RNSANE

cgmpgm, it's good to have you here on board with us!

I've never pushed it to the limit...and I hope I never will. I often don't do the ship's excursions but meet up with folks and hire a taxi, such as to Pisa and even in Florence. I know that can be risky but it saved us about $500 total so we considered that worth taking a chance. We left as soon as we could after arrival in the port and made sure we started back to reach the ship with two hours to spare. One poor crew friend missed the ship - it was one of those cruises where the time changed on almost a daily basis. He got off in San Juan to call home - never even left the terminal but he hadn't changed his watch...he was in shorts and a t-shirt and thongs. When he started back to the ship, it was out in the harbor...a small motor boat offered to take him out to the ship but the captain refused. He was then escorted to Miami by a port agent who remained with him ( in this same shorts and t-shirt ) - who had gotten his passport - at the Airliner Hotel until the ship reached there. After a meeting with the staff captain, he was allowed to return to work...fortunately, he was not dismissed.

boomers, I'm sure you're going to like it here as much as I do...

I remember, years ago, taking a night Spanish class at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA. It was always so wierd going to class, as it was usually fogged in after 5PM and you'd cross a broad expanse of grass, almost covered with slimy European brown snails ( that's what we have in CA and Sunset Magazine once ran an article on how to prepare them from scratch for your appetizers - nope, not me...I buy them in the cans and fix them! ). I always was afraid I would slip as I crunched them under my feet...I figured, if that happened, no one would ever see me again...the snails would have a feeding frenzy and I would end up being just a Carmen puddle on the grass campus. Some picture, huh!

Impollard, relax, forget about your worries, and enjoy yourself!

Have a terrific time, Jillms

I know what you mean, Sue....my Hawaii friends find it hard living there. It is so expensive and it costs an arm and a leg to get back to the mainland for family occasions. I've been in the San Francisco area for 30 years now. I absolutely love it here but it, too, is very expensive. My rent for a four bedroom home in Daly City - with no yard, is $2250/month!!!! I average at least ten visitors - family/friends a year....I love the company but, even that costs a lot of money. Thank God, I can find good wine relatively inexpensively. And great wine for a little more. That's my biggest complaint about the cruise lines...especially RCI....you cannot ( legally ) bring wine on board...and I think they price their wines too high!

I didn't do the cruise but what ship will it be on....October is my birthday month so I always try to do something special then....but it's so hard for me to plan that far ahead...I think that is when I am finally going to retire! I will celebrate my 65th birthday October 3, 2009.

Always the escargot...and I don't care that I've squished literally millions. Once, eating with that delightful Captain Richard Brearley on the Radiance, his menu didn't include escargot, a French lady and I dining with him, complained. He also said he preferred escargot. "Well, Richard, why is only shrimp cocktail on your menu then?" He responded, "You're right," and called over his waiter. Most of the table ( him included ) immediately ordered the escargot. I finished off mine and Kashin immediately brought me the second one I had previously told him I wanted. Captain Richard looked at me and said, "Wow, I would eat a second one." I just looked at him and said, "You're the captain...you could have ordered a dozen!" The other appetizer I really like with RCI is the scallop risotto...it's yummy.

I love dinner...and I always prefer any meal in the dining room. As a nurse, I've spent forty years eating in cafeterias and that's plenty for me. I love being waited on and I especially like meeting new folks at open seating at breakfast and lunch. Also, it's a chance to see the waiters, assistant waiters and head waiters from the other dining room that I might not have even known are on the ship, otherwise. I like all the wonderful food choices and I really have enjoyed the Asian flavors section when I do go to the Windjammer on RCI....especially like the Indian choices and the papadam....wow!

Whether on land or on sea, I'm not much of a gambler - nor am I a smoker and that is one deterrant for me. I use my free diamond plus coupons in the casino and may play a hand at blackjack or a few rounds of roulette. I usually walk away a few dollars ahead. As for bingo, I go the last game of the cruise...and have never won a cent.

I think I could consider it when I am older than I am now ( 63 ) and if health insurance could be applied to the cost such as it might toward residential care. I don't know if I would want to do that particular ship. I would definitely want to be on a ship that would do a varied itinerary, not the same run all the time, something, perhaps that goes around the world. It would be nice if the cabin could be "yours" and you could rent it out to someone else if you wanted to take a week or two off sometime to see friends on land. I think it certainly beats going to assisted living as we define it on land!!!

hotlava, good to see you here at cruisecrazies....hope you'll be a frequent contributor to our forums!!

Well, I know the Mariner is coming out to CA - but with the Independence and the Genesis coming out, who knows...maybe she will go somewhere and one of the older ships will go to Port Canaveral....have you called Royal Caribbean?

I usually prepay gratuities now...but I almost always take my own cruise envelopes ( I make them special on my computer at home ) and tip more, depending on the service. I also take little goodies for the crew as well, nothing fancy but they are so appreciative of the thought. For example, living by Manila Market in Daly City, I buy the little bags of dried mangoes ( they are about $1.25 each ) - and say Phillipine mangoes on the front. I give those to crew members from the Phillipines. You'd think I was giving out gold...they grin from ear to ear when they see these packages!

I knew I should have learned to play bridge....

Did you guys ever see that special about the hotel drinking glasses? I do think our glasses get changed on ships but I carry my dishwashing liquids to hotels ( and this goes for the fancy ones! ) and wash the glasses before I use them. It was pretty disgusting what they showed on t.v.

I, especially, use it after time at the internet computers and, as soon as I get to my cabin, I use it to wipe of the telephone mouthpiece!

Well, you spend your hard earned money getting there and, perhaps, you had a choice of places to go for free...regardless, I attend functions, at times, at which I am not charged but, if the hotel where they are held has surly service or if I find a bug in my soup or the cutlery is dirty, I just might say something AND I might comment on it to someone else who is thinking of using the facility for a function - regardless of whether I forked over a single penny.

Well, Joey, we can disagree and I still love you!!!

Do you think we'll pack the showroom?

Did you cover every bit of the ship?

I bring several copies of my packing list with me just in case a suitcase goes astray - that way, I know just what is inside if the airline needs that info...also, I've learned not to pack all cocktail dresses in the same bag...I divide the clothes...nothing is worse than to be wearing your casual clothes on formal night and, sadly, my torso doesn't fit any of the gift shop clothes. I also keep a list of US embassy addresses and phone numbers in ports I'm visiting and, when my kids were smaller but going out on their own, made sure they had them and a copy of the front page of my passport and vice versa when we weren't together off the ship - or if we were traveling in other countries but not cruising.

Hey, I don't know how to sail for free, either....that must be a well kept secret!!!

Yep, rose, I like the ship to pass muster in terms of cleanliness....it's hard being a nurse. I carry that Purell with me at all times, practically.