Comicon the Cruise 2-5-24 Tickets Still Available!

 My wife and I have been on themed cruises before, both as guests sailing with the theme part of the cruise and also as normal cruiser that was not aware there was a themed cruise until we were already onboard.  Taking a themed cruise can be great!  We did Shiprocked a while ago and if you are into Rock would highly recommend it!   However, we went on a cruise we booked months in advance to find out it had a Country Music theme going on.  What this meant for us and the others not part of the theme was many venues were off limits and standard shows were canceled.  If we had known before we booked, it may have changed the date we chose or even the ship/destination.

Now, with less than a month before the inaugural Comicon Cruise, there are still rooms available.  As someone who does Comicon, had this been at a better time, we may have tried to make it work for us, but not this year.  But with rooms available, would you book this cruise, or any cruise knowing that it would change your experience?

Comicon Cruise Ticket site: https://comicconthecruise.com/pricing/

Will Cruising Return in 2021?

 This blog has been dormant for a while, but the cruising industry, and our passion for cruising has not.  Then 2020 happened.  Covid-19 has caused cruising to drop anchor!  Ships are not moving, money lost, stocks are down, but there is light on the horizon.  With the increase in people getting vaccinated, this will speed up the ability to get moving again!

Many of the cruise operators are looking at getting going faster by requiring proof of vaccination for all members or your party before you can board the ship.  This along with decreased capacity, and increased cleaning regimen will make for a safer cruise for everyone.  While we are not sure how the decreased capacity will have any affect on the pricing in the near future, it will help with checking out those venues that you may have skipped in the past due to the long waits and overcrowding.

Carnival Triumph Dead In The Water

If you didnt see it all over the news, Carnival's ship Carnival Triumph had a fire in the engine room and lost power.  As of this posting, it has been without engines for 2 days and is currently being towed to land by 2 tug boats with a third on the way.  Passengers are still on board because it was deemed safer than trying to transfer them at sea.  Once docked, Carnival is expecting the ship to be out of commission for at least a month and has started cancelling and refunding the future bookings

While this is sad for current passengers and those booked over the next month, it is not a common occurrence and it looks like Carnival is doing everything it can to compensate those on board.  Life happens! It will not detour me from booking with Carnival in the future.

Many Western Mexican Ports Dropped by Carnival

While we have decreased our cruise vacation allowance to gear towards more land based vacations things have happened that I missed recently Like Carnival doing a serious decrease of Western Mexican Riviera ports of call.  Gone are Acapulco, Mazatlan, Manzanillo, and Ixtapa.  The cruise we did a few years ago no longer exists at all while another has been drastically changed.  Carnival has good reasons for the drops. Mainly problems that lead to safety issues for the tourists and are doing the best thing they can to keep their passengers safe. 

Now, our decrease in cruises has nothing to do with safety of this type of vacation, but more a chance to pull a few items off our bucket list (Ireland in a few months for example).  However, we still check back for deals and to see if new ports get added, just not as often as we should I guess.  Finding that the ports are now gone is a little both dis heartening and a good feeling knowing that it was done in the name of safety.

Carnival's Ocean Players Club Sends Out Incentives

If you are a member of the Ocean Players Club (Carnival's casino) you may have recently received a little gift in the mail.  They have recently sent members cards (mine was for $25) that are redeemable for play on board.  While I am not sure if the amount goes up or down depending on how much you played in the past while on board, it is a nice gesture on their part to say please come back and gives us more of your money!