mom says

First, don't feel that you need to limit yourself to ship excursions, even if it's your first time in Europe. Read and research your ports from multiple sources, including your Roll Call and the Ports of Call forum. I strongly recommend getting a copy of the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise guidebook. Lots of great suggestions on how to DIY, when ship excursions make sense, and more generally, how things work in Europe that are different than at home. As for air, we prefer to book directly with the airline. Booking thru the cruiseline adds an extra layer of complexity, and if difficulties arise, don't be surprised if you end up ping ponging between the 2 to get a problem resolved. Generally airlines open bookings 330 days in advance; but we rarely book international flights more than 6 months out. If you do book very far out, be prepared for flight changes; perhaps more than once. We sign up for notifications specifically for this so we can react in a timely manner.

We try to avoid short cruises as much as possible, but have done 7 day B2Bs in the Caribbean as long as they are different itineraries. Our favorite cruises are NOT Caribbean, 14 day B2Bs that aren't closed loop, or even longer single cruises. Our sweet spot is about 28 days, with up to a week of pre and/or post cruise stays. Itinerary is of most importance to us; seeking new places, doing things we haven't done before. Our experience on longer cruises is that the MDR menu goes 2 weeks before repeating, and the guest entertainers only repeat if there is a long stretch of sea days. But even then they change up their routines. We download both books and movies to our tablets, and often make use of board games or cards on sea days. Boredom has never been an issue for us. Its amazing how time can fly just chatting with other cruisers. We stay in touch with family and friends online, sometimes multiple times a day. As for clothing- we pack enough for a different outfit each day for a week. Then repeat (and launder) as necessary. That is something we do whether we are on a cruise or land vacation.

^^^^^ Bingo. OP is comparing different flights. Not unusual to have different rates between the same cities but different direction of travel.

Here's a link to the Siver Seas forum for itinerary (or other ship related) questions: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/108-silversea-cruises/ There is also a forum for UK cruisers, who may be able to answer questions about bookings from the UK: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/

19 days ago. But we've traveled internationally two other times this year.

Please don't do that. Using the same tongs to go from from one food to another, to another, to another etc etc? And contaminating every dish as you go (because I'm going to bet your very special personal tongs won't be sanitized even before you get to the OVC). That's just a horrible idea. And as previously noted above, all you need to do is to use hand sanitizer before beginning your meal, once you have sat down.

You'll likely find a lot of info on the west coast departures board: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/ My guess would be Ubers from the Airport to your hotel. We stayed at the Crowne Plaza, which is close to the port.

Which cruise line?

Not dissimilar to how hotels or airlines price their products. Prices fluctuate by date/demand.

No need to recruit a specialist for such a simple question. Just ask a Mom. You use cough suppressants for a bad, DRY, cough. You use an expectorant for a phlegmy, wet cough.

Molehill < mountain.

Royal Caribbean owns Celebrity, so no, not unusual depending on the subject of the email.

You were "given a 15 night cruise", but not on a specific cruise line? What was this "dead line"? In any case, you could start with searching CC. I found this: https://www.cruisecritic.com/cruiseto/cruiseitineraries.cfm?port=121&length=15 Its not an accurate title, since it also includes longer cruises. But if you weed those out, you might find something of interest.

There is no way on God's green earth that I would do a week in an inside cabin with 2 kids. But YMMV. At least with a balcony you can sit outside after the kids go to bed. So, by default I'd pick #1.

Do what you want. But as has repeatedly been reported, the speed and vibration issues appear to have been taken care of with the October dry dock. We were on the 28 day cruise in November and made every port on time. DH had an app which showed the ship's course and speed, and there were times we were doing over 20 kts. We dined every night in Botticelli and never felt any vibration. I wouldn't call that "beyond its life span".

Hmm. We were on the Nov 28 day cruise on the Crown, and the only smoking area on deck 7 was the very small one on the starboard aft. I saw no expansion of the smoking areas at all. HOWEVER, there were covid isolations happening, and one of the provisions allowed is for isolated smokers to smoke on their balcony. Perhaps this is what the OP experienced.

Agree with 60 minutes. And let's face it, not all masseuses are created equal. I've had some excellent massages on board. But I've had a few bad ones, too. The last one I had actually left me with a couple of bruises! - and it wasn't supposed to be a deep tissue massage!

None on Crown last month.

Demand fills them. Short season compounds the issue.

The US regulations state that money in excess of $10,000 US must be reported at Customs. Has to do with criminal activity/money laundering.

OP, did you link your folios at any time before or during your cruise?

Just don't take the app menus as gospel. I lost count of the times we saw one or 2 different items on the actual MDR menu compared to what we had viewed earlier om the app.

Mojitos are my go to on a tropical cruise. So cool and refreshing. But I got tired of the mint clogging up my straw, so I switched to lime daiquiri. SOOOO good. And a Mudslide is my favorite after excursion treat. Can't go wrong with a Pina Colada either.

From what I remember, Princess doesn't alter their exchange rates daily, so that might account for the discrepancy. But that's still a big difference. Consider yourself lucky.

I asked for a firmer pillow on the Crown last month and were told there were none; only the soft ones. I always felt like I'd be smothered in my sleep. They're awful.