Marisawrite

In my defence we tend to do 12 days min, longest was 24 days.

Uh what else can I say. I do wear things more than once..honestly..

Maybe be stricter with myself...maybe....

We've done two 6-week tours of Europe with one suitcase and one backpack each. On our last cruise (which was a 12-dayer) we took the same, and we both had more than enough clothes.

To be fair, formal clothing does take up a lot of space - two outfits for women and a big bulky suit for men, plus dress shoes. That can be almost a case in itself! Also, we were on Princess and I used the laundrette on a sea day about halfway through the cruise, so that's why I had enough undies etc. If you're on a line that doesn't offer DIY laundry it would get expensive.

I know what you mean about men's shoes, but my hubby takes one pair of black trainers, a pair of dress shoes and some flip-flops and that's it, so it's not too bad.

The small roll on is where you can take your immediate clothing etc, should your main cases NOT be delivered until late.

Yes, I know that's what the carry-on is for, but why does it have to be a separate roll-on?

Years ago, the carry-on was designed without wheels and sat nicely on top of your big case, held on by a sleeve over the handle of the big case.

It held just as much as a small roll-on.

I find handling two roll-on cases of any size a challenge, and of course three is impossible! That's why my carry-on these days is usually a backpack.

I can't understand the modern trend for having both your big case and your carry-on case on wheels.

In the old days, you could buy a main case on wheels, and a carry-on which sat on top of the main case (kept in place with a sleeve over the handle). If you had to manhandle your cases any distance, that was far easier than having to roll two separate cases.

We're heading to Australia shortly and will have two big cases each. Clearly, there is no way we could handle carry-ons which were also on wheels. So we're taking backpacks.

I don't think I should have to; after paying $200 for a treatment, in a relaxed state, I don't want to be sold products

I agree. It's not that I can't say no - I'm very good at dealing with sales pitches in any other situation. But let's face it, even if you say "no" with a smile, there's an underlying tension and the salesperson's whole approach make you feel you're being mean by rejecting their suggestions.

The point is that I've paid a substantial amount to have a relaxing treatment and I don't want to have the effect ruined by having to be sharp with the person who just treated me. And often, you do have to be sharp with them.

I've decided never to have a spa treatment on board again - instead I'll spend the money having a thorough pre-cruise pamper before I go.

Hi all, I am the dancer from Brisbane that Foxy was mentioning. I have done all of the abovenamed styles - old time - New Vogue - English Sequence and English Old Time. They are all very different in their techniques.

Thanks Mummsie and I'm glad to hear you backing me up when I say New Vogue is a separate style of dance, and does not deserve to be dismissed as Sequence dancing that just happens to be choreographed in Australia!

I would definitely go for the August/September sailing. It will be starting to get cooler but still nice weather.

Where did you purchase your tickets? We want to take the train from Barcelona to Paris but all I can find is a eurorail pass for a minimum 4 days use. We just want to purchase a ticket to Paris?

You'll find all the information about the trip here, and a link to sites where you can book the ticket:

http://www.seat61.com/Paris-to-Barcelona-by-TGV-train.htm#.V2cHevkrLIU

I have the same problem and I find that fake tan doesn't do much.

I use Sally Hansen leg make-up and it doesn't come off until you wash it off with soap and water. I'm sure if you spent long enough in the pool it would come off though - and I wouldn't be getting in the hot spa, the chemicals in that will strip anything off!

The Sally Hansen stuff doesn't just add colour, it covers as well. Just don't succumb to the temptation to get a deeper tan shade if you're pale - it just looks odd. I use the palest shade, I was worried it would make me look pasty but it looks very natural and better than my real colour.

Thanks. Not going until 2017, but good to know. So toilets are not pay toilets, or the tours you were on paid for you? Curious...

Public toilets are usually pay toilets at all the Baltic ports including Oslo. In Tallinn they were all coin-operated meaning you needed exact change - shops would let you use their toilets for a fee of one euro.

Toilets inside tourist venues are more likely to be free, including information centres. You can also use the toilets at restaurants and bars IF you buy something.

We found that on every excursion, the tour guide had arrangements at various places to allow us to use toilets free, or they knew where there was a free public one.

When I learnt to dance as a teenager in the 60s, our first year was a basic year ... In our second year we went on and did medal tests with set routines ...but I was never conscious of people trying to dance their medal routines at a social night. ..Now I am in the UK...I went to a social dance on Friday and it was obvious that they were all dancing their routines....

 

So here's my question. What is the normal practice at social dances in various countries?

That is an excellent question. I suspect that in Australia, most couples at social dances are dancing routines (the telltale is that they appear to repeat exactly the same moves).

Australian dance teachers do talk about leading and floorcraft, BUT they teach choreographed routines. It seems to me that as a student, you're not going to have confidence to make up your own combos if the teacher never gets you to do so in class.

I think my husband must have learned with the same attitude as you. He's very good at leading the Latin dances "on the fly" and making up his own combinations. He struggles to do the same with ballroom though, but feels he's a failure if he just dances a routine!

Do keep an eye on the time. Some pax are ruthless when they see unattended machines with wet(or dry clothes) in them. Not all of us are so nice as to press and fold others laundry(though I don't know why!)

I never had to empty a machine but I doubt I would've folded the clothes if I had!

The machines on Princess clearly state how long the cycle is. If the laundry is busy, it's plain bad manners not to come back in good time to empty your machine so others can use it, IMO.

Evidently UK Old Time dancing has even more technique and discipline than did New Vogue in the 1980s and what we Australians used to call Old Time....

 

My question, then, is about current New Vogue in Australia. Is it as strict as UK Old Time, or is it more what it used to be when I learnt?

From what you describe, no it's not as strict as Old Time. The steps are basically the same as the ones used in standard ballroom dancing. When it gets more advanced, there's a lot of sweeping torso and arm movements, but in social dancing it's not practical as there's not enough space!

It was started in the 1930's as an updated alternative to Old Time (old time/new vogue, get it?).

Here's Natalie Lowe (from Strictly/Dancing with the Stars), she and her partner were the New Vogue champions for a while:

My cruise ship will be docking at Nynäshamn on 4 July, and I understand the train will not run all the way between Nynäshamn and Stockholm Central that day. The Nynäshamn tourism site advises that there will be replacement buses.

Have you ever had to take replacement buses when London trains are out of service?

Nynäshamn is over 22 miles from Stockholm. The road is good but if there are no trains running, that will mean a lot more traffic. The Scandinavians are a very efficient bunch but I would still be a bit worried about the time it would take, particularly as you're going to lose time changing buses/trains as well.

The cruise will be running a shuttle and I'd be inclined to take that - at least if a shuttle is delayed, the ship will wait for you. If the rail bus is delayed, they may not.

I agree about the cabin - I find fresh air makes a huge difference, so you may have to spring for a balcony cabin as you really need a window that opens.

I know the question was about medications, but I would second the vote for ginger.

Two reasons for that

One, one of my ex-boyfriends was an ocean sailor on big yachts around Australia. He suffered from seasickness (yes, I know, mad, why be a sailor?!). He had tried all the remedies and he found Blackmore's ginger tablets worked better than anything else.

Two, Mythbusters did a program on seasickness remedies and found that ginger tablets were more effective than some medications.

So, I'd be taking some ginger tablets plus a medication like Bonine as a backup.

Ginger is preventative, so start taking it the day before you leave and keep taking it daily.

Note that ginger ale, ginger sweets etc often contain little or no real ginger, so they won't work. You need real ginger, preferably in chewable tablets.

That's interesting because the vast majority of sequence dancers in this country are not competent ballroom dancers. They are generally elderly

and seem to dance for the social aspects....

 

I suppose that, technically, any dance performed by couples in a fixed sequence is a sequence dance. Where the dance is choreographed is irrelevent.

Yes, your observation of sequence dance in the UK matches mine. On arrival in the UK, we planned to learn the standard sequence dances and almost booked on a sequence dance holiday with that in mind - but we then found out that the holiday involved learning newly choreographed dances, not the standard competition dances. Apparently studio owners are creating new dances constantly and for many sequence dancers, the focus is learning a new dance every week, not perfecting "old" ones, which is another reason for the lack of focus on technique.

I agree that technically, any dance performed in a sequence could be called sequence dancing, but if you ever visit Australia, please don't call New Vogue sequence dancing - you are likely to be shot at dawn. You have been warned!

As you know, your Australian 'New Vogue' is simply a different name for sequence dancing.

Not quite. The New Vogue dancing is the same style as sequence dancing (a short routine of steps repeated, done in a circle), but the standard New Vogue dances were choreographed in Australia and are unknown in the UK.

In recent years, there's a handful of sequence dances which are sometimes included, but the great majority are the Australian ones.

However the major difference is how it's taught. In the UK, I was surprised to find that there are separate sequence dance schools and clubs, and that they don't focus on the established popular dances. UK sequence dancers seem to want to constantly learn new dances, and new ones are being invented all the time. Some dancers have learned hundreds of dances.

In Australia, you won't find any school that is dedicated to New Vogue, and if you go to a class at a ballroom dancing school, you'll learn the 15 competition New Vogue dances and maybe a couple of Sequence ones. Once you've got those under your belt, you will very rarely learn any more - you might attend repeat classes to refine your technique, but that's all. You won't find anyone who does New Vogue who is not a ballroom dancer first.

Obviously, ships departing from the UK have more chance of featuring some sequence dances as it is a predominantly British thing. However, in other parts of the world (apart from Australia) sequence is not usually danced.

I'm surprised to hear they do sequence dancing on Australian cruises. Is that because a lot of passengers are British?

Australia has its own version of sequence dancing called New Vogue. It's far more popular among ballroom dancers than sequence dancing is in the UK - most social ballroom dancers will know the 15 standard New Vogue dances and they are taught with the same attention to technique that ballroom dancing is.

In fact it's one of the things I miss, living in the UK. The Australian habit of interspersing the occasional New Vogue dance between "serious" ballroom dances is a nice way to socialise with other dancers and gives the brain a rest while keeping the feet moving!

What others have said. I learned the lesson the hard way too.

The lesson is, never trust your travel agent or cruise line to choose your flights for you. Don't assume they are taking every sensible precaution because they're not!

We booked our Baltic cruise through a travel agent who threw in free flights. It was a bargain, but because the flights were free, they went ahead and booked them without asking us (presumably they chose the cheapest option).

The outward flight was on the day of the cruise, at 7.30am. We didn't like the idea of getting up so early, but it didn't worry us because sailaway time was 5.30pm - plenty of time, we thought.

Well, we missed our flight. Luckily we were able to get two seats on another carrier but there was $400 down the toilet. We called Princess to let them know we'd be late (we'd booked their transfer) - but then we had to call them a few more times, because our new flight was delayed, then delayed again, then again ...eventually we boarded less than an hour before sailaway.

We later discovered that 30 other passengers had missed the exact same flight we missed, and only two of them had been able to get another flight in time. The other 28 had to make their own way to the next port. So we were very lucky! I will never fly on the same day ever again!

I'd say the earlier the better.

Many passengers will no doubt be staying over in London and travelling down to Southampton that morning. Unless they get up very early, that means they'll be boarding later. If there are traffic jams on the way down (which there usually are) or the trains are delayed (not unusual either!), there could be a real log-jam of people wanting to board towards 12.30.

I'm surprised that luggage has to be out as early as before dinner. I guess I'll be dressing casually that night so that I'll have as little to stuff into my small carry-on before I disembark.

They ask that you put the MAJORITY of your luggage outside before dinner.

However, on the Wake Show they said that meant, for instance, that if you were a couple with two suitcases, you'd put one out before dinner and the other out after dinner.

My initial assumption was that all coffee in the Horizon Court buffet is self-service -- can someone confirm that is that in fact true? I saw some references in other threads to waiters serving water at the buffet tables, which made me wonder whether they are supposed to be in charge of serving the coffee too. Or is it a mix of waiter and self-service for beverages?

On our cruise in May on the Regal Princess, it was waiter service for coffee, tea and orange juice at breakfast in Horizon. Actually it was annoying, because they were always overworked, and sometimes our breakfast was cold before the coffee arrived!

You can always walk to the self-service station to get your own coffee, but there is only one self-service station for the entire Horizon Court.

If you are in London pre cruise, Paris via the Eurostar is probable easier than a ships tour from Le Harve.

Definitely.

We will do for Heathrow to Southampton soon

Just check to make sure the transfer actually picks up at Heathrow.

On another thread, I was surprised to find that someone who'd booked the Princess transfer had to make their own way to Victoria Coach Station to get their transfer. That's about 20 miles in the wrong direction!

If there isn't a direct Heathrow to Southampton transfer then a good alternative is the National Express Coach which picks up at Heathrow and goes straight to the coach station at So'ton which is a short cab ride to the cruise terminal.

Check out Viator for some ideas for shore excursions from Le Havre:

http://www.viator.com/tours/Caen/Le-Havre-Shore-Excursion-Private-Tour-of-Giverny-Rouen-and-Honfleur/d5469-3193GIVERNYHONFLEUR

http://www.viator.com/tours/Caen/Le-Havre-Shore-Excursion-Private-Tour-of-Mont-St-Michel/d5469-3193PRTMONTSTMICHEL

http://www.viator.com/tours/Caen/Le-Havre-Shore-Excursion-Private-Tour-of-Bayeux-and-Caen/d5469-3193PRTBAYEUXCAEN

I agree, the very long journey from Le Havre to Paris for a short whirlwind tour of the sights would be hopeless with such young children. Calling Le Havre Paris is absurd.

Similarly they call Southampton London. :(. It is approximately a 1.5 to 2 hours drive.

Yes, I agree it's false advertising in both cases! They do the same on the Baltic run, calling Warnemunde "Berlin" - when it fact it's a 3 hour drive away.

I'm also told that Princess cruise transfers to Southampton start at Victoria Coach station, so cruise passengers who arrive at Heathrow or Gatwick travel 20 or 30 miles in the wrong direction to get their transfer - when they could've taken a train or coach straight from the airport to Southampton.