DebbieandJerry

Bon Voyage to Marcy and James who are "finally" cruising with us again on the Carnival Freedom. This will be their 2nd time on the ship and our 3rd. Can't wait to check out all the refurbishings.

Enjoy the Carnival Paradise. Cannot wait to read about your family vacation. Boy Voyage

It looks like you get back from the Celebrity Reflection and take off on the Celebrity Silhouette. I am so jealous! I absolutely love Celebrity's line and cannot wait to read all about these ships. Have a wonderful vacation.

Enjoy your vacation. Cannot wait to read about it. Bon Voyage

Bon Voyage

Have a wonderful cruise on the Carnival Inspiration. Please come back and share.

I was just curious as to who on the ship gets the money. It's like corporate America. The CEO, CFO, COO all make the big bucks AND they get the bonuses. Seems to me that the Matre 'd has his/her hand out ... Just saying

Glad you found us. Jump in. We'd love to meet

I hear ya about the add-ons. We're still trying to figure out who gets these gratuities when they are automatic ...

When we first started cruising, we were amazed as to what we got for our dollar. Cruising, to us, is still an affordable vacation when you consider what is "all included". With that being said, I also agree that there needs to be a more affordable line/avenue of cruising. Food costs are rising and will continue to rise. We love the fact that we get upscale meals at a decent price. But we also see a lot of waste and that alone has to increase the cost of factor. I most recently stayed at a "resort hotel" in Seattle. On the bed was a note about being green and conservative. Pretty typical of the note that you see hanging in the bathrooms on must cruise ships. What made this note stand out was the dollar factor that they tracked. I now wish I had kept it. But it said something like, "we saved xx$$ in water 2014 and xxgallons" Thank you to our guests who conserved by not having towels and/or linens changed daily. They then offered a coupon for money off in the restaurant for each day that you conserved. What did I do? I wrote a note every day on my bed that said, "please conserve by not changing my linens and please donate the money back to the resort or to a charity" I'm not sure what they did with the coupon for money off, but it didn't matter to me. I know that cruiselines have to make money and I realize that the majority of money is made on alcohol, store purchase, pictures, etc. But I also agree that if prices did drop, more people would be able to take advantage of what we have already figured out. You get a great bang for your buck when you cruise.

Don't know the answer to your questions. But I ran into a similar question about our cruise out of Galveston. I called the hotel that we are staying at and they recommended hiring a driver from the airport to take us to the hotel. I then called the airport and spoke with the manager of ground transportation who told me that because there are 6 of us, hiring a taxi would be much cheaper. Not sure if you can get as quick of a reply from Bankok or Saigon, but an email might work. I am extremely jealous of this cruise that you are taking and cannot wait to hear your impressions. SE Asia is on my bucket list ever since one of my participants in my water aerobics class went there for their summer vacation.

There was an article in our paper about Carnival and Cuba and the price of the cruise was something close to $3,000/person. Certainly out of our budget

Can't wait to hear about Bermuda.

I'm looking forward to what they have to offer. A little competition might be what the "mega" ships need.

Speaks volumes for Celebrity.

We've been in a number of cruises in a hurricane. The first time was when we were in FL and Carnival told us that our Eastern cruise was being diverted to Western because of a hurricane. We could either go home (credit for cruise only), or take Western. We took Western. The captain tried to steer away as much as possible, but we did have quite a bumpy, wet ride out of Miami until we got to the Gulf. Next time we were in the Mexican Riviera and I remember Marcy telling "the kids" it never rains and the weather is beautiful. Her son (15 at the time) planted himself at the window in the main show lounge and storm watched the entire time. The lightening came right through! The "other kids" went to the art auction because it was in the middle of the ship and that was where everyone was told to be if the motion of the ocean became too much. The next hurricane happened again when we were in the Caribbean. The captain got on the loud speaker and told us that he would be diverting the ship to steer away from the storm and that we might not get to stop at all the places. We arrived really late in Puerto Rico, but got to experience it (for the first time) in the night. No problems after that. Now my memory isn't as good as it was when we were in the hurricanes. But I can tell you that we found them to be fun. We didn't mind when our itinerary got changed and we surely didn't mind when the captain told us he was steering us away from the storms. We truly believe that every captain has it's passengers, crew and family (etc) 100% on his/her mind and that safety is number one. We have also tried many different times of the year to cruise. No month is exempt from what could be called bad weather. I agree, Jan, it's your attitude.

We pretty much hear the same caution about scooters in any island that we have visited. Our feeling is, contribute to the economy - taxi, bus, whatever ...

Sounds exciting.

You get "credit" by posting on the comments or adding new topics. To me it's like a personal contest to get to the next level. Jump in and say "hi" and tell us about your cruising experiences. Where are you going for the next 3? There's a passenger meeting hall forum under the MORE tab where you can add your upcoming cruises. Hope this helps

Never got an email from Carnival. Went on their website to "pre-order" soda because we didn't want to get that confiscated at check in. The 6-pack was not cheap, but was cheaper than the individual cans you purchase on the ship and definitely cheaper than the week of unlimited soda. Did read that Jerry and I get free bottled water from Carnival because of our Platinum status.

Have a great time on the Celebrity Reflection. Cannot wait to hear about the ship, the itinerary, the food, the service, etc.

Ok, so I might not be on the site as often as I should, but I could have sworn Andi just got back. Well folks, she's off again. This time on the Celebrity Infinity. She should be doing the document dance!

Enjoy your time on the Carnival Legend

So, these are either one day cruises to nowhere .... entry mistakes on the website ... or lots of let's check out these ships. No matter, if Jan is really doing these, she is going to be one busy traveler. Enjoy your day on the Norweigan Dawn followed by the Royal Princess.

We also loved being on the Caribbean Princess. So glad you have such a great time