Eli_6

@Saint Greg Thank you for your very thorough review of the difference! I really appreciate it. It actually sounds like Princess concentrates on everything I love and where it lacks are things I don't like (i.e. sports). I am looking forward to my cruise now and sad it is 500+ days away, lol.

I just googled and it is in fact a separate pool and spa just off the Teen Club/Kid's club. They also do have a putt putt course as well. The teen club has all sorts of games and tables....more than I have seen on a Carnival ship except for maybe the Vista class. (Don't know what Mardi Gras/Celeb/Jubilee has as have not taken my kids on that one.) Honestly, this ship looks pretty freaking amazing in pictures. I see why it was so inordinately expensive.

This is a newer ship (2019) and I believe the kids have their own pool/water area and that it also has an arcade. I will have to double check as I could be confusing it with a different Princess cruise ship that I looked at when I was considering a sailing to Antarctica at Christmas. Edit: Double checked and this ship does have an arcade. The teens and kids *appear* to have their own pool/spa off the kids club area. It is blue and looks like a pool on the ship plan, but hard to tell exactly what it is so it may not be a pool...or it may be a splash pad.

For those of you who have cruised both, what are the main differences between Carnival and Princess? I (finally) was able to book two balconies on a world cruise segment from Australia to Rome on Princess. I have been eyeing this cruise for a very long time, but it was sold out...and two balconies (and only two) popped up this morning and I got them. It is the one of the only world cruises that sail in the (U.S.) summer which I need so I don't have to pull my kids out of school. It is also the largest ship that does a world cruise and, therefore, actually has activities for children/pre-teens. My boys will be 11 and 12 at the time of the cruise. I also was interested in it because Princess purports to have the best internet at sea and that will allow my husband to keep in touch with his office. (He has two nurse practitioners to see patients while he is gone, but still needs to be able to be "reachable" in case of an emergency. This was a problem when we were on the Pride in the North Sea.) It also has laundromats and I can't go on a 36 day cruise with a family of four without doing laundry because I am not hauling that many clothes all the way around the world. When I inquired about the sailing to my TA, she asked, "Have you ever cruised Princess before?" almost as though she didn't think I would like it. My favorite cruise ever was our Alaskan cruise so I would imagine this cruise would draw a similarly tame/older crowd. Even though my husband and I are in our 40s--albeit, my husband will be 50 at time of the cruise in 2025--we typically are in our cabin my 9 or 10 pm watching TCM. (In fact, I was quite annoyed on one of our European cruises when they didn't have TCM.) We do enjoy the comedy shows so I will probably miss those on Princess, but our choices for this type of cruise aren't Carnival vs Princess. They are Princess vs Azamara or Silver Seas....and at least Princess has an arcade and basketball court and Kid's club.

True. But being stuck in traffic with them isn't any fun either. And stuck on a plane with them is worse. I was on a flight from Edinburgh to London last week and we had to sit for an hour waiting for a gate at Heathrow. The pilot told everyone to stay in their seats but nonetheless this one lady gets up pulls her bags from my overhead container and hits me in the head with her carry on. Didn't even apologize. Then she stood in the aisle by my seat for the next hour with her butt in my face. At one point, bent over to tie her shoe lace and butted me. Again, didn't apologize. Saw another passenger push over an elderly lady to get past her. Is it that hard to say "excuse me, ma'am"? I was even in first and it didn't matter.

Re the cruising numbers: All forms of travel have been through the roof the past couple of years. I think it is a result of people being cooped up during Covid. I suspect it will to back to normal levels here in another year or two. And rude people are everywhere. Not just on cruise ships. I swear, I think people forgot how to behave during the Covid shutdowns.

I only scrolled through the first two pages and saw the revised menu. Does this mean they no longer have the skillet cake and 12 hours french toast???

Because we have children, we usually cruise with the "family oriented" lines. I have been wanting to do a 36-day segment on Princess from Australia to Rome that skirts the coast of Asia and India and goes through the Suez Canal in June 2025. Unfortunately, even though I have been watching the Princess cruise for months, no availability has come up. At best, one room will become available for a day and we need either two rooms or a suite...and that hasn't come available. We have taken several longer cruises and European cruises before, but never one to Asia or the Middle East which is the major reason I am interested in this particular itinerary. Finally, I started branching out and looking at other possible cruise lines that might do a similar route. I found such a route in June of 2025 on Azamara. It is actually shorter (which is a good thing) at 24 days and seems to hit even more ports. (It goes from Singapore to Athens rather than Australia to Rome, but the ports I am primarily interested in are not the Australian ports so losing those is not a big deal to me.) I have never been on Azamara before. I noticed that minors are allowed, but there is no teen/kids club or any activities for them. My husband worries they might be bored as they like the arcade, basketball courts, etc. on the larger ships. However, with that said, we have taken our own gaming systems before and hooked them up to the in-room televisions on cruise ships before so it seems like this would be possible on Azamara. They also can take their phones, VR headsets and handheld devices even if it isn't possible to hook up a gaming system to a tv. Has anyone traveled with kids before on a longer cruise on Azamara? They will be 11 and 13 at the time of the cruise. My other concern is that my husband needs decent wifi for his job as he needs to be able to stay in contact with his office. Wifi seem to vary dramatically between cruise lines. Is the wifi good on this line? We have taken (as a family) several longer cruises and European cruises before, but never one to Asia or the Middle East which is the major reason I am interested in this particular itinerary.

On Carnival, but not Azamara. Azamara doesn't have laundry rooms and I shudder to think what they charge to launder clothing. They probably chare $15 for each piece or something crazy like that. Princess (which has laundry rooms) has a similar route but it is longer, more expensive, and currently sold out. Still, I would rather Princess because of bigger ship, more kids activities, supposedly the best internet on the seas (or so they claim), etc.

Laundromats on ships. Many of the "higher end" cruises don't have them. Was looking a 24-day Azmara cruise and no laundromat. That won't work. Not for 24 days.

I saw this: https://nypost.com/2023/12/07/news/celebrity-cruises-youth-worker-admits-molesting-kids-on-ship-feds/ And it got me to wondering... Very disconcerting re Celebrity.

Sorry. I apologize. I am traveling at the end of November...leaving the US next Tuesday and coming back the following Monday.

That looks amazing, but is it still running?

Lol. No, but I have not been keeping up with John Heald's page as much as normal.

What happened with Firenze?

Do yall think she will still go into dry dock in Singapore in Sept/Oct 2024? Or will they try to make some of those repairs now?

We will be in Scotland for 5 nights/4 days. I am spending 3 nights/2 days in Edinburgh for prior commitments. I have been to Stirling, Glasgow, Edinburgh, and St. Andrews before...and some of the Northern Isles. What should I do with the remaining time? I thought about going to Loch Ness and Inverness and trying to see some of the highlands as I have never been up that way. I am just a little concerned that it isn't enough time.

Come on...OP isn't the only cruiser to complain about Venezia on here.

I had to google and see pics of this "Dr. Frankenstein's" dance club. I thought the David statue was kitsch, but that decor brings it to a new level...

Oops! Sorry. I looked on first page to see if anyone had posted about it and didn't see anything.

On the Carnival Miracle. Looks like there are at least a few new ports. No Norwegian Fjords.

This looks amazing! Enjoying all your pics.

I have to agree with pp. I have been on 4 cruises since February and have gotten them on some and not on others.

I just hopped on the Celebrity website and I am not seeing any cruises to Israel or Egypt until Feb 2024. The ones going to Morocco, Spain, etc. are still on the website for the rest of 2023, but not the ones that were going to Egypt and Israel.

That is true. Gaza shares a southern border with Egypt.