perfect match

Your DD really does make a perfect Merida! Seemed like she was having a great time, too. Hope she is able to work out the details of going to school in Scotland.

I hope I can get a few ship pictures up before you cruise. (I do have a few on facebook already, but still editing)

You will have a good time. Just remember it is different than Disney, but you can make or break a vacation by your frame of mind and as long as you look for the good and laugh about the bad, it's all good.

This will actually be our second Princess cruise. We sailed on the Ruby last spring and had a wonderful time. We already had a couple of Disney cruises booked when we sailed on Ruby, so we are just now getting back to Princess. I expect we will continue to sail a mix of both lines, as they both have their strenghts and weaknesses. For our upcoming cruise on the CB we got a deal I doubt we will ever see on Disney so we are sneaking off on a cruise we had not originally planned to take!

I will be disappearing for a few days starting this weekend, but I will be back here when we come home to relive my own cruise memories. I know there will be plenty of food porn, some interesting shots of the ship, and some great stories about your sailing that I will have to catch up with. :D

After reading your story about the Indian security officer who did not seem to understand your room assignment I had to go pull up the deck plans for Ocean Princess. I guess you really would have had a problem staying in 6033!

I thought the Ocean Princess looked like a beautiful ship. I have not sailed on a ship that small yet, but I expect to do so at some point. While I have thoroughly enjoyed the large ships I have sailed on thus far, I think I would also enjoy sailing on a small ship.

The opera house in Venice was beautiful. I am glad you were able to get a few photos. A visit there would definitely be in order if we ever get to Venice.

I loved the video of the water taxi to the OP. I could spend days riding up and down every canal in that city!

Hi Jen! I've really enjoyed your Disney reports, so I was hoping you would be able to get this one started before we sail on CB next week. I know that this report will be full of some great pictures of the ship, and most likely some great stories to go along with them as well. I'm here to go along for the full ride. :D

Great TR! I am really enjoying hearing about your experiences in the ports you visited.

What cabin category were you in? It looked much bigger than the balcony cabin we has last year on Ruby Princess, and bigger than the one we will be in next week on Caribbean Princess. I have to say we're a bit spoiled by the size of the cabins we have had on Disney Dream and Fantasy. We also really like the room divider curtains on Disney because DH is a morning person and I am not. Keeps our marriage happy. :D

I am very much looking forward to the rest of your report.

We leave next Sat to Grand Cayman and Cozumel which are both on the list. No warning has appeared for us in our Personalizer or anywhere else I could find. :confused:

I already had my bug spray lined up and ready to pack before reading this post, but a good warning nonetheless.

Venice is unique and I hope to return. Happy to see you are sailing in the CB in a week or so! There will be lots of catching up on this review when you return!

 

Norris

Yes, we will be sailing on the CB in 7 days. Couldn't resist the great deal Princess was offering! I'm planning to get right back here to your review to chase away my post cruise blues once we get home.

Loved your photos and videos, as usual. Venice really is an intriguing and very beautiful city. I loved Carol's idea of a vaporetto ride down the Grand Canal. I think if I ever get to Venice I would want to ride up and down every canal in the city.

I wish I had some of those peccorino puffs right now!

Nancy

Thank you for posting the drydock pictures! That must have been an amazing experience! I am so happy for you that you had a chance to go aboard and sit with the captain.

I am selfishly hoping you will decide to go for it and do a model of the Oasis. I really enjoyed following your progress on the Voyager and I know I would enjoy following your Oasis build as well. If you do build an Oasis model, would you please post a link here if you start a new thread for it? I would love to follow your progress right from the start.

I'm sure an Oasis build would be a huge task for you, so I would totally understand if you decide not to do it. I would still be completely in awe of you and the models you have already built. As for getting the plans for Oasis, you never know until you ask.

I'm not sure if Venice has landed on DH's wishlist of places to visit yet, but you've certainly pushed it up a bit on mine with your pictures and video. I guess that means it is on DH's wishlist too......;):D

Great video of your first day in Venice, Norris!

Maybe the photos and video yet to come can help sway your DH....

That's what I'm hoping! However, we're talking about a man who fell asleep in the middle of a Blue Man Group show in Vegas due to jet lag, and if Blue Man is anything, they're very loud. :eek: It's going to take some work but I do think the trip would be worth it.

Nancy

Thank you and I am glad you found this thread. You have been onboard for all of my reviews I think and this is the one I most anticipated as the ship and itinerary were both new to me, so my senses were heightened somewhat.

 

As well as all the ports I mentioned and the ship that was new to me there is also at the end a tour of Rome with Rome in Limo, which includes a Vatican Tour.

 

Lots of food porn on and off ships. Live bands and buskers. Sunsets. The usual.

 

Welcome aboard!

 

Norris

I'm glad to be here! Not only that, but I got in right at the beginning for once. Normally I find myself rushing through because I can't wait to see what you've been up to next, but this time I will get to sit back and savor the whole review.

I don't know if we will ever get to do a Med cruise, but if we do this one would be high up in my prospective choices. So many cruises we want to do, so little time. I still have to get DH to agree to the Alaska cruise that your review pushed near the top of my wishlist. If I add a Med cruise to the priority list right now I'm afraid I'd scare the poor man half out of his wits! Fortunately, he does like cruises, just not long plane rides to get there, and since we live in Florida he would rather cruise from a port we can drive to.

I'm settled in here for the long trip, looking forward to seeing the Med through your eyes.

Nancy

I have enjoyed your TR's on that other board you mentioned. Since we're Disney sheep ourselves who are prone to straying a bit, I am looking forward to the rest of this TR as well. :D

I'm here! I'm loving your video and pictures of Venice. :D

What a beautiful view from your hotel. I think that's where I want to stay if I ever manage to get there.

I know I will keep saying this throughout your review, thank you so very much for sharing your trip, pictures and video with us.

Thanks for a great review! This itinerary is one I am really looking forward to sailing some day, hopefully soon! I loved hearing about your tours because most of the ones you took are the ones I am planning to do when we go. I have you bookmarked for future reference.

Gambee, thank you for another of your wonderful, detailed reviews. I always enjoy reading them.

Divina truly is a beautiful ship! I absolutely loved that crystal staircase! That alone might convince me to sail her some day. She will just have to get in line with all the others I'm trying to figure out how to fit into our vacation schedule. So many ships, so little time! What a good kind of problem to have! :D

Once again, thanks for sharing your cruise on the Divina with us. I appreciate all the work you put into your reviews, and it shows in the responses you get.

I'm really enjoying your review, especially the pictures! We just booked this ship for the Grand Cayman and Cozumel itinerary in Oct. The ship looks beautiful! I know we will have a great time! :D

I have had Ship Mate for a while but I didn't know it could be used offline. Thanks for the info. :cool:

Thanks for a great review. We will be sailing in an aft cabin on Indy in April 2015, so I am trying to learn all I can about her before we sail. Your tips and pictures were great. :D

Yes. BTW, this is my favorite online guide: http://reefguide.org/carib/index3.html

Thanks for posting the link to your favorite guide. Seems like it will be pretty easy to navigate, and I'm always finding fish I haven't seen before.

Laurie, those pictures are awesome! Thanks for sharing them. They reminded me why I love to dive as much as I do. :D

The incident you described in Roatan does sound scary. I agree, I would be pretty upset if no one else on the dive boat knew or cared that there was a diver missing. Glad that story had a happy ending. I always check my gear before I get in the water, but I think I'll use your story as an extra reminder to be sure everything is as it should be before I dive.

Thanks for your review. I really enjoyed reading about Enchantment. You have made me want to consider booking a cruise on her.

I also appreciate your tip about Park N Cruise. We have used them several times and were very happy. However, when I went to make a reservation for our upcoming cruise I noticed that they are only offering valet now. I am sorry to hear that your phone went missing. You said it was a work phone, hope you didn't get in trouble because it disappeared. I did not like Park N Cruise's response to you when you reported the disappearance either. Looks like we will be finding a new place to park.

I am really happy I found this review! This itinerary is one that is high up on my cruise wish list. In fact, l almost booked it for 2014. Unfortunately, our plans for moving our OBB with Disney out to 2015 didn't work out the way I wanted so we decided to just go ahead and sail what we had already booked with them this year. I am not sure yet where we will fit FLL to Bermuda into our vacation plans, so I really hope to see it offered again over the next couple of years. I do have a really long cruise wish list. :eek::D In the meantime I am looking forward to hearing about all of the adventures of the pirates, the pink boas, and whoever else happens to show up in this review.

SEE LIBERTY OF THE SEAS ON CRUISELINEROOMS. I posted a couple here - but there are more.

If you look at these threads and read the posts, about Freedom Class Balconies, they give some info about these images and you can see what your aft Freedom class cabin would look like:

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=758885

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=640578&page=3

 

(Mostly discussion)

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=684605

 

(Lastly, all the aft cabins from the back of the ship)

http://smg.photobucket.com/user/Grumpus/media/Freedom_aft_balconies.jpg.html

Thanks for youe replies racerxspeedy and Familygoboston! Those pictures are exactly what I was looking for. I was concerned about how much the structure would block the view. It does block some, but not as bad as I thought it might be. In any case, we will be on the ship, we will have an aft balcony right where we like to be. Life is good!:D

Does anyone have pictures of 8712 or 8412 on Independence that they would be willing to post? I have done a lot of searching with not a lot of results. I would even be happy with pictures of the same cabins on one of Indy's sisters.

Our April 2015 cruise will be our first with Royal, but we have loved our afts on other lines. I know this one will have some structure, but I'm sure we will love it anyway.