kitty9

I have severe asthma, only 48% lung function left, and I've been on 49 cruises and, knock on wood, I've not had a problem. I just take my meds and hope for the best. There's also a doctor on board if things get out of control. I had to go to the med center on one cruise and use a nebulizer. Actually, I feel better on cruises, out at sea, than I do at home.

I just recently finished a cruise on Constellation and there weren't many kids on board, and most of those were toddlers and infants. I think there were less than 8 school age kids on board, according to what I was told by the Captain's Club hostess---and five of those were from Europe. With so few kids, the kid's club was quite curtailed. Depending on when you're cruising, you could find very few kids on board---that's always been my experience with the longer cruises and those that are taken when school is in session. If you're cruising during the spring break season, there will be a few more kids, but again, because it's an 11 day cruise, the numbers of kids are usually smaller. No kid's pool area on any Celebrity ship. Personally, I think the kid's program on RCCI is more extensive, because RCCI tends to attract many more kids.

Most cruise lines won't accept shipped luggage so you need to decide where you're going to ship the bags to. It can be a pain to have to wait for hours for the delivery service to show up at the cruise terminal. When you realize that it can cost $150 one way to ship one bag, the $50 surcharge isn't too bad. I ship via DHL, when I travel internationally, and they've been very reliable. I ship to the pre-cruise hotel I'm staying at.

US Customs is really cracking down on anyone caught with prescription medication that they don't have a prescription for. I would not chance it. Plus, you really have no idea what they're giving you when you walk into one of those kinds of places.

There is a gentleman that I have cruised the same time with on Crystal. He's over 90 years old, cruises as a solo and was recently honored by Crystal for taking his 150th cruise on that line. He always has the same table in the dining room and they reserve the same table in the bar for him. He's so with it, he plays trivia every sea day.

They are very bare bones experiences, with virtually no amenities and basic food. Try a Llindblad Explorer cruise for a much better experience.

Haven't heard of any singles cruises for just those 55 and over. You might want to check AARP and see if they are sponsoring any cruises, but like another poster said, maybe your dad doesn't want to go on a singles cruise. Personally, as someone over 50, I wouldn't like a singles cruise for people in my age bracket. If he wants to cruise, have him go on a regular cruise and not just one for singles. Celebrity, HAL and Crystal have an older clientele and Crystal has great single supplements unlike other lines that charge 200% of the regular fare they only charge 125% for single cruisers.

I just returned from my 41st cruise, 22 of them solo. I've literally cruised all over the world on my own, from Africa and Asia, to Europe and South America. It's a great, and safe, way for a single woman to travel. You meet lots of great people, like Lois, and you can do what you want, when you want. If you want to be alone, then you can, but if you want to be part of a group, there's always something going on. I have four more cruises scheduled from now until next June with one of them a 16 day solo cruise to South America. The ONLY downside of cruising single is that darned single supplement.

It is the increase in salt. You might not realize it, but the cruise lines do tend to salt the food more than you're used to. Drink lots of water when on the cruise, that tends to help. Don't wear tight shoes and try and elevate your legs for a while each day.

Barefoot in the pool area, yes, anywhere else with the exception of your room, definitely not. Would you want to walk on floors/carpets barefoot where literally thousands of people have walked with who-knows-what on their shoes?

What I've found that works for me is to go down to the muster area that I'm assigned to a little early. That way I can take the elevator and not worry about having to do those stairs with my cane. But, every cruise line I've been on has allowed disabled persons to use the elevator. All they will tell you is that in case of a real emergency, if the elevators are not working, you need to alert the purser that you will need assistance.

Granny, the point you might be missing is that while a suit isn't required, a jacket is. I think you've gotten many suggestions about how to provide your hubby with a minimum of dress code clothing, and quite honestly, on my four Carnival cruises, I've not seen men in the dining room in just a dress shirt and tie on formal night. Carnival is trying very hard to rid themselves of their old image of a party till you die cruise line and along with that comes the fact that most of Carnival's passengers do, in fact, try very hard to maintain the dress code. Formal evenings are lovely affairs with the crew putting on their very best and all the passengers enjoying the formal atmosphere. If he comes to the dining room without a jacket, and sees all the other men in tuxes and dark suits, he might feel a little out of place without at least a sport coat. You've written that he won't wear a "suit" but what's the problem with a sport coat?

A lot depends on the cruise line. If you're going on NCL, which has optional formal nights, he won't need a suit, but on all the other major lines, the bare minimum is dress pants, dress shirt, tie and jacket. All the brochures for all the cruise lines say that for formal nights a dark suit or tux is what is worn, but you can get away with a sports coat.

You can always dine in your room or at the buffet restaurant, but you will be missing the best food and the best evenings by not dressing up and going into the dining room. After all, it's what you paid for, and by skipping the dining room, you're not getting everything you paid for. And, you don't have to spend a fortune on a suit or jacket. You could probably pick up a nice dark sport coat for under $50 at any a number of places.

It is about a four hour drive if you have any kind of traffic. As a comparison, a limo from the Ft Lauderdale airport to the dock which is about 5 minutes away is $75. So from Orlando you can count on it being in the $300 to $350 range.

My goodness, Martinimama, calm down. Your response was a little harsh and after all, the original poster was asking for "OPINIONS" and that's what everyone is giving, their own opinions. You have yours and other posters have theirs and none of them are wrong just as none of them are right. Also, the original poster said herself that she wanted something simple, with little no train, and that's exactly what many of the posters were also saying. So in effect, they were agreeing with her. This board is designed for everyone to state their feelings, so to denigrate others for their opinions just isn't fair. You obviously feel strongly about this, but people who feel or express differently from you shouldn't be made to feel bad because they don't agree with your opinion.

As for my OPINION, I say wear whatever you want and tell everyone who might think otherwise to go to the devil. It's your body and your wedding and don't give two cents to what anyone else on the ship might think or say. You asked for opinions, and you did get a range of those here. But to be honest, you shouldn't need to ask the people here how they feel because it's your life and you should do whatever makes YOU feel good.

Have a wonderful cruise and a memorable wedding !!!!

Let's see. How do I explain their age group? Well, the husband was what I thought to be quite a bit older than the wife, with the jet black dyed hair and mustache, but I would guess him to be in his mid to late 60's. The wife, who looked natural without any "work" done, looked to be in her late 40's. Add to that the fact that the wife is fabulously beautiful and you get the picture. Actually, there were quite a number of "trophy" wives on this cruise, with the husbands being late 70's to early 80's and the wives being early 50's, at the very most.

Darcie

We had a very interesting couple on my Crystal cruise. They liked to dress like twins, not by just wearing the same shirts during the day, but they had matching outfits for the evening. One day it was powder blue blazers, white shirts and white slacks, and on other nights it was pink, yellow, navy or red. On some nights the woman wore a white skirt instead of slacks and the hubby wore the white slacks. Personally, I think it was a bit over the top.

Darcie