mikayla73

Looks like a good day in Bonaire. They keep going up with the car estimate and you're going to end up with a new one!

Have great honeymoon cruise with your wife! The pictures look like you had a great time on the previous cruise, I hope this one surpasses it! We did a cruise on the Valor in Nov 22. We love sailing down the Mississippi from NO to the Gulf. Our cruise was lots of fun and plenty of relaxing. We'd take that cruise again for sure. We went to Isla Pasion in Cozumel on that cruise, that was a good time too.

The pool pic at Baby Beach, I'm guessing was at a hotel? If so, did you notice the name? A great day in Aruba! Looking forward to seeing Bonaire. We've done AC, and I wanted to do them again as ABC!

You guys might try Saint Greg's site. There's lots of good info about NO and parking there. Here's a link the latest post I found. https://www.saintgregtravel.com/new-orleans-parking/

If you book outside of the ships excursions, make sure the better itineraries you find have enough time to get back to the ship, with plenty of buffer. The ship will leave without you and you'll be left to your own devices to either meet the ship at the next port or get home. That's not a way I'd want to end a wonderful day at any port.

I want to say it's only been on Journey's cruises that I've seen. Maybe @Jamman54 knows? I've read they've done some.

I have never sailed out of Galveston, but looking at the map it seems like many other ports I've sailed out of in FL. Just a short(ish) channel to get to open water, that I'd expect to be generally smooth at least until you get to open water. Though as mentioned already, you never know what the conditions will be like until that time gets there. I have sailed out of Mobile and NO, neither of which I found rocky at all. Unless rocky means something different to you than it does me. Are you saying you had a rocky ride down the Mississippi until you got to the Gulf?

I liked the smore's parfaits. They are gone now. They were pre-rona and short lived. I do like several of the Emeril items they've added to the menus though. The creme in the crème brûlée is good, but the sugar is always too thick on the top.

We generally consider what they are selling in the shops on the ships to be inflated prices. We were comparing prices on a watch that DH wanted. We were cruising soon, so we waited to see if there were any deals to be had on the ship. It was cheaper on Amazon. Though the watch guy on the ship tried hard to convince us to buy there anyway with some "specials" to spend more money and buy more for the "deal" ... ummm no.

What do you do to get a new PVP?

I realized the Glory is fresh out of dry dock ... so that makes sense about the lamps.

Is that lamp the same on both sides or like some kind of replacement that they got from somewhere else? What app is this?

It's a rarity for sure (except it seems for Bermuda), but I do like staying overnight in a port. We did the overnight in Cabo once from LB. We made sure to be back on the ship though before they pulled up anchor for the night. I know there were people who stayed at a hotel in Cabo that night. My only thought was what happens if they can't tender the next day, which happens at times in Cabo. I wouldn't want to deal with that "what if" for my vacation. I know this is a CCL forum, but we did an RCCL cruise too that stopped overnight in San Francisco and enjoyed a baseball game while we were there. This was in 2015 though. You might look at other lines that have overnights in port too. I would always prefer to be docked if we're doing an overnight, just to eliminate having to deal with the potential "what if's" if the ship can't tender the next day and I didn't get back on before they took up anchor. Otherwise to me it's really just B2B at the same port for a tender.

The cream cheese danish in the MDR is way different than any of them on the Lido. When I ordered it, I thought I was getting one like the vanilla custard one from the Lido and nope! I've also seen a pic of the apple danish from the MDR, it looks the same as cream cheese one. I liked them so much, I went back another day just to order the danish for a mid-morning snack. There's no pastry basket, but they are listed on the menu to order - at least for sea day brunch they are.

I'll tell DH about this. He was very disappointed in the lobster roll on our cruise in Jan, too much mayo/filler and not enough lobster. And the rolls weren't filled like they had been on previous cruises. Maybe this way he'll taste lobster with butter instead of a mayo on a roll.

We did AK on the Spirit in an OV. We spent hardly anytime in the room and spent most of our scenic cruising days on deck 3. There was hardly anyone down there and it's closer to the water. At that time, there were chairs on the deck so you could sit and watch the scenery go by too. We didn't have the 360 degree view, but it was easy to move from one side to the other when we wanted to.

Thanks for the quick answer!

We're planning a cruise later this year with our son. It will be his first cruise, we are plat with CCL. Since he's a toddler, he's obviously going to board with us, but does the usual hold true that we'd have to skip the priority boarding and just do the regular? I know that's the case with adults of different statuses and I understand that. Not sure if it was different because he's a toddler. Or does it depend on the port and whoever's looking at docs that embarkation morning? If they'll go by his blue card, maybe a later embarkation time is better to try to avoid some lines that can form for earlier times.

In that case, I'd just tell them when you're done with your main that you don't want dessert. I've also changed my mind and wanted something else after ordering dessert and it wasn't an issue. They may still accommodate your request to order dessert later if you ask.

They've been taking dessert orders at the same time as everything else on the last few cruises we've been on. I'm fine with it. It keeps dinner rolling and there's no delay in waiting for dessert when your done with your main. I'm sure it makes it easier for the waitstaff too, especially if someone wants something extra like PB with WCMC. They can grab it when it's convenient and have it ready when it's time for dessert.

On one of our recent cruises on the Spirit we had early seating and were 5-10 min late the first night. We were there, but stuck in the line that always forms on the first night as they walk everyone to their tables. We had one other couple at our table. Our waitstaff had already taken their order and their apps showed up a few min after we sat down. The staff was great and kept track of everything, we were just a course behind them. It happened to the other couple one other night, they were a little bit late (<15min) and the same thing happened, so I don't think it was just a first night occurrence. So maybe it depends on your waitstaff if they wait or not for someone that's late.

See Saint Greg's post above.

We came from the other side, so just joined the line. Which I read they may turn you away if you try to get in line too early, before 9:30a or 10a maybe? Then yes sitting to wait for the people to unload their luggage when all I wanted to do was park. All that for sure could be made better.

By more, I mean year round, not more ships. We've sailed out of there once so far, and the way they have the people dropping off people, people dropping off luggage, and people trying to park at the port going through the same spot is a huge bottle neck. Once you get past the merge of the drop off area it was normal. We also had no issues getting out, though we were off the ship quickly. The spot where everything converges to get in to park could be better for sure.

I thought I read Mobile is looking to do more not less? Though of course that doesn't mean CCL (or another line) would do it. Or I could be completely wrong too.