CCAubs

20 hours ago, Hezu said:

Actually, in more northern latitudes like Alaska (and Finland, where I live), the short nights (or lack of night in the northern most areas where midnight sun season has already begun) make it quite hard to photograph northern lights this time of year. I did still managed to snap few decent aurora shots on Saturday-Sunday night, although Friday-Saturday night was a miss for me as my chosen location at Lake Saimaa was cloud covered (and strong cold northernly winds would have made it miserable to stand on a lake shore doing photography), although it is quite good location for astrophotography as there isn't much light pollution. Aurora photography is definately much easier other times of year when there is longer and darker nights.

 

Ah, that's a great point. I didn't even think of that!

13 hours ago, mahdnc said:

We drove up to Madison, Wisconsin to escape the bright city lights of Chicago where we live.  The aurora was quite visible on Friday night--it basically covered the whole sky including overhead.  There was nothing to see on Saturday night despite clear skies.  We drove home today but I will take a peek tonight to see if there is anything out there.

 

Here are some photos that I took on Friday night and very early Saturday morning.  They were all taken with a 16 mm wide angle lens with a full frame DSLR camera.  These were taken from the same spot on the south shore of Lake Mendota.  The constellation Leo was shining through the aurora in each of he photos (the stars are more conspicuous when you click/tap on them to see a larger photo).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This photo was taken from the parking lot and it is looking at the sky opposite from where the above photos were taken.  If you tap/click on the photo, the Big Dipper is easily seen above the trees:

 

 

These two photos were taken from looking straight up.  The view was surreal. 

 

 

 

I can only imagine how awesome the view must have been from Alaska!

These photos are INCREDIBLE! Thank you so much for sharing!

Hearing the Northern Lights were spectacular last night in Alaska (and might be again tonight!). Would love to see pics if anyone was able to snap some from last night (or tonight) from a cruise!! 🤩

2 hours ago, julia said:

Hi:  not to highjack your thread, but last night's northern lights are the talk of the ship here on Noordam!  Present course is entering the Inside Passage, heading south to Vancouver (5/12 disembarking).  Many passengers saw the show from the back pool area, and the ship lights were turned off.  We missed it, sleeping off a long day in Ketch.  Tonight though?  We're there!!  The skies are totally clear, so, fingers crossed!

Amazing!! Please post pics if you can -- would LOVE to see! 

Following some recent issues among travelers who have faced legal issues due to packing illegal items on a cruise (here's an example), we wanted to be sure to share a few resources with important info to know before your sailing -- especially ahead of the summer travel season. 

• What Can You Not Bring on a Cruise? 8 Things Not to Pack (cruisecritic.com)
• Weed on a Cruise Ship: Is It Legal? (cruisecritic.com)
• Do You Need a Passport for a Cruise? (cruisecritic.com)
• 8 Cruise Safety Rules for Families With Children (cruisecritic.com)

Any other advice to add? 🤔

16 hours ago, toseaornottosea said:

When can we expect staffing levels and quality to return to pre-pandemic levels?

Good question! Thanks, @toseaornottosea!

Thanks so much for the questions, @Honolulu Blue & @Joebucks! Great questions.

2 hours ago, mnocket said:

Are the questions that actually get asked going to be pre-screened?  If so, by whom.  Transparency matters. 

Thanks for the question, @mnocket. Due to time limitations, we'll only be able to get to a handful of questions, so questions will be selected by the Cruise Critic team ahead of submitting to the show. Hope that helps!

Good Morning

The annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference is coming up in a few weeks, where representatives from the global cruise industry descend on Miami for a week filled with cruise discussions, panels, programming & more.

This year, the State of the Global Cruise Industry Keynote is inviting Cruise Critic members to submit questions to be considered for the conversation with CEOs from Carnival, Royal, NCLH and MSC. CEOs on the panel include: 

• Harry Sommer, President & CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings
• Jason Liberty, President & CEO of Royal Caribbean Group
• Josh Weinstein, President, CEO & Chief Climate Officer of Carnival Corporation
• Pierfrancesco Vago, Executive Chairman of MSC Group
• Kelly Craighead, President & CEO at Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA)

To help develop the panel questions, we'd love to hear from you. 

What questions do you have for the CEOs? Whether you have questions around itineraries, onboard experience, amenities, or more --
we're eager to hear them. 

Please share below to have your question(s) considered for the panel!

Thanks!

Aubrey

Cruise Critic

Assoc. Director, Marketing Communications

19 hours ago, Stickman1990 said:

or Explora or Scenic - I think there’s a finite space on the stage/panel and therefore not every luxury line will be represented - I wouldn’t read anything into the absence of one line or another 

 

My questions to them are what is there view on the capacity coming into the luxury market? Where do they expect to get the additional guests to fill the ships? What trend do they see in the luxury market eg increased/decreased per diems, inclusions/exclusions?

Great questions, @Stickman1990! Thanks for submitting! 

Hi there!

The annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference is coming up in a few weeks, where representatives from the global cruise industry descend on Miami for a week filled with cruise discussions, panels, programming & more.

This year, the Luxury Cruise Line CEO panel is inviting Cruise Critic members to submit questions to be considered for the conversation. CEOs will be on-hand from Silversea, Regent, Ponant, Seabourn & Ritz-Carlton.

To help develop the panel, we'd love to hear from you. 

What questions do you have for the luxury line CEOs? Whether you have questions around itineraries, onboard experience, amenities, or more --
we're eager to hear them.

Please share below to have your question(s) considered for the panel!

Thanks!

Aubrey

Cruise Critic

Assoc. Director, Marketing Communications

On 3/22/2024 at 12:05 PM, VMax1700 said:

My real question is:

Why do most cruise lines have user unfriendly websites?  Websites, that on the occasions that they do function, are difficult to navigate, are slow and clumsy.

Thanks for the question, @VMax1700. Is there anything in particular that would make the experience more helpful (assuming, of course, they're functioning!)?

Hi everyone!

The annual Seatrade Cruise Global conference is coming up in a few weeks, where representatives from the global cruise industry descend on Miami for a week filled with cruise discussions, panels, programming & more.

This year, there's a dedicated technology panel titled "Cruise Lines Answer Your Questions: Quick Fire Tech Questions from Cruise Critic Guests." To help develop the panel, we'd love to hear from you. 

What questions do you have for cruise line tech experts? Whether you have questions around Starlink, AI, onboard apps, the online booking process, etc., we want to hear all of your tech-related questions.

Please share below to have your question(s) considered for the panel!

Thanks!

Aubrey

Cruise Critic

Assoc. Director, Marketing Communications

On 5/22/2023 at 10:01 PM, 93beachbum said:

I just lucked out and got 6305 for the 7/3/23 cruise I booked yesterday! Totally forgot about it. Had it once before many years ago!

Dying to know if the sweet suite still exists!! Were you able to get the sweet perks? 🍦

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

(And yes, @redraider1966, FDR was still on the panel)

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO (including one from @fshagan!), but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO (including thoughts from @shipgeeks!), but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO (including one from @notscb!), but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions across all of the cruise line forums (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.

Hello from Seatrade 2023 in Ft. Lauderdale!

The State of the Industry was held yesterday. Due to time constraints, we were limited to just one question per CEO, but it was amazing to have the opportunity to include the cruisers' voice in the conversation for the first time ever.

Here's a link to our recap of the event and CEO answers: https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/7330/ Including a photo, too 🙂

We received A TON of questions (and lots of fantastic feedback) for the lines, and are going to be following up by sending all of it their way as well. We'll also use it on the Cruise Critic side for future story ideas, too. 

A huge thank you to all of you for sharing your thoughts, questions and experiences -- this community is incredible.