HAL vet back from 4 day Paradise with Review

[Curt Jerome Wild]

Thank you sir!

This is a wonderfully fair and unbiased review so far...

I will refrain from specific comments, until you have completed everything you have to say; but in the meantime...

This "young' un" would be very happy if my wife and I happened to be booked on a Carnival Cruise with you both!;)

You sound like people we could "hang with".

I look forward to the continuation of your review.

[kenrod]

I am really enjoying your review FightOnRon. Looking forward to more. Thanks for sharing.

[FightOnRon]

I will work more on my review today,,found my camera and now have to learn how to post pictures....

 

Cabins. I think the cabins I have had on HAL have been more pleasing to the eyes vs this cabin. I do take into account the ship is older but I was on a few older HAL ships too. HAL has more subdued colors with a lot more natural wood decor. As most here know the cabins on the Paradise are sort of orange. The woods,,like the desk area, are painted sort of a pink color,,not natural wood. Every HAL ship I have been on has a tub/shower combo vs just the shower on the Paradise. However I don't take a bath so it's irrelevant and the plumbing on a HAL ship needs a degree in engineereing to figure out how to get it to work. The beds are just as comfortable on both lines. But,,functionally the cabins serve the same purpose so not a deal breaker.

 

I did peak into some of the Cat 12 cabins,,very similar to HALs verhandas.

 

No DVD players in cabin,,all HAL ships have a DVD player and a DVD library.

[Janan]

Ron, I appreciate the review! We (my wife and I) Have not sailed HAL (as of yet), we would like to, because of itineraries and such. It's nice to know there isn't much difference between the lines except for a few things (average age, decor) I look forward to reading more of your review.....FIGHT ON....RON!:D....I mean ...go on Ron...tell us more!:cool:

 

Andy

[FightOnRon]

Well I will continue but I thought I would address a little more of the HAL vs CCL. HAL is a more upscale line and there is no doubt about it. You dine with fine china,,you get more spoons and forks you can count on your table. Everything is a little fancier on board. On HAL I like that fact that as not a pool person , I can lounge on the promonade deck that circles the outside of the ship,, with teak deck chairs that look just lke the old days. As a matter of fact on a HAL cruise we stopped at Halifax and went into the Titanic museum. They had a deck chair in a display case that looks just like the deck chairs HAL uses. Not the chairs by the pool, those look like CCLs but the deck that fantasy class ships do not have. People on HAL seem less rushed to get from point A to point B. For sure less partying by the guests,,they cruise more for the culture.

 

However we have to remember I took a 4 day cruise without exotic destinations. Until I take a CCL cruise to Alaska or somewhere else I have to base what I know on a 4 dayers.

 

But if you take into account value per your dollar,,as I stated,,I would probably take CCL over HAL if the destinations and ports and excurions were the same. CCL is a lot more livlier, I was in my cabin a lot less then on a HAL ship.

[FightOnRon]

In an earlier post I stated my wife won a medal after coming in second in a trivia contest,,that happened on the 2nd day , not embarkation day. the reason I know is we did not stop in Catalina.

 

After taking a rough 14 hours to get there,,,and the seas were rough, we were anchored off the coast of Avalon but no one was calling over the PA for tendering. Although we were going to go ashore later anyhow to beat the tender line.

 

BTW,,where does the ship go for 14 hours when its only 25 miles away? The ship was moving and rolling all night,,couldn't the Captain just park somehwere and let us have a better then peacful night? It was fine for me and my DW because we were used to it but our friends that were rookies didn't really enjoy the ride. They used up all the Dramamine I brought. Also,,there were a lot of sick people being sick in the public restrooms the night before,,I guess overindulging on DODs got to them when you added the rocking and rolling. I felt sorry for the workers standing in the restrooms cleaning all night. Also,,in the gift shops they were selling Bonine but ran out mid next day. To help my friends I went to the infirmary to get some more and they had a bucket of free ones available outside the door. So for future use,,free in the infirmary.

 

We had room service coffee (piping hot) when we woke up. But they threw me off. I asked for 7am and those sons of guns showed up at 6:55. How dare they be early!:D

 

 

We had breakfast in the MDR. I won't go into it for the rest of the days onboard but breakfast everyday was had in the MDR. All the food was hot or cold, being exactly as it should be. Nothing was lukewarm. I don't like it,,but my DW and my friends do like eggs benedict so I told them to do what was suggested on this board and ge the sauce on the side, which they did, and they loved it. At least 2 people had it everyday. HAL ships breakfasts are the same in quality and selections, however they do offer a full breakfast menu in the cabin which is what we normally do on HAL. But on HAL all the cruises I have taken were really port intensive and you had to get of the ship as early as possible so cabin dining was necessary for us. But eating and being served in the MDR was really nice.

 

Anyhow about 8:30 while we were at breakfast the CD let us know the Captain had called off Avalon for the day. It was too choppy for the tenders to get us off the ship so we were having a sea day. Stated they would back the cruise off a day and try for Avalon on day 3 and Ensenada on the last day. So we made a u-turn and headed out to sea. The ship went south and we got to San Clemente Island and kept circling it. I think the Capt was lookign for somewhere with less chop and it took until like 1 pm to find a smoother ride,,not great but good enough.

 

I thought this would be a good pool day but really it was not. the winds were about 50 knots and with that open pool and the open deck the chair hogs were bascially out of luck and didn't even try. Heck if you had set down a towel, it would have blown away in a few minutes anyhow. All of our outside time was on the Serenity deck under the over hang. I will also note,,never did I see kid one on the serenity deck. They few of them that dared were in the pools and the youngus were up in the children pools topside. The only thing that I observed that was over crowded were the hottubs. They 20 somethings had a hold of those and were sitting in double rows in them. But they , for some reason, did not have the ones ont he serenity deck hogged. Maybe because of no bar service there? Didn't bother me,,not a hottub person either.

 

So I suspect most of the kids, tweens and teen spent the bulk of thier time in thier repective clubs or in or on the Lido. spring breakers were in the hottubs , around but not in the pools, and at that one bar with the guitar people. The older crowd had the stores, the casino and the we all mixed and mingled at the games and contests. CCL did a great job producing an addendum to the daily program so we could all find our niche and be entertained.

 

The ship didn't feel crowded but I did notice if you wanted to do an activity it was best to be there 30 minutes early so as to get a seat and this was true for the entire cruise. That was how we ended up at the trivia game. We were headed for bingo to stake out a seat but the trivia challange game was just starting,,the one where the "contestants" stand behind those podiums that keep score and they use buzzers to buzz in. the first round was going and it seemed so easy. Thats why my DW jumped up to be selected for the second round, which turns out was not so easy. It think she would have won had she been quicker to the buzzer. At a few of the contests like this I observed a good mix of passengers,,young to old alike were involved. The people running these types of games are very personable too. The same type of people on the HAL ships are just as good I will add. Neither one gets a better mark in this respect.

 

After losing at bingo we went to the MDR for lunch, Again, perfect service, food was very good.

 

Spent more time on deck, wandering the ship and in the serenity with a bucket of beer, more bingo , a pleasant day. Although we were moving all day, the Captian found an angle to drive around San Clemente that stopped the rocking so all was good. Eventually we went back to the cabins to get ready for elegant night.....

[FightOnRon]

MDR. The menus on HAL are more extensive as far as selections. But also deceiving. A HAL menu has appetizer/soup/salad/entree then a desert menu. CCL has appetizer and entree and desert. Overall you end up shoving the same amount of food down your piehole you just have to know you can order more then on thing off the CCL appetizer menu. I think HAL may have the edge on selections though but for my taste, there was enough of variety as I love beef. HAL does have a bigger desert menu but I noticed on the Lido you can choose quite a bit of junk if thats your thing. HAL will let you order multiples too as we have a friend that travels with us on that line that oders a lot of deserts. But for the quality of what is served I owuld say they are even. Can't speak to specialty restuarants,,there are none on the Paradise. On HAL they rock. FYI on this ship,,a medium steak was medium,,a medium rare came that way and none of it was "shoe leather" as has been described on some ships. It was very good tasting beef. One edge I think HAL has is you can order MDR food during dining hours in your stateroom. If you don't want to get dressed up for formal night, and hat the buffets and the elbow throwing, you call room service and order off the MDR menu. So you can have your lobster or filet mignon,,HALs beef choice,,on your balcony. FYI,,HALs room service menu is more extensive too.

 

On board lectures. Maybe because of the short itnerary there was no hard sell lectures on CCL, there are a few on HAL. Also, on HAL I've been to "exotic" ports so they have a lecturer on board that give every extensive prot talks,,nothing to do with buying junk. For example we had a nice lecture when we went to Russia about the Hermatage museum and the Russian dynasty. Also a great Berlin lecture but I can't really say anything about CCL because there were no Enseneda lectures,,what could they tell you,,"don't buy the chiclets"? Naturalists gave lectures over the PA and in the showrooms when we cruised to Alaska on HAL. So I can't give a fair assesment to that until I try a port extensive trip on CCL.

 

Booze pushing. Yeah there were a lot of servers tyring to sell you drinks, but this is true on both lines. However sometimes on HAL, especially at a showroom, its hard to find a server. They are everywhere on CCL. I actually enjoyed having someone around all the time to take a drink order. I personally did not find it intrusive at all.

 

Showroom perfomers dress. Someone started a thread about what they wear,,the dancers doing the Vegas type show. Yup,,could see more then maybe some would want (not me though!) but they do tell you when the shows are not recommended for anyone under 14 or whatever,,or 18 for the comedian late night,,so it you were not aware of that you found out quickly. It's all written down, you just have to read

 

Photogrpahers. No more, no less then HAL. It's their job,,just do the Nancy Reagan thing and just say "no".

[sassyredhat]

Thank you so much for the review. We are just a bit older than you, and we love HAL so I was curious about this ship.

 

As you can see, we have sailed CCL and are booked for 2 more. We love the short itin's. so we're trying to get in as many as we can before they move the ships.

 

I love to cruise. Don't care where I go, just give me a decent cabin, food, and a balcony. :D

 

Pat

[FightOnRon]

So I got dressed, we all looked good sporting coats, sans ties. The ladies wore dress blouses and pants, decided against cocktail dresses. I will say for a short 4 night cruise with the big mixture of passengers, I was suprised by the dress of the passengers I thought we would stand out as overdressed,,not so. There have been a lot of threads fighting about dress codes and such, and a lot of people with the "it's my vacation and I'll do and dress as I want" attitude of following ship board rules. From my standpoint,,they were not on this ship. From what I could see everyone followed the dress code to a "T",and there were handfull of tuxes, lots of sportcoats, I would say half of the passengers. The rest fell in line with dress shirts and slacks for guys. I don't know if the Matre'd was doing his job of it the passengers were just following reccomendations but it was all good. NO jeans, no ballcaps, no shorts, no Walmart bags worn as an outfit. And remember that guy I mentioned that was the only guy I saw in a a ballcap the first night? Well he had on the coolest tux I had ever seen,,right out af an elegant 1940's cruise. Just outstanding and impecible. Even kids were dressed nice with long shirts an pants

 

I don't want to dwell more on food. We looked at others plates and the 3 people I was with got the lobster, I went prime rib. They mentioned the lobsters were small but very tasty and seriously their eyes were bigger then their stomachs. My friends wife seemed dissappointed by the size of the lobster,,but after her salad, soup, something else then her entree she admitted she was wrong and again was stuffed. What it comes down to is in a resturant they really overfeed you so on a ship you expect the 20 pound lobster which you either take most of home or you glutton yourself,,on a cruiseship (both lines really) they give you a normal portion. The lobsters on HAL are bigger,,but lord you can't starve. I want to add, to this point,,2 dinners a couple of breakfasts and lunches under our belts already, my friends were really happy with the dining experience and the presentation of MDR food. On the first night when they were handed thier menus they couldn't beleive they could order any or all the things on the menu. "And it's free???", part of your fare I had to keep reminding them.

 

I had this timed so we could hit a bingo game (lost again) and get ready for the show. Tonights show was extreme country.

 

Let me digress on a couple of points. Up to this voyage we have logged 35 sea days on HAL with the opprotunity to see 31 shows. I have gone to most no matter what they were. HAL has vegas type shows too but they also go more sofisticated. For example on our Europe cruise we had a lady that was a stage actress whos name I can't remember but she sang the lead in The Phantom in London and a lot of other things on her resume. So I would say half of HAL shows are more high brow and geared for a slightly older crowd. Of those 31 shows my wife has sat through 3 completely. She pretty much hates them. She sat through the opera singer and loved her. She made it through 2 more that were on our first Alaskan voyage but moslty due to peer pressure rather then for enjoyment,,to be part of our group of 6 that normally travel together.

 

So going to a show called Extreme Country starts off one strike,,well really two. Neither of us like country and she hates the Las Vegas shows the most. We are old rock and new alternative rock fans but can appreciate all music. But our friends had to see a production so we went for it. I think this sums it up,,,halfway through this production my wife turns to me and says,,"this is the best show I have ever seen on a cruiseship. I love it". Whats not to love, rockabilly, loud, scantly clad dancers, multiple sets, a really good small orchestra that sounded bigger then they were, very good male and female lead singers, pyrotechnics and it ends with "I'm proud to be an America" (although not all of them were!). Seriously the best Vegas type show I have seen on either line. Nicely done Carnival. The sitelines in the showroom were awful though and I was prepared for that so we made sure,,thanks to CC reviewers and such, to get around the poles and to good views. I think the showroom itself are better on HAL, the comfort of the seating etc, but the production was nicely done.

 

I will contiues the review of day two a bit later,,,writers cramp don't you know...

[FightOnRon]

Thank you so much for the review. We are just a bit older than you, and we love HAL so I was curious about this ship.

 

As you can see, we have sailed CCL and are booked for 2 more. We love the short itin's. so we're trying to get in as many as we can before they move the ships.

 

I love to cruise. Don't care where I go, just give me a decent cabin, food, and a balcony. :D

 

Pat

 

I concur. Although I am glad to learn I can survive without the balcony for future cruises if and when money becomes an issue. I plan on taking this cruise a gain a few more times before I die for sure. It's just nice to get in the open sea, smell the salt air and the ship rolling under your feet. I must have been a sailer in a previous life. It's te journey sometimes, not the destination. And not having to fly,,I live 20 minutes from the port.

[okwriter]

I am enjoying your review! Thanks so much for the effort!

[glrounds]

Great review, Ron. :)

 

Although I fall into the HAL age group these days (I'm 70:rolleyes:), I've always been enthralled by the cross section of cruisers on CCL also. I'm particularly fascinated and enjoy seeing some of the "young'uns" doing the same things I used to do 40 years ago ! ! :D

 

As my cruise history indicates, I'm a very satisfied and loyal CCL cruiser. Living 40 minutes from the pier (2 hours from San Diego), I've always been tempted to give HAL a shot. Your review alleviates some of the fear of being disappointed with HAL so maybe I'll give them a try. Very fair and balanced review. Give us more. :)

[glrounds]

I concur. Although I am glad to learn I can survive without the balcony for future cruises if and when money becomes an issue. I plan on taking this cruise a gain a few more times before I die for sure. It's just nice to get in the open sea, smell the salt air and the ship rolling under your feet. I must have been a sailer in a previous life. It's te journey sometimes, not the destination. And not having to fly,,I live 20 minutes from the port.

 

I'm sure you know this, Ron, but the PARADISE is a Fantasy Class ship built when there was not as much demand for balcony cabins. In any future cruises you may select that are 7-days or longer the ship will have many more balconies to select from and, therefore, a lot more reasonable in balcony pricing (locally the SPLENDOR out of Long Beach and the SPIRIT out of San Diego and Vancouver for the Alaska itinerary)

[Beave8920]

Ron...we sailed the Paradise the week before you, and although we had perfect weather (sorry), your review is right on. My observations are exactly the same as yours! Good job...and we loved the country show too!!! (even though I went draggin and screamin!!!):eek:

[FightOnRon]

After the show we were a bit pumped up. My friends wife needed a smoke so we headed to the Rotterdam bar. While she was puffing away we noticed in the Queen Mary lounge the adult kareoke, or however you spell it. My buddy and myself wandered and while my DW kept his wife company and it was hilarious. I am sorry to say these people couldn't sing worth a hoot. There was one particular Japanese guy (there were a slew of Japanese tourists aboard) and he was doing a Michael Jackson song and he was so terrible it was great. What I couldn't figure out is why there were so many people watching , unless it was for a laugh, then it dawned on me as more were wandereing in that this was to be the adult comedy show next. So we tagged up a booth and waited. The last person was a young lady that beleive she could sing Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Anyone reading this is familiar with that song will understand a disaster was about to occur. Yup,,she was terrible but in that end whan that part that goes heavy rock starts up and she did the head thing rocking her long hair back and forth was really priceless. Very funny and the crowd went wild.

 

As a side note,,on HAL my favorite bar is the Crow's Nest and there was nothing like that on this ship. All HAL ships have a crow's nest. It's right above the bridge and has a 180 degree lookout over the ocean and where you are headed. They have the windows surrounded with reclining lounge chairs so you can get a very nice view looking out, you can't get a seat but if you could the view is fabulous. This is a good chair hog location on HAL ships especially when the ships pull out of ports. Iwas the palce we use for our pre dinner drinks and our leaving port views. HAl generally has people serving snacks during push off. The crows nest becomes a dance venue later too, but more like dancing form the old days not disco, hip hop type stuff.

 

I found nothing like that on the Paradise but the Queen Mary bar was to be our pre dinner drink area. We generally went outside to see push off off either to one of the observation areas or to the Serenitiy area.

 

Anyhow,,we stayed for the guys show, I could find my Fun Times to get his name but we stll are not unpacked. He was funny. I noticed a good mix of ages in here for this but as it went on the 20 somethings seem to tire of him and they left. The rest of us old foogeys hung tough though. I did meet some teens the next day that told me that snuck in and watched an no one tried to make them leave. After this it was time for my bed as I wanted to see Avalon tomorrow and was pretty woozy from my prerfered drinks,,beer and Amaretto,,but the ship was still alive and I am sure the partying went on very late. HAl does start to fold up by midnight. But, my cabin area was quiet and I slept like a rock.

 

As a side note, the friends with us had never been on a ship, which I have mentioned, but also never to Catalina. They live in the San Fransico and have tried a number of times to get to Catalina but never made it. After today they were not so sure they ever would. Also, my firends wife started losing her fear of being on a ship. There was still a bit left but the day at sea made her realize we are in fact not going to hit an ice burg or be torpedoed by a U-boat.

 

One more thing,,my wife made a comment about the passengers. She said she thought there were a lot more nicer fellow passengers on this ship then on HAL in general. Once again I say HAL is a little more sofisticated and really, I was a college kid in the early 70s so you know what I am more like, I haven't completely grown up, just really slowed down. I never met a rude person on HAL, they just seem to have different interests then me. I seem to have more in common with a younger set of people then an older set. I just tire out with the older set!

 

I was to meet the only rude person I would encounter tomorrow on day 3.

 

to be continued......

[FightOnRon]

Ron...we sailed the Paradise the week before you, and although we had perfect weather (sorry), your review is right on. My observations are exactly the same as yours! Good job...and we loved the country show too!!! (even though I went draggin and screamin!!!):eek:

 

For me personally the weather wasn't bad. Yeah, the ship rocked but what seasoned cruiser hasn't been in that. Who it was really bad for were the sun bathers. It just was too windy to lie out in the sun, even though it was more sunny then not. I felt bad for my SF friends because they do like pools and lying in the sun, but it didn't spoil a thing for them either.

 

I am sure,,am I not right,,that all but Fantasy class ships have open roofs over thier pools? HAL has retractable roofs on all ships, I think, so the pools were always useable. But there is no mini golf course on HAL,,as far as I know!

 

 

ANOTHER THOUGHT,,don't know about al CCL ships but HAL ships have cabanas on board too. You can rent a cabana for the day just like you can on beaches and have your very own tent with loungers. On my last ship, the Eurodam, they had these on multiple outside areas.

[FightOnRon]

The rentable cabanas are on one side of the pool on the Lido and on other decks as well.....

[LaurieHoffman]

We sail in about three weeks on the same itineary as you. The ports were not the deciding factor in picking this cruise. The cost and length were. With that in mind, I know my kids and I will have a blast. We have done Elation for 5 nights and last summer the Splendor for 7. This is the first short cruise we have been on in about 5 years. Still looking forward to it.

Can't wait to read more from your review.

 

What catagory were you in? I think you said OV. We have a OV 6D on the Rivera deck....was planning to upgrade if they price went down but it is now over 700.00 total more than I paid!

[STEVENJAN]

 

"I don't want to dwell more on food. We looked at others plates and the 3 people I was with got the lobster, I went prime rib. They mentioned the lobsters were small but very tasty and seriously their eyes were bigger then their stomachs. My friends wife seemed dissappointed by the size of the lobster,,but after her salad, soup, something else then her entree she admitted she was wrong and again was stuffed. What it comes down to is in a resturant they really overfeed you so on a ship you expect the 20 pound lobster which you either take most of home or you glutton yourself,,on a cruiseship (both lines really) they give you a normal portion. The lobsters on HAL are bigger,,but lord you can't starve. I want to add, to this point,,2 dinners a couple of breakfasts and lunches under our belts already, my friends were really happy with the dining experience and the presentation of MDR food. On the first night when they were handed thier menus they couldn't beleive they could order any or all the things on the menu. "And it's free???", part of your fare I had to keep reminding them".

 

Come on Ron, go ahead and dwell!

 

It is not always the quantity but the variety that is fun about cruising.

I know those people that have never cruised ...and probably won't, always say that it's always about the buffets and old people or partying. It isn't but they don't listen.

A day at sea and a good meal to top it off is more then a person can describe so that it is understandable.

 

Also, I agree with you regarding the full menu in your room on HAL. Pretty awesome.

We really enjoyed the Ryndam "Sea of Cortez" cruise. It is definitely a different atmosphere from other cruises. More sedate, a little more classy, Less glitzy......more sleepy as you stated. It made me tired. Lights out at 10 o'clock ( I exaggerate). They do party also.

They also had a string quartet from the Ukraine for after dinner drinks and an assortment of chocolates in one of the lounges. Wonderful.

Your DH would probably like that. Different crowd, no doubt.

 

P.S. My wife is sitting on the edge of her seat waiting to find out who the rude person was.

[FightOnRon]

We sail in about three weeks on the same itineary as you. The ports were not the deciding factor in picking this cruise. The cost and length were. With that in mind, I know my kids and I will have a blast. We have done Elation for 5 nights and last summer the Splendor for 7. This is the first short cruise we have been on in about 5 years. Still looking forward to it.

Can't wait to read more from your review.

 

What catagory were you in? I think you said OV. We have a OV 6D on the Rivera deck....was planning to upgrade if they price went down but it is now over 700.00 total more than I paid!

 

I was in a 6C on the upper deck,,181 to be exact. The price never went down and did go up a lot.

[LivingWild]

Wow! What a review. Much of it is exactly as we saw it but not all...We were also on that cruise and we're sure we ran into you plenty of times. This was the fourth cruise we have taken and our second with Carnival. We went with another couple who has over 10 Carnival cruises under their belt. All of us are between 35 and 43.

 

It was the definitely the best crowd of any cruise we have taken. Nearly everybody was lively, fun, and young spirited. Unlike the RCCL trips we have taken the party kept going 'till 2am easy. The staff was always super friendly and smiles were plentiful. This made up for what we considered less than stellar food. We would have paid extra to have had Applebees or even Denny's for that matter.

 

Even with the poor food the atmosphere and demographic made up for it and then some. We came home feeling like we actually had a real vacation and can't wait to do it again.

[FightOnRon]

It was the definitely the best crowd of any cruise we have taken. Nearly everybody was lively, fun, and young spirited. Unlike the RCCL trips we have taken the party kept going 'till 2am easy. The staff was always super friendly and smiles were plentiful. This made up for what we considered less than stellar food. We would have paid extra to have had Applebees or even Denny's for that matter.

 

 

Could I ask where you ate most of your meals? I am curious and wondering if the time one eats has something to do with it.

 

We never ate lunch at the Lido. Our friend did the first day and didn't like it. We ate any lunch foods we had from the grills or pizza and the sandwich deli,,,but did get salads and desserts from the buffett. Found nothing wrong with it ,,FYI, Pizza on HAL exactly like pizza on CCL.

 

For dinner we were in the Elation between 645 and 745. I sometimes wonder if food is best between first and second dinners,,heated up but not cooling yet. Of the 16 meals there total,,one meal was deemed bad by our friends wife. It was one of the fish meals witht he word SPA next to it,,said it was way to dry. Its for sure is not 5 star. After rethinking it I would say HAL is 4 star and this maybe 3+, but our meals were better then Dennys. I can't say a steak on either line is as good as the filet I get for 40 bucks at my favorite place.

[FightOnRon]

Little more starnge on CCL then HAL. FOr HAL its 20 bucks for 3 games,,3 cards per game so 9 chances. CCL was 20 bucks for one game of 3 cards or 3 chances. Except once they played some wierd regressive game really when the amount went down,,one once they did a progressive one where things went up. Strange. YOu had to pay more attention on CCL wth wierd games. HAL,if no one one the pots rolled to the next game and eventually all the money was given out. It was more a parimutal thing where money was awrded by number of players n each game. bottomline,,HAL wins the bingo contests.

[FightOnRon]

Wow! What a review. Much of it is exactly as we saw it but not all...We were also on that cruise and we're sure we ran into you plenty of times. .

 

Very possible. Do you ever notice if you se someone and they stand out to you, you will see them again and again. I have alwyas lived in a suburb of Los Angeles so I had always believed people that live in the small towns of 2000 or less are lying when they say everyone in town knows everyone. But if you spend a week on a cruiseship it becomes very believable. I assume the resons is there are many on a ship with the same dislikes and likes as yourself so therefore you run into the same people.

 

Probably won't get much review done today,,we have to go out all day. Stya tuned for tommorrws installment,,unless this gets pushed so far back I never find it again.

[LaurieHoffman]

FightonRon,

 

Did you ever use the showers in the gym? Or the sauna or steam room? Was there a charge for those?

 

Looking forward to hearing what you did in Catalina (if you made it) and Ensenada...