rccampbell

An idea for those that have a need to pray or moment of silence, grace, etc. Perhaps this could be done prior to entering the MDR when you may be seated with folks that do not necessarily have the same beliefs. A group standing together outside the dining room, holding hands or whatever is appropriate I think.

As for being seated with others, it would depend on the group for me. The DH is a very private person, so would want his own table unless he knew and liked his table mates.

We truly envy anyone who is not retired and has enough vacation time to cruise more than once or at the most, twice per year.

Our biggest problem too is airfare to the cruise ports prevents us from going again soon.

We were very surprised by what Caribbean Princess called Baked Alaska this past spring. Mostly just Neapolitan ice cream. Not even any chocolate as seen in the pic above.

Made my 1st baked Alaska as a child of about 11 or 12 and even if I say so myself, it was much better than that found on princess.

I did love the chocolate dream dessert served earlier on our cruise though.

As an FYI, I NEVER once signed a receipt or slip for drinks at any of the bars or coffees at International cafe on my Princess cruise and I did NOT have a drink or coffee package.

I ordered what I wanted, they took my card and scanned it, handed it back, gave me my drink and the charge showed up on my account. If I didn't ask at the time of purchase, I did not even know the cost of drinks.

Be very easy for a naive young lady to get confused and not realize she was being billed for her whole group's drinks.

On our Princess cruise this spring, I was grateful for the opportunity to check our daily tab.

We had been debating back and forth whether DH should get the AIBP, decided not to pre-purchase it. By day 2 after looking over our spending, I sent him to purchase the package for himself. (Princess lets one have it without the other having to buy it). If we had not done that, I can only imagine our bill after an 8 day cruise with 4 sea days.

Just an FYI (for those not in the know) , there are some very valid reasons to visit CC multiple times a day if for no other reason than to see if it is your turn in the Float Away lounge :-)

We need more players in the shore excursion story:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1485905&page=193

We are looking at a possible cruise the fall of 2019 to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary and would like to take all of our kids, kids spouses and grand-kids (20+ people ages adult down to 3 years old).

We will be needing a very reliable TA to make this happen cost effectively. I think a TA will be our best bet to get the best deals, itineraries, air fare, and any other perks. To many things to go wrong when dealing with this many people.

Oh, security can get passports out of any safe and get them to the harbor master in situations like this.

Actually if they were on a closed loop cruise from the US, they may not have had passports on the trip at all??

Another great reason to have trip insurance AND a passport.

Not sure exactly when your trip is, so maybe you will not see this in time.

You should be aware that any fresh fruit brought on the plane and not eaten, cannot be taken off the plane in Hawaii due to agriculture laws.

I enjoyed the formal night because it gave the DH a reason to dress up somewhat (button down shirt, slacks and tie). Once dressed up, I was able to convince him we should take a nice couple's picture to have of our trip. He hates getting his picture taken, but conceded to me this one time since we were all dressed up. :-)

We have decided, we will never fly in the same day as embarkation. So far one cruise under our belts and on that trip, if we had flown in the day of, we would have missed the ship. Weather had nothing to do with it either.

We boarded our plane out of MSP, and then sat and sat and sat at the gate. Pilot announced over the intercom, "We are sorry folks but we will have to deplane as our current plane is broken." (his exact words). By the time they got us another plane and we were able to board and get underway on our non-stop flight, we had lost a good couple of hours. We were expected to land in FLL at 1:00ish and it was closer to 3:30ish. No way we could have made it through luggage claim and get to the port in time.

I could see maybe doing it for the trip home, but not going.

Cruising out of FLL, we all gave our luggage to the porters at the pier and watched as they were piled onto the large baskets that the luggage goes into. Friends of ours on this cruise arrived in their stateroom to discover all bags had arrived except the garment bag with their formal wear inside. A search of the ship over the 7 days of the cruise did not turn up the bag. They were loaned formal wear and ship board credit to get a dress for formal night.

Two days after we ll arrived home, they received a call that the garment bag had been found at the port and would be shipped to the home. The bag never made it on the ship, just sat in the port lost and lonely.

Does anyone have the most recent MUTS movies line up for CB? Thanks in advance.

Thank you for this review. We will be on the CB in just a few days going to the ABC islands too. This gives us an idea of what to expect. Our TA had informed us that CB goes into Dry Dock right after our cruise and it looks like quite a few changes are planned. Would be interesting to be able to compare pre and post dry dock.

You're kidding, right?

fries and gravy is actually pretty good. Common for those of us in the northern States and across the border is poutine.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poutine

Thanks all. Now I know what not to do about my hair!

Ok, Caribbean Princess next week, need to know if pools are fresh or salt water. Or maybe some are fresh and some are salt on the same ship? My hair depends on this answer please.😊

Our first cruise ever will be on Caribbean Princess next week to S. Caribbean. I understand she then goes into dry dock after that. I suppose we can expect some demo or things not working right or areas closed off to passengers? Not exactly the way I wanted to initially experience cruising. :-(

If you mean 'do they work' as in do they smooth things out and make your clothes lie nicely? Definitely. If you mean 'do they work" as in, you're a size 8, but if you put on Spanx you're a 4? Not so much. LOL

 

I have some Spanx pieces that I definitely like...I think though, you need to be careful to purchase the right size. You shouldn't be uncomfortable (obviously). Some folks seem to use Spanx as a hope that they are 3 sizes smaller than they actually are (which may smooth out some areas but causes bumps/bulges in OTHER areas - ie - the sausage casing look)...whereas I wear them under close fitting dresses/skirts to smooth everything out (not change my size per se).

 

So I would recommend buying a bunch of different items/sizes and try them on at home under the clothing you'll be wearing them with and see what you like. I usually get mine from Nordstrom (free shipping/free returns). They also appear on HauteLook occasionally with some good price reductions (more of a pain to return if you don't have a Nordstrom Rack near you).

 

I have tried other brands, some with better success than others...but I have to say that my Spanx items have lasted a LONG time and are good quality, IMO.

 

One thing that I do occasionally..."poor man Spanx"...is to cut the legs off a pair of pantyhose. I had some old pairs of Donna Karan pantyhose, I got the idea to cut off the legs so that they only came down to mid thigh on me. They did what I wanted them to do (smooth my butt and upper thighs under a slim flitting satin dress) but my legs were bare. ;p

 

Good luck finding something that works for you! ;)

Thanks for the in put. No Nordstrom near me, but I am sure I can find a department store that carries them. I do not want to go down 3 sizes (although that would be wonderful) just need to smooth out the bulges so the dresses hang well.

I'm intrigued by the duct tape. We've cruised 30 times plus or minus 3 and I've seen many post about duct tape. What is it for? What emergency can come up that requires duct tape? Luggage? I've never taken it, but once considered buying a cute duct tape to bring along but DH said no since I couldn't give him a good enough reason what it was for. lol

I know you mentioned you are first time cruises, but just curious since it's one of the things you mentioned you are taking.

PS enjoy your cruise!! That first one is always memorable.

Thanks for the well wishes.

From what I understand if you have a shoe, luggage, purse, backpack, etc malfunction, then you must whip out your handy dandy duct tape. Always an over achieving good girl scout ;p

Or maybe that is just OCD.

We fly to our cruise in 8 days, 20 hrs and 52 mins and my DH has decided I am nuts because:

1. First time cruisers, so have no idea what to expect, so must visit CC multiple times a day-EVERYDAY.

2. Must make sure we have packed all the right things including; duct tape, sewing kit, first aid kit, 2 kinds of mosquito spray, 2 kinds of sun block, clothes pins for the shower curtain, magnet hooks for the wall, and the list goes on.

3. Trying to make sure we have enough cash in 1s, 5s, and 10s for tips.

4. Making sure neither one of us will be dressed inappropriately for any given situation.

5. Making sure he knows the rules about lounger hogging.

6. Gathering all possible info about the islands we will visit.

7. How not to get sea sick and what to do if it does happen.

And everyday I learn something else I need to be concerned with such as how not to wind up in the ships medical. I have spent so much time trying to make sure we are prepared for this trip that I do not know how I will pass the time when I get back. :-)

Okay, I will admit...

I am a food glutton.

There, I have said it...now let me ask my question!

 

Ever since I found out back in 2000 (second cruise on the Carnival Ecstasy) that you could order many entrees from the main dining room, I've been meticulously planning my dining excursions on following cruises, especially with Carnival. I will now be sailing on Disney Dream and Royal Caribbean Oasis this year and was wondering if they also have the try as many entrees as you would like. Is there a limit on how many you can order? Not like the portions are really filling...:confused:

The DH is so looking forward to all the food options, he even mentioned that he is more interested in the food than the AIBP. He is one of those guys that even in his late 50s has never had to worry about a pound. I say enjoy!!!:D

Oh very nice!!! Going to take our new Go Pro on its first trip in 10 days. Hopefully we can figure out how to use it and make fabulous video too.

Ok, so I am taking the panty hose out of the suitcase and am thinking of buying some spanx since we are going to the S. Caribbean.

We live in northern MN, so panty hose are part of our winter wardrobe to wear with dresses and slacks for added warmth.

My question.....do spanx really work? I am in my late 50s, am 5'2" and have fought the battle of the bulge my entire life. I have noticed more bulges in places I never had them before the older I get.

Looking at the Spanx body suit or slip. Any thoughts on either one or maybe something better is out there?

I personally would like to see a cruise that included full day if not overnight in Key West and New Orleans, could go anywhere else then too.