Honolulu Blue

Thanks for your review. I'm happy you had a good time. I'm sorry that Mother Nature didn't cooperate on the last day.

I don't have any answers for you, but I'm following, because I'm curious about this also. What I'm VERY sure of is that nobody is going to be celebrating the 4th anniversary of the Diamond's extended stay in Yokohama because of... you know.

Mr. Berra worked with Royal and Carnival before taking this position, so I would say he knows a thing or two about cruising even if he hasn't been onboard. My last sailing on Princess was on the Ruby in April and I can confirm the above. That ship was full, mostly with new-to-Princess cruisers (of whom a lot were totally new to cruising).

There's nothing wrong with sitting down and being served for meals if that's what you enjoy for whatever reason. 👍 Me, I still eat at the trough most of the time. 🐷

Thanks for sharing this article and its existence. I thought this was a good article - better than normal for a non-cruise source.

Stephen Pearcy, former lead singer for the rock group RATT, e-mailed me with a link to a blog post about his latest tour dates. Here are the most interesting details I took from it: Direct quote: Over the years Stephen has tried relentlessly to bring together the living members of RATT but to no avail. At a certain point he has to simply accept one's choice to retire, God knows the boys have earned it. He too has earned it but wants to give one last go around to the fans this year. First of all, is this the last tour for Mr. Pearcy??? If so, I'm especially glad that I saw him when I did last year and that I will be seeing him again on The 80s Cruise. And second, this is an interesting spin on why the RATT gang hasn't gotten back together. I'm not sure how true it is, but it is interesting. There are a few stops listed. The 80s Cruise is among them. The gap between TEC and his other concerts is quite big (at least 2 weeks). I wonder if he's actually going to spend the full week on the ship with us. It's definitely a possibility. We know he's going to be on early in the cruise, because he has a date for breakfast with me (and a few dozen other fans). The tour is called the "Back in the Cellar Tour". It's the 40th anniversary of the release of RATT's big album "Out of the Cellar" and he promises to play it in its entirety. Will he play this complete album on the ship? I wonder. OOTC isn't my favorite RATT album, but it does have my second favorite RATT song, the relatively obscure "She Wants Money", which he didn't play for me in concert in November. ☹️

Thank you for your review. I appreciate it, even if no one else does. I'm sorry your cruise wasn't better. This doesn't sound like the Carnival I know. But I won't make excuses for them or any individual.

Thanks for sharing. This makes me sad, because I like to play video poker occasionally. On the other hand, the pay schedules of VP on those machines (and all the ones I've seen on other cruise ships regardless of cruise line) are so bad that I'm inclined to say "good riddance". As for replacements, maybe they're thinking of replacing it with something like the game I saw on another ship on another cruise line: It's a little hard to see, but it has versions of blackjack, craps, roulette, and baccarat. The payouts for even money bets on this game were around 90 cents on the dollar, so they're instant throwouts for me. Blackjack paid 6:5 for BJs, but all other wins paid full even money. Not the worst game in the house.

No problem, and no big deal. Apology accepted. 🙂

Thanks for sharing! The schedule format looks very familiar - it's the same as the StarVista cruises I've explored. And you're right, that schedule looks PACKED with performances and performers. I wonder how I'd handle a schedule like that. Rock and Romance looks challenging, but that official schedule isn't out yet and probably won't be for several weeks.

@jennmaybe: I'm sorry this happened to you. I refuse to book with Celebrity anymore for other reasons, but my past experiences with them onboard have revealed to me that the operations section is quite good, IMHO. I wish you the best in resolving this matter and on your upcoming cruise. 🙏

5 days to go. Weather remains a concern, though not in the ways I thought it might be. Tuesday and Wednesday's snow looks to be minimal (1-2 inches) and will mostly melt due to high temperatures and rain. Now it's Friday and Saturday that's the big worry - we could get 6+ inches here by Saturday morning. We'll see if it's bad enough for United to offer a waiver.

In scanning my newsletters from my last Journeys cruise in January 2020, I found that breakfast in the MDR was always available on port days. The times varied depending on when we were due in port. There was NO lunch served in the MDR on port days. BTW, I know you didn't ask, but on sea days, the ship switched between brunch and breakfast/lunch in the MDR.

I don't see the alarmist posts here. I appreciate the notice from the OP and you. I'm glad things are now under control. Have a great rest of the cruise. 👍

I haven't had a chance to dine at either, and I'll certainly defer to those who have, but I assume it's as simple as just going and handing in your cards as you do so.

I've heard plenty of stories of cruisers who have three or more plates of lobster on Lobster Night in the MDR on many different cruise lines. I've heard very little about cruisers who down 3 main courses otherwise.

Thanks for finding and sharing this. It looks very similar to Carnival's EasyPay.

I find the trend toward fan cruises for Taylor Swift very interesting, even though I'm not enough of a fanboy to attend any of these. All of these are unauthorized, explicitly state that Ms. Swift will NOT be attending, and that she and her official fan club have nothing to do with them. But all do have blocks of cabins available for fans and they'll have plenty of Swiftie-related activities onboard. Here's the ones that I could find: Summer Era Cruise - June 15-20, Mariner of the Seas, departing from Galveston Bestie Cruise 2024 - July 22-26, Navigator of the Seas, departing from Long Beach In My Cruise Era - October 21-25, Allure of the Seas, departing from Miami Use your favorite search engine for more information about any of these cruises. A couple of minutes of musing... it's clear that Taylor is the hottest musician on the planet right now. Would we have had fan cruises for Elvis, The Beatles, or any of the other musicians that have had their moments of white-hot popularity, had casual cruising been more of a thing? Maybe, but who really knows? I like a few TS songs, but there are many more performers that I'd rather see live - some of which I will on various music themed cruises and concerts over the next 12 months. That's about all I have to say. But perhaps you have a Taylor Swift story that's relevant to this. Is there anyone who's a big, big fan who might be tempted by these fan cruises? Or have a friend/child/sibling/other relative who is? Talk to us? Thanks!!

Leaving them at home sounds like a really good idea. I'm glad we helped you settle that. As for cell phone texting at sea, I'll defer to others on this. From what I understand, IF you have the ship's Internet plan and IF your phone is capable of WiFI calls, THEN it should work. Some cruise lines have intranet messaging among phones that are connected that don't require the Internet, but may cost extra. If you're talking about posts on this message board, there's no easy way to do that, but you can request the mods lock a thread like this one. Just hit the three dots in the upper right of any post here, click "Report", select "Thread needs attention", and note that you want the thread locked. YMMV on whether it actually happens, but that's the way to do it.

One of the first things I was taught when I started cruising a decade ago is that walkie talkies are problematic at best and worse than useless at their worst. My understanding is that things haven't improved. The ones that are most likely to have an acceptable range have some possibility of being illegal in the ports you visit. I have found that cell phones work well on ships - both from the cell towers on land and the WiFi/Internet onboard. Obviously, don't make any calls while at sea unless you like paying extortionate fees.

I've been on the Majestic before. I thought it was a nice ship. I haven't been on any of Celebrity's E-class ships, though I'm intrigued by them. I've only been on the M-class ships. I found those to be very comfy and well-maintained, though older by cruise ship standards. I have found Princess and Celebrity to be similar experiences. I've really gotten some gem cabin stewards on Princess. Celebrity's food is the best I've had on any mainstream line. I have to warn you that, if you happen to be a solo cruiser, Celebrity is implementing an extra single surcharge if you dare book a single occupancy cabin with them. If you can get a decent price, you can't go wrong with either. Good luck and enjoy your cruise. 👍

As an amplification of what I said above, Carnival apparently has a payment plan that they run in-house called EasyPay. Here's a link to the FAQs -> Carnival EasyPay FAQs | Carnival Cruise Line . It looks easy enough, and it's interest and fee free. I haven't tried this one, but I wouldn't be surprised if it spread to other Carnival Corporation lines sometime. And also, while I'm here, at least one of my credit cards offers to spread out large charges over some months. This can be done for any transaction, not just travel purchases. This one costs $$$ in fees and/or interest, so I haven't done it yet.

This is of limited relevance to the OP, but several of the charter cruises I've been on (not on Princess) offer automatic monthly payment plans that I've been a part of. Those are nice. And I've seen Carnival offer payment plans through a third party. I've never used it, since there are extra fees involved.

I plan to fly in on Saturday. That could change if I need to and if I am allowed to. Thursday looks like the calm between the storms. I hope things go well for you and your passenger. 🙏

A couple of minor issues that could turn into major problems for me: There looks to be a storm next week that could impact my flight to Houston. DTW is generally good at handling snow and ice on the ground, but you never know. I might have to change things around. Stay tuned. I just found out the FAA has put a temporary halt to prevent all 737 MAX 9 aircraft from flying. Guess what plane type is scheduled to be used on my return flight from Houston? Yes it is. 😮 This could be cleared up in a few days, or it could take months for the FAA to be happy. This could cause problems for United, which could cause problems for me and this reservation down the road. Again, stay tuned.