Cruisin Oldies

This may have been a cruise we were on. One of those 28-29 days ones. (since you cross the date line it makes counting days a bit confusing) Both couples were put off at the next port and if I recall it right it was near (or was) a port in the area of Bora Bora. We never knew doing your laundry could get so "heated".

 

Cruisin Oldies

I'm sure others are like us, we don't mind talking to folks but we don't do the different courses. We only eat the entree, not even dessert. If we are sitting at a table with others waiting for them to go through the various courses, we end up eating too much of those bread offerings. We rarely take up table space for more than 30 minutes. We visit with folks at other times.

 

Cruisin Oldies

There have been some interesting comments and answers. Since the OP had a balcony they could be on, I am puzzled about them not being allowed to stay there with the door shut. We get up fairly early and we tell the steward about when we'll leave for breakfast or have room service that first day and put the sign out when we leave. Once, we did have a very, very slow steward and the room wasn't done by lunch. (We'd come back to check.) After that if the room wasn't done when we returned from breakfast I just made up the bed myself and turned in the old towels for fresh ones. For us it wasn't worth it to be irritated and I do like a tidy room. Usually it's like the clean up fairy comes and disappears leaving a clean room with our never catching sight of him (or her).

Cruisin Oldies

The 14 day Alaska cruise on the Tahitian Princess that we took was the best. It was it's last cruise before it got "redone" and also got a new name. We've done the Sapphire, Dawn, Sea, and Grand and one other I don't recall which one. I loved Glacier Bay and Tracy Arm but best of all was Icy Strait. All the cruises have been great but the smaller ships can get closer.

 

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Those pictures are enough to make us book another cruise! We love all the food at the International. Best food on the ship as far as we're concerned and the coffee's there too. The salad could be a meal but why not get a hot panni since it's right there.

 

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It's true that we've had some rough sailing in January and some other times but January is when you'll see the most new baby whales, especially in the seas around Maui. That makes it worth it for us. We seem to always see whales going into and leaving the Big Island, leaving Kau'ai and most of all around the island of Maui. If you're lucky, you'll see a mother come under the baby and push it up out of the water to take it's breath.

 

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Size may depend on the room. We had a queen sized sofa (Grand Princess deck 9 aft) in our last mini-suite. Shocked us since the ones before were more love seat size.

 

Cruisin Oldies

I want to also thank both of you for posting "live" from the Star Princess. It is fun to see things through someone else's eyes. It's been some time since we were on the cruise but we sure had a great time. I agree, sailing with both ELUA and David Cole is the best. We also enjoyed having ukulele lessons from 2 different instructors although we have been on with all of them before. They are the ones that got us started playing the ukulele and going to local Jams. I'd say that made a definite change in our lives. Last time we were on the Star was over Halloween about 6 weeks ago, or so. They put on a creepy haunted house you could walk through and so much more. Hope someone posts live over the Christmas Cruise. (Maybe you could just stay on since you've done such a good job posting?)

 

Cruisin Oldies

Hi,

No, not on any roll call at that time. Cruising was something new to us. Were you involved with the Men vs Woman challenge? We had fun with that. There was a honeymoon couple that did it along with many others. Lasted all cruise.

 

Cruisin Oldies

We were also on the 10/21 cruise on the Star. What a great cruise! As always David Cole had more activities going than we could go to unless we cloned ourselves. The 1st cruise we took to Hawaii was on the Island Princess 10/2005 and David Cole was CD then. Until we took this last cruise we thought that was the best cruise we'd ever been on. He sets a high bar for others to measure up too. Thanks.

 

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We are experienced cruisers and do like to eat early and not go thru too many courses. On our last cruise we'd been confirmed for a 5:30 Traditional and a table for 2. We got a large table at 5:45. We cancelled that and asked for Anytime. Never happened and we ate at the buffet every night of the cruise. Didn't hurt us any but different ships seem to have different ways of doing things. (The line to get into Anytime at 5:30 was really, really long by 5! Since we weren't "allowed" to use it didn't matter.)

 

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We've taken cruises with either David or ELUA but never together till last Feb. It was a really great cruise. (Of course we were with a private group taking Michael Lynch's ukulele lessons so we had to miss lots but we did get to the end of the ship's uke lessons.) We want to do it again and we've already been on the LA to Hawaii cruise several times.

 

David and LeiAloha (ELUA) have changed our lives more than they would have expected. Bill (hubby) took the ukulele lessons on the cruise and I was shocked that he could actually play songs that I recognized by the end of the cruise. We booked another cruise over Easter Vacation and took our daughter, SIL and 2 girls under 5. This time I took the uke lessons along with our daughter, SIL and hubby. What fun. I bought a Kamaka pineapple ukulele in Honolulu when we took the factory tour. Bill and I now go to Jams several times a week and some bimonthly ones too. In our area we have a good number of misplaced Islanders at the Jams so we're even learning some Hawaiian songs. Our social life is busy. IF we hadn't taken that cruise with ELUA that never would have happened and we wouldn't have booked that one if we hadn't enjoyed the one so much we'd taken with David Cole on the Island Princess.

 

I can't say enough good things about both David Cole and ELUA.

 

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I've found that the refrigerator can keep the medication too cold if you have it near the freezer section. The ship's medical center can keep it for you. I take multiple injections all day long so the room refig works for me. The only time I ever had a problem was on a Disney cruise and they brought me a plug in unit. The ones on the Princess ships are electric -- at least on the ones we've been on. For shore excursions I use a Frio bag. You soak it in cold water and the little beads swell inside and keep the inside quite cool. You just put it in the cloth case (not plastic) so that air can circulate where ever you might have it. Hope that helps.

 

Cruisin Oldies

Loving the reviews and pictures. It brings back great memories that I'd already forgotten about. When we went Hubby bought a uke, bag, & tuner at Hilo Guitars and Ukulele in downtown Hilo that was said to be good. They were great. Even though he'd only had a couple of those beginner classes they let him play with everything. Did you get your uke at the shop in the Aloha shopping area? We went in there and got a book on chords but they weren't that friendly compared to the Hilo store. That ukulele playing is addictive, isn't it? I ordered one for myself last month so I could see if I'll be able to play it when we go April 13th with all the family. Okay, I find I can do great if I only need a C or C7 cord. (For those who don't play, they only use 1 finger) After that things get scrambled. Thanks for the posts.

 

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Weren't you two on the Sea Princess over the 4th of July cruise this summer to Alaska? Looking forward to taking some classes with you both on the 11/24 cruise coming up.

 

Cruisin Oldies