Jersey Girl 1

Luckyinpa, we are on the same sailing as you in two days!!! :D

Haven't packed yet, but we've been away enough times to know what is needed. I also made a list of what to pack for reference for all trips.

I check the weather every day for Halifax and St. John and this morning there was no mention of rain for Monday or Tuesday. Temps in the 60's, good for sightseeing without breaking a sweat. Might be raining on our Wednesday sea day. Good time to catch up on reading, Casino games and people watching.

See you on board!

We put a hold on a guarantee balcony room on 9-11.

Paid for it in 9-14 when I got vacation apporval from work.

Same day, received notification of upgrade to category D4 and assigned a cabin. The notice said to call within 48 hours if we didn't want the upgrade.

We are on the same Canada cruise on the Regal as you for Oct 21.

Very happy with the assigned cabin and looking forward to this trip. Our first time on Princess.

Was on the Passion May 4-9, Passau to Vienna, also MY FIRST river cruise. Three nights pre-cruise in Munich.

It was awesome! The first night on the ship after dinner in our room, we were gushing over how we were having the best time ever.

Enjoy!!

Thanks Terry! Hope to meet you on board the Passion! We are a group of 3 women so we will be easy to spot. Enjoy your pre-cruise days in Munich! I would have loved to add that on but we decided to add days on in Budapest after the cruise instead since two of us have already been to Munich.

I will be traveling with my daughter. I am in New Jersey and she lives in Vermont.

We added an extra night in Vienna to take in more of that beautiful city.

See you on board!

Terry

I have booked my first River Cruise with Avalon for May 2017. Will we receive any kind of final paperwork before the cruise or do we just show up on the first day of the cruise? Also, we are doing the cruise only portion of the itinerary. For this particular itinerary Avalon does not have the option of purchasing transfers so we are taking the train from the Munich airport to Passau to start the cruise.

Lisa

Hi Lisa, We may be on the same sailing. We arrive in Munich on May 1 for 3 days before going to Passau. Avalon did the air arrangements so they provide transport to the hotel. Call because maybe you can go to the hotel and get on the bus to Passau with the others.

Terry

Lori,

I plan to board the Westerdam on SATURDAY.

Hope you don't miss the date.

Happy sailing!

What ship? Amazing inside GTY to VB Aft for +$25.00pp.

Westerdam - Seattle to Alaska leaving on 16th.

I had booked the inside room back in January and the price has since dropped. That's probably why it was only $25pp to go to guarantee balcony.

Excited for the AFT balcony as would have less wind I am told.

Sailing on the 16th and got room assigned yesterday. Originally booked a guaranteed inside and I called over the weekend to see if I could upgrade to a balcony. I was able to get a guarantee VH balcony for only 25pp more.

Was really surprised to see we got a VB AFT balcony!

These things usually happen to other people.

We are sailing her on May 16. Will be following your blog. Thanks for posting.

We compared all cruise lines and all routes for our May Alaska trip. Then narrowed down to those SAME two ships, Crown and Westerdam.

We then made a side by side list of pros and cons for each ship.

Bottom line, we booked HAL.

Sitka sounds like a better port than Skagway, we like the slightly smaller size ship, HAL had cooking demos and classes and retractable roof over pool.

Either way, enjoy the planning and your cruise!

Just back from the Apple store. Decided on the Mini IPad2. It suits my need and is certainly an upgrade from a 3year old Kindle. Don't like paying for features I will never use. And I really liked the size and portability of the Mimi. Fits well in my purse. So I figure I will fit fine in the room safe. Also liked hearing reassurances of the personal property security on the ships. I like to think people are basically good.

Thanks for all the comments.

Thanks for all the comments. I will get what works for me and just keep it tucked safely in the room.

We sail her on May 16th.

Look forward to a quick review when you return.

Wishing you blue skies and calm seas. Have a great trip!!!

Terry

Sailing on the Westerdam next month.

Going out tomorrow to treat myself to an I-Pad (I've been using a Kindle Fire for 3 years and it is on its last legs).

Not sure if I will get the new Full Size AIR or a MINI but I want to be able to take it on my Alaskan trip.

Will the full size I-Pad AIR fit in the room safe on an interior room?

Thanks for any help.

Terry

In Grand Turk when coming off the pier; go to the beach on the LEFT. We made the mistake of going to the right and that beach was so rocky we could not walk in the water. Found out after lunch the left side was smooth sand and calm waters. Best port ever!

In Nassau: I fell on Cabbage Beach and cut up my knee really bad it hurt for weeks afterwards. And the locals kept coming around selling everything from drinks to scarfs to beaded jewelry it was really annoying. Look for a better beach.

Haven't been to HMC so can't comment.

We like the occasional glass of wine during our trip but we don't like to sit in our rooms and drink it. Can we ask for wine glasses from the room steward and take a glass of wine with us to dinner?

Thanks for your review. We board her on Sept 13 for the same itenary and you have provided much insight.

We sailed HAL 3 years ago and the Crow's Nest did Happy Hour special for one hour only, buy one drink / get one free. Do they still do that?

Was disembarkation on time? I want to book an early flight back home and want to be sure we get off okay. Were there taxis at the pier?

Glad you enjoyed your trip.