F3rpect

You don't need points to purchase AARP gift cards, just a membership. The cost of membership pays for itself many times over the first time you buy discounted gift cards.

Carnival emails you an eGift card with the balance immediately after the cruise. It's not a physical card, just a long string of numbers and a PIN that you can use online or onboard for your next cruise.

You can enter gift cards into your account at the payment kiosks onboard. 24/7. Any remaining balance over $10 gets refunded to you automatically as a gift card after the cruise. Remaining balances under $10 get donated to St. Jude.

Which musical groups are onboard presently?

I can't find any itineraries for the Carnival Luminosa from October 16 to November 7, 2024. It was dry-docked in Sept-Oct 2022, and I don't see it on the dry dock schedule. Does anyone know what it's doing for those three weeks?

We took the bus to both sites last year. It was very easy. We went to Saxman on one cruise and Totem Bight on a separate cruise. One of our fellow passengers visited both sites on the same day and wrote about it here on Cruise Critic: Or look for this CruiseCritic topic: 2855743-royal-princess-may-28-2022-alaska-northbound-live-report He covers Saxman well, with photos and all in post #87 and Totem Bight in #88. He was on the bus to Saxman with us, but caught the very next bus to Totem Bight. We stayed in Saxman for the tribal dance and the narrated tour. After we were done in Saxman, we caught the bus back to downtown and spent the remainder of the day there on Creek Street and in the downtown area. I'm sure you've googled the bus schedule and fare. The bus runs every hour and costs $2 each way. It picks up and drops off near the Visitors Bureau on Front Street. There was plenty of room on the bus and the schedule is posted at Saxman and Totem Bight as well. If you tell the bus driver where you want to go, they'll help you get to the right stop.

According to the Status Match Table on CruiseGear, RCL Platinum matches to MSC Silver.

Saxman has a tribal dance element and pole carving demonstration that we didn't see at Totem Bight. The dance was included in the $5(?) Saxman admission fee and the pole carving was part of a separate paid tour. Other than that, the two parks are very similar and I recommend touring both. You can visit both parks on the same day, but we split them across separate visits. There's also the Ketchikan Totem Heritage Center a little bit behind downtown, in easy walking distance from the ship.

We booked today and I'm pleased to see that there's already a roll-call for this cruise! After seeing this cruise being available, we spent the last couple of days watching videos of ship tours and previous or current transpacific crossings on the Luminosa. This will be a different Carnival ship with no Guy's Burgers, no Blue Iguana, no water slides... Looking forward to a great Serenity deck and hopefully some fantastic entertainment. This should be about the most enjoyable way to get to Australia!

We sailed on the Radiance of the Seas out of Seward last August. We drove. Our assigned check in time was 1pm. We arrived very early and dropped off our checked luggage around 10:30am at a well labeled conex outside the terminal building, then parked our car away from the port and got a ride back around 11:45am. The cruise terminal employees waved us inside the building. It was EMPTY. They didn't care that our appointment was at 1pm. We checked in and were on the ship by noon. For a few short hours, we had a 90,000 ton, fully staffed private yacht. Lunch was ready and very relaxing without a crowd. Practically every seat in every lounge and bar on the ship was available. We got some photos on deck and the interior spaces, checked into our stateroom and tried the solarium pool and hot tub. If you enjoy having the ship to yourself, show up as early as Royal will let you. Maybe 11am.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I sailed on the Divina in January / February and my cabin bathroom was stocked with two washcloths that got replaced daily when I used them.

The ferry frrom Pier 11 / Wall Street goes straight to the Red Hook cruise terminal. $2.75. Catch the subway to southern Manhattan (2 or 3 train to Wall St) for another $2.75. It's a quarter of a mile from subway to ferry.

My experience differs slightly. I got TWO lobster tails on each formal night on the Celebrity Constellation in December (2022) with no upcharge and friendly service. Overall food was excellent. On the Divina in January / February (2023), we also got lobster and if I recall correctly, I got a small steak with it for surf and turf. Food in the MDR on the Divina was also excellent. The MDR dining experience and food on those two ships was very similar.

That is simply not true. That is misinformation. You typed that into a computer attached to the internet and could have just as easily looked up the truth instead of repeating a falsehood. From the CDC: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nvss/covid-19.htm#understanding-the-numbers When COVID-19 is reported as a cause of death on the death certificate, it is coded and counted as a death due to COVID-19. COVID-19 should not be reported on the death certificate if it did not cause or contribute to the death. Facts matter. Here's a more detailed explanation from early last year if you're curious: https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/how-are-covid-19-deaths-counted-it-s-complicated

No. Covid is still killing many more Americans than the Flu. The CDC says we're averaging 356 American Covid deaths per day right now. https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#datatracker-home That's about 130,000 per year. Flu ranges from 12,000 to 52,000 American deaths per year. https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/index.html So Covid is still causing 2.5x to 11x as many deaths as the Flu. Things are better than they were last year, but we are not back to "normal" yet. I hope the links work, otherwise you can google the data. I've been enjoying cruising this year, but with precautions.