Essiesmom

Starboard side. EM

When that happens to me, it means I’ve been logged out. But obviously you’re logged in, or you couldn’t have posted this…. EM

The covered pools on Celebrity M and S class ships are adults only. Sometimes if the weather is bad they will allow children in for an hour or two. EM

Well then, it’s obvious you haven’t been on a Princess ship that docks in Whittier. They always pull in at midnight but guests don’t debark until morning. EM

If this is a closed loop cruise, returning to the same port, you can sail with birth certificates and a government issued photo ID. EM

Welcome to cruise critic. In the future, more people will click on your thread if you give it a title, rather than letting it default to your username. In addition, since you are asking about a particular cabin, one a particular ship, of a particular cruise line, you will get quicker answers if you ask on the forum here for that cruise line. The board for Royal Caribbean is located under Cruise Lines P-Z. There is much more traffic on that board than this one. EM

Paging @RuthCto the white courtesy phone on HAL…. I believe people used to be able to plug their scooters in in the elevator lobby on vista class, but it was unofficial. EM

1. Find the International Cafe, off the piazza…for salads, snacks nearly 24 hours, food is free. Nearby is the place for specialty coffee and tea, not free. 2. I see you will be coming eastbound through the canal. You will be using the New Locks. Entering the Cocoli Locks on the Pacific, the lock workings will be on the starboard side. If your cabin is that side, you will have a great view. If you are port side, you might want to get out and roam around the ship, particularly the promenade deck, 8 and up to 9 forward. If you go topside on starboard after you are through the first locks, you may be able to see the Pedro Miguel locks. When you get to the end of the canal, the Agua Clara locks, the works will be on the port side of the ship. There will be two other cruise ships in the canal that day (Dec 29). Viking Neptune will pass you going westbound. NCL Pearl will be doing a partial transit of the Gatun Locks, so will likely be already gone by the time you get to the Agua Clara locks. Just depends on how early you get started. EM

Oh my, wouldn’t it be loverly if the agents answering the phones knew the correct answer to every question…? But the reality is many have never been on a cruise, much less on the line they work for, and may not even be aware there old and new locks. As are many cruisers. EM

When choosing your ship and itinerary, check the number of ports, and the times in port. Alaska can be an exercise intensive cruise experience, with active excursions. You may find that there is not much time left in the day for all those amenities, and rainy weather - it often rains in Alaska - and cool weather may make the outdoor amenities less attractive. I would be looking more at the ports and excursions than the expensive amenities you might not use. Although Holland America might have the best itinerary, they will also have the fewest kids activities, fewest kids, and probably the oldest demographic. So I would put them last for this group. EM

First, look at the size and age of the ships. Most cruise lines seem to think bigger is better, and those ships are too big for the original locks. I could tell you how to research this but really, the easiest way is to come here and tell us what ships you are considering, and we can tell you. There are several previous threads here that address this. EM

I looked at plenty of pics of inside cabins on cruisedeckplans and it can be stored at the foot of the bed if separated, and there is space between the nightstand and the desk, as long as it is folded. It will have to be folded to get into the cabin, anyway. EM

You didn’t say what ship you are on…but my experience with short cruises on Celebrity is that a four day cruise is not representative of Celebrity demographic. Five day is much better. On the five night you won’t see people in shorts and wife beater shirts on formal night…but you may on the four. Five nighters are much more representative of the Celebrity experience. EM

My first visit to HMC was in 2007, and they had the island based tenders then. EM

No place outside the cabin. Perhaps the cabin steward can store it for you at night. I gather your cabin is not an accessible one? I think if you have the beds separated you could store the WC at the foot of the bed and still access the bed, especially if the nightstand can be moved to between the beds. EM

1. Conventional wisdom is that being above the spa area is not noisy; being below it is. 2. Your cabin appears to be above the beauty salon. You might find the drag deck feature of cruisedeckplans.com to be of interest. EM

We are talking about a stepchild, which usually means the natural parents are divorced. In some cases, one of the parents refuses to give permission for the other parent to take the child on whatever vacation is planned. Not always the choice of the child. EM

Yes, there is a guardrail on the upper bunk. EM

For the mini, deck plan on cruisedeckplans.com says cabin is 243 sf, balcony 36 sf. The aft cabin is listed as 185 sf, still says balcony is 36, but obviously it is larger. I think for three I would choose the cabin with more interior space. EM

Sounds like a plan! EM

In addition to the great advice above, there are some lines that will not allow a couple to book a cabin that will hold 3/4, so that if later you wanted to add her, you would have to change cabins and hope one is available. Those lines want to book families, and don’t want to have to turn away families because all the 3/4 cabins are filled. EM

Looks like the OP is on Viking Jupiter. EM

There was one called cruisecal.com that was that cruise specific. It was a pay site, very minor membership fee, like $12/yr. But Covid killed it. There was also cruisett.com, but they had become quite unreliable, sometimes I thought they just cut and pasted the previous year. I used a combo of cruisetimetables.com and cruisecal. There are always recommendations of googling the port for a schedule, but I find most of the ports I want the info on do not have a port website. EM

The message feature can be used by mods to message each other, and to message members. But members cannot message each other. Been this way as long as I have been a member. EM

Enchanted Princess is doing southern and eastern Caribbean in Nov. EM