Joanandjoe

Bon voyage, frostyboy. Have a sensational cruise on the Sensation.

Although we are definitely not high net worth individuals, we have sailed on Radisson/Regent, in the lowest category on a two for one, and found it to be wonderful. Definitely a cut above the others on the list. Windstar was also great, and Celebrity and HAL were pretty good. To be fair, however, Cunard is the only line that is trying to compete with Radissoin. The real competition is Seabourn, Crystal, Sea Dream, and Silversea. It would have been interesting to see how Regent compared with those lines.

feather, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

frostw, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

Does anyone know if the Gibbs Hill Lighthouse is open? I read somewhere that it might be closed for renovations, but the writer was unsure.

Have a great cruise, Susan. We hope it's so great that your review will be a Rapsody.

Richard, it appears that the moderators of this board agreed with me that you were inadvertently posting URLs for scams; so your posts were deleted. Don't let that get you down. You are welcome here, and your posts will be welcomed.

Here you'll find a frendly bunch of people who will happily supply jokes, advice, games, and other good stuff. The advice will help your cruising, and alert you to good and bad offers on TV and the internet. For those CCers who have not seen Richard's posts regarding "free" TVs and ipods, see the general discussion. I think they're scams. What do you think?

Here is yet another example of the over the top efforts by cruise lines to distinguish their ships from other ships. Celebrity, currently in the midst of a major overhaul of Century, plans to introduce an ice bar onboard. The bar will be the most unique at sea, featuring a liquid wall that freezes, a bar counter made of ice-cold stone, and a solid block of ice behind the bar in which the line will "creatively display bottles of liquor." The concept of the Ice Bar is one of the grooviest around and can be found on land in hip cities such as Stockholm, London and Montreal. In those places, patrons actually don space like parkas before entering what literally is a room made of ice. Drinks -- at least at the Absolut Ice Bar in Stockholm -- are poured into square, hollow cubes. No one at Celebrity was available to provide more specifics aside from the fact that the bar, which will specialize in martinis, will feature "kinetic lighting," "winter-white walls and polished stainless steel." There's no word on whether the bar will evoke the typical Ice Bar frosty ambience -- or whether or not Celebrity parkas will be provided.

Bon voyage, Ed. Best wishes for golden days on the Golden Princess.

Bon Voyage and Happy Anniversary. Have a great cruise!

We've just read your review, and are glad that "a great time was had by all." Were you really in Bermuda for only two days?

We're glad you had a great trip. Welocme back. Too bad that disembarkation was messed up! Yet another argument in favor of home port cruising.

Have a great cruise, Ed and Roe. Will you be getting together with PEB?

Have a wonderful cruise. Are you getting together with the Skipper?

Bon voyage. We hope you have a sensational cruise on the Sensation.

jumbie, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

pacruiser, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

Grannietar1, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

gdetanner, welcome to this crazy board. Post often, and soon you'll go from inside to outside, to balcony room. This isn't the biggest cruise board, but it's the friendliest!

Add us to the list of trip insurance fans. We unfortuanately had to cancel a cruise in 2002 for health reasons. Our insurer paid us promptly and in full. As the old Amex ad used to say, "don't leave home without it".

Today (Friday, 4/28) marks the official start of Celebrity Cruises' major reinvention of the 70,000-ton, 1,750-passenger Century. The ship, one of the fleet's most venerable, was launched in 1995 and ultimately spawned sister ships Mercury and Galaxy, which are just a tad larger. Alas, the ships were built before the balcony craze took off -- so along with a new inner look, the ship will also get a new outer look with the addition of 314 new verandahs. Other enhancements? Celebrity is adding 14 new suites, 10 new staterooms in categories ranging from inside to verandah, and an expanded number of Concierge Class cabins. The $55 million project, which will take five weeks, also includes the introduction of Murano, Century's first specialty restaurant; it will be designed to reflect a Venetian theme, in honor of the famed Italian glassmaker. The cuisine and service at Murano will mirror that of the alternative restaurants on Celebrity's Millennium-class ships, which showcase the era of elegant cruising, but the ambience will be a bit more contemporary. Another first for Celebrity will be a 76-seat Sushi Bar and the outdoor Sunset Bar, featuring fresh tapas along with cocktails. Century's existing two-level main eatery -- The Grand Restaurant -- will be entirely refurbished. The ship resumes sailing on May 30 and will spend the summer in Europe.

Congratulations! Getting the docs. certainly is exhilerating. Do some appropriate Mediterranean dances. Opa! (Ah, we can hear the band playing in the background.)

Bon voyage, Kerry. have a brilliant time on the Brilliance.

Have a great trip! Yes, anticipation can make those last few days seem to last forever. We should know: it's almost 8 months since the last time we had more than a sigle day off from work. The Canal is wonderful. It's amazing seeing a huge change in eye level. You start out on deck, with a concrete wall next to you, then the lock fills up, and you're way above the top of the wall. That's going toward Gatun Lake. Past the lake, the lock or locks produce the opposite sensation, as the ship gets lowered back to sea level. The strangest thing is the direction of the Canal. Since you'll be going from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific, you'll be going from Northwest to Southeast. I don't know of any other place where the Atlantic Ocean is WEST of the Pacific. (You get a similar phenomenon in part of the Ontario-Michhigan border, where Windsor, Canada is south of part of Detroit. )