denamo

Hooded rain ponchos.. have gone on every cruise and land vacation with us, even though we have never had to use them.

We put these in our backpack that also serves as a carry on when flying and take along on excursions. We have used the ponchos on an Alaska cruise. Also good for some of the Caribbean islands when afternoon showers happen. We also carry a small travel umbrella along.

4 clothespins - for balcony or shower drying of bathing suits.

Lots of $1 - for tipping and shopping in port

PATIENCE - let everyone else rush to go wherever, I'm on vacation!!!

Another great use for the clothespins: If you are on a cruise ship with a shower curtain rather than doors, clip the clothes pins along the bottom of the curtain to weight the curtain from "attacking" while showering. May want to take four extra clothes pins just for this.

One suggestion I recently saw on the boards is a list of medications including the dosage amounts for yourself or any travelers with you. If an emergency happens, this information can be valuable especially if you have a traveler who can't tell you. Also if under a stressful situation, it's may be hard to remember.

No timelapse today. :mad: The Harbor Cam froze, and I've tried refreshing multiple times with no sucess. The cam would play for a couple of seconds and then freeze for several seconds.

 

The Harbor cam was working perfectly until it froze.

Happen to know if the video Pier23 webcam is functioning? Just get screen that video is loading, but never loads. :( If I click on classic mode, I get a picture which is dated Friday, Nov. 16, 2012. I remember last season when there was a storm, and it knocked the Pier 23 cam offline for quite a while. Seems it never worked quite as well after that. Hoping just a tech glitch today. Hoping the Mariner will still be at Pier 23. :)

One advantage would be knowing what your bar bill would be before going. Could actually budget before and plan accordingly. Paying ahead would also make the final bill less painful.:)

I too was hoping this plumbing problem would be fixed. It's been several years ago and while we had a great time on our cruise, I had to cover the drain in the bathroom if we didn't want to smell like our cabin was next to the sewer plant!

My DH loves to cruise, but has said he never wants to cruise on the Grandeur again. :( Had heard after the refurbishing, things were solved. Guess not.

Some short video clips -

 

 

 

Loved your links. I also took time to look at one you posted, of what I'm thinking, are your children singing at church for Christmas. I so enjoyed seeing them sing. It was so heartwarming!

Bill and Marie, Thanks so much for the live cruise and letting us tag along! Super! Love your picture posts and the commentary is as entertaining as it is enlightening.

Thank you for taking time to do this.

We took a cab to Nachi Cocom in August. It's about a 10 min ride from the pier, beautiful beach. It's a private beach and only allow 100 people per day. I think it cost around $55 per person (make reservations online at Nachicocom.com) It includes all your drinks a a 4 course meal served on the beach.

We did Nachi Cocom last summer and have no problem recommending it. You pay part before going through Paypal and pay off the balance once there.

We shared a taxi going there with a couple from our roll call. We were ready to leave before they were, so we went back to port by ourselves

Getting there by taxi is easy. We basically followed the signs. On one of the posts by Radio, he had a sign of the taxi prices, so we knew the exact amount to take.

There is a souvenir shop on the premises. They had t-shirts, jewelry, towels, and other basic souvenir items.

They have loungers under the trees. The beach is absolutely beautiful. There is also a pool with a swim up bar. It was really hot the day we went and the pool got quite warm. We would do Nachi again in a heartbeat.

Radio, Good morning! Love seeing the ship at this early hour. We are early risers as well, and I always feel like the ship is all ours when we head to the Promenade for coffee.

So, they removed the little cabanas (seating with the white covers) in the Solarium? I wondered about the durability of them, and how in the world they could keep them clean.

Have a wonderful day in Labadee. Hope you have sunny skies and blue waters!

Radio,

Have a super week. We're on Allure's sister, Oasis, in two weeks. Love seeing your photos. Thanks for taking us along!

Wow! So impressive. Thanks for a review that makes any reader feel like they were in your pocket for every meal! We're on the Oasis in June and your pictures are making wish I was having that Vidalia Onion tart tonight!

I won a free cruise @ bingo on HAL a few years ago, it was for 7 days inside cabin, taxes extra. We upgraded to a balcony for $199 each and it turned out to be probably the best vacation we've had.. Very thrilling to win too, especially since I dont care much for bingo and was talked into going. Ironically an inconsiderate man had quickly jumped in line ahead of me to get his card, so it should have been him than won. Just goes to show that sometimes it does pay to be patient...lol

As the expression goes, "karma bites". Looks like this man got "bit". ;)

I have combined the tips for bringing a night light and a glade plug in into one and buy the glade that comes with a light. It helps when I wake up in the middle of the night wondering "where am I?" and the scent is good, especially if the last guests didn't leave such a fresh scent.

 

Just a quick funny story about the day-of-the-week elevator plates. Years ago, we were on an elevator when a young couple walked in. The woman said, "Hmmm, it looks like all the elevators have names? This one is Tuesday." Her boyfriend or husband replied "You're right! The one we were on yesterday was Monday." :eek: I would have tried to explain it to them, but I was speechless. One thing for sure though, they were meant for each other!

Read your post to my husband, and we just roared. Hubby's response: "I want to ride on the one that always says "Monday"!" :D

Your comment said it all. :)Thanks for the great belly laugh!

https://sites.google.com/site/cruiseshipsounds/

Card Reader File sounds like what is being requested. Good find!

+1 on crusinmama06. Michelle knows everything. I'm not sure how. Magic maybe? ;)

 

trainman, radio, merionmom for the best live reports!

Totally agree! These CCer's rock!

On our Oasis cruise in June, that was Ken's last week to be on as cruise director. They had a big fairwell video in the Aqua Theater. He told us once we docked he would be getting off to head to Finland. Other crew members were leaving as well that week to go home for a bit and then head to Finland for training on the Allure. We talked to a gal who worked at the outdoor bar on the Boardwalk and told us about the training and how it all works. She had been asked to be a part of the Allure and was taking that contract. I think mostly they try to recruit those who are top notch. It sounds like they really run them through the paces to get ready for this assignment.