gooch47

Just got an email that our Caribbean Princess cruise will NOT leave on Saturday, but on Sunday. The Harbor Master has closed the port, so that means that people currently on the ship won't arrive here until Sunday, either.

We are already in Houston. Really bad weather forecast for tomorrow. Only restaurant close to our hotel is about .2 miles. May get wet. But we were able to extend our hotel stay.

I really feel bad for those scheduled to fly in tomorrow, too.

Listening to the guide at an Australian rain forest resort telling us what critters could kill you and which we're harmless.

Why does my darn autocorrect always put we're instead of were? Is my grammar bad?

Listening to the guide at an Australian rain forest resort telling us what critters could kill you and which we're harmless.

I may be wrong, for the first time ever, but I thought the people who check you in aren't Princess employees.

Riding through a storm in the North Atlantic. I believe it was the remnants of a hurricane. Each time that ship came down off one of those giant waves, it would feel like it hit a huge rock. The whole ship would shudder for a couple seconds.

Our own fault, but we've walked through some dicey neighborhoods, once even at night.

Snorkeling and getting scared out of my wits when I came face to face with a big barracuda.

But the worst is the irrational anxiety I get on the few days before a cruise imaging all the things that could possibly go wrong when we are trying to get to the ship from home.

we have only been to a couple of cocktail parties and the rest were luncheons but i believe a single person can only bring 1 guest so if there's a couple they shouldnt be allowed to invite any others or someone from the top 40 will miss out

Exactly. I said I wouldn't even ask if it were a luncheon. And possibly the only reason they said it was OK to bring the kids to the cocktail party was because we were one of the top three.

As for the TA's, they were both unaccompanied young women with no family in attendance. Highly unlikely they were traveling with a companion.

You'd be surprised, Pam. We don't have all that many more days than you do. And like I said, we've been third place three times.

We haven't seen anything about it.

We elected to use Princess transportation from the airport. I sure hope they don't make us hang around there forever. I'll be sure we check the various websites before we leave our hotel before heading back to the airport. (We are flying in a day early but still using the shuttle.)

We haven't NOT been invited for quite a while. We've been third highest three times now.

But it does, of course, depend on the demographics and the type of cruise. I'm sure we wouldn't qualify on a world cruise.

A quick rant: On a recent cruise, the first and second place winners were both unaccompanied women who I had seen around the ship wearing TA name badges. Probably escorts. No ... not that kind. LOL But I think either Princess or themselves should disqualify those who cruise for a living.

Thanks, Phil & Jim. That is exactly what I needed.

No idea if we will make the cut or if they will still have it being Christmas week, but I'm sure the kids can handle lunch alone. LOL

We used to get our air fare exclusively through the cruiselines. I thought it was a form of insurance. In one case it did help because our cruise got back so late everyone missed their flights. But since we had booked ours thru Princess, they rescheduled it for us.

But lately we do our own. I've never totally understood Princess's program but it seemed that they weren't responsible for much except getting you a flight, any flight.

Now it may be things have improved.

But we even started booking our own international flights, too, and found it wasn't all that scary.

While we prefer the luncheons, our granddaughter got such a kick out of meeting the captain on the Golden Princess, a cocktail party would be nicer.

I guess what I was asking was what they had been doing up to now.

I wonder if it changes from cruise to cruise or if it remains the same.

Wondering if this cruise itinerary is having a luncheon or a cocktail party. We are cruising with our granddaughter and her parents. On our Alaska Cruise the Captain's Circle rep graciously allowed us to take them to the cocktail party, but we won't even ask if it is a luncheon.

Provided, of course, we make the cut. LOL

It breaks my heart to see an ambulance outside a cruise ship. Given the demographics of most of the cruises we take, I suppose it is inevitable, but still so sad.

We were on a cruise in the Far East and at the very first stop a relatively young woman fell down some steps, broke her leg and hit her head. That cruise was over for her almost before it began.

I suppose I am so paranoid about diarrhea because our poor DIL had to fly home with us from Las Vegas with a really bad case of bacterial diarrhea. I remember her having to run to the restroom while the plane was taxiing to the gate here at home. The flight attendants we're yelling but she had no choice other than (TMI?) messing her clothes.

If she doesn't have a certified copy of her born abroad documentation, I'd be surprised if she could get a passport with it either.

I call myself the "Queen of What If."

But sometimes planning or even just thinking ahead pays off. For example, I always carry a printout of alternate connecting flights if for whatever reason we miss one. It paid off big time when we got to Phoenix and the flight we needed to take to get us to a flight on Air New Zealand was "indefinitely delayed.". I knew there was another flight to LA leaving in just a few minutes. We got there just in time to get the last two seats on the plane.

A woman was sitting right in the middle of a staircase with art supplies scattered out all around her. She was making a copy of the artwork on the wall. A group of Asian people carefully walked around her but they were laughing and speaking in their language.

The artist's response? "Damn foreigners."

How about "knock you up" or something similar.

I take my Kindle with a bunch of books on it and a couple apps I play. (Can you say Candy Crunch?)

My DH takes a tablet computer for playing games and connecting to the internet in the cabin for a quick look-see at his email. The tablet also has a bunch of movies on it. We hope we can hook it up to the TV. We could on our last NCL cruise.

We spend a lot of time in our cabin so some electronic diversions are welcome. TV usually sucks.

We also take our camera, of course, and back up the photos on the computer. I don't know how many times I've read about people losing their photos (electronically) or losing the whole camera and begging people for emailed photos so they would have at least something.

We took a Viking Cruise on the Yangtze River in China a few years ago. When we arrived in China and were going through Chinese customs you had to walk through a thing that looked like a metal detector. It was checking your body temperature. If it registered a fever, you were detained and quarantined.

I worried that I'd be having one of my hot flashes just at the wrong time.

We were waiting for the last couple to arrive for our table of eight. They finally showed up, took a look at us and the others and said, "You would think they would sit us suite passengers with better people."

They still sat down with us and no, she wasn't kidding. We had already asked for a table for two which we got the next night so I don't know how the rest of the people treated them for the rest of the cruise. The atmosphere was definitely chilly that first night.

I can't imagine having to travel with diarrhea or vomiting. But I also can't imagine losing out on a cruise because of symptoms that would probably be over with by the time the cruise actually started. I agree, though, that it isn't fair to others to expose them.

I wonder if cruise insurance would cover a cruise cancelled because of a relatively minor illness.

I often wonder what people do if they wake up the morning they are supposed to leave for a cruise and are sick. Not just a cold, but something worse like vomiting or diarrhea? Do you blow off a whole cruise for something that will most likely be over in 24 hours? How would you manage a plane ride?

A lot of you will recognize me as CC's biggest worry wart. We have an intestinal virus going around here and of course, I'm sure one of us is going to get it.

Yes, I know that the cruise line wouldn't want someone who is sick boarding the ship.

I was refused the cheese platter in the MDR after saying I wanted to take it to our cabin.