Essiesmom

I think maybe the pickled onions. EM

I have not been on either ship, although I have been on Seaside, and will be again this month. I think you should take two things into consideration: 1. Ease of travel to the port; 2. Although you said you will be booking Bella (which seems to always to be a gty), if you are more than a couple, on Magnifica the inside and OV cabins for more than two have the bunks on the side walls. And there seem to be a lot of quad OV cabins. On Seashore the insides have the bunks in the ceiling but the OV cabins seem to have a sleeper sofa. This observation is from pictures on cruisedeckplans. One other comment…both times I booked Seaside I booked gty. The first time I saw that there were 40 Fantastica OV cabins, and 1300 balconies. Gambled I would get a balcony, and I did. This time I am sailing solo and do not care about cabin type. I booked Fantastica inside gty, and again got a balcony. Your choice. EM

Go to cruisetimetables.com and choose ‘cruises to’. I chose both Colon and Panama City. As well as the ships mentioned above, I also found Explora l (MSC) and Silver Nova (Silversea). But there are also many, many cruises that call at Colon, either as a port call, or to retrieve guests who took excursions from a partial transit. It might be possible to debark from one of those, but it would take a lot of negotiating/persuading for the cruise line to allow it, as it messes up the whole closed loop cruise for everyone onboard, more paperwork, closer scrutiny by CBP when the ship returns, there are also quite a few full transits that spend a day in Panama City. I think it more likely you could arrange to leave from that itinerary, as they are not closed loop cruises. EM

It would be interesting to find out if other European based lines have/do not have art auctions. Anyone with experience on AIDA, TUI/Mein Schiff, Costa, Hapag-Lloyd, Phoenix Reisen? If they don’t, maybe it’s because perhaps Europeans are too savvy about art to be taken in…. EM

Go to cruisedeckplans.com. Clicking on each cruise line, you will see an alphabetical list of that lines ships with size, year in service, passenger count…along the top of the page you can choose to look at them by class within the line. Such as Oasis class on Royal, Edge class on Celebrity…. EM

The time between thanksgiving and Christmas, as well as right after New Years and often the ,least expensive because the kids are back in school, so less attractive to families. Of the lines you mentioned, I would eliminate HAL as having the least to attract your daughter. I would rate Princess and Celebrity as about equal. NCL would probably be the most attractive to a teen. For a totally different experience you might look at MSC. Guests would probably be much more international/European. EM

The purists will tell you have to do a land tour, too. I have not and don’t feel I need to. You will see more of Alaska if you do a one way cruise from Vancouver, ending in Seward or Whittier because you will then have the ride to Anchorage. (Due to the PVSA there are no one way trips from Seattle). But for more opinions, visit the Alaska board under Ports of Call. EM

Also two very different cruising style/experience. Cunard would be a much more formal/traditional cruising experience than NCL freestyle. EM

I’m not a joiner on FB. EM

Ask on the board here for Florida Departures

Please, please…Cunard have Queen Elizabeth. Queen Elizabeth 2 (QE2) has been retired to Dubai since 2008. EM

Welcome to Cruise Critic. There is a 12 page Roll Call for your cruise. A roll call is where you can ‘meet’ other CC members who will be sailing with you. I suggest you go there and see what they are discussing. To find your Roll Call, go back to the main boards page, scroll down to Roll Calls, choose your cruise line, then your ship, and scroll down until you find a thread with the dates for your sailing. Yours is about 3/4 of the way down the page. EM

Afraid we will not be of much help here without knowing what your included tour is, and what the options are. Tours at the Panama Canal are pretty standard across cruise lines. And we are also limited without knowing if you are doing a partial or full transit. EM

I considered calling to change rooms, but mine was a bit more complicated. I booked a fantastica inside gty and was assigned a Fantastica balcony that was a quad connected to another quad connected to a double. But it was solved by winning a bid to an Aurea balcony. EM

That drink package regulation has been in place for years, but apparently not enforced. And apparently disregarded when assigning non-related parties to shared tables. I suspect they will not allow family groups to share a table if all do not have the same package, because they suspect drinks will be shared. But unrelated groups would not share. EM

My long ago cat was the same! When we visited my parents, the faucet in the tub dripped. He loved that. When the super fixed it, he would go sit in the back of the tub and wait for someone to come make it drip. When it started dripping again, the not so bright cat would still sit in the tub and wait for someone to come ‘turn it on’. EM

It is okay because they are two different ships. It is also okay because there is a day in between. Either situation makes it okay. EM

Sailing as Amera for Phoenix-Reisen. EM

They would be going through immigration at the airport, or previously at the port if they arrived on another ship. EM

It’s possible Le you will not be able to tender at all. You must be able to walk down the steps into the tender. I have never seen a scooter loaded into a tender, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t done. There is really no place to put it on the tender. EM

I believe the king is the default. If it’s not that way when you board, your cabin steward will fix it. EM

Not addressed yet is the sanctuary. This is first come, first served, so you need to head there as soon as you board as it books up fast. EM

I believe the OBC is attached to the person whose name is on the stock certificate. EM

For years I have been reading about people with swollen ankles on cruises, but it never happened to me. Not until this year. In March, my left ankle swelled on a four day cruise. In June, both ankles swelled on a 7 day. And I am not eating or drinking anything different. I seldom drink alcohol. I have 7 days coming up in August, and I see my doctor the day after I get home. Don’t know if the ankles will be down by then…. EM

On our short cruise on QE there was a group that met in the Garden Lounge. I have also participated in Knitters and Natters on Princess cruises. I always take some fine crochet (potholders) because it doesn’t take up much space. One cruise on Princess there were several knitting socks. EM