Joanandjoe

Welcome to Cruise Crazies. We're sorry to hear about your accident, and hope you recover quickly. In addition to contacting high officials of the cruise line, you need to contact the operator of the salon--presumably Steiner. The accident was probably their fault, and the cruise line may try to pass the buck to them. Good luck in obtaining some redress!

Yes, the cruise sounds lovely. I'll have to look up the ship and the line. We've done the Western Med., but not the area near Italy.

I'm not enough of a techie to understand this. Will they be tracking crew and longshoremen, or will passengers also be tracked through fingerprints?

Welcome to this Crazy cruise board. We hope you'll soon recover from your shipboard accident, and will be a frequent contributor to the forums.

Here is our review of the Navigator. http://www.cruisecrazies.com/reviews/radis...or/review=1.php You can also get it by clicking on reviews, then going to the ship, which is listed as Radisson Navigator. Ours is the only review of the ship. I'm on the board because an expected 3 p.m. conference call is still on hold. In general, Sherry (TravelBug), it's best to be on Boards at home, rather than at work.

Welcome to these Crazy Boards, TravelBug. You'll find these boards to be friendly and informative. As it happens, there are very few RSSC cruisers on these boards, but don't get uptight about that. People can help you on ports and general questions. There are also fun things such as ongoing games, threads about non-cruise topics such as "welcome to spring", etc. Regarding RSSC, I seriously doubt that the upgrades will take effect by mid-May. For example, I know that, as mentioned in my earlier post, all inclusive takes effect next year. I'll send a private message to you. If you don't get that, please send an email to Joanandjoe@. BTW, the web site hasn't changed, even though the name has. It's still www.rssc.com .

We saw your first post, on our thread about RSSC, and wanted to be the first to welcome you to CruiseCrazies. We hope you become a big contributor. We'll try to help you with your RSSC question about upgrades on the cruise board.

Oops, Gina, my bad! Age 10 is quite different from age 12. Most kids are not ready for adult activities. I hope you can find an affordable ship that's right for your son.

Wilmington a cruise port? Amazing. What's next--Trenton? Saga always likes to do things differently. With their all adults policy, I hope that some day they have a cruise that's right for us.

We never had the experience of cruising with kids; but the Grand Princess obviously isn't the right ship for you. Why not start a post about "best ships for 13 year olds". We've heard that RCCL and Carnival go to a lot of trouble to have good kids' programs; maybe one of them is right for you. A lot depends on your son's view of the world. For our older son at 13, the best thing for him would have been a mix of adult activities with some time with contemporaries. We've seen 12 and 13 year olds who did all adult things, others who did all kid's things. You want to have a ship that has the right choices. Meanwhile, we hope that the good made up for the disappointing, and that your son enjoyed having quality time with his grandparents.

That sounds like a lot to do for a day trip that is "almost a cruise". We're glad you had fun! Whare does the ship leave from--Miami?

Thanks for your post. We had heard about the bad weather in paradise; sorry you got stuck with it. Hawaii is on our wish list. We've never been there, and the current cruise offerings (either 15 days, or NCL) are not for us. One way or the other, we hope to get there some day, even if it is a "land trip".

Sorry to get your hopes up: we're not not on your cruise, We're not familiar with this ship. What cruise line is it from, how big a ship is it, and where is it going? Presumably Venice is part of the itinerary.

Bump! Jason missed this thread. Apparently the best thing about the change is that, starting 1/1/07, RSSC will join the other luxury lines (with the exception of Crystal), in being all inclusive with respect to drinks. In addition to the present policy of including soda, bottled water, 6 start up cans of beer, 2 startup bottles of booze, and wine and other drinks with with dinner, RSSC will now include all drinks (other than super premium brands) at all times. It's unclear what will happen to the initial setup of two bottles of booze and six cans of beer in the room when you arrive. We took our booze home, and gave the beer back to the steward. With all inclusive, I don't see how the setup is needed any more.

Jason, we seldom catch you sleeping, but you missed this one. I started a thread on this two weeks ago. It's so old that the last post was on 3/9, and it has slipped to page 2. I'll bump it back to page 1.

Cheryl, we'll add our joy and congratulations to those added by Karen. Breast cancer is a scourge, and if our contributions can help wipe it out, the world will be a better place.

Ordinarily, we try to book with a local operator whenever possible. We save money, and get a better feeling for the area. Local tours can vary, so it pays to ask a lot of questions ...In Quebec, we enjoyed a three-hour tour for $18.75 (they honored a coupon), which we found on the internet. The five of us on the tour had a wonderful time, and never felt rushed. The guide assured us Quebec's "other" Museum of Civilization, was just a few blocks from the ship, and he'd pick us up there. I collect Russian nesting dolls, and there was a huge one in front of the museum, so that completed our day's excursion. Knowing the museum was on top of the ship, we ate lunch on board. I even found some "pins" with the museum logo for $0.25 each in the gift shop. In Boston, they have built Charlestown's "Old Ironsides" site into a FREE complex including a museum, a ship's tour by a decorated veteran, and a sculpture garden. We splurged on the $3.00 "Battle of Bunker Hill" multimedia presentation, well worth it. The ferry leaves from the back of the museum, so we "toured" Boston Harbor for $1.50 each. Lunch on board the ship again. In Grand Cayman, Stingray City tours abound and the costs vary. It pays to shop around. We've found cut-price operators, flea markets, and other money-savers steps from the ship's entrance. In Haiti, we found a spa where we could spend the day getting a massage, lounging around, and even eating a light lunch. We were the only people who liked Haiti ... By contrast, Bermuda offers a smaller price difference between the ship's tours and the outside operators. We're finding a wealth of things to do on our own, since the bus service seems fine. I'm looking forward to bringing back some pink sand and some beach glass, but the tours offer fewer bargains than usual.

As you can see by these postings, a tux is OK, a dark suit is OK, and if you want to do neither, you can always skip the dining room. If you like being dressed to the nines, go for it. If a tux makes you uncomfortable, don't wear one. It's your vacation. Enjoy. Our last three cruises, on Windstar (2) and Radisson (1) (now Regal), had no formal nights. Our next two, on Holland America and Celebrity, will have them,; and it will feel strange. Joe will probably stick to a dark suit. He's worn a tax perhaps three times in the 38 years we've been married, and the last time was about 30 years ago. Joan will wear her favorite caftans on most formal nights. She's been hooked on them since she bought two in Morocco in 2004, and has bought a few more since then.

Doc dance -- is that something like St. Vitus' dance? Seriously, isn't it great when the docs are in hand, and you know you'll soon be onboard! Have a great cruise, and keep Bermuda green and lovely for our 5/13 cruise on the Zenith. Don't forget to give us your suggestions when you get home!

We hope you don't get the idea that we're a bunch of old fuddie duddies on this board. We're not. We range in age from teenagers to octogenarians, and some of us are quite outgoing. Many of us have been to European beaches, where a couple in Speedos and thongs would be wearing more clothing than most people. When we suggest not wearing those swim suits on U.S. ships, its based on our experiences as cruisers. There are limits on how much you want to stand out from the crowd. In case you haven't noticed, Americans have more hangups about the human body than most nationalities, and scanty swimware is simply not worn on ships catering to people from the U.S.

Since Joe has been to the Falls area at least 50 times, and Joan at least 30, if we want to do it and it's within 30 miles of the falls, we've probably done it--whether Welland Canal, museums in Buffalo, Shaw Festival, Maid of the Mist, the NYS park with the little islands, forts on both sides of the river, Grand Island, etc. From your comments, it sounds as if you're from the New York side of the river.

Our Med. cruise was on Windstar, not Celebrity; but it had a much higher percentage of people from Europe (and, for some reason, Japan and Australia) than on cruises closer to the U.S. That's normally true for cruises in Europe, even on U.S.-oriented ships. As Shari points out, the itinerary can be exhausting if you don't pace yourself. If there are any ports that are far from big cities (such as Livorno, for Florence, or Civittavecchia for Rome), you may be best off sticking to the port, or places near the port. If you want to see Rome, it's a short plane ride from the UK, and might best be left for a separate trip. (For us Yanks, it's different: Rome is such a long plane ride from here that we'll exhaust ourselves to get there from the ship.)

Funny! Of course, we may joke about exercising, and call it "groan, creak, and sag", but we still do it every day. Right, Crazies?

We hope you've made a complete recovery, Cheryl!

Add to our list a shallow draft speedboat with a large fan-like motor in the back, in the Everglades. Fascinating trip, but sad to see how much damage humans have done to the 'Glades.