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We're back from our eleven day Caribbean cruise. This was our second cruise on the MSC Lirica and I need to sit and formulate a fair and appropriate review for my CruiseCrazie friends. It may take me a day or two and it may appear after the holidays. I like the new look and thank those who are responsible. See you later. Howard

Dancing, dancing, dancing ....................

Leaving for the Southern Caribbean on next Thursday. Last call, anyone else?

Joey and David Thanks for sharing your great experience with an inspiring work of creativity. I'm jealous and it will probably cost me the $60 for the software. Thanks again. Howard

We've cruised on NCL twice (Norway and Dream), MSC Lirica twice, RCI Mariner (once) and waiting to go on Costa's Magica. We've enjoyed the Lirica more than the others. However, we tend to look at cruises as an opportunity to visit ports of call and view the ship as a floating hotel to get us to the various ports. Our cruise choices are based more on where the ship goes and the number of days at sea versus the number of days in port. As an example, next months Lirica is 12 days with just three days at sea visiting San Juan, St. Maarten, Grenada, Barbados, St. Lucia, Tortola and Sanama (Dominican Republic).

We're just unpacking from the Mariner and are ready to go again . . . . 12 days on the MSC Lirica. No sense starting to excercise now . . . . . right?

Well, Pat and I are back from our week-long genealogy cruise on the Mariner of the Seas. It was a great cruise, the ship is wonderful and the weather was great. If you are ever considering a 'seminar-cruise' please read this. Some of you may know that we booked this cruise with about 200 other genealogists and went to lectures and seminars during the three days the ship was at sea. We won't do that again! Went to six sessions a day from 8am to 5:30pm for three days. The days we weren't at sea we went ashore at St. Thomas and St. Maarten. The day at CoCo Cay was cancelled because the tenders couldn't go ashore. Because of the sessions, we missed opportunities to see how great the Mariner is. On the other hand, we did learn a lot to help us with our genealogy research. Next time I'll take a cruise at sea and go to seminars on land. You lose too much of a great travel experience trying to do both at the same time.

I arrived at Port Canaveral this morning and am spoiled because our daughter picked us up on took us home. However, I would suggest that you leave your rental in Orlando and arrange round trip transportation to and from Orlando Airport. Many, many, many people on our cruise this week did just that and I know it's an easy task.

Joey and David, Thanks for posting. We've been very fortunate this season and I hope and pray that the this year's trend continues. Howard

If you mean MSC, we cruised on the MSC Lirica last year to the Panama Canal and are going on her again on Dec 7th to the Caribbean. All funds were paid in US dollars. If you're interested in my review see Cruise Reviews in left column.

Went to Glacier Bay, College fjord, etc. last year. While it was a beautiful once in a lifetime experience . . . . that's what it was . . . a ONCE in a lifetime experience. We spent a lot of money to watch ice melt and I'd have to think that there is not much difference between one glacier and another. I'd spend my time and money seeing the sights on land tours at cruise ports.

We'll be in St. Maarten on November 2nd and again on December 11th. It sounds like booking a tour with Joyce Price is the thing to do. Can someone tell me more? How to contact her? Feel free to email me at: hfisher06###### Thanks.

I offer no opionion about this article, however, having been born and raised in the NY Metro Area I've learned to be on personal alert and aware of your surroundings whenever you travel. Whether in a big city, small town, or on a cruise ship. Be safe always. How safe are you on the high seas? Are you at risk? Travelers now have an easier time finding out how at-risk they are for shipboard illnesses than for rapes or other violent crimes. Cruise lines consider that proprietary business information. Advocates are pushing Congress for laws that would require cruise ships to report crimes, improve investigative standards on ships and make information about crime rates available to the public. By M.C. MOEWE Daytona Beach News-Journal Staff Writer Her cabin door aboard Royal Caribbean's Vision of the Seas had no peephole, so when Laurie Dishman heard the light knock she thought her girlfriend had returned. The next moments were a blur as a strange man burst into the room. "He forced his way in and pushed me toward the bed," the 35-year-old restaurant manager said. "I just remember putting my hands up and trying to push him away and saying stop. He kept saying 'You could have six more days of this.' " She lost consciousness during the Feb. 21 rape, awakening with marks around her neck. By Feb. 26, even before the seven-day cruise had ended, the U.S. Attorney's Office had decided not to prosecute her case. Dishman's story, along with documents acquired by The News-Journal, illustrate how passengers who feel victimized must rely on the cruise industry to report and often conduct the initial investigation of onboard crimes -- crimes that could expose the cruise lines to expensive lawsuits. While travelers can peruse federal government Web sites to track the frequency of outbreaks of shipboard illnesses, they have no similar system for rapes, other violent crimes or missing persons. Industry insiders concede that crimes such as rape occur among the 8.6 million passengers who embark from U.S. ports each year. Yet the cruise lines treat crime stats as "proprietary business information." The FBI reports an average of eight convictions a year for violent shipboard crimes. Cruise officials insist their passengers are far safer on board their ships than they are walking the streets of their hometown. But critics of the system -- including those pushing Congress to require that crime statistics be tracked and made publicly available -- say the industry's secrecy creates doubt about the thoroughness of its investigations and record-keeping. No one expects a 100 percent conviction rate -- on land or at sea -- but the cruise line's record is hard to believe, said James Walker, a Miami attorney with almost 20 years' experience in civil suits involving cruise lines. "Since Royal Caribbean was founded in 1969, they have never had a single conviction of anyone committing a felony or a serious crime such as sexual assault," Walker said. LACK OF EVIDENCE After Dishman said she was raped, she was left waiting for hours in her cabin before being allowed to see the ship's doctor, who did a pelvic exam, took swabs and a blood sample. Dishman said she does not recall any photographs being taken of the bruises on her neck. She and her girlfriend were given two plastic garbage bags and instructed to go back to the room and collect sheets, pillowcases, blankets and anything else they thought was involved in the attack. "They left it up to us," said Dishman, a Sacramento, Calif., woman who took medication to prevent the development of sexually transmitted diseases as a precaution. Michael Sheehan, a Royal Caribbean spokesman responding to questions via e-mail, said the cruise line has protocols for investigating such incidents, including guidance for shipboard medical staff to document any bruises or other marks during a general exam. The company's safety manual -- included in court documents -- states that photographs of the victim or alleged assailant are not to be taken. Yet photographs, particularly of alleged injuries, are typically standard in a criminal investigation, said John Gillies, chief of the FBI's violent crime division. Most cases of alleged rape on cruise ships are not prosecuted for a lack of evidence, Gillies said. That's no surprise to Walker, the Miami attorney who's representing Dishman in a civil suit against Royal Caribbean. "The way the (safety) manual is written, it's not instructing a ship doctor to do their best to help a victim," he said. "They're looking to dismantle a potential legal claim while the victim is still in shock." The safety manual also includes instructions for ship personnel to immediately notify the company's risk management department, Walker said -- the people charged with minimizing the cruise line's legal liability. CONFLICTING NUMBERS Crime statistics for all cruise lines doing business in U.S. ports came under scrutiny earlier this year during congressional inquiries. The cruise lines were required to report crimes, but Congress agreed to keep the individual numbers secret. Fifteen cruise lines reported to Congress that 177 unlawful sexual incidents allegedly occurred between 2003 and 2005. Publicly available crime statistics for individual cruise companies are rare. The News-Journal was able to see records maintained by Royal Caribbean Cruises International only after a Miami judge ordered they be produced as part of a civil suit involving the alleged fondling of two 12-year-old girls in 2005. It may represent the first time raw data has been released by a cruise company. Those in-house records differed from the numbers Royal Caribbean reported to Congress. The cruise line told Congress 66 alleged sexual acts or contacts were reported on their ships between 2003 and 2005. Internal documents showed 109 incidents that were categorized as sexual assaults or sexual batteries in a 31-month period during that time frame. Sheehan, the company spokesman, said the documents should not be compared because the internal assessment was not categorized based on criminal statutory definitions. "Internal company records will often include the language used by a party who is first reporting an incident to us," he wrote in response to questions. "This obviously does not mean those terms were used accurately as the person reporting the incident would be unaware of the technical statutory definitions of such terms." Some examples not reported to Congress from Royal Caribbean's internal documents: • March 26, 2004 on board the Explorer of the Seas: Victim "alleges sexual assault (rape) by another guest." • Nov. 13, 2003 on Navigator of the Seas: Victim "alleges sexual assault by head waiter." • Dec. 12, 2004 on Monarch of the Seas: Victim "claims she was sexually assaulted by a guest." Sheehan said not all the incidents were reported to Congress because they didn't meet federal definitions for sexual abuse. "In the three cases you listed, one involved a later admission of consensual sex by the victim, and two involved sexual touching without force or threat," Sheehan wrote. PUBLIC DISCLOSURE The conflicting numbers and legal definitions are factors motivating the push for more transparency from the cruise lines. "The U.S. public should know, when they get on a given cruise line, how many crimes are being committed," said Kendall Carver, president of International Cruise Victims, a group that's pushing for more oversight of the cruise industry. "If you are walking in a high-crime area, you want to know it." Rep. Christopher Shays, R.-Conn., who began investigating cruise ship safety after prominent Connecticut businessman George Smith disappeared on his July 2005 honeymoon, presented legislation in June that would require cruise ships that call on American ports to report crime and overboard or missing person incidents involving American citizens to the Department of Homeland Security. Companies would be required to refer potential ticket-buyers to a government Web site that publishes incident reports. Ships also would be inspected to ensure adequate equipment and trained personnel are available to investigate crimes. Dishman supports the proposal and believes her case was dropped too quickly. She said the FBI has not told her what evidence they received or what tests, if any, were done on the samples taken by the ship's doctors. A spokeswoman for the FBI in Los Angeles, Laura Eimiller, said that information cannot be released because no arrest was made. "Until public charges are filed, they're just allegations," she said. After returning home, Dishman found on the Internet plenty of material questioning the safety of passengers on cruise ships -- a notion she hadn't given much thought to before she left. "I don't even know if I would have ever gone on a cruise if I had known this could happen," said Dishman, who hopes to bring attention to the lack of crime statistics publicly available on the cruise industry. "I don't want another woman to go through anything like this." mary.moewe@news-jrnl.com

Praying for Dwight!

I hired to Radio City Rockettes to do the Doc Dance for us. I guess it's time to get the suitcases out and start packing!

We're with you.<]

It's an MSC Cruises 2 for 1 "Red White and Blue" deal for veterans. It's not a normally listed deal for TAs so yours may have to call MSC directly. It carries into 2007. I booked it with a local agency becaise I had an extra $200 discount. I learned about it from a friend who told me about this website: http://www.legendaryjourneys.com/ Just click on the link in the upper left corner and read the flyer.

Good News, Joey and David

This is a great idea and I'm sure will work. I've started it and can't wait for the positive results. My only question to Keith & Rita is what do I do with the 230 pounds of potatoes I took out of the sacks? They're piled everywhere. Howard

Does this sound feasible? I found this information on a Lirica review. We live about 5 hrs. from Ft. Lauderdale. "If you live in Florida (or near your cruise port), rent an economy car – for like $20 and just drop it off at the location. There is a Dollar Rent A Car near where I live and the Ft. Lauderdale Airport has a free shuttle to the cruise port. This way I avoided parking at like $15/day, mileage on my car, and got better mileage (I have an SUV). Same for going home… the bus picks you up at the exit of the cruise terminal and drops you off at Dollar’s door. " Any thoughts? Sounds like a good idea and will check it out with our local car rental agency. Your thoughts are appreciated. Howard

Robert, Three years will go by in a FLASH! In two months I'll have been retired for five years and it seems just like yesterday that I left the company that employed me for 30 years. It took us a while to get started but we've been on two cruises since then and have three more scheduled. Retirement is great and your day will be here before you know it. Howard

Thanks for asking and answering the questions about fuel. Learned my 'something new' for today.

Joey, We cruised the Lirica in April 2005 on her Panama Canal cruise. It was a wonderful experience. The service was great . . . . cruise people were friendly and accomodating to our needs. Some people were critical of the shipboard announcements because they were repeated in five languages . . . .english, spanish, french, italian, and german. We didn't find this objectionable . . . . just added to the european ambiance. Speaking of european ambiance, some ladies decided to sunbath on the pool topless. While this sounds titilating (pun intended) many of the people who opted for this should have kept their clothes on. I don't want this to be too long, but one more comment. The food was uniquely european. Ninety percent of the time it was excellent. And you could always order a steak or seafood at dinner. A traveling companion order a seafood salad and was suprised to see little octopus tentacles with suckers etc. He didn't eat that. Our biggest food dissapointment was the cannoli. Being born and raised ten miles from New York City, Pat and I know what cannoli should taste like and looked forward to having it on this Italian cruise ship. It was the worst we've ever had. To summarize, we would go on the Lirica again and again. It's a class ship with class service. Hope this helps. Howard P.S. One other comment . . . . when we booked the Panama Canal cruise we booked the cheapest inside they had (Cat#1). We were to sail in January '05. In Oct '04, MSC called our TA and told they had overbooked and would we change our date to April 11th. For the inconvenience they upgraded us to a Category 9 and gave us $1,000 back. This ended up as being the best cruise deal we ever had. It will probably never happen again.

If I won a $200M Powerball, here's what I would do: I went to the "Ultimate Travel Show" in Orlando over the weekend and talked with a woman who is selling cabins on a 'residential' cruise ship. The ship is still to be built but will travel all over the world. I would buy a full ownership in one of their 4 BR 4.5 Bath cabins (2235+ sq. ft). It's only a little over $5 milllion. The only downfall is that each cabin has a kitchen . . . for 5 million I have to cook too? What would you do?