Joanandjoe

Since we've been members, the photo contest hasn't included any cruise lines (much less ships) that we've been on. Still, it's interesting to see how different the pools are from the pools on the six ships we've been on (old Noordam III, Rotterdam VI, Regal Empress, Horizon, Wind Surf, and RSSC Navigator). We wouldn't even have known that the logo in the picture was NCL. Having said that, if you showed a picture of one of the six ships we've been on, we'd probably still get it wrong. I don't think we've ever taken a picture of a pool. Obviously we can't even venture a wild guess as to what ship this is.

Welcome back. We're glad you had a great time, and hope your case of PCD is a mild one.

qdurha99, 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!

Whether it makes sense to have ship's excursions, private excursions, or no excursions at all depends on where you're going, and on how adventurous you are. It also helps to have four or more people: in Europe, there were private excursions that would have made sense for four, but not for just the two of us. What ports will you be going to, Curmar1? We've been on seven cruises, and have never failed to have at least one shore day on our own (usually more than one), walking around and taking public transit. We've had 5 of 7 with some formal shore excursions: 3 with just ship's excursions, 2 with both ship and private excursions. The four private excursions we've had (three of them in the Caribbean, the other in Quebec City) were all terrific, and better than anything offered by the ship.

Have a wonderful cruise, Pommy. We hope that the weather has finally turned sunny for you in Hawaii.

CambriaGirl, 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!

April 24, 2006 This morning, while most North American cruise passengers were sound asleep, Royal Caribbean took ownership of the 158,000-ton, 3,600-passenger Freedom of the Seas. A spokeswoman for the line stated that "everything went smoothly," but that the real focus will be on exciting upcoming events: Freedom of the Seas will head next to Oslo, and then to the United States, to showcase the ship to travel agents and journalists. The handover by Aker Finnyards took place at 10:43 a.m. German time (4:43 a.m. EST). Though the ship was constructed in Turku, Finland, Freedom had to make a quick detour to Hamburg for repairs before the handover (see above photo of the ship leaving Turku); a bearing in the ship's propulsion system needed to be replaced, and Hamburg's Blohm+Voss was the only shipyard available -- and appropriate -- for the work. With all systems up and running, Richard Fain, chairman and CEO of the cruise line, proffered up a hefty check -- which means the largest cruise ship in the world is now an official member of Royal Caribbean's fleet. The ship will sail its first revenue cruise on June 4, as originally scheduled.

Bob voyage, Shipahoy. Have a great cruise.

Bon voyage, Moongirl7. Have a wonderful cruise.

Have agreat cruise, Princess Cruiser. We guess, from your name, that Princess is your favorite cruise line.

Happy 25th Anniversary. Have a wonderful cruise to celebrate your silver anniversary.

Have a great cruise, Mebert. Getting along without you on this board will be a struggle.

Have a great dance and a great cruise.

Have a splendid cruise on the Splendour.

frostyboy, 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!

Cruisie, we hope that you and the entire CC group have a great cruise, and that you bring back lots of Bermuda recommendations for us to follow next month.

Hamster, we hope that you and the entire CC group have a great cruise, and that you bring back lots of Bermuda recommendations for us to follow next month.

Have a great group cruise, everyone. How many are in your group--the four CC people named in the heading, or even more? In any event, leave Bermuda green for us!

Bon voyage, Maria. Be sure to sample some fish chowder and Bermuda rum, and leave the islands in good shape for us.

Bon voyage, Guil. We hope your cruise is Legendary.

cruiseluv, 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!

You'll need gloves only if your hands get cold easily. Your itin. is probably warmer than ours was, and we had two glove days for Joan, none for me. Still, some people get cold hands when it's 50. If you do, bring very light weight gloves; otherwise, not needed.

A little bit of everything, Joey. On our Med. cruise in 11/04, weather during the 18 days in Europe included, among other things, 75 and sunny (so it felt even warmer) short sleeve shirt weather (in Nice), 42 and rainy in Palma, Majorca (we put on every layer of clothing we had), 55 and windy in Lisbon (glove weather for Joan), mistral wind and rain on the day we failed to land at our scheduled stop in Minorca (so we couldn't get up on deck to know what the temperature was), light jacket weather, heavy jacket weather, sweater weather, you name it. And we had much better weather than most: the day in Palma was the only land day with more than a few minutes of rain (about 20 minutes, but there had been a lot of rain overnight), and the general weather was warmer than normal. Think of it as East coast spring weather (but nothing below freezing), just as changeable.

Welcome to Cruise Crazies. Have you tried Google or a similar search engine? Crystal had 8 health and fitness cruises in 2005 and may have some in 2006; but they're beyond the price range of most people here. A Spa in Calif. also claims to host H & F cruises; but their web site says that there will be listings "soon". Keep poking, and don't be afraid to call the cruise lines in which you have an interest.

Have a great cruise. Let us know all about the Connie, and about sailing from Bayonne.