Z0nker

21 hours ago, Sunflower77 said:

 

Oh Okay I thought he was reviewing Anthem of Seas  

I thought AOS meant Anthem of the Seas, too.

2 hours ago, ORV said:

In all fairness I think he was saying that he wants to go in two days before the cruise without paying a deviation, not to book the ticket two days before the cruise. 

The last time we cruised out of Florida (in the Before Times) we flew in two days early. That alleviated the stress of possibly missing the cruise if something happened to our flight and it gave us a day and two nights to see Tampa. The next time we cruise out of the East Coast, I would do that same.

Our last three cruises have been from a port that we can easily drive to. The next one will be as well. It's a low cost, low stress way to start a cruise vacation and I highly recommend it if you live driving distance from a port. But at some point we are going to run out of places to sail to from SF. I hope air travel has gotten back to normal by then.  If not, maybe we do some more road trips.

We’ve had mixed experiences sharing tables. My best memories were at larger tables, where the odds of hitting it with at least one couple are better. 

On 7/13/2022 at 9:36 AM, cruiseryyc said:

One of the many reasons I no longer cruise!  

And yet, here you are on a forum dedicated to cruising. May I ask why? Not judging, just curious. 

We’ve been on two cruises that used the medallion. The device itself worked well during embarkation and onboard the ship. It’s a good system, better than a keycard. The OceanMedallion phone app was a little wonky both trips, but we managed. Being able to order drinks from anywhere was a treat, but hardly essential. 
 

You do need the app precruise to enter vaccination and passport data. If it doesn’t work right on your phone, try installing it on an iPad. And make sure you have the latest update (don’t be a dummy like me before our first voyage and suffer bugs that were already fixed). 

Delays and cancellations are as much a concern as price right now for us. So our next booked cruise is out of a local port. 

For your situation as you've described it, a newer iPhone should get the job done. I stopped travelling with my "point and shoot" a few years ago because the iPhone does as good or better job and I always have it with me. I still have a Canon Rebel DSLR for special purposes like shooting the lunar eclipse or product photography.

Depends on the price difference. 

On 7/7/2022 at 11:36 AM, CTCruiser001 said:

 

To be fair...The provision managers are doing their best. It isn't always them dropping the ball...Their suppliers, also have their own suppliers, and so on and on. A brand of bourbon for instance might have supply issues because the cork supplier didn't get enough corks made, or the bottles, labels, bourbon itself, etc...

Don't make the provisions managers job harder by trying to give them assistance. I guarantee you they already know the bottlenecks and where the causes of the shortages are coming from. 

 

DW works in the wine industry. Big bottle shortage right now.

1 minute ago, zentraveler said:

THANK YOU ZOnker!  This answers a question I had not quite gotten around to formulating but really wanted to know.

 

We live right in SF a few miles from the SF port and a short ride away.   I have recently tuned into what is available to us in terms of cruising from here and have booked trips on both of those ships this summer - first on each. Your very succinct and specific information is incredibly useful.

 

What I am still puzzling, and would love it if anyone know the answer, is why only those 2 two cruise lines? This is a world class city; why don't more cruise lines sail out of here?

I agree. I know the market is much bigger in Florida and Southern California, but why not develop the Bay Area market? There are a lot of people who live driving distance from SF and who love to travel. I would really like to see Celebrity here. Their style seems like a great fit for the Bay Area.

We live 90 minutes from the San Francisco cruise terminal, so that's our perspective for this question. Choices are Ruby Princess and Carnival Miracle. Glad to have them both in SF, as we've had a great time on both ships. SF is a beautiful city to sail from.

Size: the Ruby is a bigger ship with more passengers and more crew. Neither ship felt crowded. Passenger to crew ratio is a little more favorable on the Miracle but both ships had fine service. The balcony room is a little bigger on the Miracle, so you get a sofa and cocktail table.

Value: as long as Princess keeps selling the Princess Plus package at $40 - $50 per day, Ruby Princess is a better value.

Food: MDR food and service was fine on both ships. Carnival has the edge for pool deck food with Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana tacos & breakfast burritos and the deli. Princess wins for specialty dining with two excellent speciality restaurants, both priced under $30. The Miracle has one excellent steakhouse, overpriced at $42. Carnival's made to order pizzas at Pizza Pirate were a treat, but the 24 hours paninis and snacks at Princess' International Cafe were also a plus.

Drinks: Each ship has a good coffee bar. Princess wins the wine game. Carnival is better for craft beer. Both ships have good mixed drinks, but the Miracle pool deck bars have the edge.

Live music was far better on the Ruby Princess. Both have decent theater shows. The stateroom TV's are much larger on the Ruby Princess and the on demand programming just clobbers Carnival.

Casinos were similar on both ships.

Ruby Princess makes good use of the pool deck giant screen for movies and sports; Miracle has none.

Bottom line: If you have a good attitude, there's plenty to enjoy on either ship.

On 6/30/2022 at 12:51 PM, KKB said:

Yesterday HHS announced it is no longer paying for COVID tests unless you are displaying symptoms.

Some people have had a nasty surprise when Walgreens said their tests would run $128 each!

Now, no info as to whether insurance will cover these for travel purposes.

Might be incentive to order those proctored home tests for vastly less. 

We’ve done the home proctored test a couple times. Good suggestion. Cost came out to about $40 each. 

On 7/5/2022 at 8:38 AM, buckeyedonna said:

My husband and I just returned from our dream cruise to Alaska on the Celebrity Solstice. We met up with two other family member couples. The three couples flew in from three different US locations on three different airlines. The day after our cruise ended, all six of us tested positive for COVID. That was bad enough, but it got worse. In 2020, a Celebrity cruise for ten of us was canceled. We used a future cruise credit to book a Caribbean cruise in January, 2023. After getting sick last week, we decided we do not want to go on another cruise. One member of our group is 88 years old, and does not feel safe on ships any more. We told Celebrity that we do not want to cruise again. They basically told us, "tough luck," you agreed to our policies when you purchased your cruise in 2020. We have had four great cruises on Celebrity, but I have a very low opinion of them right now. 

You should not dismiss the possibility that one or more of you got exposed on your plane flight and then infected the others on the cruise. If you want to be objective, then in addition to no future cruises you should consider not flying anymore. 

Since Princess added SF as a home port, we’ve sailed four times with a fifth coming up. Nice to cruise without the added stress and expense of a flight. We’ve enjoyed Princess. It’s a good fit for our style. As long as they keep discounting the Princess Plus package, it remains a good value. 
 

After Carnival moved the Miracle to SF for the Alaska season we decided to try a five day to Catalina and Baja. Had a nice time but prefer Princess. 
 

We cruised to Alaska from Seattle on the Celebrity Solstice just before COVId. Everything was awesome, truly a cut above. Too bad Celebrity doesn’t do more on the West Coast. 

On 6/22/2022 at 8:40 AM, CruiseAdict218 said:

 

Firenze would sail along side Panorama and Venezia along side Magic from NYC; though I wonder if they would tweak Panorama or Magic's sailings to make room. 

 

Should also note, this pair was originally destined for China and sailing from that region doesn't seem to be on the books for the immediate future. 

 

With the pair remaining in Costa livery, I wouldn't expect any other ships to exit the fleet; one is a nice boost for NYC which really had its season cut down mixing it with Norfolk but I'm curious if they will move out Miracle or Radiance from the West side.

Would be nice if they kept Miracle in SF year round, as Princess does with the Ruby

We are booked on a Princess cruise in September. So far, no changes to testing have been announced.

We were on the Miracle end of May, 99% capacity. Did not see long lines for food. Did see a very long line for bingo cards on a sea day. Also fairly long (maybe 20 minutes?) to get on a tender in Catalina. On embarkation day, the Lido deck was swamped. Not a table to be had - we ate our fish tacos sitting on the edge of the stage. But the Miracle really spreads out the food stations on Lido so passengers were spread out among many fairly short lines.

On 3/28/2022 at 7:05 AM, terrydtx said:

My wife's family live in Oregon and we have visited Astoria many times and absolutely love the tiny quaint town. They have a small fisherman Worf, and I found the best New England style Clam Chowder and crab cakes on the west coast there. The highway bridge from Astoria over the Columbia River is a spectacular sight and the cruise ship will most likely go under it.  I grew up in So. California and spent many weekends on Catalina Island and for a cruise I would enjoy and prefer Astoria much more as a port stop.

 

Can you recommend a place for chowder and crab cakes on the wharf? Thanks

On 5/29/2022 at 9:31 AM, latebuyer said:

I’m still waffling on taking a pacific coastal or just flying to san francisco a couple of days. The cruise is 2 days in san francisco, victoria, astoria and catalina island. Are these places worth a visit? (I’m from vancouver so don’t care about victoria stop.) would i need an excursion in astoria or could i walk around? I’d like to see the astoria column if i go.

There’s a lot to do and see in SF and the surrounding areas. It is worth a dedicated trip. That said, Santa Catalina Island is a neat place to visit, especially for us Californians for whom an inhabited island is a novelty. Being from BC, you might feel differently. But Catalina is warm and usually sunny, and the scuba diving is world class. Almost everyone gets around on golf carts, which you can rent. The town of Avalon is also easily walkable.  At some point you should try to get there. 

17 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

The escargot is pretty good, not at all slimy. Sadly they don't serve in the proper dish these days, but I imagine those were harder to clean and not useful for too many dishes.

I remember those special dishes, with a garlic butter filled cavity for each snail. Those were the days.

16 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

The alligator beignets had no discernible alligator and were a wannabe hushpuppy. Nothing bad about them if you need to kill some time.

 

 

Those do look more like hush puppies than beignets. 

I saw "cured salmon" listed as a rare find. Is that lox or something else?

4 hours ago, sthrnbll said:

This will be my 13th and its the first time I've ever had an offer.

Nice! What kind of offer was it?

4 hours ago, love-lee said:

I know that you can do your online check in 14 days before the cruise, but what time can you start the process? At midnight? 8am? and according to what time zone? 

Also worth knowing that platinum and diamond members get to check in 2 days earlier. Suite guests also. So if you can't get the early boarding time you wanted, that will be why.