JohnG

NCL America now has two ships, Pride of Aloha and Pride of America, and soon Pride of Hawaii, sailing the Honolulu or Maui round trip 7 night cruises. These cruises stay over night in Maui and Kauai. Because they have US crews, they do not need to visit a foreign country, so they do not have to do the long run to Fanning Island, or the long at sea runs from the west coast and back. That provides 100 hours in port in Hawaiian ports, compared to an average of 45 hours, maximum, for other lines. Combined with a pre or post stay of a day or two in Honolulu, it gives you adequate time to see the islands even if it is your first tour. They do not have casinos aboard, which are prohibited in Hawaii. But, with all that time in port, who cares.

If you can get to the ship, they usually board and then leave early or late, depending on when/where the hurricane is. I had a customer scheduled to board on a Saturday from Tampa. They took an early flight down and got to the ship. Since the hurricane, coming up the west side of Florida, hadn't passed yet, they just partied on board, stayed at the pier until the next night, and then left, skipping the first port. In other cases, the ships have left early, or returned late from the last cruise until the storm passed, and arrive on Monday, for example. The following cruise is shortened and they offer refunds or future cruise discounts. October is late in the Hurricane season. Still possible, but less likely than August, Sept.

gogetter misinterpreted my "quote". I did not intend to quote gogetter's entire first post. I only quoted the portion, intentionally, that said "Its my cruise and I'll do what I want." That is my sentiment and it is also gogetter's , so we agree. I don't flame anybody on anyboard. Not good for business :grin:

Are you talking strictly Scandanavian or Baltic/Russia. The ones doing the latter typically do Copenhagen, Stockholm or Helsinki as well as St Petersburg and some Germany and/or Poland. HAL, Princess, RCCL, Oceania, Star Lines Marco Polo, Radisson, and SilverSeas all do that. If you are interested in strictly Scandavian, fjords, etc, then QE2, Crystal, Silverseas, and Celebrity Century do the Norwegian Fjords, and Sea Princess does a (London), England, Amsterdam, Oslo, Norway; Copenhagen, Denmark; Helsingborg, Sweden; Southampton (London), England itinerary in July. Due to weather, May to September is the only time these cruises are scheduled.

I have a tux and a white dinner jacket, a champagne and a charcoal vest. I mix and match for a different look each night. My wife loves to dress for dinner every night and has special dresses for formal night when she gets to wear the jewelry I've bought for her over the years on cruises. Saphires some nights and rubies on others. We purchase a few formal portraits each cruise.

Carnival, Royal Caribbean and Norwegian Cruises lines are classified as mass market. They are designed to have an appeal to the widest cross section of people. Carnival had a reputation years ago as a party ship, but with their new large ships, they have similar passengers to other lines. The Fun Ship advertising doesn't help overcome the stereotype. Some of the best food I've eaten on over 20 cruises has been on Carnival. They have four dining times. They also have one of the best children's programs in Camp Carnival. Their ships all have water slides. Royal Caribbean has excellent physical plants in their ships, and IMHO mediocre food. They have facilities especially attractive to teens, e.g. rock climbing wall, inline skating, Johnny Rockets, skating rink, etc. They have two dining times. NCL differs from the other two in that they will soon have the newest fleet of ships. They offer Freestyle, which means you can dine anytime you like in any of the up to 10 different restaurants onboard. Never more than 4 of those have a cover charges. Dress is more casual, an formal nights are optional. Costa and MSC are Italian-focused lines priced for the mass market. More smoking and non NorthAmerican passengers Princess, Holland America, and Celebrity are classified as premium cruise lines, with Cunard in a niche of their own in premium lines. Interestingly, they are all owned by Carnival Corporation, except Celebrity, which is owned by Royal Caribbean. As premium lines, their food is kicked up a notch, often associated with well known chefs. The ships seem a bit more roomy, and a good space per passenger ratio. I don't feel crowded on them. They appeal to a middle aged and older crowd, because they cost a bit more. Age and spendable income do correlate. While HAL probably attracts the older crowd of the three, they have some of the most loyal passengers who sail on HAL over and over. Their newer ships with many balconies are attempting to appeal to more families and children. Princess has Personal Choice (anytime) and traditional dining with 2 seatings. Celebrity has two seatings. HAL has four seatings now, too. Oceania fits in about here. Country club casual, affluent passengers, who travel or cruise frequently, and to distant locations. Many repeat passengers who love the pampering. Open seating dining The luxury lines include Crystal, Raddison Seven Seas, Silverseas, are most expensive and all inclusive, carry less than 1000 passengers, and several include gratuities, wine with dinner, a stocked bar with 2 full sized bottles in each cabin, and high grade amenities. They passengers may be older, well traveled, and above average incomes. Cruises are often themed around art, tourism, or food and wine, with education programs Crystal has traditional dining while the other two are open seating. All have specialty restaurants. The Yacht and Specialty lines include Seabourn and Windstar, both owned by Carnival Corporation, Seadream Yacht Club, and Star Clipper, typically 100-300 afluent passengers, and may have more non American passengers.

Might be a problem if you are talking about Christmas night in the islands. Eating aboard QM2 on a holiday would be an experience in itself.

Here is a map of the port: http://www.portcanaveral.org/map/index.htm

Why don't you take a shuttle from Houston to Galveston? You didn't say which Houston airport, Bush or Hobby. http://www.galvestonlimousineservice.com/index.html [url=http://www.444taxi.com/]http://www.444taxi.com/ Then rent locally in Galveston if you wish.

I'm on my third tux, which I also bought at Men's Warehouse. Last year I also bought a white dinner jacket at a formalware sales and rental place locally. That gives me two different looks for a cruise. I also have a champagne and a black vest which can change the look. Cumberbund's don't fit my mid section well :wink: but the vests solve that problem. My wife and I love dressing formally, and stay dressed that way all evening. My hand-me-down tuxes, go to my 17 year old son, who also enjoys wearing them, although he does change right after dinner and photos.

Too easy. I never got to guess!

I am a TA. You can offer shipboard credit on RCL, but the TA is paying for it. TA's can't discount the fare.

http://www.quickcoach.com/

The best meal I have ever had on a cruise ship was in th Golden Fleece specialty restaurant on the Carnival Legend. With music and dancing during the meal, it was exquisite. Food they don't serve in the dining room. It was worth every penny of the cover charge. On Norwegian Dream we ate in Le Bistro for a $10 cover charge per person. Service far exceeded the dining rooms. It typically costs us over $100 to go to a restaurant with food and service like that, so for us, paying only a cover charge is great. Different strokes for different folks.

It is designed to speed up embarkation and checkin, by completing the registration info online and printing out the funpass to present at checkin

We definitely prefer table for two unless the kids are with us. Then we want a table for 4. I don't choose to share my dinner time with others. It is family time for me. When my wife and I cruise together it is some of the only quality time we get in our busy lives with work and children, so we enjoy doing our own thing together, whether on our own in port or at meals. We can certainly enjoy other people, both my wife and I are sales..my wife as a banker and I in the travel industry, and I have found a few clients by accident when eating at large tables during dining room breakfasts. But on our first two three cruises we were seated at tables for 4 or 6 with people we were really incompatible with and we didn't know enough then to know we could have had the maitre de make a switch. That convinced us to enjoy our table for two for dinner. Service seems better, we eat at our pace, we don't have to wait for others, we don't have to feel guilty not sharing our $25-30 bottle of wine, or self conscious ordering two entrees or anything like that. JMHO

I have been writing reviews for some years now. Many are posted here. I write my reviews with the perspective of trying answer questions frequently asked by cruisers on these boards, e.g. how much is a taxi to..?, what can you do in.......?, which night is formal night?, how are people dressing on formal night?, what is the menu like?. I take notes during the cruise and write soon after returning while my memory is fresh. I am not trying to be a critic, like people reviewing a movie or book. I am trying to be informative. A much less stressful attitude when writing a review.

WOW! Great pictures! Thanks for posting them.

The kids all get sign and sail cards because it is their room key and the ID needed to leave and return to the ship. When you sign the credit card authorization you can specify whether or not they are authorized to charge on their card. If you don't want them to have credit, just buy them the soft drink card, or in most cases a stamp or punch on the sign and sail card.

I didn't buy it in the beginning, but started after 9/11 in 2001 because of airline delays, then me elderly mother caused me to buy it, now because we are spending more on cruise and air. Fortunately, haven't had to use it. Frankly, it is not very expensive. 70% of my clients buy it.

Congratulations Bodger!! Zihuatenajo it is. Beautiful harbor and little town. Loved Los Gatos Beach.

This one is in Mexico, not on the Gulf side.

This one is in Mexico, not on the Gulf side.

The other way around. It is heading into St John's FROM St Thomas.

Not St Maarten.