Cruises - Classier or Trashier

I've been surprised at how calming it's been to check in on the port of Miami's live stream. You can watch the ships coming in early morning, and depart thorughout the afternoon/early evening. And when the Scarlet Lady is in port, you get a real sense of how massive it is.

We saw Scarlet Lady when we were in Nassau. The hammocks on the balcony cabins were a cool touch.

I'm really hoping for a Virgin Voyages cruise at some point in the next year or two. I finally finish my residency/fellowship in the late spring/early summer of 2023, and I'll likely have about a month before starting to work for real. Very seriously considering combining a backpacking excursion in Europe with a Med cruise. But I assume that would be on their next ship. Resilient Lady. I wonder if that name is a COVID reference.

It would be that or Celebrity Beyond.

Any tried Cunard's Queen Mary? Is it really that much nicer than others? Are there a lot of gays?

Cunard is not a luxury experience by any measure. It's basically cruising wearing classic ocean liner drag.

And even they've loosened up recently. Dress code doesn't require jacket and tie anymore on the informal nights, and while the formal ones are still black tie, they don't require tuxes.

I think if I had any desire to do a luxury cruise, knowing I'd be rubbing elbows with people who say things like this would stop me in my tracks: "Sevruga caviar was freely served as though it were a big deal. Once was enough for me. Quite a step down from osetra."

Sevruga caviar.

The nightmare.

The nerve.

I'm doing a Virgin later this year.

No kids, no Walmart-loving fatties, no buffet, etc.

But there is a tattoo parlor, so if you're like most of the DL vox populi, don't forget to pack your pearls, or you'll have nothing to clutch.

On the serious, I'm envious. Have a good time.

Thanks to these threads and you bitches, I'm considering a taking cruise for my next vacation.

Let us know if you need advice. We're all opinionated assholes, but we know stuff.

I'm hemming and hawing about booking a Norwegian cruise to Alaska again in May.

I really enjoyed my last one and the price seems fairly reasonable ($2.2K for 9 day cruise).

Per person, or total?

If it's total, that's an awesome price.

Ugh, the Single Supplement. The only thing worse than paying it is avoiding it by bringing along your bubbly hag Pepper and her four suitcases of leggings.

That is total for a single person. It is an inside cabin, but ... last time I didn't really spend a lot of time on my balcony. I'm not sure it is really worth it.

Honestly, they've been reducing single supplements to try and get some bodies in the cabins. Princess has, at least.

And more ships are starting to have cabins specifically for solo travelers, which is good.

Do any cruise lines still have a black tie dress code?

What's the dick situation like on non-gray cruises? Is it hit or miss like anywhere else? I've looked into a few gay cruises and they don't look like they're for me, at least not for my first cruise. I'd like to think there's a chance of meeting up with someone while stuck at sea for a week (I'd be going alone). Someone in another thread said he got some dad dick on a Disney cruise. I don't want to be around a lot of kids, though.

[quote]Do any cruise lines still have a black tie dress code?

Really just Cunard. On other lines, it's suggested, but not required. Seaborn requires it for their main restaurant, but nowhere else.

[quote]What's the dick situation like on non-gray cruises? Is it hit or miss like anywhere else?

Any line with have a meet-up--I'm going to trigger people, but it's usually called an LGBTQ+ Meet Up--somewhere some if not all nights, if you're just looking to socialize.

If you want to have your dick sucked, you can pay for the exorbitant WIFI and get on Grindr. Worked for me last cruise. Or just go to the steam room and present hole.

R18 Just don't try that on Holland America. Their geriatric clientele will have a fatal stroke at the sight of your gaping backdoor.

Well I booked it. It was a window cabin, not inside.

I will try what I did last time and "bid" on a balcony and see if I get it. If not, no big deal.

$2.2K for 9 days. Includes their "free at sea" which has 4 meals at their specialty restaurants (which I thought were pretty good), mediocre, TIMED, internet, and drinks up to $15.

[quote][R18] Just don't try that on Holland America. Their geriatric clientele will have a fatal stroke at the sight of your gaping backdoor.

Well, I'm a top. So I imagine that I won't have a lot of tight sphincters to choose from in December.

[quote]Well I booked it. It was a window cabin, not inside.

That's awesome. That's a great itinerary and less than my half of the my room on Atlantis.

Trashier, at least in this case.

Has anyone ever been on a Gay cruise where guys were fucking in public? I've seen amateur porn videos, and it was really gross and really hot at the same time.

45 days until our Norwegian Midnight Sun cruise on Princess. Hope the strikes in Britain don't complicate travel through Heathrow.

My sister and her husband just went on a 5 day Carnival cruise. Their first. She said it was packed. 3K plus passengers with lots of kids. I’ve only gone on a Disney cruise with my partner’s family years ago and I got sick. I doubt I will go on another cruise.

I've been on two cruises. Both were fine. We are not the party party type. My partner is the head of the History department at a small college, and we like to travel to interesting places. A cruise means we only unpack once instead of schlepping around on buses. But we favor smaller cruise ships. I don't want to be with thousands of people on a boat. Less than 1,000 is my rule. And we prefer casual dining, so a ship that has that option. I have to have at least a window so no inside cabins. Our second cruise, we had a small balcony. It was nice. We went to Greece. We were advised to never book a cabin on a lower or an upper deck. Lower is noisy, upper makes you feel the ship movements more than you'd like. So stay in the middle decks whenever possible. And don't go to the casino. The gambling on board a cruise ship is like throwing money away. The house always wins. As for all the land tours, some are very good and well oganized. In other instances, ask yourself if you really need a paid shore excusion to see a well known tourist attaction when you can easily go on your own independently. Just remember to get back to the ship on time.

[quote]The gambling on board a cruise ship is like throwing money away. The house always wins.

And where is this not true? Actually, I've played little blackjack and come out ahead at least the past 3 times I've sailed. Not a lot ($500 maybe), but I'm conservative and quit while up.

Norwegian always has some very well-hung crew members, R16, that are more than accommodating.

R28 How much do you pay them?

I had major surgery and will be having a second round at some point this fall, so I had to cancel my HAL Mexican Riviera cruise I had booked for the fall.

So we decided to book a Virgin Voyages Greek Isles cruise for next summer on what will be their newest ship, Resilient Lady.

Cruises are for white trash - I don’t care what “line” you choose. Totally tacky.

If you get the deluxe package, R29, they are included.

I'm a married dad and got sucked on a cruise! Twice!! Steam room in the gym. I think.the guy was entertainment crew, so technically not a crew member.

R33, are you gay married or straight married?

R 33, bi married to a woman.

R33/R35, so how'd you figure out they wanted to suck you? I've never had a steam room encounter but it's on my bucket list.

I would rather sit on a rubber raft and pray for a current to take me to Corpus Christi than spend a second on one of those shit-polluting, infection-incubating, floating gluttony barges.

The cruise goers always look like people who deserve the fate in the opening scene of "Ghost Ship."

Anyone been on a Viking river cruise in Europe before? I am in my 30s I feel like that crowd is all 65+ or perfect Datalounge age range.

What's an Atlantis cruise like? Any thoughts?

Royal Caribbean has finally started the first official reveals of Icon of the Seas.

I think maybe they should stop. 7600 passengers, and with the crew there are almost 10K people aboard at capacity.

It looks hideous!

And yet, I decided to book it, for the second ever sailing.

I may regret it, as they are clearly gearing the ship towards families, but I kind of want to try it anyway.

Another plot twist: the Global Dream, a gigantic ship that was under order for the now-defunct Dream Cruises, was purchased by Disney Cruise Line. When completed, it will be bigger than their current largest ship by a wide margin.

I just got off princess. My God has mass market cruise line food gotten cheaper since covid! Flavorless!! Even the 4 pay steakhouse was like an upgraded Applebee's. On the plus side, It was a Love Boat reunion cruise. So for a pop culture geek like me, a week of traveling with Lauren Tewes and Bernie Kopell was amazing!

Well, now we can have nightmares about this. Viking Polaris was on a cruise to Antartica when it was hit by a rouge wave. A woman was killed.

I hope that in the water, she was a very skinny lady.

Any idea when the webcam will be working and back in service again?

[quote] it was hit by a rouge wave

I'll OH DEAR myself.

My grandmother is after that rouge wave to rub off its hussy makeup.

No civilized person would ever consider being stuck on a floating petri dish with 6,000 diseased cultists.

R48 has clearly stated her boundaries.

So many gay couples have cruise vlogs on YouTube. Been watching Cruise Monkeys. The ginger one likes his booze, doesn’t he?

VOTN I have loved your cruise threads for decades now.

I saw some of a show called the World’s Most Expensive Cruise and each series has an episode where the head chef alights to visit the city fish market and buy something exorbitant like turbot.

if u can't afford air travels, y not

[quote]VOTN I have loved your cruise threads for decades now.

Well, I'm going on at least two next year. I booked the big circuit party Atlantis cruise on Oasis of the Seas (first time I've ever been on a ship twice) for January, and then a slightly less debauched Atlantis charter on Virgin Brilliant Lady for March.

Where are they going?

The documentary I watched cruised Finland and the surrounds - in summer obviously. It looked much nicer that I would have expected.

If I had the money, and was working on a writing project, I imagine I such a cruise would be ideal in the prepandemic era. Certainly it’s more interesting than renting out a cabin or apartment.

The first one is just hitting both of Royal Caribbean's private islands, plus the DR (Puerto Plata, specifically) and Nassau. I'm doing that pretty much just for the parties.

The more exotic one goes out of San Juan and hits Aruba and Curacao (which the one this year also did), plus Martinique and St Kitts.

The more expensive ones (Silversea, Seabourn) are not tacky but the people on board are very old. I’d probably pick Virgin.

Very stoked about my cruise this summer…

But is it just me or have cruise ships gotten uglier? Every single cruise line seems to stuff as many balconies into the superstructure. Makes ships look so top heavy.

R57 they are all floating apartments now. Back when balconies were a rarity, the profiles were much more ocean liner than apartment block. Aside from the Queen Mary, none are ocean liners anymore.

Cruise ship people are tacky, unadventurous, fat, lazy and probably drink too much as well. They want to sit in a floating low-budget hotel and eat and drink all day and stand in lines to do anything. They get off a cruise and think they’re world travelers.

R42, I may think it looks awful, but I hope you have a fabulous time and come back to tell us all about it! (I've never been on a cruise. I really like the idea of sitting on my room's balcony with a glass of wine, but I fear that the endless expanse of ocean would play bad tricks with my mind.)

R59, don’t generalize. I love cruises and I know that I’m nothing like the stereotype that you refer to.

Anyone done a Virgin one yet? I loathe children so it sounds interesting. Could also be douchey like Vegas.

Has anyone done a cruise from Scotland to Norway and Iceland? That would tick so many boxes for me.

Cruises are for trash across the entire economic spectrum, who still think that they'll become aristocrats if they visit 20 locations in two weeks, inhale food at the ship's various restaurants and get drunk in several discos aboard. R59 describes the sort of people who go on cruises very accurately.

River cruises are better because the vast majority of the programmed activities are cultural, people have to walk and there aren't any trashy amenities like water parks, all-you-can-eat buffets and nightclubs. Knowledge, refinement, politeness, exercise and more select environments are anathema to the atrociously vulgar animals who like to go on noisy, intrusive and wasteful "family holidays" on sea cruises.

I am cruise neutral. But I do live for the day that one of those behemoths turns turtle and glub, glub, glubs to the ocean floor. Can't imagine how it could happen, but it would be must watch tv.

I agree with R59 and worse are the people that go on cruises every year and have to talk about their experiences and opinions. Beyond tacky and definitely for low-class, lazy, white trash hillbillies. Just because you can afford a low-budget cruise doesn’t mean you are sophisticated, just the opposite.

Lighten up Francis (R64).

For my dad, who always kept pleasure at a far distance, cruises were his way to feel adventure vicariously. Last year, he talked about how he wanted to go on one last cruise, but his doctor thought it was risky. In February, he passed away with crystallized lungs and failing kidneys.

People should be able to find joy however they can, as long as it is not hurting others. As tacky as cruises seem to me, I wish he’d been able to go on one more with my mom.

Hugs r68.

Aw, sorry R68.

My "hillbilly" parents would never have been able to claim they visited another country (other than Canada before you needed a passport) if not for cruises. I helped them apply for passports when they were in their 70s then put them on a cruise to the Caribbean. They got to spend a day each in the Bahamas, St. Kitts, BVI, St. Martin, and Jamaica. It was the highlight of their 70s and they still reminisce about it with happy memories. They would never have been able to figure out how to make transportation, lodging, and sightseeing plans if not as part of a cruise,

Hell, I am not going to defend myself as not trashy or seedy or whatever--trashy is as trashy does--but I'm leaving on the big Atlantis circuit party cruise in just about three weeks. And yeah, on the one last year, I had a lot of sex. But here's the thing: I've never felt so free in my entire life.

I love all your cruise ship stories VOTN. Please tell us how your Atlantis trip is.

R71 how many men did you have relations with and did you get involved in any orgies?

I think I recall from another thread that VOTN is a top, has a fairly good rack for his age, and maybe even bald(?).

If you're thinking of Panama Canal cruise, Panama has a collection of the ugliest guys I've run across as a nationality.

VOTN probably well preserved for his age. What anti-aging secrets can you share with us?

[quote][R71] how many men did you have relations with and did you get involved in any orgies?

I think between various forms of penetration, it was about 20 over the course of eight days. And yes.

[quote]I think I recall from another thread that VOTN is a top, has a fairly good rack for his age, and maybe even bald(?).

Picture Mr. Clean with a goatee, that's about the ballpark. Pre-weight-loss, I got Phillip Seymour Hoffman a lot. Getting in shape and shaving my hair to the scalp did me a lot of favors.

Silver sea?

R77 please, how did you lose the weight? Diet? Free weights? Exercise? The Potion?

Has anyone done a TCM cruise? I think they are on ann older Disney ship.

[quote][R77] please, how did you lose the weight? Diet? Free weights? Exercise? The Potion?

The bulk of the weight loss was keto/paleo. In the throws of COVID, I spent a lot of money on an expensive home gym setup to keep active, and the thing was a godsend in terms of keeping me motivated. The only times I've ever really fallen away from. using it were the periods after I got really sick. I was about 320 lbs at my heaviest, and I'm about half that now. If I really start feeling my onions, I'll post a pic.

[quote]Has anyone done a TCM cruise? I think they are on ann older Disney ship.

TCM's next one is on Disney Magic, which is DCL's oldest ship, and one of the oldest ships sailing right now. It's also HUGELY expensive. The per-person price on the 2024 sailing is about what I'm paying for two people on each of the Atlantis cruises I have booked for next year. And it's short, I think only 5 nights.

Thanks R81 I bet it felt great not only becoming a lot healthier but also re-emerging as a sex bomb who's pinga sees more action than a nymphomaniac on day release.

I want a submarine so I can torpedo all and any cruise liner.

Agree R83 - plus they are environmental hazards, any port city has major problems with cruise ships.

Amsterdam is in the process of banning them from porting in The Port of Amsterdam

Cruise ships are the devil's vessel. Nothing but a petri dish of humanity and absolutely terrible for the environment.

There are dozens of smaller 'boutique' lines in existence that most Americans have never even heard of, and certainly from what I've read, just about no DL posters.

I know of one where the line warns the travel agents that if they book the 'wrong' kind of people, the agent will never be allowed to book with them again.

These lines differ considerably between experiences, and have anything between 6 passengers to maybe a few hundred passengers at most. Some usually carry more crew than passengers.

Who's on Atlantis?

Are loud neighbors on balconies a big problem (or any)? Do they peek around at you?

How does one cope with vistas of nothing but deep, dark water?

R 68 more hugs for you R 70 my eyes welled up with tears thinking of you lovingly making arrangements so your parents could go on a cruise . I imagine not only were they so thrilled by the actual cruise, but so touched by your extreme love and thoughtfulness . I’m having a hard time at just turning 70. The very thought that my children could and would do something that even slightly resembles what you did for your parents is mind boggling .

I have been on Windstar, Viking River, and Ponant (Tauck). No desire to go on those huge mainstream Celebrity, Norwegian, Carnival, etc. ships.

Windstar had a no-jeans at dinner rule, that was scaled back to no "distressed" jeans, no shorts either which was occasionally ignored. Their shore excursion prices are quite high, but the crew are terrific. Their one week around Iceland was definitely the way to see more than just the capital region.

Viking down the Danube was much better than the Rhine trip, part of which had to do with the latter's activities director/hostess. The food was fine, always one included no-fee city excursion per stop.

Tauck does excellent tours for what you pay ($$$$), but I would never sail on a Ponant ship again, the food was awful, and there were issues with staff as well; I'm a Francophile who speaks French, so it's not that.

[quote]Who's on Atlantis?

Me. We got into San Juan this morning.

We are on a 10 night Caribbean cruise on Celebrity Beyond right now. This our 8th cruise. We stay in a suite and have access to The Retreat, which is a separate pool, separate cocktail lounge, separate dining room. It’s expensive, but everything is included in the price, so there are no surprises. We used to stay in a regular room, which mean we had to buy the drink package, and there were other charges. It turned out that it was almost the same price as staying in a small suite. So that’s what we do now.

There is a surprising number of gay men on this cruise.

VOTN, you pulling a lot of dick on this cruise?

[quote]So many gay couples have cruise vlogs on YouTube.

What do you think of Cruise With Ben and David?

This might be the best thing happening on the ship

[quote]Reports from the front lines of the Atlantis cruise: the Pups have taken over the theatre where Cats is being performed and are heckling the cast

Ben and David are honest, if they have an issue with a cruise, they say so. I admire them for their hard work and dedication.

[quote]VOTN, you pulling a lot of dick on this cruise?

I’m a top, but it’s been more quality over quantity this time. I met a really sweet flight attendant from California the first day, and we’ve been spending time together.

I also ended up meeting up with a couple from San Francisco late late late one night, ended up back in their suite. No orgy, but we just kind of cuddled and made out. It was surprisingly wholesome.

The weather played hell with some of the party planning. Things had to get moved in terms of location or time because it was too damned windy for them to rig the lighting in the main party space. It seemed to finally come together last night. Paul van Dyk was our EDM DJ, and I thought his set was great although others disagreed. We were finally able to be in regular party space after, and I went for a bit, but the FA and I ended up back in my room.

There have a few sobering (no pun intended) moments. The first night, I ended up having to doctor to a kid who had gone a little too overboard with GHB. He wasn’t too bad, but he was out of it and tiny and I didn’t want anyone to take advantage of him. I made him text me the next morning to let me know he was okay, which he did. At one of the parties the night after, the music cut out suddenly and we heard ALPHA ALPHA ALPHA which is a medical emergency (usually an OD). Then the music came back up and everyone started dancing like nothing had happened. We had two more last night in rapid succession. There is some fentanyl-laced shit going around, and it’s scary.

Tonight is the Classics party, which is probably my favorite. It’s 80s and 90s music, and for the Gen Xers, it’s like going out when we were in college. And then the next night is the White Party, which goes until the sun comes up.

Fabulous reporting VOTN, thank you.

So, r99, "Trashier."

OTOH, I also got to see Alan Cumming singing “But Alive” in an only slightly less gay way than Miss Lauren Bacall, R101.

I’ll have a full report tomorrow.

I'm on the edge of my seat! Thank you VOTN

Icon of the Seas.

What is the most expensive cruise line?

Royal Caribbean Icon of the Seas

A 20 deck monstrosity

R105, there are quite a few boutique lines that are pretty pricey.

OD’ing on a cruise ship? That sums up gay cruises.

And on straight cruises, people get drunk and fall overboard. Or they get into fistfights.

Don't forget dropping babies out if windows. Where's your full report, VOTN?

Honestly, its a shame Icon of the Seas didn't sink to the bottom of the ocean during sea trials.

[quote]Where's your full report, VOTN?

I got knocked flat on my ass by the flu. It went through people like wildfire.

We’ve sailed Crystal (the prior iteration) and Regent several times.

We took a Scandinavian cruise on the Crystal Serenity, with Mary Tyler Moore’s in-laws as our next door neighbors. They were lovely, although she was going blind—macular degeneration. The cruise was a gift from Mary so they could visit someplace new with fewer issues…Mary had been the godmother of the Harmony—Crystal’s first ship. It was a great time.

And just like that, in R112 VotN confirms every negative stereotype about cruising.

Newest cruise ship:

"Petrie Dish of the Seas."

Will there be a class action suit VOTN?

R113 where did the Scandinavian cruise depart from and go to? I am interested in those.

I'm getting the impression that cruises for Americans are like floating Branson, Missouries.

Any suggestions for an informal cruise line for two Eldergays to see Alaska for 5-7 days, departing from Seattle or Vancouver or even Anchorage? Don't want high-end, but don't want to be around families. The only reason I'd do another cruise is to see places that can only be reached by boat.

About 20 years ago I did an RSVP cruise on the Diamond Princess to Mexico. It was a fun, decadent party and got to check that box, but not something I'd be interested in doing again at this age. Just want to see some Fjords and Bears -- the kind by the side of the river that grab jumping salmon for snacks.

Anyone care to add more about Viking River cruises - tips? Danube is the one that's appealing to me.

R119, Princess or Holland America.

[quote][R119], Princess or Holland America.

I'd replace Princess with Celebrity, but essentially, yes.

Vacaya, the other gay charter company--which isn't as circuit-y as Atlantis is--has an Alaska charter for summer 2025 on HAL Westerdam, which is a pretty small ship by contemporary standards.

I feel like myself again. No regrets, but jeez, I never expected to get that sick. Thank God I'm working from home most of the week.

We've been on Celebrity, Cunard, Holland-America, Crystal, P&O, and as a kid, on the United States Lines, the Grace Line and the French Line, all now out of the passenger business. We went on Norwegian once - never again. Have never been on Carnival and don't expect we ever will.

Of all of them Celebrity has been our favorite. We've had everything from the cheapest inside cabins to the three room suites at the stern and we've never had a bad time.

Here’s my input on a Viking River cruise, R120.

My partner and I joined a dear friend for a big bday. She wanted to do the Rhine River cruise. I was surprised how much fun I had. We didn’t do anything crazy, but every port/day was enjoyable and we closed down the bar each night (helps that the bar shuts down at midnight).

Some of y he staff were really great, others were stuffy but at least professional. There were 198 guests on board, I counted 3 black people, 4 gays, 2 dykes and an Asian mail-order bride. The biggest distraction/curveball was the group of 96 “Wings and Waves” cruisers from all types of Flyoverstan. Some of the women wouldn’t talk to me, much less make eye contact if we were in the hallway alone together. Others were a bit fun, but mostly all were conservative and definitely in love with themselves.

I’d recommend it to anyone just with the caveat that the ship’s group dynamics could turn on a large group of assholes.

I promise I'm not shilling for Vacaya, but they also have an Netherlands/Belgium river cruise that's happening around Amsterdam Pride this summer. It's on one of the ships that was bought of out Crystal Cruises bankruptcy.

The premise of cruises, regardless of supposed "brand" differences, is all you can-eat-do-see prix fixe. In short, it's for budget-conscious and adventure-adverse. That's why Middle America (and Middle Everyone else) loves them.

I remember my first boss talking about cruises. She was the most open minded, liberal, warm-hearted soul there was (probably why she hired me straight out of college and took two years to fire me lol): "I don't want to be on one of those things with a bunch of secretaries from Monterey Park" (anyone who has spent time in LA knows what this means). That quote resonates with me to this day.

The only group of people I give a pass on for cruises are senior citizens. I will probably cruise after 65 to get my travel bug fix.

R126 I hate this view of cruises. Would that woman say the same of those people ended up at a Marriott resort somewhere? I was just on a cruise. At no point is anyone forced to interact with other passengers. It’s just like a resort where you mind your business or become a social butterfly, the choice is yours.

Yes, it was the most affordable way to be on a beach in January without breaking the bank on food and lodging. But it’s also a unique way to travel. Nothing beats the peace and calm of a cruise late at night or early in the morning. Walking the deck while that breeze hits. Just enjoying life while taking in some air.

Then exploring the ship to see the design features or hidden/under used hangouts. Wondering about the life of crew members when you see them off duty maybe having a quiet chat and smoke somewhere.

I even like the formal dinner where you meet different characters. Even the most insufferable ones can lead to hilarious post-dinner talks with your friend or fellow traveler.

Cruising feels like old world travel in many aspects. But if you want to be left alone, you can easily be left alone, just like at a resort.

R127 Sadly, I think it is the majority view/experience of cruises.

No, she probably wouldn't say that about a Marriott because she wouldn't be stuck at sea with the follow guests with no way out. Plus Marriott, doesn't mimic the Las Vegas-esque all-you-can 24-7 elements of a cruise. Oddly enough, Marriotts in 2024 are a key offender of the price-gouging/service-cutting phenomenon corporations undertook to make up for Covid losses. $200-$500/night for the same cookie cutter room you could find in Fort Lauderdale, Milkwaukee, or Tucson.

You may be the exception, but most people on cruises don't go for the night walks or enjoy the forced socialization with assigned dinner arrangements and prom-esque "dress code" costumery. Further, most everyone who has cruised looks down on the crew, who are usually underpaid indentured servants from poor countries.

[Quote]Further, most everyone who has cruised looks down on the crew, who are usually underpaid indentured servants from poor countries.

What nonsense! Not My experience at all.

[quote]Further, most everyone who has cruised looks down on the crew, who are usually underpaid indentured servants from poor countries.

I don't know what kind of assholes you're friends with, but that's literally the opposite of anyone I've ever cruised with.

One of the reasons the crews like working the gay charters so much is that we're nicer, we have no kids running around, and we tip better.

R128 I appreciate your follow up on this.

I know many don’t do the night walks which is a major plus! I like seeing the late night crew heading to the bar. Or catching the walk of shame at 6am while watching a sunrise.

it’s no different than an all-inclusive resort and when done right, has something for everyone.

Most people at resorts really don’t leave the property all that much. Maybe one or two trips, which if you think about it, is exactly like the port days on a ship. Folks can also spring for VIP status on ships with private bars, pools, jacuzzis and sometimes restaurants offering a more first class and calm experience. The paid restaurants are also another way to find peace, though I personally refuse to level up my dining on a ship with food already included. You can also get a private table in the main dining room, eating with just your party for breakfast and dinner.

I’m not trying to sell anyone on cruises, because everything isn’t for everyone’s but I am pointing out that it’s more like an all exclusive resort then people many critics care to admit.

R130 One of the reasons the crews like working the gay charters so much is that we're nicer, we have no kids running around, and we tip better.

That's what my cruise hound friend says. He's a self-professed cheapskate yet prides himself on his generous tips on cruises. Mainly because he says the other cruisers are cheapskates who don't tip at all. He tips 15% at restaurants and $1 per drink, even cocktails. I've known him since 2004 and that hasn't changed in the two decades since. I can't imagine what his tipping on cruises is like, but his example confirms my bias that cruisers are largely budget, all-you-can-searching cheapskates.

^^^^^^

I thought it was all the gloryhole action the workers score?

Even the female locker room attendants seemed to enjoy all the tomfoolery going on the one Atlantis cruise I was on.

R132 a buck a drink as tip is pretty much cheapskate by definition. Seriously, that’s a bare minimum at any time.

Added: and a 15% tip on a meal is fairly embarrassing on its own…

Am looking at a one week Alaska cruise on Celebrity from Seward to Vancouver. Balcony room is about $1,700pp plus taxes, etc.. But what does that include? Meals? Alcohol drinks? Can someone please translate? It says:

2X to Spend on Board - up to $2,000 - Ends tomorrow! CALL: up to a $75 FREE Dining Credit! - Ends tomorrow! Exclusive: Up to $200 to Spend on Board - Ends tomorrow! No Interest or Approval: Book with No Cruise Payment Due Today - 4 days left! Bonus: Gratuities Included & Exclusive Savings All-Included: Free Drinks & Wi-Fi

What is this "2X to spend on board up to $2,000"? Also, "Free drinks and WiFi..." does that mean booze is included? Have only been on one cruise. We smuggled Vodka in water bottles, yet still ended up with an outrageous bar tab, lol! All meals and snacks were included except for one formal dinner.

ENCHANTED PRINCESS in June. Unless my friend the travel agent can get a good deal on a Canadian Maritime cruise in May.

I can’t get over how world class ugly the ICON OF THE SEAS is. Top heavy and ungainly. Hardly any sea views either.

Book through a travel agent, R136. Try Cruise Compete to find one. They can answer your questions, and often find you better deals, if not on the room rate, then on shipboard credit and drink packages, etc.

Usually with Celebrities inclusions, you're getting their lower-tier WiFi (enough to do social media, email, and message, but not stream) and most likely their middle-tier alcohol package. If I remember right, that includes most mid-shelf hard liquor, and then beers up to $12 and wines like $15/glass and under.

They also will give you credit in your onboard account to use towards a shore excursion, a spa treatment, or something from one of the shops. So whatever the normal amount is (I want to say $50 for a 7-night in a balcony), you'd get twice that.

Thanks, r139. So, if I'm understanding this correctly, we would get up to $2,000 worth of medium-level drinks and slow WiFi, and all regular meals are included in the price per person for the room fare? In other words, this is basically an all-inclusive cruise? If so, that comes out to be $500/night including meals and booze for the both of us for a room with a balcony. That seems doable.

Dear god cruising sounds utterly awful

[quote] In other words, this is basically an all-inclusive cruise?

More or less. The only thing that I didn't see mentioned were tips.

R141 What are you talking about?

2X to Spend on Board - up to $2,000 - Ends tomorrow! CALL: up to a $75 FREE Dining Credit! - Ends tomorrow! Exclusive: Up to $200 to Spend on Board - Ends tomorrow! No Interest or Approval: Book with No Cruise Payment Due Today - 4 days left! Bonus: Gratuities Included & Exclusive Savings All-Included: Free Drinks & Wi-Fi

Everyone at the country club is abuzz with the gratuities being included, along with drinks and wi-fi.

^BUT the deals end TOMORROW!!!!

CALLL TODAY!!!!!!

What might appeal to me were I to cruise would be the once-unpack convenience of not needing to find daily food or shelter.

But what decidedly does not appeal to me are the restrictions on time and distance upon any disembarking. I've only ever been to Europe and the UK (and Canadian Maritimes), but traveling by car allowed me freedom, spontaneity, and sight-seeing that a cruise cannot.

R145, why not do both? That's what I do. I take cruises with my family (it solves a lot of logistical problems traveling with older parents and younger relatives) but I often extend the vacation by renting a car and setting off on my own. Or I take other vacations. I don't get why everyone sees it has to be one or the other. Take advantage of the strengths of either style of travel.

Good points, r146! I do like the idea of relaxing on a stateroom balcony.

Thanks for the heads up 124, I appreciate your insights. My saving grace is that I am easily amused & would be traveling with 3 others who are as well. The ratio of gays to the rest of the travelers in your post is disheartening though it won't be a deal-breaker.

Coincidentally today an elderly friend told me she first cruised with Viking when the number of passengers aboard was 25. She's 92 but says she's 89.

I wish I was more well-traveled.

I love sea days where I can chill on my balcony, listening to music. I run up to the buffet for breakfast and lunch and back to my balcony. Love it.

VOTN (and others) - have you cruised from mainland Scotland to Shetland Island and onto the Viking countries?

Nothing so fancy from me. Those kinds of ports (like the Shetlands or Faroe Islands) you'd be looking at either a luxury or boutique line. Probably best bet would be Viking. If you want a mid-sized ship, HAL and Princess do some British Isles cruises and Celebrity does every now and then too.

^^ Seabourne, Regent, Silversea or Crystal for that ^^

Did a UK cruise in 2019 that had a couple of stops in Scotland and the Orkneys. Would love to hit the other northern islands. As for Vikings, I've been to Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

The Finn weren’t Vikings.

There were Vikings in Finland.

Let’s cruise on down to this better-than-ever street!

There were Vikings in America, too. So what? And in Ireland. And in England. And in Canada. R155

Husband and I did a Danube cruise right before Covid with a group of friends, including our bestest hag, whose 60th birthday it was. We chose AMA Waterways, a European company, supposed to be a step above Viking. Had a great time. The tours didn't start until 10 a.m. (we'd heard Viking's start at 8 a.m.!!) and were well done with knowledgeable guides. Three levels of activity on the tours. The food was very good, and our group of ten managed to snag one of the four private dining rooms nearly every night. Highly recommended. We spent three days before in Prague, which is certainly worth visiting, very walkable and cheap since it's not on the Euro. It is a young people's haven, so lots of eye candy on the street, too. There were another two gay couples on board, who we got to know only slightly.

We also did a cruise on Norwegian out of Barcelona. Huge ship. Friends of Dorothy bar event the first night. We closed down one bar (the one with the piano player/singer of American songbook, of course) every night. There would of been some potential for married dick on that huge ship, but really not my thing at this point in my life.

Just booked a 12-day Iceland/Greenland/Canada sailing on Celebrity next August. I hope it's still there.

Here's an annoyance, there are no non-stop flights from Dallas to Reykjavik. They want to stop in Seattle first. Wha? And most carriers fly older single-aisle equipment. I'll be on a 25-year old+ 757. AND, Icelandair (which has the best rates) doesn't have lie-flat bed seats in business. It's all the old-style barely recline domestic-route leather 2x2 layout. At least it's cheap.

That sounds amazing r159!

The cruise, not the old plane.

Why aren’t you connecting through NYC? If you have stop…. just plain dumb.

I did the Danube on Viking, the tours were at reasonable times, we did a couple of nights in Budapest at the start.

wow r159, you sound utterly obnoxious to travel with.

R159 There are no nonstop flights from Dallas to Reykjavik.

Probably for the same reason there are no nonstops from Houston to Ulan Bator: a lack of traffic.

DFW to JFK or BOS then Reykjavik is still a one stop but a helluva lot more direct.

He wants a cheap flight to an isolated country with a small national airline and limited service otherwise… but he’s a bitch about the Biz class seating. Good luck to ya.

I flew Icelandair first class from Boston for that cruise. More like USA domestic first, although the lounge at KEF was very nice!

Good to hear, R166. How was the cruise?

R161, there are flights that connect through Newark and JFK, but they're a couple of thousand $$ more. I can live with the older plane, I've just become spoiled by the newer pods with lie-flat seats you get with most other international flights. They're more private and I can actually sleep some, which won't happen on this overnight flight.

Stop. The. Nonsense.

It was my first cruise ever, R167. I'm a raving fan boy whenever the subject of Iceland comes up, taking some beautiful photos that I made into framed prints. The guide on one excursion was drop-dead gorgeous: made effort to keep from actually drooling. Our favorite site were the lunar-landscape sulphur flats I'd say.

It's not that long a flight from the East Coast that you need pods vs. FC seats really. A very tall fellow passenger flew nonstop from Los Angeles on the economy carrier WOW as it was a nonstop. He hated it, bitterly regretting not connecting to Icelandic first class from Seattle instead.

It is not a couple of thousand $s more…except for your greed to sit up front. From the east coast it is a five hour flight —no different from BOS or JFK-LAX. It wouldn’t kill you, so stop your whining.

As long as it's not Atlantis or RSVP, I'll go. I'd do Pied Piper, as they don't take over the entire ship and you don't have to pay for that upcharge.

R170, fuck off, I can afford and appreciate business class and sorry/not sorry if you can't.

I didn’t note that you can’t afford it. I noted that you bitched it was subpar. That’s on YOU—

Since I have to make a connecting flight anyway, I'm meeting the rest of our party in Denver, so the long-leg part of the flight is actually 7+ hours nonstop overnight. So, yes, I'm bitching about the seats.

What a bitch.

Ahh, the worm turns—the story changes.

I suppose it's too much to hope that the March Atlantis cruise has someone of Alan Cumming's caliber.

I may have been the one person in the audience under the age of 60 who recognized "But Alive," to which I credit the previous generation of DL Eldergays. As I settle into my gay dotage, I hope I mentor the gaylings half as well.

One of the stories he told during his show involved getting chosen for Broadway Cares' annual Legends of Broadway Christmas ornament. They were supposed to do him as Emcee from Cabaret in 2020, but because the studio (former DL Icon Christopher Radko, no less) had trouble blowing the glass because he was so gaunt in the role, they ended up replacing him with the more robust figure of Glenn Close as Norma Desmond.

At which point, he looked out at the audience and said "So remember: I am a skinny bitch, and Glenn Close is a fatty."

He'd make an excellent DLer.

I'm not a regular cruiser, but I prefer the smaller ships. Not comfortable with three thousand neighbors on the high seas for 10-14 days. I've been considering a cruise on Cunard's newest ship, The Queen Anne for sometime in 2025. Have to decide where, though.

That’s a lot of unfunny gay references in a single post.

Weird that the QUEEN ANNE is considered to be a small ship.

R180 it's not really a small ship, because it accommodates 3,000 passengers plus the crew, but I still want to try it. Cunard is a classic and I want to go just one time. I've been on a medium sized ship and it was fine.. Long time ago. Royal Caribbean before the era of the mega ships. I've looked at cruise lines like Seabourn but they're not really affordable.

Classy or trashy ? Depends on the tonnage.

There were rumors that Cunard was going to back in their history for the new Queen and name it Mauritania or Aquitania, but they ended up going after Britain's final Queen Regnant.

Ever since the QM2, Cunard has only adapted HAL hulls. Queen Victoria and the current Queen Elizabeth are slightly enlarged versions of HAL's Zuiderdam, Westerdam, Oosterdam, and Noordam, Queen Anne is a bigger version of the Koningsdam, Nieuw Statendam, and the current Rotterdam. She'll also have a female captain, who previously commanded the QV and QE.

Atlantis chartered the Koningsdam for their annual Halloween Mexican Riviera cruise. That's going to be the most action that ship has ever seen.

VOTN, I've always thought of Holland American passengers as being in the 60 - 80 age range, and I am put off by it. Is Holland American any good?

At least Cunard strengthened the bows of the Cunard adaptations, R183. This supposedly is for long distance cruising.

In the category where it slots--with Princess, Celebrity, and probably Virgin as well--I'd say it's the lesser of the four, but it's nice enough.

They've spent the last ten or fifteen years trying to go after a younger clientele. How successful they've been is a matter of interpretation. I'm also interested in what their longevity is going to be in the current market. In their segment, they have the oldest fleet by a pretty wide margin, and even their biggest ships are on the small side by contemporary standards. Most of the premium lines don't go huge like RCI, NCL, or Carnival, but HAL's biggest ships are roughly the same size as their competitors' smallest.

I'm interested to see what happens with new construction from here. Most of the ships that are coming out now were announced pre-COVID, and there's not a lot still pending. Spread across all its brands, Carnival Corp only has two new ships for Princess announced (Sun Princess starts sailing in a week or two), Queen Anne (I think inaugural for that will be in May, and I'm curious if Camilla or Kate will be the one to christen her), and one ship for Adora, their new Chinese-focused line. RC has Icon of the Seas' sister Star of the Seas and the last Oasis-class ship Utopia of the Seas (and I think another Icon-class beyond that) and one more Celebrity ship. After Brilliant Lady comes out, Virgin is done for now. Disney has the Disney Treasure at the end of the year, plus Disney Adventure, which is the hull from the bankrupt Dream cruises that they bought to base in Singapore, and then one more after that. NCL has a bunch, but they're the only ones really spending money.

Oh, and MSC has a few more of their Oasis-class knockoffs to come, although only one has a name. I always forget them.

WORLD EUROPA and WORLD AMERICA, VOTN.

World Europa's already sailing.

World America is next year. There are two unnamed ones (I would assume some combo of World Asia, World Africa, or World Oceania) after that.

VOTN, are you familiar with Regent or Oceania cruise lines? What can you tell us about them?

If I was looking for a boutique line, I'd go to Oceania over Viking, personally. I like their vibe a lot. And of their ships, most are leftovers from the long-defunct Renaissance Cruises, which had poor management but great ships.

In the luxury category, I lean to SilverSea over Regent, although both are nice. The one thing I will say is that SilverSea still does full formal nights, whereas on most other lines, it's suggested (and you clearly need more than just a jockstrap and a tank top), but not required anymore.

Note to self: do not prowl the decks through the night in jockstrap and tank top when on SilverSea cruise

Icon moving out of Miami: Perspective.

Breakfast on the Icon.

VOTN, I get Silversea and Seabourn mixed up, but I have been checking Seabourne out lately. You seem so knowledgeable I'd be interested in your take on Seabourne.

Bump for original thread.

[quote]Note to self: do not prowl the decks through the night in jockstrap and tank top when on SilverSea cruise

Only if it's an Atlantis charter.

I understand why you guys are turned off by then, but honestly, it's one of the most relaxed and open spaces I've ever been in.

[quote]VOTN, I get Silversea and Seabourn mixed up, but I have been checking Seabourne out lately. You seem so knowledgeable I'd be interested in your take on Seabourne.

I remember back when I first starting the travel agent thing, one of my coworkers told me about her experience on Seabourne where after dinner the first night, she went to her cabin, freshened up, went to the bar, and ordered a martini. The second night, she went to her cabin, freshened up, and found a martini waiting for her.

I'm not sure how that level of service has been effected with their current fleet. Their ships are small by modern standards, but they're huge compared to Seabourne's classic yachts.

Haha.

Chumley's Bear Cruises.

Haha.

Hey, if not for Atlantis, I'd be doing Star Trek: The Cruise. Let the bears have their fun.

VOTN, I'm a Star Trek fan but would never do a Star Trek cruise. I doubt I'd do any other sort of cruise except possibly an Alaskan or Antarctic cruise.

R197 - "Martini waiting" ... That's what HAL was like back in the Nico Van der Vorm days.

Looking forward to my ENCHANTED PRINCESS cruise this June. Mexico and Belize. I may have another Canadian cruise with Princess in August too.

What's the appeal of a cruise?

R203, You're on a floating hotel with LOTS of amenities. it's pretty much all inclusive. You unpack once. You can relax, and pick and choose which land tours you want to participate in, or just wander around at each destination. There are activities onboard that you can decide to participate in...or not. And of course you can eat and party every night. Or not. And on the days when you are not in port, days sailing on the open sea, it's really quite wonderful. Looking at the night sky is pretty remarkable when you don't have the city lights to obscure the stars. It's sort of a self contained little world for anyone needing to unwind and get rid of stress.Let go. Relax. It's an experience.

I’m a single guy. Which cruise line should I book if I want to be left alone to sit and read a book? I don’t want to have to interact with anyone at meals, but I would like to take a day trip or two. Mostly, I just want to float along and watch the scenery go by.

R205, it depends on how much you want to spend and how long you want to go for. 4 days 7-8 days, 12-14 days. 3 months, 6 months, WTF ever. Big ship or smaller ship. VOTN has given us some very helpful information and observations. You may also want to make sure you have a ship with a pool. And you definitely do not want to go on cruise ships that attract families with kids.

I guess the number one priority is that I don’t have to eat with strangers. Is it possible for a single person to have their own table or do you have to sit with other people?

R207, on lines like Princess or Celebrity or better, if you talk to the maitre'd at the main dining restaurant, you should be able to secure yourself a table by yourself at all meals.

There's always room service to enjoy on your private balcony.

R209, Not wanting to dine at a table with others does not equate to wishing to dine in isolation, with no-one else around.

A monstrosity indeed

I keep going back and forth between being impressed with Icon of the Seas—at least from an architecture standpoint—and horrified by it. The crowds in and of themselves don’t bother me—RC are freaking wizards when it comes to dispersing people—but the ship’s motto seems to be “That will be an additional charge” which considering how damned expensive the base fare is, is insane.

I’m not as crazy about this move away from having big open areas. I’ll have a more complete picture when I get back from Valiant Lady next month, but Virgin almost seem to kick off this trend where there’s not a big central gathering place, and instead it’s broken up into sizable, but still smaller venues across multiple decks and parts of the ship. Norwegian’s newest ships—Prima, Viva, and the soon-to-debut Aqua—are very similar as well.

One problem I've experienced, on a large ship it takes longer to get on and off if you're going on a shore excursion. And when the ship is only in port for a few hours that matters.

I don’t mind having someone to talk to at dinner, but I am a bit of a lone wolf at other times. If I go with friends, I will hang out with them and find me time every now and then.

When we were on a RC cruise they had the formal dining room and people dressed,. Tuxedos weren't mandatory, but a dark suit was. As I recall there was no assigned seating, I don't think. But you had other more casual dining options too, and other fare was always available.

Now that I’ve cruised on other lines, I’m certain that Carnival’s buffet is lacking compared with Princess Or MSC. And MSC’s steakhouse is superb, with first rate service and food.

Tee hee! How’s the MSG on MSC?

Interesting, R214. I struck up a conversation along the Danube with a fellow passenger who said she didn't download free library books because she thought that required a Kindle device. She was pleased to learn that Overdrive does Epub to her Nook just fine.

I've only sailed on smaller ships where all food, coffee, and soft drinks were included, so videos where anything other than booze costs extra seems odd to me.

Some of you need to watch Gary Bembridge’ Tips for Travellers channel on YouTube. He’s a bit of a priss, but very knowledgeable about the premium cruise lines.

A Jewish friend of mine told me he won't go on Crystal because there's too many Jews.

Regent used to be called “aka Boca Ratón”

Adding on to R219…if you’re a newby and want a solid explanation of the different levels of quality, check this out. To my mind it’s a pretty decent introduction—your mileage may vary, as always.

The social gay that is asking about cruises has a really weird idea about what it means to be on a ship. Absolutely no one forces you to speak with them. Hell, most people onboard are focused on the group they came with or other out going people they met. A cruise is just like a resort, no one's striking up random conversations outside some normal pleasantries, like saying hello when you enter an elevator or speaking to a waiter. So, if Mr. Loner wants to sit and read a book on his own and explore ports on his one, that's 100% fine. Literally, no one will bother you, notice you, or care.

Dinning, you can dine alone but need to ask in advance. But, group dinning is hilarious. They will sit you at the single table and let me tell you, some characters can be found at the singles table. 100% a don't knock it tilll you try it. If you hate your dinner crew, skip it for the buffet or private restaurant. I didn't like most of my dinner guests when I was just on an MSC cruise alone. But, they extreme nature of the people made it almost like a sitcom. Had a say whatever is on his mind old Long Island Italian. An uptight Trump supporting divorce from Utah. A jilted bartender, and a retired banker. It was a glorious mess and I decided to stir the pot with Mr. Long Island.

I've been telling friends tales of those outlandish dinners since I've gotten back. it's a hoot! Live a little and try a cruise. Maybe a quick 4 day, 3 night cruise.

I watch him, R219. He gave a recent shoutout to Ben and David which I thought nice.

Your thoughts on this cruiser?

Boring and repetitive, y’all.

R225 - OK, so how many of you have ever fucked either your room steward or his assistant?

I like him too r224. Not flashy but direct and easy to understand.

[quote] OK, so how many of you have ever fucked either your room steward or his assistant?

I hooked up with a member of the activities staff. That was actually on a straight cruise.

R228 Well, they do say 'activities', and don't necessarily say which kind.

I'm curious for the VV experience with that. Most cruise lines have pretty explicit rules against crew hooking up with passengers, but Virgin actually encourages the crew to interact with the guests in more informal ways.

I'm wondering how far that extends.

[quote]Some of you need to watch Gary Bembridge’ Tips for Travellers channel on YouTube. He’s a bit of a priss, but very knowledgeable about the premium cruise lines.

Gary has good info, and he is kind of a delightful eldergay (although he was closeted for a long time and has only really been openly talking about his partner for a few years now), but he's gotten kind of increasingly money-grubbing (he locks content behind a Patreon paywall, and took a page from four-time Best Supporting Actress nominee George Santos and is on Cameo as well) and out of touch.

He has a recent video about the Norwegian Viva. The newest NCL ships have gotten some real mixed reviews because they've doubled down on their ship-within-a-ship premium experience, The Haven. Most of the bigger lines (even Carnival) have some kind of areas carved out for their suite guests, but NCL has taken that to an extreme and like a third of the ship is unavailable to all but the suite passengers. They even reserve a bank of elevators only for the Haven guests. Anyway, you'd have a great time if you were there, but less so if you're one of the hoi polloi. And that seemed to go right over Gary's head.

R231 I remember the entire Douglas Ward thing and Berlitz. In reality there were two items of note: 1) He hadn't been on half of the ships that he 'reviewed', and second, when Berlitz was knocked by a 'someone', they admitted Ward hadn't had anything to do with them since the early nineties! A lot of the stuff he said he just pulled out of thin air.

He was also a huge pain in the ass to deal with while onboard and always had a, um, associate of the week with him.

Is he even alive yet?

[quote] Is he even alive yet?

Not yet. There is, however, the possibility he may be aborted if his mother lives in a blue state.

R232 I used to swear by Berlitz Guide to Cruising. He seemed biased towards European boutique brands though. The pandemic has altered the recent guide, however. Now all he does is give out star ratings and a small paragraph.

I do love the Cruise Monkeys. They’re always soused in their videos and cheerfully consume all the booze and snacks they can get their hands on.

I love J from The Shiplife too. He is one of the few black cruise vloggers around. He used to work on cruise ships including Norwegian. Good reviews of the mainstream cruise lines and he occasionally does upscale expedition trips with his French Canadian girlfriend. He is also an ally to the LGBT community.

EECC, is a straight couple who does mainly mainstream cruises. They’re partial to Carnival and RCI. The husband is cute in an elvish sort of way. La Lido Loca is good too. Tony is so funny.

I don’t care for his friend Don Tarris though. Can’t put my finger on it, but he rubs me the wrong way. He’s a Canuck, but he seems a bit snobby.

It's not even from Berlitz anymore. It's published by Insight Guides. I actually have a few of their guidebooks that I really liked, but printed stuff in the year of our lord 2024 is kind of irrelevant.

The Berlitz ship atlas was like a bible for me in the early days, though. I might go poke around and see if I still have an old copy floating around.

Yes VOTN. I have the last version from 2020. Maybe with all of the cruise vloggers and webpages like Cruise Critic guys like Ward aren’t needed. I see that even Bill Panoff, creator of the now defunct PORTHOLE magazine has gone digital.

PORTHOLE.

Haha.

PORTHOLE

The Berlitz deckplans pre Internet were convenient. His opinions weren't worth shit even 40 years ago.

[quote]Most of the bigger lines (even Carnival) have some kind of areas carved out for their suite guests, but NCL has taken that to an extreme and like a third of the ship is unavailable to all but the suite passengers.

In my day, we called the lesser-thans 'steerage', be they the unfortunates, or livestock.

Cruise liners are backed to the rafters with unsophisticated alt-right bigots, all waving the flag for the cashed-up-bogan-in-chief, Donald J. Trump. I would rather chew my own arm off than be seen dead on a cruise with those cunts.

Carnival finally built ships with bigger suites. For years they had some of the smallest suites in the industry. You don’t get a lot of the perks compared to some of the other lines, but they got it. Folks wanting privacy and the space that goes with it.

I like the Havana (or Terrazza on the ships they got from Costa) cabins on Carnival's newer ships.

It did always strike me as strange that their suite options were so paltry, when they already have bigger rooms than average, but I guess they're content being the Walmart of the Waves.

Although I guess if it comes down to it, the real bargain basement is Margaritaville at Sea. Which is apparently successful enough at this point that they've purchased a second ship, another Costa castoff, which will start sailing from Tampa.

Those cabins on the Margaritaville ship look so gross and dated. Terrible bathrooms too.

I hadn’t realized until opening this thread that VOTN is an expert on cruise ships.

[quote]Those cabins on the Margaritaville ship look so gross and dated. Terrible bathrooms too.

The current ship, the Paradise, which was previously the Costa neoClassica, has had such surface-level renovations, the elevators still have a voiceover that announces the particular deck in Italian.

I'm hoping they do a bit better with their newer one, the former Costa Atlantica, which was is one of Carnival Corp's Spirit-class ships, which were a favorite of mine.

And the ATLANTICA has many more balconies…

Expertise/experience in low-end cruise lines is not typically at the top of anyone’s resume…

[quote]Expertise/experience in low-end cruise lines is not typically at the top of anyone’s resume…

Not all heroes wear capes.

Ironically, I got an email inviting me to book a Vacaya charter for 2025. They're doing an 11-night cruise on the northeast coast of Australia Darwin to Broome in May. It's aboard Seabourn Pursuit, which is one of their expedition ships. So about 300 passengers total.

See, now you’re moving on up—to the east side

If any intrepid soul wants to, there's also Olivia Cruises, the Michfest of the Waves.

Although they allow trans women...

[quote] If any intrepid soul wants to, there's also Olivia Cruises, the Michfest of the Waves.

Do they allow a fat womon for swabbing the deck detail?

R251. Do they still say Man, overboard? 😬

[quote] Do they still say Man, overboard?

Man on the ship!

R247 R248 It is if you are selling $60,000,000 a year of them. (or were, in BB's case)

Did anyone ever go on Rosie O’Donnell’s cruises?

[quote] Did anyone ever go on Rosie O’Donnell’s cruises?

Were they just for lezbos?

Margaret Cho has…

[quote]Did anyone ever go on Rosie O’Donnell’s cruises?

[quote]Were they just for lezbos?

Her idea was to do a full-ship charter with a focus on gay couples with kids, or gay folks that wanted a more family-friendly environment than Atlantis. It was her, her first wife, and a guy with industry experience who put it together. Her ex-wife and the guy still run it. They have multiple cruises per year, although some are actually aimed only at adults.

[quote] Queen Anne (I think inaugural for that will be in May, and I'm curious if Camilla or Kate will be the one to christen her)

I’d put my money on the Rottweiler

Thank you, VOTN at R259.

[quote] Queen Anne (I think inaugural for that will be in May, and I'm curious if Camilla or Kate will be the one to christen her)

Does Princess Anne christen ships, or does she just open Tescos?

[quote] I’d put my money on the Rottweiler

She did the Queen Victoria. Elizabeth did both the QM2 and the current QE. The president of Cunard noted at the ceremony for the last one that Lilibet was the only person there who had been at the christenings of all three Queens Elizabeth. She had been there with her mother at the first one, and she did the other two.

[quote]Does Princess Anne christen ships, or does she just open Tescos?

I would plotz if Anne did it, but I’m sure Cunard would go for the higher status of the Queen Consort or Princess of Wales over the admittedly far more fabulous Princess Royal.

So is a woman required to launch their fellow lady ships?

I think Cam or Anne will do it because Kate is at home recovering with her colostomy bag or whatever.

[quote]So is a woman required to launch their fellow lady ships?

Maritime tradition. The ship’s godmother is always a woman, although they’ve had some experimenting with that. The Norwegian Jade was originally the US-flagged Pride of Hawai’i and in the former guise was christened by the late HI senator Daniel Inouye, although they called him the ship’s “sponsor” and not its “godfather.” And the Disney Wish was christened by a bunch of kids from Make-A-Wish.

Cunard has the Firm come in and do the thing, and if Anne did Queen Anne, I would love it. HAL has used to the Dutch royal family as well. Queen Maxima christened the Koningsdam (fitting, since it’s named in honor of her husband) and the king’s aunt Princess Margriet did the current Rotterdam. I guess as American royalty, they had Oprah do the Nieuw Statendam.

The Vairst Lady christened one of the NCL ships, although that was before her time in the White House. As Duchess of Cambridge, Kate did the Royal Princess.

If I have a favorite, it was Helen Mirren and the P&O Ventura. She got saucy during it and stole the captain’s hat and sat in his chair on the bridge.

Runner up was Judi Dench doing the Carnival Legend. They couldn’t get the champagne to break when they released it, so she had to go and whack it by hand. The bottle exploded all over her and she got soaked. And handled it gracefully.

[quote] As Duchess of Cambridge, Kate did the Royal Princess.

Actually, the second Royal Princess. The original was christened by her late mother-in-law in her role as Princess of Wales.

Sophia Loren has christened a couple of MSC ships, IIRC.

She’s done almost all of them. World Europa, which initially homeported in Doha was christened by the daughter of the former Emir of Qatar, who I believe is younger sister to the current one.

DL Icons who have been godmothers include Kim Cattrall (who purred sex jokes when she did the Norwegian Dawn, which used NYC as a home port when SATC was in its heyday), Joanna Lumley has done for both Princess and for Viking, Seabourn has used Twiggy, Sarah Brightman, and Elaine Page, Whoopi christened (probably she christen christened) Serenade of the Seas for RCI, Kristen Chenoweth did Quantum of the Seas, Martha Stewart did the Crown Princess (like, right after she got out of prison), and Lauren Tewes and Jill Whelan have done several for Princess as well. I assume the former was paid in cocaine.

😆 Poor Lauren Tewes…I’m glad that Princess hasn’t held a grudge against her. She made a mistake and she’s paid for it and then some…

Oooh, scandal. Queen Anne’s christening is going to happen after its maiden voyage. People who booked the maiden voyage expecting to see some royalty smash a bottle of champagne are steamed.

First voyage leaves Southampton on May 3rd, but the ceremony will be in Liverpool on June 3rd. No announcement on who will be the godmother, but between KCIII and Kate’s health issues, the delay means it’s got to be either Cam or Kate.

Alas. Just so long as Anne gets to wear her spiffy Royal Navy uniform.

Will they ever build a running mate for the QM2? Her ocean crossings are booked months in advance. Why not another ocean liner?

Crystal Godmothers:

MTM

Angela Landsbury

Julie Andrews

*Lansbury

R271, if not Cunard, then Holland America. It would most likely be based on the Queen Mary 2’s design.

R185 This is for a higher ice classification.

A bit off topic - I have an old photo from 1952 or 1953 taken on an ocean liner my friend's mother & father took to England and back.

It is hilarious. En route back to the States there was much excitement because Edward and Wallis were aboard. At some point in the trip, those intrepid socialites made a public promenade around a deck so the rest of the passengers would have a photo op.

One of them dutifully snapped this photo of Wallis, eyes front, about a half-step in front of Edward who carried her lapdog and appears accustomed to actually being a lapdog. I really should dig it out and frame it.

Anyone interested in ocean liners really needs to subscribe to this YouTube channel. It helps that the host is hot as well as knowledgeable.

Was able to check in for the Atlantis Valiant Lady cruise today.

I don't know what kind of a cliche doing two gay cruises in as many months makes me, but I'm planning on this one being a bit more sedate.

U.S.S Valiant Thor

VOTN, we're going to want a body count when the cruise if over!

This is significantly smaller than the Oasis of the Seas (2500 passengers instead of 5100) and it's less circuit-y with a slightly older crowd. I'm just looking forward to the experience of being on VV. Although I'm not going to turn down a good time if it presents itself.

A tour of the Family Suite of "Icon," its most expensive suite.

Wow. Where did that link come from?!

I'll try another:

Bad link, but I'll give you Harr Travel's tour.

If you're just looking for pure information about the ships, Danny is the GOAT.

Someone was pricing it for Christmas, and for three people, it was something like $150K. If I'm spending that much money, I'll get a Queens Grill suite on Cunard or something on SilverSea or Regent.

$150K will get you a Queen's Grill suite for two on next year's R-T-W cruise - one that's up to 111 days, not a cruise over Christmas.

This suite on Icon of the Seas looks like a Motel Six with a McDonald's playground outside the window.

Who would pay $150,000 to live in Pee Wee’s Playhouse for a week?

Its all so Klassy!

Apparently used car dealers are making some real coin right now.

[quote] Cunard has the Firm come in and do the thing, and if Anne did Queen Anne, I would love it.

Yeah, that would be poetic. Any of Firmtresses (besides the offensively dull Sophie) would be good, I think. If not Anne I say take Princess Alexandra out of mothballs for one last hurrah.

With Norwegian every day is a new day!

With Norwegian every day is a new drink of the day!

Hustled endlessly.

Booked 7 days on the Norwegian Encore for May in Alaska and 11 days on the Pima for UK/Norway/Iceland in September. I can't wait.

We can.

[quote]Cruises - Classier or Trashier

Connor - classier

Bella - trashier

What are your opinions on the river cruises in Europe, they appeal to me so much.

R295: I've done the Danube and Rhine on Viking. Happy to address specific concerns (questions).

Why?

Viking has been voted number 1 in rivers and oceans!

And funerals at sea!

I’m tempted by Virgin, although the cabin decor is unappealing to me.

There's a video out there from a woman whose Virgin cruise went VERY wrong, and the #FAIL of how it was handled.

My sister and her husband joined a group of 10 friends and went on a Viking Riverboat thing. Think it was the Danube. Anyway, she said it was fine but she said, she honestly felt, that Europe is so overrun with tourists now and that the local businesses and service industry in general was just exhausted struggling to put on a smiley face for the tourists. She said they were just fed up with being overrun with tourists.

R302 I've posted this before but I think it's funny. The parents of someone I know bought a Grade I pile in the middle of a UNESCO World Heritage site, and would frequently run into tourists wandering around their house because they thought it was a museum. The exterior was featured on a lot of souvenirs.

Resilient Lady is spending the winter in Australia (and just completed what I think is Atlantis' first Australia charter). She was supposed to reposition to Athens for the summer, and was going a route around Asia and the Middle East (first segment was to have ended in Dubai) and then through the Suez Canal. Because of all the turmoil in the Red Sea, they announced that they're rerouting around West Africa. The first leg was originally 17 nights, but the new itinerary is for a 21-night cruise, which goes from Sydney and hits a few ports around Australia before heading straight across the Indian Ocean to Mauritius.

They also might not be able to have an Australian season in 2025 for that reason. They were selling cruises that far out, but they are not currently bookable.

I have two cruises booked. A Panama Canal trip from Miami to LA in April on Celebrity, and a transatlantic from London to New York on the Queen Mary 2. I'll be traveling on my own on both, but hopefully will meet an interesting guy or two along the way. My last (straight) cruise was aboard the Holland America Konigsdam, and I met several fun guys in the sauna. I took them back to my cabin -I'm not a total cheap slut. At least, not always. I miss the older ships, which always had a single-sex sauna and steam off the changing rooms for the gym. Not a bathhouse, but you did get to see a lot of swinging dick -occasionally hard. That was a definite ice breaker...

I currently have three--and judge me for this as you will--and all are with Atlantis. I am definitely going on Valiant Lady in March and the Koningsdam at Halloween, but I'm deciding between going to EDC Las Vegas in May and then Market Days, or keeping my other booking on Resilient Lady in August.

Also, when did I become a middle-aged circuit queen?

Aw -This will be the first time in years that I've missed the Atlantis Halloween cruise (and I do like the Konigsdam) -but I opted for time in London and the Queen Mary home instead. It would have been fun to actually meet a fellow DLer in person!

[quote] It would have been fun to actually meet a fellow DLer in person!

No it wouldn't. You'd want to jump ship!

Depends on the DLer, I think.

I am rich Russian valiant lady.

^^ You sound like Vairst Letty...

[quote]Aw -This will be the first time in years that I've missed the Atlantis Halloween cruise (and I do like the Konigsdam) -but I opted for time in London and the Queen Mary home instead. It would have been fun to actually meet a fellow DLer in person!

Always join me on the Big One next year. Whenever they get around to announcing it.

One of these days someone is going to organize an actual DL meet-up.

How long before the police are called in to break it up?

[quote]How long before the police are called in to break it up?

Depends how long it takes to devolve into a vicious slap fight.

R303, Let me guess: Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber.

And after my comment about Carnival not having any ships on order, they actually just announced a new LNG-powered sister to Carnival Celebration for 2027.

I'm assuming they'll have gotten rid of the last two Fantasy-class ships by then. If they're following with what they started, the new ship will probably be called Carnival Holiday.

And a passenger died on Royal Caribbean's current world cruise.

Passengers die on cruises more often than you realize, R316. I've been on more than one that had a medevac helicopter show up, not to mention heart attacks, drug overdoses, etc. Cruise ships all have a morgue with space for three or four bodies. If you think about it, most people who cruise are elderly (they're the ones who can afford to do it often). A lot of terminally-ill people go for a last vacation. If I have to go, going on a cruise where I'm relaxed and enjoying myself sounds a lot better than being in a hospital hooked up to tubes and machines!

I'm perfectly well aware of how frequently passengers die on ships. Back in my TA days, I had a client die on a cruise, although she was terminally ill and the entire reason behind the trip was that her family wanted to have one final good memory of grandma before the end.

My mentioning it is more because the Atlantis cruise had at least one person die (in the middle, he was found unresponsive during one of the parties) and there were a bunch of pearl clutchers about how terrible gay cruises are because of it.

I also wonder what the RC world cruise is going to do about its scheduled stops in Dubai, Oman, and stops in Jordan and one of the Egyptian ports on the Red Sea before going through the Suez Canal into the Med. They already had to cancel stops on the Black Sea because of Russian and Ukraine .

Thanks for the clarification, R318. :)

World cruises are all a mess t the moment due to the political turmoil. Hopefully things will be better if/when I can ever afford to do one!

r320 - A friend of mine had his world cruise interrupted in 2018 (what year was that, VOTN?), they terminated in Southampton (it was a Cunard world cruise), he ended up staying in the UK for something like 2+ years, and finally got back home to Hawaii. He hasn't done one since, and that's for a guy who's been on probably 30 or more of them.

VOTN or others, do you have any information or recommendations regarding Antarctic cruises?

Depends how plush you want it. If you have the money/time, the French line Ponant has an ultra-luxury icebreaker named Le Commandant Charot which can actually punch through the ice shelf, and has accompanied scientific expeditions in the past. The high-end lines all generally have expedition ships with ice-rated hulls, but they generally don't cross the Antarctic Circle, so any landings that you make will be via Zodiac from the ship.

The weather down there can be rough. A year or two ago, Viking Polaris was hit by a rogue wave, which smashed the hell out of some of the lower decks and killed one woman and seriously injured a few more.

Thanks, R323/VOTN.

"VOTN or others, do you have any information or recommendations regarding Antarctic cruises?"

Um... don't book on NCL?

I did the Black Sea on Crystal Serenity, before Russia annexed Crimea. It was fantastic. Four days in Ukraine (Odessa, Yalta and Sebastopol) and a swing by Bulgaria (amazing beaches everywhere, Istanbul, Turkish coast etc. No one will get that chance again for a very long time.

I’m not liking this infinite balcony trend. Celebrity, RCI and some of the premium expedition ships seem to have gone a little crazy with this. I want to be OUTSIDE on my balcony, just lowering the window would not be the same for me.

Small world, R326! I did crystal on the Black Sea, too. Well, he was black and I snorted it off his c.....

R327 With the number of people we have been near who smoke pot, listen to Bluetooth speakers, or have loud phone conversations on their speakerphone while on their balcony, I’m willing to give an infinite balcony a try.

[quote]Viking Polaris was hit by a rogue wave, which smashed the hell out of some of the lower decks and killed one woman and seriously injured a few more.

Great video from Sal yesterday about this incident.

[quote] when it was hit by a rouge wave

In the video at R330, the wave doesn't look red!

I loved cruising on Crystal. I did the Danube River cruise the first year they sailed the Crystal Mozart. I had always been curious about river cruising, and chose the Mozart after cruising the Mediterranean on the Crystal Symphony. Crystal always had wonderful staff and the ships were beautiful. Aside from Crystal lines I've cruised several lines. As with others here, I also very much enjoy Celebrity. I find the staff on Celebrity to be exceptional. I have done some 'theme' cruises. One was with a winery that I love, and many others have been music cruises. There are some fun ones... Rock-n-roll cruises are great fun in particular. I'm doing back-to-back Celebrity music cruises next month. I've been doing this every year for about 5 years. This will probably be the last one for a while. The music tends to get repetitive. The only thing I dislike is having to fly into Miami to board.

To those asking about river cruising, it is much different than ocean cruising. The ships are smaller, so ,uch more intimate. There is little in the way of entertainment. On our cruise there was an emphasis on the cultural aspect of the ports and countries we visited. There were several lectures, folk musicians, etc. The ship wasn't full of old, fat dinosaurs either. Many of the onshore activities were geared to getting some exercise. Cycling and hiking were activities that were popular. I found the cruise to be a bit too slow paced at times, and I became bored more than I'd like to admit to. It was relaxing to a fault. The dining was always first rate and with more choices than I expected. Each stateroom had a dedicated butler. Ours was Austrian, very experienced and pleasant (and a hottie!). I would not do another river cruise. Once was enough.

R329 I’ve never experienced that on my cruises. I guess I’ve been lucky to not have loud neighbors on my cruises. Still I prefer traditional balconies. I love Carnival’s Cove balconies the best. Close to the waterline but comparatively more private than the standard balconies.

Princess took delivery of the new Sun Princess, and then proceeded to cancel the planned inaugural sailing (which was scheduled for Sunday). They’ve been given various excuses, but apparently the following cruise is likely to be canceled as well.

They currently have all sailings locked until September, so whatever the issue, it might not be a quick fix.

R334 any guesses as to why the maiden voyage is being delayed?

Turns out she wasn’t a virgin—the maiden was down & dirty already.

r334 r335 - Either classification failure or the USCG went thumbs down possibly. FYI, different federal agencies that will be involved with them in the near future will send their assorted posses to wherever to give them an assessment before they land in the US.

Thumbs down on Ponant. I did a Tauck tour operated by them, attitude and bad food.

[quote][R334] any guesses as to why the maiden voyage is being delayed?

There are a lot of rumors, including the ship not actually being finished, but there was something about the ship's potable water tanks being contaminated with diesel fuel. They seem to have really fucked themselves with the PR. The maiden voyage was supposed to have already happened, but they didn't actually end up getting the ship from Fincantieri until yesterday. It's a brand new class of ship, and if they're aiming to get the next scheduled cruise going, they have about two weeks. So they've got a brand new ship that hasn't really had a full shakedown. By contrast, Royal Caribbean took possession of Icon of the Seas more than a month prior to its first official sailing, and I'm pretty sure that they haven't yet sailed completely full to give the crew time to iron out the kinks.

I wonder if the Icon isn't getting the reception they were expecting. She has two sisters being built, Star of the Seas for next year and an as-yet-unnamed one for 2026, but they announced today that they're going to be building a seventh Oasis-class ship after that.

They posted on instagram about how glad they are that the vessel was delivered and sorry for canceling the voyages. They are really fucking this up from a PR POV.

And they canceled this one with at least some people already on their way to Italy to meet the ship. That's fucked up.

I found this intriguing Seabourn cruise that lasts for 26 nights and goes to Gambia, Senegal, the Canary Islands, Morocco, Gibraltar,Portugal Spain,I mean it is pretty amazing. Expensive too. I don't think I could handle 26 nights on a ship. But as I was doing some window shopping I became curious about the size of the ships and was stunned to see that so many of them are well over 3000 passengers and some even go as high as 6-7,000. Can you imagine being on a ship with 6-7,000 people? Think Royal Caribbean is launching a huge ship with over 7,000 passenger capacity this year. I saw pictures of it and it is obscene. I would hate to be on it. It's like a huge floating city.

The entire ship is one big city!

[quote]But as I was doing some window shopping I became curious about the size of the ships and was stunned to see that so many of them are well over 3000 passengers and some even go as high as 6-7,000. Can you imagine being on a ship with 6-7,000 people?

The most packed ship I've ever been on was this year's Atlantis cruise on Oasis of the Seas. If Oasis fills absolutely every single bed, it carries about 6400 people. For our cruise, there were 5100 passengers, although I don't know if that also included all the people Atlantis brought in, which I would guess between the entertainers and staff would be about another 50 people or so. Anyway, the only times the ship actually felt that full was for some of the parties and dances, as well as embarkation and debarkation.

The largest shift I’ve been on is the MSC SEASIDE. And that is 153,000GRT. And as much as I loved it, it could have a bit of a trek to the buffet or some of the public rooms. But it was still pretty navigable. I can’t wait for my next trip on the ENCHANTED PRINCESS this spring.

Cruissy cruisy

I’m not shocked that shipbourne illnesses are still a thing. People from all over the world coming and going, varying degrees of personal hygiene, especially food handlers.

VOTN, Is Cunard overrated? I was mulling this Canadian cruise on the QM2. The price is right.

[quote]VOTN, Is Cunard overrated? I was mulling this Canadian cruise on the QM2. The price is right.

I think it depends how you define "overrated." If you were asking me to rate the experience against luxury cruises (so the Seabourns, Regents, and Silverseas), I don't think it quite compares, at least if you're not in a Grill-class room. But that said, it's a very unique experience. QM2's transatlantic runs don't have anything comparable. And if you want as close to a recreation of the golden age of sea travel as exists today, Cunard probably comes the closest. That's still a facade in a lot of ways (to use a line again, a cruise ship wearing ocean liner drag), but no one else really does anything like it.

I will say that a lot of the Cunard fans that post to places like Cruise Critic seem like the worst kind of snobs (mocking people for being so declassé as to think that Sevruga caviar is special), so there's that.

Unique!

How many times do I have to drop by and correct this…?

Just keep drinking and ranting on social media, Nancy.

Would that be on Carnival or RCL?

Nancy's definitely a CCL girl.

I love yah, but you're a lush.

I’m pretty sure Nancy is a Silversea…and that’s only if she were a guest speaker…

Which cruise line did Kathie Lee Gifford used to shill for?

Kathie Lee is a Hornblower! On the Hudson…not SF

[quote]Which cruise line did Kathie Lee Gifford used to shill for?

She was eatin' fancy food and doin' what she chose for Carnival for most of the 80s and 90s.

A few years ago, she made a return because she had her own wine label that Carnival was serving, but I think that bit of synergy ended

Straight out of 70s Miss America preliminary…oy vey!

I wickedly want Atlantis to try and get her for one of their charters.

I wonder if her love of money would get her to do it.

VOTN, they could pay her in cases of wine. She may like that better.

I can imagine the siren call of wine would probably get her to spend some time in the company of the sodomites.

I think the gays would love her for the camp value.

I doubt she'd have as much fun as Olivia Newton John did, but....

Nah—not unless she brought along video of Frank’s ass & dick

It would have to be boxed wine.

Oddly enough, back in the day Carnival really did have good food. The Vegas-style decor is something you love or hate, but their food and service were rated the same as Royal Caribbean. Both lines have sunk so low I won't sail them anymore. They've gone mad with these enormous ships that don't have windows or ocean views from the public rooms -it's like they want you to forget you're at sea. The service is nothing great, and the food is often inedible (and served cold). Royal wants to uncharge you for "specialty" dining that isn't all that special. Carnival wants you to just eat in the chicken and burger places out on deck. Don't even get me started on my fellow passengers... Cunard passengers may be snooty, but at least they don't wear wet bathing suits to the dining room or brawl by the pool.

[quote]The Vegas-style decor is something you love or hate

Calling Joe Farcus’ designs Vegas-style makes them sound a lot classier than they actually were.

I’m not sure if he’s still doing Costa’s ships or not, but I’m hard pressed to decide which was his nadir, Carnival Splendor of Costa Diadema.

As much as I decry the old style, Carnival’s newer ships look like chain restaurants, and I don’t know if that’s better or not. At least the three Cosfa ships they took, Luminosa, Firenze, and Venezia still have a little kitsch.

I like the decor of the MAGIC and VENEZIA. The gondola in the middle of the dining room on the latter is a bit much. The only thing that I dislike on the VENEZIA was the buffet desserts. They have one dish that they call “Chocolate Intensity” and it has about as much intensity as reheated Cream of Wheat. And some of the cakes were uninspired and bland.

Oh, the dining room on the old Splendor was truly a sight to behold. It was called The Gold Pearl, and the ceiling was covered with what looked like fried eggs.

[quote]I like the decor of the MAGIC and VENEZIA.

Perhaps not coincidently, Carnival Magic was Farcus' last ship for CCL.

I found a coffee table book of his designs on Amazon. It's $50, but I'm honestly tempted.

[quote]Oh, the dining room on the old Splendor was truly a sight to behold. It was called The Gold Pearl, and the ceiling was covered with what looked like fried eggs.

Golden Pearl was bad....

Black Pearl was worse.

And the lobby was....

I mean...

More like Carnival MAGA! Amirite?

This pictures of the Black and Gold Pearl dining rooms are after a redo. They used to be worse! The only picture I can find is on an old review site and DL won't let me link to it.

Its all so ghastly, all of it.

R372 = Gloria Upson

I remember discussing the interior of Homeric 1986 with Bernard Meyer and his response was 'we did our best'. It was close to the most perfect interior, very understated, no glitz or flashy anything.

Cruising during the time when they required vaccinations and Covid tests was actually nice because it kept a certain element off of the ships.

I think we'll see things calm down. 2023 was a year for revenge travel when everybody went with demand and money they'd have pent up since COVID started. It seems like things are softer this year, which, as a shareholder in CCL and RCI I regret, but as someone who likes to get decent prices on things, I appreciate.

I don't know if we'll see any real noticeable difference until either late this year or early next when it comes to cruises, since those as booked so far out.

[quote]This pictures of the Black and Gold Pearl dining rooms are after a redo. They used to be worse! The only picture I can find is on an old review site and DL won't let me link to it.

The ones I posted were of the first incarnation. You can tell because the tables have table cloths (that was a cost-cutting thing Carnival did a few years ago) and the carpet is different than it is currently.

I will say, Splendor does have a great spa.

They remind me of the queen’s nest in ALIENS.

Tell me, r317!

So, Royal Caribbean's world cruise will indeed be skipping the Red Sea. They are still planning on ending their Asia segment in Dubai on May 9th, but are telling passengers they'll reroute around Africa, which is will impact their itinerary all the way from May 9th to June 20th. They were basically supposed to hit Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and most of the Eastern Med during that time. They're actually allowing passengers to vote on two replacement options, either one which hits a lot of ports in Africa or one that hits very, very few, but gives them more time in the Eastern Med once they get through the Straits of Gibraltar. The latter option has 26 straight sea days.

They've also announced that Allure of the Seas will be going into drydock to finally get the upgrades to match her sisters. That was scheduled for 2020, but because of COVID never happened. Which also reduces the possibilities for Atlantis to only the Oasis and the Harmony, and as the Harmony will be sailing from Galveston next year, most likely just Oasis.

I’m going to Dubai!

Not to make this into an all Kathie Lee thread, but I found the entire promotional video for the original Celebration (did not know she was its godmother) and I knew it needed to be shared with the world. And yes, she orders wine.

But all the stuff that doesn't exist anymore. Like a five-course dinner every night and the midnight buffet. And men hitting golfballs off the back of the ship.

I hate that I wondered how many of the chorus boys died of AIDS, but I'm a terrible person.

I don't think that makes you a terrible person, VOTN.

I think that makes you a conscious person.

Don't hate the fact that you wondered how many died, hate the fact that many probably did.

"If Oral Roberts could see me now!"

Oh, and of course nepo-baby Cassidy Gifford was godmother to the current Carnival Celebration. Of fucking course.

Can you drink alcohol with seasickness medicine, Bonine and Dramamine?

You risk becoming so sedated that you stop breathing.

Even Zofran and alcohol don't mix well.

Sedative side effect conducive to throwing up and drowning in your own vomit while you're asleep.

🚨Outbreak on the Cunard Queen Victoria 🚨

🤢Medics to the Queen Victoria 🤢

Sounds like norovirus to me.

This thread has given me dreams I am taking a cruise. I see dolphins showing off in the waves and get splashed by a rogue wave on my balcony.

Sadly, I haven't seen the dolphins showing off around the ship in years. Back in the day (yes, I'm old) when ships were smaller you used to see pods of dolphins chasing the ship at the sail away from nearly every port. They'd follow the ship for an hour or so. That's my mental image of being on a cruise: a tropical island retreating, a pod of dolphins jumping around, a steel drum band playing, warm sunshine, and a steady, tropical breeze. People standing at the rails or sitting at tables, drinks in hand... Nowadays the giant ships have limited deck space, and it's usually ten stories above the water. No more live bands playing on deck all day...

I was watching the YouTube videos of Disney Gay Adam Hatton, he saw dolphins a few times on a cruise around the UK.

On his first trip after lockdown, he wept. He’s a sweetheart.

Sailing down the Taugus leaving Lisbon we saw dolphins swimming in the waves the bow made from our suite on Celebrity's Constellation, R392.

We were 10 stories up and the living room area projected outwards from the side of the ship. And while they weren't rogue waves, the spray from them was reaching up to us as we entered the Atlantic that day.

R391 is having a dream about my cruise.

Has anyone seen sharks near their cruise ship?

Only in the mens' rooms.

So, if Atlantis is too circuity for DL and Star Trek: The Cruise is too nerdy, I have an alternative.

And since it leaves from NYC, you can crash at my place beforehand.

While I can understand DL men liking to have old men that they can point to and say they themselves look younger than that, I think for a holiday they would rather have younger men around.

That's Jill Whelan in the pic? I thought that would be Lauren Tewes.

Jill's held up better than Lauren.

Has anyone here used scopolamine, and did you feel compelled to do other men's bidding? I mean due to the medication.

I found a YouTube channel that's a treasure trove of old cruise ship promotional videos. Kathie Lee is in almost all of the Carnival ones.

There's also a nice one from Sovereign of the Seas that shows Rosalynn Carter christening the ship. Rosalynn and Jimmy were huge RC fans, and would sail with them into the 90s. It's hard to imagine the Secret Service letting Barack and Michelle do something like that. I've read stories of women who would go to exercise classes, and Rosalynn would be there sweating (or as proper Southern lady, she would have been glistening) with all the other women doing their Jane Fonda. After she christened the Sovereign, she, Jimmy, and their kids and grandkids went on the first sailing together. Imagine getting beaten at trivia by Amy Carter.

As far as I know, she's the only former First Lady to have christened a cruise ship. They very rarely use politicians. Liddy Dole christened the Carnival Spirit, but the late Democratic Congresswoman Lindy Boggs did Carnival Conquest. Elaine Chao did Pride of America for NCL, but then they had Daniel Inouye "sponsor" the former Pride of Hawai'i.

R402 Eleanor Roosevelt christened the SS America of the United States Lines at her launch in 1939.

PIRATES OF MIAMI! (yet to be published) promises to be "...a frank expose of the dishonest and fraudulent business practices of a major cruise line, Celebrity Cruises..." It's being penned by one of the original owners of Pied Piper Travel.

Rapes on Cruise ships

“It has become known by sexual predators that cruise ships are a good place to get away with bad things,” veteran Miami maritime lawyer Mike Winkleman told The Post.

About the two women who claimed to have been raped in the Bahamas: "Both women have also said Carnival failed to alert them to a US State Department travel advisory for the Bahamas until after their ordeal." I'm not taking a cruise to the Bahamas, but even I read the news about the travel advisory when it occurred. If you are taking a trip anywhere, it's you own responsibility to check for advisories and pat attention to the news about your destination.

Voice: it makes you sound like an asshole. Do better with some medical knowledge.

Gratuitous comments about people who “died of AIDS” are never OK.

N.B. No one has ever “died of AIDS.” It’s a collection of symptoms. not disease. Anyone with basic medical knowledge would understand that’s a distinction with a difference.

Is there a mega cruise search engine so I can find say, all the cruises planned from Australia to Hawaii?

CruiseCritic.com

Thanks r410, I’ll take a look

Which is the most stable area to stay - aft, midship or forward? I would assume aft?

Midship, dummy.

Midship and closer to the waterline.

You want to be near the center of gravity. Forward or aft, you’ll get more up and down, higher up you’ll get more side to side.

[quote]Is there a mega cruise search engine so I can find say, all the cruises planned from Australia to Hawaii?

I recently learned about CruisePlum.

Quick shout-out to VOTN for sharing his extensive cruise knowledge.

Thanks VOTN!

Put my final payment on my ENCHANTED PRINCESS cruise this June! Cozumel, Belize, Roatan & Costa Maya. I love Cozumel and have never been to Belize or Roatan before. Costa Maya is too touristy for me, so I'll stay onboard and take advantage of some spa deals if they're available.

This thread inspired me to look at a South Pacific cruise. The one that would have best suited me was Silverseas.

Fantasy over.

All it takes is money, R418. Lots and lots of money... :) You might want to try VacationsToGo.com. They do list some Silverseas cruises, and they always have the best prices, discounts, and offers.

Never give up on the fantasy!

R419 is right. Vacations to Go has great deals, especially for solo travelers, miltary, retired, active duty, veterans, 55+...

I used VTG for my Panama Canal cruise on Celebrity in April. The price was unbelievable! Way less for me as a single that the regular per-person brochure price. That said, there are a lot of hidden costs to cruising, such as shore excursions, spa appointments, drinks and internet packages, etc. One package that can really be worth it is the Priority Pass (or some such name). It gives priority boarding, a special embarkation lunch, and several other small goodies -along with a premium two-device internet package -for a price less than the internet package on its own. These are limited in number, and must be purchased prior to embarkation.

[quote]One package that can really be worth it is the Priority Pass (or some such name). It gives priority boarding, a special embarkation lunch, and several other small goodies -along with a premium two-device internet package -for a price less than the internet package on its own. These are limited in number, and must be purchased prior to embarkation.

They all have different names for that. Carnival calls it Faster to the Fun, Royal Caribbean calls it The Key, Celebrity calls it Celebrity Pass, and HAL calls it Club Orange. Some of the inclusions are different.

Yes, R422. You have to really look at what it provides to see if it is worth it for you, but it can be a great deal. :)

R421 you do understand that no one, ever, pays the brochure price. Jesus Christ. Would you pay the sticker price for a car?—no.

Many, many people do pay both brochure and sticker prices.

[quote]Many, many people do pay both brochure and sticker prices.

Do brochure and sticker prices include specified sale prices? I do pay the given price, but only if it's on sale.

Dumb people

10,000 drunken fat people allowed to do Coast Guard required emergency muster on their cell phones. What could go wrong?

Not everyone drinks on cruises r428 and they aren't all fat. I'll give you that there are plenty of overweight people on cruises, but that's everywhere these days.

^ Travel Agent

VOTN, looks like American Queen Voyages has gone belly-up? Any inside information?

And they got $67,000,000 of COVID funding, too. That's probably evaporated.

With an American DLer on board wouldn’t all cruise lines be American Queen?

I feel like there was another big steamboat bankruptcy or liquidation, but for the life of me, I can't remember details. Maybe it was just the Delta Queen losing its exemption.

Truthfully, I've never understood why steamboat cruises are a thing, unless you're really into Show Boat cosplay.

I have heard great things about riverboat food, as a lover of Southern/soul food cuisine and being a fat whore, I was curious. But the prices were always ridiculous. And now that Viking has muscled in on the action with their modern, non-traditional American riverboats, maybe their time is up. I hope that they find buyers for the ships though.

r434 That was when AMCV failed, end of 2001 thereabouts.

r434 I'm guessing Charlie Robertson jr and ACL is next, they have horrible reviews on Cruise Critic and I think that they have taken on too much debt with overbuilding. He will get a bit of a reprieve with John Waggoner taking a shit today.

I mean, I never really have understood why Americans want to travel by river in the United States. I get why you'd do it in other countries, but you could do the same itinerary a lot of efficiently driving in the US.

It's the same reason I never understood why the fanboys were expecting the SS United States (which has been owned in the past by first NCL and then by the first Crystal) was going to get renovated and then used for coastal cruising.

Who is John Waggoner, and what does he have to do with cruise lines?

There was no way the SS United States would be anything because Americans want balcony cabins.

r439 He's the guy that mortgaged his house to buy American Queen Steamboat.

The Big U fans are in denial about the ship. She's currently at about 85-90% in shape hull wise (per the US Coast Guard) but her engines would need to be removed. To even make her into a boutique cruise liner would cost as much as building a larger ship from scratch. Crystal thought about making her an 800 passenger cruise ship, but it was cost prohibitive in the end. But NCL didn't want anyone else to buy her until they did their feasibility study and now no one wants her. She'd make a great maritime museum, but Philadelphia's leadership has always been to short-sighted to see it through. Our current maritime museum is pathetic. Halifax has a much better one than we do.

r438 AQ should have been marketing to Europeans (and the Asia market, too for that matter) all this time, and it was a big mistake not to. Great Lakes cruises have proven to be popular with them, and they are willing to spend big money for that.

[quote]There was no way the SS United States would be anything because Americans want balcony cabins.

I think there are enough people who would enjoy the experience of being on a classic liner to forego the contemporary stuff, but I don't think that's enough to successfully run a business.

[quote]The Big U fans are in denial about the ship.

And HOW. You could probably build two mid-sized ships with all the modern conveniences for what it would cost to make her seaworthy.

I mean, if NCL didn't spend the money to rebuild the Norway after her boilers exploded, the's no way someone else would do that for a different ship.

Make her into a hotel or some kind of retail district and be done with it.

Thanks, R441.

If there were enough people that wanted to go on old style liners, then new ones would be built. Also, a cruise line could do like Cunard has done with its Queen Elizabeth and just build a new ship named United States.

[quote]Also, a cruise line could do like Cunard has done with its Queen Elizabeth and just build a new ship named United States.

The issue is being able to be US-flagged. There's no civilian shipbuilding on that scale domestically. After NCL rescued Pride of America after its original line, American Classic Voyages, went bankrupt, it took an act of Congress to allow them to register it in the United States, because they had its incomplete hull taken from the shipyard in Mississippi where it was supposed to be built, to Germany to be finished.

The PRIDE OF AMERICA is one of the ugliest cruise ships I’ve ever seen. The bow is almost non existent. And the decor is so patriotically corny. I think that they should have given her a more tropical, Polynesian style. I hear that the turnover of staff is quite high. They have to hire Americans and the American Merchant Marine pays well. But Americans don’t make good servants on ships.

[quote]The issue is being able to be US-flagged.

No, I would expect a hypothetical new ship that reuses the name United States would be registered in the Bahamas, or Bermuda, or wherever, same as most others.

[quote]I think that they should have given her a more tropical, Polynesian style.

That was what they did for the Norwegian Jade when it was Pride of Hawai'i. It was a gorgeous ship, much nicer than the garish stuff on Pride of America.

I look at pictures of Pride of America's lobby, and I cringe.

That’s Trumpian! Or Disney’s Ship Of Presidents!

[quote]That’s Trumpian!

It's VERY Trumpian.

The lobby is the worst, but the dining rooms aren't much better.

Disney's ships are a lot more subtle.

Pride of America is honestly as garish as some of the worst Carnival ships. Depending on the day, I might even say its worse.

It was a joke about the Hall of Presidents at Disneyland…

It was my thought too, R454. A wobbly animitronic LIncoln rises at the head table nightly to say the evening meal's blessing, backed by scratchy martial music.

[quote]It was my thought too, [R454]. A wobbly animitronic LIncoln rises at the head table nightly to say the evening meal's blessing, backed by scratchy martial music.

If only.

Even Disney at its most extreme would tell them to dial it down.

Ah, you found their early Guy Fieri pilot restaurant!

I'd go so far as to say that Guy's Burger Joint is less fussy than the NCL equivalent.

It's worse than Guy's or the Johnny Rockets on the RC ships.

For some reason I want NCL to be brought down a peg or two.

I do too, R459 ever since I went on the Norway 20-plus years ago. Constant announcements for the specials, the art auctions, the drink of the day, the gold by the inch, etc. It was not pleasant. Nor did it attract the same demographic we'd seen on other ships.

I was on the ship as a kid when it was the SS France. On one hand, Norwegian saved it. On the other hand, Norwegian destroyed it and by the time we went on it as Norway, it was the pits. A few weeks after we sailed on it, they pulled its seaworthiness certificate because the sprinkler system was barely functioning and held together in places by duct tape.

I think the market is taking care of that for you. They seem to be pissing off a lot of the biggest fans and from the outside seem to have something of an identity crisis.

They altered their itineraries on their South America/Antarctica cruises without announcing it. They have the right to do that, and Norwegian Star is too big to make any kind of landing in Antarctica, so it's only scenic cruising, but they knew they'd have to adjust and waited until they were onboard to tell people. So those passengers were mad.

They took on a lot of debt during the pandemic, but didn't seem to slow down their spending. They currently have four ships on order, which is way more any any other individual line. As a result, they've had a lot of cutbacks to services. Recent complaints are the elimination of hash browns at the breakfast buffets and baked good disappearing across the lines (I don't know if most NCL cruises are FAT WHORES, but one gets that impression) and cuts to other services.

Lastly, I'm looking at the new ships and trying to figure out who they're trying to compete with. For the longest time, they were closest to CCL or RCI, and were priced accordingly, but used their more casual approach and the whole freestyle open dining concept as their differentiator. Now all the lines offer open dining to some extent--even Cunard does in Britannia Club and the Grills. So they've lost that. The way the Prima-class ships are outfitted and designed, they seem to be trying to go against Celebrity and Virgin, which is fine, but they're not well thought out for cruises outside of warmer areas, because there's not a lot of indoor space. And unlike the premium lines, they do nickel and dime and upsell constantly.

That's one of the things I don't like about RC, and why I likely wouldn't do a straight cruise on them. The upselling is constant.

R460 r461 they seem arrogant. They did run the NORWAY into the ground and jeopardized their crew. Several of them were killed in that unfortunate boiler accident. They held onto the Big U and the old INDEPENDENCE like the proverbial dog in a manger so no one else could have a go at them and then they dismissed both ships. Capitalism at work I guess but I didn’t like it. And all the cutbacks r461 mentioned. And the new PRIMA and VIVA are overstuffed with gimmicks like race cars and such, all designed to make people part with their money. And they gave us the ghastly EPIC, with her ugly visage stinking up the Caribbean. I don’t think I’ll ever sail on their ships.

[quote]And they gave us the ghastly EPIC, with her ugly visage stinking up the Caribbean.

If nothing else, they quickly realized Epic was a mistake and pivoted immediately to the Breakaway class. No more toilets with frosted glass walls.

They've also replaced the go carts on Aqua with an aquacoaster (from my reading, it appears to be a take on the AquaMouse that's on Disney Wish and soon to be Disney Treasure) which they say will not have an additional charge. Let's see how long that lasts.

Didn’t NCL recently get a new CEO?

The newish (I think he took over last year) CEO of Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings (so NCL, Oceania, and Regent) was formerly the president of NCL, so it's not a dramatic change in leadership.

I would love to see Cunard build a running mate for QM2! She’s been booked a year in advance on her ocean crossings, which means that there’s a demand for it.

Um, R466, transats on the QM2 in May are on sale for $799 ex-NYC through the end of this month and there are other dates available through the summer starting at about $1500. In addition there are low-fare, last-minute offers with a 14-day June r/t as low at $2099. I know this because they keep bombarding us with offers. Some categories (unsurprisingly, usually the most expensive first) may have sold out, or some sailings, but there's plenty of availability shown, some heavily discounted, this spring and summer.

Go. Where else can you live like that for a week for about $115 a day plus the drinks? It can cost more to stay home.

A couple of years ago HAL flushed a Ft Lauderdale to Barcelona 10-night cruise, best available, for $329. The offer was two weeks out from sailing date. CBP requires final manifest at least 72 hours in advance. Can you imagine, thirty-three bucks a day.

I mean, I'd love if I had that kind of flexibility with work.

Royal Caribbean is putting in a frankly bizarre new restaurant on Utopia of the Seas. It's where Izumi is on the other ships. They've moved Izumi to Central Park, and put it in place of both the wine bar and the Italian restaurant are, and the moved Giovanni's in place of Wonderland. Pity.

And there's no Bionic Bar. Not such a pity.

Link would help.

Whaaat? Sounds like what Carnival has put on its Excel class ships, with the part of the ship resembling a train station or airport.

I mean, it's a weird idea, although I'm not convinced it's a bad one. I just think it's a shame that it cost them space for Wonderland. While I enjoy doing Atlantis on Royal Caribbean, I'm not as keen on the line without the added value that Atlantis brings. Wonderland is a huge exception, and aside from Ocean Liners (the French restaurant, now sadly long gone) on Celebrity Constellation, the best meal I've had at sea.

OTOH, Disney Treasure has replaced the underwhelming Star Wars-themed bar with a Haunted Mansion themed one, and I'll be honest, that's tempting.

Are there any cruise ships with a Star Trek-themed bar?

Only one week a year.

And looking at those prices, I should never complain about Atlantis again.

R473, or VOTN, what is the food at Wonderland like?

It's awesome. It's very molecular gastronomy kind of stuff, which seems a lot like the Test Kitchen on Virgin. They do this to-die-for melting chocolate sphere thing for dessert that's so good that on the ships without a Wonderland, they serve it at their Chef's Table food and wine pairing.

I've done both. I prefer Wonderland.

Carnival has announced a plan to stop deck chair hogs by the pool -a two-person team the patrols and removes people's stuff if they haven't returned within 45 minutes. I hope it works -and that other lines follow suit!

Most cruises would be much better without your fellow passengers...

[quote]I hadn’t realized until opening this thread that VOTN is an expert on cruise ships.

I didn't either, and I've been here for years reading their posts. Kudos VOTN for all the information!

I accidentally received a Viking River cruise sale booklet last month (misdirected mail), and am seriously thinking about booking a European cruise for later this year. Danube or Rhine, or possibly Budapest to Amsterdam.

VOTN Any thoughts on Oceania? Looking at the fall, either a one week Bermuda or two week Miami to Lima in December. Also thinking of taking our hag, who'd need a single room. They say they have 'em but don't show prices. It's part of Norwegian but so is Regent, and they're not bad, but we've never been on Oceania.

R480, Oceania tis for thee!

Budapesht.

[quote]VOTN Any thoughts on Oceania? Looking at the fall, either a one week Bermuda or two week Miami to Lima in December. Also thinking of taking our hag, who'd need a single room. They say they have 'em but don't show prices. It's part of Norwegian but so is Regent, and they're not bad, but we've never been on Oceania.

I'd do Oceania ahead of a lot of the luxury lines. I've always liked their vibe, and Travel and Leisure and Conde Nast Traveler (both editorial and reader polling) always give them high marks. Since I split with my husband, I've been seeing two different guys, and I'm going with one on Valiant Lady and one on the Koningsdam. The first guy and I are talking about doing a Christmas cruise together (non-gay) and we've been looking at either Oceania or Norwegian Prima or Viva in the Haven.

There are cruises that go from Honolulu To Sydney that I could take my mother on for her birthday . A Princess, a Celebrity Solstice and a Celebrity Edge. Almost all of them spend three nights in various French Polynesian islands (lovely) and three nights in New Zealand’s North Island (meh she has been been for conferences many times). Unfortunately my disinterest in the second half of the itinerary means I can’t justify the cost, especially for the Celebrity Edge which does sort of look fun.

Another does Maui, American Samoa, New Caledonia and Fiji, none of which I have visited before, or at least since childhood. Fantastic! Unfortunately that ship is the Disney Wonder. We are not anti-Disney, but aren’t Disney adults either. I don’t care what people say, if you haven’t seen Tangled or The Princess And The Frog then I don’t possibly see how a disinterested party could cope with themed dining. Not to mention all the kids and their parents.

The other option is Cunard’s Queen Elizabeth, which hits all the right spots, but it departs from San Francisco, which means missing out on pre-cruise days in Hawaii. And I don’t what kind of shape the Queen Elizabeth is in? I’d rather have the Cunard experience on Anne.

R484, watch some YouTube reviews of the Disney Wonder. You may find it's more amenable than you think.

Whatever you do, don’t cruise on Disney with this guy or his creepy family.

[quote]Another does Maui, American Samoa, New Caledonia and Fiji, none of which I have visited before, or at least since childhood. Fantastic! Unfortunately that ship is the Disney Wonder. We are not anti-Disney, but aren’t Disney adults either. I don’t care what people say, if you haven’t seen Tangled or The Princess And The Frog then I don’t possibly see how a disinterested party could cope with themed dining. Not to mention all the kids and their parents.

Any long cruise, even Disney, will not have a lot of kids. Unless you're looking around a holiday time, most families are not going to be gone for more than seven nights.

The other thing to keep in mind, Disney has three classes of ship: The Magic and the Wonder, the Dream and the Fantasy, and the Wish which will soon be joined by the Treasure. The oppressive theming only really started with the Dream and the Fantasy, and then the Wish put it on steroids. One of the dining rooms on the Wonder is themed to Princess and the Frog, but it's nowhere near the experience on the Wish, where you're forced to participate in both a Marvel experience and a Frozen one on various nights.

That Disney ship at r486 looks spacious and colorful, the rooms and food/drink look pretty good, but I don't think I could take a week of Mickey Mouse and Belle characters running all over the place with grown adults cooing over them. And the Disney decor everywhere.

The themed areas just look boring! who wants to look at Marvel movie costumes, is that a thing? I guess the shore expeditions are worth it.

[quote]That Disney ship at [R486] looks spacious and colorful, the rooms and food/drink look pretty good, but I don't think I could take a week of Mickey Mouse and Belle characters running all over the place with grown adults cooing over them.

The characters don't run all over the place. They have specific times when they're out and about.

I think Mickey appears at the dinner at the Animator's Palate restaurant on the Wonder, but I don't think there are other points where you're forced to interact with them if you don't.

R488, the themed areas you mentioned in that video are from the kids Club area, which is normally kids-only. They have an open house on sailing day so adults can see it. You wouldn't be there normally. From everything I've heard, the Disney-theming is very understated throughout the rest of the ship. I believe there are also adults-only areas.

Try watching something from other than fawning Disney fanboys. Gary Bembridge for example.

The Disney ships and Cunard the only ones that emulate the interiors of the old transatlantic liners. The MAGIC and WONDER also do this with their exterior design. But the larger ships are just as ungainly as their rivals. And Disney seems rather pricey for what you get.

[quote] I believe there are also adults-only areas.

Pity.

Ocean cruises have gone the way of air travel. What was once the domain of the upwardly mobile and higher has become infiltrated by the lower forms of hoi polloi, many of whom received little to no home training, and are incapable of comporting themselves with any level of dignity.

For r493. You’re welcome.

[quote] From everything I've heard, the Disney-theming is very understated throughout the rest of the ship. I believe there are also adults-only areas.

The newer ships have more aggressive Disney theming. Wish has an underwhelming Star Wars themed bar, a Marvel dinner experience (basically, watching screens with a minor interactive element, and then Antman and Wasp come out at the end) and then a Frozen-themed dinner show. As I mentioned above, the ship that's coming out in December, Treasure, has replaced the Star Wars bar with a Haunted Mansion one, replaced Frozen with Coco, but sadly kept the Marvel stuff. And I like Marvel, but the videos of the dinner I've seen just look obnoxious.

All of their ships have adults-only pools plus the spa, and all have an adults-only restaurant called Palo. Dream, Fantasy, and Wish have an additional one called Remy, and the Wish has a third called Enchanté. They honestly do a great job keeping the kids out from underfoot.

That being said, their entertainment is basically completely Disney-themed, so that is what'll be in the theater every night.

[quote] Wish has an underwhelming Star Wars themed bar, a Marvel dinner experience (basically, watching screens with a minor interactive element, and then Antman and Wasp come out at the end)

I saw the Star Wars bar and the Avengers restaurant on YouTube, they are awful.

The Star Wars bar is pointless. It appears to be terrible cocktails served in anonymous space craft. Out of the bridge window; some space battles and a jump into hyper space. You’re not even served by Chewbacca or C3P0.

The Marvel dinner is in a dark enclosed noisy room. Picture a children’s themed birthday party. And it had none of the creative charm of the Animator’s Palette themed restaurants on the other ships.

The Frozen dinner had a kind of Medieval themed banquet meets dinner theatre vibe I could kind of go with.

[quote]The Star Wars bar is pointless. It appears to be terrible cocktails served in anonymous space craft. Out of the bridge window; some space battles and a jump into hyper space. You’re not even served by Chewbacca or C3P0.

But you can get a $5000 cocktail called the Kaiburr Crystal, which is one cocktail made with super rare cognac, plus three other shots, one of Pappy Van Winkle, one of a premium port, and Watenshi gin, which is about $2500 a bottle. I believe you also get the carrier it comes in, souvenir glassware, and an invitation to visit Skywalker Ranch. And that $5000 is not inclusive of the tip, so add on about about $1000 on top.

The Wish's other big thing is the AquaMouse, which they call their first dark ride at sea. In reality, it's a waterslide that has screens playing Mickey cartoons alongside the lift that gets the raft to the top of the slide, which also squirt water on you.

It's not even that it's cheesy, it's more that it's completely half-assed.

[quote]The Frozen dinner

Swansons?

r497 - What kind of idiot would order that drink? I mean, that blend would absolutely taste like shit.

I am not complaining, but my broke ass is now getting many cruise ship advertisements on websites.

I used to het lots of ads for older woman casual clothing, herbal diets, and housewares so it’s a wash.

[quote][R497] - What kind of idiot would order that drink? I mean, that blend would absolutely taste like shit.

It's not blended. The cocktail is Cadmus cognac, Grand Marnier Quintessence (which is also a few hundred dollars a bottle), yuzu and kumquat. And then the three shots are separate.

As to who it idiots are, the answer is influencers. Like so much stuff at Disney right now, both their theme parks and their cruises, it's designed for people who want to show off on social media.

I was listening to a podcast which had an interview with a woman who's on the RC world cruise, and then I fell down a rabbit hole about it. The podcast was recorded before the drama with the altered Red Sea itinerary, and she was talking about their experiences on the first leg of the trip, which was around South America including scenic cruising in Antarctica. She told a lot of fascinating details, stuff that I wouldn't have thought about. For the people who are onboard for the entire 270+ day experience, Royal Caribbean included first class flights to meet the ship, an pre-cruise party in Miami with a hotel stay, internet, drinks, and tips. They planned it so the dining room menus are on a 28-day rotation, so there aren't as many repeated meals as you'd think, plus they'd brought on local chefs in some of the ports to mix things up, to the point that not a lot of people are eating in the specialty restaurants because regular dining room has been so good. Unusually, they have a dentist and hygienist aboard, and some people had needed root canals, One of the passengers is a chiropractor, and he's been giving people free adjustments. The interview was conducted before they reached Los Angeles, but RC had been planning a free group excursion to Target so people could stock up on things, and they have what's basically a swap meet on a Facebook group where if people need something, they ask the other passengers and usually someone has it.

There has been other drama. A couple with a TikTok account was caught going on a racist tirade. There's an older Brazilian lady who was showing off on social media, and people noted that she had a lot of pineapple stuff, and then she had to put out a video that she just likes pineapples and is not a swinger--and she's still totally a swinger.

They'll vote on their new itinerary Tuesday, If they go to the route that hits West Africa, Royal Caribbean is arranging to get people who need yellow fever vaccines vaccinations at no cost.

[quote] Unusually, they have a dentist and hygienist aboard

That’s very smart. Dental pain is no joke and they would totally be getting guests who DIY’d it.

Cruise with Ben and David had an episode where they were on a Disney cruise and David had emergency root canal. They had it done on land, but he was in great discomfort and wasn't able to participate in reviewing the ship.

Anyone able to translate what this 10-day cruise deal on The Norwegian Sun to Alaska means? It's $3,400 for the two of us in a balcony room, plus taxes and fees, which I have no idea of the cost. Other than airfare, what would not be included?

Are all meals and booze drinks really included? Seems like it.

We are 60+ and don't like MAGA types and would rather avoid a ton of families with children, but don't mind a few. Would we be better off waiting for a Chumley Cruise?

The only cruise I've been on was maybe 20 years ago on The Diamond Princess on an RSVP cruise in a balcony room. The ship and room were fabulous. Are Norwegian ships and service equivalent? It was a decadent week, from what I can remember of it. We are much slower and tamer now. Am mostly interested in viewing the scenery of Alaska that can only be visited by ship, not the "nightlife". NOTE: Drag Bingo and the comedy shows on the RSVP cruise were a scream.

The number and variety of cruises available is overwhelming.

Any suggestions?

Ooops, DL is not allowing me to post a link.

Norwegian Sun is an old ship by current standards. Not their oldest, but almost. She was built in the late 90s and looks it (she and her sister Norwegian Sky were actually designed for Costa before NCL bought them), but had a refurbishment a few years ago.

Without knowing the inclusions, they usually have a promo called "Free At Sea" which includes alcohol, basic WiFi, and some excursion credit. There's also usually a dining credit, but not all food is included. On the Sun, the included restaurants are the main dining rooms (there are two, and both should have the same menu), the two buffets (the outdoor one has more limited selection, but basically the same food), and the tapas place. I'm not sure the specific other restaurants on the Sun, but all NCL ships have a steakhouse called Cagney's, a French restaurant called Le Bistro, and an Italian place called La Cucina. There are also usually some Asian places (usually sushi) and sometimes a churruascario. For all of those, they are additional fee. NCL usually throws in a credit towards that in their promos, but it's not unlimited, and once you use that, you're paying out of pocket, with charge that's usually somewhere between $25-50 per person.

Price wise, if that's total and not per person, it's a great deal. I'm assuming you're looking in the shoulder season (so, May or September) if it's that low. There's nothing wrong with going at those times, but it will be cooler, the days won't be quite as long, and you'll miss some of the wildlife (like the salmon runs which are usually in late June and July).

Is there something in Alaska that you really want to see? By far, my favorite port was Skagway, because there's a lot interesting stuff there. The White Pass railroad is beautiful (when we did it, the sky was unusually clear, so we could see glaciers up on mountaintops that are usually hidden by clouds), and there's a kickass tour of the downtown area that focuses on the history of prostitution during the Gold Rush.

I can't promise you the clientele you're going to run across.

As far as the experience...NCL wouldn't be my first choice for Alaska (assuming you don't want to do luxury, Princess and HAL have some of the best infrastructure, and Carnival Corp actually owns the White Pass, although anyone can ride it), but at the end of the day, you're going to Alaska to see Alaska. It's about the destination as much as it is about the ship. If you're looking for a casual experience, NCL or Carnival would be your best bet. Carnival Luminosa is a much newer ship, but that'll have more kids.

[quote]That’s very smart. Dental pain is no joke and they would totally be getting guests who DIY’d it.

Oh, that's nothing. Back in my TA days, HAL would allow you to book dialysis while aboard, which tells you all you need to know about their former target demographic.

Is Costa going under? Declining passenger loads, transferring some of its ships to Carnival, no newbuilds planned for the near future...what gives?

A couple of years ago (pre-COVID), Costa was starting to pivot towards Asia, but then Carnival decided to establish Adora.

Of Carnival Corp's European brands, the only one that has a ship on order is Cunard. P&O, AIDA, and Costa don't have any.

TUI, which is a German line that Royal Caribbean has a 50% stake in does have a bunch coming, but Royal Caribbean is in better shape financially than Carnival Corp right now. I bought a few shares of RCI stock maybe six or eight months ago, and the share price has gone up 150% in the times since. Carnival and Norwegian Group are not in that kind of way at all.

r502 - Any idea if there are many (any, actually) of the HAL/Cunard/Etc. world cruise 'regulars' onboard? I'm guessing most of that crowd wouldn't be caught dead on it. And I mean the ones who do this every or every other year.

This subject hasn't come up with a friend of mine who has done about 30 or so world cruises, I am going to email him and see what he says.

I haven't seen any names that I've recognized. The one person that I would have might have expected, Super Mario Salcedo definitely isn't on it, because he was on the first sailing of Icon.

Just as well. He's unpleasant.

[quote] HAL would allow you to book dialysis while aboard

And then try to have you ejected into space!

r510 - Did you know Mark G. and Xtofer before their unfortunate passing? I wonder if he used to post here. There's others but I am hesitant to be too public about those who are alive yet.

No, I don't remember them from my TA days.

Oh, okay, if anyone wants to spot me and can convince my employer to give me extra vacation time, HAL has a 28-day Alaska cruise on the Westerdam that crosses the Arctic Circle on the day of the summer solstice, so you get 24 hours of daylight.

[quote]Cruise with Ben and David had an episode where they were on a Disney cruise and David had emergency root canal.

Dental issues are my biggest fear when traveling abroad. Once I had a crown shatter on my first day of a foreign trip, but fortunately, that was no problem waiting to resolve it until I returned home. I think it's weird that you can get trip medical coverage for huge amounts, but the dental coverage on the policy is really paltry. My trip medical insurance pays only $500 for dental care for when natural teeth are hurt from an accidental injury. Breaking a tooth from chewing or biting is explicitly excluded. There's also $250 for "relief of pain".

R514 what did you do? Were you in pain?

r515, I didn't do anything other than call my dentist to make an appointment for the day after I returned. The natural tooth nub under the crown was fine and there was no pain. Last year, while at home, I had a crown on a different tooth just slip off and the dentist was able to glue it back on.

r506/VOTN, thank you so much, this info is gold.

We're actually targeting mid-Summer 2025 for Alaska for potentially better weather and wildlife viewing. My thought about $3,400 for a 10-day cruise in a balcony room for two people is that it's a bargain, especially with booze included. We'd pay few extra thousand to avoid white trash on a "better" cruise line and I'm not even sure what that means. I would never fly Spirit Airlines, and I pay extra for Economy Plus on long flights, not because I'm tall, but because I hope to avoid obnoxious seatmates - it doesn't always work.

When you say "casual cruising," what does that mean? Is it like going to Applebees or The Olive Garden? If they were ships, I wouldn't want to be on them. A long time ago, Kathy Lee Gifford used to do commercials for a cruise line. I don't want to be on that one, either, unless I could throw her overboard.

Your advice is priceless!

Again, am totally ignorant about cruises, and don't which lines are like Walmart vs. good vs. way upscale. As you said, we mostly just want to see Alaska. Is Princess considered luxury? I was thrilled with my experience on The Diamond Princess many years ago. Comfort is good, but itinerary matters most and Skagway is now a must on our list!

Princess isn't a luxury cruise line. Lines in that category include Viking Ocean Cruises, Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Silversea, and Azamara. Below them you'll find Virgin Voyages, Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess. The next tier down has Disney, and Royal Caribbean. Then Norwegian, MSC, and Carnival. Below those -you don't want to know. With class-based lines like Cunard, it's luxury if you're in a Grills suite, but down there with Princess if you're in Britannia.

Caveat emptor: the above classifications and rankings come from various travel sites, US News and World Report, etc. They are not my personal opinion. Most lines nowadays have special accommodations and services for suite guests, and things vary a great deal from ship to ship within the same cruise line. As they say in the ads, your mileage may vary.

Hebridean Cruises et al are luxury. Silversea, Regent etc. is just Holland America Line up to the very early 1980s.

R519 put down the shot glass…

R520 But it's true! In the past I've had hours-long conversations with guys that manage Michelin-starred restaurants (because of work) and nowadays its all about faking high-end in a certain way.

The reason for that will make people on here angry, so I'm not going there.

[quote] The reason for that will make people on here angry, so I'm not going there.

Post it. Post it now.

You’re sounding dizzy—if you ran a cruise line then why would you need a chat with restaurant folks to know the cruise lines fake it? If you want to spill, then spill. Or put away the booze…

R523 - I already knew that, that's not why I was talking to him. We were discussing potential licensing agreements. That is popular now across most lines. The faking thing came up while we were just small-talking about our two industries.

Zzzz

r525 - Yes I know, I get the same sense from the other person when I'm being interviewed by the Wall St Journal or the New York Times.

Name ‘em.

Name ‘em.

Name ‘em.

[quote] Princess isn't a luxury cruise line. Lines in that category include Viking Ocean Cruises, Seabourn, Regent Seven Seas, Oceania, Silversea, and Azamara. Below them you'll find Virgin Voyages, Celebrity, Holland America, and Princess. The next tier down has Disney, and Royal Caribbean. Then Norwegian, MSC, and Carnival. Below those -you don't want to know. With class-based lines like Cunard, it's luxury if you're in a Grills suite, but down there with Princess if you're in Britannia.

I would break it down slightly differently, but essentially agree. There are also two and a half new players in the luxury space, both the new incarnation of Crystal (I’ve heard mixed things), plus Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection and Explora Journeys, which is owned by MSC. Only Crystal is currently doing Alaska itineraries.

You should also consider which type of Alaska itinerary you’re looking for. Inside Passage cruises (those are the round trip Seattle ones) versus Gulf of Alaska sailings, which are open jaw between either Seward or Whittier (nearest airport is Anchorage) and Vancouver. Those are more expensive in terms of airfare because you’re flying open jaw, but you see more of Alaska. Also, those you can tag a tour onto either end if you want to see more of the interior of Alaska, like Denali.

Any summer cruise will have more kids, but HAL or Celebrity will likely have the fewest.

And I’m not shilling, but Vacaya has a charter on the HAL Westerdam that I was looking at for late July next year. It’s expensive, and skips Skagway, but would definitely be adults-only. Vacaya isn’t like Atlantis—slightly more diverse crowd, not as circuit-y—and has gotten some pretty good entertainers in the past. They just wrapped up their big Caribbean cruise and their headliner was none other that Miss Vanessa Williams, which is a pretty great get.

You Can't Handle The Truth!

^^^ Slightly funny -but more than a little biased. If cruises were really as unsafe/bad as all that there wouldn't be so many repeat cruisers, would there? I've been on forty cruises and never gotten anything more than seasick (during a storm). Yes, you do get nor-virus outbreaks, but look at the northeast right now. You don't have to be on a cruise ship to get it... If you don't want to go on a cruise, then don't. No one will force you.

Oh Jesus—who killed your sense of homour?

No one. It's just that every single bit of that video is tired, old cliches. All it lacked was the phrase "layers of nacreous permacum..." Jokes about cruising and cruisers can be great, but that video didn't have any.

Sorry, but that reads as very odd…🤷🏻‍♂️

R530 Travel Agents have zero sense of humor.

The model for contemporary cruising is Las Vegas. If LV is your idea of a great vacation welcome aboard.

Vegas with a chance of being drowned. Count me out.

Vegas with 8,000 Trumptards and the chance of being drowned. The Fun Ships

After rabbit holing much of the weekend, have decided on a Summer 2025 7-night, in a Verandah or Aqua room, one-way on the Celebrity Summit from Vancouver to Seward, AK, then train to Anchorage. Very excited, despite the expected rainy and gray weather!

Will need to get creative with United Miles for the open jaws airline tickets to pull this off. Probably R/T to Vancouver, then a one-way from ANC back to Van.

You'll like the Celebrity SUMMIT. You'll like the Alaskan scenery.

You won't like Alaska.

Old fat fraus shilling vacays to old fat fraus. SS. Villages

The last Alaskan cruise I was on, I sat next to a lady who started telling me why she was on the cruise. She had been on a previous cruise, had bought some jewelry at an onshore store in Ketchikan that broke, and she was going to return it. So there's that.

I'm doing the Panama Canal on the Summit in April. I love older/smaller ships.

[quote] I'm doing the Panama Canal

The Panama Canal is an insatiable bottom.

[quote] The last Alaskan cruise I was on, I sat next to a lady who started telling me why she was on the cruise. She had been on a previous cruise, had bought some jewelry at an onshore store in Ketchikan that broke, and she was going to return it. So there's that.

Someone should tell her that Diamonds International is everywhere.

[quote] After rabbit holing much of the weekend, have decided on a Summer 2025 7-night, in a Verandah or Aqua room, one-way on the Celebrity Summit from Vancouver to Seward, AK, then train to Anchorage. Very excited, despite the expected rainy and gray weather!

That’s a great choice. Celebrity is by far my favorite of the mass-market lines. If you do go for an Aqua-class room, the food in Blu is worth it.

Does the food come in Greene?

I like Blu.

R544 One can never have too much scintillating conversation on one's holiday.

Alaska cruises can get pricey. Especially when you add in the tours.

r539, point taken. Only spending one night on land. It's MAGA country and the Mosquito is the State Bird.

I'm cruising on Celebrity for the first time this summer, and I'm finding their shore excursion descriptions very sparse, to the point of being unhelpful. Other lines give timeline summaries and sometimes itineraries so you know what's involved. They also often have photos or traveler comments. Celebrity merely has a sparse paragraph or two.

Alaska has amazing activities, but they are really expensive. Usually three times what you'd expect in other cruise ports. It's also one of the most dangerous places for excursions -especially small planes and helicopters. The most fun I ever had on an Alaskan excursion was a white-water rafting trip. Super fun!

General rule of thumb—unless it is a very special event or out of the way, never do the ship’s shore excursions. You can always do it better and more cost-effectively on your own.

Sun Princess pulls out of the shipyard. The horn is exciting and new.

Coochie-coochie!

Any port in a storm, I guess. That would become tiresome very quickly on a cruise.

Every Royal-class Princess ship I've been on does the same out-of-tune horn medley when first sailing (and occasionally in other ports). However, one of the Disney ships we docked near had a much more elaborate set of songs played on their horns and had to show them off when the Princess ship played their ditty.

[quote] General rule of thumb—unless it is a very special event or out of the way, never do the ship’s shore excursions. You can always do it better and more cost-effectively on your own.

Yes, but couldn’t it be a good way to meet and socialize with other people on your ship?

In fact, no…what, nake a new best friend on a smelly tender or a “If it’s Tuesday” bus ride. Hell no. I’ve had more fun meeting passengers by sharing a taxi to find the best local beach, or at the train station making our own way to some lovely town for the day.

Yes, but being a cruise line excursion guarantees the other people will be from your ship and doesn’t rely on chance, right?

Here's an example of the Disney horns.

R559, I've met a lot of interesting people on excursions and tender rides. Most people on vacation are very gregarious and friendly. There are also notable exceptions.

R559. No. And it doesn’t matter. You can see them on the ship. The point of getting off the ship is not to spend MORE time with the same people. In my view, the whole point is to get away from the cruise and see or do something different. I want to meet locals or someone new…not the people I’ll see in the dining room on board. It’s not meant to be a trip bubble.

On my Princess cruise in 2022, I was solo. I went on my tours solo and interacted with some of the other passengers on the tour. Then at dinner I compared notes with my tablemates and we talked about what we saw.

Sounds pretty dull.

Well, this is unusual. Norwegian Dawn is currently quarantined in Mauritius with an outbreak of what’s suspected to be cholera. Mauritian officials aren’t letting anyone off the ship for at least two days.

At least it’s a change from noro.

Cholera? Weren’t they paying attention as less-elders in 1970?!

[quote]I'm cruising on Celebrity for the first time this summer, and I'm finding their shore excursion descriptions very sparse, to the point of being unhelpful. Other lines give timeline summaries and sometimes itineraries so you know what's involved. They also often have photos or traveler comments. Celebrity merely has a sparse paragraph or two.

I'm finding Virgin's shore excursions offerings fascinating. They really do seem to be on the wavelength of young-ish (I mean, below 60 on a cruise is young) upper middle and upper class travelers. They've got a lot more cultural and culinary options that I can remember. And the active stuff is a lot more active than you'd find on other lines. One of the ones on St Kitts, which I'm actually leaning toward doing, is a cooking class.

The word “fascinating” and the words ‘cruise shore excursion’ have never gone together, not ever.

Peace be with you.

Oh, I see you've clearly stated your boundaries.

I’ve been around a cruise too many times—I know how shore excursions work—good, bad and damn awful.

VOTN, your expertise is needed in the below-linked thread on so many deck levels.

Just read that the Gulf of Alaska can be rough; therefore, will only be doing a round-trip within the Inside Passage, probably from Vancouver since my husband hasn't been there. Have had a sailboat on SF Bay for almost 20 years, but am a pussy on open seas. My boat has never left the Golden Gate except when I was drunk and much younger.

An actual sailor? Boy, are gonna hate that cruise.

Is there a nightclub on the Oceania Regatta? It doesn’t seem to be that kind of ship.

As far as a dance club? No.

They do have two lounge spaces with live music. The main show lounge has a dance floor, but it's not one in the sense of the spaces on Carnival or Royal.

Bit more like the Queens Room on Cunard.

Thanks VOTN.

After really warming to the idea of the Disney Wonder, I watched a bunch of YouTube videos of the ports and read trip reports of last year’s cruise and my heart sank. Given the sheer price of Disney Wonder for limited opportunity for shore days with decent snorkelling which will likely snapped up by return cruisers, I’m leaning more towards an Oceania Regatta cruise from Papeete to Honolulu. It’s small enough to go to islands like Bora Bora unlike the vast majority of cruises, all the shore days are winners, there is lots of opportunity for water activities, it has a library and the food looks great.

Looks me and my mother will be shutting down the piano at 11pm.

Sounds like a great choice, R576.

Oh, I'll always stan for the R-class ships. Leaving aside the great itineraries, the ships are reason enough to do Oceania or Azamara, because they own all of them. Princess had two of them, but Oceania eventually got one and Azamara got the other.

[quote]the food looks great.

Oceania always had great food. I think they may have touched off the whole celebrity chef co-branding thing, because when they first launched, they hired Jacques Pepin to design their menus.

I’m glad you both seem to think it’s a good idea! It would be a the first cruise for both of us. And we look forward to shutting down the piano *bar* (oh dearing myself there).

And as I’m not quite 40 I may be one of the youngest passengers on board.

Just one of? Ha!

There's a fair likelihood you'll be the absolute youngest.

Most Oceania passengers are over 50. Honestly, you might have to go to a family-oriented line to find one where that wouldn't be true.

Virgin announced that they're canceling their 24-25 Australia season due to the continued troubles in the Red Sea. They're sending Resilient Lady to the Caribbean, which means, unless Scarlet Lady is going to stay in Europe, they'll have three ships there next winter. There's still no maiden voyage date for Brilliant Lady, and that's the sort of thing that makes me wonder how they're doing financially, as I'm sure this need to reroute cost them a lot of money.

The Royal Caribbean world cruise passengers picked the option with stops in Africa and fewer sea days.

[quote] They're sending Resilient Lady to the Caribbean, which means, unless Scarlet Lady is going to stay in Europe, they'll have three ships there next winter. There's still no maiden voyage date for Brilliant Lady, and that's the sort of thing that makes me wonder how they're doing financially, as I'm sure this need to reroute cost them a lot of money.

Wouldn’t sending Resilient Lady to San Juan be no more costly than the previous plan to send her back to Australia during Athens’ winter at the end of year?

The itinerary change isn't what I'm thinking is a result of financial problems. It's that Brilliant Lady was supposed to have her maiden voyage at the end of last year (my cruise that's two weeks away was originally scheduled to be on her), then they said sometime this fall, and now it's looking like it won't be until 2025.

They're still working on her, because they just announced today that the artist they'd picked for the hull art, an Asian woman from Canada, had just completed the painting, but the ship is still apparently still hasn't been floated out.

By contrast, Queen Anne, which just finished sea trials and will have her maiden voyage in about eight weeks, got floated out over a year ago. And even she got delayed by a few months.

I went on a cruise and out of a couple hundred passengers, there was a 9-year-old (my nephew), a 10-year-old (grandkid of some random couple), a pair of honeymooners probably in their late 20's, my 18-year-old roommate (smirk), my sister (42), and me (37). Everybody else was late 60's or older. There were lots of octogenarians, and upwards of a dozen nonagenarians. I knew these ages because of an idle chat with the hotel manager. So that was what, 2% of the passengers less than 60.

Another cruise, I was just 30, my roommate was 19, and the rest late 50's and up. I would guess the average age was maybe 75. The two of us hung around with Frank Gorshin for the entire trip, as he was by himself.

R584, why don't they just go through the Panama Canal?

What it would cost to get the ship to Australia the long way may not make it feasible, especially since they'd have to get it back to Europe and the situation around the Arabian Peninsula may not be any better by then. There's a reason that ships that winter in SE Asia and Australia usually summer in Alaska.

Also, aside from the repositioning cruises, like the Scarlet Lady doing a transatlantic for the summer and a few European itineraries, they don't do a lot of cruises longer than 7 nights. I'd assume that would go because their target market is working, younger cruisers, who might have an issue taking some of the length of cruises the other lines do. This was their first season in Australia, and from the sound of things, they were heavily discounting things in order to get people to try it out, but still didn't get a lot of takers.

With the new locks, the Panama Canal is able to handle ships up to 1200feet in length, with limits also one beam and draft. Many of the new large ships simply won't fit through it. I think all of the Virgin ships are capable of fitting length-wise, but I don't know if they meet the draft and beam requirements. It could just be that they expect more business in the Caribbean.

Have any of "youse" watched Mighty Cruise Ships?

[quote]With the new locks, the Panama Canal is able to handle ships up to 1200feet in length, with limits also one beam and draft. Many of the new large ships simply won't fit through it. I think all of the Virgin ships are capable of fitting length-wise, but I don't know if they meet the draft and beam requirements. It could just be that they expect more business in the Caribbean.

She'd definitely fit. QM2 fits now, and she's nowhere near as big. I even think the Oasis-class, which are significantly bigger than the QM2 fit in terms of width, but I think they're too tall to fit under the Bridge of the Americas.

I'm surprised they wouldn't send a ship to LA. I'd think they'd find a huge base of their target demographic on the West Coast.

VotN, what's their target demographic?

Young, hung and full of cum—with a real $-making job. That’s it…

[quote]VotN, what's their target demographic?

Upper- and upper-middle-class Millennials and younger Gen Xers.

Thank you, VotN.

Like I said….

IF they'd send a ship to LA or San Diego I'd do it.

r573, apples vs. oranges. Have been on one cruise on a large ship, which was like a gentle, floating hotel. Sailing on the SF Bay is bumpy, twisty, exhilarating, and usually a lot of work when it's windy.

New thread:

Love. Exciting and new.

Voice of the Night, your cruise director.