FJB

A Covid test before boarding a 16 day cruise would NOT have prevented Covid - just sayin’.

Kids are gonna be kids, which means they are curious!

Trying to stop the booze cruises?

It is an unwritten rule among our family that the same code is used for the safe everytime! The only time we’ve made the call of shame is when the battery in the safe died and would not let us in.

I’ve never seen the infatuation with room service. In my 200+ days on cruise ships, we’ve probably had room service less than 10 times. We prefer to go to the dining room or the buffet where the food is hotter and a larger selection to choose from. YMMV

Let’s look at this logically on why Carnival would get rid of towel animals. If 500 cabins keep 6 towel animals, that is an additional 3000 towels needed in their rotatIon. Then on turn around day, that is an additional 3000 towels that need to be laundered, on an already busy day. I would eliminate towel animals if it were me in charge of housekeeping.

So was that a vacay-to-go issue and not Carnivals fault? Sounds like a vacay-that-went issue.

Half Moon Cay is another great “private” island. Walk to the other end of the moon for all the privacy you need. Unless that has changed as well in the last 10 years….

I will second Azamara as what cruising used to be. Been on one Azamara cruise and was very impressed with everything. Considering where pricing is with Celebrity now and their cutbacks in service and food quality, I think Azamara is in our future.

We enjoyed Coco Cay back in the day when only Celebrity ships stopped there. It was very laid back and relaxing- our favorite “private” island. We have not visited since it has been revamped into the carnival it is today. Doesn’t sound like our cup of juice.

Always great to have new eyes on the subject.

And we wonder why foreigners refer to us as fat lazy americans. I recall a transatlantic cruise I went on with mostly Europeans. Most excursions were active excursions filled by these 60+ year old Europeans with their walking sticks. I was only about 40 at the time - one of the youngest on the excursions, and the seniors were keeping up or passing me while walking thru deserts and up to the top of volcano rims(Lanzarote). We as Americans need to be more active in order to stay healthier!

That’s one of many reasons we prefer sailing with Celebrity- we can find a shaded lounge chair on the pool deck most of the time.

My assumption is that you will not go thru the canal while aboard the Beyond but will dock at Colon instead and see the canal from there in a smaller boat. IMO this is a better way to see the canal, though I haven’t gone thru any of the locks on a cruise ship yet. On the smaller boat, you are up close and personal - you can actually touch the walls of the locks.

Great review- thx for sharing.

I see the day the price of a cruise will only get you the cabin - everything else will be á la carte.

We booked everything separately with the help of a travel agent. Owning 2 businesses, it took a lot of planning for us to get away this long. Luckily my daughter, who was only 17 at the time, is smart and responsible so was able to hold the fort down and do the payroll in order to keep the employees happy! We stayed in Fiji overnight at a nice resort- a great way to break up the long flight from LA to Sydney. In Sydney, we stayed 3 nights pre-cruise so we could explore the area. After a 2 week cruise from Sydney to Auckland, we rented a car for 3 or 4 days and explored New Zealand. It was a great mix of cruise and land traveling, but a lot of moving parts - the 1st time we ever bought travel insurance.

We’ve been on the regal Princess which I think is the sister to Sky. Basically the same observations as above except we didn’t have a mini-suite. We had a mini-suite on Coral Princess but knew we were only getting a bit more room than a standard balcony - no additional amenities like a Celebrity suite.

First nights towel animal is free. Subsequent nights towel animals are $5 each…

We had the lowest level suite on an older Celebrity ship about 15 years. I haven’t won the lottery yet that would enable us to stay in the penthouse suite.

I may have had one of those chili margaritas in Cozumel but wasn’t a fan.

I guess a dream itinerary would be a true around the world cruise. We have a couple of favorites- an 11 day Alaska cruise tour with Princess. pics - https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAxfJu 3 week Fiji/Australia/New Zealand land & cruise on Celebrity. Pics - https://flic.kr/s/aHsmbudr23 2 week transatlantic cruise with Celebrity. Pics - https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAxmwg 11 day Med cruise with Celebrity. Pics - https://flic.kr/s/aHsjCdSru9 If I had to pic a favorite out of those 4, it would probably be the Fiji/Australia/New Zealand trip.

I despise tip jars in general wherever they are

Well dang I had that all wrong! There must have been an update to the points when I wasn’t looking….

They need the money from tourism!