3rdGenCunarder

I didn't see signs like that, but I almost never ate in the Lido because tables were occupied. I usually took my breakfast or lunch out to the pool area. I was surprised on my recent cruise to see very few card games by the pool. More often, women working on needlework projects. Even at lunch I sometimes got a table by the windows. And the row of tables between those and the loungers usually had good availability.

I remember listening for the rustle of papers slid under the door and trying to guess from the sound how many pages there were! My problem with packages that include tours is that I don't always want to do what the ship offers. On my recent Caribbean cruise, I had 9 ports. I did three independent tours, four ship tours and in two ports I walked around on my own. Two of the ship tours I did only because I had HIA credit and a lot of nonrefundable OBC. Neither was spectacular.

You sound like me. I want control and I do fly a few days early. It extends the vacation and gives me peace of mind (as does travel insurance). One of the things I like about doing my own booking is seat selection right away. IIRC, Cunard Air doesn't let you choose until final payment for the cruise. I think some airlines allow you to pay the airfare early in order to choose seats, but I don't know if they all do. I have a lot of miles stored up. When DH died, it was worth the cost to move his miles to my account. Between proximity to Newark Airport and all those miles, United is my default airline.

Unless you specifically want to spend time in Seattle, take a look at flights from London to Vancouver. The flight is about the same amount of time as London to Seattle.

Yes, a problem in small ports is the limited providers. But also the fact that the cruise lines book all of them to sell their tours to passengers, leaving nothing for independent travelers. And once the cruise line has "cornered the market," they can charge a lot more. I'm probably going to cancel a cruise this summer because of the many small ports with few options for tours through HAL and none independently, AND the high prices. Where I was able to see prices for tours on other days, I could see that HAL is marking many of them up around 30-40%

I agree. I have not paid attention to how long an occupant stays in a chair. What bothers me is the variety of hats, sunglasses, and books that bask in the sun for a long time. I had a lounger on Promenade for most of the day on Zaandam recently. Except for a trip to the cabin for something I forgot and a very quick run for a snack and a drink at the Lido, I sat in the chair, reading and "supervising" the ocean. I never thought of it as hogging, since I wasn't leaving it claimed but unused.

I looked at flights from Newark to Vancouver for my Alaska cruise and for business, it was slightly less expensive to book for myself. I haven't booked yet--that's on my to-do list for this week. I'll call Cunard again, but it fheir rates are still higher than "rack rate," I'll do my own booking. I have found that the best deals through Cunard are for one-way air to go with a one-way transatlantic.

I agree. I made most of my arrangements well in advance on my computer. I had no trouble getting the HIA dining reservations. I just made the reservation as I normally would, and it didn't charge me. On the home page for my cruise, I could see that I had used my HIA dining credits.

I thought top hats collapsed for easy packing. You could have bought a top hat on QV last fall. On the day of Roaring 20's gala, they were selling all manner of costume items, not necessarily 20s. There were sequined top hats, some black, some gold. if there had been 10 of the gold ones, I'd have bought them for all of my dinner companions. We would have had a lot of fun with that.

Anyone who is rude enough to be a chair hog is likely to be very nasty if their stuff is moved. I like Carnival's attempt to control things. That way, chairs are not "claimed," they're available and you can say "I don't know where your stuff is." This is my ultimate chair hog picture. Monogrammed towels so they can definitely say IT'S MINE. And notice that each of them had THREE towels. OINK!!!! Taken 8-9 AM on Eurodam last winter. I eat breakfast in the pool area, and I remember that not one of the "claimed" loungers by the pool had an occupant in the time I sat out there.

I have one of those books, part of the swag bag at the end of a behind-the-scenes-tour. I had good intentions of trying some of the animals but still haven't got around to it. For a long time, the stewards had paper "eyes" that they put on the animals. Now that HAL is minimizing excess paper to save the environment (yes, yes, I know about the spa and jewelry promo fliers), they don't give the animals eyes any more. One time when I got the puppy, I moved it to the coffee table and put my sunglasses on it. The next morning, when I came back from breakfast, my room was made up, but the drapes were closed. The steward said the thought perhaps Puppy "wasn't feeling well." (as in hung over) When HAL was still giving chocolates at turndown, I had a steward who used those for eyes.

YES!!!! I would love to see that. I don't need to be online 24/7. I check email, check to see if there's any change in an independent tour I might have booked. Check weather in the next port. On a TA, all I did was a quick email check and then I was done. I don't know how many minutes I've left behind on TAs over the years. As much as I'd love to see the $5/2hour plan, I don't think it would happen. A minute or hour plan requires accounting. It's much easier for the system to go day by day.

Is it just me (and the TV choices I make), but does it seem to anyone else that ACL is suddenly increasing their advertising? Maybe hoping to pick up passengers from AQV?

My first time on QE2 and second on HAL were standby cruises. Both were advertised in the local newspaper. I still remember the HAL one was "Bermuda on Impulse!" I called HAL right away and got a booking, probably 2-3 weeks out. Remember, this was early 80s, so pre-internet, no dynamic pricing. The QE2 one was 1988. Fly one way sail the other. I called to get on the waitlist. I was working in NYC at the time so I kept calling the NY Cunard office to see if I made the cut. I think the guy may have given me the cabin to stop me calling! I think I had 2 weeks notice on that. But now with internet bookings up to the last minute, HAL isn't motivated to put standbys on early. Even with a sailing from NYC, I wouldn't pack and go to the pier "just in case," although I've heard stories of people getting on cruises way back when that when.

For 24 hours to work you have to live VERY close to the port. I had thought about standby for a Canada cruise out of Boston, but 24 hours is too tight. 48 hours, yes, I can grab a seat on an Acela.

If you like craft beer, walk through the Havensight mall to Leatherback Brewing. Not good views, but an amazing variety of excellent beers. They had about a dozen, maybe more, beers available. They do flights of 4 or 6, plus the usual larger glasses.

Don't go with Cay Tours!!!! I just had the tour from hell with them. We left a half hour late because the bus was late. They combined our tour to St Pedro Thomas and the Botanical Gardens with the cave group. We passed both of our sites where we could have been dropped off, but instead he went to the caves. There, we had to wait for guides to be arranged because Cay told the Caves the wrong number. Then we FINALLY backtracked to the gardens, where we had half the time we should have. When we got to St Pedro Thomas, same kerfuffle about guides and scheduling. I wouldn't trust them again. I'm sorry now I didn't just suck it up and arrange a guide or taxi to the gardens. I was solo, so I didn't want to have to drive without a navigator and I didn't know how the satnav would be on my phone. Plus there's the whole driving on the left thing...

The photographer on Sea Cow offered me a ride back to the ship since they were going that way. But I wanted to stroll the seafront, so I declined. Bonaire is a friendly island!

@lynncarol, I had the same good experience with Sea Cow, with one exception. There were only 8 of us total. All experienced snorkelers. The drift was wonderful. Without the need to swim, the group just floated along, no frantic kicking to keep up. I have never seen so many fish on a snorkel trip before! We did see one stingray, but no turtles. The guide did as you described. She told us the only rule was not to get ahead of her. When she stopped to explain something, she could see all of us. Unfortunately, it was cloudy and windy, so it was choppy. Not too rough to feel safe, but with me bobbing up and down and the fish swimming around, my little underwater camera didn't get good shots. Fortunately, there was a photographer on board. She had a good camera in a casing, and she had a light. She could freedive for a minute or more, so she got great pictures, including some of the snorkelers in action. She put them on a tablet to show us. I bought them for $40. I take a lot of pictures and I don't usually buy any, but these were too good to pass up. They sent a link, and I was able to download them, although the signal on the ship had me worried. But there were no hiccups and I have fantastic pictures to remember this by. I took a taxi to the marina but walked back along the seafront. It was fine until the sun came out and then it was hot! Still, it was a nice walk. I was ready to go back to Bonaire the next day and do it all again. But the ship had other plans...

Alaska is expensive. I suggest saving the money to put towards excursions.

Cunard is wonderful for solos. Definitely ask for a large table at dinner. Last year on QV (to Norway), I was at a table for 10. All solos except for one couple, ages ranging from mid-40s to 80, five different countries. I don't know how Cunard puts people together, but this disparate group had a fabulous time. We were way at the back, and a good thing, too because we were the rowdy table, always laughing. I think the key is that solos who ask for a large table are open to meeting new people, especially on Cunard. Cunard usually has solo get-togethers, another way to meet people. Enjoy Iceland, it's stunningly beautiful!

As I said, probably wishful/nostalgic thinking. Considering how shabbily NCL treated Norway in her later years, it's probably for the best that this didn't happen.

At the time, NCL also had the Norway. There was a rumor that, with the two other "old" ships, they were going to run a sister line of vintage cruise ships. Wishful thinking, I guess.

The menu function is a great part of Navigator. I use it as you describe, especially to check out the desserts at lunch. If I think something may run out, I get dessert first and then the rest of my lunch. I wonder if a lot of people are using that part of the app because I didn't see a lot of people wandering the Lido to see what was there. Of course, Zaandam had fewer stations, so it was easier to figure things out.

I was on Zaandam last week, and the MDR food was good but not great. Pinnacle and Canaletto were excellent. Dinner mains always had too little vegetables. Two tiny asparagus are a garnish, not what I consider a portion. OTOH, vegetarian options looked delicious. A woman at my dinner table was vegetarian, so she got the next night's menu plus the vegetarian menu to choose for the next day. Sometimes she went with the vegetarian on the main menu, other times she chose from the vegetarian menu (same choices every day). The grilled portobello mushroom with zucchini "spaghetti" on top looked delicious. I tried asking for something without the sauce and the sauce came anyway. I think they plate what they plate and no hope of asking for something not cookie-cutter. Sometimes I wondered how long ago the meal had been plated. Sole meuniere, one of my favorite fish dishes should be LIGHTLY sauteed in butter. It was sitting in a pool of butter, soggy. Beef was seldom cooked as ordered. I asked for rare and the closest I got was pink. Another person at the table had steak nearly every night and it was usually rarer than he preferred. I don't remember any stand-out great MDR meals. Nothing terrible, but nothing fantastic, either. One night the shrimp on the shrimp cocktail had no taste. Blindfolded, I might not have known what it was. Another night, it was delicious. Variety and quality of dinner rolls wasn't great. This was a good thing, as it kept me from eating them. The salad bar was excellent, as always. That's my usual lunch. Plus dessert, usually a fruit tart or a piece of cake. There were always 3 kinds of cookies. The double chocolate cookies were so good I wished they had made those every day. The did the "cake me away" thing. The line stretched way back, but even after those people got their cake, there was plenty left.