jlawrence01

The life jackets you will need are in your cabin in the closet on the eight ships that I have been on. In addition, there are lockers of life jackets throughout the ship. Safety is always a major concern for the cruise lines and is taken very seriously.

For HAL, I would recommend that you head to customer service (best late at night), hand the clerk your gift card(S) and have them apply it to your account. At the end of the cruise, any leftover funds will be applied to your credit card. And yes, it is good for gratuities. I will give you one warning about Kroger gift cards. Do NOT go to a Kroger affiliated store trying to buy thousands in gift cards on your credit card. More likely than not, even if you have a large credit limit, they likely will be declined. (This even includes using your Kroger credit cards.) You are better off going to Kroger's gift card ONLINE and buying them there. You will get your cards in 3-5 minutes so you can print them off. Also, you still get the 2-4x gas points promotions if they are available. We pay for all of our HAL, Carnival, and Princess cruises as well as Southwest and Delta flights using gift cards. It is better to stagger the purchases throughout the year so you can use the gas points before they expire.

What no one wants to talk about these days is that we are on the brink of an economic recession that will rival 1981, 1991 and 2008. People are stretched with just meeting their monthly obligations much less having a lot of discretionary income In the past month, I have seen Celebrity drop the rate on my 7 day Alaskan cruise from $1300 to $600 just a few days after the final payments were due. They probably had more cancellations than expected. Also in the past month, the price of an inside cabin on the Icon of the Seas for a December 8 7 day sailing out of Miami has dropped from $2900 to $1650. I do not think that this is a great time to bring on a lot of new ships.

That is a point that needs to be made. HAL has been the only major cruise line that has offered religious services long after they have been discontinued on other lines. Nothing was said when Royal Caribbean eliminated chapels when they modernize their ships

I have been to the free standing Big Chicken restaurants in Las Vegas. Yes, the chicken AND the french fries are really that good. One thing that probably did NOT make the ship is their STUBBORN craft sodas that are one of the most unique flavors I have experienced.

RCCL was doing that on some of the fares on Icon of the Seas. I was tracking the cost of an inside cabin on the December 9th sailing and a month ago, it was $2925. Today, it is about $1700.

That is my FAVORITE part of the ship. most people do not discover it for a while so there is never a crowd. Also, the staff seems a lot more senior and attentive to your needs. Things I like about Princess: 1) Reasonable fares 2) great itineraries 3) Nice mix of people of all ages as opposed to Celebrity and HAL. 4) Attentive service

Do realize that price changes work both ways. I booked a 9 day Vancouver - Honolulu cruise on March 29 2024 for $587 for an inside cabin. Last week, the same cabin was advertised for $1325. If you see a rate that is attractive, you are better off grabbing it than waiting.

I saw that last week as it was a major discussion in the videos on YouTube. I would add one more warning. Realize that if you post on a roll call that you will be on a particular cruise on a particular date - something that I have been guilty of, you are informing everyone that you are away from home during the duration of the cruise. Fortunately, our pet pit bull cannot come with us on the cruise ... and she loves visitors.😁

One thing that I like about Holland America is its consistency between all of its ships in terms of what is offered. I may not get everything that I would like on a particular ship but at least I pretty much know what I am getting. On the other hand, when I book Celebrity (or Royal Caribbean), if I book on an older ship, I know that I am not going to get some or many of the things that they are featuring on their newer ships. I was on the Millenium last year and I was surprised at how limited certain things were in terms of entertainment and included food selections compares to all of the YouTube Edge class videos I have seen

If you book one cruise at the $100 rate, is it possible to book yet another cruiseat that rate? When I tried last night, that rate was not available

That is my point also. The large corporate travel agents do a great job and are well versed on what needs to be done. I try to work with the same guy each time. I tried using an agent in person at the largest travel agency in the area. She took the booking. Once we received the confirmation, we could not get her to answer calls. I have not had good experiences dealing with HAL and Princess directly. I never get the information that I need. I will admit that I booked a cruise last night on the Carnival website and it was very simple.

Two comments. We booked our Uber from the hotel to the airport 24 hours in advance of the cruise. MISTAKE. The going rate that morning was $10 less. Yes, we were hit with the "no meter" scam at FLL. He quoted us a rate of $25 and we took it. In the future, we will try Uber from the cruise port as we will have 32 hours to get from Fort Lauderdale to our hotel by the Miami airport. Another taxi rip off is in San Juan where the flat rate anywhere is also $25.

Before I make my comment, prior to retirement, I managed a call center in the Philippines for two years. I judged the communication of all prospective employees prior to hire. I prefer to use my large corporate travel agent based in Houston. He worked hours with the HAL accounting staff when we had an issue with one of the $500 HAL gift cards that I purchased from AARP. They used the card but for some reason, it never hit my account. After a number of calls, the issue was resolved to our satisfaction. He represented our interest when we got nowhere with the HAL staff. The problem that I have dealing with the HAL and Celebrity call centers is that the English proficiency is a real problem. The staff knows English but the accent is so strong that they are difficult to understand. Problem resolution always takes several calls as opposed to one with the travel agent.

Agreed. I was researching canon law a couple years back and noted that Mass attendance laws as well as the abstinence/fasting rules do not apply to those who are at sea. I wish that I could locate the link but I cannot this late in the morning. Personally, having talked with a number of the volunteer priests in this ministry, they have been having a great deal of problems finding available priests. One priest told me that they had about 50% of the volunteers that they had in 2019. I have talked over the years with mariners on bulk and tanker ships who are on 7-9 month contracts. They generally have a prayer service once a week on Sundays as work allows.

I have just received my first "casino offer" email yesterday as I have Diamond status with Caesars Rewards. What are the gambling requirements, if any with these packages. I have been known to spend some quality time in the casino. However, I do NOT want to spend 4-6 hours each day tied to the casino.

It was a guaranteed. Honestly, we always book the cheapest available cabin as we rarely spend much time in the cabin.

I booked a cruise on the Niuew Amsterdam and the final payment is due next week. There was a $2045 balance due after deposits. I paid using 4 - $500 gift cards that i purchased from AARP at an 8% discount. The balance, I placed on my credit card. This was done by providing my travel agent with the account numbers on each on the four cards and their related PINs. The rest was charged to my credit card on file.

On my last cruise on the Eurodam, we reserved an inside cabin. We received an unobstructed Oceanview cabin on the 1st deck,

The major differences that I see between Royal Caribbean and Celebrity: 1) The service on the ship is MUCH better across the board on Celebrity. They have a lot of very experienced staff that has been on the ship for years and they do a great job of anticipating your needs day after day. The royal Caribbean staff was generally less experienced and was very irritating - they were constantly talking about the cruise surveys. 2) The Celebrity ship officers are constantly present and interacting with the guests. i noticed that a lot of the officers knew past cruisers. these folks anticipated any issues to ensure smooth sailing. 3) In general, the menus - MDR and buffet - are much more creative on Celebrity than Royal Caribbean. While the food is a lot better on Celebrity, both lines have had several dishes that were complete misses and should have been caught in the kitchen by a head chef. 4) Celebrity is a much older crowd, especially on the older ships. They like to make the claim that the crowd is so much younger than HAL. However, I did not see that. Royal Caribbean has a lot of families although not as many when you avoid the summer months.

I really like ships where I can walk fully around a Promenade deck because I can get 3-5 miles a day walking in more protected environment. I find walking on the top deck exposes me to too much sun and wind. We have gotten into the bad habit of waking up at 6 am and walking a mile before breakfast on some of the HAL ships. While I like FLL, cruising out of Galveston allows me to drive in from Tucson for the cruise and take a week on a road trip through the great state of Texas.

I am looking for a cruise to the Southern Caribbean, especially, the ABC Islands. The best itineraries that I have seen are on the Regal Princess and the Emerald Princess. We did a Western Caribbean cruise on the Regal Princess last spring and really enjoyed it. What are the differences, if any, between the two ships?

My wife was at the local Goodwill store and purchased two of the Silverseas Expedition 3 in 1 parkas for $40. We live in Southern Arizona and will be heading to Alaska for three weeks in September. Since our supply of cold weather/ rain proof clothing is very limited we have been looking for something like this for months. Is this parka something that Silverseas sells or is this included in the fare of an Antarctica cruise? I guess that I am looking for the story behind it and the price of this is purchased new. Thanks.

I agree with you completely about Discount Cruise Parking. They do an excellent job at getting you to and from the cruise port. I was in my car within 30 minutes of stepping off the ship. As for hotels, I stayed at the Microtel Inn by Wyndham right across from NASA. It was close to dozens of restaurants and supermarkets that are reasonably priced. I think that I paid about $70 a night. Texas City is yet another option. It is about a 30 mile drive from NASA to the cruise port. We always take TX-146 which is a more scenic route.

I have never been a great fan of travel agents and fired our corporate travel agents and brought the function "in house" when I was still working. However, I always use a travel agent when booking a cruise for the following reason: - TAs will monitor pricing and get a lower rate - TAs often have deals like OBC that you do not get through the cruise line. - TAs can offer advice and relay past experiences. - My travel agent is Houston-based and is a NATIVE English speaker. My last calls to Celebrity Cruises have been routed to the Philippines and have been difficult to understand. (Yes, I have run a call center in Manila and was teh person who evaluated English fluency for our employees.) - if we go through another COVID type event, it is easier to get ahold of a TA than a cruise line. - TAs website has a nice 90 day Ticker that allows me to find deals easier than others.