justhappy

I’ve also done both of these in Seward and can also highly recommend them both.

Spot on advice in your last paragraph. I too miss those hash browns, I usually never have them at home and they were my vacation ‘treat’. I’ve been buying these and cooking them in an air fryer for 10-11 minutes at 390 degrees. A dash of salt and I’m transported (almost) back to vacation mode.😋

Looking forward to your semi live as my husband and I will be boarding the ship when you are departing it. We too are road warriors who spend several days and at times weeks driving across country and enjoy it. Granted it’s nicer now that we have a small class B rv (Ford transit chassis) so we have a bathroom, bed and kitchen, and we can fit in a regular parking space. For us though New Orleans is a short two and a half hour drive. Wishing you safe travels and sunny weather!

I hope your Mom continues to have good pain meds and that she can continue on with her vacation.

As with any law or rule people usually don’t care what you do as long as it doesn’t affect them. Speed limit is 65, you can drive 85. It’s when your speed causes an accident that causes a road shut down or worse than that, an injury. Then your speeding affects others. Disregard rules on drink packages to save some money, I’m guessing most people would not be bothered. But when so many people start doing it that a cruise line has to raise prices or remove certain beverages that were formerly available (Vueve, anyone?) then that affects others. The problem is so many people only care about themselves and not how their actions impact others even if it’s not directly. I think it gets worse when folks have the anonymity of being in a place where most of the people don’t know you, and you’ll be gone in a week or two. Thats why cruises tend to have chair hogs, elevator hogs, bar hogs and theater seat savers, just to name a few “It’s all about me” people.

Safe travels home and thanks again for a great review

All of us at home reading your adventures requested this be sent to you as a thank you. 😉 You ARE the best after all for letting us follow you on this cruise!

Ouch! I’m no doctor but I think it warrants holding a cold frosty beverage of your choice to ease the pain and reduce the bruising😉

That’s enough to make me want to cruise Oceania!

Having been lucky enough to have Adrian as our concierge several times, that’s high praise indeed for Lyster.

Thanks for a great live review. You have lots of wonderful photos. Looking forward to your final thoughts.

When I booked it it was called Escape to Jost Van Dyke https://www.ncl.com/shore-excursions/TOV_50/Escape-to-Jost-Van-Dyke

Thank you❤️ I know you love your fur babies as family too. Thankfully she’s getting better, the meds every two hours around the clock after 8 days are now down to every 4 hours. Since shes 14 years old we know our days with her may be sooner than later and her health trumps any trip. it was just painful calling our good friends who we have cruised with in January for the last 11 years we weren’t able to go. Hopefully they understand.

I just had to cancel 8 days out from my cruise due to a sick dog. I was refunded the port fees and taxes, the gratuities on the FAS dining package and drink package, as well as the OBC I had pre purchased. Not sure how close to embarkation it will be refunded.

I’m glad that waiting till 11am resulted in a short wait for you. Enjoy your cruise!

Looking forward to your review as I’ll be on the Breakaway in March. Having cruised on the Breakaway and the Getaway out of New Orleans several times I think the slightly later arrival time works better. The problem with earlier times being you are fighting through the departing crowds to enter the building. Long lines through security to get to check in. The waiting area is not large and fills quickly. The time we arrived around 11am we didn’t have to deal with any of those issues and pretty much walked right on the ship after checking in.

Sorry if I had you worried! It’s the Escape from Port Canaveral.

I will add I much prefer my last day to be a sea day, I hate feeling like I have to leave the beach early to go pack. And I actually like the idea of GSC on the first full day.

I actually prefer the new itinerary but I don’t have any excursions to worry about. I do feel for those that are having to scramble for new ones though.

I agree with you that if your schedule is flexible and you watch for prices just under the 120 day window you can get a good deal. Was watching for prices on the Breakaway out of New Orleans for my birthday in March when I saw the price on Haven cabins drop, then saw that my favorite- the aft Haven popped up at a lower price than a forward facing Haven cabin. Needless to say I had my TA grab it. I’m like you, but I prefer to call myself an extroverted introvert. I can chat and make small talk but it wears me out and I’d rather be chilling by myself on my own big aft balcony!

I agree that in general everything costs more than 3 years ago. I remind myself vacations are wants not needs and I’m blessed to be able to travel. If that means I have to adjust my accommodations or trip length so be it. I know lots of people are struggling to make ends meet now and would love to be in my shoes.

As someone who cruises in a club balcony suite when not in a Haven suite, and in aft balcony suites at that, I would go for the Haven even if you plan to be off the ship at most ports. If you can well afford it and are celebrating a big milestone as you state then pamper yourself is my motto!

Deck 8 forward staterooms are some of my favorites. The reason you saw endless crew of all types coming and going is due to the fact that there is a crew lounge behind that forward door, several times we could smell cigarette smoke on the crew so we know they just had a smoke break 😉

Wonderful review! Thank you! I second the recommendation of Prof Cruise. She lives in Seattle and cruises Alaska often. Very active so she has lots of hiking and active excursion experience.

If for no others reason than to help spread out diners among under utilized venues and take the load off the overwhelmed buffet, I am all for this change. I will miss those mozzarella sticks though.