leaveitallbehind

I just looked as well and you are right - they most certainly are! Glad to be corrected. But, as mentioned previously, I still can't imagine the resulting humidity in the stateroom from the hot circulating water when in use!

This may vary by cruise line, but in general as a guide, most cruise itineraries are released seasonally about 18 - 24 months prior to their departure. The information provided by @Essiesmom is a good suggestion to help with this. The travel agent suggesting you check each cruise line's website that you are interested in periodically is actually a valid way for you to see what is released and when as they all don't necessarily release them at the same time, and there are many cruise lines and thousands of itineraries to choose from. That may be a lot to ask a TA to watch for! A TA can assist and will do that as well, but it would be more helpful for them to know what cruise lines you are primarily interested in - as the many in the industry differ from each other in primary demographics on board, standard v premium service and price, itineraries offered, size of ships, etc., etc. Talk with an agent (human, not on line) and let them know your budget, cruising style (adults v families with children etc.), targeted timeline, etc., and let them help you narrow down your preferences and they can then watch for releases with those few cruise lines that would fit you the best. If you know that already, share that with them and I'm sure they can better advise you as to when new itineraries will be released with them, and will be glad to assist in your watch.

I believe I understand what you mean by this, but maybe some don't. To clarify, a ship will never sail "over capacity" as the total capacity is strictly limited by the total passenger lifeboat capacity. As such, this number can never be exceeded, so a ship can only sail as a maximum at this capacity. But what will definitely happen is that double occupancy capacity will be reached, and then 3rd and 4th passengers (typically families) will exceed that capacity in staterooms equipped for that, and the actual capacity will then be somewhere between exceeding double occupancy capacity and maximum passenger lifeboat capacity. But never "over capacity". (See the Icon of the Seas example in my first response on this thread). Not challenging - just clarifying.

Just as a side note, Princess has one of the better air programs with flexibility of flight changes, air points application, and delayed payment. RCCL / Celebrity is also very good in the same regards, although they do not process air points towards their bookings. However, they often are very competitive with international fares. We use them frequently with our cruise bookings as a result with very good success.

It also would be dependent upon which cruise line you are sailing. For instance, NCL, Disney, and RCCL's primary demographics is families and the likelihood of a lot of children on board then would IMO still be pretty high. MSC would likely fit with them pretty well also. 8 nights is still a relatively short cruise when it comes to families with children, even that time of year close to the resumption of school. If you were on a 9 or 10 night+, for instance, that likelihood would diminish. Other lines such as Celebrity and Princess's primary demographics is adults, with HAL as older adults. While all of these can have children included, there is a lower likelihood with them. In general in that timeframe IMO, I think you may be in for a fair amount of pre-teens and teenagers on board, especially if you are booked on any one of the first four cruise lines mentioned. Usually they are involved with ship-planned activities in certain venues, so hopefully that would keep the "running around" to a minimum. Most of these lines also have an under age 18 curfew of around 1:00 AM, however. But either way, enjoy your first cruise. It likely won't be your last.

I would think the worst sensation would be waking up and stumbling out of bed in the first place, if after a night as you describe.......

If you booked through a TA you can also ask them close to sailing as they have access to the cruise line booking tool which will show remaining availability - at least as released from inventory at that time by the cruise line - in each stateroom category. Again, not a perfect science and although it would not show a passenger count, it would show what is open if, for instance, you were making a last minute booking. If all categories are closed, you can assume it is full, at least to double occupancy capacity. I would only do this if you dealt with a live person and, IMO out of respect for their time, know them well enough to feel comfortable asking.

The cruise lines are obligated to report on board purchase that reach (or exceed) a certain threshold on board per passenger. Might be duty free on board but will be subject to US application once disembarking,.

Most cruises today are sailing fully booked. But this information is not released by most cruise lines in advance of any given itinerary. As suggested, one way to get an idea is to do mock bookings on different stateroom categories close to the sailing date to see availability and closed categories. But this would only provide a guestimate. There is also a difference between full at double occupancy booking and full to maximum lifeboat capacity. The latter is reached with double occupancy bookings plus additional individual stateroom capacity for 3rd and 4th passengers up to the maximum allowable passenger lifeboat capacity. Using the newly launched Icon of the Seas, as example, double occupancy booking is 5,610, but maximum capacity is 7,600, which would also be the maximum passenger lifeboat capacity. But to answer your question, expect the ship to sail full with little or know empty staterooms and likely a manifest total somewhere north of double occupancy total booking.

Which is interesting as many drivers drive for both. I guess they just decide which they want to accept when a driver request comes in.

Pool towels will be provided for you on board daily. There should be a pick up / drop off location near the pools and I believe they will be in your stateroom as well when you first board the ship.

Suggest you also ask this on the FL Departures board at this link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/ But in general, there are several public transportation shuttles that run between MCO and Port Canaveral. You might just have to google it to see current options. There also is Uber and Lyft that are readily available for pick up at MCO as well. "Best" option would be based on your preference and budget as the public shuttles may be lest costly, but will be multi-passenger vehicles that will wait until they are filled to depart. Obviously Uber and Lyft will be just the opposite. There are also several name brand hotels that are down A1A south of the port that you could look at, most of which also offer shuttles to the port for their guests. Again, google / google maps can show you the area as well as hotels that are there.

Just to echo your comments, as I mentioned in a prior post, this has become a rather common practice amongst a number of cruise lines. RCCL / Celebrity, as examples, initiated this with suite bookings when they introduced the NRD a number of years back. The policy has continued to morph over time to the point where suites can now only be booked via NRD with increased deposit amounts and 100% deposit forfeiture for changes or cancelations. As this is the only way they can be booked there is no discount for this v refundable deposit bookings and the prices, as expected, are certainly at a premium. Yet bookings continue to flourish with suites typically selling out first and well in advance of a given itinerary's sailing date. As a result, IMO the desired effect of inventory stabilization with, at least, suite bookings certainly must have been realized with these two lines.

Agree, as they probably have collected 100's of these in recent years cleaning the ships up at the end of each cruise.....

Maybe I'm missing something because I'm not sure I'm following this. If you have to cancel pre-final payment, would the insurance not cover the deposit hence justifying making a cancelation claim? And you would lose the insurance premium anyway as by making a claim you are activating the coverage, but at least you would recover your deposit versus losing both. If I'm not seeing this right, please clarify. Also, see my response on your duplicate thread with information regarding non-refundable deposits. And BTW, non-refundable deposits are nothing new and have been in effect with many cruise lines for a number of years. It is just part of the current cruising world.

As @Hlitner alludes, the option for a non-refundable v refundable deposit occurred with many cruise lines as a result of many bookings made that were changed or cancelled altogether prior to final payment. Industry data a few years back indicated that the typical stateroom is booked and rebooked 8 times before being secured with a final payment. And the statistic for suites - which on most cruise lines are few in relationship to standard staterooms - was even higher. In order to try to reduce this revolving door of stateroom inventory fluctuation, the non-refundable deposit was introduced, supposedly at a lower fare. This, at least in our experience, was not the reality. We had several reservations booked at the time and when the "lower rate NRD" fares were introduced and we did mock bookings on each one with the result that the NRD fares were now about the same as our original refundable fares, and the refundable fares were considerably higher. So in reality, at the time, it also served as a price increase tool. Of course today there is a measurably lower NRD v refundable fare difference. But with those NRD fares came penalties for changing or canceling a booking made that way. Originally it typically was a fee with the balance held as an FCC. Now many have moved to the full deposit amount being forfeited with no FCC value. And suites with many are only available with a NRD with higher proportionate deposits. As a way around this, there are cruise lines that allow you to convert a refundable deposit to a NRD fare at the then prevailing fare just prior to final payment. Even if fares have increased since your original deposit, the NRD fares are typically still lower than the original refundable fare - at least in our experience. So there it is in a nutshell. And by the way, you must not have booked a cruise for quite some time or your cruise line of choice is late to the party, as in our experience this all went into effect 3 or 4 years or so pre-pandemic.

Well if that's the case I would expect to get flagged every time..........LOL.

Maybe your full name as it appears on your passport should also appear in the same manner on your booking. While it may not be a cruise line requirement, it may help with the customs issue you are having - especially if this was his suggestion. Just a thought.

Along with getting responses here, you may want to also post this on the Florida Departures board at this link: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/386-florida-departures/

I think the problem is the OP was using 2024 simply as a reference but has not been able to secure any information on the excursion costs, and through this thread is trying to find that out. As you have been on HAL to Alaska relatively recently and used their excursions, perhaps you could provide information as to the ones you took and what they cost at the time so the OP can get a rough idea for his budget consideration.

Impossible to say what I think you would enjoy doing. But based on the fact that you would really like to do the fall Canada / New England cruise and you have already done (albeit not as you would have hoped) the Alaska cruise, if it were me I would do the fall cruise first and then at a later date revisit Alaska. Just my opinion. And happy 40th - not many can say that these days!

Based on the thread title and the above quoted section of their question, I kind of took it as a little of both thinking that they were wondering, if nothing to see wandering on your own on, if an excursion was required to see anything. And I assumed (I know, risky thing) that they were referencing ship tours. Either way a lot of good information was provided which should cover all bases! 🙂

Note that I said many - not all - cruise lines don't necessarily have excursion pricing readily available. Apparently Viking is one that does. I understand your frustration, which is why I have suggested posting this on the HAL board as one possible way to get some answers. If nothing else, maybe just pad your budget with an artificial amount - maybe $150 pp per excursion? - to at least have something in consideration that would hopefully cover what the actual cost might be. I hope you find the information you are looking for and can book what sounds like a very nice cruise.

Just stating the obvious, but this just means the Captain chose to maintain ship time versus adjusting to the local port time. Very common. One itinerary that we do frequently is NJ / Bermuda and the Captain always adjusts one hour on a sea day en route (to and from) to adjust to / from Bermuda local time as we are in port for 3 days. It wouldn't make sense not to change in that case.

Yes indeed! That was the only time our 32 year cruising history when that was that case. And as I recall it was with the cruise lines as an agreement with the port of call requirements for visitors to be allowed back in their country as part of the restart. At least with US based closed loop itineraries.