cyntil8ing

Our first ever Oasis class cruise is a few weeks away on Harmony. I have put it off because of crowds and the ports we have been to multiple times on less crowded ships. I expect my reaction will be much the same as yours, but we will see. I am a firm believer there is no such thing as a bad cruise.

We also used Spain Day Tours last summer for two of our ports, Lisbon and Bilbao. Was very pleased with everything from initial contact through post-excursion follow-up. I would use them again without a doubt. Our Bilbao tour was shared. Our Lisbon tour was private.

Looks like there is only one cruise, a six day on Reflection in July for next summer right now.

Personally, if X brings Beyond back from Europe next summer and adds Coco Cay, I will probably book it immediately. We have a Canada/Greenland in late summer, but early summer is open and I have yet to go on Beyond. I have only been to Coco Cay once, but it was a lovely day. Beach day with drink package? Yes, please! As far as sharing Coco Cay with RCCL, I am sure they will work something out to not have both lines call there the same day. Carnival/HAL do it with Half Moon Cay, though I don’t think HAL calls there during the summer months. There have been lots of last minute Europe deals this summer. Maybe X has overdeployed a bit more than demand, so this is an attempt to balance. Not to mention there will be an additional X ship next summer. Any way, I am looking forward to the news and have no worries over it.

Ya know, I really try to be good humored and not fly off the handle at stupid posts, but sheesh. My dad has since died from the cancer-caused brain lesions that caused his seizure on the ship. But funny. Ha ha.

We staggered our passports so that we're not renewing them all the same year. If you go on a cruise each year, save an extra $10/month to get or renew a single passport each year. We didn't do that with Global Entry because we had to go over an hour away for the initial processing. Global Entry expires on the holder's birthday, so we could at least stagger renewals by month when we renewed last year. A few years ago, my dad had a medical emergency while we were on a cruise and we were faced with a decision of disembarking the cruise in Nassau. Since we all had passports, all of us left the ship while he was hospitalized then flew home together two days later. Had we not had passports, my husband and the kids would likely have stayed on board, while I disembarked with Dad. Then along with the medical issues, I would have been scrambling to get emergency passports. And since this was Christmas week AND over a weekend, we would not have been able to get them immediately. I was very glad we were not forced into that situation.

Been to Bermuda four times on Celebrity Summit. It arrives Wednesday morning, departs late Friday afternoon, giving 3 days with enough time to do things. NCL does this from NYC too. We have never run out of things to do. Highlights include Horseshoe Bay, Gibbs Hill Lighthouse, Bermuda Zoo and Aquarium, Crystal Caves, St. George's, Hamilton, Southlands, Tom Moore's Jungle, and our repeated favorites -- biking on the Railroad trail and renting boats to cruise around the west part of the island. We wanted to go back this year after not having been since 2014, but Celebrity switches to a New England/Canada itinerary in August, when we were looking to cruise. Instead, we will be going on Carnival Magic. It departs Norfolk, VA on Sunday, arrives Bermuda Tuesday at 9:00am, departs Thursday at 4:00pm. It was sold out when we found it a few months ago, but immediately after final payment, two or three cabins became available. We grabbed one.

I’ve done about 15 cruises on each Carnival and Celebrity. I am a fan of both, and they definitely compete for my bookings. I have upcoming cruises on both. I am excited about the new menu options and delighted by the new entree salads. I have always been a big fan of the Indian vegetarian option available each night, often choosing it once or twice per cruise. I’ve looked forward to the daily menu reveals this week. Lots of old favorites, plus some new things I am looking forward to trying. The new menus won’t be in place before our August cruise to Bermuda, but the will by next year’s cruise to Canada and Greenland. We have done Summit to Bermuda four times over the past 12 years. Unfortunately they switch to Canada in August, when we can cruise, so we will be doing it on Carnival Magic from Norfolk this year. I am not all that unusual in liking both lines. While there are a lot of Carnival-only diehards, I’ve met lots of folks on Carnival cruises that also enjoy Celebrity, but not as many the other way, or at least who will admit it. 😀

I just booked Hyatt Place via ValueTrips based on this thread, so thanks! Our confirmed rate was $149. If I were to book on the Hyatt website without advanced payment, the member rate for that night is $292. The savings seems nearly too good to be true. And what has happened to hotel prices? They've nearly doubled in the past few years. We look for inexpensive for pre-cruise as we generally don't arrive until evening, then leave first thing in the morning. There's no such thing any more, and it's everywhere, not just FL. Heck, I am paying $220 plus tax for a Hilton Garden Inn before our cruise from Norfolk. Sorry for being a crotchety old whiner, but sheesh!

Detailed here: https://www.celebritycruises.com/content/dam/celebrity/pdf/updated-captains-club-brochure-v6.pdf

It may be a foreign government requirement, not the cruise line, and all cruise lines have some form of this. Rather than maintaining a list of countries and their ever-changing requirements, it's easier to just have a requirement. This is from https://www.usa.gov/travel-documents-children This concerned me when my son was young. He was internationally adopted and is of a different race. All it would take is one port agent getting a wild hair. I always had all my documents in order, maybe not in hand, but scans I could easily produce if needed. We always travel with passports. Only once did I have a care. My son was about 4 and we were returning from a cruise. The US Customs agent asked him who I was. My son answered that I was Mom and we went on our way. He has been asked in airports also.

Yes, it’s correct. See https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2544/~/minor-guest-policy

Maybe? We got back about $70. Not sure what the taxes, port expenses and fees were. Probably more, but I never did the calculation. I was pleased to get anything.

My daughter was a no show for our April cruise. We received a credit back to our credit card a week or two after the cruise, nothing onboard. We went to guest services onboard, and they said we should call corporate, but we never did.

Awww, could be my dog's twin. This is Henry wearing his cheeseburger. He went through a phase where he escaped under the fence to go on walkabout. This was an attempt to foil him. He gave up rather than be seen wearing it outside. Like your luggage, he now wears an Air Tag.

*** weren’t overly concerned with aesthetics. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/***-uboat-pens

Mine is Tito’s with just a splash of cranberry, not enough to qualify as a Cape Cod. My husband’s is chilled Kraken. The display is, I think, on the port side staircase outside the comedy lounge. You’ll know it when you see it! 👀

Last year, the Pride streets rolled up early. Lots of busy port days take it out of you. We're late night people, so we spent a lot of time in the Casino Bar when it was the only thing open. I am so sad to read it's gone. I haven't read mention of the Comedy Club. Is it just not your thing? We went to at least one show each night, often two. That's where we learned about the dildo display. Have you found it?

It's not showing on either schedule yet, but both have availability. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Ijmuiden: https://felisonterminal.com/en/cruise-calendar/ Amsterdam: https://sea.cruiseportamsterdam.com/cruise-calendar/ Either way, enjoy Amsterdam! It was my favorite port stop. Take a canal cruise. We loved https://flagshipamsterdam.com You can pay on board; you don't need tickets in advance. Boats leave about every 15 minutes. We also went to Anne Frank Haus and the Van Gogh Museum, but booked both weeks in advance. Both are sold out unfortunately.

I don't want to speculate, but last year on Pride, our "Amsterdam" port was really Ijmuiden, a 35 minute taxi ride from Amsterdam. I hope your port is actually Amsterdam. In either case, here is helpful information: https://www.whatsinport.com/Amsterdam.htm

Make sure you look for the giant shrimp and the tower at sailaway! Too bad the restaurant wasn't open yet, but it appears you found lots of good alternatives!

We took our kids, then 5 and 8, to Bermuda for their first Celebrity cruise in 2011. They loved it. We did it twice more after that, and also a handful of other X ships and itineraries. Celebrity is awesome for the little ones. Lots of family activities — bingo, family silent disco, scavenger hunts, talent shows. They were too young for the water slides and zip lines then. The kids club was more sedate and less crowded, which fit their personalities better. Lots of great fun for littles in Bermuda. Our first trip, we went to the zoo and aquarium and rented a small boat to tool around and visit the Vixen shipwreck. They still talk about jumping off the boat. On another trip, we went to Crystal Caves and Gibbs Hill Lighthouse. The beaches, of course, were huge hits every trip. We switched over to mostly Royal and Carnival for summer cruises when they were 10 and 13, but they still love Celebrity. If Celebrity didn’t switch over to New England in August, we would be coming back this year. Instead, we will be returning to Bermuda on Carnival. Can’t wait!

Ok you've convinced me, I will be booking Chef's Table on our Pride Greenland cruise next summer. It says Sold Out in my planner, but I assume it's just because the cruise is still a long 443 days away! Good thing I have three others booked before then. Thanks for this thread. I joined in late when you got to the ports we visited last year. It's a nice trip down memory lane.

La Coruña was one of our favorite ports from our Pride cruise last summer. We walked to Hercules Tower, but didn't buy tickets to go up. We just wandered the grounds for free. Then we walked back through town, stopping at an amazing restaurant for lunch. We still rave over the mejillones (mussels) from that day! Restaurant: https://entrebateas.webnode.es

We cruise in August most every summer due to school schedules and pricing. We've left from NJ, MD, FL and PR over the past 15 years. This year, we are leaving from Miami on the 12th and Norfolk on the 27th. Only once have we had weather-related issues, in 2015 on Adventure out of San Juan. Our itinerary was changed twice due to two different storms. Luckily, leaving from San Juan, there are a lot of options. We ended up in Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao with beautiful weather. We re-booked the original itinerary for the following year and got to complete it. The northern departures don't have as many re-direction options, but at least they don't, for us anyway, require flights, so that's one fewer point of failure. Our thinking has always been to book what we want, be flexible, and buy insurance.