Tamara

jewellery

Go for the glitz. You won't be overdressed and where else are you going to wear the "rather elegant gown"? Wear it on formal night and revel in your beauty and glamour.

Living in Vancouver, I often see the cruise ships moored downtown, which is what got me interested in an Alaskan cruise in the first place many years ago. This morning I was meeting a friend near the cruise ship pier and I was a bit early so took a walk around Canada Place. The Oosterdam and the Coral Princess were docked there. The Coral Princess is huge, row upon row of verandah cabins. The whole ship looks like a piece of blue glass. It's been several weeks since I fulfilled my dream of an Alaskan cruise, departing from the same place where I strolled this morning. It was a beautiful, sunny Vancouver day today and I was content to be staying in town and enjoying my city. Still, I couldn't help but think of the adventures in store for all the lucky folks that would be boarding those ships. Saw lots of "cruise ship people" in town. Not quite sure how tourists are so easy to pick out, besides the sneakers and khaki shorts, the city maps are usually a good clue. One woman stopped me to ask where the best shopping is downtown and what she should make sure to see. She had a list a mile long. It was a bit of fun to help her with that. So, seeing the ships all the time is a constant, delightful reminder of my last trip (and maybe a future one).

The one delightful couple that we had as tablemates at our table of eight made up for the rest. One couple didn't show up half the time and we waited for them before starting dinner and then the woman showed up in jeans on formal night. The other couple - total overbearing snobs. My husband is a PhD, we're related to royalty blah blah blah. I'm thinking though, that when we're complaining about tablemates, if they're not reading what we write! Probably wouldn't recognize themselves.

Tobago...Ottawa

I buy little pieces of art that reflect the place I've been. Tiny paintings, sculptures, photo prints, etc. That way, reminders of my travels are always around my home. They don't have to be expensive, as there are local "starving artists" all over the world. I stay away from the real touristy stuff sold on beaches, etc. I do have an extensive magnet collection though, covering the entire front door of the fridge. I'm soon going to have to buy one of those double door types so I have more space. My friends that travel always buy me the tackiest magnet they can find.

Skipper, I also speak Russian and it's true that Russians are always surprised when someone speaks their language. It's not too common. My mother was Russian so that's how I know the language, but I can only imagine what sort of intrigue is involved with your "US Government" training!

The time passes exponentially as the cruise date gets closer. You're feeling all smug and prepared and then YIKES have to do this and buy that and then it's a panic. All part of the fun.

I definitely wasn't offering to shuttle people around, especially since I take the bus everywhere! I do think it's helpful for people to be able to ask someone that lives in a destination city about hotels, restaurants, activities, etc. Glossy brochures present hotels as all being bits of paradise, when in fact a local might know that certain hotels are not that great, have reputations for certain activities, etc. People might hear about the newest, expensive "in" restaurant, when a local might know that there is a little out-of-the way place that has been around for ever and serves better food than any trendy spot. Travel books might tell you about the best shopping areas - places that locals would probably stay away from. For example, in Vancouver, Robson Street is on the "must-see" list. There are at least a half dozen more interesting places to shop that you may not read about. That's the sort of information that I always appreciate getting from locals when I travel and is the sort of thing that I'm very willing to share here for people that are travelling to Vancouver.

Don't worry about taking up too much space as a newcomer. I flooded this board with questions before my cruise to Alaska last May and everyone was very helpful. So pleasant, in fact, that they've yet to get rid of me. The guest that never leaves!

I'm really enjoying the discussion that this topic has started. Reading people's opinions about thong bathing suits and hairy bits has caused me to examine my own ideas about what is appropriate in public. I find that I am all over the map in this regard, but my logic makes sense to me (my spouse calls it Tamaralogic, as if was incomprehensible to anyone but myself) I'm pretty much anything-goes in a pool or beach setting, but think that topless or nude areas might be set aside, lest the sight of the human body offend some people. In restaurants or anyplace where there is food served, though, that's when I get totally grossed out by guys going without a shirt. And if they're wearing a tank top and are really hairy, that to me is not pleasant. If a guy was wearing a tank top and was not hairy, that would be more OK. That is probably very unfair and I do apologize to the hairy, tank top wearing men out there. I don't dislike hair on men, in fact, rather like it, but there's something about that hair-food mix that creeps me out. Yet, I don't expect women to cover their hair when they're eating. If there are any CruiseCrazy psychologists out there, maybe you can give me some insight into that?

Yes, Jennifer and I are definitely two of the highlights of the city! There is a very easy way to predict the weather in Vancouver. If you can't see the mountains, it's raining. If you can see the mountains, it's going to rain.

if you ask to change tables because of tablemates, though, you run the risk of jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Your new crowd might be even worse.

Have you ever had reason to request a different table at dinner? I'm told that it can be discreetly done after a word with the maitre'd. Poor table location, table-mates from h*ll, and what other reasons might there be for requesting a change?

Scoozie's is great, glad you found it. I always enjoyed having lunch there when I worked downtown.

I don't find thong undies (or "butt floss", as I call them) too comfortable. Seems the goal has always been to keep one's underwear from, uhhh...how to put this nicely..scrunching up in there, so why wear something that is meant to be, uh....there.

I think that bathing suits and summer wear and nude beaches are all about comfort and enjoying the sun and freedom and not about how you're displaying yourself. Why would people say, "That fat woman shouldn't be wearing shorts"? She should be wearing shorts, because it's comfy for her and it's hot out and if she's eating an ice cream cone when her chubby legs are hanging out, who cares? Most people don't look great in a bathing suit or a Speedo or a thong or nude, but they're loving the sun and the swimming and the joy of being free from usual restrictions. It's not about looking good, and, I think, most children and teens see a lot more than what is offered on a cruise ship, on the videos that they watch.

Hmmm. hard to blame post-cruise laziness for that length of time!

HAL said they would check the next three cruises after ours, but they've not found the camera.

Chinatown is...interesting. I think Chinatowns in many cities are not in themselves scary, but are often near sort of not the best places in town. Vancouver, as with many port cities and large cities, is plagued by problems with drugs. Our Downtown Eastside has the poorest population in Canada. In the city with the highest real estate prices and living costs in Canads, you can imagine what sort of contrasts we have here. My bus home from downtown passes through Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside, and I often see people that are obviously tourists that have taken a wrong turn and wound up in not the greatest neighbourhood! Clutching their bags and looking bewildered and a bit panicky. It's an edgy place, to be sure, but not at all like some boroughs in large cities where you are definitely in danger if you find yourself lost there. Chinatown used to be the only place to get a real Chinese meal. Now that we have such a large Chinese population here, you don't need to go to Chinatown for the real thing. Still, it's worth a visit. In the daytime.

Don't forget that I live here and am very willing to help Alaska bound CruiseCrazies with anything to do with the city. (shopping and restaurants a specialty!)

Mother-in-law left her one-use camera behind in the cabin. Can't believe this happened, as we were so careful about checking every drawer, etc. (apparently, not careful enough) Anyway, fired off an email to the HAL lost and found department, but no luck. Really a shame, because she got some good shots that I didn't get on my digital camera. I'm so afraid of heights that I couldn't get close to a railing or lean over a bridge to get the best shot, so my 70 year old MIL got those ones! Which leaves us with the question, when someone finds a disposable camera in a drawer, why wouldn't they turn it in? Can't condone but could understand someone keeping an expensive 35mm camera. Surely, a person wouldn't keep a one-use camera and get the pictures developed? A bit risky, since you don't know what's on them. Oh, but wait, I've done that myself...(and no, I didn't steal a camera).. Last year, when I was in Paris with my friend Jackie, we were at the Eiffel Tower. We found a used up roll of film on a park bench. Probably someone was sitting there and changing rolls, placed the used one next to them and then forgot it. We thought that would be so heartbreaking, so we sat on that bench for about an hour, taking in the passing sights and hoping that the film's owner would come back. They didn't, so we took the film. We could have left it there, I guess, but we really thought that there wasn't much hope of it being cared for. We thought, maybe there is something on there that could identify the owner and we could contact them somehow. Then Jackie thought, what if there is some really sinister stuff on there and when she goes to pick up the developed photos, the police are waiting for her? Anyway, curiousity won out and she had the film developed and there was absolutely nothing that could identify the photo takers and nothing remotely criminal about the photos. There were some great shots from the Seine boat cruise which we hadn't done, so we just integrated those photos into our own. So, I'm thinking, maybe that lost film karma has come back to haunt me? Maybe I should have left that roll of film on the park bench in Paris.

On offer on the Volendam was tooth whitening by the onboard dentist! Can a cruise on the MS Liposuction be far behind???

I included the complaint on the evaluation at the end of the cruise and then sent an email when I got back. I wonder why smail mail would get more response than email?

Has anyone tried this? Seemed that they were really promoting it on our cruise, memos every day about getting a spot in there, but, whenever I passed by there, the place was pretty much empty. They seem to seat people near the front so that people passing by will see that there are people eating there. Wonder if the food and service is so much better than in the dining room? Though, may be a place to get away if you don't like the people at your table.