EMOSEA

I have three Carnival cruises booked: Sept 2021 on the Glory, Dec 2022 Radiance, and Jan 2024 Horizon. I'm also thinking about taking the family on Royal in 2023 (Perfect Day cruise) 🙂  I've never had more than one booked at a time! 

We haven't bought the Cheers package yet and so far our bar tab on board is less than what it would be if we had. If it's just you, I'd just order drinks as usual and plan to pay at the end of the cruise. 

We have a cruise there in Sept. I booked Carnival excursions in both. Roatan we're doing the overwater bungalow (A splurge for us but not much more than a swimming with dolphins excursion for the both of us), and cave tubing for Belize. 

I'm still scheduled on my Sept 26th cruise on the Glory and still plan to go as long the ship sails (or any other ship that sails that week). I don't want to reschedule it because it's my birthday cruise. 

1 minute ago, BoozinCroozin said:

I know that feeling. Trip insurance is only good for recovering the money. It doesn't cover the vacation itself. What I mean is if these flight issues continue and you miss your cruise, your vacation is gone. You will have tons of paperwork and time involved to get compensated. That is what I am trying to prevent.

I would definitely be devastated losing my vacation. Even if we could get closer to NOLA and rent a car to drive the rest of the way I'd be fine with that as a back up plan. It'd take us 27 hours of non stop driving from where we are if we couldn't get on a flight. 

I have a Sept 26 cruise out of NOLA. We're planning to fly in on Friday for a Sunday departure. We can't drive from Utah to Louisiana as a back up, that's way too far. We have trip insurance just in case, but hopefully we won't need it! 

I have three on the books right now (I've only had one at a time before): 

Sept 2021: Western Caribbean (my 40th birthday cruise)
Dec 2022: Baja Mexico Xmas cruise with the family  
Jan 2024: ABC cruise for our 10 year wedding anniversary 

Looks like I'm missing a year in there, maybe I ought to look at 2023 🙂

Hey everyone. I'm not super active in here, but just wanted to pop in because I'm half-way to my goal! 15 down, 15 to go before my Sept 26 cruise! I've been doing calorie counting and light exercise. 

I'm pretty certain Royal Caribbean has an all vegan menu, but I haven't sailed with them yet so I can't tell you what it's like. But every line has plenty of vegetarian and vegan options, and will work with any dietary need. 

My go-to is Blue Iguana. My DH usually grabs something from one of the Guy's spots, and we meet up with our own lunch. I think I've grabbed a salad at the buffet just once. 

Checking in on my Sept cruise and noticed they added a spot to complete a health assessment. Hopefully that means our cruise is still on-track to go!

Or, am I late to the party on noticing this? lol 

My best solution is to celebrate my 40th birthday this year, and not next year... wherever that will be. 

6 minutes ago, Essiesmom said:

How old are the kids?  I would think that the older they get, the longer time they would like to get ready.  Especially if some are girls.  Perhaps you could pick another holiday for the reveal, such as Thanksgiving...  EM

They're all boys. They'll be 15, 13, 11, and 8. 

Hubby and I have taken a few kid-free cruises, and think our kids are old enough to really enjoy one now, so we booked a little cruise for the day after Xmas 2022, four-day on the Carnival Radiance (still a ways away, but I like to plan ahead, lol). 

In previous years that we've done a family vacation for Xmas we surprised them with where we're going on Xmas morning with a themed gift and reveal. Last year those plans got cancelled because of covid (Great Wolf Lodge), so we planned that for them this year and they already know about it. 

With so much uncertainty still, do you think we should surprise the kids this xmas with the cruise reveal for next year, or would you wait and do it like the we did the previous years (reveal on Xmas and head off on our vacation)? A part of me feels like this is something we might need to prepare them for longer than our usual trips, and a part of me will miss the way we did things before with the excitement on Xmas Day and heading off on our adventure. But also, we just don't know what cruises are going to be like in 2022 yet and we might have to be prepared to make adjustments for that. 

Finally, if you've done a surprise cruise for a holiday or birthday or something for your kids, I'd love to hear what you did! 

Did anyone take a screenshot of the one yesterday? The the mask guidelines and testing are different than what I remembered reading yesterday. 

I usually bring about $200 per port day for spending money (souvenirs, food, drinks, tips, etc), as well as one credit card that doesn't charge international exchange fees. Plus a little more for tipping our cabin steward, and others, a little extra.  

I was able to go on the Panorama in 2020 before things shut down. I loved it. It didn't feel too big or too crowded. The smart elevators take some getting used to though. 

You had me! LOL. I actually did get a jury summons on the week of our first cruise! I totally panicked! But I was able to get out of it. I like your summons better. 

Just curious how many eligible people who won't get the vaccine will also wear a mask on a cruise for several days. I'm fine wearing a mask when I have to and I also have the vaccine. But I'd rather they just let us have the ability to choose if we want to go on an all-vaccinated cruise or not, without penalty. If I would have known last year what cruise lines were going to require vaccines, I probably would have booked on another line since carnival is dragging their feet on this. 

My next cruise isn't until the end of September, so I'm still waiting and seeing what will happen by then. At this point I just want them to tell us what they will do with our cruise so we can decide to go on it or not (and book something else if not). 

7 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Just pulled the trigger on an 11 day repo cruise on the brand new NCL Prima on Halloween of 2022, with 5 days at sea and 5 ports (Cozumel, Great Stirrup Cay and the ABC's)

That sounds amazing!!! 

I'm booked for the end of Sept on the Glory. I'm hopeful it will sail, but if not our alternative plans are to go to a resort in Puerto Rico or Mexico (or somewhere else that lets us visit), or go on a trip with my bestie and our husbands to Maui. It's my 40th birthday so we're doing something that week whether it's a cruise or not. 

3 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

We were discussing balconies on the Horizon versus inside Havana area on the Horizon.  As usual, you spin doctor things and bring up a bowling alley balcony which is not available on the Horizon.

Sticking to the topic at hand....it is 809 pp for an inside Havana on the 8 day cruise versus 1129 for the cheapest balcony.  I'll save the 640 bucks and use it elsewhere like Cheers and stay away from the masses in the Havana area, while you pay the extra 640 to stay away from the masses on your regular balcony on the Horizon, not the bowling alley type that is not available on that class of ship.

I'm happy with my choice of a regular balcony, but I definitely want to book a Havana room someday. I think I still have covid on my mind and feel like if there was a virus outbreak I would want my own balcony and not be stuck in an inside cabin to quarantine in, lol. Hopefully things will be more normal when 2024 comes along. 

Our anniversary is in Jan, so Jan is usually when we cruise. Also, Jan is the perfect time to get out of the crappy winter weather and go somewhere warm. 

13 hours ago, SNJCruisers said:

Since you're going to be on the Horizon, hopefully you'll be in a Havana cabin.  Did an excursion in Aruba with three wheeled choppers and it was a blast.  Been to Curacao as well and will be doing all 3 on a repo cruise from Galveston to Miami on the NCL Prima next year.

I wish! We wanted a balcony, but the Havana balcony was quite a bit more. Someday we'll get a Havana Cabin! Maybe for our 15 year anniversary 🙂

12 hours ago, BlerkOne said:

I hope I am wrong, but if I found the cruise you are referring to, I didn't see Curacao listed. But it still looks like a great cruise, and it does hit Aruba and Bonaire. Bonaire is the port that many cruises miss, but I liked it 

 

 

It's there! It just doesn't show up when I searched for it with different promo codes, but shows up with early saver. Here's the itinerary screenshot from my email 🙂