ahl

Yes, so far, I have Carnival Legend and Caribbean Princess. To save space, I'll collect only one example of each class. The ones offered on eBay tend to be quite expensive or chipped. I almost bought a Norwegian Dawn on eBay but ultimately did not.

My first cruise was aboard Matson Mariposa in 1961 when I was 10. It was a six-week South Pacific cruise from Los Angeles calling at Papeete, Auckland, Sydney, Auckland, Suva, Pago Pago, Honolulu, and San Francisco. We celebrated Christmas and New Year aboard. There were many sea days and a "Crossing the Line" ceremony when King Neptune came aboard! The photo is of my mother and I at the muster drill.

We were recently on Carnival Spirit to Alaska and no models were to be seen! Glad I purchased a Carnival Legend on board last year for a Spirit Class ship model.

We stayed at the Mayflower Park downtown and thought nothing of it. A beautiful hotel in one of the most welcoming and diverse cities I've ever seen. I grew up in Los Angeles and live in suburban Washington, DC. Seattle isn't very different from any other large American city. I was out walking and taking photos at 8:00 p.m. The location was convenient to Pike Place Market, Nordstrom for dinner, Bartell Drugs for anything from snacks to travel accessories and the Monorail station.

We liked the Skagway Brewing Company for lunch. There are not that many restaurants in Skagway.

I used a Nikon D5600 with my standard 18-105 mm lens most of the time in Alaska. This worked well for port calls at Skagway, aboard the White Pass & Yukon, Juneau, and Ketchikan. Tracy Arm Fjord and the Sawyer Glacier and whale watching at Juneau called for a larger lens. I used a 70-300 mm in those situations.

We stayed at the Hotel Tivoli on Avenida Liberdade two weeks ago. (It was the assigned hotel for our Viking Douro river cruise.) It was a very nice hotel on the main shopping street. Great breakfast buffet and lunch is available from the lobby bar between sightseeing trips. The Marques de Pombal traffic circle and Edward VII Park is a short walk in one direction. Restoration Square and the start of the old town are a few blocks in the other direction. Along the way you will find restaurants, the central Museum Store, and one of the Lisbon funiculars.The closest Metro station is Avenida. We saw the cruise port, not far from the Tile Museum.

I definitely recommend booking premium economy/economy plus with its extra legroom. Airlines call this option by different names. There is an additional charge, but well worth it. A transatlantic flight will typically include one meal and a snack.

Hi, We just returned yesterday from a Viking Torgil cruise. All of the listed Viking optional tours were available. We went on the Tile Museum optional in Lisbon. The Tile Museum tour runs in the afternoon after the included morning Lisbon sightseeing tour. Highly recommended as you receive a good introduction to the background and making of Portuguese Azuljeos ceramic tiles that you will see everywhere on the trip. There is even a workshop where you get to make a tile in the Portuguese style. We elected to go to Fatima on the Lisbon-Porto transfer day rather than the standard stop in Coimbra. We enjoyed seeing and experiencing the Fatima shrine. This option also included a stop at the Batalha Monastery. That was very interesting for its association with Portuguese history. Taking some of the optional tours during the cruise means that you will miss some of the included sightseeing tours.

I found the Hub App has become indispensable. Everything is right there, ability to scan activities over the whole cruise and check items of interest, ability to look at your statement, look at the dining room menu, and ability to make a dinner reservation while anywhere on the ship. Yes, one can find paper copies of the Fun Times. (It is now a simple single sheet of paper printed on both sides, not the four to six page brochure as it was a few yers ago.) The Hub App information disappears after the cruise, so I do get a paper copy for post-cruise reference when I want to identify photos of performers or activities. We do not use the message feature. The Hub App should be installed before the cruise, but it can be installed on board if necessary. I'm over 70 and find a smartphone now to be an indispensable part of everyday travel, whether it be getting driving directions to a destination, like the cruise terminal, or holding my airline boarding pass. I always have mine with me.

Thee are two electrical outlets on the vanity. One is an American type at 110v, the other is a UK/European type at 220v. I brought a European adapter in order to use both.

Carnival offers three Internet packages: Social; Value and Premium. We get the Value package and we buy it pre-cruise at the discount price. You can find out the details by Googling "Carnival Internet Plans". The first one permits access to only social media like Facebook and SnapChat, etc. and some airline sites. The middle plan permits access to almost all sites and I like that. I like to read the newspaper, use email, and have access to the travel blogging site I use, among others. None of the plans allow streaming. Access is variable. It is not as consistent as you would have at home or office. You frequently are thrown off and have to sign back in. Only once device can be used at a time. You can switch back and forth between a smartphone and a tablet, but you must sign off one and then sign on to the other. Be sure to download the Carnival Hub app on all devices you plan to use before sailing.

Afternoon Tea was available last week on Carnival Legend.

Guy's offers the Pig Patty burger with a bacon patty. I had one on Carnival Legend and it was very good. Can't recall all the toppings available, but pickles, mustard and Guy's mayonnaise were good additions to the burger. Lettuce and onions were there, too, which I didn't select.

Just returned from Bermuda on Carnival Legend. Ship models were available in the store on board.

Theoretically one could walk to Cruise Maryland from that hotel, but the route is not at all pedestrian friendly. Sidewalks that are available are narrow and may make handling luggage difficult. You would need to be especially careful crossing McComas Street under the I-95 overpass. Drivers are not expecting pedestrians (though I have seen joggers there). Too, traffic at that time will be cruise passengers looking for the terminal and unfamiliar with the area. There is no dedicated pedestrian walkway from the street to the terminal. You will have to follow the vehicular entrance and cross the parking and drop off area. It can be done by walking, but it is not designed for it. I'll attach a photo of the terminal as seen from the ship. The entrance is on the side facing I-95.

The twin-span Chesapeake Bay Bridge carrying US 50 is reached about 6:50-7:00 p.m. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay would be after Midnight. Just returned from Bermuda on Carnival Legend. We reached the Bridge-Tunnel about 10:50 p.m. on the return. It has flashing green and red lights across the mouth of the Bay. Not long after, the pilot boat came alongside. We passed Enchantment of the Seas heading outbound at Midnight. It would have reached the Bridge-Tunnel sometime later.

We'll be on Carnival Legend this Sunday. Our previous sailing from Baltimore was on Carnival Pride in March 2010. On that cruise, we sailed at 5:00 p.m. Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor (the Star-Spangled Banner Fort) appears shortly after sailing. You have a nice view of it. There are interesting ships in Baltimore Harbor, like USNS Comfort. We sailed under the Francis Scott Key Bridge at 5:50 p.m. and the Chesapeake Bay Bridge at 7:00 p.m. The Calvert Cliffs would be interesting to see, but it might be after dark by then. We saw them in the morning on the return.

We were on Carnival Paradise around Halloween 2018. The atrium was decorated throughout the cruise. On a sea day there was a pumpkin carving contest for passengers, a pumpkin carving demonstration by galley staff (similar to an ice carving demonstration) and a mummy wrap contest, among other events. In the evening some passengers appeared in costume. There might have been a costume contest, but I'm not sure.

Traditionally, "elegant shorts" would be Bermuda Shorts. (They are still worn in Bermuda with jackets and ties.) But, in reality, I think today it would be interpreted as any of the above, with a preference for longer (knee length) over shorter and not gym or running shorts.