BlerkOne

https://www.windy.com/ is always fun to look at to see what you are heading into (or away from)

Many people cruise and never leave the ship in port. They might as well be on a CTN. Might as well just go to an all inclusive.

Yes, and they are all willing to help themselves to your money.

It is a measure of volume, not area. 100 foot ceilings increase gross tonnage but not an inch more room for passengers.

The myth of gross tonnage.

Montevideo, the last port stop of your cruise, is the smaller city to the upper left.

Rio de la Plata - either the widest river or the widest estuary in the world depending on who you ask.. The border between Uruguay and Argentina.

If Celia Garland is the naturalist on your cruise, don't miss any of her presentations. Very entertaining and informative. Likely standing room only. Even if she isn't on the ship, go to all of the presentations. I think they were usually 10am on sea days.

Royal would no doubt like to do cruises to nowhere exclusively, but they can't legally do that these days. People get tired of going to the same plastic experience over and over. Unless maybe you have dementia. Personally I like Freeport as a stop. You just need to get outside of the port to discover a new world. Lat time had a great private excursion to the other end of the island, even passing where Carnival was building the new port. At least I got to experience that paradise before it is swamped by mega ships

You prove my point. Itineraries are limited for mega ships and any given port can only accept a couple at a time. Mardi Gras is doing a transatlantic is 2025 for a dry dock without doing a single Mediterranean or other European cruise. There is a lot more to the cruising world than the Caribbean. Some people may be happy to stay in a box but many aren't. I've always found it easy to leave Mahogany Bay on foot. And even easier to pay a couple of bucks to take a taxi up the hill (but now there are stairs) Carnival typically partners with locals to build ports. The usually scenario is a rich local buys up all the land surrounding a proposed port and pitches it to Carnival as a joint venture. Once a hurricane destroys them, Carnival buys what is left and rebuilds it. It will be interesting to see if a mega ship can actually be evacuated in an emergency. Heck, cruisers can't follow simple debarkation instructions.

Different port from last year, but the song remains the same.

Dry Dock: 9/28/25-10/15/25

I received one prior to our Christmas Valor cruise.

Welcome to Margaritaville at Sea.

Not at all. Royal wants to keep cruisers captive. They don't care if customers want to go to Grand Cayman. There are many ports that can't accommodate mega ships either as a home port or as a port stop. Or the millions of people on each sailing. People complain that itineraries are so limited - limiting ports isn't going to help. If someone is going to build a new port, it isn't surprising if some try to accommodate the largest shopping malls out there (like on Grand Bahama). Even Ritz Carlton has built some smaller properties https://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels-and-resorts/ritz-carlton-reserve/ Carnival's newest ship, Jubilee, has a choice of one (1) itinerary. Only the port order might change. Boring. Two different companies - two different business plans. I'll pass on sailing on Royal again.

I sailed on Discovery last October and then did a b2b on Royal in November and not disappointed at all. The ship isn't the destination for me - the itinerary is.

I'll risk it .... Antarctica

Sun Princess uses LNG, I don't believe any of the others do.

I will add cell phones and other electronics are a hot commodity to steal in BA. Watch yours like a hawk.

I did this trip last year, but on Infinity. Also stayed at the Sheraton. Got a great steak in the restaurant there. If you have time, the overnight Iguazu Falls excursion after the cruise was worth the outrageous price. Not sure what is going on with their currency these days, but last year received rebates on everything charged to credit cards.

How's that working in tender ports?

I'm sure it's about the money. So book it for four people and have two no shows.

How did you book the current cruise?

Who ordered the duck?

They would have notified the travel agent (allegedly). At that point Carnival was out $2600+. Why should they spend a dime more chasing a bad debt?