crazycatlady82

I just talked to my PCC and she confirms it is sold out!

I’m on the Epic TA next month and it is either sold out or almost sold out. Hoping that it’s mostly solos-occupancy wikk be lower than 🙂

We picked up a car for a day at York car rental which is off site. DO NOT RENT A CAR THERE. It was absolutely ridiculous all the fees, and I had to buy their insurance, otherwise it was a $2000 deposit. For a day. Also, they gave me the wrong size of a car, which I had prepaid for…but nothing they could do. They were rude and I will never do off site again.

It really depends on the ship and cruise. For instance, when we were pricing out a Christmas 2024 cruise, the 7 day inside room with drink package on NCL Escape rolled into the fare was cheaper than the 5 day carnival freedom cruise with no drink package. My transatlantic on the Epic next month was $699 for 12 days in a solo cabin. However, I’ve gotten some good carnival deals but at this point, they’re hard to find due to the popularity of cruising.

If location didn't matter, I'd say solo inside for the bigger room. However, I echo others saying look at the location. If you are a night owl, being under the theater or other space like that may not matter. I do like the studios--but it depends on what is important to you.

We sailed the Miracle in August to Alaska. We had the premium package, as I do telehealth. For the most part, it worked well for video calls. There were times that I knew I would have no signal, like going through the Fjord, so I made sure to schedule around that. I had one client remark that it was better than my home internet, ha! I’d encourage you to check out the ports/route to see if there would be any dead spots though!

I don’t know if you’re set on carnival, but I agree, that is high, especially if you’re a solo cruiser. I’d encourage you to check out Norwegian’s TA’s. I recently paid $499 a person for my upcoming TA in April (plus, several perks like a specialty dining meal included).

The NCL Aqua will be doing a TA and their inaugural sailing in March 2025. Not much is known about the ship at this point but should have a lot of the bells and whistles.

I was on the Epic April 2023 and the food was pretty good. I don't think I had one issue with a meal throughout the 8 day cruise. However, we were recently on the Sky, and yes, while it is a smaller ship, the food wasn't that great. The meals in the dining room were frequently lukewarm, the buffet was awful, and Cagneys was again, a disappointment. Both on the Star and the Sky, Cagneys was disappointing. Like OP, I didn't gain any weight on the Sky (but that might have been due to the stomach bug or food poisoning that I ended up having).

We cruised last August on the Miracle out of SF. We had a great time! We didn't travel with kids so we can't speak to that...We really enjoyed the Steakhouse and the Sky Box bar. One thing we noticed was that during the day, only one bar seemed to be open on the Lido deck. The buffet was just meh, but the dining room was good. The coffee shop was always busy but a great spot for indoor sight seeing was next to the coffee shop. The game room/library was always full!

I’ve been wondering the rhyme and reason behind them! We didn’t receive luggage tags for our July 2022 cruise (club balcony suite), but I received them in April 2023 for a solo cruise on the Epic (studio). Cruising next week on the Sky, and we have not received them either.

Haha, thanks! We had no idea it was going to be in dry dock..I try to avoid the first sailing afterwards but here we are lol. The ship is also sold out, so let's see how this goes...either way, we will have a good time! Away from work and have the drink package 🙂

I’ve been wondering the same! We’re cruising on her this Sunday, January 21.

Prices have definitely risen on all cruise lines. We decided to take a Christmas cruise in 2024 due to how Christmas 2023 went and compared prices across NCL, Carnival, Princess and Celebrity. NCL was the cheapest 7 day, and some of Carnival’s 5 days were more expensive than the 7 day. There are deals to be had out there though, but it takes monitoring and flexibility.

Yes, we really enjoyed that restaurant on the Star! There is something similar (same menu but might be different name) on the Epic.