Joebucks

I get it. In the moment, you have no idea what is going on. That is scary. You're here to enjoy yourself, and suddenly this happens. Also, different people have different physical capabilities for such a thing. Overall, as is with typical with the internet, I believe this was overblown. There are hundreds and thousands of boats that go out each day. 99.9% of the time without incident. The amount of people absolutely losing their mind, cancelling excursions, etc. because of one incident is an overreaction. The crew got everyone life jackets, it was light out, closer to shore, they were scooped up relatively quickly. The biggest "fact" that gets lost on the woman who died, is that it had nothing to do with a drowning, as the insinuations would make you believe. It was a cardiac event. We can split hairs as to what the cause of that was.

The past few years, I just walked to whatever station and was in and out in about 10 minutes. Soooo much better.

Look at that family creating memories together, having a great time, and absolutely not bothering anyone. Have you ever seen anything so tacky?!?!

I was poking fun at the obsession with "getting everything for free" while having a ticket price double or even triple of "non-free" options.

I'm honestly still surprised you can bring cans and wine. Enjoy it while you can.

I'd bet most people's idea of a Christmas PJs are more covering than their ideas of normal breakfast wear. Good luck trying to enjoy a breakfast in a cabin as a family. I'm not sure how many presents you could be legitimately opening (and packing). Personally, I don't see the issue unless you're honestly tying up a table for an extreme amount of time. Someone could sit at their table talking for an hour, drinking bloody Mary's, and no one would bat an eye. Have some fun with opening presents for 15 minutes? NO FUN ALLOWED! I've seen plenty of people open presents in land-based restaurants, at least for birthdays. It it were me (following this tradition), I'd do the breakfast in my PJs, then play it by ear what would be a reasonable place to open the presents. Honestly, I think anywhere on the ship would be fun.

Most are permanent. MSCs is not and I'm going to guess it's because they do status matches and would have too many elite members.

Well you started one, and a conversation goes both ways. Do you literally sit in a chair for a week and stare?

The more I've traveled, the more I've realized that "AIs" are just tourist traps. People are so overly obsessed with food and drink in a "single" price that nothing else matters. Not only is the quality usually crap or sub par at best, but when you add it up (especially as a couple or whatnot), you often still overpaid. Especially in Mexico. When I go there, I want the hole in the wall taco place. Delicious and cheap. You can also walk into a pharmacy or oxxo and grab a tall beer can for about $1.

Can someone explain the correlation between a draught and limited ships?

What numbers have you looked at that make it a fact it is better to book the suite? It sounds to me like you are looking to get the equivalent of two rooms, with none of the price. You're probably better off comparing options, consider what features are important, and seeing what works best before you hear all of the opinions on everyone's favorite suite. Personally, I loathe sharing rooms with too many people. Bathrooms get tied up, snoring is unavoidable, and storage/clutter can become an issue (maybe not so much that last one in a suite). In fact, we were going to go on a land trip a few months ago, and friends once again thought this was the better method. We booked a "bigger place" and crammed a bunch of people in miserable conditions. Only to find that vastly more comfortable accommodations in multiple, smaller rooms, were also cheaper.

I'm so sad it is gone, it was an amazing burger. Although, I just get one or so in the seaday brunch and that will suffice. It was a Guy's burger with two fried eggs, hash brown, bacon, and maple bacon aioli. It was heavy, but delicious.

Honestly, it doesn't look that different from Mardi Gras and Celebration. I REALLY enjoyed my Celebration cruise in January.

Whatever sounds good at the time. I will admit though, the mushrooms and crumbled bacon are missed.

The "environmental" concerns from larger cruise ships is potential damage to reefs (which is overblown) and extra trash and consumption because of increased headcount. In theory, you might limit "local impacts" by limiting tourism. Don't kid yourself that it's "saving the climate" though. People will still fly, drive, boat, or cruise elsewhere. Ask the average person if they are "saving the environment" by traveling on a big vs small ship. Your average idiot will say the smaller ship because there is "less carbon footprint." Not only are the emissions lower per passenger on today's larger ships, but they're also using LNG which has 30% less emissions than oil. The premise would be that smaller ships are limiting travel activities. One cargo ship has more emissions than 50 million cars. It's all nonsense. Look, I won't be throwing things in the ocean or being intentionally wasteful. However, I'm not going to be part of this religion.

It means a different thing for everyone. When I went to Cancun, most people would barely let me finish my sentence before they asked if "I had an all-inclusive" because "free" food is the best food. Boy were they disappointed that I stayed at one that wasn't. There are also plenty of fancy restaurants there. For me, I was beyond satisfied at the hole in the wall taco joints. Getting 3 or so amazing tacos for about $5 blew the pants off of all of the other crap people obsess over.

This still doesn't prove much. What is $429? Out-the-door price? One person? Pre-taxes and fees? Their oldest and smallest ship? Are their excursions marked up? Are they $50 cheaper in port? It's pretty much a known fact that they raise the rates to give you "free" stuff. Might you have gotten a better deal? It's possible. However, flashy "discount and free" headlines don't prove anything. If you're going to compare, I'd rather see an actual comparison. What I will say though, is I feel the price has really contracted between the two. Carnival seems to have gotten more expensive while Norwegian got less expensive.

Very good deal? I can get Hibachi for under $42. I can get a steak hibachi for about $25 at most places by me, and I could add an app if I wanted, and still be under that. $24 Asian fare is also no bargain either. I suppose if you really want to stick to your guns, you can find a scenario where it is comparable when you figure in all of the "included" courses you may or may not buy at home. "Very good deal" is an extreme stretch. Especially when the alternative is a dinner completely free of charge. You are right about one thing. The price of eating out is getting to be ridiculous. I won't influence my decisions because "more expensive food exists."

Honestly, it really depends. These threads often turn into people projecting their personal favorites to people they don't even know. You know him best. It would be better to share his interests and then use these forums to make that connection. When I meet people who didn't like cruises, it was more often than not because they were on a small, older, ship that they found boring. Honestly, most younger people are likely going to be entertained on any relatively decent-sized ship. A lot of the luxury people didn't start that way. Their tastes changed over time.

I can tolerate a jacuzzi that is just luke warm. However, no cold pools for me. I hate it.

Personally, I find this topic to often be counter-productive to my idea of space saving. It usually involves bringing a bunch of extra organizers and whatnot in an already limited space. I absolutely hate clutter in the cabin. Since there's only 2 of us, we really don't have issues with having enough room in the supplied closets, shelves, and drawers. I like walking in the room, and it looks just like I did when I boarded the ship.

When you start comparing such vastly different things, there are more variables as you hinted at. For example, if one route has more ports, and/or ports with more expensive port fees you could see a different cost structure than one with more sea days and no port fees. Or if I wanted to visit either the Panama Canal or Cozumel, one has a vastly different cost structure than the other. Obviously, the financials matter to a lot of people. However, I wouldn't confuse the different price points of different products with "getting a deal."

I loathe the lowest floors. I try to use the stairs as much as I can because I hate waiting in the lines and it's good exercise. So if I can be within 2-3 floors of the places I spend most of my time, that works just fine.

Just go to Google Flights and compare options

Never say never. Just don't expect it anytime soon.