Ken the cruiser

Sometimes going through the new locks can be fun, especially if you have an aft-facing cabin and see this type of ship following in next behind you. 😁

Just heard back from our awesome TA. She wasn’t able to get the sale’s $200 OBC applied during the refare process, probably because it was for new bookings only. However, she was able to get us $550 off our original fare, which works out even better than we anticipated as the reduction also brought down the price of the insurance! 🕺💃🏻

Thanks for the heads up! We just requested that our TA refare our booking to not only take advantage of the $200 OBC but also save us $350 in fare reduction. 👍

And just for the record, the fare for a Celebrity cruise is now 20% more if you book it with a refundable deposit rather than a nonrefundable one, regardless of cabin category.

We like the Grand class ships over the other Princess ships for one reason. They have fully covered aft-facing verandas.

@Cruzingal#9 for us we've been through the Panama Canal 3 times, once on the HAL Veendam (old locks), once on the Island Princess (old locks), and most recently on the Caribbean Princes (new locks). Each time we have been in an aft-facing cabin and loved it! If your budget can afford it, there is an ideal aft-facing Premium Balcony currently available on your cruise. If you look in my below expanded signature area, you will find a Live From thread from April/May 2022 where we cruised through the Panama Canal on the Caribbean Princess from SF to Ft Lauderdale. On page 18 starting at post 440, you should get a good feel for what you'll see from an aft-facing cabin when going through the Panama Canal, to include the locks.

That's what I always thought. The same "minimum" rules apply on Princess cruises as well. But if some folks want to get dressed up on those nights, or any night for that matter, that's cool too. I'll even wear a tie sometimes. 😃

But on Gala night, is it mandatory for a gentleman to now have to wear a jacket? From past experience a button-down dress shirt (and optional tie) were the minimums required. I can't remember ever having to bring a jacket on a HAL cruise. But then again that was back between 2012-2019. Update: I just checked the HAL website and was finally able to find this, with the operative word "recommend" versus "mandatory" on Dressy Nights: Know Before You Go (hollandamerica.com)

Thanks for sharing. Have a great cruise!!

I am just curious, here is a 7-day Regent cruise in June from Vancouver to Seward where the cheapest veranda cabin is $6,699 pp or $957 pp/day, including all perks. What HAL category are you comparing it with?

Hopefully your second leg will have more informative talks, especially since it’s a TA.

As you may have noticed we had an awesome cruise, and in no way did the 100 passengers onboard impact our having a great time! Simply put our land excursions ranged from 12-14 guests, depending on how many were on our zodiac ride over along with our tour guide. As far as comparing the Flora to the Xpedition, there is no comparison and we’re definitely glad we chose the Flora. Fun fact. When we booked the Flora 2 years earlier in Dec 2021, the price was about the same when comparing the Sky suite with balcony on the Flora to the Xpedition suite on the Xpedition. Ideally, if your budget and free time can afford it, doing both the Inner and Outer Loops would definitely give you a much more complete experience, as we didn’t get to visit the Fernandina and Espanola Islands as well as some of the other landings on some of the other islands. On our inner loop itinerary, we didn’t get to see any albatross or red footed boobies and not nearly the same amount of flamingos we saw on the Xpedition’s Southern Loop itinerary we originally went on. The food was awesome at all servings and well above Celebrity standards. But that is to be expected for how much you pay for the cruise! Remember, our Sky Suite with Veranda was the cheapest cabin onboard! However, since we cruised over 10 years ago on the Xpedition, it would be unfair to compare the two. For us the bottom line is this. We had an awesome time both on the ship as well as when we were on each excursion as well as during our pre-cruise stay at the Marriott Hotel in Quito and have no regrets. But I will also say, if you can book a cabin with a balcony, book it. There are flies and other flying critters at many of the stops and leaving your Infinite Veranda window open while sitting in your cabin is not a wise thing to do at some of those stops, unless you like the little guys flying around in your cabin. Obviously, that was not an issue with our balcony cabin.

You probably already know this, but you can go to www.princess.com/excursions and find what excursions are "usually" offered on any of their itineraries.

Here's a Princess link to one, which hopefully become available to you at some point. Princess Cruises - Excursion - Debark Tour - Facets of San Francisco Bay

Done! 😊

We have been through the Panama Canal 3 times, once on the HAL Veendam, once on the Island Princess, and most recently in May 2022 on the Caribbean Princess (see Live From thread in my signature starting on page 18, post 440). For us our first question would be which ship(s) still have an aft-facing Premium Balcony cabin available. There is no better place to be, if your budget can afford it, when going through the Panama Canal or leaving a port for that matter.

I guess that pretty much explains why we currently prefer Princess over HAL. BUT we're going to give HAL a fresh look on an April 2025 22-day Eurodam cruise from Ft Lauderdale to Seattle. One thing I also have to mention is that the rumor the singers and dancers are coming back has definitely got us excited, as we do enjoy going to theater shows every evening rather than hanging out in a lounge every night listening to music.

If I might ask, was the two-week cruise one unique itinerary or was it two seven-day itineraries sold as a combined 14-day cruise along with being sold as two separate 7-day bookings? We have found in the past that makes a big difference regarding what educational/port talks might be provided.

Thanks Keith! We appreciate your insights and will definitely not mention how we are going to pay for our "a la carte" ones. 😃

Thanks for opening this thread as we were just debating our options for an upcoming 22-day cruise where we will have $250 in Shareholder OBC (SOBC). Here's our plan. We will call NCL well in advance of the cruise to make our MDR and advanced (FAS, FAS Plus and Platinum) SD reservations along with 5 additional ones associated with the 5-Dinner Special Dining Package (for $238.80) we will purchase the first day onboard to use up most of our SOBC. WHERE CAN I PURCHASE A SPECIALTY DINING PACKAGE? (According to the NCL website FAQs) Online in our "Dining" section at ncl.com/myncl or through Norwegian Reservations at 1-866-234-7350. Once onboard you may also purchase it on the first two days of your cruise by calling or visiting any Restaurant Reservations Desk. For three and four-day cruises, this package may only be purchased on the first day of your cruise. We will ask to book the "fixed cost" reservations first using the FAS and FAS Plus SD perks, with the remaining SD reservations being for the "a la carte" restaurants, where we don't have to pay until we actually dine there. This is where we plan to use our Platinum and 5-dinner Dining Package allotments to pay for them. Is this a valid plan?

It is definitely a unique and totally awesome itinerary, and if it pops up in their 2026 Alaska itineraries, we won’t have any issues booking it as soon as it becomes available. 😁

Cool! We’ll definitely keep an eye out then for any new Alaska releases during the upcoming June/July timeframe!

I was just going with it. I then fall back to my original thought of why would PCL offer it at $40 per day if Wi-Fi was $25 a day and gratuities were a minimum of $14.50, or $39.50 for both. Maybe $50 a day for non-alcoholic drinks, but not $40. But then what do I know. I’m just sitting over here in the peanut gallery. 😁

Thanks! Were actually interested in their 28-day Alaska cruise that goes to None in 2026.

OK, Wi-Fi is $12.50 per day and gratuities are a minimum of $14.50 per day, that’s a minimum of $27 per day? So you’re saying with a non-alcoholic drink package, $40 per day would work for you, if you were Platinum or above?