Viv0828

The coco tea is a diuretic. Ugh, constantly in the bano. Be mindful of that!

We took our two granddaughters to Alaska on HAL when they were about 8 and 11. They loved the kids club because there were only about 10 kids per age group so they got a lot of attention from some very creative counselors and they had a blast.

The next year we went on Royal Caribbean to Mexico. There were 100s of kids and the girls hated it. I guess it depends on the child.

Dh and I travel 4 to 6 months a year, generally 1 to 2 months at a time. There usually are a couple of weeks of cruising in our longer trips.

We each have a carry on and a tote or a backpack. Most of our clothes are nylon and poly cotton. We generally use a washing machine and we hand wash undies each night. We don't own anything that needs to be ironed. We haven't checked a bag for at least 15 years. Works for us.

So does this mean men can wear a dress shirt, tie and slacks without a suit jacket on "gala" nights?

I am sure that Royal has not seen anything here on CC that they have not already read on comment cards or heard at customer service or received in a letter or email.

We use a travel agent just for the cruise. She has gotten us cheap upgrades almost every time.

I am sorry to hear of the lost cards. Mother's Day 2014 I mailed my DD a $50 Target gift card. She never received it. It must have gotten lost or was stolen.

Now I only give gift cards that are sent via email or mobile device. Lesson learned.

If there is a self service laundry I wash all of our stuff myself.

If not and since I have sensitive skin, I wash our undies and my polyester tops myself. I occasionally wash other things as well. The rest I stuff into the mid cruise bag. I am always amazed how much I can squeeze into a small bag - lol!

One cruise we had daily laundry but I still hand washed our undies and my tops.

My SIL has meniere's. She has cruised several times. I would discuss with your doc if you should take something pre cruise or just bring something along in case of an attack. We are all different and what works for some folks won't work for others.

Instead of an excursion, we just took a cab. It was just like driving in a car - pretty smooth. Several folks decided against climbing the falls and walked up the path alongside. The cab was waiting when we were finished.

Is it possible to pick up a cab or a tour once ashore?? Or do you have to book in advance??

We did a 30 day cruise from San Diego to Lima and back and we loved it because of all the port days.

We did a 21 day transatlantic. There were 8 sea days in the first 9 days of the cruise that we could have done without.

Our ideal trip would be a long land vacation with a 10 to 14 day cruise somewhere in the middle of the land days.

You sometimes can find battery operated versions. DH has a travel razor that uses two AA batteries. It is small and light but not suitable if you have thick facial hair. You can find several versions of this on Amazon and maybe at Walmart or target. Amazon has adapters very cheap. We have a bunch of them for various countries as we need to charge our GPS, laptop, smartphones, camera battery, etc.

We had a separate shower and a jacuzzi tub. After a long day exploring a port, a bath in the jacuzzi tub was fabulous!

To me it's a combo of photographer and camera - some folks with relatively inexpensive cameras take better pics than others with an expensive set up.

The commonwealth of Puerto Rico is a U.S. Territory

A territory?

You can take a HAL cruise from San Diego to Lima , get off in Lima and arrange a trip to Machu Picchu and then fly back. Or you could do the reverse.

HAL also has a trip to Machu Picchu during the 3 days the ship is in Lima. I think the RT cruise is 30 or 31 days.

If you enjoy hiking there is a fort above marigot that you can hike to. Nice walk and good views. Our cab dropped us at the trailhead, we hiked up, and then we walked down to marigot, explored the town, and took a cab back to phillipsburg.

If your toddler is anything like my 45 year old son was when he was about 3, I wouldn't have taken a balcony even if it were free. I had an extremely active climber, and an interior or an ocean view would have given me peace of mind.

As I said before we carry on everything. We recently did a 21 day transatlantic cruise and then we spent 4 weeks in Europe before flying home. We each had a carry on and a backpack.

We carry on everything since we never check luggage. We each have a wheeled carry on plus backpack. It's not an issue since we arrive after one and can go to our room right away. I think on one cruise we sat for maybe 10 minutes before we could drop off our stuff.

That's why we dislike flying Lufthansa. We have never had any other airline weigh our carry ons . As long as the carry on is the correct size we are good!

We only pack clothes made of poly/cotton or nylon or other fabrics that rarely wrinkle. Actually, we only have permanent press clothing. I don't even own an iron.

We only bring back gifts for the grandkids and sometimes our kids. We already have too much stuff.