Viajera7

My Christmas cruise studio was cheaper than the inside on the Epic (12-23-22 to 12-30-22).

I have not been on the Gem yet but the Breakaway CD in September kept saying that it is different on the Breakaway, the Getaway and the Epic.

I would recommend to at least walk around the area if it’s your first time. If you repeat the port on another cruise then you will feel better if you decide to stay onboard. I rarely go to GSC and other ports that I have visited a lot of times. The ship still has some activities that I go to like trivia, other games, a different movie each day, dance lessons and other activities depending on the ship and season of the year. They have more activities for the Christmas season.

You can use the app. but they also had a box office place near the Spiegel tent (Last time there was 11 months ago so I don’t know if they have changed this or not).

I have been in a couple of cruises in which if the cruise staff member in charge of the trivia speaks Spanish he/ she has translated questions to Spanish if there are a few of Spanish only speaking cruisers but it is very rare.

If you had your vaccinations and boosters at Walgreens, you can get your cards replaced. They have a record that you can see on your Walgreens account and save to your wallet. I have had it replaced because of the amount of boosters.

I won a trophy on the Valor in March and it was for trivia (I already had a trophy from my first time on the Valor years ago). The fact that I won a game and a trivia on the MG and didn’t get a trophy bothers me because besides my first Carnival ship and cruise. I have won trophies in all the other Carnival ships except for MG. I f they are going to give trophies for games like Family Feud, I am doomed😉 because when I go on a Carnival cruise, I go solo so I cannot play Family Feud or games that you play in a group.

They gave them on MG but not for trivia. I was not happy because I won a trivia and a game and I got 2 medals. They gave the trophies for games at the end of the cruise.

I used the perk for the first time on the Mardi Gras and they damaged a light orange blouse that I was going to use for Halloween. I had taken out the tags and tried it on before I sent it but it was too wrinkled. The laundry came back late and the blouse was in the middle. When I unfolded it I saw stains on one of the sleeves and little holes. From now on I will only send underwear, socks and dark items like jeans.

I don’t know if Royal has big ships going to Santorini but one thing I noticed on my 3 European cruises this year was that all of them were in smaller and older ships. Brilliance of the Seas for the Greek Isles, NCL Dawn for the Baltic and NCL Jade for the Greek Isles ( and this one included Santorini).

I sailed the MG on October 22-29 and I did it for the ship since I have been to the Caribbean ports so many times. I loved the MG. I am accustomed to the big ships on NCL and RCI and I liked them because there are more things to see and do. It doesn’t bother me to walk from one side to the other because I consider it my exercise. I like all the options that you have to eat, all the activities and trivia, Grand Central and the shows there, the many comedy shows and the theater shows too. Two things I didn’t like were that to go to the theater you only had 2 options and most of the times from the places that I was at before going there I had to go through the casino. The second one was that the laundry damaged a new blouse that I sent there because it was wrinkled. Am I-not going to sail MG again because of that? No. I want to do it again and I already booked the Celebration for Halloween next year. One that I have to clarify is that I didn’t experienced the long lines because I rarely drink and only went to the bar once to get my free Platinum drink. One of the best Virgin pina coladas that I haves had.

I was on the Mardi Gras on the October 22 cruise and there was definitely many people dressed for Halloween. I also noticed some people dressed based on a Mardi Gras theme or at least with beads or Mardi Gras masks or the kind of head accessory with feathers. I’ll be bringing in those next time I sail the Mardi Gras.

I had the dinner with the officers last month on the Getaway.

I have been on the Dawn twice and the second time was in June doing the Baltic itinerary. When I travel by myself I usually travel on an interior or Ocean View but if I find a good offer, I book a balcony. I had an Ocean View and the views were good. I liked the food in the MDR, the specialty restaurants and the buffet. The entertainment was pretty good. They had 2 singers, a young woman and a young man that usually were on the Bliss and one of the nights they were in the theater doing a Michael Jackson tribute. Good performances. The only thing that I didn’t like was that because of the countries visited, sometimes they didn’t open the stores early because they needed to be at a certain distance to do so and one of the nights they couldn’t open at all.

It depends on the ship.

I have been on 8 cruises so far this year including the Dawn and I haven’t had Covid yet. I do wear a mask except when I am alone, with my roommate if I have one or eating.

I just returned from the Breakaway and Halifax was ok and had good weather. The tour guide said that they worked hard picking up the fallen trees right away.

The best beaches are not in that area. I like the beaches in Culebra and Vieques but you need to stay overnight for those.

1 (866) 625-1167 This is the phone that I use to book my shore excursions. I don’t do them online since one time that they didn’t apply the credits and discounts. That way I’m sure that I am getting the $50 off and my latitudes discount.

Are you traveling solo? When I booked my excursions for the Breakaway tomorrow, I was having the same issue. The rep. explained that when you are traveling solo you see the excursions with the $50 off already but if there’s more than one person in the cabin you see the original price, then the $50 off is applied and then the latitudes tier discount. That was what happened to me for my August cruise since I was traveling with my cousin on that cruise. and I could see the regular prices.

I hope he/ she does because I am supposed to board the Breakaway tomorrow 😉.

My cruise is September 25!

I was on the Ovation in July too ( maybe same cruise). Although there were lots of people everywhere, I saw some people staying in WJ after they had finished eating to look at the great Alaska scenery and that worsened the situation in the WJ. I was not impressed with the food in the WJ but I always found something good enough to eat. I only ate there for lunch and when I couldn’t eat at the MDR. I didn’t have to do the long lines for the MDR because we had early seating and once you had your seating shown to you on the first night, you can enter directly for the rest of the cruise. The only day we didn’t eat early dining dinner at the MDR was the day at Victoria because it’s a late arrival port and our excursion was during that time. The WJ was closed so we ate at Sorrentos but It was nothing special and I ate just a little. When I returned from the excursion I went to the WJ and it was closed and to my surprise the MDR was open and I had an appetizer and a soup.

On the Jade at the end of last month we had 4 of the ports you have and I got Corfu in May on Brilliance OTS. Kusadasi- We had an NCL excursion that had the Ephesus Museum, The House of the Virgin Mary and a Carpet place. (We booked it because of the House of the Virgin Mary and because it was very inexpensive). Istanbul-Another NCL excursion that had a visit to a Mosque, the Grand Bazaar and the Bosphorus cruise. (We booked it because we would be around places in both continents, Europe and Asia during the cruise and it was worth it). Volos- We took the 5 Euros per person bus outside the terminal and it had stops in different places. Santorini- We bought the cable car tickets both ways but separately because they don’t sell them round trip. I had read here that the lines were long and I warned my cousin but there were no lines. Maybe because it was at the end of August and beginning of September. We walked around town, the stores and had beverages at a restaurant with a magnificent view. Corfu- I had an RCI excusion so the NCL excursions should be different. We went to Ampelaki Beach, to the Castellino Restaurant to have a great view of the area (It was very high), Lazaris Distillery and Artisan Sweets with great samples and the center of Corfu to have some time to explore on our own. I have Corfu again next year with NCL so I’m following your suggestion of hop on /hop off bus since it will be my second time there.

I sailed on 3 different small ships in Europe this year: Brilliance OTS, NCL Dawn and NCL Jade. Since I was doing it for the ports and these were port intensive itineraries, I didn’t care about the size. That’s why I also have Rhapsody OTS too next year doing Egypt/ Israel. That said, I prefer the big ships with many activities, shows, comedy clubs to keep me entertained when I am repeating ports, Caribbean, Alaska, etc. I loved Ovation OTS this summer for Alaska with lots of activities to do.