2026 NCL Cruise Critic cruise (proposed)

[Sugar Magnolia]

8 minutes ago, mking8288 said:

How far are you from the 😁 indoor Chelsea Market, food court w restrooms & free WiFi access - you surely know the High Line.  I am hanging out at the indoor Tangram Mall in Flushing

 

I am not far but far enough (app 2 miles) from the Chelsea Market...was just in the area on Sunday during my Old Homestead steak dinner after disembarking from the Joy. It was a very slow 30 minute walk in the heat. Am certain I was dehydrated at the end because I was seeing stars. I have been to Tangram but did not dine at the fancier restaurants. I went to a movie and had bubble tea. Don't ask.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

4 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

We lived in Saratoga Springs for awhile and ventured to the library often. They had small cafe with drinks and yummy food. You just need to find the right library! 

Back in the day, like way back when this one was 13/14 years old, I was responsible for the small village library on Wednesday evenings from 5 - 8 PM. I ate dinner at the desk while helping patrons check books out. A wee little (ok, I wasn't little back then either) lad of a book nerd I was then. 

 

Libraries in the city are...how do you say it in English...not quaint.

 

[cruiseny4life]

4 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

I am not far but far enough (app 2 miles) from the Chelsea Market...was just in the area on Sunday during my Old Homestead steak dinner after disembarking from the Joy. It was a very slow 30 minute walk in the heat. Am certain I was dehydrated at the end because I was seeing stars. I have been to Tangram but did not dine at the fancier restaurants. I went to a movie and had bubble tea. Don't ask.

 

You sure you didn't gorge yourself on that 20 ounce burger they have?? That would have even me seeing stars! 

[Sugar Magnolia]

5 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

You sure you didn't gorge yourself on that 20 ounce burger they have?? That would have even me seeing stars! 

 

I ordered the 15 oz prime filet on the bone. Dinner companions ordered the prime 40 day dry aged rib steak on the bone. I only do this after having been on three consecutive cruises in two months.

 

I keep forgetting to try the 20 oz Kobe burger but will definitely order that next time.

 

 

 

 

[debenson0723]

6 hours ago, schmoopie17 said:

To be honest (or as the kids say...TBH), this would be ideal for us. 

Mrs. Schmoopie has her heart set on going to Croatia in 2026, so if everyone could work it out to do this one in 2025...

I had my heart set on Croatia in November of this year but then I met the evil @Sugar Magnolia and am now doing a Prima TA, which I said I would never do again. Please keep Mrs Schmoopie away from her if we do join the PC cruise. You have been warned!😉

[Sugar Magnolia]

14 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

I had my heart set on Croatia in November of this year but then I met the evil @Sugar Magnolia and am now doing a Prima TA, which I said I would never do again. Please keep Mrs Schmoopie away from her if we do join the PC cruise. You have been warned!😉

 

 

[mking8288]

1 hour ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

... I went to a movie and had bubble tea. Don't ask.

4DX movie experience, huh. Heard the seats are otherwise uncomfortable & don't recline. Mall is mostly packed with rich teens using digital wallets to charge it with a "beep" and someone else foot the monthly bills.  Susan retired from retail banking and see their wired monthly allowance from overseas.  Did you see this on your visit, food court upstairs expanded again with that Little Tokyo and Seoul feel & look to it. 

Edited Thursday at 09:26 PM by mking8288

[cruiseny4life]

1 hour ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

I ordered the 15 oz prime filet on the bone. Dinner companions ordered the prime 40 day dry aged rib steak on the bone. I only do this after having been on three consecutive cruises in two months.

 

I keep forgetting to try the 20 oz Kobe burger but will definitely order that next time.

 

 

 

 

Oh now that's a steak!! Yum yum yum

[Sugar Magnolia]

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

Did you see this on your visit, food court upstairs expanded again with that Little Tokyo and Seoul feel & look to it. 

 

I saw some...it was still new when I visited so not everything was open yet.

 

[JIMESOPUS]

Reply from CC about adding this to the main board.

Hi James:

 

This is such a fun idea!  We've done group cruises before here at Cruise Critic -- almost 240 of them.   They were all sanctioned and run by us.

 

If you were to do this, no one can stand to profit in any way from the sailing.  That would include any "free" berths or rebates to the group leader. 

 

Also, I can already see a trend towards everyone having different ideas re:  which line to sail, etc.  Even your own email mentions NCL and then not NCL.

 

So, the bottom line is that I am unable to give you a forums for this purposes at the current time, unless somehow Cruise Critic is involved.

 

Lauras

Cruise Critic

 

So .. Unless we want to have CC run the cruise #schoompiefest 2026, we are on our own on this board, or is it 2025 now?

 

@mking8288 went solar back in 2015 and never regretted that move, batteries back then were still in their infancy so we left the wires hooked up, $20 per month isn't bad for a backup along with the generator.

Jim

[cruiseny4life]

20 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

 

So .. Unless we want to have CC run the cruise #schoompiefest 2026, we are on our own on this board, or is it 2025 now?

I'm good with that! We're a group of friends who are going to sail together. Some will go. Some will not. But, we'll all have an amazing time talking, sharing ideas and experiences, and just enjoying our odd duck online friendships that sometimes evolve to real life! 

 

I'm excited! 

[Sugar Magnolia]

45 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

So .. Unless we want to have CC run the cruise #schoompiefest 2026, we are on our own on this board, or is it 2025 now?

 

Thank you Jim. You're always the grownup in the bunch.

 

I never envisioned this to be anything so formalized. I know @schmoopie17 was envious at how much fun @graphicguy, @debenson0723 and I were having so he came up with this brilliant idea and I half-jokingly branded it #SchoompieFest. What he doesn't know is that I would have eventually @schmoopie17ed him anyway.

 

Looks like the 2/6/25 LA to Miami Panama Canal cruise on the Joy might be the first of many of these fun-filled sailings. And I see no reason why we can't also plan something for 2026.

 

We can start a fresh thread once we are serious about the first sailing and can also communicate offline if necessary.

 

Edited Thursday at 11:38 PM by Sugar Magnolia

[graphicguy]

1 hour ago, JIMESOPUS said:

Reply from CC about adding this to the main board.

Hi James:

 

This is such a fun idea!  We've done group cruises before here at Cruise Critic -- almost 240 of them.   They were all sanctioned and run by us.

 

If you were to do this, no one can stand to profit in any way from the sailing.  That would include any "free" berths or rebates to the group leader. 

 

Also, I can already see a trend towards everyone having different ideas re:  which line to sail, etc.  Even your own email mentions NCL and then not NCL.

 

So, the bottom line is that I am unable to give you a forums for this purposes at the current time, unless somehow Cruise Critic is involved.

 

Lauras

Cruise Critic

 

So .. Unless we want to have CC run the cruise #schoompiefest 2026, we are on our own on this board, or is it 2025 now?

 

@mking8288 went solar back in 2015 and never regretted that move, batteries back then were still in their infancy so we left the wires hooked up, $20 per month isn't bad for a backup along with the generator.

Jim

We can plan it…we’re all adults in here (aren’t we?)!  No CC involvement required!

[JIMESOPUS]

@Sugar Magnolia That cruise looks amazing but for us, we will have to struggle in the Yacht Club that month and then off to Ireland for a week or two before getting on the Aqua. 

Jim

[Sugar Magnolia]

3 minutes ago, JIMESOPUS said:

@Sugar Magnolia That cruise looks amazing but for us, we will have to struggle in the Yacht Club that month and then off to Ireland for a week or two before getting on the Aqua. 

Jim

 

Sorry we will miss you and Carol this time but I am sure we will all find something else together.

 

I feel your pain...struggling in the Yacht Club. I will have to miss the Aqua TA unless they decided to include a few stops in the itinerary.

 

[JIMESOPUS]

18 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

We can plan it…we’re all adults in here (aren’t we?)!  No CC involvement required!

My thought was to add a second thread and link it to this one, so many CCers have moved on from the NCL boards and I thought that the second thread could get more visibility to #schoompiefest. 

 

[debenson0723]

18 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Sorry we will miss you and Carol this time but I am sure we will all find something else together.

 

I feel your pain...struggling in the Yacht Club. I will have to miss the Aqua TA unless they decided to include a few stops in the itinerary.

 

I will have to miss the Aqua TA unless they give me a cabin for free!

[JIMESOPUS]

19 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Sorry we will miss you and Carol this time but I am sure we will all find something else together.

 

I feel your pain...struggling in the Yacht Club. I will have to miss the Aqua TA unless they decided to include a few stops in the itinerary.

 

While the target date for the Aqua is March, I'm praying that she is done ahead of time and we will sail from Italy or Spain, love those B2B

[debenson0723]

So I just priced out this cruise and I think it is actually less than what I paid in 2018, by about $300 dollars. Flights are really reasonable too. I typically hate to use so many vacation days at the beginning of the year but if I don't fly in until the morning of the cruise, carry over 4 days from this year, and one of the days is a Federal Holiday, plus I think I get another week's vacation next year, then it is doable. I might throw a deposit down just to keep this price locked in. Seems like the Joy cruises always go up, never down. And once people find out that it could be the #FirstAnnualSchmoopieFest cruise, there's a chance it could sell out!

[Sugar Magnolia]

6 minutes ago, debenson0723 said:

So I just priced out this cruise and I think it is actually less than what I paid in 2018, by about $300 dollars. Flights are really reasonable too. I typically hate to use so many vacation days at the beginning of the year but if I don't fly in until the morning of the cruise, carry over 4 days from this year, and one of the days is a Federal Holiday, plus I think I get another week's vacation next year, then it is doable. I might throw a deposit down just to keep this price locked in. Seems like the Joy cruises always go up, never down. And once people find out that it could be the #FirstAnnualSchmoopieFest cruise, there's a chance it could sell out!

 

I don't think it's merely a chance; I think it will sell out. 

 

[laudergayle]

9 hours ago, cruiseny4life said:

we're going to be so close to y'all! We'll be leaving New Orleans for a 7 day cruise on February 2nd, heading to the Western Caribbean. 

Ooooo…we might have to look at this one!!  I’ve been looking for an easy Feb ‘25 cruise.  Yay!

[cruiseny4life]

11 hours ago, laudergayle said:

Ooooo…we might have to look at this one!!  I’ve been looking for an easy Feb ‘25 cruise.  Yay!

Ooo!! Do look. The prices seem decent for that cruise right now. It would be wonderful to have you along for the float.

[schmoopie17]

So...if I'm not mistaken (highly unlikely, I know) it looks like we're close to locking in the Feb 6, 2025 Joy cruise through the Panama Canal for Schmoopiefest? 

 

As noted, we booked this a while ago, hotel and plane reservations already made. 

 

For those who can't make this one, we could also plan Schmoopiefest 2026, as well.

[Sugar Magnolia]

9 minutes ago, schmoopie17 said:

So...if I'm not mistaken (highly unlikely, I know) it looks like we're close to locking in the Feb 6, 2025 Joy cruise through the Panama Canal for Schmoopiefest? 

 

As noted, we booked this a while ago, hotel and plane reservations already made. 

 

For those who can't make this one, we could also plan Schmoopiefest 2026, as well.

 

Yes, the Inaugural @SchmoopieFest is planned for Feb 6 2025 on the Joy.

 

I also think it will be fun to wave at our compatriots from @cruiseny4life's sailing which will happen simultaneously, though personally I am sad he and hubby will not be with us...just like when they were on the Prima TA when I was on the Viva TA.

 

 

 

Edited Friday at 02:49 PM by Sugar Magnolia

[schmoopie17]

12 minutes ago, Sugar Magnolia said:

 

Yes, the Inaugural @SchmoopieFest is planned for Feb 6 2025 on the Joy.

 

I also think it will be fun to wave at our compatriots from @cruiseny4life's sailing which will happen simultaneously, though personally I am sad he and hubby will not be with us.

 

Well, the cruise that @cruiseny4lifeand hubby have booked is not yet within final payment.

 

Maybe a little arm-twisting might be in order.

 

Edited Friday at 03:00 PM by schmoopie17