snaebyllej

On 4/22/2019 at 11:59 AM, floridagoddess said:

Emerald Seas! We went on it twice. One of the best riding ships of that time. 

If you didn't mind that she had a permanent list as a result of adding the top deck.

13 hours ago, CGTNORMANDIE said:

Those meals from the 1950’s and 1960’s were a lot better than the slop most mass market lines are serving today.  I was there and I can tell you when the menu said prime beef you got prime beef.  Beluga caviar was common back then...try and get that today.  The meals served onboard the SS France in Tourist Class were better than the food on most premium lines today...I’ve had both.  

And they were heavily subsidized.  Your tax dollars at work.

21 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

The Atlantic might be flat as a mill pond the entire trip, or you might cruise through two or three hurricanes or tropical storms. It is simply impossible to guess, and what happened in prior years is not really an indicator with climate change.

I doubt they'll see a hurricane in April.

I've yet to see anything resembling a storm on 14 spring repositing cruises from Florida to Europe, but I've been lucky.

French Polynesia.  Easy from Australia, spectacular views of islands from the ship.

Has anyone seen anything about which stabilizer it was?  Problems with the aft port stabilizer on the spring 2008 TA resulted in an "ineresting" cruise, with 2 ports canceled and near riots on board as a result.  They ended up cutting off the stabilizer fin; makes me wonder if there could have been a problem with the repair.

It is not hoisted until clearance has been completed and the yellow "Q" flag has been removed, and the vessel has been granted pratique by the appropriate authorities.

Can't say that I've ever seen them waiting to take down the yellow flag:

Mine was in 1995 on Windjammer Barefoot Cruises' Flying Cloud through the British Virgin Islands. Did another Windjammer cruise on the Fantome in February 1998 for a total solar eclipse. The Fantome went down in Hurricane Mitch the following October. I loved those large sailing ships where we could wear shorts all the time, have good but simple meals, get up into small coves and even sleep under the stars if we wanted..

SV Mandalay (Fantome's sister ship with WBC) is still cruising; she'll be 100 years old in 2023.

And what exactly entails "horse racing" around the pool? I know what I am picturing, but I know what I'm picturing is NOT what it actually could have been. ;p

Hi all!

 

I wasn't able to take the empty plastic water bottle I brought along to refill on the ship, onboard Escape in Miami in Oct.

I usually take an empty bottle to the airport, fill it there for on the plane then dump it before boarding the ship. On the ship I use the melted ice to refill my bottle to take on excursions or sometimes bring a glass of lemonade from the buffet to put in the bottle to take ashore.

I'm going to try my routine again on my next NCL cruise (Star from Venice) to see if it was just Miami's policy or NCL's.

 

~ Jo ~:)

Are you saying that they took it away from you? Boarding the Escape at Miami last month I probably had 4 water bottles in my carry-on, 2 empty and 2 full (gained one at the hotel and one from the shuttle van). Nobody cared.

Yes (Escape December 9-16), but they bear no resemblance to reality. Don't know if it was somebody's idea of a joke or what, but each dinner menu featured a slider of one kind or another, and I never saw any such thing in the DR. Everything else was different, too.

The ship is doing Aegean cruises as of April: http://americas.celestyalcruises.com/en/cruises?day=7

No, just single "stick the little thingie in the hole" hangers. Kind of hard to do when the little closet is stuck back in the corner where you block the light by standing in front of it.

Escape balcony cabin 14884:

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Oh, no! I was on the Escape last month and I didn't do any of the listed must-dos. Will they be coming for me soon?

The Norwegian Breakaway (and perhaps other's in her class, not sure), does have binoculars on both sides of the ship on her "Boardwalk" outdoor area on Deck 8...I believe two on each side.....:)

And no coin necessary....

Norwegian Escape:

December 2016:

The duck was supposed to be at Tall Ships Philadelphia-Camden a couple of years ago but before we got there it had snagged on something underwater and the air all leaked out. They tried to repair it (with Duck Tape?) but it didn't hold, so all we saw was a pile of yellow up on the shore.

http://www.nj.com/camden/index.ssf/2015/06/crew_works_to_repair_badly_damaged_duck_at_tall_sh.html

I was terribly disappointed that I wasn't able to have a giant yellow rubber duck in the background of all of my tall ship pictures.

My sister and I did the 6 night cruise out of Grenada last year, and loved it. We'll be going again as soon as we are able to.

Most stops are at islands that you'll never see from conventional cruise ships, so no crowds.

There are free snorkeling excursions daily, so bring your gear if you're interested. Also very inexpensive island tours at some of the stops.

Very little choice at meals, but the food was always good and cooked fresh in the galley just a few steps from your table.

Just 3 decks, so no elevators.

Most cabins are upper/lower, and the upper wasn't the easiest I've ever had to get up into. Very comfortable, though (and I'm over 6 ft.). Lots of hot water in the roomy (but old-fashioned) shower. A/C (cabin only) can be rather noisy, because it's from a unit that's right in the cabin with you. No closet, just a couple of shelves and a few hooks, so be organized (and don't bring a lot). No cabin keys, so be ready to leave your cabin unlocked when you're out of it.

There can be quite a bit of motion when anchored, but much less when under way (when there were always at least a couple of sails up).

The crew were very friendly, from the captain down.

You can even tour the engine room.

Pictures here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/snaebyllej2/collections/72157667263789842/

Unfortunately, I believe that Princess is the only line that offers that.

You are correct.

CCL/CUK shareholder credit can also be combined with Carnival Corp military shipboard credit.

First of all, the cruise lines will keep track of your cruises through their loyalty program once you join. Or you can just set up a file on your computer matched to your pictures from the cruises. Not sure that there is an app - or frankly if one would be necessary - for that. I guess you could always google it......

Problem with that is that the 3 lines that I have the most cruises on have all messed up my history. On one I was on the same cruise on the same dates 3 times.

It can happen when there is a big change in exchange rates.

Turbine Steam Ship.

Dolphin next to Nordic Empress at Nassau

Nordic Empress (coming back as Empress of the Seas) is 48K tons. Can you imagine what the Dolphin would look like next to one of the really huge ships now?

Ships do not carry currencies for their ports of call.

HAL Zaandam did last month. We bought Chilean currency on board. Unsure about Argentine, since we were there before the cruise and already had some. The ship would not buy back Argentine currency because it's too volatile for them to risk being stuck with it.

I've always felt that HAL does a much better job than any of the other lines we cruise with the muster drill. You actually know where your lifeboat is and you are prepared to find it in case of emergency. On Celebrity you are assigned to a lounge where there is not even enough room for everyone to sit down. I cannot imagine the chaos that would prevail in case of a real emergency. Same for NCL and RCCL but there has at least been room to sit down. My cane with a seat has come in handy at the times when I've had mobility issues. I understand folks needing accomodations but I hope HAL doesn't change the entire procedure.

The problem is, there is no such thing as YOUR lifeboat. Depending on circumstances (whether the ship is listing, where a fire is, etc.), YOUR lifeboat may not be usable. They can put you in any boat or in a raft. The lines that have you muster elsewhere are having you wait somewhere safer and more comfortable until they figure out 1. if you'll need to evacuate at all (possibly many hours later, in hot/cold/wet weather) and 2. where you will be sent to do it.