Merry Cerena

On 9/14/2021 at 5:55 PM, EatonDoolittle said:

It was pre-Covid, but I'll be there again in Dec of this year, and will report back. 

It was open air (but covered), so it would be safer than a regular tourist van. 

 

 

Have you been to Dominics yet this month? Still looking for an excursion for January.

Can you recommend a private tour? We are interested in going to the Queen Elizabeth II Botanical Gardens, Cayman art museum and National Historic Museum. Thanks for any input.

What type of music and dancing is offered on American Queen ships?

Is there currently a better chance of ballroom dancing on Niew Statendam, Niew Amsterdam, Zuiderdam or Eurodam? We mourn the loss of the Ocean Bar and the Halcats, but wonder if any of these offer dancing in the Crow's Nest or anywhere at all? We have found BB Kings to be subject to long jazz riffs and off-tempo music, unsuitable for dancing.

Thanks for any advice!

Hi, We sailed on the Oceania Insignia Panama Canal Crossing last June 2018. The band offered the best ballroom music we have experienced on any cruise, with two wooden dance floors and a band of excellent musicians eager to play any request. Since Holland has eliminated the Ocean Bar venue and Princess is eliminating the Wheelhouse Bar venue, we are desperate to find a cruise worth taking out of a Florida port! We find the Cunard floors excellent, but their bands are often off tempo. I would appreciate any input on ships that still offer a nice floor with a live group for ballroom dancing. We agree that BB King's is not conducive to dancing, since it is painfully loud and tends to long jazz riffs. I hope you have a wonderful cruise!

Thank you so much for sharing your cruise experience. We were considering booking a Prisendam cruise after Christmas. The last 2 Holland ships we were on had eliminated the Neptunes in the Ocean Bar and the DJ in the Crow's Nest. Can you tell me if Prisendam still has dancing in those 2 areas? If they do not, we have to look for another line. Thanks!

Thanks!

Check out Jazzdagen

for fine classical jazz:

http://www.jazzdagen.com/home.htm

We are sailing Oceania Insignia Panama Canal on June 15. It is our first Oceania cruise. Can you tell me how people generally dress in the evening?

Thanks, Merry

For those who have sailed with GCT and other lines, what differences have you noted? We are extremely pleased with GCT for staff, service, itinerary, dining, excursions, but are interested in learning about other lines.

Thank you..thank you...thank you DaveOKC ! After reading these posts almost daily, here was one from you that I was not familiar with. I called my TA with AAA and asked him to check for us to see if we qualified on our Alaska 14 day trip next May/June and YES we got an add'l $100 which went along with the other $100 Welcome home credit we already had (learned about it also on Cruise Critic) and also our $100 from HA future cruise certificate PLUS our $100 AAA Group rate PLUS $255 AAA price match with Costco (that we worked hard to get). We now have a grand total of $655 OBC. $Tips will take $336 out which is fine. We have not paid our cruise off in full yet. Purposely leaving us owing about $500 just in case other stuff happens. Our cruise price did NOT go down this time...they just added the $100 for National Cruise Promotion. We PAID awhile back $460 more for the FREE (hahhah) Explore4 for two people for 14 days (good price). Thanks again :D Total price of cruise is about $5800 for two oceanview room.

Charlene,

I would like to ask you a couple questions:

Do you find you do better with an AAA travel agent rather than booking yourself through Vacations to Go or CruCon or Priceline? I have always booked the site with the best price but would like have an agent.

Next -do you prefer Zuiderdam or Maasdam? I am choosing either one of those or Nieuw Amsterdam for holiday cruise.

Thanks so much,Merry

Hi Jane,

Thanks for the lovely reviews. You sound like an expert on Royal Caribbean! Do you prefer the Allure/Oasis class or the Freedom class?

Thanks, Merry

I am currently searching for two cruises to take during the next 5 months. The main activity we seek on board is ballroom or swing dancing. I was hoping to find some direction about which ships to choose. I agree with previous posts:

QM 2 has lovely floor but very disappointing dance band. The singer was excellent but band tempo irregular. The show band was excellent but only played for 1 tea dance. Overall it is still the best because you can attempt to dance every night.

Celebrity Solstice had no true dance venue-just a "floor" in the middle of a walkway and a band that performed the same disco songs upstairs every night from about 10-11 or 12. The ship had a lovely floor upstairs but it was used for games most of the evening.

Royal Caribbean Solstice offers nothing but a steady diet of Merengue that doesn't even include Cha-Cha.

Costa Magica offers at least two dance bands on different locations but the food is average at best.

I have heard that some of the older RC or Holland ships still have decent dance opportunities. Can anyone suggest specific ships? Unfortunately, Crystal is out of our price range.

Thanks, Merry