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dmoten

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  1. Like
    dmoten got a reaction from AndiD in What NOT to Pack in Your Checked Luggage   
    I, also, pack by a list and have for years now. It keeps me straight and I know when I leave that I have everything plus it reduces my stress level.
  2. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jan115 in Essential Emergency Supplies for Every Cruise   
    I started carrying a first aid kit when I was on vacation once and fell down some stairs. It was not fun driving around VA Beach bleeding at 10pm trying to find an open drug store. From that trip, my kit includes triple antibiotic ointment, bandages of all sizes, gauze, tape and even a small bottle of peroxide. It is the first thing that goes in my suitcase every trip. My portable medicine cabinet is next. It has something for everything from upset stomach to a cold. I have been stuck at sea with congestion and flu before, so that is a must have in my suitcase as well. We learn by experience.
  3. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Shari2 in Essential Emergency Supplies for Every Cruise   
    I started carrying a first aid kit when I was on vacation once and fell down some stairs. It was not fun driving around VA Beach bleeding at 10pm trying to find an open drug store. From that trip, my kit includes triple antibiotic ointment, bandages of all sizes, gauze, tape and even a small bottle of peroxide. It is the first thing that goes in my suitcase every trip. My portable medicine cabinet is next. It has something for everything from upset stomach to a cold. I have been stuck at sea with congestion and flu before, so that is a must have in my suitcase as well. We learn by experience.
  4. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in How Prepared Are Cruise Ships If You Go Overboard?   
    Sorry, but I really have very little sympathy for people who make poor choices and do dumb things, whether from drinking too much or just plain stupidity. Now she is suing the cruise line for serving her too much booze? What happened to taking responsibility for your own actions? She was lucky to be alive. She should thank God and leave it at that.
  5. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Janos in Skagway Alaska   
    I will be in Skagway in June. I will be doing the White Pass Train early, so when we get back there will be a little time to explore the city before getting back on the ship.
  6. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jan115 in New Cruise Review - Boston to New England/Canada Aboard Brilliance ~ Oct. 6, 2013   
    I did see the one in Vegas when it was at the Tropicana, I think it is at the Luxor now or at least it was. It was awesome. I really enjoyed it and both times I went the passenger I had survived. :)
  7. Love
    dmoten reacted to JohnG in New Cruise Review - My First Bermuda Visit   
    "A great trip and we'd want to go back!"
    Click here to view the cruise review
  8. Love
    dmoten reacted to crazy4disney in Have Any Unusual Towel Animals Taken up Residence in Your Cabin?   
    I found a picture of another one I loved -- I don't know if you can see it very well, but our steward had made an elephant head and stuck it on top of my son's tux. :-)

    Here's the monkey, but his bow tie had fallen off, lol

  9. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in Have Any Unusual Towel Animals Taken up Residence in Your Cabin?   
    We had a towel monkey, too, on one vacation - I can't remember if it was the Carnival cruise in 2003 or an earlier Disneyworld trip. The darn thing was hanging from the ceiling and scared the crap outta me. And I have to say it was the scariest ape I'd ever seen! The kids thought it was fun, though. Wish I had a photo.
  10. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jan115 in Have Any Unusual Towel Animals Taken up Residence in Your Cabin?   
    One of each night of my most recent cruise except my last night when he made a big heart. My faves were the bear and elephant. I would place them on my night stand and he let it stay until he made a new one for me.
  11. Love
    dmoten reacted to rogue in How to find privacy on cruise ships   
    That's what my balcony is for.
  12. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in How to find privacy on cruise ships   
    Or do what my husband does - get up at 5:00 am. You'll have the whole ship to yourself!
  13. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from cruisingcats in New Cruise Review - NCL Jewel Alaska Cruise   
    I went to Alaska this summer as well and enjoyed it very much. If I do Alaska again, I think I would try for at least a couple different ports. My next cruise is Hawaii as well, I haven't booked it yet but that is definitely where I want to go next.
  14. Love
    dmoten reacted to Sarge6870 in Tell Us About Your Very First Cruise   
    Our first was in 1990 aboard the (then) Carnival Celebration sailing from Miami to the Eastern Caribbean. We had been dealing with a T.A. that we had used prior to the cruise when we had done land vacations and ski trips. She booked us into an Oceanview cabin for the brochure price. My sister that had been on a few cruises before this couldn't beleive that our T.A. was charging us the brochure price and recommended we try getting a quote from her C.A. that she had dealt with for a few years. We called them and wound up saving about $300pp off the brochure price. Not wanting our original T.A. to lose the comission of the booking, we asked her if she could match the price. While we were there, she called Carnival and tried to negotiate with them to offer her the same deal for us that the other C.A. did. Carnival refused and her final remark to Carnival was "FINE, then don't wonder in the future why I don't sell your cruises !" . Needless to say, at a savings of $600, we cancelled with her and re-booked the same category cabin with the C.A. we have now been using since. Our C.A. even gave us a $150 OBC for our upcoming cruise because we have been loyal customers for so many years!! I remember waking every morning on the cruise and sitting on the ledge of the window and staring out at the ocean. Every day was like Christmas morning for us. All the amenities on the ship were truly overwhelming. There were no "specialty" restaurants and the food in the MDR was awesome. Bridge and Galley tours were free. And the sadness of disembarking was just as bittersweet as it has been every cruise since. And thus, two new CruiseCrazies were born.......

  15. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in Tell Us About Your Very First Cruise   
    Sounds like a lot of fun, Dee! Even though you wished for a longer cruise, you were wise to choose a short one for your first. We did that also when we brought our kids on their first cruise - a 5-day Carnival cruise - because we weren't sure they'd like it. Turns out they did, and they've been with us in longer cruises since.
  16. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jason in HAPPY BIRTHDAY JASON!!!!!   
    Happy Birthday Jason! Enjoy!
  17. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jan115 in Tell Us About Your Very First Cruise   
    My first cruise was in 1997 on Carnival Fantasy out of Port Canaveral. Neither my boyfriend at the time, nor I had ever cruised before. We checked in and was escorted to our cabin. Turned out we had been upgraded to the top of the line suite (the one and only time the upgrade fairy has sprinkled her dust on me).
    I was a little nervous because I get severe motion sickness but I did not experience any sickness the whole trip. I was looking forward to just being at sea and not being able to see anything except the ocean. Our steward was stealthy because we did not see him until our last day. We were always in and out of the cabin and there was evidence of him being there but we never saw him.
    We did an excursion in Freeport and wished we had just stayed on the ship because there was nothing interesting there. Nassau was a lot more interesting. We took one of the party cruises that went to the beach, we had a Bahamian band on board that played a lot of Caribbean music. My boyfriend was from Jamaica so I was familiar with the music and some of the dances. We danced to the beach and we danced back to the ship.
    We chose the short trip to the Bahams mainly since neither of us had cruised before we didn't want to start out with a long cruise to find out we hated it. When we arrived back in port, we wished we had booked a longer trip.
  18. Love
    dmoten reacted to DebbieandJerry in Vacation Habits: Do you sleep in or still get up at the same time?   
    Even though we stay up later than usual, we tend to wake up at the same time. Must be that internal alarm clock that goes off.
    But, we do take lots of naps ...
  19. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from Jan115 in New Cruise Review - Grand Princess ~ San Francisco to Alaska & Glacier Bay   
    I knew you would have a blast Jan. I just finished scrap booking my trip and I have a lot of pictures. The beauty...it was awesome. Glad you made it back safely.
  20. Love
    dmoten got a reaction from kcl57 in Boarding a Cruise Ship with Ease   
    I enjoy boarding early so my vacation can officially begin and it gives me a chance to get a feel for the ship. I like to walk around and see where things are located. I like to know different ways to get to my cabin and which way is the closest to the elevators, stairs, etc.
  21. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in Cruise prices plunge as summer ends. Who loves cruising this time of year?   
    I keep nagging my husband about retiring so we can take advantage of some of these fall and winter deals, but he says he needs to keep working because I keep booking more cruises. Go figure!
  22. Love
    dmoten reacted to WeCruiseToo in Cruise prices plunge as summer ends. Who loves cruising this time of year?   
    Two great reasons for cruising in the fall!
    There’s not a single cruise in this article that we don’t want to go on! So many cruises, so little time!
  23. Love
    dmoten reacted to Sarge6870 in Disney bans smoking on cruise ship balconies   
    And as I stated in my post Kev, you have every right to your free space. What my wife and I do is we usually wait to see if our neighbors smoke. If we don't see them smoking, we ask if us smoking would disturb them. If they say yes, we only will smoke on the balcony when our neighbors aren't on theirs. In my opinion, I feel there are other approaches to smoking on the balcony, the first being respectful of one's neighbors. We had a cruise where a group of early 20's kids booked two adjoining cabins next to us. They would have a party every night sometimes up to 1am. They had a radio playing, were throwing things like plastic beer bottles overboard, were loud and obnoxious and had absolutely NO respect for the other passengers. Sure, we called the pursers desk to complain. All of a sudden it would get quite for about 15 minutes and then the party started all over again. They were never removed from the ship at any of the ports we visited. Never heard if they were fined for their disrespect (like Disney want's to do with their $250 "recovery fee") and we put up with this for the entire week of the cruise. My point, is you can't address one circumstance without addressing the other. It was also my point that the reasoning Disney is using (by having to clean all the interior cabin items when your smoking on the balcony) is an insult to my intelligence. All they had to report was that they were doing this for passenger comfort and safety.
  24. Love
    dmoten reacted to WeCruiseToo in Boarding a Cruise Ship with Ease   
    We’re definitely among the early boarders, but some of the things in this article just don’t ring true to our experiences.
    We don’t want “first dibs” on anything – we just figure the sooner we board the ship the sooner our vacation starts!
    In all our cruises there’s only been one time we had to wait more than a few minutes and that’s because the ship had been held up clearing customs upon arrival.
    Our only carry-on is one backpack between the two of us – no “schlepping” required.
    “They may miss the free lunch”??? Really? Has anyone ever gone hungry on a cruise?
    Oh well, we'll just keep on boarding as early as we can!
  25. Love
    dmoten reacted to Jan115 in Tips for Beating Long Lines on a Cruise Vacation   
    While we all love to travel, no one likes to wait in line. Lines at the airport; lines at the cruise terminal; lines at the buffet – a vacation fact of life. Sometimes queuing up is unavoidable. Just the same, there are steps you can take in some instances to save yourself time – and sometimes money – by planning in advance.
    At the Airport. Unfortunately, beating lines at the airport usually requires the expenditure of extra cash. Southwest’s Early Bird Check-In and American’s Main Cabin Extra offer will get you an earlier boarding place in line, for a fee. Upgrading your ticket is a way to get to your plane seat faster, if you can afford it. Frequent flyer miles and VIP status won’t hurt, either.
    At the port of embarkation. The best way to get to the head of the line at embarkation is by cruising the same line numerous times and moving up the line’s loyalty ranks. Or cruise with someone who does. If you’re not a cruise line VIP, don’t despair. Sometimes by just waiting an hour or two before arriving to port will get you to your cabin quickly and effortlessly. By that time, the eager beavers will already have boarded.
    At the ship’s buffet – embarkation/disembarkation day. Anyone who has cruised knows that the buffet is usually the first place people head to after dropping the luggage at the cabin. And there’s nothing like a hoard of hungry, excited passengers to create mayhem at the buffet. Some buffets are crowd friendly – others not so much, with people playing “Dodge ‘Em” as they move from place to place to gather pizza, pasta, salads, soups and every other thing on the menu. One way to avoid the madhouse is to head directly to the dining room, be seated and be waited on. It will be a much more calm and serene experience. Sure, it may take you longer to eat, but you’re on vacation. There’s plenty of time to explore the ship.
    On disembarkation day, on the other hand, everyone needs to wake early – no sleeping in. Therefore, the buffet will be packed with hungry folk looking for a meal before the trip home. Again, the dining room is a good alternative.
    At the ship’s buffet – any other day. Avoiding crowds at the buffet during breakfast and lunch most other days of the cruise is easier. Simply avoid dining rush hour. Choose the buffet early when it first opens or later before it closes. Early is better, in my book, as the food is fresh and hot. Go later, and you may get the lukewarm pickings. Another option is room service. Coffee, pastry and fruit are enough for me, and I make a point of ordering every night for the next morning. Sometimes I may head down to the buffet for second breakfast, but usually a continental breakfast does this body just fine. If it’s a sea day, and you’re in no hurry to do anything, there’s always the dining room where you can relax and have a leisurely first meal of the day.
    At the photo displays. It’s the night before the cruise is over, and all of a sudden everyone wants to buy some photos – the photos that have been collecting in those display stands that seemingly span the whole length of the ship. Do yourself a favor – save time and valuable space. If you know you hate a photo, don’t leave it there collecting dust. Hand it in to the reps at the photo counter to dispose of. Then take the rest of your photos scattered around the displays and group them together, one behind the other, in one spot on the display – a place you’ll remember - so you won’t have to go searching and searching for the ones you may want to purchase later.
    At the tenders. When the ship is unable to dock directly alongside a port of call, it needs to transport its passengers from the ship to port in “tenders”. Tendering can either be an effortless breeze or a long ordeal, depending upon the number of passengers and other factors. Just as in embarkation and debarkation, loyalty status will get you on the first tender to the island. Otherwise, you’ll have to line up with the rest of the crowd. Ships have a process using tickets and schedules and such. If you have a tour guide awaiting you or a train to catch, you’ll need to be up and out early to be on the earliest tender you can. Likewise, if you’re being tendered over to the cruise line’s private island intent on getting a prime spot on the beach – under a shady tree, for instance – be on that first tender to stake your claim. However, if you are in no rush and just want to leisurely explore the port, take your time, and go later when the crowds are less.
    On Excursions ~ Museums, Castles and other Historic Sites. Remember these two magic words: “plan ahead”. No one wants to waste precious time standing in line to purchase tickets – especially when you’re only in port a day or just a few hours. Depending on the popularity of the place you want to see, lines can get crazy. If you’ve purchased a ship’s excursion, it’s not a problem, as tickets are usually included. But if you are going it alone, you’ll need to purchase tickets for the attractions you want to see. While your sitting at your computer weeks before the cruise, make a must-see list of museums, historic sites and other popular places, order your tickets directly from their websites, and print them. Then on the day your ship arrives in port, simply head straight to your attraction and bypass the long line at the ticket booth. As a bonus, you may even save money on web-only rates!
    If you do find yourself in a seemingly endless line, don't be miserable. Laugh, be happy and make friends with your neighbors.
    By Janice Neves, CruiseCrazies Contributor
    For more cruise news & articles go to http://www.cruisecra....com/index.html

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