Mommypig

We have enjoyed alcohol free wines on the Pacific, Golden, and Star.

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Hey Rita!

I haven't gotten to the knitters and natters page yet as Tim repacked everything when we got to the hotel. We had to ship some stuff and fly with some stuff, and everything did get to Florida, but I have yet to unpack most of it. All the names, etc are somewhere in a suitcase. I am in NY at the moment trying to get house emptied out. When I get back to Florida in August I am hoping to have enough new addition done to be able to have room to unpack and find stuff.

Linda

For our last world cruise we had a mini projector and DVD player that hook up to the MacBook Air, plus a little speaker. We hung a sheet on the wall with curtain clips and magnets that had little carabiners on them stuck to the ceiling. We then watched movies on our "big screen".

I saw that I can pre-order 12 water bottle for $6.90, but I didn't see the 6 pack of sodas for $10. Is this once you get on the ship? How do you order them? Do you know if they have Coke Zero in the cans? I haven't learned to drink Diet Coke yet. :rolleyes:

When you get on the ship, call room service and ask for the 6 cans of soda package. You will pay about 11$ with tip I think. If you think you may want diet ginger ale for seasickness, you will have to bring your own. And beware of "Coke light" or "Pepsi Light". Other counties have different sweetener formulations, and they are not required to list what they are. They could have sweeteners that are banned in the US, like cyclamates.

Since I don't do aspartame, I am a Diet Pepsi girl and bring all my own soda on board. In most ports I can just slap a boarding tag on the cases and the roustabouts carry them on

The kindle is 1000x more readable that the iPad is the sunlight.

The kindle paperwhite is readable in full sun. The kindle fire and early kindles are not, as most other tablets and iPads.

I take the paperwhite for reading, the iPad for games and checking email and banking, etc. we generally do long cruises so it is generally worth it to me to bring it. I also bring an iPod that is loaded with audiobooks for reading or walking. Since we are thinking of doing a land tour in England after our cruise next year I may just take the iPhone and leave the iPad at home to save on weight

If there is a moral to this story it is:

 

 

 

Avoid booking with Delta Airlines if at all possible.

This is so true. Especially if it is one of their local "partner" airlines. They have stranded me overnight twice.

Damn I need a sea day!

If you order from room service, you can get 6 cans of Diet Coke for the price of 5. Works out to a bit less than 2$ a can. You can also carry soda on.

Other cruise lines leave out of Galveston. I've never cruised out of Texas (either ports) because the airfare for us is quite a bit higher for us from SFO than it is for us to fly directly to Ft. Lauderdale and there are a lot more options there. I'd be happy if they used a port in New Orleans, though. I find the cruise ports can be (and should be) regarded as part of the experience.

New Orleans is an awesome port to sail out of. Only drawback is you have yo carry on your own soda because the luggage dudes won't carry them to the ship. But with a tummy full of beignets, who cares?

All travel insurance policies are secondary insurance. That means you have to file a claim with your primary insurance first, and then with your travel insurance. If your primary denies as not covered, then the travel insurance pays all after you provide them with the denial.

Sorry, I couldn't help myself. :D

LOL We try to have fun where we can. Mustard drill, Stewart the steward, wine wasting, extortions (excursions), etc. mustard drill is what the grandkids call it.

Last September we did a northbound on the Grand, followed that with a landtour, and then did a southbound on the Star.

On the 2016 world cruise we were told that per the US coast guard regulations we had to attend one mustard drill per month. So we attended 5 on one cruise. It is a pain, but it did make me go through my mind what I would need to grab in case of a real emergency. They also had us practice a pirate drill so that we would know what do if the ship was approached by pirates. The crew had to practice as well, apart from the drills we attended.

Just got off the 2016 WC and I thought the 2018 sounded amazing. I think the Asian stuff is being dropped from the WC because they are trying to beef up the Asian cruises separately. Also, there are quite a few people who do it every year, cruising snow birds I guess. It's nice for them to do some different ports. Hoping to be able to do a couple of segments in 18, but we shall see what the budget brings.

Thanks for the dining explanations. We just got off the world cruise on the Pacific Princess so the DCL cruise we are doing on the Wonder in January with the grand boys will definitely be a different experience. There were only 1or 2 children on a segment or two, and most of the time no children at at all. And the dining room was loaded with walkers and scooters. It will probably be refreshing for us to be surrounded with kids and stoles.

We hung all kinds of thing from the ceiling with really strong magnets. We had a clothes line, hung a sheet to project movies on, and hung several decorative things. The big rare earth magnets with hooks would take a lot of weight.

I am the original poster on this thread, and we want to say how much we enjoyed this ship. In fact it was one of our best cruises ever (and that includes some of the luxury cruise lines!). We have never developed better relationships with the staff, who are so friendly and remember your names. The ship itself is a perfect size, and there are no lines anywhere. Highly recommended!

 

 

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So glad you liked it! We did the 111 day world cruise this year and we want back on! We miss the crew so much and we love the quiet old elegance of the ship.

Made so many friends and had lovely time. Captain JP, Oscar, Martin, Wayan, Cecelia, Gilbert, Jelena, Bernardo were all so wonderful. And Antonio, Sandy, Amadeus, and Iljo. Maybe the ship is not glitzy, buts small ship becomes a village on long cruises. The crew was 110% dedicated to all of us having a wonderful time.

Can't wait to do it again.

Doing some google searches and it appears that diet coke doesn't use aspartame any longer. However, some other google results seem to indicate that diet pepsi does. Hmmm.

Don't rely on google searches. Read the containers.

I suppose leisure suits are next, especially the velvet for formal nite.:D

OMG I will have to find one for Tim! We are not formal night fans and love to push the envelope a bit. (Not so far as the tuxedo T-shirt--that's already been done).

Thanks for the info. Princess let me slap a luggage tag on each case and they delivered it to my stateroom since it was a dietary restriction. But the Disney cruise is only a week so we should be fine carrying it on.

On buying more in ports, it is currently only the US produced Diet Pepsi which is aspartame free. Pepsi Light can contain any number of artificial sweeteners because it doesn't list them specifically. It has the warning that it contains phenylalanine which means aspartame, and it could even have cyclamates, a sweetener that was banned in the US back in the 60s

Cruising as a diabetic can sometimes get dicey. Adding the aspartame restriction makes it dicier..

Since Disney espouses Coke products, and I can't use aspartame which is in Diet Coke, may I bring my own Diet Pepsi without too much aggravation? I usually cruise Princess which has no problem since its due to a dietary restriction. Just got back from a world cruise where I took 8 24packs. I have a cruise scheduled with some grand boys in January, and grandma will be as cranky as a toddler whose blankie is in the wash if I don't have my Peppi.

That looks like the famous Florida "palmetto bug". They are more water bug than traditional roach.

On the 2016 world cruise they occasionally had Nutella ice cream. And if you are traveling in Europe you might find other wonderful chocolate spreads and nusse nougat.

The worst boarding experience I have ever had was in Vancouver. Two large ships boarding and only 8 US customs officers working. Arrived at 11:00 to find a bazillion people ahead of us. No platinum or elite lounge. No food or drink. Husband had to get really snarky to port worker who kept telling him to stay in his seat to be able to go get me food. (I am diabetic and insulin dependent so can't skip a meal). We manage to board by 3:30, and just barely made it to the mustard drill.

I just got off the Pacific Princess and the pool was fresh water. The thalassotherapy pool on the spa deck was salt.