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When I logged in this morning to the cruise planner, it now shows Adventure of the Seas (yesterday it was still showing the Voyager cancelled). They kept us in the same room.

She was in dry dock in 2021 (October maybe?) so I doubt she would be slated for dry dock already in May of 2023. Additionally, she has cruises scheduled for that gap time period including one that leaves April 27, 2023 (the supposed end date of the current deck plans). It's probably just recategorizing cabins.

We cancelled the Crown because of all we were hearing about the ongoing maintenance and propulsion issues (things that still appear to be ongoing) combined with just an okay experience on the Emerald which was an expensive cruise. Our biggest issues with the Emerald were their lack of ability to really modify dishes (or help me select better ones) to meet my very common dietary restriction which resulted in repetitive, bland food for me and not a lot of options (something that was an issue on the Caribbean as well), the tiny run-down staterooms with no seating area unless you upgrade to a mini-suite, and the lack of sufficient public space even when the ship was only at 60%.

This isn't just an old ship vs. new ship problem. I sail other lines and never have I heard problems to this extent and this ongoing with any of their older like I have with this and other Princess ships. I commented to one of my travel companions who mostly travels Princess while I was on the Caribbean Princess at how many public toilets and faucets were out of use and her response was that it's just normal. That is not normal on other lines that maintain their ships better. And I'm not saying other cruise lines never have maintenance issues but they just aren't this widespread and go unresolved for so long. I generally agree that you shouldn't judge a whole cruise line by one cruise experience but sometimes that one cruise experience is actually a representation of how the cruise line handles problems and in this case how well they maintain ships. After we sailed the Emerald in February, we cancelled our cruise on the Crown that was supposed to take us to Hawaii next year. Our experience on the Caribbean in June just confirmed that was the right decision.

If Carnival got it right, I want to know how Virgin and Margaritaville At Sea are getting around it. Neither re-quire pre-cruise tests for vaccinated passengers and both have cruises to the Bahamas. This will be interesting to see how this plays out.

Glad I could help clarify your confusion. It really isn't written very well. To me, it doesn't surprise me if something wasn't on the general Bahamas tourism site because often countries during the pandemic have had different requirements for cruise ships than they have for those coming in by land and air. Canada is a great example. What puzzles me is the lack of consistency with the other cruise lines currently sailing to the Bahamas. It will be very interesting to see how it plays out. Fortunately my next cruise on Carnival only stops in Mexico so hopefully the no test for sailings five nights or under will stick for that sailing. And hopefully NCL follows with similar protocols before my December cruise (which is a five night cruise stopping in Mexico).

There is a lot of questions on the Carnival board as to why Bahamas was included as a port that required testing mostly because Royal has not come out with a similar announcement and Margaritaville at Sea is as we type sailing back and forth between Florida and the Bahamas with no pre-cruise testing requirement for vaccinated passengers. Virgin Voyages also has no pre-cruise testing requirement for vaccinated passengers and they sail to Bimini in the Bahamas.

I don't follow your confusion here. Bahamas was specifically listed in the five nights or less section because that is an exception to the rule that vaccinated individuals don't need to test. It's not listed in the unvaccinated section because unvaccinated individuals have to test regardless of length of cruise or destination. Bermuda and Canada are separately identified in both paragraphs because they have shortened testing windows (72 hours for PCR or 2 days for antigen).

You can't know you've picked the right line to be loyal to if you have never tried any other cruise lines.

These menus are old. Drink prices (especially wine) increased in late June.

Depends on the itinerary and demand. I don't think Princess is limiting capacity anymore. The Caribbean Princess has been sailing at 90-100% of double occupancy since May at least. When we were on in June, they were only setting aside a pretty small portion of the Aloha deck (less than a quarter of that deck) for quarantine and a lot of staterooms had third and fourth passengers in them to make up for those quarantine cabins.

Where are you cruising to? The 72 hours for PCR/2 days for antigen seems to only apply to Canada and Bermuda. This has been a Canada requirement for a while. (I haven't followed Bermuda requirements.). For other itineraries (including the Bahamas), it seems to still be a 3 day requirement.

Carnival has been clear since this change was announced that this was subject to any requirements set by the destinations on the itinerary. We knew this would affect any cruises that stopped in Bermuda and Canada as those two countries have been very up front about their testing requirements but that doesn't mean anyone should have assumed those would be the only two countries with requirements. Cruise lines are trying to navigate so many different requirements set by different countries while still balancing customers' willingness to comply with protocols, taking reasonable precautions for passenger safety, and making money so they can try to pay off all their debts and start to turn a profit.

RCL has not released detailed protocols yet and their new testing protocols don't go into effect until August 8. If the Bahamas are requiring a test, I imagine RCL will have to add that clarification as well. And throughout the pandemic, many countries have had different requirements for cruise ships that stop there compared to those that travel by air. Canada is an example of this. They require no test to enter by land or air but they require any cruise stopping there to require a pre-cruise test. So just because you can fly to the Bahamas without a test does not mean they don't still require one for cruise passengers.

How is NCL going to know you truly are not a close contact if you are family members and share an address? Just based on the wording of the cancelation policy, I think if one of you tests positive, neither of you go and you both get FCC. If you, your family members or travelling companions assigned to the same stateroom cancel a cruise booking due to testing positive for COVID-19 within 14 days of embarkation, you and they are entitled to a FCC for the amount paid to Norwegian. https://www.ncl.com/refund-and-cancellation-policy-covid-19

I doubt Celebrity at this time or in January is/will be offering tests for a scenario like yours. It might have been possible to convince someone earlier in on the restart when people needed tests at the end for so many different reasons but testing is now winding down and Celebrity doesn’t want to be responsible for anymore positive cases than absolutely necessary. An alternative to the home tests others have suggested may be to have your Uber/taxi stop at LabDoctor (assuming they are still testing) which is very close to the Ft Lauderdale cruise port and very fast.

Yes, full price upgrade to premium beverage from classic currently is $18 including gratuities. They seem to be offering pre-cruise discounts on that for some cruises plus depending on loyalty level, you can get a discount. So many get it for a little less than $18 a day per person.

I've found the various cruise lines to be more alike than different and it usually comes down to what you like to do and what vibe you are looking for. Celebrity and Princess are quieter, more traditional cruises (although Celebrity does a bit more innovation). As you move to Carnival, MSC, and Royal you get more families, energy, and more active things to do. Without knowing what you like to do and what you are looking for, it's hard to give any advice. If you decide to try Royal, make sure they have your Celebrity loyalty numbers (you can do it online in your account). They match loyalty at certain levels (but don't combine points earned on the separate cruise lines).

There is a whole thread somewhere here in the last day or two about the Brilliance and Enchantment swap if you want to read more tonight.

I re-read your original post and I realize you weren't talking about the Voyager specifically. They are making a similar swap between the Brilliance and the Enchantment.

Here is the other thread:

There have been a few threads here on cruise critic about a ship swap between the Voyager and the Adventure starting in spring of 2023. Maybe yours is one of those. The Voyager will now be sailing out of Galveston and the Adventure out of Florida. You should get an e-mail (or your TA may have gotten that e-mail). They plan to put people in like cabins on the new sailings but that is going to take time. Right now our Voyager cruise in 2024 shows cancelled in the cruise planner.

The pier Princess uses (Railroad Dock) is the most affected and so they are re-routing a lot of their cruises. I understand that there is some concern that additional rocks could fall and so they putting additional precautions on the area most likely to be affected. I am not familiar with which pier Royal uses assuming it is a different one than Princess, it may not be an issue.

This year I did a full transit on the Emerald (February) and internet was pretty good and then we did 2 weeks on the Caribbean Princess (June) where the internet was unusable most of the first week (we were told a server was down) and then was hit or miss the second week. The Caribbean Princess also was at a much higher capacity (almost 100% double occupancy compared to about 60% on the Emerald) with a younger crowd that likely used internet more (so more people to share the same bandwidth).

I was in a premium balcony (B749) in February on the Emerald and there were no USB ports. Besides the normal outlets by the desk there were US outlets where the TV used to be. There was a minifridge/cooler. In February, I did not see any evidence the MDR was open for lunch on embarkation day but things very well could have changed since then.