cruznation

We've booked it for March of 2015. 12 day cruise to the Southern Caribbean. Should be enough time to explore the new ship.

They need to do something because they just joined Royal and Celebrity with limiting the deals that travel agents can offer as incentives. The bargains out there are dwindling.

I know they have put Century into Baltimore to cover the winter season. I haven't heard about Alaska. The trend is for bigger ships, but if they want to cover the "drive to" ports like Baltimore, Norfolk, and Charleston they will need some mid-size ships like Carnivals Spirit class or Royal's Vision class.

sailinglisa wrote... coloradocruisers wrote... BTW, I'd like to try the Starship Enterprise. How'd your TA arrange that? Yeah - how did you manage that one?!?!?! Glad you like the ticker! It was an April Fools ticker offered by Nautical Cities. I liked it so much I'm keeping it.

John,Interesting! Of the 5 cruises we've done with RCCL every one had a "lobster night", usually the next to last night with formal dress. It was listed on the menu as a "seafood plate" and included garlic shrimp and a lobster tail. The waiters came by later serving extra tails from a platter.

St. Thomas for us too. We honeymooned there 34 years ago and even though it has grown more touristy over the years, it's still something special.

Thanks for your input! As you tell from my signature, we haven't cruised with Carnival, so we have no opinion of our own. One couple we know loves them, another who prefer HAL, hates them. We usually cruise from Baltimore (one hour away) and will likely sail on the Pride someday. The Enchantment OTS does a 9 day NE and Canada with stops at Portland and Bar Harbor, ME. We did this a couple years ago. Great cruise. My wife had a lobster roll in every port.

Hi, I new here and poking about. I've read a lot of posts and reviews at several cruise sites and noticed a line in the sand between customers of Royal Caribbean and those of Carnival. Some folks can really get fierce defending their brand and can get rather snarky about the other. Which do you prefer and why?

The lovely, but dated, Mercury will be joining the old Galaxy in Germany next year and will be renamed the Mein Schiff 2. Story here at the Celebrity site.

Enchantment is the sister ship to Grandeur. Same ship, but stretched in the middle by 70-80 feet to add more cabins and lounges. Nice ship. We'll be sailing on her next March. Labadee has a roller coaster down a small mountain and the Dragon's Breath zip line. Nice beaches and shops to buy local goods. I agree with Rose, St. Thomas is the best shopping port. I take it the port in the Dominican Republic is Samana. This is a newish port and is fairly undeveloped. We took an excursion to Las Terranas, a French town over the ridge. Frankly unimpressed. If I go again I would stay onboard and hit the spa or the pool. There are two forts in San Juan, San Cristobal and El Morro. The Barcardi Distillery tour goes to San Cristobal and the Segway tour of Old San Juan goes to El Morro. There is a Senor Frogs right by the pier at San Juan if noisy 20-something bars are your thing. I went there to watch what I could of the Cowboys/Eagles game. Lots of vacationing young women dancing on tables and chugging drinks. Maybe next time I'll stay in the Schooner bar and watch whatever game they show... .