paluni

I did this last cruise, so didn't have to struggle with shaving in a tiny shower during the cruise, and worry about missing hairs. It was really worth it. The hair doesn't grow back for quite a while, at least on me. I felt my legs were extra smooth and nice for the cruise. It cost me $80 plus $10 tip in California two days before the cruise. Actually made my cruise experience nicer. I will get my legs professionally waxed before the next cruise too. Ta-da, don't have to give a thought to shaving and leg hair all during the cruise!

I made a conscious decision to bring and wear my nice jewelry, though I can be worried about it. I thought, why do I have it, why does my husband buy me this, if it is always too good/too dangerous to wear? So I am going to wear it and enjoy it, and be sensible about it. In some ports, I don't wear any jewelry at all, because I don't feel safe about it. I even leave off my diamond engagement ring, which I usually wear always. If I don't wear the "good stuff" on a cruise, where am I going to wear it? Some nice pieces have come to me, without me personally being a jewelry hound, and I will just enjoy that I have them and can show how lovely they are.

You mentioned passengers dressed up on formal night. Do you mean tuxes and long gowns?

 

Also, do you know how many formal nights can we expect on our 11 day partial transit?

 

Thanks in advance!

I don't know about partial transit. We had 3 formal nights for our 16-day full transit. I don't know about an 11-day partial transit. There were quite a few tuxes and long gowns on our cruise, but you don't have to. Some wore suits and ties and dressy wear for the ladies. My husband did wear a tux, I had two short outfits and one long. But you can even just eat in the buffet that night if you don't want to do formal. Probably on an 11-day it would be 2 formal nights? I'm not sure though. Enjoy your cruise.

We took the Island Princess November 2013 through the Panama Canal. We really enjoyed it. The commentator was a local, Mr. Bill Hall as I recall. He was great. What was great, he didn't talk all the time, just when relevant. I watched a lot of it from the balcony with the TV on, so heard the commentary easily in the room from the balcony. I thought Princess did a very good job. We went from Los Angeles to Ft. Lauderdale. I would recommend them. I liked the food a lot, but I'm not picky on food. Also a lot of the passengers do dress up for the formal nights, which I actually like. We keep cruising Princess because we want to build up our perks and it really suits our simple style. We'll never use a climbing wall. A tip: go in the dry season if you can and try and get lucky on the weather! We did. Port side was best from Los Angeles, I thought.

I'd recommend seeing this old mission if you go to Solvang. It is right in town. Very evocative. Like going back in time, and very peaceful. It is still an active church and parish. You step off the edge of the little downtown Solvang, and are in another world. Santa Barbara and Solvang are great. I love seeing all the California missions. They are the oldest built-up places in California, from the late 1700's and early 1800's.

If you're spiritual, you might look on this as God "got" you into this cruise. There are many reasons to keep you on it and a lot of barriers to getting out of it, not the least being $$$. You could look at this as being something you are "supposed" to go through, perhaps for your own growth and benefit or maybe the other people. I feel you should go. It could be fantastic! How many things we fear turn out to be actually good? My aunt used to say, "Everything happens for the best." She lived happily to the age of 95. I hope, if you go, at the end, you are glad you did. Maybe you win thousands in the casino LOL. Who knows what will happen. All the best to you.

I second that. It is a fabulous play which is always changing with topical acts. I sat in the balcony where some of the seats don't have a lot of leg room. So maybe down below is better, especially if you're tall. But you should love the play.

I loved, loved, loved Torcello, one of the Venice islands. It was mostly nature, with some old things. A very old magnificent church down the little walk. It was like going back in time. The island must have had quite a few people at one point but now has very few. It was magical, in the afternoon I guess after most of the tourists were gone. A wedding reception was going on at one of the few lovely venues. Wow, I just loved Torcello. Would like to go back and even stay a night there.

Well, I'm only an "expert" on Princess because I've taken three long cruises with them. But we both like Princess, and we keep taking them also to get to higher "perk" status with them. They have a nice loyalty program. Hearing you are young is my only caveat here. The times we have gone, I'd say the majority of the people are in their 50's and 60's. Maybe in March there are more younger people, or even children. So, I don't know how you feel about a possibly older crowd than Carnival. I think the passengers tend to be nice, and not stuffy. So, it depends on you, how you feel about being with perhaps an older crowd than you are used to. And of course you can dine at a table for two if you want. Being a baby boomer myself, well, I am used to them and they still have some life in them!