Vexorg

I have no idea what triggers this, I think I gambled something like $20 on my last cruise and got a discounted casino cruise offer at some point. Couldn't take it though, timing didn't work out.

This pool is not age restricted. The Lotus Spa pool generally is though.

It doesn't happen very often, but note that there also times where the laundry rooms may be closed if the ship is in protected waters (Glacier Bay in Alaska for example.)

Neither me or my wife drink, and when I did the calculations on Princess Plus I found that with the tips for an inside cabin ($14.50 each per day), non-alcoholic drink package ($11.80 per day) and sharing a 4 device Internet package ($10 per day with Platinum/Elite discount, comes out to $5 each) we would be at around $31.30 each per day, compared to $50 per day for the Plus package. That said, I'm also Elite so I could replace the minibar with sodas and water, and I suspect between that and occasionally ordering drinks ala carte we'd probably spend less than that anyway.

Princess is planning to sail the Diamond Princess out of San Diego this Winter, but cruises through the middle of November have already been cancelled due to lack of crew so it's a bit up in the air right now.

Generally, more ethnic dishes (especially ones from where the chefs come from) would be nice to see. I remember on one of my cruises a few years back they had Nasi Goreng (an Indonesian rice dish) on the MDR lunch menu one day, and it was very good.

Indeed there is a need to add minerals to the distilled water in the system because if the water is too "clean" it will tend to try to strip the minerals and trace elements it lacks out of whatever it can find, which would typically be the pipes or storage tanks. This can damage the system and cause much bigger problems than bland water.

I don't know about this particular location, but I do know cabin stewards tend to have quarters in the general vicinity of the area they work in, so it's entirely possible.

I suspect the cruise lines wouldn't cancel stops in Ensenada unless they had at least one other Mexican port on the itinerary, because a lot of itineraries have it as their only foreign port stop and skipping it would result in PVSA violations.

If you want to see what other ships may be in port when you are there check cruisetimetables.com for the days you will be there. Unless there are a large number of ships in port it is unlikely you would need to tender at either of these ports.

If you're talking about Cabo San Lucas, the Glass Factory is about 3KM (or a bit less than 2 miles) from the dock if you walk. Google Maps says it's about a 36 minute walk.

Someone on the roll call thread for our upcoming Sapphire Princess cruise posted a link to this article, published yesterday: https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/28069-princess-restart-update-remaining-ships-to-resume-service-by-november.html Not sure where they're getting their info, but the article does state that Sapphire Princess is on track to go back into service on September 24th as scheduled, and Diamond Princess on November 20th. Another article on the site says that for Carnival booking activity has increased significantly since the relaxing of testing and vaccination requirements, and bookings through the end of 2022 are "solid".

They weren't on the menu on the last cruise I went on, but the spring rolls with peanut sauce were usually on the embarkation day dinner menu, and one of my favorite items. The Goat Cheese Souffle is another winner, and it's a simple one but I've always liked the Double Beef Consommé with bits of puff pastry floating in it.

Up until only a few years ago blackcurrant was actually illegal in the US (it can carry diseases that dangerous to native pine species, although resistant varieties are now available) and may still be illegal in some states.

The option was available on the Caribbean Princess cruise I took in December 2021. In fact if you really want to, you can order Crown Grill or Sabatini's items (during the times those restaurants are open) through OceanNow and get them delivered anywhere on the ship. I recall that the prices were similar to Crown Grill prices.

A persona used by a member of the cruise staff (not sure if she's under the cruise director's staff or casino department) primarily for hosting the bingo games on the ship, but apparently used elsewhere as well.

Depending on what the parking costs a one-way car rental might be an option to consider. We have done a one-way rental from YVR to Sea-Tac before to get back from a cruise and I recall the price wasn't too bad, and Budget and Alamo/National have locations only a few blocks away from Bell Street Pier so you could drop off luggage, drop off the car and then walk over. That said, car rentals are rather expensive right now, so it might not be a cost effective option.

I've been on a slightly different version of your second option before (same itinerary except that it had Aruba instead of Curacao) and although I quite enjoy the ABC Islands, I'd probably pick a different itinerary to go to some different islands if I did it again, and would probably do a cruise that specifically went to the ABC Islands to go there. That said, Dominica and Grenada tend to be less touristy destinations (as is Bonaire), and Dominica in particular is rather mountainous with a lot of wilderness, so the focus there seems to be on things like hikes, snorkeling (Champagne Beach was interesting) and other similar things. Grenada was a "go walk around town" port, don't recall a lot of details about that one though. I also went on a cruise recently that was supposed to stop in St. Kitts but missed the port due to high seas. Out of the three choices I'd probably choose the third, but I've only been to St. Maarten once and I'd like to go back to go see Maho Beach.

The PVSA (and related Jones Act for cargo vessels) are a form of what's known as a cabotage law, which is a type of law that grants a country the right to control who can transport goods and/or passengers within their borders, Generally the US prohibits non-US carriers from flying between domestic routes or shipping between domestic ports, although in some cases permissions can be granted. For example, when all other carriers ceased operations in American Samoa Polynesian Airlines (based in Samoa) was temporarily granted the right to operate inter-island flights in American Samoa. There are also some international cases where a country grants rights to a foreign airline; generally airlines based within EU member states are allowed to operate domestic service in EU member countries, and there is a reciprocal agreement where Singapore-based airlines can fly domestic routes in the UK, and UK-based airlines can operate flights to anywhere from Singapore.

The main reason that PVSA remains relevant today is the fact that it applies to airlines as well as ships, so it prevents foreign airlines from offering domestic flights within the US. Compared to that cruise ships are a bit of an edge case.

As of right now the October 23rd Sapphire Princess cruise (10 night Baja Peninsula/Sea of Cortez) still has availability in most categories.

It's not completely indoors, but most of the main pool area on the Lido deck is covered by the Sun Deck above it, and there's plenty of windows to go around up there. That's usually where we are hanging out while the ship is at sea. It's usually not hard to find a lounger and move it over to face the windows.

Embarkation can be on any one of decks 5 6 or 7, but it's pretty much always at midship in the Piazza area

You might be able to get a more recent answer on the West Coast Departures board, but I do recall the last time I disembarked at Canada Place there was luggage storage available after disembarking.

My wife and I are booked for the October 23rd Sapphire Princess cruise which I'm hoping will go as planned, but it sounds like we might want to have a plan B just in case they start cancelling those too.