Z0nker

Delays and cancellations are as much a concern as price right now for us. So our next booked cruise is out of a local port.

For your situation as you've described it, a newer iPhone should get the job done. I stopped travelling with my "point and shoot" a few years ago because the iPhone does as good or better job and I always have it with me. I still have a Canon Rebel DSLR for special purposes like shooting the lunar eclipse or product photography.

Depends on the price difference.

DW works in the wine industry. Big bottle shortage right now.

I agree. I know the market is much bigger in Florida and Southern California, but why not develop the Bay Area market? There are a lot of people who live driving distance from SF and who love to travel. I would really like to see Celebrity here. Their style seems like a great fit for the Bay Area.

We live 90 minutes from the San Francisco cruise terminal, so that's our perspective for this question. Choices are Ruby Princess and Carnival Miracle. Glad to have them both in SF, as we've had a great time on both ships. SF is a beautiful city to sail from. Size: the Ruby is a bigger ship with more passengers and more crew. Neither ship felt crowded. Passenger to crew ratio is a little more favorable on the Miracle but both ships had fine service. The balcony room is a little bigger on the Miracle, so you get a sofa and cocktail table. Value: as long as Princess keeps selling the Princess Plus package at $40 - $50 per day, Ruby Princess is a better value. Food: MDR food and service was fine on both ships. Carnival has the edge for pool deck food with Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana tacos & breakfast burritos and the deli. Princess wins for specialty dining with two excellent speciality restaurants, both priced under $30. The Miracle has one excellent steakhouse, overpriced at $42. Carnival's made to order pizzas at Pizza Pirate were a treat, but the 24 hours paninis and snacks at Princess' International Cafe were also a plus. Drinks: Each ship has a good coffee bar. Princess wins the wine game. Carnival is better for craft beer. Both ships have good mixed drinks, but the Miracle pool deck bars have the edge. Live music was far better on the Ruby Princess. Both have decent theater shows. The stateroom TV's are much larger on the Ruby Princess and the on demand programming just clobbers Carnival. Casinos were similar on both ships. Ruby Princess makes good use of the pool deck giant screen for movies and sports; Miracle has none. Bottom line: If you have a good attitude, there's plenty to enjoy on either ship.

We’ve done the home proctored test a couple times. Good suggestion. Cost came out to about $40 each.

You should not dismiss the possibility that one or more of you got exposed on your plane flight and then infected the others on the cruise. If you want to be objective, then in addition to no future cruises you should consider not flying anymore.

Since Princess added SF as a home port, we’ve sailed four times with a fifth coming up. Nice to cruise without the added stress and expense of a flight. We’ve enjoyed Princess. It’s a good fit for our style. As long as they keep discounting the Princess Plus package, it remains a good value. After Carnival moved the Miracle to SF for the Alaska season we decided to try a five day to Catalina and Baja. Had a nice time but prefer Princess. We cruised to Alaska from Seattle on the Celebrity Solstice just before COVId. Everything was awesome, truly a cut above. Too bad Celebrity doesn’t do more on the West Coast.

Would be nice if they kept Miracle in SF year round, as Princess does with the Ruby

We are booked on a Princess cruise in September. So far, no changes to testing have been announced.

We were on the Miracle end of May, 99% capacity. Did not see long lines for food. Did see a very long line for bingo cards on a sea day. Also fairly long (maybe 20 minutes?) to get on a tender in Catalina. On embarkation day, the Lido deck was swamped. Not a table to be had - we ate our fish tacos sitting on the edge of the stage. But the Miracle really spreads out the food stations on Lido so passengers were spread out among many fairly short lines.

Can you recommend a place for chowder and crab cakes on the wharf? Thanks

There’s a lot to do and see in SF and the surrounding areas. It is worth a dedicated trip. That said, Santa Catalina Island is a neat place to visit, especially for us Californians for whom an inhabited island is a novelty. Being from BC, you might feel differently. But Catalina is warm and usually sunny, and the scuba diving is world class. Almost everyone gets around on golf carts, which you can rent. The town of Avalon is also easily walkable. At some point you should try to get there.

I remember those special dishes, with a garlic butter filled cavity for each snail. Those were the days.

Those do look more like hush puppies than beignets.

I saw "cured salmon" listed as a rare find. Is that lox or something else?