Itchy&Scratchy

we always carry Truvia with us for my DH. To our surprise, Celebrity had Truvia on every table in MDR and the buffet along with the other sweeteners. But not Princess...

we sat in the same seats in the last row in the theater every night, and so did she (she accompanied a person in a wheelchair). But she only coughed on the last night. She also sat next to us in the lounge several times throughout the cruise and didn't cough. So, yeah, not the chronic kind this time. My dad is a former smoker, so he coughs a lot. DH has respiratory allergies and coughs a lot (not on a cruise though, because he is removed from his allergens).

same. I think it was Typhoid Mary in the theater on the last night who coughed the entire performance long right behind us.

the beds were upgraded recently, but pre-pandemic it was like sleeping on a rock. Somewhat better now. I was very comfortable on X's Reflection bed (reg inside cabin). I do not remember being uncomfortable on MSC Seascape (reg balcony room). I do have a very bad back and at home we sleep on a memory foam matt.

depends on what you booked and your country. I am in the US and our cruise price just dropped by $400 for the 3 of us. My CVP adjusted the price without rebooking anything. We have a fully refundable deposit.

of course, it is. We just got it on our latest cruise yet again (April). I only had sniffles, but DH had the same horrible cough and misery for over 10 days as we did back in 2022. There were MANY coughing and sneezing people on the cruise, and most of them didn't even cover up. pure luck, I guess. I personally lost two cousins to covid (who were not biologically related to each other and were not vaccinated). BIL still has long covid over a year later. I had it 3 times, DH had it twice, my parents had it 4 times (they are more active in the community than us - we work from home and get our covid on cruises), and our kid didn't have it. I was sure we were going to get it on our November cruise, so I scheduled my surgery for 2 weeks after. Per current CDC guidelines, one doesn't even have to quarantine anymore, which is crazy to me. I totally quarantined my husband away from me and our kid last month. However, you probably don't need to wait for several weeks if that's what you are waiting out. Now, if the appt is not available, that's a different matter.

We usually go to Playa Palancar - $20 pp gets you a nice lounger with an umbrella and a beautiful beach. It has never crowded like some other beach bars either. And we don't want a pool when we go to the beach. Before the pandemic they didn't even charge $20 pp. They charged less and it was per chaise+umbrella instead of per person. So, to me personally $125 for the cabana itself, without a food/drink credit and then an additional fee of $19 per person - that's too much. It would be $220 for us without food or drinks. It's just a matter of preferences, I guess.

we've never done or even considered this before, but we usually fly on Spirit anyway, which is not included. But this time we are flying on SW and we'll have OBC left over (most likely), and we'll have our very immobile dad with us, so it would be nice to use. I wonder how often they lose the luggage...

We always eat dinners at MDR, even on the first night. Never had to wait in line and always made MDR reservations in advance on the app for 6-6:20 pm. And what does it have to do with knowing your embarkation time? Is your cruise leaving later in the evening? Ours are usually leaving between 3 and 6 pm, and we usually embark around 11:30, and it doesn't effect our dinner times or locations.

When I am making the specialty dining reservations (premier package), it says - you have credits towards this purchase, and the balance is $0. The new app is truly hit or miss. It's weird. Right now it says - cover charge $39 pp, subtotal $156, total $0. Reserve with the credit card...

we brought a 12 pack of soda per person on our March cruise on Reflection out of Port Everglades. We hand carried it onboard. We loved the fact that X allows you to drop off the luggage in your cabin before it's actually ready to be used. So, 3 12-packs lasted the 3 of us exactly the length of our 8 night cruise.

seems quite a bit expensive. Cabanas start at $125 and then you pay additionally per person, and that doesn't even include food.

we were in E322 and E332 on Regal and Enchanted (sister ships), never any noise.

yeah, Princess Promotions deal is not a scam per se, but it is not a great or even a good deal either. Now, not explaining the cost and just charging thousands of dollars to your parents' CC is definitely a scam.

yes, ice and free water are available at the buffet.

to help you with your calculations

a lot of us cruise without a package...

you can see the balance in any case any time on the app, and you can just stop when you get to 67 CAD. But to each his own. If you want to add two extra steps to the process - you are welcome to do so.

while the meals aren't supposedly shared, people on this board have been reporting that when they made specialty dining reservations for all three people in the cabin (two with the package and one without), their specialty dining credits were applied to the 3rd person. Which leaves them with only one more credit for the two of them for the next dinner.

that just creates 2 additional unnecessary steps. First, adding the money, and then getting the leftover balance back. Just add a credit card to your folio and the drinks will get charged to it. Easy. It's the same bill, but in the first case you are prepaying it and then trying to get the money back. In the latter case, your credit card gets billed automatically at the end of the cruise. You will check your folio for any wrong charges daily in any case.

that's exactly where we keep 2 of our 28" suitcases, at least one of them lying down flat. We don't usually unpack all the way and just keep most of the clothing in the suitcases.

we are not worried about the schedule at all, but I do want to see MDR menus in advance so we could book specialty restaurants on nights when there is little we want. This will be our one and only cruise with specialty dining included (2 pp) so we want to try it.

in that case we stop by a local grocery store and get a 12 pack pp.

I would definitely look into Celebrity and Princess. For Celebrity I'd go Reflection and newer, and for Princess I'd aim for Regal Princess and newer (but I'd give Sun and Star Princess ships a bit more time to iron out the brand new ship wrinkles first). Even our kid's favorite line is Princess.

are you flying in the day before? We loved having the Classic soda package for our kid. He totally drank his weight's worth of sodas and mocktails every day. It was worth it to us as a present to him.