Honolulu Blue

I HAVE gotten state discounts before, but not on Celebrity. Nothing so far with age discounts.

My view is that it won't come in the next 3 years or more. They still have a bunch of debt and the shareholders would generally rather they paid most of that off instead of receiving dividends.

I'm glad you're enjoying the Emerald and that the WiFi is good. I'll be cruising on her in 5 1/2 weeks and have prepaid for the Net. And thanks for the show list. A couple of them sound intriguing. I hope they last until I board. Thanks again and I hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise. Keep us updated!

Thanks!

Did they say which stop they were going to in the DR? I know of at least three - two in the north serving the Puerto Plata area and La Romana in the south.

I've seen some YouTube videos by current/former cruise ship crew (I know, I know...) and this is what I take from them when they discuss this subject: Some crew are requested to go on a new ship because the cruise line wants experienced staff on their newest ships. These staff are allowed to accept or decline. Some crew want to go on the newest ship for whatever reason; the more senior they are, the more likely they'll get what they want.

On my last "regular" cruise on the Millie in November 2022, I had a good experience with some of the entertainment. We had the show Boogie Wonderland and guest singer Kristina Wells singing the diva hits of the 1970s. I guess I like at least some of the music from the 70s. 🙂 I, like you and some of the other posters here, most enjoy the music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. In order to scratch that itch more thoroughly than on regular cruises, I often take music themed cruises with music from those decades. In fact, I'll have music from the 70s, 80s, and 90s on three separate cruises within six weeks of each other early next year. This has been an interesting discussion. Following. I'll go back to lurk mode now.

Thank you for your kind words. I'm glad to be of assistance. Extra brownie points are always good - especially on Judgment Day. 👼😈

In Jazz Cruises' latest newsletter, I noticed a couple of items of interest that may be of interest to some of you. First, Jazz Cruises and their office will be closed July 4-14 this year. Their sites will be up, and they promise to answer their e-mails during this time - if slowly. Second, the Botti at Sea main headliners were announced for each day of that cruise in February. Since I'm not too busy and I could use the brownie points with you guys, here's a listing of them: Night 1 - Chris Botti & his band Night 2 - David Foster & Katharine McPhee Night 3 - Kool & the Gang Night 4 - esperanza spalding Night 5 - Diana Krall Night 6 - Super Bowl Sunday Night 7 - Kamasi Washington I find lists like this incredibly helpful in planning out my days and nights onboard my chosen music cruises. This is the first time I've heard of a performer list by night being announced this far out, though I have heard some hints about the main performer on one of our nights on one of my cruises.

The Magic had a library as of November. I don't think it's been modified significantly as of this date, but you never know.

Thanks for the notes. That reminds me that I need to order the Kindle version of Mr. McDonald's book so I can actually read it sometime soon. I've been busy with other things, so I've let it go by the wayside. I'm sure he's lived an interesting life.

I wonder too. Please keep us posted. 🙏

I have a question about what I highlighted above. First the question... did you mean the January 2025 cruise instead of 2026? I see they're only selling '25 currently on their site. It would be quite unusual for a cruise like this to sell bookings nearly 2 years in advance.

Thanks for sharing your experience and the link. It sounds like they're a lively, interesting bunch. The music they like is a decade or two older than my preference, but that's all right. The most interesting thing that I saw as I went surfing on their site is the fact that they do passenger matching for those who are traveling solo and want to save $$$. They even have a guarantee - if they can't match you up, you'll get the cabin without the single tax. Nice if you can get it. 🙂

My room service experiences have steadily gotten worse as the ships have filled after the restart. On the Regal in December '21, I ordered several times with all but one delivery within 12 minutes. That ship had under 1000 passengers. On the Majestic in April '22, my deliveries were done in 20 to 30 minutes. On the Ruby, my first delivery was 45 minutes, and the second I cancelled after 90 minutes. 😯 On other cruise lines, I expect and mostly receive RS to the cabin in 30 minutes or so. Anything beyond 45 minutes starts to irritate me. I try not to take it out on the delivery person; it's not their fault. 👹

I know the group that has all those charters, four straight weeks of them on the same ship. They're all full charters.

I've done one cruise on HAL about 5 years ago on one of their oldest ships (which they no longer own). It was all right, but for some reason I don't remember a lot of details about it. I'm sure others here will have more constructive comments on them. I've done three Princess cruises in the past three years, have another scheduled in 6 weeks, and two more in late 2025. I'll go through your questions for my experiences on Princess. Keep in mind that this is only one person's experience. The food in the buffet and room service were of good quality and there was usually a good selection. I've never tried the MDR on Princess, so I'll defer to others for details on that. The entertainment on the 80s themed Princess cruises was great! I'm a child of the 80s and I thought they did a really good job of theming with background, trivia, entertainment, etc. Alas, there are no cruises on the current schedule with that theme. I hold out hope, but it's fading. ☹️ The entertainment on the other Princess cruise I was on seemed to be aimed at people who are older than I am. I think your parents will like it more than you or me, but YMMV. As for other activities, they have most of the standard stuff that other cruise lines feature. Here's a newsletter from my non-themed cruise that seems representative, but YMMV. All in all, Princess is a perfectly fine cruise line that should serve you well. Enjoy your cruise!

A couple of notes: 1. I wonder if you're local to New England or Canada's east coast. I have found that people in their local area tend to underrate how interesting their areas are. I'm doing this route (though not these ports) in a few weeks and I'm looking forward to it. I think it'll be interesting, if not romantic. IIRC, Princess in the Love Boat era just had a couple of ships. I know they did the Mexican Riviera and Pacific Coastals, but where else did they go in the 70s and 80s? I'm sure the Princess veterans and LB fans will enlighten me. Pretty please? 🙂 2. I think the VIP package is designed so that super fans can get close access to their favorites from back in the day without disturbing the riffraff too much. I appreciate your respect for Ms. Whelan, and I imagine she would have too.

OK, I'll keep you updated here when I get some news, but you might as well sign up for their mailing list on their homepage. That's all I've done so far. BTW, the OBTC's date is also close to the Super Legends Cruise, which reduces my interest in it. But they COULD round up a nice lineup that would force me to spend the $$$ on it. We'll see. P.S. Except for the McDonald LaBelle Cruise, all the music charters I've been on have had several artists that weren't of interest to me. Obviously, it didn't stop me from booking them. I'm perfectly willing to let others have their fun, as long as they let me have my fun in my own way. 😛

Thank you, OP, for bringing this to our attention. At the risk of raising the ire of the hard-hearted cynics and people who flat out don't care about such things, this transaction and its announcement does intrigue me. Most of what intrigues me are the answers to the questions that I'll never hear (mostly because they're none of my business), such as: How far up did the approval process, if any, go? Maybe LHB and Jason got their notice at the same time we did, but somehow I doubt it. Does this mean that these pieces will be introduced on her ship when she returns to active duty? Or will they be introduced on ships Celebrity-wide sometime? Did Captain Kate get an endorsement fee, does she get commissions, or both? My cynical nature refuses to believe she did this totally out of the kindness of her heart. 😍🤑 Will we be seeing other captains on X following up with similar deals? It's hard to imagine Captain Pierre hawking jewelry, but who knows? I'm glad that Kate found a side hustle that works for her, and I hope that it benefits both sides. Maybe it will even benefit Celebrity somehow; that would be even better. Back to lurk mode.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing. I've never had a balance to refund, so I don't have any insight there. I wonder which I would prefer - the check or the GC refund. I suppose if I had only one or two cards to keep track of, or if Carnival sends a new card for the balance, then a refund there would be fine. But I think it's a PITA to have to keep records of multiple GCs in case Carnival chooses to refund one of their choice, as I've found out when this happened to me on another cruise line (long story). Then again, a loose check is also a PITA these days - especially when you don't know when it will arrive. I just wish Carnival would stick with one policy and communicate it to its guests.

On the Blue Cruise has announced that they're going to do something a little different with their 2025 cruise. It will be August 22-29 on the Norwegian Gem. It'll sail round trip out of Boston and head to Canada and New England. Funnily enough, I have a Canada-New England cruise in a couple of months. It's not a charter cruise, a themed cruise, or a music cruise, and it's not on NCL. This is the first music cruise that I've heard about that's going to that region of the world. It's also an unusual time for a charter; most are between October and April. The last On the Blue Cruise was in April. They expect to make an announcement in mid-July with more details - including the exact itinerary and some of the performers. OTBC has been one of the cruises I've been following even though I haven't booked it yet. I'm unlikely to pull the trigger on this one, but it's not out of the realm of possibility. If something happens with this, I'll let you know.

From my cruise on the Magic last November:

OP, thank you for posting this. I didn't know until now that the first, embarkation day, singles meet was hosted. I thought hosted solo gatherings were exclusive to NCL. It might be worth a second look the next time I'm on X.

I'm not sure I'd like to be called by name on a cruise ship, unless there was a specific need for it (e.g., I lost something & GS somehow found it). I think there's some value in the anonymity that mainstream cruises and cruise lines (like Carnival) provide. Obviously, others think differently.