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Very good question. We prefer to do excursions together as we search out the ones that involve beach time. Walking around old buildings or monuments etc don't appeal. However if Donna wanted a shopping trip then she'd go without me and I would crash out by the ship's pool or have a nap in our stateroom. Regards, James

Donna and James 10.

WOW! Truly amazing picture Jason. I have often wondered what it must have like to be hit by one of these wave monsters especially if one was out on one of the top decks looking at it coming towards you. Scares me just thinking about that! Regards, James.

Oh boy one of my all time topics!!!!. I like to use this analogy: Do you go into your favourite restaurant at home or wherever, and hand your server money before being served the meals and drinks? No, I thought not. So why pay in advance on a cruise ship for service you haven't yet had? It is totally illogical to me. It's about time the cruise lines stopped this gouging. It has been proven many times that advanced or pre paid tipping does not ensure good service. Without exception on the 10 cruises I have taken I have had tipping removed from my account at the purser's desk during my first hours aboard. If I get good service in the dining room and my cabin the staff are hansomely compensated on the last night. No one has the right to tell me how much to tip a particular service. In their brochures under questions and answers there is usually the question"how much do I tip?" Are they thinking that 1st time cruisers are stupid never having been out to dinner or a bar or hotel therefore knowing nothing about tipping? The cruise lines should defer some of their profit to paying their employees a better hourly rate especially the behind the scenes staff. Regards, James.

Most of the main dining room food is very appetising. Without a menu it's hard to think of anything specific. All cruises have the choice of seafood,pasta or steaks.I just look forward to anything that sounds tasty barring lamb,veal scallops and a few other seafood dishes. As I think I have said before, sometimes meat pie and chips or sausage egg and chips to me would be a lovely alternative! I do enjoy 90& of the soups offered, be them be cold or hot so I suppose I could say that the soups are high on the "look forward to" dishes. Regards, James.

As some have suggested,it depends on one's taste buds. My wife for instance does not like seafood or spiced food of any kind except maybe battered cod once in a while. I on the other hand dislike lamb, duck, veal and certain seafoods. That does not leave a large choice on the menu! We favour basic 'meat and potato' dishes. Sometimes I yearn for the simple English food such as plain old fish and chips or sausages and mash or even toad in the hole! I'm led to believe that in the Golden Lion Pub on the QM2 they do serve some of these dishes during lunch time hours but not in the evening. Guess We're gonna have to book Cunard next time!!!! Regards, James.

Oh boy, another difficult one. I think as people suggest, everyone should read the fine print in their insurance documents and also check with their travel agent or cruise line at the time of booking. One never knows when things change. I think for serious injury or death of a family member there would be no problem but friends changing their minds isn't a good enough reason for a refund. Like someone suggested maybe re-booking at another time would be acceptable to the cruise line. Regards, James.

Outrageous totally outrageous! I've said this before and I'll say it again-the cruise lines are looking for any way they can to snaffle more out of the passengers. Greed, greed, greed. Have your get together the night before at a hotel or reception hall. Bring your own booze and call a local caterer. It'll be just as much fun I'm sure. Regards, James.

Sound the kind of answer I would probably give!!!!!! (No fun being old!!!) LOL Regards, James.

They all look great and delicious! Pity about the beer prices!!! Regards, James.

Hi dawson21, My wife and I (52 and 63) have taken 5 cruises on Carnival in the past 4 years, We have not sailed on the Miracle but on the Legend out of NY. Carnival is great value for money with what you get. This includes pretty good meals,wonderful main lounge entertainment, friendly crews, lots of deck chair space, reasonably priced drinks, free ice cream(wonderful) and terrific 24 hour free pizza etc etc. Your cabin will be of a most generous size regardless which you choose with, in our opinion, the most comfortable beds at sea. The passenger mix is good. From infants to 80 year olds-all seem to have a good time. As far as shore excursions go, they too are reasonably priced. Go to Carnival's web site to read more about them. You cannot go wrong with Carnival as long as you don't expect the earth are not overly critical of the little things such as the occasional line up at meal times at the buffet or the very rare obnoxious rude passenger you may encounter. I'm sure you will read others on this site. They too will offer more info for you. Hope this has been helpful. Regards, James.

Well, I'm not surprised to read this. Gloomily I have predicted that cruising will become saturated over the next 5 to 10 years.Very few lines will be making a profit whilst others will merge making mega cruise lines with ultra mega ships. More and more alternative dining rooms will be added to ships forcing us to pay for most of our main meals if we want great service with a good menu choice. The greed now is apparent amongst cruise lines. Without mentioning names, it is becoming obvious that taking passengers for everything they can squeeze out of them is a high priority. I would like to be a fly on the wall during a ship's hotel manager talk to his employees prior to the start of a cruising season. I bet we all would be shocked to hear of the ways put forward to entice the passenger to pay for "the extras". Yet the cruise lines still say their profit margin is not good enough. They are biting the hand that feeds them! Regards, James.

Well, I'm not surprised to read this. Gloomily I have predicted that cruising will become saturated over the next 5 to 10 years.Very few lines will be making a profit whilst others will merge making mega cruise lines with ultra mega ships. More and more alternative dining rooms will be added to ships forcing us to pay for most of our main meals if we want great service with a good menu choice. The greed now is apparent amongst cruise lines. Without mentioning names, it is becoming obvious that taking passengers for everything they can squeeze out of them is a high priority. I would like to be a fly on the wall during a ship's hotel manager talk to his employees prior to the start of a cruising season. I bet we all would be shocked to hear of the ways put forward to entice the passenger to pay for "the extras". Yet the cruise lines still say their profit margin is not good enough. They are biting the hand that feeds them! Regards, James.

What a great site. Thank you so much for sharing that. Regards, James

Well their lack of profit was certainly not due to the high salaries of the employees!!!!. Why oh why did they put 3 ships around Hawaii? I'm surprised even one is still cruising around those lovely islands.The ships don't do a lot of actual cruising but act more like a water taxi going from island to island. Of course it depends on one's definition of a cruise doesn't it? Regards, James.

WOW! That must have been absolutely awful. I don't mind an active sea but 70 foot waves are too much. However we are told today that "rogue" waves sometimes of monster heights hit ships all around the 7 seas. These come from nowhere it seems with no warning-rather like clear air turbulence during a flight Normally seas such as the Caribbean are fairly calm compared to the major oceans. I remember reading of a monstrous wave which hit the QE2 a number of years back causing all kinds of terror.This was during an Atlantic crossing I believe. Fortunately most of us enjoy smooth sailing on our cruises-thank the Lord. Regards, James.

Very interesting post. We travelled on the "Ship of Urns" two years ago out of New York.We had a midship balcony and were pleased with it's location.Too bad about the view of the stairwell-I would have reacted exactly as you did with a couple of choice swear words thrown in!!! Glad it was compensated to everyone's satisfaction. Regards, James.

Don't know what to think about this appointment really. Being in my 60's I tend to stick with the "old school". I'm sure this lady is extremely good at what she does. However I'd prefer a male Commander of my ship.I like ladies to look and act feminine, but these days the tendancy is towards equality with ladies taking on any job that was previously a man's domain.Maybe that's a chauvinistic way of thinking but running a ship from the bridge belongs to the guys. Sorry ladies,we simply LOOK better at the helm!!!! Regards, James.

Anywhere where people are not!!! No, seriously it's very difficult to find a "quiet" place to cruise to. Probably a small island anywhere in the Caribbean would suit us. Much as we love St. Thomas and St. Maarten, they are becoming "hell on earth" for overcrowding. Another destination that appeals if it wasn't so expensive to fly to, is Tahiti and the nearby islands. Regards, James.

Hi once again jaschem 1, Yes, it is so hard NOT to load one's plate. All the food looks oh so good doesn't it? However we somewhat "underindulge" now! By that I mean we take only small amounts onto our plates and if we like things then we may go back for more. It is such a shame to see plates piled high with food and then left to be thrown away. Regards, James.

Hi frostyboy, We only order room service on the last night of the cruise. Seems to be a tradition with us to do this. Normally only a sandwich or grilled cheese is ordered so you can't go wrong there. Never had a bad meal really in the main dining room-tasteless-yes but never bad. Regards, James.

Oh Boy! A subject that 'gets my goat' so to speak!! Do the cruise lines really believe that the reason their bars are 3/4 empty each night is because guests are bringing their own liquor aboard? C'mon. It wouldn't be to do with the fact that the bar drinks are outrageously expensive would it? Many passengers hardly drink at home so why drink more than normal on a cruise? In my humble opinion, they should get rid of these bars and allow passengers to bring on their own booze. Folks, on your next cruise make a visual study of the bars and lounges on your ship pre dinner and after dinner and see how many people are drinking alcohol in relation to the size of the bar or lounge. I've been watching this for the past 5 cruises and sure many people were sitting in the lounges but few were drinking alcoholic beverages. This is a part of the "Mickey Mousing" of passengers that is absurd. One evening on the Carnival Valor close to 10p.m. there wasn't a soul in 3 of the main lounges. I realise this opinion may cause a few of you to vehemently disagree and that is your right but I stick to my opinion. Regards, James

Hi jaschem 1, Funny you should mention Celebrity as your favourite line. Our last cruise was on the Celebrity Century. It was last year's New Year's Cruise 2006/7. We thought the food and service were outstanding apart from a somewhat rushed early sitting in the dining room. However the cruise itself was the worst we've ever been on!! No energy was the major complaint. The cruise director and staff were clueless on how to generate any kind of atmosphere The ship seemed to shut down for the night after 11p.m. Even the New Year Celebrations only lasted until 1-15a.m. A large portion of passengers were over 65. Nothing wrong about that of course but we felt we were in an old folks home instead of on a cruise! My wife who is 52 had to start the sailaway party as the CD couldn't get anyone interested! It was bizarre! Our favourite cruise line? Well I would say Carnival followed closely by Princess and Hal. As regards best ship it would have to have been on the late Costa Riviera. Regards, James.

Hi Cheryl, On all the lines we have been on -Carnival(5) Princess,HAL, Costa, Celebrity and RCI I can honestly say we have never encountered a chair problem. Normally we are both on deck by 9 00a.m.Rarely are deck chairs "towelled" at that early hour. We remain at our chosen area for most of the day except at lunch time. After lunch we may have to look for another place but have found no problem locating two free chairs. When we BOTH leave we take our towels with us-as everyone should. I think the secret is to be on deck after breakfast by 9 a.m. You then have your pick of the chairs, facing/not facing the sun, shade or non shade, pool side or quiet side. Try it -it does work! Regards, James.

Thank you all for your comments and as usual they were very interesting. We are beach people because we live in a climate and area of North America that throws 4 months of Winter at us!! So we NEED the warmth!! Yes I too liked the older, smaller ships. In fact the best cruise I was on was my first. I took my 15 year old son as I didn't know Donna then. The ship was the 36000 ton Costa Riviera-now scrapped. Great food, wonderful staff and tons of fun. We have heard and read many,many reviews of these resorts and like cruising reviews, they vary from 1 to 5 stars. But we need a change. Two hours or so on a shore excursion on a crowded beach is not enough for us. Yes I know we can do our own thing and not take a shore ex. but still you have to be back at the ship at a specified time. I have told my wife of the possible "boredom factor" of the 7 day beach thing and lack of nightlife choices compared to a cruise but she wants to try it anyway! I'm pretty sure though that we'll be on another cruise in the not too distant future. Thanks again folks for your replies. Regards, James.