elcuchio24

I'm not really convinced any of the lines ever actually have 'sales'!

Maine here. Pack layers. The ship temp wont deviate much from normal. But right now for us for instance, near Portland, nights vary from the mid 40's but days can be upper 70's. Keep in mind the breeze while under speed on the ship. Sweatshirts/t-shirts/sweaters. Raingear. Enjoy. JUST starting to get a bit of color here, next couple of weeks you'll really see the change. If you're going to portland/bar harbor/boston happy to offer some suggestions of things to do.

I'd be to worried something would happen to it during travel/being confiscated. I am too attached to it. It would break me if it was injured...

I agree with not being scared to go outside the reserved cruise areas. But, this itin switcharoo is a tough one. Thats a decent itin to a pretty poor one. Sorry.

Euro ports are all over the place. Some will take it, some dont care at all. Western Med we found that no one really cared, but it was hit or miss in the british isles.

People who haven't done these sailings or has never tried to bring on alcohol will just post the general RCL rules. The truth is they could care less if you bring on alcohol during port/embarkation visits. Its just a different vibe over there. We always do the premium drink package so not such a big deal for us, but typically get a bottle to keep in the room and more importantly buy nice local stuff to bring home.

They dont care in europe...

always Uber it

It's certainly a balancing act with smalltown ports. We've been dealing with this with Bar Harbor near my hometown in Maine. There is a sweet spot to both support local businesses with cruise $$ while not overburdening the area and locals. It comes down to setting a throttle on the number of ships at the local level, which I suspect you will see more of in Alaska and other places.

Not sure if it would be of interest to you, but the Kennedy Space Center tour in port Canaveral is pretty great, if you're into that kind of stuff. We have done it twice and are doing it again in November!

last couple of times we have gone, its been underwhelming.

still on our Oasis itin for February. Can't imagine we end up there, but its still on...

no. its a weird set up, not a fan of this ship.

I'd second south beach. It was pretty quiet the last time we were there even with Wonder and some other smaller ship in at the same time. Obviously more options the earlier you go, but it never got over busy. Loved the palapa bar out in the water and plentiful food and other bar options close.

I like the old Spirit class. They have a good layout, and offer some interesting Itins.

I have it, use it just for CCL expenses. So, its fine.

They have prime games, cant remember if they have them in the room but definitely watched in the sports bars, etc.

About 90% of the time ours are 7 day in Balconies. Sometimes Suites are not much more. But short cruises are not for us.

I guess modest is a relative term, but we did MSC World Europe in November out of Barcelona for a Med cruise. It's the 8th largest ship in the world only behind the big RCL ships, and its not far behind even then. Many similarities to Oasis RCL class. Megaships will be all over the Med sooner than later. I was also impressed with a ship that size easily navigating in ports like Malta and Genoa which can be a bit tight. Never felt packed and the metropolitan ports handled the volume of passengers well.

Well said.

I totally agree. Loyalty programs dont, and never have, been a factor in our cruise planning.

People will certainly age, but if in 25 years those people who loved the big ships when they were 40 suddenly going to hate them when they're 65? Maybe. Maybe I will too. But once you're used to certainly levels of amenities/activities I'd be more in line to think they'll be more apt to continue to cruise on the large ships. Of course, the 'large ships' of today may be the small ships of tomorrow. THAT's what I'd expect more than anything. In 25 years I'll probably be complaining about how I dont want to go on the 400,000 ton new ships, and stay with the older 220,000 ton ships of yesteryear that I love...

Not sure how we got into age demographics so deep, but I feel it comes down to this. Older people generally like smaller ships, likely because they are less crazy and have less people. Younger people, including people with kids in their 40's, like myself, prefer larger ships with more things to do. That demographic will continue to rise, as older folks cruise less do to age/etc. Its a ever diminishing demographic. Cruise lines all across the board, including CCL, are building ever larger and wilder large ships. They're doing it for a reason. Proof is in the puddin'.

It's younger than you think, and just going to get younger.

I think that demographic will change with time as many 30-40-50 year olds who cruise with their kids.....if they kids love it as much as we do, and continue to want to cruise, hit those younger tiers, the runway for 'new' adult cruisers will increase.