shipgeeks

No shorts in the dining room in the evening, including on the casual nights.

We've had an inside cabin adjacent to crew stairway, and never heard a sound there.

We've stayed on the ship both times we were on a partial transit. We really enjoy seeing the enormous cargo/container ships come through the locks, as well as the many other ships of all kinds that come and go all day. No regrets about not doing excursions.

We don't have palm trees in TN, so 17th St. feels (and looks) like Florida to me.

 

Roz

Same here!

And we love being able to walk a couple of blocks up to the drawbridge to look at the ships in port.

That said, I think that some of the anti-christian & anti-conservative comments were a bit over the top. (just my opinion, no need to flame me.)

I agree.

I wonder if these groups pay a premium to offset the loss of revenue?

 

 

Yes! We saw an ad for a "specialty" cruise which had to be booked through a particular agency. High prices. We looked it up on our TA's website, and we could do the same cruise, same cabins, but without access to the lectures, for about 1/3 the price.

Linen is my #1 choice for warm weather cruises!

I wear fairly loose-fitting linen slacks a lot. I pack them "stacked" with other garments that are larger than the suitcase: half in the suitcase, half out, part of next garment, etc. til I have 6-8 garments, then start folding each outside part in. Hence no sharp folds. I might leave the hanger attached, and when I get to the cabin, I can hang right away. IMO, linen garments, even somewhat rumpled, are classier, and cruisier, than less wrinkled cotton or synthetic garments.

The same applies to DH's linen shirts.

I say there is nothing to stop you taking linen if you want to.

We have found Med cruises to be more dressy than Carib cruises, especially if many of the passengers are European. DH almost always wears a sport coat all evening, and I always wear a dress.

We like Extended Stay America on 17th St. Free shuttle from airport, breakfast bar, $4 shuttle to the port. Lots of stores nearby, easy walk to the drawbridge to see the ships in port.

I've been on four cruises and on each one there were times when the sea was a bit rough. So I think you have to assume that you will encounter rough seas at some point though, as folks have said, a huge ship like the Oasis is probably going to give you the smoothest ride of any ship out there.

We've been on 36 cruises, and hardly ever had any rough seas. IMO, the chances of feeling anything are quite low, although they do exist.

I've seen men in shorts turned away a number of times.

The best part of our Hawaii trip was the sea days getting there and back. The many Hawaiian cultural activities onboard gave me a much greater appreciation for what we experienced on land. And the performing group that was brought onto the ship gave two wonderful shows that were, from what I heard, superior to the excursions to luaus on land.

We like Extended Stay America on 17th St. Free shuttle on demand from airport, and $4 shuttle to port. Pleasant hotel, lots of stores and restaurants nearby, and a short walk to the drawbridge with a great view of the port.

On our recent Equinox cruise, each night's dessert menu had an item marked "no sugar added". (This was separate from the "sugar free" ice creams and other desserts.) I asked our waiter if this meant they had artificial sweeteners; he said, hesitatingly, that it did, so I avoided them.

Now I'm wondering if that was really the case. If they were sweetened with fruit, or not sweetened, that would have been fine.

Does anyone know the correct answer to this?

cj, thanks for posting this; I have the same situation. I too get orange tones from self tanners, and then it comes off on the nice white ship towels.

I'm finding that I wear shorts less and less, and loose linen pants, gauzy palazzo pants, and maxi dresses more and more. They are cool, and can look quite nice.

I always wear a skirt in the evening. I've started wearing skintone fishnet tights instead of pantyhose. Quite comfortable, and although they don't obliterate every little vein, they give a nice even matte look.

I've had only excellent service and pricing with ChoiceAir. Able to browse times and airlines, make a choice, then call to arrange. No language problems.

On the Celebrity board yesterday there was a post about ChoiceAir making replacement reservations for them when their flight had problems. Those posters were very satisfied.

Transatlantic eastbound, a few ports, then transatlantic westbound. No long long flights, lots of sea days. Bliss.

I urge you to check with your cruiseline's air partner. When we did our first transatlantic cruise, the one-way air booked on our own would have been over $4,000 each. We got the same airline, same flight for under $700 each. Subsequent cruises have worked out just as well.

We have been sailing with =X= since 1997, and have attended virtually all of their production shows. We've found some enjoyment in them, but still considered shows the weakest link in the =X= experience.

In April we sailed on the Equinox TA. The shows were "Life", "Destiny" and "Elysium". They were, without a doubt, the BEST production shows we've ever seen on any ship. They moved us emotionally; I still get goosebumps thinking about them. The outstanding dancers and singers were the main element in the quality of the shows. Visuals were brilliant, performances were seamless. I want to experience them again and again.

A sale that was actually a sale! Just booked mine. Glad I didn't book last night.

I'm pretty sure that Grand Cayman is still a tender port. Is mom okay with that?

A long walk to stairs and elevators.

We liked leaving the curtain open day and night. But when sailing east, we were awakened super early by the sunrise. At night, saw millions of stars -- but later learned that we should have closed the curtain for the benefit of the nav deck.

Hit my head on the slanted window so many times that I eventually stuck post-its to it.

But, personally, I loved it. It runs a tie with a low deck oceanview, where I enjoy the closeness of the sea views.

My fault in both cases.

I washed DH's underwear the day before, and hung it up to dry. Forgot to pack it that night. They did have some for sale on the ship.

Overlooked packing his shirt studs for tuxedo shirt. SIL, who drove us to the port, came up with five brass binder clips that looked close enough to studs when installed, and, more importantly, kept his shirt buttoned up!

Fantastic compilation. Thank you!

A question. Do the people who are booked with a group have wristbands/ID on room card/other to identify them at the door for private concerts, etc.?

Wear the tux. DH will continue to do so. On our spring Equinox cruise people did mostly dress up on our three "chic" nights.