Twenty years of cruising has taken me on both of these lines more than any others, sometimes with the kids in the extended family in tow, sometimes just my wife and me. They’re both excellent, and they’re both trying to do genuinely different things once you’re actually onboard, which makes the right choice come down […]
Royal Caribbean vs Celebrity, Which One Actually Fits You Read More »
Twenty years in and I still run into cruise terms that nobody bothers explaining until you’ve already booked something based on a word you half understood. Here’s the list I’d hand a first-timer, with a couple of real stories mixed in where I’ve got them. Guarantee Cabin (GTY) Booking a guarantee category means you’re paying
A Glossary of Cruise Terms Nobody Explains to First-Timers Read More »
Most embarkation day mistakes are small and forgettable. One of them, in my family’s case, was not. The one that’s actually just annoying I’ve forgotten shaving cream on more than one trip now, which sounds minor because it is, until you’re standing in your cabin bathroom on day one with nothing to work with. The
The Getting-to-the-Ship Mistakes I’ve Made More Than Once Read More »
I’ve done Celebrity’s MoveUp program twice now, and won both times. Both bids were modest, nothing aggressive, and both times the final price still came in significantly cheaper than if I’d just booked that cabin size outright from the start. Based on that experience, yes, it’s worth trying. But there’s a catch that caught me
Cabin Bidding, Is It Worth the Gamble? Read More »
Planning for my mom, my uncle, my cousin’s family, and whoever else joins that year has taught me that cruises are one of the only vacations built to actually handle a group that wants completely different things. It doesn’t mean the planning gets easier, it just means the disagreements have somewhere to go instead of
What I’ve Learned Planning Cruises for People Who Don’t Agree on Anything Read More »
I don’t have kids myself, so this one’s built entirely on research rather than personal experience. If you’re planning a family cruise and trying to figure out which line’s kids club actually fits, here’s how the major programs stack up against each other. Royal Caribbean, Adventure Ocean Royal Caribbean’s Adventure Ocean is one of the
Kids’ Clubs Compared Across the Major Cruise Lines Read More »
My mom and my uncle come on most of our family trips, and the planning shifts every year depending on how they’re doing that season. What’s worked for us isn’t complicated, but it took a couple of trips to figure out, and most of it comes down to building the trip around their pace instead
How to Slow a Cruise Down for Aging Parents Read More »
Planning cabins for a trip with my mom, and my cousin’s family when everyone’s along, has taught me more about cruise ship room layouts than I ever expected to know. The mistake almost everyone makes the first time is assuming “connecting” and “adjoining” mean the same thing. They don’t, and mixing them up can leave
The Cabin Configuration Nobody Tells You About Until You Need It Read More »
My one solo cruise wasn’t really about meeting people. I kept mostly to myself, enjoyed the veranda, and treated the trip more like a quiet reset than a social one. So this isn’t me telling you what worked for me, it’s what I’ve learned digging into how solo cruisers who do want company actually go
How to Meet People on a Solo Cruise Without Forcing It Read More »
I need to be upfront about something before this one starts. On my one solo cruise, I skipped the main dining room entirely, I preferred grabbing a quick dinner on my own schedule over committing to a multi-course pace each night. So I can’t tell you what it’s actually like from my own table for
What Dining Alone on a Cruise Is Actually Like Read More »
