electro

I've been following this thread forever and love seeing everyones great photo.

Decided I should post a few.

I was trying out a star filter last night.

Christmas tree light reflected im my wine glass,

Lois

The winter after this happened the SARS epidemic decimated Canadian tourism income. :D

 

I realize that you had a horrible experience but I don't think the SARS epidemic is something to write about with a big grin.:mad:

Lois

Ok - trying to post a few pics!

 

 

 

 

You have two left feet!:eek::D

sorry, I couldn't resist:o

We passed a pretty eerie house last night during the storm.

 

 

:D

Larry

Did you put in the girl sitting in from of the house?

Lois

I guess my last comment on this topic. I don't thing the ships follow "US Culture" because most cruisers are from the US as some have stated. I think what we have here is an industry standard that is legal and most profitable for the lines. It just happens that those of us in the US are more used to it because several US-based industries play the same wage game for the same reasons, while it's not the norm in other countries. Whether you feel it's right, wrong, irresponsible, immoral, or whatever, the fact remains that it's quite the norm in the industry and we can either chose to cruise or do something else with our vacation money. The lines don't do it because they want to operate in a way familiar with US customers. They do it because it is better for them economically.

I totally agree that this is a cruise line culture and not a US one.

I've just sailed on MSC over New Years in the Med. This is an Italian line with 90% European passengers and they had a DSC of 7 euros pp/pd.

Where I have a problem with the 15% on bar tabs is how it applies to wine by the bottle.

When I order a bottle of wine at dinner, it is no more work for the waiter to open my $120 bottle of wine than it is to open a $25 bottle of wine, but I have to tip almost 5 times as much as the guy buying the $25 bottle.

I think there should be a flat fee tip for wine by the bottle, say $5. That is about 15% of the low end wine.

Lois

As for sunscreen I have some left over from my NCL cruise back in 2008.

Note that sunscreen does expire.

Make sure you check the expiry date, if it is past date, throw it out and buy a new one, you don't want to get a nasty burn.:eek:

Lois

Review - Tour of Alexandria with Egypt private Excursions

We used this company for a tour of Alexandria during a recent mediterranean cruise; we were in Alexandria a few days after the explosion.

We had booked the tour online a few weeks prior. The booking process was flexible, quick and painless. We didn't like either of their "off-the-shelf" tours so we asked to change it around. They made some recommendations and we moved forward.

We paid around $180usd + 30Euros for lunch (which we thought was overpriced).

We were greeted by our driver right at the ship; very easy. Then we met the guide and got going.

Our Ratings/grades :

A: The guide (forgot his name) was very knowledgeable and friendly. Really knew his stuff and was very informative.

B: The tour we ended up taking was great. We gave it a "B" because we missed the guided tour of the library. Before the library, we were at a Mosque. They rushed us at the Mosque (we did not even go inside) so that we could make the guided tour but we still made it about 1/2 hour late. Basically, that negatively impacted our tour of those 2 of the stops.

C: The restaurant; they took us to an "italian" restaurant (we had just spent a week in Rome). The appetizers were great (A) but the main courses were bland ©

F: Market/shopping

We had asked to go to a market. Instead, we were taken to a tourist trap-type place with overpriced souvenirs. The type of place where you get handed a card as you walk in so the tour that brought you can get their cut. We did not buy anything there (or in the attached papyrus shop) which seemed to annoy our guide. The only reason I say that is that we found him to be a little "gruff" after and there was a lot of agitated discussion with the driver (in arabic) which there had not been before. I considered taping the exchange to verify my theory but then decided against it.

After that, we asked for an actual market; I highlighted that we wanted to buy some cotton products (linen and what not). Egypt produces the best cotton in the world so ... We were told that there were no such shops in Alexandria and that we'd need to go to Cairo to buy good quality cotton. Needless to say that we didn't believe it but there wasn't much we could do.

We met the driver around 9:30 and were back at the ship around 4pm. We thought that for $200, it was a bit short.

Final impressions :

Despite the problem with the shopping portion of our trip and the Mosque/library hiccup, we had a nice day and we would use this company again.

I'm female and I'll be cruising on Feb 27, 2011 and will be proudly wearing my Canadian Forces Army mess kit.

What ship/line are you sailing?

I'm also sailing on Feb 27/11 on NCL Pearl.

I'm Airforce so mess kit isn't quite as nice.

I don't have one anyway, it would be my 1A's.

Lois

Finally, spouses of actively deployed, or deceased military personnel, are eligible to book one stateroom as long as the eligible spouse is occupying the stateroom.

Anyone else notice this? I wonder how the deceased spouse is suppose to occupy the stateroom?:confused:

Also if you book with the cruise company online, there is a block that say Special Rates . It is on RCCL and Carnival, it applies to US and Canadian forces,

Carnival does NOT give military discounts to Canadian Forces, I've tried.:(

Lois

Any women wear their uniform for formal night?

Going back to Europe next.

I'd like to do the Greek Isles unless someone here states a case why not to. I'd like any input. Getting ready to book another cruise soon.

I've really enjoyed reading your posts.

You will love the greek isles. Absolutely amazing.:D

I would suggest spring or fall, summer is much to hot.:eek:

We were there early April and the temp was very comfortable for walking around and site seeing.

And make sure you eat in some local resturaunts.

I'm pricing the Dawn for Oct 4th on the NCL website.

I put in the PGPOP code and the price went UP by $100 per person.:eek:

That's pretty expensive for a FREE soda card.!!

Lois

I can't believe no said the passenger talent show:D

On my first cruise, there were 2 students from Juilliard who performed in the talent show.

They were much better than the ships paid performers.

But it is also fun to watch braves souls that don't have much talent but have a lot of fun on stage.:o

I also love to dress up for formal nights. I wear combats every day to work and were jeans or sweats when I'm not working so it is fun to dress up.

I haven't seen this mentioned, a soft collapsible cooler.

It folds flat so it is easy to pack.

The room stewart will keep if full of ice for your drinks that you bring on.:D

Especially usefull if your cabin does not have a fridge.

Also great when going to the beach in port. Stop at the local store and fill it with beer instead of paying high prices at the beach bars.