Eph60

Welcome to to the board!

The crew stand on there and they have radio's to contact the bridge. They are there to let the bridge know of anything that may show up that the Captain and pilot cannot see from the bridge. The crew member is also in contact with the crew behind him running the machinery for the ropes they tie the ship to the dock with. They are just extra eyes to make coming into port and leaving port safer.

We never use the specialty restaurants so I guess it will have no effect on me.

Thank you for the responses, they are greatly appreciated!

Most of the dishes you mention really have no interest to me but I am sure they do to others. Whenever we cruise we always have meals adapted to meet our special needs anyway. I have loved cruising on Celebrity because they do have great ships and a fantastic crew, but to be honest the worst meals I ever had on a cruise ship have been on Celebrity ships, so I never look forward to the food on Celebrity.

We have used air through the cruise lines but prefer to book our own. The main reason we book our own is we know that from where we live we will be transfering planes somewhere and with my wife being handicaped we prefer to book our own so we know that there is plenty of time to get from one plane to the next plane. When we booked with the cruise lines we had to really rush a few times and it was not a good situation even with getting help through the airports. We also make sure we fly in to our embarkation ports a couple days early.

I would like to give the cruise a try. I would like to try Royal Caribbean but it would not be my first choice because I really am not one that cares for the big ships. The med is of little interest to me but the baltics are of interest to me and Southhampton is a place I hope to go to some day.

Welcome to the board.

Welcome to the board!

I have taken the survey for what it is worth. It did appear to work after submitting it.

Ok I have cruised many many times and even worked on cruise ships so I have an understanding of cruising. I have cruised on several different cruise lines, however we are booked for the first time on Holland Amaerica this summer for Alaska. We will be on the Westerdam and the Statendam. We will do one week on the Westerdam and a B2B on the Statendam. To get to a point what are the things that you like the most about Holland America? Also no cruise is absolutely perfect so what are some of the things that are not your favorites on Holland America? I have asked this on several boards and never really get more then one answer so I hope people will be honest in their post and give me some response. Regardless I am looking forward to a great time on a cruise line I have never cruised before. I will go with an open mind.

We have known this for years. My wife has worked in emergancy medicine for over 40 years and has always said there are many more cases of norovirous in public buildings such as schools and even hospitals then ever occur on cruise ships. The difference is that the cruise ships have to report to the CDC and schools and other public businesses are not required to report to the CDC. A very interesting article, thanks Jason.

I feel it may get a few more people to cruise Cunard. For me I do not like formal nights but I do follow them so other passengers do not get upset. In other words the more relaxed the dress code the better I would feel.

One thing I would absolutely agree with about the news media is that many times they are inaccurate. The media claims people have the right to know but are more concerened with putting out a story first instead of accurate. I would also say that I would not believe everything that Carnival, or for that matter, any big corporation for stating exactly what happened to any of the ships. I do believe that Carnival does put out a good product and does want a great experience for their passengers so that the passengers come back and spend more money. I have cruised on Carnival many times and would gladly do so again. I do not ever believe 100% any story put out by the news media.

One most memorable would be twice I have sailed Hawaii past the volcano at night when it exploded providing the best night time show I have ever seen. Another would be while doing a whale watching tour in Alaska an Orca did spy hopping next to our tour boat and I was eye to eye with an Orca with less then 2 feet between us. On this trip I also was fortunate enough to get a picture of an Orca leaping next to the cruise ship. In that picture you can see both air above and below the Orca.

I have to agree with Sarge6870. The crew is trained for safety, I know I have worked on cruise ships, but not all staff in any job will act properly in an emergancy. There are backup generators the Triumph was an extreme incident that rarely happens and small generators take up space and also may provide exhaust to improper areas. A small generator is not going to power a ships electrical needs. The cruise lines normally do refund the full price of a cruise and then add a discount to future cruising with them. There are medical personel on all cruise ships and most cruise ships now days can connect with experts on land if there is a major medical problem. As far as sickness on ships, most think of norovirus when they here of this, there are more cases of this in public places on land then at sea, however ships have to report them to the CDC so they get more publicity. The fact is if the government starts sticking their nose into things they will mess it up, because they will put to many loopholes in it and they will get to restrictive. JMHO.

I have not hit my cruise limit yet. With my wife our longest as passengers has been 33 days so far. As a crew member my longest time on a cruise ships has been 7 months and even though that was working that was not long enough on a cruise ship. I cannot say it was relaxing but I still enjoyed being on a cruise ship. We hope to do an around the world cruise some day and I am not sure that will be long enough. I will not cruise less then 14 days and even at 14 days I feel cheated for my time onboard a cruise ship.

I am not really new to this board. I was on this board under the name Clem years ago but due to problems trying to get on here again I am using a new name. Even had problems getting on this site with a new name. I do appreciate the welcomes and allowing me back on the board. I have cruised many times on American Hawaii, NCL, Princess, Celebrity and Carnival. I currently have three cruises booked on Holland America. I also worked for NCL on the ships for a couple years and worked for Princess at Mt. McKinley Lodge in Alaska. My favorite place to cruise so far is Alaska. My favorite cruise line so far is Princess but I will cruise as many cruise lines as I can. My favorite thing to do on cruise ships is meet new people. As far as my regular life I have been married 41 years, I have three kids, I have 6 grandkids and I have one great granddaughter. I enjoy watching wildlife and if near the ocean whale watching. I spend as much time as possible at my cabin on a lake in northern Minnesota. I have done many jobs with the longest being in welding and computer operations until being laid off from both. I am currently semi retired, collecting some of my pention and driving school and charter bus. We cruise as often as we can and have cruised up to 5 times in a year and our longest cruise was 33 days. I will cruise as long as the money and health hold up. Now you know a little about me. Again thanks for the welcome.