AndiD

Welcome, Cruznuts! We are also a long-married couple (44 years) and cruising is definitely our favorite type of vacation. We have done the Hawaii cruise 3 times - one on the Golden Princess, roundtrip LA, and twice on the Radiance of the Seas, one way down from Vancouver. We keep saying that we should do a land vacation there, but it is so much more economical to cruise, and then we don't have to pick among the islands, lol. My sister and family lives in Houston, so we have sailed out of Galveston...many moons ago...but thinking of doing it again. Since you are repeating on the Liberty, I take it that you like that ship?

Bon Voyage, @Sandy! Love the Summit and know you will as well! Be sure to tell us how it went - we all live vicariously through others' cruises, lol!

I can TOTALLY relate to the T-shirt regrets, Jan! In fact, I just put a bunch of them in the Salvation Army pile, lol.

Hi Renee, welcome to Cruise Crazies! Great topic: I do use the vacuum bags, but only on the return...we use them to compress all the dirty clothes - we sure don't care if they get wrinkled on the return, lol! We also do use packing cubes for underwear, swimwear, etc. We usually take two and I mix hubby's and mine into both cubes and put one in each suitcase. I figure if one of our bags gets lost we will at least have some clean underwear. Yes - we usually end up with two suitcases on each cruise (size does depend on length of cruise.) I am not a light packer, I do admit. What about you?

Love this, Jan! I have copied down the quote from Morley and will send to Lucas as he gets ready for their Costa Rica trip - he will love it! And I also tend to agree with your other included thoughts; we did NOT split our time between Florence and Pisa, and yes, we DID brave the crowds to see the real David and not just the replica out on the square. And I know you guys did as well! One unexpected pleasure whilst doing a tour that we thought a "must-do" rather than a "dying-to-do", was on our Vatican visit in Rome, when I saw Michelangelo's Pieta in St. Peter's Basilica. I am really not a religious person, and I am not a Catholic, but when I saw that I almost cried, I thought it was so beautiful. Surprised me - that's for sure!

I concur with you both, Jan and Shari. I must say that we usually do choose the flexible dining option now, and ask for a table for 2 (unless we have known fabulous dinner partners like Jan and Dave!) We usually do end up close enough to the next tables that conversation is inevitably shared. But I must say, some of those encounters have created many a topic of conversation and memories down the road, lol! We still laugh about some of our table mates back when you had set seating, as well as some of our adjacent dinner companions...whoo hee! ?

I'm wondering if it has anything to do with the average age of passenger on HAL- they would be less able to fight it off, hence more passengers would present with it out of a single incident...

I wholeheartedly agree - they know marketing, they know customer service, they know how to keep people coming back.

This ship definitely could get me over to Australia sooner rather than later!

It is all in what you personally think is worth your time and money, which means there is no right or wrong answer and what appeals to one may not appeal to another. And whether or not fans come away satisfied or disappointed will come down to their individual expectations and whether they are realistic or not. I happen to loathe TWD, lol....so needless to say I will not be tempted by this cruise; however.......one of these days I WILL be on one of the Star Wars cruises, I have no doubt, and having the time of my life spending money on related items and experiences, logical or not. No judging here!!

I can't wait to see the new terminal when we sail on the Edge in February - just adds to our excitement!

Great photos, Jan! I see now about the bathroom pods......? I'm thinking....NO! And I see what you mean about the teeny tiny table on the balcony, ha! Public venues looked nice, though.

We would go with this...

I would have been extremely impressed if you remembered that review, lol! I actually didn't remember whether I posted one until I went back and found it! ?

We would not be opposed to this pick - we sailed on the Sapphire to the Mexican Riviera and it is a beautiful ship! And we have not been to any of the ports on this itinerary...

Congrats on the new booking, Jan!

We are not on this sailing, Sandy, but have done Bermuda on the Summit - it is one of our favorite cruises and will be one we do again - enjoy!!

We do love Bermuda and if we weren't on the river cruise in August, we would join you in Bermuda, lol!

It's going to Half Moon Cay, Cap Cana, DR, Grand Turk, and Key West. Just lowkey, relaxing ports that we know we enjoy.

Great review, Jan! Ed and I have been married 44 years but I still don't think I would like the pod setup of this ship....just some things in a bathroom should not be seen by anyone else, lol! I have heard that the Breakaway is a wonderful NCL ship that everyone seems to love, so if I were to try NCL it probably would be that ship or one of the older, smaller ships. I like all of the details in your review, so don't try to shorten them up - keep 'em coming!

LOVE it! Great minds think alike, ha! We have not sailed Rhapsody either; ended our Med cruise in Venice and would love more time there. Kotor, Montenegro is absolutely beautiful, especially sailing into it - like going through a Norwegian fjord...and have even looked into hotels on Santorini, we love it that much! Have never been to Dubrovnik or Katakolon!

Jan - thanks for researching these - here is the order of my preferences with #1 being the most preferred: 1. Greece & Croatia - Rhapsody 2. Italy/Greece - Emerald 3. Sapphire, roundtrip Southampton 4. Greek Isles - Jewel 5. Med - Edge We would definitely go in on 1, 2, or 3; #4 is a possibility; #5 for us would probably be out since we have basically done that itinerary. This is definitely getting exciting to think about - so let's hear more feedback!

Ha - yes! normally I don't have quite this many in the pipeline, but I usually do make sure that as I am coming off of one cruise I have another to look forward to.... We booked the Celebrity Edge over a year ago when bookings first opened up because I am excited about checking out this new concept ship. Bu then we decided we coudn't wait until February for another cruise, so we booked a basic one for November...and then my daughter said that they wanted to cruise with us in the Spring, so here came the March one, ha ha! We are looking forward to settling into our mode of fewer but longer cruises after this stretch is over, lol!

Jan - You are right - there are things they did to the Island that they scrapped for the Coral because of the negative feedback, one being doing away with the walk-around on the Promenade deck. They also removed the observation areas aft, no Universal Theater, which I thought was a beautiful space (they added more cabins instead,) no International cafe...things like that. I did love all the wood trim and cozy atmosphere on the Island; but now that I have sailed on the Coral, I realize what the Island is missing!

NancyF - This cruise sounds great; we have been looking at the transatlantics - I think Jackie has convinced us that we need to do one, lol! And I do love Barcelona - we started a Med cruise there in 2015 and wished that we had gone in earlier than we did (we went one day ahead.) Since we live in Illinois we always have to fly to meet up with a cruise, but I know what you mean about the weight and limits, it's a bummer.