Honolulu Blue

I got an email from Jazz Cruises with a couple of items of interest. First, I was invited, as "a past guest of Jazz Cruises" (thank you Michael and Patti) to use a special code for a special rate on certain available cabin classes on the Botti at Sea Cruise. It's for new reservations only and doesn't combine with any other discounts. The code offers $75 to $125 off per person per cabin, which isn't bad, Second, I know I listed these in a previous post, but here's a picture of all the headliners on Botti at Sea by day:

What @jimbo5544 says is correct, but I want to quickly note the bad old days when things were more involved. All cruisers had to fill out a form where you had to declare the dollar value of everything you acquired while on the cruise. There were some other questions on that form, but never mind. 🤬 This form you had to hand to an agent along with your passport. Sometimes you'd be welcomed back without further comment, sometimes they'd ask a few questions to make sure you filled out the form completely, and sometimes they'd have more involved questions. I like the way things are better than what they were. 👍

The folks behind the Super Legends Cruise did a couple of interesting things today. First of all, they opened up 10 cabins on the original version of its 2025 cruise (the one on Navigator OTS) for booking for friends & family of those who have booked. I don't have any need for another cabin, but I find it intriguing that they did this while the 2.0 version (same dates, same itinerary, most of the same artists, but on the Carnival Radiance) is still selling cabins. I don't expect these cabins to last long. The other thing is the parent company behind SLC asked me to fill out a short survey. It was five questions about other cruise combinations I prefer or might be interested in in the future. I'll err on the side of caution about releasing the questions, but if in the future you see a 5-day cruise to Cabo on the Carnival Panorama that features country music, then you'll know who and what is to blame.

I'm sorry to point out that you missed your cruise if it was truly booked for April 2024. 😁 I assume you mean April 2025. The only question I can answer is about the buffets. I was on the Magic in November and the Dream in January. I ate most breakfasts and dinners on both ships at the trough and found the food selection more than adequate at all times.

I'm also a self assister and I've never had a problem leaving my bags in the cabin while dining. A couple of times I saw my steward in the hallway and told them what I was up to. I also put out the DO NOT DISTURB sign; I assume that helps.

I will note that these changes were made by many cruise lines and Celebrity should receive very limited credit for them.

@LoveChops: Thank you for posting this and bringing it to our attention. It's unbecoming (IMHO) of a cruise line like Celebrity to pull tricks like this. I saw the Executive Office's response to this, but I wish someone would have asked Fearless Leader LHB about such shenanigans in her AMA session. Oh well.

Today I got an e-mail with some details about this cruise. Justin Hayward, host and voice of the Moody Blues, will be on this cruise. No other artists were announced at this time. But they did announce the itinerary: Friday, 8/22 - embark Boston, 4 pm Saturday, 8/23 - sea day Sunday, 8/24 - Halifax, Nova Scotia, 8-5 Monday, 8/25 - Sydney, Nova Scotia, 9-7 Tuesday, 8/26 - sea day Wednesday, 8/27 - Saint John, New Brunswick, 8:30-6 Thursday, 8/28 - Portland, Maine, 8-5 Friday, 8/29 - disembark Boston, 7 am The e-mail also had some highlights of each port. I'll pay some attention to this, since like I said in my previous post, I'm heading up that way in a couple of weeks. They promise to announce more details later, so I'll keep posting updates.

First of all, I'm sorry you had such a bad draw with inconsiderate passengers. I've had 10 cruises so far this year (not all on Carnival) and didn't have a safety-briefing-caused shutdown with any of them. Obviously, YMMV. On a related point, the one bad thing about the new way of doing the safety briefing is the amount of nagging the cruise director or whomever does the announcements does to get people to do them. It doesn't matter when you or I or anyone else does them - there will always be some portion of the group (sometimes identified by quantity) that wait until the last minute to do it and the announcements come again and again and again. Though I have found they've let up on this a bit on the cruises I've taken so far this year, which may also just be YMMV.

If you're talking about the IMAX theaters that show movies, those are only on the Vista and Horizon.

Your question has been answered, but I just want to amplify a couple of things. First of all, there IS a safety video that may or may not be available on the app, but you DON'T have to watch it (though the cabin steward might have it playing on the TV as you enter the cabin). I recommend watching it anyway; Shaq is a mighty fine actor. 😁 Second, there may be a bit of a wait between entering the muster station and the demonstration. They wait for a few people to gather before putting on the show. Enjoy your upcoming Carnival cruise!

One reason I'll never be a part of the Foodies Club (wherever they hang out) is that I'm thoroughly unimpressed by food presentation and only impressed by taste. But different strokes for different folks. 🙃 I respect your opinion but disagree. I discussed Celebrity above, but of the other cruise lines mentioned that I've sailed on, I think Carnival is (overall) equal to them, just a little different.

I'm a big fan of repeating satisfying experiences. It took me 10 cruises on Carnival to try another cruise line, which happened to be Celebrity. More about them later. I've found the other cruise lines you mentioned (save Oceania and VV) more alike than different. Their amenities and crew are similar and some of their entertainment offerings are similar. There are differences which are important to know about, of course, but I really think any of them will show you a good time if you let them. I'm surprised you could find prices for Oceania that are less than that for Virgin. I'm further surprised that they have a significant number of 7-day voyages out of Miami/Ft. Lauderdale. Loss leaders, perhaps? O includes a lot in their fare, but so does VV. I haven't sailed on either. For my $$$, all else equal, I would choose Celebrity. I think their food is a bit better in both variety and quality. I like their ships - especially the Summit. And I like their service; I find it competent without being smothering. I actually think you would do well to find a good travel agent that specializes in cruises but doesn't specialize in any particular cruise line. There are lots of 7-day cruises out of Miami or Port Everglades at all times of the year and a TA would probably do better than any of us as gauging your needs and matching them to a cruise line. Whatever you choose, I wish you well.

Thanks for the notes on Totally Tubular. I'm glad you had a thrifty good time! I wish I could do more of it, but interesting bands don't come to my area very often. ☹️ I did my review of Abducted in my other thread, which I'll link below. TL,DR: I liked Naked Eyes, The Motels, and Wang Chung. I even liked MWH even though I didn't expect to. Meeting Martha and the Chungers was a hoot.

It wouldn't surprise me if what you said is true. Traditionally, on regular cruises, the transportation to any location is included in the final price. I think the fact that Mr. Lazaroff released this amount of detail about the excursions for this cruise means that an announcement could be coming soon, it may not necessarily be so. Perhaps a call or e-mail to customer service might be in order?

In Jazz Cruises' weekly newsletter, Mr. Lazaroff did a preview of the excursions in Victoria and San Francisco. I'll attach a screen shot of it since there's a lot of text that I don't want to write or copy: It looks like the concerts on land will be "at cost", which means they won't be free. To which I say I'm sorry. When we had a land concert for one of my music charters NOT from Jazz Cruises, that one was free and the charter company provided free shuttles there and back (which we didn't have to take). They even gave us a free mat for those who wanted to sit on the grassy hill in the back of the amphitheater. The Journey of Jazz excursions aren't quite ready to book yet, so @NinS and others will have to wait to get in line for these experiences. I'm sure they will be great for all the fans onboard.

I had a somewhat similar experience that wasn't on a luxury line. About 2 1/2 years ago, I found myself the only passenger on a tender back from Princess Cays. I don't think this tender was as large as yours, but it could probably have held 200 or so people. I've had other experiences on tenders coming back to the ship where I've been one of only a few passengers. I can't say that I've been as lucky on the way off the ship.

That's a good point. Have they announced what they're going to do with P&O Australia passengers who continue to cruise? IIRC, they have status on Princess, but obviously the old P&O ships aren't going to them. Will they keep status with Princess under those circumstances? Would they be given dual status with Princess and Carnival? Or will they be totally transferred to Carnival? I think it's worth keeping an eye on.

As @Elaine5715 pointed out upthread, the one sure way I can tell on Carnival is that first-timers have the blue cards. Unlike her, I don't have a helpful nature and will watch as they stumble and bumble along without my help - unless I'm asked directly. On other cruise lines, I find that it's harder to tell, and there are probably many fewer true n00bs to ocean cruising anyway. Not that it matters too much to me whether anyone is new. It's just an item I'll make a note of and file away.

A couple of updates... one of these cruises ran a month ago; I haven't heard anything about it, so I assume it went well enough (it was just before Beryl - cue dramatic music 😮), one is heading out on Monday, and the last is still about 3 months away. Except now there's a FOURTH one in 2025 that I just found about thanks to a random cruise vlogger. This one is called the Getaway Cruise and it will be on the Disney Wish for a long Labor Day Weekend cruise - Friday, September 5 through Monday, September 8, 2025. It's out of Port Canaveral and will sail to Nassau and Castaway Cay. No, Ms. Swift won't be on this one either, but this cruise will have events that Swifties will probably like. I'll link to one of the newspaper sites that has more information, and you can take it from there if interested: Taylor Swift-themed Disney cruise From Florida: Prices, dates (floridatoday.com) BTW, it's another partial charter that officially has nothing to do with Disney, Taylor Swift, or TASRM. It's also interesting for another reason - Disney already has a theme on this sailing. It's the Halloween on the High Seas sailing. Themes on top of themes... it could be a lot of fun for those interested in both.

I recently applied for my shareholder credit for my upcoming Princess cruise. I posted a few paragraphs about the experience to my roll call. I'll include a portion of it below. TL,DR: very easy but needs some tech savviness and trust in our electronic overlords. I downloaded the app and signed up for an account. I also signed up for a separate app that's only used to grab my CCL shareholder information from my chosen brokerage (most are available; some of the big ones are explicitly not available). That part of the app worked seamlessly, and it grabbed what information it needed in seconds. Then I went back to Stockperks to apply for my shareholder credit for this cruise. Actually, I tried to apply it for another cruise in 2025, but they weren't having it. ☹️ Only cruises through 2024 can use this app. I hit the Princess link, filled in some data about me and this cruise, and clicked the apply button. That part was also very smooth and despite warnings about applying for the credit 2 or 3 weeks before the cruise, I got an e-mail saying my credit was applied about 10 minutes after I applied. Shortly after that I went into the Princess Web site, logged in and tried to fake buy an excursion. And indeed, the $100 credit was already there. 🙂 From initial download to my account being credited took about 30 minutes. This was much smoother and faster than the old way of doing it - by mailing and faxing my info separately for each cruise. I know some people have had problems with Stockperks, but my official review is thumbs up - way up! 👍 I recommend it for those who have CCL shares and some tech savvy.

I've been on 16 Carnival Cruises with one booked, more than all the other cruise lines combined, so they must be doing something right - at least for me. Carnival ships are known for being kid-friendly and I haven't heard many complaints about how the kiddos are treated by them. I haven't had any experience with any "goons" on Carnival and only the occasional encounter with those who obviously couldn't handle their liquor. Then again, my shortest cruise on Carnival has been 6 days. Many of my cruises on Carnival have been 10+ days and I recommend them most highly, But on a 7-day cruise up & down the Mexican Riviera... yeah, there will be some kids (especially during the summer). There might even be some less refined customers. But if you enjoyed the Royal experience, I'm betting that you and your kids will enjoy the Carnival experience also. Enjoy your upcoming cruise!

The crew are great; if you allow them to help make you satisfied and/or happy, they'll (mostly) do it.

A couple of tidbits from Jazz Cruises' latest biweekly newsletter. I some screen shots because I didn't feel like typing. First is about The Jazz Cruise and its 2025 sailing: And the other is about the Smooth Jazz Cruise sailings for 2026:

I'm impressed by your loyalty to one ship! My five trips to the Summit don't seem like very many by that standard. ☹️ BTW, I do agree with your general assessment of the Summit. Though I got the same on the Millie the one time I sailed on her...