Travelicious

I actually enjoyed the hull balcony the one time I had one, and would be happy to sail in another. I think you'll be fine with a good attitude. Look at the bright side: at least it is not your honeymoon. Several years ago, a young bride was so disappointed with her hull balcony that it completely ruined her honeymoon, and she did nothing but cry the entire 7 days. 😆 Gotta love CC drama!

Hope it has a lift to get you out.

Hmm. I did regular service. Took about 3 weeks.

Yeah, I was super lucky and remain thankful for those consular employees! Purple was pretty, but I'm really happy to be back in blue.

@Sugar Magnolia and I may have the same expiration date on our new passports. I just got mine back on Monday. We're probably destined to sailed together again!

Price must have gone up a bit since we booked. It was less than $30K for a balcony with Princess Plus, or whatever that is called. And, TA will provide $1,800 in OBC, we'll get either $200 or $250 in military OBC, and whatever Carnival pays for stockholder OBC. So I'm hoping there won't be too much more out of pocket. But, yeah, I understand. It is a lot of money. Will probably be our last really big, long trip, and we get to see all of that without terribly long flights. So I'm good on the splurge.

We are booked on the March 13, 2026 sailing of the Island Princess. It is round trip from LA. You should check it out. It will be our first time on Princess, but YVRteacher is making it look very appealing.

This will only be my second time in the Vibe, and Pookie's first. We don't do many excursions anymore, so your reasoning makes sense to me. I opted for Vibe on this cruise because I am still recovering from crowd-induced trauma on recent travels.

Another point: You're already spending all this money; what's another $500? That is for both of you. That comes out to less than $36 per day per person.

But, if the Haven in the Getaway is set up like the Breakaway, the only bar in inside and downstairs from the sundeck. Waiters will come around to take orders, but maybe not as often or as quickly as you need. Also, aren't the hot tubs also inside and downstairs? Good for bad weather, I suppose, but not for nice weather days. Also, I don't recall anywhere on the sundeck to cool off. Is there any sort of water feature? If not, you again have to go inside and downstairs for this. Please correct me if I am wrong. Otherwise, you might ought to go ahead and book the Vibe before it sells out!

We have booked Vibe!

You are making the Island Princess look so appealing! Now I can't wait for 2026!

I've been waiting for this. We are booked on the Island Princess (also 1st time on Princess) in 2026, so looking forward to your take on this ship. Hope it treats you well!

The hot fudge sundae on the Prima is fantastic! Sadly, it is not available at The Local / O'Sheehan's on all ships. We went on the Dawn one day just for the sundae, and discovered it was not on the menu.

Thanks for sharing your trip. How many more days to go?

Is it hip replacement? If so, it depends on how the surgery is done. The old way, cutting through the outer hip, will take months because of all the muscle that is cut and needing to heal. The new way, going in from the groin, allows much quicker healing. My mother had both hips replaced, both ways. That is where my knowledge comes from. It was amazing how quickly she recovered after the latter (and she is 84). She was able to be on her own after about 2 weeks.

I was going to mention Taylor, but 7 months is an eternity in Taylor-love-life time.

We originally booked the February 9 sailing, but as soon as I saw the prices of hotels the night before and figured out what was going on, we switched to the 2nd. It will be easy out for us on the 9th. Parking is just a couple of blocks from the interstate, and Super Bowl traffic will be headed in the opposite direction. I'm pretty sure the Patrick, Travis and other Chiefs will be close by.

Well you should probably join us on February 2 on the Getaway! All is well. Enjoying being at home and in the pool!

Whew! Just catching up here. I'm totally envious that you are on the Prima. I ended up loving that ship, even though it was quite crowded during cold weather. Thanks for sharing, and don't stress if you get behind and just don't feel like catching up. Enjoy!

Don’t know about shaking, but they wobble like crazy! 🤪

Now that we've been home for a week, most of the issues have been resolved: pool is clean and sparkling, washing machine is fixed, a/c is properly functioning, and my ceiling fan has been replaced. Pookie came home with strep throat, and has been taking antibiotics since last Sunday. She is better, but still has a lot of fluid in her ears and is feeling run down. Hopefully that will all be resolved in the next few days. There were so many great things about this adventure, with a few hiccups along the way. I feel so lucky to be able to take an extensive trip like this. Because it was so long, though, the days and ports kind of run together in my memory. That makes me especially glad that I wrote this trip report. Whether or not I publish another here for future trips, I do need to at least keep a journal to preserve the memories. Thanks to all for following along. I wish you all happy and safe travels!

Doubtful. Maybe if it were medically required, but that is also doubtful.

The bills shouldn’t be too bad from traveling. The cruises were prepaid, and most of the hotel stays were paid with points. But my washing machine won’t drain (scheduled for repair tomorrow, if they show up; trying to nurse this 23 year old machine because I know the new ones aren’t as good), the air conditioner stopped cooling yesterday (luckily, it is much cooler out today; also scheduled for repair tomorrow), the ice maker in my refrigerator doesn’t work and can’t be fixed, so I’ll probably look at getting a new one soon, and the ceiling fan in my bedroom started wobbling like a mofo yesterday. On the upside, the pool is back to clear and sparkling.

Yes, we’ve been to Washington and Oregon a few times to visit family and for an Alaskan cruise. I’m sure there is much more to see there than we have.