Honolulu Blue

I'm on the road with limited tools, but I wanted to share this. The original post is on his page; you may have to scroll down to read it. TL,DR: February 17, 2024 Carnival Horizon from Miami 8 day Southern Caribbean (nice itinerary) Registration begins in August to be part of the group If you're booked on this already, congratulations. Or is it I'm sorry?

I haven't cruised Alaska, but I do have Medallion experience as I have been on Princess twice in the past 15 months. My Internet experience on both ships was pretty good, and I suspect I could have done the Zoom thing had I wanted to, but neither of those ships sailed full. Reports from here and elsewhere said that speeds and reliability went down the toilet everywhere right after I stopped sailing. YMMV. Also, speeds in Alaska have been a constant problem on all cruise lines, not just Princess. If I were you I'd think about using cell phone access while in Alaskan ports. There's a lot of unspoiled wilderness there, but there are probably several cell phone towers near the docks. The problem is you won't dock every day and you might need an international plan for Canadian ports. One last wild card is that Princess ships will eventually switch over to Starlink for their Internet. That service promises faster and more reliable access from what I've heard from ships that have it. I don't know when it will be active on your ship. I hope you get some more precise answers from others. Good luck on your cruise!

I'm on the road and The 80s Cruise released their tentative schedule. It was better than I expected. Most of the bands I'm interested in are having an interview session. This seems like fine opportunities for silly fanboy questions and autographs. We'll see. Speaking of Autograph, they're on the list of concerts I plan to attend. It's heavily weighted toward the first few days: Howard Jones, day 1 630-800, main theater Trial By Fire (heavy metal), day 2, 500-615, Star Lounge Cutting Crew, day 2, 930-1045, Studio B Morris Day and the Time, day 3, 630-800, main theater Autograph, day 4, 930-1045, Studio B Lou Gramm, day 7, 630-800, main theater

I've done some solo travel not involving cruises in various places in the world with a hotel stay. I haven't found meals to be much of a problem - the airport almost always has places to dine or things available to snack on. Often hotels will have restaurants on site or near their location. If not, the staff will give you their suggestions/recommendations/available options. Have fun with wherever your travels take you.

I'm on the fip side of this. I usually don't hurry to try to get on the ship. I have found that when I board late, there's less of a line and I can sail right through, unpack, and do the rest of the things that are necessary for me to enjoy my cruise. On disembarking... I pretty much agree with this, but I'll amplify things. I've always thought of disembarkation day on the ship as the morning after being with... someone who's not a keeper. You've had your fun, but now it's time to go. 🙂 I've felt some of this from the crew that I've interacted with on that day - they're nice and all, but they've got a lot to do, and the sooner I'm out of their way, the sooner they can get ready for their new best friend(s) for the week (or however long the cruise is).

I'd be even more shocked if she sets foot in the OVC for dinner. Solstice -> President’s Cruise: Captain’s Club | Celebrity Cruises

I'm slowly but surely checking off items on the to-do list for my upcoming trip. It starts tomorrow. I can barely believe it! Anyway, I needed a negative test and I got that done through eMed. It went as smoothly and swiftly as always. Of course I was NEGATIVE. I also printed out my boarding pass to get to Miami and did most of my packing.

This same basic question has been asked and stickied on several cruise line boards. The OP is a member of CC's staff and is legitimately gathering questions for a Q&A session that features all the CEOs of our favorite cruise lines. I remain hopeful that some of these Qs will be asked; I think they would make for interesting and informative answers. I have no public opinion on your other questions, but the remaining Ecstasy-class ships are Elation and Paradise. I'm pretty sure Mr. Weinstein would know them like his kids' birthdays.

You've gotten your answer about how Princess does things these days, but I need to note that NCL has gone back to the older way of doing muster drills fleetwide.

I just received an e-mail from the UDC. Hopefully it's the last. It's mostly filled with stuff like download the app and check in. I did all that weeks ago. Here's the juicy stuff: Tavares is another medical scratch. I'm sad to see them go; I was looking forward to seeing and hearing them live. They have been replaced with The Legenary Bluenotes. I'm sure they'll please some, but I'm passing on them. Nothing personal. Details have been released for the KC & the Sunshine Band concert in Key West. Here's a TL,DR: Shuttles start running to the amphitheater from the pier at 10:30. StarVista Live employees will help guide us. Doors open for us guests at 11:15 A local DJ is scheduled to spin the tunes at 12:20 The concert starts at 1 Shuttles start returning to the pier at 2:30 Amphitheater is about a mile away from where we dock and we're welcome to get there by other means Bags are limited and will be searched No professional cameras or lenses allowed No re-entry allowed One sealed bottle of water or a refillable bottle is allowed Seating is available for guests on the lawn (with beach mats provided onboard) or in the seats

I found the cruise on the Summit before the Rock & Romance sailing - a 5-day on March 9. It goes to Nassau (where, believe it or not, I have not been) and Cozumel. I'd need to spend a couple of days in PC, Orlando, or Miami to connect with TEC 24, but maybe it's something I want to do. I wonder how easy it would be to attach this as a B2B. It won't be as seamless since one will be a charter and the other won't be. Oh well, something to file in the back of my mind for now.

There's more onboard security personnel and the introduction of more drug sniffing dogs in terminals, according to several reports here and elsewhere.

I'm glad you like it. I always value your opinions. Maybe I'll pull the trigger, if everything goes right. 🙂

I approve of this! Thank you for sharing!!

While I wait for TEC to release their tentative schedule (you're cutting it close guys - GRRRRR 🤬), I happened to find another item of interest. The 70s Rock and Romance cruise switched their site over to 2024 and posted the details of next year's sailing. It's on the Celebrity Summit again out of Miami. It will be March 14-21 - Thursday-Thursday sailings aren't my favorites, but whatever. The itinerary is Miami (4 PM departure) -> 2 sea days -> Aruba (8 AM - 11 PM) -> Curacao (8 AM - 3 PM) -> 2 sea days -> Miami (7 AM arrival). Not bad, but TEC 2024 has a very similar itinerary out of Port Canaveral. Do I really want to visit the same islands on cruises within a month of each other? That's definitely not my preference. And the lineup, unlike last year, is off to a very good start: Foreigner (the lesser half, without Lou Gramm) WAR Ambrosia Queen Nation (tribute) Hotel California (Eagles tribute) Creedence Revived (tribute, I assume) I'm sure they'll fill in acts as the year progresses. The single occupancy cabin looks like it would be $3624 for me - a bit more expensive than TEC, but possibly worth it. Maybe @George C and I will finally get to meet up! If TEC 24 and its acts turn out to be a bust and I cancel, this could be a decent fallback. And it's possible I could keep that one AND book this one. Who knows what could happen in this crazy world. Stay tuned.

I'd like to add another vote for Sint Maarten. The ABCs are also nice. But all the Caribbean ports have their charms. Once you've been on a few cruises in the Caribbean, you'll find your own favorites based on what you like to see and do.

What he said, except that charter cruises can add requirements above and beyond that of the cruise line. For example, one of my upcoming charters has a vaccination and a pre-cruise testing requirement. These were announced well in advance, so it's not a big deal to me. For others whom it would concern... I assume they're not coming. Congratulations on finding a cruise that meets your needs and wants! I've been on similar itineraries in the past and have one scheduled later this year. It's pretty nice. 👍

It depends on what you're looking for. If you're looking for Broadway-ish shows, the little Playlist numbers on Carnival are never going to compare favorably to what those two offer. But if you're looking for comedy... both NCL and RCCL rarely offer more than 2 comics and 2 shows per sailing. Carnival offers far more comedians, even on its shortest sailings.

Here's a thread about the best (as in cheapest) offer I've ever gotten from Carnival. It had nothing to do with the casino. TL,DR: For some reason Carnival wanted me to go on the Splendor in Alaska and were willing to give away any of a number of cruises to entice me to do so. I couldn't do it, so I let the offers expire.

It looks like Mariner OTS will be moving to Galveston starting in May '24 and continuing there through April '25. I'm not seeing any current gaps. Is ECP going to switch TEC to a Galveston departure and follow Mariner? Are they going to pick a different ship from PC? Will they go to a different port than either of these? Or - perish the thought - are they going to take a break in 2025? I'll keep an eye on this, because stuff like this is interesting to me.

Carnival does a lot of things well, IMHO. Their prices are often low, they offer lots of short cruises, they offer cruises from more ports than anyone, their crew is friendly and competent, and it's known as a place that's friendly to certain groups of people. There are plenty of n00bs I'd happily recommend Carnival to. I wouldn't recommend them to everyone. New cruisers should really do a careful look at their needs in a cruise, recognizing that everyone likes (and dislikes) different things and that needs change over time. Many of them would be well served to consult with a travel agent who can filter their needs into a (near) perfect pick.

Just a few more days to go and I'll be on my latest adventure! But first I have to survive most of this week. I had to change the timing of my flight to Miami because I couldn't get my preferred shuttle time. For a last-minute change, the 3000 miles it cost me wasn't bad. There's going to be some ugly weather in the area tomorrow and Thursday. It should calm down by Friday, so it should have a bigger effect on work than my vacation. Next on the list of things to worry about - packing and that silly COVID-19 test.

I'm sure no one from any government is subsidizing their acquisitions of Paxlovid, so they've gotta make it up somehow.

I did a 5-day on the Summit back in September '21. That one went out of Miami. The crowd was sedate as far as I could tell, but then again, we did only have 320 passengers on that sailing. I did another 5-day on the Summit last February. This one was a charter and mostly full - I estimate 80% or so. This was a WILD! cruise and I'm sure they sold a lot of drink packages, but I didn't see anyone get really out of hand. These may not be applicable to your future experience, but I wanted to share anyway. Thank you for allowing me do so. 😛

"I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my I hope that someone gets my Message in a bottle, yeah..." Mmmmmm, just like the movies (or that TV show).📺 When I saw this, I thought of keeping score in baseball terms - as in did he make it to first base, second, third, or all the way home? 😍