Honolulu Blue

I want to note the VIP packages available for the Styx/Foreigner/John Waite shows: No package for JW, but fan club members do get early ticket access The Styx Renegade VIP package is pretty simple - premium ticket, special long-sleeved shirt, 8x10 band photo, Styx enamel pin, Styx challenge coin (whatever that is), Styx tour bag, commemorative tour laminate, lanyard, and ticket. Foreigner's VIP packages are split into four tiers.. The Bronze tier has a ticket, a merch pack, a VIP laminate, the opportunity to shop for merch pre-concert (yay), VIP host and dedicated check-in, and early entry The Silver tier offers the above, plus a ticket in the first 10 rows, the opportunity to submit a question to the band for a special Q&A - which I assume I would have the opportunity to attend, inside info from the touring crew, and a "socially distanced" (their words, not mine) photo op with the band in front of the stage The Gold tier offers the above plus a ticket in the first 4 rows, a behind-the-scenes backstage tour, and a special autographed item The Diamond tier offers the above plus a ticket in the first 3 rows, a seat onstage for Foreigner's first three songs ("Down On Love"? Dream on), and a super special VIP limited-edition item I'm still evaluation whether I want to do any of this. Stay tuned.

A short list coming from someone who's not a big decorator: * It's easier to find a cabin door that's decorated * It can be fun to decorate * It's a fun way to announce or celebrate an important occasion * As I mentioned in my earlier post, sometimes there are prizes on the line I look forward to hearing about what I missed.

My opinion is that unless there is a specific place I want to go that requires my passport in port, I'm not going to take it. And I don't bother with a passport copy because I have not and do not see a use for it.

Allowed decorations on the door varies from cruise line to cruise line. Some restrict the type of decorations, some restrict what can be used to attach decorations to the door. I suggest going through NCL's online FAQs for guidance on this subject, or maybe even give their customer service line a call. Magnets SHOULD be OK, but I still think it's worth checking. P.S. One of the charter cruises I have been on encourages cabin door decorations to the point of having a contest with prizes for the best ones. Just about anything goes with them.

I recall getting off about the same time from the same ship two weeks earlier. Self-disembarking and Platinum status helped some here.

I hope not, but I fear you may be correct. An increase would be an easy way to show "value" for their packages.

You never know... TPTB might decide to put a slot machine or two in its place, or maybe it'll be taken offline for a few months. I've seen stranger things happen. The rule on event betting makes a lot of sense. I'm sure Carnival doesn't want to deal with winning tickets on events that happen after the cruise, and I'm sure most passengers don't want to deal with them either.

Thank you kindly. I'll be on the Dream next month. I hope the kiosk is still there then. 🙏

Our cruise isn't going to Bar Harbor

I'll be on the Emerald Princess in August 2024. We'll be visiting Halifax, NS; Sydney, NS; Charlottetown, PEI; and Portland, ME. My question is in the title - do all of these ports have docks big enough for our cruise ship to dock? The info from Princess doesn't say any of them are tender ports, but I'll trust you experts who have experience in the area. Thank you so much!!

Maybe for us in the cheap seats, but less so for all of those who were onboard. I can imagine the crew taking some grief for what happened.

Yeah, I bet. My best guess is we had 200 to 400 kids onboard. They didn't dominate, but they were always around.

I was on the Ruby in April and the average age, it seemed to me, was around 50. Yes, there were some oldsters onboard that cruise, but four factors brought the average age down: * There was an 80s theme onboard that attracted some of us. My experience is that most of those 65+ think the 80s was just another decade rather than the best one (IMHO 😎). * There were a fair amount of children onboard * This was a 5-day sailing into the western Caribbean * We sailed from Galveston, a relatively new port for Princess

Going on a shore excursion with a group I don't know that's conducted in a language I don't understand wouldn't be my thing, but I think we would be surprised at how many regular passengers would want to do this if it was available to them. And perhaps even dine with members of the group, if THAT was available.

I did misunderstand. Thank you for correcting me. I thought that perhaps the ex FAs discussed their exclusive excursions with you and that's how you found out.

Thanks for sharing. This is how I expect large groups to handle their excursions - through the charter group where they wouldn't be seen by ordinary passengers. Thank you for sharing your experience. This is an example of some of the effects of a big group on a cruise on those who aren't part of the group. I wish we had more notice about them, but I don't expect to see it any time soon.

I found a thread on the Celebrity boards where a cruiser encountered a group of excursion choices that were not available to them because they were not part of a group that apparently has a bunch of its members onboard. In that thread, another cruiser mentioned something similar had happened on another cruise for a different group. Not essential, but if you'd like additional clarification on what I'm talking about, here's the link to that thread: I've done a bunch of cruises (though not as many as some of you) and scanned through the ship excursions on most of them, and I can't say that I've seen anything quite like this. I've seen a couple of similar examples: Onboard activities on full charters - these are obviously restricted to members of the group on the cruise and ordinary cruisers wouldn't be aware of them. The examples I've seen had the chartering company running these activities and taking payment for them. The vaccine thing - I know for a very short time after the restart Carnival had some excursions in some ports that were exclusively for those groups with unvaccinated members. Anyway, that's enough background. Here's the question: Have you seen a situation where a cruise line advertises excursions with availability exclusively for those in a specific group? Details are always appreciated. Thanks in advance!

Thanks for the clarification. Another question if you're willing... would you say that there are MORE excursions that are restricted to AH guests than those that are available to others, or are there are FEWER AH restricted excursions, or would you say they're about the same (i.e., most or all excursions that are available to ordinary passengers have a version for AH guests). Thanks in advance!

Thank you for sharing your experience. This is, I suppose, one way to identify whether your ship has a significant group onboard. I have found that cruise lines (not just Celebrity) tend not to be forthcoming about any large groups that are on their ship.

I'm trying to wrap my head around the concept of excursions ONLY for certain guests being exposed to non-members of the group. It makes sense, so maybe I just have never encountered it before. I'm curious... did the description say 'ONLY ABRAHAM HICKS GUEST ARE ALLOWED TO BOOK THIS EXCURSION" or similar? Or did they actually have some sort of screening going on when someone decides to book, like having to put in your booking number? I've been on full charters with excursions run by the charter company. Since there were no people outside the charter group on the ship, there was no way that an ordinary cruiser could book any of them. We also had ordinary excursions in port, which were run by the cruise company and mostly looked like excursions on ordinary cruises. And for a very short time, I know at least one cruise company had different excursions for those who were vaccinated and those who were not. Anyway, my official opinion on AH and partial charters are in the post that was linked earlier. Enjoy your cruise!

Thanks for sharing. I'm glad you're having a good time on Harmony.

Thank you to you and everyone else for your kind words. There's a dedicated 80s cruise that's a full charter that's NOT on Princess. They use mostly original bands and not tribute acts. I've been on two of them and I highly recommend them. Unfortunately, next year's edition his sold out. 🙁 Search around if you're interested.

From the latest Weekender newsletter: The Jazz Cruise '24 will have its webinar on Thursday, December 7 at 3 PM EST A recording of this webinar will be available after the event TJC '24 has a few cabins that newly came available; they can be booked online for now TJC '25 will be announced with some details on December 6 The announcement for Botti at Sea '25 has slipped (again); it is now scheduled for the first week in January "or so" Open booking for The Smooth Jazz Cruise '25 begins on January 10 The McDonald LaBelle cruise is inching closer to full status; it's over 78% reserved now

There are any number of threads and posts here about what Princess has screwed up through the years, including some by me. This is not one of those threads. A few days ago I booked a Canada-New England cruise on the Emerald. I mistakenly clicked the wrong button and I paid off the whole cruise instead of the deposit. All the advice I could find said that in order to fix this, I needed to call the general customer service line. For me, calling customer service is one of THE WORST THINGS in life that I try to actively avoid. But with my lack of options, I gritted my teeth and called during my lunch hour. My first surprise is that I got through to a rep right away. I got through to a rep named Ryan. We walked through my new booking and what I wanted - please reduce my payment to just the deposit. BTW, I booked a fully refundable fare. He did so relatively quickly and efficiently while not trying to sell me anything extra. Well done, Ryan. Well done. This is another example of Princess doing right by me and why I'll continue to cruise with them for the time being. Now, if they'll add some more 80s themed cruises, I'll load up my schedule with them...

I missed this discussion. I was following @BlerkOne's thread on the same subject. These threads should probably be merged. Thanks for the chart and links. Brand Ambassador John Heald mentioned this morning that it was a $3 increase. It looks like it's a $3/day increase across the board for all packages purchased onboard, and slightly less when purchased before the cruise. We'll have to see how much the rate adjusts for onboard purchases. Social and Value look like poorer and poorer values with each increase, IMHO. I don't have anything to say about whether Carnival "deserves" this rate hike, but I will note that the Internet speeds on my last cruise on the Magic two weeks ago were some of the fastest I've had at sea (with the Premium package). I could do anything I wanted with it, subject to some lag and momentary outages.