jlawrence01

What I liked on the Regal Princess was that they had two experts giving lectures throughout the cruise. The first was a lady familiar with all of the destinations of the cruise who talked about everything to do in port. This included 3rd party excursions as well as "off the beaten track" things. And excluded all of the usual ads that you usually hear about. The second was a retired foreign service diplomat who worked throughout Central America during four administrations. Both these speakers were available for questions afterwards. This sure beat the HAL cruise director reading through PowerPoint presentations.

They did last year on the Konigsdam. BBC World. It was fun the first couple of times

If you take the ferry from Washington State to BC, they are very particular about apples and soft fruit and do ask about it. The key part is being honest and straightforward as customs has heard every lie in the book.

When I lives in Detroit, I would go to Windsor, ON every week to shop. I would bring pack fresh meats, fruits and vegetables. The critical thing is to be honest and declare ALL foods you are bringing back. Occasionally, they will confiscate something you brought back. Generally, there is no fine if you declare it. One warning. The US and Canada are pretty easy to deal with. Australia is extremely aggressive and will fine you as much as A$400 for bringing in an apple you were served on Qantas.

Dozens of them leaving from Whittier and Vancouver. I have never booked one as the cruise that I booked traditionally was $54 pp per night for an Oceanview.

Be careful what you ask for. We stopped at a monkey reserve on Roatan at a cost of $12 pp. While my wife was removing everything from around her neck, she stepped too close to the cage and the monkeys grabbed two handsful of hair and pulled. I wish that I had a video You will also get a chance to hold a sloth. If I did this again, I would just take a cab to the preserve as it is pretty close to the port

My first day on the Epic was my worst day cruising. We made it from the check-in point to the room without talking with a human being. Then, we arrived at the muster drill just to have the staff scream at us like they were drill instructors. When we got to the top of the ship, my wife nudged me and pointed at a RCCL ship to us and asked if we could jump ship. What made it worse was we were a week removed from a cruise on the Celebrity Millennium where the service was unmatched.

That might be true in Canada but that is NOT what I have found in the US. I have not used FBC or CCL's version as it is so easy to find discounts through frequent flyer programs or discounted gift cards (via Costco or Kroger's). And Southwest Airlines 2 free bags and generous cancellation policies make the cruise line programs unattractive.

They may be filling up ships but there have been a lot of great deals out there. I booked a 14 day Alaskan cruise oceanview on the NA for $760 plus taxes and port fees which meets my under $100 pp per night including fare, taxes and fees, gratuities, less OBC. Six months out seems to be the sweet spot.

We have found that booking through flight by Celebrity, we can save as much as 20-20% over booking our own. However, that saving is easily offset by baggage and change fees. So, we are like you and prefer to fly Southwest Airlines. Generally, cruises are the second week of a four week trip so we hit the port 2-3 days early so flight cancellations are not an issue for us.

It takes all of 10 minutes. We proceed straight to the room, watch the ten minute video, head to the muster station, talk to the staff there who will explain and answer any questions, and head to lunch. I was on my first and last Norwegian cruise on the Epic when they were doing the muster drill the old way. The process took 90 minutes and I thought we were going to experience Mutiny on the Epic. Two cruises - Celebrity Millennium and Norwegian Epic - and never a more stark contrast of efficiency and professionalism.

I think that you will meet all officers if you spend the evening in the Lido.

I have been on eight cruises on seven different lines ... And my next five cruises are on four different lines. I have been on HAL twice - Konigsdam and Eurodam. At this point, it is difficult to evaluate which line I prefer as each ship is significantly different. Konigsdam had great entertainment but the service did not match up to Celebrity or Princess. Eurodam had great service but lacked the entertainment options. If I had to listen to the cruise director delivering another canned PowerPoint presentation, I was going to scream Personally, I liked the Regal Princess a lot. I thought that the entertainment was great and all of the lectures given by third parties were excellent. I thought that the food was generally fairly equivalent except for the beef entrees which were not great on Princess. I liked the buffet a lot better on the Regal. For the record, I am booked on the Nieuw Amsterdam and the Regal Princess on future cruises.

I can't wait to try although honestly, my last two bookings were cheaper to book without stand by.

OAs of June 21, some quotes on the major cruise TAs include fees on their site while others do not. For me, I have a small spreadsheet: +Cruise fare + Taxes and fees + Gratuities - OBC credits I want to know the per day price before booking.

I think that is a mistake. I have created a separate e-mail that I use for ALL promotional materials. Most of it is deleted but some of the stuff is critical. For example, I just received a nearly free deal from Carnival's casino club even though I have not cruised them since 2019. Glad I did not delete that one.

I always wait until I am on the ship and apply it at the customer service desk around 1am on the second or third night. The customer service reps are so bored that they are happy to see me.

We will be on the Celebrity Solstice for 16 days in September. On recent HAL cruises, I have gotten into the habit of rising at 6 am and walking two miles prior to an MDR breakfast. Is there a deck where I can walk around the entire ship, not just a walking trip up top? Thanks for your help.

At least 2-3 a day. Everyday.

The Biblical admonition "Ask and you Shall receive" seems to be the rule on the Celebrity ships I have been on.

I booked an 8 day Southern Caribbean cruise on Carnival Magic for two people: Cruise fare: $200 Taxes and fees. $340 Gratuities $256 Less OBC: -$200 Total $596 or $298 per person No internet or drink packages as we need neither. That is a casino rate and was a nice add-on to a cruise from the week before on the Regal Princess.

That looks like a casino offer. The shame is that you could have gotten the same rate on an 8 or 12 day cruise.

We were on the Regal Princess last year and they had a woman who was very informed about each of the destinations in the Western Caribbean. She prepared a 45 minute lecture talking about what there was to see and what excursions to take - both cruise sponsored AND third party. It was a nice change from the massive sales pitches that we have received from other lines. RC was the worst. Their presentations were veiled sales pitches and a great deal of the information was inaccurate even for those vendors they were pitching. We generally prefer to do our own thing in MOST ports. That has occasionally gotten us on public vans where we end up in some remote location. However, we are seeing a lot more than most people. In some ports, we have been able to find local drivers to take us all around town in a private vehicle where we can stop at the things that we are really interested. The discussions alone are very interesting. I agree that you have to do some research. The only time that I would take a cruise ship excursion is if I was in a locale that I did not feel safe like Jamaica and Belize City.

My wife and I are budget travelers. Our goal is to travel away from Arizona 13 weeks a year including trips back to the Midwest to see family. When we cruise, we are looking for good deals on the cruise lines that will provide excellent food and excellent service. That means that we generally cruise on the "shoulder seasons" and those weeks of the cruising calendar that are less popular. For example, Alaska in may or September works for us. Or any cruise that travels in the first two weeks of November, December, and January. We do NOT look more than twelve months in advance. We are more likely to book trips about 6-8 months out for major trips and maybe six weeks out for fill ins. We find that you are not going to get good rates once you go too far out. Since getting to the cruise port is a major expense, we may cruise immediately before or after a trip home to see family. Or we might book two cruises back to back if we see the right bargain available. Or a cruise followed by a week road trip followed by another cruise. We use our travel agent's website and "90 Day Ticker" to identify great deals. When you see those super low fares, those are the ones that we are looking for. in general, we reserve a guaranteed inside cabin and have generally not been disappointed. Noise issues do not bother us as my DW can't hear them and I sleep soundly. We have three cruises booked in September back to back to back out of Vancouver in Alaska and to Hawaii.. (it is cheaper to fly home from Honolulu than Vancouver or Anchorage. We have two cruises booked in March out of Fort Lauderdale and Miami.

PYA Monarch is a brand of US Foodservice. It is a brand that is often substituted for Heinz when it is not available. I can think of at least two ketchups that I like better than Heinz - Reg Gold and Hunts. The quality of many Heinz products has greatly deteriorated since their acquisition by Berkshire Hathaway.