Tut

Here's a picture that's on MSNBC right now.

Congratulations on your anniversary and on your first ever cruise. There isn't anything like it. And welcome to CruiseCrazies - the best BBoard around. Our first cruise was a 3-day cruise to Nassau (for my 50th b-day) and we were hooked. There are plenty of people around to answer any of your questions and bear in mind that you're not going to be the only ones on their first cruise. Everyone is friendly and helpful. Make sure you follow all the instructions on your docs or whatever else you have and, once you drop off your bags, you'll be amazed at how wonderful everything is. To me, that's one of the starting points of our vacations. Drop the bags off and have a ball.

Joey - hope you and David have a great time. We've never flown into Heathgrow (yet!) but have flown into Germany. Not one problem with anything. We rented a car because we were just doing the tourist thing for two weeks and then we were off. We flew out of Canada and had to go thru customs when we got back from our trip and our luggage didn't make the flight. We went to the airline desk and they said it would be on the next plane and it was. I think air travel to Europe is easier than air travel in the continental US. It seems to be a lot less trouble. Just my opinion. Have a Blast!!!!

Well. I guess there's nothing for it. I'll have to get gussied up. Not that I mind because my sister got me a real nice shawl for Christmas that will be perfect. Also, my daughter-in-law knitted me a dressy little scarf which will work perfectly too. See, all my whining for nothing.....

Hi - my full name is Suzanne too. You don't see too many spelled that way. Anyway, we're not going out of Galveston but we are cruising out of Miami on 5/5/06 to the Bahamas on the Majesty of the Seas (RCI lines). (edited for spelling. they need a spell check on this board :grin: )

If you have a Yahoo e-mail account, you can set up some alerts there. Aslo, there's a download for Southwest airlines that is called "Ding" and it gives you some great airfares if you book almost immediately, as soon as you get "dinged". Here's the web site to download it from http://www.southwest.com/ding/ We've never used it but from what I've seen, some of the fares are unbelievable.

Thanks for the replies. My husband informed me that there was one on the last 3-night cruise we took on the RCI. I had forgotten about it. It was, like, six or seven years ago... :smiley:

Hi - we're going on the Royal Caribbean in May on a 3-day cruise and I was looking at the FAQ's on their web site. The question was "what to wear" and it stated that for a 3 or 4 day cruise, there was 1 formal night. Who has gone on the RCC? Is this true for a 3-day cruise? I really hadn't planned on bringing any formal clothes. We've been on quite a few 3-day cruises and this is the first one that says there's 1 formal night. Any insight on this? Really looking foward to the cruise but don't really want to dress up for dinner. You know what I mean? 3 days isn't enough time for me to get out of my "laid back" mode. I know there are other alternatives to dinning room dinners but we'd like to eat there every night. If it means dressing formal, we will but I'd really rather not.

Yes you can, Joey. Everything's good to go except for the limo from the airport. I'm hoping that between now and the time we land tomorrow night, we'll hear from them. Thanks for all your encouragment and I'll make sure to drink a toast to all of you. With our on board credit, we've decided to splurge and get a bottle of champagne........bring on the bubbly.

Wow! That's really neat and congratulations on your 27 years together come November. Want to know another strange coincidence? Larry's birthday is Nov. 17th and mine is Nov. 28th. Do you think somehow we're related!!!! :grin:

After much stress and waiting, you're finally there Relaxing, relaxing, relaxing - Hey! Get out of my chair!

HAVE A GREAT CRUISE JEN

UPDATE: Made our new plane reservations, our shuttle is already paid for and I just have to change the pick up time from the airport. Cruise is all set. Car is set to take us to the airport. Hm-m-m - What else? I think that's it. We're leaving Monday and I'm sure I'll be on here a few more times but if not, I'll see you all when we get back.

HAVE A GREAT CRUISE ZIMA AND ZIMADOG

HAVE A GREAT CRUISE DAHDWPD

HAVE A GREAT TIME, PANTHERS.

Hey! Hey! Hey! Way to go. Doc dancing with ya'

I was at work today and kept checking the sites and Larry called me and said he had just received a call from United and was told the soonest they could begin flying into Houston was Monday and they gave him a number to call so we could change our reservations. A little bit later, he called again and said he had just got off the phone with Carnival explaining what was happening and did we still want to go. He told them yes. (Big Surprise!!) So, as of right now, the seven day cruise is now a five day cruise with two ports, Progreso and Cozumel. We would receive a refund of 30% off the cruise cost and another $50 per person on board credit. Unless Rita makes a sharp turn and hits the coast, this is what they're going with. I'm happy with it and so is Larry. Five days is better than no days and we've got money coming back for two shore excursions already booked and paid for so it's looking pretty good money wise too. He told Carnival this was our anniversary cruise and we wouldn't want to change anything. I want to thank all of you who have been so encouraging and keeping me up to date on what's going on. I know I've said it before but it bears repeating....... THIS IS THE BEST BUNCH OF PEOPLE ON ANY BB!!

Hi Joey. George who??? Just kidding! Actually, I haven't talked to a live person with the exception of calling them the beginning of the week. That person didn't sound like she really knew anything and, I'm sure, back then, she probably didn't. The call I got tonight at 5:30 was a recording and it was the exact wording as the information on the Carnival site - word for word. The message was left on our machine. I'm not sure who I would have talked to if we had been home. Don't misunderstand me though. I don't feel as if I'm "out of the loop". I'm comfortable with the information I've been getting by checking the sites. If I wasn't, I would make a few more phone calls but for now, I feel informed. Did you go thru a TA to make your reservations? Or do you do them yourself on the net? Just curious.

I didn't use a TA. Did all the searching and planning myself. I've been checking the Carnival and United web sites faithfully (ooh! A word for the double letter game....) anyway, to get back to the topic. I did call the airlines today and was told that I had until midnight on the 24th (my original day) to change my plane reservations or it would cost me $100 each to re-book, which is stated on the United site. I checked Carnival and the latest update was scheduled travel on Monday, the 26th. I also received a call from them about 5:30 tonight stating the same thing. So to answer your question, I guess they're doing what they can. They really don't have any real answers yet but I was told that there should be a final decision by late tomorrow (Friday). That will still give me time to change the plane reservations, re-book a hotel, re-schedule our shuttle and so on and so on and so on..... So far no options have been offered. We were just told the ship is tentatively scheduled to sail Monday instead of Sunday. Which is fine with me. I'll take sailing a day late than not sailing at all. I'll keep you up to date until the day I leave....keep your fingers crossed.

Thanks Jennifer. That sounds like a great idea. As far as the cats and dogs go, we've two cats and our son (who lives next door to us) has 2 cats and 3 dogs. The dogs are always at our house where "Grandma" feeds them cookies all the time so no problem there. Um-m-m I've never been around too many birds (except the ones I feed outside) but I guess I wouldn't have a problem with them either. They might be competing with my hubby and me. Ah-h-h-h-h!! You're all right about the time we spend together. That's the important part and that we're safe. So like I said before, I'm not sure what we're doing, but we'll definitaly be doing something.

I agree with Hazelson. People watch. We had to take a red eye from CA back to Ohio and we got there fairly early. We checked in, got something to eat, then just sat and watched people. It's amazing how fast time goes by. Being in the LA airport we were watching for famous people, of course, but we still saw some amazing sights. We think we spotted P. Diddy but we're not sure. There's a lot of "look-alikes" in LA. Just as an example, see the picture below....my very favorite part of visiting LA.

Now it's a category 5 but it's predicted to be a Cat 3 by landfall - which is bad enough. Residents and tourists in locations such as Corpus Christi, Aransas Pass, San Jose Island, Matagorda Island, Port Lavaca, Port O'Connor, Bay City, Lake Jackson, Freeport, Galveston, Texas City, Houston, and Port Author should ALL prepare for a very dangerous landfalling major hurricane. So I guess they're still thinking Texas. We'll have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully, there won't be too much damage or lives lost. We're praying for everyone along the Texas coast.

Thank you all. We're going to have a great anniversary one way or another. Right now we're on notice to keep checking the cruise and airline sites. United is already allowing us to change our flight plans with no fees. Carnival says it should have some kind of answer by Thursday evening. Whatever happens, we'll still enjoy ourselves. I'm going to miss all of you and be thinking of you every time I take a sip of wine....Love you all. You're the best.

You're right Dan. I'd rather my cruise be shortened then to have NOLA hit again. Thanks again for all the encourgement everyone. On the Weather Channel last night, they said they were starting to evacuate Galveston as a precaution. With the short time it was in Key West, hopefully, it'll just blow thru fast and won't cause a lot of damage. If worse comes to worse, we'll just re-book and go from there. I told my husband that no matter what, we're celebrating our 40th somewhere - not sure where yet - but somewhere. Welcome to Cruize Crazies Harvey. It's the best bunch of people you'll ever have contact with. Welcome aboard. Hope to see you on the ship too. I know it's hard for children to understand about having something postponed but, hopefully, you won't have to go thru that.