rodndonna

Exactly - plastic items that are "reusable" are allowed. Ducks are kept/reused, personal refillable water bottles are reused. Single use plastic bottles for soda or water are a no-no. I was rather stunned on our NCL cruise that they were still using plastic single use glasses on the outside decks. I didn't think any cruise line still did that.

I'm with you - it never seems to get better for anything we have booked. The only cruises that seem to get any good discount are cruises like transatlantics or other repositioning that might not typically sail as full. I like using Cruiseplum to track historical pricing on various cruises (and our bookings). It's not a booking site - so with cruisecritic rules to give it a mention. https://www.cruiseplum.com/ You don't have to sign up to search and look at historical pricing - it is only required for getting alerts.

I agree. I don't technically partake of the duck thing (I'll re-hide one if I come upon one) but why not let folks have their fun. No shortage of environmentally offensive hobbies out there - but I rank the ducks pretty low with a high reuse component (it's not like you find it and turf it sort of thing)

We've only done it once. It was Toronto to San Juan. It was a "day of cruise departure" flight - so it was clear we would end up on either AC or Westjet direct flights as they were the 2 options for that flight (with virtually identical timings). We were given AC flights - cheapest fare - but that worked well for us as we get free baggage with our credit card on AC flights. Take a look at the flight options for your flight and you should get a pretty good idea of what you might get for flights. It will be the cheapest fare of one of the cheapest options - so keep that in mind. FWIW - our flight costs with NCL came in at about the lowest price the flight price was ever offered before our cruise - so it was a good way to lock in low air fare well in advance of our cruise (without paying for it until final payment). Some folks have had bad experience, but I think it can work well in some circumstances and would likely use it again.

We're retired but last minute flight costs (and booking dog boarding) have made it difficult to ever capitalize on "last minute" deals .. 😏

When I click through pricing on the cruises we are interested in - I still see options available for a reduced fare (without HIA).

We've taken a couple of HAL Can/NE cruises both starting and ending in Boston. We've used the free Silver Line transit to get to and from the airport. The stop is a short walk from the cruise port so maybe not an option for those with mobility issues - but otherwise an easy cheap/quick option to get to/from the airport.

We had a final payment reminder in Dec 2024 for a March 2025 cruise - is nothing like the email you received (and received at the appropriate timeframe for 90 das before sailing). Also confused about the card on file bit .. Sounds like a scam email...

Wow - Hoping he has a great "1st of many" cruises!

On our last cruise - we ordered 2 beer at happy hour - and the Bartender asked - "do you want 10?" - 🤔 Long story short we got 2 beer buckets of 5 for the price of 4 for the price of one bucket (10 beer for the price of 4) and were allowed to take the bucket(s) with us.

An interesting update on this topic- We are checking in for an AC flight tomorrow (not a cruise) where we each have a golf bag (which is essentially just oversized check-in bag and inour case covered by our credit card) and then we typically go with each a carry on or suck it up and pay to check on bag between us. After we pass the step of each saying we have a checked bag- it is offering to take our check-in our carry-on's no charge. This is not a cruise, but a vacation package .. so not sure if is is all flights or unique to this instance (where the package also provides a bag). Regardless - It sounds like they are preparing the carry oner's to convert to becoming checker's....😀

I could be wrong... but as far as I know AC is actually the last Canadian airline to start charging for carry on bags when booking the cheapest fare. I can't think of any that don't (including Porter and Westjet) They are a business ..so yeah.. they want (need) to find ways to make more money. I guess it could be called greed - but I think that is the essence for all businesses.

Well.. they are a business.. so that would stand to reason. Should be a win-win - additional revenue and reduce carry on chaos

Happy to see these changes coming in. Hoping it reduces the chronic carry-on chaos.

Are they charging customers to look for items that the RATP lost? That would seem unacceptable. Or ...are they charging to look for something a patron claims to have been lost (or think it might have been left/lost) while riding the subway? This scenario seems like an acceptable time to charge to look for a lost item. Who knows.. maybe they lost it on the subway .. maybe it was stolen.. maybe they lost it (or was stolen) before or after riding the subway ...

I have one experience with a Celebrity cancelled cruise. They offered a refund or an additional credit of $200 OBC f we booked (in an email which we still have) - and we rebooked. Long story short - we never got the $200 and after numerous calls and emails I gave up - it just wasn't worth my time anymore to chase that $200OBC. (I'm thinking like 5 emails and 5 calls attempt) The way it unfolded was we rebooked when we got the email with our PCC who said the $200 will show up when we get an official email (which we already had) which would be in addition to the standard $150 OBC on the booking promotion sale going on. As it never showed up we kept chasing it via emails and via calls.. to get continual runarounds .. she eventually left Celebrity - so we called in and spoke with another chap - we explained everything again - he seemed confused - left us on hold to speak to someone else (Manager?) who then said it was there (which was just the standard booking deal of $150 independent of the $200 we were supposed to get due to cancellation - in the end they topped that $150 to $200 and said - there! (Of course we should have had $150 + $200 for a total of $350) ... But I gave up and decided I would in the future just be vey careful when dealing with Celebrity in terms of cancellation "offers" ....

We're 2 weeks aways from taking a holiday with our oversized golf bag luggage - so looking to pull the trigger this weekend. 🙂

Since Covid we've had a couple of cruises from San Juan and had pretty decent flight prices in line with our Florida flights prices using major carriers. I haven't really found flights to Florida to be any picnic these days and would rater overpay on flight to cruise from San Juan when possible. We have cruises booked currently from Miami, Tampa and San Juan over the next 18 months ..so I guess I'l keep following prices and watch for sales - AC and Westjet both have direct flight form Toronto.

The prices for the older ships in the Caribbean are pretty good I think and we like (based in 1 sailing anyway) that Millie/Constellation size ship.

We booked a fall 2026 Ascent TA sailing the other morning when someone on here pointed out what seemed to be an error in the pricing (the All Inclusive part was not being added pricewise) - so we nabbed that quick before it got fixed. I saw your post and thought something like that happened again - haha. We are not "suite" folks but am also trying MSC YC (on an inside) in March 😀

Bummer - I misread your title and thought I was coming to read a thread about some super crazy cheap newly released cruises ...😢

I'd say Zaandam because because - it is smaller/quieter and there will be less young people (and kids). If you are moving away from lines like MSC and X, then a small HAL ship like Zandaam provides a unique experience that you won't get on those lines and would be worth trying. I generally find service is better on smaller ships as the crew has a better chance to get to know passengers. I also find passengers tend to be a little more friendly or cordial with each other on the smaller ships.

In September we got the Volendam/Zandaam tile (after 2 previous 150 tile cruises)

Same here - As a Canadian I typically find US restaurants too salty. I haven't really found that with cruises in general (and have not sailed on Azamara yet) - but always think less salt is better as we can just add it if it is needed for our taste.

That sounds like how FlightEase (HAL) and Princess EZAir work - but in those programs - you are eventually "ticketed" at least few days preceding the flight and at that point you are then dealing with the airline directly if something arises. Some people chose early ticketing (an option) as they want to start dealing with the airline (for seat selection or such) .