TheSkipper

Our longest has been 15 days roundtrip to Hawaii from San Diego on board the infinity. Got a 14 day coming up in about four weeks transatlantic on board the Alamara Quest. Would love to do a longer cruise.

Fantastic review John, Thanks for sharing. We are Carnival Platinum Members also and they keep getting better and better.

Sleeping late, probably through breakfast and barely making lunch. People watching, reading, and just kicking back in general.

Now that question I can relate to. Yes, I have sent plates back to the kitchen usually because the meat was not cooked to my preorder request. Not very often, but a couple of times. Roe has so many allergies that she has had to switch our deserts fairly often if they contain walnuts, peaches, etc.

Well Joey, we are all waiting. What did you decide to do about new luggage??

Never had the problem. In fact, never even thought about it. But, I like MaryLou's answer.

I'll go for Option 1. It has a couple of ports we have not yet visited.

Nope, but I would be up for one that keeps on moving around the world.

Hey Joey, Any chance you can give us the names of the ships for these trips?? Or, would you rather just keep to the ports of call??

Sounds like a winner to me. We will have $140 coming back from Azamara for our upcoming cruise. They are owned by RCI.

WOW, a tough question to answer in a few sentences. We fell in love with cruising 50 cruises ago. And, every once in awhile we take a trip to Europe or go on some other land type vacation and almost always end up saying "We could or should have gone on a cruise!" We like all the others who have replied like every aspect of cruising. We find it the most relaxing vacation we can take, virtually stress free. There are lots of things aboard ship that we don't do, like bingo, the casino, etc. but, they are there should we decide we want to give them a try. Most of all I think we enjoy the people we meet on every cruise. We spent three weeks driving through Europe and I can't recall a single person we "met" during that trip. With cruising we get "No Surprises." And as others have said it is the best vacation value for the money.

Just opened our mailbox and there they were. Our docs for our upcoming Azamara Transatlantic Cruise!! It's funny because I was on the Azamara website to check for electronic tickets when I got interrupted by DW for the car keys and wandered out to the mailbox while she was heading out of the garage. Talk about perfect timing. WOW, they even sent real luggage tags. Don't have to print them this time. All transfers, airline tickets and cruise tickets are in order. I can hear the music now, but will wait to start the dance until Roe returns home. Like the Rabbi said "It won't be long now."

MaryLou, Now we are really dancing with you. Just came in from the mailbox and our docs were there also!! Wheeee

Sounds great!! WOW, you are leaving even sooner than we are. We are dancing with you!!

Hey MayLou, Missed something here. When, where and on which ship are you going?? In any case, congratulations, and get busy on that packing. Is Crazie going with you??

Option number 2 would be our preference.

We usually cruise as a couple, although, we have cruised with large groups and with small family groups, we have the most fun when it is just the two of us and we can do our own thing whatever that turn our to be. Over all our cruises it seems we have had the most fun when we had no real plans or any particular expectations, then everything was an adventure.

Jackie, I think you are gonna love it. It is peaceful and awesome at the same time, Just remember when they say "Butts UP!" they mean it.

I think I will vote for Antigua overlooking Nelson's Dockyard and harbor.

Like the date, but don't want to head to the Western Caribbean, were just there. Date is DW's birthday and our anniversary.

Every cruise line we have sailed with over the last year had upgraded their bedding. RCI, Carnival and Princess have all gone to duvets, high thread count sheets, etc. But we found Carnival's "Comfort Bed" to be the best of all. Looking forward to trying out the Azamara bedding.

The last few years, we have used Ricardo of Beverly Hills luggage. We each have a large 28" roller bag that has two compartments. One for hanging garments like my tux and Roe's gown and the other for general packing. They also have outside pockets. This is our second set in 10 years and we love them. This time we also bought heavy vinyl covers for them that are fantastic. The new set have been on two cruises and judging by the scars on the vinyl covers, even a couple of holes, I'm glad we added them. The luggage still looks like new and I repair the covers with clear duct tape. The first time we checked them at the airport the ticket agent exclaimed "Oh look, they have little raincoats!". We also have a matching roll aboard and a shoulder bag. All in the same RED material. We have found bags of this design the best for all of our cruising needs with their special compartment for formal wear and hanging garments and the separate compartment for all our other clothing and "stuff." BTW we bought our latest set on line; However, COSTCO refunded our purchase price on our 8 year old set because it had a lifetime warranty. So, our new set cost us a total of $25. Not too bad for eight years worth of cruising. Their newest line even includes a built in scale. However, just sitting them on a bathroom scale works for us. For business travel I use a rolling garment bag and refuse to check anything.

We are still doing a Transatlantic this year. Cruising to Europe is still a good value since it is priced out in American dollars. We will probably do less shopping over there because there are no bargains anymore.

Aha, the old cookie dough trick again!! You've gotta keep your eye on her all the time. Great pictures, Ray.

Joey, We are OK with the Caribbean, I would suggest you don't get too close to mid December however. Getting home just before the Holiday season would possibly put a damper on things. Been there, done that, and it was one of the reasons we canceled out December 08 cruise to South America. Been to most all of the islands dozens of times, but always ready sip a drink while listening to "Hot, Hot, Hot on the steel drums.