cruise_co

We keep getting emails from the Private Journeys team urging us to purchase a cabana. Now, this person is not very smart, as he is including how many cabanas are still available. If you look, there are still 20 overwater cabanas available. Since there are only 20 cabanas and not a single one has sold yet, why in the world would I pay them the going price when it seems there will be a fire sale eventually. Beach cabana is $1,999. There are 10 left of those.

We were on a star bridge tour on Harmony in December and someone asked. The officer doing the tour said he was going to Utopia. Take it for what it is worth.

We are staying for the second time at the Intercontinental. It is a short walk to the Bayside market place with quite a few restaurants, including some of the larger chains like Bubba Gumps and Margaritaville. The metro mover station is also right out the door if you want to go into Brickell. You can't beat the proximity to the port.

I mentioned GeoBlue because the policies we have purchased do not have pre-existing condition limitations. It takes the place of the medical part of cruise insurance. And it is quite affordable. My advantage plan does not have a lifetime cap.

I have some pre-existing conditions so we buy a cheap, bare bones cruise policy from insuremytrip.com with a low medical and then supplement with a policy from GeoBlue and we have a yearly medjet subscription. My medicare advantage plan also covers out of country emergency medical, so we are probably over covered.

We sail Utopia in January 2025. I just booked the Holiday Inn Vacation Club. It is so close, directly across the street from the Carnival terminal, the pool is fantastic and we love that it is on the beach. Last cruise from PC we watched our ship come in and turn the corner into the channel while sipping coffee on our deck. It added to the excitement of knowing we will soon be boarding.

I think people were arguing that one of the older ships with less appeal for kids would be more believable.

Even more proof the guy was BSing us. Unless they think they can resolve this before Icon sails.

Just got off Harmony today. It was a great cruise with some barely believable rumors. We did Chef's table during the week and our host was very into talking about the future of the Galveston port between courses. Now let me emphasize, I personally think he was BSing us. 1) this is probably already common knowledge but supposedly the next Oasis Class going to Galveston is Utopia. He said she will finish her 5 months in the Caribbean and head over. 2) Right now Galveston cannot host an Icon class because Cozumel has said no to an Icon class. However, they are in talks. 3) Most interestingly, and adamantly, he said Royal will have an adults only ship in Galveston to compete with Virgin. And he said the ship would be.....Utopia 😂. When questioned by disbelieving diners and arguing that the ship is built for kids, he didn't waiver. She would finish her 5 months in the Caribbean and then head over to Galveston to become an adults only ship. (Yeah right) Anyway, just for your amusement and apparently the RC crew thinks we are pretty gullible. That said, when I questioned other staff, they would not confirm nor deny the info.

For our next cruise next year, the beach club beach cabana and the Hideout cabana are only $100 apart with the beach club at $1,999 and the Hideout cabana at $1,899. Beach club for the win on that one. If we get a cabana, we do it for the tranquility and semi-privacy. I would not be willing to pay almost the same amount for someone to be swimming directly in front of our cabana in the pool. The general entry fees however are much different with Beach club being substantially higher at $239 vs 43.99. We did purchase Hideaway beach just to check it out. If we hate it, we can grab a slice of pizza and leave and not be out a big chunk of money.

Yup, she is on the webcam

Forgive my ignorance, but if vessels are supposed to arrange departure immediately at code Yankee, what does that mean for Oasis sitting there? Are they calling back all the passengers that might have ventured out to Orlando?

Was this the full All Access tour? We had checked with Guest Services the day before and they told us shorts were fine. When we got to the meeting space, the tour guide sent our son back to change when he was in shorts. They told us it was a hygiene and safety thing and was mandatory, no exceptions. We have been on 2 All Access Tours, one on Oasis pre-covid and just recently (May) on Harmony. Both were much, much stricter about the closed toe shoes and long pants than the MDR is.

I agree, you never know who is on board with you. I never really thought about it until I watched the pervert being arrested this past May as we were waiting on the dock to get back on the ship. They had found his installed cameras in the public bathroom in back by the flowrider where it was a popular changing room. Over 150 people with over 40 children in various states of undress, including naked, were captured. While that is violating enough, you could say it was lucky he was only after pictures and not taking little kids back to his cabin. I am glad my children are adults now.

We always try to book on release date as it seems to have the best prices. For instance, we are sailing Star Class on Harmony this winter and we have both spacious Aqua Theater Suites with 2 people in each. They were $7744 each, so $3872 per person. The Crown Loft is the cheapest sky class available right now and that is currently $4,655 per person ($9,577 total) and that doesn't include the gratuities, DBP, and UDP that is included in Star class. I honestly think there was a glitch in the first hours of release because the A1 was priced less than the A2s and the priced the same same as the Crown Lofts. I sat there a second and stared at it in disbelief thinking it couldn't be true. Then quickly booked it.