WeCruiseToo

That’ll be a fantastic cruise! Have a great time!

Sounds like fun but I don’t think we’ll be able to make that one! Have a great cruise!!!

Would love a frosty cold ThirstyFrog Red, Tom, but we’ll be on another ship! Have a great cruise!!!

We live in Florida, so we’ve sailed out of all the ports here many times. They’re easy and convenient but not special to us (most likely we work in the morning before boarding and all day after getting off the ship). Our favorites are the ports we spend an extra day or two in – Honolulu, Seattle, New York. But the best are the cities we’ve been to before our river cruises – Vienna, Budapest, Paris!

We’ll try a specialty restaurant on occasion – a lot of ships offer first-night discounts – but we agree that often the main dining room is just as good. But we have friends who believe it must be better if you pay extra for it and they’ll go to a specialty restaurant every night!

It’s nice to have them already paid and not have to worry about it. Of course we’ve always had service that ranges from okay to fantastic – we’d probably feel differently if we got really bad service.

As others have said, absolutely the best vacation value around!

Carnival has really loosened up their dress code but I agree – they really should enforce the few rules they have. I think this is the latest official word: Dining Room - Cruise Casual Dining Dress Code Gentlemen: sport slacks; khakis; jeans (no cut-offs); dress shorts (long); collared sport shirts Ladies: casual dresses; casual skirts; casual pants; blouses; summer dresses; Capri pants; dress shorts; jeans (no cut-offs) Not permitted in the dining room: gym shorts; basketball shorts; beach flip-flops; bathing suit attire; cut-off jeans; sleeveless shirts for men; baseball hats. Dining Room - Cruise Elegant Dining Dress Code Gentlemen: dress slacks, dress shirts, and we also suggest a sport coat; men may also wish to bring suits and ties or tuxedos. Ladies: cocktail dresses; pantsuits; elegant skirts and blouses; ladies may also wish to bring evening gowns. Not permitted in the dining room: shorts; T-shirts; beach flip-flops; bathing suit attire; jeans; cut-off jeans; sleeveless shirts for men; sportswear; baseball hats.

We prefer late seating, fixed dining – it’s great to have the same server every night so they know what you like. We ask for a large table and usually have good luck meeting new people.

If they would let us take our pets with us we could live on a cruise ship! Otherwise no way we could do it.

We saw Chicago aboard Allure of the Seas last year and really enjoyed it. Many years ago, when we lived in Las Vegas, we saw the touring company of Chicago staring Marilu Henner. The show on the ship was a little shorter but just as good. I think it’s great that Oasis of the Seas’ cast of Hairspray will be performing at the Tony Awards – it sort of “legitimizes” the product. We all know how fantastic shipboard entertainment can be but most people really don’t. We meet other passengers on every cruise who didn’t go to any shows and they’re amazed when we tell them how good the entertainment is. We try to see every show – and we’re rarely disappointed!

On both of our first two cruises we had airline issues and cut it too close for comfort getting to the ship. Now, in the continental US, we’ll do one night pre- most of the time – just to be safe. We only stay post-cruise if it makes a really big difference in airfare. Farther away, like Europe or Hawaii, we like to visit more before and after.

We’ve always docked at both Nassau and Freeport.

Some itineraries, like Alaska or Hawaii, we absolutely must have a balcony! We don’t have anything against an inside room though. The important thing is, the cabin has to be a good value. On a recent 4-night cruise we went with an outside because it was only $10 more than an inside, but a balcony would’ve been another $100 on top of that.

We enjoy the trivia games – we even win every once in a while! We used to play bingo but stopped a few years ago; it seemed like you spent a lot more time sitting there waiting for everyone to get their bingo cards than you actually did playing… We watch many of the other games but find it more fun to watch than to participate.

Love that "new-ship smell"!

That’s a fantastic itinerary! Have a great time!

It’s really great that Crystal is going all out to honor our veterans.

We’ve been to Hawaii nine times but only one of those trips was a cruise. We thought it was a fantastic way to see all the islands – much better than flying from one to another and switching hotels. Tahiti is on our “must see” list!

We’ll get to experience the recently “Solsticized” Celebrity Summit later this year! Can’t wait!

I guess for us it goes back and forth, but the most important thing is it always has to be a good value. We haven’t been on a Celebrity ship for about four years and we really wanted to experience them again so we watched for a good deal. Now that we’ve got that booked for December (fantastic deal, by the way!) we’re thinking we’d like to visit Alaska again (it’s been almost seven years). So now we’re on the lookout for a great value on an Alaskan cruise and the cruise line doesn’t matter much. All things being equal – price, itinerary, airfare, etc. – sure, we’ve got our favorite cruise lines. But if the price is right we’ll be happy to visit Nassau for the 14th time, too!

We’ll play trivia when we can – usually do okay. Cooking demos and any kind of tasting – food, wine, martini, etc. (less often now that they’ve started charging quite a bit for some of those). Comedy clubs are usually good. We often enjoy presentations from local experts, but those are more Alaska/Hawaii/Europe – pretty rare in the Caribbean. We always make it a point to attend any past passenger activities or events that are offered!

When airfare is more than the cost of the cruise, it’s real hard for a lot of us in the US/Canada to justify that flight to Europe. I wonder if the reduction in ships means they aren’t getting as many Europeans to book as well?

Great photo, jobowl! Did you take it yourself? If so, what cruise ship and port of call is it from? Thanks for sharing!

A new cruise port is always good news! We stopped in the Dominican Republic on a cruise once – specifically Casa de Campo aboard Celebrity Millennium way back in 2003. It was a nice port and a beautiful country. We know several people who’ve stayed at resorts in the Dominican Republic and they love it. Of course we’d rather visit on a cruise!