Cruise Made Easy

09/06/2026

Trip coverage is underway! We're sailing the northeast and Canada in under three weeks, and as always I'll have "live" coverage. https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1E9r8Nnffc/ for today's post, follow wecruisencl.com or my coverage on Cruise Critic!

18 days out and the excitement is real! We just finished online check-in, printed our eDocs, and those priority luggage tags showed up in the mail last week. First time sailing in a suite, so that was a fun little surprise.

If you're getting close to a sailing and want to see what the pre-cruise process looks like from a first-timer's suite perspective, come read along: https://wecruisencl.com/2026/09/t-18-days-excited-suite-passengers

Are you a suite guest too? Drop a comment and let me know what I should be doing right now to make the most of it!

08/10/2026

Thirty-nine Norwegian Cruise Line sailings carry "Panama Canal" in the name. They are not the same trip.

Some loop back to Miami in ten nights. Some cross from one ocean to the other in twenty-two. The direction you travel determines whether you see Panama City or just Colón, and that detail alone can settle the whole decision before you've looked at a single deck plan.

I put together a full breakdown of how to read these itineraries, what they actually cost per night, and the three questions that narrow thirty-nine options down to about four.

Read it here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/choosing-the-right-cruise/ncl-panama-canal-sailing-itineraries

If you're weighing one of these sailings, drop a question in the comments. Happy to point you toward the right version.

08/10/2026

Most people know about the spring and fall Panama Canal crossings on Norwegian Cruise Line® ships. Fewer know there's a whole separate cycle running in winter, and it works a bit differently.

Norwegian Star does two crossings around a ten-week Mexican Riviera season out of San Diego. Norwegian Encore does something I haven't seen structured quite this way before: a round trip from Los Angeles through the canal and back, so you fly home from the same city you left.

If your calendar doesn't line up with October or April sailings, these are worth a look: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/articles/winter-canal-ncl-repositioning-cycle

Have you done a canal crossing before, or is this on your list? Happy to answer questions in the comments.

08/10/2026

Thinking about a cruise that goes through the Panama Canal this spring? Not a round-trip — a one-way crossing from the Atlantic side to the Pacific, ending in Seattle or Los Angeles.

I put together a look at what Norwegian Cruise Line® has sailing in spring 2027 and 2028, including the per-night numbers on each option, why the port of Colón matters (and why it's not the same as Panama City), and what 22 nights on the water actually asks of your calendar before you commit.

If you're weighing whether this kind of crossing fits your situation, the full breakdown is here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/choosing-the-right-cruise/westbound-canal-spring-crossing-atlantic-pacific

Questions about any of these sailings? Drop them in the comments and I'll do my best to help.

08/10/2026

Sixteen nights from Los Angeles to Miami, through the Panama Canal, on a balcony for around $136 a night. That's not a typo, and it's not a sale price either.

I put together a full breakdown of NCL's fall eastbound crossings on Norwegian Cruise Line® Joy and Bliss, including why the nineteen-night version to New York is actually the better buy, why eastbound is the only direction that gets you into Panama City proper, and what to know about the air before you start comparing fares.

If you've been curious about the canal but haven't found the right fit, this one is worth a read: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/choosing-the-right-cruise/eastbound-canal-fall-crossing-pacific-atlantic

Happy to answer questions in the comments if anything comes up.

08/10/2026

Thinking about the Panama Canal but can't swing three weeks away from home? That's the situation a lot of people are actually in, and it's worth knowing there's a sailing built around it.

Norwegian Cruise Line® runs round-trip Panama Canal itineraries out of Miami on smaller ships, and I wrote up the full picture -- what the canal day actually looks like, how the pricing compares to a full crossing, why ship size matters more on this particular trip than it would on a beach week, and a few things worth knowing before you book.

Read it here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/choosing-the-right-cruise/canal-ten-nights-miami-cruise

If you've done a canal sailing before, I'd genuinely like to hear how you found the rail space on the lock day. And if you're weighing this against a crossing, drop a question below -- happy to talk through the differences.

08/08/2026

Somebody in your family has cooked every holiday for the last decade and a half. They've had the work. Everybody else has had the holiday.

That's the thing that started a booking I took this year -- a grandmother who decided her 50th anniversary was going to be the holiday instead of the other way around. Ten people, Norwegian Viva, out of Galveston over Thanksgiving. No airport, no roasting pan, one table where nobody keeps score.

I wrote up the full story, including what holiday sailings actually cost (I give you real numbers, not ranges), how Christmas week compares to the week after New Year's on the same ship and itinerary, and where the booking deadlines actually fall right now.

If you've been wondering whether this is the year to hand the holiday off to someone else, it's worth a read: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/choosing-the-right-cruise/the-holiday-nobody-cooks-for

08/05/2026

Checking a cruise ship's CDC sanitation score takes about two minutes, and most people don't know the records are publicly searchable by ship name.

I put together a breakdown of how the inspection program actually works, what the published scores do and don't cover, and how to pull the report for a specific ship before you book. There's also some context on Norwegian Cruise Line specifically, since two NCL ships scored 100 in the most recent roundup and one scored below the satisfactory threshold.

Read the full piece here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/cruise-basics/what-a-cdc-sanitation-score-covers

If you've ever looked up a ship's score before sailing, I'd be curious what you found and whether it changed anything for you.

08/01/2026

Most people book an Alaska cruise or a Mexico cruise. A handful of people in October 2026 could do both on the same ship, in the same stateroom, without a second embarkation day.

Norwegian Encore® finishes her Alaska season in early October, then repositions south through Vancouver, San Francisco, and Los Angeles before turning around for Cabo San Lucas, Mazatlán, and Puerto Vallarta. String the sailings together and you get 20 days, one ship, and a trip that starts in fleece and ends with you looking for shade.

I wrote up how it lays out, who it works well for, and one open question about an overnight positioning move between Seattle and Vancouver that I haven't gotten a straight answer on yet.

Read the full piece here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/planning-help/skagway-mazatlan-same-ship-norwegian-encore

If this is the kind of thing that gets your attention, drop a comment or send me a message. It's four separate bookings that nobody has named as a trip yet, and that's exactly why it's worth a closer look.

07/31/2026

Noticed something in the Norwegian Cruise Line® 2027 Greek Isles pricing that I keep coming back to, and I think it changes how most people should be planning this trip.

The short version: the Greek Isles don't follow the same seasonal pattern as the rest of the Mediterranean. July and August fares on Norwegian Gem sit in a pretty flat band. Then two September sailings jump 19 to 26 percent above that. By early October, prices drop right back down. That's not a gradual drift. It's a step up and a step back, and it only lasts about a month.

There's a real reason for it tied to wind patterns, water temperature, and what's actually open and running ashore. Once I dug into it, the fare shape made a lot more sense. It also changes the shoulder season math in a way that surprised me.

I also found a direction difference worth knowing before you lock in flights: Venice to Athens and Athens to Venice visit the same ports in the same week, but they're not the same price.

Full breakdown with the fare tables and the timing logic is here: https://cruisemadeeasy.com/cruise-tips-guides/pricing-and-value/greek-isles-peak-season-september-2027

If you're looking at Greece for 2027, I'd be curious whether you've been thinking about it as a summer trip or a fall trip. That framing matters more here than almost anywhere else I've looked at.