Positivity Thread!

[farmersfight]

11 minutes ago, odie1024 said:

I miss how quickly I can relax once I walk that plank and board the ship. Cell phone is turned to airplane mode, used for photos only,  and all pressures of life on land are gone.  BF took his first cruise with me to Alaska in Sept. 2019 and think he also got bit by the cruise bug. Waiting to show him the Southern Caribbean  by ship. Since then I have retired and will have more time to cruise and find some great last minute cruise specials. Have 4 booked for 2022, 3 with BF and 1 with the girls, cannot wait.

 

Totally agree! And, here, here for retirement (I'm recently retired) and having more time to cruise. Take a look at my booked cruises in my signature block. As you can see, I'm "biting at the bit"...

[odie1024]

16 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

Totally agree! And, here, here for retirement (I'm recently retired) and having more time to cruise. Take a look at my booked cruises in my signature block. As you can see, I'm "biting at the bit"...

You ARE ready to cruise for sure. I'm going to check out the Panama Canal sailing October 23rd as the 24th is a BIG birthday and I am looking for something special. Have wanted to do the Canal so this would be great.

[Norseh2o]

Thank you for this thread!  Most of my cruises have been with Norwegian, most recent cruises with Holland and Oceania. When I read cc, I start with Norwegian and Oceania  boards, which are not always full of kind and loving comments,  and I finish with Holland's The Daily. The Daily is a loving breath of fresh air, a good way to move into the day!  

[lenquixote66]

On 1/28/2021 at 12:35 PM, ScratchTheRat said:

Lots of negativity on here and understandably! We are all sad at being stuck at home and not sailing.

 

BUT, let this thread be a positivity thread! A place for us optimists to hang out and discuss the good stuff!

 

Let's start with me asking "What is your favourite NCL menu item?" and if you have a photo, please show! 🙂

Favorite food items:

Anything on the O’Shehan menu

 

A positive:

I received an e-mail yesterday offering 30% off on select cruises for 2022.

[luckyinpa]

positivity:

reliving a christmas 2019 post:

 

I keep neglecting to give a shout out to Sulistio who is a haven bar/server on bliss. While perusing the menus on cruise critic prior to my christmas trip I noticed the courtyard/lounge menu had swordfish on it. As cruises are designed to try new foods, this was my goal on this trip. One day in the courtyard I ordered it (as well as onion rings for my gf and me), but my gf and her mom wanted go to the buffet for lunch so I waited in the haven lounge while my order was made. When Sulistio came back she asked me where the girls were. I told her the buffet so just I’ll take the tray and go down and meet them. She had none of it and said I’ll carry it down for you. I thought that was crazy as I had no idea where they would even be plus are haven servers even allowed outside the area? Despite continual protests, she started walking so I had no choice but to follow her. She even did the washy washy entering the buffet and someone she knew they said hi to her and was surprised to see her there. She told me you look left and I’ll look right. Turns out the girls were in the rear part of the buffet that overlooks the observation deck and boy were we getting the stares. It was cool, yet a bit embarrassing to have my haven server deliver my lunch in the buffet but one thing’s for sure, I’ll never forget it. Im sure when the buffet staff came around to take the tray they were wondering what all these stainless baskets were doing there as well as the fancier napkins. I’d say this was the service highlight of my trip. She also continued to serve wonderfully made drinks in the haven bar and every time we saw her we couldn’t help but smile. Oh and yes the swordfish burger was great!

[ScratchTheRat]

14 hours ago, lenquixote66 said:

Favorite food items:

Anything on the O’Shehan menu

 

A positive:

I received an e-mail yesterday offering 30% off on select cruises for 2022.

 

We love a good discount! 🙂

 

Okay here's a good one. What's the best "healthy" dish you've had onboard?

[dexddd]

On 1/28/2021 at 9:31 PM, Sweetnspicy said:

I LOVE the mushroom soup at Le Bistro. I also had cream of asparagus once and it was so freaking good! I barely eat while we cruise because I love to stay busy and do everything. Plenty of drinks though 🤣

 

My husband and I rented an Airbnb in Cannon Beach, OR right on the beach in March and I’m so excited to not see the inside of my house. 

We had a cruise that stopped at Astoria.  Rented car and stopped at Canon Beach.  Great day.  The high school was having gym class at the beach.

[dexddd]

On 1/29/2021 at 11:54 AM, Trimone said:

The ice cold Fosters Oil Can...

I used to order the bucket of those to see how the bartender could figure it out.  They always accepted the challenge.  Have not seen the big cans on NCL since FDR took over. 

[barb65]

Everything at Teppanyaki (great food/great entertainment)i. Delicious fettucine at LaCucina. All desserts at the specialty restaurants.

[lenquixote66]

9 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

 

We love a good discount! 🙂

 

Okay here's a good one. What's the best "healthy" dish you've had onboard?

Well done hamburger resembling a hockey puck.

[valleyvillage]

Favorite healthy dish, the Avocado Toast for breakfast. 

[ScratchTheRat]

On 1/31/2021 at 4:30 PM, Norseh2o said:

Thank you for this thread!  Most of my cruises have been with Norwegian, most recent cruises with Holland and Oceania. When I read cc, I start with Norwegian and Oceania  boards, which are not always full of kind and loving comments,  and I finish with Holland's The Daily. The Daily is a loving breath of fresh air, a good way to move into the day!  

You're welcome 🙂 I had hoped it would raise some spirits.

[ScratchTheRat]

7 hours ago, valleyvillage said:

Favorite healthy dish, the Avocado Toast for breakfast. 

That looks good and decent ratio of topping to carbs for once 🙂

[ScratchTheRat]

16 hours ago, barb65 said:

Everything at Teppanyaki (great food/great entertainment)i. Delicious fettucine at LaCucina. All desserts at the specialty restaurants.

I'm so excited to try the Teppenyaki 🙂

[ScratchTheRat]

Today's question: What is most important to you when booking a cruise?

 

• The Dates
• The Itinerary
• The Ship
• Other (Please Specify!)

[luckyinpa]

On 2/2/2021 at 5:28 AM, ScratchTheRat said:

I'm so excited to try the Teppenyaki 🙂

 

that filet was better than cagneys. and i even though i'm not about a show, its nice to see things flying thru the air. sadly they stopped doing the volcano last time though!  the did let my friends kid behind the station to play with eggs though. that was so cool

[luckyinpa]

4 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Today's question: What is most important to you when booking a cruise?

 

• The Dates
• The Itinerary
• The Ship
• Other (Please Specify!)

 

booking at a port near me is 1st. i never have flown to a cruise. too much chance for things to happen to/from with flights etc. 

 

im fortunate to be 2 hours from NYC and baltimore so at least theres a little variety there. 

 

also ive never booked more than 3 ish months or so out. i could never wait 2 years like some people. that is the definition of torture! 

[odie1024]

The most important thing to me is itinerary, followed by ship. Since I am retired dates do not matter. Unless we are cruising out of Boston, we have to fly.

 

I usually book within a 6 month window, this has been the first time with the Pandemic that I have booked a year or more out due to cruise cancellations.

 

Before our April 2021 got cancelled I had already booked a B2B for January 2022 on the Epic. I also moved in December our September 2021 15 day Alaska cruise tour with Princess (our first on Princess) to June 2022. So happy I did this due to what transpired yesterday. So many folks will now be looking to rebook Alaska cruises.

[Sand and Seas]

4 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Today's question: What is most important to you when booking a cruise?

 

• The Dates
• The Itinerary
• The Ship
• Other (Please Specify!)

The Ship is first for us now that we are retired.    Love the new ships with night life and interesting food choices.   We usually get a cabin with a large balcony to enjoy😎

 

DH just wants to go somewhere warm so it's up to me to figure out the rest and I love to plan☺️   

We love to cruise out of Miami (with a few days at South Beach) or New Orleans (with a couple of days at Harrahs and wandering around).

 

Thanks OP for starting this thread.   We need the Positivity!

[farmersfight]

6 hours ago, ScratchTheRat said:

Today's question: What is most important to you when booking a cruise?

 

• The Dates
• The Itinerary
• The Ship
• Other (Please Specify!)

 

Do I have to pick just one? To me, they are all equally important. Also, add cabin type. If I have to pick just one; the itinerary (followed closely by the ship, lol).

[ScratchTheRat]

For me, it depends.

 

I work fulltime so can't have as many trips as I'd like and up until this year, I've only sailed with Carnival as part of a big trip.

 

So for me, I'd say I love the big ships, the new ones. I've sailed the Inaugural for the Carnival Breeze and Carnival Vista and I am booked on the Inaugural for the Celebration too.

 

Itinerary is important for me as I love ports and exploring but my husband is less fussed and prefers the ship. He doesn't do the cultural stuff like I do so goes to enjoy the facilities and the scenery as we sail.

 

Price is important too, we're not rich but we've worked hard to be able to enjoy nice things. To already be platinum cruisers on Carnival before we're 30 when they're a US based line shows we've been rather lucky. Saying that we always choose the cheaper rooms, Interiors and such, because to us, we have a whole ship to enjoy, why would we want to spend it in our bedroom? It's just a place to sleep and shower for us!

[Sweetnspicy]

Itinerary is the most important thing to me. I prefer warm weather vacations as I live in Seattle. 
 

Length of the cruise is also really important. We usually fly to the east coast so we want a 7-14 day cruise to make up for the entire day spent in airports on either end. 
 

 

[Von & John]

Itinerary is definitely the most important to us...
Dates do not play into it - as we are generally looking w/in the time frame we want to go...

Although - we have discovered a future cruise - when looking for the current/next one...
Our preference is to select new places we have not traveled...

If there is more than one ship that fits the above criteria - then we have to make a decision...

We do not generally leave Alaska for under 2 weeks at a time - for cruising we like 2+ week cruises w/ exploration time for the pre & post areas/regions...

Finally, Value not Price also figures in there somewhere...
Ultimately - it's the whole package 🙂

[Von & John]

[sverigecruiser]

On 2/5/2021 at 3:06 PM, ScratchTheRat said:

Today's question: What is most important to you when booking a cruise?

 

• The Dates
• The Itinerary
• The Ship
• Other (Please Specify!)

 

For me number one is: date, cruiseline and ship.

 

We decide when we want to cruise and right now it must be a MSC ship with Yacht Club.

 

After that we look at itineraries and price.