momofmeg

On 10/16/2022 at 8:36 AM, Lois R said:

Yes, yes it is.🙂

 I agree. When there was a cold snap in Florida in December 2003 (orange blossoms froze) happened a couple of days after we sailed. We did not have any winter clothing with us beyond what we wore on the plane. (And although it was cool, my winter coat was too much, it was not THAT cold, just cool) I know it was highly unusual, but now I always bring a couple pairs of daywear long pants and a hoodie or something similar for just in case. I have never needed them again. Hopefully it stays summer like for the OP, but I would still prepare in case it doesn't.

On 10/14/2022 at 3:26 PM, aim2cruise said:

This is my first time cruising in the Winter.....12/4/22 Carnival Celebration!!  I don't know if I should pack hot weather clothes (shorts, tanks, summery dresses) or more warmer options for onboard. I know what to wear on port days but this is an 8 day cruise and so much time is spent on the ship. 

 

Thanks! 

Yes, it is still hot in the Caribbean. However, be forewarned if there is a freeze in Florida it is usually cooler in the Carribean. One cruise (December 2003) that happened and we had highs of 55-60. I WISHED I had brought a light jacket and more long pants as it was chilly. 

On 10/25/2022 at 12:27 PM, leithbones said:

Finally caved to DW requests over many years.

Couldn't stand the idea of cruising, but surprised her for our 25th.

"One and Done, honey.  This is it >> so enjoy."

14 day Repo out of Boston was best value, and since we were only going to do it once....

 

3rd day I said  "OK, next time here's what we need to do differently...."

 Lol!  My husband took me on a little 4 day for our 15th anniversary. I had always wanted to go on one and he thought they were too expensive, so he booked this little cheapie to shut me up. Lol!  Now, he is the one saying we should book a cruise.

10 hours ago, ilikeanswers said:

My first cruise technically was a 5 night yacht trip around the Whitsundays. First actual ship trip was 13 nights around the Marquesas. 

I would love to do something like that.

9 hours ago, navybankerteacher said:

Actually, my VERY first was on the Nantucket, when just over a month old, from Woods Hole to Oak Bluffs, both in MA, about a 45 minute ride.

Yep, I did a few tourist afternoon trips. Living in the south it was mostly those tourist paddle riverboats.  We also took in 1989 one of those Seasescape ferries to Freeport Bahamas and stayed there a few days. So, I thought I had an idea what a cruise would be like. I didn't lol!

4 days back in October 1998 on an old ship Carnival Tropicale. We lost power a couple of times the ship was so old, but it still hooked us. Since we had never been on a nicer ship, we did not know any better!

 I still have a Canadian Mountie moose doll someone gave us from a cruise critic meet and greet. I donated a lot of other stuff I have been given over the years, but I kept him.

1 hour ago, Honolulu Blue said:

Cute.  I occasionally get minor cases when I disembark. 

 

It's hard for me to choose my favorite souvenir.  The prizes for winning trivia are always nice, when I can get them.  My refrigerator is nearly covered in magnets from the places I've been.  Lately I've been taking more and more photographs, and those are valuable to me.  And sometimes I book future cruises onboard - the future anticipation is nice, the future bills... not so much.

Sunrises or sunsets on a cruise are always the best!

16 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

Pictures, and a magnet if it’s a new port.  EM

 That's me. Some little something. I have this faux leopard look (rayon) scarf I bought on a cruise 5 years ago and I still love that. I have a fridge magnet we got at Blarney Castle many years ago. Still have that. I have a brooch made form sea glass I bought from a vendor in Syndey Nova Scotia.  I have a necklace of beads I bought in Cozumel 7 or 8 years ago that the vendor swore was Opal, lol, though I am pretty sure it is plastic/resin, but I still love it. I think my fav though is our cruise cards. I always keep mine and I have quite a stack now.

Back in 2017 on a cruise, we noticed the crew doing extra cleaning and not allowing us to serve ourselves in the buffet. I assumed norovirus and religiously washed my hands like crazy. (Because I came down with that after coming home from a cruise in 2008) One day after flying home I came down sick with the flu. I got online here and asked if anyone else got sick with the flu and was told our ship had an outbreak. 

Lol all that 40 second handwashing in scalding hot water I did was for nil. I just wanted to point out it does not have to be COVID for the extra cleaning and serving you in the buffet. Any illness outbreaks. I guess though, I don't want to get sick with any of it. 

Which reminds me after our cruise to Italy back in 2012 I came down with whooping cough. Remember that outbreak back then and doctors reminding us we need a booster for that every 10 years?  I think that was as sick as I ever been, even covid which I had in early 2020 was not as bad as that and I was pretty darn sick with covid.

Now I take zinc and vitamin D3 and a very good quality muti vitamin. I know I may still get ill, especially when flying, airports are almost always crowded but I am willing to chance it for a vacation.

On 10/25/2022 at 11:04 AM, navybankerteacher said:

This is standard across all lines with which I am familiar.  At the end of the meal, if there are just lees in the bottle, it is done; If there is just enough for a small sip, I will have it; if there is enough for a full glass or more, it will be saved for you.

I was replying to a person who thought the waiters would steal his wine if he left any; but yep, although we have not cruised as much as you, we have been on like 8 different lines, and no one has ever stolen his wine. When it is him alone a bottle last 3 nights. If my daughter is with us maybe 2. I rarely drink wine.

3 hours ago, DirtyDawg said:

We also usually will not finish our bottle of wine at dinner so we either have them store it for the next night or we bring it back to our cabin. Am I assuming correctly that "leave a partial bottle on the table for staff" is done as a tip? Or was it just for the staff to clean up and toss out? I must admit I have never even thought of leaving a partial bottle on the table for staff as a tip. We usually will just use cash. If it was for a tip, is this practice popular or unpopular among cruisers?  

 No, they will store your wine with your room # on it. My husband does it nearly every cruise.  No one has ever taken his.

21 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

My best friend died from Covid.After that I have stayed out of crowds.

  I have lost friends too. My husband lost a cousin. My own daughter nearly died of Long covid. also, my niece and my cousin's daughter.  all 3 were in the hospital for over 2 weeks. That was all over a year ago, nearly 2 when the strains of COVID were killing people.  Yes, stay out of crowds as much as possible. But I refuse to stop flying (an airplane with 300 PAX is a crowd BTW.)  and although I have no interest in visiting a outdoor theme park if my family wants to do so, I am not complaining to them. Why would I when most people I know got COVID from a workmate.  It is what it is and it is here to stay. You can live in fear or take precautions and still try to enjoy life a little bit. I choose NOT to live in fear. Bye now.

21 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Perhaps Disneyworld is not a place to visit ?

 Well, true but Disneyworld where you are mostly outside SHOULD be much safer than a 9-hour flight to England as the airlines were no longer requiring vaccinations or masks this summer.  Besides, who wants to never take a vacation anywhere? We did rent a condo in Hilton Head last year to stay safe but honestly, we were bored. You can only take so many walks on the beach.  However, we did it because Delta was raging. Now COVID is not nearly as bad. My daughter and I both had it early in 2020 we were very sick for a month. She even developed Long covid. When she got it again this time, she was only ill a day or 2 instead of a month. Big difference.  Oh, and this time although I was exposed from them, I never got it. COVID is not the big worry it once was.

On 10/20/2022 at 4:50 PM, lenquixote66 said:

How about not cruising till Covid is eradicated.

Then you may as well say you will never again. It is here to stay just like the flu. My husband and I flew all the way to England this summer and took a British Isles cruise.  Neither of us got COVID but a month later him and my daughter got it when they went to Disneyworld.  

9 hours ago, ldubs said:

I don't care about the ship.  It is only transportation for hard-to-reach places like Italy, Spain, etc.    

  I agree if it is an itinerary I want to do, that is more important than the ship. I know we did the British Isles this past summer and we picked Carnival Pride because it was nearly a $1000 a person less than Princess or NCL in an inside, and we got a balcony. I was fine with the ship.

Lol, but there was one thing that turned out to be a downside. The cruise was port intensive, not enough sea days and I am older now and found out I need them to rest up.  I used to be the opposite and not want many sea days because I got bored. Now I found out I need them.

So maybe that 12-day Princess or NCL would have been better for me than the 9-day Carnival. Live and learn, I guess.

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Interesting definition of long ?

Surely anything under fourteen days is a short cruise, and anything over thirty days or so is long.

 Matter of prospective, I guess. We have never taken anything longer than 14 days, but my husband is yet to retire so we do not have the time since we also want to do other vacations besides cruising.

To be honest, as much as I enjoy cruises, I do not think I would want to do anything longer. That said, 5 days is as short that I am willing to take for a cruise.  I do not like all the trouble it is to get on and then have to get off again in such a short time.

9 hours ago, vicky3vicky said:

 About 15 cruises ago, my Autistic son had a seizure at dinner the first night. We never saw our table mates again and, though I never mentioned it, we have never been seated with anyone but our family again. And slightly off the subject, but if someone seated at a large table gets there at the earliest possible time do they have to wait for people in their table to all arrive before ordering and getting their food?

We had a very bad experience with anytime dining seated with a group of one person eating very slowly which made us have to wat a long time for each course of food. Our diner took over 3 hours. His wife apologized and said he had new dentures. I would not have minded so much but we missed the show when we should have had ample time to get there.  ever since, we always request to be seated with our family or traveling companions only. Even when we have assigned dinner times, we request a small table for only us. 

Anyway, I think I could have dealt with your son fine. I have Aspergers myself, so I have empathy. I am guessing his seizures is another medical condition as that is not necessary someone with autism to have. I get why your tablemates though may have been afraid. We have a fiend with epilepsy, and it is very scary to witness a seizure. So anyway, I would have been okay with your son.

12 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

The covered pools on Celebrity M and S class ships are adults only.  Sometimes if the weather is bad they will allow children in for an hour or two.  EM

Essie, RCI ships have covered adult only pool areas too but I think he means that retractable roof that some ships have on the main pool deck. You know, where you can still see a plane flying overhead. 

19 hours ago, saleaaway said:

I'm sure this has been discussed but do most ships that travel to Alaska have their pools closed. Or covered?

Silly question I know.  thanks

Many do, and I do not necessary think it is by cruise line, but by the class of ship. I know some of the older HAL ships (we were on the old Statendam back in 2001 for an Alaska northbound) have a see through retractable covering they kept over the pool. Still, because it was May and cooler, and very few children on board, hardly anyone was swimming. We loved it for the hot tub. It was very fun to be there at 11 pm and it still be daylight. We loved that.

This summer we were on Carnival Pride for the British Isles. I noticed they had one too, but they only had the pool deck covered when we were in Northern Scotland where LOL!   where it was colder in July than Alaska in May. Like Alaska though, it stayed daylight very late, and the sun rose early. However, lol! the cold did not keep the many kids form swimming there! or going on those slides they had on another deck.

I do know not all ships (even within a line) have the retractable glass see through roof so maybe you can ask here on the specific cruise line boards before you book your cruise if you want that for Alaska.

6 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Everyone is entitled to their opinion.  I have cruised on MSC, NCL, RCI and Carnival and in general they are more similar than different.  If I did have to differentiate one line it would be MSC.  Not because it was upgraded similar to Princess or Celebrity, but because it was European oriented compared to the other lines in multiple ways.  The food selections, the entertainment choices and the clientele in general were all different than the other three US based lines.  This is all up to personal preference as to whether or not this constitutes an upgraded experience.  You consider it upgraded, based upon my single MSC cruise out of 45 I consider it different.

We will be going on the Meraviglia in July out of Brooklyn in an inside Fantastica cabin with easy plus and wifi for under 800 pp, which I consider a good price. Depending upon how this cruise transpires will decide if we will spend 14 days on the Seascape in May of 2024.

I agree. I have been on all of those lines plus NCL, HAL, Princess, Celebrity and Disney. Now Disney was different, a little step up but more kid oriented. We enjoyed it, but we have no small children, so we have not had the desire to do them again. 

My husband and I pick by itinerary, then price, cruise line choice is a distant third.  As you said, the lines are more alike than different, and the differences are subtle. So even though I may prefer one a little bit more because of my preferences, I can still enjoy myself on another line. No big deal. For example, NCL, their main dining room food is not that good, they really want you to go to the specialty restaurants. However, they have a great buffet, with more choices than other liens, so we tended to eat there if we weren't going to a specialty. the last cruise we took on them we picked because it went to Quebec City and Prince Edward Island, roundtrip from NY. Most of the Canadian cruises do not include Quebec and Prince Edward Island. Only HAL had those ports but the cruise was one way, so you had an extra one-way flight.  NCL's itinerary was so great and the easy of just one round trip flight to NY for us, so we did not mind if the food was not as good.

On 10/14/2022 at 4:36 PM, shipgeeks said:

Further to several comments above.

No taco bar?  I saw (and enjoyed) a smallish taco bar on Seaside almost every day, more often than I've ever seen one on RC.

However, personally, I hope MSC never becomes a clone of RC/Carnival/NCL.  If I wanted only Broadway-type shows, and American music and food, I could more easily sail on those lines.  I choose MSC because it is more interesting to be aboard.  I loved the shows, and very much enjoyed having foods that are not what I can get at home every day.  I'm fine with having no comedy shows, no piano bar, and I ask for "no towel animals" on all cruises.  BTW, we sail Bella, not YC.

 To be fair I was on an old ship, Armonia, only like 2000 PAX, so maybe there was no room for a taco bar. We were supposed to go to Cuba but 2 weeks before our departure Cuba got banned again for Americans and we went to Key West instead. Remember I said I had only done one cruise on MSC and I was supposed to do a cruise similar to the one we have booked now this December, that was supposed to happen in in May 2020 which COVID canceled. That cruise was Seaside I think, and now we are going on Seascape. Lol when we booked this latest cruise, I thought it was the same ship until my daughter told me Seaescape is brand new.

I do know there is a Mexican alacarte restaurant on Seaescape. It is considered sort of a specialty pay extra restaurant, but you pay by what you get. So, you don't have to have a meal of several courses if you don't want that much. The sushi bar works the same way from what I have read. 

Now Carnival's taco bar is no extra charge and is open like 11 to 4.  It is not open at dinnertime. I would think MSC's may be a little better quality since there is a fee for it.

On 10/13/2022 at 12:07 AM, Stockjock said:

Offshore customer service is better on Carnival.

Most everything else, I prefer MSC.

Exception: If you like to drink until you are sloppy drunk and are a hardcore party animal, Carnival may be a better option.

Carnival may offer more for hardcore drunks; I do not know but I found if I took a week or longer cruise I never had to dela with that. That goes for all lines, shorter cruises seem to bring out the worst in people as though they need to put in much as they can since they do not have a week. Royal Caribbean short cruises were just as bad. NCL although not as many drunks had a lot of misbehaving youths beating on our room doors 1 am in the morning and throwing food down the stair wells all the time. Even a shorter Celebrity cruise had people behaving badly. However, on all these lines, people behaved much better when the cruise was not a short "party" cruise. I never want to book anything shorter than 5 days.

On 10/13/2022 at 2:28 AM, WhaleTailFlCruiser said:

i don’t drink at all honestly, I do love food though and I enjoy the fun shows and deck parties and watching movies under the stars on my carnival cruises.

 

 Thank you all for the responses. I have booked my first MSC cruise for next year. 

Most Princess ships offer movie sunder the stars too.

 I only sailed MSC once back in 2019.  We were supposed to go in 2020 but COVID happened but we really liked MSC. We really liked the international flair and how many PAX were European even though we sailed out of Miami. Contrast with our Carnival Pride sailing from Dover England this summer.  That cruise was 90% Americans and Canadians. There was a small tour group from Japan, under 100 people, and we met a couple from Israel, but we met only one British family. That was it.

 The things we love best about Carnival is the pizza station, ice-cream. omelets, and taco bar all in the buffet. Carnival does that best, we all know but MSC also had great pizza It was just as good, and their soft serve ice cream was almost as good. No taco bar but the main dining room did serve great pasta dishes. Italian does seem to be their specialty.

As far as the shows, etc. they were good. I do not remember any towel animals though. I can tell you more after December as we are finally taking the cruise, we hoped to take back in 2020.

2 minutes ago, momofmeg said:

 

However, as I also said and if you read the NEWS you know this is true. all the major cruise lines have dropped the vaccination requirements.  The rest have dropped negative COVID tests.

 However, if you choose not to cruise, then don't. No one is making you. Everyone should  make their own decision about that.

 However, I do think anyone who cruises should make sure they buy good insurance for the what ifs. Because no matter how young and healthy you are, you never know. I have heard too many horror stories and WAY before COVID existed. Things happen out of our control