karl_nj

That story about the family in your cabin is so crazy! You said parking was an issue too? Are they still having people park in a lot and not in the garage?

But you didn’t pay for the cup. You paid for a drink package that gave you access to beverages during a specific time period, no? You had a right to use that cup during that period.

Along the same lines, one could also ask why it's ok for a foreign flagged ship to do a repositioning cruise from NYC to Puerto Rico, but not from NYC to Miami.

Sorry, I didn't mean to make it seem like there was a choice. Just trying to say there may be a bright side to the situation—quicker disembarkation for all back in NJ.

Usually it's less of an issue, because at a port like Bar Harbor, most people want to wake up and visit the port. In fact, people are usually annoyed because they wanted to get an earlier start on the day (not sleep in) and they have to get on a line and walk by a CBP officer while holding up their passport. Then they can get their tender ticket and start their day. If one was planning on staying onboard in Miami and have a nice pseudo-sea day, I could certainly see this being quite annoying. I guess now it makes sense why on every NYC to Bahamas cruise with a stop at Port Canaveral, Florida is always the first stop. No matter what cruise line.

Is Miami the last port? If so, you may not need to do Immigration when you get back to NJ. Not that it's a big deal in Port Liberty anymore, since they use the facial scanners there these days.

Yes, I would agree with you there. I think Quantum class has the best solarium out of any cruise ship, on any cruise line. Especially for sailing out of a cold weather port. I also love how they also have a separate indoor pool that is open to younger passengers (less of an issue for you.) I'm not sure any of the Solariums on Celebrity are as nice. Music Hall is also a great venue on Quantum class ships. On Oasis class ships they rebranded a different space as Music Hall, but it doesn't work as well as it does on Quantum Class ships. Since Celebrity Edge is a smaller ship, they have fewer bars onboard. Quantum class ships have the Pub, Boleros, Schooner Bar, Music Hall (each with a different musical perfomer/band), Vintages. Plus a bar at Two70, Casino Bar, Bionic Bar. Edge really has 2-3 indoor bars... the big Martini Bar in the middle and Eden in the back. There is also a bar in "The Club" but it didn't seem like much was going on there. If you want a drink and to listen to a live performer, you pretty much only have 2 options. Sounds great! When I had my JS on Anthem, we were traveling with others that were not in a JS, so we didn't try CK. Celebrity does have some cabin classes that include a 'special' dining room. There is a suite restaurant, but there is also a dining room for Aquaclass guests, which are just balcony cabins that cost a little more. Yes, I totally agree that breakfast in Two70 on Anthem is wonderful. Even if sometimes they don't heat though the breakfast sandwiches as much as they should. The view (and it being pretty empty) makes up for it. I'm planning on having breakfast there often next week when i'm on Anthem! They have something similar in Eden on Edge, but it didn't seem quite the same to me.

I'm not Jewish, so hopefully someone will correct me if I'm wrong. My understanding is that pre-packaged kosher meals are generally available all cruise lines. You need to request this before the sailing. These are prepared in a kosher facility off the ship, frozen, heated while still in the packaging, and brought to the table all wrapped up. Sealed paper plates and plastic cutlery are provided. So even compared to MDR mass cooked banquet food, it's not exactly fine dining. More like food you would get on an airplane. This doesn't sound super appealing. Being Lutheran, I don't claim to know anything about the details of keeping kosher, but some people I have talked to are OK with just sticking to the vegetarian/vegan menu on the ship. Not everyone is OK with this solution, either because they want to be able to eat meat or because they don't feel it's OK from a religious POV (or both). The appeal of these special sailings mentioned earlier is around getting fresh cooked kosher food. In the past I've heard about full/partial ship charters where kosher food is available, so it's interesting that RCL has figured out a way to basically create their own version of this.

Ah yes, you are correct. For some reason I though both were built at Meyer Werft in Germany. Must have confused Edge with a different ship.

I'm hoping to do an Alaska cruise within the next few years, and I'm leaning towards booking it on Princess. I've read that both Princess and HAL are great for Alaska, but I think Princess would be better for families.

I don’t believe that has any factor on if duty is due on return to the US. Buying in a duty free shop just avoids paying any taxes in the country where you buy the product.

D, D+ and Pinnacle on Royal will all match to Elite on Celebrity (which roughly equivalent to Diamond on Royal, but with different benefits) Also, Elite, Elite Plus, and Zenith on Celebrity all match to Diamond on Royal.

On Celebrity Edge, the answer is no. I would assume the same for Icon of the Seas.

All excellent points, I've also had trouble making "deluxe bev package math" work. We like to have wine with dinner, and I've found that I enjoy some of the cheaper bottles they have onboard. A bottle of their Chilean Sauvignon Blanc is $37. There are 5 glasses of wine in a bottle, so that comes to $7.40 a glass. Using $14/drink as a baseline doesn't really work there. Even if you go a bit more expensive, maybe to the Robert Mondavi Merlot, where they charge $12/glass. That is only $45/bottle, which is $9 a glass when you buy "in bulk"

Oh, nice. Having the MDR open for lunch on embarkation day was always one of my favorite parts about sailing on NCL.

Perhaps in the future, instead of scrapping Vision class ships, maybe they can just repurpose them as a tender for Icon class ships...

Well, not Tampa.

Still, you need to be careful, as there are times of the year when school is out and you may not expect it. There are different school schedules in different states, regions and types of schools. It doesn't come down to just not sailing in July. Spring break schedules take up a lot of weeks March/April, summer break starts and ends at various times from May to September, some schools are year round and have longer breaks throughout the year, there are random weeks that some schools are off ("jersey week", "yeshiva week", all of presidents day week off, etc.)

My in-laws used to love NCL. That is until they changed to 'freestyle dining', among other changes they weren't that happy about. Now they sail other lines.

Icon has 9% more guests then Wonder at max capacity, but is also 6% larger then Wonder. So I wouldn't expect the ship to be much more crowded than Oasis class ships. But yes if you can't deal with Oasis class crowds, Icon probably isn't your ship.

All good points. In addition, some ships have a deck 13, and others don't. And the height of a 'deck' isn't necessary the same when you compare different ships. The high of each deck can be different even on the same ship (e.g. passenger cabin only decks often have lower ceiling heights. same thing for the deck holding the kids club on Disney Dream/Fantasy.) The distance between decks can also differ. It's the same reason "number of floors" in a building on land isn't really a good way to compare buildings. Distance between floors on a residential high rise building is going to be less than an office building, especially once you factor in raised floors and/or dropped ceilings. Different numbers of mechanical floors are going to pop up in between occupied floors at different rates between buildings, etc.

I'm not even sure they need to be 'linked' per se. I've had times where I have two cabins, a double (priced as "group space" that the travel agency has) and a triple (priced at the prevailing RCL rate.) Apparently, you can't "link" group and non-group space, but i've been able to 'add' the reservation to my online account and do check in/cruise planner/etc.

You have to know their booking numbers and a passenger DOB and last name. Then you can add in the booking and you should be able to do check-in and cruise planner, etc.

That agency probably doesn't want to deal with the additional steps involved. If you want to use the Amex Plat Cruise Privileges program, you need to find a new travel agent that is willing to do the extra steps. Untrue. I have used my non-amex travel agent to book cruises and get the Amex Plat benefits. That is the key. It seems like many of the Royal Carribean promos don't combine with the Amex program, so it never seems to work out for me. I've had better luck using it (with the same travel agent) for my cruises on Cunard.

Yes, but not every drink costs $14, so one may calculate the "break even" based on a $14 drink, that might not be reality if someone is paying a la carte. Have beer prices also gone up $1? What is the price for a more "boring"/"off menu" drink, like a G&T now? Has that also gone up? If not, it makes the "math" even more murky.