Honolulu Blue

This is, IMHO, the worst part of the new muster drill. Hearing cruise personnel whine about this doesn't make me go do the drill any faster, and it's not likely that I'm going to forget to do it. Sometimes I long for the days of the scheduled, mandatory drill - "be there or be square!" - where I could stand by the lifeboats or in an overstuffed indoor location.

UPDATE: Finally Princess did what they should have done two weeks ago and de-cloaked this cruise with more details. The link to the site where it's listed is at Themed Cruises – On Board Special Events - Princess Cruises. The direct link to the cruise is at https://www.princess.com/cruise-search/details/?voyageCode=8333 .

Finally Princess reveals more about their Hollywood Insiders themed cruises on their page at Themed Cruises – On Board Special Events - Princess Cruises . There's a 5-day cruise from Vancouver that features 80s prime time stars - the highlighted celebs are all from "Dallas" the TV show. Then there's a 3-day cruise from Seattle that features people that work behind the scenes of movies and TV (mostly makeup and special effects. Finally, there's a 7-day cruise from LA that features those with music connections. We've got some performers (Freda Payne, Kimberly Locke, former Beach Boy Al Jardin); Allan Dennis Smith, award-nominated songwriter; and old friend Leo Rossi, who worked on and managed tours for Fleetwood Mac and many others. I got a chance to hear some of Mr. Rossi's stories on my most recent cruise on the Ruby in April. Tempting, but I think I'm going to pass on all of these. Come on guys, where are the straight 80s cruises I'm craving???

Most cruise line offers are the same old discounts offered in different ways. But there are better discounts out there, sometimes... here's my story. Last year I got offers for various weeklong sailings to Alaska from June to August for $50-$100 for each cruise. With the offer OBC and the shareholder bennies, they would have been very close to free. No, this wasn't a casino offer - I'm not actually sure why I was the lucky one, but it was hooked to the cruise line and my status there. I had to decline them all because I'm a wage slave with limited time off and Alaska wasn't enough to move me off it. I haven't seen any offers quite like it since. ☹️

The Summer of '99 Cruise has added a second sailing. If you recall, the first SO99 sailing is April 18-22 on the Pearl sailing out of Miami. This second sailing is April 27 - May 1, 2024 on the Norwegian Jade sailing out of Port Canaveral. Most of the bands are the same, except Daughtry will replace 3 Doors Down as the special guest on sailing #2. Pre-sale spots are available. I think I'll pass, but I appreciate the attempt. Maybe someday someone will put together the right mix of 90s artists that will tempt me to spend my $$$.

There are some movies available on demand and some that loop. Most are no charge, but there might be some that cost. Here's one of the blockbusters that was available on the Millie last November. 5 stars! 10 out of 10!! Two thumbs up!! On the music charter I did on the Summit in March, there was a special set of VODs. No charge for this group:

I'm not a huge fan of the trough, but the MDR (especially during dinner, especially with set dining) also has people everywhere, food everywhere (when served), and plenty of hustle and bustle. The experience is more civilized and relaxed, but not THAT much more, IMHO.

I'm not qualified to do a detailed analysis of this, but it wouldn't surprise me if it did. Fewer stops = more direct voyage = less fuel used.

They can come close - I've taken a 14-day cruise that went round trip from Port Canaveral to Barbados (not on Celebrity). Though it's almost criminal to pass by so many wonderful islands without stopping at some of them.

This is true (though I haven't encountered them on the slightly nicer I've been on either).

Mostly the same things that are bad about the buffet on any day, namely: It's crowded It can be noisy There's no waiter service Other cruisers' bad manners are on full display

It's a sad day indeed. ☹️Mr. Buffett's music wasn't a favorite of mine, but I understand his influence and respect his talent.

Styx put on a great show last night. They played all three of the songs I spotlighted above ("Renegade" was the closer). Here are some random photos:

PT = porthole

Thanks for sharing these examples. I consider it doubly dirty when they ask for more money after the bill has already been paid. But, again, that's just me and my quirks 🙃

After 25 cruises, not all with Celebrity, I've received small chunks of OBC several times on boarding for refunded fees. I also got OBC for port fees on the one port I happened to miss. I consider it a bit dirty for a cruise line to come back for more $$$ after locking in a price through a booking. But I'm sure their contract allows them to do this and I understand why they do. But it's never happened to me before and I wonder if other cruise lines will follow suit.

I've done several of these - all solo - and I like them a lot. I especially appreciate the several hundreds saved over an OV or PT. There are several gotchas that you should know about. You're very far forward, which means a very long walk to the aft locations. You're also low on the ship, which means a hike to the upper decks. The location means a lot of up and down motion, wave action, thruster noise, and maybe a cameo by the anchor chain.

I sailed on this iteration of the Rotterdam, just once. So far it's my only experience with HAL.

It's time for Styx already? Where has the summer gone?? Anyway, it looks like really good weather here for a concert on Friday. Again, I almost wish it were outside. My favorite song from Styx is "Music Time" and they have almost no chance of playing it. I'd mark it down the chances at 1% and that may be generous. It was a single, but not one of their bigger ones. Too bad, because I really like it and the song represents the 80s as much as any, IMHO. Other songs that I like and they have a better chance of playing: "Lorelei", "Renegade", and "Mr. Roboto".

I found an interesting article about Foreigner and their upcoming residency in Las Vegas at https://ultimateclassicrock.com/foreigner-las-vegas-residency/ . One of the most interesting things is they revealed their residency dates. Their first date is March 22, 2024. As @George C and I are well aware, the 70s Rock and Romance Cruise featuring Foreigner will be sailing March 14-21, 2024. Assuming they don't cancel on us, it looks the band has two options to get to where they need to be on time - play their gigs EARLY in the cruise, depart from Aruba, and have a few days to rehearse and other stuff; or play their gigs LATE, get off in Port Canaveral, fly to LV and have a day and a half (at most) before their first concert at the Venetian. The latter seems like an awfully tight schedule, so I'm going to assume they're going to play early and get off halfway through.

I was going to mention that Carnival's Pepsi switch happened around January 1, 2020 - just before the pandemic and a couple of weeks before my last cruise on Carnival on the Breeze. The switchover was total then; there wasn't any mention of any Coke products anywhere. Now it seems that Coke is making inroads back onto Carnival ships... maybe. Interesting. Following.

My somewhat random thoughts: I'm not so sure that our favorite cruise lines wouldn't be up to the same old tricks if the pandemic hadn't happened. Yes, there were supply and labor shortages, and a related spike in inflation, but those seems to be broadly working themselves out. @gardenbug22 never did tell us what cruise line or ship they sailed on. I suppose it's irrelevant. I actively monitor three cruise line boards on here and they're all complaining about the same things with different details. As the prices I've seen on cruises that interest me have risen, I become happier with my decision to pivot away from them and toward music charters. Yes, they're quite a bit more expensive than ordinary cruises, but they provide a lot of value (to me) and I have found that their cabin prices haven't risen as much as more ordinary cruises. They'll probably go up more strongly in 2025, so we'll see what happens next year. I'll leave you all with a quote from one of my favorite philosophers, "Things are tough all over":

I was on the Regal in November '21. It sailed out of Port Everglades then. The Internet on the Regal was the fastest and best I've had on any Princess ship. The fact that it sailed at less than 30% of capacity probably helped... I got transfers both ways from IAH when I sailed on the Regal out of Galveston in April. They worked all right. I think our instructions on disembarkation was "go out and look for the buses". Your mileage may vary.

Not sure where else to put this, but I found it interesting... The Carnival charter cruise page had been bare for a while, but now it's up and running again. There are now some charters there. The link is at Carnival Cruise Charters – Carnival.com Cruise Charters .

Yet another entry in the Always Something There to Remind Me department... I'm watching the Little League World Series championship right now, and the two teams featured are from Willemstad, Curacao and El Segundo, California. I'll be making three stops in Curacao over the next few months - including on The 80s Cruise and the 70s Rock and Romance Cruise. El Segundo is near LAX and the Port of Los Angeles. I embarked on this year's edition of TEC in San Pedro. And now, back to our regularly scheduled activities.