JohnG

The rate is good for extra nights too. Nearby restaurants: Johnny Carions Adjacent to Property Doral Ale House Lounge Adjacent to Property Harvest Delight Nearby Tony Roma's Nearby

We've never been sick in over 40 cruises. However, I gashed my leg on a motorscooter in Cozumel, and my wife broke her wrist aboard ship in a fall.

Regarding number of Celebrity cruises, the Connie will be our 6th. Looking forward to the increased perks for Captain's Club Select Level on this next one.

I sent Lauren 4 emails, the first within an hour of her first email. She didn't give me her phone number to call her. She could have called me toll free with the number listed in our group cruise posting. I have been at the phone/desk all evening last night and all day today. After she sent an email saying she had booked, I offered in an email to transfer the booking into the group, as she paid $100 more than our price and didn't get the $100 shipboard credit. Lauren got the last email, and replied, and hope I'll hear from her next week to transfer her into the group.

Karen and I have annual agent policies because we cruise so often, 4-5 times a year. On our last two cruises the luggage was late in arriving and the insurance company tracked it down and rode herd on the airlines to get it to us, and reimbursed us for any clothing expense incurred if the delay was over 2 days. I've had customers fall and hit their head a week before cruise, and one who over night was diagnosed with a heart blockage and had bypass surgery the week before the cruise. He'd had no forewarning. Moral of the story, I strongly recommend the optional insurance to my clients. And not all insurance is the same. The cruise line insurance is not always the most comprehensive or as high limits as others, and some of theirs only reimburse you in future cruise credits instead of cash. I prefer a non-cruiseline insurance. By the way, most US/North American health insurance policies do not provide coverage outside the US. Another reason to purchase travel insurance, because it does reimburse you for it.

Karen doesn't do polo's or T-shirts. I do either one, and the T-shirt would be less expensive.

We qualify, but whose high school/middle school grandchildren can afford to miss a week or 10 days of classes. In elementary school they often will give them assignments, but not by middle school.

We are staying one night at the Marriott Pinnacle pre-cruise. Ours returns to Seattle and we are flying straight back as my wife is running short on vacation days.

On NCL the steakhouse, asian/teppanyaki, Le Bistro, and Italian Trattoria require reservations, but the Trattoria does not have a cover charge. The Asian/Teppanyaki restaurants on some of the ships are ala carte pricing instead of a cover charge. The steakhouse an Bistro cover charge covers the incremental cost of eating fine dining in a specialty restaurant not offered in the main restaurants. You pay the cover charge to offset the incremental cost of dining there under those conditions. The cruise daily service fee does not go to the specialty restaurant staff, so I usually add a gratuity for my waitstaff when I sign the check.

Have a great time.....and leave some of the Mercury left for me ...and the other 450 agents aboard on the Sept 14th last sailing. Are you staying pre-cruise anywhere in Vancouver?

I had customers on Mariner this week and their Ocho Rios, Grand Caymen, Cozumel was changed to St Thomas and St Maarten because of the storm.

Pricing consists of the cruise fare, the port charges, govt taxes, and fuel surcharge. A 5 nighter would likely have $119-$159 in port charges, $30-$50 in taxes, and about $9 per person per day fuel surcharge, depending on the cruise

If the ship is in port for a short period of time I'll book through cruise line, other then that book direct. We seldom book excursions. We just head out on our own, sometimes rent a car, or take a ferry, etc. The only exception has been in Rome and Florence where we have hired a car and driver because of the long distance to/from the port. And in Belize, where you can't get out to the reef to snorkel except on an excursion. I booked with an outside vendor, not the cruise line.

Royal Clipper, of Star Clipper lines. 284 people, 4 masts, 32 sails, continental cuisine, international passenger mix. No casino and no entertainment other than a little dancing on deck around the bar at night. And some "motion of the ocean".

Same here. Dining staff followed closely by cabin steward.

It's still down this morning.

My review of my Dec 07 sailing on the Valor is at http://www.cruisecrazies.com/forums/index....E=03&id=284

Our national conference is aboard Mercury for her last inside passage sailing this year, Sept 14-22, 8 nights, from Vancouver to Seattle. Leave some martini's for me!

Country club casual is a significant step up from the casual night dress code Celebrity announced. On Oceania, women wore dressy casual clothes and even some coctail dresses to dinner. Jackets are not required of men, but there were a few jackets without ties.

Fact is, you don't even need the documents. If you do the pre-registration online that they all require, and print off the boarding pass, all you need is that and an ID to get aboard, just like an airline. NCL, CCL, RCCL, CEL/Azimara, Princess, are all edocs, although RCCL and CEL can be paper docs is required. In that case, the agent has to print them themselves now, on stock provided by the cruise line. It is all about saving money. It is not just the cost of the tags, it is the substantial postage cost for mailing them. It they can't cut costs, the prices will just creep up. Cunard, HAL, Oceania and the luxury lines still issue paper document packages.

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Karen and I always fly into FLL when cruising from either FLL or MIA, because it costs less. We use the shuttle down and a transfer coming back. I have only flown down the day before on rare occasions. As long as I can get an early flight I've taken my chances. I try to get one that gets us down there by 10:30am. We've spent time in both FLL and MIA/South Beach in the past, so the only reason we are there when cruiising is to get from the airport to the ship.

The Super Shuttle from the baggage area at FLL is $18 per person plus gratuity to Miami pier. BUT, they don't have reserved return. So we book transfers back to FLL from the cruiseline.

I was on Victory for an inspection an luncheon last Saturday. The have all the usual casino games and the ship is in EXCELLENT condition.