Sigyn

Yes, that's what I'm considering.

Line agnostic. I love it. I feel that way. I'm not attached to one particular cruise line. I look at the benefits you get after multiple cruises and I'm like, eh, a free bag of laundry or a level boost in a cabin category. I'd rather find the cruise itinerary I want, on the date I want, at the price I want, and not be tied to one particular cruise line. (As long as it's not Carnival.)

I appreciate the input! Part of the problem on the Prima was that they'd pretty much eliminated the teen club. There was no location for it, they just told the teenagers to meet the first time in the kids area and later on it would be something like "meet on Deck 15 at 6 pm for XYZ activity" It was really odd, and my son didn't want to participate because, at age 15, meeting in what looked like a preschool area was not appealing at all, even if they were going to head somewhere else afterward.

I'm torn. Looking at spring break cruises for next March. I can book an ocean view balcony on Royal Caribbean's newest ship, Icon of the Seas, which launches in January next year, for $7K for three of us. It will have all the bells and whistles and I know my son, who will be 16 then, would have a blast, as he did on Harmony of the Seas this previous spring break. Tons of kids, lots of fun. He mostly hung out with his newfound friends in the lounges, having virgin drinks, and walking around the ship, and sitting in the hot tubs, and playing cards in the library (yes, the library! It was always empty and so the teenagers loved that it was a nice place they could make their own.) They skipped 80% of the activities on the ship. No idea why. But that's my son. The alternative I'm looking at would please my husband and I a bit more - going on the Norwegian Joy and staying in the Haven. It's $6K for a "basic" Haven penthouse or $7K for a forward facing Haven cabin with two rooms that gives our son a separate sleeping area with a door. I know this would please my husband because he hated the lack of privacy (if you get my drift) on our cruise on the Norwegian Prima in December. Plus, the pampering that comes from the Haven would be awesome. The only suite available on the Icon is $15K. Can't do that. That would blast our vacation budget for the summer. My question to everyone here is, would a teenager have fun on the Joy? Would there be a lot of teenagers at spring break? Believe it or not, my son didn't meet any kids at Christmas on the Prima and he was bored to death. He's very social, but it was just an odd time and all of the teenagers on the ship were with their families and had brothers and sisters to hang out with. He had SO MUCH FUN on the Harmony with something like 2,000 kids out of the 6,800 passengers and he made tons of friends, all of whom he's still Snapchatting with now, two months later.

Can you each book dining reservations in advance at the same time, so the space is booked for that time slot, making it easier once you board to talk to the restaurant and ask to have everyone seated together? I agree about booking with an outside company for the excursion. I understand wanting to do it with Celebrity, but unless you want to tell about your surprise in advance, and forward them the money to pay for their portion, the outside company is the only way. Bummer!

I think some of those people are the trolls on CC!

Interesting articles and definitely eye opening. But it's quite hateful that you say you want to kill people.

You're making the assumption that everyone with a drink package is drinking too much in their lives. A drink package does not give you cirrhosis of the liver.

How is a drink package a slow death sentence?

It makes booking a suite in The Retreat more palatable.

I agree with others who say it's not about the topic of this particular group, but merely the fact that a large group will be on a particular cruise. It changes the makeup of passengers and the flow of things. I would pass.

I was wondering about booking a Haven room that's outside of the Haven and how that experience would be. I like that those rooms are bigger - we could book a forward facing, for example, and have a separate room for our teenage son to sleep in, and yet it's cheaper than a smaller room that's inside the Haven courtyard where we'd all be in the same sleeping area.

No, too expensive. Looking at the forward facing haven cabins.

It's a spring break cruise for 2024 - March 30. We get 10% off with a military discount, just fyi.

Exactly this. It's one of the reasons I've cruised NCL, Royal and about to do Celebrity, all since December, after having only previously cruised Carnival. I want to experience the other cruise lines myself to see the best fit. it's the only way to know. I'm glad you and your wife found your happy place.

Thanks, everyone! And @CDR Benson I'm going to read your review now. @scooter6139 I'm glad you mentioned the location. I did see that several types of rooms aren't in the Haven proper. If I book, I think I'd step up to a bigger room just so that we can be in the Haven area on the main Haven decks. It's another $1K if we do that, but the location looks fabulous.

There's a really good rate on the Haven on the Norwegian Joy for a cruise next year. Three of us can cruise for $6K. For those who have been on the Joy, and experienced the Haven, what did you think of it? Good, bad? Indifferent? I've only cruised on NCL once, and it was on the Prima in a family balcony cabin. I would like to step it up if I were to cruise on Norwegian again. Important question since I think all the ports are tenders - do Haven guests get on tenders first?

That's really roughing it. As we say in our family, "Now you know how the pioneers felt."

We weren't in Haven on NCL, but we will be in the Retreat for Celebrity. So, I have no doubt we'll come away singing the praises of Celebrity over NCL. But not necessarily a fair comparison.

Much appreciated!!!! Thank you both!

This is my first Celebrity cruise. We checked in today, received our Xpress passes, but luggage tags are still "pending" - when do those become available? Here's what I see:

I let Royal choose my balcony, knowing it would be a neighborhood balcony, on the Harmony, and it was a great room in Central Park. I was perfectly happy and saved $1,000. They assigned it just a few days after I booked my cruise so I didn't have to wait and see, either. I did the same with Norwegian, again, was given a great room that was a slight upgrade. And I did the same with Celebrity. All good each time. None of these were "sail away" cabins or whatever it's called on some cruise lines, but guarantees.

I buy these 110 lb magnets on Amazon. I had originally bought 25 lb magnets but found them too weak to hold anything: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09MRN293F

one kid, will be 16 at the time. The cruise on Odyssey goes to the Southern Caribbean for 8 days. the Icon goes to the Western Caribbean for 7 days. I already booked Odyssey, but thinking about switching, within the window where I could using NextCruise. Icon dropped by $1,000 from where it was when I booked Odyssey.

If you're lucky, you'll get to pet a grizzly! Of course, it might just be an old man with a beard.