EdmPair

Also consider that if an excursion sold out early, they may do something like using a 54 passenger bus instead of a 40. Suddenly their will be more spots. You never know. I would keep checking the web until the cruise and then visit the shorex desk. Does speak to why I like to book excursions I really want early. I grab spots as soon as my final payment and I have a booking code. (Easier to cancel a trip than get a spare spot.)

I read on another thread that I can't find something about using the computers in the cafe or library to send out a free email? Can anyone tell me how I would go about doing this? Thanks.

Last cruise on Grand Princess in 2012 allowed free emails out the Internet cafe ONLY if you sent their postcards with cliche pictures of the ship. It is from a web form and so you get no encryption and the recipient can never reply. However, I sent a few and it is worth every penny.

I hope this is still available.

If the ship said 'go for it' at set times in some otherwise vacant lounge room, I see no problem. I get the people who say not in the cabin next door, but that is not where the poster is going. She is being an excellent parent by asking how it could happen.

But to echo other, this may do better on the board for that cruise line as their rules will prevail.

And they also put your luggage thru the machine. I have not seen a sniffer for drugs or explosives like the TSA does at the airport. Also none of the 'liquids in a bag, blah, blah, blah' stuff happens. You can bring a FULL bottle of shampoo if you wish.

And another bonus is there is less time pressure. You are already at the boat!!

I know some architects and planners. While I can not say for ships, I suspect a similar problem occurs as with buildings -- and let's face it, most of the ship is a floating hotel. How many square feet or square metres are in a building depends on how you count it and the companies will count to make stats sound good. Cabins and halls will always be counted but the space in all the other cabins but mine is lost to me. Likewise, a nicely designed hall is seldom mentioned in reviewing the photographs. And don't get me started with a staircase! Some real estate rules allow it to be counted as floor space for both of the floors it reaches between!

I appreciate the post with the stats on the space per passenger, but without knowing who supplied the numbers and that all were collected under the same rule, only the biggest of patterns should be used. It was not surprising at all who had the highest ratio. Most of the mass market ships scored about the same. Give what I have seen of architecture, the feel of space is designed into a building and would matter more than the absolute number.

My 3 cents Canadian.

My last cruise ...

It also depends what you want to see. Also, really check which dock YOUR ship will be at. We docked in Oslo right beside the castle! YEAH! Before we took the trip, it was clear there were other berths further away and then the castle would not be walking distance. (I do not want to burn an hour of my time in port just walking to and from something if all I get to see during the walk are shipping containers.)

I took a trip to see the Viking Museum in Oslo and it is not walking distance and given the language barrier, I would not want to risk a taxi.

Tallin offered a cheap shuttle to the old town and then I just walked and took pix.

I took a bus tour in Copenhagen, but regret that as I could have just walked to the old wall ruins a short walk away.

Enjoy your trip.

M

I wanted to find the technical difference between Double Hull and Double Bottom so went to Wikipedia for Double Hull and found this line:

"Double hulls or double bottoms have been required in all passenger ships for decades as part of the Safety Of Life At Sea or SOLAS Convention." It gives a footnote link which goes to nothing more.

Not correct as others have said, but would not be the first time Wiki was wrong.

Sure learn all the words, but you really only interact with a few.

Cabin Stewards or Attendants keep your room clean.

Waiters and Bartender are just like on land.

Maitre D' is the director for service in the Dining Room. You may talk to him or her with a problem, but mostly you deal with the lower staff who all are quite good.

Desk Clerks are just like any hotel. Visit the desk for billing info.

Cruise Director Staff run entertainment events. You deal with them if you win Bingo or such.

I do not worry too much about the rest of the titles.

Took no time at all to find it is K-Love charter of the ship. Google found it. Pack as for any other cruise. I guess also bring your Bible and leave your bottle openers at home.

Why no private excursions? They are usually much better than the ones from the cruise line and significantly cheaper.

If you really want the best excursions, why this limit? I have only done excursions thru the ship, but the goal could be to find the best sight regardless of source.

My best .... hmmm ... Viking ship museum, Ski Jump, Vigeland Sculpture Garden in Oslo, Norway. Grand Princess.

If any do, it would be the newest ships. I have not just now gone back, but have looked in the past at the company web pages for new ships by Princess and NCL and do not recall any mention of double hulls. Also, my memory agrees with a previous poster that it is used to contain leaked fluid cargo. No matter how drunk some cruise goers get, they are NOT yet fluid cargo. Hence, I doubt any do and doubt it would help.

Cruise ends for me when we are at the last security card scan leaving the ship. Once we step onto the gangway, our cruise is over. :(

I guess the cruise ends in parts. A slow lingering death, if you will. Last supper is one step. Packing is another but settting it out in the hall is a bigger emotional step. Going to sleep last night as ship moves is another. Final breakfast. Last check on room and getting all in the carry-on bags. The click as that cabin door closes. And like sail7seas, the gangway out is the final step for me. The cruise is NOW over. The rest is land logistics and flights. It is mechanics and my vacation is already OVER.

Everyone knows ships don't use generators. They just have very long extension cords plugged into the home port. :p

Wrong, wrong, wrong. They have many hamsters in many small wheels.

Lost on a cruise ship. That is a very first world problem. If I 'misplace' my man, I am still at sea and will tour the boat looking for him and looking at the waves. Sometimes it is more looking for him and sometimes it is more looking at everything else. Before the next meal, I will return to the cabin but I assure you I suffer not separation anxiety as much as I care for him.

Plus, you need separation from other cruise ports. Really, Miami and Fort Lauderdale are the only two close ports. San Diego, LA and SF are also close but hours of drive apart and each has good local population base, other attractions and airports to support cruises.

I can not decide if I have a big bucket or a many buckets. If you can travel there, its there. However, some places or activities are higher than others and yet the list order is not really fixed solid either.

New York

Greenland and Iceland and Norwegian fjords

Anarctica

Galapagos Islands

All around Great Britain

Danube and Rhine

One cruise, 20 Greek Islands

Transit

Panama Canal

Suez Canal

Bosphorus Strait

Strait of Corinth (small ship that one.)

Great Lakes

Thai Buddhist Temples buried in jungle

Tokyo

Great Wall of China

Great Barrier Reef of Australia

Outback of Australia

(enough for now.)

My OH researched the Norwegian ports with the "little man" icon so much that I told him there was no point in going- he'd seen everything already! :D

I google a port for months. I gotta. I am stuck in the cold of winter. I read and find photos by others. It is not the same as going but does mean I can walk the sights for details. There are always 'wow' moments to be had. Granted, it is my style and need not be for all.

No reservation needed but depending on time, there may be a line. How long you wait depends on the number in the group, the time of evening, and whether you are willing to table share. Waits for 'tables for 2' are a bit longer.

I like meeting new peeps so the big tables work for my style. I see the water lots of other times so need not see waves pass my table but if it works, I enjoy it.

Have fun,

M

If a duck lands on your balcony and refuses to leave, you need something to ...

Do I need to finish this? You get the idea.

I have checked general travel info sites for the what count as the best sights to see and perhaps those of special interest to me. For instance, I like parrots and a good collection of them would not make the common lists. Your thing may be vinyl records.

I then check if the excursions offered thru the ship get to what I want. If something of special interest to me draws me away, I will find a way to it. Usually, there is more to see in one day than what I can get to so have to make some hard choice. That is the worst part.

Well, if not a lawyer, why not some other professional?

A dentist so I could get a tooth pulled and sit in my cabin with a swollen face for a day.

An accountant so when I bring my tax papers to him or her, I will be told to go home and get the some paper I forgot.

An architect who could redesign my cabin into 'something modern with just a touch of Spanish Inquisition' for $100.

An engineer to make the shower spigot in my cabin less efficient and so the shower will really 'bathe' me in a waterfall.

I am sure there are others.

(I would like to thank the OP for the inspiration.)

I have been on a HAL and a Princess. On both you could find house phones out and about the ship to call back to your cabin and leave a message. You could pick it up and dial -- staff did not seem to care. On these and I suspect other lines, you need not return to your room to leave a message for spouse or 'reasonably facsimile thereof'. Post-it notes in the room work too. I like the bathroom mirror as everybody seems to visit there as soon as back in the cabin. (I might just be confessing my age with that.)

My 3 cents.

M

We use a TA as the cruise has to coordinate with a night of hotel and flights. If all are thru the TA, then insurance can be set up better and I have a 1-800 number to reach somebody if the alignments seem off. Travel businesses like to keep travel agents happy as one TA can get them more customers while you are by yourself and they know it.

I have done the comparison shopping and it is about the same in price. If somebody is getting big bucks in discounts, I suspect it is more on timing than using or not a TA.

My 3 cents.

Cruise lines could offer death with dignity. Well, if not dignity, at least some excitement. They could build a trebuchet on an upper deck and if you so chose, they could fling you aft. Let's face it sometimes it is hard to say if the person was pushed or jumped. This would make that clear so no time is needed to stop the ship and turn back. The person chose to be loaded in the basket and the trajectory would be much wilder than most of those water slides which take up WAY more space.

What else the cruise lines offer as a service?

I always make sure I get to the ship before it sails!

Me too. We also go to for supper each night and try new foods including desserts.