Andersoncd

Do Alaska cruises from Seattle require pre-testing after Sept 3, because they stop in Canada on Day 6? If yes, then that seems silly. Most people test 2 days prior to embarkation. That means you would be in Canada 8 days AFTER testing. And most passengers don't even leave the ship in Victoria due to the very short stop.

Curious to know if anyone else has been told this by their Dr ...... I went to see my Dr a few weeks ago and inquired about getting a second booster shot. She told me to wait until this Fall when a new formulation of vaccine comes out.  Told me the vaccine given today is still the same one as two years ago, and that another booster would provide little or no protection against the new strains of Covid circulating today. Anyone else heard this?

If you test positive for covid 11 days before cruise, but then negative within the 2 days prior, are you OK to cruise? Do they ask you if you ever had covid before, or check the cdc database?

Thanks for the pics! We will be on the Sunshine next month and are wondering what kind of live shows, and bands does the ship have now? Do they still perform Epic Rock and is it on the last night of the cruise?

Thanks. I too plan on taking my receipts.

Booked an upcoming cruise many months ago. Back in July, I was able to make my reservations for specialty dining (Carnival requires payment at time of making reservations online). The reservations appeared in my planner. Yesterday I checked my planner again and the reservations are all gone. Tried calling Carnival, but no answer. I have the credit card receipts from my payments to prove I paid for them. Has this happened to anyone else? How did you get it resolved, or were the reservations still in effect when you boarded? 

Really wish they would decide on Alaska out of Seattle in August. I have plane tickets that I'm not too sure how much longer the airlines will allow full refunds. If Princess knows they need to cancel all of Alaska this year, they need to make the announcement.

I too was not very thrilled with the Epic when we sailed her a couple of years ago. However, the itinerary is also what swayed us. Will be on her in a few weeks. It's disappointing that none of the main shows/attractions on board the ship have changed. I'm sure some of the entertainers will be different, but we aren't ones to go out of our way to watch the main production shows over again. Guess we will find other things to do.

With the Epic, you live and learn. We always book a midship cabin so that we can get just about anywhere most efficiently. However, the Epic has no midship elevators. We found that we always had to walk down the long corridors each and every time to our room. For our upcoming cruise on the Epic, we changed the location of our room to avoid that. The other issue we learned from was just how small the venue is that the Beatles band played in. We literally had to arrive almost 90 minutes early just to get a seat for their 40 minute performance. When we finally did get a seat, it was funny to watch the crowds come in 15 minutes before showtime, and then walk back out because there was no room left. These aren't huge issues, but just things we learned the first time we were on her. 

It may be possible that anyone who requested a boarding time prior to 1:00 is getting the letter. That's my case anyway.

My understanding is that you only get the credit if you call the number to make your reservations, or if you book on board the ship. You do not get the credit if you book online.

I will be receiving a 4-night specialty dining package as part of the free at sea promotion. Is it possible to upgrade to a 7-night? We are on a 10 night cruise and I really don't want to have to purchase a stand-alone 3-night package to go with the existing 4-night, because the price for just a 3-night package as an add-on is pretty steep. Does anyone know if you can upgrade for more nights at a more modest price?

I have sailed the Sunshine twice in the past 3 years. The smoke smell around the casino starts out weak in the AM, but grows quite strong by early evening. However, did not notice the smell anywhere else. As for the Limelight lounge, we experienced the over-crowding on the first cruise, but adjusted for it the second time. Just show up about 20-30 minutes early. They don't open the lounge until 20 minutes before showtime (maybe it was 30?). Anyway, go straight in a claim your seats. They are serving drinks before the show. As far as the main theater, you may also want to show up at least 15 minutes early. There are some obstructed view seats that will be the only ones available if you wait until showtime to get there. 

Don't know if it suits you, but the second time on the Sunshine, we switched to the late seating dinner. We found that the dining room and the theaters were all less crowded at the later shows than the earlier ones. Seems like 65%-75% of folks all opt for the early seating option at dinner, and the early shows. If you don't have a problem staying up a little later, you may want to try this.

If you have experienced France and the way the French design things, then you have an idea of how the Epic has very small staterooms and public spaces. We too found the EPIC to be below average when compared to other ships. I have never walked so much in my life on vacation as I did on this ship. Having no midship elevators is a big drawback.

1. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to stand in the middle of a crowded hallway while everyone tries to squeeze around you, you are in luck. You will experience this multiple times. Heck, you may even be lucky enough to have someone come to a complete stop right in front of you for no apparent reason at all.

2. Disregard the lines at the buffet. It is perfectly fine to just butt right in and grab what you want.

3. Go ahead and grab any lounge chair by the pool. In fact, the staff frequently places towels on the loungers so you don't have to be bothered with bringing your own. Heck, they sometimes will even leave you a book to read too.

4. Feel free to arrive at the show five or ten minutes late. No one will mind you walking up and down the aisles looking for a seat close to the stage. Or you could arrive 30 minutes early and save a bunch of seats for your friends. That's OK too.

5. And speaking of the show theater, be sure to sit in the middle and wait until the theater is full to order your drinks. No one minds handing them to you in the dark when the show has started.

6. At your first port of call, go ahead and buy a few bottles of cheap liquor for your room when you get back on board.

There's plenty more you have to look forward to. Bon Voyage!

My decision on taking the UBP as my perk rests on the fact that is by far the most cost effective ... IF you are a drinker. A couple can easily run up a bar tab of several hundred dollars or more on a week long cruise, if they are drinkers. We also like the specialty restaurants and excursions, but find that the money we save from the UBP is far more than the other perks.

As to service, you would be amazed at what a few dollars in cash will do for you. It doesn't work with all bartenders, but if you stand at the bar and show a dollar bill in your hand, you usually go to the front of the line pretty quick.

Thanks for your review. We will be on her in 5 weeks. I'm curious about the entertainment. Did you go to any of the production shows? And was there much live entertainment on board, especially in the evening?

Might just be my imagination, but it sure seems like cruise ship casinos have more slot winners early in the cruise versus late. Anybody else notice the same thing?

If your bid is accepted weeks or months out, you most likely overbid. They quickly accept the bids that are very generous to NCL.

I don't disagree with this statement, but my bid to go from Inside to Balcony still represented a substantial savings from just booking the balcony cabin from the get-go. In this case, it works out for me and NCL I guess. Happy cruising!

The official guidelines state the upgrade yes/no answer will come no later than 2 days prior to departure, but you will definitely be notified one way or the other. No limit on how early it will come. I got a positive upgrade notification on my bid yesterday, and I'm 41 days away from the cruise.

Got lucky on my bid for a cruise on the Jade in 40 more days. Heard yesterday my bid to jump from inside to balcony was accepted. One issue you have is that you are bidding on OV to balcony (1 step up). You not only have to compete with other OV category bidders, but also the inside folks as well. In some cases, inside folks will outbid those in OV and jump in line ahead of them, because the slider for them is set a little higher for balcony. My strategy was to only bid for the balcony, and not for OV. Had I also bid for OV, they may have passed me over figuring they could upgrade an OV to balcony PLUS upgrade me from inside to OV. It's all about $$$ to the cruiseline. Good luck.

We have friends that will be dropping us off. Should we tell them to be prepared for long waits too? Anybody have experience with drop-off in Charleston?

We will also be on this cruise, and we have sailed the Sunshine before. They have a band that plays every night in the Ocean Plaza around 9:00 til 10:30 that plays 80's music. In fact, the guitarist is the same one that performs the "pre show" music for Epic Rock. If you go see Epic Rock, get there 30 minutes early to hear him play solo for a good 20 minutes before the show starts. I believe they also do an 80's them sing-a-long in the atrium one night during the cruise. Try to get there early, as it gets real crowded. Everyone is singing and dancing. Lots of fun.

My wife and I love this ship. However, our situation is a little different than some .... We have no kids, we don't eat dinner in the Lido, we always prefer late seating in the MDR or go to a specialty restaurant, and for the most part we avoid the crowded areas during the day. We go to the late shows, and take advantage of the Havana bar area for breakfast. For those reasons, the Sunshine is a great choice for us. I will agree that if you eat at the Lido, have early seating for dinner, and try to go to the early shows ... you will be upset at the crowds most of the time.

Was recently on two other cruiselines (Celebrity and NCL). Both of those lines basically allow all beverages in their programs (water, coffees, etc...) The kicker is that their non-program prices for drinks has gone sky high. A basic cocktail is now $11.95. Apparently they are moving in this direction to try and get everyone on the drink programs, ie.... if you have 4 drinks a day, then you save money by being on the program. The cruiselines are making a fortune on alcohol, so it is a big winner for them. If anyone of us drinks 15 drinks per day, Carnival probably has only about $10 to $15 of cost in total, but charges us $50. It seems like a great deal to us who drink a lot, but in reality Carnival is making a load of money. Expect the non-package drink prices on Carnival to go up soon, which will entice more people to buy Cheers.