nybumpkin

Sad that I never got to hear Maxtone-Graham - he would have been wonderful. My dad bought me "The Only Way to Cross" in 1972 and it's still my favorite ocean liner book - right next to "A Night to Remember." I'd suggest trying to find those that interest you on sites like Facebook - maybe they have their schedules posted.

My own thought related to "slacks," which I have worn on QM2 with a dressy top. BTW, I'm originally not far from Cherry Hill - Riverside, in Burlington County

Launderettes - DH and I laughed at the launderette use. Our cabin was two doors down from the deck 6 laundry. The first morning, we awoke to some chatting outside our door. Yes, the folks who wanted to do laundry were lined up in the corridor (I think it opened at 7:30?) Same for all the following days. We found that midday worked for us. Maritime historians - On our second TA, we were fortunate enough to have Bill Miller, "Mr. Ocean Liner," as one of our Insights speakers. It wasn't announced ahead of time through Cunard, but I think Bill had it on his personal FB page. I can definitely state that Bill has his followers in touch and booking his sailings. He's the only maritime speaker we've had. I can say that we've never been disappointed in Insights speakers, no matter the subject.

The first TA we booked was a 2019 two-week crossing from Southampton to NYC, with stops at Liverpool, Iceland, Newfoundland and Halifax. When we started looking at flights (we would have included an overnight in Southampton), we found that it would be cheaper for us to sail EB the week before. We had the time, so we decided to sail instead of fly. Three weeks on QM2 - an unbelievable trip.

We've done a number of July 4 cruises and I've never seen any offers for July 4, except maybe an offer if it's a port day and they'd be making the offer anyway.

Thank you for the Kings Dominion photos! A long, long time ago (okay, 1978), our high school band in South Jersey went to Winchester for a band competition and then went to Kings Dominion for one of their parades. Doug and I sat under a tree and talked about where life might take us; we got the "get married" part right, but never imagined we'd spend more than 40 years in Upstate NY. At any rate, Kings Dominion always brings back good memories for us. And many thanks to you and Patti for showing us what next year's cruise might look like!

You just made the Dominican Republic sound like the most attractive port in the Caribbean!😃

We're sailing Venezia from NYC next year. I can't wait, because I love sea days, and Txteach79, I'm really looking forward to your thoughts about this cruise. In the meantime, we leave on Tuesday for a flight to Madrid and a week cruise on the Douro River. Doug's spending a fair amount of time trying to figure out what I might take for the flight - I can't stand flying.😮

This one's my favorite Carnival drink. I normally get one from Alchemy.

You have the story that prompted my retirement. DH's mom was Executive Director of a nonprofit; I used to hear her "when I retire" stories. Well, she finally did retire - and 5 months later was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was gone less than a year later. None of those "when I retire" stories happened. I retired at the end of 2022 when I turned 62 after a 35-year career (and I loved my job), but am doing part-time work for them and probably will for another two years. DH isn't retired; his employer does not have a post-retirement medical plan, so he's staying to 65. Fortunately, it's a college teaching position, so he has a month off in December/January as well as three months in the summer. In the meantime, we leave for a river cruise in Europe next week....

Thank you for reminding me that I need to soak beans overnight for tomorrow night's soup! Not kale soup (DH is rebelling😃), but I never would have remembered if you hadn't posted this. I'm enjoying your review - we've sailed Glory 5 times and she's one of our favorites.

Sea day, combined over 20 years of Carnival cruises: Wake whenever. Probably wouldn't be much later than 8:00 - but then, DH and I aren't late night people. Breakfast. Either the dining room or the buffet. If the dining room, I'm having eggs sunny side up (dippies!), white toast (got something to dip in the eggs😃), and bacon. DH gets an omelet, either in the dining room or at the buffet. After breakfast, we settle in on the promenade deck for rounds of cards and coffee from Java. Maybe play a round of trivia. Lunch: Probably the buffet. I'll opt for Guy's or fried clams if the fish place is open. Love the clams.❤️ If I see something I like elsewhere, I'll head there. (Maybe Chinese?) Afternoon, we'll find some entertainment - or if the weather's good, we'll head for a pool. (Definitely a pool if we're in Havana.❤️) Dinner: Probably the dining room. I've never had much to complain about in the area of food. Favorites? For appetizers, just about any of the soups (Carnival has always done soups right for me). Dessert? Creme brulee. After dinner: Maybe a show if we're interested. If not, we'll go for a band in one of the lounges (maybe Red Frog?) End of day. Next day? Repeat.

DH has done guest choir twice - once in 2019 on 2-week WB TA and one last year on a one-week EB TA. Both times they asked for black and white as a preference (not a problem for DH - he travels with a tux), but nothing required. DH really enjoys the choir. Rehearsals are sea days after lunch. We'd have lunch and then he'd go to rehearsal while I found someplace comfortable to read.

We did this tour (wow - was it really 2014?) Absolutely a great tour - we've said that if we go back to Alaska, we'll do it again. Our sons were 14 and 18, and they had a great time. I think they'd do it again as well.

A sad reminder of our cruise to Norway last year on Pride. I went to get wonton soup and found that someone had made off with all - and I mean all - the dumplings in the container. Nothing there except broth and scallions. Looks like you had a better lunch. I've enjoyed your review. Spirit is the only Spirit-class ship we haven't sailed, so it's nice to get a look at her.

Aw, Jeff - My youngest son was at that game. He's gone to more games since he went to Buffalo than he ever did before.😃 I'm really enjoying your report! Yes, I'm here to the end.

Karen, I have a minor in Spanish. I can read Spanish fairly well (helps with the tourist signs) and it translates over to French - I can read it enough.😘 I think "old dogs" who have one foreign language down can manage the other. And one of my retirement projects is learning French.

I was picturing a plastic stencil they'd use to put the picture on the drink. I guess I'm just too old.😶

Hi Karen - I love the Seafood Shack! Last year when we sailed NYC-Eastern Caribbean on Magic we ended up staying on the ship at HMC (another story - but it was worth it to us!) and commandeered a table on Lido for the afternoon. I got the clam strips and DH went for fish and chips. I think the clams are very good - maybe not what I remember from HoJo's in the 1970's, but I really liked them. Oh, and they go very well with gin and tonics.😃

I can't agree more with you about NYC, Jeff! I think we're up to about 20 NYC sailaways - mostly Carnival, with some Cunard and Norwegian in the mix. I never get tired of it. I loved the Tribe live reviews - really want to see yours!

I sailed Norwegian Prima last year - my one and only time on NCL to date. Why? DH wanted to get me a cruise as a retirement present, and Norwegian works for sailing from Manhattan in the off-season. This was a 5-day NYC-Bermuda cruise; I sailed with our daughter-in-law. I liked the ship, but I have to say that if you made me choose between NCL and Carnival, my choice would be - Carnival. I'm not crazy about the "freestyle" sailing that NCL promotes. Instead of "do what you want, when you want," I found myself trying to plan meals and activities far in advance - otherwise, you wouldn't get in on NCL because you were expected to make reservations. We never did get to see "Summer," since the show we were able to book ahead of time had to be canceled due to weather. This just wasn't my experience with Carnival. Having said all that, the food on NCL was very good, and we never had difficulty getting seats for meals.

The first thought that crossed this retired lawyer's mind! But the pictures would be fun!

I remember meeting some folks from your cruise in Cozumel - I think you had a much more difficult time than we did. When we were supposed to be in GC (but sailing instead to Cozumel) we were told that the Captain thought the Mississippi would be closed and that if anyone really needed to be back on time we should arrange transportation from Cozumel. I don't think there were many - if any - takers. And we didn't have to get off the ship in New Orleans until a reasonable hour the on the 11th.

July 10, 2005 - We were supposed to be in New Orleans that day after our Carnival Conquest cruise. Instead, we spent the day sailing around rigs in the Gulf until they opened the port. We managed to deal with Dennis three times on that trip - once when leaving Montego Bay (we skipped Grand Cayman and went directly to Cozumel), once at the end of the cruise, and the last time on our flight home. Our only casualty was a drinking glass in our sons' cabin on deck 1.

I tried NCL out of NYC this past year - end of March, beginning of April. No, thanks - lovely ship, but you want to be outside to really enjoy it and that sure wasn't happening. At least now I can say I tried sometime other than summer in NYC.