ronbarb

We just booked the Panama Canal for Feb, 2016 and got a great promotional sale! Buy one, get one half off. We have loved our 4 Azamara cruises, but moved to Princess recently- itineraries we wanted at a great price. We already booked a Princess cruise to Panama for 2016 and then decided, what the heck, let's see what Azamara offered. Cannot turn it down! We booked an aft suite, and I don't know the details on what the promotion offers as far as cabin location. But definitely check it out!!

Thank you so much for such quick responses. And for such good information. Looking at the deck plans, am I right in thinking that Dolphin deck has more covered balconies? We're looking at D703. Again, thank you for your help.

We need the expertise of Princess cruisers. We have sailed twice on Diamond and have loved our aft balcony. We now have a cruise booked on the Island Princess and there are no aft cabins. We have a suite booked-C703. Our TA called Princess and was reassured by numerous staff that the cabin has a fully covered balcony. However, the research I've done makes me think it is partially covered. Does anyone know for sure?? Thanks for any help.

Having had motion sickness on every mode of transportation (even while looking down on a moving elevator), here is what works for me. I take nondrowsy Dramamine for airline flights- some dry mouth, but no hungover drowsy effect. And for cruises, Scopalomine patches work great. These are prescription only and do effect everyone differently. The benefit is that one patch is effective for 72 hours, which is great for a long cruise. Again, the only effect I notice is dry mouth. Be sure to wash hands thoroughly after applying. After waking up one morning with a very dilated pupil and the fear that I was "stroking out", I realized it was the patch!

We did Odysseys China and Tibet tour, so hopefully our experience will help you. First off, we have done four Odysseys tours, and plan on more. If you have had no previous experience with this company, I think you will be very pleased with them. Our tour guide in China was incredible, as were all the local guides. Our guide stayed with us the entire trip, and each major city had a local guide as well. They were all very knowledgable about their city and very proud to share with us. All our hotels were five star, restaurants were good, not an excessive amount of time spent at shopping venues, enough free time to see whatever was not included on the tour. The incountry flights were surprisingly good. We would arrive at the local airport, stay in a group while our tour guide got boarding passes and then escorted us thru security to the gate (he called us his "sticky rice"). We received hot meals on every flight, most of them being 3 hours or so.

I don't know what your itinerary is, but we really enjoyed seeing China with Odysseys. I think we got an excellent overview of the country. If you're at all interested in Tibet, that was one of the best aspects of the tour. Our hotel overlooked the Potala Palace, and to see it lit up at night was breath taking. We visited with a local family, and mingled with locals visiting Lhasa as a religious pilgrimage. Quite an experience.

Hope this helps you. I would definitely recommend this trip.

I'll keep an eye on this board, if you have anymore questions.

Hi Martincath,

You've given us a lot to research. Some of the menus look really interesting (believe it or not, we were just saying the other day that you never see sweetbreads on a restaurant menu!). Thanks for taking the time to help us out-much appreciated.

Thank you for your quick response. Kirin sounds perfect. We'll try it one of our nights in Vancouver.

We will be in Vancouver for 4 days mid-April, 2014. We are staying at the Fairmont Waterfront. We would appreciate restaurant recommendations. We had fabulous Chinese food on our only other visit to Vancouver (but of course don't remember the name of the restaurant). Any suggestions for authentic, spicy Chinese food? Also, any recommendations for fine dining? We are open to any suggestions- we like almost every nationality/type of cuisine. Thank you for your time and suggestions.

Thank you for the replies. We like the idea of the luggage pick up and the train. Certainly something to look into.

We will be ending our cruise in Yokohama and have a hotel booked in Tokyo. Because of our large suitcases, we're not sure if a train into Tokyo would be realistic. Is it possible to take a taxi? We're willing to pay to have a stress-free ride. Especially since the package of transport and hotel offered by the cruise line are excessive, and we have a great hotel rate on our own.Thanks for any assistance.