Honolulu Blue

They do seem to check a lot of the OP's boxes. Kids aren't allowed. Their ships are all nice and new. Their price is more all-inclusive than most mainstream lines. And they'll have a ship in the Eastern Caribbean starting late this year. Not a bad place to start, I agree.

I've enjoyed my music themed cruises oh so much. But I don't think it's quite what the OP is looking for. I've done six so far and here are random pictures I took from all of them:

I've sailed on both the Liberty and the Freedom, though both were a while ago. They're basically identical, so any price difference is likely based on where and when they're sailing. For the fun of it, here's a horse race from my Freedom cruise in November 2019:

It sounds like you could benefit from a consultation with a travel agent. They can take your ideas, preferences, wants, and needs, and find you a (near) perfect match. Well, they'll do better than we can do. Here's my modest suggestion... if you haven't done the Eastern Caribbean already, try that. Sail out of San Juan, PR, and you'll get 5 or 6 ports in 7 days. The islands are all a little different, but all offer decent exploration and entertainment options. The ships sailing from there tend to be old and small (but well maintained), but the medium-sized and brand new NCL Viva will be doing cruises from there starting in December '23. Good luck with whatever you decide to do. 🙂

Thank you for the update Keep us as well informed as you can. 🙏

I'm glad to be of assistance. Please keep us (well, me) informed of your adventures on this cruise.

Point taken. Thank you for taking the time to explain. 👍

I'm interested in taking a transpacific from Hawaii to Australia. What was the cruise line(s) involved here? What did they say or do that annoyed you? Thank you in advance for your insight. Sorry for the diversion. Please continue with your discussion.

The article did mention that; thanks for spotlighting it. To me, it was old news that the article didn't add anything to. When and if they put spades in the ground, THAT would catch my eye.

According to Brand Ambassador John Heald and one of his posts on FB, these ships will debut the new dinner menu in August: Carnival Horizon Mardi Gras Carnival Sunrise Carnival Vista Carnival Radiance

I've seen and done this with other cruise lines, not Celebrity. I encourage others to give you a specific answer for the world of X, but here's what I've found... It's best to have your own cruise line sales rep to do this, especially if you want to keep your present cabin. An outside travel agent can also work. It can be done independently but be prepared to get on the phone and wait. Sometimes I have been able to cancel and rebook online. I didn't get the same cabin, but I got one in the same class and similar location. If you're going to do this, I suggest looking to see if you can find another cabin that you'd be comfortable with. You're probably not going to be able to double dip. If you get the promotion with the better price, you're NOT going to keep the other promotion's OBC.

The people that I've met and interacted with on my Celebrity cruises haven't been snobbish at all, IMHO. And the people on the Celebrity board here aren't too bad. Elsewhere I've seen some posts about those who were one-and-done on Carnival and those who say they will never sail the whale tail for whatever reason(s). I don't pay much attention to them and move on to people who have something substantial to say.

Thanks for sharing this. It's been mentioned elsewhere, but curiously not anything on this board that I can find. Here are the points that I found of most interest: LHB got permission from RCI CEO Michael Bayley for Celebrity's use of PD@CC She highlighted Coco Beach Club and the upcoming Hideaway Beach as being of most interest to X's customers She said that Celebrity plans to eventually get their own private island, but didn't disclose where or provide an ETA The plan is to NOT ever share CocoCay with one of Royal's largest ships, only with one of the smaller ones She wants to ramp up the entertainment onboard

I was on this cruise, though I didn't do the B2B. You speak the truth, but I suspect it being an 80s cruise was a smaller factor in all the Princess n00bs than Princess being new to Galveston. There are a couple of heavy metal themed charter cruises out there. They're not on Princess. But that demographic is inching closer to Princess' typical age...

This sounds like one of those "partial charters" where a group (in this case a bunch of polka lovers or their representative) controls a bunch of cabins and sometimes reserves space onboard at certain times for their group. From what I've heard, IF you're part of the group, the experience is great. But if you're not, then it's not so good. And the bigger the group, the worse it is for those who aren't in the in crowd. Good luck. P.S. The only polka music I approve of comes from this guy: I have done two of Princess' 80s themed cruises. I can confirm the above. This is different than the OP's partial charter above. The theme itself is coming from the cruise line, so it's easier to know about and easier to get away from before booking or boarding.

I found this thread and decided to follow it for several reasons: My first Princess cruise was supposed to be on the Grand along the California coast. It was scheduled to sail March 2020... then the world stood still. 😮 Maybe I'll get back on her sometime It's nice to know the Grand has a substantial fan club I'm considering a transpacific for 2024 and Princess has several options, some discussed here I've sailed on HAL once a few years ago. I don't have much to say about it. It's always good to find out what others think of them. And now back to your regularly scheduled discussion.

Yeah, what @Robb said. I haven't had a chance to play trivia on Celebrity (except once on one of their charters), mostly because I haven't seen categories that are of interest to me, but if the changes discussed in this thread are truly being implemented fleetwide, I'll shuffle it down the priority list on future cruises. On past cruises on other cruise lines, I was given real prizes for winning. The one of the bottom was in lieu of champagne:

I haven't done a blues cruise, but I've done four music charter cruises so far and have three more scheduled for next year. They were a lot of fun with oh so many good experiences, but they've all been pricey. I'm pretty sure I know what cruise you're talking about. I've done two of the charters I mentioned above with the same charter company (StarVista Live) and I'll vouch for them. They do very good work on both the front end and back end. My only advice is if you like the theme and the bands, and can handle the price, I say go for it. Here's a random picture of one of my StarVista Live cruise experiences from earlier this year:

You're right and I apologize. There are quite a few special qualities to Journeys cruises. A link that summarizes them is at https://www.carnival.com/journeys . Be sure to click on the text boxes. Secondary source: some who has done six of them and has another scheduled - the same one as @firefly333.

The link provided by @BlerkOne is the correct answer, but please allow me to state that all Carnival cruises of 10 days or longer are considered Journeys cruises. It used to be 9 days, but that went away for some reason. Also, please accept my sympathy on your fight with COVID-19. It seems you're doing better, so get well soon and I hope your future cruises go well. 🙏

Thanks, but I covered it in a thread a few days ago:

Sounds like fun. Have a great time! 😃

This is just the sort of discussion I hoped this thread would provide. Thanks for sharing. Well stated. I generally agree, though my interests are different than yours.

As I was doing some research on a random Royal Caribbean ship, I spotted this gem. I ask you to pay special attention to the last three words: I'll file this in the Learn Something New Every Day department. I must say that in my various cruises (including a couple of charters on RCCL) that I've never paid for a lecture or seen an offer for a paid lecture onboard. So I'll ask the peanut gallery - have you paid for a guest lecture on a cruise ship? Are there any reasonable circumstances in which you would pay for a lecture on a cruise ship? Details please! Thank you in advance.

Teeny tiny update... Pat Benatar tickets have all sold out, and there are just a few Styx tickets remaining. I'm still looking forward to these shows. 👍