Jan115

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

Welcome! Congratulations on booking your first cruise. When it's over, you'll wonder why you waited so long! Enjoy!

Hi Saltydog, and welcome back. I am fairly new here so we've never "met". I see you are a fan of Princess cruises, like I am. We did an 8-day of Ireland & Scotland this past summer on the Ocean Princess, so I'm afraid the ports we visited won't help you. Your upcoming cruise on the Emerald does sound amazing, and can't wait to hear all about it, as hopefully we will visit that area of the world on a future cruise.

Welcome, Kish, and thanks for introducing yourself. I joined earlier in the year and have found the people here to be the friendliest around. I look forward to seeing you around and hearing all about your cruise next April.

Hi - 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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

Hi - 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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

Hi - 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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

Wow! What a very witty, interesting and informative review - thanks so much for sharing! We haven't sailed on the Crown, but have sailed on her sister Emerald. They are beautiful ships. By the way, how did you get the honor of being selected as a "Story Teller"? We canceled our mediterranean cruise on the new Royal Princess next summer 2012, in exchange for an Alaska cruise, but now I will be sad at what we will miss - especially Istanbul. Definitely will be a must-see for 2014!

I guess there are pros and cons to both. With the super-mega ships, I think it becomes more about the ship than the destination. My husband likes the big ships and the variety of entertainment. I prefer the mid-size with a nice balance of entertainment and the feeling that you are on a ship at sea. Lately, our own cruises have become more about destination, and when you are on a port-intensive cruise, what's the point of being on a mega ship with all that distraction? After a long day of sightseeing, give me dinner and sleep.

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!.

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!.

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!.

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!.

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

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 with the friendliest cruise community around!

Whoops, forgot the link : http://sevenseajourneys.wordpress.com/2012/11/03/looking-ahead-to-alaska-summer-2013/

For your reading pleasure, I have added a new entry to my cruise and travel blog. Enjoy!

When one cruise ends, another begins … that’s my motto! Our Ireland & Scotland Interlude was not yet complete, when we were already thinking of our next cruise. Actually, we were not yet sure of the destination, we just knew it would be a cruise on Princess. Therefore, as is the custom, we took advantage of the Future Cruise Desk while on board the Ocean Princess and earned future cruise credits and on-board credits by booking a future cruise, to be taken on any ship at any time within the next four years. Hey, why waste time! Immediately, on returning home, we booked our next cruise, a 12-day cruise to the Mediterranean. Ahhh … but as is typical with me, our next summer cruise booking is never written in stone. In the next weeks and months, it can transform into a different ship, a different destination, a land vacation or … horrors! … no vacation at all. We realized our one-way voyage from Venice to Barcelona was not going to be a cheap one, and the more I looked into hotels, excursions and air fare, the further and further the ship sailed away from us until it was just a black speck on the horizon. That's when my dear husband uttered the words I have so longed to hear ... "what about Alaska?" What? Did I hear you correctly or is that wax buildup in my ear? Did he just say “Alaska” or was that “I’ll ask her”? He’s never wanted to see Alaska. Oh, joy … oh rapture! He DID say Alaska! Well, I wonder what brought this on, I immediately thought to myself, as I would not dare utter these words out loud in fear of his changing his mind. Two words – Grand Princess. You see, the Grand Princess was the ship which carried us on our first cruise 10 years ago to the Caribbean, so it holds fond memories for us. Two more words: San Francisco – sealed the deal. A round trip, 10-day cruise from a city we’ve always thought about visiting, 4 full days at sea on a ship which has been re-fitted with a covered dome over the pool, a sailing up the inside passage of America’s Last Frontier to Glacier Bay National Park … what’s not to like? If he was going to cruise to Alaska, he said, this was the only way. After all, he has always been drawn to tropical heat and oppressive humidity over the “ice and cold” of Alaska, and it would take something really awesome to swing him around. Okay, I said, let’s do it – before he re-thinks the idea. I immediately fired up the computer and changed that cruise from the Mediterranean to Alaska faster than you can say “my Alaska dream cruise”. I am now on a new mission and have new purpose in my life! With a plan to spend three days pre-cruise in San Francisco, I am exploring the city, hotels, the sites and Alcatraz, of course! Air fare to San Francisco is refreshingly more reasonable than flying to Europe, and I have fare alerts arriving in my mailbox daily in the hopes of finding that perfect rate. What’s more, David has been researching the ports and has even made suggestions about excursions – which means, yes, he IS excited about Alaska. Shhh ... don't tell anyone!

It's bad enough to experience a hurricane on land - but being at sea during a severe storm like that must be absolutely terrifying.