rj59

I'd recommend HAL, because the entire Lido deck is covered, whereas Sapphire Princess only has the Conservatory and Calypso pool covered. HAL also has a forward-facing Crow's Nest at the front, whereas Princess has a paid sanctuary that's not enclosed, so freezing and wet in Alaska. Finally, both have wraparound promenades by the water, excellent for viewing wildlife, ice floes in Glacier Bay, and whales, along with getting exercise, but HAL's is on a single level, whereas on Princess you have to go up stairs at the front and be exposed to really brutal winds on sea days (but great views in Glacier Bay, although it will be absolutely freezing, probably). NA also has 500 fewer passengers, 2100 vs 2700 or so on Princess. The advantages of Princess would be still having production shows, medallion technology, and I usually see better fares on Princess doing the N/S Alaska route, since they have 3 ships they have to fill, so it's easier to find cheaper airfare and cruise fares. Just be aware, August might seem ideal in the lower 48, but in Alaska August gets more rain than the other summer months, about 2" more than June, but weather there is unpredictable. In early August you can see late-season spawning salmon in rivers (the creeks in Ketchikan and at the Mendenhall Glacier parking lot are ideal).

It was always billed as a Mariners lunch, even though they never limited it to them. I think all lines try to direct people to the Lido, to avoid crowding in the MDR, which always has a partial staff, often with a 'I'd rather be shopping on shore" attitude. It's also been less worthwhile since they went to a single lunch menu--no reason to rush to get on the ship first just to get a burger and fries and tomato soup, and a sundae, and the same goes for sea day lunch. The good part is that I spent many years rushing to get in the waiting areas in San Diego and Vancouver, being forced to sit shoulder to shoulder in the latter, and incurred a lot of stress, and the joy when my boarding number was called in San Diego. I think I'd rather start off my cruise with Distant Lands, sushi, a healthy salad, and a few dessert selections than anything on the MDR lunch menu. I bring a plastic tray so I can eat by the pool or aft pool area, and avoid embarkation buffet zoo. On the new ships, it's a good time to visit the Dutch Cafe, and on any ship, doing the room service menu, if it's available on embarkation, or even to get a Dive-In burger, especially since so much of the MDR lunch menu is just burgers and sandwiches with fries anyway.

My go-to place for current menus is Prof Cruise. Just google Celebrity drink menus and her name. She also has dining menus, money-saving tips, and humorous reviews.

Making general statements like that really isn't accurate, because it all depends on where and when you book, and what you spend on board. My first 5 X cruises in Solstice cost an average of $300, and a week on Apex cost $650 or so. Even last November/December I booked Mexico cruises on X for $300 or so, although for one I had to book a no-show second guest, to get around the price discrimination. I booked Ascent in January and Beyond next November for around $900, both with a solo discount--you just have to know when and where to book and grab deals when you see them. Next January I have Silhouette booked for $60/nt for a solo cabin. I find similar deals on other lines, like $100/nt for Azamara in Europe and the Caribbean solo, and last month I had a deluxe suite on HAL for $50/nt to Mexico under their standby program. As a solo cruiser, I also have complete control of onboard spending, so I skip packages, I buy e-sim passes for data in every port, and skip most excursions. I also had my first 5 X cruises paid for by buying RCL at $40 to get the OBC, and then selling at $120. No cruise line is perfect, they all have pluses and minuses, as do all ships and all destinations, which is why I'm agnostic about lines--I just returned from a Carnival cruise and last week booked 5 cruises on Quantum of the Seas to Mexico, since the Quantum class reminds me of Edge-class, but without the offensive-to-me closing of so much public space by the Retreat.

It all depends on what class of ship. Older Celebrity ships don't feel crowded, but Edge-class ones have more passengers and more public space removed for an expanded Retreat section, and two performance spaces, Eden and the Club, are small and get overflow crowds. Likewise, HAL really depends on class--I'm going on Zaandam in Alaska with 1400 passengers, perfect, but was on Koningsdam in January, 2800 or so, and it felt too crowded for comfort, especially the narrow buffet with reduced seating over older ships. It also depends on how willing you are to zig when others are zagging--so if you dine at 6-7 and eat at the buffet at 9 am and noon, you'll be in a packed place, and going to early shows as well, or the most popular excursions, like the White Pass Railway. Fortunately, HAL has venues to escape from crowds that Celebrity doesn't, such as a spacious, wraparound outside promenade deck (unless you're going on Koningsdam). That's also a great place for glacier/whale watching and getting exercise. The deck with the music venues, usually 2 on most ships, is fairly quiet during the day, so I have lounges to myself if I want to read and look outside a window. Then the Crow's Nest throughout the day can be quiet, the covered Lido pool deck is usually deserted in the evening, and I can always find a quiet spot in the buffet area in the evening. Most HAL ships are under 2000 passengers, so there will be less crowding and HAL makes it fairly easy to spread out. Having a covered Lido deck makes it far superior to other lines in Alaska, where the pool decks are too cold and windy and wet, so everyone crowds inside.

That's one trick I use--get dinner meats fresh, hot, and cooked properly in the buffet. Then have something else in the MDR. I usually do the buffet early, and the MDR late, which minimizes waits and crowds for both. I make the case that Carnival has great food, if you know when and where to find it. So my strange diet includes huevos rancheros at BI, a burger, prime rib, and a big Indian vegetarian meal. And of course, lots of ice cream cones. I'll be on Radiance tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to new dining spots and menus.

Celebrity Edge-class ships have a Virgin feel and decor, with things like silent discos and three different theatrical spaces with two singer/dancer groups. They have an amazing screen in their main theater, as well as shows in a Club and Eden, an aft cafe/bar/wake watching space. They also have really nice design choices, like a two-level up-and-down running/walking track and champagne-glass hot tubs that rise two decks, and a rooftop garden. Like Virgin, prices for those ships have gone through the roof, but it's because they're hugely popular. They also have four different smaller main dining rooms, with themed cuisine, although in practice they only have 5 or so appetizers and mains that are unique to that restaurant. The main drawback, apart from being decidedly not-all-included, is a very elaborate class system on the new ships, with a huge Retreat taking up much of the front part of the ship, and dining spaces also segregated by fare classes. NCL Viva and Prima are also attempting to capture some Virgin vibe, with a food hall and lots of smaller venues, and lots of upper-deck infinity pools and hang-out areas. In practice, it doesn't seem to work that well, because popular venues, like a music bar, get overcrowded, and much of the upper deck is taken up by a huge go-kart track, and their ship-within-a-ship privileged private areas, the Haven, is even larger.

That's not been available because it came with super-cheap fares, so got sold out in a few days. Ironically, it was right after the announced delay for Brilliant Lady, so cruises were switched to Resilient in the Med. Hopefully the Resilient ones out of San Juan will also have some attractive pricing, or at least less painful than the current pricing, especially for solo cruisers. The current $250-300/nt for most solo cabins isn't enough to tempt me, especially if I add Seattle-San Juan airfare.

I've been on ships just out of dry dock, and have had problems with no hot water in the showers mostly, including 7 nights going to Hawaii with just lukewarm water. Then they have to sail in circles after leaving port the first time in order to recalibrate a gyrocompass that's a backup form of navigation. BTW, if you sail out of LA, they just put up a season of 2-6 night Mexico cruises on Quantum from Oct 25-Apr 26, instead of going to Oz after the Alaska season. I just booked 5 of them, since the inside studios are affordable for me as a solo, and Princess, HAL, and NCL to Mexico now are out of my affordability zone. I'm trying Carnival Firenze in October, but I had so much fun on Ovation in Alaska after restart (especially at 30% occupancy), that I think Quantum is the ideal ship for Cabo trips, with lots to do, inside and out. I couldn't believe that after the first post-Alaska season after restart, RC let Ovation sit idle off of Mexico while Oz/NZ were closed, instead of doing Mexico cruises. Hopefully they'll keep Ovation, Quantum, or Anthem in Mexico going forward in between Alaska seasons, as an alternative to 3-4 night Navigator sailings and to somewhat balance out the incredible number of newer ships filling the Caribbean.

When you sail into the fjord for glacier viewing, go outside on the outside promenade deck and cross from side to side, where you can have space for viewing wildlife on ice floes in the water. The ship will turn around slowly if it gets close to the glacier (on my cruise it stopped before a narrow turn because of too much ice in the water, so people were upset at only getting a distant view). On sailing out of the fjord, most of the people who got the forward outside seating on top of the ship will have left, so you can sit up there. The most whales I see are on the return trip, just before the Washington coast is in sight, so on the Victoria day, also hanging out on the lower promenade deck can give some good whale sightings--once I saw a dozen or so flopping and splashing. There's kind of a secret walkway around the showroom, with some seating and wall painting, with also some windows by the water, which is a nice place to escape people, if you want. If you want to see Mendenhall Glacier, skip ship tours and just walk to a parking lot by the tram and buy tickets for the Blue Bus, which runs every 15 minutes or so, so you can go and return when you want. Likewise, if you want to go on the tram, wait until you get there, since if it's rainy and foggy, you won't see anything and it isn't worth it. Most ports have kiosks and tour centers, although with record cruising now and limited employees to actually run tours, many might sell out. If you see what looks like black-and-white mini-orcas in the water, often playing around the ship and jumping its wake, those are Dall's porpoises. If you have T-Mobile, I don't believe they have native coverage in Alaska, just roaming, but I get good ATT reception, including sailing between islands and sailing along the WA coast on the way to Victoria, so I don't bother with buying wifi. In Victoria, if you walk to downtown, they try to push you towards a narrow, long path along the harbor, when it's quicker and more pleasant to cut straight through the neighborhoods--use the maps they hand out to just go on a direct route.

You can also ask the front desk for tokens and do your own. If you send out, the charge will appear on your account, but then credited, so don't panic, as I did.

I sailed a day before Princess leaving Seattle on Sept 22 or so. Our ship had sunny weather, whereas Princess spent the first day in Seattle, because of severe storms off Vancouver Island. On the way home, my ship returned 4 hours late because of rough seas, but just missed hurricane-force winds. September has the most rain of May-Sept, but it can change by the day, or even hour. Rivers are full of rotting salmon, so there were bear warnings posted at a park in Sitka. On the way back, I've seen many whales as soon as you near the WA coast and enter the Strait of Juan de Fuca--outside aft areas on deck 8 on Discovery are good for seeing whales up close. Uncovered pool decks are going to be cold, wet, and miserable, which means more people crowded inside.

Before signing up, if you have iPhones, try texting once you're at sea. Some lines and ships have a loophole where you can text through the ship's wifi for free using iMessage, which is easier and less clunky than ship apps. I know it worked for me on Norwegian Joy, but I haven't tried it on Carnival.

Generally, N/S sailings have less demand, and sailings in May/September also have lower demand, because of weather and school not being out. Zaandam will probably mostly sail full, because it's a small ship, but Koningsdam might always have some space. Seattle demand and prices are insane, so Westerdam and Eurodam will mostly sail full or at even over capacity for June-August, because of families, and all the megaships going out of Seattle will be at over 100% capacity, especially with Celebrity Edge sailing this year. There's also a possibility that HAL will extend their Standby program for Alaska, which would help fill any empty cabins--right now the 5-night Noordam on April 30 is on the list.

You might look at shoreexcursions group or viator, ones that top youtube cruise expert Gary Benbridge recommend. I used SEG for a really enjoyable ebike tour of Mazatlan and a small van Amalfi Coast tour that were the highlights of both cruises. I would think that VV doesn't have the relationships built up with local tour operators that larger lines have, and their marketers want to make tours sound more flashy and cool than they might actually be, which is more often than not hopping on and off buses and walking around listening to a guide drone on. Checking cruise port schedules can also help choosing wisely--I foolishly booked an island tour of St. Kitts, not realizing that Wonder of the Seas was joining us in ports, so it was rickety bus gridlock the entire time and chaos. Going on a small or independent tour also makes sense given the late-hour events and leisurely breakfast spots on VV. Having a Caribbean esim on your phone will also help linking up with local guides and using map apps to find your way around if you want to self-explore.

September in Alaska has the most rain and is starting to get cold, so whatever opinions people have, the overwhelming consideration should be to stay comfortable and get good views of scenery. Majestic is the only ship that allows this, with the Hollywood Conservatory and pool. Every other upper space on Discovery will simply be unusable, so you could have over 3,500 people congregating in the buffet and piazza areas. Furthermore, my favorite whale/glacier viewing places are in deck 8--I saw a dozen or so whales next to the ship as we neared the WA coast on the return trip on Discovery. Majestic is superior there, too, because the midship outside areas have seating and viewing, whereas on Discovery they're blocked off by glass and were meant to have outside dining, impossible in Alaska. In future, I'd recommend doing a N/S cruise in Alaska, because you get the largest glacier, Hubbard, as well as Glacier Bay, and the prices are about half of what they are out of Seattle, and you don't have to do a token stop in Victoria the final evening. Embarkation on Discovery was also a horror, because they made everyone stand in line to hand their bags off at indoor luggage scanners, and I talked to a waiter who did the Alaska season out of Seattle, and he said it was just a horror, with Discovery sailing at over 4,000 for most of the summer, just as it's selling out every week in Alaska now. I got Covid in the theater two summers ago, because both early and late shows were completely full, and I had to show up half an hour early to get a seat. You'll also get a superior experience going on HAL Zaandam r/t from Vancouver, which visits Glacier Bay, has a wraparound promenade by the water, forward-facing crow's nest viewing area, and best of all, a max of 1400 passengers.

It's not just drive-to-port, since I flew from Seattle the day of the cruise to get to Koningsdam. Still, I've done 10 or so Mexican cruises the past couple of years, and it seems to be there's a huge California crowd that's really into cruising now, with a more diverse crowd than I've ever seen before, so I couldn't tell the difference between crowds on Princess, HAL, Celebrity, or NCL. Cruising is just hugely popular now, as reflected in the prices and ships selling out. I'm irritated that there are so few good options out of San Diego, except for Hawaii and Panama Canal ones, but I can see why they would want to fill those ships completely, for all the onboard revenue and excursion money. I would hope they'll see that with all the excursion money in Alaska, it would make sense to continue the program there, especially for the less-popular and oversaturated N/S Alaska market.

It's good to have an esim as a backup, if your plan doesn't cover international roaming. I think I bought one for $8 for 1GB for 3 days in Mexico on my last cruise. It also helps if you're exploring on shore, because you can look up things to do, places to eat, and to use maps to get around. I've even ordered a Mexican Uber that way, since you don't get gouged or have to haggle, as you do with taxis.

It's a good move, if the music and programs aren't determined by Billboard, as every other venue on every other ship is. Every other line has piano players who take requests, interact with the crowd, and are there to entertain, not promote Billboard. Every other line has independent musicians around the ship playing the music they want in atriums, bars, lounges, and on deck. On HAL you get pre-programmed sets in Rolling Stone, BB Kings, and previously on Lincoln Center too, as well as of course the same 3 options for the dance company on every ship, every cruise. What was most embarrassing and cruel on Koningsdam in December 2022 was them trying to recreate their former Billboard greatest hits show using the Step One dancers, but also the weak-voiced Billboard duo to try to sing and dance a bit to what was once done by professionals--it was just sad hearing the poor woman trying to do the Whitney Houston song that was once a chance for real singers to shine in real production shows.

I've done it many times, but you'll get to the ship quicker if you just take an Uber or Lyft from your hotel, and save money. You can wait up to half an hour if you arrive when they've finished filling a bus and you have to wait for another one, and realize that they have passengers at each of up to 8 terminals, so it can take half an hour or more just to finish loading, since they want to pack a bus and have you have a lot of people who have trouble getting on the bus. You also increase your Covid risk unnecessarily that way--I got it on a trip in December. The same is true of the reverse trip back to the airport--you can be at the airport by the time they finish filling a bus, and on the way back they load luggage and have to unload it at every terminal, so it takes a terribly long time, along with confused people who don't know which terminal they're going to. It's a terribly busy airport, and a really complex job of dealing with passengers at many terminals when arriving. If you order a Lyft or Uber, they'll arrive at your airport within a minute or two and have you at the terminal before your hotel shuttle bus even arrived there (hotel shuttle buses are also a nightmare at LAX, with luggage packed high and sometimes skipping people when they're full). If you're afraid of apps and Uber/Lyft, practice using them in your hometown to run an errand or go out for a meal or something. It will simplify your cruising and flying life and make it more pleasant and flexible--if you do self-assist, you can be at the airport and make earlier flights, and stress much less.

I've been faithfully following cruise prices for almost a decade, since as a price-conscious inside-cabin solo passenger I need to in order to find deal that allow me to cruise more often. Things are just so popular now that demand is very high on all cruise lines. I used to be able to count on dirt-cheap last-minute NCL fares until now, and discounts on Princess and HAL to Mexico, but now almost all Mexico trips on all lines are getting sold out. You not only have a generation perfect storm of the elderly and boomers having had travel curtailed and a lot of wealth and bucket lists to burn through, but also families (god, look at Disney prices, both land and sea), young people new to cruising and getting drawn in by social media and Instagrammable ships and experiences, and then China and Japan allowing their tens of millions of tourists to go abroad again, also with lots of money to spend. Again, all the framing of sales is meaningless, like 70% off second passenger or free drinks all the tricks they use to tempt you. The only thing that matter is cost per passenger, and cruiseplum is the best at searching, not only for listing hot deals, but also their search showing total cabin price and cabin price per day, including taxes/fees. For NCL, they are masters of sucking up extra money, whether it's go-karts, V/R games (games on VV are free), selling future deposits, and hiding hidden costs. So the free wifi is something like 75 minutes, and the free drinks package includes $21/day automatic gratuity added on. Also, VV has free soda machines, and NCL will only pour out part of a can of soda--they won't give you a full can. They're also mostly sailing at over 100% capacity, which makes for a miserable experience, really bored/uncaring/brusque crew members, hours-long lines at the front desk, hours-long lines to disembark, and on my last sailing embarkation started at 11:30, but rooms weren't ready until 4:30, and weren't on any day of the cruise before then--more NCL cutbacks. In the dining room there was a table of 20 or so young boys left by their parents to scream, fight, throw things, and I couldn't hear my waiter or anyone at my table. NCL also has a ship-within-a-ship, so the Haven much of the front of the ship--I was physically pushed away from an elevator when boarding one time, a crew member saying it was for Haven guests only. That said, they have a really good brew pub (leaderboard posted for who had had the most beers on a cruise), and it was pretty fun to have breakfast on deck in St. Petersburg sitting next to Johnny Cash and Elvis, or eating next to Ringo on another cruise.

Just don't cancel the person before the cruise, because they might refare the cruise and charge you more. Just say the other person couldn't make it when you board, and they'll automatically refund the port fees. This is becoming a secret way to avoid price gouging of solo cruisers on Celebrity and Royal C now, who are charging up to 5x more for one passenger than they are for two together. I did it myself on a Mexico Celebrity cruise in October, using my niece as a second person and then collecting her fees/taxes back when she was a no-show.

You can't really know until you get to the ship, since each individual bar will have certain beers and not all bartenders know what's in their fridge and what's in back somewhere, and many don't care, since other alcohol drinks have a higher profit margin. So when you're on the ship, visit different bars and ask around--avoiding peak times would be the best option, so they have time to search their fridge and storage in back. The ocean now delivery is completely worthless, since nobody knows which bar has which beers or if they have any at all from the list, and even import beer taps in the bars are often just empty. I found a really nice Good Spirits bartender on Majestic once who pulled out all her craft and foreign beers for me to look at, and so I tried different ones. I was on Royal after it came back from Australia, and they were trying to get rid of about a dozen kinds of Australian beer, so I tried most of them, looking up ratings on Beer Advocate and other sites. In my experience, only NCL, with its District brewhouse, and Cunard, because it's British, doesn't have just a lot of mass-market beers. My solution is to save most of my beer drinking for ports, trying local ones, searching out craft beer spots, and meeting locals in the process. I also like buying Grolsch on ships, since it has a resealable bottle so I can carry it around the ship and store unfinished ones in my fridge, and it's 16 oz so more bang for your buck.

They don't advertise embarkation lunch, because they don't want thousands of ravenous people swamping the MDR and filling it with luggage, which only has minimal staff and seating. A lot of people are like me and go overboard with eating the first day, because it's free, so they try to steer people to the buffet, where they can indulge all they want and camp out with bags until their rooms are ready. It's the same menu on every ship, with just basic stuff like salmon that you'll get at dinner or other MDR lunches, so if you're on at 11:30 you might not want to wait until noon and wait for food, especially since they cram you into 2-tops with a foot between the tables on each side of you, which is awkward and uncomfortable for people like me who want space and privacy while dining. Also, Princess now evidently has only a single lunch menu for all sea days, so you might find more variety in the buffet anyway. If it's crowded, I bring a plastic tray in my suitcase and take food outside somewhere, or even to my cabin.

They're salespeople advertising their personal service, to make it sound special, but in reality they're there to lock you in, to upsell you on packages and everything else, and to keep in touch forever to book new cruises with them. NCL ones are very aggressive, so I changed my number on the NCL website to an inactive cell number. I also found Virgin assigned me a personal specialist to leave endless voice mails and emails, so I just blocked the number. Just say "I have a travel agent and don't do business over the telephone and don't stick with businesses that don't respect my time and privacy".