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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.

On 8/10/2022 at 3:21 PM, bambiying said:

Was on the Legend from Baltimore on 7/23.  While the cabin only had 1 outlet, both table lamps next to the beds had several USB ports.  We never had problems charging our Kindles/phones, etc.

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.

On 8/4/2022 at 8:47 AM, MsTabbyKats said:

The article says that tea time is on hiatus.  I thought it was still operating on cruises longer than 5 days.  Am I wrong?

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.

On 8/16/2022 at 10:47 AM, PelicanBill said:

 

Good info thanks.  Francis Scott Key bridge is right after leaving port, as you said, and then comes the US 50 double span bridge at about 6pm. I am guessing you meant 7 AM for the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel as it is 160 miles from port! I am hoping to see it if I get up early.

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.

On 8/8/2022 at 10:00 AM, Kellyann said:

 How was the trip down the Chesapeake?  

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.

On 8/4/2022 at 2:20 PM, Schoifmom said:

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. 

Does anyone else enjoy building ship models as well as collecting them? As we wait for cruises to resume, I've taken it up. I built that attached model to represent a Blue Funnel Lines steamship. I used the Lindberg "Q-Ship" model kit as the basis.

I can't say I collect the contemporary paper copies. I do take pictures of the posted menus. (Carnival and Princess post copies next to the dining rooms.) It was interesting to recently discover that Coral Princess and Caribbean Princess have old P&O menus displayed in their Wheelhouse Bars. (I took photos of those, too!) I think in those days, the menu was intended as more of a souvenir of the voyage than it is now. The name of the ship and more was printed on it, especially if it was gala dinner. Now they carry  just the name of the cruise line. I don't know what the dining room staff would say if one asked to take a souvenir menu.

2 hours ago, TheRabbit said:

One of the Geo questions on a 2016 cruise was what is the number of planets in our solar system? Immediately about a quarter of the people competing indicated there was a problem Houston!

Of course this was question was written earlier right after Pluto was demoted, but we did not know that. Problem was there is evidence of a 9th planet with 10 times the mass of the earth that scientists have not found. Its existence was announced a few months before the cruise. Now, what's the answer? LOL

It is often up to the discretion of the assistant CD hosting the game as to what answers will be accepted. Sometimes they can be persuaded to accept alternates, sometimes not. In one trivia, the answer was a large North American animal once hunted by Native Americans. Most Americans know this animal as the Buffalo (hence Buffalo, New York, the "Buffalo Nickel", etc.) But the assistant CD, from the UK, would only accept "American Bison" as the correct answer, despite many protests. (During the same cruise, another trivia session question was: What three animals are named in the song Home on the Range? Of course, Buffalo is specifically named in the song as one of them.)

My wife and I enjoy playing Trivia, especially the geography, history and musicals themed ones. I've come to the conclusion that it is up to each Cruise Director's staff to design the questions. There may even be one assistant CD who is in charge of Trivia. Sometimes they pick from common questions, sometimes an assistant CD will be creative and design his/her own sets. I have seen them watch for smartphone usage, but this thread is the first I've heard of the books. I believe I have seen teams turn in a new set of answers written as they are being read.

On our last cruise, the assistant CD in charge of trivia came up with some very difficult questions to which no one knew the answer. So much so, people shouted at him. He got back by designing a very difficult World Leaders trivia at the end of the cruise. (He gave it to a junior assistant CD to host.) Questions included "Who became President of Zambia in 1991?" There were no US or Canadian leaders in it. We won, with 4 correct answers.

Our cabin on the Emerald Deck on Caribbean Princess (obstructed view) had two Pullman beds that would extend down from the ceiling if used. (We did not use them, it was just the two of us.) There were ladders stowed in the closet that would be used to climb up to the beds. Theoretically, our cabin could accommodate four. As it was, even when retracted they were in my way all the time.