Our stateroom bed on MSC Seaside is quite comfortable.  Still, I somehow woke up the morning after only about five hours of sleep.  Looking out the window, I saw we’d arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rico and then went back to bed for a bit - despite wanting to start the day early.  Round two of waking up was slightly more successful, so we got dressed and headed to breakfast.

After being out a bit late yesterday evening we woke up feeling like a thousand...Yen.  A late start to breakfast got us moving (along with some espresso) and we were determined to try some of the outdoor fun MSC Seaside has to offer...

Waking up knowing I'm going on a cruise that day always feels great.  Interestingly, knowing the ship wasn't scheduled to set sail until 7:00pm made things feel a bit less rushed, even though 4:00pm sailings out of South Florida give us plenty of time to get to the ship ahead of schedule.  We had some breakfast, double-checked our packing list (we don't need a repeat of this day) and got into a Lyft to head to the port around 1:00pm.

Over the years cruise ships have become bigger and bigger - bringing attention and fanfare with every superlative.  On the news, on social media, and in ads it seems cruise lines are constantly trying to "out-build" each other.  While there is no doubt that many consumers are excited about these giant vessels, did you know that they don't represent the majority of new ships?  Let's talk about why mega-ships are so popular, and what the average new cruise ship size actually is.  

Could pain at the pump extend to your next cruise?  This week, oil prices closed at $65 a barrel, and we have to wonder if cruise lines will soon begin charging fuel supplements as they have in the past.  About ten years ago operators of cruise ships and airlines had a big problem: the rising price of fuel.  To solve it, they started passing unexpectedly high fuel costs along to guests in the form of “fuel supplements.”  Even though it’s been years since cruise passengers were charged any of these fees, the option for lines to do this never went away, and we have a hunch you may soon be throwing in some gas money for the next time your ship commences bunkering operations...