soakedbythesea

Hi Mark,

We'll be doing the cruise in 6 months and enjoyed your review. Like you, we plan to visit Barcelona a couple of days before the cruise, then have lunch in the dining room when we board about noon or 1PM. We stay at BW Olimpia in Venice for an extra couple of days too.

We were originally on Island Princess, but found NCL Spirit to have on extra port and saved about $2000. Our tour guide for Pompeii liked it better too, as we have a bit more time with NCL. With smaller cabins and balconies, we'll suffer :--) We have never been on a cruise we didn't like, incl a couple on NCL.

One tip for Barcelona is to get to the Palace (great photos BTW) early evening, as the fountains light up at night and sometimes there is entertainment.

Wearing a money belt, like Rick Steves under clothing can protect passports. Wrap cards with foil to protect from scanning scams. We copy everything and keep the colored copies in separate area from wallet, etc. Also, we've found ATM to be the best way to get local currency with debit card, not credit card.

Thanks for nice review and pics, eh?

Hope this cold weather passes soon, we almost got to freezing here in Houston. Almost time for Hawaii for us, then off to the Med in May. .

We just got off Emerald Princess after 17 days from England. There were many activities and the ship was in great shape, good food in all dining venues.

We go on Norwegian in May-June on Grand Med Cruise & selected NCL Spirit as it was much less than Princess.

You will probably find Princess to have nicer cabin size and amenities, better entertainment and higher quality of dining.

You should be fine with the younger age group during spring break.

Have fun and enjoy the ship.

Please let us know if any delays for repairs are expected, as we are to leave for England in a few weeks and are scheduled to board Emerald Princess on Oct 25 to sail to Houston on Nov. 11.

Thanks,

John & Connie

shifferds@gmail.com

Glad everyone is safe and hope it doesn't happen a third time. We board in a little over three weeks and would be rattled by two fires in one cruise too.

Tom I felt that the quizzes had a more British feel, perhaps because Emerald was going from Southampton and the majority of passengers were British. We did have a contingent from USA, Canada and Australia too but all together they were in the minority.

 

Grace, I've never posted Patters but I do have them all (dog-eared and scrawled all over lol).

Wow, if you could display the Patters, that would be brilliant. We're now getting ready to head over the pond and bring that little ship back to Texas. Tally Ho, Y'all :roll eyes:

If you get them scanned and could send to us, my email is john@shifferds.com and we would be really grateful if you would send to me.

We are going a week early to search out our British roots, so wish me luck driving on the left side of the road.

If our Oct TA to Houston has changes of time during the day, hope the staff and people printing the daily know about it. They tried it out at noon on one TA a few years back and it was such a screw up that after awhile it just got funny, trying to figure if the schedule was for old time, new time, etc. They finally told us "Never Again" would they change time at noon. For one thing it meant there was a shortened time between lunch and dinner times, but the biggest thing was activities that were normally at 1PM, now were at ??? 1 min after noon? Hope they have it figured out if they do daytime clock changes.

Ever wonder why in the states that have daylight savings time, the clocks change at 2AM, then about all that is affected is if bars stay open or close early and by that time of night, who cares?:confused:

DH and I recently returned from the spring repositioning of the Emerald, which ended in Southampton. For us, this was the Best. Cruise. Ever. :) Here's why:

1. All time changes were effected at noon instead of at night. This was an experiment, suggested by the maitre d'hotel, to benefit the crew. As many of you know, most of the crew sleep in split shifts. Losing an hour each night can really adversely affect them. For many of them, changing times at noon meant a shorter workday and a longer night's sleep. We don't know whether there's a direct correlation or not, but this seemed to be the happiest ship at sea! Whatever affects the crew ultimately affects the pax, so everyone benefitted from this "experiment." I hope they implement it fleet-wide.
   
2. The captain was brilliant, witty, and approachable. We saw him out and about fairly often, but he was always on the bridge when he was needed. Our Aloha deck cabin wasn't too far from the bridge, and we could see him there during several port arrivals and/or departures.
   
3. The maitre d' wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty! We saw him greeting guests in the MDR, helping his staff put on a "Chef's Table" presentation, and even serving! We ran into him being helpful in the Crown Grill as well as the MDR. Sure, that gave him opportunities to assess his staff's performance and the satisfaction of the pax, but he was also really pitching in. Kudos to a wonderful maitre d'!
   
4. Cruise Director Kelvin Joy really lives up to his name. :D
   
5. Our bed really felt more comfortable! (The pillows, however, desperately need to be replaced.)
   
6. We actually found a few hot items on the breakfast room service menu!
   
7. Our cabin steward was fantastic. He was SO pleasant, caring, responsive, and respectful that we tipped him 3 times and nominated him for "consummate host." We're usually generous tippers, but 3x for one crew member was a first for us.
   
8. Not a single instance of norovirus! :)
   
9. GLORIOUS wx! I realize that Princess didn't provide that (the Floridians onboard did, they claimed LOL), but it was certainly a factor in our overall impression of the whole trip. It didn't even rain in Ireland!!!
   
10. Wonderful ports, for the most part. We absolutely loved Cobh, Dublin, and Zeebrugge, and Ponta Delgada was a pleasant place in which to break up the sea days. And we spent a week in London (including a day in Cornwall), and that was a wonderful week too. I'd do this trip again, frankly. (You can keep Paris, however. We should have done Normandy instead.)
    
11. The special production show "invented" near the end of the cruise! Amazing that the cast members could learn the songs, routines, and even languages in 3 days!
    
12. The "pub show" in Explorer's Lounge! SRO for good reason!!!
    
13. DJ Mat Davie. We only went to a couple of DJ-hosted events, but Mat was all over the ship, playing multiple roles and interacting with lots of pax. He was even a portly singing London bobbie in the "pub show!" Thanks for being so personable, Mat. :)
    
14. The young lady who warmly greeted MDR guests as they arrived. She was so helpful, sincerely happy, and remembered many of our names! She always understood and accommodated our ever-changing table requests.
    
15. The FOOD!!! MDR food was, for the most part, back to excellent. And we absolutely adore the international café. Vines, too! Vines became our go-to meeting place when we wanted to reconnect with pax we'd met at dinner or elsewhere.
    
16. Several private tours arranged by folks I "met" on the CC Roll Call board. We're convinced that no one else saw the Ireland that we experienced! Thanks to Cruising Sally and our irish guide!
    

I hope everyone else reading these forums has had or will have at least one such perfect Princess cruise!

 

Oh, I almost forgot to mention: the current wine policy was in effect, but it was managed via the honor system. We complied. Also, I occasionally bought a bottle onshore, and we declared that upon re-embarkation, but they were never taken away from us. It seemed to us that they were only taking hard liquor.

We will be arriving in Bermuda on May 7th, and are looking into booking a private tour of the island. Has anyone used Bermudafootsteps. Read only one post about them. Have reviewed the website too. Interested in what the reviews on CC about what people thought about this tour company.

 

Has anyone booked them and do you have an opening for (2) people.

 

Robert:)

Heidi and her dog Buddy sounded like they do quite an informative and comprehensive tour. I couldn't get our group to go for $100 each and having a dog along, but she was very prompt and forthcoming with all the details. It sounded like she went above and beyond to show her island and even included a sandwich for lunch.

I know I missed sending this before you left, but wondering how it went for you and your group on the tour. shifferds at gmail.com

I just wanted to add that the prices have been increased this year for taxi tours. We reserved a 4 hour tour with Dennis Hollis as he seemed to get some good reviews from others on Cruise Critic. He told us that our group of 6 will now be $70 an hour. Still sounds like a good deal from a certified driver for 6 of us, as that's under $50 each to see the whole island on Nov. 5, 2014. Our plan is to get an early start, travel to all the major places (but not climb lighthouses or crawl through caves) and return to the ship for lunch, rather than do lunch on the island.

This is to be our last stop before going through the Bermuda Triangle, so wish us luck getting to Florida and Texas without any harm coming to our ship or the souls aboard.:eek:

I am looking at Island Princess Rooms E208 or E207 which are between regular balcony rooms and Ocean View rooms. Cannot for the life of me figure out what makes them Obstructed balconies except maybe they are a little set back from the ocean view room in front. They are no where near lifeboats or anything like that.

 

Does anyone know what makes the obstructed?

Let me know if you find out anything, as I'm looking to book one of these for next year if it's not too bad - Itinerary is very intense, so won't spend much time on balcony anyway - 9 major ports in 12 days including all the great places we want to go next year in May.

john at shifferds dot com

Did you book and get OBC direct or through a travel agent - Just wondering if on my upcoming Princess cruise through a TA if I should try to get them to get me the credit or fax the info directly to Princess or both (that might be too confusing for even the sharpest ones there).

Last week I could not find the new Shareholder Benefits program, I even called Princess to see if they knew if the program was continued. Today after asking this question and told not to worry, I checked Carnival Corp once again. Great News, there it was the new Shareholder Benefits - Good for reservations made by Feb 28th 2015 for sailings up to July 31st 2015. Not only that, I rechecked the Princess site and my $250 credit has been added onto my cruise credits.

Hey, enough of the 'Ships can sink' - we'll be trying to get through the Bermuda triangle unscathed in a few months. That's if our plane doesn't crash on the way over to the Olde Country.:cool:

BTW, who do I contact after getting the shares issued - Captains Club, my TA, Good ole Princess herself? $250 may be worth the risk. Won't work on short sells, right?

Pessimissm has it's place, which is after our last cruise! :confused:

It is, of course, a very personal decision. For us an extra $100 2 or 3 times a year in addition to the dividend yield and the appreciation we have seen are well worth it. The commish when we bought the shares was $6. Can it go to nothing? Sure. So can every other stock or mutual fund in the portfolio. Not very likely. Stocks can go down, planes can crash, ships can sink.:eek:

Is anyone familiar with Gary Travassos Tours in The Azores? He is very highly ranked with TripAdvisor and seems to give great tours. Azoreantours dot com - Thinking there needs to be a group of 6 or 8 to make it work for an inexpensive private tour

IMO you won't notice all that much difference between Princess and Carnival, overall. There are some small differences, but that's about it. I was perfectly happy with whatever was free on both lines and didn't feel the need to pay extra for any "upgrades."

Hi Judy,

Just wondering if you are planning to go on the westbound Emerald Princess in October this year?

We're looking forward to another great TA & visiting some great ports including Bermuda which will be a first for us.

Like you, we rarely pay extra for things on cruises, but enjoy time and deals with CC members.

Do you think it was helpful for PoA crew morale that a $500,000+ settlement was paid for overtime, etc. last year? Maybe some fairness that they wanted came through because of the complaining they did before.

Most of what I read on the various boards and reviews indicates that the service charge accessed to each pax is not just for room service and dining like most other ships, but is distributed to crew members around the ship. If the food and service are as bad as we have been warned, maybe those of us who want better service might want to have the service charge removed from our statements and pay gratuities directly to those deserving. Guess we'll decide in January on how it goes.:confused:

Over the past several years we have noticed throughout the cruise industry many changes, like no assistant cabin attendants and more cabins to care, even delivering room service orders. Pay restaurants now are replacing full service ones that were included and menus back down on more expensive cuts. Although Celebrity was impressive.

So, it seems they will eventually go to buffets only for no add'l $ and maybe just do room service once a day and have places people can get their own ice. We are a self-service nation for many things now. Fun?

As a former NCL senior engineering officer, having worked on the Pride of Aloha from 2004-08, and keeping the hope of a US flag cruise industry alive, I watch these boards for reviews of NCL's only remaining US flag ship, and it bothers me.

 

Yes, the same complaints are noted that we had back when the project started in 2004, the staff constantly complain to the guests about overwork, and under pay, they aren't as service oriented at the international crew, and just aren't friendly. I get that, and I'm not going to excuse that, it should have gotten better by now.

 

What I want to do is to point out some of the differences between the Pride of America, and EVERY OTHER deep water cruise ship in the world, and what makes those differences.

 

As a US flag vessel, US federal law (not Hawaiian labor laws as I saw mentioned in one review), require that all crew members be either US citizens, or have a "green card".

 

I just read a review today where the reviewer had talked to hotel staff, and was appalled that they were making less than $8/hour, but then stated that the crew was definitely less cordial or helpful than the international staff. I worked with the international staff on the Sky before the reflagging, and I can tell you that I had journeymen ship fitters whose OVERTIME rates were $10/hour. Some jobs paid less than $2/hour. That is one reason the cost of the cruise is so high, and why NCL cannot raise their rates, since they are competing with crews on other lines that make 30% of their wage. If they paid a "fair" US wage, no one would buy the tickets.

 

On internationally crewed ships, only the deck and engine departments are credentialled mariners. Howeve, the USCG requires that all crew who are assigned an emergency station (like all the hotel staff that you see at the muster drill, that is their emergency station) must have a Merchant Mariners Credential, and a TWIC (Transport Workers Identification Card). These cost the employee several hundred dollars to get, and require a full background check. It also requires safety training at USCG certified training centers, and by the time a new employee is ready to walk up the gangway the first time, he/she has cost NCL over $8000.

 

On internationally crewed ships, the staff and crew sign a contract with the company for employment, usually 10 months long. During the time of that contract, if they decide to quit, they cannot just walk off the ship and get a plane back to the Phillipines or wherever. US crew, since the ship is always in US ports, can quit at any time, and the company then needs to find a credentialled, available replacement crewmember.

 

That is tough, as there is no pool of credentialled US cruise ship staff just waiting around for a job, unlike in the Phillipines, where one call to a staffing agency can have an experienced cabin steward on a flight the next day. You can't keep extra crew onboard, as there is no cabin space for them, and no lifeboat space either.

 

Yes, as one reviewer stated, most crew cabins are smaller than the infamously small NCL guest cabins, and there are 3-4 crew in that room, for a full contract. (US hotel staff contracts are normally 4 months on, 1 month off). But that is typical of all cruise ships. However, most of the US crew have never had to share a room before, and it causes some discontent.

 

Getting away from the staff and crew, fuel and food costs for the Pride of America are significantly greater than other ships cruising the Hawaiian islands. Why? Because those other ships always call at a West Coast port, where fuel and food are less expensive than that which is transported to the islands. Fuel costs are in the quarter of a million dollars a week range, and I know that we would load 6-8 tractor-trailers of food every week.

 

Even things like the Christmas trees and Poinsettias on the Christmas cruise had to be flown in.

 

Again, I'm not trying to be a "cheerleader" for NCL, just hoping that people will take their "support local" philosophy with them when they cruise, and understand why things are not the same on the PoA.

 

I'd love to hear comments about the PoA experience from some of you, and it may help, as I know that management reviews these boards as well.

 

My hope is that NCL can make the PoA into a uniquely American cruising experience, one that is both enjoyable and showcases the best that America has to offer.

We've stayed at 5 different hotels along Waikiki.

IMHO the best place to stay is Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach, with all the action, it has the restaurants, the club, the view.

If you don't want to be right in the middle of everything, you might think about another area, like the Resort at Turtle Bay.

When yall left the ice bucket outside the door, did you ever see it again? :confused:

We look forward to our Jan cruise on POA, even though it sounds like we'll roughing it - more like Motel 6 than 4 seasons. :cool: Hope they leave the light on for us.

Day 3 – Hilo, The Big Island – Volcanoes National Park and Richardson’s Beach Park

 

This was our originally scheduled itinerary:

 

Sunday, October 10 – Hilo, The Big Island

8am Disembark and pick up Jeep Wrangler from Thrifty

Prior to disembarking, we may want to slap a few sandwiches together, or order some muffins or something from room service and take a cooler along with some drinks with us. I will bring some zip locks and our collapsible cooler.

 

8:30a-1pm Volcano National Park http://www.nps.gov/havo/ – $10/per car - Hit the high points: visitor center movie, steam vents, Kilauea Calder Overlook, Jaggar Museum, Kilauea Iki Overlook, Thurston Lava Tube, Chain of Craters Road to arch (if time allows).

 

1pm-2:00pm Drive back to Richardson Beach

 

2pm-4:30pm Richardsons Beach Park – Black sand beach south of Hilo, between ship and volcano, best snorkeling on that side of island, facilities http://www.letsgo-hawaii.com/beaches/richardsons.html

 

4:30p-5:30p Return rental car and get back on board ship. Sail away at 6pm.

 

Locations for GPS:

 

Volcano National Park

 

Richardson Beach Park

Drive to the end of Kalanianaole Ave, Keaukaha, Hilo

19°44′5″N 155°0′49″W,

 

Thrifty Rental Car

1 GENERAL LYMAN FIELD

HILO INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

HILO, HI UNITED STATES

 

 

This is what we actually did:

 

We went to the Aloha Café for the breakfast buffet. I found POA’s breakfast buffet to be better than any on previous cruises. They had two types of eggs Benedict available every morning – one with spinach and one with ham. I love eggs Benedict but I’ve always had to go to the dining room to find it before, which I never have time to do except on sea days. They seemed to have a wide variety of breakfast food available. I can’t imagine that anyone would not be able to find something they could eat. There were omelet stations, fruit stations, waffles, pastries, etc. Each morning we would take our breakfast out on the Aloha Deck at the very back of the ship and enjoy breakfast outdoors. We never had a problem finding a table. Each morning prior to disembarkation, one of the Hawaiian Ambassadors would speak on the Aloha Deck about the island we were on that day, history and suggested activities. We were sometimes gone before they started their talks, but I enjoyed and appreciated the ones I heard.

 

We had brought with us sandwich bags and zip locks to make picnic lunches from the buffet and a double sided collapsible cooler. They provide items on the buffet for this: white or wheat bread, croissants, condiment packages, lunch meats (ham or bologna), peanut butter and jellies, etc. About the lunch meats – they did not look good at all, especially the bologna which I probably wouldn’t eat if it looked like the best in the world. However one of their hot breakfast items was sliced breakfast ham with a pineapple glaze. We used this ham for our sandwiches. We also made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and took some muffins and pastries. We gathered our ingredients together and took them back to the room to assemble our picnic lunches.

 

We were getting ready to leave and I called guest services to request that during the day our ice bucket be filled and that the fridge be emptied of the hospitality items, knowing that we were going to bring some bottled water and sodas back on. On this ship, at least in this room, you can’t call housekeeping directly. You call guest services and they relay the info. The operator told me that she would send someone, but we would have to be in the room and it might take 30 minutes. Again – Huh? Why would we need to be in the room? Weren’t they going to come in and clean it? We wouldn’t be there then. DH suggested that we leave the ice bucket setting outside the door and not worry about the fridge until we got back, which is what we did.

 

We were in line to disembark the ship when they opened the doors. There was a Thrifty shuttle waiting. The driver already had all the Blue Chip members’ paperwork ready, as well as a Hilo brochure and map. Yeah Thrifty. We had reserved a Jeep Wrangler with a convertible soft top for today, with the intention of removing the top if the weather was nice. Total cost for the day was $67. There were a couple of problems. The first problem was that the weather was never good enough to make taking the top off feasible. The second problem was that it was a two door. We always travel with the DHs in the front seat and the DWs in the back seat. Climbing in the back seat through the front door was a little bit of a challenge. I’m sure it gave some people some chuckles watching the DH’s push our fannies up and through the door. DFH actually thought it was funny enough to take some video of DFW climbing in. That video will not be posted here and had better not wind up on YouTube!

 

TIP: As you are leaving Hilo to go to VNP, you will pass a shopping center with a Walmart, a gas station/convenience store and a Hilo Hatties across the street. We stopped here for ice, waters and soft drinks. It is near the airport and a convenient place to fill the car up with gas before returning it.

 

It rained on us off and on during the drive to VNP, and for the remainder of the day for that matter. But it was still a lovely drive and didn’t seem to take very long at all to get to the park’s entrance. When we arrived at the Visitors’ Center, one of the rangers had just started a talk outside next to a 3D model of the park. It was a very interesting talk and he answered questions following the talk. We looked around inside the visitors center for a while and then walked across the road, past the Volcano House Lodge which is closed for remodeling and to the short trail to the Caldera Overlook. This was my favorite place and favorite view in the park. I think a lot of people assume that because the Lodge is closed, all the trails around it are closed and that it not the case. While we were at that spot the sun was shining. It was so quiet and peaceful. Here are some photos:

 

,

View of the Kilauea Caldera from the Caldera Overlook with steam rising from the Halema'uma'u Crater. (Please don't think I'm typing these names from memory....I have the park map for reference.)

 

 

 

 

View of Mauna Loa in the distance.

 

 

Ohi'a lehua flower...there is a story about Pele and this flower, but I don't remember exactly what it is right now. Suffice to say it is pretty.

 

Next we drove a short distance along Crater Rim Drive to the steam vents.

 

 

To be continued....

Thanks for the review. Sounds like you had a great time. One question...did you have a transfer from the airport to the ship? I'm asking because there will be eight of us and we're not renting a vehicle so we'll need transportation from airport to hotel, then to port, then to airport. Looking for suggestions for company to use.

Thanks again for sharing.

Aloha,

I enjoyed the review too & feel better about POA now.

You might want to check with Roberts about transfers, they have buses from airport to hotels and hotels to ships and from ship to hotels or airport - cost is $8 and you can reserve online under excursions or just call them.

Thanks so much for a really detailed review - I really enjoyed all your words and remembered some of our memorable past cruises. In fact, we enjoyed it so much that we have decided to book our cruise for January 18, 2014. Glad to hear the car rentals went well, as that was the only part I had already done for our land-based Hawaiian Adventure, which is now our honeymoon cruise. Actually we have been married 12 years, but each cruise is like a honeymoon Like you, we are somewhat thrifty too and found an agent with a balcony guar for $1483, which is less than most OV cabins sell for now. Maybe we'll get a good cabin, but plan to do many of the things you did + road to Hana on 2nd day in Maui, so will get car for just one day & hope it doesn't rain. Just have to change car rental dates to coincide with the cruise dates. :eek:

I know, we've been on so many cruises and so many trips to Hawaii, but this will be our first real Hawaii cruise, as others were inter-island flights to all the islands with several days at each one, or going to just Oahu or like our last cruise to Honolulu, which was a TransPacific cruise of south pacific islands from Australia, ending with a week in Waikiki before heading back home to Houston.

It sounds like you like Outrigger on the Beach for Duke's, but we like to stay there too after having stayed at other places, but last time they were remodeling so we stayed down further, but still on the beach. We really like to ride 'The Bus' in Oahu and have been all over the island by bus for just $1 each.:cool:

Long Life, Happy Marriage & Peace,

Lots of singles ($1 bills) to tip room service staff, bartenders, pool servers, etc.

 

Bring along a positive attitude that you're going to have a great time and odds are that you will!

Usually gratuities are automatically added to drink orders and daily for room service and dining aboard ships. Always good to have dollars or euros on hand for bellboys or service people at hotels pre or post cruise, taxis and porters at ports.:rolleyes:

...And right on for the patience, good nature, sense of humor and practical life experiences, especially if on a difficult cruise like Concordia, Splendor, Triumph or other challenging cruise moments. Photos for insurance claims can be really handy when things go awry, but don't count on the ship's staff or crew to always do the right thing.

On an Alaskan cruise helping one another was the motto for the group of attorney's aboard, which helped us get drinks for a few days and a full refund of ship's fare. Sure, the sharks are needed, even on vacation - turning an offer of $50 discount to a full refund.:cool: Where's a lawyer when you need one? On vacation in Alaska, that's where they were: 100+ to make things better in a trying situation.

Thanks for info - Hope the suburban thugs calm down by mid August so we don't miss anything in Stockholm on our excursion.

The Royals will probably be on summer vacation then anyway, so maybe the suburban infighting will subside for a summer break too :--)

We will miss our 6035 cabin, since Connie is going on short runs.

We did find another gem cabin on S ships - 2D balcony. Sailing in November on Eclipse.

Hi Isabella,

We'll be on Eclipse Feb 23, 2013 - Not sure 7257 is any great cabin, but for balcony and total cost of $3000 for everything for 14 days, I grabbed it.

Let us know if anything interesting in Nov. => john at shifferds dot com

Thanks

I will be in St. Petersburg in June on a Celebrity ship. Having been there previously, we would like to do the Journey to Moscow excursion. Celebrity lists it in the shore excursion brochure for my sail date, but it has not been available for booking on their website.

 

I have called Celebrity twice and both times was told that even though it is listed in the shore excursion brochure, it probably isn't being offered since it is not listed for pre-booking on the website. I have emailed Celebrity twice and received a different response. They responded that they were still working with the tour provider on the details and is not yet available for pre-booking.

 

Anyone have any experience with this that could offer some advice? It's frustrating that cruise line agents can be so misinformed and inconsistent in what they tell us.

You have probably figured out now that not only excursions, but many other things aboard ship are misleading, if not downright fraudulent. The ship crew, staff and clerks are all going to do pretty much what they want to, but not only on the Royal Caribbean's Celebrity brand, but almost all cruise ships - the captain can almost get away with murder. Aren't you glad you don't have to work on one of these vessels? Also make sure you don't get involved in any type of dispute, as even some crime gets swept under the ship - well, not all, like the Costa that crashed & tipped over, but not sure even then much will happen, as all passengers signed all their rights away before they got on board.

Hope you have enjoyed your cruise by now and maybe look back here on the board. About the only way to get any knowledge about the ships, excursions, etc. is through sites like this.

As we are sailing a year from now on Celebrity Constellation - Aug 12, we were wondering too about shows aboard, excursions (both ship and private), if you ever got to Moscow, etc. Please write to us at:

john at shifferds dot com - thanks

Our TA had no knowledge of these cabins. The XL balconies don't appear on the floor plan.

 

I was skeptical, but a careful examination of photos on CC showed me that I absolutely had to "downgrade" from 2A to a sweet sixteen 2C. (I hadn't booked yet, just done my homework on this forum.)

 

We're booked now... and will celebrate our 25th anniversary from cabin 6035 in the Summit, departing San Juan on Feb 2, 2013. With some extra $$ for something special.

 

I can't wait to experience Celebrity for the first time from our sweet sixteen balcony.

 

All because of you helpful folks on the Celebrity forum.

 

Thank you, thank you!

Please take good care of 6035, as we have it booked after you - Baltic Cruise leaving Amsterdam on August 12, 2013.

Checking out the Sweet 16, I pulled a document that showed the cabins available - the agent told me 6030 was not available, so we went with 6035, hoping it provides us a great balcony.

For some reason it seems like Northern Europe will be a little cooler and less humid next August than our lovely Houston area - we are in Kingwood

Keep us posted if anything interesting seems to come up - We are on WB TA - Mariner of the Seas from Rome to Galveston in Nov this year and our first Celebrity cruise - 2 weeks Feb 23 on Eclipse.

Oh, and also "Happy Anniversary in 2013"

Have Fun and let us know about 6035 - john @ shifferds dot com

Sept 16 - Houston to Anchorage (95 to 55 high all in one day)

Stay 2 nights at Embassy Suites

Sept 17 - Tour Anchorage & try to see Northern Lights at night

Sept 18 - Train tour to Seward to Board HAL Statendam

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1434613&highlight=18+sept+2011+hal+statendam

Sept 25 - Disembark in Vancouver and tour the city

Stay one night at L'Hermitage

Sept 26 - Tour more of Vancouver and take night flight back to Houston

We appreciate your information on the Crusie Critic Door Hanger.

Will be on the Voyager of the Sea - Dec. 13, 2009 cruise

Party On!

John & Connie

SoakedbytheSea - John @ shifferds . com