(264,100,'10-14-07','In all, this was an excellent experience on an absolutely spotless new ship.','I had the opportunity to attend a conference aboard the Norwegian Pearl for her 5 day Western Caribbean sailing from Miami to Cozumel and Grand Cayman.  The ships alternates a 5 night Sunday to Friday sailing with a 9 night Southern Caribbean sailing.  This new ship had just arrived from a repositioning cruise from Alaska to Miami, and this was the first sailing for Pearl from Miami.  They were assigned a former Carnival terminal, the most seaward of the berths at the Port of Miami.  Perhaps because it was the first sailing, the embarkation lines were long, extending out the door and down the steps by 2pm.<br /><br />The cabin, a category BA, 10058 midships starboard side, was ready and spotless.  The balcony has two chairs and a small table, but no reclining chairs.  The room has a stocked refrigerator, a coffee maker, flat screen TV, and the new beds with duvets.  The bathroom was just as large as in the minisuites, with a toilet with a sliding door separating it from the washroom, and the shower, with its own sliding door.  The room steward, whom I saw only three times the whole cruise, kept the cabin spotless.<br /><br />With Freestyle dining, there are 10 dining venues, including two main restaurants, the Summer Palace and the smaller Indigo.  I ate in the Summer Palace twice and once in Indigo. In addition, they have four specialty restaurants that require reservations, three of which have a service charge:  Cagney?s Steakhouse, Lotus Garden Asian Restaurant and Teppanyaki, and Le Bistro French restaurant.  There is also an Italian Trattoria, where I ate one night, which has no service charge but does require reservations.  The Lotus Garden and Teppanyaki seemed to be the ones fully booked every night.  I did enjoy the Lotus Garden one night. It is wise to pick the ones you want to reserve as soon as you get aboard and book them that afternoon, or you may be eating very early or very late.  They serve from 5:30pm till 10:30pm.  The Garden Buffet is spacious, many food stations so you don?t have to stand in long lines.  There were three different eggs to order/omelet stations, for example.  There is no charge for ice cream, and it wasn?t just soft serve ice cream.  Many people don?t realize that there is also a food station at the rear of the buffet that is outside on the deck.  Mango?s served Mexican food and the Blue Lagoon was more of a short order fast, food place, with table seating.  I tried both of those for snacks, including nachos in the Mexican restaurant.<br /><br />There are, of course, many bars and lounges.  My favorite is the Star Bar on deck 12 aft.  It is not frequented much, has superb personalized service, windows, and music in the background.  The Star is my favorite on every NCL ship I have sailed on.  The Atrium area had a WII set up and every day, all day, people were playing tennis or golf on a screen several stories high.  This is the same area where portrait photographs were taken several nights and musicians played occasionally in the evening.  The purser?s desk is in this area too.  <br /><br />There were two evening shows by the Jean Ann Ryan Company, at 7:30 and 9pm, comedy improve acts, and a comedic juggler.  The production shows, Broadway style, were excellent.<br /><br />The new item on this ship is the Bliss Lounge where there are four bowling alleys divided by a disco and bar with sofas, loungers, stools, and many video screens.  The disco is busy well into the morning.  Bowling was &#036;5 per line.  <br /><br />The best part of Freestyle in my opinion is Debarkation.  While they still distribute colored luggage tags and ask that your luggage be outside the door by 1am the last night, they don?t require you to vacate your cabin until 10am.  You can leave your carry on luggage in the room instead of dragging it to breakfast, and then you can leave either when your color tag is called or when you like, as long as it is by 10am.  The customs/immigration lines were lengthy, three stations with two inspectors each.  <br /><br />The two ports, which I had visited many times before, were Cozumel and Grand Cayman.  The last time I was scheduled for Cozumel it was hit by hurricane Wilma and the visit was scheduled.  I was eager to see how the refurbishment has gone.  We berthed at the pier at Playa Langouste, across the street from Sr Frog?s and Carlos and Charlie?s.  We visited Playa Mia for a beach excursion, and noticed the still denuded trees on the way there.  Playa Mia, we found, was the old Play del Sol revitalized after the hurricane but essentially the same place.  The water is too murky to snorkel.  While they are still rebuilding the destroyed international pier, it was in use by Enchantment of the Seas.  There were only three ships there when we were there.  The downtown shows no signs of the storm anymore.<br /><br />Grand Cayman was especially pleasant because they have rebuilt the tendering piers, use large commercial tenders, and the process was seamless.  In addition the Pearl was the only ship in port that day, so there was no congestion.<br /><br />In all, this was an excellent experience on an absolutely spotless new ship.<br />',1193244913,0,'Western Caribbean','',131,'JohnG',1,292,0,0,0,0,0,15081,0,NULL),(265,51,'10/14/2007','The cruise all in all was wonderful.. service was awesome as always, the ports were great except for a few...the ship was in great shape.','As i will try to fill you in about some of the most important things about this cruise...<br /><br />Service....as always the celebrity crew is never disappointing...they are all there to make your cruise the best.<br />First our stateroom attendent Desmond sure worked hard for three girls in one cabin LOL ... he was there when we need and gave us everything we needed whether we asked or not...our waiter Vinod and attendent Ishard were without a doudt the best i have ever had.. they answered ever question knew the ingredients of ALL dishes... we never wanted for anything...<br /><br />Food .. they were trying a new menu so somethings still needed to be tweaked a little.. some of the meats were overdone, and some side dishes needed to be warmed better.. the seafood dishes were great, pasta wonderful...buffets for lunch were very good, lots of varitey, never boring....sushi.. and of course my WONDERFUL WAFFLES.. with orange melted butter every morning...and whipped cream.. OMG, of course the hamburgers yummy...the spa salads are always something nice for lite fare...great breads. i am sure most ships make all there own things.. but thats one thing Celebrity does so well their breads, CINNAMON icecream. and OH did i mention DESSERTS ,, gezzzzzz just kill me ....<br /><br />OK now the ports.. remember to take some water from the ship and maybe something to nibble on till you get back to the ship .. we did take apple pears etc.. didn&#39;t eat much on land....i always take a waterbottle from home to fill for land days to fill before i leave the ship<br /><br />Cayman.. i so love cayman, but it has become so touristy, no more cabs to just take you around.. everything and everywhere you want to go is tour buses..and very expensive too... if i go again i will pay for the 5 dollars to the beach and let it go at that...<br /><br />Columbia...the terminal is very nice, we did have a quick shuttle to the end of the pier and then the other side comes the cab people LOL LOL ... we got cab for 50 dollars all day , and he was great...explained everything we saw.. took us to the old walled city , to all the shopping... ( ok i got my emerald ring ) shop around for sure...took us to the top to the Monastery, pay the 3.00 its worth the view if nothing more, he stayed with us so noone would bother us also which i thought was wonderful... be very careful of people coming up to you with animals to put around your shoulders just so you will pay to have the photo taken... be prepared to say no hundred times.. but thats life...great coffee buys<br /><br />Panama Canal... this was a great day it took us 6 hours to make it all the way thur.. but what a treat.. i got up at 6 am got my sit in the club front 11th floor to sit the  day thur out the transit... it was so humid, i mean humid you walk outside and just go OMG .. the run back in the air...but OMG the trip was worth all of the humid weather just to go thur the canal, and see was my dad had always talked about...<br /><br />Costa Rica.. one of the two private tours i booked . This one was with Okeydokey tours Charlie Soto.. wonderful host to his city...when you dock you will have to walk to the end of the pier to meet all tours except the ship tours. Charlie took as up close and personal with monkeys , and other animals...took us to a river tour to see croc&#39;s up close and personal OK i got wet by the tail of the croc... and almost pp&#39;ed my pants how close he was.. tucans... he took us to a beauital montain top hotel and the view was unreal..took us to lunch and it was included in the price great food, took us to where and whatever we wanted  great coffee also... i do reccommend Mr Soto price was 85 for all day per person, he is insuranced, air conditioned van , suppled beverages also...great day...<br /><br />Huratalco... great little city i think i enjoyed this port the most , just a great beach day,  lunch right on the beach...walked around.. could have gone up the road to a little bigger town but enjoyed the beaches.. cab rides to the other beach are very little but right by the pier was a great beaches... be careful of the chairs and tables they do charge for there use.. usally 5 dollars per person... i choose the sand and my towel..<br /><br />Acapulco.. another port i had a tour , with Rosies Tour ,, had a great price because of amount of people i had i had 13 and it came to 30 pp.. again as wonderful tour well worth the money.. she took us all over the city explained everything we saw , showed us views that were OMG great great great...took us to lunch to a great place this was not included in the 30 but great prices, and the best tostadas i ever had..i highly recommend Rosie&#39;s tours for this city for a full dayof fun ....<br /><br />Cabo... this port was nice we snorkeled and played in the water all day ... great clear water great snorkeling....saw whales , do,lphins, sea lions, great fish...watch out for jelly fishes <br /><br />and then home to San Diego... with the fires in our city it made it kinda smokey but not to bad for our disembarkment...there was a chance that we were going to have an esxtra sea day due to port closed during fire but they opened by friday for us to get in on Sunday..<br /><br />all in all the trip was great...humid weather which i am not use to but it was all worth the trip...if ever you take the cruise to panama pack light .. and OMG enjoy one of the worlds seven wonders ...<br /><br />Tonia',1193785569,0,'Panama Canal/Central America','',2549,'terumim',1,130,0,0,0,0,0,15147,0,NULL),(266,144,'10/28/07-11/4/07','overall experience: it was all deaf cruise just for nearly 4,000 deaf people which was closed to the public<br />','10/27/07 we (my friend and I) flew from detroit to Miami at 9am it was little bumpy ride but no problem whew and my friend and i stayed at La Quinta east MIA it was very nice hotel but problem is not enough resturants around the hotel oh well<br /><br />10/28/07 we arrived at the port of miami in the Freedom pier it was very long line for almost 4,000 deaf people wow went through just smooth no problem and etc... tropical depression 16 developed over Haiti that mean to change the port from Haiti to mexico-cozumel to avoid the storm  the dinner was open sit whereever we wanted <br />met 5 people from my hometown whom are my other friends i was so glad that they would be on the cruise  <br />my friend and i stayed at cabin number 2373 deck 2 with window much better so i can tell which is day or night LOL (my 2 friends and i did stay on deck 2 and no window on Rhapsody we don?t have problem by then it was smooth plus too dark) <br /><br />10/29/07<br />had much fun in the sun at the pool playing around and laying <br />Tropical depression 16 became tropical storm Noel stay over Haiti<br />port have changed  my first night on the bed was comfortable that i don?t have problem sleeping formal dinner tonight and the dinner was good<br /> <br />10/30/07<br />Arrving in Cozumel did went shopping and i was not feeling well got little heatstoke and had to go back to the ship to relax and had lunch hang around for the rest of the afternoon and left for Grand Cayman Island i did danced in the cafe promenade it was fun<br /><br />10/31/07<br />Happy Halloween from Freedom of the Seas and Georgetown Grand Cayman Island did went shopping in Georgetown really pretty town and went back to the ship had halloween party at the skating rink in studio B  it was much fun  it was the number one biggest halloween party that RCCL ever had hosted on any ships<br /><br />11/1/07<br />Are in Ocho Rios Jamaica <br />did went shopping at the Island village shopping center really beautiful Island did rain there and went back to the ship hang around of course had other formal night  ate lobster tail  really good<br /><br />11/2/07<br />sea day to miami <br />Labadee Haiti had cancelled due to the damages from Tropical Storm Noel  we were disappointed that we were not be able to visit there since Noel hit there. hanged around the pool <br /><br />11/3/07<br />last sea day until arriving Miami <br />everyone that I met were sad for leaving the cruise they wanted to stay longer they had so much fun that they wish to last longer <br />i had 2 group pictures taken one for the whole state of Michigan which were 450 people in the picture other one for WHOLE group on the ship i brought both.<br /><br />my experince with the crews of Freedom of the Seas were really great they learn sign language to communicate with all of us some of them had picked up really well i was really impressed that they really enjoying learning sign language <br /> <br /><br />',1194298250,0,'Western Caribbean','',3642,'lovelypinky',1,220,0,0,0,0,0,15235,0,NULL),(267,165,'10-10-07','This was an amazing trip.  Between being on such a great ship and a great Itinerary.. It coulndt be beat&#33;&#33;&#33;<br />','This was a trip I labeled in my computer folders &quot;the trip of a lifetime&quot;.  It started out as a 4 day weekend in Madrid with a cabin mate from the Norwegian Majesty in 2007, and wound up being a Grand tour of Europe with a culture-rich itinerary packed in the middle.  <br /><br />Originally, with my penchant for old ships, I was looking into a week on the Oceanic from Barcelona.  The single supplement was quite high, and none of my friends relished the thought of an old ship catering to the European market specifically.  Just before I was going to put my deposit down on the Oceanic, a web offer came through about the Marco Polo.  It was shamefully cheap, best available outside, and the single supplement isn&#39;t obnoxiously high.  I checked the itinerary, and was able to make it back to Madrid in time to hear my friend lecture, so I just booked it.  <br /><br />Two weeks later I found that I had been given a great up grade, Category C i think, deluxe outside cabin on Main Deck.  I dug out my Alexandr Pushkin brochures to show the captain, and set about learning about the ports that we would visit.  The Itinerary was a treasure map.. Barcelona, Marseille, Portofino, Civitavecchia, Sorrento and Santorini disembarking in Athens.  <br /><br />The ship was gleaming and immaculate.  She does show her age in some areas, and even as a old-ship lover, I did miss some of the amenities that the new ships do offer.  The cabin was comfortable for a single and would have even been fine for a double occupancy. The big window was fabulous to watch where we were in the dusky light of morning.  The camber and sheer of the ship however, were VERY noticeable.  One was easily 6 inches lower near the window than at the doorway.  When one isnt drinking it is quite charming.  I slept on the High end bed, and when we hit some rough Mediterranean water, I was tossed nearly to the floor.<br />(Again, for me that wasnt a complaint, it was comedic and a bit awesome).  I stopped fighting the elements and went to the lido to take some pictures.  <br /><br />The public rooms are cozy and quite adequate. The decor is tasteful for the most part, thought Raffles felt a bit dated.  There is  very limited social activity for the late seating folks though, because the ports are the main focus on her itineraries so EVERYEONE goes to bed early, either from excitement or exhaustion.. <br /><br />She has great walk around space, and the foredeck is a great vantage point.  (the sheer and camber is VERY noticeable there).  Her decks are nicely kept, and wooden deck chairs supplement the plastic sun chairs near the jacuzzis.  <br /><br />The ports and the tours were well planned, though my two criticisms would be more time in port when we were there, and an extra day at sea somewhere to relax&#33;&#33;  The itinerary we were on specifically, called for long inland tours to some of the main sites.  Avignon and St. Remy were timed just about right, but Rome is so far in from Civitavecchia, that an overnite there might not be a bad idea.  As a first time visitor to all of those ports, everything was fascinating to me, and I could have spent another 7 hours after the tour ended.  The people were all friendly and warm. (though I do speak a smattering of the native languages except for Greek)  The ports were perfectly chosen, and the crew were very efficient with the tendering process when needed.<br /><br />The atmosphere on Marco Polo, is that of a private club ship.  There were people on board that had sailed on her 5-10 times.&#33;&#33;&#33;  They were on the ship for an extended period of time.. 3 weeks or more and it really made for a very friendly atmosphere.  Everyone was very sad to know that the ship was moving out of the company, but hopeful that TransOcean will be taking good care of her.  I dont think I ran in to one person that didnt appreciate the ship and her age, or her excellent maintanence&#33;&#33;<br /><br />If you want more info please feel free to email me or chat me up.. Im still in heaven from the whole trip&#33;&#33;&#33;<br /><br />Croix Picoriello, LMT<br /><br />',1194567802,0,'Western Mediterranean','',3949,'SagCruiser123',1,62,0,0,0,0,0,15377,0,NULL),(268,39,'04-16-07','My husband and took this spring cruise on the Fascination and had a great time.','We took this cruise for just the two of us -no kids. Our cabin was an aft oceanview. It was very quiet and the window had a ledge where you could sit. The cabins have been redone and  the new bedding is great&#33; The crew was very friendly and helpful. In Key west we took the Trolley tour and in Cozumel we shared a taxi with fellow cruisers and traveled to Paradise Beach.  It was a very good cruise. I would recommend this ship and itinerary to anyone. I have been pleased with the service Carnival provides. It would be a good cruise for anyone new to cruising who wants a short itinerary.',1194636462,0,'Western Caribbean','',3994,'cruising5',1,82,0,0,0,0,0,15429,0,NULL),(269,67,'9/28/07','Ideal ship for us.  We take 3-4 cruises per year, and make way for the Queeen Mary 2. Spectacular ship.','This was our 69th cruise, and we booked it for our anniversary.  <br /><br />We flew to Laguardia via Air Tran, which we upgraded to business class.  The airline is one of our favorites.  Upon arrival in New York we were met by Cunard reps, and after a bad series of transfer problems, not any fault of Cunard Line, we arrived at the New York Sheraton and Towers, an old haunt we have stayed at many times before. We booked the Queen Mary 2, Sheraton and transfers with Cunard Line.<br /><br />Longing for pizza, the real deal, a NY pizzza, the concierge recommended Johns, a 10 minute walk from the hotel.  Johns was set up into an old church in the 1980&#39;s, and the pizza was very good .  Other meals enjoyed in New York were at the Carnegie Deli, still very good, Stage Deli, also very good, and a nice 24/7 bistro across from the Sheraton, Maisson.  Our splurge was Le Bernadin, with dinner costing over &#036;400.00, and worth every penny.<br /><br />We had little time for shopping.  We attended a performance of the musical &quot;Wicked&quot; at the Gershwin, superb, better than the book, and we took in a Live with Regis and Kelly, with guests that day Tony Bennett, Diane Sawyer and Jennifer Garner.  All told, a lot of fun.  I love New York, and never tire of it.<br /><br />We had to have our bags ready for transfer to the Mary by 6:30 am, in our hotel room.  An annoymous bell hop entered our room in the we hours and took the bags while we slept.  We were transfered to Brooklyn and the Mary loomed ahead.  What a sight.<br /><br />As Cunard World Platinum members, we had priority boarding.  We boarded in minutes of our arrival, sped to our stateroom on Deck 12, to find our bags already in the stateroom, our steward waiting for us.  We booked in Cunards new Britannia Club level, which basically heightens the dining experience, not much else.  We had two bottles of Pol Acker blanc de blanc iced from Cunard, and a lovely Perrier-Jouet Grand Brut from our travel agent, Mark.  Our bath was smaller than our last stateroom on the Mary, our balcony was larger.  During the enitire cruise we could not accesss the internet or e-mail from our tv in cabin, via wireless keyboard.  That was no big deal.  In addition to the bubbly, our fridge was stocked with various wines, bubbly, beer and sodas.<br /><br />We ran to the Kings Court, the lido-buffet style restaurant on the Mary for lunch.  Last time sailing we hated the Kings Court as it is pushy, noisy and not to our liking.  It is still noisy and pshy, with passengers clawing through the food and slopping iced tea. We learned we, as Britannia Club passengers, could have had lunch in the Britannia Club.  Who knew?  This was our only visit during the cruise.<br /><br />Britannia Club is a small intimate section of the Britannia Restaurant, the main dining venue, which is quite private.  It presumably provides a dining experience  similar to  the Columbia, later renamed Coronia, restaurants that were popular on the Queen Elizabeth 2, which we enjoyed, back in the day.  Last year we sailed the Mary to Hamburg from New York.  The Britannia Club did not exist, and we had booked for the Britannia, and we found the entire experience then to be excellent.  This time we found the Britannia Club to be  truly exceptional.  The menu is the same superb one offered to Britannia guests, with an al la carte menu for the club passengers.  The al la carte menu offered fresh sliced Scottish smoked salmon, escargots, French onion soup gratineed, freshly prepared Cesar salad, NY strip sirloin, veal chops, rack of lamb, planked salmon, free range chicken and special desserts.  The al la carte menu was the same each night.  We were also able to special order a few things, something rarely encouraged on todays ships.<br /><br />We woke to find us in Newport RI.  We are died in the wool New Englanders, and we took this cruise to get our fill on New England.  We had to have deep fried clams with the bellies in tact, and lobster rolls for lunch.  We found &quot;Benjamins Poor Richards&quot; to our liking and the lunch was excellent, clam chowder, made from scratch, not from base, and the best sweet potato fries accented a fine lunch.  The clams and lobster wonderful as well.<br /><br />We lived in Boston, and North of Boston for many years, and have missed &quot;our city&quot; greatly.  We made a reservation on line before the cruise ,at &quot;Anthonys Pier 4&quot;, a real Boston seafood restaurant, sitting along side Bostons magnificent harbor.  Waiters from way back are still there&#33;  We enjoyed outrageously large lobsters, and stuffed clams, and, the best Bloddy Marys ever.  It was as if we never left Boston, being welcomed back to Anthonys.  The lunch for two &#036;150.00.<br /><br />Bar Harbor was nice, there is nothing like Down Maine, as is the reference for coastal Maine.  We booked only one tour during the cruise, and it was in Bar Harbor.  We toured Mount Deset Island and Acadia Park, with a nice New England Lobster Bake .  Our guide, Richard, had the down east accent, and New England sense of humer we don&#39;t find in Virginia.<br /><br />The only disappointment during the cruise was Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Halifax seemed seedy and dumpy.  We stayed a week awhile back touring Nova Scotia and loved it.  We just did care for Halifax.<br /><br />We book three massages during a 9-11 day cruise, and the first ones were on our first sea day between Halifax and Quebec City.  Upon booking we learned that Chrisian was onboard, the masseur we booked with before on the Mary, and we  were delighted to find that Arturo, the spa attendent, was still there.  Our spa visits were wonderful as a result.  The spa and treatments are provided by the famed Canyon Ranch, and the experience is many levels above the Steiner concept of spas at sea, which is to say, very professional.<br /><br />At night the Queen Mary 2 is very elegant, as one would expect.  We had 4 fornal nights during our 9 day cruise.  Approximately 98% of the male passengers donned a tux or dinner jacket, and the ladies looked like Linda Evans or Joan Collins from, Dynasty.  The famous Ascot and Black and White Balls, Cunard traditions were held, as well as the Captiains Grand Ball and a Masquerade Ball, with pasengers wearing masks.<br /><br />We were invited to four very elelgant parties hosted by the Commodore, or his senior oficers.  Two were truly spectacular, with unending open bar and top notch hors &#39;oeuvres.  <br /><br />Our final destination, Quebec City.  What a lovely, charming city.  A silver mist enshrouded the skyline as the mighty Mary glided to her dock with the dominence of the Chateau Frontenac hovering on its cliff above.  The first tinge of Autumn color had kissed the trees, and a cerulian bliue sky was revealed as the sun burned off the mist.  Ahead, the Crystal Symphony seemed dwarfed by the Mary, sharing the pier with us.<br /><br />We found assistance, in English, at the toruist desk ashore, and set off on foot to explore this place of beauty in North America, with European charm, and French accent.<br /><br />We are weak when it comes to art galleries, and we found one we could not resist.  The painting arrived a week later via UPS at our home.  We noticed many shops featured made in Canada merchandise, and I must say, the items were of excellent quality.  We did some Christmas shopping, notably, for our grandson.<br /><br />We had more sea time as we sailed back to New York.  It is always nice to find old friends among the staff and crew on a ship that we knew from other cruises.  Our sommelier, Francisco, we knew from previous cruises on Royal Viking Line, when he was a bar steward.  We made excellent aquaintences with our cheif dining steward Jacob, our bus boy Jason and their assistant, Venedra, as well as head waiter, David.<br /><br />Were thjere any disapointments during this cruise?  There always are, not the ship, or cruise line.  First, our cabin steward did not tell us about the lunch, we wound up at Kings Court, he did not tell us about the pillow conceierge the Britannia Club passngers could enjoy and he never took care of the internet problems, not to mention, most days our stateroom was still unmade at 3:00pm.  His station was a mere 8 cabins.  Soap and bath accesories had to be requested frequently. On the last day, the luggage was not removed from under the bed prior to packing.  There was one awful omelet at breakfast.  That was about it.<br /><br />On our last night at sea, we remembered our anniversary, and enjoyed ice-cold Stoli with caviar at Veuve Cliquot, the decadently chic champange bar, to celebrate, and share our thoughts about the wonderful cruise  and the most magnificent passenger liner ever built.  Later, we returned for some good drink, served by Felix and Filip at our favorite lounge, the Chart Room.<br /><br />We had heard some scuttle-but during our cruise, about a new liner.  Rumors at sea are often confusing, reality questionble and often unreliable.  Well, two days after our cruise we received an e-mail from Cunard Line, Ltd. announcing the construction of the brand new Queen Elizabeth, sans suffix, to replace the QE2&#33;  At 92,000GRS, costing &#036;800,000.00, and ready in late 2010.  With the Queen Victoria, the Queen Mary2 and the new Queen Elizabeth, long live the Queens and Cunard.',1194708357,0,'Canada/New England','',3988,'Kenneth Eden',1,95,0,0,0,0,0,15469,0,NULL);
INSERT INTO `ftreview` VALUES (270,83,'June 9, 2007','Westerdam exceeded our expectations.  Cruise and ports some of our favorites.','We elected to try Holland America outside of US waters, having sailed many times on their fine ships in the Caribbean.  We have sailed this itinerary on other cruise lines, and we love it.  This was our 68th cruise.<br /><br />Arrival at Rome was awful, as was the flight.  Hot, humid, smelly and dirty was the arrival area.  We felt like we were in San Juan, not Rome.  Princess and Royal Caribbean had sailings that day, and porters were very hard to come by.  We finally found a young man willing to help, and we claimed our bags.  POINT: if you need a luggage cart, you MUST have a 100EU COIN to release it.  Nobody, not even the exchange, would make change for anyone.  Out we went, to our driver, Luigi.<br /><br />We pack heavily, often paying extra for our bags at the airport.   We had Mark, our travel agent, reserve a private car from Leonardo Di Vinci Airport to our hotel in Rome.  Upon questioning the car size, we opted for the largest Mercedes SUV, which barely held two, driver and our five huge bags.<br /><br />We often book boutique hotels, and we booked the Hotel Veneto (not to be confused with the Grand Hotel Veneto), at 195EU per night.  It was comfortable, had a Italian flair and elan, and close to the things we love most in Rome.<br /><br />We toured via on-off bus for our two days in Rome, visiting Trevi Fountain, Bourghese Villa and Gardens, the Pantheon, <br />Colliseum.  We have been dining at Quirino, tucked behind the Trevi for 30 years, and enjoyed it this time as much as the last.  We have two more cruises coming up that involve Rome, and we&#39;ll stay then as we did this time.<br /><br />Luigi promptly picked us up and we sped along the Auto Strada to Civitevechia, passing vineyards and country side.  Soon the &quot;trash can&quot; stacks of the Westerdam were spotted.  Our stateroom was not ready, so we went to the Lido for lunch.  More on the Lido, later on.<br /><br />There is that famous line from &quot;Forest Gump, &quot; &quot;Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you&#39;ll get&quot; -  I have found that on Holland America Line we know what we will get.  First, stateroom not ready.  Dining arrangements not as we requested, so, I went to the Vista Dining Room, saw the maitre &#39;d hotel, Johnny, whom we know and love, and he rapidly changed our seating, deck level and secured a table for 2.  Our bed, as usual with Holland America, was not configured to king size.  Our steward took care of it without hesitation .  I wish, right here, to mention the wonderful cabin stewards on Holland America Line, they outshine most others we have sailed with.  We fled, and fast, to the Green House Spa for our massage appointments.  We have found on our Holland America cruises that their ships have the finest &quot;coccoon&quot; like bedding - like marshmallows - on their ships.  Other claim the same, Holland America delivers.  Incidently, our luggage was stowed under the bed for us, without me having to ask.<br /><br />No big surprises in our stateroom.  Tub, lots of closet storage, excellent lighting, too few electrical outlets and a large verandah.  There is no access to the internet from the cabins, as there is on the Queen Mary 2.  Our mini bar was fully stocked with spirits, soda, wine and beer, as well as the pricey bottles of water, which we religiuosly keep ordering for shore trips.  We had two bottles of Mumms, one from Mark, the other from Holland America Line, iced and waiting.  We sail at a high repeat level on Holland America line, and they are very apprciative.  We enjoyed upgraded bath ammenities and small perks, adding to our stateroom comfort.<br /><br />First dinner, and there is only one chance for the perfect first impression, and the Westerdam delivered perfectly.  The entire Vista Dining experience, be it breaklfast, lunch or dinner, was straight -on- excellent.  Our waiter Johnson, his assistant, Citra, were beyond superb in their service, as was Randy, our wine steward, and table Captain, Edys.  Johnny stopped by often to chat.  The dining experience was almost  surreal.<br /><br />We wandered around Monte Carlo, savoring everything we saw.  We took the &quot;blue train&quot;, a tractor that pulls surry like carts, and had the grand tour.  Docked in the inner harbor was an old friend with a new name, the MS Melody, of MSC Italian Cruises, whom we knew at Home Lines MV Atlantic, a ship we sailed many times and loved dearly.  The Melody glistened.  We are travelers, not tourists, and are not afraid to try local restaurants, and we dined grandly at Restaurant St Nicholas on escargots,  petite pasta with garlic olive oil and pesto, roast duckling and a local Bordeaux,  and bread to die for - all for only 59EU&#39;s, sans tip.  Monte Carlo is one of those wonderous places that make you feel chic and  grand and giddy, and itching to return to.  On to Livorno.<br /><br />I awoke at 4:30am to the stench of fumes seeping into our stateroom.  I put on my robe, and from our verandah  saw that we were entering Livornos harbor.  Vast oil tank farms, cargo ships of all sizes, loading and unloading, pasenger ferries both old and new, drab and clean darted in and out of the harbor.  Cranes climbed into the gray sky.  The dawn brightrned, and I saw my first of the beautiful Grimaldi ferries.  The Westerdam glided on a pea soup green sea to her berth.  The MS Melody was already there.<br /><br />Livorno, gateway to Tuscany, is one drab city.  For its spartan self, it is interesting, worth a visit.  We found many local shops, for the locals, and a flea market, where we bought dish and tea towels, and table linens, for next to nothingh. The market area is a sight to behold, with buildings housing meats, cheese, produce and  all manner of Italian food items, reminding us of Boston s North End, and New Yorks Little Italy, only much larger.  We returned to the ship for lunch and the remainder of the day.<br /><br />Here I will review the Lido Buffet for lunch as well as breakfast.  It is crowded, messy, sloppy, pushy and garbage from scraped used plates can be smelled.  On occcasion a steward may help with your tray, I stress &quot;may&quot;.  The smoked salmon was wonderful, as was the fresh orange juice, omelets almost OK, the coffee good one time, not the next.  Ice tea glasses have gotten way small.  The Asian stir fries were disappointing, as were the featured Italian pastas, the pizza, the pits.  Saldads all picked over.  If the food court at the mall is your thing, you probably will like this.  Enough.<br /><br />Prior to my first massage I set out to video the Westerdam in full.  Sister to the Zuiderdam, the lay out is the same, the decor is not.  This ship is gorgeous, where the Zuiderdam is rather harsh in interior color choices.  Compared to the Maasdam, the Masdam has a much more inpressive on board art collection.  The Westersdam enjoyed a dry dock, very extensive, in Naples prior to our cruise, to expand the Crows Nest, and what a beautiful result the expansion produced.  Leather sofas, ultra suede sofetts, loungers and tables for board games are succesfully integrated with desks, the cyber cafe with coffee and pastries and computers and a branch of the Erasmus Library.  Forward, the bar and dance floor offer commanding views out to sea.  The room is beyond handsome.  The Piano Bar is a sea of graphite and school bus yellow leather, with stainless steel bar surrounding the piano.  The Ocean Bar, THE place for pre-dinner libations and snacks, circles the atrium.  The shops were expanded and upgraded.  Another elegant room for pre and post dinner drinks is the handsome Explorers Lounge, underused on the Statendam Class ships, and fully used on the Westerdam, with the handsome painting of the Dutch Explorers sailing up the Hudson.  The Queens Room is a sea royal red velvet.  The casino, which we lost interest in years ago on cruises, was not a homely as a Princess Cruises Casino, but certainly not a Edwardian and elegant as the Queen Mary 2&#39;s.  As I walked through, it had a reek of smoke, traditional to Holland America ships, an oddity I can not understand.  At first I did not care for the Vista Lounge decor, gray and white, and found it to be rather austere.  I recanted my feelings, and and liked the gray and white leathers, and the huge port and starboard statues placed above the mezzanine level.<br /><br />The Vista Dining Room deserves special mention for its beauty as well as for its outstanding food and service.  A grand stairway cuts through the center of the room connecting the upper and lower levels.  Both levels offered an intimate feel, despite the rooms massive size..  The upper level ceiling, I assumed, was Murano glass, multi-colored morning glory like muted ceiling fixtres, providing a soft rainbow glow.  The chairs are the same over-sized comfy ones found on the Vista Class ships.  Polished brass gleamed.<br /><br />We did not dine at the Pinnacle.  After six visits on our last 7 Holland America cruises, we again skipped it.  The menu has not changed and the  food in the main restaurant is so good, the quality the same, we skipped it.  Change that menu, and lose the attitude of the Pinnacle staff., thats my stand.<br /><br />We enjoyed our first day at sea cruising the Corsican coastline.  We will visit Corsica on our Oceania Regatta cruise in March.<br /><br />Again, the stateroom filled with fumes, even more cloying than at Livorno.  Ah, Barcelona.  Gulls screeched good morning, flying under a heavily smogged sky.  Piles of asphalt, rows of cars waiting for container ships, and major slums glided past as the captain brought the Westwerdam to dock.  There were no pretty ferries, and no MS Melody.<br /><br />It has been a while since we last visited Barcelona and we did not miss it.  The city has one thing going for it, the Gaudi Cathedral, see it once, and that was enough.  In the old city sector, sewers beneath the cobble stoned streets and sidewalks spewed unthinkable liquids onto our shoes.  People wax poetic about Barcelona, and I can not imagine why.<br /><br />OOOOOOHHHHH tonight, BBQ onDeck Dinner.  No thanks, not for us.  One more day at sea,  then Tunisia, then Malta, which replaced Palma de Majorca.  We love Malta.<br /><br />We thoroughly enjoyed the ships dancers, and Bob Mackee costumes.  The staging and sets were as remarkable as the costumes.  We had a &quot;diva&quot; on board, a talented lady, a cross between Diana Ross and Mo&#39;nique, who could belt out a song.  The rest, eh, not even typical.  The ships orchestra was very good.<br /><br />A tour in Tunisia is a must, I would not want to wander around that port.  We booked the tour to Carthage, the Roman ruins now surrounded by a nice upper class section of town, many homes with pools and yachts, looked more like Ft. Lauderdale to me, not that that is a bad thing.  The highlight was a visit to Sidi Boo Said, a town where all of the buidings are white, with azure blue rococo trim.   We shopped here, I would advise against having things shipped home from here, you get the hint, also, watch your credit/debit card statements after you return, you most likely will be double charged from the vendors.  Local diningon your own? DON&#39;T.<br /><br />An onyx sea, a perriwinkle sky beckoned the Westerdam entry to Malta.  We sailed the long inlet, passing limestone cliffs with limestone homes and offices carved into them, or built on top of them.  Valetta, the capital, it almost surreal, or other worldly is its commands its perch atop the small island  We docked with the Costa Victoria, a pretty ship.  We took our own taxi into Valetta, government regulated rates.<br /><br />We shopped and poked and ate lunch at the Leon Cafe, in the large main square, on hand tossed pizza, salad nicioise and cannelloni.  Excellent, only 10.20 Maltese Lira, plus tip.  Malta does not accept the Euro, nor US&#036;.  Credit cards, yes.<br /><br />Palermo is ancient, and dull.  We sailed into the city with dogs barking and awaiting our arrival, happy dogs, who live on the fishiong boats and trawlers.  Today we took a trip to Cefalo (Chefaloo), and had lunch at the Duomo, yes, across from the Duomo Cathedral.  Cefaloo is a resort, and gorgeous to behold.   If you only one thing to eat in Cefaloo, try the gelato, for which the resort is famous.Cefaloo had an amazing effect on us, with its miles of laudry flapping from apartment windows, it shops and ancient atmosphere, and we hated to leave.  <br /><br />I did not want to leave Naples, it was so perfectly Italian.  Our guide was so very Italian chic, with his white linen suite, pink polo shirt and I&#39;ll bet Gucci shoes.  He was so proud of his city.  We toured everywhere in Naples, and had a stupendous pizza luncheon with local wine and Moretti beer.  Our guide was Rossario.  <br /><br />In addition to the aforementioned changes to the Westerdam, and the other Vista Class ships, on the aft decks forty new suites have been added.<br /><br />This is by far the one tyhing that bothered me most, actually, its a two for one:  passengers refusing to use the hand sanitizer, and making a joke of how dumb it was and filling their own thermos with coffee at the Lido, and, worse, filling used water bottles up at the Lido.  One other irk, men that wore jeans at night, ate at the  buffet for dinner, and copped nasty attitudes to the elderly passengers in wheel chairs.  En<br />ough&#33;<br /><br />My favorite port: Naples, so very Italian, home to Sophia Loren, the very o solo mio pure Italian chic.  Speaking of Chic, why Monte Carlo.  Unique?  Tunisia, with its North African flair - imagine, an Arab nation with a mosque, synagogue and catholic church side by side.<br /><br />We ventured back to Rome, stayed at our nice Veneto, and went back to our favorite trattorias, including Quirino.<br /><br />Where are we off to next?  Queen Mary 2 in September, Queen Maay 2 in December, the Reagtta for 21 days in March, the Rgatta for 16 days in June and the Nautica for 24 days in 2009.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />',1194723628,0,'Western Caribbean','',3988,'Kenneth Eden',1,115,0,0,0,0,0,15486,0,NULL),(271,120,'08-16-07','Our 2nd cruise on the Regal. It was wonderful. We will miss her. What a GREAT ship.','This was my wifes and my 9th Princess cruise and our second on the Regal. Our first was to Alaska 2 years ago. (This was the Regals last Hawaiian round-trip and next to last cruise as a Princess ship.) We are both college professors. I am also a retired IRS-CID Special Agent. We live in the Chicago area and flew to Los Angeles three early inorder to tour the city. <br />   We stayed at Marriot LAX thru Princess and then used a Princess transfer to the ship. The embarkation went very quickly and smoothly. We were in our stateroom A189 within 1/2 hour. Our luggage arrived before dinner. We ate at the 1st seating. Our four days at sea were fantactic. We met &quot;Hawaii Bob&quot; Basso, the Hawaii Specialist, what a charater. <br />   Our 1st stop was Maui. We took the Haleakala Volcano tour. It as excellent. Next stop was Kauai. We took the Waimea Canyon tour. Breath-taking&#33; Then on to Oahu, where we toured the USS Arizona Memorial and the USS Missouri. I one day I saw where the United States entered and ended WW II. Next came Kona, where we did the cloud forest tour. Our last Hawaii stop was Hilo. We visited the Kilauea Volcano. After that we has four more glorious day at sea. One for which was our wedding anniversary. Princess had ballons at our stateroom entrance and a cake at our dinner. <br />   We made a three hour &quot;service call&quot; at Ensenada, Mexico. We got off the ship, walked around the pier and got back on the ship. The next moring we were back in LA and Flew home. The disembarkation went smoothly. <br />   We will miss the Regal Princess. It was a wonderful ship',1194914248,0,'Hawaii','',4137,'Paul Griffith',1,36,0,0,0,0,0,15618,0,NULL),(272,179,'2/26/2006','First time on Oceania - experience was top-notch.','We booked this cruise because of the founders/owners of theese cruise lines, Frank Del Rio, from the former Royal Cruise line, and Joseph Waters, from the former Royal Viking Line, both men we admired for their wonderful cruise lines and ships back in the day, who are now the top brass of Oceania Cruises.  <br /><br /><br />We flew to Miami via US Air, icked up our rental car and went <br />to our hotel.<br /><br />We stayed at the Best Western Biscayne Bay, far removed from South Beach.  It was &quot;under reconstruction&quot; and looked as thow it was permanantly that way.  Okay, nothing to write home about.  Our friends, Joe and Theresa, arrived late from Vermont, due to heavy snow.  <br /><br />While driving around Miami we were shocked at the number of homeless people along the streets and sidewalks.  They lined strets, slept under overpasses, holed up in ruined motels and abandoned courtyards.<br /><br />We drove past the monster cruise ships, looking for Terminal J.  In at least 40 or so Caribbean Cruises this was only our second time sailing from Miami, as we have always sailied from Ft. Lauderdale, New York, San Juan, Norfolk or Boston .  There was an air of shear excitement seeing the newest mega liners all lined up.  Way away, isoltaed from the big ships was the Regatta, waiting.<br /><br />After processing at the pier, which took less than 3 minutes, honest, we proceeded to board.  Cabin stewardesses, in black French maid dress, with white lace aprons greeted us, secured our carry ons, and escorted us to our staterooms.  In  brief glimpses of the interiors of the ship as we rushed to our stateroom, the ship looked gorgeous.<br /><br /><br />We booked an outside stateroom with verandah on deck six, our friends an outside on deck 3 without verandah.  The two cabins were identical.  Most ships built during the past decade share the same ammentities, basically, closets, desk, color tv, modular bath, et cetera.  Oceania staterooms decor sets them apart from other contemporary cruise ships.  Dark wood veneers, rich damask draperies, plush carpeting, wall prints that are atttractive and rich duvets and bed coverings.  The illusion is that of a larger cabin  than it actually is.  Our sofa could sleep a third pax.  The bathroom is small, the shower tight.  The soaps and toiletries were of a high quality, towels luxurious.  The Tranquility Bedding, highly touted by Oceania, is very nice.  Other nice touches were spa robes, comfy slippers, sewing kit, shoe horn, shoe shine cloth, very ample electrical outlets for recharging all of those gadgets we all seem to have these days, hair dryer and excellent cabin lighting.<br /><br />This ship, and its sisters, Insignia and Nautica, are small by todays standards.  At 30,000GRTs, they are a far cry from the 80,000 to well over 100,000 tonners sailing today.  Once a ship the size of the Regatta was large, consider 25,000 for Sagafjord and Vistafjord, the Royal Viking Line trio, or, Home Lines Oceanic, considered HUGE in the 1970&#39;s and 1980&#39;s at a whopping 39,000.  This was a ships size we have not sailied in a long while, and found that the Regatta filled a void in our cruising pleasure. The real bonus. however, just over 600 passengers, and just over 400 crew.<br /><br />We rushed to the Terrace Cafe for lunch.  I will only review the Terrace Cafe for lunch this once, as to review it every day would be redundant.  The salads, carved roasts, sandwiches, pasta station, pizza and wok stations are much like those found on ships sailing today, however , there are no trays available, so, you select what you want, and a steward takes it to your table.  The passengers return to the buffet for each course, or simply asks to have whatever served to them by a steward.  This applies to iced tea and so forth, and there is never any pushing, grabbing of food or slamming  of trays is the back or knuckles in the buffet line.  Very civilized.  Table are set with linen placemats and napkins, hotel silver plate utensils, real china and real glasses for drinks.  Used plates are cleared rapidly, and no garbage is noted sitting at serving stations.  The quality of the food and the preparation made the dining experience stand out from many a ships buffet.   <br /><br />The Terrace Cafe also serves breakfast daily.  Early risers may start the day in the Horizons, with Continental breakfast, before the Terrace opens.  The smoked salmon presentation in the Terrace Cafe, of which there were two, one aport, one starboard, was truly grand, in presentations, size and quality.  Eggs Benedict, a treat for me, was made to my order, as were all manner of eggs as well as omelets.    There were a variety of melons, fresh fruits and fresh squeezed oragnge juice plus yogurts and pastries each morning.  The decor, and atmosphere here is refined.  Complaint? Just one, no real maple syrup, although, it was available in the Grand Dining Room at breakfast. Traditioanl pork sausage and bacon, as well as turkey vaireities, were hot, never dried out, and drained correctly, not sitting in inches of cloying grease.  Breakfast pototos were cokking on the grill, fresh.<br /><br />Waves is the BBQ spot.  Really decent, large, juicy burgers, cooked to order, fat all beef hot dogs, fresh chilli and fresh rolls and buns, crispy cooked to order fries, a fish of the day, crisp fresh salads were offered each day.  This is a more help yourself place, more casual and wet bathing suits are ok here.  The ice cream cart featured sorets and ice creams, all made on board, and complimentary.  Dining is al freso, on linens and on no plastic plates are used here, either.<br /><br />Room service is available, of course, with some fine selections according to the meal and time of day, as well a 24 hour availability menu and full Main Dining Room menu available upon advance ordering, and at no additional charge.<br /><br />A word on the  interior decor: plush.  Heavy floral brocades, veleveteen draperies,  silk sheer curtains, adorn all public rooms decor.  Rich dark wood furnishings, and overstuffed chairs and sofas offer supreme comfort.  Ceilings, domed and bas relief, draw the eye upward.  Gold leaf and heavy crwon moldings line the perimetier of the public spaces.  The ship is a testament to the Edwardian era.<br /><br />Many people, I hope, know who the famous French chef, Jaques Peppin, is.  He oversees all of the menus for all three Oceania ships.  Each dinner in addition to the ships menu offerings, there are Jaques Peppin signature dishes that compliment the dining experience of that provided by Chef de Cuisine on the Regatta, Wolfgang Meier.  We knew soon on that Mr. Meier ran a wonderful galley.  In 10 dys on the Reagatta, no menus were repeated in the Grand Dining Room.<br /><br />Before reviewing the Polo and Toscana Gills, there is one feature on this ship that was wonderful, I assume, the same was true on two other sister ships, and that was afternoon tea. High a is offered in the Horizons Lounge each afternnon, with the Regatta String Quartet playing light classical pieces, lovely china and linens grace each table, while a tea trolley, laden with eclairs, finger sandwiches, scones and cookies is offered.  A full selection of coffees is also available.<br /><br />Polo Grill is a softly lit, clubbish, room with a hunting-plaid theme.  Bold checks and dark paneled walls beckon.  Single malt scotch is the trademark drink here, and during our sailing the price range was &#036;6.00 to &#036;50.00, with 26 bottles to choose from.  The finest aged beef and chops, prepared absolutel;y to perfection, with service to match were savored here.  Remember, it is included in your cruise fare.  Filet mignon, anyone?<br /><br />Toscana, as the name implies, is Italian, in look, atmosphere and in its fine cuisine.  The menu is more extensive than any Italian menu I have seen at sea.  The lobster, a Maine lobster, was prepared in the fra diablo style, the lasagna authentic, the steak butter knife soft.  Again, all is included in your cruise fare.<br /><br />Passengers in the suites and at concierge level get to dine in these two rooms twice, other passengers only once, during a cruise.  We were in the obnly once cabins.  Next time we want to book concierge.<br /><br /><br />One dining spot we checked  and dismissed was the Tapas on the Terrace, a very casual night dinner venue.  We did not care for the menu.  Tapas is also included in your cruise fare.  No shorts, jeans, or the like are allowed in the Grand Dining Room, Polo or Toscana Grills after 5pm., Tapas is the exception.  A tux is never needed, a blazer without tie is the norm at night, and ladies wore country club chic resort wear.  There was no captains welcome nor formal nights.<br />There were no ships photographers, and no high line hucking to force a passenger to buy things, and never a solicitation for gratuities.  Announcements were few, if any,  of note.  Other irritants, thankfully missing, included no musack in the elevatiors or passageways, and no  old disco music blasting on deck.<br /><br />The ships entertainment was low key, as compared to cruise ships today.  An 8 piece orchestra became the Regatta Orchestra when the string quartet joined in.  The cast of the Regatta consisted of the cruise director and his assistant, with two hostesses.  A wonderful violinist, Hannah Starosta delighted us, Shields, (remember  Shields and Yarnell - we had just Shields), the pianist from Martinis, the bar boasting 30 different martinis, and two young Vegas style humorists and dancers.  No flashy costumes, and much to my delight, no canned click track lip syncing performances.  This may sound corny, BUT this was a lot nicer than the junk presented on many of the ships today, because it was geniune, not forced or phoney.<br /><br />Two ships spots to be noted for their handsomeness -one, assuredly the most handsome library at sea, with a cantelievered ceiling inset with Tiffany style stain glass, a gilded rotunda and faux white marble fireplace.  The other spot, the Grand Staircase, which serves a a mini two deck atria, in Belle Epoque style.  If one could describe the interior of the Regatta in one word: delicious.<br /><br />We were put off by the ships spa, the Mandara Spa, operated by, of course, who else? Steiner.  The staff too eager, on other ships with Steiner, however, a great degree of civility and professionalism prevailed on Regatta, and we enjoyed our three masssages as a result.<br /><br />We igniored the tiny casino.  We did drop our money in the ships shops, finding the merchandise to be of good quality.<br /><br />A joy for us to sail with one of our favorite captains, Captain Jahn Rys, a sturdy Norseman, a captain we have sailed with before, on the Sagafjord, Vistafjord, of Cunard/NAC fame.  He recently commanded Crystal Cruise ships, before coming to Oceania Cruises.  Sailing with him again was real nice.  I also met passengers from earlier cruises on the Maasdam, QE2, Princess and Royal Viking Line.  <br /><br />Ports are ports, and I am not going into great detail on them, as our first cruise with Oceania is the main point here.<br /><br />It was odd not callng at St Thomas, after 40 or so visits there, we did not miss it.  Nobody seemed to, in fact.  We called at Virgin Gorda, visited the Baths, La Romana, St. Kitts and Antigua, one of our very favorite and special places.  Joe and Theresa were celebrating their 25th anniversary and did well in the jewelry stores here, treating themselves to some nice gifts.  And, then St. Barths, which we adore.<br /><br />So, this is my first Oceania Cruises experience.  It is not a product for everyone, and does not try to make it self out to be a mass appeal product.  It is expensive and low key.  I can not wait to book another Oceania cruise.',1195062056,0,'Southern Caribbean','',3988,'Kenneth Eden',1,42,0,0,0,0,0,15730,0,NULL),(273,152,'10/30/07','A wonderful cruise&#33;','Well, this was my first time ever to Europe and my first Transatlantic cruise. Even with the awful exchange rate due to the weak US dollar, I truly enjoyed my precruise stay in London. I flew on Virgin Atlantic from Chicago to London leaving 10/26 and arriving in London on 10/27. We arrived over an hour early at Heathrow, to find that there was no gate available for us. So we sat on the tarmac for about 20 minutes til they found us a gate......the farthest one out on Terminal 3 (the terminal from hell at Heathrow.) We taxied to the gate only to find the jetway wouldn&#39;t work&#33; After 15 minutes they told us we might have to exit the plane on a stairway....but then they got the jetway to work. So we actually got off the plane at about the time we originally were supposed to if we had been on time....personally I think it was a plot on the part of BAA&#33; LOL Walked the millions of miles from the gate to Immigration...waited in line for 20 minutes and was through without any problems. Friends of mine who were with me did this trip last year and said they waited over 2 hours on a Saturday morning to get through immigration, so we had it pretty easy. We then went out and meet our driver who took us to our hotel.<br /><br />I stayed at the Hotel Russell in the Bloomsbury section of London. I think it was a perfectly great area to stay in. The Hotel Russell was built in the 1890&#39;s and is a massive Victorian building. The lobby and first floor area retain the feel of the Victorian era.......the rooms have all been recently remodeled and upgraded. I had a single room - the rate included breakfast. I had a twin bed (with a really nice mattress and a wonderfully light but warm duvet), a chair, a desk a credenza and tv and a wardrobe. The room was the size of an balcony cabin on a cruise ship.....but the bathroom was not included in this area......there was a small hallway behind the wall where the head of my bed was and it entered into a large bathroom with all new fixtures and a walk in glass walled shower with a large shower head with great water pressure and a heated towel rack. The small room was worth the large bathroom&#33; The hotel is also centrally located - less than a block from the Russell Square Station on the Piccadilly line and very close to shopping - within only 2 blocks - and the West End theaters.<br /><br />London is really a wonderful city....the sights and the history are awesome, but it is so expensive. I did the cheapest tours possible....the HOHO busses....hop on, hop off busses. Food was expensive, but if you find a Tesco store or a Tesco express you can get food and beverages for a decent price.<br /><br />On the 30th we took taxis from the hotel to Waterloo Station to catch our train to Southampton. The train was modern and smooth and ontime........when they say they leave at 11:39.....they leave exactly at 11:39&#33; Arrived in Southampton to catch a taxi to the pier...not a very long ride.....and dropped of our luggage and checked in to board the Jewel of the Seas.<br /><br />The Jewel is a beautiful ship. I had an E3 balcony cabin on deck 7....nice size room with the usual small bathroom and shower and a nice balcony. Only problem with this cabin is that the balcony overlooks the covers for the lifeboats. So you could not look directly down into the water. Room Stewardess was Karthini (rhymnes with Martini) from the Philipines. She was wonderful. Every request was met promptly and the room was immaculate every day. <br /><br />We were at table 510 in the Tides dining room - the upper deck - a table for 10 with 9 people at it. I want to thank Suzy, Curran, Kim, Jack, Carole, Victor, Karen and Don for being wonderful tablemates. Philip - we missed you&#33; Maybe next time we do a TA you can join us&#33; Our waiters were Ashvir and Mangesh - both from India. They were absolutely wonderful. Recommendations were spot on....we never had to wait for anything to be offered or refilled. Shashi was our cocktail water.......knew our drink preferences after the first night. Always prompt and service with a smile. Food was good.......some dishes were great, some were not so great. I was a bit disappointed with the dessert selection. Nothing was really outstanding.....not even the warm chocolate cake. But, we did not go hungry and none of us lost weight so it couldn&#39;t have been too bad. I did not go to either Chops or Portofinos this cruise. I also did not eat at the Windjammer very often for either breakfast or lunch. I usually went to Tides for breakfast or did room service. I never had lunch up at the WJ...but I did do late afternoon snacks a couple of times. I loved the pepperoni pizza from room service.....usually had that mid afternoon as my lunch after returning from an excursion or from some rousing trivia games.<br /><br />My nightly stop for drinks pre and post dinner was the Schooner Bar......Gerardo and Pavmir were the bartenders there and they were wonderful....they make a mean martini&#33;<br /><br />I did not participate in alot of activites, but usually did the afternoon Name That Tune Trivia, General Trivia and the Evening Trivia in the Schooner Bar before dinner. The cruise staff was really great.....especially assistant CD&#39;s Brendan from the US and Lissandro from Argentina. They really engaged their audiences and made us laugh.....and not with the standard corny CD jokes. I also participated in a putt putt golf tournament with our CC group.....4 rounds on a rocking and rolling 9 hole golf course. Let&#39;s just say it was fun trying to put the ball with the movement of the ship and the wind. Tiger Woods I am not&#33;<br /><br />This was a 12 night cruise with only 3 port stops. Le Havre, France.....our CC group did a private excursion to the beaches of Normandy and a stop in Honfleur on the way back. In Normandy we went to Pointe du Hoc where the 101st Airborne took the cliffs from the Germans&#39; Omaha Beach; The American Cemetery at Colleville (one of the most awe inspiring and spiritual places I have ever been) and then on to Arromanches which was one of the beaches the British forces took on D day. At Arromances you can see the remains of one of the two artifical harbors that were built by the Allies that were wiped out about 2 weeks after being built by a monster storm that hit the Normandy Coast. We then went on to Honfleur which was very pretty, but very expensive. <br /><br />Next stop was La Coruna, Spain. Not really much here except a lighthouse from the Roman Era......3 of the 4 excursions offered by RCCL went to Santiago de Compestela to the cathederal there to see the remains of St. James - one of the apostles. Most passengers thought this stop could have been skipped.<br /><br />The last stop before the 6 straight sea days was Funchal, Madeira. What a beautiful place&#33; So lush and mountainous. I did the half day tour that stopped at Cabo Girao, the highest seacliff in Europe and the second highest in the world, and a couple of other places. Got a chance to sample some Madeiran wine and cheeses and a specialty bread. Next time I return to Madeira I want to do the whole island tour, not just this half day one. The people here are so friendly and warm. The weather is just perfect but prices are quite high. I could live here&#33;<br /><br />After 6 wonderful days at sea......5 of those days were 25 hour days as we slowly worked our way back to eastern standard time.......I just took it easy and relaxed. I have never come back from a cruise so refreshed and relaxed. I would only do westbound TA&#39;s because of the extra hours of sleep....you have 23 hour days doing eastbound TA&#39;s and I don&#39;t think I could handle that.<br /><br />More westbound transatlantics are in my future for sure&#33; I can handle the long flights over if I have those long relaxing days coming back.<br /><br />This was my fourth cruise on RCCL out of 17....this cruise was one of my best despite the average food.....the friends I made from CC, the crew on board and the extra long days were wonderful.',1195111496,0,'Transatlantic','',333,'sailinglisa',1,76,0,0,0,0,0,15755,0,NULL),(274,179,'3/11/2007','Tops&#33; Even better than the last Regatta cruise.','We flew to Ft. Lauderdale and drove to Miami.  We stayed at another boutique hotel, the Habana Libra, on Collins Avenue, South Beach.  This hotel excuded a real charm as one might expect to find in Old Havana..<br /><br />We dined at Don Shulas Steak House, a bad copy of Mortons, in fact, not as good as Outback, and way - way over priced.  The second night we hit upon Yucca, pronouced Juke-ah, a charming Cuban, haute cuisine place on Lincoln Rd.  Dine al fresco, or in, and enjoy the fine food.  Both mornings we ate breakfast at Jerrys Deli, formerly Pimpernicks and part of the Wolfie Cohen deli family, and very good.  The art deco inside of Jerrys is beautiful.<br /><br />I belong to a maritime historical society and as it turned out I was invited to a private luncheon on the Regatta the day of our cruise. All was wonderful and the ship was as stunning as last cruise.<br /><br />We were led to our stateroom, by French dressed stewardessess, who knew us by name, there is a trick to that, they did not remember us personallay,  but it made us feel good.  We booked Concierge Level, and will never sail Oceania and not be Concierge Level again.<br /><br />A bottle of Perrier Jouet from Oceania, and a bottle of Mumms Cordon Rouge from Mark, our trusted travel agent, were waiting. Our fridge was stocked with assorted spirits, beer, wines and sodas, a basket held snacks and pasckaged nuts, Evian water was on ice, a floral arrangement, and fruit were placed along the ice buckets.  Upgraded toiletries  were in the bath.  Other concierge amenities were: use of a cashmere lap throws, for use on the large balcony, two costly tote bags, to keep as gifts,, free shoe shines, free DVD library use, and prefered reservations at Toscana and Polo, two visits, in place of the standard one per cabin.  We KNEW this would be a wonderful 12 days.<br /><br />The first night we dined at Toscana, on real Maine lobster, cooked in a manner that suited the passenger, or fra diablo, the restaurants trademark, of which I had two lobsters that night.  We wenr back for more, and visited with new friends that we made on board.  Polo was equally as grand, and the Main Dining Room was wonderful.  All told, dining on Regatta is truly what you sail on the ship, and Oceania Cruises, for.<br /><br />Our ports were wonderful, typical Caribbean ports, good shopping here, or a good beach there.  We sail for the ship, and suince we have been to the Caribbean a million times, I kid you on thatt, we are rather blasse abouth the islands.<br /><br />We learned and had this confirmed by e-mail when we got home, Oceania is building to btrand new sahips, due our in 2020 and 2011.  Now, that is good news, indeed.',1195150049,0,'Southern Caribbean','',3988,'Kenneth Eden',1,52,0,0,0,0,0,15765,0,NULL),(275,149,'4/2/05','Navigator of the Seas is a wonderful ship that truly changed the life of my wife and I, and &quot;is an event that lives in infinity&quot;.','In route: Detroit to Miami April 2nd 2005, non-eventful flight as I recall, only the thoughts of what the future would bring, having never cruised before. A little scary for both of us, but the couple that was traveling with us (that had a cruise or two of experience), not a care was visible.<br /><br />Boarding: Got in the terminal and on board early and was blown out of the water, by everything. Almost immediately, my wife and I had discovered our true vacation calling in life, The Royal Caribbean Cruise&quot;. 90 degrees and sun shine didn&#39;t hurt either.<br /><br />April 3rd, Clouds and 83, and a full day on the ship. A day of doing nothing was perfect for us. A chair in the sun, a drink or two and a good book. Can&#39;t go wrong there.<br /><br />April 4th, Labadee, Hispaniola: Mixed Sunshine, Clouds and 83 degrees. I discovered Jerk Chicken and the group discovered hammocks at the far end of the fenced in area. A very, very relaxing day of sun, water, hammocks, Jerk Chicken, sun, water,  Jerk Chicken, sun and more  Jerk Chicken. Two buildings on site for local crafts, one pre-priced for a relaxed experience, then theres the &quot;Wild and Crazy&quot; building. WOW, hold on tight for that one.<br /><br />April 5th, Ocho Rios, Jamacia &amp; 85 degrees and some rain. No explorations planned or scheduled on this new be. Walked and shopped.<br /><br />April 6th, Grand Cayman, B.V.I. &amp; 82 degrees. Walked and shopped and took photo&#39;s. Hard Rock Cafe for the usual goodies.<br /><br />April 7th, Cozumel, Mexico &amp; 80 degrees. Broken record of walking and more shopping. At the far end of the strip that faces the bay is the greatest store (even though the name escapes me). Large, clean and they have everything under the sun, including dining. <br /><br />April 8th, at Sea &amp; 83 degrees. Again, a chair in the sun, a drink or three and a good book, still can&#39;t go wrong there.<br /><br />Windjammer Cafe: Everything was excellent&#33; <br /><br />Nutcracker Dinning: Excellent, nothing bad or even close.<br /><br />Metropolis Theatre &amp; Studio B: All the entertainment and programs were good&#33;<br /><br />Staff: This staff was the best of 5 Royal Caribbean so far. Better then family..........<br /><br />Departing the Ship: No problems, everything smooth leaving the ship, facility and in getting our bags.<br /><br />Homeward Bound: Miami to Detroit, from Sun to Gloom and depression. Thant&#39;s ok, were going to do this cruise thing again.<br />',1195398222,0,'Western Caribbean','',4250,'TLA',1,57,0,0,0,0,0,15989,0,NULL),(276,161,'12/5/05','Majesty of the Seas was a good ship, starting to show signs of needed improvement, (but since has been up graded). Would take her for a spin again. NOTE: 4 days go by very fast&#33;','In Route: Detroit to Miami on December 4th (a day before departure), in a good way to go, especially coming from the snow belt in December.<br /><br />Hotel: There&#39;s a Holiday Inn &quot;Port of Miami-Downtown&quot;, that has a view of the bay, your ship and an open air mall across the street. Bubba Gump&#39;s restaurant is great. Would stay here every time we cruise from here, if getting there a day in advance&#33;<br /><br />Boarding:Typical Royal Caribbean fashion, no problems what so ever and a short process to get on board. And the 81 degrees didn&#39;t hurt nor the partly cloudy sky&#39;s.<br /><br />December 5th, heading for Nassau, Bahamas in 81 degree weather is not a bad thing, especially when it&#39;s snowing back home.<br /><br />December 6th, Nassau, Bahamas was ok. Atlantis was nice to see, took a little tour around the island that was ok, but just never felt comfortable, in a relaxing way. Hard to explain, no rush to go back there.<br /><br />December 7th, Cloudy and 75, waves didn&#39;t allow us to be tendered into Coco Cay. That&#39;s a crapper, as we discovered in more recent cruises, we like Coco Cay. So we spent the day on deck, sucking up what sun that was available (along with a adult beverage), which was better than getting hit with snow flakes and 28 degree wind chill. Also note, very few kids this time of year on the ship, an added bonus.<br /><br />December 8th, back to 80 degrees and a few clouds at Key West Florida. Wow this place has changed since my last trip there in 1974. Walked around town, hit Margarettiaville &amp; Hard Rock to add to my shirt collection. Food was good at Margarettiaville at least. Like Nassau, Key West is a nice place to visit but the we&#39;d rather be further south in the Caribbean.<br /><br />Windjammer Cafe &amp; Maytime/Mikado Dining Room: For the most part it was good but not as good as prior or more recent cruises. The remodeling of the ship surely addressed this.<br /><br />A Chorus Line Lounge: Comedy was ok, but the &quot;VIVA&quot; show was much better.<br /><br />Staff: Good people, no issues with cabin service, wait service or food and beverage.<br /><br />Departing the Ship: Same a boarding, in the typical Royal Caribbean fashion, no problems. <br /><br />Homeward Bound: Miami to Detroit has been a good flight on Norhtwest, except for the tight seats.<br /><br />Overview: 4 days of the Royal treatment just isn&#39;t long enough. Miami is one of the very best locations to depart from, though Tampa is a close second.',1195730202,0,'Bahamas','',4250,'TLA',1,35,0,0,0,0,0,16089,0,NULL),(277,148,'4/2/06','Mariner is another wonderful &quot;Voyager class&quot; ship, equal to the Navigator we first discovered. After a few cruises on this class/size ship, it&#39;s tough to book on a smaller class.','In Route: Spring Break &quot;06&quot; from Detroit to Orlando &amp; onto Port Canaveral (a new route/port for us). Also brought along the 15 &amp; 13 year old. Both never flew or cruised, (and one is scared of heights and new adventures as well). Surprisingly they both took to the flight like &quot;peas and carrots&quot;<br /><br />Boarding: Orlando airport was a little tough to navigate, but found our Royal Caribbean bus, the same time the other 2,800 passengers did. Not as easy as the plane, to taxi, to port, to ship route, but once bags were on the bus and the group loaded, the bus ride to the port was fine. Ok, maybe a little long.<br /><br />Boarding: Took a little while working our way through the other 2,800 passengers (our newest best friends), but overall not bad. The terminal was nice and the staff was good. Kids were blown away once on board and looked around this big baby-WOW.<br /><br />April 2nd, 84 degrees and 100% sunshine&#33; What a way to leave the states on a vacation. This is a kid friendly ship and if you want them to get hooked on this cruise thing, this is the class ship to make them a cruise junkie. Mini golf is a favorite of this group as well as Pizza (Cafe Promenade) and Johnny Rocket&#39;s onion rings.<br /><br />April 3rd, Coco Cay, Bahamas was a great sunny 76 degree day, even though the beach was a little on the packed side. Get off the ship first to pick the premium spots (we didn&#39;t). Enjoyed renting the foam floating beach mat (&#036;10) and looking over the fish, that are looking back at us. At one point we were walking through the coral areas not paying attention and just happen to look down to see that I was surrounded by fish looking me over, maybe 35 to 40 of them. That will scare the crap out of you, especially when the fish are licking their lips....... that part about licking their lips sounded good anyway. There was an Eel near by as well, so it was time to take a trip to another location less Eel-ly.<br /><br />April 4th, was a day at sea, in route to St. Thomas. 83 and a little rain here and there. My thinking was this was a vacation day, but the kids wanted to hang with us most of the time so we hit a lot of activities, maybe 60% of them. If your kids like to be out on there own and hang with other kids, you&#39;ll be able to have a little more &quot;own&quot; vacation time.<br /><br />April 5th, 83 degrees and a little rain in the forecast, but it never showed up. At St Thomas took a tour around the island, Megan&#39;s Bay and Blackbeard&#39;s Hill. Walked around town after Blackbeard&#39;s Hill and did a little shopping grabbed a bit at the Subway sandwich shop (stay away from that place). The day went by very quickly and everyone had a good time (except for the Subway sandwiches), would like to come back again.<br /><br />April 6th, and again 83 degrees and a little rain in the forecast, but it failed to showed up. Took an island tour which was good and bad. Seen some of the island, Orient Beach and then some local shopping areas. Here&#39;s the details, in some areas they use an inland lakes as the trash/dump land fill (sad), at Orient Beach my 13 year old daughter discovered what a naked 78 year old male sun bather looks like, and the bathrooms at the local shopping &amp; gathering area should have a sign that says &quot;Enter at your own risk&quot;, in other words DON&#39;T GO IN THERE&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;<br /><br />April 6th and 7th, partly cloudy and 84 degrees. Both were &quot;at sea&#39; days. Kids had a great time, great meals, great explorations.<br /><br />Windjammer Cafe, Johnny Rockets &amp;  Promenade Cafe: Everything was excellent, lines a little long once in a while, but it&#39;s spring break, to be expected.<br /><br />Rhapsody Dining: The food will spoil you rotten and is beyond excellent. Service was a little less than the Navigator of the Seas cruise we first took.<br /><br />Savory Theater, Studio B: All the shows were great especially the ice shows. <br /><br />Staff: Becky Thomson the Cruise Director was great as well as 99% of the other staff.<br /><br />Departing: Always a sad day&#33; Bus trip back was fine, airport packed as expected.<br /><br />Homeward Bound: Orlando to Detroit was uneventful, gave the kids time to reflect on a whole new experience and a world only seen on TV. They are already for another cruise trip, &quot;Spring break 07&quot;, this time Tampa bound, they just don&#39;t know it yet.',1195738900,0,'Western Caribbean','',4250,'TLA',1,28,0,0,0,0,0,16091,0,NULL),(278,22,'11-04-07','We had a good time, but were greatly disappointed in the Conquest.  It did not measure up to our previous experiences on Carnival.','We have sailed on many of the Carnival Fantasy and Destiny class ships.  We love the Destiny class and as the Conquest was newer and bigger, we were expecting great things.  This was definitely not the case.  The bathroom in our balcony stateroom was about 1/2 the size as in the Destiny class ships.  It was impossible to take a shower without completely flooding the bathroom.  We called this to our room steward&#39;s attention and he told us not to worry about it as it was common on the ship.  <br /><br />The decline in the quality of the food was quite noticable.  The orange juice was so watered down, it tasted more like water with a faint orange taste.  The scrambled eggs appeared to be &quot;watered down&quot; also.  The steaks in the main dining room were very thin, I woud guess 1/2&quot; thick at the very most.  They were sirloin steaks and I tried them on 2 different nights, and both nights they were not of a good quality.   <br /><br />Most nights, there was only one show, instead of the normal 2.  This production occurred at 10:30.  The few times we went, If you did not arrive 45 minutes early, you weren&#39;t going to get a seat.  The quality of the shows was definitely not up to usual Carnival standards.<br /><br />As I said, we had a good time as we were with dear friends and we were on a cruise, but we will not sail on the Conquest again.  Our friend commented that maybe they had made so many cutbacks due to the higher cost of fuel.  At that time, we did not know about Carnival&#39;s new fuel surcharge.  I think they have more than made up for the extra cost in the other areas that I stated.',1195878309,0,'Western Caribbean','',2611,'Gregswife',1,173,0,0,0,0,0,16114,0,NULL),(279,115,'11-16-07','Great laid back cruise','Embarkcation<br /> 15 minutes from the metal detector to our stateroom WOW.<br /><br /><br />Food<br /> This was a disapointment. The food was good , not great. The selection was strange (sushi for breakfast). The appatiserers were not very appatizing and the selection of desserts was sparse.<br /><br />Entertainment<br /> Toprate and a good variety. The casino had a good section of tables and slots (1c 2c 5c 25c &#036;1 &#036;5)<br /><br />Ports<br /> The southern itinerary stopped at Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St Thomas, and the Princess private island.',1196200424,0,'Southern Caribbean','',4180,'joelmickey',1,111,0,0,0,0,0,16174,0,NULL),(280,109,'07-02-07','Great itinerary &#33;<br />Great Ship &#33;<br />','<br />We took East Mediterranean Cruise on the Nautica, one of three Oceania ships. The experience was delightful. Our cruise began July 2, 2007, in Piraeus, the port for Athens, went to Santorini, Kusadasi, Rhodes, Delos, Mykonos, Thira, Katakolon, Corfu, Dubrovnik and ended in Istanbul. We recommend the ship to any adults who want good food, good company, and good experiences ashore.<br /><br />We spent several days in Athens first, at the Athenaeum InterContinental. Oceania had a welcome desk there before cruise departure, but you could seldom find the Oceania person and when we finally did, she was unhelpful and gave us inaccurate information. The InterContinental put us in a taxi to the cruise terminal, where we went through a perfunctory and useless security check. From there, Nautica took over and the boarding process was simple and friendly. We were in our stateroom within 15 minutes of leaving the taxi and at the welcoming lunch buffet 10 minutes later. Most of the luggage arrived promptly. The final piece was delayed a couple hours.<br /><br />We found the stateroom, 4049, well located--about 35 steps from the reception desk, central stairway, and elevators. The room was beautiful, in perfect condition, quiet, about average size for a cruise ship, with dark woods, a large window, a comfortable queen-size bed, a small desk and padded stool, small love-seat and a coffee table, and a functional TV that showed movies. Storage space was more than adequate, and suitcases fit under the bed. We had no balcony, and never felt we needed one. The bathroom was on the small side, with adequate storage space but a tiny shower. The hot water was always hot, but the shower is probably the worst feature of the Nautica. An attendant cleaned the room twice daily, did a perfect job, and was seldom seen.<br /><br />Overall, the ship was beautiful, very well decorated, traditional but not old-fashioned, and superbly maintained. You could hardly find a scuff mark anywhere. The ship carries only 680 passengers, which puts it on the small side these days. We, and everyone we talked to, liked the size, which was big enough but not too big. While cruising, the ship was stable. The swimming pool was small but adequate, with two whirlpools, and the deck area was adequate. There were a variety of places to sit in the sun or lean on the railing. There was a nice library, a good-sized fitness area, a small casino, and two shops. A string quartet frequently played, as did a pianist. The stage entertainment was typical of cruise ships. There were few children on our trip, and there should have been none. <br /><br />Nautica doesn&#39;t encourage children, and these kind of trips aren&#39;t suited for them. Food was usually very good, sometimes excellent, and a few times even superb. It would occasionally fall into the &quot;okay&quot; category. The elegant Grand Dining Room operates during specified periods as announced each day in the ship newsletter. You are not assigned a table or an eating time. <br /><br />There are no formal nights. You dress &quot;country club casual.&quot; No tie or jacket is required for men. Some jackets but only a few ties were in evidence. You decide whether to eat with others or not. Service was good. The buffet, at the stern of the ship, has superb views and is called the Terrace Caf? for breakfast and lunch and Tapas for dinner. On three consecutive evenings, we sat at one of the outdoor tables at the buffet and watched the sun set over the Black Sea, an experience to treasure. Menu selection was varied, and presentation was excellent in both restaurants. Oceania advertises that &quot;legendary chief&quot; Jacques Pepin created some of the dishes on the menu. That seemed overrated to us. Near the pool was a grill, operating from about noon to 4 p.m., where you could get good hamburgers and hotdogs, a few other sandwiches, ice cream, and go through a salad buffet. There are two alternative restaurants, Toscana, featuring Italian, and the Polo Grill, featuring beef. You make reservations, but do not pay extra at them. While fine, they are overhyped. The dining room and buffet were just as good. The Nautica does not scrimp on food. Prime rib was on the menu several nights, a roast sucking pig was served one day, and shrimp prepared in various ways was available almost every day.<br /><br />We met the captain once at a ship&#39;s party. Otherwise, he was not much in evidence. Tours of the bridge, kitchen and engine room were not advertised. A concierge is available during the day. When our room keys acted up, he quickly had the problem fixed. The staff comes from many countries, and most had good command of English and were very friendly.<br /><br />Shore excursions were as with many ships, terribly overpriced. Details about them, necessary to decide which ones to select, were hard to come by before we boarded. Calls to the 800 Oceania number were answered by dour, unhelpful individuals. For some of the port of calls we decided to prebook private shore excurions through local tour operators before boarding to Nautica. <br /><br />Athens - we used Spiros from www.athenstaxi.net He is very reasonable...around 200 euro for up to 4 people for a full day tour. <br /><br />Rhodes - we used Nick of Rhodes Private Tours nick-ax@rho.forthnet.gr We went all over Rhodes and over to Lindos - great trip<br /><br />Kusadasi (Ephesus) - We used Ephesus Private Tours. E-mail is ephesustours###### web site: <a href=\"http://connect.to/ephesustours\" target=\"_blank\">http://connect.to/ephesustours</a> I found them very courteous, professional, and very quick to respond to my emails. There are many wonderful reviews about this company. They were first class and the guide was very helpful and informative. <br /><br />Except Mykonos in rest of the port we booked ships excursions. Among them our favorite port was Santorini&#33; We took the half day tour and still had time to shop and make it back to the ship for a late lunch. Everyone takes either the gondola or the donkies back down to the tenders&#33; Fun&#33; <br />In Mykonos, we didn&#39;t take a tour because the ship has a shuttle bus to town. We enjoyed the photo opportunities here as well as shopping for music. We heard some complaints from people who paid for tours here... but then there are always some unhappy campers everywhere&#33; <br /><br />In talking to many of our fellow passengers, we heard nearly-unanimous praise for the Nautica. A surprising number of them had been on Oceania two or three times before, although the company has existed only a few years. One woman, apparently a chronic complainer, said maintenance of her stateroom was lacking, crew were impolite, and food was not &quot;phenomenal.&quot; It was difficult to believe her first two claims. As for the food, meals were always enjoyable and delicious; for &quot;phenomenal,&quot; you go to gourmet restaurants. Several passengers got on board without their luggage. I suspect that was the fault of airlines. I would strongly advise against arriving in Europe on the same day your cruise ship departs?too much opportunity for trouble. Service in the Nautica buffet was at times a little slow. The staff should also enforce the dress code. We had a few louts who came to the buffet in sleeve-less t-shirts and baggy shorts, and one who talked loudly on a cell phone.',1196777673,0,'Eastern Mediterranean','',4368,'jnogg',1,87,0,0,0,0,0,16274,0,NULL),(281,28,'11-7-07','We selected this cruise ship because of the itinerary and cost.  We combined this sailing with their 8-day Western Caribbean and had ourselves a 16-day cruise.  We booked 9 months in advance so that we could have the same cabin.  Overall itinerary was fab','Carnival isn&#39;t really our first choice for ships.  But we couldn&#39;t pass up the itineraries and cost.  The ship seemed more polished the first 8 days.  Little things were broken and unattended to for the entire 2nd cruise (coffee machines, ice machines).<br /><br />The activities, jokes, meals, and most of the entertainment were all the same first week to second.  (We have done other Eastern/Western Caribbean cruises where at least the menus were different.)<br /><br />The overall cleanliness of the ship was very good.  The food, however, was mediocre.<br /><br />If you can think of the Carnival Miracle as your transportation to some great ports and can get a really good booking (we paid &#036;750/pp per week for BALCONY, top floor for rooms), go for it&#33;',1196891909,0,'Southern Caribbean','',4364,'DebbieandJerry',1,112,0,0,0,0,0,16300,0,NULL),(282,134,'12-02-07','As was the case in 2004, a fantastic trip, despite some glitches&#33; Once again, Bravo, Wind Surf&#33;','Review<br /><br />Windstar ?Wind Surf? ? ?The Tender Trap? by Joan of Joanandjoe<br /><br />Cruise:<br />	12/2-9/2007 ? Barbados to Barbados <br /><br />Overview<br /><br />This was our third cruise on the Wind Surf, after back to back cruises in the Mediterranean in November, 2004.  We sailed to small ports, all the while feeling that we were privileged and pampered. Nothing beats the feeling of being on a ship under sail, and we spent quite a bit of time under sail, with the engine disengaged. It?s a pleasure to sail with a few hundred other passengers, rather than a few thousand.<br /><br />Why is the title for our review ?the tender trap?? Because four of the six ports were ports where we anchored and then took tenders to shore. That got to be something of a drag, and limited our ability to come and go off the ship.<br /><br />Description of the ship<br /><br />The MSY Windstar is a ?motorized sailing yacht?. It is about half the length of a mega ship, but much narrower, and with far fewer decks (6, plus a partial sun deck). There are a maximum of 312 passengers and 190 crew. Most staterooms are 188 square feet, with portholes (no balconies), with everything built in. The rooms, despite their relatively small size, are so well designed that they feel roomy. Best of all, they feel nautical, as if they are staterooms on a yacht. In contrast, cruise ship rooms, even elegant ones such as our suites on the Noordam and Regent Seven Seas Navigator, feel like hotel rooms that happen to be on a ship.<br /><br />There is one main public room, the lounge, and several bars. There is a fairly large (for 300 people) gym, and a sports platform that is lowered when the ship is anchored and not docked. Dress code is elegant casual:  suits and fancy dresses are not seen at all on this itinerary or in the Med., and they supposedly have a rule that anyone caught wearing a tie will be banned from the dining room.<br /><br />This is not really a family ship. On our three cruises, two had no kids at all, while the third had two or three. While perhaps 60 percent of the PAX were over 50, there was a pretty good mix of younger people as well. Shore excursions tended to be active:  perhaps a bit too much so for the age mix. If you are not fairly mobile, this probably is not the ship for you.<br /><br />Best part of the trip<br /><br />The crew was friendly and helpful, the passengers were interesting, the ports were relaxing, and the ship itself was fun. It was great having a feeling of elegance, yet not having to dress up ? Windstar really does have ?casual elegance?.<br /><br />Worst part of the trip<br /><br />Transfers, embarkation, disembarkation, and the tenders. The tenders were needed for almost every port ?  hard to enter and leave, with strong gas fumes, they meant we never made a second trip back to the ports after we boarded the ship.  The visit to the emergency room (see below).<br /><br />Embarkation<br /><br />My husband underwent an emergency appendectomy Monday night before the cruise.  He couldn?t lift our suitcases, stand for long periods, and was certainly mobility impaired.  American Airlines? wheelchair techniques at JFK were honed to perfection (true as well at the end of the trip), and we settled in our coach seats philosophically, if not comfortably.  We had opted for Windstar?s own hotel and their transfers ? a waste of time and money, if not worse.  We staggered off the plane, and tried to find our luggage.  In Barbados, we had to walk down 12 steps to get to the tarmac.  No wheelchairs.  We were herded onto a bus, jammed in at the airline?s convenience.  No wheelchair.  No Windstar representative.   It took an hour  for our luggage to come out of the luggage carousel, and the porter we found took another party out in the time it took our luggage to come out.  Where was our Windstar transfer?  All through the airport, people were standing holding signs.  Windstar?s representative was a block from the exit, and when we found her she had just sent the bus away.  We waited, and waited, and waited?When we got to the Accra Beach hotel, they had NO RESERVATION for us.  The Windstar  representative at the desk found us a hotel room long after my comfort level plummeted to ?wish I?d stayed home?.  Their upgraded room, meant as a generous gesture, turned out to be a menace when Joe had a bad fall coming out of the hot tub, and injured his back. We spent Saturday night in a Barbados emergency room.<br />.   <br />Two Windstar ships were loading from the same hotel the next day.  They loaded within a few minutes of each other, a BIG MISTAKE.  Why did the company combine three different busloads?  One busload went on a tour, one went to the Wind Star and one was supposed to go to the Wind Surf.  All three groups jammed the lobby, milling around and causing confusion.  We stood in three lines?an ordeal for my husband.  Once we got on board, Joe went for a walk off the ship, and found our luggage in a shed on the pier.  It was nearly loaded onto the wrong ship&#33;  Joe had to do a lot of negotiating to get our luggage onto the proper ship.  <br /><br />Accommodations<br /><br />The Accra Beach  hotel might have been charming if we?d arrived  promptly, had a shower, and a nap.  Instead, we were overtired by the time we entered our room.  Joe fell on the Jacuzzi, and the resulting trip to the emergency room on Saturday night further depleted our health.  Fortunately, Debbie the manager trainee and her male counterpart were compassionate and  helpful.  The got us into a taxi, both ways, found us a clinic with an x-ray service, and even managed to make the process seem dignified.  They got us to a clinic, where Joe had an X-Ray and the M.D. on duty urged to get back on the cruise ship the next day.  I?m still grateful to Debbie and the male night manager for the happy outcome.  They were the difference between a lawsuit and a commendation.  Still, I wouldn?t pay for Windstar?s own transfers and hotel again.  It was poor quality for the money.<br /><br />As indicated in our 2004 review of the ship, these were the smallest rooms we?d had on our ten ocean cruises (188 square feet), but we knew that the room had not been a problem in 2004. Though compact, our stateroom was very comfortable, and we had no cabin fever. There seemed to be room for all our belongings. We did miss having a bath tub; but we knew that in advance.<br /><br />The steward was unobtrusive.  Our room was kept clean, and when we asked for something (ice, more shampoo, etc.) it arrived promptly. The towels and bathrobes were good, and the fruit bowl was kept filled.<br /><br />Dining<br /><br />The food in the dining rooms was so good, and so convenient, we never felt a need to eat elsewhere.  . Breakfast and lunch were served in the Veranda room; however, we quickly found that we could avoid crowds, and get waiter service for several items, if we sat in the adjacent room, Degrees (formerly known as the Bistro). The breakfast choices always included pancakes, French toast, waffles, and at least one light cuisine choice. Eggs were made to order, smoked salmon was available every day, and the fruit was fresh and abundant. There was lots of fruit, meusli, great breads and pastries, and stuff we never even tried, such as British breakfast, cold cereal, breakfast meats (hot and cold), etc.  <br /><br />We ate every lunch on the ship, except for the beach barbeque.   Most lunches had themes (Italian, Spanish, Asian), and the choices were generally interesting. Grilled food, such as fish and burgers, was always available. The salads were especially varied and interesting. There were always lots of desserts, including low fat and the famous HAL bread pudding. The review of ?sfg? of a 2002 cruise mentioned the need for a sandwich bar, and said that buffet choices were not too good. We felt that buffet choices were excellent. While there still is no area where the ship crew makes cold sandwiches, there are plenty of sandwich ingredients available, including great bread, for making your own sandwiches.  I have a habit of making sandwiches from the breakfast buffet to ease the munchies, and we found this helpful when our American Airlines flight failed to serve edible food.  Yes, a Windstar raisin bread and cheese sandwich smelled better after 8 hours than the airline?s &#036;5.00 sandwiches.  <br /><br />The barbeque on the beach at Mayreau was one of the highlights of the trip.  The succulent ribs, lamb chops, and corn were culinary standouts.  The steel band was a hoot, the vendors were laid back and had colorful things to sell.  They had some of the best prices for shells here.  We had the entire island to ourselves?and it was lovely.  I went into the ocean three times, lined up for food and dessert twice, and even shooed away the crows.  Unlike Pigeon Island, we COULD find our way to the appropriate area, and enjoy the time on shore.  <br /><br />The alternate restaurant outdid itself on Indonesian night, but we like that type of food more than most people.  The alternate restaurant was otherwise OK, but the regular dining room was superb.  EXCEPT for a 40-minute wait for our entrees on the last night, while people who came after us were served before us, the service was fine.  We were hungry by 7:30 PM, the hour the restaurant opened,  so often sat at a table for two for prompter service.  <br /><br />Ports, Itinerary, and Excursions<br /><br />All ports except two (Dominica and Grenada) were tender ports.  In Dominica, a larger cruise ship took the convenient port near the center of town, and we were docked more than a mile from town. It might as well have been a fifth tender port.  Joan missed lunch to shop at her favorite ?native? store, J. Nassief, and it was a stretch.  <br /><br />The crew did their best with the tenders, but they remained a source of seasickness and fumes.  I believe Joe?s lack of mobility made us more sensitive to this drawback, but we found it a negative.  The ports varied: in  Pigeon Island,  thanks to the useless port talks,  we never found the correct beach and regretted getting off the ship; in Mayreau we could see the tenders going back and forth with food and drink and almost smell the succulent barbecue. In most of the other ports, we shared private tours with Rochelle and Elliot, whom we met through another cruise board.   <br /><br />The sports platform was open on all four tender days, with sailing, kayaking, swimming and snorkeling (off a boat launched from the platform, not the platform itself), and other activities. We didn&#39;t try it, but it looked like fun.<br /><br />In Bequia, we engaged Noel, the driver of a safari taxi. The three hour tour, for four people, was under &#036;30 per person, maybe close to &#036;20. The ship&#39;s tour, which includes one thing (moon holes) that we didn&#39;t see, is in the &#036;85 range.<br /><br />In Grenada, I took a river tubing tour from the ship, and it was a hoot ? flying past huge rocks in a tube, getting wet and muddy, and  laughing our heads off .  The driver in the River Tubing graciously drove  us to world-famous Annandale Falls before taking us back to the ship.  <br />loved it. Joe, Rochelle, and Elliot took a tour with a &amp; e Tours. A rather standard tour, but quite nice. Later, Joe and I walked through the market, and bought spices.<br /><br />Tobago taught us something about ship&#39;s tours. The ship has a snorkeling and glass bottom boat tour, for &#036;59 per person. They use all three glass bottom boat providers at a place called Speyside. We booked a &#036;20 glass bottom boat ride, plus &#036;10 per person for transportation, from Top Ranking glass bottom boats, and were surprised, when we arrived, to learn that our tour would be delayed by 30 minutes. Why? So the tour for the Wind Surf, on the same boat, could be completed. Our tour was actually better, because we had 10 people (8 from the Wind Surf), while there were about 25 people from the Wind Surf on the boat before we got on. Also, we had a choice of snorkeling or a nature walk on Little Tobago, while they had no choice--just snorkeling. Our tour cost half the amount of the &quot;official&quot; tour, on the same boat. What the heck is Windstar&#39;s profit margin?<br /><br />In Dominica we used Fredos taxi again, as we did last year. We went up to Carib Indian territory, and saw parts of the island that we didn?t go to last year, such as the emerald pool. Mr. Nice Fruits is a touristy place, but it?s still fun sampling many of the local fruits. All in all, a great tour.<br /><br />In Barbados we relied on the wonderful Glory Tours, as described below under disembarkation. <br /><br />Entertainment<br /><br />There wasn?t much of it, and we didn?t miss it. There was a small casino, and there were usually bands in the two lounges. They were not well populated most of the time: people were simply too tired after exciting days on shore. Most people rented DVDs, and watched them in their rooms.  Had we been night owls instead of early birds, we could easily have made our own entertainment. Nonetheless, if you want big, glitzy shows, this may not be the ship for you. The only ?show? was the weekly crew show, which was quite interesting.<br /><br />Level of service<br /><br />Generally excellent, except for the port talks. The crew made us feel pampered and special.   The trip helped Joe  recover from his surgery and trauma.  Once we got on board the ship, Windstar couldn?t do enough for us.  <br /><br />Tipping<br /><br />A standard &#036;11.00/day is added to your room bill.  I didn?t think it was enough, considering how hard the crew worked.  Iced Tea and water were free at the bar, no tip.  They cheerfully brought us many glasses of iced tea, just as if it was the best champagne, which carried a 15% tip.   <br /><br />Disembarkation<br /><br />Always a downer. Windsurf had a tie-in with some flights, so some people left before 5 a.m. We left at 8:30 and were met by Sarah Taylor, the owner of Glory Tours, who took us on a personalized tour for much less than the ship charge. When we found we still had time to kill before our late afternoon flight, she even added an extra hour to the tour (we went to the northern tip of the island) for no charge. Fantastic, and  (including the cost of a fish lunch at a local restaurant) we saved about &#036;30 per person compared with the ship?s tour.<br /><br />',1197768923,0,'Southern Caribbean','',2167,'Joanandjoe',1,47,0,0,0,0,0,16456,0,NULL),(283,40,'12-13-07','though a 24 years old ship She still has life;  The staff were exceptional.  the best against many.  We have cruised 10 X on Carnival.','having always cruised in the Spring/summer we tried Dec and took our son and new bride on short trip so they could experience.  Cozumel was as always a fun day.    went to Paradise beach which means you can walk to San Francisco or &#39;Carlos n Charlies&quot; which we did not.  At Paradise the sun came out (80 degrees) and there were appox. 50 people.  The beer was cold and the food great.  total cost with tips for 4 &#036;100.  <br /><br />The holiday being smaller had a &#39;rough time&#39; with the waves due to a storm front coming thruugh.  Many people needed the bags.  other than than the food was good, the people great.  Overall rate trip an 7 out of 10.',1198018206,0,'Western Mediterranean','',4059,'derbycruiser',1,45,0,0,0,0,0,16548,0,NULL),(284,33,'12-9-07','We had a great time on a very nice ship with excellent service and great ports.','We selected this cruise, our 11th on Carnival, for the snorkeling opportunities and a chance to visit Belize.<br />This was my second cruise on a Conquest class ship, so I was generally familiar with the ship layout.  Because of the two dining rooms on deck 3 with the kitchen between, it is not possible to go fore and aft on decks 3 or 4.  The theme of the ship, Valor, is carried out throughout with the Washington and Lincoln dining rooms, Rosie the Riveter Buffet,  the Winston?s Cigar Bar, hallways lined with images of astronauts, and many others, the Ivanhoe Theatre, etc.  The ship is in excellent condition.  The air conditioning system in Winston?s is inadequate, causing it to smell of stale smoke even the next morning, and you have to go through the Cigar Bar to get to the internet caf?, unless you enter from the main deck.<br /><br />We flew into Fort Lauderdale and took the shared Go Shuttle, which has a station outside the baggage claim area, to the pier in Miami.  There was no wait, and the charge was &#036;18 per person, versus the Carnival transfer of &#036;30 per person.  However, they do not book shared vans for a return to Fort Lauderdale, so we booked the return Carnival transfers at the purser?s desk.   Boarding in Miami was a 20 minute process, since we are now at the Platinum/Concierge level with Carnival.  Arriving just before 1pm, we were directed to the VIP lounge, seated a few minutes, then processed quickly and directed to board the ship immediately.  Our cabin was available.  We checked our dining assignment and found that we were not at a table for two, which we prefer, and found that an assistant Maitre De? was working the line in the Lincoln Dining Room.  After a better than 40 minute wait we were quickly accommodated with a table for 2 at the 8pm seating, as we had requested.  <br /><br />The dining venues on this ship include the two dining rooms, Washington aft on deck 3 and the larger of the two seating 1000, and the Lincoln, amidships on deck 3 seating 700.  Rosie?s buffet includes the buffet lines, including omelet stations, a deli, a wok station, and Fish and Chips on the upper level of Rosie?s, aft, where they serve batter fried fish and chips, fried oysters, bouillabaisse soup, tuna tartar and some seafood salads  Fish and Chips is only on the Conquest class ships.  The supper club, Scarlett?s has a mural of Tara with Clark Gable dancing, from Gone with the Wind.  It has a keyboard player and a songstress entertaining and a dance floor, which is open to all whether you are dining in the supper club or just looking for a location for some slow dancing.  There is a bar adjacent.  The dining area is divided into a port and a starboard dining area.  Reservations are required, but it was not full most nights, and all food is prepared there, to order, including lobster tail, 24 oz porterhouse steak, and more.  There is a &#036;30 per person service charge.  While we ate there one night, and service and food was very good, it was not up the high level and more spacious setting in the supper club on the spirit class ships, especially our favorite on the Carnival Legend.  The normal pizza/calzone/Caesar salad station is located on the Lido Deck aft by the aft pool, and there are two ?fast food? stations in the pool area, serving omelets in the morning and burgers, etc in the afternoon.  <br /><br />Food overall was excellent, with a nice variety of seafood in the dining room, including mahi mahi, red snapper, Pacific salmon, large lobster tails, and shrimp.  They also offer a Spa menu with low calorie choices of appetizer, salad and entr?e versions of items on the regular menu.  The meat choices were dominated by beef tenderloin offerings, including roast tenderloin, chateaubriand, and filet mignon.  Unfortunately they were all from the same cut of only a choice grade of beef.  While they had cr?me Brule the first night, cherries jubilee the second, and baked Alaska later in the week, most nights the desserts were uninspiring. The Melting Chocolate Cake is available every night.  The wine list has decent choices in the &#036;25-&#036;35 range, and of course some much more.  They offered a private tour of the galley with the assistant head chef for a small group of Platinum members, and a general tour in the afternoon for anyone interested.<br /><br />As it was the time of December holidays, they lit the Hanukkah candles each night in the atrium and had latkes one night.  There was also a gingerbread village there, and some Christmas trees and decorations in various places, but not as elaborate as we have seen on other cruises.  Our anniversary is in December and we cruise every year at this time.<br /><br />There were only two production shows during the week, and one we had seen before a year ago.  That was the first time that has happened in 34 cruises&#33;  The other nights they offered comedians and a hypnotist., and a juggler.  There was the usual welcome aboard show, mostly to introduce staff, and there was a holiday show the last day in the afternoon, which included children from Camp Carnival, the cruise director reading a story, the lead singers leading songs, Santa, and a gift and photo opportunity for each child..  They also had one evening show with karaoke performances by individuals who had competed during tryouts.<br /><br />We did enjoy the disco one night and there was a band playing each night in the Zebra Lounge, ?Rising Up?, that we had heard before on the Sensation.  They were excellent, playing rock, jazz, and some danceable music every night.  <br /><br />The Captain?s Welcome reception was on the second night, a sea day, the first formal night.  There were far more formally dressed people than I had observed on past Carnival cruises.  In fact, there were few not dressed at least informally (dark suit and tie/cocktail dress), and many tuxedoes and gowns.  The reception was in the Eagle Lounge, and unlike some I have attended, there were plenty of servers with complimentary food and beverages.  The past passenger reception was the third night, after leaving port, and again the food and beverage service was excellent.  <br /><br />Our ports were Grand Cayman, Roatan, Belize, and Cozumel.   Grand Cayman and Belize were tendering ports.  They use large tenders in Grand Cayman for the short ride and there really is little wait.  However in Belize, we availed ourselves of the priority tender boarding available to Platinum guests.<br /><br />In Grand Cayman we walked from the tender landing to Eden Roc, my favorite place to snorkel there.  There is no charge, they have lockers for rent, and a rest room, a dive ship, and a fresh water shower and place to rinse your gear.  I snorkeled for about an hour and besides fish, I was able to observe a very large turtle and later a smaller one.  We also visited the Tortuga Rum Cake shops, and then settled in at Senior Frog?s for a fun afternoon.  There were 5 ships in port<br /><br />In Roatan I had researched a resort on the other side of the island, at Paya Bay, near the marine reserve on the eastern end of the island.  Most tourist excursions go to the West End.  A driver met us and after nearly a half hour trying to clear the traffic jam near the pier, we had about an hour drive to the resort which allowed us to see much of the island.  The resort at Paya Bay provided us with a day room.  We enjoyed the beaches, almost all to ourselves, but the water was rough enough to have churned up too much sand for good snorkeling.  We did find some starfish on the other side of the resort, in a more secluded area.  After showering and changing in the day room we were served a lunch of empanada?s, salad, two large lobster tails and baked potato.  The ride back to the ship was about 50 minutes and when we got to the gate, the guard said they had already blown the whistle.  The folks on the ship cheered from balconies and the pool deck as we arrived&#33;  Carnival is investing in port facilities here, and the land has been prepared for construction by the pier.  There are no facilities right now other than the pier.<br /><br />In Belize the tender ride in high speed boats is 15 minutes.  We had made arrangement with ShoreTrips for a 4.5 hour snorkeling excursion to the reef and a visit to Cay Caulker.  The boat left at 10 am and it was a 40 minute ride to the reef.  We were led by guides over coral gardens at the edge of the reef.  There were plenty of fish, conch and hermit crabs, and a moray eel that actually came out of hiding to pursue one of the divers flashing something.  I was moving and did not take time to photograph him at that moment&#33;  We hen moved a short way by boat to a shallow area where snorkelers could wade and we were swarmed by sting rays, some to be held and fed.  A 4 foot barracuda and his smaller brother came by when the guides threw them a snack.  The nurse sharks that used to visit this ?shark alley? were not there, and the guides said the seldom show up anymore.  We then pulled in to Caye Caulker and purchased lunch at a local place.  We had a bit over an hour stay.  It would remind one of Key West 50 years ago.  The fish tacos were &#036;5 a plate, the rum punch &#036;3 and the Belikin beer was cold and &#036;3.  A great afternoon.  After the 40 minute ride back to Belize City, the lines for tenders to the ship were very long, so we skipped any shopping or bar hopping.  There were 5 ships there, causing much congestion on the pier.  <br /><br />An unusually late in the year tropical disturbance appeared between Cuba and Cozumel and it was windy with periodic showers in Cozumel.  We decided to skip the beach, although I had wanted to see how Chankanaab National Park had recovered, and when shopping.  It can get expensive when it rains&#33;  My wife got a new ring for her anniversary present, and then I recovered at Carlos and Charlie?s.  Conga lines and amazing things on the dance floor&#33;  Don?t laugh, your daughter was here yesterday, one sign says.  We were berthed at the international pier.  There were two ships there and two at Playa Longusta pier downtown.  The taxi ride is &#036;6 from the pier to town or back.  The pier destroyed in 2005 is still under construction, with just pilings in place.<br /><br />We had a great time on a very nice ship with excellent service and great ports.  I still run into people that say ?I?d never go on Carnival?it?s just a big party ship.?  The people that say that usually haven?t been aboard Carnival in 10 or 15 years.  The frat boys have grown up and the average customer on Carnival is now 47 years old, and we saw none of that.  We had a great time and look forward to our next cruise on her sister ship Carnival Liberty 75 days&#33;<br />',1198173898,0,'Western Caribbean','',131,'JohnG',1,85,0,0,0,0,0,16593,0,NULL),(285,112,'11-30-07','Loved the canal and would go again. Nice to see different ports of call for a change too.','We stayed pre-cruise at the Holiday Inn Airport. The staff was friendly and the room clean. It was a good deal for the price. Breakfast was included with the room. They also have a shuttle from the airport and to the pier.<br /><br />We arrived at the Princess pier around 11:30 and were in our cabin by 12:10. Princess does an excellent job at boarding. We were on Caribe deck cabin 515 a balcony. Princess has larger staterooms and great closet space but the bathrooms are some of the tiniest we have ever seen. Strangest thing about this ship is the food is located forward, an odd place since the front get the brunt of the waves. The lines for embarkation lunch were very, very long about 1:30 so we decided to try the grill and pizza place. The grill served hamburgers, bratwurst, hot dogs &amp; chicken sandwiches. The Pizza was very good and several varieties are available each day. Our cabin steward Noon was wonderful and filled our few requests very efficiently. <br /><br />Dining-We had traditional dining at 8:15 each night. Our waiter was Henry and he was wonderful. Princess?s food is well done for the most part. Princess?s pasta dishes were quite good so I ate my fair share all week. They also have afternoon tea in the dining room or snack in the Lido at 3:30 where they serve homemade ice cream. They have different flavors each day. Breakfast and Lunch in the Lido were the similar to other lines. Biggest problem is not enough seating especially at Breakfast. <br /><br />Our head waiter Henrique was the worst one we have ever had. He didn?t come to our table on the 1st or the last night. We aren?t sure why he even bothered since every night his greeting was the same, ?How is your dinner.? We would answer and he would say ?Very Good.? And walk away. It became a running joke. Princess has cut back since our last cruise with them a year ago. The anytime dining room had fresh cooked pasta, (you could smell the garlic throughout the ship) but the traditional didn?t. Our waiter had the assistant go down to anytime to get me the pasta and it was excellent&#33; I had some trouble eating a few nights since many of the dishes had peppers in them and they just don?t sit well with me. I could have had this taken care of if we had a decent head waiter but since ours was non-existent it made it difficult. Henry took good care of me however but I did leave a long note on our comment card about Henrique. <br /><br />The ports were Aruba, Cartegena Columbia, Panama Canal (into Gatun Lake) and then dock at Cristobel, Panama, Limon Costa Rica, and Ocho Rios Jamaica. The South American ports were all new to us so I?ll give you the rundown of our days in each. If you can read ?A Man, A Plan, A Canal? a great book of the canals history but dry reading at times. <br /><br />Cartegena, Columbia was a lovely place but the poverty level is 80%. We had a tour with Lee Miles. We had a large group 16 total and it cost &#036;40.00 each. It was 5 hours. We had a private guide named Claudia. She was excellent&#33;&#33;&#33; We visited many of the same places the ship tours go to including, churches, gold museum, the fort and shopping. We went shopping first and beat all the ships tours there. I only shopped in 2 stores, Mr. Emerald, where I bought a coffee bean pendant &#036;17 and an emerald set in sterling silver. Because we were on Lee?s tour (he owns Mr. Emerald) we got a 20% discount. Then I went across to the coffee store and bought about 5 lbs. of coffee. (&#036;5-7 lb.) I?ve been drinking it and it?s excellent&#33; The coffee store also sells the local beer at a good price for those who like to taste different beers. Only real problem here is when the bus door opens you are swarmed with vendors selling t-shirts, tablecloths, ladies with fruit hats, people carrying a sloth to take a picture with you, etc. This was the worst part of Columbia and was very uncomfortable. It really is a lovely country but the people swarming you were more than I could take. Another note, friends did the beach tour and were also bothered by the sales people as well as those that would just walk up to you and start to massage you. Anything to make a buck here for sure so be careful&#33;<br /><br />Cristobel-Let me first say that Princess had problems all day. We went through the locks late and that caused everything to back-up all day. They also didn?t coordinate the order the tours left the ship well as shorter tours tendered before some of the longer tours. If you don?t get off the ship in Gatun lake then you would return through the locks and dock at Cristobel where there was shopping at the pier. We did the tour to Gatun Locks and Portobelo, 5 hours total. This is the worst tour we have ever taken. The drive to the ruins was over an hour in each direction. The ruins were just that but the worst part was the building in which they showed a short video of the fort. There are bathrooms located there and to say the least they were unsanitary. I won?t go into details as it was disgusting. The building itself was moldy and really smelled like it. My allergies were going crazy. The drive through Panama was pretty awful. They do not have garbage service there so the trash is strewn throughout the countryside and near people?s homes. The vultures were the only ones happy about it. If we did this trip again I would definitely stay on the ship and return out of Lake Gatun instead of doing a tour. We left the ship at around 11:30 and didn?t return until nearly 5 pm. Everyone who did the canal by boat loved it but be forewarned that it is a very long tour at least 7 or 8 hours. One tour had to wait to get in the locks and was 2 hours late. That tour included food somewhere along the way so they didn?t starve. I did purchase coffee at the market but haven?t tried it yet. (&#036;5 lb) <br /><br />Panama Canal was the reason for this trip and did not disappoint&#33; Definitely a must do for any cruiser. The weather was pretty awful which is common in Panama. It poured rain all morning and was kind of chilly. I awoke at 5:30 had my coffee and then headed up to the 15th deck for a front row seat. If you get up there later than 6:30, you will be SRO. My DH gave up when it started to pour but I stayed put since this is the one thing I wanted to see more then anything. He was so wonderful and brought me a jacket, my poncho and a towel to dry off with. We were late getting into the locks and the rain finally cleared. The canal is a truly amazing and you need to get the perspective from different areas of the ship. I stayed up front through the 1st lock and then went to the promenade deck (excellent to get the prospective of how much room between the wall and the ship) and the rear for the 2nd lock. The 3rd lock I enjoyed from our balcony with a nice hot cup of coffee. It was pretty interesting to watch the ship next to us rise in the canal next to us. We had a narrator for the entire crossing into the locks which was very informative and a great addition to seeing it. I would definitely go again&#33;<br /><br />Limon Costa Rica- I loved this port. The people were very friendly here and I felt safe at all times. We walked around through the city and it was pouring again. Fortunately it cleared up later for our tour. Bought the usual magnet, t-shirt, etc. as well as coffee at the market by the pier for &#036;5 a lb. It was good. <br />We took the ships Eco-cruise and Banana Plantation tour and it was excellent&#33; The banana plantation was just long enough to understand the process. The eco-cruise (2 hour cruise) through the canals was a highlight for us. Our guide was excellent and we saw iguana, birds, monkeys, sloths, etc. After the tour they served refreshments and a snack of fresh fruit. The local beer Imperial was great&#33; I would do this tour again. I also bought a local wine called Awapa, made with passion fruit. Didn?t love it but it was interesting. Coffee about &#036;6 a lb. Very good.<br /><br />Ocho Rios Jamaica- We got off to get some Blue Mountain Rum Cream one of my favorites. The prices have climbed in Jamaica in recent years but there is a store just after you leave the security of the pier that has signs that say t-shirts 3 for &#036;12. I bought the Rum Cream there and they had the best liquor prices in town. I saved &#036;10.00 a bottle by shopping there.<br /><br />Sorry this is so long but I really wanted to be detailed about the ports. Let me also say Princess has the best debarkation I?ve seen. You must vacate your room at 8:00 am and then go to the assigned bar or lounge for each color luggage tag. We went about 5 minutes before our departure time and only had to wait 10 minutes to disembark. Very orderly, kudos to Princess&#33; The Coral was a lovely ship and we had a good time. The staff was very friendly and we enjoyed talking to them. The clientele on this ship is definitely older and the casino was dead most of the trip. I would definitely do this trip again but skip the Panama tour.<br /><br /><br /><br />',1198191868,0,'Panama Canal/Central America','',334,'sailingrose',1,98,0,0,0,0,0,16594,0,NULL),(286,151,'12-17-07','The Brilliance is a beautiful ship, one of the Radiance class. Overall, my impression was not quite as flawless as the Radiance.','There was room for improvement on the Brilliance, sailing Dec 17, 2007. The ship is beautiful and was especially so decorated for Christmas. But the little things were not as perfect as other RCI cruises. Overall the crew were fine but small things added up to decrease the overall effect. <br />The cruise included one day at sea, then a stop at Key West. Since I had been there before I did not go into Key West but stayed on the ship. <br />The hospitality and friendliness of the crew were there but could have used a little extra something. The cabin attendant was pleasant, did a good job taking care of the room but was not as gregarious or attentive as usual. The drinks were good and some of the bartenders and bar waiters were exceptional, but most did not stand out. <br />We dined in both the private dining rooms, Portofino and Chops, and both dinners were exceptional, presentation was very nice. Since this was only a 4 day cruise, we only dined twice in the main dining room. The head waiter only appeared at the end of the last meal. <br />We had a toilet misadventure and the plumber was a little short with us, implying that we had flushed something inappropriate down the toilet (which we hadn&#39;t&#33;) and argumentative. <br />The loyaty ambassador was not enthusiastic and did not know the Diamond Plus passengers. <br />We gave up twice after being on hold for way too long to reach room service. <br />The disembarkation process seemed very unorganized and slow. <br /><br />All in all a good cruise, but the Brilliance won&#39;t be my first choice on my next one. <br /><br />',1198303423,0,'Key West','',4387,'Rula_Lenski',1,83,0,0,0,0,0,16611,0,NULL),(287,151,'12-17-07','All Radiance class ships are NOT created equal&#33;','I boarded the Radiance with a great deal of excitement - my 60th Royal Caribbean cruise in a little less than thirteen years - and I was most looking forward to  seeing one of RCI&#39;s nicest young captains, Hakan Lindegren, and hotel director, Patrick Olin.  The ship had just returned from Europe which created some delay in boarding - U. S. customs did a major inspection&#33;.  The Windjammer was total chaos with a Grand Central feel to it - we were circling the stations with people asking, &quot;Where&#39;s the front of the line?&quot;  After my fifth turn around ( all right, I admit, the exercise didn&#39;t hurt me ), someone took mercy and allowed me to cut in.<br /><br />Our deck nine balcony cabin was certainly ample in size but the plumbing problem created some difficulty, with water oozing up from the floor below onto the carpet.  That necessitated having a fan blowing all night.  Guest Services did offer us another cabin for sleeping - we opted to stay where we were - bad choice.  Rula didn&#39;t sleep at all - thanks to Sonata, I did.  But being nurses, we kept thinking bacteria was being blown about for us to inhale.  This did not appear to be the first time this had happened, either.  There was a <br />musty smell when we had first entered the cabin ( don&#39;t book 9208 on the Brilliance ).<br /><br />Chops and Portofino, the ship&#39;s two fine dining restaurants, are outstanding.  There is an excellent menu, with a good variety of choices and the service was impeccable.  The seafood brochette in Portofino was outstanding and the dessert sampler would satisfy any palate.  At Chops, my friend and I both had the 16-ounce T-bone, cooked to perfection.  Our lovely waitress gave us a sampler of all the vegetables, each one was excellent as well.<br /><br />While service, in general, was good, there were notable exceptions.  In the dining room, at times, water wasn&#39;t served, nor were we asked if we would like water.  Orders were forgotten.  Sometimes, my friend and I would be sitting at the bar, waiting for service, and someone would come up and be served first - though we had been waiting five minutes.<br />I was not impressed at all with the loyalty ambassador.  There needs to be a better method of seeing passengers in the Crown and Anchor lounge - either a sign in sheet, numbers, or appointments.  While the ship had a very large number of platinum, diamond and diamond plus passengers, and I am sure he was busy, staff should have been assigned to assist.  For example, we got our robes the third day of a four day cruise.<br /><br />Many of the problems will be worked out, I am certain, with Patrick Olin as hotel director.  I am sure we could return in two months and there will be a notable difference on the ship.  I remember my first cruise on the Radiance - when it did not seem like a Royal Caribbean ship to me.  Enter Patrick and things really turned around.  There were some absolutely fantastic crew members on the Brilliance and, in time, I feel certain the whole ship will exude that Royal Caribbean spirit I have come to expect throughout the fleet.<br /><br /><br />',1198362320,0,'Bahamas','',4386,'RNSANE',1,37,0,0,0,0,0,16620,0,NULL),(288,151,'12-17-07','All Radiance class ships are NOT created equal&#33;','I boarded the Radiance with a great deal of excitement - my 60th Royal Caribbean cruise in a little less than thirteen years - and I was most looking forward to  seeing one of RCI&#39;s nicest young captains, Hakan Lindegren, and hotel director, Patrick Olin.  The ship had just returned from Europe which created some delay in boarding - U. S. customs did a major inspection&#33;.  The Windjammer was total chaos with a Grand Central feel to it - we were circling the stations with people asking, &quot;Where&#39;s the front of the line?&quot;  After my fifth turn around ( all right, I admit, the exercise didn&#39;t hurt me ), someone took mercy and allowed me to cut in.<br /><br />Our deck nine balcony cabin was certainly ample in size but the plumbing problem created some difficulty, with water oozing up from the floor below onto the carpet.  That necessitated having a fan blowing all night.  Guest Services did offer us another cabin for sleeping - we opted to stay where we were - bad choice.  Rula didn&#39;t sleep at all - thanks to Sonata, I did.  But being nurses, we kept thinking bacteria was being blown about for us to inhale.  This did not appear to be the first time this had happened, either.  There was a <br />musty smell when we had first entered the cabin ( don&#39;t book 9208 on the Brilliance ).<br /><br />Chops and Portofino, the ship&#39;s two fine dining restaurants, are outstanding.  There is an excellent menu, with a good variety of choices and the service was impeccable.  The seafood brochette in Portofino was outstanding and the dessert sampler would satisfy any palate.  At Chops, my friend and I both had the 16-ounce T-bone, cooked to perfection.  Our lovely waitress gave us a sampler of all the vegetables, each one was excellent as well.<br /><br />While service, in general, was good, there were notable exceptions.  In the dining room, at times, water wasn&#39;t served, nor were we asked if we would like water.  Orders were forgotten.  Sometimes, my friend and I would be sitting at the bar, waiting for service, and someone would come up and be served first - though we had been waiting five minutes.<br />I was not impressed at all with the loyalty ambassador.  There needs to be a better method of seeing passengers in the Crown and Anchor lounge - either a sign in sheet, numbers, or appointments.  While the ship had a very large number of platinum, diamond and diamond plus passengers, and I am sure he was busy, staff should have been assigned to assist.  For example, we got our robes the third day of a four day cruise.<br /><br />Many of the problems will be worked out, I am certain, with Patrick Olin as hotel director.  I am sure we could return in two months and there will be a notable difference on the ship.  I remember my first cruise on the Radiance - when it did not seem like a Royal Caribbean ship to me.  Enter Patrick and things really turned around.  There were some absolutely fantastic crew members on the Brilliance and, in time, I feel certain the whole ship will exude that Royal Caribbean spirit I have come to expect throughout the fleet.<br /><br /><br />',1198363376,0,'Bahamas','',4386,'RNSANE',1,64,0,0,0,0,0,16621,0,NULL),(289,67,'12/10/07','As always, for me, as good as it gets, on the ultimate ship','We booked Air Tran on our own.  Through Cunard Line we booked transfers from La Guardia to the  New York Sheraton and Towers.  What a mess.  The Town Car driver spoke NO English, the ground reps barely spoke understandable English, and the Town Car had a trunk full of junk, as did the front seat, so, no room for luggage.  Finally, after an initial 45 minutes wait, a mini van arrived, barely capable of taking us and five pieces of luggage, with seat belts that would not work.  We took it. Cunard had us in the Towers.  What a nice surprise.<br /><br />We asked the concierge for two places for dinner for the two nights we stayed in the Sheraton.  We walked to Regency China, remeniscent of a 1960&#39;s Boston China Town restaurant I ate in as a kid with my parents, and the food was as good as I remembered it from those early days, with excellent service.  The second night we ate at Tramonti, where reservations through the concierge are a must.  The food and wine were exceptional.<br /><br />We enjoyed breakfast at the Stage Door deli.  We opted for our second breakfast at Ellens Stardust Diner, which was lousy.  Fresh OJ was not fresh, French toast was awful, coffee harsh, &quot;pure maple syrup&quot; was Mrs. Buttersworths,  and the place was not too clean.  My meal was comped.<br /><br />We enjoyed some of New Yorks best holiday treats, Rockefeller Plaza, with the big tree and ice rink, and Radio City Music Halls 75th Christmas Show witht the Rockettes.  We also took in a matinee of Mel Brooks Young Frankentein, which was just awesome.<br /><br />Transfer to the Queen Mary 2 was easy, and well planned.  At 8:00am our luggage was taken from our hotel room, which gave us time to have breakfast, and we were taken by bus to the ship in Red Hook, Brooklyn.  We are now Cunard World Diamonds, and we had express boarding.  We were also in a suite with Queens Grill dining.  Upon entering our suite on Deck 9, our luggage was already in the suite, as was our butler, Ibrahim.  I asked him to unpack our bags.  We had lunch in the Queens Grill, and the bags wer unpacked and stowed away while we had lunch.<br /><br />Our suite was large and proved to be extremely comfortable, and elegant.  Upon entering, to the left was a row of closets, typical of any ships cabin, with a marble topped bar, with glass door cabinets above, stocked with assorted bar  and wine glasses, with recessed lights.  Under the bar console, behind cabinet doors, was the stocked fridge (water, sodas and beer), extra champagne buckets, wine openers and stoppers, bar linens and more glass ware.  We had a form to fill out for our prefered liquor, complimentary, full size bottles.  Opposite the bar, a shelf, marble topped, with silk orchids, and a large mirror above.  The sitting room section of the main suite was nice, which led to the full length row of windows and door to the large veranda.  There was a desk, with flat top LCD tv, wireless key board, X-box, flanked by a fllor to celiling wasll of glass. The bed a true king size, handsomely made up with duvet, shams and bolsters. AN ante room led into the walk in closet area and another desk area, or vanity with mirror area, and hair dryer.  The huge bath had a Jaquizzi, and was tiled in travertine marble.  Fresh cut flowers, and fruit basket were nice touches.  Perrier-Jouet Grand Brute was on ice, one from Cunard, one from Mark, our traveL agent.  Canapes and chocolate dipped strawberriwes were brought in by Ibrahim.<br /><br />We went directly to the Canyon Ranch Spa to make our appointments, and were delighterd to learn that Christian was on board, and we made three 80 minute massages each for the cruise.  We ended up each having a fourth massage, as as using the salon.  Mandril was wonderful in the salon, a good barber, and good stylist, who has been on the Mary since she was fited our, pre-maiden voyage, where he helped to set up the salon for Canyon Ranch.<br /><br />We have sailed many, many times with Cunard.  We have had several Queen Elizabth 2 sailings, as well as many Sagafjord and Vistafjord cruises, Cunard Countess, Cunard Adventurerer and Cunard Dynasty cruises, and now, our third cruise on the Mary. This cruise brings us to 70 cruises total, 19 of which have been with Cunard.<br /><br />Our first port was Tortola, and we actually booked an excursion, Cane Garden Beach with lunch.  The lunch was awful, the ride to the beach equally as awful, and there was NO time for the beach.  With four ships in, there must have easily been 9,000 or more passengers in Tortola, and 7,000 on this beach.  What a waste of money, and the day. As more and more resorts ban cruise ship passngers, these second rate places will let them in.<br /><br />One truely excellent day was the excursion booked through Cunard for Sandals Grande St. Lucian Resort, a whole day of bliss and beauty.  We were treated as though we were staying at this beautiful resort, and while everything was included, we ate and drank as though we were week long guests.  I can not say enough good things about Sandals Grande.<br /><br />St Kitts, we opted to shop,  and the shopping was not as good as we  have found it to be in the past.  We should have gone to the beach. Interestting to note, there were no Christmas decorations here, and a sullen pall permiated the place.  The other ports were lively, and decorated for the season.<br /><br />We returned to the ship after a brief run around  Bassiterre, not buying anything.  We wanted to have lunch at the Boardwalk Cafe on the Mary.  When we got up there, we were told we could not have an umbrella at the table, and we would have to dine in the full sun-120 degree, as it was too windy.  It was not windy, it was stifling. RCI&#39;s Legend of the Sea, docked next to the Mary, had deck tables festooned with umbrellas, but not so on the Mary.  Somebody did not want to have to do much work at the Boardwalk, is my guess.  We changed for lunch in the Queens Grill .   <br /><br />We were invited to a cocktail party just down from our suite, and we held one in our suite as well on another night.  Ibrahim set the entire party up, and it was quite lavish.  Interestingly we learned that the hors d&#39;oeuvers and canapes were complimentary as catered by Cunard for the party..<br /><br />Barbados was a waste of time, downtown Bridgetown is trying to make a comeback for shoppers.  There is limited shopping at the dock, not anything to write home about, save it for St. Thomas, is my rule.  Don&#39;t get me wrong, Barbados is one gorgeous island, and there are wonderful shore excursions to take.  Just don&#39;t count on the shoppin, thats all.<br /><br />In Barbados we docked, and it is quite a sight to see this monsterous ship maneuver into the harbor and tie up at the pier.  In with us was the Seabourne Pride.  Also docked was the Freewinds, Scientologies cruise ship, the former Commodore Cruise Lines MS Boheme.  Other ships o note, in St. Thomas, Carnival Legend, in St Lucia, Ocean Village 2, one of two Ocean Village ships, former Princess ships Regal and Crown Princesses, now part of P&amp;O&#39;s Ocean Village adults only ships.<br /><br />Imagine being in St. Thomas with only one other ship in.  It was nearly desserted in town.  In fact, it was spooky.  Here we shopped, not heavily, but enough to satisfy the need.  I am glad to point out that Little Switzerland is back and in fine form, offering more of what has made them so famous throughout the years.  We also did some shopping on the Queen Mary 2.<br /><br />Our Diamond pins arrived, and we had the third of our formal nights to wear them.  Yes, they are gold pins, with a genuine diamond.  The first formal night was for for all guests, the second, gold, platinum and diamond gests, the third, THE gala party, hoted by Captain Christopeher Rynd and his senoir officers, held in the G32, strictly for Queen and Princes Grill and Diamond passenegrs.  All parties were open bar.<br /><br />The Queen Mary 2 was oppulently decked out for the holidays.  Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, was celebrated each evening with the lighting of several mennorahs on board, by a Rabbi.  For Christmas. there was a myriad of trees and wreaths placed around the ship.  The Grand Lobby and the Britania held the largest trees, and all told, for the season, the ship was gorgeous.  The Queens Grill, regal with a tree donned in gold shimmering baubles and lights, with a mennorah on the desk.<br /><br />The Queens Grill is  special, and the suites that give  entry to this world of plenty and privacy, are indeed pricey.  Nothing is not granted for meal time, special ordering is encouraged, as well as from the more than ample, grand menu&#39;s.  Service is beyond compare.  We had every meal in the Queens Grill, with the exception of three lunches, one of which was in St. Thomas, the other two on shore excursions.  We thoroughly enjoyed one breakfast in our suite.<br /><br />This is what makes the Queens Grill so special.  The menu&#39;s, as prepared for breakfast, are more extensive, as are the lunch and dinner menus.  However, the real reason to book the Queens Grill is for the al la carte menu at dinner.<br /><br />Available each night, this is a brifer description of the al la carte menu.  Be assured, all items are sauced and presented properly.<br /><br />COLD APPETIZERS<br />jumbo shrimp cocktail  Molossol Russian caviar  smoked salmon  foie gra  Parma ham  <br /><br /><br />HOT APPETIZERS<br />fresh made lobster raviolli  duck foie gras  angel hair pasta with fresh tomato and basil  escargots Bourguinonne<br /><br /><br />SOUP &amp; SALAD<br />vine ripened tomato soup  Caesar Salad<br /><br /><br />FISH ENTREES<br />White Dover Sole (boned and fileted at table)  grilled Scottish salmon<br /><br />GRILLS &amp; ROASTS<br />T-bone steak  Angus beef filet  New York strip sirloin  milk fed veal rib cutlet  rack of lamb  chateaubriand for 2  whole roast duckling for 2<br /><br /><br />an ssortment of side dishes, Canyon Ranch Spa dishes and flambed desserts ans wellas a cheese trolley were always available.<br /><br />The wine list was commendable.  In fact, our sommelier, Fernando, was a waiter on Royal Viking Line, and we remembered him from our cruises with that fine line.<br /><br />As Diamonds we were treated to a comlimentary lunch at Todd English, the food was superb, the ambiance lovely, the service, just ok.  Our waiter wore a dirty white jacket, the serving tray stained with what liiked like spilled coffee.  At first, we thought he was our bus boy and, his English was poor as well.    The bloody Mary had little or no vodka.  The free lunch was actually charged to our ships account.  Not the Todd English experience we rememberd from our transatlantic crossing last summer.<br /><br />I hate to rate a ship, 1 to....  or give it a star rating, and so, I will not do that.  To say that we love Cunard, and this ship, and have never been turned off by Cunard Line is a true testament as to  how contented we are when we sail Cunard Line ships.  There is a special magic on a Cunard ship, and the Queen Mary 2 has the magic ten fold.<br /><br />The food, suite, service and the entertainment, especially Apassionatta, were excellent.  The spa exquisite.  Nothing on the ship was scuffed or in any  state of disrepair We love Cunard.  We look forward to more Queen Mary cruises, as well as sailing Queen Victoria and the new Queen Elizabeth.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />',1198425444,0,'Eastern Caribbean','',3988,'Kenneth Eden',1,94,0,0,0,0,0,16632,0,NULL),(290,85,'11/24/07','Excellent experience, fine ship, wonderful stateroom','My wife and I are college professors and love travel. This was our 10th ocean cruise, our first on HAL, the prior nine were on Princess Cruises. We arrived at the embarkation port in Fort Lauderdale at about 12:30 pm. We were in our stateroom in about 1/2 half-hour. We had reviously been upgraded to a VA veranda stateroom. On most of our princess cruises we have had balconey (veranda) staterooms. Overall this one was superior to the one&#39;s on the Princess ships. From the couch to the wonderful mattress and bed linen, and from the closets/shelf space to the bathroom with tub, the stateroom was was was designed and layed out. The veranda was also excellent. <br />    Both the food and enterainment were excellent. The dining room staff were also excellent, but HAL&#39;s organization as far as the delivery of food from the kitchen to the table could be improved. On one or two occasions we had to wait about an hour between courses. Princess Cruises has a leg up on HAL in the Dining room service area.The buffet on the Lido deck was very superior compared to that on Princess Cruises. Overall the entertainment on HAL and Princess Cruises are quite comparable. <br />   Our fist port of call was Grand Turk. We took the Hop-On-Hop-Off Bus Tour, it had three stops: the point of origin, Her Majesty&#39;s Prison, and the Lighthouse. We saw everything in about two hours and returned to the ship.<br />    Our second port of call was Tortola. It reminded us of it&#39;s next door neighbor, St. Johns. It was much better than Grand Turk.<br />    Our last port of call was St. Thomas. The was our fourth time there, so we went on our own. It was exciting. We got a taxi to go to town. As our driver search for more fares, he got into a heated argument with another driver, who pulled a knife on him. He retaliated by breaking the other drivers side window with a whip baton. At this point my wife insisted that we immedately leave, so took another taxi to town. <br />   Our last stop was at Half Moon Cay, HAL&#39;s private island. We took the island nature walking took, which was excellent. After eating and a short swim we returned to the ship to pack because the next day we returned to Fort Lauderdale.<br />   In early Mardh we are taking a Mexican Riviera cruise on the Golden Princess, with of course a balconey stateroom. After that, we are taking a 15 day transAtlantic cruise in August on the Eurodam from Copenhagen to New York. We have also booked a veranda stateroom for that cruise.<br />    We love to cruise and both Princess &amp; HAL have proven to to excellent cruise lines and con count on our trade.',1198880551,0,'Eastern Caribbean','',4137,'Paul Griffith',1,56,0,0,0,0,0,16691,0,NULL),(291,49,'12/28/07','This was our sixteenth cruise and it was outstanding. Unfortunately the cruise was over on Keith&#39;s birthday&#33; The Constellation has now become our favorite ship&#33;','Constellation New Year 2008 ten day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, Dec 28, 2007 to Jan 7, 2008 - Our sixteenth cruise.<br />Ports of call: San Juan, Puerto Rico - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas - Bridgetown, Barbados - Castries, St Lucia - Philipsburg, St Maarteen<br /><br />Our trip started at 5:15 AM on Dec 27, 2007 with our trip to the airport. We flew out to Memphis with about and hour and a half layover and then on to FLL. We arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon and after being greeted by RCL staff we were shuttled to the Sheridan Yankee Clipper hotel. The hotel was in a nice location right on the beach, however the carpet in our room was not clean. When we checked out the staff asked us about our stay and I informed of this and they acted like is was no big deal.<br />Rita&#39;s son and his new girlfriend arrived shortly after us and after a drink or so at the bar we all went for a walk on the beach. That evening we went to the Oasis on the ocean front for dinner and watched the cruise ships go out from our swinging outdoor table. Rita and I remembered this restaurant from a few years ago, however the food and service has slipped a few notches since then.<br /><br />The next morning we all had breakfast at the hotel and sat around the pool and talked until time for us to get on our shuttle bus to the pier. After our tearful good-byes and our short ride to the pier and another 30 or so minutes getting checked in, we finally were on the ship drinking our welcome aboard champagne. We headed on down to our mid ship port side outside stateroom to drop off our stuff. The stateroom was similar to size and layout of our previous three Celebrity ships. We were very satisfied. The service we received form our room steward for the duration of the cruise lived up to the standard of our previous cruises.<br /><br />On the way to the Seaside Cafe for our first feed we ran into a couple we met last year on the Zenith. Later on in the cruise we met another couple from the Zenith. Sometimes it&#39;s a small cruise world out there. The Seaside had the typical buffet fare as well as the pasta grill and the sandwich grill at the rear. That grill is also used for fresh made waffles and pancakes in the mornings. Yum Yum&#33; We visited it most mornings. Our first feed that day was actually at the pasta grill. We had pasta freshly grilled with the ingredients we chose. They had your choice of three different sauces.<br /><br />That evening we went to our assigned table in the San Marco Restaurant late seating. We had a gentleman and his son and daughter from college at our table with two other empty chairs. They informed us they would be opting for casual dining the remainder of the cruise since they only brought casual cloths. The next day we received a letter moving us to a table at the very rear of the dining room next to the captains table.<br />It was a table for eight who only had two the previous night. We ended up dining with this great couple from NC and a couple from the UK, Sir Laurence and Lady Ann. They were all great mates. We also had a lady and her two daughters with us for one evening when our NC couple dined in the Ocean Liners specialty restaurant. Incidentally the Captain must be an early diner since his table was only set and occupied twice for our eleven nights. Both those times his second in command and others were dining. The food in the dining room lived up to our expectations except for the steaks. The ones I had were a little tuff. Our waiter, Cresent and his assistant, Peter gave us great service every night. We come to expect that on our cruises and, so far, have not been disappointed. We did get a strange phone call about midway of our cruise. The Maitre&#39;D from our original table called and asked why we have no been to dinner except the one time. We told him about the table switch that no one informed him about.<br /><br />The Rendez-Vous Lounge became our &quot;hang out&quot; for the duration of the cruise. A four piece band named the Cooler Kings played most nights. Also the party band, Top Secret and a solo guitarist and singer, Charlie Butler, played there. We really enjoyed the music and dancing. We did attend a couple production shows in the Celebrity Theater and they were as good as any we&#39;ve seen on the high seas. The theme night dance parties were either at the pool side bandstand, outside deck ten, or at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth on deck eleven. They were not well attended, except for New Year Eve on deck ten. It was a wild time&#33; We got to the dance floor at about 11:00 PM and danced almost continuously until 1:00 AM. We have the video to prove it. Since we were in it so much we forked over the &#036;34.95 for the DVD. Afterward we headed to the casino bar to finally sit down and cool off and have a nightcap. Once we finally got to bed we sleep until 10:30 AM.<br /><br />We may have stumbled onto the best entertainer on the high seas, Perry Grant. He plays the piano and sings in Michael&#39;s Club. Actually he does more than that, you just have to be there to find out. He packs the place every night and finding a place to sit is a challenge. We usually went in around a quarter to midnight and were able to find chairs and room on the small dance floor area in front of his piano to dance the fox-trot. He played until 12:30. We understand they would like to move him to a larger venue, however he will only play at Michael&#39;s. We met folks that have been on the Constellation multiple times just to see him perform. We would rate his singing and piano skills, and his banter with the crowd as A+++&#33;<br /><br />One thing we really enjoyed about this ship is the adults only indoor Thelassotherapy Pool. It&#39;s just a very large, or should we say big ass hot tub. We went there three or four times. It was very relaxing. It also had a low cal breakfast and lunch buffet, however we did not indulge. We also enjoy the deep swimming pool for stroking a few laps. Don&#39;t get to do that in the dead of winter in Indiana. The other outdoor pool was great for families with children. We found a nice hangout on deck eleven to get our winter tan.<br /><br />The decor of the Constellation is probably the most appealing of all the ships we&#39;ve been on. The art, like most ships we&#39;ve be on, was very interesting and the holiday decorations added to the ambiance. This is a ship we would like to cruise on again.<br /><br />We did visit two new ports for us, Bridgetown, Barbados and Castries, St Lucia. Both are very beautiful islands, however we would give St Lucia higher marks. We did not book any tours. In Bridgetown we took a taxi to the town area. We encountered quite a number of street beggars. In Castries we walked to the straw market and to a shopping area and  stopped at a little cafe and I had a local beer.<br />In San Juan our port time was 2:00 to 8:00 PM so we just stayed on the ship. We did some shopping in St Thomas, however we saved our shopping spree for our last port of call, St Maarten, our favorite shopping island. We bought something for my three daughters, the two son-in-laws, and all the grand kids. What I like about shopping there, besides the great prices, is the dollar beers while shopping. The walkway on the beach on both sides is now complete so we just made a left turn and walked all the way to the end and then cut over to the shopping street. On this walk it was a nice sunny day and the topless sunbathers were in abundance. Once we got about half way I took a photo of the ship. When we looked at it later, low and behold was a small pair of &quot;twin peaks&quot; in the photo&#33;<br /><br />The only negative of the cruise, and it was a terrible tragedy, happened at St Maarten. We were the only cruise ship in port that day and a 43 year old woman from our ship passed away while scuba diving. We were told she had a panic attack while under water and shortly after they brought her up she went into cardiac arrest and they were unable to revive her. Her husband returned to the ship and it had to be an agonizing two full days at sea before arriving at Port Everglades. We were also told the body was brought back aboard ship, however we don&#39;t know if that was true or not.<br /><br />All and all we would rate this cruise and one of our best yet. We met a great number of folks including the retired Scottish standup comedian/actor, Alex &quot;Happy&quot; Howden and his lovely wife. His last movie role was a bit part as the hangman in Gangs of New York. <br />He even said his lines for us one evening.<br />This was our fifth New Year cruise in a row and we will probably go for number six for 2009. Could even be a repeat on this ship.',1200424748,0,'Eastern Caribbean','[-review]2008_0112Cruise0041.JPG',139,'Keith &amp; Rita',1,123,0,0,0,0,0,16982,0,NULL),(292,162,'01/14/2008','Outstanding Crew......','I must admit that I had the time of my life for most of this experience?<br />This was my second of three planned voyages on the Monarch of the Seas. The third in the series is a little over 17 days away on February 4th when get to set sail again and for the last time (at least for awhile ) without DP.. <br />I will however have the pleasure of sailing with Carmen (RNSANE) and friends of hers.<br />If you weren?t aware The Monarch of the Seas holds the reputation of being the most &quot;friendliest crew&quot; in the Royal Caribbean fleet?..And?<br />for the crew most part on the first two voyages the crew has lived up to it&#39;s reputation..<br />Breakfast in the Dinning room gave me opportunity to enjoy eggs Benedict and they were delicious?<br />In the evening, the food was just as tasty? wonderful presentations?.and excellent quality.<br />I will not name my servers because I do not want to name names and speak negatively about a team that tried so diligently although.<br />I will say though... they... were from time to time thru out this short 4 night cruise? &quot;Lost in the weeds&quot; ... as they say in the restaurant industry.<br />Of course, Sammy the Headwaiter was always around reassuring to the duo stepping in helping when he needed to and then backing off when he should ...<br />What they failed in actual service skills (which they are still learning) they more than made up with their desire to please.<br />My room steward George McSam what can I say he just very plainly exceeded my expectations... nuff said<br />This cruise was the first time I was the first NEW passenger to embark...(I say NEW because they started boarding the cruise right after the ones that were doing a back to back...) I think there were 7 or 8 of them? so that was a first...<br />Cannot speak to entertainment? I did enjoy another spa treatment with ? who is becoming my regular masseuse ? Miss Pinky.. <br />This time She gave a seaweed treatment with scalp and back hot stone massage? Pinky who was also my masseur on my first sailing?.she is from South Africa?and I must say excellent at what she does?. <br />I wanted to tell her about Jackie and Tony but did not know exactly where in SA they came from?. (Memory block?.I guess) so Jackie if you read this you guys lived where?<br />This last cruise in the series in February will also mark my tenth cruise over all? I kinda like that idea... to it appropriate ... the only thing that would have made it more special would be to have David along?But trust me the crew on board will ease the pain?<br />In summary when this ship sets sails out of Port Canaveral later this year or  you catch her here in San Pedro before she leaves in October and you have the chance to sail her ? Please do you wont be disappointed..<br /><br />Joey<br />',1200704688,0,'Mexico','[-review]RCI_002.jpg',2066,'JoeyandDavid',1,76,0,0,0,0,0,17025,0,NULL),(294,144,'12-30-07','Every thing was great. We loved the valet service getting off the boat.','It was a great New Year being out on the water. The weather was very windy. But on land at St.Thomas and St. Marteen it was great. Warm and away from the cold back home. Our cabin stewart was very helpful. In the dinning room I tried something different every night. Would I go on the Freedom again? Yes I would.  There was plenty to do. But I think I will go in the summer.',1201124799,0,'Eastern Caribbean','',3980,'Deaconpapa',1,84,0,0,0,0,0,17085,0,NULL),(293,153,'12-30-07','Excellent cruise&#33;','We boarded the ship around 11:45 and went directly up to the Windjammer to sit and relax a little and then eat. I?m not crazy about buffets on any ship but I didn?t starve. We went to our cabin, deck 8 on the hump and were very pleased with the location. This was our first hump balcony and it won?t be our last.  Our cabin steward Andre was marvelous and we couldn?t have asked for any better service.  <br /><br />We were seated at a large table in the Cascades Dining room where we met some wonderful new friends. We enjoyed sharing each day?s activities with them. Our wait staff was average but they tried very hard to please. The chef who was from Jamaica did a marvelous job with the food. I will say that this is the best dining room food I?ve had on RCI in many years. The spices were perfect and everything was served at the perfect temperature. I complimented him many times as well as telling the head waiter how wonderful it was. Breakfast and lunch in the dining room once and both were excellent. Never want to miss my Eggs Benedict&#33;<br /><br />The ship was in fairly good condition but she?s due for dry docking to change an engine and I?m sure she?ll get a paint job as well since there was considerable amounts of rust around. The rest of her looked just great and the wood and brass shined as usual with RCI. <br /><br />I spent boarding day scoping out a favorite bar and reacquainting myself with the layout of the ship. I usually pick one bar and stick with it all week. Most of the time it?s the Schooner but this time it was the Lobby bar. The servers there Big Daddy, Dan and Vladimir were wonderful and great fun throughout the week. I had the pleasure of having my first Martini ever, a Chocolate Martini and I loved it. I even had some fun with Big Daddy and Dan over who made the best one. Dan won&#33;&#33;&#33; <br /><br />Our first port was Key West. We have been there many times so we just hung around on the ship and relaxed and read. Nice way to spend a day. We did have one passenger that was late and fortunately the captain waited for him. It never ceases to amaze me some people?s stupidity no matter how many times I?ve seen it. It was New Year?s Eve and RCI didn?t disappoint. The festivities were wonderful. They even closed down the casino from 11:30-12:30 so the crew could enjoy as well. Party hats and noisemakers were given out at dinner that night so everyone joined in the fun.  <br /><br />Next was Cozumel and we hoped a cab and headed over to Paradise Beach.  Love this place for the food and the calm clean waters and it didn?t disappoint us. I enjoyed my nachos and some cold XX?s and Howie had a huge hamburger. Great as usual.  <br /><br />Grand Cayman was next but we were greeted by the morning announcement from the Captain that a storm was expected and they would be reboarding the ship earlier to escape the storm. Howie and I were staying on the ship regardless but we?re glad we did as the day quickly turned ugly. The tenders were tossed like toys and they had to call off tendering at 12:30. There were 4 other ships there and they had to do the same. Pretty scary for those stranded on the tenders for more than an hour, plenty of tales of seasickness and horror from the passengers. I will tell you this was the roughest we have ever seen in GC. The waves were overtaking the boarding ramp and the water was entering the ship. The captain wisely decided to move the ship to the other side of the island, Spots Bay and have the passengers returned to the ship by larger vessels. All the other ships did the same accept the Liberty whose passengers all made it back safely. This process took many hours and we left GC much later then we were supposed to. The next day we where to go to Montego Bay but the seas were very rough there too and we weren?t able to dock. I?ve never not able to dock at a port before. The captain was very apologetic but of course he couldn?t be blamed for the weather. We think he did a wonderful job&#33;<br /><br />I must comment on the activities during the cruise. Captain Mal Bardsnes was marvelous and entertaining. I have never seen a captain so active in ship board activities as he and the hotel director Michael Prasse were. I thoroughly enjoyed the Captains corner, the cake making demonstration (where a food fight started between the captain and the hotel director) and having Michael and Captain Mal dealing black jack in the casino. The cruise director Simon was a hoot. A new activity for me was the Strip Officers??all I can say is WOW&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33; Had a blast watching this play out. <br /><br />All in all this was definitely one of our favorite cruises in our more then 40 voyages. This was definitely one of the craziest cruises we?ve been on. The Radiance is one of our favorite ships and it was a pleasure to sail on her again and hope someday to return for a 4th time. <br />',1200852801,0,'Western Caribbean','',334,'sailingrose',1,52,0,0,0,0,0,17037,0,NULL),(295,85,'11-10-07','Zuidy is our favorite ship, and we can&#39;t say enough about her beautiful (if offbeat) decor, wonderful cabin amenities, outstanding spa, generous Lido buffet, and especially their genuine dedication to the comfort of their guests.  There will be many m','HAL&#39;s ms Zuiderdam<br />Saturday, November 10-17, 2007<br />Eastern Caribbean from Ft. Lauderdale to Grand Turk, Turks &amp; Caicos Islands; Tortola, BVI; St. Thomas USVI; Half Moon Cay, Bahamas<br /><br />About Us:<br /><br />Jim (Sir James) and I (ZuiderPrincess) are in our 60s and this was our 22nd cruise; mostly on HAL but also Celebrity, RCI, NCL and Carnival.  At first we tried to do everything... every onboard activity every day, at least one excursion in every port, every Captain&#39;s Cocktail Party, every formal photographic opportunity... now we enjoy each day on a whim, napping through activities or port stops, just doing as we please, and enjoying every restful moment.<br /><br />So....<br /><br />This was our 8th cruise on the beautiful ms Zuiderdam.  She is now 5 years old, and is in excellent shape for a ship heading to drydock in a few months.  From our conversations with both officers and crew, it&#39;s clear that they are all very proud of their ship, and are excited to see the new structural and esthetic changes planned for next year.  Every time we board, we are welcomed by the intoxicating floral scents, energized by the bright colors and fabrics, and drowned in an ocean of fluffy down duvets... like a second home.  A home with generous public rooms, beautiful works of art, luxurious spa facilities, and remarkable dining, virtually 24/7.  While we sometimes never leave the ship, we will occasionally visit a yet unvisited port.<br /><br />Shopping &amp; Booking &amp; Stuff:<br /><br />We originally booked  two SY cabins (traveling with friends), but about a month before sailing, our excellent travel agent called with an upgrade offer from HAL, and we couldn&#39;t resist the two SA cabins very near the Neptune Lounge.<br /><br />Prior to embarkation: We usually fly from SAV to ATL to FLL for about &#036;500.  This year the best price I could find was &#036;800, so we decided to drive to JAX and fly down for &#036;400.  We also chose to drive down the night before and stay at the Hilton Inn.  We were able to leave our car there for free, offsetting the cost of the room, each under &#036;100.  For me, the savings was about 2 dice rolls.<br /><br />Embarkation:<br /><br />Fearing the worst, we boarded our first ever Southwest Air flight.  We checked in online 24 hours in advance, and were the first to board.  It was open seating, and we nabbed the exit row for the leg room.  The crew was outstanding&#33;  Cabin attendants Sharon and John were efficient, but entertaining.  We left the plane with wings, playing cards and luggage tags, and will fly Southwest whenever we can from now on.  Our flight arrived at about 1:30, and we taxied to the dock and zipped through the Suite Line.  Here we were provided with a welcome packet containing a portable deck plan, an overview of facilities, our ID cards (combination cabin key and  boarding &amp; charge cards) and were in our cabin in 15 minutes. A quick trip to the Lido for bread pudding was followed by the safety drill.  About half of our x group met at the Seaview Bar for SailAway, and we had time to take a nap before the evening activities.<br /><br />Cabin:<br /><br />Our cabins, Category SA 7051 &amp; 7053, Rotterdam Deck, Starboard, were outstanding&#33;   Huge (510 total square feet each), comfortable room, spacious veranda with two chairs and ottomans and a little dining table and 4 small chairs.  Plenty for two.  The bathroom had a jacuzzi tub, separate shower and double sink with two corner medicine cabinets and storage shelf below.  A generous variety of Elemis products was provided, and refilled daily as needed.  There was also a laundry basket (service is free in full suites) and 2 fluffy cotton robes and slippers. The dressing room had a built-in dressing table with 3 drawers, hair dryer and lighted magnifying makeup mirror (1X/5X), 3 closets with mirrored doors and a safe (3 more closets are in the hall by the door).  In the sitting area were a large couch, two occasional chairs and coffee table, desk with TV, cooler with loaded minibar and CD/DVD player,  data port, 2 telephones with voice mail and wake-up service, and a wall of mirrors behind the bed, making the room look much larger.  Our cabin steward, Nurman (and his subTaufiq) served us well, working around our odd sleeping habits and provided plenty of ice and towels on request.<br /><br />Scattered about the cabin were a bottle of champagne from Captain van Donselaar and Hotel Manager Mark Pells, a packet from the Concierges with a list of the services they provide, our custom-printed letterhead, post cards &amp; pen.  Hotel Manager Mark Pells sent a note offering Suite guests complimentary breakfast in the Pinnacle, and Captain van Donselaar sent a note outlining fire safety precautions and encouraging increased attention to the prevention of the spread of any gastrointestinal disease that may sneak aboard. <br /><br />Generally at this time I write about the ship facilities, but the real estate hasn&#39;t changed since my last 5 reviews, so I&#39;ll refer you to those.<br /><br />TV:<br /><br />Sorry, no flat-screens as yet.  In addition to 3 or 4 channels showing various shipcam views, each offering a different music genre, the stateroom television features TNT programming, CNN Headline News, shore excursions, safety information, ship programming and feature movies.<br /><br />Movies:<br /><br />The Queen&#39;s Lounge offered (complete with complimentary popcorn):  Evan Almighty, License to Wed, Rescue Dawn, Transformers, The Ultimate Gift, and Evening.<br /><br />The Vista Lounge showed Hairspray,<br /><br />Lido Restaurant:<br /><br />We love the great layout of this buffet&#33;  It has the cafeteria-style order, but to eliminate standing in one long, long line, there are different stations for:<br /><br />Breakfast<br />Drinks (24 hours)<br />The Express (breakfast)<br />The Bistro (full breakfast)<br />The Continental (cold meats, fruits, juices)<br />The Eggs (omelets)<br /><br />Lunch<br />The Wok (oriental and asian dishes)<br />The Italian (pasta and pizza)<br />The Bistro (rotisserie and grill)<br />The Salads (salad bar)<br />The Deli (sandwiches made to order<br />The Sweets (ice cream and pastries)<br />	<br />Dinner<br />The Italian (pizza and pasta)<br />The Bistro (roasted &amp; grilled meats and seafood)<br />The Sweets (ice cream and pastries)<br /><br /><br />Vista Dining Room:<br /><br />Agung Suki (DR Supervisor), Rudi (Waiter), Yudin (Assistant Waiter) and Joel (Wine Steward) served our table 120, a 4-topper along the port side windows.  At first the service was unbearably slow, but after a few words with the DR Supervisor, the pace picked up significantly.  The menu was varied, and I sometimes ordered two entr?es (one to share with the table).<br /><br />Pinnacle Grill:<br /><br />Ioan (Waiter) and Sofia (Assistant Waiter) served us in the Pinnacle.  Their service was excellent&#33;  In past visits, only about half the tables were occupied and the service was very slow.  This time the Grill was nearly full and we breezed through dinner.  Make your reservations as soon as possible, as the restaurant is often fully booked by the second evening.  The four of us ordered the Petit Filet, Planked Halibut and Planked Shrimp, together with the asparagus, creamed spinach, mushrooms, potatoes, basmati rice, and, of course, the Grand Marnier Chocolate Volcano Cake and Cr?me Brul?e.<br /><br />CulinaryArts Center:<br /><br />Although I did not have time to attend, Chef Rajeev held the following demonstrations were held in the Queen&#39;s Lounge:<br /><br />Sunday (Free)<br />	Mango Soup, Herb Crusted Caribbean Scallops<br />Tuesday (&#036;29 Max 12)<br /> 	Paella Salad, Empanadas with Banana<br />Thursday (Free)<br /> 	Goat Cheese Potato Galette, Apple Strudel<br />        <br />Neptune Lounge:<br /><br />Fay and Carlo were happy to help us arrange part of the x  party, and even loaned me a jump drive to get the invitations done.  Ioan, the Neptune steward, always kept the buffet stocked and quickly cleared dishes from tables. <br /><br />Casino:<br /><br />I had emailed the Casino Manager, Chris Whiteford, to ask him to arrange our Ocean Players Club VIP status.  I introduced myself on the first evening, and he said he had found our registration from our last cruise.  We generally find the Casino Managers, OPC Hosts and dealers quite friendly.  Although I had a nice conversation with the Chris on the first night, a scheduling and promotional problem arose (which was handled appropriately by his assistant), and after that the Manager was &quot;unavailable&quot;.   Jim played (live) Texas Hold&#39;em every day, and thinks the poker dealers Tony, another guy and a gal, were professional, friendly, understood the RULES and controlled the table properly.  The other dealers were rather bored (and boring).  I tripled my money at the Craps Table, and Jim did even better at poker, winning a tournament on the first day, and more later during the week.<br /><br />You can use your onboard account to purchase tokens at the Cashier&#39;s Window (minimum &#036;20) or chips at the tables (Minimum &#036;50), &#036;1,000 per day maximum, 3% service charge.  The Casino was non-smoking on Tortola and Half Moon Cay days.<br /><br />Internet Caf?:<br /><br />Check your email from your own ISP, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. or use HAL&#39;s Cruise Email (ask the Tech).  This place is open 24 hours and offers several packages. WiFi access was in the Internet Center, the Library, Lobby and some other public rooms (cards for your own laptop are available).  We prefer dialup in our cabin, so we can compose and save emails to upload all at one time for 75 cents.<br />Jacquie Ainsworth, Internet Manager, was really helpful when I had a dialup problem.  Somehow, we also had WiFi access in our suite, but you really have to remember to shut down your notebook to close the connection or it could be very pricey. Same with dialup... yank it out of the wall when you&#39;re done.<br /><br />Greenhouse Spa &amp; Salon:<br /><br />This was one of the most pleasant experiences I&#39;ve had in a ship spa.  The usually surly and aloof staff were friendly and personable, and in my 3 treatments, I was not pressured into buying product.  Look for the daily specials, especially on port days.<br /><br />Staff:<br /><br />While we thought all officers, staff and crew members were special in their own ways, these deserve special mention:<br /><br />    * Mark Pells, Hotel Manager<br />    * Jeroen van Danselaar, Captain<br />    * Parker Cristan, Cruise Director with great legs<br />    * Fay and Carlo, our Neptune Lounge Concierges<br /><br />==================<br /><br />Saturday, Embarkation Day:<br /><br />After the Safety Drill, our x group had a few drinks together at the Seaview Bar for SailAway.  About 20 of us attended, enjoying the beautiful (if windy) weather, and dancing to the HALCats. <br />      <br />We had time for a short nap before the Captain and Hotel Manager&#39;s Welcome party in the Neptune Lounge.  At our late, lower seating (8:30) we met our friends at table 120 for the first of many enjoyable dinners.  We checked out the Casino, skipped Elliott Maxx&#39;s comedy show (big mistake) and DJ Drew&#39;s Dance Party, and headed to bed.<br /><br />Sunday, At Sea:<br /><br />This beautiful day at sea proved to be a lazy one.  Jim highlighted a number of activities in the Daily Program, but the only things we did all day were Slots and Hold&#39;em.  At 3:00 we had our official x Meet &#39;n&#39; Greet in the Oak Room.  HAL provided refreshments, and we were joined by Hotel Manager Extraordinaire Mark Pells and Cruise Director Parker &quot;Sexy Legs&quot; Cristan.  Mark was kind enough to handle a little Q&amp;A for us, giving us some insight into the future of HAL and the Eurodam Inaugural.  Many thanks to Mark for making our little party memorable.<br /><br />Formal Dinner was delicious, although service was still slow.  We somehow missed the Captain&#39;s Welcome Toast, partly because we didn&#39;t see any formal photographers.  Jimmy went to play Hold&#39;em, and I&#39;ve seen Under the Boardwalk before, so I crashed.<br /><br />Monday, Grand Turk:<br /><br />A short windy day in Grand Turk, I went ashore early looking for some of our CC group.  It&#39;s mainly a large shopping area surrounding the Duty Free Store.  Jimmy Buffet&#39;s Margaritaville is a taste of  Key West, complete with sprawling free-form pool with adjacent lounger area and a swim-up bar.  The band was great, and everyone looked to be having a good time.  I should have gone ashore earlier.<br /><br />The rest of the day we relaxed, had dinner, missed the show, gambled, ate &amp; slept.<br /><br />Tuesday, Tortola:<br /><br />Captain van Donselaar took the ship through the Sir Francis Drake Channel on the way to Tortola.  Hotel Manager Mark Pells opened up the bow area offering a spectacular panoramic view of this approach.  Once in Road Town, we took an excursion to the North Shore and Pusser&#39;s Landing.  We took an open tram around the shoreline to Pusser&#39;s Landing, a small harbor, shopping area and bar.  This 20 minute stop was hardly enough to grab a drink and look in one store, which is a shame because the windows showed some upper scale, unique items I had not seen in the other ports.  A drive to the highest point on the island was bumpy, and the Kodak Moments found there were mostly obscured by low clouds.  The complimentary rum drink was pretty bad.  The ride down was faster, and it was raining by that time, so we had some close calls and damp seats.  I&#39;d love to have the brake and tire contract on that island&#33;<br /><br />This night was the BBQ dinner, and we ate in the Pinnacle. <br /><br />Wednesday, St. Thomas:<br /><br />Surprise&#33;  Due to the tardiness of a Carnival ship, Captain van Donselaar was able to obtain berth #1 at Havensight Mall, so NO TENDERING&#33;  The comments I heard proved you cannot please everybody... some pax cheered for the berth, some jeered at not being taken downtown.<br /><br />Immigration went very smoothly.  HAL really has an excellent system, so that once your deck is called, you go to the Queen&#39;s Lounge, flash your ID, pick up a green card and you&#39;re done.  We never stood still the whole time.  There was then time for a full breakfast before my spa treatments.  I then went ashore for a little trinket shopping at Havensight, but Jim stayed aboard, and later won the Hole in One Contest.<br /><br />The Captain and Hotel Manager invited us for cocktails in the Oak Room, and we loved mingling with the Mariners and Suite Passengers we had met so far.<br /> <br />James Cielen&#39;s show was awesome, as usual.  He had his toddler participate along with his little poodle.  We ALWAYS go to James&#39; show.  Some of the illusions were the same, but I still can&#39;t figure them out.  We hated to miss The Quest (which is always fun) and the Dutch Chocolate Extravaganza, but we were unusually sleepy that night.<br /><br />Thursday, At Sea:<br /><br />I attended a special brunch for Mariners and Suite Guests, which was a nice change from the old Mariner Awards venue.  Jim slept too late to attend The Great Zuiderdam Scavenger Hunt, and James Cielen&#39;s close-up demonstration for the magic fanatics, where he promised to teach everyone at least one trick.  Texas Hold&#39;em and the Slot Tournament won the coin toss for that time slot.<br /><br />A couple from our x group hosted a cocktail party in their wake suite, and it was SO relaxing out there on that huge veranda, watching the sunset, enjoying hors d&#39;oeuvres and champagne.  This is probably the most time I&#39;ve spent with our Roll Call friends on any of our cruises, and it was a truly enjoyable time.<br /><br />Our favorite game, The Newlywed, Not-so-newlywed game show, was held during our dinner seating, and we try not to miss a meal.  Early bedtime also preempted the Stage and Screen Show and Elliott Maxx&#39;s Late Night Comedy Show.<br /><br />Friday, Half Moon Cay:<br /><br />SUNSHINE&#33;  Most people left the ship, but I stayed behind this time to enjoy the vacant pool area (my only sunbathing this cruise) and have some spa treatments.  We pretty much lazed around all day (all that relaxing that week wore us out), and lingered in the dining room a little longer.  I went up to pack and Jim went to play poker.  I had the bags outside on time, and checked on them about 4:00 but they weren&#39;t picked up yet.  I couldn&#39;t get through to the Front Desk, so I went down there and was assured that even though they were the ONLY bags out there, they would be picked up OK.  When we found them in the warehouse, they were unopened.  Whew&#33;<br /><br />Saturday, Debarkation Day:<br /><br />As suite guests, we were assigned the first call off the ship.  We ordered room service, visited in our cabin with our friends, and when the call came, we went down to the gangway and right off the ship.  The warehouse has been changed around some, and the color flags have not been moved yet, but an agent pointed us in the right direction.  Jim found a porter while I found the bags, and we were through Customs, in a cab, and at the airport in just minutes.<br /><br />==================<br /><br />Our next Zuidy cruise (#9) is scheduled for March 2008.  We consider this beautiful ship our &#39;vacation timeshare&#39; with variable dates and a whopper of a surcharge.  Well, &#39;whatever makes you happy...&#39;<br /><br />I love to chat about Zuidy... E-me any time&#33;<br /><br />? 2007-08  Candy the ZuiderPrincess',1201787832,0,'Select a Destination','[-review]ZuidyWakeCabinsByTheresaLassek.jpg',904,'CandyBrock',1,50,0,0,0,0,0,17202,0,NULL),(296,28,'1-10-08','This was probably the best cruise yet. I don&#39;t know if it was because we just needed the rest after all we have been through this past six months.','Embarkation<br /><br />We got to Ft. Lauderdale on 1-09-08 and stayed at the Comfort Inn near the airport. Very nice hotel and walking distance to the mall and restaurants.<br />We took the hotel shuttle to the port the next morning and it was uneventful. When we got to the port there was a very long line which surprised us as we had never encountered that before. It moved rather quickly and we were on board by noon having lunch.<br /><br />Cabin<br /><br />Our stateroom was 4241 which was an aft balacony cabin. As usual we were pleased with the cabin and our stewards Carlos and Richard were very pleasant and accomadating.<br /><br />The Ship<br /><br />The Miracle is a beautiful ship and spotless. It seemed someone was always cleaning something. The grapes in the dining room are a little overwhelming at first but you get used to them. We had a booth for two at the late seating which was great as that is what we wanted this time.<br /> Our dining staff was a hoot. We had Antonia as our head server and she was a sweetheart. She is getting married in June to a colleague. Her assistants name was Zoltan and he was a riot. Every night when the entertainment started after dinner he would grab me and dance with me. We enjoyed our dining experience and as usual the food was great. Ken had his usual Quail, Duck, Lamb and Veal so he was a happy camper. We got picked for the Newlywed/not so newlywed game and that was a lot of fun.<br />We had one problem. We had the aft balcony on the main deck and someone above us was smoking a cigar(youcould smell it) and kept flicking the ashes over railing and landing on our balcony. We would find matches and ashes out there every morning. One afternoon Ken and I were out there playing cards and down come the ashes. Well Ken had had it and yelled up to please use an ashtray. There are signs posted right there on the balcony about just that.<br /><br />Debarkation<br /><br />Carnival has the new number coding instead of color. I was wondering how they were going to do that being we printed ours off the internet and the luggage tags are now all blue. They leave tags with a number on it the night before the end of the cruise and tell you to put them on your luggage. Our number was 21 so you just wait in the morning till they call your number and that is when you disembark. When you get into the terminal you look for your number on the wall and that is where your luggage should be. Ours was in the proper place. We were off the ship by ten and at hailed a cab to the airport and were there by 10:30.<br /><br />We had a great cruise and the Miracle is awesome<br />',1202148207,0,'Southern Caribbean','',754,'teacp',1,60,0,0,0,0,0,17254,0,NULL),(297,30,'01-25-08','A fantastic cruise which far exceeded our expectations.  Only thing that would have made it better was if it was longer than the eight days we spent aboard.','Carnival Spirit<br />January 25 through February 2, 2008 (Eight Days)<br /><br />Balcony Stateroom #5158<br /><br />This was our 51st cruise overall, and our 10th cruise with Carnival Cruise Lines.<br /><br />It was a fund-raising cruise for the Stephen Ministry Program at our Church.  Sixty-eight folks cruised with our ?Spirit Splendor? Group plus the Cruise Crazies Mascot ? Crazie.<br /><br />Our chartered bus with 57 passengers departed Las Vegas at 6:30 AM on Friday, January 25th.  The other cruise passengers either flew or drove to the Port of San Diego.<br /><br />The trip to the ship was six hours in duration during which we watched a movie and had a Trivia Challenge contest.  Crazie rode ?Shot Gun? on the dashboard next to the bus driver so that she had a good view.  We took lots of video of the trip.<br /><br />We arrived at the San Diego Cruise Terminal at 1:15 PM which proved to be a perfect arrival time.  After a little confusion over where we could unload the passengers and the luggage, we were dropped off right at the door with our hand luggage.  The bus continued on into the bus parking area and we did not see our larger luggage again until it arrived at our staterooms.<br /><br />The Check In process was very quick and easy.  Roe and I had VIP Check In due to our Platinum Status, but to be honest we did not get aboard the ship any faster than the rest of our group.  There was simply no waiting for anyone.  After a slight backup at the Security Check Point, we dodged the photographers and boarded the ship.  Elevators were jammed, so we walked up three flights to our deck.  Not the brightest thing I ever did with hand luggage, but it beat waiting for an elevator with everyone else.<br /><br />Our stateroom was ready with a bottle of chilled champagne and a basket of fruit and other goodies waiting for us.  Dropped off our hand luggage and headed up to lunch on the Lido Deck #9.<br /><br />The mandatory Lifeboat Drill took place just before sailing out of San Diego.  Never much fun, but this one was less painless than most and well organized.<br /><br />Our luggage had arrived at our stateroom when we returned from Lifeboat Drill so we unpacked and skipped the Sailaway Party on deck.<br /><br />For those of you interested in such things, the Spirit was delivered on April 12, 2001 and is 88,500 tons.  Total guest capacity is 2680 with a crew of 920.<br /><br />Carnival staterooms are always a little larger than the average.  And this was true on the Spirit.  Plenty of storage and hanging areas. There new ?Comfort Bed? is the best we have had at sea.  Bathroom was well laid out and the shower was fairly large for a cruise ship.  Temperature regulation in the shower was perfect with no variation.<br /><br />Our group was assigned to an almost private area in the rear of the Empire Dining Room at the first seating.  Our location made for a great time.  One minor annoyance was the fact that this location led to a lot of vibration and engine noise.  Not a major issue, but if I were sailing without a large group, I would avoid this area of the dining room.<br /><br />On our first formal night we enjoyed dinner with Captain Antonio Marchetti and his Senior Officers.  This proved to be a very elegant and enjoyable experience.  This was our first dinner with a Carnival Captain, although we have dined with Sitmar, Celebrity, Princess and RCI Captains in the past.<br /><br />Our Ports of Call for this cruise were: Acapulco, Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa and Manzanillo, Mexico.  We took none of the ships tours since we have been to all of these ports several times.  We did hear many good reports on them from others in our group.<br /><br />We found the food aboard the Spirit to be some of the best we have experienced on all of our cruises&#33;&#33;  I thought the bread selections were rather boring, but Roe loved them.  Go figure.  Service was excellent to outstanding throughout the ship.<br /><br />The production shows in Pharaoh?s Place showroom were perhaps the best we have ever seen aboard ship.  There are some sight line problems in the showroom due to pole placement, so be careful where you sit.  Never had a problem getting a good seat and there was no need to arrive very early as we have found on many ships.  The guest performers were IMHO pretty much what we expect on most cruise ships.<br /><br />The days were filled with all of the typical shipboard activities.  I don?t think we ever lacked for something fun to do or experience.<br /><br />Some very nice dance floors on board.  There was a group of 127 ballroom dancers on board and they selected the Spirit because of the many dance floors.  If you have not noticed dance floors and card rooms are getting smaller and smaller on the newer cruise ships.<br /><br />There are a lot of excellent gift shops on board the Spirit so shoppers will have lots of selections.  All I bought was a new Spirit pin for Crazie.<br /><br />The only Art Auction we attended was on the last day and we did buy one piece for our Son and Daughter-in-Law for their upcoming anniversary.<br /><br />Casino seemed to draw a lot of action and was spacious and well laid out.  <br /><br />In summary, this was a fantastic cruise which I would rate as a 9.9 on a 10 point scale.<br />',1202163217,0,'Mexico','[-review]IMG_0122.JPG',920,'The Skipper',1,66,0,0,0,0,0,17256,0,NULL),(298,81,'01-23-00 our anniversary cruise on the ms Veendam','This was our first &quot;just us&quot; cruise and it was our best cruise yet&#33; The ship and the crew were outstanding&#33;','Rita and I were married in Las Vegas January 18, 1997 at Treasure Island. Our wedding was supposed to be on the sixteenth, but guess what, we had an ice and snow storm and were delayed by two days. The next year on our first anniversary we once again headed for Vegas in just such a snow storm. I put my Jeep Wrangler in 4 wheel drive, and we drove 175 miles north to Indy in the snow and caught an ATF flight to Vegas. We just planned this one week before we left, so we had to take what ever we could get (reasonable). We ended up at the Monte Carlo because Treasure Island was booked. Whoops, this is not a Las Vegas Hotel review, it&#39;s a cruise review. However, if you go there don&#39;t miss the Lance Burton show&#33; <br /><br />The next year for our second anniversary, we decided to stay in E (Evansville, Indiana) town and not risk the weather. We spent our anniversary at our local Aztar hotel and Riverboat Casino. I believe the weather was in the 50s and 60s all week&#33; Can you believe it? We vowed for our third we will not stay in E&#39;ville, we will find somewhere to go in January. Anywhere but here&#33; Well, maybe not anywhere, as long as it was south, with the possible exception of Arkansas&#33; <br /><br />Now for this year, with Y2K approaching, we were in a dilemma for what to do on our anniversary. Rita works as a civilian employee for the Vanderburgh County Sheriffs Department, and was on Y2K call until January 17, 2000. Well, with that and all the bad weather we usually get in January, it looked as if we would stay home once again this year. NOT. Indiana is noted for corn and basketball, not necessarily in that order. As the corn had already been picked, and we could no longer watch it grow, and IU&#39;s basketball was getting dull, it was time to get the heck out of Dodge. Low and behold around the first of December we get a brochure from Holland America. If we booked a cruise we would be entitled to the alumni discount. Hey we are having a mild winter, let&#39;s go for it&#33; The Veendam has a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on 01/23/00, and has three full days at sea&#33; Just what we want. I looked up a review in the SeaLetter by Sharon Jackson, and based upon her great review of the ship, we booked&#33; The weather through December and early January was great&#33; One of the mildest winters on record&#33; Heck, on New Year&#39;s Eve before attending a big New Year 2000 party and dance that evening, I even washed the old Wrangler. It was 70 degrees&#33; <br /><br />Well, as fate would have it, we left for our cruise a day early in a snow storm, and in a basic subcompact turboprop smaller-than-small aircraft. (This turned out to be the only snow of the season&#33;) I don&#39;t like to fly on anything that has the same name as a certain station wagon with a luggage rack, or any plane from South America. Remember that movie? They actually had to de-ice so we could get off the ground. Once we got to Cincinnati we were delayed again while they de-iced the 757. Our cruise bash one, two, &amp;three friends, Bill &amp;Jimi from the North Pole are probably use to this, we are not&#33; <br /><br />Once we finally arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and checked into the Radisson Bahia Mar, we headed for the bar and got reacquainted with Michael the bartender who served us for Cruise Bash 3 last October. We were happy to be out of that weather, and getting ready to board our first cruise alone. Then it hit us. We were without our Cruise Bash friends we&#39;ve met on the three previous cruises. This is our first cruise by ourselves. No Bill and Jimi, no Sir James and Rosie, no Mike and Dottie, no Don and Judy, no Bob and Sharon, no Amy and Leif, no Phat and Be, no Debbie, Marion, and the rest of the &#39;Bama Gang, no Blenderman and Iowa Deb, no Slim Jim, no Dutch, no Rudy and Nathalie from Belgium, and on and on and on. We were by ourselves. We don&#39;t have to answer to anyone when we over sleep to three in the afternoon. We will miss them, but.... <br /><br />The next day we took a taxi to Port Everglades about 1:00 p.m., walked right up to the counter with no line and completed our booking and received a boarding number. We waited about 45 minutes for our number to be called and we were escorted to our cabin, 739 outside. Because of our late booking we just got our cabin number 3 days prior to our departure. <br /><br />Upon entering our cabin, we found all of our luggage already inside. The cabin was about the same size as our cabin on the Westerdam for Cruise Bash 2. I think the bathroom was a little larger on the Veendam . Our cabin steward came in and greeted us and his cabin service turned out to be the same as all of our previous cruises, outstanding. <br /><br />We took a tour of the ship on our own before the dreaded life boat drill. This was the easiest of all the ships we have been on to find our way around. We found our future route from our cabin on the fourth level, to the dining room. We would take the stairs up one floor to the escalator one floor to the atrium, and two flights to the eighth deck. We avoided the elevators as much as possible for the added exercise. After the life boat drill we made our way to the welcome aboard and sailing party at pool side aft. Rita even won a free drink in one of their left over 2000 millennium glasses by answering correctly on a bingo question. What is the last number in the G column? G 60. The glasses were the prizes all week. I think we brought home about a half dozen or so. They seemed to have a never ending supply. <br /><br />The Veendam has 10 passenger decks, and a cruise capacity of 1,266 passengers. We never felt crowded. A fellow passenger took a photo of us with the ship in the background, after arriving at our first port of call, St. Croix. We were docked along side of the Carnival Triumph. I believe the Triumph holds around 2,700 passengers. Looks like a subcompact next to an SUV. But only from that view&#33; Our previous cruises have been on Carnival&#39;s Sensation, Holland America&#39;s Westerdam, and Celebrity&#39;s Mercury.  All have been wonderful, but this ship is now our favorite. The &quot;dam&quot; ships of Holland America, and their service staff is so far, in our opinion, the best. We do intend to try other lines as well. How could you not like a cruise? We have decided to take at least two cruises a year. <br /><br />Our anniversary cruise was great. The ship was beautiful, the food was the best yet, and the service was outstanding. The ship rocked &amp;rolled a couple days like the Westerdam had. Rita chewed the motion sickness pills and ate everything they put in front of her. She especially loved the desserts. We enjoyed not going on excursions and just getting off at the ports and doing whatever we felt like doing. Half Moon Cay was beautiful, the best looking mile of beach I have ever seen. On our Westerdam CB2 cruise we had to skip Half Moon Cay because of rough seas. Our other port of call was St. Thomas. We just took a taxi on our own and went downtown and did some shopping. Unlike two of the original members of the &#39;bama gang on CB2, we left plenty of time for our return to the ship&#33; <br /><br />We had early dining because we booked late. Two large groups had the late seating. A &quot;Kosher&quot; group from New York and the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals group cruise. We met some of the players, an ex-player/announcer, and management staff and their familles at the Crows Nest. They invited us to join their next group cruise, which should be about the same time of the year. We will have to see. We are Card fans, and go to one or two games a year in St. Louis. It was a thrill to meet them. Especially the Mad Hungarian. Rita (Briles) Smith is a long lost third cousin of an ex-player, Nelson Briles. Nellie, if you read this get in touch with Rita&#33; <br /><br />We dined at a table for four with a honeymoon couple who were married a day before the cruise began. He was a Nuclear Engineer Submarine Officer with the Navy and she was a Chemistry student at Yale. Boy were we out of our league&#33; We had a great time with them, and really enjoyed their company. We think they enjoyed ours as well. We also enjoyed the company of some folks at the surrounding tables. We met a lot of people on this cruise and had a private contest going on to remember everyone&#39;s name. I think we did pretty well. The food was outstanding&#33; I don&#39;t know much about presentation, however the food was even pretty. We dined so early (4 o&#39;clock our time) that we did hit some of the midnight buffets. I think we would still prefer late sitting on a &quot;Bash&quot; cruise. We only made it in time for breakfast once in the dining room, and it was great as well. The breakfast and lunch buffets in the Lido dining room, as well as hamburgers, hot-dogs, tacos, etc., at the Lido pool were also very good. No complaints from us. <br /><br />We received two painted Dutch hats, to go with the ones we received on the Westerdam . One came from the servers at the Ocean Bar where we went for cocktails and appetizers before dinner. The other was from the Crows Nest staff where we danced until 2 o&#39;clock each night. They had a 50-60s Rock &amp;Roll night, a 70&#39;s night, and a prom night. We actually won the twist contest. I must have been under the influence of alcohol, because I don&#39;t normally twist. We aren&#39;t exactly ballroom dancers, more like bar room dancers. Fast dancing is the second best form of exercise, slow dancing leads to the first&#33; <br /><br />As well as the groups mentioned above we had an interesting mix of people aboard. One was a blind lady, her husband, and her dog Wiley. We had one couple from Northern Indiana who married on the beach at St. Croix and two or three couples who renewed their vows. We even had a passenger who had to be airlifted by a Coast Guard Helicopter in a very risky looking maneuver. The basket was spinning like a top. The rumor aboard ship had it as a body being removed, however we met some friends of the person and they said he was alive. The ship&#39;s doctor apparently suspected a potentially fatal blood clot. <br /><br />We spent an extra day in Ft Lauderdale after the cruise and drank Rum Runners at Pussers and watched the Super Bowl. Our return flights the next day went well. (no snow) <br /><br />This is the first review I have written, so excuse the lack of detail. When Rita and I filled out the survey for the Veendam , we gave 9&#39;s for everything except entertainment, which we gave an 8. The steel drum band was outstanding and the others average. But that is just a matter of taste. For those not familiar with Holland America, 9 is the highest rating you can give on the survey. If they had perfect 10&#39;s, this ship and cruise would have earned some from us. If you do need more detail on the ship, go to the Holland America web site (www.hollandamerica.com) and click on the virtual tour of the Veendam. That is what we did. You can view the cabins from different angles and get an actual feel for their size. The ship lived up to our greatest expectations. <br /><br />Holland America Line does not add gratuities to your beverage bill automatically, nor do they leave tip envelopes in your cabin. Tipping, and the amount, is solely up to you. We did tip our cabin steward, head waiter, and bus boy just as you are almost required to do on other lines. We got extraordinary service, so we tipped accordingly. We also tipped all of the servers, bartenders, and wine steward who served us well. We did this on our last evening aboard. They all helped make our anniversary cruise special. If you are reading this review because you are considering taking a cruise on the Veendam, go for it&#33; Heck, get in touch with us, we may want to join you. <br /><br />We also want to thank Sharon Jackson of Sealetter for getting us interested in cruising. Right after we married in &#39;97, we decided maybe we would like to try a cruise in the late summer or early fall. I typed in &#39;cruise&#39; on my ISP forum search, and low and behold I met Sharon Jackson. She was putting together cruise bash 1, and the timing was perfect. I guess the rest is history. Three years later, we will be on the SeaLetter Y2K Cruise Bash on Carnival&#39;s Elation out of Los Angeles in September. This will be our fifth cruise&#33;',1202239356,0,'Eastern Caribbean','[-review]Veendan012600.jpg',139,'Keith &amp; Rita',1,33,0,0,0,0,0,17267,0,NULL),(299,162,'02-01-08','Fun cruise, more because it was billed as &#39;The Super Bowl Cruise&#39;, than because of the cruise itself. Ship was &#39;alright&#39;, but won&#39;t stand out as one of the best.','This trip was on RCCL, Monarch of the Seas, 2/1-2/4/08, Friday-Monday for the weekend.<br /><br />We booked this trip about three weeks before the departure date.  We live only 45 minutes from the port and it&#39;s very easy for us to just drive down there, no airline reservations, and jump on the ship.  There were four of us, two inside cabins were booked.  We have traveled on Royal Caribbean before, but never on the Monarch of the Seas.  We usually take a Carnival ship when we do a quickie weekend vacation.  <br /><br />We booked this by calling RCCL by phone.  We haven&#39;t done this before with RCCL...we usually book by using a cruise travel agent, and we won&#39;t book by phone again.  My husband&#39;s name is Raymond, but when he called to book, the RCCL travel agent called him by his nickname of &#39;Ray&#39;.  Unfortunately, when the cruise documents arrived (which did arrive very quickly after we booked), the name on the documents was listed as &#39;Ray&#39;, rather than his legal name of Raymond.  That&#39;s the first thing I had to call about and change, so his name matched that on his passport.  <br /><br />We had given the agent our Crown &amp; Anchor numbers, and instead of writing all four of the numbers down, he showed my husband&#39;s number correctly, my number applied to my son, and my daughter-in-law and myself with no numbers at all.  That was also straightened out with a phone call.  As it turns out, there was a meet and greet with the Captain during the cruise, but nothing special pertaining to the Crown &amp; Anchor members anyway.  <br /><br />We had booked a room for myself and my husband, and my son and his wife.  When the docs came, it showed my husband and son in one cabin, my daughter-in-law and myself in another.  We left that as is, figuring we could change that when we got on to the ship, however, filling out the avdance paperwork was a bit more difficult since we were using two different credit cards.  <br /><br />Getting to the ship and on to the ship was a breeze.  We arrived just about 1:30pm, left our suitcases at the curb and walked on to the ship with our carry-ons.  We went directly to Guest Services as soon as we got on the shp, and changed the cabins and straightened out the charge cards.  We then headed to our cabins.  <br /><br />My key to the door fit and opened the door, my husband&#39;s did not.  My son&#39;s key fit their room, my daughter-in-law&#39;s did not.  It took three trips down to guest services to get that straightened out.  We were told if it didn&#39;t work after the last time they re-issued the keys, a staff member would accompany us up to the cabin and change the locks.  That seemed extreme to me, since two of the keys did work, but the keys worked on the third try. <br /><br />We headed to the Windjammer for lunch.  The food was good and plentiful, although we compared it to the Carnival buffets, and it was not as big.  Also, the stations were close together, and there were no clear lines...difficult to figure out which direction the lines were going.  Some of the passengers were a bit annoyed by that. <br /><br />After lunch we explored the ship until time for muster.  <br /><br />Muster was way too long...it took about a half hour, and the man who was directing it for our group had a very deep accent and was hard to understand.  There were people talking and laughing and nothing was said to them by the crew.  I finally turned around to a woman and asked her to be quiet so I could hear what the man had to say.  We waited for quite some time until finally the bell was rung, but my husband and I both felt that the drill was incomplete.  In case of emergency, I would doubt most of the passengers would have known what to do.  <br /><br />We had asked for a large table for late dining, and we were ushered to a table for four.  As it turns out, we enjoyed being together with our kids very much, and Cornelio and Joks, at table 490, both from the Phillipines, took very good care of us.  We enjoyed our dining experience very much.  The food was delicious.  <br /><br />We went to see the comedian the first night in the Sound of Music theater, Kivi Rogers, and he was very good.  After that we went up to the Circuit lounge and listened to karaoke for awhile.  We alsways enjoy a good laugh at karaoke, but would have preferred a screen with the words so everyone could join in singing. <br /><br />On Saturday we were in Ensenada, and we&#39;ve been there many times before, so we booked no excursions.  We took the bus in to the city from the ship and it costs &#036;3.00 round trip per person.  We found out immediately it was the beginning of the Mexican holiday of &#39;Carnivale&#39;.  There was a street fair going on, lots of food, games, and items for sale.  We&#39;ve never been to Mexico for a holiday before, and it was a lot of fun. <br /><br />Sunday: When we had booked the cruise, we realized it was SuperBowl weekend.  The RCCL agent who booked this for us never said it was billed as &#39;The Super Bowl Cruise&#39;, but there were many people wearing t-shirts during the cruise with that logo on it, and in speaking with the cruise staff, we found out that that was exactly what it was.  We were hoping to catch some of the game on the tv&#39;s in the bars, but we had taken a look at the bars ahead of time and the tv&#39;s were very small.  Turns out that the staff set up three large movie theater size screens in the Sound of Music Theater, then instead of anyone having to go back and forth to the Windjammer Cafe, they brought tables in and we had a gourmet buffet set up right in the theater.  I have to say that being in that theater for the game was the highlight of the trip for us.  It was almost like being at the game, except better with the wonderful food offered.  They really did that up right.  <br /><br />Monday morning we woke up early because they want everyone out of their cabins by 8:00am.  We had breakfast in the Windjammer Cafe, went back to the room and finished putting our things together and then made our way to deck 4.  We had a little bit of a line, waiting to get off the ship, but we had Express disembarkation because we had kept our suitcases with us overnight and took them off ourselves.  Most people on board were from Los Angeles and did the same thing.  The lines at Customs were long, but we were directed to the line for non-citizens because our daughter-in-law is a Canadian, and the line went quickly.  <br /><br />The Super Bowl party made this trip for us.  While we enjoyed this weekend very much, we would prefer to cruise on Carnival for a weekend cruise.  There were not a lot of extra activities to do on the Monarch that we were interested in.  The cabins on Monarch were very small, compared to those on Carnival, and the food, while very good, did not have as much of a selection. <br /><br />In summary, the cruise was a lot of fun, but we probably won&#39;t be taking the Monarch again soon.',1202310980,0,'Mexico','',1823,'Suzila',1,52,0,0,0,0,0,17277,0,NULL),(303,162,'02/04/08','Outstanding&#33;&#33;','This was my third cruise on the Monarch of the Seas? and by far the best yet? the crew sure does deserve its reputation of &quot;friendliest ship in the fleet.&quot;<br />I was sailing in an inside cabin for the first time in my 10 cruises history&#33; Sailing single it was very acceptable... I found myself sleeping later than if I had an ocean view or Balcony? however, I doubt seriously because of size if an inside would work if traveling with DP..<br /> I was in stateroom 3029 which was forward on the ship my cabin steward Alfredo Pence was outstanding my room was always clean.. and my ice bucket was always full.. if by chance he was near my room when I was approaching he always opened my door for me just as I was approaching?. Very nice touch?<br />I requested and received second seating and my special table 151 which was always set for one.. The waiter, Geraldine (male form the Philippines) and his assistant Anthony were outstanding in service and detail ? their desire to please were beyond expectations.. This team truly made up for the less than stellar service from my last cruise in January?<br />I sincerely believe that although I remain a hard core Celebrity Fan? Royal Caribbean has convinced me that for Itineraries not served by Celebrity RCI will indeed be satisfactory for future Cruises...<br />As I said to close my last review... &quot;If you have the chance to sail the Monarch of the Seas ? Please do you?. wont be disappointed&quot;',1202591275,0,'Mexico','[-review]RCI_002.jpg',2066,'JoeyandDavid',1,81,0,0,0,0,0,17316,0,NULL),(304,27,'2/2/08','Awesome Superbowl Cruise&#33;<br />8 Days &amp; 5 Ports it was great&#33; St. Thomas&#39;s Coral World is a must&#33; Then off to Megan&#39;s Bay for great swiming&#33; Antiqua is breath taking&#33; We took a Cat snorkle &amp; swim tour&#33; Great Rum Pun','Well what can I say but the Troublemakers rocked the high seas&#33; This was an 8 day cruise to St. Thomas, PR, Antigua, Tortola &amp; Nassau. We had great weather this week as it was chilly last week, (I was on a cruise the week before). <br />Day one... We all met up on the aft deck for a sail away party&#33; There must have been 70 Black shirt wearing Troublemakers up there&#33; What a sail-a-way party it was&#33; Lots of good time had &amp; plenty of booze was a flowing&#33; <br /><br />The next day was a sea day &amp; Superbowl Sunday&#33; Alot of us hung out on Lido Deck soaking up the booze I mean sun &amp; getting a sopt infront of the wide screen on the ship&#33; This was Formal night &amp; I missed it to watch the superbowl game on the lido deck. Now remember I had just done a week before &amp; went to all the diners....lol. I was selling hats (Patroits) for buckets of beer or a rasberry drinkie for the wife. Oh yea she sat there &amp; watched it too&#33;&#33;&#33; My team lost &amp; I gave my bottle of Champagine to a fan of the Giants. I then proceeded to go off &amp; drown my sorrows at the bars....lol<br />I ended up finding one of the crew &amp; we shut down the bars. The next day was PR &amp; we did not get in till 5pm so it was like a sea day again....lol  Well we got a bit loud &amp; security was called...opps... Sorry folks....<br /><br />First port of call PR.... I was here just the week before &amp; had done the segway tour of the forts &amp; just had to do it again&#33; This time a bunch of the group went to do it. It was evening so the forts were closed but what a way to see PR&#33; I finished my tour &amp; had to go back to the ship to get my other glasses as the sun was fully gone now. A bunch went out to Senior Frogs &amp; had a blast. I was a bit boozed out so I did not go.<br /><br />The next day was St. Thomas&#33; I took my family on the Coral World excursion. This was awesome &amp; I only wish we could have spent more time here&#33; Then it was off to Megan&#39;s Bay for a bit of swimming&#33; What a great beach&#33; We spent an hour &amp; 1/2 swimming there. Then we took off for a bit of sight seeing&#33; Great views from the top of St. Thomas&#33;&#33;&#33;&#33;<br /><br />Next day was Antiqua&#33;&#33;&#33; We did a CAT snorkle &amp; private beach excursion... Wow I would do this again in a heart beat&#33; It was so beatiful there&#33;&#33;&#33; Oh yea they gave you free rum punch on the way after snorkeling... They forgot to tell you it was 151 rum punch....OMG... Well needless to say everyone was feeling no pain when we made it back to the dock.....lol This little rum experence flowed into the evening &amp; I got a bit snockered that night. Well the next day was Tortula &amp; I did not make it off the ship as I slept in that day. It was ok though as the ship was empty &amp; I had free roam of the ship.... You have just got to experence a port day on the ship&#33;<br /><br />Got to run I&#39;ll post more later&#33;',1203349085,0,'Eastern Caribbean','',3230,'Chucksta63',1,111,0,0,0,0,0,17407,0,NULL),(305,146,'02-24-08','The overall experience was great&#33; The ship is enormous and kept exceptionally clean. The service was very good from the cabin stewardess to the bar service.','We (my husband, son &amp; I) left Detroit (DTW) right on time (Delta Airlines) - 8:00 am Sunday morning. We had to catch a connecting flight out of Atlanta to San Juan. We were all on the plane, ready to go when the pilot came on and said we all had to get off and get on another plane because of mechanical problems. That plane didn&#39;t leave until 2 hours later. <br />Embarkation was painless because we did not arrive to the port until just before 7 pm. We had Main Seating so we missed dinner but had a good meal in the Windjammer.<br />We went to the Lyric Theater at 10:30 pm for the first show. It was fantastic&#33; It was a comedy juggler - Charlie Frye &amp; Co. and a comedian - Derrick Cameron (who also did an adult comedy show on Monday night).<br />We only ate in the dining room 3 times (for various reasons) and the service was wonderful. One day we had a good sized lunch at Johnny Rockets - alot of fun&#33;<br />I was disappointed that I couldn&#39;t get tickets to the ice show. I guess I have to act faster.<br />The Cruise Director - Mike is the best we&#39;ve ever had&#33; Very funny, entertaining and personable&#33;<br />The two shows featuring &quot;The Royal Caribbean Singers and Dancers&quot; left a little to be desired. The talent was there. It was just the show production value was lacking.<br />The show featuring Kenny James (singer/entertainer) was OK but too &quot;Vegas&quot; for my taste. But the final night&#39;s entertainment with an encore of Charlie Frye &amp; Co. and comedian George Kanter was superb&#33;<br />My husband came down with the flu Mon. night but it was a mild case because he had the vaccination. I have it now, but even less than what he had. We still had a wonderful time.<br />Aruba - Been there before. We took a taxi tour around the island visiting some places we didn&#39;t before like the &quot;California Lighthouse&quot;.<br />Curacao - We just did our own walking tour - walking across the pontoon bridge, visiting the floating market and taking many photos - very picturesque&#33;<br />St. Maarten/Martin - Also took a taxi tour touring the whole island-Marigot, Philllipsburg and even stopped by the nude beach only to find a nude gentleman laying in a lounge chair - much to the chagrin of the men on the tour - LOL&#33;<br />St. Thomas - Have been here twice before so I didn&#39;t even get off the ship. I really enjoyed sitting by the pool doing my Kakuro puzzles and reading (and having a rum runner or two).<br />Disembarkation wasn&#39;t too bad except for the confusion on which bus we were supposed to get on to get to the airport - no signs, no numbers on the busses, etc..<br />We had an easy time at the San Juan airport. Much to our relief because previously we had a rough time there. Once we got to Atlanta we had 3 different gate changes because the connecting plane was going to be late. Well, it ended up being over 3 hours late. We were supposed to be back in Detroit by 9:30 pm but did not arrive until almost 2 am&#33;<br />Overall a great experience. If nothing else we escaped two snow storms while we were gone&#33;',1204744864,0,'Southern Caribbean','',3858,'deb1220',1,43,0,0,0,0,0,17640,0,NULL),(306,53,'02-03-08','A great experience on a classy ship&#33;','I was contacted in the middle of January and invited to attend a seminar at sea aboard Celebrity Millennium Feb 3-10.  As I had booked a group aboard the ship in the past but had never sailed on a Millennium class vessel in our 35 cruises, and since it was visiting two ports I had not visited, Campo de Caso in the Dominican Republic, and Labadee, the RCCL/Celebrity day location in Haiti, I looked forward to attending.  I had to travel alone, as my wife did could not get the time off on short notice.<br /> <br />Flying into Fort Lauderdale, I purchased the Celebrity airport transfers.  We picked up luggage at carousel 4, where there was a Celebrity representative, but we were directed to bring our luggage to the carousel 1 area where they were distributing luggage tags and collecting vouchers.  The transfer is quick and check-in was reasonably quick.  I had only the Xpress Pass for documentation but that was sufficient.  As we boarded the ship they distributed red or blue colored champagne depending on whether you declared to be a New England Patriots or NY Giants fan, as it was Super Bowl Sunday.  Staff were available to show you to your cabin, if desired.  I boarded about 1:30pm and the cabin was ready.  Luggage, however, did not arrive until about 5pm, and hour after sailing. <br /><br />There was a reception for the agents attending the SAS in Michaels Club.   Dinner was at assigned tables for the second seating the first night and we ?round robin?d the other nights.  They did have a Catholic priest aboard, and had mass each day, including the first evening, a Sunday.  The entertainment the first night was a Super Bowl Party in the theater with food and beverages, and TV screens in the Casino.  <br /><br />Day two was a sea day, and the seminar was held from 9am-4pm in a conference room, and they managed to cover all the material Celebrity and Azamara wanted to cover on both sea days.  In addition to the brand information and updates, they brought in ship staff from Captain?s Club, a sommelier, an onboard group coordinator, future cruise sails, spa reps and others as the shipboard schedule permitted to give specific program updates. This was the first formal night, and the evening entertainment was a Broadway-style review at 8:45 and 11pm.  11pm is really too late for a show for those with second dining.  I did notice there were ample venues for music and dancing until at least midnight.<br /><br />Day three I had an opportunity to tour the bridge of the ship, something nor normally available anymore.  There were only 3 people manning the bridge on this huge ship, and the senior officer, a woman, was a graduate of a Swiss Maritime Academy.  All automated, gps superimposed over navigational charts with radar images added.  I also attended a wine tasting in the morning, as we were not arriving in San Juan until 1:30pm.  As I had been to San Juan many times and I was traveling alone, I chose to stay aboard and enjoy the Solarium Pool area?.adults only, warm and quiet with glass roof?special padded wooden lounges, and even a healthy food venue that I had not heard promoted.  The thelassotherapy pool is terrific, and there are also hot tubs there.  The pool is quite warm, but not as warm as a hot tub.  As it was Shrove Tuesday, the last night of Mardi Gras, I did leave to walk 1 block to Senor Frog?s to celebrate Mardi Gras for about 90 minutes before returning for dinner.  The entertainment was as singer with shows at 8:45 and 10:50pm<br /><br />On day four we arrived in Tortola, BVI, at 7am and berthed at a pier?one of two ships at a pier out of 4 in port that day.  As I had been to Tortola years ago, I did purchase a Celebrity excursion that provided a 25 minute ferry ride to Virgin Gorda, a stop at Savannah Beach there for 45 minutes where I snorkeled and say the largest loggerhead turtle I had ever seen in many years of snorkeling.  We then were dropped off at parking area for The Baths?.a beach with giant boulders that at one time many years ago were encased in lava.  The lava has long ago been weathered away and only the boulders, on land and in the water, remain.  The beach is only accessible by going down s sandy and rock path 350 yards down to the beach, and it seems longer on the way back up&#33;  The beach does have a bar and restaurant, and bathrooms available.  There is also a path through boulders, running water, and pools that many people crawled through.  After the ferry ride back they dropped us not by the pier but several blocks away in the downtown area?.right across the street from Pusser?s Rum Store.  The rum was a staple of the British Navy and the store and bar has been there for years.  It looked the same as it did 15 years ago, and their trademark Painkiller drink with Pusser?s rum is still as potent as I remember&#33;<br /><br />This was Ash Wednesday, the first day of Lent, and Catholic mass and distribution of ashes was available at 5:15pm.  They had a 7pm Broadway-style show for the late diners, which I enjoyed.  The singers and dancers were excellent.  I had forgotten that Celebrity has an ?informal? dress night, with jacket required, and this was the evening, so I wore my white dinner jacket over a floral shirt and fit in fine. They had a Tex/Mex Salsa dancing and late night dancing in one of the venues, where I ran into the Celebrity seminar reps and enjoyed some late night conversation with them.<br /><br />On day five we arrived in Caso de Campo at 9am at a pier.  The port authority provides two different bus routes.  For &#036;7 they took us to Altos de Chavon, built as a replica of the Italian town the designer was from in Italy.  It was filled with restaurants, shops, galleries, and a museum and overlooks the Chavron River gorge.  After I returned to the pier, I took the other bus for &#036;5 to Le Marina, a complex of modern shops and restaurants overlooking a marina with very large yachts.  There was also a super market where I discovered D. R.  ground coffee available for the equivalent of &#036;1 for a half pound.  The Caso de Campo area is very isolated from the rank and file Dominican.  This area is a huge complex of gated communities, expensive homes, and many golf courses.  I really would have liked to go into the town of La Romano by taxi or bus, but traveling alone I chose not to do it this time.  Just a cultural note:  there were baseball fields all over the more industrial area near the port and they were in use all day long.  This was the second formal night, and lobster night, preceded by the Captain?s Club cocktail reception.  The show this evening, another stage production, was at 10:50pm<br /><br />On day six we arrived in Labadee, Haiti, at 9am, and tender service was provided in large tenders rather than ship?s boats, so they moved people quickly.  I went over to snorkel and enjoy the area from 11:30-3:30pm.  The view of the verdant green, forested mountains was beautiful.  The western half of the island of Hispaniola is mountainous, and Labadee is flat peninsula in this area on the northwest coast.  The eastern half of the island is flatter, and that is where the Dominican Republic is located.  The peninsula at Labadee has five different beach areas, one with ocean surf and the others with calm, bay water.  There were ample lounge chairs, a trolley to take people from one end to the other, a flea market with Haitian crafts, and a more conventional shopping market.  Food is provided in several venues, but only from 11:30 to 2pm.  There were few fish evident while snorkeling, but more small conch shells than I have ever encountered.  A relaxing day, and I felt that the island was not as cluttered as Princess Cay, and more varied than Half Moon Cay, some of the other ?private island? areas.  Back on the ship there was a comedian at 7 and 9pm.  It was Island night at the pool deck with a fruit dessert buffet late.<br /><br />The last day was a sea day with the usual distribution of baggage tags, customs forms and debarkation instructions.  Based on what passengers had indicated on their preregistration or on a form distributed earlier in the week, they distributed a note giving a specific place and time to meet for individual debarkation of the luggage tag color and number, and there are no announcements calling people away.  It is done by walkie talkie by the staff, a pleasant change.  I attended an excellent wine and food pairing session, and although I am a wine affectionado, I learned quite a bit.  They had samples of chicken, pesto chicken, chocolate, olives, various cheese, and a lemon slice to use when tasting and comparing wines.  Excellent session.  The shows the last night were at 7pm and 8:45 and were an a capella group, other singers, and an adagio duo.  Luggage had to be out by 11pm.  <br /><br />On arrival in Fort Lauderdale we were asked to be out of cabins by 8am.  My debarkation time was 9:25am and was right on time.  The luggage, customs, and transfer to the airport went very smoothly.  <br /><br />My overall thoughts:  In conversation with various passengers, they agreed the ship never seems crowded.  There are many venues for evening entertainment, music and dancing.  The Solarium is outstanding.  The Martini Bar, and the very talented bartender Torgi, was very pleasant, and as entertaining as Tom Cruise was in the movie ?Cocktail?.  Service was excellent, and food was very good, but presentation was not outstanding, just very good.  Lobster was large and cooked just right. Omelets and eggs to order are available, as are fresh waffles and pancakes.  Pizza by the slice is available 11 hours a day, and they will make a pizza to order with your choice of toppings, which takes about 12 minutes. Ice cream is free throughout the day. The staff was very accommodating.  My only complaint was that the buffet area was frequently out of glasses, substituting paper cups, some coffee machines were not working, and the mid-afternoon food choices are limited in the buffet area.  There is no evening buffet, but there is a reservations only bistro area set up in the aft end on one side of the buffet area, with linen and glassware and table service.  The gratuity is only &#036;2 per person.  I?m glad I made the time to check out this ship and the new ports.',1205612676,0,'Select a Destination','',131,'JohnG',1,20,0,0,0,0,0,17742,0,NULL),(302,162,'02-04-08','For me, the Monarch is always wonderful','This was my 17th Monarch cruise in a little less than 13 years...she was my first Royal Caribbean ship and this was number 62 with that company.  I will admit that she is not the fanciest ship afloat, nor the largest - and the cabins are SMALL.  What draws me back is her crew, warm and friendly and welcoming.  For me, they have become family and I am treated like family each and every time.  <br /><br />As a diamond plus member, embarkation is easy.  I was almost the first person in the line ( Joey came on right after me ).  We were quickly processed and went to the diamond-platinum lounge ( coffee, tea, juice, cookies and petit fours ) to await our priority boarding call.  We were on the ship quickly and greeted with a warm hug in the atrium of the Monarch by Danney League, the loyalty ambassador and friendly greetings from a few of the folks at Guest Relations.<br /><br />Our next stop was at the Windjammer - not too crowded when we got there so we didn&#39;t have to do the long circle to find a place to get into the line...and it wasn&#39;t hard to find a table....of course, we also had Werner Zurcher, the Food and Beverage Manager join us - not that I haven&#39;t always had excellent service but Werner&#39;s presence makes it even more so&#33;<br /><br />We were allowed into our cabins at 1PM.  I was in 3608 - great location midships, near the elevator, with a small porthole, not a real window ( need deck four for that ).  It was fine - and my spectacular dozen roses, my requested diamond plus amenity were there, along with a bottle of Chateneuf du Pape ( a gift from my friend, Wilson Philip, the Indian cellar master. <br /><br />I had an excellent cabin steward, the room was always spotless, ice replenished, wine glasses changed every time I drank out of them, and he loved crazie.  <br /><br />I rarely spent time in the room.  Was mainly at Boleros Bar with Charlie Dean and Michael, two Filipino bartenders who are just the best in the world and who I have known for years.  I was so pleased to have Joey meet them ( he knew Charlie from previously ).  There was an incredible group from Argentina singing in Boleros - Carina was the singer and she had three young musicians - late in the evening - great Latin dance music and, earlier, there were big band tunes.  Late night, I&#39;d usually go to the disco - not to dance - god forbid, the music was LOUD - but to see my friend, Indian DJ,<br />Terry Fernandes and his beautiful girlfriend, Nicole.  They always tease me that I&#39;m the &quot;American crew mother&quot; of half the folks on the ship.  <br /><br />I usually ended up back in my room about 2AM but, once I stayed at Guest Relations till 4AM, chatting with the nicest young man from Macedonia.  I tell you, the Monach has the most terrific employees, from housekeeping on up the ranks&#33;<br /><br />I only saw one of the shows - one put on by the Royal Caribbean singers and dancers.  It was nice - not outstanding, though.  <br /><br />The food, as always, in the dining room was very good.  No lobster - goodness, I don&#39;t see how one could expect that from a four day cruise that basically costs about &#036;400/person.  The prime rib was excellent and so was the lamb shank.  I missed the escargot because it wasn&#39;t offered on the hotel director&#39;s menu ( boo hoo ).  We dined once with him and the F &amp; B manager and, another night, the F &amp; B manager had a table with Joey, Claire and I.  We were very indulged, to say the least.  <br /><br />The afternoon, in Ensenada, I was invited, by my Indian crew friends to a local Chinese restaurant where they are allowed to comandeer the kitchen and prepare Indian food.  There were about twenty of us and ten of them cooked - we had four different dishes - shrimp, pork, fish, and lamb in wonderful sauces, with rice - quite spicy - washed down with Dos Equis.  I tried to pay my share but, of course, no one would hear of it.<br /><br />There is no question - in terms of beauty, the Radiance class ships, with all their glass and glitz, outshine the little Monarch in terms of beauty and modern styling - but in terms of old fashioned hospitality and warmth, this lady reigns supreme, in my opinion.',1202580148,0,'Mexico','',4386,'RNSANE',1,57,0,0,0,0,0,17315,0,NULL),(301,74,'02/04/01 Maasdam cruise to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary','Excellent, Excellent, Excellent, and Excellent&#33;&#33;<br />','This must be becoming an annual thing. We went on the Veendam. last year for our third wedding anniversary. We decided around Thanksgiving to look for a 7 day cruise around mid-Jan. Our 4th anniversary was Jan 18th. We considered other lines like Princess, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean, whom we have yet to cruise. We ultimately decided on HAL&#39;s Maasdam because of the great time we had on the Veendam last year. The ships are basically clones. We ended up cruising a little later because it was already booked for the month of January. February is a boring month anyway, the Super Bowl is over, and no Bobby Knight a&#39;ranting and a&#39;raving on the basketball court&#33;<br /><br />This is the first cruise where we let the cruise line book our airline and pre-cruise hotel. It turned out well, but a little strange. We flew from Evansville/Cincinnati/ft. Lauderdale via Delta and from Miami/Chicago/Evansville via American on our return. We actually left in good weather, but our initial flight to Cincy was delayed for some unknown reason. By the time we took the airport shuttle to our gate for our connecting flight, our Lauderdale flight was starting to board. We did not have time to grab a sandwich, or have our Bloody Mary at Cheers. The only thing we had to eat was pretzels on Delta. What happened to their peanuts? At Lauderdale we were met by a HAL Rep, and after securing our luggage, we boarded our bus to the Hyatt Pier 66. We had to drag our luggage about a block to get on the bus. If I had known this, I would have rented a cart. I don&#39;t like to work when I&#39;m on vacation&#33;<br /><br />After we checked in to the Hyatt, we discarded our sweatshirts and jeans for 80 deg weather attire, and headed to the outdoor bar for our Bloody Marys and food&#33; It felt nice to see people swimming outdoors and enjoying the nice sunny day. A far cry from the 15 deg weather we left&#33; We really liked the hotel. After our sandwich and drink(s), we walked the entire grounds. It reminded us of a resort more than a hotel. Although a bit pricey, I would rate the hotel *****, or something like that. HAL had a table set up near the lobby Saturday evening. They gave us our bus boarding pass for the next day. Ours was blue, the 2nd out of 3 total. Our time was 12:45 p.m. to leave for Port Everglades. We were advised to set our luggage outside our room by 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning. That is another story, our luggage&#33;<br /><br />Sunday<br />Our cruise begins&#33; Well after a slight problem. We slept in until about 8:00 a.m. Our plans were to pack up everything and set our luggage out by 10:00 and go to breakfast. Rita decided she needed something out of our large overstuffed suitcase. Well, after she unzipped it, I tried to close it and the zipper came apart. OOPS, what to do now. I got out my trusty Swiss Army combo key-ring tool (pliers, screw drivers, punch, weed eater, etc.) and found the zipper was broken. I headed up to the bell stand to see if they had duct tape. All they had was scotch tape. Did he really offer me that? Anyway, I took a taxi to a 24 hour Walgreen drugstore looking for duct tape. The clerk, who couldn&#39;t understand me, nor could I her, just shook her head. I found it myself, next to the feminine hygiene department. I settled for the basic gray model tape, as the designer colors where not available.<br /><br />After I duct-taped our luggage, we went to breakfast, shopped, and took another long walk around the pier. We boarded our bus around 12:45 p.m., was at Port Everglades around 1:00. We got in line for check-in, and after receiving our check-in number, we waited about 30 minutes or so before our boarding number was called. Once aboard ship, which was about 2:00-2:15, we were escorted to our cabin, number 531, main deck, starboard side, near the front. Our cabin door was loaded with balloons, and the roses I ordered plus flowers sent from our TA were in our cabin.<br /><br />We met our Cabin Steward, Toni. He wished us a happy anniversary. I told Toni - only one problem with our cabin, you need to put the beds together, remember - anniversary? He got a kick out of that. Two pieces of luggage where in our room, so we started the unpacking process. Before we finished, Rita&#39;s cosmetic bag and our duct-taped bag was delivered. Now we had all our stuff. As soon as we finished unduct-taping and unpacking, we headed for our tour of the ship and to the Ocean Bar for our first round of the drink of the day. It felt like we were home. This ship is laid out exactly the same as the Veendam.<br /><br />After our buffet lunch in the Lido and lifeboat drill, we headed to the Sail-Away Festivities, Navigation Deck aft, Deck 10. They already announced the sailing time was going to be an hour or so late due to some late arriving passengers. The steel drum band Pandemonium was playing some great Caribbean music.<br /><br />As we were getting another round of the drink of the day, the Cruise Director Eric Dowlis, Bingo Pete, Shaun, and Amanda talked Rita into volunteering our talent, or lack of, in the Rockin&#39; Rolldies 50s Night program. They wanted her to wear a towel, shower cap, and a smile and dance around &quot;Bobby Darin&quot; in his bathtub singing &#39;Splish-Splash&#39;. My task was simple - they wanted me to be Elvis&#33; Must have been my long wavy black hair and sideburns, or maybe just my beer gut.<br /><br />It started to sprinkle as the Maasdam finally set sail at nightfall. We took cover and I video taped some of the ships as we sailed past them. Like the Westerdam, the Millennium, and the Grand Princess. It was a great feeling to be with someone special as we sailed into the night.<br /><br />Later that evening we went to the Ocean Bar for Cocktail Hour prior to our late seating in the Rotterdam dining room. The staff in the Ocean Bar, were very attentive. Marife, Roel, and Romeo served us very well all week. They called us by name the rest of the cruise, and knew we liked raw veggies for appetizers, and would bring us the dinner menu to look at. They presented us another painted Dutch hat to add to our collection later on that week. We did some pre-dining dancing to the music of Nevada Quartet, a Hungarian group. They did music from Elvis to Louie Armstrong. We enjoyed them all week. We even bought a cassette of their music. We enjoy listening to the slight accent of some of our favorite songs.<br /><br />After hearing the dinner chimes we headed to our table for two, in the Rotterdam lower level, deck seven. Although we love to be around and meet new people, we wanted a romantic setting and sitting. Our waiter Aak, his Assistant Made, our Wine Steward Jess, and our Maitre&#39; D Parmono, made our dining each evening very special. Hey, the food wasn&#39;t bad either. In fact, it was outstanding&#33;<br /><br />After attending the 10:15 p.m. Welcome Aboard Showtime in the Rembrandt Lounge, we went to the Piano Bar and listened to Simon Casciano. He was very good, as was the bartender who also sung a couple songs.<br /><br />Monday<br />A full day at sea&#33; We actually got up fairly early and had breakfast in the Rotterdam. We walked a couple miles around the outside of the ship on the Lower Promenade deck. We like this design of the ship with the deck going all the way around. It also has wooden lounges, and is a great place to go just to relax, feel the ocean breeze, read a good book, and maybe even to take a nap. We then hung out at the aft pool for 2-3 hours. Our Wine Steward Jess was our server, and helped make it a nice place to relax, swim a little, and have an umbrellaless drink. That&#39;s right, they did not use the standard every day issue drink umbrellas&#33; Later that afternoon, we played bingo for our one and only time on this cruise. We also entered the slot tournament, however we did not make the finals. No surprise.<br /><br />Tuesday<br />We docked in Cozumel Mexico along side of the Carnival Victory. A very large ship&#33; Our last trip to Cozumel was on the Mercury , SeaLetter Cruise Bash 3, Oct 99 when Rita and I took a Jeep Safari. Actually it was a &quot;Jeepless&quot; safari. They provide us with a GEO Tracker instead of a Wrangler. What a POS&#33; Rita&#39;s fond memory of the island is a gigantic bruise on the side of her butt&#33; We even skipped Carlos &#39;n Charlies. Not this trip. We just took a taxi to downtown, found our seven Granddaughters beaded T-shirts, and a plain one for our only Grandson. Then we went to C &#39;n C&#39;s and we each had a Yard Margarita. Rita also wanted some nachos, but regretted that later in the evening.<br /><br />We set sail at 2:00 p.m., and from the Lower Promenade outside deck, watched people running to the gangway right at sailing time. After they raised the gangway, we saw another lone gentleman running, yelling, and frantically waving with one hand (he was carrying a beer in his other hand). They had to lower the gangway again. Reminded me of the &#39;Bama gang on CB2.<br /><br />Later that afternoon after we sailed, we went to our one and only rehearsal for the Rockin Rolldies. Bingo Pete reassured me he would have enough alcohol on hand for our show Wednesday evening. After the rehearsal, Rita&#39;s stomach was starting to get queasy. I reminded her, actually rubbed it in, when I told her &#39;do not eat the nachos&#39;.<br /><br />Well to make a long story longer, we missed dinner for the first time on any of our previous cruises. I ordered room service, and they suggested a meal for passengers who were experiencing seasickness. They didn&#39;t have one for Se?or Runs&#33; In sympathy for Rita&#39;s plight, I had the same bland meal. Yuk&#33; She only ate a couple bites of the soup. After she went to sleep, I headed to the Casino. We missed Paul Tanner in The Rembrandt Lounge. He is a singer-impressionist. We were told by fellow passengers, his show was outstanding&#33; Oh well, maybe the next time.<br /><br />Wednesday<br />Welcome to Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We docked at 9:00 a.m., but we did not tender off the ship until around 10:30. Rita woke up starving and no worse for the wear. She felt fine, and even better after she ate. After our breakfast in the Lido, we had to go to the Rembrandt Lounge to get our tender tickets, and wait there until they called our number. The process took about 20 minutes. We did Stingray City on our Mercury cruise, so once again we went shopping. We were not interested in the turtle farm, nor did we want to go to Hell. We ended up at the Hard Rock Caf? for lunch and Cuban beers. We re-boarded the ship about 3:00, and headed for the aft pool. The ship set sail for Jamaica mon about 5:00, no problem.<br /><br />That evening we went to the 6:45 show for second seating at the Rembrandt. It was the magic of Greg Frewin. His show is great. We saw Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo in Vegas a few years ago, and this show was almost as good&#33;<br /><br />Now for our show. Well any way, everyone seemed to enjoy it. I certainly would have enjoyed watching my fellow passengers making a fool out of themselves, had I not been one of the fools&#33; But what the heck, no one will see us again. The &#39;plenty of alcohol&#39; promised by Bingo Pete, turned out to be one glass of champagne. I am glad I doubled up on my scotch and waters at dinner&#33;<br /><br />Thursday<br />Ocho Rios, Jamaica, somewhere we haven&#39;t been, somewhere I couldn&#39;t care less if we go to again. At least we docked, no tenders. We had to walk the gauntlet of taxis, drug dealers, hot jewelry salesmen, and just plain old panhandlers to get across the street to a shopping center. We wanted to buy a souvenir from Jamaica and another dress for our youngest granddaughter, who was having her first birthday on Valentine&#39;s Day. What ever you do, bargain with them, you will get dramatically lower prices. It seemed like all the shop owners were either from India or Pakistan. After we found what we wanted, we took a taxi to Dunn&#39;s River Falls. I negotiated a fare with &#39;Slow Eddie&#39;, who had an air-conditioned mini-van. I told him if he did not try and talk us into any side trips, I would give him a good tip. He was a very good driver, and had a great personality. Also, he did drive slow, but very safe. The trip to the Falls only took 10 minutes. Rita and I walked down to the beach, stopping along the way for photos. We did not walk the Falls. It probably would have been easier walking back. There are a lot of steps&#33; We stayed about 2 hours while &#39;Slow Eddie&#39; waited and had him return us to the shopping center. Rita had a few more shops she wanted to visit.<br /><br />We set sail at 5:00. That evening after dinner we went to the Rembrandt for the comedy of Don Sherman, who looks like the hairless guy on Little Orphan Annie. I believe his name is Daddy Warbucks or something like that. He was very funny. We also attended the Filipino Crew show. That was also very good.<br /><br />Friday<br />A day at sea while we continued our sail to Half Moon Cay. We spent the day doing our usual activities, walking after having breakfast in the Lido, hanging out at the aft pool, etc. We also attended the Society of Mariners [Ed: HAL Alumni] get together in the Rembrandt, and were introduced to our new ship Captain. It seems our old Captain flew to Ft Lauderdale from Ocho Rios the previous day to attend a conference.<br /><br />The show in the Rembrandt that evening was &#39;Up On The Roof&#39; starring the Maasdam Cast. It was all right, but nothing to write home about. After the show we continued our usual nightly entertainment, dancing in the Ocean Bar, and listening to Simon in The Piano Bar.<br /><br />Saturday<br />Half Moon Cay, what a beautiful island and beach. I had been trying to talk Rita into Parasailing all week, but to no avail. We just walked the beach, swam a little and relaxed. We enjoyed the barbecue cookout and took a lot of video and photos. We chatted with some folks from Indy who where playing cards at a table by the outdoor bar. Man, we Hoosiers know how to have some fun&#33;<br /><br />That evening we handed out our tips to our Cabin Steward, Waiter, and Assistant Waiter. For the first time on all of our now six cruises, we tipped our Maitre&#39;D. We also went to the casino and got cash to tip some of the servers and bartenders who served us well, including our Wine Steward. Rita even tipped the one who rang the dinner chimes and served us mints. We missed most of the Variety Farewell Showtime in the Rembrandt that evening, but did manage to slip in late to see Paul Tanner do a Neal Diamond and Garth Brookes song/impression. He was as good as people said.<br /><br />We met a lot of nice people on this cruise, Rick and Joyce from Dayton, Ed and Cheryl from Cincinnati, Ed and Darlene from Pennsylvania, Ray and Claire from Florida, Joe and Ruby from Nova Scotia, Neal and his wife from Montreal, and on, and on, and on. Sorry I can&#39;t remember all the names.<br /><br />Sunday<br />The dreaded disembarkation. The cruise ship draws names for prizes for passengers filling out their surveys before this process. Some would probably want to change their opinion after this process. Not us, it went very well. HAL did an awful job on our first cruise with them on the Westerdam. The Veendam last year went very smooth, this one was even better. They did a great job getting us off the ship and busing us to Miami for our return flight back to reality.<br /><br />Rita filled out the survey and gave 9&#39;s for just about everything. She said she would have given 10&#39;s if they were allowed. I agreed with her 100%. It was a great cruise, great ship, and even greater staff.',1202393551,0,'Western Caribbean','[-review]maasdamrandr.jpg',139,'Keith &amp; Rita',1,61,0,0,0,0,0,17291,0,NULL),(307,27,'03-01-08 Carnival Liberty','Our best Carnival cruise to date on a spotless ship with great service and food.','Carnival Liberty Eastern Caribbean March 1-9, 2008<br /><br />We booked this cruise, our 12th on Carnival, for my wife?s birthday.  We couldn?t find a flight getting into Fort Lauderdale early enough to be sure we could get checked in with the new earlier 90 minutes before sailing deadline, so we flew in the evening before the cruise.  We stayed in the Candlewood Inn (owned by the same company as the Holiday Inn Express next door to it) on State Route 84 near the airport and not that far from Port Everglades.  The room had a full kitchen, and they provided microwave popcorn and soap for dishes.  They also had food available for purchase that you could microwave in the room.  There is also a Winn Dixie supermarket across the street where we stopped in the morning to purchase 2 bottles of champagne to take aboard ship.  The hotel provides a free shuttle from the airport, and a paid shuttle at 10:30, 11:30, and 12:30 to Port Everglades for &#036;8 per person.  We opted to call a taxi, knowing how close we were, and it was &#036;13 including tip.<br /><br />Check-in through the VIP line for Platinum members was quick and we were aboard by noon.  The cabins weren?t opened until 1:30pm, however.  We had an 8E balcony on deck 7 and really enjoyed it.  <br /><br />General observations about Carnival Liberty, at this time the 2nd newest Carnival ship (until fall 2008).  We checked with the maitre de? as we found we were assigned a larger table and he had no trouble blocking a table for 4 for the 2 of us for the whole cruise.  Interestingly, I noted plenty of empty tables for 2 at the 8pm seating.  We were in the Silver Olympic Dining Room the after one.  Service and variety on the menu was excellent.  We had frequent visits by the assistant maitre de?s.  Choices include beef wellington, chateaubriand, filet mignon, prime rib, large and tender lobster, seafood newburg, pike perch, mahi mahi, tilapia, and many other, including lamb.  Desserts included cherries jubilee, cr?me brulee, and baked Alaska.  The Carnival melting chocolate cake was available every night.<br /><br />The Lido are for breakfast has three buffet areas, 2 of which have eggs to order.  Lunch options include grill, deli, fish &amp; chips (with boullabaise, fried oysters, calamari, tuna tartar, and fish and chips), Mexican selections, a Mongolian station, taste of nations buffet, and the regular buffet?.all in addition to the dining room service, which we never use for lunch.  Pizza and Caesar salad, of course are available 24 hours in the rear pool area.<br /><br />There are many dancing options, including in Harry?s Supper Club.  You can dance there to the combo and use the bar even if you aren?t dining in the supper club?.a little known secret.  There is dancing in the evening to a combo in the lobby bar area, in the Victoria Lounge to a 4 person band, and in the disco in the evening.<br /><br />Wednesday they did have a Mardi Gras night around the pool at 10:30 pm and a Mexican buffet at midnight.  On Friday night they had a chocolate buffet at midnight.<br /><br />They held wine tastings twice in the Harry?s Supper Club at 11:30am, with a knowledgeable sommelier who had worked in the Normandy restaurant on Celebrity Summit.  The formal nights were on the 2nd and 7 nights of this 8 day cruise.  The first was on the 2nd night, my wife?s birthday, and she was thrilled as result.  I was able to purchase, and preorder for the second formal, rose corsages for her at the Formalities ship.  The Captain?s welcome reception in the Venetian Theatre was held on the first formal night.  The past guest reception was held in the on the 5th evening in Victoria Lounge, followed by a 7 pm show by the theatre cast featuring 50?s and 60?s music.<br /><br />The shows included a Rock Down Broadway  and It?s a Wonderful World, a tribute to Frank Sinatra and Sammy Davis Jr by a make vocalist we had seen on a previous cruise, but is still very good, a comedian, and a tribute to Motown Music Grammy winners.  The Carnival singers and dancers were among the best we have seen on Carnival.  <br /><br />Itinerary<br /><br />The first day of the 8 day cruise was a sea day with wind and rain in the morning, but cleared in the afternoon.  First formal night, Captain?s Welcome and show.<br /><br />Monday:  Arrived in San Juan at 5 pm after, again, wind and rain in the morning, but clearing in the afternoon.  We were there from 5 to midnight.  We walked a bit in old town, but having been there many times, we wound up at Senor Frog?s behind the Sheraton near the pier.  Four ship in port, all arriving late in the day.  Many people ate aboard early and went into town for the evening.  <br /><br />Tuesday:  Arrived in St Thomas and docked at Crown Bay, the one outside of town.  Ship was there from 7am to 6pm.  We took a taxi to Red Hook, now up to &#036;11 per person, and the ferry to St John?s for &#036;5 per person, and a taxi to Trunk Bay for &#036;6 per person.  Park admission is &#036;4 per person.  I enjoyed the snorkel trail at Trunk Bay park again and we stayed from 11:30 till 2pm.  Then another  taxi to Cruz Bay to enjoy local drinks near the ferry pier, and the 3pm ferry back to Red Hook, and the taxi back to Crown Bay.  We paid &#036;48 per person for 6 ? hours, and the ship?s excursion to St John is &#036;71 and only 4 hour long.  We enjoyed a late room service lunch.  After dinner we enjoyed dancing to the lobby band in Harry?s Supper Club instead of the comedy show.<br /><br />Wednesday we were in Antigua from 7am to 6pm.  I had arranged in advance for a day pass at Sandals Grande Antigua, and after a &#036;12 taxi (for 2)  we enjoyed the newest Sandals resort in the Caribbean, with its new 7 story addition.  Food, beverages and service were great.  It is right on Dickinson Beach, not 10 minutes from the pier.  We returned, after too much sun, about 5pm.<br /><br />Thursday we were in Tortola BVI from 7am to 3:30pm.  I booked an excursion to snorkel in the caves at Norman Island for &#036;61 per person.  After about a 25 minute boat ride we snorkeled in deep water and into the caves.  Not much sea life in there, but there was in the deep water, including a resident large barracuda.  After the boat ride back we shopped in Tortola and stopped for medication at Pusser?s Bar for a Painkiller&#33;<br /><br />Friday was a sea day, great weather, wine tasting, 2nd formal night, and a broadway style show after dinner.<br /><br />Saturday we were in Nassau from 1-8pm.  Having been to Nassau often, we chose to do an excursion on the party boat Yellowbird to Pirate Island.  Open bar rum punch on the ride over, chairs and swimming under a cloudy sky, and then open bar rum punch and dancing on the way back.  It was definitely a party boat, and was only &#036;35 per person for the fun afternoon.  Of course we stopped at Sr Frogs for a snack on the way back to the ship.  Baggage was to be out in the halls by 10:30 pm, and we went to dance a little after that.<br /><br />Sunday they allowed passengers to remain in cabins till 9am, if they chose.  We chose wait till the last people called as we had a late flight, and enjoyed the Lido area till 9:45 when we were called.  After only a short wait for a taxi  we were at the airport and into a long, long line for TSA checks, and a 2pm flight home.<br /><br />My only real complaint was that 2 of the 4 aft elevators were out of commission the entire cruise, and these are the ones to the aft dining room and the aft pool and Lido.  One of the midships elevators was also out often.  But the service and food and general appearance of the ship were superb.  Tommy, the singing bartender at the Paparazi Wine Bar is a gem.  This was clearly the best of our 12 Carnival cruises, and great 8 day cruise for my wife?s birthday.<br />',1205622268,0,'Eastern Caribbean','',131,'JohnG',1,29,0,0,0,0,0,17745,0,NULL);

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