Joanandjoe

On a typical cruise, we try to have breakfast at least once in each of the venues: buffet, dining room, and room service. We usually have room service once or twice in a week.

You must have sailed on taller ships than us. We've sailed under the VZ bridge seven times, and it's fascinating; but we certainly had a lot more than 10 feet of clearance on the Regal Empress, the Rotterdam, the Seven Seas Navigator, and the Zenith. Maybe the QM2 or the Freedom of the Seas has only 10 feet of clearance: those are gigantic ships. For us, where we are for sailway depends on the place and the time of day. On our last two cruises (Barbados and Amsterdam) sailaway was very late (11 pm and midnight), and we were asleep. That may happen as well on our 5/27 sailaway at 11 p.m. (2 a.m. body time) from Vancouver. The two times we had a balcony, we started on the balcony, watched us sail past the Statue of Libery, and then went up to a high deck to watch us go under the VZ bridge. It's sheer happenstance that both of our balcony sailings started in NY and had NJ and the statue on our side of the ship: the next balcony sailing will be on the 27th in Vancouver. On both of our Med. cruises, we watched the sailaway from a bar near the top, and near the back, of the ship. Either the top or the back is a good place to see the port; and that where we normally are if we're awake and don't have a balcony.

Our three Caribbean cruises were in early November, late November into December, and early December. We've been to Puerto Limon (Costa Rica), Panama (Colon and the Canal), Roatan (Honduras), Cozumel, Grand Cayman, Barbados (twice), St. Maartin, Mayreau, St. Thomas, San Juan, Tobago, Dominica (twice), Tortola, Grenada, St. Lucia, and Bequia. That's a pretty fair sample of Caribbean places. We thought the islands were beautiful and very different from each other, but I was uncomfortably hot all the time. Yes, we took a lot of tours, but one still needs to get out of the car to see the attractions. Just not the place for us.

Europe (Eastern Med.?) if the exchange rate gets better. Canada/New England. Bermuda. Mississippi, Columbia, or Rhone Rivers. Maybe Hawaii, although now there's only a choice of one NCL ship or 15 day cruises that are mostly sea days. Actually, one of the main reasons we don't expect to cruise for awhile is that, until I retire and can cruise in the summer or winter*, we're running out of places that one can cruise to in the spring or fall. A third cruise to Alaska? Not likely for at least 5, maybe 10, years. * As I've noted in previous posts, I've never had any kind of vacation, cruise or otherwise, not even as a child, during the actual winter (12/21 to 3/21). CPA son of a CPA, and neither a skier nor a sun worshiper.

I know we said "no cruises" for 2007, and ended up on two cruises; but for 2009 we really mean "no cruises". By the time we get back from our Alaska cruise later this month, we'll have had six cruise vacations in a row, and nine of our last eleven. We haven't had a car vacation since May, 2005, and that was tied in with a business trip. Our last plane trip without a cruise was in 2003, to Copenhagen. 2009 looks like the year that we'll catch up on some overdue "land" vacations, from a group of possibilities including Canada, Malta, Williamsburg, Grand Canyon, and Yellowstone/Grand Teton. We won't rule out cruises, but it's unlikely. That could change if there is a Crazies group cruise to a place other than the Caribbean. After three Caribbean cruises where we barely touched a beach due to my fair skin, and suffered from the heat, we're unlikely to take another one.

Always for international vacations. For domestic vacations, yes if they're more than about 100 miles away. For example, we will notify the credit card companies before our Vancouver and Alaska trip later this month.

I think that should be the opening question for the May Cruise Question of the Day thread. Rose, good point about the onboard credit. We check for that very early in the cruise. It has been messed up about half the time.

We usually check it every three days or so. If there are surprises, we want to know ASAP so the cruise line can make corrections.

They didnt list it and I wasnt for sure which catagory to put it in main or luxury.. that was the only reason There's a middle area of semi-luxury lines with smaller ships than the mainstream ships. That includes Oceania, Azamara, Windstar, and probably a few others. Those lines don't quite belong in either mainstream or luxury. If you listed Oceania as mainstream, Azamara should have the same listing. For that matter, Cunard fits into both categories: gnerally mainstream, but the top accomodations with a separate dining room are in the luxury category.

It's a coin flip, Joey. Three virtually identical ships. Century gets a remake while Galaxy leaves the fleet. I guess Mercury could go either way. My bet: she'll stay without major changes until the second Solstice class ship joins the fleet, then will go to another line owned by RCI. I think that the Century refit was in process before the Solstice ships were ordered, and they decided not to do a similar refit on Galaxy.

April 29, 2008 It's True: Celebrity Galaxy To Move to Germany After a few weeks of increasingly fevered speculation, Celebrity Cruises today came clean about its plans for Celebrity Galaxy. That ship will, after its last cruise on March 2, 2009, transfer over to TUI Cruises, a new, German-based cruise line that's a joint venture between Royal Caribbean, Celebrity's parent, and European mega-operator Tui AG. In the cruise industry version of tea leaf reading, the news today is no big surprise for a number of reasons. Celebrity's honchos have not been shy about emphasizing the line's newer (and newest) ships, starting with the debut of Solstice, a new design for the company, later this year. As well, the 77,713-ton, 1,850-passenger Galaxy, which launched in 1996, had no itineraries listed on Celebrity's Web site beyond the March 2 sailing -- while others in the fleet have voyages listed through spring. And finally? Despite undergoing a refurbishment which, ironically, is taking place right now, Celebrity Galaxy did not receive the massive transformation accorded sister ship Celebrity Century. The latter, you may recall, received a $50 million upgrade back in 2006; the job included adding 314 balconies to its exterior, gutting and rebuilding its spa, and adding Murano, a new alternative restaurant. Celebrity Galaxy's getting a $4 million makeover this week at Grand Bahama Shipyard in Freeport but the investment, which will cover cosmetic upgrades, is peanuts compared to that of Celebrity Century. The ship is planned to depart from Freeport on May 3 on an Atlantic crossing, after which it will begin sailing Europe cruises. Galaxy and Century, along with Mercury, are part of a sibling trio that represents the fleet's most venerable ships. Now speculation is bound to focus on Celebrity Mercury, which like Celebrity Galaxy, was accorded only a minor refurbishment (which took place last year). We'll keep the tea leaves handy.

Yes, we read it, and we carry it with us when we go off the ship. The daily newsletter always has the name and phone number of the port agent, so we feel more secure having that information in case we need it. We actually did need the info once, in Martha's Vinyard, when a crown came off one of my teeth. The port agent found us an emergency dentist. (Better service than one would have expected from the Regal Empress back when it was part of Regal Cruises.)

my wife! Which category is she in: Always love to visit, or never visit again? LOL.

Favorite port: all of the ports in the Med. If we had to chhose one, Villefranche, because of the fascinating Rua Obscura and our wonder shore excursion to St. Paul de Vence, where we each placed a stone on Chagall's grave. When we're certain that we'll be able to go on a cruise (which, lately, has been unusual), we book through our fantastic TA. If we're uncertain as to whether we'll go, we book directly with the cruise line, then switch the booking to the TA when it becomes likely that we'll be able to go. We've tried online agencies, and have not been happy with the results.

I didn't mean to imply that there were full hot tubs in staterooms. I've heard that they exist in some ultra top of the line penthouse suites, but I've never seen one. I have seen, and occasionally had, Jacuzzi bathtubs, which are nice, but not quite the same as a full hot tub. The Avalon Poetry had a small indoor public whirlpool, big enough for two, in a small room next to the beauty parlor. The sun deck on a European river cruising ship is much too narrow for a pool.

Sure, if the weather is warm enough or the pool area is covered, and if the water isn't sloshing around much. A dip in a pool is always welcome. We're particularly big on hot tubs. On our trips where the cabin didn't have a bath tub (i.e., on Celebrity, Avalon, and Windsar), we were in the hot tub a lot. (The Aavaon Poetry doen't have a pool, but it does have an indoor hot tub.)

Thanks. Regent and HAL win our vote.

On Regent and Windstar, which are small ships, there's open seating, and we love it. We haven't tried open dining on a big ship. We had late dining only once, and hated it. We're such earlybirds that we were hungry when the early shift started (but it was full), and ended up eating so much at the bar and from room service that it ruined dinner. Never again. Our cruising ambition is to cruise with friends and/or family; but none of them are cruisers. Until we realize that ambition, we'll try to get tables for two. Somehow, every time we had a big table (three or four times), there were four or six people together, and we never got included in the conversation. Maybe we've just been unlucky in our table companions.

I wasn't able to vote because you left Regent--my favorite line-- out of the ultra luzury category; and you have to vote in both categories. I don't want to vote as "never sailed ultra luxury" when I have done so and loved it. (If you include Windstar as "ultra luxury", then four of my cruises, plus my next one, have been in that category.) In any event, ther's no doubt that Carnival or Royal Carib will win the mainstream poll, since that is the demographic of this board. I've never sailed on either one.

Until casual business wear came in about 5 years ago, I spent 35 years wearing a suit to work; so it's hard for me to associate dressing up with fun. Joan probably likes formal night more than I do; but basically, she wears the same type of garment - a caftan - whether it's formal night or informal night. She also loves to wear jewelry, but never brings the good stuff with her on a cruise. Too much risk of either loss, or of having customs think she bought it on the cruise.

Our last two cruises didn't have any formal nights, and our next one won't have any either. That's great with me: I think formal nights are a pain. Three cruises ago, on the Noordam, we had three formal nights out of 11 nights. I'd rather not have to drag a suit onto a ship, and I'm certainly not going to get a tux: it's been more than 30 years since the last time I wore one (and that time was the only time since our wedding 40 years ago). Once I have the suit, I don't really care how many formal nights there are.

Since we almost never go into a Starbucks (AKA Big Bucks) or similar place at home, we seldom get the extra cost coffees on a ship. The exception was our last time on X, when there was entertainment in the coffee bar. There we bought the coffees so we could enjoy the entertainment - a terrific Filipino trio.

Making you get off the ship at the end of the cruise. LOL. Seriously, I would be happy doing away with jewelry sales and art auctions. Especially the art auctions. Ugh! I would also do away with charges for soda and specialty coffees and teas. Raise the fare by $2 a day, and stop nickel and diming us! Casinos are unnecessary for me (I've never bet anything in one), but necessary for many others. I don't believe they're allowed to open either the casinos or the so called duty free shops while in port. Muster drills are a necessity and a legal requirement. How do you think they got almost everyone off the ship that sank in Santorini? People knew where to go, and went there.

Whether or not we're on vacation, we're earlybirds. We're usually in befd by 10:30, up by 7. But then, we were rarities: earlybirds even while we were in college.

I blieve that Azamara has had this no smoking inn staterooms policy since its inception. The following is from their web site: "Will smoking be allowed on these ships? Subject: Smoking Policy "Azamara Journey has two designated smoking areas. These areas are located in the aft section of the Looking Glass Lounge on the port side, and on the starboard forward section of the Pool Deck. Smoking areas have signs indicating that smoking is permitted there. All other areas of the ship are non-smoking. This includes Public Rooms, Restaurants, Pool Deck, Staterooms and Suites, Verandas and Halls. For the comfort of all of our guests, we request strict adherence to this policy, and thank all of our guests for their cooperation."