Shmoo here

We jumped right into cruising with both feet - a 15 night Panama Canal cruise.

The upcharge used to include the gratuities at Palo. Not a very big gratuity, but still included. I believe that has changed. Tipping at Palo is entirely at your discretion. You can include a tip on the final charge slip you sign after eating, or do cash.

Last I heard (as of August sailings), still no meals being served in the kids clubs.

Not in my experience. Now, there will be similarities from menu to menu, but not exactly the same menu on subsequent nights.

Haven't been to Remy, but here's a link to menus https://disneycruiselineblog.com/menus/remy-dinner-menu/

It apparently varies, dependent on when your cruise is. On the HAL website, you submit your cruise info and it will tell you what's required. I did find this, however: We only accept vaccines that are approved or authorized for emergency use by the U.S. FDA, or the World Health Organization, or the European Medicines Agency (EMA). Some countries and regions on the itinerary may only accept vaccines approved by their regulatory agencies. VACCINE DOSE Pfizer (Comirnaty / BioNTech) 2 Moderna (Spikevax) 2 Johnson & Johnson (Janssen) 1 AstraZeneca (Covishield / Vaxzevria) 2 Sinopharm (Vero Cell) 2 Sinovac (CoronaVac) 2 Covaxin 2 Novavax (Covovax / Nuvaxovid) 2

I've read that they no longer to paper copies of the Navigator. If you do a search for "disney cruise navigators" you should be able to find a site that has past Navigators posted, to get an idea of what sorts of activities may be available on your cruise.

That ship (Pride of America) is US flagged. The PVSA doesn't apply in that case.

"Technical" stops are no longer allowed. A ship must dock and allow at least one passenger off for the cruise to be deemed "official". At least on those foreign-flagged ships departing and returning to US ports.

You can have the request added to your reservation. As I noted, it's not guaranteed, but DCL does try to accommodate such requests. Just give DCL a call and have them add the request.

The only "dress code" DCL has is "no swimwear in the main dining rooms at dinner, please" (well, except for Remy/Palo, they have a higher level of dress required). Beyond that, you'll see all manner of dress at dinner, from cutoffs/t-shirts to full formal wear. Do what works for you. You can have the request to be seated alone added to your reservation, but it's not guaranteed. At late seating it seems to be more often granted. Or, if you book Concierge, the default is to have a separate table for only your party.

I believe that's "Palo". Also, "Palo" on the Wish, but is a steakhouse instead of the other ship's Italian theming.

Basically, each dining room has it's own Signature menu, that's served once during the cruise. The other 4 nights the same menu is offered in all dining rooms. That is 4 different menus, but the same one on the same night in all dining rooms. You will have 7 different menus over the course of the 7 nights.

I would be surprised if it was offered on less than 6 night sailings. Since it's typically the second time you dine in Animator's and a 5 night sailing has 1/3 of the guests who don't dine in there twice.

Most DCL cruises have a pirate night, except for the Alaska cruises. And, maybe, any Baltic cruises (if they're still doing them). Marvel cruises, I believe, are only on specific cruises, like the Star Wars cruises.

They do when you order a soda in the bars, and for room service.

Los Angeles, CA to Barcelona, Spain for an ocean cruise Los Angeles, CA to Bucharest, Romania for a river cruise.

Yes, you can bring soda onboard. At least you used to, don't know if COVID killed that option. You could bring whatever non-alcoholic beverages onboard then. You may be assigned to a table with others, depending on your party size. Unless you're concierge, then the default is to give you your own table. You can make a request (not guaranteed) for your own table, if that's what you want (or, conversely, request to be seated with others if you're concierge).

Here's a picture of the room with the lock location circled: And, I agree the door is fairly heavy to slide open.

B2B cruises are two cruises (one immediately following the other) on the same ship. You just need to pick a cruise that you want to do, and see if the cruise preceding it, or following it is also one you're interested in. They are separate cruises = separate reservations.

Specific travel agents cannot be recommended here on Cruise Critic.

While things are still not "normal" in the cruising industry, historically, generally it's around 18 months out, and over the last few years DCL seems to have adopted this pattern for release dates on new cruises: "Winter": first cruise in the new year up to April/May (not including spring Panama Canal and Transatlantic) – sometime between late September to early November "Summer": cruises from about May to August/September (not including fall Panama Canal and Transatlantic) – mid February to early April. "Fall": September until the end of the year (ending with the last cruise starting in the old year) – generally around May.

Maybe yes, maybe no. We find using cruise line flights, the cost and flight times are not to our liking. But, SOMETIMES, it's best to use the cruise line flights. Generally if there could be connection/arrival issues to actually board the ship.

From the DCL website: Currently, Disney Cruise Line continues to require all vaccine-eligible Guests (based on US eligibility requirements) to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, as defined by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), at the time of sailing. This is a requirement for all Guests (US and international) ages 5 and older. Guests who are not vaccine-eligible because of age must provide proof of a negative COVID-19 test result (paid for by the Guest) taken between 3 days and 24 hours before their sail date. Guests ages 4 and under must complete the testing requirements. The test should be a NAAT test, rapid PCR test or lab-based PCR test. Rapid antigen tests are not accepted. That said, I've read that DCL is allowing just turned 5 year olds some leeway on boarding, since "fully vaccinated" means two weeks after the second shot, but I'm not sure it's actually written anywhere. I believe a 5 year old, who's been vaccinated, but is not considered fully vaccinated is treated like an unvaccinated 4 year old onboard

We did our first Alaska cruise out of Vancouver. The overnight trip outside the inside passage was, indeed, rough waters. They closed the doors to the outside decks, and the Captain made an announcement that the ship was going to be in rough water during dinner and he said, "Ladies, please, no high heels for dinner."