Hey cruisers! It's Mark and Rocky sharing our cruise adventures with you! From cruise ship walkthroughs and cruise ship reviews, to port and excursion overviews - we're taking you into this cruise life by providing you with videos, pictures, and background on our favorite hobby: cruising!
The idea for thiscruiselife was born during the pandemic when cruising came to a halt around the globe. Talking about #thiscruiselife allowed us to support the cruise industry during the shut down, while providing an outlet to celebrate all of the things that make this form of vacation travel the best out there!
Whether you're a first-time cruiser, or seasoned on the seas, there's likely something for you here on the channel. And as we grow, we'd love your questions, comments, and, of course, feedback, to make us even better.
You can find us on all socials and at thiscruiselife.com.
You might say we're kind of passionate about this cruising hobby (obsession?) and we love sharing it with you!
Пікірлер
I am currently on the Carnival Pride out of Baltimore. 😊
Have the best time! Wish I was getting on a carnival ship! October can’t come sooner 🫶🏽
Most of the ships especially the older ones have a “ secret deck” in fact it was rhetorical sunrise that actually had lounger chairs !😊
@@shellysnodgrass9546 ah yes. We’ve seen that on some of the ships, too!
Where do I purchase FTTF online?
@@kimberlyegeland698 it’s available through Cruise Manager via your booking. If you don’t see it, Carnival either hasn’t released it for sale, or it’s sold out at the moment for your cruise.
It’s almost 70° right now with not really even cloudy skies, in what universe is that cool lol
@@darrellperrine7604 it’s significantly cooler than what we’re used to: Phoenix is staying near 110°right now.
@@thiscruiselife i figured you were Florida or Arizona thats why the lol. Its a beautiful day in the pnw 😊
@@darrellperrine7604 gorgeous!
Oh. Poor u. Back to Alaska...again 😅 Have an amazing and wonderful time!!!
@@kathyp2794 hehe. Thank you. We’re so excited!
I'm glad you guys are in town! It's gonna be 94 in Seattle while you guys are up in Alaska.
@@dougrobinson6683 oh yikes! That’s Caribbean cruise weather and we’re definitely not packed for that. Haha
Have fun. I have 4 more days😊
@@user-zp9jv2pm7d yay! Excited for you
That’s so exciting! Have a blast ❤
@@lindsaymishaw4341 thank you! Really looking forward to this experience
Yuck
Embark can be rough and yuck, but today it was super smooth here in Seattle!
Love the Spirit...make sure you check out "Soul play" ( I think that's what its called)... and do a painting class, it's FUN!! Also Captain Salvadore is fantastic....he walks all around the ship meeting guests all the time
Looks like a beautiful day to board a cruise ship! My guess-the first stop is Tacos & Burritos at Blue Iguana Cantina! Have a great time on the ship and all the ports! Thank you for the update!
@@Tom-rd9qp you must have a tracker on us! 🥹 That was our first stop indeed! It. Was. So. Good!
@@thiscruiselife Hilarious! Just a guess.
Have a great time!!
@@carole334 thank you!
Have a blast! 🎉
@@CarolineBairdCoaching thank you so much!
Watching the first half part. They do put efforts on the design details of their brand! I wonder if I can feel as excitied as you guys if I am there since the structure is the same as Spirit class. By the way, my first cruise trip was on Carnival Miracle in 2022.
I wish I could book an interior, but I am so claustrophobic, I would lose my mind, lol Its a balcony or suite or I stay home unfortunately. I can't use elevators on the ships either, so it's all stairs challenge, which means I can eat more!
@@Jon_T19 love that! Stairs always for us, too. We just love the total darkness of the interior cabin no matter the time of day! Thank you for watching our video.
Very helpful video. We are going on July 11!
@@zahraaziz3151 oh awesome! We hope you have an amazing cruise!
Great video! Question - will MSC store empty luggage outside of your suite?
@@davidwatson7544 great question! They do not. However the beds have large enough space under them for you to be able to slide your empty pieces of luggage underneath so you can still enjoy a clean and tidy room!
We are going on this cruise this August. Did NCL ever reach out to you about and of the issues after you posted thia? Hopefully some have been addressed since last fall!
@@ajyankee93 sadly no. Never heard a peep from them about it. Hopefully with different contracts, the crew have been swapped out since the experiences from this video.
Awe man... one spot we didn't explore!
@@AlwaysontheMoove guess you’ll just have to book another to check it out. 😜
You had me at the décor and the pickleball and beanbag toss! My question since there were so many alcohol drinks to chose from how do the non alcoholic drinks measure up?? Maybe something to think of because not all of us can enjoy! As usual Watching the replay on Monday! 🇨🇦🍁Happy Canada Day to my fellow Canucks! Much 💚💚💚 ~Vie
@@CallMeVie great question! Several of the bars on board have mocktails on their menus as well. Great news: we managed to capture photos of all of the bar menus and plan to share them to our website in the coming weeks, so stay tuned to the site! We were very impressed at how much thought they put into the ship activities
Love the review. I can not wait to sail in November. Really love all things Jimmy Buffett, so I know we will love it. I am still heartbroken over losing him last year in September😥 He did bring so much love and happiness to this world. Fins up! I do wish I could find a way to see the QMN area of the ship, that would be so cool. Thank you for all this wonderful information.
@@michellebowles7991 oh my gosh, as a Parrot Head, you’re going to absolutely love the ship! They did a great job at theming the ship. Hopefully by that point, they’ll have figured out the selection process for the QMN by then.
I'm not sure I'm brave enough for that!! Looks fun though!
@@sharoncruisingscene it’s so much fun!
Nice!!
It's been a fun journey!
Thankyou for this video. I am super excited to sail in September. My first time. This was really helpful.
@@theresaradka643 we’re glad you found this video helpful! We hope you have an amazing cruise. Thanks for watching!
We cruised Solstice in April 2024, first one and probably last…..we are Holland America fans. Have to say the food, service pretty mediocre. Some of the venues that were hosting events were ridiculously unable to accommodate larger groups…. On a sea day. Poor planning. Our cabin was lovely, steward never introduced himself but conveniently knew us day before embarkation. We did enjoy the solarium adult only pool. Cheers!
@@andreas4268 wow! So sorry to hear about your experience on the Solstice. It really seems that they’re struggling to keep that ship properly updated. They just got a new cruise director while we were onboard, so it sounds like they’ve already addressed the programming issue. We keep saying we need to try Holland America Line because so many people have shared their positive experiences from there. Thanks for watching the video and commenting!
To answer your question in regards to mixing ship content and what not... maybe do a different ship video a different day of the week Every Tuesday drop a Firenze video, every Thursday drop a Margaritaville video... etc... this would allow some of us who watch every or most videos to frequently have content, AND those that just want the specific content they could know when to come back for those videos... Also put each ship in a playlist so that anyone coming after the fact can see a whole collection of videos on the ship they are looking for. Happy early birthday Rocky! sorry i missed Saturday, I hope to catch it next time!
@@joecoolthechamp5843 thank you for the ideas; we’re learning every day! And thank you for the early bday wishes. 🥰 We missed you, but glad you were still able to join us after the fact!
Hey guys! ZeeJay was great and it was so fun to meet you both on board! Thank you for being welcoming and informative as well as super nice in person as well! ❤
@@jordangibson3587 we loved her as the cruise director. So. Much. Fun! Glad we were able to meet you. Thank you for the message!
Couldnt do that room, being such a light and bad sleeper.
Great recap.
Even with the sound machine and earplugs in, we were awake! The slamming of the carts against the wall shook the room. Haha … good news, it did force us to get our day started! ;)
My sisters and I will be on this ship in July. Can't wait
@@TheRealMoanmyname awesome! We hope you have an amazing cruise!
@@thiscruiselife thank you!
*disembark
A fun read in debark v disembark! :) However you refer to it, we had a blast and are already looking forward to the next one! boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2658813-debark-vs-disembark-your-cruise-ship/
I remember you wearing most of those outfits
lol- yes! It’s true!
When you saw us wearing our hoodies with your hoodies
Been so curious about MSC!!
I spy with my little eye a dozen ducks
You caught our ducks!! :)
Let’s chat about it sometime! Definitely some learnings to share. Great experience overall tho!
The interior rooms are too small for 2, if surface area is needed. Book an ocean view or balcony. Thoroughly enjoyed my cruise on Meraviglia in March & I am sailing again next January.
@@susankerchner3843 we found we had enough space to get around, just surprised that there wasn’t a ton of storage. We chatted with another couple that pondered the same thing: why not add a little dresser under the TV where there’s all that space! Look forward to trying out an Ocean View on MSC to compare that experience! When next January? We were looking at some YC options… lol
The ship's decor is great but they def have some hiccups that need to be worked out. Overall seems like a fun ship!
@@stacey2502 any new ship added to a cruise lines’ fleet will have a few hiccups. We loved that there was already progress and changes between the first and second sailings.
Now for regular cruises, are you welcomed with champagne or was it just for the inaugural cruise
@@bonnieramsey9042 we’re not totally sure. They did it for the second sailing as well which surprised us!
Happy Birthday Rocky! Great video as always! You two always make me smile, but today was extra. Mark, that caffeine hit you hard today! 😂❤ So excited for Alaska for you guys
@@lindsaymishaw4341 thank you! We may have had too much fun on today’s live. Haha. We’re looking forward to another great Alaska cruise! -Rocky
We did Alaska on Luminosa. Great time!
@@dkfaul01 awesome! So glad to hear that!
Appreciate an honest review. A few to many complainers on other reviews. They are just starting out so be patient.
@@whobdis77 it’s so true! Thank you for watching and sharing your perspective. There’s so much to celebrate that many others look past.
Great live - watched on catch up ... have an amazing birthday Ricky and cruise guys ... Mark x
@@cruisingfanatic thank you so much! Glad you were able to catch the replay. We’re so excited for this sailing! -Rocky
thank you, we are doing this!
@@candyrose8473 so happy to hear this! We hope you have an amazing time. Please let us know if you need any help booking: I’m a travel advisor, too! -Rocky
Excellent! Thank you 🎉
@@daVii639 thank YOU for watching! 💙
Looks so fun! What time do they usually start boarding the guests? Thank you!
@@user-re6lx3zh6k it’s a ton of fun! The boarding process begins after the ship has reached zero count, meaning all guests from the sailing that just ended have disembarked the vessel. The back-to-back guests are then the first to board, followed by Diamond, Platinum, and suite guests. Typically this happens between 10:30 and 11, but all depends on when the ship gets into port and how efficient port operations are.
@@thiscruiselife wow thank you for the very detailed response 😊
@@user-re6lx3zh6k you’re welcome!
So it was definitely worth it ? It's actually a $150 for carnival . I'm departing soon and hesitating if I should add this to my package
You definitely get the value back if you plan to use all of the benefits is what we determined. But if you don’t plan to arrive early to take advantage of priority check in and boarding, or you don’t plan to leverage priority debark, you likely don’t get the full value. Let us know what you decide! -m
@@thiscruiselife I'm thinking of just adding it . I hate long lines especially when it's time to check out. My goal is to avoid all of that
@@Elchulo230 we hear that! Lines are a horrible way to start vacation.
We sailed Solstice out of LA last year. The observation of the ship condition was less noticeable when we were onboard. However, the weird dinner portion size, including the entire half of a duck a l'orange, was noted. We had the assigned dining time and our dinner crew was amazing. They certainly knew our names and often spent time chatting with us. The shows and entertainment are amazing. Maybe some of the best in the industry. Concierge class is kinda... I don't know.... Meh. We had our bubbly and some chocolate. The canapés were not ever good and often tasted old. The solarium pool was an absolute sanctuary. No kids or loud music, just peace and the sound of the pool water. And it was always warm in there. The quasar lounge should be awesome, but it's not. When we were onboard they were trying to make it into and under 18 hangout, but there were so few young people onboard that no one was ever in there. The martini bar is excellent in every way!
It sounds like overall, we had a VERY similar experience on the ship! You even mentioned something that we thought but didn't call out - the canapés did taste a bit stale the couple times we had them! We didn't spend a ton of time in the Solarium this time around as we were with Rocky's family, but it did look quite lovely and any time we passed through I felt a little more at peace. :) Thanks so much for watching and sharing your similar experience with Solstice! We're hoping that 2026 dry dock can address some of the maintenance things we experienced (if not before) and look forward to giving more Celebrity ships a chance! I kind of want to try Concierge-class on one of the Edge-class ships for comparison. Curious if that experience is more elevated...? Decisions, decisions! -Mark
Okay gonna bring alot of disinfectant, bud bug spray. Thanks for the Great video I learned alot. Thanks Rocky for the Booking.
Happy to help any time! My hope is that you have one of the best cruises out there! In terms of what else to pack... we posted our entire "must have cruise items" on our website. Check it out. We need to add bug spray to our list - that's a great call! www.thiscruiselife.com/cruise-products/
Nice! I actually got kicked out of what I thought was a deck I could go to on the Enchanted Princess, lol. The door did not say “crew only”. Made me sad because I wanted to get closer to the front of the ship to see dolphins.
Yes, we originally went out to the forward of the ship to our favorite secret space, but then realized, we were looking directly into everyone's balcony/terrace cabins. I'm not sure why the doors aren't marked with "crew only" for these, but we didn't want to encourage folks to go out there so wanted to give an alternative. Hopefully, they were nice when they asked you to leave, considering there were no "crew only" signs! ;) MAS Islander and all of her Spirit-class sisters have this beautiful space down on Deck 3. We've seen a bunch of wildlife from this deck over the years! -m
Thank you, love encounters with locals
You're very welcome! And we agree; there's something special getting to experience local culture and meeting amazingly friendly hosts! :) -m
on the waterslide rules, it says that it is for kids 12+ .... did you see that this was enforced? OR did you see kids that looked younger on it?
We didn’t see them checking any IDs while we were back there. ;) With that said, after an injury on the next to last day of our sailing, the water slide was shut down. I would imagine they are going to be more rigorous going forward on who can/can’t ride. Of course, we always recommend following all rules to ensure a safe and fun vacation experience! :) -mark