rj59

I'd ask and say it's for religious reasons, and they'll do their best to satisfy you. I know most lines are happy to do Indian meals, so I imagine Filipino chefs would be handy with Chinese food also. A cinema in Seattle has a Christmas Day tradition of showing "Fiddler on the Roof" with catered Chinese food.

I did Ovation to Alaskan in September, with a delayed return to severe storms, which is a risk of going out of Seattle. The ifly was closed due to bad weather, so I'd advise booking your free minute for an Alaskan port day. The other disadvantage of Quantum/Ovation is that it usually is too big to fit in the narrow turn that will get you close to the rather small Dawe's glacier, since it's often blocked by chunks of ice (they'll happily sell you an excursion on a smaller boat that will get close to the glacier). Royal/Celebrity also don't have access to Glacier Bay, but the N/S Royal ships visit Hubbard Glacier, which is the most impressive one.

50% off sale is a gimmick, because none of the cruises I monitor regularly have gone down in price, and several have gone up. If they stick to their 'we won't lower prices' promise, then they can't really have a sale on prices, only false assertions, because almost any cruise fare is going to be a discount from some price. The Mexican cruises are the highest I've ever seen, as are Seattle-based Alaska ones, and future European ones. The only relative bargains are some of the Regal out of Galveston, and the N/S ones in Alaska, since they have so many ships there. I'm going on Island for two weeks this month for $600 or so for a solo inside, which will be my last one with Princess for some time, if current prices are maintained and no dropping of the single supplement occurs. As another poster said, I'm not that attached to cruising to overpay to be on a packed ship and degraded experience. My three favorite lines have alienated me: Princess, by dropping Alfredos access, HAL by dropping all production shows, and Celebrity by charging solo passengers more than twice as much as two people in a cabin. So I'll explore options on cruise lines that aren't lashed to stock prices and heavy pandemic debt--Azamara, Virgin, and maybe MSC. Otherwise I'll just pack some Rick Steves books and explore more of Europe on my own.

I would strongly advise against taking the transfer from Hobby airport, since there are so few flights arriving, they wait up to 2 hours to fill a bus halfway. An Uber or Lyft will be about $50 for two people, and you won't have to wait for a bus to fill, or load/unload. When I finally arrived at the port, a port rep came onto the bus and said the porters expect at least $5/bag or something like that, which felt like a shakedown. The same goes on the outgoing end--I did walk-off and got on a shuttle before 7:30, while none of the transfer buses had filled to either airport. There are several local companies who will get you there quicker, for cheaper, with things like senior/military discounts and r/t discounts. I think I used Island Express, but there are others. There are several articles comparing the cost of various kinds of transportation, and none of them recommend a ship transfer.

The cruise lines didn't go under when the war in Ukraine cut out Baltic cruises with stops in St. Petersburg, they just redeployed and moved around. I'm going on a Princess cruise in a few weeks that was supposed to spend 2 nights in Israel and one in Malta, but they simply adjusted the itinerary to other Italian/Greek ports. A Celebrity ship in the Med year-round is replacing winter Israel stops with Canary Islands stops or Morocco. Current cruise prices would seem to indicate historically high demand for cruising, including on NCL, and the plus-100% occupancy rates don't signal dire times anytime soon, both for older people lines full of people trying to blow off their wealth and see as much as possible while still alive, and family/young people likes for people who want the experiences of the big NCL/RC ships, and those on Carnival looking to do sail-by shootings of ships showing the wrong gang colors, or carry off a heist of priceless Parks West art. I have 100 shares of Carnival, for the OBC, so ignore the laughably poor performance. I did buy 100 shares of RCL at $40 (when poor Carnival earnings dragged down the RCL price), and sold last summer when it reached $100, so the profits paid for 7 Celebrity and 2 Royal cruises.

I'm so glad I discovered cruiseplum. Their Hot Deals section got me an Azamara 7-night to Spain for $100/nt for a solo inside, and the same for a 9-nt Virgin Med cruise next October, which I never would have even thought of looking for on my own, since they've usually been out of my price range. I usually find the NCL site easiest to find good deals, though, because I can search for 1 and they include the military discount now (all the pop-ups and chats are sure annoying, though). Their price drops actually deter me from booking, since the drops right before sailing give me buyer's remorse and I can't do anything about it, other than cancel and get the FCC from the protection program, and gamble next time that I can prepay airfare and catch the lowest price before sailing.

I think one reason for denying it would be to avoid hogs eating everything on the menu and asking for more to eat later, particularly if it's specialty dining and somebody told them it costs more so don't do it. They might say it's for safety, so you don't trip and spill, or sanitation, but it's basically about money and cutting down food costs. I can see it as sort of equivalent of a buffet on land, where you pay a fixed cost so the restaurant wants to minimize overall food use and thus won't allow anyone to take food away. That's probably more true of NCL, with a lot of people getting a free specialty meal through Free at Sea, so they get more food eaten than on other lines in specialty restaurants and so want to minimize cost. It's the same principle as nominal charges for room service now, so a drunk doesn't order tons of food late at night and leave most of it uneaten in a hallway. Yeah, it's cheap and petty to deny it, but if denied, you can ask the restaurant manager and get a good reason, and leave it in a comment card at the front desk, to see if they'll make it up to you.

The best Cunard videos I've seen are by TipsForTravellers, the most popular YouTube channel and a Cunard fan, and EmmaCruises, which was a first-time budget cruiser who thought it would be boring and stuffy but found lots of enjoy, as she always does.

I think if you really love Japan and want to experience it well, you'd be better off with the varied itineraries on Diamond Princess, which is based in Japan and designed for the Japanese market. So it visits things like the Nebuta Festival in August, which was one of my favorite memories when I lived there for 2 years. Instead of dealing with cultural resentments that seem to be apparent with traditional Cunard cruisers wanting others to conform to their standards, I think I'd rather be perhaps in the minority and adapt to the majority on a ship designed for Japan and that's likely to be majority Japanese. That means you're likely to get better food, better excursions (since it's their base), and more interesting cultural experiences, particularly tea drinking (just as on Cunard as an American I sat through a tea service and wondered what point of it was).

With ships on most lines full and demand through the roof, you're unlikely to find anything, unless it's an OBC offer to get you to book at higher prices, or a more expensive cabin. That's especially true of Azamara, where it's so easy to sell out a small ship and they don't have to fill a megaship year-round. So I booked a Virgin cruise at a bargain price in August that sold out in a week, I bought an Azamara cruise to Spain a month ago, and most of the prices for that month are much higher. It's like looking for a Black Friday deal on a new car the past couple of years, where demand is so high that they have no incentive to give real discounts or deals, just incentives to get you to book.

What HAL does that's nice is give a ceremony when you reach cruise day milestones, starting at 100 (unless that has gone away too). Free drinks, a medal presented by the captain and hotel director. The old Mariner lunches also made me feel valued, too, with varied drinks, meal, captain's thanks, and tile presented at the end. The receptions now of sitting around and getting a glass of bubbly and a tile left outside your door (if they're not out) just doesn't do anything for me. I prefer the Princess loyalty program, since you can get status based on numbers of cruises, rather than sea days, and solos like me get double credit, so I got to their top status through lots of short coastal cruises, and enjoy things like a free minibar setup. Having a medallion with your loyalty level also gives a little sense of self-importance, and before that they'd put door tags with your name and loyalty color.

I actually met Rudi on an elevator in SF on a Princess ship, where he's advising now. I told him thanks for all the great Holland American meals.

Cruise personnel don't know, and wouldn't tell you if she did, since her job is to get you to sign up for internet, just as the cruise excursion desk isn't going to tell you how to find local tours or free things to do. The way to find out is to turn on iMessage and try it. If it doesn't work, pay or wait for a port. I found out I had it on an NCL ship, and it's definitely nice, because ship messaging apps are awful for talking to others on board, and some lines make you pay for it. The other thing to realize is that you can sign up for individual days or remainder of cruise internet, which is what I do when going to Mexico usually--I simply buy remainder of voyage on the final two sea days.

Skip the transfer and order a Lyft or Uber. It will be cheaper and quicker than a transfer, no waiting to fill a bus, not stuck in a pack of people entering the terminal at once, and no trying to find the cruise reps and get on the right bus. Download and learn how to use the apps locally, and then simply order one when you get there, choosing which one is cheaper. Their driving and attitude are rated, so they have an incentive to be safe and friendly, unlike a taxi driver. The same goes for the return trip, by the time they load everyone and their luggage onto a bus you could be on your way to the airport and get to your flight quicker, with less stress.

You might look at NCL. They've had the Sun or one of their older ships doing trips between Honolulu and Tahiti. Even if you don't like the ship or line, I'd think it would be more interesting than the 6-7 sea days getting to Hawaii. The NCL prices were dirt-cheap also, so one of their Haven suites might be affordable for you.

Thanks for the info, I'll be on Island in a few weeks and was expected la patisserie as a version of international cafe. That's a bummer, because I like to get up early, like 5, and hit the IC for light breakfast and coffee, but I doubt that Good Spirits would be open 24 hours, like the IC. I'll be jet lagged and probably waking up at 3 am anyway, so more of a bummer. I remember on Royal last month they had some canned Lavazza coffee that would be interesting to try, if it's included in Plus.

You don't say what ship you're on and when you want to eat. I cruise off-season usually, and dine at 8 or right at opening, so I'm out of there within an hour, even quicker if I want. If you go at peak dining times, on a full ship, it will be longer. On my last cruise, a Pacific coastal, I had an entire section to myself and got through quickly. As I was finishing dessert, they seated a multigenerational group of 15 high-maintenance people who mostly didn't speak English and who were pushy about seating, demanding they move tables around, demanding lobster at a discounted price, and had strollers and a walker and people wanting to take selfies at the window. So if I'd arrived at the same time, it would have been twice as long to eat, although I probably would have walked out first.

The good thing about EZ Air is that you can mix and match airlines, whereas if you try to buy one way on Delta and return on United, or one of their partners, it would be hugely expensive. One drawback of it is that they irritatingly show flights that are convenient, but when you try to book them they say they don't recommend it because of a short layover time, like 1 hour in Frankfurt--why offer me that unworkable option then? I decided I'd rather go on Icelandair, since I leave from Seattle and don't want to transfer on the East coast or sit on a plane for 10 hours to land exhausted in Europe, only to have to wait in an immigration line. The Icelandair flights usually arrive in Reykjavik before midnight my time, and getting through immigration into the Schengen zone is a breeze, and when I get to Europe I don't need to repeat it (except London). It's also easier on the return end, because I've heard that getting to the US-bound terminal and going through extra security in Rome can be arduous, but by going on an intra-Europe flight it saves the hassles. Their overall flights times also are shorter than either flying to an East Coast or Europe hub and then waiting, or on the return trip, leaving at dawn to make the US flight from a Europe hub. Their Saga Class is pricey, but they also have the convenient option of paying to reserve an exit seat, very nice on their small planes, so for $100 or so each way I get lots of legroom. The only drawback I find with them is they don't provide free meals.

Shareholder Credit requests will be integrated into the app, so it can direct you to exciting games of chance to spend your credits on before and during the cruise, with an AI Fortuna Luck urging you on. Or be used to pre-purchase delicious Premium Desserts at a special shareholder price.

If you don't like flavoring, then you can try to articulate to the waitstaff how you would like it improved. "It tastes like it was made by foreigners" probably isn't the best approach. If you want foods made with the expertise of the Indian chefs, you can ask for the Indian menu and try the really excellent Indian foods in the buffet. My mother loved to complain about meat quality on every cruise, which was all we ever heard, not how wonderful the ship or staff or ports or sunsets were, it was only 'my steak was too tough'. My sister and I made fun of her for that, but now she has dementia and will never cruise again, so I promised myself never to complain about any cruise food, especially on here. I'm fairly familiar with most of the Princess menu, so if there's nothing particularly exciting, I might try different things in the buffet, especially on international themed nights, or just focus on appetizers and desserts--I've never felt any lack of taste in a pistachio dome or hazelnut bar. You'll probably find in most American restaurants that the person cooking your meal is not native-born American either, so you can write "My Applebee's steak tastes Mexican!" on some other board.

They look like a Dairy Queen exploded and these were the result. If you order some, you might have some insulin injections in your future.

I go to the buffet, because it's open fairly early. There's actually a better, third option, the International Cafe. I go there if I'm up at 5 or so, get a latte, fruit cup, pastry, and egg muffin sandwich, and sit by a window watching the sea and sunrise. Then I go back a few hours later to the buffet, or to the dining room, if they have a good daily special. Another thing to realize is that the MDR lunch also has breakfast items, like French toast and eggs benedict, so that's another breakfast option.

The only way it matters is you have to spend 5 minutes to pick up your medallion after checking in. The problem I have is that there's no order or lines to it, such as in other ports, based on last name, so it's like ordering at a crowded bar, where you have to grab someone's attention to get served, with everyone else trying to do the same.

I haven't had problems with Discovery mattresses. On the other hand, the floodlights getting up to go to the bathroom in the night makes me feel like I'm on a prison break.

The main sight of PV is free, just strolling the Malecon downtown, with sculptures and Indian pole dancers (not that kind), and shops/restaurants, as well as the town cathedral. Then there's, um, Walmart and a mall across from the port, which has Starbucks, Chilis, and a/c. You can go with others in a taxi, or be adventurous and take the city buses for 25 pesos or so. The Malecon will be more interesting than any place they take you to, like Gringo Gulch, just a shopping river area off the Malecon. Coolest prep for PV is watching "Night of the Iguana", filmed with Burton shacking up with Liz Taylor there, but really interesting to see how the town looked back then. For Mazatlan, any ship bus tour will be less interesting than the ebike tour you can get for $45 through shoreexcursionsgroup, since it goes to the same spots as the bus tours but the leader gets you up close to cliff divers and other sights.