Honolulu Blue

On the last Journeys cruise I had in January 2020 (i.e., just before the shutdown), we had over 2000 Platinum and Diamond guests. What they did was have THREE parties - one for Diamond only, and two for Platinum guests. The Platinum parties were both in the main theater and I didn't attend either. Your mileage may vary.

Welcome to CC! I hope the orneriness of some posters (not in this thread) doesn't scare you away. I just put the dots together and discovered that we're on the same cruise!! It should be a lot of fun. Don't forget to join the roll call!

@PandaBear62 Thanks for sharing this report! I was on the Ruby just before you. I had a great cruise, but it was radically different than this one. And I'm glad we didn't totally trash the ship. 😁 I'm sure you'll have a good time. Go out there and have fun!!!

I've sailed out of sunny San Juan several times, the last about six months ago. I read an article at Cruise Industry News at Winter 2023-24: Two Brand New Ships to Sail from Puerto Rico - Cruise Industry News | Cruise News that summarized the ships that will be homeporting there in the 2023-24 winter Caribbean season. The good news is that two brand new ships will be trying their luck there - the NCL Viva and the Brilliant Lady from Virgin. Jewel OTS will be there also, along with a couple of Disney ships (briefly) and several luxury/premium class vessels. The bad news is that Carnival Corporation has ZERO of its 90 or so ships there. And Celebrity, which has had a ship there in the past, will not for this season. I think SJ is a great port to sail from, but not everyone agrees. I wish the new ships the best of luck.

I don't think you can ever be certain since you're not going to see the actual cash handed over, but all you can do is go to GS and make your wishes known. That's all you can do.

1. Using nonrefundable OBC in the casino varies by cruise line. It might be a good idea to go on your favorite board and ask about the mechanics there. 2. Another option for OBC is to give some of it to selected crew members that you deem worthy. You should be able to set it up through guest services once you're onboard.

Carnival, Celebrity, and Princess, to name three. More interesting to me is a list of cruise lines that explicitly disallow this practice.

Tell him I said hi. 😁 I've had that many sea days or more on many of my Journeys cruises. One that didn't started out in Vancouver and we had 5 sea days in a row to start our cruise. Somehow we survived. Most of us were adequately entertained. 😃

Ditto, though my time with him was five years ago. It's nice of him to get an opportunity on a high profile ship. He may not have the biggest fan club here, but I always liked him.

Top of the list, IMHO, are items you have to pay for anyway, like the mandatory gratuities if not prepaid. A close second is items that have full value to you in that you were going to purchase them anyway. Extra cost restaurants and excursions can go in this category. Then comes the casino, when allowed. The Right Thing is to gamble any amount of OBC at least once, but you may be able to get away with less - again, depending on cruise line. The casino has the edge on almost every bet, so consider that a cost of doing this. The worst use is to buy goods and services that you don't value highly. Anything can go in this category.

I'm also just off the Ruby and I never saw any rows blocked off. Then again, I would have either been on top of them or in front of them. It would have been easy for me to miss.

A few quickie notes: * I received an email from StarVista Live about Flower Power. It said they're over 90% booked already AND they're adding the Four Tops to their lineup. * I heard from an interview with one of The 80s Cruise managers that they were at 88% full as of two weeks ago * I haven't heard any similar booking figures from Rock and Romance, which means they're probably not at 90% yet * Michael and Patti ..still thinking. But I'm on a cruise, so forgive me if I don't spend too much time on it yet. 🙂

Thanks for sharing. It's hard to imagine any Florida city flooding badly enough to close the airport. They have to be prepared for hurricanes after all. I'm sorry for those who are affected. I'm glad the cruise I'm on now is returning to Galveston. They had their flood issues last week.

I got an email from Jazz Cruises about a special charter cruise they've created. It's all about Michael McDonald and Patti Labelle. It's only three days and sails April 10-13, 2024 out of Miami on the Norwegian Pearl. Here's the link to the main page: https://mcdonaldlabellecruise.com/ The pricing isn't half bad ($1250 for a solo interior and $1500 for a solo OV), and I respect the headliners. If I had limitless money and unlimited time, I would pull the trigger on this. For now it's something to roll around in my head. I'll keep you posted. Also, I'm on the 80s themed cruise on the Ruby Princess RIGHT NOW. I apologize for not reporting on it. I've done some scattered posts in other threads. I think I'll do a summary in this thread, but it might be a few days before I do that. For now, suffice it to say that I'm having a wonderful time, the music has exceeded my expectations, and the other stuff has mostly been good.

I'll make a short interruption to say I've been on several music charter cruises that had a lot of live music in a lot of different places. I think someone should do a proper comparison between those and your experience on the Rotterdam. P.S. My one and only HAL cruise was on the Rotterdam VI.

My two cents on the differences between Celebrity and Carnival (I've sailed on Royal twice, but both were charters): * Celebrity's passengers are generally more sophisticated travelers, both cruising and not * Relatively few kids on Celebrity * Far fewer announcements on Celebrity * Celebrity has generally better food, except... * You can get a burger and fries on Celebrity, and it's all right, but Guys is in a class by itself * Turndown service still the norm on Celebrity * They still leave chocolates on the pillow after the turndown * No towel animals on Celebrity I think you'll enjoy your time on Celebrity. Enjoy your cruise!

Not on a Carnival ship, but this happened to me last night: Of course, playing at $10 a spin, something good was likely to happen sometime. But this took just a few spins and the coward in me took the money and ran. 😁

I'm doing wonderful, thank you very much! The weather has been excellent and the waters smooth. We're leaving Cozumel in a few minutes. Yes, Mario is the Captain. I just heard from him a few minutes ago. DSB was great. I'm hoping for the same from WANTED tonight and Red Corvette on Thursday. There have been hitches and glitches, but minor compared to everything else. More details in our roll call thread.

True. But they're far outnumbered by those who sail to the Caribbean, for example.

Most cruises are to warm places. Cooler places are undesirable or even physically impossible to cruise to when they're at their coldest.

You're welcome. The shows will all get listed... Eventually. Be wary of the first listings because those might change. Have a great cruise!

My experience has says that you need to keep checking. Things can get added and dropped until the last minute.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm surprised the only held 3 rows worth. In that theater, that's not a whole lot of seats. I'm not surprised about the families, as we have quite a few of them on here - even now.

I was last on the Summit in February. I slept well and have no complaints about the mattress. I was on a Royal ship last month (Navigator) and didn't have any complaints there either. It's definitely YMMV on cruise ship mattresses. Bring what you think you might need. Sleep is important.

I'm on the Ruby RIGHT NOW. I went to a show last night. It wasn't a regular production show; I don't think we'll have any of them on this cruise. I didn't see any reserved seats. I'll update if I find them with later shows.