Dan

Watching that thing back up the channel at LA will be something. Since our cabin on Sapphire was at the back, I didn't notice if we pulled up under the bridge to back into the slip, but we watched the NCL Star go under and turn around to dock at the main channel slip. Must have been something for the people on the bridge to watch a cruise ship go under.

I've seen the Oosterdam, a sister ship. Since the Zuiderdam came out, we've known these ships would look bascially like any other ship of comparable size, so I'm not surprised. It's hard to make a ship look nice and still have the balconies everyone wants these days. Cunard's new Queen Victoria, which will be a similar size ship, is supposed to be a liner design, so it will be interesting to see what they come up with.

17 here. Missed 8, 14, 19,20 and 22.

I would describe these as closer to Voyager class, not Radiance class. These are still 30k tons bigger than the Radiance/Millenium classes, and only 20k less than Voyager. In perspective, Celebrity's smallest ship, Zenith, is 47k tons. When it debuts, the Solstice will be longer than any other cruise ship out there, except for the Queen Mary 2. I would suspect the main difference in tonnage is from being narrower than Voyager, and possibly one less deck of cabins. Width is not something people generally pay attention to. This will still be a large ship. I was amused last week on another board when discussing the Genesis ship somebody said they'd prefer to stick to the smaller ships like Valor (110k tons) LOL

I just want to point out that by booking direct with the cruise line, you aren't neccesarily saving any money. They don't "cut out the middle man", and save you that 10 or 15% commission. Usually a good TA will get you a better price than the cruise line gives because that TA might do enough business to get better pricing. And a good TA will also follow up on price reductions,w her eif you book with the line, you have to call them. Nothing wrong with booking direct, and many on here have said they have someone at the line they prefer to deal with, and there are also people on here who have had bad TA's that haven't done anything for them anyway. Just be aware that booking direct puts money in their pocket, not your own.

17 days on Carnival and 14 on Princess and I still think Princess has more to offer than Carnival. We may yet give Carnival another shot, only because they have cheap short cruises out of New York that would be easier to take the kids on. The only thing I said to my wife I was missing about the Victory was the sing along piano bar. It was good that Carnival had bigger cabins because we certainly found ourselves drifting back there many times during the day.

Yeah, you'll be bored. Not much to do on there, except go to a dozen or so bars, play bingo, relax around 5 pools, play trivia several times a day, go on the galley tour, see the backstage area in the Princess Theater, casino, play virtual golf, mini golf, karaoke every night, game shows like Jeopardy, Family Fued and Millionaire, even the art auctions were interesting this time, just to name a few activities. I'm 36 and my wife is 35. I think you'll be fine.

Yep. Just got off it 2 weeks ago (Jan 21-28)

We pay the deposit, then teh TA tells us when she would like us to make final payment, usually a couple weeks ahead of the cruiseline guidelines. While on the Sapphire, we did an open future booking with a $100pp deposit, so all we have to do is pick a cruise within 4 years, and pay nothing else until final payment is due.

By the way, does this mean the rebuilt WTC site will be a big red Carnival whale tale? LOL

The Manhattan class will be good for the new Red Hook terminal Canrival is opening this year. The gangway will be named the "Brooklyn Bridge" LOL

I liked the Bud commercial with the guy dressed up as a chair that the girl dressed as Cleopatra was sitting in.

It doesn't cure PCD but it sure helped. We did an onboard future cruise booking. Nothing specific. Just gave them $100 pp for deposit, and we don't have to put anything else down until final payment on whatever we book, plus we get a shipboard credit on the cruise, in varying amounts based on our cabin category.

Except pimples and warts LOL

In 2001, I was at both ends of Carnival's spectrum. We were on their smallest ship, The Tropicale, in January. 1022 passengers. Then in September, we were on the Victory, then their largest ship. Except that we only had 756 people on board, due to 9-11 happenning the previous week. We still had line-ups for breakfast, for the popular slot machines, for disembarking. It doesn't matter how big the ship is, you will still have line-ups. That's just the nature of cruising. We found the Grand Princess less crowded feeling with 3000 passengers, than we did with the old Westerdam 4 years earlier with 1100. Except in the cabin of course, which was much bigger on the Westerdam. Of course, we don't spend much time there, so I'd rather they use the space for more public areas to disperse people than having bigger cabins we don't do much other than sleep and shower in.

I'm kind of picky and superstitious. So, the month must begin with an A, D, F, J, M, N, O, or an S. All others are out of the question. And to further complicate things, the departure day must end in a "y". :grin:

HAL has more history than any (or most anyway) of the current major lines, and uses it's traditions for naming ships. Most of their current fleet are second, third and fourth generation names. I think the current Rotterdam is the 6th ship bearing this name. Princess also re-uses many names. The Island and Crown as mentioned above, but also the Sun, Star, Dawn and Pacific are recycled names. I think P&O also reuses names, but I don't have any off the top of my head knowledge on any.

One booked so far. Sapphire to Mexican Riviera Jan 21-28. Also looking at a short one to Halifax on Carnival Victory this summer to take the kids on. Have to see what the prices look like, and how our tax refund will look.

I think part of the point Joey was trying to make was sort of a McDonald's comparison. Marketing is where their success is. Many people would say Wendy's offers better food, but the convenience, price and marketing keeps people coming back to McDonald's. Same type of thing as Carnival. Interestingly, both Carnival and McDonald's are trying to change their perceptions among the masses.

I wouldn't avoid a ship just because I've been on it, unless it wasn't enjoyable. I do tend, while researching cruises, to look at something different, but I can definitely see us repeating the Grand Princess class (and the Sapphire this month isn't a whole lot different anyway), and I am even considering repeating on the Carnival Victory later this year.

But again, you are talking about jamming in a bunch of relatively small areas on a ship, which are also located near or next to private areas. My cabin on Sapphire happens to be on the other side of the wall from the Terrace pool. How would you block a wireless signal at that pool without blocking it in my cabin? There are always inconsiderate jerks around, and if they weren't talking on a cell phone, annoying somebody, they would be doing something else to annoy you.

I think it's just a matter of technology. On land, how would you limit somebody to only using their cell phone in their hotel room, but not in the lobby bar? With WiFi internet, how do you set it up to offer wireless access in a cabin, but not in the lounge next door or one deck up? Many ships have plug-in internet access in cabins, but so many people are going to wireless laptops now, that offering WiFi is a selling feature.

I want the ship to have both in case I want to use either. I don't go away to be a recluse who doesn't have any clue what's going on. But I'm not the kind of person who can't enjoy a vacation if I know what's happenning in the world either. On our upcoming cruise in 2 weeks, this will be the first time we have left either of our kids and gone any distance. (Only once in their 4 years have both of us been more than 60 miles from them at the same time). I'll have my cell phone with me anyway, since I won't leave it in the car for a week at Detroit airport, and I've told the in-laws what times we are in port and if they need to get ahold of us, to try my cell first, if it works. Also, while we are gone, Ford will be making their big cutback announcement, and since one of our party works for the local plant thats supposedly targetted for shutdown, he wants to know. Some might say "well, he can't do anything about it anyway, so he might as well enjoy the cruise and find out when he gets home". Yeah, right. Try enjoying something while you are uncertain about your employment future. Also that week Canada is having a national election, and since I'm an election junkie (I stayed up until 5am for the US Presidential race in 2000), I plan to pop into the internet cafe late on the Monday night and check the results.

As for the 3-5 night cruises, there is a large market for these type of getaways. They are probably more popular with Florida residents, but people from all over will add one of these short cruises onto a Florida land vacation. With all the new cruise ships coming out, lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean need to put their older ships to good use, and these short trips are perfect for them. And since US law requires a foreign port call (unless there is no port call), the Bahamas are the closest to Florida ports.

My TA got us the reduction at final payment. We didn't bother keeping up on it as time went on, since it's too much of a pain. It's very difficult to get an accurate price online for your specific cabin category, so you'd have to have your TA call. And if you book with a TA, the cruise line doesn't really want to talk to you directly if you call about prices. It's a lot more difficult to get a reduction after final payment, since your leverage is now gone. But as rose said, it does happen.