RayColey

We had poor service on our one and only Carnival cruise. Well, that can happen simply because there are one or two disaffected employees sailing on one particular cruise. What was truly awful, though, was the muster (or, really, the lack of it) when almost nobody was paying attention, where they continued to serve drinks poolside and had crew not only tolerating it, but encouraging it - no wonder Carnival has so many mishaps at sea and in dockage! They apparently did not care then, and I won't risk them not caring now. This may be a result (unintended or not) of the company's insistence on bigger ships and more party attitude. (and in the aspect of it, Royal Caribbean is certainly not far behind). A shame, also, because they both at one time had nice, smaller ships, pleasant cruises and interesting ports..

He's a she (one photo holding a drink with an umbrella - a dead giveaway!)

I will ask about Crazie. I have his brother here, and these bears talk to each other...

The train from Vienna is a very fast train... But yes, it's from Venice, and the station is adjacent to the bus terminal right up a short flight of stairs from a vaporetto stop. (It's real close to the cruise ship terminus - of course, Venice wants that cruise ship facility moved to who knows where?)

Plus, we're scoping out a side excursion to Verona (home of Romeo and Juliet) which is just an hour outside of Vienna!! Cost, about $24 per person round trip...

I got the Cliff Notes version, and my eyes glazed over from just reading that.

"Viking has come on the scene with a game changer!" View full cruise review

Hi Ray! We absolutely loved our Christmas Markets river cruise a couple years ago and are hoping to do another one in 2015 or 2016. And a trip to Asia sounds amazing! Keep us posted on your plans! Planning this cruise was a cinch! Jan did all the researching rates and schedules and arranged it all for us - Thanks, Jan!

I'm planning to cruise on the Rhine River for the Christmas Markets in December. Also, there's a possibility of an Asian cruise covering at least China (Yangtze) and Korea (Pusan), perhaps more ports if there's enough time and cash.

I have to assume that they are using older, smaller ships for these cruises - some of the docking facilities along those rivers aren't all that large...

I got the same message too, when I was trying to post a review of my Baltic Sea cruise on Legend of The Seas. I suspect that the narrative portion was too long for the program to handle. Anyway, I offered to email the review to anybody who was interested, and got several requests (to which I responded.) Maybe it will get fixed, maybe not... Over the entire site there are a number of issues.

No, it's an MGA - 1960.

"Four day jaunt to Key West and Cozumel" Click here to view the cruise review

Jan, we took a family cruise back in '98 on Renaissance going to Greece and Turkey. Oceania has since bought most of the fleet of Renaissance - we're dying to climb back aboard one of those smaller ships, and we're looking closely at one of their Black Sea cruises...

Shari, Venice floods about 160 days per year; it's not river flooding - it's tidal, from the sea. The water rises enough to cover the streets by an inch or so and you just slog through it. Bring sandals. I think you will love the Equinox cruise, and if you book before the 15th, you get the free upgrade from interior to balcony - nice even with the slightly obstructed view. When Kevin decided to join us on this cruise, Yuki immediately started planning to go places he's never seen before. Since our last family cruise was Greece and Turkey, we finally opted for the Baltic sea. We're booked in mid-July on Legend of the Seas, RT from Stockholm; it goes to Helsinki, St. Petersburg, Riga and Talinn. Kevin has never seen the Baltic (Yuki and I cruised from Helsinki to Stockholm way back when we were first married), but all of us will have a first in Russia, Estonia and Latvia. Should be fun...

I've pretty much narrowed the Med Cruise down to two possibilities - The RCI Serenade on June 1 and the Celebrity Equinox on the 16th (I think these dates are correct). Both clock in at around $2000 per person for a balcony. Both cover the western ports in Italy that everyone was talking about, along with Venice and Dubrovnik. Please check these out and let me know what you think...

Our rules of purchase are: (1) It can't be made in asia (unless we are in asia). (2) If it's jewelry, the jewels should be grown there (unless it's a dutch island). (3) Gewgaws are verboten. (4) Clothing is OK, but read the label carefully. (5) Usually it's better to just go back to the ship and have a drink.

We're the same way. Perks are nice, but not a real factor in deciding with which line to cruise. Itinerary is the most important thing. Beside which, most of the perks are things that we can easily do without (a chocolate on your pillow? Now really, how much is that worth?)

What we like to do is to switch around on the cruise destinations and port choices. We've been on only three lines (RCI, Oceania and NCL) and there are things we like and dislike about all of them, but as long as there is a new and (to us) unexplored port, we're happy.

My parents used to vacation in the islands every year. They took me to Jamaica when I was 12 years old, and we visited Kingston, Ocho Rios and Montego Bay. All were quite safe and interesting. Jamaica was a crown colony then. That was the first foreign port I had ever been to and it started my wanderlust... I'm sorry to see what that lovely island has become.

First line we tried together was Renaissance (now Oceania). The big difference was the number of people disembarking at the ports... Dining room was all open seating. Lately we've been all RCI with no complaints, but I'd love to take another cruise with Oceania...

This policy will eventually save somebody's life.

We'll be looking into the American Queen too, assuming that someday the prices will go down. I'd really like to see the entertainment go further back - paddlewheelers call the golden age of jazz to mind, not the sixties...