Honolulu Blue

Hi guys. Are you ready for a non-scientific poll that doesn't have anything to do with the usual hot button topics? Of course you are! In case you can't read the poll, the question is was the best comedian you've seen on a cruise ship on a Carnival cruise, not on a Carnival cruise, or have you never seen a comedian on a cruise? I'll tell you my story - early in my cruising career, I saw three comedians on the same Carnival cruise. Since their real names don't matter, call them Moe, Larry, and Curly. Moe and Larry I saw as part of a doubleheader show - 15 minutes for each. Curly I saw separately; his show was 30 minutes long. I graded all three of them "meh" - better than sitting around twiddling my thumbs, but not worth standing in line for, IMHO. Last year I saw a comedian named Carlos Oscar on a Princess ship. I thought he was pretty good and thus he's the best comedian I've ever seen. I should note that there's some room for improvement at the top. Anyway, I've spent too long on my story. Yours is much more interesting. Let's hear it! Thanks!!

Thanks. Oh well, I tried.🤪

Sales on the Ruby out of Galveston and various ships out of Ft. Lauderdale are still showing for me. There seems to be a lesser deal that's available for all North American residents, not just the ones in the frozen North. I'm sorry and I don't know what to say besides if you can find it again, put a hold on it and let your TA/PVP/future self deal with it later.

I haven't booked anything on Celebrity in the past few months and I'm not actively looking to book. When and if I find the urge to book, I'll likely find a deal or two or I'll go elsewhere. Celebrity is a good cruise line, IMHO, but they're not the only good one.

I have a better idea than you do. It's probably her: Her name is Brittany. She's friendly. I saw her around the ship at least once in addition to hosting a couple of the evening shows when I was on the Millennium last month. Tell her I said hi. Then again, she might have been replaced with someone else in the intervening weeks. In which case I have no idea who your CD is. P.S. Thanks for the trip report so far!

On the Millie last month, the shows were at 7 and 9. Dinner seatings were at 6 and 8:30. I'm not sure why they're not standardized. Entertainment department discretion?

46 days. I had one cruise in 2020 pre-pandemic, then a 20-month break, then two last year, and four this year. I have four planned for next year; I might sneak in another one.

I found that the offer I mentioned in my previous post is also available with certain sailings from Port Everglades (Ft. Lauderdale). Different ships, different itineraries, somewhat higher pricing, but still no single tax. Here's my more detailed post on it:

UPDATE: In continued research on this fare, I found that it's also available from certain sailings from Fort Lauderdale on the Regal, Sky, and Caribbean. I was on the Regal a year ago; it's a nice ship. The cruise fares are a bit higher, as are the port fees, but there's still no single tax. Here's a screen shot of one of the better sailings I could find in an obstructed OV in April on the Caribbean Princess: Here's how to quickly find them in your search on princess.com: Go to "Plan a Cruise" Go to "Find Cruises" Change "Date & Length" to 6-8 days Change "Start/End Port" to Ft. Lauderdale (you can add Galveston if you want the look at the offers from my previous post at the same time) Change Guests to 1 (if appropriate) You can also change the Stateroom type to whatever you prefer (e.g. balcony) Click on the "View Results" button Profit! You'll have to sift through the available dates on each sailing as not all sailings have this offer attached. Remember, January-April 2023, from certain Midwest and Northeastern states (and Canada).

I'm glad you found my post helpful. I forgot to mention that Canadian residents can also take advantage of this deal. Airfare is an issue for anyone because none of the states near Texas are eligible.

I found a really nice rate on a group of Western Caribbean cruises on the Ruby Princess in January through April. $490 for 7 days including the cabin and port fees. NO SINGLE TAX! I posted the details in a thread on the Princess board, which is reproduced here:

I found an interesting offer of my own and posted a thread on it. I'm sure it's not casino related:

On my way to do other things, I noticed an awfully good rate on some Ruby Princess sailings out of Galveston. I'm attaching screenshots of the best one for a cruise in late February, but I tested one from April that was nearly as good. Notes: This is for an obstructed OV, which I found in the interior section. Plenty of availability in this class of cabin on this date. Rates go up for true OVs through mini-suites, though probably not as much as you might think. It's worth a closer look if this offer intrigues you. THIS IS A SINGLE PERSON RATE, which means there's ZERO single tax on this voyage. The usual couple can expect to pay double what's shown. No extra package added, of course Pay very careful attention to the list of states on the first screen grab. I happen to live in one of them (Michigan). It's a region-targeted offer for potential cruisers from the Midwest and Northeast. YMMV for the rest of you. I've gotten similar-priced offers from Carnival in the past, though those were all based on my loyalty status. This one I think is available to anyone who's from the listed states. Also note the expiration date. There's time, though not a lot of it. I guess SOMEONE wants me to cruise more on Princess. This is mighty tempting, if I can make the many pieces work...

I think you and I would get along very well if we ever met. My style and your style are very similar. P.S. The newer ships tone down most of the Vegas-style neon and glitz in the public areas for something approaching elegance.

StarVista has been busy the past few weeks. The Sandy Beaches Cruise, the Soul Train Cruise, and the Country Music Cruise have all announced their itineraries and initial lineups for their 2024 cruises. Nine of them are ready to book yet for the general public, those dates will come in February. Soul Train's lineup so far isn't as magical as the one that will be sailing in a couple of weeks, and the others are of genres that aren't of much interest to me. but I encourage you to check out what they have. Maybe one or more of them is right for you. 😀 This probably means the UDC will come out with its own 2024 lineup in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to it almost as much as the actual cruise.

We obviously disagree (which is fine), but this is one of the things I don't miss about the "good old days" of cruising.

Random comments about Carnival and Celebrity from my perspective: Carnival has given me fun experiences, but I haven't sailed on it since the restart. Not for lack of trying - I've canceled two cruises and had one sail off without me. Try #4 looks to be next November. I'm looking forward to it, despite the rumblings here and elsewhere. I've done three Celebrity cruises (one charter) since the restart. All were noticeably under capacity, which skews my views of them greatly. It is possible to get deals on Celebrity even without doing the casino thing I like to think of Celebrity as a refined version of Carnival. The cabins I've had have been nice and neutral, ditto the decor in the public areas. They have fun things to do but don't push FUN as hard as Carnival. They still do evening turndowns and leave a chocolate after every one (no towel animal, though). They still have full four-page newsletters (for now). I think Celebrity has the best overall food of any cruise line I've been on. Their burger and fries is no Guy's, however. ☹️ Celebrity is the one cruise line I would pay a premium for over Carnival

Thanks for sharing. I was recently on a Celebrity cruise and the notes in their newsletter went the opposite way - we were explicitly allowed to use OBC in the casino.

The above quote is my most common strategy. I usually don't pack much; I can do the whole thing in half an hour or less. My next two cruises are going to be an exception. I've been planning what to take and (mostly) not take for several months. It's a side-to-side with a 5-day cruise from Miami, a travel day to LA, and a 7-day cruise from there. The whole packing operation could take as much as an hour total, so I'll probably do it in pieces.

Well well. The Soul Train Cruise released their schedule. It's a couple of weeks early, but I'll take it. Here are my notes on it: The embarkation day performer (Babyface) is a double, but the on the other days, there are different performers for early and late shows Evelyn "Champagne" King and Deniece Williams are doing the other kind of double - they're performing in the same main theater show together. Interesting. Purple Reign, the Prince tribute act, got main theater shows The Al McKay Allstars also got scheduled in the main theater. They'll be on my UDC coming in February. I don't think they'll get a main theater slot there; too few days and too much competition. This cruise features three comedians. One night has a late-night tripleheader with all three performing in one show. That sounds like fun. I'm sorry to miss it.

I support you in your efforts to overplan. To answer your last question first, most airlines can be booked about 330 days in advance, so you 've got a few weeks to go before you'll be able to book any of those. Southwest opens roughly 5-8 months in advance. Spirit's schedule releases are unpredictable; it'll be available when it's available. I haven't worried about hotels enough to guess when they release their schedules. As for when I book flights, I first decide when I'm going to fly. Then I look at prices. These days most flights I need are expensive, so I usually wait for Southwest to open things up because I have a bunch of points with them. I keep looking until I decide prices aren't going to improve by enough to matter - usually a few months before the cruise. As for when I book the hotel room connected to cruises, I first decide whether I need a hotel at all. If I do, I then look at the payment policies. There are basically three - book now pay later, refundable, and nonrefundable. I much prefer not to commit $$$ to hotels now if I don't have to, so that affects my choice of hotels. If I can get a decent rate on a hotel I need and it doesn't cost anything to book right away, I'll book as soon as I can. Otherwise, I'll wait a long time - maybe a month to a week before the cruise.

I'll try to explain how it worked on the Millennium and its machines. I have heard that it varies on other Celebrity ships. The first step is to purchase the credits before boarding. This offer is not available to be purchased onboard. For a $200 purchase, you'll get $220 total in slot credit. My advice is to go to the cashier when you're ready to play the slots. You'll get some instructions and a card that looks like this: And follow these instructions. You don't need to load any cash into the machine to start playing. You can play as much as you want in any particular machine but be sure to play out all the credit that you loaded on before leaving the machine. When you're ready, cash out as normal and get a TITO. Then repeat on any other machines you want to play. Good luck!

I'm only Platinum and I was able to purchase the WiFi for my upcoming cruise earlier this week. It also took me several tries. My story is in posts #4355 and 4356 above. I ordered my medallion without difficulty. I didn't choose any extras and it will be waiting for me at the port.

Oh happy day! StarVista released its tentative schedule for the Country Music Cruise that's coming up next month. These are fun (to me at least) to look at and see who's playing where - even though I'm not interested in country music. You can follow along at https://countrymusiccruise.com/booked-guests/schedule/ . Here are the things I found most interesting: There are six venues with musical performances At times there are up to four venues with music at the same time The Elvis tribute acts perform every day way up in the Crow's Nest on deck 11 There are two performances each day by dueling pianos The main theater act each day performs a double - back-to-back performances in the evening. I'm sure it makes the setup and prep between shows a lot easier. I saw some of that on the themed cruises I took last year - but more often the main shows on the same day were different. I didn't see any matinees in the main theater. I like matinees. 🙂 I saw some tastings and a brunch with VIPs (for extra $$$ of course), but I didn't see any formal autograph sessions The cruise itself leaves Ft. Lauderdale at 11:30 PM - extraordinarily late by cruise ship standards The stops in Sint Maarten and San Juan are 11-11 - relatively long, relatively late arrival, very late departure. I wonder if it's to accommodate some of the artists who choose to get on or off at those stops. I'll stop here since nobody's left reading this. The Soul Train Cruise says they'll release their schedule at the end of December. This was a "maybe" at various points last year, so I'll be sure to check their schedule out when it's released.

True, but less true for the specialty restaurants than the MDRs.