Honolulu Blue

Thanks for this. I'll be visiting some of these ports on my Canada-New England cruise on the Emerald in August. It's good to know what's available to do. 👍

I don't have a lot to say, but I want to note that I've done BOTH the Riv (March '23) and the Coastal (April '22). Both were enjoyable in their own ways. IIRC, we had plenty of sun for both. But I was surprised by how cool the temperatures were, especially north of Ensenada.

I didn't see this announced anywhere on this board. Apologies for any duplication. After their successful themed cruise in October 2022, Princess is doing it again. Here's the link to the press release: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/princess-cruises-announces-the-love-boat-themed-cruise-with-iconic-original-cast-302056377.html It's too long for me to quote here, but here's a TL,DR: * It's on the Enchanted Princess out of NYC * Sail dates are August 31 - September 7, 2024 * Canada and New England itinerary * Attending will be Jill Whelan, Bernie Kopell, Fred Grandy, Ted Lange, and Ezra Freeman (from The Real Love Boat) * Direct quote: Highly anticipated Love Boat-themed activities, include: Sailaway party introducing the cast Meet-and-greet photo and signing opportunities The Love Boat-inspired guest activities with prizes Cocktail demonstration hosted by Ezra Freeman and Ted Lange – practice the finger point! Symbolic renewal of vows ceremony, officiated by the cast, with commemorative certificate Cast Q&As sharing favorite memories of the show and stories of their careers The Love Boat episodes airing on Movies Under the Stars and in staterooms The Love Boat trivia with the Cruise Director The Love Boat inspired menus and specialty cocktails Themed décor, photo backdrops and merchandise * Another direct quote: Super fans may opt for a special Love Boat VIP Package, featuring an invitation to an exclusive cast cocktail party, reserved seating for the cast Q&A in the Princess Theater, front-of-the-line access for autographs and photos, dinner at the Captain's Table, plus a themed cruise t-shirt and mug. More details on cost and how to book coming soon. Sounds like fun for some of you. You're welcome. 😃

Thanks! There's still some chance I could add the '25 Rock & Romance Cruise to the mix, but a lot depends on things I haven't seen yet. And someone could come out with a killer lineup that would make me pull out my overtaxed credit card yet again... Yeah, I don't think UDC is going to sell out anytime soon, so you might as well wait. Soul Train bookings for 2025 being 96% sold out is very good news for SV, if not for you. ☹️ They seem ripe for a split to a second sailing. It would be interesting to see.

Today was the day bookings opened up for the 2025 edition of The 80s Cruise. I was sent my token on time, I went to the booking site on time, and I booked on time. There were only a couple of complications. First, they offered me the same cabin number that I have on the 2024 cruise and I didn't see any way to change it without canceling my place in line. It's not a huge deal, but I thought I was going to get the chance to choose and I thought being in a slightly different location would be better for me. But it's not a deal breaker and I don't think I'll even bother to change cabins. And second, they still had my old CC number with my old expiration date on file. I thought I got rid of that a few months ago. Well, it's in there now. So, there you go. Three decades of themed cruises in three months (actually less than two) - 90s in January, 70s in February, and 80s in March. It should be a most excellent time. 🙃

So you're part of this trial too, huh? I experienced this on the Dream a couple of weeks ago. I thought it was smooth and worked well.

They did, and it was.

You probably know this but Lamb of God are hosting their own music charter cruise later this year. It's not on Carnival.

Not my type of music, but thank you for sharing this.

That toiletry bag looks familiar, as does the pin - with the ship name changed.

I'm comfortable with that. I know who/what you mean. 👍 On the Dream, we never got any letters like this until the very last day when conditions got SO bad we had to be sent back to our cabins. Hang on. 🙏

This is new. The borrow-able towels on the Carnival cruises I've been on have always been basic blue.

I'm sorry to hear this. I've felt fine since I got home, just to add a counterexample. Get well soon. 🙏

I didn't try Guy's Pig and Anchor on this trip. It's only open on sea days, and only for lunch. My opinion is that I wish they still had their a la carte dinner menu. I had the ribs for dinner on the Horizon back in2019 and enjoyed it.

Because I follow cruise news too closely... I know that Disney prohibits ducks onboard, while Carnival allows it. They're probably not your favorite cruise lines, but it's a start.

I remember this. 🐕

The itinerary was based on ship's time and was always correct. But sometimes ship's time was an hour off of local time.

The one noteworthy item from the latest newsletter, IMHO, is the declaration that both editions of the Smooth Jazz Cruise for 2025 are fully reserved. Color me impressed. 😍

Hello! I'm following along for once. I appreciate your work on the Playlist shows, comedian schedules, and other things. I think you'll enjoy this cruise on the Jubilee. I enjoyed my first-after-the-pandemic cruises on the Magic in November and the Dream last month. For the first time since deep in the pandemic, I don't have any Carnival cruises scheduled. ☹️ They don't go (often) to where I want to go cruising next, and they're not popular with the charter companies that I have been favoring cruises from these days. I have been eyeing a couple of cruises that I may or may not book. They're pricey, by Carnival standards. I have 27 cruises, 16 of them on Carnival. I haven't been on an XL class ship. I've done 3 cruises out of Galveston. I haven't been to Coz 16 times yet; probably more like 8 to 12. It seems like 16. I've been to Roatan four times, all to Mahogany Bay. I've been to Costa Maya 6 times or so. Cute. I was summoned for jury duty the week I was scheduled to be on the Dream. I managed to get it deferred to late March.

This post reminded me of the bad old days immediately after the cruising restart when some cruise lines and some ports DID require a cruise ship excursion to get off the ship. We are, thankfully, past those days, so carry on.

On my most recent cruise that disembarked last week, I had an interesting experience with time zones. It was a 14-day cruise that went from Galveston to Panama and back. The Captain made the executive decision to change to Eastern Time on day 2 and stay there until day 14. The cruise itself actually had stops in three different time zones - Central (Galveston and Limon, CR), Atlantic (Aruba and Curacao), and Eastern (the rest of them). So, we were an hour off of local time at a few of our ports, but this minimized the disruption of having to change times for us passengers.

I would argue that the reason that talking about COVID is so bad is that it has become political. While I'm here, I'll briefly talk about another subject that I find awkward to talk about among strangers - health. I really don't want to hear about your maladies, and I really really don't want to talk about mine. Sometimes a cough or a sneeze is just a sneeze or a cough. I think the best response is just to say excuse me and move on.

In my case, balconies were not mentioned in any of the announcements. I don't think there was the available manpower to lock the passenger balcony doors had they wanted or needed to do so.

Here's a YouTube video describing what happened. No endorsement, but it is short - about 4 minutes.

I cleaned out my spam folder and found correspondence from the McDonald LaBelle Cruise. Oops! Here are the notes from that: It's nice to get a confirmation of the actual itinerary. Believe it or not, we hadn't had that yet. It's definitely an overnight in Nassau, with a slow boat to the Bahamas before then. Patti will be performing and probably doing other stuff on the day we arrive. We're scheduled to get a reservation # from NCL 60 days prior to the cruise, which is about 10 days away. This will allow us access to My NCL and its pre-cruise planner. We get a 40% discount off the beverage package once we can book it online. It expires March 11. It's not of interest to me, but I thought it was a neat detail, and I'm sure it will be popular among my fellow cruisers.