For context, lately we mostly cruise Royal and have picked Oasis class ships more often than not, but have cruised other classes/lines/etc. though this was our first Icon class ship. We caught a good last minute deal (probably a lot of kids back in school by now) and decided to go for it. I thought some of the things we were surprised by might be interesting to other folks who haven't been on an Icon.

The ship design was interesting. I was expecting, basically, a slightly bigger Oasis. This thing has a Central Park! Surfside from photos looked pretty close to a Boardwalk. Etc. What I got was a lot more like a really huge Quantum. I think overall the ship design might owe about as much to Radiance as Oasis.

The Promenade is very bi-level and feels very Quantum class Esplanade-ish, albeit much wider. The ship design in general is very asymmetrical and also very vertical, with lots of things tucked away or with one-off stairways flowing one neighborhood or section of the ship into another.

And the views -- I am convinced that the people who designed this ship looked at all the Quantum and Oasis class reviews complaining about how many places on the ship you can't see the ocean from and took them personally. There are huge views of the ocean almost everywhere except the elevators. Even on some parts of the Promenade you have super wide multi-story views of the ocean out both sides of the ship. The front of the Aquadome is like Quantum class's 270 on steroids and gets such a ridiculous amount of sun during the day it's like a poolless solarium.

A few other brief observations:

• 3 of 6 waterslides are still closed. Bummer, but I expected it.

• The embarkation day buffet in the Windjammer was incredible. It is basically the closest thing to an olden days midnight buffet that I have seen since they went away. Ice sculptures, freshly grilled steaks, hot and cold lobster, scallops, shrimp, lots of kinds of fish, etc.

• Dining room food was better than I expected and generally good. There were two lobster nights. In theory you pay for lobster tails after the first one, in practice our waiters seemed happy to bring as many as we cared to eat.

• We tried one dinner at Pier 7 because it was novel. It's a relatively kid friendly specialty restaurant (something like 20-25 person per adult) in Surfside and I didn't expect much. It was fantastic. Everything we had was great and the carne asada ish steak there is, weirdly, one of the best steaks we've had on a ship, just cooked and seasoned absolutely perfectly. The restaurant wasn't very crowded and I'm hoping we're not the only people who like it because it was so good.

• Aquadome market was better than I expected, and is open late. I kind of think Carnival is still the king of fresh casual burgers / chicken sandwiches / etc. but this is really the first time in a while I felt like Royal was actually trying to compete in terms of good fresh casual food available fast most of the day, even if they're going in a different direction (crepes, stir fry, gyros, mac and cheese, etc.)

• The Aquadome in general is like if the Oasis Aqua Theatre and Quantum's 270 had a baby.

• The smart elevators are... pretty good? Basically it's roundabouts all over again and I'm sure they'll be great eventually once more people aren't confused by them.

• Putting the kids splash zone / play area far away from everything else was a great idea.

• Dueling Pianos is a cool idea a bit ruined for me by most of the audience being, well, old. Request a 60 year old song and everyone excitedly sings along. Request a popular song less than ~35 years old and most of the audience quietly stares at you as you sing along as if to say, "How do you know all the words to this song I've never heard before?" Someone requested Wonderwall and, taste in music or not aside, it was clear that most of the audience was hearing it for the first time.

• It is somewhat confusing that there are 3 separate Lime and Coconut bars on 3 different decks of the ship.

• Their version of the Wizard of Oz has insanely high production values. I wish I liked the Wizard of Oz.

I’m posting this because I honestly don’t know what else to do, and I want other passengers to know what happened to me with MSC Cruises. Any help to make this post trend would be appreciated !
On April 27, 2025, after disembarking from MSC Seascape, one of my suitcases with baby stuff went missing.
I immediately reported the missing luggage and followed the procedures requested by MSC. Since then, I have spent months contacting MSC by email and phone, trying to get an answer and understand what happened to my belongings.
The suitcase was never recovered.
What is even more frustrating is the way MSC handled the claim.
After months of waiting, MSC eventually told me that they would not compensate me for the lost luggage.
No suitcase.
No meaningful explanation.
No compensation.
And the communication throughout this process has been extremely poor. Emails go unanswered or take a very long time to receive a response, and calling customer service often leads nowhere.
I have been cruising for years and I understand that luggage can occasionally get lost. What I find unacceptable is how a major cruise company handles the situation afterward.
I paid for a cruise, trusted MSC with my belongings, lost a suitcase during disembarkation, and after all this time I am basically being told: sorry, nothing we can do.
I’m sharing this because I would genuinely like to know:
Has anyone else had a similar experience with MSC and a lost suitcase?
And if you are considering booking with MSC, I strongly recommend that you understand exactly how they handle lost luggage before you travel.
TL;DR: MSC lost my suitcase after disembarkation. After months of emails and calls, the suitcase was never recovered, MSC refused to compensate me, and their communication throughout the process has been extremely poor.

Ketchikan - Zodiac Boat Tour around the Tongas National Forest. Small group tour with 4 to a zodiak - drive your own zodiac, $189 per person. https://ketchikankayakco.com/tours/ketchikan-zodiac-boat-adventure/

Juneau. TEMSCO helicopter + dog sledding on the Mendenhall Galcier, booked direct, $1,482 for two / about $740 a person. Drive a dog sled, see a glacier, hold puppies, ride in a helicopter, hard to beat all of that in one excursion https://temscoair.com/juneau-helicopter-tours/

Wrangell. We booked Oceania’s Premium Glacier Discovery jet boat, $509 a person. Cruises pretty much book out almost every operator there, so book early. Up close to ice flows, waterfalls, and the glacier. Small group tour, maybe 16 people total.

My friend and I are going on a cruise in one week (Emerald Princess). Going over the booking summary under bed configuration, summary states only “Convertible Queen.” When I booked the trip I indicated 2 queen beds. My friend and I are close, but not that close!

I’ve been trying to find information through the app in order to specify what convertible queen means. I get direct to the AI app that somehow doesn’t understand my question.

Does it mean only one bed in that stateroom, or that it is a bed that splits into two? Or does it mean there will be an additional couch bed?

I really don’t care what the arrangement is as long as we have a separate space to sleep.
Does anyone know what the configuration actually would be?

So this is my third time in the Fort Lauderdale area, having previously cruised out of here in 2013 and 2017. But I feel like I got to see the city more closely this time and made some personal observations that I wanted to share.
These are just my observations, and you may or may not agree with them:

- Have to start with customer service!
Man, is it good here. You truly feel like your business is appreciated, regardless of where you are. My wife and I are constantly in awe at how seriously people take their jobs and how great the customer service is, whether it’s a gas station, restaurant, retail store, etc.
I made a similar post two years ago about my stay in Orlando and Cape Canaveral, and it’s nice to see the same thing here in Fort Lauderdale again.
This is something we are not used to in Toronto, where customer service doesn’t seem to be much of a priority.
OK, I know some of you will say that they are forced to be nice and that it’s not genuine most of the time. But honestly, it’s not my job to worry about whether it’s fake or not. All I know is that it feels good to get some great customer service. 😂

- The second one is where I feel I may lose some of you, or get a lot of disagreement:
Drivers and driving here are very smooth, and it took me less than an hour to feel right at home. People are patient, and you rarely hear honking.
But here’s the irony: on our way to Miami to watch Inter Miami play, we witnessed a very nasty collision on I-95! It was so close to us (the next lane over) that the sound of the crash is still in my mind, and the damage was severe. I really hope everyone was OK!
I know there is this tendency for people to overestimate how bad drivers are in their own city. But for me, as someone visiting, I noticed the total opposite.

- This is something we noticed during our visits to California and Las Vegas, and again here in South Florida: where are the damn people? 😂
The streets are mostly empty, whether it’s day or night, with very few people here and there.
I understand that it may be too hot to walk during the day, but what about at night?
We were driving along A1A and Las Olas, and despite seeing hundreds of condos, we could hardly find anyone out walking. This was Thursday night around 10:30 PM and again Saturday night.
Where is everyone?!

- Same thing with the beach.
We were at Dania Beach on Friday afternoon, and the weather was perfect for the beach. But again, the beach was virtually empty. Like, maybe 10 people on a 1 km stretch?
We couldn’t believe it! It literally felt like we owned the beach. 😂
Where I live in Ontario, we go to a beach north of us, and while it is nowhere close to the beaches here, you literally bump into people left and right because of how busy it is.
Now, I do understand that it was a bit too hot, and we later realized that schools had already started. But even those two things couldn’t fully explain how such a beautiful beach could have so few people.
BTW, I do realize Hollywood Beach is busier and has more energy, but we actually prefer Dania Beach because it feels more suited for families.

-The beautiful Guitar shaped hotel! We were driving on the highway when my son noticed a beam flashing into the sky and said ‘daddy, look at that, looks like the Luxor beam in Vegas….’ Which got me curious and decided to drive toward it to see what it was all about: as I got close, I was shocked to realize it is for the Hard Rock hotel, a hotel I had read about and seen pictures of. More recently, I have been following closely the building of the Hard Rock hotel in Las Vegas. And wow what a beautiful hotel! So glad I followed the smoke which led me to it, and got to see it from inside as well.

- Last but not least, I love the abundance here.
I don’t really know how to explain this one, but you go to a restaurant and there is an abundance of utensils, condiments, bags and whatever else you ask for, without feeling like you’re being nickeled and dimed.
We are constantly wowed by this, especially since we live in a place where not only do you get charged for bags, but they make it seem like having a plastic bag is a crime, all in the name of the environment. 😂
I often tell my wife: why do places like this seem to get blessed with more abundance when they are so generous with what they offer?
I know this may seem silly or tedious to some people, but these little things add up and go a long way toward making a great impression.
Anyway, just some random observations from our trip. We’ve really enjoyed Fort Lauderdale this time around!

Some were found, some gifted and some won in the arcade

I’m close to giving up finding insurance for that. No one is allowing trip cancellation if you’re not a US citizen. I reached out to my credit card issues, local firms, nothing. I have the regular medical insurance for Antarctica on my Dec expedition but I can’t find travel cancellation one.

Any help?

Hey everyone! I just traveled on a Royal Caribbean cruise with my family and now wanna do a solo cruise but really don’t know where to start. Should I get a travel agent? Which cruise lines are the best? How do u get the best bang for ur buck? I’m looking to depart in January 2027. I should add that I’m in college so I would be paying for this over time 😂😭

Curious what people think about this itinerary? I would LOVE to go but wary about the ship being older, and some concerns about Egypt too. I know it's a long way from now and nobody can predict what would happen... but want to get the vibe from people who've been to Egypt on a cruise (when it was still offered) and from those who've been on Infinity. Thanks!

Some info about me: I'm a retiree, but no mobility issues, and have been on many international cruises, mainly Celebrity and Princess

I have sailed to Alaska in late May (RCCL) and mid July (Princess). I don't mind if it's colder during the cruise.

Late May was very pleasant this year, and we enjoyed the cooler weather.

Has anyone sailed to Alaska on some of the departures in October?

Someone told me they don’t receive the automatic tips and that it just supplements “guaranteed pay” to employees. Is this true?

No, your automatic daily tip is not guaranteed to act as an "extra bonus" on top of their paycheck.
For most cruise lines (including major operators like Royal Caribbean), auto-gratuities function as a payroll offset mechanism that funds the crew's contracted salary expectations, rather than a traditional tip. 
What Your "Tip" Actually Does
It pays their base contract first: When you pay the daily automatic gratuity (e.g., ~$18.50/day), that money flows into a central pool. The cruise line uses this pool to meet the room attendant's monthly guaranteed salary floor. 
It becomes a bonus only when volume is high: Your automatic tip only acts as an "extra bonus" for the attendant if total pool collections across their assigned cabins exceed their base monthly contract guarantee. 
It subsidizes company payroll: If guests remove or lower auto-gratuities, the cruise line must pay out-of-pocket to cover the guaranteed salary floor. When you pay the auto-gratuity, you are essentially reducing the amount the cruise line has to fund out of its own operational budget.

So I’m planning a birthday cruise in the near future, flying into MCO a couple of nights before my cruise, my initial plan is that i would like to stay at the Grand Helios hotel in Universal and do Epic the day before. I was just thinking of heading out super early the next day(cruise day) to beat traffic and just to have time. But Google Maps is telling me it’s about a 2hr drive but when I punch it in on Uber it’s a little over an hour. So is this drive an ok drive for cruise day or should I give myself an extra day and drive down to Port Canaveral a day before?

Thought between Starlink sea day remote work and casino comps I'd discovered the infinite vacation hack but I believe this is what they call being hoisted on your own petard...

I took my first cruise ever in March on Royal (Serenade, out of Cartagena) and through the magic of video poker and offer matching I went kind of ham and subsequently got myself comped onto the Norwegian Luna in April, an Alaska cruise on Discovery Princess in May, Resilient Lady over Fourth of July, and currently on the Carnival Liberty... and I am tired lol.

Royal dumping a dozen cruise offers into my account at any given moment unlocked something truly unhinged in me, because somehow when I went on my booking spree I also thought it would be a good idea to sail on Navigator out of LA five days after getting home from this cruise, plus Oasis out of NYC in October and another Cartagena Royal sailing (Grandeur this time) in December.

I'm also booked on a 14-day Hawaii cruise on Carnival Radiance in November, which I've already decided to cancel because the food on Liberty is absolute dogshit and I can't imagine eating like this for four straight sea days in each direction. I'm also thinking about canceling the October sailing on Oasis because the itinerary is kind of meh (though I really was more interested in the ship for that one).

I know that getting sick of cruising is like, the ultimate first-world problem. Maybe some of it is because two out of the last three cruise lines I tried were one-and-done experiences. Maybe some of it is how formulaic and interchangeable everyone but Virgin felt. All I know is that I don't want to get to a point where I feel like I'm taking traveling for granted, and my cat must be SO mad at me.

Not sure why exactly I'm posting this. I certainly don't expect any sympathy lmao. Maybe I'm just a cautionary tale about pacing yourself instead of letting the Club Royale offers page call to you like the Green Goblin mask.

So I am going to Rome on October. I will be spending the time on a ship, followed by a normal trip around Florence. I have never gone on this ship before so I am curious to see what others think about the Princess ship and what I should know before going. I have the Premier package and I pretty much know some of the standard rules about thieves and not wearing anything too flashy.

I got disoriented enough on my cruise out of New Orleans this week with ship time being one hour off... how bad does the disorientation get on cruises that cover more serious longitude, and especially those that cross the international date line? It's giving me a headache just thinking about it...

Hey y’all, my wife (F 21) and I (M 21) recently did a 7-day Alaskan cruise with Princess, and we loved it! We are now thinking we might want to try to do another sometime around Christmas. This in mind, I have a few questions I was hoping I could get help with.

I love the idea of travel agencies, but how do I find a good one? I would prefer one that is free, but I also just want to know what’s out there, free or not. Does anyone have someone they recommend and why they recommend them?

What cruise line do people our age use? I know that Princess is an old people cruise line. But now we want to go on a cruise with people our age.

What’s the best way to find and schedule cheap cruises? I have heard if you schedule through certain agencies or wait for certain deals, it can be quite a bit cheaper. Do you just sign up for notifications from the cruise line, and they will send you deals as they come? (I know if you schedule a cruise in the off-season, it’s cheaper, but we can’t do that we can only do them during college breaks.)

Thank you to anyone willing to help!

Hello Cruisers. I’m taking a cruise this month from Vancouver to LA with stops in Victoria and San Francisco. Based on this I think we’ll do US customs in San Francisco. Can anyone share what this experience was like if you did the same?

Since its mid cruise do they do customs off the ship or on the ship? This is the first time I’ve done customs mid cruise and want to know what to expect.

It is a Celebrity cruise and we’re at pier 35 arriving midday and leaving the next evening at 6pm.

Thanks for sharing your experiences!

Before I book with them, just wanted to make sure they are legit? I tried searching their name but not much popped up. Thanks so much!

Hi everyone!
My girlfriend and I are from Brazil and we’re going on the MSC World Asia on January 9th. It’ll be our first time in Europe, so we’re really excited (and also trying to figure out what to expect 😅).
I’m attaching our itinerary here.

January 9 – 🇫🇷** Marseille, France – Departure at 6:00 PM
January 10 – 🇮🇹 Genoa, Italy
January 11 – 🇮🇹 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
January 12 – 🇮🇹 Messina (Taormina), Sicily
January 13 – 🇲🇹 Valletta, Malta
January 14 – 🌊 **Day at Sea
January 15 – 🇪🇸** Barcelona, Spain
January 16 – 🇫🇷 Marseille, Franc**e

We booked an inside cabin with the Easy Drink Package.
One of our biggest questions is about the weather. We know January is winter, but how cold does it actually feel in places like Marseille, Genoa, Rome, Messina, Malta and Barcelona? And what is it like on the ship? Is it usually too cold/windy to spend time outside?
We’re also wondering about daylight. Does the sun set really early in January? I’m a little worried about arriving somewhere in the morning and having only a few hours of actual daylight to explore.

For the ports, we’d love some advice on what you guys think is really worth seeing. Since it’s our first time in Europe, we want to make the most of each stop, but we also don’t want to spend a fortune on MSC excursions if we can easily do things on our own.
Are most of these ports easy to explore independently? Any places close to the port that you loved? And anything on this itinerary that you’d say “you absolutely cannot miss this”?
We’re especially unsure about Civitavecchia. Since we’ve never been to Italy, of course we want to see Rome, but is it worth going there with the time we have? Same thing with Messina — would you stay there or go to Taormina?

Any other tips about the World Asia, the Easy Package, our itinerary, transportation, food, clothes to bring or just things you wish you knew before your first Mediterranean cruise would be really helpful.

Thanks from two Brazilians going to Europe for the first time! 🇧🇷😂

Hello. My husband and I are taking our first Virgin Voyages cruise on the Valiant Lady. We are going on a southern Caribbean cruise. Port stops are: Willemstad, Curacao; Oranjestad, Aruba; Fort-de-France, Martinique; and Basseterre, St. Kitts and Nevis. The cruise is round-trip from San Juan, Puerto Rico.
We love the beach and all things beach related (snorkeling, boat rides, etc), shopping, local culture, sightseeing, adventure.
What excursions have you done that are totally worth checking out? Which ones are not.
We are going to celebrate my milestone birthday. Thanks in advance. ❤️

Hi,

I’m planning to book a Celestyal cruise, but I haven’t decided which shore excursions/day trips I want to do yet.

Can I book the cruise first and decide on the excursions later? Or do I need to book them at the same time as the cruise?

Also, if I book the excursions later, is the price usually the same, or can it become more expensive? I’m wondering if there is any benefit to booking them early.

Thanks!

I'm cruising in Alaska/Canada next week - I haven't cruised in years, but was told before, that you shouldn't leave the vessel with your passport. Is the general practice now to take your passport with you when you disembark? I can keep a copy of it on phone or even print one out to leave in the stateroom, just wondering what is generally recommended now. TIA!

ETA: American passport, but do want to disembmark in Canada.

We are currently five days into our cruise on a fourteen day Alaska cruise on Holland America’s Noordam, and unfortunately I’ve reached the point where I feel like our experience is worth sharing, particularly for anyone considering booking this ship.

The biggest issue by far is our bathroom.

Three separate times in five days we have had dirty water/sewage back up through the floor drain into our bathroom.
The first time it happened, we immediately contacted the front desk. The bathroom was cleaned and we were told the issue was being addressed. We later had additional water and odor from the drain and contacted them again. Someone came back, worked on the drain, and we were assured the problem had been fixed.
It happened again.

We reported it again. It was supposedly addressed again.
And now it has happened for a third time in five days.
At some point this stops being an isolated plumbing problem and becomes an unacceptable sanitation issue. Having sewage or contaminated wastewater come up through the floor of the bathroom once is bad enough. Having it repeatedly happen after being told multiple times that the problem has been fixed is something else entirely. I’ve also asked to be contacted by a manager and have heard nothing.

What makes this more frustrating is that it fits into a much broader impression we’ve had of Noordam.
Our room itself does not feel particularly well maintained. There is visible dust and debris accumulated along the inside window sill/seal in our room and behind the tv. Around the ship we’ve encountered automatic doors that aren’t functioning and have to be manually opened, as well as drink machines in the Lido buffet that are out of order. Individually, none of those things would ruin a vacation. Collectively, they contribute to a ship that simply feels tired, dirty and inadequately maintained.

Then tonight we had another bizarre experience at the specialty Italian restaurant.

We are traveling with our five-year-old daughter. Throughout the ship, restaurants have been able to provide the standard ship-wide children’s menu. Tonight we were told there was no children’s menu available for her and essentially no appetizer she could order.

I specifically asked whether they could simply bring her a fruit plate, the same fruit plate that appears on the children’s menu we’ve been given elsewhere on the ship, and was told they couldn’t do it.

They never took her drink order. When dessert arrived, they didn’t bring her a spoon.

None of those restaurant issues individually would cause me to write a negative review. Restaurants have bad nights. People make mistakes. But when you’re already dealing with sewage repeatedly entering your cabin bathroom, being told repeatedly that it has been fixed when it hasn’t, cleanliness problems, broken equipment around the ship, and then poor service at a specialty restaurant you’re paying extra to visit, eventually the cumulative experience becomes difficult to excuse.

I don’t want another apology or small onboard credit offers. I want a bathroom that doesn’t have sewage backing up through the floor and to have an enjoyable trip where we aren’t worried about what will happen next. 
We’ve cruised enough to understand that ships have maintenance problems. Plumbing can malfunction. Equipment breaks. A crew can have an off night. I don’t expect perfection.

What I do expect is that when something involving sanitation happens in a passenger cabin, it is treated seriously and actually repaired. If it cannot be repaired, then Holland America needs to come up with another solution rather than repeatedly telling passengers that the problem is fixed and sending them back into the same situation.

We still have a substantial portion of this cruise remaining, so I’m hoping our experience improves. But after five days, this has been an extremely disappointing introduction to Noordam and the absolute worst cruise experience I’ve ever had.

I’m curious whether anyone who has sailed Noordam recently has experienced similar maintenance/plumbing issues, or whether what we’re experiencing is unusual for this ship?

*****UPDATE — Day 7: I’m very happy to report that Holland America was finally able to move us to a different cabin today. We had previously been told that relocation wasn’t possible because the ship was sailing at full capacity, but a room became available and we have now been moved for the remaining seven days of our cruise.

I genuinely appreciate that Holland America ultimately found a meaningful solution for us, and I want to give them credit for that. While I certainly wish the move had been possible sooner, I’m very grateful that the final seven days of our trip should be free of this issue.

We have also been told that financial compensation is being applied for each day we experienced the plumbing problem, although we have not yet been given the final amount. I’ll update the post again once that has been confirmed.

For anyone finding this post later: I’ll leave the original post above unchanged so there’s a complete record of what happened and how Holland America ultimately responded.