Essiesmom

Civtavecchia usually has a shuttle bus to port gate. Naples is right there...Malaga is a bit of a walk. Malta can be a walk, too. Get a copy of Rick Steves' Mediterranean Cruise Ports. You might not need it for the touring info, but he will tell you what the port pier is like. EM

By the time I got to the cams after seeing this, Pedro Miguel was clearing out, but there was still a backup at Miraflores. I have never seen then allow ships this close in the locks. EM

Oh yes, I’ve had early mornings. He king the cams and had the entire pic disappear into fog. EM

I believe the Sugar Train is only bootable thru the cruise line. It is half bus, half train. I loved it. They have dedicated mini buses, each matches to the car on the train. Half of the excursion is around half of the island on the buses, with stops. Then the buses pull up to where you board the train, and each bus empties into its own car. I was slow and in the last bus, so was in the last car on the train. This was the afternoon tour, the morning tour does the train first. The train is double decker, open air up top, tables below and a rest room lower level. EM

There are a number of pictures of these cabins on cruisedeckplans.com. They are deep and dark, with limited views. I saw two cabins with loungers, most had only two chairs and a table. EM

I think it depends on the location. I haven’t sailed MSC in Europe, only from Miami (Divina, Seaside, Armonia). Those cruises were 40% or more guests from outside North America, and I noted the women stepped it up a bit, even on cruise casual nights. You Brits know your own people…but we did a short 4 day cruise on Cunard, and found the locals - and there were very few of us who were not local…dressed every night, not just the formal night. EM

I have found many interesting bottles just combing the shelves in Walmart and Target. Also other stores. If the bottle isn’t insulated, you can buy insulated covers. I have ordered from Amazon, Etsy, etc. Luglife has a nice one with holder. You can get all kinds and sizes of bottles on Amazon, and holders. EM

Not sure if HAL offers this, but on Princess B2B with turnaround in Whittier, we took an excursion to Anchorage with stops at wildlife sanctuary and Alyeska resort. In Anchorage we were dropped at a convention center with time to wander around, shop, have lunch. Then bussed back to Whittier. Good narration on the bus. EM

What is included in your fort tour, and what does it cost? There used to be a free ho-ho shuttle trolley that dropped you at both forts. El Moro opens at 0930 and adult admission is $10. We got in free with senior national park passes. You get a guide leaflet and can do it on your own time. EM

That’s fine if you want nightlife, but if you want to visit the rainforest, forts, museums, etc. you will not have time. I believe Princess removed all of the barrel chairs from staterooms, leaving on,y the seating at the vanity/desk, unless you have a deluxe balcony or mini suite. Of course, there will be two chairs on the balcony. EM

Not sure if all 2024 itineraries are out yet, but my research using cruisetimetables.com brings up Carnival Pride from Tampa on 31 March. Also Celebrity Summit from Miami on 15 April. Not sure if you are aware that these ships will not dock at the same place on Roatan. Summit will use Coxen Hole, Pride will visit Mahogany Bay, a port created by Carnival Corp for their family of cruise lines. We have visited there with a Costa ship. EMEM

I answered on you HAL thread. Go for Cunard. Variety is the spice of life. EM

Have not sailed Rotterdam or QV, but have sailed Oosterdam, Westerdam, Nieuw Amsterdam; QE2, QM2, QE. My vote is for QV. Love the elegance and ambiance of Cunard. And I can make a little black dress go a long way. EM

Somewhere on the Princess website it probably tells you how late you can cancel an excursion without penalty. Sometimes it is 14 hours…. EM

Oddly, I have found some people apparently come here and post a review, and never post anywhere else. It has been suggested that a member needs a certain measure of activity before the show up in the member list. ‘Tis a puzzlement. EM

When you look at the deck plans, there are different symbols in the cabins that tell you if there is a sofa bed, upper bunk, etc. your section of inside cabins are all for two only. If the deck plans you are looking at do not show this, go to cruisedeckplans.com and learn to navigate their deck plans. EM

What you have is a junior balcony. There is no couch or chair other than what is at the desk. The balcony is shallower than a standard balcony. But…it’s not an inside cabin. EM

I would bet if you booked MSC Seaside in the Caribbean, you would have drinking age 18. You would also have very few Americans, as most don’t even know these cruises exist. And if you were calling the US numbers for MSC, they probably don’t know much, either. Most of those cruises embark and debark in every port so the guests are continually changing. But it also means no long lines at embarkation. I see Royal Caribbean has one of their oldest ships, Rhapsody of the Seas, sailing 7 day cruises in the Southern Caribbean. Only one sea day, looks like a good cruise. When is your son leaving, and to what branch of service? If there is a possibility he might be stationed in Germany, sailing AIDA or TUI would be in interesting immersion experience in German. Culture and cuisine. They are a bit expensive, though. EM

If you live in STT you might find it easier to sail one of the European lines that cruise from various Caribbean islands and do not touch US ports. MSC, Costa, P&O-UK (Barbados), Fred Olsen. If you go to www.cruisetimetables.com and choose some of the islands in the Sail from list, you can find those cruises. About Mexico…the joke used to be that if you can see over the top of the bar, they will serve you. EM

Some people drink bottled water at home and prefer it. To me, it is a waste of money. The only time you might want bottled water is on a very long cruise, like a world cruise. You may notice crew members returning to the ship with packages of water. This is because the distilled water the ship makes lacks the minerals in shoreside tap water, and the body needs this. Since crew may be on for 6-10 months at a time, they need to replenish these minerals so buy bottled water. EM

For the largest, mass market lines, the highest fares are summer and over holidays, when kids are not in school and families can travel. Some of the least expensive times are between Thanksgiving and Christmas, just after New Years…. Prices also drop a bit after Labor Day in September when most kids go back to school. One of the paradoxes is that shorter cruises can be more expensive than a cruise a day or two longer. For instance, my closest cruise port is Jacksonville, Florida. The ship there does four and five night cruises. The cruise that leaves Monday and returns Saturday is less expensive than one that leaves Thursday and returns Monday, because the shorter cruise requires fewer days off work or out of school, so more families book it. EM

At the top left of the Carnival page, just below the red star with Find your roll call…is See posts about…and a drop down menu of ship names. Click on Magic and you will get a list of threads mentioning the Magic. Lots of members don’t know about that feature. EM

This is just a suggestion as to how you might contact them. Notice in Host Kat’s reply, she highlighted your name by adding @ in front of it. If you have notifications turned on, you would have got a message that you were mentioned, usually an email. If perhaps you were to go to the forum here for the cruise line of that review, and start a thread addressed to that person, and in the message part highlight their username…if they have notifications turned on, they will see your thread/questions and answer. EM

Easy peasy. Look at the deck plans. If you cabin has a symbol for convertible couch or upper bunk, they will be by the balcony, and the bed by the bath. Your cabin has the couch, so bed is by bath. EM

I remember a number of years ago, chatting with the shopping guy, shirt of a pseudo officer…. He said he could eat in the buffet, but there were limits as to what he could have. For instance, he would need another half stripe to have sushi… We did the Behind the Fun tour on Carnival Glory, and there were at least two crew mess areas, and they rotated the days they had Indian, Filipino, Indonesian food. There was also an officers mess, and new dining room staff were trained there before going to other areas of the ship. EM