Essiesmom

It depends on time and cruise line. I get offers for outrageously low prices, but I’m sailing solo since I lost my partner, thus willing to occupy any cabin class. My sister liked a balcony, I seldom used it. If you are tied to only one line, your options are limited. If you are flexible or adventurous, you have more options. EM

We did sixteen days on Carnival Dream transAtlantic in 2009. Menus did not repeat. Nor did they repeat on our 14 day journey cruise. EM

Suggest you visit the Florida Departures board here, under North American Homeports. Locals on that board can fill you in. EM

If your cruise ends in Athens (Piraeus) chances are the previous port was also a Schengen country. Therefore there would not be any customs or immigration upon debarkation. Possible immigration exit at the airport, customs when you land in the US. EM

The rooms I looked at on Eclipse looked like there was adequate space to move around, would be tightest in the inside cabin. EM

Welcome to Cruise Critic. Have you discovered cruisedeckplans.com yet? It is a website where the webmaster encourages members to submit pictures of the ships, and particularly of their cabins. Ordinarily it requires a paid membership to view the pictures, but he makes an exception for HC cabins. Membership is inexpensive and can be made back by submitting pictures, as he pays $.50 each for cabins and $.25 for other pics of the ship. On the website, choose your cruise line, then your ship, or in the case of celebrity, any of the S class ships. On the left, scroll down the cabin categories. In most there will be a place to click for a list of HC cabins. If there are pictures of a cabin, there will be a very tiny camera icon. Print is tiny, too. Click on that icon and you can see interior pics of the cabin. I chose Eclipse, as it was the first on the list, and looked at pics of inside, OV, and balcony cabins. All showed ample space for two scooters. EM

Passing Pedro Miguel on way to Cocoli Locks:

The port side will be the shady side in the morning for the first locks. Incidentally, you do understand she will use the new locks? For the first set of locks, the workings will be on the starboard side. Also, as you leave those locks and proceed up the channel, you will pass the Pedro Miguel locks to starboard in the original channel. You would want to be high up on the starboard side for that. By the time to you get to the Agua Clara locks on the Atlantic side, sun will be on you pot side balcony, and the lock workings on the port side. Joy transited today, westbound. It’s too bad you weren’t watching the canal cams, and Joys bridgecam…

Just don’t try it on MSC. Trying to adjust your booking in any way is like taking an eggbeater to it. EM

I believe shoes, too. Cheapest flip flops will do. EM

Dining room are carpeted. You won’t hear anything, with the possible exception of someone dropping a whole tray of dishes…But you don’t want to be below the galley because you will hear carts rolling around at all hours. EM

Go to cruisetimetables.com and in the ‘cruise to’ tab choose Ashdod or Haifa. Start with April 2024. A number to choose from. EM

Have you looked/asked on the Florida Departures board?

Look at American Cruise Lines. Small ships, but just the itineraries you want. They are American registered so they can cruise america without visiting a foreign port. None of the big cruise lines are American registered, so they cannot do an itinerary without visiting a foreign port. EM

Also, as has been mentioned in other threads, with guests boarding at different ports, there will not be the mad crowd on boarding day. With most boarding in Genoa, Barcelona would not be as busy. EM

What is the ethnicity of rice pudding? I ask because if it is something enjoyed by the crew, it might be more readily available for the asking…EM

How long is this cruise to be? I spent 32 days in and OV cabin somewhat aft on Oosterdam, then two weeks in a main deck inside on Westerdam. It was so much larger than the OV that when I took my sister on Nieuw Amsterdam for 24 days, I booked that same inside cabin. There are connecting insides on main deck on Nieuw Amsterdam. EM

This has been asked before, and whatever method they tried to describe never worked for me. And since I have never firgured out how to attach links, or pics from Shutterfly, I always have to revert to my Surface Pro for that. EM

Sorry to be delayed with the pic from the Miraflores cam. Interesting looking trimaran in front of you. Wonder how much they payed in cash for their transit…. EM those vessels in the other lock are excursion ferries…

Arriving at Pedro Miguel locks

There are lots of ships/cruise lines scheduled to call in Peru in the next few months. I would go to the boards here for those lines and see if there are any reports of recent misses, or expected misses. Azamara, Oceania, Fred Olsen, Seabourn, P&O-UK, Regent, Hapag-Lloyd, Phoenix-Reisen…. EM

I would not do aft because I like to see where I am going, not where Ive been. Otherwise, it doesn’t make any difference. A fjord is a dead end. What is on starboard side going in will be port going back out. As far as the coast is concerned, you are usually not close enough to see any detail. EM

A nice start to your c anal transit day:

This is best asked on the River Cruising section of Cruise Critic

Crew will hand your walker into the tender, and will assist you down the steps into the tender. You must be able to handle the steps into and out of he tender. EM