Joanandjoe

Not only will consider it; have considerd it, and come close to choosing a U.S. river cruise. If New Orleans hadn't been nearly destroyed by a hurricane, we probably would have taken a Mississippi River cruise by now. Among side effects of the hurricane was the takeover of Delta Queen Stemship Co. by Majestic America. We did not like what we've been hearing about Majestic America, even before the grounding of Empress of the North, the astounding 67 CDC score for the same ship, and the recent fire aboard the Queen of the West. The onboard experience apparently is not as good as it was under Delta Queen and the previous owner of the northwest ships. Nonetheless, Columbia and Mississippi River cruises are on our radar screen, and we have taken a river cruise in Europe.

Try it. If you think it's easy to find an book a taxi tour of Bequia in advance, or snorkeling in Grenada on the same boat as the ship's excursion (but at half the cost), think again. VT has tips on almost anything. They also have forums where you can ask your travel questions.

The timing is perfect for us; but, as we stated in prior posts, the destination is not. We're unlikely to take another Caribbean cruise, even if doing so would enable us to meet fellow Crazies.

We always compare the three alternatives of ship's excursions, private excursions, and walking around the port on our own. What we choose depends on the port, and on whether we are able to hook up with at least one couple. In Bermuda, we explored the island on our own: no excursions, ship's or private. In Europe, we couldn't get another couple to share trips with us, so private excursions were more expensive than ship's excursions. With 4 people, private would have been cheaper. On our last cruise, to the Caribbean, we did independent excursions with another couple in 4 ports, and on our own in one, with nothing through the ship. We routinely paid half or less than half of what the ship charged. In Alaska, we'll probably do three ship's excursions. One is a Tracy Arm cruise leaving directly from the ship, and obviously available only through the ship. For the other two, the price difference between private and ship's excursions is less than $3 per person - not worth the effort of "going private". But we'll do Juneau and Victoria, and probably Sitka, on our own. Good sources for information on private tours are this and other cruise boards, Virtual Tourist, and Trip Advisor. For odd places such as Bequia and Grenada, Virtual Tourist is our main information source.

There's a choice on boarding? Usually the photographer is so pushy that it's easier to pose than to argue. We've never bought a boarding picture, and probably never will. Doesn't everyone look his/her best racing to a ship, all hot and sweaty and tired from travel? All while lugging carry on bags? Feh! If we've posed for any port pictures, it has been a rarity.

So far, my favorite is the 490 PAX Regent Seven Seas Navigator. From what I've heard, I'll like my next ship, the 700 PAX Regent Seven Seas Mariner, even more. Obviously, I'm not a big ship fan. Why did I like this ship so much? The food was much better than on the two best mainstream lines I've been on, HAL and Celebrity. Sort of like comparing hot food in a three star restaurant (Regent) with almost hot food in a good hotel banqet room (HAL and X). In one way, the entertainment was better than the big lines, since there was an alternative venue even when there was a show in the min show room. The excursions were pricy, but offered more personalized experiences tha on the big lines. The service was several cuts above the mainstream lines. Best of all, there was no nickel and diming., since tips and wine with dinner were included. Our onboard account consisted of one picture from the photo shop and our shore excursions - nothing else. I expect the same, plus an internet bill (required by my office) on our next cruise.

Wine. I don't touch the hard stuff, either on shore or on a ship. Sherry or port are as alcoholic as my drinks get. We'll see if that hold true on our Regent cruise, which includes alcoholic beverages.

Because of the limited vacation windows that I have each year, we start out by seeing what each acceptable cruise line (Regent, Windstar, HAL, Oceania, maybe X) Has during that period. There usually are only a handful of possibilities. Then we decide based on all of the factors mentioned by Joey, plus price. Lastly, we compare the top choices with various possible land tours. In effect, then, it's all of the above, plus price. We wouldn't consider an inside, and our need or lack of need for a balcony depends on the ship and the itinerary. We enjoy Windstar, for example, and that has no balcony rooms. Location for us means not being under or above noisy places, and preferably means being in the middle of the ship.

When I worked in NYC, I probably saw a celebrity once a week, either walking through the Theater District on my way to the Port Authority Terminal, or near the studios where TV shows are shot. I also see members of the local sports teams (mostly Yankees and football Giants) on occasion, and stood next to Jim Henson on line for a flight from London to NYC. You, however, were asking about cruises. On our jazz cruise on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator in September, 2003, we had 11 jazz musicians on board, many of them famous. They mingled with the PAX, and we saw them a lot: in lounges, at the pool, in restaurants, and onshore. The most famous of them, Bucky Pizzarelli, was on our small puddle jumper from Newark to Montreal, on the shuttle to the ship, on our van in Halifax, and elsewhere.

For most cruises, both we and our TA check regularly--probably less often than once a week. For our next cruise, on Regent, we check occasionally; but on both our cruises, we've seen prices go up, not down, after we booked. Even when Regent had a special, it would have produced a savings in the high end categories, but would have increased the price in our minimum (if you call 301 square feet with a balcony minimum) category H. On our Noordam cruise in 12/06, our TA found a special that enabled us to upgrade from a mini suite to a full suite for next to nothing. The free laundry, breakfasts at the Pinnacle Grill, and use of the Neptune Lounge probably made the full suite cheaper than the mini suite would have been. We've had more success with reduced airfares than reduced cruise fare; but all for nothing: we've never been able to use the scrip (good against future airfare) that they give you instead of cash.

Interesting: seven people posting, 5 different cruise lines: 3 on Princess and one each on Regent, RCCL, HAL, and NCL. Our planned shore excusrsions, all of which are subject to change: Victoria on our own. Skagway: White Horse and Yukon railroad, and gold dredge. We'll definitely keep the railroad, but might pick a different addition to the railroad. Tracy Arm: the catamaran that leaves directly from the ship and gets close to the glaciers. I believe that NCL is the only other line that offers this. Juneau on our own, possibly going to the glacier. Sitka. Whether by tour or on our own, we'll see the totem poles and the Russian dancers. Ketchikan. Logging show, then on our own. Our time in this city is the shortest on the trip, so we probably won't be able to do all we want to do. This will be our second trip to Alaska, for our 30th (1998) and 40th anniversaries. The prior Alaska cruise was our first cruise, on the old Noordam. Tracy Arm and Skagway are the only places on this cruise that we haven't been to. (Our Victoria visit was on a car and ferry trip.) The "on our own" cruise tour to Talkeetna, Denali (2 nights), and Anchorage will be new to us.

I'm such a non dessert person (and, anyway, I'm allergic to chocolate) that I honestly can't remember desserts from any cruise, even the one four months ago. Joan had one memorably bad dessert: a lemon-chocolate special at the Pinnacle Grill on the Noordam that had no flavor, and the consistency of a hockey puck. The bread pudding served at lunch on HAL and Windstar is excellent, but we've probably had better desserts. I just don't remember them. For some reason, every time I wanted pudding on my last cruise (Windstar Wind Surf), it had chocolate in it, and I couldn't even taste it. Cheese trays on cruises have ranged from memorable on Regent and our Avalon river cruise to bland and forgettable on Celebrity. On HAL, it was hit or miss. BTW, we love Spanish and Latin American cuisine, and one of our favorite desserts (but not necessarily on a cruise) is the Spanish version of creme caramel: flan. It's a pudding with a caramel topping, and it's delicious. The perfect ending to a spicy meal, since it puts out any fires that may have been caused by the spice.

I've worked for big accounting firms and for corporations. I need to be available at year end in case there are last minute things that need to be done before 12/31. That actually happens about half the time, but I always need to be in the office and ready for emergencies. April and October seem to be lovely months for cruising. I did an April cruise last year starting just before 4/15, and it was great. October usually is out of the question due to Jewish holidays, and will remain so even after I retire.

Joey, your question goes beyond my imagination. After being raised as the son of a CPA, and then working in taxes for almost 40 years, I can't even imagine what it's like to take a vacation between early August and September 15th, or early December and April 15th. Particularly the latter: I've never, as a child or an adult, had a winter vacation. I might want to try a cruise during the winter (if I can find a place other than the Caribbean) just to see what a winter vacation is like. That will have to wait until after retirement.

We'd also love to cruise with the other Crazies, but have made no secret of our lack of love for the Caribbean. In addition, we probably wouldn't sail on either RCCL or Princess (other than the former Renaissance ships). X is the last choice of lines on which we would sail, but we might try it again despite two (out of two) less than satisfactory cruises. HAL we might consider if other than a Vista class ship; but you seem to have ruled HAL out.

About half the ships on which we've sailed didn't have insides. We use our room a lot, and size and light matter to us very much. No inside rooms for us!

Question for Purim / Good Friday / Persian New Year's - March 21st: Do you book inside cabins? Why or why not?

We're almost always among the first people off the ship. We're both morning people, and we like to explore the port while things are still quiet. Even when we have an excursion shortly after we dock, I like to get off the ship and stretch my legs first. The corollary of that is that we're usually among the first people back on the ship.

Most of the time, my favorite is the next ship I'm scheduled to sail on, and my second favorite is the last one I sailed on.

This is old news to us. As Regent cruisers, we've been following thus cruise on the Regent portion of the critical board, on a luxury cruise talk board, and on a USA Today blog. The arrogance shown by Mr. Conroy and and his boss, Mr. Del Rio, is appalling. For us, and for many others, sailing Regent is a budget stretch that is worth it because of the quality of the experience, and the total lack of the nickel and diming so prevalent on the mass cruise lines. Increasing the price substantially, as Conroy indicated in the town meeting, would price us out of the Regent market. Posters on both the critical and luxury boards were quite unhappy with the comments made by Conroy and Del Rio. (Yes, that Del Rio, the President of Oceania.) BTW, our next scheduled cruise is on the Regent Seven Seas Mariner, to Alaska, on 5/27/08.

Shore excursions. That what I spend most of my onboard account on anyway.

Check out our review of our 4/07 Dutch Tulip cruise on the Avalon Poetry.

Norwegian fjords are the place we'd most like to cruise. Hawaii might be on our list if some other line than NCL were able to do a Hawaii only cruise; but for now, we expect that our first visit to Hawaii will be a two or three island "land trip".

Our longest was a 14 day B2B in the Med on the Wind Surf, and we could happily have sailed another two weeks. Seven or eight days simply isn't enough.

We're squarely in the camp of "get things right". One of the reasons we like small ships is that they don't have huge amounts of sapace taken up with rock climbing, bowling alleys, grass, etc. A classic remedy for sea sickness is to lean against a tree; i.e, be on land. I have no desire to see a tree, or grass, on a ship.