Joanandjoe

We did a B-2-B last year on the Wind Surf, Nice to Barcelona, Barcelona to Lisbon. It was wondeful. We agree that one of the points is to get the same cabin. What a wonderful feeling it is to watch everyone put their suitcases in the hall, say goodbye in the morning, then leave, while you remain as a passenger. We had a great city, Barcelona, to explore, got right back onto the ship (but still had the champagne) when we wanted to do so, and had a great lunch before nex PAX were allowed to board. Whether the memu changes depends on the line. I believe that Windstar used a 10 day menu, so there was some repetition but not 100%. The on deck barbecue, however, remained the same. Yes, you do tip twice. As for entertainment, if it's standard entertainment it will repeat. For Radisson, if you take two consecutive cruises, at least one of them is likely to have a theme, making the entertainment different for the two segments. All in all, if the itineraries for the two legs are different, do try a B2B! We do have a caveat, however. The age group on 14 day cruises tends to be older, and the cruise more sedate, than on a 7 day cruise. Other factors, such as itinerary (Alaska has an older average age than the Caribbean) and the season (school vacations obviously attract more kids than cruises during school). This factor can cut either way, depending on your age and the degree of activity you like: just bear it in mind.

Since practically no one on this board (other than us) has sailed on Windstar or Radisson, it hardly pays to put in our nominations; but we'll do so anyway, with nominations only in a few categories. Best food by cruise line: Radisson Best food by ship: Radisson Seven Seas Navigator Best all around service, best crew, best cruise ship: Radisson Navigator Best cabins: Radisson Best entertainment: Radisson Navigator (* We were on a jazz cruise with jazz masters such as Bucky Pizzarelli, so of course it was better than normal ship entertainment. Otherwise Radisson would not be a nominee-very standard entertainment) Best itinerary - Windstar, by a country mile! None of the big ships can get into the ports that a small ship can visit. The Mediterranean and Caribbean itineraries are much better than on the big lines. Best looking ship. Wind Surf. We also nominate HAL Rotterdam VI, the best looking non-sail ship we've seen. For now, we'll stay on the board so everyone can send Joan birthday greetings on her Thanksgiving birthday, 11/24. (Mine was 11/3, but the profiles only allow you to list one birthday, even when two people share a CruiseCrazies name. Since we're not the only duo (see, e.g., JoeyandDavid) maybe that should change.) Joe

I wasn't even aware of the games. That's more Joan's thing than mine, so I'll let her know about them. On some boards Joan posts a lot, on some me - but we use the joint Joanandjoe handle for all. This board has all been me, other than our joint cruise review of the Radisson Navigator. Joe Do you mean the games section of the board, or is there something else?

Our next cruise isn't for another year (Noordam 11/25/06), so we'll lurk for another week or so, then sign off until next summer. It's been fun chatting with you. If you want to reach us before then try our "public" email address Joan and Joe (The headline is the name of a novel by Douglas Adams)

Joey, at any restaurant an adventurous diner will find dishes he doesn't like - but also some new things that he does like. One of the great things about cruising is that, if you don't like a dish, you can always order something else. Who would have thought that Joe's favorite dish on a two week Wind Surf cruise would be a Moroccan vegetarian dish - pumpkin tajine! LOL!

Welcome back. Yes, Celebrity is great. Now are you ready to try the Chocolate theme cruise, or other 2 for 1s, on Radisson that we discussed before your cruise? As for DaCruzNut's comments that Celebrity has the best food at sea, we'd like to eat our way through the offerings of lots of lines in order to test his/her theory. Let's see: Crystal, Sea Dream, Seabourn, Silversea, HAL, Celebrity, Windstar, Radisson - Yum! For our tastes, Windstar and Radisson were even better than Celebrity; but we haven't yet had bad food on any cruise.

No tipping, no charge for non-alcoholic drinks or for alcoholic drinks at dinner (whether wine, booze, port, etc.), and a two bottle bar setup are a basic part of the Radisson experience, and the line is considering eliminating all charges for liquor. All of the luxury lines, other than Crystal, include tipping and some or all drinks. That's part of the "no nickle and diming" that made the trip a pleasure. Our shipboard account had charges for one photo and our shore excursions - nothing else! Our price comparison with the Maasdam took into account the extra night on the Navigator, lower transportation costs (one way to Montreal vs. to/from Boston), no tips, and no charges for soda and wine. Eight days on the Navigator in the lowest category 300 square foot category H cabin cost about the same as seven nights in a mini-suite on the Maasdam would have cost. We were surprised at the lack of formal nights; but we found that out when we got our cruise documents. Radisson has started to list the dress codes on its itineraries. Here, for example, is the itinerary for the 2 for 1 Caribbean "chocolate signature" cruise on 12/5/05 on the Seven Seas Voyager: http://www.rssc.com/voyage/details.jsp?code=VOY051205 . 5 nights casual, 1 formal, 1 informal. Listed price with port charges: $2,458 for a minimum cabin, which has a balcony. Some TAs can do better on the price.

Almost all of the Caribbean cruises are 2-for-1. One Alaska crusie, starting next May 13th (from LA) or 14th (from SF), is also half price, and there are some inexpensive Tahiti cruises. Watch out for the airfare, though! Ditto on a repositiong cruise 11/13/05 from Madeira to Ft. Lauderdale: low fare, no ports in between (good only fi yoou like 100% sea days, but expensive airfare.

Mebert and JoeyandDavid, check the Radisson web site, www.rssc.com, when it's working - which it isn't at the moment. Before the site went down a few minutes go, I found 2-for-1s on 12/9/05, 8 day Mexican Riviera LA to LA, and 12/5/05, LA to Fort Lauderdale 14 night Panama Canal. I think there are 2-for-1s for the Caribbean as well. Check with your TA.

Mebert, look for 2 for 1 deals: that's why we tried Radisson. It cost less per day than the HAL Maasdam from Boston would have cost, for an even better experience than the nice cruises on HAL.

Jason, it's our review, but it's listed as "Michael Milano, Western Caribbean, 10/2/05." We suspect that Michael wrote either the Carnival or the RCCL reviews. You may want to check all three reviews, thenm make any necessary corrections. Joan and Joe

Thanks for all the good wishes. We had a great cruise, and we're having a hard time getting back to reality. Which is as it should be!

Thanks, everyone, for the colorful and animated good wishes. Wish we knew how to add color and animation! We did most of our packing last night, and we're really excited about the upcoming trip.

Regarding the room switch, we honestly didn't think about a room switch until after the fact - we were too busy trying to deal with the bumpy conditions - and they didn't offer. A big glitch, but not enough to detract from the rest of the cruise. Windstar is a division of Holland America, which is a division of Carnival Corp. It has three motorized sailboats: Wind Surf (about 310 PAX) and Wind Star and Wind Spirit (148 PAX each). The sails are computerized but beautiful nonetheless. In the Med., most of the cruising is under motor power, but we probably were purely under sail 10% of the time and under sail, but assisted by motors, another 25% or more. In the Caribbean the ships are under sail more often. Also, the two small ships are under sail more oftern than the Wind Surf. When the ship is under sail, it's glorious.

We're sorry HAL treated you so badly and didn't provide sufficient "make goods" to get you to try them again. We hope that doesn't bode ill for our potential 11/25/06 cruise on the Noordam, which will come after cruises on Windstar and Radisson. Maybe it's time for you to try the small, personal ships such as Silversea, Seabourn (unfortunately owned by Carnival), Windstar (also Carnival), Sea Dream, or Radisson. If you get a good fare, they cost no more than a HAL SS, particularly considering how much more (wine, tips, soda, bottled water, sometimes an excursion) is included. If you want a big ship, why not try Crystal?

We didn't see any reviews of Windstar or Radisson, so we posted a review of our wonderful back to back cruises last November on the Wind Surf. As for Radisson, we'll be on the Seven Seas Navigator 9/16 to 24, Montreal to NYC, and will post a review. We hope that at least a few people from these boards will be joining us on the Navigator.

Thanks for the greetings, everyone. We'll try to post a lot: we're already doing so on x. Now if only we can find some people on our 9/16 Radisson Seven Seas Voyager cruise. No bites so far, here or on x.