JohnG

Our national conference with about 1,100 agents is booked for Sept 29 sailing from New York to Bermuda!

Just posted my review of the christening and inaugural.

"A great time on a brand new ship with 27 places to eat!" Click here to view the cruise review

neAbsolutely! My current favorite line is Celebrity and I like the food. I particularly like Concierge Class and having a full breakfast menu for room service with linen covered balcony table. My wife asked for grilled veggies one day for breakfast from room service and they did it. I have Celebrity booked for Dec and next March, on the "Solsticized" Summit, and on Celebrity Reflection, both with the complimentary beverage package, so I'll be checking them out again .

Sailed on it twice in the past, but not since the rejuvenation. Looks good, especially the activity in the atrium. It gives people an alternative to Carnival Pride when sailing out of Baltimore, and more variety in the itineraries.

Off we go in the morning! Have been seeing on Facebook the Norwegian shoreside staff members enjoying the ship today. My hostess for dinner has her photo posted sliding down the waterslide vertically! Can't wait.

That about sums up my own experience with Royal, and I have sailed on quite a number of their ships. I've been on 7 night cruises and not seen lobster either. I hope to be "wowed" by food on a cruise, since I do the cooking at home, and I have never been "wowed" by Royal. The food is very mediocre compared to other lines. Not bad, just disappointing. IMHO

Can't wait to attend the christening of the Norwegian Breakaway on May 8, and the 2 night U.S. inaugural cruise. Was invited today to dinner in the Manhattan Room by my Norwegian Business Development Specialist and watch the "Burn the Floor" ballroom dancing exhibition. Would like to eat in the Zacharian specialty restaurant the next night, but it is probably going to be tough to get reservations. Excellent review by Gene Sloan, the USA Today cruise and travel writer at http://www.usatoday.com/story/cruiselog/2013/05/01/norwegian-breakaway-five-things-love/2126133/ and great video tour just 3 days ago at

There is also an article about river cruises here on CruiseCrazies on the Member Cruises site linked here under: Site Info, Member Benefits, the first link.

I write reviews, but don't do much reading of reviews for upcoming trips. It is apparent that opinions are like noses......everyone has one and they are all different. I can't believe how many times I have been on a ship at the same time as another reviewer and had a completely opposite view...mine positive and theirs negative. It seems like the people who had a great time don't often enough write a review. I just came back from a trip to Cancun and read a few reviews about the resort in advance. They were mostly negative. We didn't experience a single thing they had been complaining about. That has been typical in my experience.

It is also surprising that too many people don't know that most US issued medical insurance policies do not cover medical expense incurred outside the US. Travel insurance does cover it, and much more, including the hotel and meal expenses of a traveling companion incurred if you are hospitalized during your trip.

Frankly, the conditions US Navy people used to have were similar or worse. Most enlisted slept in a compartment housing a dozen or more and the only personal space was the bunk, and a storage locker beneath it. Shared bathroom. And even today, they try to berth people in the same departments (or smaller organizational units called "divisions") in the same berthing areas. I was an officer and when I reported to my first ship on a cruiser, my bunkroom for junior officers had bunks for 10. Not much different from the enlisted spaces. Just a bit more storage. Most officers, even today, share a stateroom with another officer or 3. And we worked 12 hours a day, 7 days a week much of the time, when at sea, and we'd go on deployments for 6 months or more......so I have great empathy for the cruise line employees. Been there...done that. And Navy people still do.

Had one of our most memorable ones aboard Carnival Legend. They still had dancing in the steakhouse back then and there was a wonderful combo playing every night. One night they had the past passenger get together and pulled out invite out of the hat and the Capt gave us a bottle of Pierre-Joiet champagne in the floral bottle....and it was our anniversary night. We went to the steakhouse for dinner and it turned out we were seated near where the Capt and his officers came to dine that night. He offered us a "Bon Appetit" toast! What a great time. Also, back then, the area on the deck on the roof above the steakhouse was tops optional.

The Europeans aren't spending money due to the economic crisis over there, and as a result Princess isn't the only line reducing the number of berths available over there.

The don't do many short cruises in the US. Mostly 7 nights, but we found a 10 day one we liked.

I have, twice, the most recent this past Dec from FLL on MSC Poesia. My review is posted here on the site. We enjoy MSC, and they have learned to adapt more to North American tastes in the past several years.

Keep in mind that it was while the Dream was in port and they were doing just that, testing the emergency diesel generator, that the problem occurred, so that it didn't occur at sea, underway. "While at dock in St. Maarten yesterday, the ship’s engineering team conducted a regularly scheduled test of the ship’s emergency diesel generator. A malfunction occurred which has rendered the emergency generator inoperable. At no time did the ship lose power and the ship’s propulsion systems and primary power sources were not impacted."

The figure I saw yesterday: 20 million people cruised last year and the Triumph only affected 4,000, and now only 4,000 more on Dream. Put it into perspective.

We have visited St Kitts twice on cruises port calls, and we visited Nevis once when aboard Azamara Journey. Loved Nevis.

Disney has been doing it for years.

"Including 3 new Caribbean ports after 72 cruises!" Click here to view the cruise review

The taxi from the airport to the port or from the port to the airport is fixed: $25. I've had a number of people happy with the Fairfield Inn & Suites Miami Airport South. Includes breakfast. Airport shuttle. They can arrange a shuttle to the port for $10 per person, or take a taxi.