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Beat me on board by about 30 minutes...but that is only because I dropped my family off and returned a rental car.

Christmas surprise achieved! Kids are over the moon and can't wait!

My kids are going to freak out Christmas morning when they find out!

On the passport topic- we were driving to PC for a cruise in 2023, with a stop at a friend's wedding on the way. At a gas stop in Nowhere, Alabama, I suddenly had a fear that we forgot our passports. So while the gas was pumping, I opened the back of the van to check my backpack...passports were safely in the pocket I had packed them. When we got to our hotel that night, we were unloading and my oldest daughter asked "where's my dress for the wedding?" I tore the van apart looking then realized it must have slipped out of the van (it was laid on top of all our bags) while I was checking for the passports unnoticed. Fortunately, we were staying next a shopping area and my wife and daughter were able to purchase a new dress in the morning. Second fear, losing my keys for the car after the cruise. Same cruise, we got to the parking garage to go home and I can't find the keys anywhere. After about 10 minutes of searching, I finally found them in a pocket of a backpack I have never used before (or since). Not a great feeling.

My family of 6 will be spending New Year's Eve on Utopia this year!

Fresh back from independence, we loved both Alan Temuer (i know I don't have his name right) in Schooner and Trenton in Ale and Anchor. We spent every night until close at either of those bars. My new favorite thing in the world is 90s rap (Snoop and Warren G for instance) played on a piano. Or watching grown men try to hit the high notes in Baby...one more time.

I don't know if it would help you in your particular situation, but sometimes it helps to talk with someone knowledgable about the situation, i.e. a pilot. I've talked to several people about their fear of flying from a pilot's perspective, and I like to think it helped them somewhat. Full disclosure, I am a pilot and also have an overwhelming fear of heights and roller coasters.

Booked on this one to celebrate my Air Force retirement!

Depending on where the ship docks, it is quite a hike from the dock to the entry of the port, and then a bit of a walk to the train station. When we disembarked in 2019, there were busses that ran from the terminal to the port entry, but it was a sea of humanity trying to get on one, so we walked it. I'm guessing it took 30ish minutes to walk from the terminal to the train station (this was also on MSC, so there's that). Also, the train is a commuter train, so the morning rush hour will be going on, be prepared.

My wife tells me that all the time. I tell her she's known me since 6th grade, so she knew what she was getting.

We're booked! Independence of the Seas for the first week of January...3 cabins booked just like above.

Thanks all, that was fast! We've done the connecting cabins before, but never considered doing 3 side by side by side. Looks like we might book 1 adult in one room, the "adult" in the middle room, and the other adult in the 3rd.

I'm looking at booking a cruise for January for my family of 6. The kids will be 17, 11, 9, and 8 at time of the sailing, so the 17 year old is technically an adult as far as pricing goes. My travel agent (when I said 3 adults, 3 kids) found a group rate that 3 cabins is cheaper than 2. Can the 17 year old be the "adult" in the third cabin?

By their own guidelines (which are only for when you are home, you might note), you should wash your hands immediately after removing your mask. So to follow to the logical (read illogical) conclusion, you should hand sanitize before every single bite. But hey...Science (Trademark CDC, 2020)

Not much to add, except that I love both Barcelona and Palma. No, you won't be able to see everything, think of this as a sampler.

I between my 3 Med cruises (Royal, Disney, and MSC) I've been to a few of these. In Athens, we used Greeking.me for an excursion to the Acropolis and Agora. The guide was fantastic, and they do several other tours, including culinary. Kotor is a very cool walled city to walk around. When we were there, we hired a local guide who drove us up into the hills surrounding the town and down to the place where you can catch a boat to the church in the middle of the water. We got some pomegranate wine there which was quite tasty. We just walked around Genoa and climbed the bell tower of the church there for a great view of the city. There is a street lined with palazzos that kind of reminds you of Venice without the canals. The area around the port is kind of rough, though, so just be forewarned on that. We lived by the Rick Steves books while we lived in Europe, and his Mediterranean Cruise Ports book was a great start for us. I think he covered all of the ports except Gibraltar.

I was just looking over my Alaska cruise notes, and realized that I made that one non-refundable (like a dope)...my actual quote to my TA was "It will take something life-shaking for us not to go on this cruise." ?

And now I read about Canada extending the port closure through February...I know there is still a lot of time (relatively speaking) between Feb and June, but still, makes me a bit more nervous. My wife and I have never been to the Caribbean, having done all of our cruising in Europe, so any itinerary would be new ports (even Nassau). The big thing for us is to get away for our anniversary sans kids.

So I'm booked on the June 18, 2021 Ovation to Alaska. I am optimistic about it, but have lingering doubts about everything getting back to "normal" by then. This cruise is for our 20th anniversary, and was very excited to go to Alaska, but I am beginning to wonder. Obviously, when everything restarts, it will be focused on the Caribbean, specifically CocoCay and Labadee. Does anyone think I should book a refundable placeholder out of FL, just in case? I've been putting aside the money I would be paying monthly on the AK cruise in savings, rather than paying to RC, so I will have the cash on hand to make the snap decision one way or another. Thoughts?

Great tip! Ovation for June 18 is $43/night, down from over $60 last I looked. And the fare went down too!

Picard was a bit of pansy, always made Riker lead the away team. Kirk would throw a few punches and kiss a few aliens. Also, Capt Crunch > Capt Kangaroo. Concerning MSC cruises, I wonder if it was a one embarkation, one disembarkation cruise. They typically operate on the model that you can do a round trip from any of the ports of call (I.e. on and off in Genoa or Naples, etc). Made for an interesting dynamic on board since every night is someone’s first or last night.

This is my power, this is my curse

Thanks all, I guess I’ll just wait and see a bit...much as I hate to have an unchecked box on my spreadsheet

Fair enough. I was planning with a pre-COVID mindset.

The eternal optimist in me is still in full-tilt planning for my Ovation to Alaska cruise next June. What is the earliest recommended time to plan for a flight out of SEA post cruise? Right now I can get a pretty good price on a flight at 11:00, but I feel like that might be pushing it.