Jan115

Nope, love to watch, though!?

Just 12 days for me. I'm not retired yet and work two jobs, so long or frequent cruising is not in the cards at the moment. ?

Grand Princess 2002, where my husband and I celebrated our 25th anniversary. I don’t know what took us so long.?

Thanks for the great comparison between the two ships. Royal Caribbean Oasis class ships are all a bit too large for my liking, but fans of either will appreciate the differences.

Today’s Wednesday and I’m a day late with my Tuesday Travel Tip. But no matter what day it is, you’ll want to weigh the pros and cons of taking advantage of Norwegian’s Upgrade Advantage Program:

This is the complete message I received from a Princess VP of Sales: “I'm happy to report that we will resume calls to Princess Cays, our exclusive island in the Bahamas, on Feb 4 with Regal Princess. No Princess Cruises itineraries were impacted by the recent fire on Jan 28. Several operations buildings on the south side of the island were damaged, but no guest-facing facilities were impacted (except one of several available public restrooms.) All guest facilities have been inspected, and reported safe and operational. In the staff-only operations areas, work is already underway to restore the affected buildings and equipment. There were no guests at Princess Cays at the time of the fire, and no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire is currently under investigation.” Not sure why nothing was posted on the Princess website.

Weigh the pros and cons of bidding for an upgrade through Norwegian's Upgrade Advantage program: Tuesday's Travel Tip:

In eager anticipation of your next cruise, you've logged into Norwegian Cruise Line's online cruise planner, and you're greeted by words in big bold letters: "LET'S GET YOU UPGRADED!" Those first four words grab your attention with a promise of a better cabin than the one you've already booked. Then your eyes move on to the words "Submit an Offer ... " and you realize that you'll have to shell out some money for that upgrade. The big question is, should you submit an offer to upgrade your stateroom, and then ask yourself a second question - is it worth it? Norwegian's Upgrade Advantage guest bidding process is simple. Click the offer link, view the cabin categories available for upgrade, the minimum and maximum bids, and place a bid on one or more categories. As long as your bid has not yet been accepted, you can change or remove it any time. If NCL accepts your bid, the upgraded cabin becomes yours, and your credit card charged immediately. There is no changing your mind, it's non-refundable, and you can't pick the cabin location. In other words, you'll take what they give you. If your bid is not accepted, then you lose nothing and you retain your current cabin. So, how do you decide what amount to bid? First, go to the NCL website and pretend to book the same cruise and cabin you want. What is the current per person price? Then, look at the bidding price for that cabin in your cruise planner. If you really, really want that mini-suite, is your bid going to cost more than what it would cost to buy that cabin outright? The dollar amount slider will indicate your chances of winning, "poor" up to "excellent". Surprisingly, the one time I bid on the next class up, from balcony to mini, I won with the lowest possible bid. Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly what cabin we wound up with because we had to cancel the cruise. Keep in mind that you are bidding on a class of cabin. So, if you're looking to move up from an ocean-view to a balcony, you could win a balcony cabin in anycategory of that class - even an obstructed cabin. Also remember that you may have chosen your existing cabin based on a great location - for us that means mid-ship with easy access to everything on board. Your upgraded cabin could be anywhere - first cabin forward, last cabin aft, under a noisy club or any one of a number of unfavorable locations. Your upgraded cabin could end up feeling like a downgrade. The most likely factor in deciding which bids are accepted and for how much may very well be how certain categories are or aren't selling and how much space they need to fill before the ship sails. Getting back to the original questions: Should you bid: Are you perfectly happy with your present cabin? Probably not. If you are aren't fussy about cabin location or absolutely would love THE HAVEN, and don't mind spending the extra money, sure, give it a go. How much should you bid? What can you afford and will you be getting a better cabin for what you're willing to bid? For more information about the bidding process, see Norwegian's Upgrade Advantage FAQ.

Welcome aboard @AlishaDiane! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

Welcome aboard @Jenny719! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

I'm not a huge drinker on board, so maybe I'm not the most qualified to answer, but I think drink quality is pretty much the same across all the major cruise lines - hit or miss, sometimes heavy on the alcohol, sometimes light. I think it depends on the mood of the bartender serving you. ? I can say, though, that NCL's drink package has become ridiculously expensive to purchase at $99/per person, per day, probably because they have to make up the fact that they've been giving it away as part of their Free at Sea promo for a very long time.

My husband and I loved sister ship Koningsdam and hope to get aboard Nieuw Statendam in the not too distant future!??

I am the least crafty person you’ll ever meet, but this sounds fun and something really different for Carnival cruising.

Your much anticipated cruise is nearly here! Have a wonderful cruise @AndiD! Wishing you clear skies and calm seas as you soon sail away aboard the new Celebrity Edge. We can’t wait to hear all about it when you get back!?

Have a wonderful cruise @motherboarder! Wishing you clear skies and calm seas as you soon sail away aboard the Carnival Glory. Please tell us all about your adventure when you return, or post a review!?

Welcome aboard @RBS! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

Welcome aboard @Lynnleigh6! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

Welcome aboard @GG55! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

Welcome aboard @CatC753! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??

I’m happy to report word from Princess that the fire was confined to the staff operation buildings and did not involve the guest areas of the island and that, except for one public restroom, non of the cruise line’s itineraries were affected. Calls will resume to the island on Feb. 4th with the Regal Princess. Meanwhile, the fire is under investigation.

That's pretty crappy of Carnival. You might think they would WANT to help people re-book on board - it's great for business. Have you thought about using a travel agent to book that future cruise when you get home?

That must have been some beast!? I do remember how I nearly jumped out of my skin when I first walked in on a hanging monkey. I can't imagine being so mad that the cruise line would stop making towel critters.

I usually don't get excited about new Carnival ships, but this one has my attention.? The "Zones" sound unique and interesting, and we knew the first roller coaster at sea was bound to show up sooner of later - and this time, it wasn't Royal Caribbean.

USA Today has the same piece, but expanded it with comments from the cruise industry, basically saying that the EPA regularly tests cruise ship emissions and citing the strides that the industry has made in environmental issues and improving the quality of emissions. The Johns Hopkins report was apparently published by an environmental watchdog group, "Stand.Earth", and Carnival didn't have much good to say, stating, "This particular organization, for fundraising purposes, is constantly in search of a problem in our industry even if it has to create fake tests that really have no scientific basis." I do agree with another factor pointed out in the USA Today article by the folks at CLIA ... that the cruise industry is just a small piece of the tourism and shipping pie. But it's always the cruise ships that are blamed.

Welcome aboard @azcruiser! Feel free to share your comments, cruise stories and questions, and we look forward to seeing more of you around our friendly community. ??