R,D,W

Jackie,

I am enjoying your posts. As I was scrolling through your pics of the Manaus Opera House, I saw my husband. Jim and I were also on this cruise and enjoyed it very much. I , like you, do not tolerate extreme heat and humidity well. However, I am so glad I went. By the way, Jim is in the NDSU cap.

My husband and I sailed on Rivierra before her new owner was in picture. I do not know if that changed anything. What I do know is that we have sailed various lines including her sister Regent and Oceania is our favorite line hands down. Rivierra is our favorite ship. To us ,every night and day was special. :)

I noticed on the Princess website that some itineraries have a scenic sanctuary package. We are sailing on the Island Princess to the Panama Canal in March of 2015. The Panama Canal was listed as one of the itineraries. However, I can not find any information describing what the Scenic Package entails or the cost. Any help will be greatly appreciated. Thank You

My husband and I will be sailing for the first time on Princess. We chose her for the itinerary of a full Panama Canal transit. While we are getting excited, I am also a bit nervous. Please respond with any helpful hints. Our last cruise was a TA on Oceania and before that we sailed to the Med on Regent. We have booked a mini suite. We enjoy trivia, fine dining, live shows, the casino, visiting with new friends, cooking classes, the spa, and quiet time. Please, does anyone have any hints. Anything we need to book before boarding? Any thing I need to know about cabin area? What about dress code including formal nights? We book our own excursions and are doing fine with that. Thank you, Thank you in advance.

We are considering a Panama Canal cruise on Princess. We have never sailed with Princess and we are wondering what to expect. For example... stateroom positives and negatives. Is a suite worth the extra expense or will a balcony be fine? We have sailed with all inclusive lines and lines that had several out of pocket expenses. What can we expect to be charged for on Princess? Is crew glad to be with us or is this just a job? We thank you for taking the time to help us decide.

Thanks to all of you for your help. We are continuing to research this cruise using information from your posts. FYI...I am reading David McCullough's The Path Between the Seas. It is fascinating. I want to visit this region even more. Cruise Critic members are not only a wealth of information but also very kind and willing to share. Thank you

We have cruised with Oceania and were impressed. In fact we want to cruise with Oceania again. However, we want to know if there is a cruise line that "does" the Panama Canal better than another. We want to cruise the entire canal with a daylight transit of the canal. Thank you in advance for your advice.

My husband and I enjoyed Privee with a group of Cruise Critic friends on a recent trans-Atlantic. Someone in the group mentioned it was like dining on your private yacht. While I do not know what that is like I believe dining in Privee might be as close as I will come to a private yacht experience. Go with the intention of being pampered and you will not be disappointed. Our entire group had a very enjoyable evening.

Hopefully you have booked your TA and are getting excited to sail. Our one and only TA was in April from Miami to Barcelona. We did have a couple of rough weather days but you plan for these with medication and lots of ginger. Also ask for green apples and crackers. The weather you can't control but your boredom you can. We also were concerned about what we would do during all of the sea days. We had difficulty scheduling all of the activities we were interested in doing. This was our most relaxing cruise. We were able to slow down and truly enjoy ourselves. A TA aboard the Riviera will not be disappointing.