Mr BowWow

Does anyone know the staff for Silhouette for 04 October 2014 sailing? Has anyone heard or seen James Calhoun in recent days or months? Had him as CD several years ago and he is quite good.

Yes, that looks like him (I can post the picture from the sheet, if necessary). BTW, I read his bio and it says he used to have a band "Jamie Frasier & The Majors" so I was thinking that might be his name. Maybe not.

 

I did mention how much I disliked him on my comment form.

So has anyone seen the REAL James Calhoun on Celebrity in recent years. His twitter handle is cruising James. We found him to be a very nice, warm and friendly CD and hope to travel with him again in the future. Where is our mystery man?

Where is James Calhoun? Has he actually been working on Celebrity? My wife and I found him to be a pleasurable, warm and nice CD. Hoping to see him again.

We were on the same cruise as LadyDDS. Zoom was not able to direct our tours...but met us at Rex Hotel for drinks. Whenever we had a question during the day about the tour, he was available on his cell phone. The guides followed his program to the letter. Yes, all three are independent contractors as guides...however, all three referred to Zoom as Master of Travel Guides in Vietnam. All three men were 35 to 36 years old...so they were born at the end of the war. What they knew about the country before the war is based on the stories of the parents stories as they admitted they were brainwashed by the government in the schools as they grew up in Vietnam. Now they take the information from the parents and mix it with the information they obtain through the internet by going around the government's attempt to block the internet. They must be extremely careful in explaining what they know or feel as this is still a highly controlled country. It is not an amusement park.

You will not find many who know the truth of how it was before the end of the war as they went off to the re-education camps. Remember 60% of the population is under 30. We did not see anyone who appeared to be over 40 in Vietnam. No joking. In fact, the common joke was that the bottle with the rice wine and a live snake was "******" for the old men over 40!

We had 6 or 8 on each of our tours and used a spacious Toyota or Ford van. No problems with the vans. The real problems are the poor roads, the volume of motor cycles and the crazy drivers. It was a real experience in a naturally beautiful third world country. When I am able to return to the area...it will be planned by Zoom again!

I seldom if ever give recommendations of anyone or anything. However, the best part of my spectacular Southeast Asia holiday were the tours arranged by Mr. Zoom. I cannot say enough for Zoom's planning and then the follow through by his guides. The drivers were very good, the tour guides were tremendous. My entire group really enjoyed our visits to HCMC, Hue, Hoi Ann, Danang and Hanoi. The tours were warm and personable and all three young men were quite flexible to make changes and satisfy the group. Mr. Zoom was available to us at all times for any questions, suggestions or clarifications. Vietnam is a beautiful third world country...the guides led us in the past through the present. At this time in history, it is a fantastic time to visit and view the country. Thank you to Zoom for making this a memorable trip.

Last week I was able to read the roll call...this week I cannot get into Celebrity Connections...please give me a link.

I enjoy monitoring this board and reading everyone's advice. A few years ago I used to contribute lots of help here for those who wanted advice on how to do any of the European ports on their own (we have been to most of these places multiple times). I stopped most of my help because I got tired of being flamed by others who insisted that the only way to do anything is on an organized tour (this is true for some folks). However, given the very high price of tours (the low value dollar does not help) I am surprised to see almost everyone resigned to tours. Western Europe is pretty easy to navigate on your own although it helps to do some homework. The advantage of being on your own is you avoid the "cattle like" mentality of some tours, get to do what you want when you want with who you want, and usually you will save money. In fact, on a 12 day Med cruise you can easily save over $1000 (or more) by doing things independent of tours. The down side of independent travel is that you do need to do your pre-trip homework,, but to some of us that is part of the fun. My main problem with most tours is that they try to crowd too much "touring" into a short period of time without giving you a chance to see the real Europe. A lot of the joy of visiting some cities (Rome, Paris, etc) is spending time at an outdoor cafe enjoying local cuisine, wine and people watching (this is how many Europeans enjoy themselves). Personally, when in Rome I would quickly give-up seeing some site in order to have time for lunch or a snack at one of the cafes in the Piazza Navona. But, I guess this is where the "different strokes for different folks" saying reigns surpreme.

 

Hank

Hank:

I haven't spoken to you in years and we date back to the old travel boards a long time ago...I think it might have been on Prodigy. We are planning the Grand Princess on October 29th from Venice to Rome and NEED YOUR ADVICE. Ten years ago (on our 30th anniversary when the Grand was brand new), you helped plan the trip. Six years ago, you help me plan the Baltic. And I need you now to make our trip better. If you would email me at sandysilvers@yahoo.com, I would appriciate it. To refresh your memory, you might remember the hot controversy with my old "sweetheart" Annette.

Thank you...Sandy