Panama Canal questions

[GizaGaza]

We booked our first (of many, hopefully) "bucket list" cruise with next cruise when we were on Adventure last week.  Eastbound (Los Angeles - New Orleans) on the Brilliance in a GS leaving September '24.  The next cruise agent was very surprised this cruise was open and said he thought it opened either that day or the day before... bonus for us, we got a great price!  I just looked a bit ago and there were only 5 GS left and had already gone up about $650/pp, again yay us!!

This will be our retirement celebration trip, we have been very blessed and have been able to truly retire at 52 and 54.  We will be 54 and 55 for the cruise.

That being said, we have some questions about it and a 14 day cruise in general:

• What is the typical demographic on this cruise?  We assume it will be an "older" crowd with limited kids, not that it matters... we are very good at chameleon-ing into any group / environment.

• Is this going to be a big mindset change from our normal 7 day cruises?  We don't think we will, but we are a bit nervous about becoming bored or getting cabin fever.  Mind you, we are the kind of couple that are just as happy staying on board during a port as we are going outside. Oh, we love sea days too... looks like that's a good thing on this trip.
• Packing... so many questions   On a 14 day or longer is there an option for laundry service?  Just take light, sink/tub washable items?
• Do we run a chance of becoming "food numb" from the same, same again and again or do they try and change the menus up on a longer cruise?

So many questions... I am sure we will have more as time goes by.  Sooooo excited, and soooo far away   But in the interim we have two star class adventures to come on Allure and Harmony so we probably won't go insane waiting lol.

We read @twangster live blog and got some good info / tips, unfortunately none of the pics are there anymore so we think we lost some context.

Thanks in advance for any tips, tricks, ideas, etc.

 

[Biaggio]

I’d be concerned more about weather since it is hurricane season. Maybe that’s why such a good deal. 

[Traveling Mike]

I love 14-day cruises and longer.  If you like sea days, you will love your cruise; it is a good mixture of good ports and sea days and one entire day going through the canal.  On my long cruises I always take some Tide Pods.  I drop one in the bathroom sink and hand wash my cloths, rinse them in the shower, ring them out using the bar in the shower, then wrap them in towels to suck the water out.  Then I put them on hangers to dry.  You can always use the hair dryer to do quick drying.  That is a fair amount of work and if that is not for you the ship has a deal of everything that can fit in a bag for $34 (i think) for wash and fold.

Food:  They will change the food around but there is always lots of options you can do other than main dining every night.  Have a pizza night, You can request an entire pizza with the toppings you want.  You do not have to take it by the slice.  You can always ask at the main dining room for your meal (or desert) to go and eat it on the deck or on your balcony.  

Kids:  September 14 day cruise will have older people but with it being a Panama Canal cruise it will add back more kids and younger people.

[barjpoe]

One suggestion is on the day that Brilliance is traversing the canal offer to order room service for Breakfast and sit on your balcony to watch the sailing.  You'll especially want to be some where you can see when the ship get close to the Gatun Locks, as they are 3 in a row.