momofmeg

Thankyou. That is the word I was looking for fine. I knew fee was not the correct term, but my 70-year-old brain could not think what it was called.

I am not contradicting you and yes, I understand a smaller ship has less passengers to generate income, so they cost more for that reason. I get that, we all do. It is the same reason Amazon can beat out Mom and Pop stores on prices. I meant it is more than that. For example, we did a California coastal cruise (On Ruby Princess I think, it was Princess anyway) about 10 years ago. We left from San Francisco and went to Santa Barbara, Long Beach, San Diego, with our last port being Ensenada. One couple on the Princess board posted (they were not on our cruise but doing the same itinerary a different week) they wanted to disembark in San Diego, spend a few days there and fly home from there. They looked into it and found out the fine was more than their cruise fare. They decided against it and spent a few says in San Francisco instead. that was the type of scenario I was referring to, there is a fine on the mass market lines if the cruise has a scheduled foreign port you skip. that is why I compared NCL cruises that are round trip Hawaii.

They cost more too and not just because they are a smaller ship. I don't understand exactly why but cruise ships save a big fee if they do at least one foreign port. For example, NCL offers a Hawaii only cruise from Hawaii. It is more expensive because it does not do a foreign port. You can do a 2-week round trip cruise to Hawaii from California with a stop in Ensenada Mexico for less than the one-week trip staying in only Hawaii.

My husband loved the old Roman wall by the tube station. He seemed more intrigued by that than our visit to the Tower of London.

Every big city is overcrowded. I may love seeing the sites and the history there, but I don't like the traffic. At least London has the tube, and it will get you to most of those historic sites.

Lol New York city, Brooklyn, etc. holds no fascination for me. I have cruised from there a couple of times though. Once to Bermuda, once to Canada. Traffic was horrific, worse than Atlanta and Atlanta traffic is terrible and holds no fascination for me either. I did like visiting upstate New York out in the countryside. I have still never been to Maine and would love to go there one day.

This last cruise we stayed near Heathrow at a Hampton Inn that had a tube stop a block away, but London was over an hour by tube. Our first trip we stayed in Earl court and the next time near Victoria station. Victoria Station is both a tube and train station so you can take the train to get there and use the tube the next day to get around London. The tube is very easy to navigate. That is your best transportation for getting around London. if you find a hotel near a tube station it is easier to take the train from the airport to make the connections to get you to the tube station. However, maybe from the train station take a taxi or Uber. It is worth the expense not to navigate the tube with luggage. Lol! Oh, the trains have luggage racks. Needless to say, Victoria Sation is a better place to get a hotel than Earl's court. Expect Victoria Station hotels to cost more than Earl's Court and needless to say by the airport the hotels are less than half the price, they are much more expensive in London. So, whichever way, it is a tradeoff. Save money or spend more time on the tube getting into London. For more convenience obliviously, you pay more. I guess that is true anywhere.

Nor to me either. I found through doing genealogy I have many distant cousins there. I have a pair of second great grandparents who were French Canadian. Both of their parents relocated to New York in the 1850's.

I loved Canada too. It is much better choice for a cruise than the Caribbean. Lol, especially in summer.

We have done a few. The shortest was within a week of sailing a little 3 day cruise out of Pt. Canaveral that we got for $99 a person back 2001.om RCI Sovereign of the Seas It was after 911 which was why it was so cheap. Many people had canceled their cruises. we, ourselves, enjoyed the break and getting our minds off what had happened. except in Nassau, they had armed soldiers with machine guns all over the port, I hated that, but knew it was for our safety. Now, Florida residents can get great last-minute deals. When we did a partial Panama Canal cruise on HAL, one dinner mate was a lawyer who had booked last minute. He lived in Ft. Lauderdale. He said it was an inside cabin below ocean level he joked but he got it for almost nothing and he was in it solo. The ports charges were more than the fare. Now when we booked our Celebrity cruise line Italy cruise we took in 2012, we had an ocean view stateroom which was $2000 each for the 12-day cruise. My daughter and her friend booked an inside for $1600 each. Well, that was when that Costa shop listed, and all those people died. Suddenly people were canceling the Med. cruises. We ended up in a suite and our daughter in a balcony.

You may have a point. We were told in Scotland by our guide (I think it was Stornoway?) that winter was only slightly cooler, and their temps were more on par with Iceland. I am from Georgia, USA so it was cold to me. I needed my winter coat there in July! However, my winter coat to someone in Minnesota or northern states on the northern border or in Canada would be considered a jacket. I do have a heavy winter coat which I wear once every 2 years it seems. It has to get below 20 F for a high for me to wear it. Anyway, plus don't forget I had come from 90F temps at home the week before. Where I had found Edinburgh weather refreshing, this port was simply cold to me. I guess it is all relative, whatever we are used to, what is cold to me may be warm to you.

Lol disregard my last post! That sounds wonderful too! Dress warm. We have not been there, but we were in Northern Scotland in July, and it was cold, we needed a coat and had only brought hoodie jackets.

We have done both and loved both. Besides seeing the glaciers, Alaska has a lot of wildlife and East coast Canada was gorgeous. Especially Quebec and a water fall tour we did there. We also loved Prince Edward Island. You can't miss either way. I recommend you do which one this year and then do the other next year or 2. for the next big celebration. We like to on a big anniversary year take an extra nice cruise. Now Alaska was a family trip with the in laws so not on a big anniversary, but the other big cruises were for big anniversaries ever 5 years. Our 20th was Bermuda. 25th a transatlantic, 30th was Italy cruise, 35th our east coast Canada to Quebec and Prince Edward Island. 40th was British Isles. For our 45th hubby wants to go back to Alaska or possibly Hawaii. I will be happy with either.

I am glad you found something that works for your wife. The train would be harder. I liked they had a luggage rack for our luggage, but we took our luggage on and off. The cruise line coach services do that for you so would be much better for you since I am sure you would have the burden of moving the luggage on and off the train. Happy 50th BTW!

I take it you live in the UK. Well, I don't, so it should be harder for me. I know we once took a train from London to Dover when we spent a few days in the UK before the cruise. The last cruise we took the cruise line sponsored coach (bus) transportation from the airport. We had flown in the day before and stayed near the airport so that was simpler. That was Dover too, but I would think it would be similar. We saw other cruisers at the airport that same day that were leaving from Southampton. I have no idea though if the cruise line would offer it from the Brimingham airport. I see it is a 2-hour drive so they may would, as Dover was that far from Heathrow Have you thought of getting a family member to drive you since your wife has mobility issues. That would be the easiest on her.

My daughter has cystic kidney disease, and her doctor has told her to use bottled water because of the high sodium content of cruise water. The process used to de-saline sea water can't remove all of the salt content from sea water although it is safe for healthy people to drink. Just not her. I am not averse to tap water myself. I only wish international health laws would allow me to fill my own water bottle, so I have enough to last for a while instead of using those glasses that only hold 8 ounces. (yes, I know people ignore the notice posted and do it anyway, I have seen it many times, but I try to follow the rules) I have to take medication 4 times a day and instruction are a full 8-ounce glass of water. You see, in spite of others talking to me as though I am a naughty 8-year-old I am actually nearly 70 with serious health conditions myself but at least not as bad as my daughter's. I did have good reason to ask. Insp

Bye now hon. No need to reply if you can't be kind.

All I want is to be able to buy a case of water and have it delivered to my room, so I am not having to go buy water every day. It seems this is not an option.

The nonalcoholic drinks package is $200 a person and everyone in your stateroom is required to get it. (Which I get why on that as families will cheat and use one card to get all their colas) I find that awful steep that I want a couple of bottles of water a day. I do not drink colas or carbonated drinks. I go easy on juice and am fine with a little juice at the buffet at breakfast. I just do not need that much A case of water for the week is what I need. I just find $600 since there are 3 of us a little step for me to get bottled water. None of us drink carbonated drinks and a glass of juice at breakfast is about it for any of us, besides a glass of tea or a coffee at mealtimes. so you say I can get water out of the bathroom sink and it is fine? I guess I will do that.

How hard is it to find it? Am I allowed to bring some onboard? I am now at the age where I take a lot of emds and also one med side effect keeps me with a dry mouth, so I go through a lot of water.

Don't take it personal. Carnival ditched that ship not long after that, (sold it) and it was scrap metal long before 2010. the info is online if you don't believe me Wikipedia is not that reliable. Look here on Cruisecritic old posts about it I remember reading about it HERE because that was our first cruise so of course I paid attention. Yes, I have been on ships even older like Pacific Princess in 2002 right before Princess sold it, but it was in much better shape. (It also was scrap medal by 2010) this summer we were on Carnival Pride, and I was amazed it is in still looked like new shape. I am thinking it is 20 years old now. We were on her sister ship Carnival Miracle back 2004 when she was brand new. I guess the Pride had been recently drydocked. Bye now. I will not reply to you again.

I agree. When there was a cold snap in Florida in December 2003 (orange blossoms froze) happened a couple of days after we sailed. We did not have any winter clothing with us beyond what we wore on the plane. (And although it was cool, my winter coat was too much, it was not THAT cold, just cool) I know it was highly unusual, but now I always bring a couple pairs of daywear long pants and a hoodie or something similar for just in case. I have never needed them again. Hopefully it stays summer like for the OP, but I would still prepare in case it doesn't.

Yes, it is still hot in the Caribbean. However, be forewarned if there is a freeze in Florida it is usually cooler in the Carribean. One cruise (December 2003) that happened and we had highs of 55-60. I WISHED I had brought a light jacket and more long pants as it was chilly.

Lol! My husband took me on a little 4 day for our 15th anniversary. I had always wanted to go on one and he thought they were too expensive, so he booked this little cheapie to shut me up. Lol! Now, he is the one saying we should book a cruise.