rj59

Glad I didn't book on the Oct 30 UK-Rome cruise, even if this system has passed. I will be on Greece/Italy/Turkey in late November, but it should be calmer, especially since they cancelled the two Israel stops.

Just off Eurodam, and they had 7 or so games on your stateroom tv, including MNF. The ultimate experience is watching games on a Princess ship on their huge screens. Two years ago I watched all the division championship thrillers on the big Princess screen, and two weeks later watched the Super Bowl on the screen leaving LA, with the game played nearby. Princess also has a bar next to the casino with sports screens covering entire walls, also a nice place to watch games. On one HAL ship years ago they broadcast the Super Bowl in the theater.

I just got off Eurodam, and they have non-fiction, very eclectic, even a poetry section, and some large travel books and atlases. It's very eclectic, with multiple copies of every book, and murals of books with punned titles, such as nautical puns. There are windows facing over the promenade, chairs, and excellent lighting. Other than the magnificent two-story libraries on Cunard, the new HAL ones are my favorite. It was a delightful surprise to see the return of libaries, and made up for the irritation of seeing the return of the Parkswest art auctions. Unfortunately, entertainment options are even fewer, with no more Lincoln Center classical or Step One dance, replaced by a dull singing quartet that I could only stand for 10 minutes. If they can bring back libraries, then maybe they can bring back production shows, which every other line has.

I booked Azamara in April in Spain and Virgin in Europe in October, catching some bargains for a solo inside. The most unfriendly move by Celebrity for me has been chaging solo passengers more than 2005 of the doubles rate, and I don't like being disrespected that way. I'm trying Azamara because of the small ships, lack of formal nights, long port days and an overnight in Lisbon, and now that they're not part of RCL, they're not tied to its debt or stock price (the ship I'm going on was going to be part of Celebrity, until the pandemic). I want to try Virgin for the innovative dining, with all dining in free speciality ones, and a food hall rather than a buffet. I'm tired of all cruise ship menus and buffets, and being lobbied for a good review score by Celebrity waiters makes me uncomfortable, as would any shore restaurant waiter begging for a good tip. I love Celebrity shows and music, but Virgin seems to be more innovative and interesting and daring. Virgin also matches loyalty programs, which gets some nice perks. I'm not feeling rewarded by lines I've been loyal to, like HAL, Princess, and Celebrity, so I'm looking for new lines where I feel happier, or at least can experience something new.

One solution I use is to prebook flights using Southwest miles. Then I wait for a cruise or airfare sale and rebook the flight or do a late booking on a cruise I want. If I don't go on the cruise, I simply cancel the SW flight and get my miles back. I've found this fall for Europe cruises it's possible to get both good cruise and airfare prices, even a few weeks out. So today I booked Island Princess for $680 solo inside for 14 nights and my sister and her husband also booked for about that, and we could find reasonable airfare. None of us would have gone on the cruise without the late price drop, given it's late in November, just as if I cruise Alaska in early May or late September it will take a good price drop to get me to risk bad weather, and it's almost impossible to fill all the ships going across the Atlantic or Pacific without price drops to enable greed to overcome fear of many days at sea without land. As a solo, it's not so much the price drops I care about as much as the dropping or reducing the solo supplement, which Princess and NCL often do, HAL never does, and Celebrity lately have been adding single supplements of 300% or more.

It might be settled here, but what matters is if it's settling for the people actually awarding or denying the SOBC. I don't have a high degree of confidence telling them 'somebody on cruisecritic said a Princess salesperson said they're combinable'. I'm extremely interested, because I just booked Island Princess for 14 days in November (the original itinerary map showed two Israel ports), and I'd like to get something in writing I can include with my email request.

NCL tried this after restart. They said they'd keep prices high and not do deep discounts, even at the cost of empty cabins, because it would devalue the brand. While they still keep prices higher, they're back to deep discounting close to sail date so they can fill ships and maintain occupancy over 100%. The reason why it isn't sustainable is because of competition, ships/itineraries/seasons that aren't popular, and because fares are like movie tickets--the real profits come from other things, as Fortuna Luck knows well. What's most reprehensible about this gimmick is advertising a Best Price Guarantee that's valid for only 72 hours, so meaningless and deceitful.

Somebody posted the number for their shareholder OBC rep, who I called once to get it applied for a last-minute cruise. So if somebody is denied, it might help sharing anything official from Princess. The military OBC page says it's combinable with other OBC too. It's definitely lost me Princess loyalty to not have military service and commitment to their poorly-performing, no-dividend stock. I went on a short cruise last month and got $50, but last week went on and HAL and got $150 for one night, since they give $100 military credit for any cruise. So non-combining was the first strike, cutting out free Alfredo's was the second, and if the new no-price-drop policy means no dropping of the single supplement close to sailing, I simply won't find Princess affordable and rewarding enough to sail on as a solo cruiser who cruises frequently and cheaply.

Put a mini-bottle in each pocket and one in each sock maybe, so no scanning. I wouldn't use my underwear, in case a lid set off the detector and you have a Spinal Tap moment, or get incontinent bottle leaks. You could also fill empty travel-size mouthwash bottles, or a screw-top wine bottle--vodka + cranberry juice = Cape Cod cabernet (I think I might try that myself on my next cruise, since I've never had anyone look at a bottle of wine). Or buy some alcohol at a port and fill a water bottle or a 2L Sprite bottle, or add a liter of rum to a liter of Coke and have your own Cubra Libre--I add some rum to 20 oz bottles of Coke Zero to take to movies sometimes.

Solstice was my first X cruise, in summer of 2022. Two other ships I was on, Carnival and Princess, didn't want to brave the ice to get close to Dawe's Glacier, but Solstice went through the ice and got close to the glacier. It was during a time of slumping fares, so I found some amazing bargains and booked Solstice 3 more times in Mexico and Pacific Coast, with an average price of $300 for a solo, with all-inclusive for 2 of the cruises. I didn't bother about cosmetics, like some cracked and stained windows in the Sky Lounge, since it was such a beautiful space and beautiful ship. I had nothing to compare it to until I got to Apex, so I loved the art, the design, the layout, the diverse and friendly crew, the entertainment, the younger crowd than I was used to after being mostly with HAL and Princess, even the clever sayings posted above public urinals. So I'd value the ice damage as a sign of honor, like the scars on an ancient whale who has traveled the world.

You might look at some of the evening party cruises too, which will be a blast--I watch them from the ship and listen to their music and dancing as they cruise around the bay. It looks like Celebrity just does more sedate sunset sails, but Viator or internet searches might bring up some party boats to go out on.

Very few cruise lines handle vegetarians and vegans, and the menus they provide are fairly lackluster. EmmaCruises on YouTube is vegetarian, and she posts photos on her blogs of menus and how she eats on ships--she said Azamara is the best for vegans and vegetarians. One solution is to ask for an Indian vegetarian menu, which I've had on HAL and Carnival but not on Celebrity. It will be mostly vegan, unless they cook with ghee butter. But with a lot of Indian waitstaff and probably Indian chefs and often head chefs, that's a more reliable way to get good, varied vegetarian foods, and you get skilled chefs cooking what they're best at, and they take a lot of pride in impressing passengers with skilled Indian cooking. It's a favorite of mine at home too, since little microwaveable packets of varied Indian dishes are easy to find, as well as vegetarian Indian dishes at Trader Joe's. If you're not comfortable with that, then I'd get most of your food from the buffet, with salads and made-to-order pasta, and the sushi place will have vegetarian rolls or California rolls or vegetarian ramens (or with lobster).

I'd take a look at Diamond Princess to compare itineraries. The ship is there year-round so they get more varied trips, often tied to Japanese festivals, like the Nebuta festival in Aomori at the tip of the mainland, which will be August 2-7 or so (I lived there for a few years, and the floats and parades were amazing). The further North you get in August, the less-hot it will be. The benefit of August is that there are festivals all over, and you'll be on a ship with a/c to come back to. The Celebrity solarium is also temperature-controlled, which is nice.

The problem with Dawe's Glacier is that it's at the end of a fjord with a sharp, narrow bend that's often too full of ice for ships to get near the glaciers. So in summer of 2022 I went on 3 cruises there, and only Solstice got close enough to see the glacier close. Still, it's fairly small, with no calving, but before the sharp turn the ship stops and drops off people who pay to go on a pricey excursion on a smaller boat, that should get closer. Glacier Bay is nice, but not incredible, since most of the glaciers going in are melting and receding, so there's only one at the end that reaches the water, but has nice calving. If you go from Vancouver to Whittier on Princess you'll go past College Fjord glaciers, which are also receding and thus not impressive. The best one is Hubbard Glacier, which you'll see if you go on Summit or Solstice. It's larger than the other glaciers, and actually growing, since it's cold enough and gets tons of ice flowing into it. It also has lots of impressive calving, but how close you get to it depends on the amount of ice in the bay. It sounds like cannons going off, the tons of ice crashing into the water. So I'd choose Solstice, because it's r/t from Vancouver, and a nice ship with a forward inside viewing lounge and two upper outside viewing lounges, and it visits Hubbard Glacier. Then if you want to return some day, you could go to Glacier Bay on Princess or HAL or NCL. Or you could go on Princess from Whittier, flying into Anchorage, and get both Hubbard and Glacier Bay, and since they have 3-4 ships going from there, prices are extremely cheap. I would highly advise against going out of Seattle, since you spend time on the open ocean to the west of Vancouver Island, with rough seas often, whereas ships going to and from Vancouver go on the calmer, more scenic inside passage on the west of Vancouver Island. Going out of Vancouver, you also sail under the Lion's Gate bridge, with maybe 20 feet of clearance, and bikers stopping to wave to you. Seattle prices are also outrageous and ships at over 100% capacity. There are many daily, inexpensive flights from Seatac to YVR in Vancouver, or you can take a scenic train from Seattle to Vancouver, or if you can fly into Bellingham, my home, and take a train or bus to Vancouver the next day.

Completely short-sighted approach, believing they can maintain high prices since they believe ships will be full forever and price-conscious consumers will pay higher than other lines who offer discounts. It also cuts out solo passengers like me who depend on last-minute fares with waived single supplement in order to afford cruises. There are some cruises that simply have low demand, like off-season Europe or one-way to Hawaii or Pacific Coastal cruises when they relocate their entire Alaska fleet. There are also the many N-S Alaska cruises that simply don't have enough demand to fill ships without last-minute discounts. Then it looks like the Best Price Guarantee is a complete lie, because it only lasts for 72 hours after booking. But of course they'll never lower fares, according to the new policy, no matter how many unsold cabins there are on a cruise, so they evidently think they're Tesla, so popular and so superior to the competition that they never need to deal or lower prices since there will always be enough demand to fill every cruise ship around the world. Meanwhile, all their competition will drop prices in order to fill ships--NCL is the master of this, but I've also chosen last-minute discounts on HAL and Celebrity, their direct competitors. Granted, I'd prefer a low upfront price for a cruise, where I wouldn't have to play the game of fare adjustments or the pain of seeing a last-minute drop on a cruise I paid much more for, but if all your competitors play the usual way, then you'll lose out, as Saturn did when they tried to maintain one-price car sales. I look at future Europe cruises, and none are affordable for me as a solo cruiser, whereas I was able to find Azamara in Spain for $100/day and Virgin for $100/day also. Princess has several for under $100/day for a solo this fall, but that's only because of last-minute discounts, and even those aren't filling ships--I went on Royal in May, after it had arrived from Australia only 40% full, even after last-minute discounts, so I don't think they really understand the laws of supply and demand, or think ahead to what will happen if inflation, a recession, generational changes, or even a significant military conflict would have on their expectations of high demand for their brand going forward. Personally, I'm kind of bored of their ships and find them too cramped and stressful at full capacity, the ships stink of casino smoke now, and I'm sick of their menus and buffets and shows and activities, and I have zero interest in even bigger new ships with family gimmicks and exclusive areas. My favorite YouTube cruise blogger, Gary B. on TipsforTravelers, also feels the same way about Princess now, and finds the newer Celebrity ships (with non-smoking casinos, ahem) and other brands much more interesting. I really wanted to make Princess my only cruise line, especially after I reached Elite, but all the punches in the face recently have really damaged my loyalty: no combining military and shareholder OBC, no home delivery of medallion or free Alfredo's without Plus, and no more last-minute discounts.

I'm Elite with Princess and go on NCL, but as a price-conscious solo I simply don't play along for all the money-making temptations, like casino, photos, bingo, packages, or other nonsense, particularly Princess now charging for room service or the previously-free Alfredo's pizza. I think people get upset about having to pay for go karts or other things on NCL, but I realize that's how they make money. They can be a little sneaky with FAS, giving only a limited amount of free internet, counting on most people to burn through it and pay for more, and they hide the $20 or so daily gratuities for the 'free' drinks package. They're also sneaky about selling $250 future cruise deposits, so I was fooled into buying more than I wanted by their sneaky phrasing. As with every other cruise line, realize they have a mountain of debt and have to pay for their fancy new ships, so they're going to try to extract as much from passengers as possible, but it's your choice whether or not to play along. Every other line has been cutting back and increasing prices, but people still are filling (and often overfilling) ships, so with NCL it's best to focus on the positives. For me it's the outside walk around most of the ship with incredible views, especially since all the other lines are cutting out wraparound promenades entirely. Then the Broadway and other shows are better than anything on Princess, and they have a comedy club (book as soon as you get on the ship) and Beatles band on many ships. So to me it's a nice middle-road between the insanity of the megaships of Royal and the dull old people ships of HAL and Princess. Even with food, I look at the positive--NCL has the most extensive Indian menu of any line in their buffets, as well as scoop ice cream, which Princess doesn't offer. And for pricing, NCL has incredible last-minute deals for a solo like myself.

I'm also fond of the $100 military benefit, regardless of cruise length, which I combined with shareholder on a 4-night coastal cruise last week. One of the reasons I've cut out Princess as my primary line was because they stopped allowing military and shareholder OBC to be combined, which disrespects my military service and loyalty to holding their poor stock with no dividends. Another thing I've only noticed HAL do is refund excess port fees, but on the final evening of the cruise, so make sure you look at your account the final evening and hit the shops or bars if you find you have more to spend.

You might look at the HAL Volendam, which is small enough to go all the way to Montreal, which also seems to have cheaper airfares. It only carries up to 1400 passengers and has a wraparound promenade by the water and covered Lido pool, so I think it's fairly ideal for colder weather with good natural scenery. Likewise, there's Zaandam doing Alaska now, r/t from Vancouver, and it gets into Glacier Bay, which the Celebrity ships don't. After the first year of startup and the delight of ships at 30% or so occupancy (800 pax on Solstice last January--perfect), I've been getting burned out by huge ships at full capacity (even Apex), so I've been try to aim for smaller ships, even going ultra-small on Azamara for a Spain cruise in April.

You just have to find what every line does well and steer towards that food. For instance, I order pizza on Princess, Guy's burgers on Carnival, but skip them on X (although on X they had enough pizza demand that I could get a slice when it was fresh out of the oven). The same goes for buffet desserts on X, which are now mostly just bland cakes (except for baclava day), so I get my sugar from the ice cream bar. That extends to the rest of the buffet and the MDR, so if I see a lackluster evening menu I'll check out the buffet or go to the sushi place instead. So overall Carnival has the worst food at sea, but if I go with Guy's burgers, Blue Iguana Mexican food, and Indian vegetarian dinners, then I really love their food (and I like their ice cream machine better than the sludge on Princess and Royal). After two disappointing Mast burgers, I learned not to go back, and to stock some backup food in my cabin if I'm hungry and between buffet times.

My advice is to order the Carnival brand beers, which come in cans. Then just say your wife is saving your spot by the pool and you want a second beer for her. I would think an inside bar might object to taking a cocktail in a glass, because usually only plastic glasses are allowed by pools. If they try to open a can, just say you don't want them touching the top, which would be basic sanitation anyway.

The kinks will be more of crew getting used to new spaces, from engines to kitchen. I've been on a few initial sailings after refurbs where I didn't have hot water, showroom tech systems didn't work, and other issues, but it should be worked out by the time Firenze gets to Long Beach, from wherever it originates. I'm glad I snagged one of the 5-days to Cabo in Dec 2024 for $55/nt for an upper-lower solo cabin. I love Cabo and whale-watching, so it's good to have another choice between dull 4-night Ensenada ones and dull 7-night ones, especially since I don't care for Discovery Princess and Koningsdam, nor can I afford their high prices now. It will make more of a juggling act for 4-night ones that include Catalina, with Radiance and Navigator of the Seas already going there. I'm sure the flocks of seagulls that love Guy's fries will also be overjoyed to have another Carnival ship to feed off of and soil the poop deck (anyone remember the trashy fishing line barriers on top of the Inspiration/Imagination to deter seagull food thieves?)

It depends on cruise length, too, and time of year, so school breaks will draw more families, and longer cruises will draw more older people. It depends on the class of ship, too--I went on Celebrity Apex, and it felt very upscale, with a lot of obvious wealth on board, and they have two production casts doing shows every night in three different venues. I just got off a HAL cruise with no more classical quartet or even a contracted dance company, just 4 singers singing "Mmm-bop" songs and a Billboard piano duo who sang like a bad karaoke duo, The newer ships have a Rolling Stone lounge, which livens things up a bit, and a fancier show room, but to me the dropping of production shows and nothing but corporatized music shows makes the evening vibe on HAL dismal, especially on formal nights, when people have a "I got dressed up for this?" attitude towards the shows. The daytime vibe is mostly older people staring at Kindles and younger people in the pool, and a lot of people I wish would keep a shirt or robe on. If it's not school break, I think NCL and Celebrity and RC have the most youthful vibe, whereas Princess has women who really love bingo and their yappy dogs and HAL seems to have the world's largest concentration of bickering old couples and seniors who manage to stay upright with canes and sticks and walkers even in the roughest of seas. And I've noticed the last month that HAL and Princess are back to having a lot of mask-wearers, even outside, but of course they take them off in crowded buffets, restaurants, and bars, because um, chairs provide immunity?

I've met former HAL singers on other lines. Brian who was in the excellent Westerdam shows (Alice in Wonderland, fairy tales) is on Celebrity Apex, which has two production casts, doing shows in 3 different venues. I saw curly-haired Patrick on Ruby Princess, who I remember from another HAL ship. Every line except for HAL is willing to pay for production shows and casts, including actual Broadway shows, not a choice of 3 interpretive dance shows with 4 dancers. Other lines also have varied musicians around the ship, not corporate robots playing the same approved setlists on every ship, on every cruise, in sponsored venues. I miss piano guys playing requests and interacting with people, and a Ukrainian girl in the Adagio classical duo learning a Mozart sonata and playing it for me.

Don't don't don't do the Princess transfer! There are few flights and few passengers at Hobby, so they'll make you wait up to 2 hours until they have enough people to half-fill a bus. I got there at 9, and didn't leave the airport until 11:30, with a long walk and getting everyone, including the many who are mobility impaired on the bus. With more Covid now, I'd also not want to wait with others in a seating area for hours, which also had passengers from Carnival and Royal. Then when we got to the ship a porter got on the bus and yelled out that they expect $5 a bag for their services. So a very awful and unpleasant start to a vacation, when there are much better options. You'll find that for 2 people, an Uber or Lyft is affordable and convenient, especially if you stay the night before in a hotel, but there are also several van services that pick up from the airport and cruise port that are quicker to leave and cheaper than Princess. Galveston Express and Island Breeze are the most affordable ones. A van or car is going to be quicker and more maneuverable on the freeway too, especially on a Sunday morning. On the return trip, I'd actually do the Princess transfer, if your flight time is later, because the van service picked up people from the huge Royal ship first and was fairly full and delayed by the time it got to Princess. Or you can just get an Uber or Lyft and get to the airport much quicker. Download the Uber and Lyft apps and learn how to use them, and then do pretend bookings on a Sunday morning to check fares each way.

Another thing I found on Royal last week is that they seriously upped the Indian options in the buffet, which offers great vegetarian options. They actually had a different Indian theme every night, based on geography, I think--I remember a Hyderabad night. I like to graze early at the buffet and eat in the MDR after 8, so having different Indian light options is really nice (especially now that I can't have my usual late-afternoon free Alfredo's pizza, sigh).