FiremedicMike151

I'm about to pull the trigger on a 1-way Panama City to Ft Lauderdale cruise for 2025. We generally fly in the day before the cruise, so we'd be staying 1 night in Panama City. I really don't know anything about the political/criminal climate there.. Are we safe there if we're just planning on airport to hotel, dinner close, then bed and off to port..

Okay that's perfect, thanks

The eastbound cruise is primarily northbound once you get past the locks, seems like port would be the better option there for sunsets

Hey I just wanted to clarify something, you mentioned that I should be port for westbound and starboard for eastbound. Why is that? If I'm port for eastbound, I'd be facing land once we get out of the canal, wouldn't that be preferable?

The one I'm looking at is a westbound on Norwegian Jade.. How do I know if it's taking the old locks or new?

A Panama Canal cruise is on our bucket list and I'm currently looking at one in 2025. We only ever cruise balconies and did splurge for an aft balcony on our Alaska cruise. The premium for the aft balcony is about 25-30% higher, I'm just curious if you all found it to be a worthwhile upgrade? Thanks!

We splurged for an aft balcony after numerous people suggested it. While we didn’t spend a ton of time out there due to weather (it rained nearly half our cruise), it was worth it to be able to see without worrying about which side of the ship we were on.

Our Alaskan cruise was in October and the rail was running. If you or your partner are at all into nature hikes, I highly recommend the rail excursion with hike. The train stops midway up the mountain and you get off and head for a trail in the woods that will eventually lead to a glacier. The only awkward thing about this excursion is that the train will drop you off at 0900ish and come and pick you back up, either at 1100hrs or 1600hrs. The 1100 pick-up time is nowhere near long enough to get through the woods to see the glacier, and the 1600 pickup time was so much later that we turned around and went back. So pack food, pack some toilet paper, pack some water, and go for it. The scenery on this hike (even if you only do the 1100 pickup) is absolutely unmatched. I have pictures on my phone that I took myself which could be in national geographic..

Sorry, it’s been a minute before i could return to this post. I’m undecided on 1 day before vs 2 days before the cruise. That said, the “paid” touristy things have gotten so expensive in this country and my wife and are both perfectly happy with just wandering around and looking at the sights.. So I’m guessing from the above descriptions, Santa Monica may be better. That said, I think I could be talked into one of those tour busses that takes us around the city. One thing I would LOVE is to find a good live music bar. We are big music people (I love 90s grunge/alternative) and would love to find a top tier live music place..

We’ll be sailing out of LA in October and would like to know where to stay. Would prefer to be closer to the port but if there’s a “must stay at” then that’s fine. We’ll be flying in 1-2 days early and want to sight see a little. we accidentally waited until last minute sailing out of Seattle this past year and ended up far from both the port and from anything fun and ended up paying a fortune in Uber fees.. thanks!

We just sailed Alaska on the solstice last week and would not do it again, primarily for the food options. If you’re planning on doing specialty dining and/or suite, then you’ll probably be fine, otherwise 7 days was a long time to hit the MDR/buffet every day. We definitely want to do Alaska again, but it won’t be on the solstice. Nice clean ship with a friendly crew, but the lack of food options killed it for us.

Where does one go to sell their passport for $40,000… asking for a friend.. 😂

Misfire

double

It was the first time I'd seen/had Eagle Rare in probably 15 years. When they told me it was only a $3 up charge per drink.. Let's just say my liver told me that I need to take a long break after this cruise was over.. LOL

It was tasty, first time I ever had escargot. That said, it was only 5 tiny pieces, so don't expect to get full on them 🙂

My comment wasn't on old ladies in general, it was referencing the snotty old folks on the boat. And no, it wasn't 1-2 interactions, it was as in your face as the drunk frat boys are on a carnival cruise. And finally, to be clear, people can judge me all they want, that's a problem in THEIR personality, but it does diminish the overall atmosphere/vibe of the ship.

They did on solstice last week, if that helps.

Overall thoughts This was only our second celebrity cruise. The first one was a 4 night retreat we managed to book in the middle of covid, so it was dirt cheap. That was a remarkable experience and we were blown away with the feel of being on a high class ship with excellent service and food. As a non retreat guest this time, this did NOT feel premium in the slightest - and I can't say that strenuously enough. I'm not crossing celebrity off our list, but it's moving down our list for sure. We are going to sail NCL for the first time next year to give it a try, and I'll keep checking celebrity prices and itineraries for anything interesting (we WILL do Alaska again) but yeah.. That's my thoughts.

The "meh" The food was disappointing overall. The buffet was almost the same thing every single day and it generally played out with doing 2 laps around and then deciding to grab something we could tolerate as opposed to finding a "whoa grab that" option. Same way with breakfast, although it was neat to see the "english breafkast" and "indian breakfast" option. At lunch, the mexican bar was decent, the asian was simply terrible, and everything else was just general buffet food. The MDR menu was uninspiring. The appetizers were nearly identical each night with 1-2 changes, same with the entree choices, same with the desert. The food was fine, and warm when it needed to be, but the service was slow. We only ended up there 2, maybe 3 nights, otherwise we roamed to the other VERY limited free food options. Which brings me to my next point, the free options are so limited, and frankly the paid options are too expensive. I've already spent nearly $4,000 to be here, I shouldn't need to spend another $140 for my wife and I to have dinner with our friends in the specialty restaurant. So you have the MDR, the hamburger/hot dog stand on Deck 15 (which was mediocre at best), the buffet (already mentioned) and the spa cafe, which was fine, but same thing every day so it's really a one and done. My last 4 day carnival cruise on a little boat had 2-3 times more free dining options. The crowd. The crowd was a positive and a negative. Rather than dealing with drunk college boys, we dealt with snobby old people who were honestly more irritating than the former. Absolutely condescending, arrogant, etc. This wasn't the entire crowd, mind you, and we met some marvelous people (for the first time ever, my wife and I actually made facebook friends with some folks we spent a lot of time with on the boat), but again, you're just replacing the frat boys with the nasty old ladies who look down on you. Finally, the bar service on deck was pretty bad - very slow.

Quick background, we made gold on carnival, did one RCCL cruise (thought it felt like carnival but more expensive), our last cruise was celebrity retreat on the summit and then this cruise in a regular aft balcony. The good - Alaska was amazing. Seriously. I am a city-boy in a relatively flat mid-west state and was just absolutely blown away by the scenery. We even hiked through a "remote" Alaskan mountainside and it was just an unexplainable experience. We went for an aft-balcony so that we could have a private space to view the inside passage and the channel leading down to the Dawes Glacier and it was worth it even for just those few moments. Ketchikan had a very cool vibe, we enjoyed that port. We really didn't like Juneau - it really just felt like an on-land version of the shop deck on the boat, only dirtier. Skagway is where we did the mountain hike so that was amazing, otherwise Skagway is VERY small so there wasn't much to do. We did have food recommendations from a friend who lived in Alaska for each port and liked two of htem so I'll pass them along - in Ketchikan hit the Alaska Fish House, in Juneau get a fish taco at Deckhand Dave's taco stand. In Skagway we hit the Skagway Brewing Company which was honestly way too expensive for what it was. The burger and beer were fine, but not $80 fine.. Sushi was great, martini bar is always fun, and the cellar bar had an amazing selection including Eagle Rare, which was only $3 over the premium package - so I partook in way too much of that. Casino was clean, crowd was mostly chill - only one angry fella at the blackjack table "why'd you bet that way" garbage, on the $10 no less. I was in awe of the $300 table, occupied by a woman with $30,000 in chips in front of her who was just throwing them around like they were nothing.

Interesting, they were only charging $20 per drink for eagle rare on solstice last week. I drank way too much of that..

Sorry to not post sooner, just rolled into Ketchikan and it’s the first time I’ve been back on Verizon, as cruisecritic won’t load on ship Wi-Fi for some reason. The view has been absolutely amazing. It’s pouring right now but still gorgeous. Glad we didn’t pay for one of the plane excursions, definitely low vis with about 200ft ceilings. So far the solstice has been great! Crew have been extremely friendly and food has been good. Don’t love the fact that they charge so much for the “premium” plates in the MDR but it is what it is. Our only other complaint is the lack of free food choices. You have the MDR, the buffet, and the one little hamburger grill near the pool deck. Side note, for any of you who watch Tacoma FD, Andy (Eugene Cordero) has a doppelgänger that works at the martini bar on solstice, like a dead ringer for him..

We have an aft balcony, non suite, with the premium beverage package. There’s a few beers and some mini Tito’s in our mini fridge… are they free or?

My wife and I are headed out in just a bit to Alaska aboard the solstice in our aft balcony! We've always sailed to warm places, of course my wife is freaking out over the weather even though the temperatures are the same as what they are at home a little later in the fall. This will only be our second X cruise, last one was retreat on solstice, and we’re excited to see the difference. Either way, we’re pretty excited. This 7 day is the longest cruise we’ve taken and the 2nd longest vacation we’ve ever taken. We tend to work extremely hard and then completely disconnect during our few vacations.