TheSkipper

Hi Everyone, Well today we were in beautiful Barbados. We did the Harrison Cave tour and would recommend it to any of you who visit this island. Roe says it was our best tour ever. Not sure I'd go quite that far but it was great! Shows have been excellent, even though we have seen a couple of the production shows before. The "Elite" perks are so great we cancelled our RCL cruise in September and replaced it with the Diamond Princess out of Long Beach! Thanks for all the good wishes. Time to get to bed, it is after midnight and have to be up early for Antigua tomorrow! Shopping in the AM and "The Best of Antigua" tour in the PM. :grin:

Hi Gang, Cannot begin to tell you what a day we had on St. Vincent! We were met be four members of the CCF Staff and of course our "family." We spent all day with them. Had lunch at a local restruant, toured a fort and the botanical gardens then drove a little over an hour up the windward coast to where our family lives. We visited their home and met "Grandma". Words just cannot describe the feelings. I have no doubt that we now have another daughter and two new grandkids. Our former sponsored child (now the mother) kept saying "This is my dream come true!" Lots of tears as we parted, but I just know someday, somehow we will see them again! :wink:

Hi Gang, Day five aboard the beautiful Sun Princess. We were in St. Martin today and once again had perfect weather. They are really improving the beach on the the Dutch side. Tomorrow is St. Vincent where we will meet the young lady we have sponsered for about 15 years through the Christian Childrens Fund. She now has two children of her own and we are sponsering them. We have never met before so this should be great. Have a whole suitcase full of little girls dresses, books, games etc. for the kids Shari2: The shower heads do not adjust downward for you short folks, only thing which is adjustable is the angle of the spray. Dual controls; however, let you adjust the temp separate from the water pressure. Talk to you all later,

Been to the Captain's Table several times. Lots of things factor in as Shari said above. But, it is NOT just the suite passengers who are invited. Aboard the Sun Princess, no invite from the Captain as yet. Time for a swim!

Good Morning All, Having a great cruise so far. Stateroom is great, although the bathroom and shower are quite small even by shipboard standards. Great tablemates and table location at the Late Seating. Last night's show was the typical Welcome Aboard show that you see on almost every ship. We were elevated to "Elite" Captain's Club status which include FREE Laundry and Dry Cleaning Services. Just sent out the first baq full this morning! Our CC door sign is in place and our cards have our CC logo one them and have already passed out a number of them. Computer center is empty at the moment, most everyone is off the ship at the moment. We are enjoying the pool area since we have been to this Cay many times. Will try and keep you updated on our progress. Tomorrow is a day at sea which we love! And as you all know that means our first Formal Night as well. Talk to you soon,

Be back in 11 days Gang. One hour from Limo pickup. All is well. Roe is even packed!! Thanks for all the good wishes. Just printed our boarding passes on Southwest.com. That system really works well. Anytime after midnight one the night preceeding your flight you can log on with your confirmation number and print your boarding passes. That way you can be sure you are in the first boarding group which for a long flight is important. So long for now,

Glad to see something a little different coming to the West Coast! We have never sailed out of San Diego, have stopped there however on cruises originating in San Pedro (LA). We will be sailing from there in December aboard Celebrity's Infinity for a 15 day round trip to Hawaii. I have a feeling that this will be a successful endeavor for Carnival.

Have a great trip Mr. Bond. Don't forget to pack an extra clip or two for your 9mm! We will be out there sailing around also, leaving tomorrow - Sunday for FLL and sail on Monday. I did the "real" JBond thing for about 11 years! :cool:

Well, I'm all packed! Can't say that for Roe, but what else is new? :kiss: Gotta run the the hardware store and get some cable ties to seal the luggage used the last of the ones I had on our Thanksgiving cruise. We will have web access aboard the Sun Princess, so will try and check in a couple of times during this 10 day cruise. Be back on board this group on the 29th of April. I have our door sign printed and packed!! :cool:

I have heard of folks doing that with underwear, but not their whole wardrobe! But, you know now that I think about it, I have seen some folks aboard ship who looked like that was what they were doing. :grin: As I write this my wife is busy running around making a list of what she is going to wear every night. Heaven forbid she should be seen in the same thing twice! Oh well, by this time tomorrow night she will have to pack as the limo comes Sunday morning to take us to the airport at 8:30AM. Bet she is just closing her luggage then! But, she always knows when she is finished packing -- when the closet is empty! :cool:

Thanks gang for the good wishes as they say on Princes chau for now. Is that spelled right?? Oh well spelling was never my long suit. :wink:

Thanks for the Bump! Got the answer I was looking for on another board. Not great news, but at least I know what to expect. :undecided:

Still have three to go in 2004, so we have not booked anything in 2005 as yet. Looking at a European River Cruise, but have not booked yet. We really want to return to Germany, Austria and our favorite city: Prague! :grin:

A fifteen day cruise will be more than twice as much fun as a seven day cruise. I think the length of the cruise wll cut down on the number of kids. Don't think you will have problems with the "running around". Carnival has a very tood kids program which seems to keep them busy. A suit will work, don't rent a tux IMHO. If you find you like crusing, then you might want to think about buying a tux. After 40 cruises, I have two, plus a Dinner Jacket. On Carnival more that half the guys will be in suits not tuxes. $$ for shore excursions are hard to predict. The average shore excursion now seems to be about $50 pp. So figure out how many ports, times the number of people in your party. Some ports however, do not really require a shore excursion. Don't forget to budget for tips! That will be a pretty good "hit" on a cruise of this length. The Paradise is a fine ship and we loved her, especially the no smoking aspect. BTW, she is moving the the West Coast and becoming a smoking ship in the not too distant future. Hope this helps. :smiley:

We sailed on the Sun Princess years ago, before computers on board were the norm. Since we will be back aboard her on Monday, I was wondering if any of you CruiseCrazies had been aboard her recently and could fill me in on the computer availability. The Golden Princess was great with a dedicated computer center with lots of machines. The Royal Princess we had to check out a laptop from the Purser's Desk and use it in the lobby only. Not the greatest, but it worked out! Let me know if you have any info on the situation aboard the Sun. :wink:

St. Martin, perhaps??

Just looked in my wife's closet and figure she could do a 15 formal night cruise without any problem!! After 40 cruises she has quite a collection. For me the good old tux and a white dinner jacket, a couple of shirts and I'm good to go! :undecided:

You are welcome Denise. We are beginning to packed ourselves. Limo picks us up early next Sunday morning. Have our CruiseCrazies business type cards all printed and ready to go!! Don't look over back, we will be right behind you. We are in St. Thomas on Thursday the 22nd and St. Martin on Friday the 23rd. When are you in these ports?? :wink:

We will be following right along with you. Departing on the 19th aboard the Sun Princess. Been to both islands many times. Beaches - Orient Beach on St. Martin (semi-nude), Megan's Bay on St. Thomas. Shopping - on St. Martin, grab a cab or a water taxi fromt he pier to the downtown area (Front Street) and there are tons of shops. In St. Thomas, we usually shop first in Havensight Mall where the ship docks in the morning, then have lunch aboard ship and grab a cab into town for some SERIOUS shopping. Great shopping on both Islands, many of the same shops in both ports. Any other questions?? :cool:

Hi, We have done this cruise on the Ectasy, exactly what are your concerns?? This ship is beginning to show it's age, but not too much. It will be a great "Preview Cruise" for you both. You will get a good idea of what shipboard life is all about. Catalina can be fun. Rent a golf card and tour the island for a couple of hours on your own! Ensenada is a lot like Juarez, kinda junky, but lots of shops and places like Senior Frog's to hand out. If you have any specific questions, just ask. :smiley:

As best as I can remeber, there is a boardwalk type walkway. The important thing for you to know is that you will have to tender in CoCo Cay. This means you will have to walk down a small, portable flight of stairs and board a moving (rocking) smaller boat and then after the trip to CoCo disembark onto a dock. So, you need to ask yourself will this work for you? Can't remember if there are lockers. I've always made friends with other passengers on the beach and asked them to keep an eye on our stuff if we both were in the water at the same time. Leave your important stuff in the safe in your room!! :undecided:

We were just at the Atlantis at Thanksgiving time last year. We took the water taxi over to the island. However, I agree with Dennis, take a cab. Two problems with the water taxi: 1. You have to wait for the boat to fill up, and 2. It drops you several blocks from the hotel and you get to walk in the warm Nassau sun! The cab will drop you right at the door! Have not been of the SOS recently, did her October 2-16, 1993. I remeber being very impressed with her. She was the first of RCL's Mega-Liners and a proud lady in her early days. I'm sure you will enjoy her. The staterooms are on the small side compared to RCL's more recent ships, the the public rooms are great. :cheesy:

Just got one off to you, Jason. :wink:

Go get 'em, Guy!! :cheesy:

Ours will depart Fort Lauderdale on April 19, 2004. We will be aboard the Sun Princess for the second time, and it will be our 41st cruise overall, our 15th or 16th on Princess. This is a ten night cruise.