Joanandjoe

Amazing deals indeed. My 10/30/09 cruise on the Regent Navigator is now 2-for-1 with free airfare and transfers, and free excusions. Since the fares include tips and most beverages (including, soda, bottled water, beer, wine and booze), the cost compares favorable with mainstream cruise lines - unless, of course, the mainstream lines have also lowered their prices considerably.

I got my first passport in 1960, when I was 15; and I haven't been without one since then. Our current passports expire in 2015.

"Work in progress" is an overly kind description. At the moment, the web site is a mess: no way to log in, cruises already booked are not accessable (as mentioned in the press release), one can make reservations for only one of the two alternative restaurants on the Mariner and Voyager, shore excursions are much more difficult to access than on the old web site, and the excursions are messed up (with many missing) in any event. Despite the listing for Taromina, Sicily, I doubt that I'll be able to take shore excursions in Tahiti; but that what's listed! They do have nifty graphics that show the ship moving from point to point on the itinerary. Hopefully, they'll fix the problems, and the web site will be as good as the cruise line.

The first thing I look for is whether there's a good hotel that we can book using "frequent stay" points from a hotel chain. We've managed to do that twice out of five trips with a pre-cruise hotel stay: a Marriott about two blocks from the cruise port in Tampa, and the Hyatt Regency in Vancouver. For our first cruise to Alaska in 1998, we may or may not have used frequent stay miles: I don't remember. We flew ito Seattle and were taking a cruise line bus from the airport to Vancouver; so our first priority was having a hotel close to the airport. Our other two cruises with pre-cruise stays were in Nice and Amstrdam. In Amsterdam, we wanted an affordable hotel room, booked at the last minute (because we booked the cruise 19 days before we left home), that was both central to museums and close to the hotel where our river cruise was assembling. That hotel was sold out, so we couldn't stay there. Amsterdam was having a festival, and it was hard to get any room at any price. For Nice, we wanted a hotel that was centrally located, relatively affordable, and with a good rating on Trip Advisor. Breakfast was included, which was a plus.

Yes, it would be nice if we had written about a positive cruise experience, but we haven't. We've only written one letter to a cruise company after a cruise, and it's one we've mentioned many times: our awful cruise on the Celebrity Zenith to Bermuda. We sailed to Bermuda in Concierge Class on the Zenith, had so-so food and a clueless stewardess, and received none of the perks that CC is supposed to have. We called Celebrity and the online cruise agency to complain, and got no response; so we wrote. We never received a letter in response, but we did receive a cruise credit with such a limited time frame that it was impossible to use it. When we wrote again to ask for something usable, we never received a response. X did not lose us as customers due to the bad cruise: that happens sometimes, and we were, after all, sailing on the oldest ship. They lost us as customers due to their poor response to our problems. Has we gotten, for example, an apology and a small (but actually usable) cruise credit, we would have given X another chance.

Yes, I've seen the Save-the-Delta-Queen web site, which seems skeptical about whether Bush or Obama has the power to save the ship. I've also seen the Majestic America web site, which states that the line has ceased operations, will run no cruises in 2009, and is looking for a buyer. Saving the DQ is possible, but it's a long shot.

The ship has been sailing safely for a long time; and, hopefully, should be allowed to do so. I'm not sure, however, whether the President has the power to issue an executive order saving the ship. At any event, I believe that Majestic America has ceased operations, and (so far as I know) no one has bought the three ships of the former Delta Queen line. Thus, the matter may be academic.

The $2,840 fare for the 6/20 Venice to Rome cruise was so good that I called the cruise line. Taxes are only $17.06. So far, so good. But round trip coach airfare, including taxes and transfers, is $2,333.66 per person, bringing the total to $5,190.72 per person for the cheapest category. That's more for a 7 night cruise, with air, than for our 9 night Regent cruise in late October; so we'll stick with Regent. For now, we plan on only one cruise for 2009, in late October. Our spring vacation will probably be a car trip, a national parks trip, or a visit to friends in Myrtle Beach.

That definitely piques my interest; but I did not see this deal on the Seabourn web site. Maybe it will be there tomorrow. I suspect that all portions of the cruise market, from low cost to luxury, are suffereing in this economy.

This ship is definitely in the "love it or leave it" category. Some Crazies are already booked. For this small ship fan, you'd have to pay me to try it.

Count me in! All I need to do is raise another $17,999,900, and I can buy the penthouse! (Well, one can dream!)

What a pity. Although we never sailed on the Marco Polo, it was among our top two or three choices several times. We like the concept of Orient, and hope that it will eventually start sailing again. I understand that the Maxim Gorky, which would have been the ship for the revived line, is a wonderful old ship.

When we were in Charlottetown, PEI, Joan dressed up as Anne of Green Gables, complete with red pigtailed wig, calico dress, and basket of goodies to give to the poor. She stayed in character all day, and was even photographed by Japanese schoolgirls (who are often crazy about Anne as a role model) while we were visiting Green Gables.

WHY?

Be careful of what you wish. Our last cruise and are next one were, and eill be, on Regent, which includes all wine, sodas, drinks (other than some premium ones), and tips. There are almost no announcements, and nothing like a hairy chest contest. However, the price is quite high. For mainstream lines, all inclusive would probably be too expensive; but it would be nice if the cost included sodas and basic tips, and if there were fewer announcements. The change I'd really like to see is not making us get off the ship at the end of the cruise. Obviousl;y, that's not going to happen. I'll settle for less nickle and diming on mainstream lines, since it gets really annoying.

Our first cruise was in 1998, in celebration of our 30th anniversary. It was on the old HAL Noordam, to Alaska northbound: Vancouver, Ketchikan, Sitka, Hubbard Glacier, Valdez, ending in Seward. We then spent two nights in Anchorage before returning home. We enjoyed it, but weren't really hooked untitl our third cruise, in 2003 on the Rotterdam, to Canada-New England.

Let's keep the question about the one "must have" item open, and add this one: If your ship has a self service laundromat, do you use it? While doing laundry is not our idea of an ideal vacation activity, the cost of using the ship's laundry service is so outrageous that we usually do a wash or two during a cruise. Not having a laundromat (HAL Vista ships, Celebrity) is a definite minus for us.

As you can see from our signature, our sea cruises (not counting the river cruise and the one night Bahamas cruise) have been on, in order of preference, Regent, HAL, Windstar, Celebrity (X), and Regal (the wonderful Regal Empress). We like Regent best because the food and service are the best, and the standard staterooms are the largest. The atmosphere is quieter and more restful than on larger ships, and that's a plus for us. Also a big plus is that there are no "nickle and diming" charges for things like booze, wine, soda, bottled water, tips, or alternative restaurants. Regent is a bit expensive for regular cruising, but it's wonderful. HAL is our favorite mainstream line. The rooms are larger than equivalent rooms on X, they all have bathtubs (which is important to us), and we've had better food and service than on X. For us, the HAL ships are a bit too large, but they're significantly smaller than on X and the other mainstream lines. Ship size is the primary reason we've never tried Princess, Carnival, or RCCL--we don't like large ships. Windstar has rooms that are smaller than on HAL but larger and better designed than standard rooms on X. There are no balconies or bathtubs, both minuses; but the food is good, and the small ship is able to go to ports that the big ones can't get to. Being under sail is indescribably wonderful! We have not been fortunate on X. It's true that we've sailed on their two smallest and oldest ships, the Horizon and the Zenith; but, then, as noted, we don't like big ships. On our Horizon cruise, we had a suite with a tub, and the butler gave us excellent service. We did not like the food: for us, it was too bland and too salty, and the buffet was so-so at best. On the Zenith, we found the 170 square foot concierce class room claustrophobic (smaller than even on the river cruise) and poorly laid out, and we had the worst cabin attendant we've ever had. Food was worse than on the Horizon, and dining room service was only so-so. Since so many people love X, I'd like to give it another chance, in a larger room; but I probably won't be able to persuade Joan to do so. The Regal Empress was (and probably still is) a beautiful ship; but the rooms were tiny, with showers we never quite figured out. Service was fantastic: when I lost a cap on a tooth, they found me a dentist in Martha's Vinyard who fixed it. Food was about on a par with X. Still, one had the feeling that this was a bargain basement cruise line. That's it for pluses and minuses.

Since presumably things like medicines or sun block don't count (if you need them, you must have them), my answer is nothing or everything. I don't have any special item. I don't own any sandals or have a special hat, don't drink coffee, and have had half of my cruises to places too cold for a swimsuit; so my "one item" certainly isn't any of those things. I can't even say that I must have my camera: we've forgotten it once or twice, and simply purchased a cheap one on the trip.

In my office, part of the "price" of going on vacation is being available by phone (my cell phone is provided by my office) and internet. My office, having required me to use both, pays for both.

I'm curious, as a non-"beachie". If you didn't like the first two beaches, why did you try a third, instead of something else? I would think there are plenty of things to see and do other than beaches. I sympathise about the weather, At 85, both of us are miserable; at 90, beyond miserable.

Your question can be interpreted in at least four ways: 1) Have you ever won anything at the casino, bingo, or any other type of gambling? Lots of people have; but I've never even placed a bet. 2) Have you ever won a raffle or giveaway on a cruise? No. In fact, we once failed to win a Park West art auction when there were six entrants and five "winners": we were the only non-winners. That was a good deal for us, since we would have had to pay to have Park West ship the art that we would have won. That brings us to # 3. 3) Have you ever won an art auction? Maybe three times; but we haven't even tried for the past five or six cruises. Ever since the raffle incident on the Wind Surf, we've thought of Park West as a rip-off. 4) Have you ever won a contest? Yes, trivia at least 10 times (4 times on our last cruise alone), and an occasional game of mini-golf, quoits, etc. On the lines on which we've sailed, our winnings were tokens that were later exchanged for cruise line logo merchandise. There probably are more types of winnings than these four.

Quite the contrary. Even though we know in advance what ships are in port, we still Oooh and Aah over them. However, knowing in advance whether a port will be crowded with other cruisers helps us determine whether we can explore the port on our own, or whether we need to book something in advance through the ship or through independent providers. It's hard to walk around a small town in Alaska for example, or explore St. Thomas on your own, when there are six other ships in port.

I think the glory days of sailinjg from NYC were much earlier - maybe the 50's. The sailings from NYC were mostly straight ocean crossings, with a few cruises to Bermuda mixed in. That was killed by jet planes. Now Cunard is the only line with regular Transatlantic crossings from NYC, and even those are not year round. It's no surprise to me that Florida is the U.S. cruising capital. After all, the Caribbean is very popular, and very convenient for Floridians. Even the heat hating Machs have taken two cruises from there (a one nighter from Ft. Lauderdale to the Bahamas on the MS Freeport, and our first Caribbean cruise, from Tampa on the Horizon); but a third is unlikely given our dislike of hot weather locations.

Try this one: http://www.cruisett.com/ports.php . It's not as complete as Cruise Report, since it doesn't include all lines; but it's very quick and easy to use.