lacruiser

Omigosh, 9 pages of posts and nobody's mentioned BRAN MUFFINS???:eek::D They are the best!

And you guys have found things I've never seen or heard of -- like the Moroccan lamb soup. Will have to look for that.

Funny experience on a Western Med cruise: our high-school graduate daughter and I were going thru the WJ line and came across a big tray of green goo. There wasn't a sign to identify it. "What do you think it is, mom?" "Don't know..." And from behind us in a strong (what we later discovered was Yorkshire) accent: "you've never seen "mooshy" peas before?" We told him in the US they came in little glass jars and babies ate them!:D That cruise had some interesting food items, including the blood sausage mentioned before.

And not all ships have it, but many do: wonderful grits for breakfast! mmmmm...

Actually, cruzeluvr wrote my post!:p

We did this itinerary the first time it was ever offered. We'd booked it a year in advance, and about 6 months out we were notified that it had been designated as an "immersion" cruise, meaning that the passenger demographic had become overwhelmingly Latin/South American. That was cool with us, as DH was born in Cuba and we both speak Spanish. Had we not been comfortable with the language, though, it might have become tiresome. (Actually, we were sitting having coffee one afternoon, and an officer went by. We greeted him with a "hello", and he did a double-take, turned around and said, "English?? Wonderful!!" Don't remember his name, but he was Australian and was really delighted to chat in English with us.)

We had a wonderful time! And the addition of Colon and Cartagena are opportunities that you should take advantage of with your teens. Since our sailing was the inaugural for this route, we had fireworks that sent us on our way in Colon and Cartagena -- very cool!

I remember Colon being fairly gritty, but the opportunity to see the Canal makes it worthwhile. And the old city in Cartagena is one of the most picturesque places we've ever visited. Such a different flavor.

The ABC's will give you that Caribbean island/gorgeous beach time. Curacao is our favorite island! Rent a car and drive along the coast and you can stop at gorgeous little hidden beaches, each one prettier than the next. Bonaire doesn't have much in the way of shopping/town; it's all about diving/snorkeling. Aruba is the most sophisticated in terms of shopping and nightlife and also has fantastic beaches. You just can't go wrong with this itinerary.

Go and enjoy!

DT, thanks for an amazing review. We've been cruising RCI since 2000 and have been confirmed Caribbean people, but your review literally made me say "WOW!" out loud here in the house by myself more than once!!:D And since we are down here in steamy Louisiana, the prospect of cool weather in June or July is really appealing.

One thing: please make sure that you somehow save a copy of this review. Put it on a flash drive, or something! Your kids need to be able to go back and re-read it in the years to come. I envy you having those little ones to make the trip with; the pics of your daughter with the pups were just precious. (I say "little ones" only from my perspective; mine are 19 and 24 now!)

Anyway, I'm emailing a link to this review to my husband who's travelling. Hopefully it will have the same effect on him! I'm adding it to the list of cruises we need to plan -- right under the one to Australia!

Many thanks,

Nancy D

As far as the B2B goes, you are booking (and paying) for each segment separately. You may or may not have to debark on turnaround day, but you always have the opportunity to do so. You will have a new seapass for the second segment. There should be no reason why you couldn't come back on with the 2 bottles for segment #2.

(I hope, I hope, I hope!! :D)

"Ou est la salle de bain, s'il vous plait?" :D:D:D

(Sorry that I don't know how to use the correct French diacritical marks...)

We'll be in Guadaloupe twice, on a b2b 12/1 and 12/8 on Brilliance. I think we will go to the St Anne area the first time, and stroll around. I found fairly good information on tripadvisor (look specifically for St. Anne). Yes, lots of reviews in French, but google will translate for you! :D The St. Anne area has a lovely beach and what sounds like a vibrant street market scene. Should be a fun day. And my experience with the language is that if you even make a small good-faith effort, you'll be rewarded. Learn a few French phrases -- ce n'est pas difficile! (And besides, they can't be any worse than the Parisians...:eek::D)

umbertsmum -- congratulations! That is wonderful!

I'm hoping for a good weighin (my weigh day is Sunday -- which means I have to stay committed thru the weekend!), but have had some challenges this week.

Our weather has been so pretty that it's nice to be outside --great walking weather, so I'm going to take advantage of that!

Have a great week,

Nancy D

Only 30 days before we fly out...:eek::eek::eek: Being realistic, that's probably 8 lbs, tops...sigh...

Well, that's better than no lbs, right? I did have a loss this past week, so I'm down 8.5 lbs in 3 weeks. So strange -- 7 lbs the first week, then it's like the ol' body just went into freeze mode!

More activity!!

So glad to find this thread! I'm back at WW on the new PP program... 7 lb loss the first week, then nothing the 2nd, and down 1 this week. I am wondering if any of you eat the weekly and/or activity points? I usually have anywhere between 20-30 activity points, which I have never used, and usually end up using less than 20 of the weekly points. I do eat all 29 dailies, though, and go tend to go over on Friday and Saturdays...:o

We are going on our 1st B2B on 12/3, and I would really love to be about 15 lbs lighter.

I'm doing the online thing, since classes in my area aren't that inspiring, and I'm trying to be diligent about tracking. Sure wish wine didn't have so many points...sigh.:p

Thanks for your detailed review. One question: I didn't notice any mention of music onboard. We've always enjoyed the music in the Royal Promenade (on a Western Med cruise there was an INCREDIBLE flamenco group), and also various bands. Any comments?

We are on the 7/12 sailing and are looking forward to our first Pacific trip. Sorry if I missed it, but did you swim or snorkel at any of the ports? How was the water temp?

Thanks!

for all the great information. My husband and I are taking our high-school graduating daughter on Voyager's Western Med cruise 6/2. I haven't been to Europe since 1972, when I lived in Paris for 6 weeks and went to school, and neither of them have been to Europe at all. The husband and I cruise the Caribbean every winter, and we learned to make our own arrangements after the first go-round.

While I admit I'm a bit apprehensive about it, we are going completely independent in all our ports. That means I'm spending hours at the computer and going over Rick Steves, but the price difference is enormous. And, we know we can't "see everything" -- this kind of cruise is just a "taster" -- we'll hope to hit some high spots and get the best feel for the ports that we can, and then plan a trip back.

I have to thank each and every one of you who have contributed to this thread, and a big hug to you, Hank, for getting it started. It's very reassuring to know that even though the European ports take a bit more figuring out than the Caribbean ones, it can certainly be done.

Thanks again for the input!:D

Nancy D