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bbwex

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About Me

  • Location
    Pittsburgh, PA
  • Interests
    Sailing, scuba diving, photography
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Oceania
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Anywhere

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. I tried to send you an email as well, but orv7 at reallywarmmail dot com bounces everytime, and GoDaddy says that reallywarmmail.com is available for sale, so something is wrong.
  2. We are getting on MARINA in Santiago (San Antonio) when you disembark, and I, for one, have been looking forward to the duck and watermelon salad for a few years. I am really glad that they still have it on the menu. ORV: thanks for the info about the plug.
  3. Can you describe this "European" plug a bit more so I know what type of adapter to bring
  4. I am in the midst of rehabbing from a shoulder replacement, and need to use some small weights daily. Are there really small -- 1, 2 and 3 pounds -- weights in the Fitness Center??
  5. As for the powerboard, it seems as if the plug you already have will be sufficient for the limited number of items that you have. Jumping to the question about storing liquor, you are going to have to ask your cruise line about that one. They generally don't allow you to bring liquor on board, but they might allow it under these circumstances. What one lines does or doesn't do is too specific a question to not ask them, unless you posted that question on the section for your cruise line.
  6. I pretty much agree with Charles 4515. Holland America and Princess have been the experts in Alaska for a long time. We did a cruisetour with HA, and loved it. We did about five or six days of the tour, and then caught up with the ship in Seward. The tour started in Fairbanks, then on to Denali and Anchorage. BTW the two highlights of our trip were the bus tour in Denali and the Kenai Fjord Tour in Seward before we boarded our ship. Not that the rest of the trip wasn't truly amazing.
  7. It doesn't matter too much. First of all, there will be some people who come aboard to explain the entire process. You will likely be up on deck watching, so you can see all around, and there is stuff to see all around, particularly as you approach the canal, there will be ships all over the horizon waiting their turn. There is even a semi-sunken ship off to the right before you go into the locks, unless they have finally removed that old hulk. We watched the initial part from far forward, way up on the top deck, and it is fascinating. There is a road on the first set of chamber doors that take the highway from one side of the canal to the other, and there is a significant amount of traffic that goes across when the chamber doors are closed. Then you will work your way through the first set of locks, and there are "mules," actually electric locomotives, on both sides holding the ship in the center of the lock, and they travel alongside as you go through. You might want to go do to a lower deck and watch that almost at eye-level at some point. The explanation of how the whole system works is also fascinating, and you should make sure you attend that.
  8. High twenties going from Sydney to San Francisco, but like several others, that was on a Navy ship. Entertainment and food were sort of lacking, and even the officers' staterooms were not all that comfortable. Yet I did learn to love days at sea. I hate sunrise, but I enjoy days at sea.
  9. I cannot give you any specific help, but I would tend to re-post this question more generally. All of the cruise lines use essentially the same buses and vans, so limiting yourself to P&O just limits your answers. Plus you can post this sort of question on the Ports of Call section for the ports you are going to visit to see if you can get help that way. Good luck.
  10. We have, for the most part, used private tours on all of our cruises. The private companies depend on being certain to get their groups back in time. I have read a lot of these boards, and have never heard of a private tour company being late. Yes people who go off on their own have missed the ship, but that has always been passengers who did not go on any tour at all, but went off by themselves. Tour companies generally guarantee that they will get you to the next port if need be, but, as I said, I have never heard that that was ever necessary. A private company that missed getting their people back would be out of business the next day. I do go on the Ports of Call section and spend some time going through the notes to get a feel for which companies are the better ones. I don't go by a single posting, as that can be unreliable, but if you read a bunch of postings, you will get the drift. Private tours, particularly in busy ports, can be much more efficient. Ships' tours are generally on large buses and you wait for the slowest person to get back on the bus before you can go on. Private tours generally keep together better, and use smaller vehicles that can navigate the roads more easily. Plus you can ask to add something that you found out was worth doing.
  11. The best place for the Carnival specific into is still their section of the cruise line section on CC. People will answer eventually.
  12. OK, well I am cruising the Oceania also, and have no recollection what the invite looks like. I will try to get one and post whatever I can get. Particularly on Oceania's smaller-sized ships (including the Marina and Vista classes), the number of passengers is small, and I am amazed at how often I run into people from the M&G, and have the chance to sit with them at dinner at one venue or another. We have always felt that we were with a large group of "friends" throughout the cruise.
  13. Some of the cruise lines issue the invitations. Check to see if you do it or they do it. The one I ran, they checked in and got a name tag, which I had pre-prepared.
  14. That was to keep the sun out of their eyes!!!
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