Heidi13

Affirmative, fraternising with a pax today is one of the few things that will have you down the gangway at the next port, with bags following behind. When we sailed with our son, who was a Deck Officer, he could join us in the lounges, but could not enter the dance floor with his mum. How times have changed, as in my day, the dance floor was our office. Back in the 70's and 80's, many of the officers married pax, myself included. When we sailed with him, he could invite us for lunch/dinner in the Officer's Mess, provided the ship wasn't code red due to Noro, at which time the entire Bridge & Engineering watchkeepers went into lockdown. Since I knew a number of his Captains, we often had a standing invitation to the Bridge.

Sorry, can't help much with this one, as I don't know much about the Carnival fleet, or even where they homeport. Assuming it is new tonnage, as I don't recall reading of the conversion of existing ships, I would expect the system would be designed to be capable of loading the required bunkers within a normal turnaround. Since Carnival ships tend to sail shorter itineraries, they are in homeport frequently, so I would expect the cruise line has also ensured the local infrastructure is capable of supplying the required bunkers in the available time. My last ship, which was converted to LNG about 10-years ago, has not had any bunkering issues or delays.

The "Inside Passage" runs from Olympia to Skagway along the WA, BC and Alaska coastline. Most of it is sheltered waters, but a few sections are open to the Pacific: - top end of Vancouver Island, until inside at Calvert Island - Seaforth Channel, until inside at Swindle Island - Dixon Entrance, which is the Canada/US Border Unfortunately, sailing from Vancouver these days, most ships only transit Johnston Strait, which is the narrow channel between Vancouver Island and the Mainland. Once clear of Vancouver Island, they head up Hecate Strait, which is open waters. Most pax now believe Johnston Strait is the Inside Passage, as that is what the cruise lines are promoting. When I worked Alaska Cruise seasons, we sailed the entire Inside Passage from Vancouver to Skagway, which has amazing scenery. Sadly, the only way to see these waters these days is to take a BC and Alaska State Ferry. Ships based in Seattle sail West of Vancouver Island, up the Pacific Ocean, so see even less of the Inside Passage. However, northbound cruises from Vancouver, while they transit Johnston Strait, very few pax actually see the scenery, as it is dark. Even in late June, it is dark before Campbell River and not daylight until entering Queen Charlotte Sound.

This was in 2008, when we sailed Princess. We did a B2B, so this happened at the mid-point. On this ship we were sailing with our son, who was S/2/O, so were in one of the cabins set aside for shore staff. The Master initially advised us to remain in the cabin, but he was given an ultimatum by the local authorities. Either he sends us ashore, or the ship is quarantined for 2-weeks.

Based on our experience, I wouldn't agree the Chinese Govt is more politically savvy than others. China is also guilty of detaining innocent tourists, as per our experience. We docked in the TAR port, with the ship having a Noro virus outbreak. The local authorities refused to grant the ship clearance for anyone to disembark. As luggage was unloaded, the dock workers were dressed in hazmat suits, spraying each case. The propaganda ministry ensured cameras were rolling to capture the unloading. After about 8 hrs of negotiations, or rather the local authorities laying out their demands, disembarkation commenced. All pax disembarking mingled ashore in the terminal with those waiting to board. Therefore, a good probability of infection transfer to the new pax. Disembarking pax that were still in quarantine received a shock, upon entering the terminal, as they were directed to a different exit, while other family members/friends were directed with the main stream. This may be accepted by Chinese nationals, but not those of us from the Western World. A significant number of pax created a ruckus, and as they had no armed soldiers in the terminal, the local authorities had to back down, keeping family members together. Strike # 1 against the Chinese authorities. All pax in quarantine and their other family members/friends were taken to a hotel a few miles from the port. At the hotel, they attempted to again split up the groups, with pax still in quarantine being assigned to a specific floor and other family/friends to a different floor. This again didn't work and the Chinese authorities had to back down. Strike # 2 against the Chinese authorities. However, as a result of these pax wins, an armed guard (soldier) was placed at the lift on each floor used for the ship's pax. Should you be inclined to open the door and walk into the corridor, the guard immediately turned his machine gun on you, indicating to return to the room. Since I was still in quarantine, we experienced this first hand. Therefore, NO, we will never return to China.

Affirmative, it was originally the Costa Luminosa, so simply a transfer between Carnival brands. If I recall correctly, Costa had planned to enter the China market, but changed plans due to the continued COVID lockdown. Since they had spare ships, I believe as many as 3 were transferred to Carnival.

Vastly superior insurance is available from many places - any insurance broker, bank, auto club, extended health provider, etc.

Please get rid of this new format, and I thought only governments could get it this wrong!!!!!

You can have nasty weather in the Meddy at any time, but it can also be pleasant year round. I sailed in the Meddy Jan - March inclusive, 2-years in a row, and most of the time the weather was brilliant. If anything, the temperature was much better than the temps we have experienced in the summer months.

We used to have fun with those glass panels in the deck, when we had Bridge visits. We convinced them it was strong glass and you could jump on it safely. Once pax jumped on the glass, we would crush a styrofoam cup. Got some interesting reactions. Probably couldn't get away with that these days, or many of the other tales we used to tell.

Jim - How times change. I recall the days we weren't permitted to even touch the Sat Nav, which was a main-frame computer, programmed by a ticker tape and the entire thing was over 2 ft square and 7 feet high. It is actually sad that they don't learn even basic celestial navigation. Maybe they don't need to understand the maths and the the concept, but they should at least know how to use a sextant and use the Almanac and Norries Tables to get a position line. Still recall having this chat with our son 20 yrs ago, just before his 1st trip to sea. The college lecturers convinced them that they would never need a sextant, as the ship has back-ups. He knows better now from experience, which was re-inforced a couple months ago doing a delivery to BVI. Got the dreaded call in the middle of the night, Captain can you come to the Bridge. Totally dead ship, so back to basics. Mind you, the new Bridges certainly made life easier, as with multiple GPS and radar overlay on the electronic chart, I was comfortable using GPS and visual marks, so didn't see a need for position fixing. Most of the time, our GPS was accurate to a couple of feet, or less. Bet the Bridge Officers rarely do position fixing on the chart with ranges and bearings.

Since you are booking a trans-Atlantic there should not be any fines, as PVSA is not applicable. All it requires is contacting the cruise line in advance, to confirm that the shore authorities have the resources available to handle a disembarkation. However, since it requires changes to the ship's manifest, some cruise lines may charge a fee.

The TV's don't have any accessible ports to connect an external device. Regardless, Viking request that you don't stream programming, as it uses too much bandwidth. They did show some of the US type football on our World Cruise, I recall reading they had the cup semi-finals and cup final showing in the Star Theatre.

Princess does an annual WC starting in May from Sydney, Australia.

On both our World Cruises, a good percentage were repeat World Cruisers, with some being on their 9th WC. Just a caution about Easter Island, as they experience a larger proportion of cancellations due to ocean swells. We were fortunate to get ashore, but were the first Princess WC in 6-years to get ashore.

China has only recently reopened to International cruise ships, so they may be reluctant to schedule World Cruises, until getting some experience with regional cruises, especially the availability of tour infrastructure. Japan is also in the winter months and is further north than they usually want to travel, when making it around the World in 100 - 130 days. While the HAL World Cruises are longer than other mainstream lines, the smaller premium/luxury ships take even longer, often up to 6 - 9 months. Our 1st WC was on Princess, where we went right around in 104-nights. Our 2nd was with Viking, where we did 1/2 the 245-day World Cruise, taking 120-days from L/A to London. So on smaller ships you get a better port/sea day ratio and normally more hours in port. In addition to numerous overnights, you also get a number of ports with 2-overnights, which is when you really get to explore the port and surrounding area. The smaller ships also have the ability to visit smaller less popular ports, although in reviewing HAL itineraries, they do have better ports than other mainstream lines.

Clay - There are a few bars within a couple blocks of the pier. You can also enjoy a pleasant stroll around the waterfront parks, checking out the marina. We stayed onboard on our last overnight, and my previous visits were back in the 70's, so can't remember much.

Hopefully the fighting in Burma will be over, so they can stop there for the first time.

Lots of spots on both coasts and also inland. The North Coast and inland valleys are probably my favourites.

Even 20 years ago, my cost for a large purchase, would have been close to CAN $2,000, so they aren't cheap.

Totally agree. I believe the itinerary has had minimal changes since 2020. They are still selling, but well past time to make some itinerary changes.

Unfortunately, due to DW health issue, our cruising days are over. Would enjoy being on a WC with Jim & Lois, but unfortunately not anymore.

Having worked on the ships, the markup on shore-ex varied, but on average it was about 100%. Alaska was even higher, as 1 ship I was aboard, when our son was working, the shore-ex gross revenue was 500K and net was about 300K, per week. That was directly from the Shore-ex Manager.

Affirmative, they are at that price point. However, at about $800 the Nikon's are only an average binocular and I can purchase alternatives with better specifications and reasonable image quality for about $150. I wouldn't pay $800 for an average binocular, but I would pay $3K for exceptional ones that are guaranteed for life. Many years ago, I tested Swarovski for a potential fleet purchase for the Bridge of our ships, and the image quality is exceptional, as was the guarantee. Vastly superior to any of the Nikons, Bushnells, etc I also had on trial.

Being close to shore doesn't always increase the potential for smoother sailing, in fact it can make the passage more uncomfortable. Depending on the wind direction, being close to shore can reduce the fetch, which prevents the build up of waves. However, in shallower water, the waves interact with the bottom, increasing in height.