mollymom53

We might have been on the same cruise.  My husband and I have sailed on several other cruise lines, but I wanted to treat my family to a Disney cruise to celebrate a milestone anniversary.  We were a family of 8 total (4 adults and 4 kids) and had 3 midship balcony staterooms on deck 9.  Perfect location!  Two of the rooms were connected and the third room was next door.  It was VERY expensive, but totally worth it for the kids' experience.  I would not choose to do it again for just myself and my husband because there were So. Many. Kids.  Yes, the pools were like Where's Waldo.  

The food was nothing special, in my opinion, but I don't cruise for food.  The kids got their food very quickly in the dining rooms, but then they were ready to leave before we had even gotten our main course.  That's my only complaint.

I loved being able to get Diet Coke self-service 24 hours a day.  The entertainment was outstanding.  It was a special time for us. 

My DH and I were on this cruise.  We had an aft balcony on deck 8 and had no water problems.  The water was hot and was not brown at all. 

This was our first Celebrity cruise and we enjoyed it very much.  The ship did not feel crowded and we spent a lot of time at the pool.  Only once did I have to wait an unreasonable amount of time at the bar.  Other than that once, the service was good.  We went to all the shows in the theater and thought they were very good.  We chose select dining and it was fine.  Food is not our #1 consideration for cruising.  We did not eat at any of the specialty restaurants.  We went into Belize for a tour of the city and it was very interesting.  We did not leave the ship in Cozumel. 

I thought the staff was very friendly.  They obviously had been trained to greet passengers and seemed genuinely happy to finally have passengers onboard.  Both embarkation and debarkation were quick and easy.

We ordered Covid tests from the Celebrity site.  My test went smoothly and the results showed up quickly on my phone.  My DH's first test was flawed.  The reagent only bubbled instead of coming out of the vial in drops.  Luckily we had the third test to try.  But we had a typo on his personal information (my fault) and no one at eMed seemed to be able to correct it.  We went back and forth for literally hours.  Finally, after another mistake, this one by the proctor, we were able to get my DH's result.  All together it took 5 hours!  What a mess.

Mine was the summer of 1967 on P & O's Canberra from Honolulu to Vancover. The second was the summer of 1979 on the Lofoten for the Norwegian coastal cruise.

DH and I have lanyards showing our state university sports logo. They are great conversation starters.

We were also on the 3/5 cruise with the spring-break kids. Although it was difficult at times to get a drink at the pool bars, we really were not bothered by them. We were probably fortunate that they didn't have rooms by ours so we didn't hear them at night (Caribe/Aft). We were usually up early (6-7am) took our meals early (noon and six), and retired early (10-11pm) so it was as if we were on opposite schedules, assuming they stayed up late and slept in. At Princess Cays we went to the right (quiet side) and the party-ers went left. The bar on the quiet side was not too busy. At Grand Turks they did monopolize the Margaritaville bar so we patiently waited to get close and then ordered extra while we were there. Then we moved down the beach to Jack's Shack for lunch. Their exuberance was entertaining to us, but we have kids at home that age and are used to it. In fact, we commented more than once that we preferred them to the elderly slow walker type.

We were on this cruise, also. It was our first Princess cruise. We had a mini-suite on Dolphin and had no water or power problems. Yes, there were a lot of spring breakers, but it certainly did not deter us from having a great time. We spent both sea days poolside and had no problems with the young people in the area. We ate supper in the main dining room and there were hardly any young people at the early seating. The dress code seemed to be followed by everyone I saw. We rented a clam shell on Princess Cay and our area was very quiet. We had a private snorkeling excursion on Grand Turk, so we did not go to the bars there.

There seemed to be a lot of "card sharing" for the unlimited drink packages. That must have slowed down once the bars started requiring a photo ID. Several times I saw bartenders having to tell young people that their card was rejected and sent them to passenger services to get it taken care of. I had a soda package and was seldom asked for my cruise card even when I didn't use the coke cup I was given. I think they were just so relieved to be serving an adult that they didn't care!

I like tankinis simply for ease of doing my 'duty' ;)

Anyone who has done much swimming knows how to use the restroom without stripping off your swimsuit.

The problem I see with tankinis is that they look really good when standing still, but they tend to gap and show the midriff as soon as you move around. Getting on and off of loungers is when I see this happen a lot. The tops need to be quite long for this not to occur. But tankinis are great if you need two different sizes.

I prefer to wear a one piece and pull shorts on over it if I want more coverage.

I recently bought two swimsuits from swimoutlet.com and was very pleased. They carry many brands and styles in a wide range of prices.

I have three Baggallini totes that can slip over the handle of a carry on. That is a great feature and I don't think I'd buy another tote without it. Check ebay, ebags, and the Baggallini website.

I sailed on the SS Canberra from Honolulu to Vancouver in the summer of 1967. We had friends on board to see us off in Honolulu. I was a teenager and it was so exciting. We were tourist class, but had a first class cabin for some reason. But we couldn't do anything in the first class area except come and go from the cabin.

I sailed on the Lofoten in the summer of 1979 from Bergen to North Cape and back to Bergen. We had an inside cabin with bunk beds and the bathroom down the hall. I remember having boiled potatoes twice a day. That was an awesome trip.

I didn't cruise again until 2014 to the Caribbean on Carnival. There is no way to compare that cruise to what I did before because they are so different. I loved that trip, too. We sail again on Princess to the Caribbean in March.

My mother once carried home a clock shelf that she bought at an antique store in Trondheim. Thank goodness it fit under the seat on the plane. It was a gift for her sister. I used to buy t-shirts and magnets, but I'm over that. Now I just buy some little thing for my granddaughter.

Honolulu to Vancouver in the summer of 1967 on the P&O Canberra. We stayed longer in Hawaii than originally planned because the Suez Canal closed that summer due to the Six Day War. The ship had to go all the way around Africa and therefore was delayed getting to Hawaii. I was 13 years old. We were bumped up to a first class cabin, but we had to use the tourist class dining room, etc.

It seemed that the majority of people on my cruise last winter wore lanyards. I found it to be very convenient. I bought the soda package and my lanyard had a buckle to detach the card and easily hand it to the bartender. I could quickly re-attach it and be on my way. I put it in a tote bag when on excursions.