Honolulu Blue

I don't think any cruise line has limited passenger count since April.

Thanks for the update. I'm sorry you had to cancel your vacation, and I'm sorry the unwinding is getting messy. Best of luck to you.

TEC 23 sent us an update by e-mail yesterday. They've changed the itinerary by switching the ports and sea days around. Now it's two sea days to Puerto Vallarta, followed by Cabo, then another sea day, then Ensenada, before returning to LA. The scheduled calls are a little longer (except for Ensenada, which got a few hours cut) and mostly later in the day. All our port departures will be at night, which could be interesting.

As others have said, it depends on many factors. Here are a few generalities, worth about what you paid for them: For SOME cruises on SOME lines, the only way you'll get any cabin is to buy when it's first available. They can sell out, and if they don't, the available cabins will have spiked in price. Examples include world cruises and grand voyages. For some categories of cabins on some cruise lines, a similar thing applies - they can sell out fast, and if there are any remaining, their price will go way up. Examples include suites and solo cabins. Generally, when there isn't a pandemic going on to gum things up, the price when cabins are first released is the price it will stay at for a while. There will be some wobbles due to sales and such. Speaking of sales, sometimes cruise lines offer better prices than others. There's no telling when they will be. Cruise prices usually drop immediately after final payment is due - roughly 60 to 90 days before cruising You can get a great deal a few days before a cruise if you're flexible. But these days, if you want that kind of deal, you really have to be prepared to sail anywhere, in any cabin, and possibly have to travel a long way to get to the embarkation port.

Breaking news from Michigan. (insert ticker noises here) Remember those two... people that were accused of plotting to kidnap and kill our Governor, went to trial, and the jury didn't reach a verdict? They were given their retrial, and a different jury of their peers found them guilty. I know at least one person is going to be breathing a lot easier today and possibly doing a little private celebration which may or may not involve adult beverages. 🤪

FYI - my full transit was on the Carnival Splendor in January 2018. It went to Cartagena the day before our transit. We didn't stop in Colon.

I don't have anything to add for the OP, but I wanted to highlight these two posts. What I had heard about NCL in the past is that their food is so-so at best in the free outlets, but much better in the surcharge venues. I wonder if something has changed on NCL, or if it's always been like this and it's been misreported by others. Food for thought. Sorry for the interruption. I'll see myself out.

Random thoughts on comparing the two: As mentioned, the Pride goes through the (old) locks into the lake, while the Conquest docks in Colon - just outside the Canal and you'd have to take an excursion into the Canal if you want to see it I've been to Cartagena twice. It's... interesting, let's just say that. I've been on both the Pride and the Conquest, though not in the last five years. The Conquest is considerably larger, but both have the basics. Both were in decent shape when I sailed on them. Yes, hurricanes are possible in November, though they're very unlikely to be a factor south of Limon The weather in January should be ideal, though rain can happen any time - especially near the Canal I've done two partial transits and a full transit (east to west, new locks). I thought each experience was nice. I'd like to sail from west to east sometime, preferably through the old locks, though that doesn't look like it's going to happen any time soon. Too many other things I want to do take priority. Whatever you decide, have a good time!

It's been discussed in another thread:

Essentially. Another cruise line makes you pinky swear and check off a box that says you've taken a test and it was negative. I assume Celebrity will require less of a show.

Thanks for sharing. So, it looks like that for my cruise in November on the Millennium, I won't have to test. At all. I guess I approve of this message, though I'm almost certain to test just before boarding anyway (I have several gummint tests to get through).

I continue to scan my offers to see if there was something so insane I had to take it. Nothing quite as insane as the offer I led off this thread with, but this one is pretty close. If I left home RIGHT NOW, I could probably get to Dover by the time the ship embarks. Whaddaya think? 😛

I'm sorry you had to catch the virus so close to your cruise. I hope you get well soon. As for whether to start the cancellation process, consider how important this cruise is to you. If this is a BUCKET LIST item that would cause you considerable emotional heartbreak to have to cancel, then wait as long as you can before doing that. My general advice is to start the unwinding process now. You don't know if you're going to be symptomatic or infectious or can test negative in 9 days. Maybe, maybe not. I think it's a bad risk. Paxlovid might make things worse. If you take it, you might recover in 5 days... only to have a rebound on day 10. By then you'll be on the ship and be at the mercy of their medical team. They may or may not be able to give you a second course. I wouldn't bet on it. Good luck with whatever choice you make.

I finally picked my 80s cruising adventure from Princess - alas, due to life constraints, I could only choose one. I chose... the April 9, 2023 sailing round trip from Galveston to Cozumel and Progreso. Progreso is a new port for me; perhaps I'll find something interesting there. The tribute bands featured will be Wanted (Bon Jovi), DSB (Journey), and Red Corvette (Prince). I'm really high on the latter, though I'll probably attend all three shows. With all the 80s stuff that I expect (hope) Princess to provide on this cruise, it should be an excellent time at a decent price.

I don't know how to answer this question on your behalf, because EVERYTHING depends on the exact countries you're going to and how widely accepted alternate currencies and debit/credit cards are. My fellow posters have done as well as possible, IMHO. My currency situation on my cruises so far has been relatively simple. I'm from the US. I've mostly sailed the Caribbean. Most of those countries/territories have their own currencies. I don't care. Most places where I'm likely to spend money take US$. A good variety of places take credit cards. So, I load up on cash and take a card or two, and that's it. Your situation sounds like it's a little more complicated. I'm sorry. You'll get through it.

Not anymore. These days you just need an eMed account.

I keep mine with the cards from the other cruises I've been on.

I think the number might surprise us all, if we could figure it out somehow. But the breakeven is not that high. Let's say the sponsorship costs $2 million and the average booking on Princess is for $2000. That would set the breakeven at 1000 passengers (actually a bit more than that, because each passenger would add some variable costs, but not too much). Combined with some in-show advertising, I can see scenarios where the ROI is positive.

Random, mostly related comments: Carnival started sailing first, so it's entirely likely that some staff that were a-hoping and a-waiting for their Princess to come through went for the whale tail and were retained by them Carnival's ships have more passengers per crew member than Princess (I think; I'm open to correction on this) Carnival has already mentioned crew shortages due to slow US visa processing; they've also mentioned that this factor has been abating in the past few weeks Carnival has had some venues close and operating hours shortened - some temporary, some permanent

Not all ships have dedicated USB outlets. Some ships have only one usable AC outlet. I understand the need for many, if not most, to try to expand the number of outlets that are usable for them.

Most, if not all, of the proctors I've had had noticeable accents and English as their second language. I got through the tests smoothly because there was no need for them to go off script with me. I don't know of a way to ensure a U.S. based proctor, so for you that might be reason enough to consider other testing options.

I'll add my experience. In December, the shows in Regal's main theater weren't close to being full - and there was only one show per performer per evening. Of course, there were fewer than 1000 passengers on that cruise, so that explains a lot. I was on the Majestic in April and didn't attend any of the shows in their main theater. None of them interested me enough to want to attend. They were back to two shows a day for those who attended. I never heard about how well attended any of the shows were.

I was tipped off to a very interesting concert that's scheduled for next month near Chicago - not too far from my house. It features Stephen Pearcy (lead singer for RATT, one of my favorite groups), Quiet Riot, and Autograph. Autograph will be on The 80s Cruise next year, so I guess this will be a preview. QR lost its lead singer a while back, but I'm sure what's left will be good enough for me. Anyway, I decided to pull the trigger and buy a ticket. It should be a good time. 👍

@whogo: Thank you for the list. Please allow me to comment further on a few of your items: Yes, we were all younger in the 90s. Some of us, it could be argued, were too young to appreciate cruises back then. And some of us here were born in the 90s or even later. I think the ability to purchase extra cost items is an advantage. Options are a good thing, IMHO. Ditto the availability of specialty restaurants (extra cost or not) on the vast majority of cruise ships these days. Some people like big ships for varied reasons - one of them is that they have more things to do that require minimal or no staff I hadn't thought about entertainment back then. Was there really more CD staff? Were there really more crew-hosted activities? Color me skeptical. I did a couple of theme cruises earlier this year that had some big names - especially back in the 90s or earlier. Modesty forces me not to name them. 😁 P.S. @bonsai3s: Also thank you for your list. I didn't have anything to react to here, but your perspective is certainly appreciated.

Allow me to quickly explain myself, then get out of here. I'm a latecomer to Princess, having only taken my first cruise with them in December. I didn't know they never served a subset of soft drinks out of those dispensers. The Regal and Majestic, they could have been designed to hide them in crew only areas, yet they did not. And I had always considered juices soft drinks. A scan of the Internet shows that there are different opinions on the matter.