indiaksue

1 hour ago, Oceangoer2 said:

Wonderful start to your semi-retirement!  If you don't mind answering....Which cruise had which vibe.

The vibe was very different on the Caribbean, more of a party atmosphere, the Hawaii was the most laid back.  

It has been a long time since I have replied on CC but I have a different perspective now and thought I would share.  My DH and I are now Semi-Retired (finally).  So we have had the opportunity to do longer cruises.  We just returned from 43 days at sea.  We did the Crown Princess 15 day to Hawaii, then the next day got on the Emerald Princess and did the 14 Day Panama Canal then stayed on the ship and did a 14 day Caribbean.  All of these cruises had an older vibe, we were among the younger crowd at 59 and 57.  There were less than 20 kids on all 3 cruises.  Each cruise had a different vibe, it was amazing to me how much different the people were on each cruise.  There was even so much difference in the 2 ships.  So my suggestion to the OP is to try a different itinerary, different ship, different length, and different time of year.  All 3 of these can play into the vibe of the guests on the ship. Don't give up on your cruise line yet.   We are getting ready next year to try Celebrity for the first time.  We have been on 30+ cruises with Princess, Carnival, Royal & NCL and so we hope we will be good first time cruisers on Celebrity.  

We had a wonderful day at Beacher's in April. We booked online for $45 per person, this was for transportation, chair, umbrella and a welcome drink. We were met at the port by Emil, and driven to West Bay Beach. Here we had a wonderful day, soaking up the sun and enjoying a great beach. David took good care of us, bringing drinks all day long. The food we had was really good. When we were ready to go back to the ship, Emil picked us up again and took us back. We would highly recommend Beacher's for a great beach experience.

I am a NCL Newbie, we just got off the Jade on Sunday. My DH and I have been on 24 cruises, mostly with Carnival. I have to say we loved the food! We were so tired of the same old menu from Carnival that we liked everything we ate. We also felt like the variety of food on the buffet was better than Carnival. I do agree with you about the afternoon entertainment. If you weren't out on the very crowded pool deck, where there was lots going on, you really had to make your own entertainment. They offered just a few options through out the day. But overall we were very happy with our first NCL experience and have booked our second one. We are taking a break from Carnival for awhile, at least until some better itinerary's come up.

Maybe you should try a different line just to see what they offer. Maybe you will find NCL actually is a really great choice.

I have been on the Vista and the Regal Princess and somethings I totally agree on, the food is much better on Princess especially the Lido restaurant. However service I didn't see much difference. I really think it is the luck of the draw and also by ship. We just got off the Valor and had the best dining room staff we have had in 20 some cruises. I was in awe of Glen & Denis, they were fantastic. So I would say every individual experience is different on service. Overall we prefer Carnival but we do like Princess too, if the price is right.

My cruising history says it all. We like Carnival so much better.

I plan to try the pork belly in October. Sounds yummy!!

 

 

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Yes don't miss it! I savored every bite!!

I like lots of items but the very best is the Caramelized Pork Belly from JiJi's Asian Kitchen. Awesome!

The worst, really I have never had anything that was truly bad just some so-so items.

Princess is a bit more money, however it is a quantum leap above Carnival. Food, service and entertainment are all a cut above. Our final Carnival cruise left us with the same meh feeling. Our vacation time is precious to us, so saving a few bucks by cruising Carnival is not a priority. Having a great experience is our priority.

That's funny because we hated our cruise on the Regal Princess, for food, service and entertainment. It is each individual ship you have to look at. One Carnival ship may be better than another depending on management and crew.

At least that is what we have seen.

I've been to all of them and all have nice excursions, but I prefer going to Nachi Cochem on Cozumel. Lovely beach resort.

Our muster was at around 4:30 and then there was a sail away party but we didn't actually sail until around 7:00.

We went to the MDR several times, also to JiJi's and to Cucina del Capitano on two other nights. So the last 3 nights we went to the buffet. Just too tired and not motivated to dress up.

One thing we decided to do next time in Europe is take a mandatory rest day with our least favorite port. We did go to the shows, Flick and America Rocks were really good. We never made it to the comedy clubs, in fact we didn't make it to very much at all, just too tired.

There have been some really great ideas so far. Here is what we do:

I do journaling everyday also. I wake up before my DH so I always have my notebook and pen ready to take out on balcony and I write about the day before. We then also put the notebook into a folder that we keep for each cruise with memento's and tickets, etc. These we look back on folders occasionally to relive memories.

Some days I don't feel like trying to get a treadmill in the gym or it is too windy up on the jogging track so I walk inside; I start at the deck below Lido and I walk all the way down one side and then the other and then go down the stairs, I do this all the way to deck 1 and then all the way back up to Lido, it takes me about 45 minutes total and I get to see all the decks. I usually do this after lunch so I don't get in the way of Cabin Stewards trying to get their rooms done. With the stairs involved I get a pretty good workout.

My DH and I end our evening up on our Lido balcony (it is the only deck we ever book) We enjoy a wine or drink talking about our day and watch the stars and listen to the ocean waves for about a half an hour before we turn in for the night.

We spend our Sail Away up on the deck above the bridge. Usually forward on Lido, this way we can see views from both sides of the ship and it is never crowded.

We just returned from our Cruise that left from Athens. We spent 2 days here and it was the best part of our trip. The people we met, shop keepers, taxi drivers, restaurant and bar keepers, all were so friendly it gave us a real love for this country. We will definitely be back.

My DH and myself just got back from our cruise. Because we were spending so much money we decided to do the Acropolis on our own. We downloaded Rick Steves Audio Tour from I-Tunes, onto our phones, which was free. He gives a very thorough tour and has you stop at each ruin and then explains it, it was very easy and really made our tour enjoyable.

Let me give everyone a little hint about breakfast. We were on this same sailing and we had breakfast on deck 5 at the Taste Bar. In the Fun Times it says Continental breakfast, but in reality it is cereal, breads, Oatmeal, Eggs, Bacon, Sausage, Ham, Hash Browns etc. There was hardly anyone there the entire cruise. A very quite place, one morning in port we took our breakfast outside to the many tables on the outdoor promenade. The Coffee Bar is right next door also, always convenient to pick up a Cappuccino.

Our first cruise was on the Conquest back in 2005 from New Orleans. My parents took the whole family on that cruise and we have been hooked ever since. :)

Maybe the reason attendance is down on the shows is because there are a lot more activities these days to do in the evenings. It is no longer dinner and a show. We don't really even go to many of them anymore. I think the younger cruisers with families may choose other things. I like the smaller theater with more show times. I can make it fit with my schedule.

I am on the 3rd sailing so am very interested in what is happening on the first sail. My DH wanted to do that cruise but I remembered the problems with the Sunshine and told him the 3rd cruise was the soonest I would get on.

I am gluten free and we are always using ATD. We have never had a problem but as much as possible we ask for the same waiter every night so they learn to know our preferences. It has usually worked out for us.

6 is the best in my opinion. We had one on the Freedom. It was above the aft lounge and we were concerned about noise but we never heard anything. We loved the room lay out and the long side balcony.

We love San Juan! We always stay an extra couple of days to explore. We have stayed at LaConcha on the beach and had a fantastic experience there. This last time we stayed at the Villa Herencia right in Old San Juan and had one of our favorite cruising experiences just enjoying the old city and visiting the forts. On Friday night we walked in the evening and took in local dances in the plaza's around town. It was a magical time in a beautiful city!

The Sunshine is a beautiful ship and one of the nicest we have been on.

We just disembarked in San Juan last week. I would arrange a car to pick you up for sure. When we got off the dream the line for a taxi was very, very long, I have never seen anything like it at any other debarking. Once we did get one, it took us a long time to just go a few blocks because of the one way narrow streets. Make sure to allow plenty of time.

We just got back from San Juan and stayed at the Villa Herencia. We also had the 2nd floor room that had the patio that flowed out onto the roof top deck. It was absolutely beautiful and a very romantic place to stay. Talk about charm, it did lack storage and space but I would stay there again!

My DH and I were also on that cruise and I agreed with everything you said. I think that was the best service we have had on any ship we have ever cruised on. It was an amazing and magical cruise and they put a lot of thought into it.