Honolulu Blue

Here's a picture from the Sheena Easton concert on The 80s Cruise that ECP took. I'm somewhere in this crowd. Good luck finding me! 🙃

Oh happy day - The 80s Cruise released their photos on the heels of Rock & Romance. In going through them (they're generally more organized than the R&R group - not only grouped by day, but by activity), I'm featured in one and in the background of 5 more. Covering the background first - I'm in three of the Sheena Easton concert photos on day 1. Since I was standing in the second row, I guess I was hard to miss. I'm also in two of the photos at Sheena's interview on day 3. I was pretty close to being up front there also. The one where I'm featured is in the Stephen Pearcy breakfast group on day 2. It's not a large group (less than 50), so @NinS, that's probably the one you want to sift through if you want to know what I look like. Also, there weren't any pictures of the Animotion concert on day 1, or any of the early show concerts, which was slightly disappointing. ☹️

I'm not in any of the featured photos.

A couple of items caught my eye. First, the 70s Rock and Romance Cruise released their official photos from this year's edition at 2024 Cruise Photos | Rock and Romance Cruise. I didn't see @George C or his lovely wife, though I could have missed them. I saw one of me. I'm in the foreground of one of the photos in the day 7 group. I'm not sure what concert I was at; probably Creedence Revived, but I'm not certain. The other is that I received an official (group) e-mail from Jazz Cruises thanking me for attending the McDonald LaBelle Cruise. Unlike ECP and possibly others, they don't do surveys, instead preferring to have us e-mail Michael Lazaroff directly. Interesting. Another interesting thing is that we, as guests of the MLC, get some perks for booking one of the 2025 cruises: The Jazz Cruise - invitation to the Big Band and Hall of Fame Show rehearsals Botti At Sea and Journey of Jazz - reserved seats In addition, those who choose to sign up for the Smooth Jazz Cruise 2026 pre-sale will have the highest priority for reserving a cabin on one of those cruises. They're for new bookings only and can't be combined with any other offer.

Thanks for the food details! I imagine the MDR was busier on the McDonald LaBelle Cruise and most of my other cruises. You can probably figure out why. There was a lot of meat on the O'Sheehan's lunch and dinner menus. I'm a big meat eater, but don't eat fish or shellfish at all. That must be why I liked it. I haven't done any specialty dining on any of these music charters. I keep saying I'm going to try it, but scheduling is a problem - my evening concerts are usually around 6, which is about when the better restaurants open. I've heard it's best to reserve early for the maximum selection of times, but those schedules come out only a few weeks beforehand. I might surprise everyone and do it sometime. One never knows. I mostly dine at the trough on these music cruises with occasional dabbles with room service and my adventures with O'Sheehan's. I've only done one regular cruise on HAL, and I didn't think the food was notably good. I think Celebrity has the best food. NCL, Royal, and Princess are in a group behind Celebrity, IMHO.

Sorry for the late follow up. I've been busy with other things. Thank you for your input, as always. I'm sorry you didn't enjoy most of the NCL food when you sailed on the Pearl. Where did you eat? Buffet? MDR? Specialty restaurants?? I think I found a good thing in O'Sheehans and I hope it stays good for my cruise on the UDC in February. 🙏 I'm still not sure if I want to head out for the Doobie Brothers in concert. There do seem to be some good tickets in the places I might go. I read about the Guess Who mess on the CBN or CBC site. It's a cluster and I feel sorry for everyone involved. Randy Bachman was pretty good. Let's close this with another picture of him.

No, I don't live in Hawaii. I'm from Michigan. Some of us have a desire to get away from the cold this time of year (though it's not cold today), given any little excuse.

Strictly speaking, they HAVE canceled cruises because of hurricanes - sometimes because that's where the path is heading, sometimes because of damage that has already occurred. But cancellations are rare and should not be relied upon to get out of sailing out of a cruise that looks risky. Altering the itinerary is a much more likely reaction to a possible hurricane, but each event is dealt with on a case-by-case basis.

Agreed, but a couple of cruise lines are doing something about this: * Carnival (the cruise line) has non smoking casinos on some of their ships * Celebrity doesn't allow smoking in any indoor areas - including the casino

What groups travel on cruises is can interesting question that I should ask a CLIA rep sometime. My suspicion is that the majority of cruisers travel as a single couple. The rest of the rankings I suspect would be: Family groups Friends and unrelated cruisers traveling together Solo travelers I'm in the latter group, mostly by design. I've handed out a few soft invitations for others to join me - soft as in, I'm going on this cruise at this date and you can join me or not. No takers so far, but if I do get someone to join me like this, I suspect the arrangements would be very loose. I just finished a group of four in three months, all on different cruise lines. And next year I will have a cluster of three cruises in six weeks.

I'm surprised by the disagreement here. I had to check to see if I was at the right site. I happen to agree with the principle that cruising isn't for everyone all the time. But for me, at this phase in my life, cruising sucks up most of my vacation time.

I basically agree with both of the posts I quoted above. In addition, for me at least there's the financial factor. For my regular cruises, they cost less than a hotel stay in any place decent. And for my beloved music charter cruises, the combination of concerts and music related stuff makes up for its extra cost.

I attended a couple pre pandemic and they seemed to be well attended to me. Of course, things could have changed since then. Also pre pandemic, they looped this show on the CD channel on the in cabin TVs. Again, I don't know if they still do this, but it might be worth a look for those who miss it live.

I'll answer the OP's question in the title of this thread. I have witnessed Carnival adding new excursions a few times on my cruises. Mostly they've been simple items like hop on hop off buses, shuttles, and city tours. They've been attractively priced to grab some last minute money. I wouldn't depend on this happening, but it can be an extra opportunity if and when it does.

Noted. Thanks for the update. My next Princess cruise is in August, so if the flick the switch all at once, I won't be affected by this.

The cruise was indeed fantastic. I'm still toying with seeing the Doobies with Michael when they come nearby. I'll let you know if I decide to pull the trigger.

Waiting in my email box was news about Paula Abdul. I plan to see her on concert this August. I'll quote the girl herself: ‐‐---------- VIP Meet & Greet Upgrades for the Magic Summer Tour will be available starting 4/19 at 10 am local in limited quantities – don't miss your chance! VIP package includes: 🎉 Official Paula Abdul Meet & Greet 📸 Strike a pose with Paula - one Polaroid photo and one professional photo 💎 A VIP-exclusive piece of Paula Abdul jewelry, including a rare charm ----‐--------------- All this sounds good to me. I know where I need to be next Friday. ⏰️

I have a long time to spend at MIA waiting for my flight. I've done some other things on my to do list, and now it's time to catch up on my day in Nassau. From the ship, I took a walk through the center of Nassau's terminal area. Nice amphitheater. I did some stuff, and then I went souvenir hunting. There was only one store selling trinkets and their prices I thought were high. So I gritted my teeth and headed outside the gated area to two shops that looked like they held bargains. There were some vendors hawking tours and such, but also some police nearby. They didn't bother me. At one of the shops I bought a magnet and a couple of postcards. They're kind of my thing to pick up, especially at places I haven't been to before. I paid a fair price for these, certainly no great bargain. I then moved back inside the safety of the port area. I felt a few drops of rain at this point. Nothing was sustained and my clothes didn't come close to getting wet. From there I moved back to the ship. I thought it looked pretty good from outside. Later I attended what was billed as George Wallace hosting gambling lessons in the casino. That's not quite what it was. What really happened is that George discussed gambling, played a few hands of blackjack (with phony chips; we were just leaving Nassau and the casino wasn't quite ready to take real money bets) and maybe went off in search of the ship's craps table. On the way there he took selfies with the fans that wanted one. Some did, and I did too. I'm too camera ahy to post it here, so you'll have to settle for this: A couple of hours passed and it was time for me to attend the Michael McDonald concert. Again I left the cabin about a half hour early and got a decent seat in about the same location as yesterday. I didn't see the other Michael this time. Mr. McDonald put on a very good show. He played a mix of Doobies songs, solo stuff, Motown tunes, and even some gospel. The fans were pleased. The lady to my immediate right was even more of a fan of him than I was. He also had a big band surrounding him, including bassist/music director Marcus Miller and saxophonist Eric Marienthal. I counted 10 people besides Michael out there in support. After the show, I had dinner at O'Sheehans. I opted just for the wings and apple pie. They were both good and there wasn't much of a crowd. I watched channel 29, which was billed as the Jazz Cruises feed, and hoped that the comedy show that I missed two days before would be broadcast. It was not. ☹️ I'd better discuss the one other sour note on this cruise. I had been waiting for a flyer with disembarkation instructions since yesterday morning. It didn't come with the room cleaning and it didn't come before the Michael McDonald concert. Our cruise director Mario Vines mentioned that we each got this flyer or would soon get it. Nope and nope. BTW, let me get a picture of Mario in here. He did a great job of keeping us informed through his morning show and announcements. And I thought he was a handsome devil. So after dinner I looked for that flyer. Nothing. And I didn't see anything in anyone else's slot in my section (about 30 cabins). I got up around 2 and looked in my mail slot. Still nothing. I decided to go to guest services to see if they could help. Surprisingly, no one was in line. I told the poor rep what I needed and he pulled one right out for me. Points to NCL for that, but there's no way I should have had to do this. Somebody screwed up and I hope it gets fixed before the next cruise. Breakfast time came and I had another breakfast at O'Sheehans. The good news is the food remained solid. The bad news is the service, both getting into the restaurant and getting served, was slow. It's almost as if nobody told them that hungry cruisers would be coming for an early breakfast. After returning to the room, I finished packing and headed out to one of the hangouts on deck 6. Eventually I heard that self disembarkers were cleared and were to follow this crew member. There hadn't been any announcements yet, but at this point we had been docked for at least an hour. So, I followed this group and the rest of the disembarkation process was familiar from my other cruises. They still like my pretty face! 😁 Outside the terminal was a few taxis. I don't see a spot for rideshares, so I took the path of least resistance. The ride to the airport was eventless and came to $60 with tip. Transportation is getting so expensive these days. With that, I will declare an end to this trip report. Thanks for reading. I don't have any more music themed cruises scheduled for the rest of this year, though I do have some concerts in the spring and summer.

Mr. Lazaroff sent out a copy of the Weekender an hour ago and I had a chance to read it. Here's what I took from it: * He discussed briefly at his Q and A what today's newsletter was going to be about, basically saying that this cruise was great. And so he did, in some detail. * In his Q and A session, Michael L. discussed the nuts and bolts of how this cruise got booked. The newsletter tells the sane story, with some additional details. * No real clues in the newsletter as to whether this particular cruise or another one time short sailing will happen again * TJC is over 82% reserved * Botti at Sea is over 50% reserved

I just got off the McDonald LaBelle Cruise a few hours ago. I had a most excellent time watching and hanging around with Michael, Patti, comedians Alonzo and George, and even fearless leader Michael Lazaroff. I did a more complete trip report in my personal thread. I'll link it once I get back to my computer. I'm still on the road. Thanks for your patience. As for a TL, DR - Patti was good, Michael was very good, Alonzo and George were fun and funny at their Q and A session, and the other Michael had some interesting stories to share.

I've been researching transpacific cruises for the past year and I had a pretty easy time finding flights to HNL from my nearest big city airport. Most of them are expensive, I'll concede. To the OP, I will say that the cruise I eventually chose and hope to sail on in October goes from Honolulu to Sydney. It stops in Tahiti but not Fiji. It's not on Princess.

I do have ships that I think are too large for me to enjoy that I'm trying to avoid. So far they're easy enough to dodge, but the day is coming where I'll get on a big ship because everything else is what I want. I'm less concerned about age than the actual ship's general maintenance and updates. Like they say, age is just a number. 😃

I've been to all the ports you mentioned. They each have their charms and places to see and do. To make a long story short, I'll mostly second what @John Bull said earlier. In addition, I've been to Carnival's stop in the DR Amber Cove (near PuertoPlata). I liked it. The jungle is nearby, and the port area is interesting enough to while away a few hours. I assume there are beaches nearby.

Day 2 - Michael L., Alonzo, George, Patti, and Michael M. The seas were choppy much of the time on our way to Nassau. We were only doing 9 knots or so, but we were bucking 15 plus knot head winds. The first activity of the day was what was advertised as a newsletter reading from our fearless leader Michael Lazaroff. It wasn't exactly that. This week's newsletter isn't written yet, so we received paper copies of last week's newsletter if we wanted them, and Michael (he told me to call him Michael when I talked to him) told the story of how he and his mom started the private music charter business. It's a great story and maybe I'll find time to tell it properly sometime. After his story and discussion about the other cruises from Jazz Cruises, he left time for questions from the audience. And there was quite an audience, I thought - over 50 people gathered to listen to the music charter god speak. Here are the most interesting things he said: * For @NinS: future one off cruises weren't discussed at all. I didn't ask because it seems they have their hands full with the cruises they have now. * Journey of Jazz looks to be a permanent addition to the Jazz Cruises portfolio * They're working on itineraries for 2026 and 2027 * The only possible opening Michael saw and discussed for 2025 was booking another cruise (Smooth Jazz or Journey) on the Summit back to Vancouver after its trip to LA * There's currently 2400 people on the Smooth Jazz waiting list * It's much more difficult to add a ship than we think. Most ships have to be pulled from regular duty in order to be chartered, and there has to be enough room in the main theater for half the expected passengers - among other considerations * He noted that the Norwegian Pearl is a full time charter for NCL - which he respected * The switch from HAL to Celebrity's M class ships came because the latter ships have better facilities and, with the refurbishment, competitive cabins * Samara Joy will be on some of the cruises in 2026. They tend to rotate lead singers, even the most popular ones. * They'd like to go back to Europe sometime- preferably in the Med and most likely on a luxury line I took a minute to talk to Michael after his performance to tell him about my charter cruise history and thank him for his service to the cause. He seemed nice, very approachable. I saw him just outside the main theater before Ms. LaBelle's performance. He looked busy, so I didn't approach him. I doubt he noticed. Soon after, I went to the pool to see a small part of Marcus Miller's interview with Michael McDonald by the pool. I found no seats and very little space by the stage. This one shot is the best of the lot: Mr. McDonald is on the right, fir those who didn't know. In the afternoon, I attended the session in the Spinnaker Lounge where Alonzo Bodden and George Wallace interviewed each other, and also took a few questions from the crowd. And boy, what a crowd it was. We filled the lounge. My seat was very poor. I could hear them well enough, but I could only see a little bit of Mr. Wallace: Despite all the challenges, I had a great time here. This was good comedy that really hit the spot. Evening approached and I went to the Patti LaBelle concert about half an hour early. I got decent seats on the main floor, though a bit off to the side. She had a very big crew accompanying her - between backup singers, a trombonist, and the more normal instruments, there were at least a dozen people to help jer out. Patti put on a good show. She didn't play New Attitude, which was disappointing, but she was really fun to watch. She mentioned her birthday (May 24). A gentleman never discusses a lady's age, but it raised my eyebrows. I guess she has been around a while. After the show I went back to my cabin and ordered room service. I ordered a hamburger and a fruit plate. It was quite good, worth the $12 tariff. Morning came and now we're here. I did one quick test of the Net. It feels faster than this. The Carnival Legend and MSC Seaside have joined us: I'll do a more complete report of my day in Nassau tomorrow. Thanks fir stopping by.

Since I have some time and decent Internet here in Nassau today, I'll give you a report on my first two days onboard. I'll split them into three posts. Day 1 - embarkation I had a delay with the flight down, but made it to the port in thr nick of time. The nice thing about getting there very late (just before 2) 🫨 is that there were very short lines to get on the ship. Eventually I did get on. After I got used to quirks of NCL and the Pearl, I settled down and unpacked. This was the embarkation day newsletter: I stopped by coffee shop O'Sheehans for an early lunch. This is their 24 hour dining stop with sit down meals. I liked this place. I would later have my breakfasts there. On this day I had BBQ chicken wings, a hamburger and fries, and carrot cake. The wings were very good and large. I recommend them if you happen to be in the area. I liked the burger and fries too, though Mr. Fieri casts a long shadow. I finished most of my food, but it was all too much! I waddled back to the cabin and almost immediately fell asleep. It had been a long day. That nap meant that I missed these guys performing in the main theater. Comedian Alonzo Bodden is on the left, with fellow comedian George Wallace on the right. By the time I woke up it was too late to watch the livestream or indeed do much of anything. Sorry!