Going on a Cruise?

[MizzouCowboy]

Originally Posted by MrBug708

I'm going on a 12 day Med. cruise that departs Barcelona on Wednesday.

Awesome! Should be a great honeymoon to say the least.

I took my wife on a 12 day Med. cruise for our 20th anniversary 'bout 6 years ago. We departed out of Citacavechia (I'm sure that's spelled wrong), which some how Carnival calls Rome. Anyway, it was an amazing trip and seen stuff that we never thought we'd see. My favorite port was Dubrovnik, Croatia. Just a beautiful city and the people were the friendliest I'd ever seen.

The only bad thing for me was being on the ship for 12 days. The first week or so was great, but by the 10th day I couldn't wait to get out of there. I really think it was because we had an interior cabin. Without any light coming in you really had no idea if it was morning, night, or whenever.

[MrBug708]

Ya...12 days might be long, but it's pretty port intensive, so I'm hoping that will keep us from getting too antsy

[tyketime]

Originally Posted by Lathum

We are doing Princess as well, leaving from Seattle, which is obviously convenient for us. Our ship is the golden princess.

It stops in Juneau, Ketchikan,Skagway, and Victoria with a "scenic" cruise day.

In Juneau we are doing



In Skagway we are doing


And in Ketchikan we are doing




Really excited about the excursions. We also have a couples massage planned to relax our tired bones from the excursions and my wife has various mani/pedi/facials scheduled. I will likely be drinking and gambling during those.

We are leaving the little one with Nana and PopPop and are really looking forward to alone time, long quiet meals, and lots of sleep.

One of the things that sucks for us is we live cross country from our whole family and we tend to spend all our vacation time on visits. We decided this year to do something for ourselves and are really looking forward to it.

My wife & I cruised on the Golden Princess last August (My mother-in-law paid for cruise to celebrate her 70th birthday). Mrs Tyke and I have done 6 or 7 cruises now. We found this one to be our least favorite. The ports are beautiful, and I will mention our excursions down below. But as far as the ship itself, we thought it was a little older. The age demographic skewed quite a bit older (as we expected it would). But that, in turn, led to less enjoyable nights on the ship as many of the passengers had already gone to bed earlier. As you will be in Alaska with colder temperatures, most people choose not to hang outside (except for Glacier Bay - and you have to get up really early for that). We made the most of it since my wife's sisters and spouse are all relatively the same age (40-49).

In Juneau, we did a bike tour as well which was very cool. The van drove us to top of mountain, and we rode down stopping a few times for scenic reasons. We ended up down by the water which was beautiful with a glacier in the background.

In Skagway, we did the Train ride. It was cool to ride an "older" train up the mountain pass. The scenery was magnificent, and when we stopped at the top, it was breath-taking views and so very quiet. But then the train came back down basically the exact same route. So the ride up was great, the ride back felt long and not as exciting.

In Ketchikan, we did the Zip Line Adventure. I weigh 220, and had never zipped before. I was scared shitless on the first "practice" line. But after the 2nd or 3rd one, I relaxed and enjoyed it. On the last (and longest) line, we zipped across a river and there was a baby bear running across an open field. This was by far my favorite shore excursion, and certainly a highlight of the entire cruise.

I hope that you and your wife have a great trip. Enjoy the alone time - it sounds like you need it.

[tyketime]

Lathum - 2 other things:

1. We were booked on Deck 3. This is one of the 2 decks whee passengers get on/off the ship. We were awoken a couple of mornings to the gangway planks being maneuvered into position. It was very loud. I found several reviews online where others complained about the same situation. The Purser's Desk acted as if this was the 1st time they had heard of the problem. We did get a $40 credit, but truthfully - it was a real problem for us.

2. The exercise room is OK. That first day of sailing at sea was very rough (until you get up closer to Alaska). We signed up for a Spinning Class. I was on one end, and I rocked front and back which was troubling, but OK. Others who were in the middle of the semi-circle swayed side to side. At least 2 of them got sick and had to quit the class. Exercising on the treadmill will also make you thankful for the side rails. I never use them in a "regular" workout, but had to hang on while in choppy waters.

So plan accordingly.

[Lathum]

Thanks for the feedback Tyke. I'm going to see if I can find out what deck we are on prior to boarding. We are staying in a mini suite, not sure if that makes a difference.

I likely will not be exercising while on the ship, so no worries there.

As for the late nights we tend to go to bed on the early side. We aren't interested in nightclubs. We'll do some shows than maybe drink in a bar or the casino.

[terpkristin]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Leaving for an Alaskan cruise next Saturday. Really excited. We have a lot of excursions and spa time planned. Can not wait.

Go whale-watching and bring a good camera. Are you going to do a land tour, too? Will you guys be visiting the glaciers?

I had an amazing time in Alaska. I'd love to go back.

/tk

[terpkristin]

I did the same Princess cruise in 2010 (all the same stops, plus we did the land cruise), 1 week on the water and 1 week on land. We did our whale-watching in Juneau. Toward the end we went to College Fjords and Glacier Bay which I guess not all cruises are authorized to go to.

My entire set of photos is here (215 pictures): Cruise to Alaska, August 2010 - a set on Flickr but my favorite 2 are 20100814 thru 20 Alaska Part 1 1274 Harvard Glacier Calving 1 | Flickr - Photo Sharing! and 20100814 thru 20 Alaska Part 1 555 Juneau Whale Watching Humpback Sasha Fluke | Flickr - Photo Sharing! from the water portion. We did the land portion too and got to see Denali. 20100820 thru 24 Alaska Part 2 423 McKinley Sunrise play with lighting | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

/tk

[Kodos]

[Lathum]

Videos are blocked at work, and given the cruise ship that has been in the news I'm not sure I want to see that video anyway

[MrBug708]

Certainly sounds terrible, buy planning on going on a cruise this summer

[Desnudo]

Make sure to bring one of these

Amazon.com: BABYBJORN Potty Chair, Blue: Baby

[Scarecrow]

We were scheduled to go on the Triumph next month. Switched on Tuesday to the Carnival Magic during the same time; new ship + 2 more days + stops in Hondurus, Belize, & Mexico instead of just Mexico = $750 (but well worth it).

[Dutch]

This one is making the rounds with my military buddies on FB.

[kcchief19]

Yeah, I have a very low tolerance for cruise ship disasters. If the boat goes down and there's fatalities, we can talk. If you have to sleep in a tent or take a dump in a plastic bag, yeah, it was a bad cruise. But it's not like it was the Titanic. I saw some moron last night who said the conditions on board were similar to the Superdome following Katrina. Really? Were gangs of starving criminals stabbing people on the lido deck?

[Dutch]

wow, lmao! "only 51 people died!?...I thought it was like a 1,000...that's no tragedy!" haha!

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by kcchief19

Yeah, I have a very low tolerance for cruise ship disasters. If the boat goes down and there's fatalities, we can talk. If you have to sleep in a tent or take a dump in a plastic bag, yeah, it was a bad cruise. But it's not like it was the Titanic. I saw some moron last night who said the conditions on board were similar to the Superdome following Katrina. Really? Were gangs of starving criminals stabbing people on the lido deck?

Love it

(Tho I don't believe anyone was stabbing anyone else in the Superdome but I could be wrong)

SI

[AnalBumCover]

Thought I'd give this a fair bump since we see the Disney Vacation thread and the Hawaii Suggestion thread frequent the front page.

I think I got spoiled by Celebrity Cruises during my 2018 trip to the Mediterranean (Italy, Malta, Greece). I'd prefer not go on any other cruise line, except maybe Disney. The food and onboard experiences were top-notch.

Over the next couple of years, we plan on doing a Caribbean cruise, and maybe Alaska. Definitely another European cruise, but that's a little bit further off into the future.

[Ksyrup]

We just booked a 6 night Caribbean cruise for mid-February with my wife's parents. I've never done a cruise. We were supposed to do an Alaska cruise in 2020 but, you know. I figure this will be a decent starter trip. It's Carnival but we purposely went with affordable so we could get a nice suite.

[sterlingice]

I posted this on another board somewhat recently. I've only been on one cruise before (Alaska about 6 years ago) and have tried to brainstorm where would be a good cruise destination. Here's my basic thoughts and open to what I haven't thought of:

I have no desire to go on the drunk party boat leaving from Galveston or Florida or whatever. I think those are the ones that fit under the category like others have said where you can just go to a resort and get the same thing.

I think an ideal cruise desintation is somewhere where you don't stop at any one place for, say, 5 days, but an area where you'd spend a day or two in a lot of places.

I would totally go back to Alaska on a cruise and see some things we saw before and some new things. I'd also want to pair it with a land trip to Denali. We couldn't do that last time as our parents had volunteered to watch our son before he was born and they even tried to back out so we were limited to cruise and go home for time.

We just got back from Hawaii and I could see that as a viable way to see all the islands or a number of them. We spent a week each on the Big Island and Oahu and I don't think I need to spend any more time on Oahu in my life but if you haven't been, spending a day or two on each major island could work.. That said, if I went back to Hawaii, I'd probably just spend some more time on the Big Island, some time on Maui, and some time on Kauai. It costs less than $100 a ticket on Hawaiian Airlines to go between the islands so there might be more bang for buck both in cost and time to fly between them and drive around on them rather than being restricted to cruise ship hours of like 8-5 and then having to be back on the boat.

I can't see Western Europe as good for this. I'd want to spend a week in London or Paris or wherever and a cruise just doesn't afford you the ability to really dig into a location unless it's the first or last stop on your trip and then you can spend a couple of extra non-cruise days there.

For that reason, I think the Mediterranean could work for us. We've visited Italy before so the fact that Rome deserves like 5 days isn't as big of a deal for us. Maybe something like start in Barcelona and end up in Athens. Spend a little extra time at the start and end of the trip but also get a day or two in places like the South of France, Monaco, some of the smaller Italian cities, maybe Eastern Europe, etc.

Same for Northern Europe. Like I'm not sure how many days you really need in the Scandinavian cities or northern/eastern Europe but it would be a good sampler of a lot of countries. I think those river cruises in the same area are the same idea.

Maybe Southeast Asia? But it seems like a lot of countries don't have cruise ports or that western ships visit them.

There are some places I just have no interest in doing like the Caribbean (drunken party boats) or United States (I can just drive/fly). Also, there are places that I don't want to cruise but want to spend more time in: Japan, Australia/New Zealand, Egypt, Western Europe.

My parents did the South American coast with an excursion to Antarctica. But I feel that you have to do Antarctica last - it has to be your 7th continent. And I still haven't been to Asia (except part of Turkey), Africa, or Australia. So that's a long way off.

In a similar aspirational vein, I've always wanted to do an around the world trip like Phileas Fogg, using different modes of transportation to get around the world and stop in many major cities along the way. Take a cruise across the Atlantic, take the Trans-Siberian railroad across parts of Asia, etc. But, until I win the lottery, or something like that - it's not going to happen.

SI

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

I have no desire to go on the drunk party boat leaving from Galveston or Florida or whatever. I think those are the ones that fit under the category like others have said where you can just go to a resort and get the same thing.

Here in California, we call that the "Booze Cruise" which is usually reserved for the 3-4 day one-stop from Los Angeles/San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico during Spring Break. And it certainly lives up to its name. Anything longer, with more ports in the itinerary, and you'll less likely experience the booze cruise vibe.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We just booked a 6 night Caribbean cruise for mid-February with my wife's parents. I've never done a cruise. We were supposed to do an Alaska cruise in 2020 but, you know. I figure this will be a decent starter trip. It's Carnival but we purposely went with affordable so we could get a nice suite.

I'm guessing cruises require proof of vaccination (and maybe booster) but not daily testing while on the cruise. But if you did fall Covid sick in cruise (e.g. fell ill and then got tested on the cruise), I'm guessing you get quarantined?

[Ksyrup]

I don't know. We've got a few months to figure it out. We haven't started filling out all the info they require yet, just booked it.

We got the Havana Cabana suite which provided some unique room upgrades (swinging hammock chair on the balcony, 3 closets and a rain shower), plus the Havana deck is only accessible to Havana deck guests until 5pm every day, so we can have less crowded pool, bar, and dining options (and no one under 12 allowed).

I figured that was a good option for us and my wife's 75-80 year old parents.

[Edward64]

Hah, I was thinking that sounded really romantic and then you added

good option for us and my wife's 75-80 year old parents

[Ksyrup]

They have never been able to travel like we (and my parents) have. And we just got back from 2 weeks in Hawaii with my parents. So we're taking them on the cruise as a gift. Caribbean was the best option for a late winter/early spring trip (we're already booked for the summer). Plus, at their age, they can't be as active as we are so a cruise makes sense. When we vacation, we don't sit still. Even on Kauai for 12 days, we did about as much as we were physically capable of doing (and left my parents when it was stuff they weren't up to). My wife's parents are older by 3-5 years and not in as good a shape.

But yeah, there will be no private time that week...

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'm guessing cruises require proof of vaccination (and maybe booster) but not daily testing while on the cruise. But if you did fall Covid sick in cruise (e.g. fell ill and then got tested on the cruise), I'm guessing you get quarantined?

correct. Vaccination and a negative test a day prior to boarding are required. If you do get it there is a bank of rooms reserved to quarantine people.

We are going on an Alaskan cruise next July and I belong to some facebook groups and you can imagine this is a hot topic. Lots of stories of people coughing a lot, runny noses, people not testing because they don't wanna ruin their expensive trip, etc...

This will be our 3rd Alaskan cruise and I can not recommend it enough. We did Princess for the first two and are doing Royal Caribbean this time. We are bringing the kids and RC has more kid type stuff. We got a great deal and decided to do 2 rooms adjoining so the kids will have their own space. Plus the balcony opens up so its like one long balcony, hich is a must for Alaska

[Ksyrup]

I was so stoked for our Alaska cruise that never happened. We had a large suite on the back of the ship with a huge balcony, it would have been great. We'll eventually get there.

[GrantDawg]

We went on a cruise 20+ years ago, and had a good time. I have been thinking of doing another, but I'm not sure the wife is going to want to.

[Ksyrup]

Things can change by February, but according to the Carnival site we have to be fully vaccinated and provide proof of a negative test taken within 24 to 72 hours of the time of sailing. That shouldn't be difficult - especially since very few people are testing anymore.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

correct. Vaccination and a negative test a day prior to boarding are required. If you do get it there is a bank of rooms reserved to quarantine people.

We are going on an Alaskan cruise next July and I belong to some facebook groups and you can imagine this is a hot topic. Lots of stories of people coughing a lot, runny noses, people not testing because they don't wanna ruin their expensive trip, etc...

This will be our 3rd Alaskan cruise and I can not recommend it enough. We did Princess for the first two and are doing Royal Caribbean this time. We are bringing the kids and RC has more kid type stuff. We got a great deal and decided to do 2 rooms adjoining so the kids will have their own space. Plus the balcony opens up so its like one long balcony, hich is a must for Alaska

I'd hope those set aside quarantine rooms have balconies. I'd go crazy with just a porthole.

[GrantDawg]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'd hope those set aside quarantine rooms have balconies. I'd go crazy with just a porthole.

That's all we had, but of course we were 20 years younger. But I will say we spent next to no time in the room. Sleep and...well...we were 20 years younger.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I'd hope those set aside quarantine rooms have balconies. I'd go crazy with just a porthole.

They do not. I don't even think they have a porthole. It is on the 3rd deck.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

They do not. I don't even think they have a porthole. It is on the 3rd deck.

Not good. I'd want my money (pro-rated) back.

Any idea what the policy would be if someone looks obviously ill with "flu" symptoms on the cruise. Would they be forced to take a test? I can see how some will avoid taking a test unless they absolutely had to.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Not good. I'd want my money (pro-rated) back.

Any idea what the policy would be if someone looks obviously ill with "flu" symptoms on the cruise. Would they be forced to take a test? I can see how some will avoid taking a test unless they absolutely had to.

I do not believe they can force you to test once on ship but not sure. As far as a refund not gonna happen, you knew the risks. Apparently a lot of people claiming allergies.

It is a year away so who knows where we will be then, but I will likely avoid the elevators and maybe the casino.

[Edward64]

Really no idea if this is good or not. I tend to believe it's premature but I figure the CDC probably knows best. I assume the cruise industry will be really motivated to monitor & quarantine as necessary so there are no mass incidents or negative publicity.

Good to see as it's one more step back towards the new normal.

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/07/19/shar...9-program.html

Shares of cruise lines including Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian rose Tuesday after the U.S. Center for Disease Control ended its Covid-19 program for cruise ships.

The CDC’s program for cruise ships, which became voluntary earlier this year, required all passengers to be tested, encouraged vaccinations for staff and passengers and outlined specific quarantine procedures in the event of an outbreak.

The CDC said it would still provide guidance for cruise ships handling of Covid-19 cases, but that companies can now use their own strategies to mitigate the spread on the virus. That means cruise lines can make their own policies regarding vaccination, testing, and quarantine requirements.

Carnival shares gained about 7% on Tuesday to close at $10.36, while Royal Caribbean shares gained almost 6% to $36.36 and Norwegian shares rose roughly 3.5% to $12.85.

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Edward64

...but I figure the CDC probably knows best.

Glad I wasn't drinking anything when I get here...

[QuikSand]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I assume the cruise industry will be really motivated to monitor & quarantine as necessary so there are no mass incidents or negative publicity.

Did Senator Susan Collins write this?

[Edward64]

Had to google on it.

She is from ME and Bath Iron Works is in ME so I guess that's understandable. Or are you thinking there's more other than wanting to support an industry in her state?

[Ksyrup]

I think he's referring to the naivete expressed by the statement (assuming it wasn't meant to be taken as straight-up sarcasm). Similar to Collins' statements that Trump learned his lesson after the first impeachment and that Kavanaugh would uphold Roe.

[Edward64]

Okay, didn't think of that angle.

I get Susan Collins but do think the default is CDC knows best (for now).

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

Did Senator Susan Collins write this?

lol

SI

[flere-imsaho]

Originally Posted by Edward64

She is from ME and Bath Iron Works is in ME so I guess that's understandable. Or are you thinking there's more other than wanting to support an industry in her state?

BIW does mainly defense contracts and its shipbuilding facility on the Kennebec River is not big enough (nor is the river navigable enough) for large cruise liners. Having said that, Maine (mainly Portland & Bar Harbor) does get a lot of cruise ship trade.

However, I'm pretty sure that's not what QS meant.

[Ksyrup]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Okay, didn't think of that angle.

I get Susan Collins but do think the default is CDC knows best (for now).

Which isn't the same as (and may not translate to) companies doing what's best/prudent for public health.

I'll be interested to see how this plays out since I just booked a cruise for February.

[Edward64]

Virgin isn't a big player and doubt the others will follow suit (right now). If I was Chief Risk Officer, I'd say keep the pre-cruise test. If anything, think passengers would be somewhat reassured that minimal checks are being done.

First Major Cruise Line Drops Covid Tests From U.S. Ports - TheStreet

Now, with the CDC dropping its oversight of the cruise industry, at least when it comes to covid, it's now fully up to the cruise lines whether they plan to keep the precruise testing requirement in place.

Carnival Cruise Lines (CCL) - Get Carnival Corporation Report, Royal Caribbean International (RCL) - Get Royal Caribbean Group Report, and Norwegian Cruise Line (NCLH) - Get Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. Report have not yet dropped the precruise-covid-test requirement -- but a big-name upstart competitor has.
:
"Virgin Voyages announced today that, following the ending of the covid-19 Program for Cruise Ships from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the cruise line would be ending its precruise testing requirement for sailings from the U.S. as of July 27, 2022," the website reported.

[Ksyrup]

Given cases rapidly increasing now and the unknown of the "next variant," it also doesn't make much sense to prematurely pull the requirement only to have to institute it again in a few months. Although it feels like everyone is beyond Covid at this point and I wonder what a true game-changer would have to look like for the same percentage of people who approved of widespread masking/testing requirements to feel the same way today.

[sterlingice]

Considering that COVID test administration costs money and it looks a lot better for the company if you can just shrug and say "we don't know if there's a risk of COVID on your cruise", all cruise lines will be dropping it as soon as the business side convinces the legal side to do it. What the numbers look like in the outside world mean nothing to them. At most, maybe the major cruise lines will use one of their brands as a differentiator like, I dunno, Princess gets to be the old person "sure, you have to give us a valid negative test but that means you'll be a lot safer on this line than Carnival's booze and COVID cruise" while the rest of Carnival's lines are "hey, no restrictions".

SI

[Ksyrup]

We're about halfway through our Caribbean cruise, so I thought I'd give my thoughts as a first time cruiser.

We're on a 6 day Western Caribbean cruise on Carnival Horizon that visits Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel. We just left Ocho Rios in Jamaica. We're doing this trip with my wife's parents, who are 76 and 80. We got a Havana Cabana suite which is, I think, one of the nicer suites on this ship. It's got some nice "Cuban" flourishes in the decor - we have a large shower with both a regular head and rain shower, several closets, and an extended balcony with a couple of deck chairs and a swinging seat. This area is restricted to 21+ and we have exclusive use of the pool/bar area until after 5pm.

Overall, I've been really impressed. Knowing that Carnival is the budget/family/young adult/drunk crowd cruise line, I tempered my expectations some, but they have constantly exceeded them. The food has been way better than I expected, there's been plenty to do, there's always free food open somewhere at all times, and the workers are exceedingly nice. Given that we left Miami on Super Bowl Sunday, the sail away party was crazy since it was combined with their Sailgate Party. It's definitely a young person's ship.

A few oddities... the people and the way they dress. Lordy. You do you, but holy crap. It's like rooming for a week with several thousand people you see walk by when you're at the airport people watching.

I'm shocked at how many people have the time/money (retirees, I get it) to cruise so often. In our Havana area, we've met 3-4 couples who are on their 2nd, 3rd or 4th cruise in the past 3-4 weeks. Most of them did this one back to back with the previous 8 day cruise this ship went on to the Eastern Caribbean. A couple others had tacked these on to 1 or 2 cruises with a few days on land. Crazy. Reminds me of the motorhome lifestyle where people sell their homes, buy a motorhome, anchor in AZ or SD (for tax purposes) and travel the country.

Did I mention the food? It's pretty damn good. You can stuff your face if you want, but at many of the sit-down meals, the portions are small enough that if you don't get extra, you can actually pace yourself pretty well. You also (or at least we have) lose all concept of meals, like forgetting which day it is. One morning, we had a huge breakfast, my FIL topped it off with banana cream pie, then 3 hours later we all had salads and ice cream for lunch. Insane stuff like that.

Anyway, we're on the way to Cayman Islands. The Jamaica excursion was fun. We aren't doing too much because of the in-laws' limitations.

We're booked on a Celebrity cruise to Alaska in September, so I'll be really interested to see the differences. Different climate/places, different luxury level, totally different ship and cruiser vibe. We won't be bicycling over the ocean around the top of the ship in September or running into Dr. Seuss characters, I don't imagine. But I'm definitely looking forward to just Michelle and I doing the next one.

[Ksyrup]

One other thing I forgot to mention - cruisemapper dot com. Extremely handy and interesting to track your own ship in real time as well as see who's in port with you or where other ships are around you. We had 6 other ships in Port Miami with us and it was fun to track them and watch them leave one after the other (virtually) since we left first. It's also freaking crazy how many people are cruising at once, even in just one area of the world.

[Lathum]

Alaska is amazing. Doing our third one this July. Can’t wait.

[sterlingice]

We really enjoyed Alaska. Still my only cruise to date but it was just a great thing to cruise. There's no other way to really see it.

SI

[AnalBumCover]

Originally Posted by Ksyrup

We're booked on a Celebrity cruise to Alaska in September, so I'll be really interested to see the differences. Different climate/places, different luxury level, totally different ship and cruiser vibe. We won't be bicycling over the ocean around the top of the ship in September or running into Dr. Seuss characters, I don't imagine. But I'm definitely looking forward to just Michelle and I doing the next one.

Interested to hear about this upcoming trip, as Alaska on Celebrity is on our checklist.