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About this blog

A Personal Cruise & Travel Journal

All posts and photos © Janice Neves/Seven Sea Journeys, CruiseCrazies Authorized Agent

Entries in this blog

San Francisco to Alaska ~ Let the Journey Commence!

San Francisco, Alaska and Grand Princess, here we come! I am getting a jump on reviewing this trip - our 2013 summer vacation - less than two days before departure. Tomorrow, I'll be busy double-checking and triple-checking my CruiseCrazies packing list to make sure I have everything covered and probably will be too exhausted to do much of anything else, let alone write. The idea - and I'm probably over my head on this one - is to write a day-by-day review of our experiences along the
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Share Your Alaskan Cruise Packing Secrets ... Please!

I am so excited, I am beside myself! Our new lightweight luggage has arrived and sits in my living room waiting to be filled with an endless variety of stuff befitting a 10-day Alaskan cruise. As I look at the assortment of wheeled bags in an array of sizes, I realize I went a little overboard in buying 7 pieces. What the heck was I thinking? I needed only a couple of replacements. But, hey - the old stuff was getting - well - old, so why not replace it all, I rationalized to myself. The kids wi
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The Document Dance ... a Beloved Pre-Cruise Ritual

At last the day has arrived! No, this is not the day when we embark the Grand Princess in San Francisco bound for Alaskan waters, nor is it time to pack our bags and fly to the “City by the Bay” for three days of pre-cruise sight-seeing. But it is a time of equally enthusiastic celebration. It’s the day we do the “document dance”, also sometimes referred to as the "happy dance"! Confused? Just ask any avid cruiser who has ever been part of an on-line cruise community. The “document dance” i
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Common "Cruise-Speak" for New Cruisers

You are getting ready to book your first cruise, but don’t know your “fore” from your “aft”. Have no fear – help is here! Listed below are some common words and phrases – or “cruise-speak” – to help prevent you from sounding like a rookie when discussing cruises with your friends or browsing through the cruise forums. For instance, “On which deck is my stateroom located?” sounds much more cruise savvy than “What floor is my room on?” Some definitions are “by the book”, and others are my own per
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The Good, The Bad & The Ugly - A Week in Mexico 1990

While I was recently perusing the labels of my vast collection of faux leather photo albums, I came across one identified as “Mexico 1990”. As I opened the cover and began viewing the photos, the first thing that struck me was how young and attractive my husband and I were 22 years ago. How time changes us! The second thing that sprung to mind was our encounter with a bat. Not the baseball kind, but the other kind - that nocturnal creature that flies in the night and inspires the likes of Dracul
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Why I No Longer Travel By the Seat of My Pants

These days, when it comes to travel, I am a planner. I don’t like surprises. So in order to make an informed decision, every vacation begins with consuming every review and article on every cruise ship and destination, reserving hotels and tours months in advance, and creating a spreadsheet itinerary containing every detail of the trip, reduced to a handy pocket-size guide to refer to when the need arises. I used to create a huge binder with obscene amounts of paper, but thankfully with the adve
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3

The Cruise is Booked ... Now Fly Me to the Ship!

The Grand Princess ... our floating paradise for 10 days this summer ... has now been repositioned to it's new home port of San Francisco for it's spring and summer itineraries. It would be so cool to drive there to meet our ship. However, let's be realistic. We live on the East Coast. Since a leisurely cross-country drive to the ship is quite out of the question, we'll have to fly. We have two choices - book our preferred flights on our own, independently, or choose a cruise air package wi
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Cruise Line Hotel Package ... Choose It or Lose It?

You've no doubt seen them. The optional transfers and pre or post-cruise hotel add-ons, promising the ultimate in convenience. All cruise lines eagerly offer them with your booking. But are they worth it? Purchase transfers, and a cruise rep will meet you at the airport and whisk you and your belongings safely away to your awaiting cruise ship and, likewise, shuttle you back to the airport when you return. Even better - add a hotel to that transfer, and spend a night or three in your port of emb
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Cruise vs. Land: A Fight to the Finish

Many of the places on our newly created bucket list involve land destinations, and I recently came to realize this could have serious implications on our quest to see the world before we die from the deck of a cruise ship. We may have to choose one or the other from time to time, dividing our time between land and sea, in order to fit everything in. So I thought I would use this opportunity to stage a different kind of comparison of cruise vacation vs. land vacation - a boxing match of sort
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Trumping the Triumph Travesty

y An engine fire ... a cruise ship dead in the sea without the power to provide the basic of needs. A pleasant ocean escape to the Caribbean becomes a bad cruise to nowhere. Such was the picture on board the Carnival Triumph on its 4-day sailing last week. The unpleasant details of life on board that cruise need not be repeated here. We've all seen the video footage and heard the news reports. When the disabled ship finally reached the dock in Mobile, Alabama, greeted by 200 Carnival p
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We're Cruising to .... The Grand Canyon

What's my motto? If I can't get there by cruise ship, then I don't want to go. That's not entirely true, though, because Grand Canyon has long been high on our trip bucket list. Obviously, land travel will have to be involved. A trip to Vegas nearly brought us to the Canyon several years ago. As a side trip from the city glitter and hypnotic slots machines, we pondered over a day trip to either Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon's west rim. Since we felt that traveling all that way to catch jus
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A Belize Blunder

It was August of 2003. We were joyfully embarking on our second cruise, this time a 5-day voyage on the cruise ship Imagination, one of Carnival's smaller vessels. After our rookie sailing the previous summer on the Grand Princess, we simply couldn't wait to share our newfound love of the cruise experience with our two daughters, ages 16 and 11, and hoped they would be as thrilled as we were. Our destination would be the Western Caribbean, the ports of Belize and Key West, and two rel
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Stingrays, Horses and Bears ... Oh My!

The dream Alaska cruise is booked, air fare reserved and pre and post-cruise hotel stays arranged. Now comes the hard part - deciding what to see and do when we get to the Last American Frontier. With only a day in Skagway, Ketchikan and Juneau, the choices won't be easy. While I enjoy touring famous cities and landmarks from the comfort and safety of a vehicle, as I grow older and cruise more, I find myself wanting to experience sightseeing in a more active and thrilling way. This is a bi
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Counting Down my Top 10 Travel Moments of 2012!

I couldn't move ahead to a new year of travel adventures without first looking back on my trip experiences of 2012. Most destinations were new to us, and some were old favorites. All were special and memorable. Therefore, in the tradition of David Letterman, I thought I would take this opportunity to count down my own Top Ten travel moments of the year. Wishing you happy and safe travels in 2013! So here goes - my top 10 favorites of 2012: #10. Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey -
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A White-Knuckle Drive through a Vermont Snow Storm

As I was making travel plans for an upcoming winter week in the Grand Canyon, and wondering why the blazes we would choose the month of February and risk icy roads and snow to get a glimpse of this natural wonder, my thoughts took me back to one frightening wintry drive on a snow-packed highway in the stately Green Mountains of Vermont. Our daughter, Jenn, was attending a four-year E-game design program at Champlain College in Burlington, Vermont. I had made my semi-annual four-hour drive n
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No, I Don't Want to Be a Volunteer From the Audience

In previous posts, I spoke of the personality differences between my husband and myself. David likes to fill every moment of his vacation with all manner of entertainment, where I like to curl up in a quiet corner with a good book or simply sit and watch the world go by. He likes to arise well before dawn, eager and ready to face the day, where I would just as soon roll over and catch a few more hours of precious slumber, maybe have a leisurely breakfast on the balcony – when we’re lucky enough
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Looking Ahead to Alaska - Summer 2013

When one cruise ends, another begins … that’s my motto! Our Ireland & Scotland Interlude was not yet complete, when we were already thinking of our next cruise. Actually, we were not yet sure of the destination, we just knew it would be a cruise on Princess. Therefore, as is the custom, we took advantage of the Future Cruise Desk while on board the Ocean Princess and earned future cruise credits and on-board credits by booking a future cruise, to be taken on any ship at any time within
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Cruising The British Isles ~ Day 9: Time to Say Goodbye

You are probably wondering what happen to Day 8 – Sea Day. See previous Day 6. It was exactly the same with one added feature – re-packing, which is always a little sad and a little challenging – how to squeeze your all your stuff and the added souvenirs into your bags – but we made it work. As is the case with just about every vacation I take, my camera seems to take a holiday on the final day, and I return with basically no pictures of the final hours of our time away. Such was the case here.
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 7: Edinburgh

Today we were given a gift – a warm, sunny day in Edinburgh. Unlike the mixed bag of weather conditions the previous days, blue skies prevailed – certainly not the dreadful weather picture I described in my earlier post where Sir William Wallace is drenched in the Highlands (see British Weather-Hollywood Style). We were lucky with the weather, but not so sure about our luck of getting into Edinburgh this morning. As we headed into the Port of Rosyth, the Captain came on over the loud s
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 6: A Day at Sea

As great as it is to be in port and see new cities and places for the first time, it is equally nice to have a day in between to sleep in a bit, with no place to be. However, I should point out that my husband and I have very different ideas about sea days. I like to lounge around in my jammies and order breakfast in the room. He likes to be up at the crack of dawn, get some exercise, and stop at the buffet for breakfast. I like to find a quiet place to read, write or just watch the world g
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 5: The Scottish Highlands

The names Rob Roy, William Wallace and Braveheart always come to mind when I think of Scotland. The beauty of the highlands portrayed in the Hollywood films has always inspired me to visit Scotland, and this was a priority of our day here in Greenock. After many months of careful research, I gathered a group of fellow on-line cruise community fans and booked the Luss, Loch Lomond & Sterling Castle tour with Great Scot Tours for 15 eager passengers, a guide highly recommended by many sea
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 4: Dublin, Ireland

The best way to get a feel of a UK or European city when you are only there for a few hours is on the city’s Hop on Hop Off tour (fondly referred to as the HOHO), and most cities here have them. You get a great overview and can get off or on wherever you like, all for one low price. In this case, the green Dublin Bus offered a 15% on-line discount for purchasing in advance, and who am I to refuse a discount – on line, or otherwise. This is a very pleasant and less expensive alternative to the ov
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 3: Jerpoint Abbey & Waterford

This was a two-part day for us. Part one took us on a morning ride through the rural Irish countryside to the little town of Inistioge and a visit to the magnificent Jerpoint Abbey. Following this was part two of our day - a ride from the ship to the City of Waterford. The day began overcast, but rain-free. Sitting on the balcony with my morning coffee and the Princess version of an Egg McMuffin, I admired the beautiful Ireland countryside as we pulled into Waterford. We did not
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 2: Guernsey

I had read many tales of missed calls to this port. Because the ship’s need to tender passengers over to the island in sometimes choppy or stormy seas, it is all too common for cruise ships to bypass Guernsey altogether. I am happy to report that the day was mild and sunny, and the ship made it to port, as scheduled. However, some wind and high surf prevailed, making the tender ride a bit choppy. We watched the tendering process from our balcony and noticed that the tender and ship ha
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Cruising the British Isles ~ Day 1: The Floating Boutique

August 2, 2012 ~ Embarkation on the tiny Ocean Princess was the smoothest we’ve ever experienced. We arrived at approximately 1:00 pm to check in. Our luggage was quickly whisked away, and we were warmly welcomed into the cruise terminal with smiling, happy faces. No lines, friendly staff, and all very fast and efficient, yet leisurely. There were even crew members waiting on board to show us the way to our cabin – not that you we needed help – the ship’s not that big. It was like a scene from “
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