Honolulu Blue

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? 😍

Most memorable Princess cruise (of the two I've taken): The 80s themed cruise on the Regal back in December 2021: Most memorable cruise overall - it's impossible for me to choose between two music themed charters (neither of which were on Princess, of course). That story is covered in this series of posts:

1. Thanks for sharing your friend's story. 2. In addition to reminding me of grade school (where I may or may not have done something similar... I can't remember 🙄), it also reminds me of The Simpsons where Bart would write messages on the chalkboard as punishment. 3. Is this the future of punishment on Carnival? $500 would buy a lot of paper, pens/pencils, and chalk. 😆

Noted, thank you. I would just note that I have been surprised as how far the legalization movement has come in the past decade. I'll be less surprised if it moves further still in the years and decades to come.

In the video, Ms. Duffy didn't hide behind flag state, she hid behind U.S. federal law. Part of the reason why these ships are flagged in foreign countries is that they don't have a lot of rules. If a cruise line really wanted to legalize or decriminalize weed on board, I don't see too many stopping them.

First of all, @JamieBeth, welcome to Cruise Critic! I hope you enjoy your stay here. Second, Carnival has its recommendations for luggage at https://www.carnival.com/help?topicid=1373 . It's not bad as Web sites go, and these recommendations have been consistent over the past decade. Third, since they're only recommendations (except for the size rule), there's nothing for Carnival to enforce. And the enforcers at Carnival are a little busy with other things these days.

If this were to show up on a cruise ship today, I don't know if people would think it was 20 years ahead of its time - or 100 years behind the times.

I wouldn't be surprised. Bringing it back to the topic at hand, I wonder what Carnival's reaction would be if Congress decided to make MJ legal. Would they go, "Woo hoo!" Would they breathe a sigh of relief? Would they keep the same old rules? Or would they clear some shelves and stock the newly legal merchandise in the gift shops?

First of all, @AbbyCruiser45, thank you for spreading the good news! I hope this spreads fleetwide, but we'll have to see. Second, part of the reason the OVC was cut back - according to conversations by others with certain executive-types - is because they WANTED TO DRIVE PEOPLE TO THE MDR! 🤣 Perhaps TPTB learned a lesson in being careful what they wish for? One can only hope. 🙏

They did announce here that there would be extra security personnel onboard and drug-sniffing dogs in the terminals. That was new to me, though it wouldn't surprise me if they had taken these measures earlier. Anyway, Ms. Duffy reminded me of a substitute teacher facing a class that's bound and determined to defy her. I don't envy her, and I also don't see this video (other than the countermeasures explained within the video) doing a whole lot to help. If things don't improve by the end of spring, then what? I'm not sure that I want to find out.

This made me think about how much I've paid/will pay for the 27 cruises I've had or will have in my lifetime of cruising. It's around 200 days at sea, roughly 140 of them on Carnival. But the answer is I'm sure I haven't paid $50k for all my experiences combined.

I can't remember if I mentioned it here, but one of my cruises on the Summit last February was also a charter. Was it the same one? Probably not. I thought the service was great and the food was very good (despite mostly hanging out at the trough). We were a little under capacity. It just goes to show that the last line of your post is crucial - everyone's mileage does vary, based on many different things. 🙂

Here's another article with a few more background details: Princess Cruises will stop in Yorktown beginning in 2024; State lawmakers propose $7.5M for pier | WAVY.com . TL,DR: It's a personal project for Mr. Padgett - he grew up nearby, ships will likely come from Boston or New York

Mr. Weinstein: When will the next group of 80s themed cruises be announced for Princess? Has there been any thought to expanding this theme to any other Carnival Corp. cruise lines?