nc762shooter

Now who wants to bet on the likelihood of a thread where someone complains about the bacon shortage onboard? 🤣

It does, the main difference being what is charged to your account doesn't need to be instantly updated on board the ship like your drink count on Cheers. Purchases are just added to your bill which you aren't having to actually pay for until the end of the cruise so a slight delay is irrelevant. Whereas a delay in updating your Cheers drink count could potentially allow some enterprising souls to snag more than 15 drinks that day. 😁

I wasn't aware that was an option, sounds like a good way to streamline getting drinks on the island. I also assume this would still not be covered by Cheers same as a bucket of beer which is fine. I also would think the announcement about no beverages leaving the ship would be referring to people literally carrying a glass in hand which I can understand them not wanting to happen be it potentially dealing with broken glass or just from being unlikely any of those glasses would make it back onboard.

I've had success booking the outside😁... although I suppose the inside could work if you don't mind using the tv to watch for them on the bridge cam😆

I'm sure they've also looked at the numbers regarding how many people with Cheers still buy drinks when on the island. Also how many people decide not to purchase Cheers simply because you can't use it on HMC? Probably not very many since it doesn't work in regular ports either.

I am curious if the soot and vibrations are better or worse depending on ship class, I can't speak to soot but I know the few aft cabins I've cruised in on Fantasy-class ships vibration wasn't an issue.

Not exactly... I've had servers on Lido who let me order 1 beer that counted towards my 15 and purchase 3 additional at the same time (like you are ordering a round of drinks for you and some friends) and bring them in an ice bucket. As far as them being opened or not I don't really recall, at the time what I had ordered came in the aluminum pint bottles with screw top caps and I'm pretty sure they all still had the caps, maybe just all with the seal broken. Not sure how "legal" that was or not or if I'm just imagining them having the caps from 7-8 years ago 😂. Short answer, no you can't use Cheers to outright get a bucket of beer. However, you may be able to still have an ice bucket with a few beers in it if you order them as a round and pay for them, but I would be prepared for all of them to come opened and it could very well be at the discretion of the individual server/bartender letting you do it if it not obviously for you and friends.

That's a little disappointing to hear, however we still may give it a shot for a special occasion. If you've tasted beets, you've tasted dirt. 😂 However, I guess I'm strange and enjoy the taste of dirt, but I will definitely agree they taste like dirt even though I don't mind eating them LOL.

The big difference between port days and sea days for the wife and I is port days we don't need to purchase a bucket of beer or a bottle of wine at dinner to keep our 15 from running out too early LOL. In fact one cruise we were debating on getting Cheers in case my wife was pregnant by the time we sailed, crunching the numbers we could have fairly easily broken even if not still coming out ahead even if she hadn't been able to order alcoholic drinks.

Another thing to be aware of is that you will be charged tax on whatever Cheers drinks you order the first day until you reach international waters.

The long walk offsets the calories from that extra dessert, it's a plus in my book!

Aft view will let you see sights to both sides of the ship as opposed to being limited to whatever happens to be on the side you chose. If cost were no factor and I was planning to spend a lot of time on my balcony that's what I would go with. Depending on what time of year you are going I've also seen people mention that it could be quite chilly on the balconies and they ended up not using them as much as they thought they would so that's something else to keep in mind. Now in fairness I haven't done an Alaskan cruise yet so my advice may be worth what you paid for it.🤣

If they have changed it to include actual wine pairings with higher end wines for each course then I could 100% see it being a fair price at $150. Whether an individual finds that worth it or not is another story but I will reserve judgement until I have more information. Wife and I thoroughly enjoyed Chef's Table the only time we did it in the past, it was a splurge for a special occasion back then but we felt we got our money's worth. I always viewed Chef's Table more along the lines of an excursion instead of just a meal which in my opinion puts a different perspective on the cost.

In fact if you want to play it safe just put in what you think you might drink on a port day and see where that puts you. Port days you can always grab a fancy coffee or juice or soda in the morning and some bottled water to take off the ship. Then even if you're off the ship almost the full time in port I imagine most would still grab a drink once back on board, then at least 3 or 4 more throughout dinner and the evening. If anyone thinks a few drinks between 5 pm and turning in for the evening is way too many then Cheers is probably not worth it for them 😁😁😁

This calculator is very helpful: Cruise Drink Package Calculator - Cruise Spotlight Don't forget about bottled water, fancy coffee, milkshakes, soda and all the other non-alcoholic drinks Cheers lets you get as well, pretty easy to break even without feeling like you need to down a bunch of cocktails every day.

Same here, not to mention my coffee from earlier may or may not have been fortified with a shot of whiskey or rum! 😂🤣😁

This was one of my thoughts the other day, plenty of other countries (friendly and not so much) will all be watching closely and evaluating the actions and timeline of the response. It sucks but the reality of it is politics and national security will very much be a factor in whatever plan and decisions are made.

I can only really compare Miami, Charleston, and Jacksonville, but Miami cruises definitely have a more diverse crowd, many people flying/driving in from all over. Definitely more Latino cruisers and they kept the nightclub hopping almost every night until close, we saw numerous Quinceanera's onboard as well. You had all levels of people dressing up (or not) every night. Everyone seemed friendly and happy to be on vacation and wanting to party. Charleston and Jacksonville almost everyone is driving in. I'm sure there were some who flew, but I don't think I ever met a single person who flew to either of those ports, which makes sense because if you're going to fly, you might as well embark somewhere with lower fares or a more interesting itinerary since the cruises from both of those are predominantly some variation of Nassau/Freeport/Half Moon Cay/Grand Turk. Charleston cruises were probably 80-90% full of NC and SC residents each time with most driving in the morning of departure. Everyone always very friendly and polite, easy to strike up conversations, etc. The overall vibe of the cruise really depended on if it was over a holiday/spring break or not, length didn't seem to affect it much. Granted 5 vs 7 days isn't much of a difference. A couple New Year's cruises definitely had more people onboard interested in staying up late and having a good time the whole cruise. Spring break more families with kids, everything quieted down by midnight except for the casino. In general, everyone was super laid back, people tended to dress up nice on formal nights but pretty casual the rest of the time. Jacksonville cruise was similar to Charleston in that it seemed the vast majority drove in from the Carolinas, Georgia, or nearby in Florida. Over spring break so a lot of families with kids, everything pretty quiet by midnight or so every night. I did witness more people with attitudes/being rude but apparently that cruise was almost a type of "training cruise" according to a crew member so there were a lot of new employees who were still learning, unsurprisingly this resulted in more hiccups and less stellar service overall than we've had in the past. Didn't really bother us, everyone has to learn and start somewhere... but it did seem others were less than enthused by this, although I suspect that would be the same regardless of port.

At least it's a Sunday so hopefully that should mean lighter traffic.

I would imagine the initial focus will be clearing the debris from that 1200' span or another section if it has sufficient depth. They don't need to clear everything in order to resume maritime and shipping traffic. A single clear channel and shipping can resume, likely at a slower rate, but better than nothing. Sadly by now any rescue efforts are going to be recovery efforts due to water temperature, which will shift the main focus to reopening the harbor.

Unless I'm mistaken, I thought handicapped guests were eligible for priority boarding without needing to purchase FTTF? You may want to call contact the Special Needs Department ahead of time, they will arrange staff to assist through embarkation.