Woody14

Been only once it was back in the 90's (on NCL) and we were docked from 4:00 pm - 11:00 pm so we only got off the ship and looked around the port and that was it. It just seemed like a massive party going on.

I am not really an all inclusive person and not in to the bar hopper tours so I am looking for Cozumel options. Arriving Aug 3 on the Carnival Vista.

Not sure about NCL but it seems that Royal has a pretty loose set of rules when it comes to service animals. On my last Royal Caribbean cruise there were several and many I would have had a difficult time identifying as a service dog.

I think a factor that probably is overlooked is there are probably not a huge difference in the number of crew that actually operate the ship if it is big or small. All the same stuff has to get done and they all run 24 hrs a day. So the big difference would come on the ratio's actually dealing with guests, I am not sure if I have ever seen a detailed break down on that. The code I least like to hear is bravo, bravo, bravo - which is for a fire

it varies by ship and by cruise line, some of the high end lines are nearly 1 crew member for every 2 passengers but the the main stream lines are usually in the 1 crew for every 3 or 4 crew members. For example in the last year I was on: Carnival Panorama which has capacity of 4008 pax (max 5,146 occupancy) and has 1,450 crew Celebrity Eclipse capacity 2,850 pax and crew of 1,271 Royals Voyager of the Seas capacity 3,602 (max 4,000) crew 1,200

I would not say that it is my preferred time but I am married to a school teacher so we travel with that schedule. I would love to do a May/June or Sept/Oct Alaska but that would be with out my favourite travel partner (at least until she retires) St Thomas was a day we were docked so no tender worries. We got off the ship and walked around the port but all ship excursions were cancelled, and most private tours were as well. So we went back to the ship and played games.

So far 3 cruises to Alaska and only a little rain/drizzle but I have only gone in July/August. I have had heavy rains in the Carribean a couple times and had St Thomas totally rained out on my last cruise there (in November 2022),

I think what is the weather going to be like and what to pack are the most popular questions about Alaska. The answer is usually layers are needed. it can go from beautifully sunny and 70 to raining and 50 in the span of an hour. The biggest factor is what month you are going and where you are going. If you are there in April, May, Sept or October it will be colder than July & Aug which are quite nice. You also should remember the ports are coastal so the weather is generally a touch milder and rainier than the interior. If you are heading to the interior like with a cruise tour add on you may need to prepare differently. All that said never needed my heavy snow gear for an Alaskan cruise.

No snow for that trip. If I remember right the temp was in the mid to upper 60's that day. On my 3 cruises to Alaska other than on the glaciers no snow to deal with. Rain yes but not snow. most of the temperatures were in the 60's. Which I think for Alaska is t-shirt and shorts weather.

I did a salmon hatchery tour many years ago. We actually got on bikes at the port and rode to the hatchery. It was a fun tour there were lots of eagles on it as well. Did this i Juneau I believe (it was in the early 2000's so the memory is a bit foggy).

It is not really that common on cruise ships. In fact it is pretty hard to fall off. really you have to be doing something stupid like climbing the rails. most of the overboard's are unfortunately from people jumping. I recently heard the Royal Caribbean had 4.6 million guests in 2022 so the numbers when you factor all cruise lines would be more than 10 million and only a handful of people went overboard it statistically speaking is not 'quite common'

in fact the day we were there it was a 3 ship day. one was leaving a couple hours after we arrived and had to leave the dock and the passengers were then tendered out. The main dock holds 2 ships.

With you on chocolate.

This trip I was on the Celebrity Eclipse this past summer and we docked at Icy Point, Juneau & Ketchikan

Must admit I thought this was over-rated. It was good but not worth all the hype in my mind.

I really enjoyed Icy Straight Point. very undeveloped compared to Juneau, Skagway or Ketchikan. the people were great and the whale watching was awesome.

most cruise companies don't say what the break even point is but when cruising restarted and they were sailing at 50% capacity they were all loosing money (just less than when they were not sailing at all) likely they need about 80-90% capacity to break even. This is one of the reasons that the older less fuel efficient / less amenity ships are getting phased out. I big contributor to profits is all the things that are over and above the cruise fare (alcohol, excursions, shops, specialty dining, casino, et all). One other note on capacity which can cause confusion, they list capacity as the double occupancy numbers (2 people per cabin) but in reality they can and most often sail at numbers above that since they have a maximum number of passengers they can have on the ship which accounts for having 3 or 4 passengers in some cabins. Most cruise lines are striving for 105-115% capacity on all sailings.

we just did a walk along the Malacon and stuck our feet in the ocean that is it. the hike to the light house and the heat of the day zapped a lot of the energy.

they might have been a bit cheaper on a per person basis if i remember correctly.

I am pretty sue they did yes. if the group was bigger you would need to use one of the open air trucks. you can do this too with any size group as they were there and left when full, we didn't use that service so I don't know much about how it was but it was popular as well.

I do the same with a beverage package, I usually by day 3 (at the latest) have found a favorite bar to hang out or get drinks from as well as servers I like to get me my drinks, those are the ones I tip extra at the end if I feel like there service made me feel special

It was the blue iguana cantina. it was open for breakfast and lunch.

only been once on carnival but Guys burgers and the pizza are stand outs to me. the taco place for lunch is a close third.

In July we arrived around 7 am and people started getting off at 8 am ish. But a few weeks before they were arriving most of the time around 8 or latter and people weren't getting off till closer to 9:30 am

It is interesting that you bring this topic up. In the past year I did 3 cruises - RCL, Celebrity and Carnival. The RCL one was the only line I noticed this. I think Royal must have easier rules or something.