rj59

I'm Elite with Princess and go on NCL, but as a price-conscious solo I simply don't play along for all the money-making temptations, like casino, photos, bingo, packages, or other nonsense, particularly Princess now charging for room service or the previously-free Alfredo's pizza. I think people get upset about having to pay for go karts or other things on NCL, but I realize that's how they make money. They can be a little sneaky with FAS, giving only a limited amount of free internet, counting on most people to burn through it and pay for more, and they hide the $20 or so daily gratuities for the 'free' drinks package. They're also sneaky about selling $250 future cruise deposits, so I was fooled into buying more than I wanted by their sneaky phrasing. As with every other cruise line, realize they have a mountain of debt and have to pay for their fancy new ships, so they're going to try to extract as much from passengers as possible, but it's your choice whether or not to play along. Every other line has been cutting back and increasing prices, but people still are filling (and often overfilling) ships, so with NCL it's best to focus on the positives. For me it's the outside walk around most of the ship with incredible views, especially since all the other lines are cutting out wraparound promenades entirely. Then the Broadway and other shows are better than anything on Princess, and they have a comedy club (book as soon as you get on the ship) and Beatles band on many ships. So to me it's a nice middle-road between the insanity of the megaships of Royal and the dull old people ships of HAL and Princess. Even with food, I look at the positive--NCL has the most extensive Indian menu of any line in their buffets, as well as scoop ice cream, which Princess doesn't offer. And for pricing, NCL has incredible last-minute deals for a solo like myself.

I'm also fond of the $100 military benefit, regardless of cruise length, which I combined with shareholder on a 4-night coastal cruise last week. One of the reasons I've cut out Princess as my primary line was because they stopped allowing military and shareholder OBC to be combined, which disrespects my military service and loyalty to holding their poor stock with no dividends. Another thing I've only noticed HAL do is refund excess port fees, but on the final evening of the cruise, so make sure you look at your account the final evening and hit the shops or bars if you find you have more to spend.

You might look at the HAL Volendam, which is small enough to go all the way to Montreal, which also seems to have cheaper airfares. It only carries up to 1400 passengers and has a wraparound promenade by the water and covered Lido pool, so I think it's fairly ideal for colder weather with good natural scenery. Likewise, there's Zaandam doing Alaska now, r/t from Vancouver, and it gets into Glacier Bay, which the Celebrity ships don't. After the first year of startup and the delight of ships at 30% or so occupancy (800 pax on Solstice last January--perfect), I've been getting burned out by huge ships at full capacity (even Apex), so I've been try to aim for smaller ships, even going ultra-small on Azamara for a Spain cruise in April.

You just have to find what every line does well and steer towards that food. For instance, I order pizza on Princess, Guy's burgers on Carnival, but skip them on X (although on X they had enough pizza demand that I could get a slice when it was fresh out of the oven). The same goes for buffet desserts on X, which are now mostly just bland cakes (except for baclava day), so I get my sugar from the ice cream bar. That extends to the rest of the buffet and the MDR, so if I see a lackluster evening menu I'll check out the buffet or go to the sushi place instead. So overall Carnival has the worst food at sea, but if I go with Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana Mexican food, and Indian vegetarian dinners, then I really love their food (and I like their ice cream machine better than the sludge on Princess and Royal). After two disappointing Mast burgers, I learned not to go back, and to stock some backup food in my cabin if I'm hungry and between buffet times.

My advice is to order the Carnival brand beers, which come in cans. Then just say your wife is saving your spot by the pool and you want a second beer for her. I would think an inside bar might object to taking a cocktail in a glass, because usually only plastic glasses are allowed by pools. If they try to open a can, just say you don't want them touching the top, which would be basic sanitation anyway.

The kinks will be more of crew getting used to new spaces, from engines to kitchen. I've been on a few initial sailings after refurbs where I didn't have hot water, showroom tech systems didn't work, and other issues, but it should be worked out by the time Firenze gets to Long Beach, from wherever it originates. I'm glad I snagged one of the 5-days to Cabo in Dec 2024 for $55/nt for an upper-lower solo cabin. I love Cabo and whale-watching, so it's good to have another choice between dull 4-night Ensenada ones and dull 7-night ones, especially since I don't care for Discovery Princess and Koningsdam, nor can I afford their high prices now. It will make more of a juggling act for 4-night ones that include Catalina, with Radiance and Navigator of the Seas already going there. I'm sure the flocks of seagulls that love Guy's fries will also be overjoyed to have another Carnival ship to feed off of and soil the poop deck (anyone remember the trashy fishing line barriers on top of the Inspiration/Imagination to deter seagull food thieves?)

It depends on cruise length, too, and time of year, so school breaks will draw more families, and longer cruises will draw more older people. It depends on the class of ship, too--I went on Celebrity Apex, and it felt very upscale, with a lot of obvious wealth on board, and they have two production casts doing shows every night in three different venues. I just got off a HAL cruise with no more classical quartet or even a contracted dance company, just 4 singers singing "Mmm-bop" songs and a Billboard piano duo who sang like a bad karaoke duo, The newer ships have a Rolling Stone lounge, which livens things up a bit, and a fancier show room, but to me the dropping of production shows and nothing but corporatized music shows makes the evening vibe on HAL dismal, especially on formal nights, when people have a "I got dressed up for this?" attitude towards the shows. The daytime vibe is mostly older people staring at Kindles and younger people in the pool, and a lot of people I wish would keep a shirt or robe on. If it's not school break, I think NCL and Celebrity and RC have the most youthful vibe, whereas Princess has women who really love bingo and their yappy dogs and HAL seems to have the world's largest concentration of bickering old couples and seniors who manage to stay upright with canes and sticks and walkers even in the roughest of seas. And I've noticed the last month that HAL and Princess are back to having a lot of mask-wearers, even outside, but of course they take them off in crowded buffets, restaurants, and bars, because um, chairs provide immunity?

I've met former HAL singers on other lines. Brian who was in the excellent Westerdam shows (Alice in Wonderland, fairy tales) is on Celebrity Apex, which has two production casts, doing shows in 3 different venues. I saw curly-haired Patrick on Ruby Princess, who I remember from another HAL ship. Every line except for HAL is willing to pay for production shows and casts, including actual Broadway shows, not a choice of 3 interpretive dance shows with 4 dancers. Other lines also have varied musicians around the ship, not corporate robots playing the same approved setlists on every ship, on every cruise, in sponsored venues. I miss piano guys playing requests and interacting with people, and a Ukrainian girl in the Adagio classical duo learning a Mozart sonata and playing it for me.

Don't don't don't do the Princess transfer! There are few flights and few passengers at Hobby, so they'll make you wait up to 2 hours until they have enough people to half-fill a bus. I got there at 9, and didn't leave the airport until 11:30, with a long walk and getting everyone, including the many who are mobility impaired on the bus. With more Covid now, I'd also not want to wait with others in a seating area for hours, which also had passengers from Carnival and Royal. Then when we got to the ship a porter got on the bus and yelled out that they expect $5 a bag for their services. So a very awful and unpleasant start to a vacation, when there are much better options. You'll find that for 2 people, an Uber or Lyft is affordable and convenient, especially if you stay the night before in a hotel, but there are also several van services that pick up from the airport and cruise port that are quicker to leave and cheaper than Princess. Galveston Express and Island Breeze are the most affordable ones. A van or car is going to be quicker and more maneuverable on the freeway too, especially on a Sunday morning. On the return trip, I'd actually do the Princess transfer, if your flight time is later, because the van service picked up people from the huge Royal ship first and was fairly full and delayed by the time it got to Princess. Or you can just get an Uber or Lyft and get to the airport much quicker. Download the Uber and Lyft apps and learn how to use them, and then do pretend bookings on a Sunday morning to check fares each way.

Another thing I found on Royal last week is that they seriously upped the Indian options in the buffet, which offers great vegetarian options. They actually had a different Indian theme every night, based on geography, I think--I remember a Hyderabad night. I like to graze early at the buffet and eat in the MDR after 8, so having different Indian light options is really nice (especially now that I can't have my usual late-afternoon free Alfredo's pizza, sigh).

The problem is that there is already so much competition for Mexico sailing, with two Princess ships, NCL, HAL, RC, Disney, and soon to be 4 Carnival ones, once Firenzia starts. There's simply very limited dock space in San Pedro, too, with only room for 2 ships a day (with a backup distant dock for a third ship). Virgin also tends to do shorter cruises, which Carnival and RC already cover with Catalina/Ensenada cruises, and Catalina can only accept one ship per day, and Ensenada is kind of dull and gross. Cabo requires 5 days, and the sea days from LA tend to be cooler than from Florida and can also get overcrowded, since I see 3 ships there at a time with tendering required. Celebrity has a similar clientele and vibe to Virgin, and they're leaving for good on Dec 8, due to low demand. The Princess, HAL, and NCL Mexico ships also do Alaska during the summer, which Virgin wouldn't do. What would be pretty cool for a future ship would be to flag it as US and do 7-night Hawaiian island cruises, as NCL does.

I got this for the 9-nt Barcelona-Athens next October, $700 in drinks with loyalty matching, plus a daily coffee card. I'm going solo, so it will be quite the challenge to get through $700, especially with 5 interesting ports. Looking at the drinks menu on Prof. Cruises's site, though, I see there are lots of lighter-alcohol options, like spritzes, sangrias, and smoothies, so hopefully I can avoid waking up hungover on The Net, wondering how I got that tattoo.

It's about capturing wine lovers, which are huge profit drivers for cruise ships (Celebrity and other app dinner menus will be 90% wine lists). So a SF stop will advertise itself as a wine cruise, for those who want to sit on a bus all day for a Sonoma winery stop, and even Carnival in Ensenada has lots of wine tours. Livorno is Tuscany for the same reason. For ports like Le Havre or Warnemunde, they put Paris or Berlin, since people don't realize how far inland the cities are, how expensive the excursions, and how limited the time at the city. I'm going Anthem, partly because it visits smaller ports with close options, like Honfleur or Santiago de Compostela. I've looked at blogs and videos of previous visits to the ports, for hints and suggestions, and on any European cruises I look at distances and excursions and reviews. So now I know never to go to Nynashamn, because cruising in and out of the Stockholm archipelago was one of my favorite cruise experiences. I can't imagine that any true wine lover or foodie would go to Europe and dine and sleep on a cruise ship, though.

I'm going to go on the June 2025 14-night one, intrigued by greater number of sea days, and including a small Maine village, Eastport. Yorktown/Williamsburg will also be interesting, since I did some training at a secret base there for clandestine ops. The inside price is also good for a solo. I had to cancel my third Volendam cruise this year, leaving today for San Diego, the previous two because of a sick pet, and this time due to a sick me. So I'm very determined to get on that -dam ship, the only older one I haven't sailed on yet.

I'm doing a planned no-show in November, since the fare for a solo was 3X the cost of 2 people together. I had fears of being caught, interrogated, and forced to pay the solo rate, but the people at the port are just scanning documents and don't care, and once I'm on the ship, what are they going to do, make me share a cabin with a deckhand? They should actually be happy, because my no-show sister is a chowhound cheapskate who would eat steak at every meal, whereas I enjoy pasta and Indian food. They'll also get more business from me if I can book for two, since by searching for cruises based on two people, I'll see more affordable fares than with a solo search. They'll also have to pay fewer commissions, since their website is convenient for booking for 2, but now impossible to search for a solo.

I'll be joining you, taking the Amtrak bus from Bellingham. Another cheap option for getting to Seattle is Flixbus, which can be quite cheap, depending on day and demand. I used to live in Seattle, so I know I can take the 24/33 bus from the train station to the Magnolia bridge and walk from there (Professor Cruise has a good guide to getting to the piers on her brilliant web page, full of drinks and dining menus also). I might also see if I can find an electric app bike, which is even funner and quicker, going along the waterfront a park to get to the pier entrance, since I only have a backpack. I thought my entertainment email showed Duvall as cruise director, who leads an amazing Love Boat deck party---he dresses up as Isaac from the tv show. Unfortunately, the weather calls for rain and wind. The big question I have is where the ship will go on the sea day, since it doesn't take that long to get from Seattle to Vancouver. Because of tides and its height that make it a close call for Royal-class ships under the Lion's Gate bridge, it's not scheduled to arrive until 9 am, so we should get morning bicyclists waving from the bridge. I also had an inside, but got my Elite upgrade to a balcony. Solo tip--if you do lots of these short trips as a solo, you get to Elite level quickly, since they give double cruise credits for a solo. Also, if you want even better deals for solos, look at HAL going to San Diego, which I'm doing on Sept 27 and twice in October, one as low as $220 for a solo for 4 nights on Koningsdam. I've done dozens of them, and they're usually full of Canadians, some who stay on to do a Mexico cruise. Because the final day is in San Diego, the final sea day also tends to be nicer than on Princess, which end in SF or LA. They also have a retractable roof on their pool decks, so it's easier to deal with bad Pacific weather in October or April.

Nobody uses the cabanas on round-trips out of Seattle to Alaska, since you spend 2 days on the open ocean, often with extremely high winds and chills, and when you're in calmer waters it's mostly port days. The same goes for Pacific coastal ones (I'm doing 3 next month), since the weather can be even worse. The weather can be even worse in September, with significantly more rain and storms than the rest than May-August--I saw that Radiance of the Seas canceled all but one of its ports on its last sailing, because severe storms made it too dangerous to even dock in ports. If there is any justice in the world, the weather gods will find a way to destroy the poolside cabanas on Nieuw Amsterdam, which totally ruin the ship for me, especially on cold days with the roof closed and everyone trying to find scarce space on the Lido.

I was Apex in March too, I don't remember any live bands or obtrusive music there, just peaceful background generic music, which fit the vibe well, especially at night. I felt the same on 4 Solstice sailings, without any loud pop or things, which I find refreshing, having a pool areas without dining tables and burger smells and all sorts of shows, like ice carving. I've been on many Princess cruises, and I get sick now of deafening movies, daytime concerts, and football games on the huge screen above the main pool area (although sometimes I wish X would show something more interesting during the day on their little lawn screens than generic, dull sports videos). Sometimes I run across pool music I like, such as Majestic Princess with a mellow soundtrack of gentle French pop in their covered Hollywood Pool area, and I always find it amusingly incongruous to hear the upbeat pop on the HAL Lido, with the rather advanced average age of people around the pool. I do sometimes find the recorded music in the Sky Lounge annoying when I'm trying to read, and even more so when they kept it playing once during the morning guided meditation.

I'm Elite on Princess and have been on 5 Celebrity the last year, including following Discovery in Alaska with Solstice in Alaska a month later, and on my Mexico Solstice ones I sailed out next to Discovery. Here are my impressions, for someone who loves food and the sea, not suites or spas. 1. Embarkation is port-specific. My worst ever was on Discovery out of Alaska, simply because of 1500 more pax than Solstice and they made everyone take their own luggage for screening. And both early and late production shows had no empty seats at 10 minutes before showtime. In FLL, Apex embarkation was also smooth and easy. On Solstice in January, I didn't see a single other passenger in the terminal at 12:30, probably because there were only 800 on board. 2. As Gary B. from "Tips for Travelers" on youtube has said, Princess ships are basically all the same design, whereas Edge-class ships are innovative and beautiful. He says Princess has become dull and predictable for him, but says the new Celebrity ships are 'running rings' around the competition. 3. Older Celebrity ships have a forward Sky-lounge and two forward outside viewing areas for whale-wildlife watching, which I loved in Alaska and Mexico. All Celebrity ships have a covered Solarium, with pool and its own cafe. 4. Celebrity has more interesting entertainment, with aerialists, strongmen, and cutting-edge screens on Edge-class. On Apex they had original shows every night in 3 different venues, with two separate production casts. 5. Celebrity are very aggressive upsellers. Crew roam the ship the first day, pushing beverage packages and specialty dining, and if you have the classic, they will push you to upgrade, even in the MDR and cafe. Drinks prices are high, with even many beers priced at $11, in order to cause you as much pain and confusion as possible and be encouraged to get or upgrade a package. You have to sign a slip with a request for additional gratuity, and I've felt attitude from bartenders for not adding more. Basic wifi is severely throttled and very expensive, also encouraging you to upgrade. Of course, now tips aren't included in all-inclusive. Waitstaff also heavily lobby for good reviews, which makes me uncomfortable. 6. Celebrity also have a very thorough class system, based on cabin but also various levels of added service and exclusivity of restaurants and space. On Edge-class they cut off a significant part of the front of the ship for Retreat guests, which I hate as much as on NCL ships. 7. Casino smoke is getting bad on Princess with full ships and being close to the piazza. I also hate that on Princess ships with outside promenades, they put smoking areas where people trying to walk laps have to pass by smokers. Celebrity encourages gambling with free drinks, not letting people smoke. 8. As a solo passenger, Princess frequently will drop the doubled rate for singles. Lately, on some cruises, Celebrity has increased the solo rate to 800% of the double rate, so a Mexico cruise in November was $460 for two people, but $1400 for one. Their pricing and codes and deals are confusing and opaque, so going into their future sales office is like an auto dealer office. 9.

Personally, I've found it's not very compelling. The snacks aren't great, the drink discounts were for small cocktails that I didn't care for, and it felt sort of sad and awkward, a few couples sitting far apart, with some poor ships officers walking around making small talk with them. If you're Elite, you can get better treats with room service afternoon tea, and not so close to dinner, and the international cafe and bars around there also a better experience for watching people or the ocean and listening to live music. Even for the Captain's reception, on a recent cruise I went there and saw hundreds lined up, and decided to pass. More people having Plus or Premier also decreases the appeal of free or reduced drinks at those events. I wish they'd do the Captain's reception as HAL used to, with a dining room set up for a limited-menu seaday lunch, where people sat with others at tables and conversed, got free drinks, and a ship's tile after the Captain's speech.

I'm based in the US and when I called Princess to refare, they said I would have to lose my $100 deposit and rebook on my own, so I said if they keep my deposit instead of honoring the lower price I wouldn't rebook, and they'd end up with $100 instead of the $2,000 or more I'd spend on the cruise. Of course, a customer service guy in the Philippines didn't care, so they lost out, even though the cruise went down to $450 for 10 nights from England to Rome. It's not yet as bad as Royal C, which keeps a non-refundable $250 deposit for any canceled cruise, and a Carnival one for February said I'd lose the $500 deposit if I canceled now, so for me now, it makes more sense to just book relatively last-minute cruises, unless there's a great deal. If I know there's a cruise I want, I can also prebook Southwest flights and then get a refund of points or $ if the cruise doesn't drop enough to make it worthwhile for me. As a solo cruiser, with current high demand and higher fares, I'm not sure if prices for next year will come down by sailing time, though, or if demand will keep things high, without the reduced solo fares that Princess has often had since restart.

The to-go option is also nice if you don't want to have a meal there. I ordered a roll once for a late-night snack. If you have a beverage package, they also have a few Japanese beers and specific cocktails not found elsewhere, so you could share a roll or appetizers and drink that way. When I had a lot of OBC on a cruise, I ate there for dinner most nights, trying a different roll and type of ramen each night. What was nice for me as a single male was that the staff was all female, and the ship only had 800 or so pax (Solstice out of LA last winter), so I got lots of quick and personal service.

The last Mexico cruise will be Dec 8, heading to South America. I booked 6-night Eclipse ones to Cabo on Nov 5 and Dec 1, and did 4 of them on Solstice last year, booking in summer at ridiculously low prices--$300 solo inside average for 3 Mexico and on California coastal, 2 of them with all-inclusive. For one in January I showed up at the port at 1 pm and I was the only passenger in the terminal, which was eerie, but having an uncrowded ship with all the wonderful forward viewing areas for whale-watching was wonderful. I couldn't believe that people would prefer Discovery Princess and NCL Bliss out of LA, at 3500-4500 passengers, or Carnival, when they could sail on Celebrity for really good prices. The good news is they'll still have Summit doing a Pacific coastal, and maybe whatever replaces it for the less-popular N-S Alaska route. I found that Celebrity and Royal coastals are fairly pricey, though, especially compared to dirt-cheap HAL and Princess ones, who move many more ships to and from Alaska (I'm doing a 2-night Princess this weekend and 3 HAL coastal cruises in October, since I'm local and can take the train to Vancouver or Seattle).

I did the reverse on HAL several years ago in early October, and we hit an unexpected storm, on a HAL ship, with waves crashing over my deck 7 balcony. It's the only time I've ever had to crawl to the bathroom in order to not fall over, and all night it was up and down, like the most sickening carnival ride ever. The problem is once you head north towards Vancouver--I do coastal trips at least twice a year, and you can get decent weather, but you can also get gales so strong that they close off all outer deck access. It's just like a Translantic, you can't predict based on previous experience.

I started the other thread, and as people have recommended, I just booked Eclipse in Mexico for $440 for 2 people for an inside guarantee, versus $1300 for a solo. I just had to get my niece's passport info, but she'll be busy with school and won't be able to make the cruise, alas. I realize that Celebrity and Royal Caribbean prices are strange to start with, with all their codes and deals, and with the current cruise mania and pressure to make enough profits to justify their doubling of the RCL stock price, they're going to raise revenue however possible. I still want to cruise, though, and I still love Celebrity, so I'm glad there is at least a way to get around their weird solo price discrimination. I also found some Jan 2025 solo cabin deals on Silhouette for $50/nt, and I live between Seattle and Vancouver, so I can jump on an Alaska deal if I see one, as I did in Aug 2022 on Solstice, my first Celebrity cruise.