Honolulu Blue

Christmas came early this year. 🎅 Here's the story: I got an e-mail from ECP saying that people that had already booked The 80s Cruise (like me!) would be able to book a cabin on The 90s Cruise at 10% off. At first, I grumbled about the unfairness of it all (I had booked both a long, long time ago), but then I spotted the fine print - for those in my situation, they seemed to be offering 10% off the booking I made later. In my case, I booked TEC as soon as it came available in February, which was about 3 months after I booked TNC. Anyway, I e-mailed ECP to see if my interpretation was correct. A couple of hours later, they e-mailed a new bill with about $300 lopped off - 10% of the bill for my TEC cabin. It seems I was correct after all. 😁 This was very nice and very unexpected. Thanks, ECP! I also got an e-mail from ECP's High Seas Rally cruise. That one also had a $250 cabin discount for new bookings. It had a video by Lou Gramm announcing this and other things. There's also a 5% cabin discount plus $250 in OBC for active and retired military for new cabin bookings. Neither offer is combinable with any other. We had a little thunderstorm roll through, which spoils the Christmas feeling. But I'm still feeling pretty good. 🙂

Cute question. If I could choose among the charter cruises from Celebrity, I'd pick this one: I'm sure my buddy @GeorgeC would agree with me. These guys are The LSB Experience, an era-tribute band that happened to be on this year's edition and next year's also. It's a full charter, so having someone else pick up the bills would be a huge financial weight off my shoulders. But enough about that, since I'm sure you didn't mean to include charters. My second choice would be the one you mentioned - the Tahitian Treasures. I actually have plans to go on a very similar cruise later this year on Royal. I'd certainly love to swap out what I have now for Celebrity's version. It would ideally be this year, because I already have other plans for fall 2025. My honorable mention would be a really cheap date for Celebrity, or whomever is funding this - a sailing out of sunny San Juan.

Thanks for sharing that article. As for whether they're staying in Australia, I found this quote from the article you quoted above quite telling (emphasis mine): Duffy said cost was a ‘big headwind’ that helped lead to the decision to absorb the P&O Australia ships, given higher operating and regulatory costs and operating a small brand that can’t move its vessels out of the region. So, if part of the reason why P&O was gobbled up is that they couldn't move their ships, and Carnival is a brand that operates worldwide and moves their ships around quite often, it seems to me that eventually there's going to be some movement by the Australian ships Carnival controls. They won't do it before March 2025, and the ex-P&O ships might stick around for a year or two after that. But I'm convinced there will be some changes there.

From the library on the Magic in November 2023: I didn't actually handle any of the games or try to check them out, so I don't know anything about that. Your mileage may vary. I suggest bringing your own chess board - a cheap one, if your son is willing to put up with its limitations.

When I saw this, I thought, "what am I missing here?" I try to keep up with cruise news like this, but I obviously missed this. Here's an article that covers the news: Carnival Cruise Line to Absorb P&O Australia in 2025 - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News TL,DR: P&O Australia to go the way of Fathom (remember them?), Pacific Encounter and Pacific Adventure will be absorbed by Carnival, Pacific Explorer will "exit the fleet" as @SinbadThePorter noted above. This has some very interesting ramifications. I guess Carnival has a good brand reputation in Australia. That said, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see at least one of the ships currently based in Australia to be pulled out and used elsewhere. Fearless Leader Josh Weinstein hinted as much in the press release quoted by Cruise Industry News in the article above.

I'm sorry you didn't enjoy your Princess cruise. I assume you won't stick around to read this. For me, and the rest of you, here are the reasons why I like Princess and have two cruises booked with them: They had 80s themed cruises that were a lot of fun. There's always a chance they could bring them back. 🙏 The medallions and the app, when they work, do some neat things Three of the best cabin stewards I've had on cruise ships were on Princess They have some good itineraries that are worth cruising The price is right (sometimes)

A couple of details from the latest Weekender: Mr. Lazaroff gave an explanation of why Jazz Cruises uses the Millennium Class Celebrity ships for its cruises - specifically the revolutionized Millennium and Summit. He also explained this in his Q&A on the McDonald LaBelle Cruise also. To summarize those briefly, they like being able to convert the MDR to concert/nightclub use, they like the fact that the main theater can hold at least half the guests in one seating, and they like all the music venues onboard. Celebrity has removed Labadee from certain sailings that include both Smooth Jazz Cruises for 2025. They're meeting with Celebrity to decide on a different port and promise to let us know when they make a decision.

As I half expected, Super Legends Cruise announced a second edition of its 2025 cruise. Same date, same embarkation port, same itinerary, only this time they'll be using the Carnival Radiance. I like Carnival and kind of wish I were on the Radiance instead of Royal's Navigator. They didn't announce a lineup for this edition. The lineup for the 1.0 edition will be tough to top, IMHO. What they MIGHT do is switch around the lineup when we're in Ensenada so that every performer plays on both ships. It'll be very interesting to see how this plays out. I signed up for the pre-sale just in case. If there's anything to report, I'll let you guys know.

I assure you the hosts and TPTB at CC did not ask me to do it. Its purpose is merely to satisfy my curiosity. I do some travel other than cruises. I don't discuss it much because this is a site that's mostly about cruise travel and its issues.

Hi everyone. Are you all ready for another survey? Of course you are! This is a relatively simple one about how many cruises you've completed since the great restart. Please include the ones you're on RIGHT NOW. If you can't see them, the survey choices are zero, one, 2-4, 5-9, and 10+. I guess I'll go first. I did two in '21, four in '22, four in '23, and four so far in '24. I didn't ask, but I have two scheduled for the rest of this year and five or six scheduled so far for 2025 (one is a B2B, so however you count that). Thanks in advance for your replies!

Yeah. 😂 It could be very new, or maybe it's a trial that's used for some passengers and not others. Who knows? I do appreciate the OP and others notifying us about this.

General preference of what I read on the toilet: Newspapers Junk mail Magazines Books Tablets Cell phones

I had a cruise to pay off a few weeks ago that hit the two week mark. I got a reminder by e-mail and paid it off soon after that. I didn't receive a mailed reminder and never have.

I just added another musical adventure. With a helpful post from the main TEC site on FB, I looked up the Abducted by the 80s tour and liked what I saw. They featured a rotating cast of which I will go to see Wang Chung, Men Without Hats, The Motels, and Naked Eyes. MWH never did much for me, but the others I like to a greater or lesser degree. Of course, I just saw Wang Chung on TEC three months ago: I'll be catching these guys on June 8 in Decatur, Illinois. The amphitheater they have there looks and sounds nice, from the info I was able to gather on it from the Web. And they're offering a VIP session after the show, where I get to meet a couple of Chungers and Martha Davis from The Motels. The VIP package offers autographs, pictures, a laminate, and a poster. Not bad. It was $62 for the tickets (either front row or 4th row...surprisingly hard to tell) and $125 for the separate VIP package. The hotel and fuel will be extra. I'll have to decide whether I want to go around Chicago or around Indianapolis on the way there.

While listening to the radio, within a 30 minute period, I heard three very familiar songs that all started with the letter H - "Hold On Loosely" by 38 Special, "Heaven Is a Place On Earth" by Belinda Carlsile, and "Hotel California" by The Eagles. By now I think you know where I'm going with this... I saw 38 Special about 3 months ago on The 80s Cruise and they played it. I fondly remember Belinda from the 2022 edition of The 80s Cruise. She had to play this one, and she did. Tribute band Hotel California closed with this song on Rock & Romance a couple of months ago.

Botti at Sea sent out a special e-mail a few hours ago. I assume all of you who are interested got it, so I'll just quickly summarize what's there: Chris Botti himself will be hosting a webinar called "Botti 250" on June 4 at 3 PM EDT. It will include news about the lineup, special programming on the cruise, and more. Jazz Cruises staff will also be there. On Mr. Botti's summer touring schedule, I notice three stops in our little state. There's also a stop in Shipshewana, IN, which is also close to me. I'm still not interested. Sorry Chris. ☹️

This reminded me of a couple of things... 1) I watched the TV show "Soul Train" in the late 70s when in between songs they had some contestants were called down to find a bunch of scrambled letters and they were supposed to spell out a song and/or musical artist. They always did it so quickly they had time to dance to the next song. I wonder if they had help. 😛 2) It must have been a long time since you've done this with your kids. I think it's a different world now. I can imagine what you'd come back to if you tried this today. 😈

I've been on a few turboprops and (I think) at least one regional jet where some passengers had to move for weight balance reasons, so I understand what you're saying and also the concerns of the excursion company, the cruise line, and their insurers on trips that use flying equipment.

On your latter point, lobster is the one thing I haven't seen in the buffet on any cruise line on any day. So I guess if you want it, you'll have to go to the MDR to get it - and be subject to their dress code. As you've found, it probably won't be that bad. On your first point, I'm a guy who does mostly Caribbean cruises that doesn't pack ANY shoes for them - not even sandals or flip flops. I wear a pair of walking shoes and that's it. I initially didn't think it was unusual, but apparently I'm VERY unusual. 😜 Anyway, good luck with your traveling adventures.

I'm not sure, since this plan is new for Carnival. Here is how I have heard it works on other lines: Devices can be shared among those who have the code of the person ordering the plan, no matter what cabin they're in. One gotcha is that if all four devices are in use and a fifth one tries to log in, this new device gets on and you have no control over what device gets logged off, unless it's done manually just prior.

Thanks for the report on the Berlin concert. It's good to know that they've still got it. I saw them on TEC 2022. I don't think they played Blowin Sky High at our show, which was, IIRC, about an hour and 10 minutes. I was tempted by the Totally Tubular tour, but I decided to pass. I liked the Twins back in the day and I really like The Romantics. Tommy Tutone was on this year's TEC. I didn't go see him. The only concert in recent years I've stood up for is Sheena Easton. I tolerated it because she's Sheena Freaking Easton. I generally prefer a seat when I can get one.

Thank you for the notes on your past and future experiences. I like the VIP experience personally, what I've had of it. It makes it easier to justify a ticket to an artist that I would have to travel some distance for. Have fun with Todd and Chris. Please don't wear out Mr. Cross. He's due on our 80s Cruise next year. 🤪

Last night I attended the Chicago concert at one of our state's Native mega casinos. I went for the VIP experience, which meant great seats, a goodie bag, and a photo with the band. Let's go over the goodie bag. I got a regular poster, a photo/poster, a towel or blanket, a souvenir book, and a tote bag to put everything in. I didn't unwrap the poster or the blanket. The photo was kind of neat. Remember those Cracker Jack prizes with photos with the funny reflective like surface? Or those Kelloggs baseball cards? This photo is similar. The photo book looks nice. I'll have to review it later. The tote bag seemed a little small and a little flimsy. I'm sure it's suitable for ordinary use. The photo experience was interesting. It was basically go in, wait in line, go up on stage, pose with the band, and sit down (or whatever). That was fun. This photo isn't of me, but mine were similar (but much better, even the ones taken on my phone). There was a wait while the arena filled, not completely, and the show began! They had a lot of members playing. I counted nine on stage including three wind instrument players and dual percussionists. It was all very impressive, but I couldn't help being a little underwhelmed. For some reason, the singers weren't very loud. Normally the singers are considerably louder than the instruments. That wasn't the case here. Also, they seemed to reach deep into their catalog of songs. Or maybe they played some of their newer stuff. Either way, it took them a little while to get to the songs I knew and loved. Which they did, though not all of them. Don't tell anyone, but I liked Generation Radio better. 😲 This ends my report on Chicago. My next concert looks to by the NKOTB and friends show in August in Columbus. I'm looking forward to that. I also have a VIP experience there with Paula Abdul. I want that Polaroid!! 😁

Thanks for your comments. As you're aware, I saw the man himself on his cruise last month. I missed almost all of his interview onboard. I'm sure he covered a lot of the same stuff that he'll cover in his book. Speaking of his book, a hardback copy of it came in the mail today. I bought it through PBS. It came autographed, which was nice. It cost a lot less than that cruise. 🤑 The book actually has TWO autographs as Paul Reiser also autographed it. The plan is to put this book into storage with my Stephen Pearcy autographed book and Lou Gramm autographed T-shirt. I'll get another copy on Kindle and read it sometime this summer. P.S. I don't know if his wife accompanied him at this concert. He did have a lot of professional help. @George C, do you happen to see her in this photo?

I was surfing over to the Super Legends Cruise site this morning and got this message: Three weeks, eh? That's pretty good, IMHO. They must be doing something right - besides the lineup, of course. Navigator is a pretty big ship by charter standards.