Jan115

Enjoy your cruise, Gibber!

Good point, Cheryl. I would hope that the medical center would have an emergency supply of commonly used meds on hand for occasions like this. At least I hope so.

Just saw the Nightly News with Brian Williams who told us the crew was serving onion sandwiches. Hmmm - onions? On a ship with 5 working toilets for 3,000 passengers? Oh, yeah - that'll help.

Wishing you a pleasant cruise!

I canceled our Mediterranean cruise on Royal in exchange for an Alaska on Grand. I hope to re-book for next year. Have a great cruise and be sure to tell us all about Royal Princess when you get back!

I love sea days on a cruise ship - but not his kind!

Thanks for joining us lindab! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

I could probably handle everything for a few days EXCEPT the lack of flushing toilets. That would be a nightmare. Being without AC would be a bit more easily tolerated if I were in a balcony. Being in an inside cabin without power would find me sleeping out on a deck chair.

Very nice video effects. Great music, too. Thanks for sharing your cruise memories!

Awesome! Tell us all about it when you get back!

Have a great cruise and tell us all about it when you return!

Thanks for joining us simdelish! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us geduffer! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us Cheryle! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us dsmalle27! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

We have done many of these, as well. Especially memorable was my husband David's rendition of "close to you" by the carpenters at karaoke night. Let me stress that my husband is a very fine musician and music educator, but voice is not his forte. This karaoke was, of course, in the very wrong key for him. The resulting serenade was, well ... pretty awful. Fortunately, our daughter who IS a trained vocalist followed up with something to make everyone forget what they just heard-LoL! So, yes, true love is alive and well at sea!

Thanks for joining us sealegs! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us rufusraider! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us tomszyn! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us wardlr000! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Have a great cruise ... glad the weather will work out for your embarkation!

What's my motto? If I can't get there by cruise ship, then I don't want to go. That's not entirely true, though, because Grand Canyon has long been high on our trip bucket list. Obviously, land travel will have to be involved. A trip to Vegas nearly brought us to the Canyon several years ago. As a side trip from the city glitter and hypnotic slots machines, we pondered over a day trip to either Hoover Dam or the Grand Canyon's west rim. Since we felt that traveling all that way to catch just a brief glimpse of this powerful and inspiring landscape would be inadequate and totally unsatisfying, Hoover Dam won out. After all, who can forget Clark Griswold's family vacation from Chicago to Wally World, complete with an all-too-brief stop at the "biggest G-damn hole in the world", as so eloquently described by Griswold in National Lampoon's Family Vacation. I envisioned our view of the Canyon to last a bit longer than Clark and wife Ellen's hasty double-take at the rim before jumping back into their beat-up old station wagon and their crazy road trip. We have chosen February school break for our Canyon crusade for a number of reasons. Our 2013 annual summer vacation block is occupied by our longed-for Alaska cruise. As my husband is an educator, that leaves school breaks. We felt February was the better choice over April, as the crowds would be thinner. We also hear that the natural light and sun position over Canyon in winter provides some of the most spectacular views. Oh, and yes, snow adds dramatic effect, as well. With any luck, there will be no blizzard or major weather event to impede our way. However, as fate would have it, at the time of this writing, the South Rim is expecting a storm to dump a foot of snow. With a week to go until our trip, we are now both a bit nervous about this trip and now wondering if we should develop a backup plan in case Mother Nature doesn't cooperate. Inexpensive flights to Phoenix were a consideration, as well, in our decision to visit Grand Canyon. We had racked up enough Southwest points between the two of us to fly free and couldn't pass up the opportunity to scratch another item off the travel bucket list. So it was decided. A five-day trip to the South Rim over winter break would give us the Grand Canyon experience we longed for. The flights were booked, and now we needed a place to stay. All the reviews suggested that a hotel in Flagstaff or Williams would be a convenient and affordable option. We were renting an SUV, after all, and had freedom to choose. Then I found it - the Grand Canyon hotel of my dreams - El Tovar Hotel, perched right there on the Canyon rim directly in in the national park. Can't get much closer than that! Grand, old-fashioned, a little rustic, and obscenely expensive, it was perfect. By flying free and doing one night at a cheap Priceline room for a night in Sedona at the end of the trip, we could definitely swing it! So, in just a week's time, if the weather gods are kind, we will be on our way to Phoenix. Stay tuned for my review when we return. Photo courtesy of Grand Canyon National Park

I have never attended a port talk, as I have already researched the port before I cruise and already know where I will shop or spend my money - and it is almost never at any of the vendors "recommended" by the cruise lines. Besides, shopping is not my favorite thing about cruising, preferring the historical aspects of the places I visit. I think most savvy cruisers know that the merchants touted in a port talk are paying the cruise lines. So I think it is good that the cruise lines are being made to disclose this before hand.

Thanks for joining us LFH1015! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.

Thanks for joining us Expedited! I'd like to climb aboard the Crazie Welcome Wagon, too - so glad you found us! Please share your experiences, ask questions and join in the conversation.