Eli_6

I saw this and was super excited. I just wish it was in the summer!!! I wonder what she is going to be doing between August 22nd and October 24th...

John Heald just announced several unique itineraries for summer/fall of 2024. The Splendor will be doing a couple of Journeys cruises from Sydney to Signapore and back and the Panorama will be doing one to Japan going through Alaska and one from Singapore, through Vietnam, the Phillipines, Malaysia, Guam, Hawaii, and back to LA.

As an aside, I am using these to fly to cruises in Europe.

You mean they aren't catching them off the bow?

I know people on here may not be able to answer this, but thought I would ask anyway. My husband and I both have British Airways Chase cards. The way it works on the credit card is once you spend so much on the card every year, you get a friend fly free BUT you have to book the friend fly free ticket on the BA website and use avios to pay for the main pasenger's ticket. So, for example, this past summer, my husband and I both purchased our tickets for ourselves with Avios and then used a friend fly free for each of our two children and we were able to all fly roundtrip business class to Europe. We are doing the same thing for this upcoming summer as well...already have the tickets booked. We have two more friend fly free tickets we have to use by July 2024. (He has one and I have one.) Problem is, we only have enough Avios for one round trip business class ticket and it appears they went "up" on how many avios the flights now cost...i.e. they used to be 120k avios and now they are 180k for business class. My thought process was to have my husband close out his Avios card and then after about a few months, reapply because they offer a 100k sign on bonus. He would qualify because it has been more than 2 years since he got the new member offer and the fine print says you can get one every two years if you open a new card. My question is this: If he cancels his current BA credit card, will that then cancel his "friend fly free" ticket that he has already earned? I would not think so because those Avios and the friend fly free ticket are already "earned" and on our British Airways avios account. But...you never know. I was wondering if anyone knows... My other thought process was to have him take out a new amex card and get their miles (which transfer to British Airways) and then transfer it to his british airways. (We put everything we possibly can that doesn't charge a fee on our credit card and pay them off every month...I have put kid's private school tuition, furniture, monthly bills, etc. on my credit cards and then pay them off just to accumulate avios/miles.) And, yes, I know that I am thinking about this way in advance, but I have to in order to make sure I have the avios/miles ready to book the flights when the rewards flights come out approximately 11 months in advance. Many flights only have 4-6 business class reward tickets available per flight and since we are trying to get 4 of us on the same flight, I obviously want to book them as soon as possible.

I flew through London Heathrow from IAH to Edinburgh on a business class British airways ticket last July and to retrieve my suitcase, re check, go through customs, and then go back through a nightmare of a security line. I was told that there was no other option. With that said, it may have been because I was staying in the same country (i.e. the UK) and England was my first stop. I did not have to go through customs at Edinburgh. It literally took about three hours to get my bag, go through customs, etc. No way I would have made it with just a 2 hour layover. I plan to try to fly with carry on only next summer.

Can you upgrade to business through F2F? It seems like I looked into it before and couldn't so didn't end up booking it.

Yeah, but he shows other types of lobsters in the video that do look different.

Difference between Lobsters: Maine VS Canadian Lobsters (& Others) Comparison - EatDrinkRabbit

Well, you only get one entree anyway in the steakhouse. I think in the MDR, they charge you after two. But it is only like $5 for an extra entree. They don't charge if you order more than two appetizers, though, in the MDR.

I liked those potatoes, too. Sigh.

I don't think this has anything to do with Europe. I am not a fan of "tap" water either and I am most assuredly not French.

I live on a private golf course/country club and there are still plenty of loud, drunk people. People with money can be just as obnoxious. I do, however, agree that much more attention is paid to the greens. And there is no doubt that at the very high end (like Augusta) there is truly absolutely no comparison. One thing I don't think anyone has mentioned is that on many of the high-end lines, people are avoiding children. Viking requires 18 and up. Another of the high-end ones is 12 and up. Even among some of the others that allow kids, they don't have a place to leave your children or teen clubs or arcades or slides, etc. One exception is the Ritz Carlton "Yacht Collection" cruise ship. People without kids and whose kids are grown up tend to have more money. I also think that once you are out of that "zone", you tend to not want to deal with other people's kids who are not related to you. I think many of the more upscale cruises appeal to a demographic who likes different things and isn't cruising with their kids. For example, Cunard (although, it isn't really an upscale cruise line in the way Viking, Oceania, Silver Seas, etc. is) has ballroom dancing and even a kennel area for your dog. HAL (although, again, not super upscale) has painting classes. I think many of them all have a lot of informational talks that tell you about the ports. One of the small ships owned by Celebrity that goes to the Galapagos (and starts at about 15k per person) even has a marine science lab on board. I don't think too many people cruising with their young kids or teens are ballroom dancing, sitting in on historical information session, or traveling with their pooch in tow...even if they want to be. This to me is something that childless couples or single people or empty nesters would more do. I think of it as the difference between staying at the Holiday Inn Express and staying at some place like The Greenrbrier or The Broadmoor or even a Le Meridien, a Ritz or a Waldorf Astoria. HIE has nice, clean rooms, decent pools, a decent breakfast with basic fare (but nothing exotic), and gives you a lot of bang for your buck. But those other places are in a different category...most of which is completely lost if you are trying to vacation with my kids or teens. I have actually heard that some of the really high end lines not only attract a more mature crowd, but almost a geriatric crowd. We met this couple in Europe at the airport just back from their first Viking cruise. I had always wanted to do Viking until I talked to them. They called it, and I quote, "God's waiting room." 🤣

I have to admit--not overly excited about the new menu with my favs gone. Thinking about canceling.

When I had it, it was really good.

Thanks. What a bummer!

I was looking on a website (prof cruise) that purported to have the 2023 menus for all of the Carnival eateries. We went to the Steakhouse on 2 of our last 3 cruises in 2022 and I could have sworn that I got a wagyu beef steak but that is no longer on the menu. Additionally, my husband and I ordered the dessert as art and it also is no longer on the menu. Is the 3rd party website wrong or has the menu changed?

But they do have Dr. Pepper! Which is more than I can say for some parts of the US.

You just described how my family and I like to travel exactly to a T. The only thing for us that keeps us with Carnival is our kids are still young that the kid's club and slides are a must. I think my kids would be devastated if we got on a cruise ship and they didn't have slides. We also really enjoy the Carnival comedy club.

I have no idea because we always take our kids to eat dinner with us if they are cruising with us.

Celebrity is nicer, but there will more likely be more people her age on Carnival. On a 4 day Carnival cruise near Spring Break, you will get a lot of drunk college kids.

I was in an aft corner excel suite on the Mardi Gras. I loved the suite and the huge balcony with a hot tub, but would not have paid extra for the Loft 19 if it had not been included in the price of the Excel suite. But that's just me. The spa was not very deep in the area. However, I thought the Serenity area looked really nice. With that said, we live in Houston and have a pool at home (that came with the house when we bought it) and barely use it so it may just be that we aren't really pool people.

It is going back to Europe before it goes into dry dock and then will dry dock in Europe.

Yup! Maybe the Dr. Pepper lets them know I am a Texan and they leave me alone, lol.

What ship/date is this cruise? Is it part of the world cruise? I have been shopping various lines for a cruise to Egypt and have not seen much except Celebrity and MSC.