise lines. Although Carnival is usually the price leader in the Caribbean, that’s not always the case in Alaska. Other cruise lines have so many ships and inventory up there, that many times their fares are lower. And it’s not uncommon to see last minute price drops either. - Resesrch, research, research. One of the good things about booking way in advance is having plenty of time to check out each port and figure out what to do on a budget. When we did Alaska, we didn’t book a single excursion through the cruise line. And everything we did was super budget friendly. Granted, we didn’t ride a helicopter or go dog sledding on a glacier, but what we did was still wonderful in its own right. We saw glaciers, we hiked through a national forest, we saw bald eagles up close at a rescue center, we took a land and sea tour, we took a tram up to the top of a mountain, and we did a lot of exploration on our own. All for less than what one excursion through the cruise line would’ve cost. - Seattle round trip itineraries usually mean considerably cheaper airfare than doing a one way from/to Vancouver. Applying all of these rules, we did Alaska for not much more than what we have normally spent on Caribbean cruises. But even if it costs you more, it’s an experience we’ll worth it. Easily one of my favorite cruises.

We’ve done Solstice (Eclipse’s sister) and Nieuw Statendam (Koningsdam’s sister). We did standard balconies on both. The cabin on the Nieuw Statendam felt a bit tighter, but the TV position and the lineup was much better. Normally we’re not people who stay in the cabin and watch TV, but we found ourselves enjoying being in our cabin and watching on demand movies on Nieuw Statendam. As far as ships go, they are both very nice, but I much preferred the Nieuw Statendam. The ship had the perfect balance of modern and traditional. Felt much classier than the Solstice. It was also a better layout. Solstice to me felt a bit wonky and disjointed. As far as entertainment goes, Nieuw Statendam had all the venues along Music Walk (Rolling Stones, BB King’s, Lincoln Center Stage, Billboard) and I thought it was brilliant. One moment you could be listening to a classic rock band in one venue and then a classical music ensemble at another. As far as stage entertainment goes, I loved their main theater. Very modern and high tech circular theatre, with huge floor to ceiling LED screens covering 270 degrees. The two productions by the Step One Company were phenomenal. We actually went twice one night to watch the same production. Solstice’s stage productions by comparison felt unimaginative. It wasn’t bad, just the very standard, run of the mill type of production that one would expect to see in a traditional theatre on a cruise ship. With all of that said, we had a wonderful time on both cruises, and would gladly sail on either one again, but I feel that Holland America blew Celebrity out of the water, at least when comparing these two classes of ships specifically.

I think that many of the negatives that you mentioned (which have plagued, not only P&O but all cruise lines) during COVID, have subsided although not completely. We are new to P&O and we are new to the Norwegian Fjords itinerary. We selected our upcoming cruise on the Britannia specifically because it offered something completely new to us (and for a substantially cheaper price than any other cruise line sailing this itinerary during that time frame). For me, cruising, even with all the changes and recent downgrades, still provides an excellent opportunity to explore new places in an easy and affordable way that land vacations simply can’t replicate. I do understand feeling burnt out after sailing on the same cruise line over and over, to the same ports over and over. I get that same feeling on this side of the Atlantic (we live in the USA) where I can’t stand another Caribbean cruise to Cozumel or Nassau on the same cruise lines. So my remedy to that is to go somewhere else and try different cruise lines (which is why we’re sailing on P&O next). One good thing that I’ve learned about trying different cruise lines and exploring new itineraries is that everything feels fresh and new. I spend zero time comparing things to “the way it used to be” What feels repetitive to you may be completely new to someone like me who has never sailed on P&O. I’ll make sure to come back and report on how things went once we return from this upcoming cruise. 😀