joie1016

I'm hoping for some reassurance from you experts here, but I'm prepared for the worst:eek:

 

I've never been on a cruise, and have never had the slightest desire to. The nearest we've got to cruising was a couple of week-long trips on small boats (max 12 passengers) in the Hebrides, visiting remote and uninhabited islands and watching wildlife. It was brilliant, but the idea of going on one of those monstrous cruise liners really turns me off!

 

Now as my username suggests, I just love islands, and on my list of islands to visit before I die are the remote Atlantic outposts of Ascension, St Helena and Tristan da Cunha. Now these are not easy (or cheap) places to get to, but we've found a cruise in early 2015 which goes from Cape Town to the Canaries calling at Namibia, St Helena, Ascension and the Cape Verde Islands. It's on a ship called MV Voyager, which belongs to a company called Voyages of Discovery.

 

Now on the one hand we really do want to get to these destinations, and there are not many other options for getting there - certainly not affordable ones. On the other hand, I've got this horrible feeling that we will have to endure being trapped in a floating old-folks home surrounded by people playing bingo, eating vast quantities of terrible food, and having to endure dressing for dinner and (worst of all) being subjected to 'entertainment'. I've read some reviews of this ship, and they are mixed, to say the least. Any comments - should we go for it, or not touch it with a bargepole? All advice gratefully received. Thanks

Old folks home , really? You have no idea what you are missing but I won't get into what a great experience it is as you have your mind made up and I think you should not cruise.

I am booking an Alaska Cruise on HAL for May. I know it is not the best time to go there but the price seems good and the review from previous few years are not too bad. Plus that is the time we can travel......

 

The itinerary either goes to the Glacier bay, or Hubbard Glacier. Which one you would recommend me to choose from, which one is more spectacular?

 

All other ports are the same. Thanks for your input......:D

Glacier Bay by all means. The bay is spectacular !!!!:)

I posted on this last year and that post disappeared. We were there in June of 2006. Buy what you want in the pharmacy in port. We did buy a couple of things that we had prior prescriptions for and it was name brand stuff. Everything seems so nice and legit with Miss Sweety Pie from New Orleans but.....watch out.

 

My wife decided to try to help her son with a Med that he couldn't afford and was instead buying OTC stuff that wasn't quite as effective. She contacted them after we returned. After being informed that the only acceptable payment was via wire transfer or money order I warned her of the risk. But she decided to try it anyway to the tune of over $100.00. She was told that an e-mail confirmation would follow shipment.

 

After five or six weeks there was nothing. So she e-mailed them. Magically, the Meds had been shipped two days prior.....so we waited....and waited....and waited. Nothing. So she e-mailed them again. We will check on it they said......they supposedly confirmed shipment (no documentation provided) in their response. Again....nothing. Finally I stepped in to the fray. I demanded either merchandise or my wife's money back. Then there were excuses. First they had to check some returns that had just come back. Then they blamed it on customs. But customs did not intercept it. If they do they notify the intended recipient of their actions and we received no such notification.

 

Several prior posts disappeared but there was someone who claimed that he had ordered from these people in the US and had no problems getting his orders. But there were several people who told stories much like mine. Somebody doesn't want this stuff on here but I CAN DOCUMENT EVERYTHING THAT I AM SAYING. I have the e-mail correspondence saved (including multiple promises of shipment) and can prove we sent them money. Based on my experience, buying down there is a good thing....prices are dirt cheap and the stuff is genuine. But, in my opinion, coming home and sending money down there via cash instruments is like standing on a bridge and throwing money in the water.......and watching it float away. If you want to save this post I suggest you copy it fast because it might go to la-la land.

 

The good news is that they put up a website that has since disappeared......and they are apparently "failing to respond" to queries lately.....can't say I didn't warn them.

The medimeds email address doesnt work anymore. Does anyone know what they changed their email address to???

I'm not trying to be negative here because crusie lines have added services and attractions over the years that may make up for these losses. Also I have only been on 8 cruises on various lines. Some may have been discontinued on some lines and not others. Some of these things I don't miss at all. Also I am very pleased that mini-refrigerators are becoming common. If you know of others please post. But these are the things that I think were discontinued:

 

anytime lemonade

 

gifts like fanny packs and win a cruise contests for repeat cruisers

 

fruit basket in the rooms

 

water color prints (suitable for framing) of your ship

 

soft serve ice cream

 

24 hour pizza station

 

some midnight buffets

A deck of cards on Carnival and Royal Caribbean left on our pillows. I still have packs in their original wrappers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you really buy drugs *****,painkillers ect.without a script

Yep, you can. I bought my "tylenol #4" from Belize and my "lipitor" from a phamacy at "costa Maya" shopping mall. I bought a 4 month supply of lipitor

for $46.00 US and in the states 1 month cost me $95.00!!!! I dont suggest everyone do this, but it doesn't bother me.