Koalacash

I third the Travelpro. I just bought the 22" from Costco. It was supposedly designed by pilots. Anyway, I just packed it tonight using packing cubes for a two week cruise. No spinners cause I am spending a week before at the port city and will be taking trains and buses.

Times they are a changing...I would not go ANYWHERE without a passport...regardless of the requirements.

A little smaller so your ears don't hurt when you wake up.

Celebrity's food is a little better and the cruises seem more mature.

Royal's prices are a little lower so you maybe get more for money.

I really miss the Celebrity Century! I'm not crazy about the theme park either but I'm guessing they build what people want so we are a minority.

Lots of nooks and crannies around the outside of the ship where I could read and stare out to sea in peace.

Not overly friendly room stewards...I know that's weird.

Better TV because we don't have it st home

Better maps at the ports and info on how to sightsee on your own.

At the store and see what you are comfortable with. Are you travelering before the cruise? We always take one 22" carry on each and a small personal bag for under the seat that's not a backpack. We don't like spinners because we travel before and after our cruise and they don't do well on rough roads and sidewalks. But if you are just going on a cruise the spinners might be for you. We just take one snorkel and share as one person usually stays on the beach with stuff. We swear by one carry on each and I can use cubes and pack 15 mix and match outfits but this is after years of trial and error. So I'm guessing you should get something bigger.

Immigrated to the US five years ago from Syria with his wife and two kids. He applied for his green card and became a permanent resident alien with the plan of becoming a citizen. Last week his mother in Syria died so he went back to Syria for the funeral. He would have been not allowed to board the plane yesterday morning in Syria or he would have been turned back at customs in the US. Now his family is alone and without an income if he is the breadwinner until he can return in 90 days.

Or your sons college roommate from Iraq went home for a visit.

Or your high tech co-worker originally from Yemen was sent to France on business.

Or your buddy at the moose lodge originally from Iraq is scheduled to go on a cruise next week.

There are a lot of scenarios.

In Hanoi we got off the tender and walked past the taxis and crossed the street from the port to a tourist building. Another couple asked if we wanted to share a taxi and it cost us $30 each for the day. It was a long but beautiful fascinating drive. Take toilet paper and a small bottle of hand sanitizer. We took lots of clean fresh US dollar bills. They love the US dollar in Vietnam.

In Saigon, that's what locals still call it, we got off the ship and walked out of the port again. We met up with the couple we went with in Hanoi and a 5th lady asked to join us. There will be other people from the ship looking for taxis. Just be bold and speak up and gather a group. The more people the cheaper. I think it worked out to $35 of person. The vehicles are new. You can always split up when you get to your destination.

We wanted to go to the Cu Chi tunnels and the presidential palace and a market. You have to do your homework and decide what tunnels you want to go to. There are many Cu Chi tunnels. Our driver got lost but my husband had downloaded google maps to his phone. It is free and works from satellite offline so you don't need a phone service. Anyway the gps guided us. I strongly recommend this. A ranger guided through the 4' tunnels.

We then had the driver drop us off downtown. We all split up. Some toured the palace and others went to lunch. There is little infrastructure and hundreds of scooters. To cross the street you just step off the curb and walk at a steady pace and look straight ahead. The scooters will go around you. We ate deep fried street food at every stop and never got sick.

As we almost missed the ship in Danang because one couple could not remember where we parked so this is what we learned.

Everyone shoukd have a phone.

Take a photo of your driver, his vehicle and license plate

Take a photo of his business card if he has one.

Give the driver your numbers

Take your cruise bulletin with you. It will have the port info, address and phone

When your driver parks, take a photo of the vehicle in the parking lot and a photo of the nearest street signs.

Exchange phone numbers with others in your group.

Agree on a meeting time. And the time you will wait for a missing person. If someone doesn't show up you are on your own. The ship won't wait for you.

Allow enough time to return to the ship allowing for a flat tire etc.

We saved over a thousand dollars by going on our own and made friends from Australia (we are going to visit them in a few weeks before our next cruise) and had some wonderful adventures and flexibility.

Being on the ocean...and meeting people from all over the world.

Well, I specifically cruise Celebrity because there are less kids. The Celebrity cruises are simpler so I think RCI would be a lot more fun for your kids! On the other hand the other reason we like Celebrity is the good food and the healthy spa food. That being said I'm not sure if it matters because all cruises have so much darn food that you could pick out healthy choices. I guess I wasn't much help here.

The reason have never done the drink package is because knowing how I am about getting my moneys worth I would probably feel pressured to drink too much...more than I normally would. Instead we bring two bottles of wine on board for our cabin and have cocktails a couple times during the cruise and usually a glass of wine or two with dinner but not always. That only purchases one or two glasses each at the most per day.

@lucymorgan,

Same for us. Escaping the weather...except it's rain and snow in Northern California. We are also going to basically relax at the ports.

"Better" is subjective, only you can answer that. The large ports usually have tour stands but it sounds like you want a sure thing which is the ships tour. I almost always find similar tours as the ships, ziplining, snorkeling etc. on Viator.com and through TripAdvisor "Things to Do." Or you can check fijitourism.com. At the top of the Cruise Critic page, look under the heading "Review" and scroll down to "Excursion Reviews" and then type in the port you will be visiting to view peoples reviews of the actual excursions. Good luck.

Hi Karen,

We are going on the Feb 21st departure. From what I have been reading, Mystery Isl. is very small. You can walk around it in 15 minutes and snorkel and lay on the beach so no tour needed. People have said that Ille de Pines is so beautiful you can also just go to the beach and hang out. When we get to Noumea we are taking the HOHO around town with a stop at the Aquarium. Normally I wouldn't go to an Aquarium but I am intrigued that they release all the fish every 6 months and catch new ones. I love that. I'm sort of bummed that Suva and Loutaka are industrial ports and not the Fiji I've dreamed about. We are in Suva on a Sunday which is supposed to be pretty dead so we are going to take the local bus $2 to Colo-i-Suva Park where there are some swimming holes and trails with local jungle plants and birds. Or we might look for a couple off the ship to split a taxi with but sometimes experiencing a local bus is more fun. I've seen some tours on Viator.com that are interesting for Suva and Lautoka and less pricey than the ship. In my experience there are always vendors right when you get off the ship with tours. Often at ports we hook up with other people when you get off the ship and hire a driver to give us a tour for instance in Saigon 7 of us got together and bargained a taxi to take us into Saigon, a several hour drive and the CuChi tunnels for $30 each. The cruise prices were something crazy like $350 a person. The most important thing is leaving lots of time to get back to the ship or it WILL leave without you. Time for a flat tire etc. Diane

We just had one day at Chan May port (celebrity millenium) and like to do our own tours. When we got off the ship there are lots of English speaking drivers with either cars or silver SUVs that looked like Toyoto Highlanders. Lots of passengers milling around so we just asked if anyone wanted to share a taxi. We found two other couples and negotiated the price to $30 US dollars each for the day. Of course the more people the price goes down. He said he would take us anywhere we wanted so we decided to go to the outdoor Han market in Danang and walked around on our own. Then took pictures of the Dragon Bridge. We saw the female Buddha on the side of the mountain and asked to be driven up to it and spent about 35 minutes there looking at the views. She is really a giant Buddha. We then went to China Beach and got out and dipped our toes in the south China. Danang has miles and miles of beautiful beaches and is growing like crazy. Their beloved Mayor for over 20 years recently died. He had a master plan to build the infrastructure for future tourism. It was just a US military base during the war so you are not going to find old temples here.

We then drove to Hoi An and stopped quickly at the marble mountain, a big marble hill with some shops at the base. Don't waste your time taking the elevator up to the view. We arrived in Hoian a picturesque little town with a pedestrian only center. Relaxing for shopping at the little shops and leisurely walking. We usually bargained to pay about 1/3 Rd to 1/2 of prices asked. Everyone in our group ate at different places for lunch and all had fantastic meals. Looking back I wish I had taken a little boat ride into the countryside.

Going on your own tips. Get the business card with phone number of your driver. Take a photo of your car and license plate as so many cars look alike. Take a photo of where the car is parked. Take a photo of the cross street signs. Share your cell phone numbers with your fellow passengers. You don't want to get lost and miss your ship!