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and i'd love to go from Buenos Aires to Santiago via the Panama Canal (or reverse!) Mr Wonderful does not want to try the Cape. Thanks for your consideration!

also interested in vaccinations and meds you might have taken prior to your trip. Don't know whether to pursue the malaria shots or not. Did you visit a "travel medicine" office or did your MD have any suggestions? Thanks!

(long time Avalon traveler!)

My TA says it's all about itinerary and then age of ship. He/she thinks that the ships we should be looking at are 2009 and younger.

So...perhaps looking at age of ships for those itineraries might help you.

We eat most of our meals on the Terrace and I wash my hands before eating, use the hand sanitizer upon entering and then use the hand sanitizer after filling my plate.

I see many who do not use the hand sanitizer and I have to use the serving pieces after they've handled them which is just a little gross so back to the hand sanitizer before I dine! c

Thanks Helen, this is good to know because their website shows an amazing #of ports. This goes in my "dump document!" c

JimandStan,

(an apology to all for veering off topic but inquiring minds want to know...)

was this cruise the 1st time you've used privateshoretrips? Some of their tours for other cities look wonderful and I was curious if you or others on CC had used them successfully in the past. Thanks.......c

Celebrity has a children's program; Oceania does not and from posts in Azamara's cruisecritic threads it appears they don't encourage children.

If the last 2 posters are responding to me, remember, I wanted a cruise line with limited smoking for my family which includes a 6 year old. Azamara would not fit this request but Celebrity would. (If you're not responding to me, then ignore this!) c

On many of the rivers you will be going through ancient locks so one must either give up "balcony" space or give up cabin space to fit through; the ships must conform to the width of the locks and dam system.

Go up on the top deck although even that may be closed to you to fit under old bridges. Hopefully you will be enjoying the towns and villages so much that you won't be spending that much time in your cabin; take your drink to one of the outside lounges and get that 360 view.

Paulchili, ...glad to see you back posting the past couple of weeks. I've missed your insights! c

I don't have to try all of the lines since the 1st thing I look at is the smoking policy. If one is allowed to smoke in their cabin or veranda then that is not the cruise line for me. Since, as Paulchili says, I've done my "homework", that makes O and Celebrity the only ones for me.

Yea, I saw that. It would be for my husband and me since my family can't make the cruise with us. We've decided that Aqua class gives us things we wouldn't use. Thanks for the info!

Gosh...thanks y'all. I have a ton of info here. I will copy all of this and put it in my X dump document (already have Galapagos in there). The 6 year old will only be there for 1 of the 2 legs and might not get to sail since our local schools are very diligent about attendance and a cruise probably won't be an "excused" absence.

My husband is curious if there is a place to get a late night snack. He sometimes wants a little something after the evening entertainment but not interested in room service for that.

Thanks again for the wonderful information and encouragement. BTW, Steve, the ship would be the Infinity sailing in and out of Harwich for both legs of the B2B.

Thanks so much. I actually had discovered their "room sticky" which I showed to my daughter before her 1st C cruise (Med with a 3 yr old). She and I thought it was an excellent source.

I appreciate your response. We usually get something in the A level on O so your comments mirror what I'm looking for. Husband not into aft anything (except for dining outside in Terrace which he loves....go figure!) Thanks again....exactly the info I was looking for. c

For those of you who have cruised with Celebrity can you give me a reference to cabin type that I can compare to O? For instance (On S class ships) the S1-S3 would be Penthouse level or the A1-3? We're not interested in Aqua, not sure about other "suites."

We're flirting with the idea of being unfaithful to O and doing a b2b in May'13--the British Isles and Norwegian Fjords. We've been to both regions but by land and while O does have a British Isles one they only spend a few days in Norway.

I like C's smoking policy and we might sail with one of the world's great 6 year old kids so the kid's club is appealing.

Any other advice you can give me besides buying the beverage cards? Thanks! c