Kjjd4

20 hours ago, miagirl said:

I'm voting for staying on the Crown.  Like you I have have been to Alaska before, but never to Glacier Bay.  I board this Saturday and I am very much looking forward to the cruise.  I book my cruises based on the itinerary and then the size of the ship.  (I prefer smaller over larger.  It broke my heart she They sold the Pacific Princess.)

 

Someone above mentioned that it would be awful to sail with a bunch of cranky passengers.  Well I won't be one of those, I'm perfectly content.  

 

Just my 2 cents.

We agree!  We also board this Saturday, and though we have been aware of the problems, we still prefer to see Glacier Bay aboard a half empty ship!  This will be our first trip to Alaska on a cruise, but we've done 15 other cruises to the Caribbean and/or Mexico and we've found that the first time in a port, we tend to explore the cities, rather than book excursions.  

So losing a few hours in a port is not as big a deal for us.  We also like the smaller ships, with less kids, and less entitled passengers.  😁

We did the massage a number of years ago.  It is too far to walk to the spa.  So we took a golf cart from just outside the pier and enjoyed the ride (hold onto your hat!). 

It is hard to describe the spa...  Beautiful building outside.  A bit dark inside (perhaps more relaxing for the massage?)  Our couple's massage was 90 minutes for a very reasonable price.   My DW had a gal give her a wonderful massage.  I had a guy who seemed to be schooled in torture techniques.  I can still feel his knuckles on my spine.

In all fairness, I had physical therapy a few months ago and the PT tech told me I had a very tight spine and she started to dig the knuckles in to loosen it up...in much the same way!  So for me, the spa day wasn't a fun thing.

They also gave DW a full mani-pedi which she said was wonderful as well.  By the time they were done, she looked ravished.  I was kinda jealous that I had nothing to do with that...

IF you are not fully vaccinated and you get an exemption to board/sail, you can only take a "bubble tour" for excursions off the ship (ie: you have to take a ship's excursion - there is no other way to disembark or take an independent excursion).  But again - this is only for unvaccinated guests.  

Anyone else who is fully vaccinated can come and go as they please.  And that is 95% of the people sailing.

I loved this discussion on food aboard Carnival/RC.  We have noticed it as well over the years - declining quality.  But it is still better than we often eat at home, and we don't have to cook it.  We especially noticed it on MSC in Europe, but still...you have so many options.

Don Kehote - loved your comments on Pizza.  We lived for 40 years in Chicago, so Lou's, Geno's East, Muggavero's, et al - (except Giordonno's - they are living off their reputation 20 years ago) are the gold standard for deep dish pizza.  Tavern pizza (thin crust) is also dear to our hearts.

But in 2018 we moved to Idaho to be near the kids after I developed stage 4 cancer - AND THERE IS NO GOOD PIZZA out here.  New York style - California style, fast food style...it is a crap shoot.  So I have also had to experiment with deep dish recipes, and am pretty close to Lou Malnati's deep dish.  

Still working on a thin crust recipe and have yet to conquer the crust or the combination of cheeses.

Would love some wisdom!

On 12/31/2021 at 6:11 AM, Don Kehote said:

Every PIzza Place Salad

 

Lou's is my thang.  I must have made 40 attempts to replicate it before landing on a slightly modified version of The Holy Grail from realdeepdish as my go-to when I want to blow everyone away.  One major difference: where Lou's uses pieces of sausage scattered about the pizza...I make a full-sized sausage patty that I pre-cook a little bit before flopping it atop the mozzarella.  Full pound of sausage, and the only thing big enough I have to do it with is a wok.  Whick looks ridiculous, but works 🙂

On 11/7/2021 at 5:42 PM, Ashland said:

Can I ask why you would need this vs a taxi?

I was wondering where would be the best place in Cabo to get a taxi to give us a tour of the city and the surrounding area.

On 10/4/2021 at 7:42 AM, jwlnroe said:

So coming in on the carnival miracle - don’t really want to do a paid excursion for this stop.  I want to see the arch(from a distance is fine) .. do some swimming and shopping.. yummy food for lunch.  I can’t do the cruises out to the arch I get sea sick on smaller boats easier.  Family of 4… adult kids.  What’s the best way for us to enjoy the day?  Thank you!! 

My fist cruise started with 10 foot waves...  I turned green at dinner that night.  Fortunately we were sitting with a doctor from Atlanta General hospital.  He told my wife (after I had gone back to the room) to get an antihistamine...not a motion sickness pill.  Walmart sells a generic for of ChlorTabs or Wal-Dryl.

Start taking them the day before you get on the cruise ship and you won't get seasick, even on smaller boats.  After 3 days you will have your sea legs and probably won't even need them any more.

Thank you!

I need a little education on currency...

Are the Euro and the Danish Kroner acceptable forms of currency in Denmark?

We'll also be visiting the ports of:

Stockholm, Sweden

Helsinki, Finland

St. Petersburg, Russia

Tallin, Estonia

Gdynia, Poland

Kiel, Germany

Do that all take the Euro, or will I need several forms of currency?

When I called about the mineral water on the Orchestra (going in January) they said that it's automatically included for Americans. Can anyone confirm this?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We were told the same thing. And we have it in email, so there is proof! Mawahaha......

We are on the Orchestra in April, leaving out of Genoa. If you booked through NSC USA you can get a free water package for lunch and dinner in the MDR. Go into your MSC account, click on customize my cruise, then scroll through the drink packages until you find the Mineral water in the dining room package for $0. You have to add it to your shopping cart and checkout. I actually had a problem with this part and called MSC. But they fixed it pretty quickly.

Good luck!

We had the same experience (BTW, we are on the same cruise out of Genoa!). When we tried to checkout after selecting the Complimentary Mineral Water, our names were checked, but it would not let us check-out. So I emailed them and they said it was already included if you booked through MSC-USA.

Now I am searching to find out how their regular coffee is...

Our first cruise in 2005 went to Curacao. My wife and I enjoyed walking the city...all sorts of things to see. We felt welcomed and never felt we were in a "bad" area, even in the Round market where the were chopping fish to sell! We loved shopping the floating market on the river and visiting shops and seeing the sites. You will love it.

Sent from my IdeaTab S6000-F using Forums mobile app