Joanandjoe

Along the lines suggested by DaCruzNut (accidents, drink, and stupidity), did you see the statement released by RCCL regarding the Smith newlywed case? The cruise line basically claims that both husband and wife were partying so hard, and drinking so much, that he didn't make it back to their cabin the night before the night he disappeared, and that she passed out in the hallway, and wasn't in the room, the night he disappeared. Even in her account, booze apparently played a big part in the Smith disappearance. Even on vacation, it seems that one can't afford to lose control of their senses. Tragic but nonetheless true.

I agree with you Joey. People loudly talking business on cell phones on land are rude, and I'd hate to have them disrupt my vacation. I also have a mental picture of trying to enjoy a show onboard, while the person next to me is clicking away on his laptop. Ugh! BTW, what propmted this thread was a news item regarding Radisson. That line is introducting improved internet access on all of its ships (much needed-internet speed at present is ssslllooowww), and cell phone access at sea on all ships except the Tahiti ship (Paul Gauguin).

Cruise lines are competing to have the latest technology. First it was internet cafes, then in room access, then wi-fi hot spots, and now entire ships equipped for wireless internet connections. Now ships are starting to have cell phone access, even while at sea. Do you think this trend is good or bad? Do you want to have the latest technology, or do you (as we do) go on vacation to get away from cell phones and the internet? Please vote your choice, and ring in with your comments. Joe P.S. I don't know why there are \\ symbols in the polls: I certainly didn't type it that way. My apologies. If the moderators can remove the \\ lines, that would be great.

Shore Excursion Accident Kills Five Costa Passengers Five passengers traveling on a Costa-organized shore excursion in Madeira were killed last week when their motorcoach ran off the road. Another 43 people were injured in the accident, which took place while the travelers were taking a bus tour of the Portuguese island. Two of those injured are in comas, according to media reports. The driver of the bus was arrested after reportedly failing a breathalyzer test. CostaClassica has since returned, as scheduled, to its homeport in Savona, Italy, and has already departed on its New Year's voyage. The media reports did say that Costa is refunding cruise fares to those booked on the excursions who survived, and is subsidizing trips to Madeira for relatives of those injured or killed. Our hearts go out to the people involved in this tragic event<].

We can joke about poor service on Costa. What's no joke is a tragic bus crash of a Costa excursion bus in Madeira, with five people killed and 42 injured. A sad day for the people involved, of course, but also for the cruise industry. See our new post. Joan and Joe

Mrs. Ogni, both of our birthdays are in November: Joe 11/3, Joan 11/24. We normally have our November vacation between the two birthdays; but for 2006 it will be the day after Joan's birthday (11/25/06 Noordam). A November 2007 group cruise would be great, but it's mostly too early to have the schedules. Most lines are booking cruises through early April, 2007, but not much later.

The idea of a group cuise sounds great. Since Joe's job prevents us from taking any vacation that starts between December 1 and May 1, neither of those cruises would work for us. Indeed, with the time restrictions of his job (we can only take vacation in May, June, and/or November), it's hard to find any cruise.

Jason, thanks for the info. It gives me hope that we'll be able to try Trinidad some day in the future.

Someone out there must like Costa! I wonder what the comments are on the bigger, less personal CC board. I, too, have heard nothing but bad things about the line. I guess The Skipper should try MSC if he wants an Italian experience.

I wish the best of luck to the Crucians. They have a much more interesting island than St. Thomas, so I hope that these visits by two HAL ships are the first of many. Now if we can only get more cruise ships to visit the island I'd most like to see: Trinidad!

Embarkation? That's easy. You fly up the chimney in a wink, of course! It's disembarkation that's the problem. Joe

The cruise will be available tomorrow night, 12/24. To get onboard, just wait next to your chimney.

See http://www.akerfinnyards.com/ Enjoy!<]

Karen, I wish you were right; but it depends on the line. HAL and Windstar, for example, only show one room at a time, which isn't much help.

We'd divide our dream cruises into times and places. Places: Norwegian fjords, British Isles. We notice that several people have listed these two cruises, but very few lines offer them (and when they're offered there are only a few of them). Other dream cruises, such as South America and the Far East, will have to wait until the time dream is realized. Time. We'd love to be able to cruise between December 1 and April 30. That won't happen until Joe, the CPA, retires. Thus, lots of cruises (the best ones to the Caribbean, South America, world cruises) are ruled out for the next five or six years.

Keith & Rita had a post today asking where the Norwegian Sun is today. I looked at my source for ships' locations, Cruisecal, http://www.cruisecal.com/dnn/default.aspx , and found that the ship is in Roatan. You can use this to find out what ships are in port during your cruise. Enter your ship's name and the date of the cruise, and check the box to include other ships in port. We already know what ships will be in port during our Noordam cruise next November (although we'll check back closer to the cruise to see if there have been changes). If you live near a port and want to see what ships are in the port on a given day, you can do that as well. When I go to NYC via the Lincoln tunnel, I love to see the ships that are visible as I near the tunnel from the NJ side. Hope this will be useful to all you Crazies. P.S. - Right now the site isn't working very well; but when it works, it's great!

The sun has been here in the frozen NY metro area. All four days this week it has been blinding during my Eastward morning commute. It has also been frigid: under 10 degrees the last three nights. Luckily, Joan can take the cold and Joe actually enjoys it. The Norwegian Sun is a different story - that's down South. According to Cruise Ship Calendar, www.cruisecal.com, the Norwegian Sun is in Roatan today. If you go there, like massages and pampering, and haven't booked anything, see if you can book the Sante Wellness Centre, http://www.santewellnesscenter.com/ . The place is paradise in the middle of the third world, and both of us loved it. (If you're a diver, be sure to book a dive privately, rather than through NCL. Roatan has a huge and beautiful reef.) Enjoy your cruise, Keith & Rita.

While browsing the other CC board, we noticed that you've returned from your South America cruise, and are back at work. We hope you had a great time, and that you have very little post-cruise letdown. Don't forget to post your comments and review on this board. BTW, if it isn't too personal, what's the significance of your CC name?

We'd love to join you, even if the thought of flying to the Left Coast from NJ to start a cruise is not a pleasant one. Unfortunately, as long as Joe has his present job, April is out of the question. We're stuck with limited vacation windows in May, June, and November. Those are all tough months to find reasonably priced cruises that will appeal to a group.

Joey, I hate to argue with someone who has been on more cruises than my 7, but a storm with winds of 65 to 70 MPH is NOT a weak storm, it's almost a hurricane (74 MPH). See http://www.weather.com/newscenter/tropical...m=wxcenter_news , or the national weather service. Epsilon is at sea near Bermuda, but presumably so is Millie. If the ship is in the wrong place, it could be taking quite a buffeting. We've been at sea twice when winds were more than 50 knots (which is something like 58 MPH). It's no fun at all, so cruisinmama is right in being concerned. Ships are designed for higher winds than that, but it's still a bumpy ride, even with stabilizers.

Are you certain that your Canadian cell phone won't work in the States? Usually there's a stiff roaming charge, but the phones can be programmed to work on another network. That would be less hassle than the other choices listed here, eh!

No vote here, Mebert! As we mentioned on our post when you asked for nominations, none of the listed choices compares with the standard cabins on Radisson. Ditto food, service, etc. However, as we noted, so few people on this board have sailed on Radisson, Seaboard, Sea Dream, Silversea, or Windstar that those lines don't have any chance of winning these polls. I guess that's why our nominations didn't make the final cut. Of the two lines we've tried out of your six nominees, we liked the rooms on HAL (NOT Vista class!) more than on Celebrity, largely because they have bathtubs and most rooms on Celebity do not. Also, the HAL rooms were larger and were better decorated.

Congratulations. Enjoy your cruise. Wish we had the time for another 14 nighter! Also, we thought our 11/25/06 cruise, which we booked in early August, was pretty far in the future; but yours is still later. There's still time to book a cruise on Radisson in addition to what you already have booked!

JC, a/k/a XPCDOOJK (does anyone know what his "handle" means?), will be reporting from the Rotterdam VI on another board with the same CC initials as this one. The thread is on the HAL board, under almost the same name as this thread. He and his DW have arrived safely in Rio, and she is apparently well acquainted with H. Stern! Follow his adventures and, if you also belong to the other board, don't forget to put in your 2 cents.

Based on postings on another board with an alliterative name, jc (a/k/a xpcdoojk) has left his/her office, and is getting ready to leave for the airport, bound for South America! Like me, JC is a Douglas Adams fan (see my thread "So long, and thanks for all the fish"), and jc's thread was called "HAL Friends, Thanks for the Information, and the Fish" JC's latest entry upon getting ready to leave the office was as follows: "Thanks for all of the Fish! See you on the other side. I am so completely out of here! jc" On this board, as on the other board, Joan and I extend our best wishes for a wonderful trip. May any difficulties on the ship be Mostly Harmless (without a salmon of doubt). BTW, would anyone be interested in a Douglas Adams discussion? LOL. Joe