rj59

Before signing up, if you have iPhones, try texting once you're at sea. Some lines and ships have a loophole where you can text through the ship's wifi for free using iMessage, which is easier and less clunky than ship apps. I know it worked for me on Norwegian Joy, but I haven't tried it on Carnival.

Generally, N/S sailings have less demand, and sailings in May/September also have lower demand, because of weather and school not being out. Zaandam will probably mostly sail full, because it's a small ship, but Koningsdam might always have some space. Seattle demand and prices are insane, so Westerdam and Eurodam will mostly sail full or at even over capacity for June-August, because of families, and all the megaships going out of Seattle will be at over 100% capacity, especially with Celebrity Edge sailing this year. There's also a possibility that HAL will extend their Standby program for Alaska, which would help fill any empty cabins--right now the 5-night Noordam on April 30 is on the list.

You might look at shoreexcursions group or viator, ones that top youtube cruise expert Gary Benbridge recommend. I used SEG for a really enjoyable ebike tour of Mazatlan and a small van Amalfi Coast tour that were the highlights of both cruises. I would think that VV doesn't have the relationships built up with local tour operators that larger lines have, and their marketers want to make tours sound more flashy and cool than they might actually be, which is more often than not hopping on and off buses and walking around listening to a guide drone on. Checking cruise port schedules can also help choosing wisely--I foolishly booked an island tour of St. Kitts, not realizing that Wonder of the Seas was joining us in ports, so it was rickety bus gridlock the entire time and chaos. Going on a small or independent tour also makes sense given the late-hour events and leisurely breakfast spots on VV. Having a Caribbean esim on your phone will also help linking up with local guides and using map apps to find your way around if you want to self-explore.

September in Alaska has the most rain and is starting to get cold, so whatever opinions people have, the overwhelming consideration should be to stay comfortable and get good views of scenery. Majestic is the only ship that allows this, with the Hollywood Conservatory and pool. Every other upper space on Discovery will simply be unusable, so you could have over 3,500 people congregating in the buffet and piazza areas. Furthermore, my favorite whale/glacier viewing places are in deck 8--I saw a dozen or so whales next to the ship as we neared the WA coast on the return trip on Discovery. Majestic is superior there, too, because the midship outside areas have seating and viewing, whereas on Discovery they're blocked off by glass and were meant to have outside dining, impossible in Alaska. In future, I'd recommend doing a N/S cruise in Alaska, because you get the largest glacier, Hubbard, as well as Glacier Bay, and the prices are about half of what they are out of Seattle, and you don't have to do a token stop in Victoria the final evening. Embarkation on Discovery was also a horror, because they made everyone stand in line to hand their bags off at indoor luggage scanners, and I talked to a waiter who did the Alaska season out of Seattle, and he said it was just a horror, with Discovery sailing at over 4,000 for most of the summer, just as it's selling out every week in Alaska now. I got Covid in the theater two summers ago, because both early and late shows were completely full, and I had to show up half an hour early to get a seat. You'll also get a superior experience going on HAL Zaandam r/t from Vancouver, which visits Glacier Bay, has a wraparound promenade by the water, forward-facing crow's nest viewing area, and best of all, a max of 1400 passengers.

It's not just drive-to-port, since I flew from Seattle the day of the cruise to get to Koningsdam. Still, I've done 10 or so Mexican cruises the past couple of years, and it seems to be there's a huge California crowd that's really into cruising now, with a more diverse crowd than I've ever seen before, so I couldn't tell the difference between crowds on Princess, HAL, Celebrity, or NCL. Cruising is just hugely popular now, as reflected in the prices and ships selling out. I'm irritated that there are so few good options out of San Diego, except for Hawaii and Panama Canal ones, but I can see why they would want to fill those ships completely, for all the onboard revenue and excursion money. I would hope they'll see that with all the excursion money in Alaska, it would make sense to continue the program there, especially for the less-popular and oversaturated N/S Alaska market.

It's good to have an esim as a backup, if your plan doesn't cover international roaming. I think I bought one for $8 for 1GB for 3 days in Mexico on my last cruise. It also helps if you're exploring on shore, because you can look up things to do, places to eat, and to use maps to get around. I've even ordered a Mexican Uber that way, since you don't get gouged or have to haggle, as you do with taxis.

It's a good move, if the music and programs aren't determined by Billboard, as every other venue on every other ship is. Every other line has piano players who take requests, interact with the crowd, and are there to entertain, not promote Billboard. Every other line has independent musicians around the ship playing the music they want in atriums, bars, lounges, and on deck. On HAL you get pre-programmed sets in Rolling Stone, BB Kings, and previously on Lincoln Center too, as well as of course the same 3 options for the dance company on every ship, every cruise. What was most embarrassing and cruel on Koningsdam in December 2022 was them trying to recreate their former Billboard greatest hits show using the Step One dancers, but also the weak-voiced Billboard duo to try to sing and dance a bit to what was once done by professionals--it was just sad hearing the poor woman trying to do the Whitney Houston song that was once a chance for real singers to shine in real production shows.

I've done it many times, but you'll get to the ship quicker if you just take an Uber or Lyft from your hotel, and save money. You can wait up to half an hour if you arrive when they've finished filling a bus and you have to wait for another one, and realize that they have passengers at each of up to 8 terminals, so it can take half an hour or more just to finish loading, since they want to pack a bus and have you have a lot of people who have trouble getting on the bus. You also increase your Covid risk unnecessarily that way--I got it on a trip in December. The same is true of the reverse trip back to the airport--you can be at the airport by the time they finish filling a bus, and on the way back they load luggage and have to unload it at every terminal, so it takes a terribly long time, along with confused people who don't know which terminal they're going to. It's a terribly busy airport, and a really complex job of dealing with passengers at many terminals when arriving. If you order a Lyft or Uber, they'll arrive at your airport within a minute or two and have you at the terminal before your hotel shuttle bus even arrived there (hotel shuttle buses are also a nightmare at LAX, with luggage packed high and sometimes skipping people when they're full). If you're afraid of apps and Uber/Lyft, practice using them in your hometown to run an errand or go out for a meal or something. It will simplify your cruising and flying life and make it more pleasant and flexible--if you do self-assist, you can be at the airport and make earlier flights, and stress much less.

I've been faithfully following cruise prices for almost a decade, since as a price-conscious inside-cabin solo passenger I need to in order to find deal that allow me to cruise more often. Things are just so popular now that demand is very high on all cruise lines. I used to be able to count on dirt-cheap last-minute NCL fares until now, and discounts on Princess and HAL to Mexico, but now almost all Mexico trips on all lines are getting sold out. You not only have a generation perfect storm of the elderly and boomers having had travel curtailed and a lot of wealth and bucket lists to burn through, but also families (god, look at Disney prices, both land and sea), young people new to cruising and getting drawn in by social media and Instagrammable ships and experiences, and then China and Japan allowing their tens of millions of tourists to go abroad again, also with lots of money to spend. Again, all the framing of sales is meaningless, like 70% off second passenger or free drinks all the tricks they use to tempt you. The only thing that matter is cost per passenger, and cruiseplum is the best at searching, not only for listing hot deals, but also their search showing total cabin price and cabin price per day, including taxes/fees. For NCL, they are masters of sucking up extra money, whether it's go-karts, V/R games (games on VV are free), selling future deposits, and hiding hidden costs. So the free wifi is something like 75 minutes, and the free drinks package includes $21/day automatic gratuity added on. Also, VV has free soda machines, and NCL will only pour out part of a can of soda--they won't give you a full can. They're also mostly sailing at over 100% capacity, which makes for a miserable experience, really bored/uncaring/brusque crew members, hours-long lines at the front desk, hours-long lines to disembark, and on my last sailing embarkation started at 11:30, but rooms weren't ready until 4:30, and weren't on any day of the cruise before then--more NCL cutbacks. In the dining room there was a table of 20 or so young boys left by their parents to scream, fight, throw things, and I couldn't hear my waiter or anyone at my table. NCL also has a ship-within-a-ship, so the Haven much of the front of the ship--I was physically pushed away from an elevator when boarding one time, a crew member saying it was for Haven guests only. That said, they have a really good brew pub (leaderboard posted for who had had the most beers on a cruise), and it was pretty fun to have breakfast on deck in St. Petersburg sitting next to Johnny Cash and Elvis, or eating next to Ringo on another cruise.

Just don't cancel the person before the cruise, because they might refare the cruise and charge you more. Just say the other person couldn't make it when you board, and they'll automatically refund the port fees. This is becoming a secret way to avoid price gouging of solo cruisers on Celebrity and Royal C now, who are charging up to 5x more for one passenger than they are for two together. I did it myself on a Mexico Celebrity cruise in October, using my niece as a second person and then collecting her fees/taxes back when she was a no-show.

You can't really know until you get to the ship, since each individual bar will have certain beers and not all bartenders know what's in their fridge and what's in back somewhere, and many don't care, since other alcohol drinks have a higher profit margin. So when you're on the ship, visit different bars and ask around--avoiding peak times would be the best option, so they have time to search their fridge and storage in back. The ocean now delivery is completely worthless, since nobody knows which bar has which beers or if they have any at all from the list, and even import beer taps in the bars are often just empty. I found a really nice Good Spirits bartender on Majestic once who pulled out all her craft and foreign beers for me to look at, and so I tried different ones. I was on Royal after it came back from Australia, and they were trying to get rid of about a dozen kinds of Australian beer, so I tried most of them, looking up ratings on Beer Advocate and other sites. In my experience, only NCL, with its District brewhouse, and Cunard, because it's British, doesn't have just a lot of mass-market beers. My solution is to save most of my beer drinking for ports, trying local ones, searching out craft beer spots, and meeting locals in the process. I also like buying Grolsch on ships, since it has a resealable bottle so I can carry it around the ship and store unfinished ones in my fridge, and it's 16 oz so more bang for your buck.

They don't advertise embarkation lunch, because they don't want thousands of ravenous people swamping the MDR and filling it with luggage, which only has minimal staff and seating. A lot of people are like me and go overboard with eating the first day, because it's free, so they try to steer people to the buffet, where they can indulge all they want and camp out with bags until their rooms are ready. It's the same menu on every ship, with just basic stuff like salmon that you'll get at dinner or other MDR lunches, so if you're on at 11:30 you might not want to wait until noon and wait for food, especially since they cram you into 2-tops with a foot between the tables on each side of you, which is awkward and uncomfortable for people like me who want space and privacy while dining. Also, Princess now evidently has only a single lunch menu for all sea days, so you might find more variety in the buffet anyway. If it's crowded, I bring a plastic tray in my suitcase and take food outside somewhere, or even to my cabin.

They're salespeople advertising their personal service, to make it sound special, but in reality they're there to lock you in, to upsell you on packages and everything else, and to keep in touch forever to book new cruises with them. NCL ones are very aggressive, so I changed my number on the NCL website to an inactive cell number. I also found Virgin assigned me a personal specialist to leave endless voice mails and emails, so I just blocked the number. Just say "I have a travel agent and don't do business over the telephone and don't stick with businesses that don't respect my time and privacy".

I've been getting really nice canvas ones on Celebrity, and on HAL a few weeks ago I also got a nice canvas one advertising their 150th anniversary. Both are actually capable of carrying a beach towel and other things, and the Celebrity one even has a zipped pouch inside. I have a pile of old Princess and HAL ones I keep in my trunk as shopping bags. It seems like the cost would be more than paid for in free advertising and loyalty, especially with current high prices and demand and so many new people interested in cruising but not sure where to start.

The people with the most insight would be the ones who actually assigned the rooms, a "Ship Inventory Specialist" who sent me the approval email and so would know about availability and how early/late they actually assign rooms or cancel people. Since it's a new program and not well-advertised, most CS people on the phone, at the port, or on the ship aren't going to be aware of it--you can't even find it by searching 'standby' on the HAL website. Having it under the radar is actually good for those of us interested in it, since otherwise it would catch on and overwhelm their ability to run the program, the likelihood of getting a spot would be less with current high occupancy, and god help if some YouTuber or blogger started spreading the cruise hack and put out some "I sailed in a luxury suite for $49 a night!" video. Now we've seen how it works for those who were approved and those who were canceled (since you were booked the entire time, they have to cancel you to get the refund process going). I'm hoping they'll add some Alaska cruises, other than the 5-day Noordam in April, since I'm between Seattle and Vancouver and could get a refundable flight to/from Anchorage for N/S sailings (usually much cheaper and therefore less full than r/t Seattle/Vancouver trips). Standby in Alaska would actually be much more valuable, since weather changes so quickly, and I usually go on last-minute Alaska cruises when I see favorable fares and weather anyway.

There are deals on Celebrity, but you have to look carefully and there haven't been many lately. The same goes with Virgin, like the $900 solo inside for Barcelona-Athens 9-nights in October I got before it sold out, or the 9-nt Caribbean in April 2025 I just booked for $1400 solo inside. I found both fares on the Cruiseplum Hot Deals section, a real gold mine for solo passengers. I cancelled the Virgin promotional emails, because the hot deals were never really deals. They at least have a really valuable search function in searching price per sailer per night and you can search for one passenger. For Celebrity, the way to get around the discriminatory pricing is to search for solo and doubles, and book with a friend/relative for the second person, have them no-show, and then get the second fees/taxes refunded. I did that on a Mexico sailing, but I managed to get sailings on Ascent and Beyond that were below 200%, using a TA website. Silhouette also has some solo cabins, as do many RC ships, so you can get good deals that way. Their stock has doubled in a year, so they have a strong incentive to raise revenue to justify it, and demand for their newer ship allows them to charge what they want on the new megaships, just as Disney can do for their ships, which make Virgin seem like a real bargain, especially with all the onboard spending RC/Disney pick up. The explosion in cruising is getting a little scary for me, for prices and overfull ships and cutbucks and cost increases and overfull ports, so I'm not sure how much fun cruising will be going forward, if those trends continue. Will people get burned out on Virgin, if ships and shows and dining are mostly the same on every ship?

Other cutbacks/annoyances I thought of from recent HAL cruises: Almost all dining room staff are male Indonesians, which is sexist and racist, no matter how HAL fans try to justify it. They cut out lobster, except as an upsell option, and their 'prawns' are just regular shrimp. They cut out creme brulee on the MDR menu, but you can ask for it. They do have scoop ice cream in the buffet, unlike Princess. Smoke gets in the Rolling Stone/Billboard areas on the newer ships, but then smoke on Royal class ships also seeped far out of the casino. Big plus: ships pre-Koningsdam have a wide wraparound wooden promenade outside with chairs, which none of the Princess ones do, unless you count the two-level ones (often with smoking areas you have to walk past) where you have to climb stairs at the front end. I'd say HAL has a much better ship layout, with two inside decks with venues on each sides, whereas you only can go on starboard side from front-rear on Princess ships, which creates bad congestion and weird layouts, like having to go all the way aft and down a deck to get to a rear MDR. HAL doesn't have any central piazza/atrium with activities, nor is there really room for one on the Lido deck, but you do get a retractable roof on them, whereas the wind and cold is brutal on Princess ships on coastal/Alaska trips, and you get a wonderful crow's nest for enjoying front views--I hate that Princess doesn't have that option, except on Majestic. Room service is also still free, and best of all, MDR dinner items are included in room service, so I often order that way if I don't want to deal with a crowded dining room. One thing I hate, hate, hate--HAL tries to enforce boarding times in San Diego, so I showed up at 12 last time and they wanted me to come back after 2, they force people to wait in designated boarding time lanes, and I saw a lot of miserable people sitting in the sun with all their luggage. Not having Medallions also makes everything a little more difficult on HAL, including having to sign drink receipts, which i hate. I think their have-it-all includes an excursion and specialty dining, unlike Princess, which just gets you repulsive candy/ice cream floats and the pizza restaurant that used to be free. I think I'm going to jump ship, too. The new steep rise in wifi cost was I think the last straw, after dropping the free pizza, ocean now delivery, and room service, and the steep fare increases with sold out ships. I get military/shareholder OBC, so there's no need for Plus, but now not having it makes me feel like a second-class citizen. I just couldn't stand the idea of being on a sold-out Crown next month to Mexico, with it's sad old decor and cattle pen buffet stations and the really horrible theater seating design where everyone in a row has to stand anytime anyone ones to get into a middle seat, as well as freezing outside until the ship gets closer to Cabo. I have Elite, but $20 of minibar drinks and free laundry doesn't feel worth it, especially those with Plus get privileges like pizza and Medallion home delivery, which was one of my favorite ways of getting excited about a cruise. I've had more fun on Celebrity lately, whose entertainment and ship design put both Princess and HAL to shame (and their casinos are all smoke-free), and I found a couple of bargains on Virgin, which I suspect I'll love, even if they don't go to West coast ports that I prefer, and they include tips/wifi/soda/usually $100s in free drinks/status matching.

That's disappointing, another advantage over other lines gone. I hated being on HAL a few weeks ago with the same limited lunch menu every day, and like the Princess ones, they have brunch items like French toast or eggs benedict--for all the hundreds of late-night partiers on HAL/Princess who sleep in until noon? It seems obviously a move to cut costs and labor for lunch MDR and the kitchen, making it better for the crew and worse for the passengers. The buffets on ships are already nightmares at lunch time with full ships, so cutting out the option of a varied lunch menu every day isn't a good move, especially with the free Alfredo's option gone. So that puts HAL on top for breakfast, and now Celebrity for lunch, since they have a varied menu with lots of dinner-quality options. I had Princess as tops for dinner, but on HAL they included a lot of Mexican options, as well as in the buffet, so I'll have to compare it with Crown next month to see who's on top for me.

Anything beats the old syrup. I just watched a Ruby video with Lavazza urns out, so no more syrup there. If you have Plus, the IC even has cans of Lavazza cold brew. If you don't like Lavazza, an Aeropress is portable and can make strong espresso-like coffee or regular brew, just bring a thermos and fill it with hot water from the buffet.

Be open minded about it and try different things, since they have daily specials and Chinese options and ramen. Majestic was designed for the Chinese market, thus the noodle bar, you also get the bonus of a covered pool and forward lounge, the only one on Royal-class ships, with a lot of unique topiary and xylophones to play with. If you want pizza and don't have plus, you can order one for delivery for $8.50 or so. Having hot noodles is actually nicer in cooler weather, since on-deck Slice pizza gets stale and cold quickly, and it's less filling than a couple slices of pizza, I've found. Majestic also used to have some cool Chinese murals on the walking track, with dragons and different wings you could take photos in front of, but Princess painted them over.

Personally, I'd just fill a water bottle with some rum and buy a big bottle of Coke/Coke Zero at your first port. If you feel guilty, buy a bottle of rum on board to take home to compensate them. With so much outside beauty and things like whales, and long port days, I wouldn't spring for a drinks package in Alaska, especially since it can get cold so poolside drinking isn't really attractive, with the Crown having no covered pool areas. Crown also doesn't have Alfredo's, which would be another reason to get Plus, and your cell plan might get coverage in Alaskan ports, which would lessen the need for wifi for an entire voyage. If you're solo and able to cruise out of SF/LA easily, you might look at getting up to Elite level through Pacific coastal cruises, which for 3/4-day trips twice or more a year give you double the cruise credits as a solo, so you could get to the Elite free mini-bar after 8 cruises of any length. I live near Vancouver, so I just did two short coastal cruises every fall/spring until I got to Elite. The minibars don't usually include rum, but the vodka, whiskey, and gin they usually give goes well with the non-alcoholic options you can swap for. I also use shareholder credit to buy drinks on board, so that's another option to get 'free' drinks.

I was just on Koningsdam, and they had a Murphy bed in the wall in the desk-storage area next to the bedroom itself, which seems quite idea, since it's a separate room with more privacy. They had a huge non-bed divan next to the bed, which someone could sleep on easily.

You can buy full-cruise, or remainder of cruise. So for a 7-day Mexican, I used an $8 e-sim on my phone for Mexico ports, and then on the 2 sea days home I bought the surf package for the remainder of the cruise for $34, I think. On the good side, it was very fast and much better than the by-the-minute show internet HAL used to have, which also had serious adult site filters. There's no discount for internet, unless you're 5-star. I really like the half-off internet I get at the Elite tier on Princess, and they don't have multiple speeds/access to encourage you to upgrade, everybody gets the same internet.

I received a booking confirmation with cabin assignment, and then a separate email from a Cabin Assignment Specialist congratulating me and inviting me to add HIA. What was weird about it was the updated invoice billed me an extra $24, which after chatting with a HAL rep, I saw was an airport transfer I'd never ordered, so I had it refunded. It was Thursday afternoon, for a Saturday sailing. What was worrying is that the spot for printing a boarding pass online was grayed out the first 24 hours or so, but then I was at least able to print out one with cabin number, but no boarding time, and a boarding pass never appeared on the app. So definitely print out the booking confirmation to show at the port, so you can get inside and they can look you up on the computers. None of the port people or front desk people were aware of the standby plan, so I eventually just said I was a last-minute booking. Then when you get a chance, go to the front desk and give them a credit card or any other info that didn't make it to the ship in time.

Who's on first? Majestic was designed for the Chinese market, so they don't have the poolside Slice pizza that other ships have, but a noodle bar instead, which is quite good, with a rotating list of specials. The free Slice pizza also has specials, and is quite good, especially if you wait until a fresh pie is right out of the oven. I don't know if they still do it, but I remember occasionally older ships with a Sabatani's instead of Alfredo's would open up for free lunch on some sea days, with pizza available. As others have said, ocean now delivery is a way to save on Alfredo's pizza, and there are ways to get paid venues for free/reduced, such as ordering gelato on MDR lunch days that comes from the pay gelato bar.