Honolulu Blue

Both

A couple of years ago I went cruising on my birthday, not on Carnival, and their loyalty club gave me a card and a magnet. That was a nice touch. I've outgrown parties and don't think I'd like to be picked on in any way on my B-day. I can always pick out an extra slice of cake at the trough if I had a taste for such. But everyone should celebrate their special days in ways that make them the happiest. 🥳

I don't care about such minor things, though don't expect me to partake. I've caught some "strange noises and screaming" at least twice on my cruising adventures that I strongly suspected were NOT from the TV. I think it's great! 🙃 It's much better than screaming matches between a couple or their kids (which I've also had the displeasure of being around - though not on the same cruises).

I thought of two directions the OP's post could go, and neither of them was this one. The other one I thought of was an addiction to cruise vlogs and PR videos showing the sunnier side of cruise life - you know, the kind we all think of when we sign our names on the virtual dotted lines. I imagine videos like that could be addictive to some degree. Anyway, I'll cover OP's original thoughts in the next post.

I've done almost 30 cruises on several cruise lines over the past decade, including several on Celebrity. The one and only time I received an envelope in the cabin was this year on Royal Caribbean. It was a charter cruise, with slightly different "mandatory" gratuity rules, but still... To me it was a reminder of the not-so-good old days of the cruising when the gratuity rules were much murkier - part of the reason why I wasn't cruising then. Sorry for the distraction. I'm sure you have some more stories to tell about this trip. Please tell them! I've found it all to be a very fun ride.

They used to have a midnight buffet on Journeys cruises. I know because I tried to attend one way back in 2016. It was jammed with passengers. Not a good experience. I haven't tried to go there since then. They may have gotten rid of it. They don't advertise it anymore. P.S. I'm a big fan of the horse races!

I've found that it's not unusual for terminals at ports of call to look like warehouses. ALL the ones in Hawaii when I went there in 2018 looked like that, even Honolulu. They may or may not have improved things these days. And some of the terminals in embarkation ports are nicer than others. San Pedro always struck me as being sparse and out of date. Galveston isn't much better - at least the terminal that Princess and Carnival use. I'm sure Royal's new terminal is far nicer. Probably not, but I DO select itineraries (and their cruise ships, and cruise lines) based on where they sail from. All else equal, I prefer to sail from ports with better terminals.

You bring up some good, interesting points. The responses have been interesting also. I'll put my two cents in and apologize in advance for not acknowledging those who commented earlier with similar notes: It's much less expensive to provide Internet access on land than at sea I rely less on Wi-Fi access on land these days with very fast 5G access almost everywhere All cruise lines that I'm aware of DO provide free WiFi access these days - mostly to power their apps. Some offer very limited access to the Net for free (mostly their own sites). Virgin Voyages provides free Internet on their cruises. Yes, I know they're small compared to other mainstream lines, but they're part of the scene. Some cruise lines offer packages that include Internet, among other things I'm sure corporate headquarters at all the cruise lines are monitoring Internet use, costs, and revenue closely. At the point where they think they can make more $$$ by providing Internet access for free to all customers than by doing what they do now, they will make the switch. It might be different at different cruise lines.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! I've done some music themed cruises in the past and have more scheduled. None are electronic music themed, but some of them have an artist or two that favor the synthesizers. They were great! Lots of the music that I like and enough of everything else to make it all worthwhile. I hope you can find a cruise or two that suits your interests so you can have as much fun as I did.

Thanks everyone! There's a lot of good information here. I'll study it in more detail later, when I'm ready to book my B2B.

Only when the cashier is open. Unless... I know Carnival and NCL have kiosks where you can break bills. I don't remember any on Princess that perform this function. Do they have them? I didn't spend much time in the casinos on any Princess ship I've been on, so I certainly could have missed them.

It's OK. I apologize for confusing Elite with Diamond.

I'm considering taking a B2B on Princess and have a few questions about the experience: 1. The B2Bs I'm considering consist of two cruises of seven days each. They are (will be) listed both separately and as single cruises. Can some of you summarize the advantages and disadvantages of booking both as a single cruise booking # and as two separate cruises? 2. Let's say that I'll have 12 cruise credits by the time I sail on this B2B. I'll be sailing solo, so that means I'll get 2 credits for each cruise - if I book them separately. Or will I get all 4 credits if I book the B2B as one cruise?? 3. Assuming that I will have 16 credits at the end of the second cruise, when will I get my Diamond status? On my next Princess cruise? On the second cruise? Or on boarding the first cruise? 4. How easy is it to link these cruises if I book them online separately? 5. As a CCL shareholder, I would get $100 in OBC for each of the 7-day cruises, but $250 for a 14-day cruise. Can I tell whoever handles the OBC shareholder credit these days that I'm really on a 14-day cruise when I have these two 7-day cruises? 6. What perks and bennies is Princess offering to B2B sailors these days? Thanks in advance for your kind and informative responses.

First of all, @jimb cruisin, I'm sorry for the loss of your spouse. I hope things get better for you in the future. 🙏 Second, unless there's a life insurance component to your travel insurance, I struggle to see much that you'd be covered for. Since you're going to go on the cruise anyway, Celebrity won't reprice the cabin for one occupant. Port fees will be refunded no matter what (though they might need some nagging and reminding). And excursions can be refunded right now regardless of reason. Perhaps insurance can cover any nonrefundable airfare, if applicable?

I got an e-mail from the Super Legends Cruise saying that they're almost 70% booked already, after being (unofficially) available to the public for just one day. It sounds like they're on schedule to sell out eventually.