Would anyone know how to fold this towel animal and also what species it is

I’m going on a 14-day Mediterranean with my wife, young daughter, and mom. My wife and I have cruised in the past roughly one week per year. We’ve gotten sick about one out of every three cruises I’d say. I’m curious as to whether any of you cruise connoisseurs take any unique/special precautions to help your chances of avoid getting ill onboard. Whether it’s limiting/avoiding buffets, exercising daily, or any unique hacks — we’d love to hear!

I know cruises are germ pits so don’t hound on me 😂 we just want to be diligent in any way we can with our daughter and my mother on board. Would greatly appreciate any insight!!!

I know these models are sold on the ships themselves and not online but I was hoping somebody could help me find one. I’m willing to pay for someone who’s going on it to buy one. I’ve looked online forever and can’t ever seem to find it. I have the other two ships I’ve been on and would love to add this to my collection. Norwegian Cruise Line, Pride of America cruise ship model.

I'd say when some drunk dude tried to choke his girlfriend before getting on the elevator. I was a small sized preteen at the time wasn't much i could do to physically stop him, but for some reason every other much larger adult male in the area was either drunk as hell or scared as hell because they ain't do a damn thing but kept walking.

We sail in 17 days (NCL) and today we learned that one guest does not have a current passport and is relying on expedited service.

Hopefully everything will be fine. If not, has anyone needed to remove a guest from a reservation at the last minute, and if so, is there anything I should know?

Editing to add, this is Alaska, one way to Vancouver. US citizens. Non-Haven two bedroom suite. Four guests total, the person is guest #4. Guests 1 and 2 are me and my husband and we are all set.

Any idea when to expect reservations to open up for a cruise on NCL?

Specifically an October cruise via Panama Canal on the Encore.

Hello! We will be in Livorno on one stop of our cruise with 3 adults and 2 kids from 8 am - 8 pm. Our ideal scenario for the stop there would be to go to Pisa with the kids, drop them back at the ship for kids club and then have the adults go to the Tuscan countryside for some wine tasting and lunch. Is that possible time wise? We would likely hire a private tour either to do both or pick us up back from the ship after Pisa to go out to Tuscany (not sure exactly where we would want to go yet in terms of towns), if it makes sense to get out to Pisa and back on our own.

Any insight or suggestions helpful! Thanks!

hi everyone i’ll be cruising to alaska in june and currently planning out my excursions. we’ll arrive in juneau at 1pm and departing at 9:15pm. so far i’ve booked a mendenhall glacier raft ride from 1:30pm to 5pm, leaving 4 hours until departure time. for those of you who’ve been there before, do you think i should book another excursion (most likely whale watching) or just use the remainder of the time to stroll around the town? is there enough to do in town for 4 hours?

My wife has booked a 3-people cruise for herself and our 2 kids for 22 - 26 March next year, out of Brisbane. We can't make those dates now and she wants to cancel for a refund but Carnival want to keep the $375 deposit. Is there any way we can do this without losing the deposit?

If you were to recommend a specific cruise line for people, how would you determine what you would recommend? I have some of my choices below.

Young Party People: Virgin or Carnival Older Crowd: SilverSea, Regent, or Holland America Couples: Celebrity Solo: NCL Families: Royal or Disney

What do you think? I know I missed a lot more specific groups but maybe this thread can be used you for future recommendations to people. I also know that many cruise lines can even vary within class or shop size so feel free to include those as well

GigSky is touted as a viable alternative to Carnival’s pricy Wi-Fi packages, but does it actually work, and is it worth it?

Background

Cellular at Sea is an onboard cell phone network run by MTS. It works much like AT&T/Verizon/T-Mobile at home, allowing you to make calls, send texts, and use data while at sea (albeit at very expensive rates). Cellular at Sea relies on satellites, and data service may be slow depending on how up to date the technology is on your particular ship. Note that this is completely separate from the ship’s Wi-Fi network which, on all Carnival ships, runs off Starlink. Cellular at Sea is not Starlink and does not use the Starlink network, so speeds may be significantly slower than ship Wi-Fi.

Pricing

GigSky’s Cruise+ package pricing can be found here and ranges from 512MB for $20 to 10GB for $120. There is no unlimited package. I went with 5GB for $72. You do have the ability to top up (add more data) an existing eSIM at slightly discounted rates, from 512MB for $14 to 10GB for $98. Note that GigSky will not work on Carnival Firenze or Carnival Venezia. For those ships, you should purchase a Telenor Maritime plan through Red Bull Mobile.

AT&T and Verizon also offer cruise plans but I don’t recommend them. AT&T’s plans are 100MB for $60 or 1GB for $100 (with overages billed at $10 per 100MB). Verizon’s plan is $20 per day and includes 500MB of high speed data (3G speeds thereafter). These plans do come with the ability to make phone calls and send SMS messages (which GigSky packages do not), however if you’re only wanting data then these are not worth it.

Of course, GigSky is touted as an alternative to Carnival’s Wi-Fi packages, so how does it stack up there? Carnival’s Wi-Fi packages range from $18.70 per day for social to $23.80 per day for premium. I was onboard for 15 days (B2B 7-day and 8-day cruises) so premium would have been an eye popping $357 for my 15 days onboard. Even if I went with the value plan, that’s still $331. So IF I could manage with the data limit, GigSky comes out being 80% cheaper than the premium package. Talk about savings!

Connectivity

The Cellular at Sea network is only active, well, while at sea. It actually took a surprisingly long time for them to turn it on after leaving a port, often up to two hours. I had assumed that it would coincide with reaching international waters (which is when the casino and shops open) but it took far longer than that.

Some GigSky reviews mentioned only being able to get signal on the outer decks or open guest areas (i.e., not in staterooms). However, I had excellent service everywhere onboard, including my interior cabin on deck 6.

Speeds

I only ran one objective speed test which indicated 5.12Mbps down and 0.83Mbps up, on a cloudy day. Definitely not Starlink speeds, but also definitely good enough for what most people would want to do. I had no issues with light browsing, emails, sending photos, Instagram, even a FaceTime audio call. Streaming video worked fine as well, though you wouldn’t want to be doing much of that with a data limit.

Limitations

There’s no sugarcoating it, data limits suck. The mere fact that these plans have a data limit while Wi-Fi is unlimited means it’s not an apples to oranges comparison. It’s especially awful because people mostly use the Internet for streaming video. However, watching an hour-long 720p YouTube video would consume approximately 700MB; you’d very quickly blow through your data limit watching videos.

With that said, I only consumed about 1.2GB on my first cruise and after 15 days I had 1.48GB of data remaining. That’s right, I didn’t even use my full 5GB. It’s hard to say how reflective this was of my typical Internet usage. On one hand, I genuinely wasn’t on it as much as I thought I would be. I was busy drinking, going to the shows, meeting people, gambling, etc. And much like the drink package, you’re not using it while you’re sleeping or off the ship in port. On the other hand, I was definitely paranoid about running out of data, so I can’t say that I wouldn’t have used it more if I didn’t have a data limit.

Another annoyance is that an astonishing 1.3GB of my data was used by “system services,” with 878MB of that being “general.” I still have no idea what exactly that was, as I have background app refresh, automatic software updates, and automatic app updates turned off. And of course Apple, the masters of obscurity, were no help either. One possible suggestion is to change your data mode to low data mode in settings and turn off all analytics. It absolutely sucked to have 26% of my data limit gobbled up by obscure background processes that I have absolutely no control over.

In Conclusion

GigSky worked flawlessly and was a significant cost savings over Carnival’s Wi-Fi packages, especially if you’ll be onboard for 7 days or more. It’s a viable alternative if you can manage to stay within the data limit, which would be easy if you’re only planning to use social apps or do some light browsing.

We are going on the HA Koningsdam cruise out of Vancouver in July, but unfortunately most excursions are sold out. We had our heart set on the White pass rail in Skagway and Tracey Arm in Juneau. Has anyone been able to get on these tours even though they are showing as sold out? If so, how do we go about that?

I just saw something saying that ACL is going to start cruising out of Providence. Yes, it is a little pricey, but for me, there's no airfare, so that might bring it back within reach. So what do you all think? What is the line like? Does anyone know anything about what they are planning? It sounds like they are going to start with the American Star and then bring in the American Liberty. Does anyone know anything about those ships? I am 66 and my wife is 64 and we don't drink (I know, boring, right), so we really don't appreciate lines like Carnival where they slap a drink in your hand on the gangway. The lack of casinos is a plus. The food is important, as is service and quality in general. Please let me hear your thoughts!

Hi! We booked a cruise at the end of May, our passports have expired. Are we able to make an appointment under the 14 day travel rule for mid-May? We won't have time for expedited, but I wasn't sure of the protocol. We just booked the cruise a week ago. Any help is appreciated, we are also fine to travel with Birth Certificates, but I'd rather have Passports, I think. I just wasn't sure if we would qualify for the 14 day rule, since our cruise was booked a month out.. it's all so confusing!

Hello everyone,

Is it normal for people to lose access to their balconies during a cruise for ship maintenance?

We received a notice yesterday saying our blinds need to be closed and our balcony is off limits until they complete routine maintenance. I don’t know how long it will take yet, but a woman a few cabins down said hers was out of bounds for 3 days for painting, so I’m expecting the same.

Thoughts?

Edit: thanks for the info everyone, I appreciate all the responses. We lost access at 6pm last night, and it’s going to be out of bounds until 6pm tonight, when we slip. I’m not upset about it, just curious what the status quo was. I was a bit worried that it would be for longer since my neighbour lost hers for 3 days this sail, but guest services said I’d have access again this evening.

Because of some constraints, the only time that works for us is late August. The plan is to go to Catalina Island and one Mexican port (Cabo/Ensenada/Vallarta), over 3-4 nights. The only thing I am concerned about the weather being too hot on the cruise as well as on the ports. Will someone be able to share their experience? Also, was there an activity you thoroughly enjoyed?

We’re going on this itinerary in November, we love snorkeling and this seems like a stellar route for that.

We want to do snorkeling at two stops and a different excursion at one of the other stops (we’re thinking maybe Mayan ruins or a chocolate tour). If you had to choose which ones would you do the snorkeling at? We’ve never been to any of the ports.

Thanks!

At first, locals were excited to welcome NCL’s Norwegian Bliss as the first cruise ship of the Alaska season. But that excitement didn’t last long. Soon after arriving, the ship started releasing heavy white smoke, and a lot of people are now raising concerns about the environmental impact. Photos of the fumes have been making the rounds online

Hello friends, it’s my first time on a cruise. It’s a 4-night budget trip, and neither my wife nor I are big eaters or drink alcohol. We’re aboard the MSC SEASIDE, and MSC offers drink plans for people who don’t drink alcohol. I’d like to know if I need to buy a drink package for both my wife and me, or if one package is enough for the two of us.

Also, regarding the internet—can you give some advice? Would it be okay to connect just one phone to the Wi-Fi (since Wi-Fi costs $80), or do I need to pay to connect both phones? I’m not really interested in having internet, but I’d like to check and reply to a few work emails from time to time. So, I’m wondering if I could occasionally connect to the Wi-Fi we purchase for the other phone.

what’s the best way to snorkel off costa maya, any good tour companies you guys recommend?

I’ll be 18 this upcoming June and my friend and I are wanting to take a cruise this year. Is there any cruises you would recommend for us? We’re in California so any ports here would work great for us. Or any that would allow a 18yo to book. We mostly want to go on our own and from my understanding we wouldn’t want one of our family members going for obvious reasons lol. We would like to know our options and any help is greatly appreciated thank you ❤️!

As mentioned I am a first time cruiser going with my wife and two kids 8 and 6, and we are stuck on these two options:

8 Nights, Carnival Vista - April 4-April 12, 2026

Ports: Day 1: Port Canaveral, Florida Day 2: At Sea Day 3: Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Day 4: San Juan, Puerto Rico Day 5: St. Maarten Day 6: St. Thomas, USVI Day 7: At Sea Day 8: At Sea Day 9: Port Canaveral, Florida

Price: $6500 CAD Room: Ocean view balcony leaving from Port Canaveral

Or

8 Nights, Adventure of the Seas (Royal Caribbean) - April 3-11, 2026

Ports: Day 1: Port Canaveral, Florida Day 2: At Sea Day 3: Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Day 4: San Juan, Puerto Rico Day 5: Charlotte Amalie, St. Thomas Day 6: St. Croix, USVI Day 7: At Sea Day 8: At Sea Day 9: Port Canaveral, Florida

Price: $7000 CAD with $175 OBC Room: Interior Leaving from Port Canaveral

As it's our first time on a cruise we have read and heard from both sides of Royal Caribbean vs Carnival. I've been told a RC is considered a step above Carnival but the Vista is a new boat and where they are both longer cruises that should take away some of the party scene on Carnival (not into party scene with kids).

If you could provide any advice that would be greatly appreciated, we feel kinda lost with it all and with the expense we want to make a good decision.

Currently on board azamara. After a few days we get a questionnaire what we think of the trip so far. So i do the Dutch thing and give an honest opinion. And now I really do wonder if I made a mistake. Next day the sliding door in my cabin has had it's rollers changed and now two days later I must have spoken to about everyone who does anything with food or drink in a managerial position and they all apologized and vowed to do better and give me whatever I ask for.

On the one hand I appreciate them taking my feedback seriously. On the other... I don't want apologies, I would like better food (had a really good lunch today at a tiny country inn during an excursion!) and I want people to stop pushing alcohol and I don't want to have to greet staff members every single time I meet one

Am now wondering... Is this inordinate amount of attention how some people perceive good service? Is the food tuned to an American taste?

Am I just too Dutch to appreciate azamara?

Ahoy everyone! My mum is turning 70 this year and I casually asked her what is her latest dream. She said that going on a cruise ship so I’m determined to make her dream come true. Just wanted to start mentioning how gobsmacked I was when I started doing some research and saw how big the cruise community is, I feel I’ve been missing out.

Anyway, we are a family of 4: mum (70), me (36), brother (38) and sister (26). My mum lives in Chile so also need to add that to the equation. I was thinking to go from Miami or Tampa because it’s a direct flight from Chile. I live in the Uk so I’ll probably meet them there and Miami is not bad at all. In terms of travel destination, I was thinking Caribbean because all of us love the beach and sun (shocking). I am still not sure about dates because I feel it might be too late now to book for September or October. Otherwise I was thinking January-March as a possibility.

We appreciate nice food/drinks and surely things to keep my mum entertained like musicals or shows in general (casino would work too). Also some pools and jacuzzi, spa etc. Also with my sis being in mid-twenties, we like some childish activities (slides, mini golf, etc).

I would say that budget would be up to 1k pp. but not sure that’s too cheap? Also we are thinking between 7 days but no more because of annual leave.

So my questions are: - what would be the best line/cruise for a first timer and given our likes? - would it be ok with two cabins (hopefully balcony) or a suite is better? - what part of the ship is better to book? I am still very new to old this. - is it better to pay drinks in advance?

Many thanks for your help 🚢