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@PhillyFan33579 thanks for posting. We love new ships! Icon had us pumping the breaks. It is more expensive than our week in Maui before the fire!  We just can't wrap our minds around $10K for a balcony on Icon. We were going to just do it but the accountant in us said wait it out. The price will fall eventually. We hope.

@RCCL Fan thanks for the excellent recap. OMG how cool to be invited to this special naming ceremony. ICON is on my radar once the crazy cruise prices fall. $8K+ for a balcony. NOPE! I'll wait. 

You have me all in my feelings with your grandmother stories and your daughter and future grandkids stories. Love it! My DF passed away 2022. Thank God for 52 years with him. I introduced him to cruising and he fell in love with it too. He was my cruising buddy. His last cruise was Alaska before covid. He was 3 months from our Symphony cruise before he passed away. Symphony was a tough cruise but I knew he would want me to go so we did.

Enjoy every moment with your daughters. 

23 hours ago, UGACamper said:

I'm heading to Alaska in July on Carnival because of price - casino offering for free balcony.  BUT because of the "free" offer (I know, let's not discuss the meaning of free), it affords us to be able to do more excursions, fly first class, etc. It is a bucket list item that we are crossing off. CANT WAIT!

FREE is always good!!! More excursions for you!!

July 2024 will be my 3rd Alaskan cruise. The first time I did all the research and cruised with my BFF aboard a Princess ship round trip from Seattle. The best of the best. It was fabulous. We did all the things, long time in each of the ports and viewed the Glacier up close.

2nd Alaskan cruise was with my husband and my dad. Northern bound, Vancouver to Seward. We got a heck of a price for a June 2019 sailing aboard the Celebrity Millennium. Absolutely would book this again in a heartbeat. Close view of the Glacier, ship was great and the food in the buffet was delicious to the point we didn't go back to the dining room. Lamb stew to die for. We had long periods in each port and I enjoyed this cruise more than my Princess cruise.

3rd cruise July 2024 is booked with Royal Caribbean Quantum of the Seas. Group cruise 5 Sr citizens, 7 adults, 2 teens and one tween. First time Alaska cruise for 13 of them. I would of loved to do a southern or northern route but due to logistics and airfare we elected to do round trip from Seattle. Moving 15 people around, including 7 Seniors can be challenging so I decided to error on the side of convenience. We landed on Quantum because of the age dynamic and we are diamond on Royal. We are most familiar with Royal ships so I know what to expect sailing on a Royal ship. I can answer Royal Caribbean questions in my sleep. There will be plenty to do aboard the ship to entertain everyone. I've decided to do Mendenhall Glacier to make sure they see a glacier up close since we know we will not see the Dawes Glacier. I still don't understand why they even go there. I would rather skip it altogether and spend that time in Juneau. So mentally I have adjusted my expectations. I'm still excited to show them Ketchikan, Sitka, Juneau and Victoria. My husband keeps reminding me that they do not know what they are missing because it is their first Alaskan cruise. 

If it was just 4-6 of us, I would have definitely did another southern or northern route. I believe that is the best if you are looking to take advantage of the time in each port. I'm bummed about not seeing a big glacier up close but I'm OK with it because it's just a glacier at the end of the day and my group would maybe spend 15 minutes looking at it. LOL! I know we will have an excellent experience aboard the Quantum. 

I'm cruising on RCCL Quantum OTS. For thus who have sailed with Royal, Do they really stay at Endicott Arm & Dawes Glacier for 5 hours?  

We usually select late dining so we are just finishing dinner around 830/9pm. So we are not hungry or need a snack late at night. We are barely able to roll to whatever late show and hit the club or casino for a little bit. We make it back to our cabin around 12/1am and we are still full from dinner. We keep our water bottles full so no need for us to stop and get water. 

For those wanting late night snacks, are you normally a snacker? Just wondering. We are snackers but with late dinning we are too stuffed to snack late at night. We might have an adult beverage or two or three but that's about it. 

On 1/28/2023 at 7:44 AM, naturelovergirl said:

We are planning kayaking in Ketchikan: Specifically the Tatoosh Islands Sea Kayak Tour offered through our ship in the morning.

After we get back, we plan to walk through Creek Street and see what we see. I would like to go to some of the museums in Ketchikan… particularly the Totem Heritage Center and the Tongass Historical Museum.

@naturelovergirl how was your excursion?  I'm researching for my July 2024 cruise.  Thx

On 1/28/2023 at 7:20 AM, Sigyn said:

We have booked excursions in all of the ports for our July cruise, except Ketchikan. It's been the toughest one. We are doing a float plane over five glaciers and a salmon cookout at Taku Lodge in Juneau. We are doing a helicopter to a glacier and sled dogs in Skagway. We are doing a whale watching and bear sighting cruise in Icy Strait Point. We are doing the small boat cruise to see Hubbard Glacier up close, ahead of our ship. 

 

But in Ketchikan, I'm stumped. My husband doesn't want to do anything too athletic there, like a canoe trip across a lake and a 5-mile hike. He said, "we're not those people" (although apparently I still think we are, in my heart, since I keep trying to book stuff like that.) He's willing to do a 2-3 mile hike through the rainforest, but if it's raining, that would be kinda meh and I know it rains 300 days a year in Ketchikan. He said he'd be happy doing a pub crawl and eating in Ketchikan, but I read that people aren't happy any longer with the crab "feast" at George Inlet. Then I read that Misty Fjords is a must see. But we're already doing one float plane and one helicopter ride. That's expensive. And really, don't want to jump on a flying machine at every port. 

 

The lumberjack show holds zero appeal. As does the boat with the crab catch from the deadliest catch. Looking at the stadium seating on the boat and how it's kind of a show seems unappealing to me, particularly since Alaska has shut down crab fishing again this year. Would feel like we're doing something we're not supposed to and I wonder what they even do with the ban in place: https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/alaska-shuts-down-crab-seasons-after-dismal-survey-results I mean, the show will go on, with other crab caught, but it does dilute the whole experience https://www.nationalfisherman.com/alaska/deadliest-catch-returns-in-2023-despite-closing-of-fisheries

 

I would like to see something more real, that feels like Alaska. But have zero idea what that would be in Ketchikan. It's our first port on our trip so that matters, too.

 

Anyway...thoughts? Experiences you really enjoyed that you'd like to share with me? 

 

@Sigyn so what did you decide to do? Did you enjoy it? 

That sounds great. Having planned many group cruises, I would encourage families to cruise with their daughters. It's a lot of responsibility cruising with kids.

You didn't mention how many girls are cruising? The more chaperones the better. 

I would make everyone get passports and travel insurance. You don't need them until you need them. 

Set ground rules and consequences prior to boarding ship.

Happy planning. What an awesome reward! YOU ROCK!

Thank God the little girl told her parents. This scum bag got caught in 4 months. Parents continue to communicate with your children and be a safe space for them to share EVERYTHING with you.

Simple, supply and demand. Every vacation destination has increased. Check out Disney World. Crazy insane ticket and hotel prices. But crazy me booked a quick trip the weekend leading to Christmas. Why? Well my twisted rational, we're off two weeks for Christmas and we're driving to Jacksonville FL from TX to see family. We'll be sooo close (2.5 hrs) to Orlando plus our niece will be with us, who has never been to WDW. So we have to go, right? SMH! NO! 

The money we're saving by driving, we're using to purchase WDW tickets. So we swapped transportation expenses for entertainment expenses. But we are also sacrificing a total of 28 hours round trip by driving. It sucks but it will be worth it when we surprise her. 

So everyone spends their money how they choose to based on their wants. I always say, People will spend their money on what they want to spend it on and you can't tell them what to spend it on.

I'm excited to follow along on this journey. This is the type of traveling I want to explore when I retire in 11 years and 6 months. 

Thanks for your LIVE.  I was O so missing her last week.  We just got off the Carnival Breeze. It just made me remember how much I enjoyed the Symphony in 2022. The oasis class is my all time favorite class of cruise ship. 

I'm grateful for my Mom. My dad passed last summer. So now my Mom gets extra hugs, time and kisses. 

We just got off the Breeze and we walked straight through thanks to the facial recognition machines. 5 minutes max to walk through zig zag lines, gangway and out of cruise terminal. 

Embarkation on the other hand, was terrible.  I'm going to chalk it up to a bad day at the cruise terminal. It usually isn't that bad. It took us 45 minutes to get through embarkation. 

After this last cruise and waiting for people to go to their muster station, I'm ok with suspending all purchases/services/bars until you check in at your muster station.  

My husband gambles and usually qualifies for the free drinks at the casino after the first evening. We usually cruise RCCL so he wasn't aware he had to be playing in order to get a drink in the casino under this promotion. No problem, he's a regular at the casino.

Last week, We were sailing on the Breeze and he gambles in the Smoke Free Casino. He loves it because it is on a separate floor away from the smoking casino. Choctaw in OK has us completely spoiled with their smoke free casino. It's huge and fabulous. Anywho. So he gambles the first evening. He awoke the second day, a sea day and the HubApp alerted him that he has free drinks. Cool. Later that morning he went to the smoke free casino bar to get a bloody mary and the bartender said he had to be actively gambling. No problem. We started gambling and after about 15 minutes a bar server came by. This was late morning around 11AM. 7 People max in casino. So the server finally makes he way to my DH and pushes the button on the machine and sees yes my DH gets a free drink. He takes the order. 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes. We are looking at the bar and the bartender. No customers. It is a very slow morning. OMG! What's taking so long. So the bartender finally comes back with the drink after 30 minutes. We just could not understand why the bartender couldn't serve us. I understand they want you to gamble and we have no problem gambling, but taking 30 minutes to get a drink is kind of crazy. Especially, when we are looking at the bartender and she's twiddling her thumbs waiting on the server to bring her the drink orders. If you have been on the Breeze you know the smoke free casino is small. You can stand at the bar and see the whole casino. So we have no idea why it took so long. My husband said it was like that every day. It took 30+ minutes to get a drink in a fairly empty smoke free casino. SMH! 

Carnival could definitely improve in this area. The bartender should be able to swipe the card and be alerted OK to serve drink they have played for a certain amount of time. When you want a drink, you want a drink. Waiting 30+ minutes is ridiculous and a bit much.  We would rather cruise RCCL where we can go to the Casino bar, order a drink and be served in a timely fashion and peruse to our next slot machine. 

I'm just off the Breeze and they had the strawberry frozen yogurt.  

On 11/8/2023 at 9:16 PM, Sea and Me said:

My daughter and her family along with myself booked a cruise on the Conquest. It will leave Miami in December 26 and return on December 29. Everything was in place. Then it all fell apart!! My granddaughter, who is a nurse, has to work on the 29th. My travel agent started the cancellation process, Carnival is charging us 1/2 of what the cabins are priced. We booked a balcony and an inside cabin. I cannot believe that this is their policy. I would understand if it were 10-20% but 50% is highway robbery!!  Needless to say we will never consider booking a Carnival cruise again.

 

Question has this ever happened to any of you..

Thanks for your reply. Have a good day.

Hopefully, your family can still go and you can leave the granddaughter behind or the GD can call in sick. 

I feel your pain. We had to cancel our Christmas cruise and lost our deposit. These non refundable deposit cruises can sneak up on you. We were grateful that's all we lost.

I've been waiting on this sale. I'm hoping the UDP goes down on my Quantum 7 night sailing, $326pp currently.  3 day specialty dining $131.

8 minutes ago, orville99 said:

We simply ask them to put more meat in the mix - never a problem.

I would have said I need one with meat only and then mixed it with my other order. 

18 hours ago, Vibe said:

I am currently on the Wonder of the Seas. As always Royal Caribbean entertainment is awesome. The ship itself is nice but is overcrowded. This was the most we ever paid for a cruise.
 

The one thing I can’t believe is how horrible the food has become.  The food budget appears to have been cut so much that the main dining room food is awful and the Windjammer is disgusting. The poor ingredients is making basic food incredibly inedible. Mystery fish, poor quality meat and chicken.  Less selection.
 

The ships are now sailing full. I overheard other guests comment about how dissatisfied they are. With high prices, poor quality food, rising gratuities, will people book a future cruise?

 

OP you might consider booking the ultimate dining plan. We really enjoy the specialty dining restaurants over the MDR. When my husband and I cruise alone we usually book UDP. When we cruise with family and friends we stick with MDR and do a couple of nights in specialty dining. 

I've also learned to order whatever the waiter recommends. I usualy add what I really wanted to that order as well.

What exactly are you ordering? And what about it do you not like? 

Definitely park right there at Royals terminal parking lot. GAME CHANGER! You park and it's a short walk to the terminal. Hand your bags over to the porters and walk right into the terminal. So convenient! 

6 hours ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

Food is very subjective, but my thoughts are miss Italian night and go to 150 CP. I would have recommended Hooked, but not a good place to go if someone doesn’t like seafood. Wonderland is the last speciality restaurant I would recommend. The food there is definitely unique (not in a good way) and Wonderland is the one speciality restaurant where everyone I have gone with is still hungry. The only time I would recommend going to Wonderland is if you have the UDP, so you can go somewhere else after eating there. 

LOL! We want to try Wonderland on the Quantum. Thanks for the heads up. 

Really hoping they put our ultimate dining package on sale for our Quantum Alaska cruise . Nope, it's still $287.99. Hoping they put it on sale for Black Friday. 

On 10/24/2023 at 7:34 PM, Pinballs83 said:

I booked separate from the rest of the family. I linked our bookings in the app but when I go to make a my time reservation i get this message. 

 

Can we just all show up at the same time and ask to be seated together? or should I do something like calling royal to fix this?

 

 

Where in the App did you link them? I can't find it. Thx.