Mangrove Snapper

I'm excited for this, too.  We'll definitely be booking a cruise out of Philly. 

On 7/6/2024 at 10:59 AM, BalancingWanderlust said:

Also is there a beach area that doesn't require renting a cabana or chair? I would like to do a bit of swimming but am not interested in renting a place to sit on the beach.

There are free lounge chairs on the beach, if you do wish to sit for a while.  When we were there, we did a stingray excursion first and still had no problems finding chairs on the beach afterwards. 

This is the information from Carnival.  You will need to contact Guest Services as they have specific guidelines they will follow, and they will confirm the arrangements. 

https://help.carnival.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/1132/~/burial-at-sea---scattering-of-ashes

I'm sorry for your loss.

It's just a marketing slogan like the old Motel 6 one "we'll leave the light on for you."  It's just an e-mail with ads for beach-themed itineraries.  Nothing more; nothing less. 

Little Steven's Underground Garage - That's cool.  My father's been a fan of Stevie Van Zandt for a long time and would likely enjoy this. 

Chris Jericho's Rock 'N' Wrestling Rager at Sea  - This is the sixth one of these.  I saw some videos from the fifth and it looked like fans of Fozzy and/or AEW who like to party would have a great time.  I'm not really a Jericho fan but I certainly can't hate on him for being able to sell six of these cruises and perform on a cruise ship in front of his fans.  He's living the dream.

Headbangers Boat - This one still tempts me and I saw they released some more cabins.  Lamb of God is probably our favorite band to see live and the video package for this cruise was awesome.  We already have cruises booked for later in the year, though.  If this happened to be the week before the one we have out of Florida, I would have booked it.  I'll keep an eye out if they do it again in 2025. 

2 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

I'm ok with any snorkeling.  I don't necessarily need wreck. We dove a lot in Bonaire as we spent winters on our own sailboat there for a number of years & dove off our dinghy. I never go inside wrecks but do dive on them only looking from the outside. We haven't been diving & snorkeling for years but it's one of my favorite things to do. BTW I got swim pants from waterless so will see how they work. We are going on the Flora next year to the Galapagos.

This is how I am, as well.  Your trip next year sounds amazing!  I hope you have a great trip to Bermuda. 

7 minutes ago, catspaw1 said:

How was the snorkeling at the alternate site? I have my own equipment.

It was very calm and easy snorkeling there.  There was good visibility for the fish and corals.  My husband and I are nowhere near experts and don't get to snorkel as often as we'd like so we did enjoy ourselves.  I think if someone was really set on snorkeling the wrecks, they may have been disappointed but for us, there was no point in being upset at the weather. 

15 hours ago, catspaw1 said:

Boat operators should not go to areas when seas are rough for snorkelers.

This is what happened to us last year.  We booked this tour but there was rain and wind that day, making the site too rough, so the operators took us to an alternate site.  We were given the choice to cancel and receive a refund if we preferred.

We did the alternate site, as did mostly everyone else in the group.  I would have loved to see the wrecks but it's still always great to be in the water.  We have Bermuda booked again next year and can always try for the shipwrecks then. 

On 6/26/2024 at 9:56 AM, Tom and Ingrid said:

Do you seek out the shows with older themed music, or, are you like me, no longer willing to "gut it out" to get to music at least near your generation?

This is an interesting question. We’re <50 so I guess our generation’s music would be 80’s/90’s. I watched an appalling amount of MTV in the 80’s but also grew up listening to lots of 50’s/60’s/70’s music as my dad and uncles would play that in the car and we went to a lot of music festivals with bands from those eras.  I really enjoy music from the 50’s to now but we mainly listen to current hard rock/metal. 

Every night on a cruise, we like to listen to live music in the lounges.  My favorite sets would be ones where the house bands play songs from a variety of genres/eras.  If there are two shows going on at the same time and one is 70’s themed and the other is dance music themed, I’d probably choose the dance theme.   Nothing against the 70’s music but often it seems like the same songs are always played in every 70’s set list.  I’d rather have some variety.

To hear our favorite genre played live on a cruise, we’d have to book a stateroom on the Headbanger’s Boat.  That would probably be fun but I don’t think I would want to only listen to metal all week, either.  I really do like when there’s a variety of live music onboard. 

I've never been to CocoCay but I voted for Excited because if it was on one of my itineraries, I would be happy to go.  I enjoy every port stop.  I've been bored by people but never a place.  I can always find something interesting. 

On 6/23/2024 at 7:52 PM, ladybird77 said:

Everything I read says the souvenirs are expensive but no real price ranges. 

In Qaqortoq, the local artisan from which I purchased beadwork jewelry had each item priced at $20 US.  I also bought a pair of delicately carved bone earrings for $20.  She had a table set up near the tender dock. 

I didn't vote as I wouldn't consider myself a "loyalist" to Celebrity or any cruise line. 

To answer the question, we already have cruised on lines other than Celebrity and will also continue to cruise with Celebrity.  We have four upcoming cruises booked on four different lines, one of which is Celebrity.  I like variety and have never seen the point in limiting myself. 

On 5/20/2024 at 10:46 PM, JDincalif said:

J definitely needed insect repellent for several days in and around Denali on a Memorial Day weekend. The mosquitoes were out for blood.

I can't speak for anyone else but the next time we go to Alaska I will take insect repellent.

Insect repellent and mosquito warnings were listed on Celebrity's advice for Alaska and I did not take that seriously.  We did a sea/land tour in late May/early June 2022 and there were swarms of mosquitos on the trails in Kenai National Wildlife Refuge, Denali,  and in Earthquake Park in Anchorage. 

12 hours ago, pilot said:

If Captain Kate wants to just be called CAPTAIN, she should spend all of her time with shipboard duties and not hocking jewelry. 

Then I would assume you would not call Captain Ioannis Kasimatis a CAPTAIN, either, since he was featured in the Tag Heuer ads for their Celebrity branded watch.

Or do you only save your scorn for when it's a woman?

11 minutes ago, ca3799 said:

Thanks so much everyone. I think I'm not clear on Eastern and Western Caribbean v Bahamas- so going to look at a map- LOL! I think I was just going on the little I had seen offered on various cruise lines and got overwhelmed with so much information. 

I appreciate everyone's thoughts and opinions so much! 

The private islands in the Bahamas are often stops on both Eastern and Western Caribbean itineraries, so if you are interested in one of those islands, you can still choose a Caribbean itinerary.  Celebrity, for example, has 7 night Western Caribbean cruises with CocoCay and ports like Cozumel and Grand Caymen, and also 7 night Eastern Caribbean cruises with CocoCay and ports like San Juan, St. Thomas, and St. Maarten. 

There's a lot of information out there but it should be fun taking a look at all the different cruise lines' itineraries and offerings. 

20 minutes ago, ca3799 said:

I'm interested in any opinions from folks who have taken a cruise that visits a private island. I think what appeals to me about this is that I think it will not crowded. Was that your experience? Did you think the visit was worthwhile?

We've been to Half Moon Cay, which we enjoyed.  It did not feel crowded when we were there.  Our ship was full but held about 2100 people.  I don't know what it's like when you are on one of the 4000+ passenger ships. 

Going to the island was just part of the cruise and the beach had lounge chairs available to anyone at no charge.  We did a stingray excursion before the beach and still had no problems finding chairs.  You could choose to take excursions or rent clamshells or cabanas at an additional cost.  The lunch buffet and some beverages (like juice and lemonade) was included but alcoholic beverages and sodas were extra.   

We did a stingray excursion, an island tram tour, and spent time swimming and on the beach.  I bought a light sundress at the small straw market and we bought a few shirts in the store.  It was a really nice, zero stress, day and I would be glad to go back any time.  We're scheduled to go back with HAL. 

Under Ports of Call, there is a Private Islands section that can probably give you a lot of information.  Each cruise line would also have information on their websites regarding all of the amenities on their private islands. 

This is by no means all of the private locations for cruises but here are examples in the Bahamas - Half Moon Cay is used by Holland America and Carnival.  Carnival is also working on a new private island called Celebration Key, which will have a dock.  CocoCay is used by Royal Caribbean and Celebrity.  Great Stirrup Cay is used by NCL.  Ocean Cay is used by MSC.  Princess Cays is used by Princess.  Castaway Cay is used by Disney. 

Some of the private islands require a tender to go onshore and others have a dock. 

I have a few loose, casual sundresses I use for the pool and beach.  They are a light material so they dry quickly. 

Enough times that it's not a priority to eat on a cruise. 

If I see something I like, I'll buy it. 

We took a glass bottom boat tour on the Fury.  We were staying in the Keys and not on a cruise at the time, but I recall that the Fury had several sailings a day so could probably fit during time on shore.  The Fury is located right on the end of Duval, not far from the cruise pier. 

18 hours ago, asfhgwt said:

Does anyone know if the Princess Green lane in Brooklyn terminal saves any time? I cruised from there years ago, and IIRC there was a single, long line for security check purposes, which saved Green lane people nothing. Kind of stupid, Princess!

I can only speak from our experience but last October we were Blue lane in Brooklyn and were among the first few people boarding the ship.  The security line was as you recalled, one lane for everyone.  By the time you were through with that, there were multiple agents ready to give medallions to anyone picking them up.  There wasn't a wait at the time we were there. 

My husband didn't want to have the medallions shipped, to avoid them not arriving in time or us forgetting them at home, so we opted to pick them up at port.  We're doing this same cruise this September and will probably just pick them up in Brooklyn again. 

Have a great trip!  Limon was my favorite port when we did the Panama Canal in January on the Legend.  We an excursion to the Jaguar Rescue Center, which does work rehabilitating animals to be released back into the wild.  The animals who are no longer able to live in the wild now have permanent homes at the center. The ride to and from the center is very picturesque - we passed beautiful tropical foliage, coastline, and banana plantations. After the center, we went to a banana plantation.

We did this on the Summit in August, 2022. 

In Halifax, we took a tour to Peggy's Cove in the morning and then a Titanic tour in the afternoon which went to the Maritime Museum, cemetery, and throughout the city.  In St. John's, we took a city tour, went to the Rooms Museum, and then had lunch and visited shops.

In Qaqortoq, we took a boat to the Hvalsey church ruins and later a boat tour to view icebergs.  We also explored Qaqortoq on foot.  We had an Aqua cabin and spent some time there during the sail through Prins Christian Sund but also went up on deck to see other views.

In Akureyri we explored the city on foot, had lunch at a hot dog stand (I love Icelandic hot dogs) and later in the afternoon did a tour which went to a local dairy farm for ice cream and then to a horse farm.  In Isafjordur we took a tour to make chocolates in the town of Sudavik, went to the Arctic Fox Center, and then had lunch and explored Isafjordur.

We disembarked in Reykjavik and stayed for a few days.  I've been to Iceland multiple times but my husband had never been so we toured the city, went to a Viking Museum and a Whale Museum, did the Golden Circle tour, went to the Blue Lagoon, took a tour of the South Coast and to the Jokulsarlon glacier lagoon and did a boat tour of the icebergs there. 

The trip was really enjoyable.  There was plenty to do onboard, though the activity I remember most is the polar plunge. 

That looks really cool!  I'll have to remember Island Falconry when we do a cruise that goes to PEI. 

I understand the OP completely.  I read the first Anne of Green Gables book as a child and didn't connect with her as a character so I also have no interest in anything Green Gable related on PEI.