JohnG

One breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and sometimes a piece of pizza. On shore days we don't eat aboard, and may not eat ashore either.

Here's a "heads up" for those who have not come up against this situation.... Princess Fleet Medical called to advise a client they will deny boarding to a client who is pregnant. She is scheduled to depart on a family reunion cruise Jan. 5, and she will be 28 weeks along. Princess has a restriction that disallows women to board if they are 23 weeks and 6 days pregnant by the time their cruise is scheduled to end. Of course, the agent did not even know the client was pregnant until last week, when her father told the agent. (She wasn't pregnant when they booked.) She had read about the pregnancy restrictions on her own in the pre-docs, so she submitted a doctor's letter to Princess advising of the pregnancy and her due date, giving his "blessing" for her to travel due to no complications. However, as we all know, we live in a world of protection against liability, thus the call from Princess. Of course they are sticking to their rules. None of the cruise lines' ships are equipped to deal with premature labor. The restriction was formerly 28 weeks. RCCL's limit is 27 weeks by the beginning of, or at any time during, the cruise. Carnival's rule states: 27 weeks or more "at the time of the voyage".

I would say it is the cruise line with the newest ships going to or in Hawaii, because they have built the newer ones to accommodate handicaps. Avoid older ships which may not have been as accommodating.

So far I am aware of fuel surcharges by all Carnival Corp lines (Carnival, HAL, Princess, Seabourn, Cunard), NCL, RCCL (including Celebrity and Azamara), Regent, Crystal, and Oceania. Carnival had done it quite a few months ago on their European lines.

You don't have to do the roundtrip from the west coast with 5 days at sea going and coming back. NCL sails interisland 7 days cruise with no "at sea" days, including two island overnights (Maui and Kauai). They also do a 10 night cruise with 9 days in Hawaiin ports, including an overnight the first night in Honolulu with a 6pm departure the 2nd day, and only 1 at sea day. I'd say, do one of these to get a feel for each island, and then you can go back on a land vacation on the one you like best.

My review of the NCL Pearl sailing I was on last month is posted here on the site under Cruise Reviews. Look at the link to the left of your post above, under Planning and Fun: I also sailed aboard Norwegian Jewel about 18 months ago. It was the christening inaugural sailing. Great ship, but the Pearl is a knockout, including the bowling alleys and the WII. The ships are twins. Jewel was the first of this class, followed by Pride of Hawaii (being renamed Norwegian Jade next year), Norwegian Pearl, and the brand new Norwegian Gem. The Pearl was the first of these with bowling lanes.

Welcome Cruisin Momma. This is a friendly community of experienced cruisers!

Guest services would be the thing.. we could tolerate a loage ship if the ratio staff to guest was high enough... "We like to be serviced .. not herded" For us it is a combination, not just one thing. We prefer medium size to small ships, partly because of the guest services ratio, and excellent food and food service. But the deciding points for us are what is available at the time we can cruise, and the itinerary. Within that criteria, the guest services and food would be the deciding factor.

At least RCCL/Azamara/Celebrity is not applying it to already paid in full bookings, unlike some of the other lines. Carnival Corp gave a similar explanation when they announced theirs: MIAMI (November 7, 2007) As a result of the continued rapid escalation of fuel prices, the North American brands of Carnival Corporation & plc (NYSE/LSE: CCL; NYSE: CUK) have announced they will implement a fuel supplement of $5 per person per day. The fuel supplement, which only applies to the first and second guests in a stateroom and will not exceed $70 per person per voyage, is effective on all bookings for voyages departing on or after Feb. 1, 2008 on the following Carnival Corporation & plc brands: Carnival Cruise Lines, Costa Cruises, Cunard Line, Holland America Line, Princess Cruises, and The Yachts of Seabourn. According to Carnival Corporation & plc Chairman and CEO Micky Arison, the recent spike in fuel prices has dramatically impacted the company's operating costs, thus necessitating the supplement. The price the company pays for fuel has increased 140 percent over the last three years, with a 50 percent increase occurring in just the last seven months. Earlier this year, we implemented a supplement for our European brands. We had hoped to avoid a similar supplement for our North American brands but with the price of oil approaching $100 a barrel this is no longer possible. The implementation of the fuel supplement beginning February 1 for our North American brands will result in consumers paying approximately one-third of our year-over-year fuel cost increases over the first six months of the fiscal year," he said. Arison added that the company had been considering a supplement for some time but held off as long as it could. "We are hopeful fuel prices will someday return to a level that will enable us to eliminate this supplement. Until then, we believe that guests sailing on our North American brands will understand the dilemma that soaring fuel prices has caused for our company and industry and that a fuel supplement was needed to enable us to continue offering the high quality cruises our guests have come to expect," Arison explained.

We've cruised six times on the dam ships--and enjoyed them all! <] We have cruised on several HAL ships, Ryndam, Maasdam, and Oosterdam. My wife's favorite line. I like the chairs in the main dining room covered with white slipcovers the last formal night. But there is not much to do, other than the casino, after 9:30pm on HAL, IMO.

We are sailing on the Valor on Dec 9. They are not doing Costa Maya until much later in 2008, as the practically have to rebuild it after the hurricane this summer. Cozumel is replacing Costa Maya.

That was our experience, too, aboard Oceania Nautica last year. Except we did enjoy dining at Tapas one night for a change, out of 10. Entirely difffent atmosphere at night, on the aft deck under the awning, candle lit, and chic casual.

The direction you are sailing, northbound or southbound would make a difference. Port side for southbound and starboard side for northbound. Princess does a fine job, but Celebrity is working to edge them out. Reports are that Celebrity does a better job with luggage on the Alaska cruisetours. Princess's set up in Whittier with the train across from the pier is an edge. One other thing to consider. Many people say that the land portion is the most hectic and tiring, and if you do it first, followed by a southbound cruise, you can rest on the cruise. For that reason, the northbound cruises are generally a bit less expensive, as the southbound is more in demand.

Deluxe is a newer category that is positioned with better food and service than the premium lines, small ships, a bit more expensive, but good value, and not all-inclusive. Both Oceania and Azamara are using former Renaissance R ships. While Princess has 3 of these ships, the one I was on was not as well upkept as the other lines, and Princess still has traditional seating. They specialize in smaller ports, not often visited by the larger ships, and tend to be 10 to 14 days long. Onboard entertainment is minimal, tiny casino, as you tend to be tired from port intensive itineraries. Luxury lines, with the exception of Crystal, are all inclusive, including stocked bar, wine with meals, and gratuities. Silverseas (296-382 pax) is likely the tops in food and service, and price, followed by Regent (320-700 pax) and Crystal (940-1080 pax). Crystal tends to have the most elaborate educational offerings, and still has traditional seating. Seabourn, and Sea Dream are essentially all inclusive but are really large yachts, with high passenger to staff ratios. Seabourn is famous for their caviar and champagne buffet on the beach, for instance. 200 guests. Windstar is in this group, but is not all inclusive. Cunard in really more of a class by itself. Excellent service and food, single seating by cabin category...still class conscious. QM2 has 6 alternative dining venues. Much larger, QM2 holds 2620 pax. Dress is more formal. Cunard's concept is that the ship is the destination, more so than itinerary. That is based in their history as transatlantic liners.

Dan mentioned you should try HAL. They turn out the lights on HAL at 9:30pm!!!! Don't look for nightlife on HAL. But I love the linen covered chairs in the dining room on the last formal night. Chimes to signal the dinner hour. Remember: Carnival, RCL and NCL target the mass market. HAL, Princess, and Celebrity are categorized as premium lines. Oceania and Celebrity's Azamara are targeted as deluxe lines. Regent, Silverseas, Crystal etc are luxury lines Cunard, Star Clipper, Sea Dream, Seabourn, etc are niche lines.

My wife decided on Carnival Liberty for her birthday cruise next year. 8 days and she only misses 5 days at work!

All Carnival ships now have mini-golf. They have had it on the Conquest ships but have decided to back fit all the ships, including the Carnival class. On the Victory, for instance, it is outside Club O2. And part of the eliminating the au-natural sunbathing deck on some ships was converting it to minigolf.

NCL is just the opposite, not an "old" people ship. HAL shuts done after 9:30-pm. THAT is an older people's line. NCL has lots of nighttime activity, disco, WII competition going on at all times, late comedy shows, etc.

The Triumph does not have all the bells and whistles that the other two, Conquest ships have, like supper clubs and Fish and Chips venue.

Title<] :: 10-14-07 Author<] :: JohnG Category<] :: Norwegian Pearl Information<] :: [*]In all, this was an excellent experience on an absolutely spotless new ship. Description<] :: Western Caribbean I had the opportunity to attend a conference aboard the Norwegian Pearl for her 5 day Western Caribbean sailing from Miami to Cozumel and Grand Cayman. The ships alternates a 5 night Sunday to Friday sailing with a 9 night Southern Caribbean sailing. This new ship had just arrived from a repositioning cruise from Alaska to Miami, and this was the first sailing for Pearl from Miami. They were assigned a former Carnival terminal, the most seaward of the berths at the Port of Miami. Perhaps because it was the first sailing, the embarkation lines were long, extending out the door and down the steps by 2pm. The cabin, a category BA, 10058 midships starboard side, was ready and spotless. The balcony has two chairs and a small table, but no reclining chairs. The room has a stocked refrigerator, a coffee maker, flat screen TV, and the new beds with duvets. The bathroom was just as large as in the minisuites, with a toilet with a sliding door separating it from the washroom, and the shower, with its own sliding door. The room steward, whom I saw only three times the whole cruise, kept the cabin spotless. With Freestyle dining, there are 10 dining venues, including two main restaurants, the Summer Palace and the smaller Indigo. I ate in the Summer Palace twice and once in Indigo. In addition, they have four specialty restaurants that require reservations, three of which have a service charge: Cagney’s Steakhouse, Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant and Teppanyaki, and Le Bistro French restaurant. There is also an Italian Trattoria, where I ate one night, which has no service charge but does require reservations. The Lotus Garden and Teppanyaki seemed to be the ones fully booked every night. I did enjoy the Lotus Garden one night. It is wise to pick the ones you want to reserve as soon as you get aboard and book them that afternoon, or you may be eating very early or very late. They serve from 5:30pm till 10:30pm. The Garden Buffet is spacious, many food stations so you don’t have to stand in long lines. There were three different eggs to order/omelet stations, for example. There is no charge for ice cream, and it wasn’t just soft serve ice cream. Many people don’t realize that there is also a food station at the rear of the buffet that is outside on the deck. Mango’s served Mexican food and the Blue Lagoon was more of a short order fast, food place, with table seating. I tried both of those for snacks, including nachos in the Mexican restaurant. There are, of course, many bars and lounges. My favorite is the Star Bar on deck 12 aft. It is not frequented much, has superb personalized service, windows, and music in the background. The Star is my favorite on every NCL ship I have sailed on. The Atrium area had a WII set up and every day, all day, people were playing tennis or golf on a screen several stories high. This is the same area where portrait photographs were taken several nights and musicians played occasionally in the evening. The purser’s desk is in this area too. There were two evening shows by the Jean Ann Ryan Company, at 7:30 and 9pm, comedy improve acts, and a comedic juggler. The production shows, Broadway style, were excellent. The new item on this ship is the Bliss Lounge where there are four bowling alleys divided by a disco and bar with sofas, loungers, stools, and many video screens. The disco is busy well into the morning. Bowling was $5 per line. The best part of Freestyle in my opinion is Debarkation. While they still distribute colored luggage tags and ask that your luggage be outside the door by 1am the last night, they don’t require you to vacate your cabin until 10am. You can leave your carry on luggage in the room instead of dragging it to breakfast, and then you can leave either when your color tag is called or when you like, as long as it is by 10am. The customs/immigration lines were lengthy, three stations with two inspectors each. The two ports, which I had visited many times before, were Cozumel and Grand Cayman. The last time I was scheduled for Cozumel it was hit by hurricane Wilma and the visit was scheduled. I was eager to see how the refurbishment has gone. We berthed at the pier at Playa Langouste, across the street from Sr Frog’s and Carlos and Charlie’s. We visited Playa Mia for a beach excursion, and noticed the still denuded trees on the way there. Playa Mia, we found, was the old Play del Sol revitalized after the hurricane but essentially the same place. The water is too murky to snorkel. While they are still rebuilding the destroyed international pier, it was in use by Enchantment of the Seas. There were only three ships there when we were there. The downtown shows no signs of the storm anymore. Grand Cayman was especially pleasant because they have rebuilt the tendering piers, use large commercial tenders, and the process was seamless. In addition the Pearl was the only ship in port that day, so there was no congestion. In all, this was an excellent experience on an absolutely spotless new ship. View Review

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It is our annual national conference, starting at the Biscayne Bay Marriott and then the 5 day Pearl sailing.

The "high season" in Ireland is Apr to Sept. I have been there in November and in July. It is GREEN all the time. It is chillier in Nov and less expensive. July was wonderful, more tourists, etc. We took our two teens at the time, in 2003. We flew to Shannon, picked up an Avis rental, stayed in a hotel in Shannon, then drove to Dublin, took a ferry to the Isle of Man for two nights, where my last name comes from, then back to Dublin for a night at a hotel, then drove my rental south through Waterford, and Cork to Killarny, staying at Bed and Breakfast's. Did the Ring of Kerry, visited relatives outside the city and back to Shannon for the flight home. We booked the flight ourselves through USAir and the tour through a US agency specializing in Ireland. Today, as an agent, I could do it myself.

I've used ShoreTrips for my daughter and had many customers of mine book through them. They have been very satisfied. Hope you are, too.