Candiaccruiser

We bought the best Samsonite polycarbonate suitcases we could afford (found a really good special on them) and so far they have survived four or five cruises and still look as good as new. Don't know if we just got lucky!

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We thoroughly enjoyed the band on our recent Westerdam cruise and look forward to more of the same on our upcoming Noordam cruise. We thought the music was great! We went to the Queen's Lounge every evening, just couldn't get enough of it!

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Looking forward to travelling the world with you!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share.

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Very interesting comparison. Thank you so much for taking the time to share it with us.

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Looking forward to reading all about your adventures... and hoping that one day it will be us sailing away on a World Cruise!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

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As does our Scottish son-in-law... he has a delightful accent!

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We say owt and abowt too!

We're really enjoying your posts, thank you!

Have a great trip!

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If I recall correctly, the Librarian's Trivia is a sheet of questions -- about 20, I think -- which are available at a specific time In the library every morning. You pick up the sheet, fill in your answers at your leisure, then return the sheet with the time it was returned noted on it. At the end of the day, the person who got the most correct answers in the fastest time is declared the winner and their sheet is pinned on the wall for others to examine. As far as I know there are no prizes, just the satisfaction of knowing you were the best!

The daily sudoku puzzles can be picked up here too.

Hope this helps.

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We will be doing a ten-day cruise on the Emerald Princess and then transferring to the Noordam for a twenty-one day Collector's Cruise this February. Both ships are in dock on the same day -- hopefully at the same pier -- so we're hoping that it will be a fairly simple process to make the switch from one to the other.

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Those large inside cabins are great! We had cabin 1037 on the Westerdam last month and found it super-roomy. We liked it so much that we have booked the same cabin type on the Noordam for February.

Enjoy your cruise!

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Mamaofami, I saw that too and have been wondering whether it was worth actually leaving the ship in Samana or not. This is the only port on our cruise that we haven't visited before, so it was a bit disappointing to read what people had to say.

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We have sailed on both the Maasdam and the Nordam twice and are currently booked on a Collector's cruise on the Noordam for February. We love both these ships and happily sail on either of them. The Maasdam, being smaller, feels a tad friendlier and cozier. Choosing the itinerary that you most prefer sounds like a good way to go!

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We made and paid for our reservations in advance so this must be a very recent thing.

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We dined in the Pinnacle Grill on the Westerdam less than a month ago. It was excellent!

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Thank you so much for the pictures! We have booked a cabana for the first time when we cruise on the Noordam in February, so they we really interesting to us. Great pics!

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That is so sad, I'm really sorry that you had such a disappointing cruise.

We were fortunate enough to be able to sail on the Westerdam last month and had a wonderful time, no complaints at all. That said, we don't drink -- doctor's orders! -- so we didn't run into any of the associated problems that you had.

I hope you manage to find a cruise line that is a better fit for you and get to experience cruising the way you had hoped it would be next time around.

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Thank you for an extremely interesting review.

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Thanks for the pictures.

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You had us all fooled with that title! Hope flickered for a few moments and then died...

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We got the postcards of the ship in our room on the Westerdam two weeks ago.

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We received one each on the Westerdam two weeks ago.

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I don't think anyone is under the mistaken impression that they are the "real deal" but they sure don't disappoint!

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It's on the Noordam too, we've booked it for our B2B this coming February.

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We were on the Westerdam two weeks ago and really enjoyed the BB King Blues Band. They packed the Queen's Lounge every evening, plus doing one of the shows (an early one and a late one) in the main showroom, and were so much fun!

I gather from talking to various staff members that there is more than one group of musicians and the ones who will be on the Noordam in February will be a different one. If they're as good as the ones we enjoyed on the Westerdam we're in for a real treat!

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We were in cabin J1037 on the Westerdam just two weeks ago and the cabin was a large square one with plenty of space. Our daughter and son-in-law were in the cabin beside and were pleasantly surprised at how roomy the cabin was... it was their first cruise, so they weren't sure quite what to expect. There was just a shower, no bathtub in these rooms. We thought they were terrific value.

Hope this helps!

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