Haljo1935

Not really "formal" anymore, just dressier or more elegant than casual and no beachwear, torn jeans, etc. Of course, everything still goes in buffet so you eat there on those nights. Typically, I believe it's the first and last sea days. Safe travels - enjoy your cruise!

Who thinks giving a freshly allowed to legally drink 21yo a card w/a 15 drink daily allotment then turning them loose to go have is a good idea? Then add in any amount of hot sun and raging testosterone couple w/peer pressure... who's surprised by the end result? Granted, many involved are well over 21, but I think you get the point.

And even if was going to change (aligned it likely won't) wouldn't happen in time to help OP.

I have found some incredible deals for Australia but the flights kill me - like mortgage the house expensive.

Hey @Linsuesue weighing in a bit on B2B and TAs (transatlantic) & TPs (transpacific) and answering @RobertL88 as you may have same question when (see what I did there? "When" not "if") you book your B2B. You will get instructions for "turnaround" day - the day passengers leave & new ones get on. It will tell you when/where to meet, just follow those instructions and know you will cause an entire ship to wait for you if you don't. If you change cabins, you can pack your loose stuff, leave hanging clothes on hangers - stewards will move your stuff. There are threads on here w/very good info and lots of details. As for the B2B - I have always built my own by searching for ports I would be willing to get to to leave from then just start expanding the filters for dates. I do not filter by number of days because it will omit the shorter itineraries that you can book to build your B2B. @Linsuesue I would encourage you to add HAL (Holland America Line) into your search as they do a lot of European itineraries. We built a B2B on Princess pre-Covid flying to Athens, cruise Athens RT (round trip), turnaround day in Athens then cruise Athens->Barcelona, flew home from Barcelona. This repeated 1 port even though we were in the same area; we could have spent a week in that 1 port and still not seen it all, so repeating it was certainly acceptable. We wouldn't have repeated it, but Turkey was canceled and it was the replacement. That was our 1st B2B and honestly back then didn't even know that's what it was called (silly, naiive us) - we just knew we thought it was easy to cruise a 2nd week and didn't understand why more people didn't do it (again, how dumb were we). We heard people talking about how much they paid for the full cruise and were surprised as our B2B was far less than their 1 cruise. We did a HOHO (hop on hop off) around Athens on turnaround day - it was fabulous! We have our 1st TA and TP coming up. The TA we fly to Rome cruising Spain to FLL (Ft Lauderdale) then fly home from FLL. We booked air as 2 separate 1-way tickets for far less than half what a multi-city ticket cost. By not limiting yourself to 1 cruiseline (sorry cheerleaders and loyalists) you will have more options to avoid the long flights you are looking to avoid. We booked a RT Rome that would require us to fly both ways from Rome, but then I found a TA London->FL that left the day after the Rome returned. So a $70 flight got us from Rome->London then cruise London->FL. I did not look for a TA going the other way to prevent flying to Rome, but I likely could have found one. This does require changing cruise lines for London leg. The TP is one you may well be interested in; I built it into a B2B as well. We fly to Japan, cruise to Seattle then cruise Seattle RT, fly home from Seattle. If you don't want to fly to Japan, there is cruise from the US to Japan; I couldn't add it because I couldn't get that much time off work. I personally don't turn this research phase over to a TA and do not have a good PCC/PVP to do it. But I will send them what I've put together to see if they have recommendations to make it better/cheaper or have an alternative. Happy to answer questions or share any tips if you want to DM.

Hey @UsedtoBeKati we have enjoyed Grand Turk - it's pretty, nice beaches, very laid-back; if you're there very early AM you'll likely find most places still closed. You will not be attacked by locals hawking souvenirs. We have toured the island to get a feel for what it's like then go enjoy the beach or whale watching. Golf cart rental is a good way to get around on your own. The donkeys do have free run and there are a LOT of stray dogs.

@Trey bI've done Princess out of San Pedro Mexican Riviera, pre Covid. Enjoyed it, don't remember any issues embarking, disembarking or on the ship other than a Norovirus outbreak that they handled very well.

Completely agree passengers come and go so their "makeup" will naturally change with each sailing. However, as passengers find particular ships they feel comfortable with, they do tend to consider them "their" ships as may other like-minded passengers. As such, a ship might develop its own personality and attract a certain crowd. With that said, it's definitely too early, IMO, for Venezia to have cultivated a following. But maybe not.

My most recent one on Koningsdam 11 days Mexican Riviera & Sea of Cortez - free inside, $200pp OV, $499pp Unob Verandah, $549 Vista Suite; all able to select exact cabin. I thought that was a good deal and no need to add CO. Are those prices high? I may need to level set my expectations.

That is very common. The cost to upgrade to a specific cabin is usually minimal, but they can give you exact cost when you call. Oftentimes best option to select specific stateroom is to add CO.

@mdepsmomIt was after the time it was supposed to expire due to time zone, but it still worked, so you might try.

So this is your fault? Lol Seriously, just kidding - had to say it, you just made it way too easy 🤣

And nobody who just spent 7 days consuming 15 drinks/day, punching people over a pool chair, running on 36 hours w/o sleep & no memory of said fighting would ever intentionally take the wrong bag...ugh. There's a special helping of karma for "that" person.

You've forgotten which CCL line you're sailing on - the punching is on Carnival, not HAL, lol. 🫣 And on Carnival, that fancy orange card has no value, so odds are in your favor you'll escape unscathed. 🙄🤔

It did work for me, thanks, but I had to type it in rather than copy paste.

Thank you for sharing this.

Yes, the tote bag that looks like this, but says Club Orange!! I am sure the orange striped key card is stunning. I truly am looking forward to CO on my next cruise (14 day TA Nov-Dec) and the cabin upgrade was totally worth it.

They also wash the napkins you use every day in all dining venues! Thanks for posting the breakout.

Been quite a few reports of it being uncomfortably warm & humid, lack of ice and too many physical altercations. If conditions are really bad, it can ruin a vacation.

Many posts about those stickers!!

And there's a limit of 1 unopened bag of any "food stuff" per passenger - can you imagine?! No telling what would discovered in the shampoo bottles.

Well I hope Venezia issues are resolved by Sept 🙄

I know this is going to be great - thanks for letting us come along! We did a helmet dive a few years ago that we still talk about; I hope yours is as enjoyable.

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