Honolulu Blue

Carnival Cruise Line does not sail from San Juan anymore. ☹️ My colleagues told that story. However, Carnival Corporation cruise line Princess will be sailing seasonally from San Juan starting late in 2025. We'll have to see how long that lasts.

My expectations for entertainment on my Carnival cruises have always been fairly low - if there's a show or two that sounds entertaining and turns out to be so, that's great. If not, I'll find other things to do.

I've done at least a dozen cruises since the restart (not all on Princess). I've only tested positive for COVID-19 once after a cruise. I suspect I got it last year sometime, but didn't test to confirm it. That one was a long way away from any of my cruises. I suspect I've been a little lucky in this regard and you've been UNlucky. I'm glad all your cases so far have been mild and hope it continues. 🙏 P.S. Thanks everyone for the stories and memories.

I'd pick #1 anywhere, anytime, any day of the week.

College dorm days, good times and good memories. 😀Thanks for the reminder. I won't discuss all the differences between the dorm rooms I've had and the cruise ship cabins I've had, but one is that the rooms shared a bathroom by suite - meaning that our room shared it with one of the rooms next to us. Also fun times - not. 🤐 My cabins have all had at least one bath just for me, and once I even had an additional half bath.

That's on Royal's new ban list, so if Celebrity adopts the list in its entirety, it's at risk of being confiscated.

As others have stated, I'm pretty sure what you pointed out isn't a standard Carnival program for its standard cruises. At least one TA offers this for its specific singles-labeled cruises. They do this for their cruises on several lines, not just Carnival. I've seen this also offered on some full charter cruises. I know HAL used to offer this service on its regular cruises; I'm not sure if they still do. I can't say that I've ever taken advantage of this on any cruise, so I can't say how the details work. I like my space too much to ever do this, probably, but I enjoy hearing about stories of those for whom it has worked out for.

I wouldn't be surprised if he DOES know and that's the audience he wants to serve here. There's certainly demand out there for LGBTQ cruises and clothing-optional cruises. Does the upside-down-pineapple crowd need a cruise just for them? Maybe they do!

Three big announcements from Jazz Cruises' latest newsletter: 1. There will very likely be a third edition of the Smooth Jazz Cruise in 2026. It won't be immediately after the other two. More details are expected to be announced in mid to late October. 2. There will be a new Jazz Cruises cruise in 2026 hosted by Christian McBride. It's scheduled to sail in late January and/or early February. More details will be announced in mid-October. Interested parties can sign up for the newsletter at the cruise site. 3. It looks like the Signature Cruise Experiences subsidiary wants to become another Sixthman without the music cruises (those, I assume, will be covered by the parent company). No SCE corporate site yet, nor specific cruises detailed, but I'm sure we'll get notice of these things in time.

First of all, I need to caution you that the rows blocked off are specific to one specific ship. They will be different based on the ship, and could be different based on several orher factors. That said, I don't think any of the reserved seating is very good. If you want to see the show and don't care about taking pictures, I suggest being as close as you can to the stage as possible (except for the first 4 to 6 rows) and as close to the center as you can get. Picture takers are best served, IMHO, on the upper level and in the middle. A further suggestion that's specific to your group is if you're going to split in to multiple rows to put the taller people in front as much as possible. Us people behind you will thank you. 👍

Hi, I'm back already. I decided to do a new post rather than edit the post above. The pricing page is now active. It's $3600 for a solo guest for their lowest price interior cabins with "obstructed assigned theater seating". That doesn't sound good. It's $200 more for the next level of interior cabins. It's $5600 for a solo interior cabin with the VIP package. Don't forget the $450 in fees. I'm not persuaded. This looks like a pass. Too bad. ☹️

Since this is Tuesday, September 17, the On the Blue Cruise released the details for their 2025 cruise. I'll start with the lineup. It's not on the page as of this writing; I had to get this image off FB. Some personal notes on the lineup; you can go ahead and skip to the last of these bullet points if you're not interested: I was a big fan of Mr. Parsons and his Project back in the day. Less so now, but maybe a little ammonia will bring back the fond memories? Starship, euw. 🤮 I'm not familiar with Leonid or his friends, but Chicago is really good no matter who does it. I saw Generation Radio on Rock & Romance back in March, and the real deal in May. Ambrosia was good with his yacht rock friends on R&R Honeymoon Suite will be on TEC next March. They have two good songs, which puts them on the "maybe" pile. They stand out here more, in both good and not so good ways. Top of the World doing The Carpenters thing, eh? This could be really good. I've enjoyed all the tribute bands on my various cruises over the past 3 years. I have no further comment on any of the other performers, though some of the names are familiar somehow (Dave Mason, Al Stewart, Ricky Nelson Remembered) Sadly, one of the wonky parts of the site is that no prices are available. But some booking details are: Booking starts with those who sailed on the cruise in '24 on September 24 Then those who have booked previous editions of this cruise get their dibs on September 30 And finally, the rest of us get what's left on October 3 There are three levels of VIP packages for those who want priority seating, the priority entrance, merch, etc. Prices of these are baked into the total fares which we aren't allowed to see yet. The pricing section is turning wonky, but I saw a $500 initial deposit at the time of booking, another $900 to be paid by December, then payment of what's left in two even halves before the ship sails. This is for their interior cabins; higher level cabins have different amounts. There's a $450 fee that covers port fees and the "mandatory" gratuities that the listed prices won't include when I can finally see them So... am I going to book this? First of all, I'm going to say that the lineup for the 2025 Rock & Romance Cruise is better than this, IMHO. And it has the bonus of having the wonderful @George C. But that cruise has sold out and if I really wanted to get on, I'd have to scramble for a cabin. I'd rather not do that. OTBC's advantage is that it's away from my other cruises, except the Super Legends one. I don't know. If you twisted my arm and made me answer RIGHT NOW, I'd say no. But maybe they'll take pity on me and give me a huge discount and make me want to come.

One of the reasons I like to cruise is that I worry less about financial transactions when I'm onboard than when I'm at home. The fact that most cruise lines use electronic transactions for almost all items onboard, only billing for the sum total at the end, is helpful. I suggest taking advantage as much as you are willing. My fellow Critics have generally given good advice. Auto transactions are your friends, and most companies and banking institutions make them easy to set up. I suggest doing as many of them as you can before your cruises. I also like to make fewer transactions on fewer cards so you don't have to check your accounts as often, and when a fraudulent transaction does show up, it will stand out like a flare in the darkness. P.S. I've never used a VPN

On my cruise on the Emerald in August, there were three groups of seats that were held for Premier package holders - back row lower level, lower mezzanine level left side, and upper level left side. You can see each area in these pictures:

As I did some random surfing, I found a cruise opportunity of interest to me. NCL revealed that they will have a Prince tribute show exclusively on this ship. You guys know I love me some Prince, so this is definitely a draw. In addition, there will be a Price Is Right LIVE on the ship and a Fleetwood Mac tribute show. More draws. It will be sailing out of Miami from October 2025 through April 2026. The prices aren't terrible, but they might zoom up at any time. The biggest problem is what date to pick. I already have cruises booked for October and December, and I'd like to make space for TNC (late January or early February), the UDC (mid to late February), and TEC (late February or early March). That doesn't leave much time available. But I'd like to work something out. I'll let you all know if and when I do.

Sad news... 2022 UDC veteran Tito Jackson recently passed away. He and his brothers have never been shy about embracing disco. Slowly but surely, the original Jackson 5 are getting back together.

Thanks for sharing this. I'm sorry about your experience. I hope the gang at Royal make it up to you somehow. If you feel us worthy, could you please update us about what happens? Thank you!

As an aside that I'll ask here rather than starting its own thread... is there a minimum age for a minor to disembark WITHOUT their parents nearby and WITHOUT an excursion on Princess? It's not something I've had apply on any of my cruises, so I haven't looked it up. Thanks in advance.

I received an e-mail about the 2025 On the Blue Cruise. You may recall that it's scheduled to go up to New England and Canada from Boston in August on the NCL Gem. With that established, here's the new stuff: More details about this cruise will be posted on their website Tuesday afternoon, September 17 The initial lineup will also be announced at that time The itinerary looks very familiar. The cruise I went on last month went to the same ports in the same order, except we subbed a stop on Prince Edward Island for their stop in New Brunswick Booking won't be available on Tuesday; instead, bookings will be available by priority groups. First priority will be given to those that went on the 2024 OTBC, then to everyone else. These guys have had some interesting lineups through the years. Will this one be enough to get me on the ship? Who knows?? All I can promise is that I'll keep you updated.

From today's newsletter: This is intriguing to me on at least two levels. First, is our fearless leader Michael L. getting back into the luxury music cruise business? Or will they not be so luxurious, but away from the jazz core? And second, there's apparently ANOTHER jazz cruise program coming. I assume it's not going to be another one-off like the McDonald LaBelle Cruise, so what's it going to be? What branch of jazz are they aiming at? When will it be and where will it go? Stay tuned. This could be fun. 🙂

From John Heald's FB page: Carnival Valor and Hurricane Francine Update Last night our Chief Communications Officer Chris and his team sent this latest update: -------------- Dear Carnival Valor Guests, Good news! Port officials have cleared the ship to proceed into New Orleans for arrival early tomorrow morning, Friday, September 13, 2024. As communicated earlier, embarkation for your cruise will take place tomorrow, Friday, September 13, 2024. Please make plans to get to the cruise terminal for check-in within your pre-selected Terminal Arrival Appointment. All guests must be on board by 2:00 PM (CT) for departure shortly thereafter. Although our voyage plan has changed, Captain Giuseppe and the rest of the Carnival Valor team are eager to welcome you aboard for a fun and memorable weekend cruise."

Thanks for the detail. Sometimes I have too much of a mainstream cruise line perspective. What's not worth it for them could well be entirely worth it for the smaller, more luxurious lines. P.S. I agree entirely with your last line.

Your wish has come true today - in my e-mail is the link to the JoJ shore excursions at Excursions - The Journey of Jazz - 2025 . The links and text are a little too spread out for me to put here, but one interesting thing I saw is that each of the excursions have a maximum guest capacity. I rarely see that on my regular cruises, only when it's either down to the last few spots open or there was never that much room. Another interesting thing is that the price for the on land concerts includes transportation to and from the ship. These items aren't ready to be booked yet; that will come in a few more weeks. Enjoy!

I wasn't thinking of the crowds as being the impractical part of this. It's partly that it would be tough for me to see how they could get the word out for such a thing. I think I recall seminars like this in the travel section of my local newspapers. Of course, paper newspapers barely exist anymore, so I would imagine the second best advertisement source is the TAs themselves, by whatever method they choose to get the word out. The number of travel agents have been in decline for a long time, though the cruise lines have been the one travel segment to prop them up. Also, it's hard for me to imagine more than a few cruise line reps these days being trained and sent out to all these cities and all these seminars just to drum up a little support and maybe take a few orders. But then again, you and @jlawrence01 have helped me to see the light. 🌞 I'll have to seek out and try to find mentions of such seminars.

I'm curious, when was this? It sounds like something that was done, say, 20 years ago, but can't happen now.