deelightfull

I've been on two four day cruises on the Radiance out of Los Angeles, so same size boat as the Sunshine, and similar type of cruise, locals on a weekend trip. Hubby and I don't drink, at all. I didn't think the booze cruise aspect of it was a big deal at all. I enjoyed the deck parties and the shows, but didn't feel like the drunk people around me were an issue. Once I was hanging out on deck crafting and ended up going into the buffet tables because people were so loud I couldn't hear the book in my headphones, but that was a minor inconvenience. In my sample size of two, I think the February President's Day weekend cruise was more "boozy" than this most recent Father's Day cruise. That Feb cruise had *at least* three bachelor/bachelorette parties. My theory is that school year cruises are cheaper and more accessible to (drinking) young adults. But, like I said, only two of those cruises to compare, it could have been a fluke. I did hear a few people in the elevators complaining about the wait at the bar. 🤷. I personally wouldn't worry about the booze cruise aspect.

This last cruise, for the first time in five cruises, our family of three were in interior room. I was curious about the rollaway bed, and couldn't find any pictures, so I thought I would add some. These were taken on debarkation morning as I was packing up to go home 😞. You can see the three beds together are the whole width of the cabin, with the night stands moved out of the way. The kid is 15, 5'10" and bulky. He says the mattress was at least as comfortable as his mattress at home. (Normally he sleeps on a bunk bed mattress for a loft bed.) To me the biggest problem would be that it is so low to the ground. 😆 Anyway, hope this is helpful! (I don't know if it makes much of a difference, but we were on the Radiance.)

Here's Club O2 for Friday at Sea and Sunday in Ensenada. All aboard time was 4:30. You can see it was the same.

Here's a screen shot of when Circle C club was open on our sea day and when we were in Ensenada with the Radiance on Sunday June 18. (All aboard was 4:30)

Well, it's much easier to get merino will socks that fit vs waterproof shoes, so that's a very helpful suggestion!

When it rains here, I just wear my Crocs. 🤷. I think I will roll the dice bring dry socks in my excursion backpack.

Something like 3/4 of all child kidnappings in the United States are by non-custodial parents. Carnival just wanted to keep everything above board and make sure that both parents know and are okay with the fact that the child is (temporarily) leaving the country.

I've read lots of advice recommending waterproof shoes for excursions in Alaska. Are they REALLY necessary? None of our excursions are particularly "adventurous". Sitka: the raptor center, the fort, and the fortress of the bears No tours booked in Juneau (hubby wants a picture in front of the capital) or Icy Straight Point. Ward Cove: Saxman Native Village Probably won't get off the ship in Victoria. I live in southern California, and I've got a hard to fit foot. Is it worth paying $150 for shoes I'm likely to only wear twice? Oh, and we're going at the end of July, beginning of August. Thanks!

We've done the three day Ensenada cruise on the Radiance and are doing it again this weekend. I've got a 15 year-old. I'm pretty sure the teen club is closed most of the Ensenada day, but does re-open shortly before the all aboard time. That's what I think I remember. 😆 I'll double check the guys for all the various kids clubs Sunday. (Woo woo, I'll be on a cruise this weekend 🥳)

Last summer we were on the Dawn, and our first port after embarcation was Warmunde. We were ready to go, got off the ship the first thing, took the train into Berlin with absolutely no issues. (The local strain station you can see from the dock, not a ship organized tour.) We took ourselves on a walking tour of Berlin using the free Rick Steves app. It was awesome, and exhausting. Got back to the train station with PLENTY of time. Somehow didn't understand an announcement or something and missed our train, we were at the wrong place. 🤷 It was the last train that would make it back in time. Couldn't get a taxi to take us out to Warmunde. (Shocking, right? Taxi didn't want to go 3 hours out of their way?) Eventually got an Uber to accept the ride. All was good, we were on schedule to make the port by B.O.B. Then there was a single car accident on the Autobahn. Completely differently than would happen here in California, EVERYONE pulled over, no one tried to move around the accident. 40 nail biting minutes later emergency services arrived, set up the cones and waved people around the accident. Now maps is showing us arriving like 20 minutes late for B.O.B. 😳 Thankfully, even though we were late, the gangplank was still down and we were able to get back aboard. Listening to the crew taking who checked us in, there was still one more family not yet on board. As a matter of fact, the ship didn't leave for about another hour. By the way, the Uber from the Berlin train station to the docks was about $250, if I recall correctly. Still cheaper, (and much more stressful) than the Ship's expedition.

We're in the Bliss from July 29 to August 5. We booked an interior and put in minimum bids on everyone we were eligible for (Oceanview, balcony, club balcony, spa balcony). This week the bid for balcony was accepted, $130x2. I happened to check on it the night before and saw the other bids listed as "expired" and the balcony bid was still pending. Sure enough, the next day the credit card charge went through and and balcony bid changed to accepted. We're happy to have a balcony in Alaska for only a couple hundred more.

In January of 2020 we did an awesome trip visiting Madrid and Rome. I liked our hotel fine, but I just found it on Booking.com. nothing too special. My biggest tip for Madrid is the Rick Steves walking tour. It's free off his app, download it, pop in headphones, follow directions and enjoy! If you like art museums, I'm sure you already know that the Prado is in Madrid. However, my cousin with the PhD in fine art recommended the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza across the street, and she knew what she was taking about. I liked it much better than the Prado. 🤷. While I was taking in Art Museums my hubby and son did a guided day trip out to day trip out to Roman ruins. There's also an Egyptian Temple in Madrid (and a palace of course!). It's an awesome city, have fun!

If the cruise is nearly full you may see something like this. If you see this, as I tell my kiddo, you get what you get, and you don't throw a fit. Just like airplanes, the cruise line would love to charge you more to let you pick your own room (or give you a discount to let them pick it 🤷 to-may-to, to-mah-to.) If you don't pick your room when you pay, there's not really a way to pick it afterwards.

Looking forward to your review of the hoho bus. I love the *idea* of them, but, in practice find them either VERY crowded or running very infrequently, neither of which is all that great. But maybe I've just had bad luck? Looking forward to tomorrow's pictures!

Thanks for this view of ports that I don't normally hear about. It's also interesting to hear about the ripple effects COVID is still having!

The only reason to wait (and it's not a very good one), is if you think you may up grade to a spa cabin. When we were 30 days or from our cruise on the Radiance we were offered an upgrade to a spa cabin for about the price of a single cruise long thermal pass. Both cabins were interior, but the spa cabin is closer to the spa (duh!) And includes the thermal pass for both of us. You may want to wait for that. Maybe not. If you're with 30 days, or know that you love your cabin location and aren't interested in switching anyway, book it now.

Last summer we did a Baltics cruise from Copenhagen. The amount of luggage stacked to the side and stuck in Copenhagen airport!! 😳 Lining the walls of baggage claim and up and down the hall. THOUSANDS of bags stranded in Copenhagen over last summer. We're almost always carry on only. Now, for sure we are. No way. (On the other hand, if you have good insurance for this sort of thing 🤔)

"the traditional school calendar travel periods seem to be a thing of the past more and more." Maybe it used to be more stark, but there's still a big difference. The short cruises on the Radiance are near $500 this July, and goes down to almost 1/3 of that in the middle of October. Granted (And our west coast itineraries don't really vary.) Of course if you're willing to commit, you can get a shorter cruise for NEXT summer in the $300s, but it's still double what they are this fall. The week long Panorama cruises are $800 + for this Summer, around $400 in the fall and Spring and over $600 for next summer. There's a big discount for booking far out. But there's a bigger one for going when the kids are in school. (And if you can go during the work week, you basically get 5 days for the price of four. 😝)

Nah, look how full the Radiance is for Fourth of July. They don't have many rooms left. I don't think they'll need to discount them very far to sell the rest of them. (Things are very full all throughout June and July, whole categories sold out, for example.) The Radiance cruise for Memorial Day weekend isn't even available to book. I'm guessing it's full. If you'd really like a less expensive cruise you're going to have to wait till the kids get back in school, after Labor Day. By late Sept the short cruises go back to starting at $199.

Bam! 😜

Cool, thanks for sharing!

So, I'm curious, how much did your "free" cruise cost? (I mean, aside from cheers, the steakhouse, the casino, and other on board spending) was it just port fees? How much was that? Looks like a great time and yummy food! One of these days we'll be in a position to take advantage of inexpensive cruises with such short notice. 🤞 One of these days! 😜

We got a similar, but much less expensive offer. Ours was $36 to move to a higher deck, but not for a balcony, for an interior. 🤷 $200+ that's crazy!

That would be the difference between Fl taxes and Ca taxes (and as a CA resident, 🫤). But I'm probably misremembering, the tax was probably closer to $0.50. 🤷

I will be another echoing voice for February instead of March, fewer children & college kids. (There will still some, let's not kid ourselves, but definitely fewer, and fewer people overall.) Also what is he more likely to be impressed by? Luxury ship? Lots of stuff to do on the ship? Elaborate Spa & Thermal suite? Fancy Dining ---> newer/bigger ship Value? ---> older/smaller ship In our family I love to cruise, hubby is meh. We do two distinct kinds of cruises: First, 3 days weekend cruises that fit into our schedule, (and that we can drive to) because they're just such a great value. He wants to get away for the weekend, doesn't care where, and he knows I love a cruise more than a weekend at any resort we could drive to. For these, smaller, cheaper ships are easier to talk him into, since they're so comparatively inexpensive. Also the shorter itineraries are almost always on older ships. Second, we do longer, port heavy cruises where he can visit six cities in one vacation and I can unpack only once (well three times with the overnight before and after, but still!) Best of luck!