frostedthreads

We just got back from the Magic and we thought the food has changed since we last cruised before covid.  There were not different types of butter in the morning.  Sausage in the morning was either super cooked to bricks or super greasy.  Quality was very inconsistent. Some nights, it was difficult to find something that sounded interesting on the menu. 

We tried to stay positive through the cruise.  We cruise for the whole experience. But food is a big part that we look forward to.  I love to eat things I cannot find easily at home or that I cannot cook myself. 

I am not sure that the price we paid for a Christmas Cruise equalled the quality of the food and experience.

I would have said sure until we sat in Galveston for over 3 hours.  We were walk off with our luggage.  There was an issue inspecting luggage, etc.  It didn’t help that we were on a cruise that visited Belize.  

Another thing to consider is the TSA line at MCO.  My daughter and I are frequent fliers from that airport.  We try to push our Disney time as much as possible.  We have encountered check in and TSA lines that are as long as the shopping area. We made a few flights with time to spare.  We know have TSA precheck. 

If there is another flight, relax going to the airport.  Don’t end the vacation on a stressful note.  

We just came back from the Millennium Cruise.  Our stateroom was changed in the refurbishment and we wound up having to change our stateroom 3 times and our family was split up.  We had to get two staterooms for our Alaskan cruise.  We had to list an adult in each stateroom.  Originally we were supposed to be separated by only a few cabins.  Something happened, and honestly I was tired of changing and we went with it.  

No one seemed to care.  We did go to the right muster drill (Which were two different stations) And we had to make sure we were together for dinner.   We had all the accounts tied together once we set sail. I would relax, put the kids in their own room and enjoy the cruise!  With an 18 year old and a 15 1/2 year old, I understand what it is like to have this age group with you! 

Waterproof your outwear or buy waterproofed outerwear.  Three of my family members had packable light raincoats from Mountain Warehouse.  They were great.  We had waterproofed them before our trip in addition to my old faithful Eddie Bauer raincoat.  We live in Ohio.  I have worn in numerous times in the rain.  I also decided to use the waterproofer on it.  We had rain all last week on the cruise.  The only day we didn't have rain was the Hubbard Glacier day.  My Eddie Bauer jacket was soaked through.  

I agree with other posters.  Regular tennis shoes are fine.  I severally sprained my ankles two days before our trip.  I wore a beautiful orthopedic boot on one foot and had to buy the next size up tennis shoe for the other foot to accommodate an ankle brace.  We hiked Nugget Falls in Juneau.  You could have walked there in crocs and been fine! 

Our family of four stayed at the Parc 55 Union Square (its a Hilton property).  There was so much around the hotel.  It was a block from a cable car stop round.  The Hop on Hop off Union Square stop was just around the corner.  We used that to get down to Fisherman's Wharf for our Sourdough breakfast.  We were able to walk to Chinatown as well from our hotel.

San Francisco is one of our favorite cities.  

I see that a lot of posters are upset about the bathrooms and plugs in the rooms.  My family has cruised on other cruise lines and we have had open shelves.  A number of years ago, everyone in our family switched to a Vera Bradley hanging toiletry bag after a cramped Walt Disney World hotel room and a messy counter of toiletries.  They have a hook and can hang from a closet rod, towel rack or shelf in the bathroom. We found on our cruise that hanging them off a shelf in the bathroom saves a ton of space.

We also travel with a four USB port charger for all of the electronics.  With two teen daughters, someone always needs a charger.  We are split into two cabins for our upcoming cruise, but we will still travel the same way.  We have our travel supplies in bags.  Multi-USB chargers and cords for traveling, packing cubes, and our hanging toiletry bags. All these things are used whether we travel on a cruise or a quick weekend trip.  Some of these things are just worth investing in.

We try not to sweat the small stuff on vacation.  We are going to Alaska to enjoy the view. Excited for the balconies.  Work has been so stressful that if the ship sailed in circles, I would probably still enjoy the cruise! 

My family feels the same way about the cost of the excursions.  We have a rental car for Skagway.  We plan on taking on doing our own thing in the other ports.  With a husband and two teen girls - we are worried about the expenses of this trip compared to our other cruises.

I am not sure where in Florida you are, but I thought it was funny that I looked everywhere one year for a warm winter jacket for my teen girl and boots. Then I went to the outlets in Orlando and found Ugg boots and a Northface down coat for much cheaper than I have ever seen in Michigan. Sometimes Columbia, NorthFace, and other similar stores will have gloves. Even in the Ohio/Michigan Area in winter, I will wear a Fleece, sometimes gloves. I usually travel with a large scarf from Vera Bradley that has worked as a cover up, an extra layer, and a picnic blanket. I take it everywhere now!

I watched the fares and looked at this summer's fares. I recently booked one way flights. Detroit to Vancouver and Anchorage to Cleveland. Since we are between Detroit and Cleveland, we can fly out of either airport. Flying into Seattle wasn't going to be a price break unless we found a major sale from Southwest or a low cost carrier and those flights wouldn't open up for some time. All together, the flights will be $500 per person.

I did price the flights with Choice Air, and the price came in over $200 more. I hate paying these prices for flights and then figuring out transportation to airports. But I figured we were going to have to pay somewhere on this trip.

A few years ago, Walmart sold a mini memory foam travel pillow. I take that pillow to every hotel and cruise that we go on. It is small enough to carry on an airplane, stick in my suitcase, or stick into my carryon.

I cruised one month before gallbladder surgery. I didn't know I needed to have it removed. I got sick after every meal and was miserable. I cruised 6 months after the surgery and did great. I will say I am one of the people that has to watch higher fat meals. It has been five years and things have improved, but high fat meals still will cause problems.

We flew DTW to Houston during spring break. We flew Spirit. It was around$250 a person. We like to keep our flights to Florida or cruises under $200. What bothered us more was the rental car charges in Houston going to Galveston. We were not able to do a one way car rental to the car port.

Is your beverage package showing up in your cruise planner? Mine isn't and I am worried.

I have a 10 and 12 year old girls that love crafting but HATED camp carnival. They said the adults running the camp were mean. We had sold them on camp carnival telling them there were video games, crafts, dancing, scavenger hunts. They came back with crayon drawings, and stories of watching tv. A few times they were moved to a conference room because there were too many kids who were younger in camp. I can see how a conference room would be boring on a vacation. Normally the girls will just go with the flow, so it had to be pretty boring for them to beg to stay in the room alone.

This next cruise, we do not plan to have them participate.

I feel the same way as others. I suffered a stroke from a blood clot this past spring. I am really worried about boarding at Port Canaveral and the long walk to the ship. But I know once I am onboard and can plan out my day and avoid the crowded areas I will be fine. Unfortunately, I cant avoid the crowd boarding.

I think there are alot of people with medical conditions that hate having to resort to wheelchairs and help. I just hope no one judges me on the cruise because I am pretty sure I am going to have some great days and more than likely a few bad ones.