Vette Gal

I'm happy that you were able to get a price drop. Every little bit helps.

Yesterday our Dec. cruise had a price drop of $200 pp. We lose a little OBC, but we have a lot so it doesn't really matter.

Booked a quickie 3 night out of Los Angeles to Ensenada which is convenient (I'm in San Diego) and the formal night also happens to fall on my girlfriend's 50th birthday. So I thought that would be a nice way for her to spend her BD.

There should not be any formal nights on a cruise less than 5 days.

Non the less, I hope that you have a nice cruise.

DH and I were on the same cruise.

Although, we didn't have any toilet issues, we spoke with several other passengers who had problems.

I hope that Princess makes good on your toilet issues. You can live without many things. But not a working toilet.

DH and I just finished a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean.

We did a hop-on/hop-off excursion in Grand Turk. Our bus driver gave us the history of the island as he drove us around the island. He was very knowledgeable and made the excursion a lot of fun. We saw all of the landmarks on the island. We were able to get off at a number of stops and then catch the next bus in about 20 minutes. We actually spent some time at Govenor's Beach, which was beautiful.

As mentioned before, it is a very poor island. They were devastated by Hurricane Ike 2008.

Thanks for putting that video together.

DH and I just finished a Caribbean cruise on CB in a regular balcony stateroom. Our cabin was on the Aloha deck and was identical to yours except that our balcony was smaller than yours. Still we felt blessed to be able to afford the additional cost of a balcony stateroom.

We really appreciate the size of our shower at home after cruising with the tiny shower. Regardless, I would hop on another cruise in an instant.

I was on my first cruise in Jan. It was a short 4 day cruise but the on land motion problems lasted a full week afterward. The dizziness mostly occurred when I moved or turned too quickly. Fortunately, it was not my first experience with this, so I was familiar with the sensation.

Every time I fly or we go on a long road trip, I have the same experience. Flying or driving only causes about a half of a day of wooziness. But the cruise caused me a full week of wooziness.

We will be on a cruise next month for a week, so I expect I will go through the same again. It doesn't really matter to me though. I love traveling by air, land and sea. It just goes with the traveling for me. Kind of like packing and unpacking.

Good luck on your cruise.

We recently encountered that same experience when staying in an aft cabin on the Sapphire.

 

There were a couple of times taking the aft elevator/stairs down on route to lower mid-ship and forgetting to get off on 7 only to end up staring at the entrance to the International Dining room entryway with no way to go forward.

We had the same problem on the Sapphire in January. It drove me crazy the first 2 days. Then we got used to it and did not make the mistake again.

A bad day waiting in line to go on a cruise beats a good day doing anything else in my book.

I wish that I would have had to wait to get on either ship today.

DH and I were on a 4 day cruise on the Sapphire in Jan. during the last week of Los Angeles Unified's winter break. There were a number of families on this cruise and many children.

The cruise was fabulous and we loved it. We never saw any bad behavior by anyone.

You need to be very careful. Trust me. For many it can become addicting and a life long passion.

 

Hank

That sounds like a win/win situation.

We are also newbies.

Our 1st cruise was last month. We have booked our 2nd cruise for June and are looking forward to it.;)

My husband experiences motion sickness on a bus and in a car unless he is the driver. However, he has absolutely no problems on a ship. Have good thoughts that you will be ok on the ship too.

DH and I celebrated our anniversary on the Sapphire in Jan.

Our steward had placed a sign and balloons on our door during the early morning hours while we were asleep or getting ready in the morning. There was also a congratulations card and a small card to give to our waiter. Our steward also congratulated us personally when he saw us in the morning.

Our waiter celebrated our anniversary by bringing us a small cake for dessert with a candle. It was super nice. :):)

We always take our meds in the weekly pill cases. I carry print outs from CVS Caremark showing our prescriptions.

We have never had a problem even in Europe.

Are you flying?

 

My concern would be going over the 50lb weight limit or the size restrictions.

I have a 29" hard sided Samsonite with spinner wheels. I take it on airlines without going over the size or weight limits. I use a small handheld luggage scale to stay within the weight limit.

Vette gal- Congratulations on your first balcony cruise!! It will completely change your view of cruising and your enjoyment of your cabin...it's the difference between a Best Western/ Holiday Inn, and a Ritz Carlton or Grand Hyatt...don't forget to do some of the things I mentioned in my original post: breakfast on YOUR private verandah is a MUST! Always do breakfast on the balcony on SEA days...always go out there a MINIMUM of 3 times ( or more) every day ( when you rise, late afternoon, and at night )..also very cool, when you get up on a port day, open the curtains, and there is another cruise ship right across from you with others enjoying their balcony cabins as well...will be looking forward to your thoughts when you get back!!

 

Big Al

Thank you for your kind words.

We can hardly wait for June to arrive. We plan to get our monies worth from our balcony.

DH and I are also on Weight Watchers. We chose our breakfast items carefully. We ate at the buffet for lunch in order to be able to choose the items and quantity that we ate. Then we enjoyed our dinner in the MDR without going overboard. We even had dessert after dinner. We also were careful to drink lots of water and ice tea.

I gained .2 lbs in 4 days and DH lost 1.8 lbs.

You can have a great cruise and not feel deprived if you are just careful.

My hubby and I went on our first cruise earlier this month. We did a 4 day cruise from LA to Catalina Island and then Ensenada. We had an ocean view cabin on the Sapphire Princess. We purposely booked an ocean view instead of a balcony in order to save a few $$ and because it was a short cruise. (An inside cabin would not have been an option. It would have felt claustrophobic.) The weather could not have been better and the view from our window was beautiful. We loved the entire time and did not regret our cabin choice.

Now we chose to save a few $$, so that we could go on another cruise this summer. On our first full day, we went directly to the Future Cruise Office right after breakfast and booked our second cruise.

We will be going to the Caribbean in June for a 7 day cruise on the Caribbean Princess. My husband debated the cabin choice decision (ocean view or balcony) but I did not. We have booked a balcony cabin and frankly I cannot wait for June to arrive.

What could be better than 7 days on a cruise in the Caribbean with a balcony cabin and the love of my life? :confused::confused:

I certainly can't think of anything better than that (except maybe a longer cruise). :):)

Is noro virus more prevalent during the winter months?