jbond

We always take out insurance. We've only used it one time, last year when we were stranded in Barcelona. Our insurance company, CSA, paid up immediately without any hassle. Several people who were stranded with us didn't get a payout because of several technical reasons. Needless to say, I sold a lot of people on CSA.

We haven't sailed Explorer, but we have sailed Adventure and Voyager. You are in for a real treat. As rogue said, get tickets for the ice show, it's very good and a unique experience. On the big ships, we loved the Royal Promenade, it's truly amazing. We had breakfast every morning in the Promenade Cafe, just coffee and danish/croissant. It was so quiet and peaceful. You're visiting some neat islands. We love San Juan. Beautiful, historic and great food. The ships now dock at the new pier and it's a taxi drive to Old San Juan, but once there, you can walk around the Old Town with ease and visit El Morro. Old San Juan is one of my favourite "just walk around" cities. If we are booking ship's tours, we always book on line. It's easy and you avoid the disappointment of the tour being fully booked when you get on the ship. If you change your mind, you can cancel them upto 24 hours before the trip date/time. St Thomas is the most beautiful harbour in the Caribbean, in my opinion. Be on your balcony as you sail in, order room service breakfast and just enjoy the view. It's also a very pretty island and in town you can get tours around the island that are identical to the ship's island tour for a few dollars less. They'll take you out to Sapphire Beach, Magens Bay, Drakes Seat and Mountain Top where you can have a great banana daquiri. I know I've written too much, but you are visiting great islands.

I guess, yes means it's your first time in Jamaica. Then I would definitely recommend Ocho. For a first time visit I would recommend an organized tour and one that includes Dunn's River Falls. You don't have to climb the falls, but they are beautiful and the beach at base is very pretty. It's where I met up with Honey Ryder in Dr No. :grin: Inland from Ocho, Jamaica is very beautiful and a drive through Fern Gully is always a treat. We were last there in September. We just walked around town, did some shopping and had lunch in a really ramshackle looking bar, but the jerk chicken and pork was excellent and the Red Stripe really cold.

Did they give you they same table they gave us on Brilliance last year, second level and behind the waterfall. We've cruised RCI 20 times and I couldn't believe the hassle the head waiter gave us about changing the table. I finally went to the concierge and asked him to take care of it, which he did promptly. We haven't cruised Jewel, but have cruised Brilliance(3), Radiance and Serenade. We will be on Jewel in June.

Ocho Rios, I think that there are more options than in Montego. But you can't go wrong with either, you can still get out to see the beatiful island. Is it your first time in Jamaica?

Have a great time, it's a great itinerary and Coral is a beautiful ship. We did the reverse, LA to FLL, last September. Have some octupus cerviche on the beach in Huatulco for me.

on every ship already. Too bad that they had to wait for a disaster like this to happen before these things were mandated. :cry: I think that you may have mis read Jason's statement. means that they are already in place.

I don't see the "bad publicity" affecting prices at all. I think people are smart enough to figure out that it is media hype and cruises are still very safe and good value for money. Our Jewel cruise in June has very few cabins available. I checked a couple of weeks ago on the RCI webpage and all D1 category cabins are gone . There are some E1's left, but the price is almost $200 more pp than we paid for a DI for both of us. E1 is one cat lower than D1.

The sail back from Hawaii to Ensenada was about the same as LA to Hawaii. It was just an overnight sail from Ensenada to LA.

Thanks everyone. I've submitted a review, so Jason should post it soon.

I've uploaded our island princess photo album at http://community.webshots.com/user/jbond105/3 Hope that you get a chance to look at them.

We have arrived back from our very wet Hawaii cruise on the Island Princess. We have never experienced such bad weather in our lives. It rained every day, and I mean rained, except for the last two days. Then it was so cold and windy, you couldn't go on deck. Despite the weather we had a great time and met some really nice people. I'm busy editing my photos right now, but I'll write a cruise summary soon.

That's a pretty interesting question. In the past people have been held responsible for starting forest fires and have been subject to paying for the cost. It would be a major deterrent if Princess sued the offending passenger for damages. But then of course I'm sure there are many who believe that it must be Princess's fault, insufficient smoke detectors and no spinkler systems on the balconies.

Don't even think of using public transportation from the airport to your hotel, too much hassle, especially after that long flight. We paid 21 euros from the airport to our hotel on La Rambla. You don't have to hassle over prices, all the taxis are metered. You pay extra for luggage. From the hotel to the dock was 19 euros. Don't worry about getting in late. Barcelona doesn't wake up until around 10 PM.

Which airlines are you flying? We have flown British Airways twice to Barcelona and United/Iberia once. Three different experiences. BA to Heathrow and BA from Heathrow to Barcelona. No sweat, easy, check in luggage at LAX and pick it up in BCN. No changing terminals at LHR. BA to LHR and the BA from London Gatwick to BCN. Not as much hassle as I thought, but not the best way. Check you flight itinerary to see which airport your connection is. We had to pick up our luggage at LHR and transfer to Gatwick, about an hour drive away. United to LHR and Iberia, LHR to BCN. No problem with luggage, but we had to change terminals at LHR. It's a bit of a hassle but it's well organised. It takes about 30 minutes to change terminals. Clearing customs in Barcelona is even easier than in the UK. From getting off the airplane to getting your luggage and being outside in the taxi line should be less than 30 mins. I don't like using ATM's in Europe. We were limited to 200 euros a day and when touring with a group there was little time to look for ATM's, especially if you are on a ships tour. I prefer to take them with me, and supplement our needs by using the exchange on the ship. It may be a little more expensive, the Brilliance was charging $1.26 last October and the ATM's and credit card exchange was $1.23 I'm on vacation and my time is much more valuable than 3 cents on the dollar. Make sure you do have some small bills when you arrive. Taxis will only accept euros and don't like to make change.

Well, our cruise is almost over. We have three days left. The weather really left something to be desired. It has rained every single day. However, we found out that you don't need sunshine to have a great time. In Honolulu, we went to the Polynesian Clurtural Center, It was like walking around with a hose pipe over our heads, but it was a great experiene, mainly due to our wonderful guide Darrell. The shows were absolutely awesome, the landscaping was out of this world. In Maui we visited the Haleakula crater. I'm sure it was very impressive, but we could only see about 40' and it was cold as ****. In Hilo we went to the Kilauea crater. What an awesome site. This time the rain made it more impressive. The steam rising from the crater was like viewing another world. I'll post again, if the internet connection holds out, right now it is very sporadic. Aloha

Where we live, a clean t-shirt and jeans without holes are considered smart casual. So we love to dress up. We are currently on Island Princess and I'm disappointed with tthe dress standard. On formal nights it's like most cruises, lots of tuxedos and beautiful gowns. The remaining nights are a total mixup of anything from sweats to cocktail dresses and suits. We've seen men going into the dining room wearing T-shirts, jeans and open toed sandals. I have nothing against T-shirts and jeans :grin: , but most men don't have very delicate looking toes. :sealedlips:

We have booked wih local ours, the cruise line and winged it it by ourselves. If you are in the Caribbean, I would recommend doing a first time port with the cruise line, then you can explore from there. We are on our way back to LA from Hawaii on the Island Princess, we did all our tours with the cruise line. It was no our first time in Hawaii, but when we compared our tours with other people, we paid a little more, but we had a much better experience. You get what you pay for.

Hi everyone, Today we should have docked in Nawiliwili, Kauai, but because of the big swells the captain decided that it was too risky. A little disappointing, but obviously the smart decision. Instead, we sailed around the island. It was an awesome trip. As we sailed down the Na'pali Coast, a spectacle in it's own right, we got into the middle of a pod (or whatever a large group of whales is called) of humpback whales and dolphins. It was absolutely incredible. We have never seen so many whales and dolphins. We sat on our balcony, well we hung over the rail most of the time, and we were treated to a really spectacular display. We saw water spouts everywhere. People were yelling out "Over there" all over our side of the ship, it was difficult to see everything. Of course I tried to take photos, but whales and dolphins have no concept of what creates a Kodak Moment, and I got a lot of shots of the Pacific. It turned out to be one of the most memorable days of all our cruises. So far it's been a great cruise. Not as relaxing as I thought it would be, in fact those sea days get to be very strenuous. The food has been first class. Last night was Italian Night and I had a rabbit pasta dish, really tasty. Tonight is lobster, I'm not a big lobster fan, but I'm going to try it tonight with a California Chardonnay recommended at the Maitre D' s wine tasting yesterday. The entertainment has been excellent. We have only missed one show, and they put on two different shows a night. Tomorrow we dock/tender in Maui. We are visiting the Maui Ocean Center and the Volcano National Park. The next four days are going to be busy. If I can, I'll let you know what's happening, but I'll definitely post again around Friday, if not before. One amusing thing, we called our neighbours this morning back in Bear Valley, where we live. Since Thursday night they have had 12 inches of snow. Gee, I do miss that. :grin: It's almost time to go have another martini. :rolleyes:

Thanks everyone, we're on the Island, second day at sea. It's quite cool on deck, having to spend most of our time in the bars. :grin: It has wamed up a little today and the seas are really smooth. On Saturday we'll arrive in Nawiliwili, Kauai. Talk to you soon.

We leave early tomorrow for a LA-Hawaii-LA cruise for the next 15 days. Hope the weather improves. See you in about two weeks, need to go and pack. Aloha.

How sceptical. Surely these big donors donate their money to the person that they consider best suited for the job. Do you really believe they do it for future business favours? :shocked:

the only thing that surprised me is that it took them so long to come to a decision and then implement I don't think it took them any length of time to make the decision. They just held onto the information until they were ready to announce. It also appears from the passengers statement that they were still misleading people.

We pay the deposit and then our TA makes the final payment when it's due. Never thought about doing it any other way.

Congratulations, it's a great feeling. Just got an e-mail from our TA to tell us our docs for our March 7th cruise on Island Princess are in the mail.