Honolulu Blue

Annoyance #362 about other cruisers is people who head down to disembark and line up contrary to the rules. PLEASE DON'T DO THIS. Every ship I've been on (Princess or not) has explicit instructions on where to go to wait to disembark. It can vary based on status, plans to self-assist, whether you have an excursion, and some other things. If the time of departure has to vary for whatever reason, they'll make announcements, and if it affects where and when the meeting locations are, they'll mention that too.

Thanks for sharing and continuing to share. I haven't had anything like this happen to me personally. I'm trying to empathize with how bad it can be. Good luck getting through this. 🙏 I'm sorry both you and your DH caught this virus and that his recovery isn't going so well. I hope for better days. 🙏 Thank you for doing the right thing. And thanks to Royal for also doing the right thing with little hesitation. Certainly at that time, the risk to everyone else was too high. Have things changed now? Eventually they're going to have to. Message received and acknowledged. I find this is also true of technology in general. 🙃

Princess has announced another themed cruise - this one called "Comedy Stars" as opposed to the comedy cruises they already offer. Four comedians are featured (whom I haven't heard of) on a 7-day Scandinavian cruise from Southampton on July 1, 2023. You can read the details at https://www.princess.com/ships-and-experience/special-events/ . Since nobody is reading this anyway, I'll note that the description has a synonym for the word "laugh" that is dangerously close the spelling for a racial slur. I would turn them in, but my name's not Karen and I like having 50 cent words used appropriately.

This year is very unusual as 1) they've usually offered at least a little something for the past several years, and 2) other Carnival Corp. lines have announced sales or whatever, but 3) Carnival has announced nothing for this year. Perhaps they'll whip up something at the last minute? Perhaps they're happy with sales and prices where they are? Perhaps they're waiting for Cyber Monday? Your guess is as good as mine.

I only have one Boat on a Rope (BOAR, aka medal), as compared to 8 or 9 Ships on a Stick (SOAS, aka trophy). I'll have to try for more medals when I get back on a Carnival ship. 🙂

My first cruise on Princess wasn't until 2021, so that explains that. No cruise line allowed video viewing of the safety briefing for its ordinary customers until 2020.

I wouldn't say it's normal, but the first few months of cruises after the restart had lots of cruises that sailed less than a third full. Like the first two I took during that time period (one on Princess). They did things to adjust, like close part or all of some dining venues, limit the amount of shows, limit the cleaning given to each room, etc.

How long has it been since you had to bring the life vests to the safety drill? I've been cruising since 2014 and I've never, ever had to do this. The new, new way is to watch a safety video on your phone/tablet/cabin TV sometime before sailaway, then report to your assigned muster station. The old, new way (returning to Disney cruises soon!) is to report to your assigned muster station (often by the lifeboats, sometimes inside - it depends on the design of the ship) where you'll be given a safety briefing after everyone shows up.

Most of your questions have been answered, but I wanted to give my perspective for the record. I've been on the Summit three times in the past, the last in February; one was a charter. My last cruise was 2 weeks ago on the Millennium, a sister ship that seemed near identical to me. 1. I had an OV and had a robe in the closet without me asking for one. I'm not a robe wearer. I think my cabins on the Summit had robes but wouldn't swear to it. 2. Both my 5-day trips on the Summit went to Cozumel and Costa Maya. The last one was in February. I think they've changed things sufficiently that those schedules will just get you into trouble. 3. I haven't had the MDR experience on any of my Celebrity Cruises, but based on my experiences elsewhere, I think an hour for dinner is pushing it - especially if you're dining in a group of more than two. I think the buffet has really good food, but then again, I have no taste. 4. The shows in the main theater started for us in the Millie at 7 and 9. Our comedian had one show the first night at 8:15 (main theater) and one 18+ show at 10:15 in the Sky Lounge. 5. I haven't been to any shows on the Summit except for the charter. I enjoyed Boogie Wonderland on the Millie, and also special performer Kristina Wells. 6. Will the Internet help make a better cruise for you? Only you can answer that. It sounds like you may "need" the Net, since I don't know of an easy way to check for messages on the ship without it. I did buy a couple of days of premium Internet on the last cruise, and I was able to stream on YouTube mostly without issue. Email and random surfing were no problem. Don't expect miracles; the Summit and Millie are scheduled to be near the last in line to get Starlink. I've enjoyed my time on Celebrity, and I think you will too. Happy cruising!

This looks new. For my cruise on the Millennium that disembarked last week, there was no notices like this - either in the paper newsletter or its online equivalent (at least before it crashed on me midway through). BTW, they were rarely worn anywhere by anyone - crew or passenger.

I'll offer my experience with the usual cautions. My recent cruise on Celebrity had an air ticket attached by the cruise. They chose an airline I rarely fly, the times were just OK, the initial price was decent - but I had to purchase better seats that cut deeply into the bargain I thought I was getting. One funny thing is that one of my flights was upgraded to business class and the cruise line told me before the airline did. In summary, things worked out all right, but I'm not rushing to do this again. For 50% off or more, I'll consider it.

I'm struggling to figure out a cruise line that will make you happy, given the conditions you set. But let me put some notes out there; maybe they will be of help to you or someone else: You should give a second look to themed cruises. The Ultimate Disco Cruise, for example, has bands from the 70s and 80s that pump out the dance music almost all the time, multiple dance floors (they even convert one of the MDRs to a dance floor at night), and background music from the 70s. Themed cruises are of little use to building brand loyalty, but the immersion is maximized, as is the dance opportunities. Princess has a few cruises with an 80s theme that might be worth a look. I'm a veteran of one of those cruises, and though I didn't venture on the dance floor then, the background music was exclusively 80s, so I assume the dance floors would have featured the same. Again, there are only a few of these, so they're no basis for cruise line loyalty. On my most recent cruise on Celebrity, they had two silent disco nights. Each music headphone features three music channels - maybe you'll consistently find something you like on one or more of them? Also on my Celebrity cruise, there was an 80s night in one of the lounges. That sounds like it would have been a winner with you, but it was just one night. Carnival has 80s days on their longer, Journeys cruises. This involves more than music and dancing, but dancing and music is a part of those days. Most cruise lines I've been on have soloists/duos/bands in the atrium and/or Lido deck that pump out the jams. Both areas have areas where you can dance if you want. Maybe they can be persuaded to play what you want for as long as you can stand it (or until their break or quitting time)? Carnival and perhaps other cruise lines have pianists. Though the lounges they hang out don't look too good for dancing, where there's a will, there's a way?? HAL has been upping their music game the past few years, as one other poster noted It's hard to imagine Virgin Voyages not looking for cruisers like you. I haven't heard much about the clubbing scene there, but maybe there's a fit? I'm sorry I wasn't of much help. Good luck with whatever cruises you will go on in the future.

Thank you for your respect. I haven't eaten in the MDR since the restart. Then again, I hadn't eaten much in the MDRs before this. Masking is a highly personal decision that I can't make for you or anyone. Yes, they're a pain in the neck to wear - but some people believe they work.

That's not very nice! I've made a deal with the world that I will wear my mask WHERE and WHEN I feel it's appropriate. No, I don't want to discuss it. Those who have a problem with it can kiss a certain Southern breakfast meal that I don't eat but would bring out just so they can embrace it appropriately. Properly distanced, of course. 😆

@minabruuke: I'm sorry you've come down with long COVID. Life has to have been especially rough for you. @LidoLiz: I'm sorry you caught this nasty little bug. Get well soon. 🙏 @bnickle: As our OP, I'd like to thank you for this thread and your updates. I'm sorry you and your S.O. caught it. I'm glad you seem to be treated well. I'm glad that Paxlovid is available for those that want or need it. I wish you well on your tests. Get well soon. 🙏 #covidstillexists

Awesome! Yes, I also think it's nice to know where your seat(s) is/are. As for the Princess 80s cruises, I did one last December. I thought it was a lot of fun. I'll be on the one in April sailing from Galveston. They didn't do a lot of decoration, but there was a bit. Here are my notes on that cruise, reposted from another thread elsewhere: We had quite a few movies and some TV shows on the VOD section. We had "A Christmas Story" and "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation", but your cruise might be too far away from Xmas for them to show up. But the other big 80s Christmas movie, "Die Hard", seems like a lock. There were some people who dressed in various 80s costumes (but maybe they weren't costumes to them, just ordinary clothing?), but not many We had a different Bon Jovi tribute act (Slippery When Wet) who impressed me even though I'm not a Bon Jovi fan at all Our other tribute band was Rich Girl, who did Hall & Oates. I thought they were great and I'm sad that they're not on any of these cruises. ☹️ DSB was on some of the 80s cruises last year, but not mine Trivia was a lot of fun. I won twice at 80s music trivia. There were other 80s-related trivia sessions that I didn't do so well at. There was a lot of 80s background music in the hallways, common areas, and before the shows We had Carlos Oscar on my cruise; he was good, well worth seeing

Thanks. 40 comedy shows in a week sounds insane to me!

You can bring a copy of your passport while in port, but I never found any use for it when I did, so after a couple of tries, I stopped. I don't think a scanned copy of your DL/photo ID would work for getting back on the ship should the authorities require that. YMMV. I'm not a swimmer and I'm not a beach person, so I can't help you there. I do my best to bring as few valuables as practicable in port or on vacation in general.

Today was the day I had been looking for for a long time - The 80s Cruise opened up reservations for seats for concerts in the main theater. I happened to be online at the appointed time (10 AM CST today), so I picked out a seat. The very best reservable seats were all gone, so I went with a decent backup option - Row F, Lower Orchestra 3 (starboard side), Seat 3. It's a little more off to the side than I would like, but I'll make it work. I'm only planning to go to two main theater shows anyway. BTW, it seems that I have the same reserved seat for all the shows. I wasn't sure about that.

From the newsletter on my cruise on the Millennium which disembarked last week: It doesn't look like a hard and fast rule, just a guideline.

Also possible is one or more groups chartering the ship for different charters in consecutive weeks. I know one ship (not Carnival) did charters for eight straight weeks earlier this year.

Princess announced another themed cruise for 2023 for culinary stars. It a 7-day cruise that sails September 13 out of Southampton on the Sky Princess. They did a couple of these earlier this year, and the blurb says it's "our most popular themed cruise". I don't know what to say about that, other than that this isn't my thing, but it might be something that others (maybe you?) are interested in. The link is at Themed Cruises – On Board Special Events - Princess Cruises .

On a related note, I'll share something I saw on my recent Millennium cruise... on day 5, they offered 24 hours of premium Internet for the usual rate ($50, minus status discounts) plus a bonus of 24 hours for free. That was better than the per day rate for buying the package onboard ($30). I hadn't heard chatter about it previously, so I don't know if this is something new or not. But I think it's something to look out for if you can meter your Internet access appropriately.

I had to think about this for a bit. The place where I grew up wasn't exactly small, but we simply didn't go to places that had elevators or escalators. There were two stores that were big enough for escalators. Elevators were for high rises and government buildings - two places where we did not frequently go. And the city I live in now is not much bigger and doesn't have many more elevators or escalators that I visit. There's one store with an escalator that I'm not sure I've been in in this millennium. Elevators are still for high rises and government buildings - and residence halls. I think I do OK with both of them these days. I've learned along the way. I vehemently disagree. Those handrails aren't for decoration; they're for balance. I usually give them a light touch, but if the ship's wobbling or I miss a step, I'm not ashamed to grab hold and hang on for as long as I need to. Source: Someone who has used the stairs on cruises a time or two. 🙂

Thanks for the update. It's very interesting that they staggered the shows that way. I'll agree that it's something Carnival should consider implementing elsewhere, but do they have the extra room(s) available on the other ships?