Suzila

I bought the Space Bags for storage here in the house. I was able to get them to go completely flat, with the vacuum, and under my bed is now an extra quilt, 4 pillows, and a blanket, all in one bag. HOWEVER! The bag filled back up with air, so it's extremely tough to get out from under the bed everytime i need something. Thus, I would not recommend the Space Bags. A major disappointment for me. When we're on the cruise, we put our dirty clothes in a drawer. Then, when we pack to go home, we just flatten everything, doesn't matter whether it's folded or not, and put it back in the suitcase. When I get home, I wash everything anyway, whether we've worn it or not. I can't stand the smell from a suitcase, so everything gets cleaned again when we get home.

When we were on Carnival paradise a few weekends ago, they had all the tvs set to the football playoff games. You know how they always have soccer on the public tvs? It was football. It was a lot of fun watching 4 games with people we didn't know, rooting for all different teams. Lots of seats, lots of drinks, lots of food. With such a great price, I don't think you can pass it up. Go for it!

Not too strange, in my opinion. We also have never spent any money in the casinos onboard, and when we visit Vegas (quite often, because my son and daughter-in-law live there) we don't gamble in the casinos. It truly depresses me to watch people spending their hard-earned cash in casinos, hoping to hit it big.

I'd also have to say Alaska. overall, with the Panama Canal as a second. For kids, I'd suggest the Caribbean, if you're into water sports, etc., or Alaska if you like adventure. My kids loved Alaska.

In the 1950's, my family lived in New York, and my uncle took the Queen Mary to England. The entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc.), all got to see him off. It was so exciting to see such a big ship, and get to go on it. At the time I remember thinking you have to be reeeaaally rich to go on a trip like that. Didn't think I'd ever have the chance. In the early 1970's my future mother-in-law took a cruise to Hawaii on an old ship. She had a bunk room (teeny tiny, and very dark) that she shared with someone she didn't know, and my future husband and I went onboard to see her settled. The ship was rocking IN PORT! and we both got sick. We swore we would NEVER go on a cruise. Just about 20 years later, our children were about 10 and 11 years old, and hubby and I decided to take a 3 day cruise on Royal Caribbean Viking Serenade, ourselves, without kids...just to try it out. We stood in front of the ship before we boarded and looked at each other and said, "What the heck are we doing? We're both going to be sick as dogs the entire trip". Well, we weren't. We loved it. We got off the ship, went to the travel agent and booked another cruise immediately, with kids this time. We've been cruising ever since. So, I guess we were in our 40's when we went the first time.

We went to the one on Royal Caribbean this past summer, and the hors d'oeurves were good. We don't drink, so the punch they served was not great. They also gave out very nice tote bags to all who attended. There wasn't a past guest party on our quickie 3 day Carnival cruise last week, but there was a captain's party, which we skipped.

I guess I'm somewhat different. I will walk through the shops onboard but never find anything I really need. As far as souvenirs go, I take a lot of pictures of each place we go...I guess that would be my souvenir. Ray did buy me a really nice diamond ring in 2005 on one of our cruises in the jewelry shop onboard...three diamonds. It was one diamond for each 10 years we were married. That's it. Just not a big souvenir shopper.

First choice is a city tour, in a new location. In Ensenada, Mexico, where we've been countless times, because we take that cruise as often as possible, we get off the ship with a giant box of Oreos from Costco, and hand them out to the Indian kids who are selling Chiclets. It's a thrill to see their faces light up when they are offered cookies. We also head to one specific store that sells stained glass and add to our collection. In Juneau we go white water rafting. In Skagway we like to do the dog sledding. We're not fans of the beach or water, so our snorkeling days are over. If we are in the Caribbean, we try to do whatever city tours are available, but so far we haven't found anything we really raved about. We tried to do the ruins in Cozumel, but it was two weeks after the first hurricane in 2005, and they cancelled the tour. The reason was the ruins were ruined! Ha ha! In Victoria we did the Butchart gardens and loved it- would go back again and again. In Vancouver we've done the suspension bridge and would do that again too.

While I also am not fond of the disembarkation process, my least favorite thing about a cruise is what I've been doing this week....packing. It's not even the packing so much as it is making arrangements, and remembering to do everything for everyone else, and writing everything down for everyone not going with us, just so 'I' can go on a nice relaxing cruise. And this one will be short, so by the time I do unwind, the cruise will be OVER! Phooey!

For some reason I was under the impression that a passport had to be renewed every 10 years. My son has had his passport for 10 years this year, and ours is at 9 years, this year. However, I looked this up at http://travel.state.gov/passport/get/renew/renew_833.html and it looks like it doesn't have to be renewed for 15 years. Am I missing something, or has this recently changed, or was I wrong to begin with? I was totally freaked out when we originally applied for the passports because we had to send the original birth certificates through the mail. I see where we don't have to do that, but they do ask for the original passport for a renewal. Isn't there any better way to do this so the original documents don't leave our possession? Ugh.

In understand what you're saying, Jeff. Our next door neighbor is always on a healthy diet...when he's home. BUT! They go on 2 week cruises at least 5 times a year! Then he wonders why they gain weight! LOL!

Princess Royal Caribbean Carnival Norwegian Cruise Lines

My favorite is also the unlimited fruit. That's actually what I miss the most when we get off the ship. It's a pain in the neck to have to cut all that fruit. I usually end up just having a banana or an orange, apple, etc., rather than cut it all up and serve it together.

We went directly to the dogsled camp this past summer...didn't do the helicopter part of the excursion...and I can attest...that was probably the highlight of the trip. I'd definitely recommend it.

The first Carnival cruise we took was years ago down to Baja, and we didn't like it. We said we'd never go on it again. Years later I won a cruise on Carnival for 4...who would turn that down? We went, and loved it...it was so different this time around, and we've been on Carnival many times since. We have a quick getaway on Carnival in just a few weeks that we're looking forward to.

Awwww. Thanks for letting us know, Jason. Cheryl, feel better soon! Sue

We haven't sailed out of there as a launch point, but we have stopped there a number of times. I like the idea you can get right off the ship and the trolley to take you around town is close by. Plus, we have family and friends who live there, so it's always a nice place to stop.

Well, it's a little early here on the west coast, but if Jeff and Howard can dance with you at 4 something in the morning, I guess I can handle dancing at 6 something! Congrats on getting the docs! Start packing!

Have a fun, relaxing weekend!

This was a good post...thanks Jason. It amazes me how many times my husband shakes hands with people. We take our pups to the dog park every day and see our best friends there. Every single day the guys shake hands...good grief, it's like you haven't seen each other for years! Can't you just say hello? Oprah did a thing on women washing their hands in the public restrooms. Some just run water over them, Some just wash the palms. You're supposed to soap up the entire hand, then they suggest singing Happy Birthday...that's if you don't know how long 20 seconds is. Most people do not wash their hands for 20 seconds. I do a lot of hand washing myself. I have heavy duty medication I take for my Rheumatoid Arthritis...if I get sick I can land in the hospital. I carry the anti-bacterial in my purse for the times I can't get to a sink, and am very conscious about not touching my face during the day. So far, so good. Since I stopped working at the elementary school I have very few colds. I remember seeing a news report where they said that Americans, in particular, have a very bad habit of using their hands for everything...eating food, especially. Chicken fingers, hamburgers, etc.

Maybe you shouldn't go on this cruise, Cheryl. With all the changes Jason is making to the website, you won't know what to expect when you come home! Ha ha!

We're going on a quickie weekend cruise to Baja on the Carnival Paradise. Been on it numerous times and we expect a fun weekend over the Martin Luther King JR holiday. I can't wait...think I'll start packing! Ha ha!

I'm soooo envious. Congratulations on booking!

I haven't done Hawaii yet by cruising (we've been there many times on land vacations), but I just wanted to give my pros and cons of a Panama Canal cruise. We did the canal in April of 1999. It was an 11 day cruise, from Miami to Acapulco. We got off at Acapulco because of time restraints for us, and also because we have done the Mexican Riviera portion of the trip many times. The only con for us was that we did this trip in April, while school was in session and 95% of the people on the cruise were retirees. I'd have to say the average age was 70-75. Because of this, the entertainment was geared to older people (we are in our 50's), i.e.: Frank Sinatra-type entertainers, Marty Allen was the comedian and he did the same routines he used to do on the Dean Martin Show, etc. People also tended to go to sleep early, so the nightlife onboard was not what we expected. That part was disappointing. The good part was the excursions were fantastic, seeing the canal was amazing, and we did actually meet some very nice (older) people on the ship whom we have kept in touch with all these years. We had our friends with us on that cruise, which was a saving grace for us. I don't think we would have enjoyed it as much if others our own age weren't with us. Because of that cruise we have only taken 7 day cruises since that time. When we retire, we will go for a longer cruise again, but it seemed to us that younger people, who still have careers, have a harder time getting away for the longer cruises.

My next door neighbors are on Freedom of the Seas this week. Oh gosh, he's such a complainer...can't wait to hear about their trip when they come home.