LifeIsCruising

... in the dining room that is! I'm just curious what others wear. DW has her two "formal night" outfits that she takes along for every cruise. I think she figures "what the heck, we'll never see any of these people again and these are nice outfits". I do much the same by wearing my tux (bought for a real deal on ebay) The only problem is that all our photos taken on formal night look the same. I say thats a problem but its really not if I think "why buy more, they all look the same" What do YOU do? What are YOUR feelings on this?

The Fascination was our very first cruise. I often wonder if we did her again if she would be as magical as the first time. Thanks for the review!

Count it. You're spending the night on a legendary ship. I can't wait to hear about this one!

Chat room would be cool alright!

Actually you can change from TA to TA. I did it just yesterday with a Celebrity booking. While the "rules" vary from line to line a little bit for the most part it will take both agencies faxing in a letter to the cruise line stating the information they require. They'll want to know all the particulars of the cruise booking and it will need to be on agency letterhead, signed by someone at the agency, In extreme cases I've been able to get the booking transferred without a letter from the old agency but that's not an easy one to pull off. Remember, the cruise line wants happy guests. Every time I've done this the pricing, cabin credit, all the details came along with the booking.

Cool pics, thanks for posting them

We're driving to Miami this weekend, not for a cruise :undecided: but for a block party at American Airlines Arena, right down the street from Bayside and all the other hotels of which I bet we've stayed in all. Oddly, the Raddisson came up on Priceline so that was that but now I wonder if anyone has any first-hand knowledge about it?

It seems that the "proper" thing to say is that we all buy it. But I am learning that not every one does. Actually I am learning that only about 3 in 10 do. Do you? If so why? If not why? Tell the truth

If you're flying in and out of FLL I'd suggest getting your car there. Budget has a Fastbreak location there. If you're a member and use your Fastbreak number when you make your reservation online it is just about as easy as it gets. After you collect your luggage you walk right out the door and into the parking garage where the car you booked or better is waiting for you. Return is even simpler. You just pull up and the scan the car and give you a receipt right there. Check it though because getting it fixed later is a pain in the neck Also, be sure your home auto insurance covers your car rental (most do). If so, decline their insurance every time it is offered to you either online or in person. If you ever take it once its really difficult to delete it from your profile. I learned that one the hard way. Allow adequate time to get from FLL to the Port of Miami. Allow a minimum of 25 minutes and, depending on the time of day, as much as an hour and a half if you really get stuck in rush hour. We paid special attention to our flight arrival times just for that reason. I am assuming that your rental is not just for transportation to or from the port, although it might very well be the most cost effective way to go depending on your group size. If there's just two of you a small compact car, a four door for easy luggage access, will do just fine and cost you way less than a cab or even shuttle bus. If you group is larger, consider cabs, the super shuttle or other ground transporation options I'd give you a link to more information but I guess that is not allowed. Click on the little WWW below and look for "Start Here" then "Ground Transportation"

We’d not sailed to Costa Maya before so the substitution in place of hurricane devastated Princess Cays on our Star Princess cruise last October was a welcome one. Our ship docked early and we met friends we’d met and come to know on this cruise to go to the beach. If we’d wanted to we could have stayed right there and made a day of it. In a setup somewhat reminiscent of St Maarten, there’s a substantial shopping area at the end of the pier. But that’s about as much in common as the two places have. We were met with the typically aggressive sales force while walking through a maze of shops designed to parade us right past many merchants on our way to the ground transportation we needed to get to Majahaual which is spelled totally wrong, a different beach/shopping area not too far from there. The cost was reasonable to transfer ($3 there, $2 back), and the system was well organized. There we found a “friend” or shall I say a “friend” found us who helped find a good place to park for the day and shops that had what we wanted. Manalo was his name and if I can get a picture up here he’s be a good one to look up if you travel here. We felt right at home all day and somewhat protected. I think the way it works is that one if one of these guys has you as “theirs” then nobody else is supposed to bug you. It kind of reminded me of a similar situation we’d experienced before in Jamaica. Those cab drivers there are kind of possessive too. It was cool. The beach there was nothing to write home about but we had one of he nicest days ever in port sitting Oceanside, being serv ed Corona’s and relaxing. And all for a grand total of about $30 for the two of us. Nice place, I’d go back.

OOH! I just got mine too!

The way we look at it is that if they're leaving the Space Shuttle on the launch pad then we're ok here in the Orlando area. I was there earlier today and so is the Shuttle!

Thanks for posting your review. I've been looking for anything I can find on this ship and appreciate the information.