CruisingWalter

Keep these in your cruise Carry-On bags. Passport, ID and any necessary paperwork to board the ship. If you leave them in checked luggage, it could take hours to locate your bags. Necessary Medications. Electronics. Not so much that they might get stolen in checked luggage, but they could get damaged in those massive luggage corrals. Swimsuit. Especially if you're going to be onboard before the cabins are available. Switch to your swimsuit and go enjoy the pool. One change of clothes for dinner. Your luggage SHOULD get to your cabin before dinner time, but in case it doesn't have one fresh change of clothes for dinner. Restaurants always cut you slack on the first night so don't worry about dress code. Fresh, clean clothes always feel good at the end of embarkation day.

It's giving the market what they want. Icon is squarely a family ship and they make no apologies for it. Icon will be AMAZING for families with so much to do onboard. At the same time we have ships like Scarlet Lady, Celebrity Edge series, Princess Royal and Sun class, Holland America ships that are incredible floating resorts primarily for adults There are around 325 cruise ships out there today with 72 more on the way before the end of 2027. Some will appeal to you, some like Icon will not. I find no reason to disparage any ship because if the entire cruise industry built identical ships, that would be boring.

Good call to go with the refundable deposit since it's so far out. Lots of things can change between now and then. Congrats!!! Boy that is going to be a heckuva Cruise Countdown on your phone. 😆

NEVER get the insurance through the Cruise Line. Always go third party, you'll get much better coverage at a better rate than through the cruise line. insure my trip is a great resource to get quotes from multiple companies at once.

EVERY new ship is priced at a premium over older ships. Doesn't matter the cruise line or the ship class. A $10k jump in the same cabin is not unheard of when you're talking about a brand new class of ship. If it was just Utopia of the Seas having a $10k jump over previous Oasis Class ships, then I would be surprised. But Royal Caribbean does plenty of research and they know where to price for the market they expect to cruise on this ship. You'll see Icon prices go down when the second ship is released. Certainly some sales between now and then but don't expect significant price decreases for the first 2 years at least. She will be a VERY hot ship and if you want to cruise on her, you'll have to pony up to get your cabin. Good luck all! 🙂

I really am too. Kind of nice to not have to go to Europe to try out these ships. Though I do plan to fly across the pond at some point to try out P&O. That looks like another fun cruise line!

Here's a better look at the livery. I like how they are using the Carnival blue livery but with Costa yellow stripe. And they added the Carnival name down the side.

We are exactly the same. We enjoy cruising, not any single cruise line. 8 cruise lines so far, we have not had a bad cruise yet. We've certainly enjoyed some more than others, but there are SO MANY cruise ships and experiences to try, limiting one's self to the same cruise line, same ships year after year would drive me a little batty if I'm being honest. 🙂 I really want to start exploring the expedition ships like Hurtigruten or National Geographic Explorer ships. Those look amazing, though my wallet might object. 😆

Actually the Jones Act only applies to non-US registered ships starting their cruises in the U.S. That's why the NCL Pride of America can do round trip Hawaii all year long, she's registered in the U.S. Non US flagged ships must stop at a foreign port if its' a round trip US cruise. And there was a big deal made to override that for the 2021 Alaska season because Canada was still closed to cruising. There was some talk of reconsidering the Act for all cruising, but that was only a short-lived conversation. So far as i know, that Alaska season is the only time non-US flagged ships were allowed to do round trip US without going to a foreign port.

It's so much fun. Officers vs. the Guests. There's not many places where the guest get to compete against the crew any more. That game is one of the highlights on every celebrity cruise. 🙂

We've sailed 8 different cruise lines and they've all been fun. You have to go in with the proper expectations. Celebrity will be a more 'adult' experience than Royal. No waterslides, no big arcade, far fewer children, depending on the ship you might have the lawn club. The one thing I think you'll really like on Celebrity is the Officers vs. Guests volleyball game that's usually on the last sea day, so much fun to watch. The indoor solariums are awesome on Celebrity. We enjoy most of the specialty dining, though we avoid Le Petit Chef, too much of a gimmick. I LOVE World Class Bar, the Martini Bar is a fantastic show, but not great drinks. The spas are amazing on Celebrity. Celebrity ships are quieter in the sense they don't have all the top deck activities. But they are more refined and targeted to an adult experience. Yes there is trivia onboard, might not be as much as Royal, but there is trivia. If you go in expecting a 'Royal Caribbean' cruise you'll be disappointed. If you go in expecting more of an adult resort, you'll have a great time. We don't subscribe to 'being loyal to any cruise line' because the vacation becomes too predictable and similar. We try them all and there are things we absolutely love about all of them.

Yeah the buffet layout on that class of ship is weird. Very tightly designed, I will agree with you there. But Mardi Gras was worse. Even though there was a ton of space for people to move, absolutely no emphasis on cleaning your hands, or wearing shoes, or a shirt.... I'll take the Princess 'intimate' buffet over that anytime. 😆

The Martini Bar is a good show, not good drinks. I've tried the Martini Bar on two of the four Celebrity ships we've sailed and all I do now is watch the show if we happen to be nearby. The World Class Bar is where you get a really good cocktail. That's the only bar where I will spend money on Celebrity, even bringing my cocktails with me from that bar to dinner. And the Sunset Bar on Beyond is supposed to be really good. Looking to book that ship for March and that's one of the bars intend to try.

"Go with the flow" is the best attitude for cruising. We had severe F&B shortages on the Carnival Mardi Gras in March, but the crew that was there was amazing. Always smiling, always doing what they could to keep our vacations amazing. So yes, a little patience on a cruise ship goes a long way and if there is a problem, don't take it out on the crew members. They are trying their best. If there is a long line at the MDR/Restaurant, we have been known to run up to the buffet or Cafe Al Bacio to have a little appetizer/nosh/cookies to tide us over while we wait. I recommend others do the same. It takes the edge off waiting if you at least have a little something, something. 🙂

I agree it would be nice for Celebrity to do a roundtrip Hawaii, but I will say Princess has quite a few 15 day roundtrips from LA, San Francisco, Seattle and Vancouver BC that all look amazing. They're showing 11 Itineraries including a few longer repositioning cruises. Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald and Crown Princess are four of the ship, all of them quite lovely. My personal favorite of the four is the Sapphire which we sailed to Alaska. If you're a Celebrity fan, you'll probably like Princess as well. The decor is a bit more 'classic' with more wood, more earth tones and of course the Italian piazza as the atrium, but I think they match up with Celebrity Solstice and Millennium class ships closer than most people think. And that new Sun Princess, well that is going to be crazy beautiful with shades of the Edge class.

First thing to understand is that there is no rule that you have to leave the ship at port. We have a "Ship Day" at one port every single cruise where we stay onboard while at least 75% of the ship goes off to the port. You have the run of the ship to yourself, especially the big empty pools, and if you fancy a spa treatment, they're always on sale during a port day. So keep that in mind as you become a seasoned cruiser. 🙂 The two big differences to excursions are that if you do a Cruise excursion you're guaranteed the ship will wait for you if you're late or the cruise line has to get you to the next port. If you're independent, the ship will leave without you. In general ships will wait about 30 minutes and I've seen 60 minutes, but they're not under any obligation to wait. And yes, they will and do leave, do a search for "Pier Runners" on YouTube to see some often very funny videos of folks trying to wave the ship back as it pulls away. 🙂 When you do exit the ship terminal area, you will be bombarded with people offering tours, cabs and cars. This is why it's so important to do some research. One option folks love is to simply rent a cab for the day and just go wherever they please and that's a great option. BUT you need to know which cab company you can trust, and you can get that through research. For the most part we do book independently, BUT you have to do your research if you're going to go independent. Especially if your plan is to hire a cab or local tour service on your own. Right here on CC there is a Ports of Call forum where you can go look at suggestions and recommendations for the individual ports you're about to visit. We also use TripAdvisor, Yelp and anything else we can find to verify the quality and responsiveness of a third party tour operator, Dominican Republic we stick with cruise operated tours. Many folks go off on their own, but on this island we prefer the cruise operated tours if we're leaving the ship. San Juan is a great walking city and if we're going to do anything, we book it on our own. We just did San Juan Food Tours in March and they were a fantastic walking/food tour. But San Juan you can easily just walk and discover. You'll find lots of recommendations for bars and restaurants and independent tours in the Ports of Call forum here on CC. The Fort is about a 15-20 minute walk from the ship so you can easily walk to it on your own and just self explore it if you're really into history. It's a beautiful layout. We also discovered kite flying at the fort because of that food tour, they have a massive lawn where you can fly kites purchased from a little red trailer along the road. St. Maarten, the port area is a cute little touristy town. You hop a water ferry and it drops you off right in the middle of the shopping and dining district. If you're a Star Wars fan, That Yoda Guy is a must visit. Nick Maley is a former Industrial Light and Magic artist who worked on the original Yoda for the movies. He has a mini-Star Wars museum that's fun. There are many tours and excursions you can do here with third parties that are reputable. We usually just hang out in the town for a few hours, stopping to get some Guavaberry Run at the Old Man shops. St. Thomas has a lot to offer and another island that's loaded with good third party excursions. We've done snorkeling and golf on the island, both a lot of fun. There is also a food tour run by the same company that we use in San Juan that we will be doing in a few months when we get there. Welcome to the cruise family, you have picked an awesome itinerary that should be a lot of fun!

First off, ensure that your cabin is on the lower decks in the middle of the ship. That is the smoothest ride on the entire ship so having your cabin in that location will be important to ensure you have the best experience. The higher you are on the ship the more you will feel whatever motion there is. That's why most ships have most of their entertainment and dining on decks 5-8, those are the smoothest decks. In general Alaska is a very smooth ride because you're hugging the coast the entire cruise. Especially if you do a cruise that's round trip Alaska, not starting from Seattle. But even from/to Seattle is generally a very smooth ride unless a storm blows through. That did happen this year with a storm chopping up the waters for about a week or so. But when we went it was basically smooth as glass the entire week. A friend who has been on over 100 cruises highly recommends Sea Bands for your wrists. That's the brand name, they come in a variety of colors so she has them color coordinated with her outfits. 🙂Crew members swear by green apples for motion sickness.

Virgin definitely has the most and best food options of any of the 8 cruise lines we've sailed. If you're not hip enough to enjoy a blues trio or a lounge singer for evening entertainment, then I'm not sure which ship you can cruise on. 😆 I have a full Scarlet Lady playlist including review, cabin tour and food tour on my YouTube channel, Where's Walter Travel. CC won't permit me to link to my own channel. 🙂 Carnival Mardi Gras has a ton of included food options. Not the best, but there is a lot of them. Again, a playlist and food tour on my YouTube channel. NCL Prima looks interesting because the Indulge Food Hall is included with their dining so you'll have the buffet, Food Hall and MDR at least included. Disney of course has the rotational dining and their food is excellent.

Mardi Gras was badly understaffed in March when we were there as well, really felt for the staff. They were still just as friendly and eager to please as ever, but they looked exhausted. Agree with the Simple Syrup, in fact adding Mint Simple Syrup makes a daquiri even better. I had no issues at the Fortune Teller bar on our cruise, could belly right up to the bar every time with 5500-5900 sailing on our cruise. That bar was so much better than I expected. ChiBang, they need to deep six the mexican side of the menu. Blue Iguana is much better. The Asian side is pretty good. Guys Pig and Anchor we had an amazing BBQ filet on night one, then three nights later one of the worst meals we've ever had on a cruise ship. The Grand Central is poorly designed as a bad imitation of Royal Caribbean's 270 lounge. the seating is just awful and you have to be there about 2 hours early if you want to see the show. But overall, we did actually enjoy the ship. Rudi's Seagrill is the big saving grace on that ship. One of the best restaurants at sea. Shaq's Big Chicken was amazing. Blue Iguana was great. Pizza del Capitano was great. So while the food was not the best, we did enjoy the ship, though we did have an extended balcony and ended up spending a lot of time there.

Correct. There are some ports that cannot handle the 5000+ passenger ships so the option is either to tender the guests in (if possible) or go to another port. Of course Carnival has plenty of ships throughout their other brands that can call into many ports with smaller ships. Princess, Holland America to name a few and actually Princess has some of the most unique itineraries of any cruise line out there. So if you want that small ship experience, you may have to look at one of their other brands and also Royal Caribbean with their smaller ships plus the Celebrity Millenium class.

we didn't do the brunch but we definitely enjoyed Sea Day lunch at Cucina Del Capitano. That was a lot of fun, basically make your own pasta bowls.

Go on Amazon and pick up a 4 to 12 port USB power hub. Anywhere from $12-$25. That's what I use for all my USB charging needs. (phone, gopro, kindle, camera batteries, etc...) Only takes up one plug for many devices. As others have noted, most power strips without surge protection should be good, though follow @chengkp75 advice on the power strips. They've shared a ton of great maritime advice across Cruise Critic and one of the best factual resources on these forums.

Carnival has been pushing 100%+ capacity since March at least. Depending on which announcement was correct we had 5500 or 5900 on the Mardi Gras in March so that would be 100%+. That's pretty much the goal for Carnival at this time so the days of 'quiet ships' are pretty much over with the Carnival brand. 🙂

Absolutely on the snacks so long as they are pre-packaged. I would bring any potential medications onboard with you. Cruise ships have a full hospital and medical center available, and they are quite impressive, but the costs are extremely high. You'll pay three to four times for any ear infection medication onboard than what you could pay at home. But if you absolutely need something from the ship, they should be able to help you in the medical center.

We went straight to Shaq's Big Chicken, addictively good. The buffet is very small on this ship, so I would skip that. Some other good choices: Street Eats, Blue Iguana, Pizza del Capitano. If it's open, the salad bar up in The Sanctuary. Not sure if that's open on turnaround day. Street Eats is my least favorite of those I mentioned, but they're all better than try to deal with the buffet.