ActiveTraveler

I always wondered why we don't just say front, back, left, and right for ships. We do for road vehicles and bikes. Sometimes people slip up and say front or back anyway, even though they know the nautical lexicon, out of habit.

Another curiosity: Why is left called port if we don't always get off that side of the ship? Why is right called starboard if there is no board with a star on it?

Good trick about port = left, but can you remember when you are facing forward or aft if you are on a cabin deck?

cherylandtk - much appreciated. I will start a cut and paste sheet (and see how many suggestions and tips are generated).

 

BTW - The last one I did for my friends on the NCL EPIC - got 7 pages of info in 3 months prior to our trip. It was many cool ideas, some money saving tips, and helpful suggestions (and insights) like your thoughts. Thank you.

I love your idea cruisers. In fact, I am getting lots of help from another MB in addition to this one. But I can't imagine getting 7 pages of tips!

Being a newbie cruiser (notice the word "future" in my signature), I am also interested in what people have to say. However, the Sapphire Princess will be drydocked early next year, so by the time I sail on her some information will be inaccurate.

I thought I found an irresistible itinerary when I saw Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Seattle (in that order) on a Princess cruise in May. At first glance, it is almost perfect. But when I started looking at things to do in Santa Barbara, I wondered how I am supposed to do anything there before 10:00 on a Sunday morning. The ship - Sapphire Princess - docks there at 7:00. It seems like everything opens at 9 or 10 in SB and the water is still cold before then, so I don't want to start that day on a beach. Any suggestions?

Our friends were told no food without purchase of a drink and no repeats on food -3 pieces of sushi is All you get. I do not care for wine so NO FOOD!

Someone told me here if I ask, I can get any drink without alcohol. Is that true or false?

Is "comped" a real word or shortcut for something else? :confused:

I followed the recipe (tried it twice), but it just isn't quite right. My husband says it isn't 'sweet' enough. I suppose it could be the cheese I got at the market (bought in the deli section). The sauce wasn't thick enough for my tastes, but DH said that was fine with him. Has anyone else tried it?

Did you eat the fettucchine onboard?

There are many reasons a recipe does not turn out right - different company makes the cheese, different company makes the noodles, you don't have the same cookware for it that is on Princess ships, etc.

Why would you want to give that coin away? While many items are available that show the same ship, none of them say "inaugural voyage" anymore because she is 12 years old. If I sailed on a ship's inaugural voyage, I would definitely keep whatever little gift the cruise line gave me for being on that sailing.

I don't care for costume jewelry that is pretending to be real (like cz or fake gold), so I buy mine at art fairs.

What in the world does CZ mean? :confused:

The whole point of wearing costume jewelry is to look beautiful without wasting money. My older sister had rhinestones put on her wedding dress (Mom made it for her). "Fake diamonds" was not what anybody thought when they saw that dress. They just thought it was pretty and 100% appropriate for the occasion. If you think rhinestones are cheap subsitutes for diamonds instead of "fake jewelry," you can appreciate their beauty a lot more. How many people have you seen proudly wear "fake gold" and admit it's not real, but never complain they wish it was the real thing?

I honestly had trouble deciding what to do on the Ruby as there were so many things I was interested in that had conflicting schedules.

Would you care to elaborate on that, Velvet? I read everything I could find about Ruby's public rooms on the Princess website, as well as Emerald, Crown, Golden, and Grand. None of those five ships have stage theaters for concerts, operas, and dance shows if I am not missing anything. I just read Princess has two movie theaters - one in, one out. But Princess claims on a different webpage to have "lavish" entertainment productions. There is nothing lavish about a first-run movie. So does Princess have live productions, or just music and dancing in the lounges?

Choose Eurodam based on our dislike for the largest Princess ships, the Ruby has 3100 passengers with an extra deck of cabins , 500 extra people and no additional public space as compared to the standard Princess Grand class ships. Have not been on the Ruby but sailed the sister ship Caribbean Princess, too many people in a confined space. Bad space per passenger ratio. Not my cup of tea.

We have been on Eurodam and loved it.

Otherwise, both lines are very nice.

Have you sailed on the Grand Princess for a similar itinerary? If not you can't say Ruby is bad because of her extra passenger deck because you don't know what it's like on a Grand class ship. People have been telling me to avoid all big ships since I do not want a lot of kids onboard andf hate the thought of tendering in a port.

I was a synchornized swimmer for seven years and never saw a skirted swimsuit on an opponent or a teammate. All models of skirted suits I have seen in catalogs look older. My mom is 30 years older than me and has a skirted suit. So in my experience skirted suits seem to be for old and big ladies. But if a high school or college student has one, good for her - it can't hurt to be the only young girl in a pool with a skirt on her suit.

How about this: Stick on photos you already have duplicates of. That way, theft will not hurt. I might bring pictures of my cats and put them on the door using magnetic frames if that is all I can do.

I am surprised nobody suggested car magnets. If they will stick to a door, buy some or take them off your car.

I plan to go to the Vatican, Sistine Chapel, and St. Peter's Basilica in the morning, so I can beat the big crowd and I will not need to use the restroom until after I finish all that. No matter how hard it is to find a restroom, I will always drink fluid during lunch.

After reading a lot of praise about Rome In Limo and claims ship tours are not as good, I thought RIL is a no-brainer. But like everything else, a lot of information gave me more questions to ask.

1. Can I take pictures of the buildings and gardens outside before and after each tour? I never go anywhere on vacation without my digital camera.

2. Can I use RIL to avoid the long line to the Vatican even if I don't want the guided tour of it inside? I might want to walk around on my own without commentary.

3. Do the drivers wear microphones in the car? If not I need to request a loud talker so I can hear him or her during the ride.

Certainly more questions will pop into my head later.

First of all, a note about flying on Southwest: Although two bags fly free, if you will start or end your cruise outside the U.S. you still have to worry about another airline's policy because Southwest does not fly ot other countries. So I strongly recommend choosing an airline that only charges for the second bag if you are not going to start or end in the United States. (That would automatically eliminate United, U.S. Airways, and others.) I hope that will not be a problem for you if you do have to fly outside the United States to your embarkation port.

For me personally, it will look like this:

- I never use hair dryers or curling irons, so that is not a problem.

- I selected Crystal partly because it offers laundry valet services.

- Because I live in the Midwest, I have to wear jeans on the plane.

- I will pack 3 pairs of shoes: sneakers, sandals, and black flats.

- Pills, cell phone, travel alarm, etc. will be in a small backpack.

- Postcards, brochures, and photos can go in a suicase pocket.

My only worry about packing is making sure my formal dresses will not be messed up. For them and my jewelry, I might use Crystal's door to door luggage transport system - if enough people endorse it, of course.

It only gets more confusing, not less, when I try to figure out if it is better to do it alone, through my travel agent, or through the cruise line.

1. Is "pax" really a word or an abbreviation for a word I know? What does it mean?

2. What in the world is a consolidator ticket? Are people saying it is a bad thing?

3. Does "air deviation" only apply if the cruise line makes all airfare arrangements?

I thought I was here to get answers to my questions. Instead, I just got lost because of unfamiliar terminology. :confused: