EatPrayCruise

Some of the important things in the suite, lol.

I would love to see your VS but nothing is coming up........

Wow, that is so bizarre! And frustrating! I'll have to try it again.

I see a mystery book in the making....

Seriously, I'm on the edge of my seat. Can't wait to see what the outcome is :confused:

For some reason, my very first picture didn't post so I'll try it again. And, as I looked back, most of my photos have disappeared from my view. I don't know what happened....Also, I have many more photos if anyone needs/would like to see...

Fully Covered

Lots of Storage

The back deck is so great! IMHO, I'd keep the inside cabin at a lower price and use the back deck balcony as much as possible! We've booked balcony cabin's and still use the aft balcony!

 

As far as furniture goes, it doesn't really seem to make sense :confused:. We've had furniture on the back deck (deck chair's and small table's) and we've also been told that no furniture is allowed there :confused:!

We were on the Coral (sister to the Island) in November in a cabin on Dolphin. We walked out on the aft viewing deck several times. This is a very narrow deck, maybe 3 feet wide/deep and didn't have any furniture because I don't think any would fit.

We've also stayed in C727 cabin on Caribe on both the Island and the Coral which is the very last cabin on the starboard side of the ship. The door to the aft deck was a couple of feet from our door. We actually spent a little time on the aft deck on loungers or just leaning over the railing watching the scenery go by and listening to the wake. Great place to spend time for sure.

We have done the northbound twice and getting ready to do it for the 3rd time on RCI Radiance...We prefer this...the sailout past Stanley Park and under Lionsgate Bridge is amazing and what a way to start a cruise....Also heading north the scenery just keeps getting better...Enjoy whatever ends up working for you after all regardless of which way you go it's Alaska.

Personally, we have not cruised southbound. We have cruised twice northbound from Vancouver, once round trip from Seattle and are booked for our third northbound out of Vancouver for 2015.

I have to agree with the thoughts above, and with the idea of saving $366, you are right about it paying for other things on your trip. Just my opinion, but everyone will have their own thoughts.

We booked on the Coral Princess the morning that the new rates came out last week! Can't wait!

......who sits in their cabin and watches T.V. on a cruise?......you pay all that money for the cruise experience and you then re-create your family room atmosphere, scratch your butt laying in a pool of potato chips while slurping beer....I don't get it?.................

Quite the assumptions....smh...:confused:

Seriously? Some people do goto their cabins within 7+ days. Turn on the tv while getting ready, before going to bed.....I don't get your ignorance.

I agree. It still never ceases to amaze me at how snarky people can be on these boards. When the OP started this thread, I didn't see anywhere where he/she asked the masses to put other people down for their choices.

Bump.

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Hope it wasn't still turned on. :eek:

Nope, of course not. It has an auto shut off and I make sure it's off when I get out of bed. I use one nightly at home as well.

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LOL....Sorry you interpreted my post as "snarky." As a long time poster on CC (and elsewhere) we understand that many folks (some not as knowledgeable as you) read the threads and do not always understand issues like Noro (a popular CC topic) having no known pharmaceutical treatment.

 

 

 

Hank

Thank you, Hank, for your clarification! I do realize that when reading posts, we really have no idea of the "tone" in which a reply or comment is made. I'm sorry that I misinterpreted it. :)

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I knew I could count on all of you, I will bring an extension cord.

I have taken a heating pad and extension cord on four Princess cruises now. On one trip in 2011, I actually left it in bed one day rather than tucking it into a drawer. We always make our bed right away and I simply forgot to remove it. It just happened to be the day the steward changed the sheets. He changed them out and put the heating pad back in between the sheets where he found it. :o

We noticed the post from the person with an autoimmune disorder that gets prophylactic antibiotics from their physician. We though it good to mention that there is no antibiotic known to man that will prevent Noro or other viruses (like influenza).

 

Hank

I should have been more specific. I am well aware of that. The antibiotics are for the severe bronchitis that I usually pick up when away from home, NOT for Noro.

Thanks for the snarky help.

I did get my cheap subscription in case anyone was wondering (the $12 one posted above worked awesome) and it worked out fine for me

 

I think its worth it just for the ship reviews they do once a month, they do different cruise lines and different pictures showing the ship and they have al lot of customer comments like on here and very few ads.I would order it again especially if I wasn't a part of this community it has some good info

Thanks, I just ordered our subscription!

ehfl is correct -- hydrogen peroxide must be stored in an opaque container because light causes it to break down. When you buy it in the pharmacy, it's usually in a brown plastic bottle, usually about 3%. The Clorox product, both spray and wipes (intended for hospital and clinic use) is 1.4%. It is completely safe for putting on skin and environmental surfaces.

 

I've just been talking about norovirus here. There are thousands of other organisms to be vigilant about, it's just that norovirus has been shown to be a particular problem on cruise ships. This is because of several factors: a very small number of virus particles is sufficient to cause disease; it persists on environmental surfaces for a long time; the usual cleansers (alcohol, quaternary ammonium compounds) don't touch it; and it can be transmitted after being aerosolized.

 

The posters are correct about norovirus being a problem in lots of settings. A paper in the Feb 2012 issue of American Journal of Infection Control (http://www.ajicjournal.org/article/S0196-6553(11)01210-7/abstract) found that norovirus was the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections (18%) and was most common in behavioral health and rehab units. There is some similarity between that type of unit and cruise ships -- the patients (passengers) stay for a long time, they interact with each other, they wear their own clothing, they eat together, they are not critically ill (so they don't require the attention of nurses), and they take care of their own hygiene.

 

The posters are, of course, correct that the problem is the passengers, not the ship, because the ship is an inanimate object that does not suffer from diarrhea. However, the ship is the vector of the spread of the virus because it is the repository of virus. The mosquito is not the cause of malaria, it is the vector which passes the malaria organism from one person to another. That is why public health officials eliminate malaria by eliminating mosquitos. We don't want to eliminate cruise ships, so we have to get better at preventing transmission of the virus from humans to environmental surfaces, and back to other humans.

 

Some posters noted that they have been on many cruises without getting ill. Let's be grateful for that. Neither my wife nor I have gotten ill on a ship, either. That is what we in medical research call (joking), "an n of one," meaning, the experience of just one case or one individual. Norovirus is the sort of problem where lots of data are needed. The vast majority of folks who got sick on that ship recently had never been sick before, either. In 2013, cruise ships out of the US carried 21 million passengers, and there were 1,238 reported cases of norovirus (http://www.cruising.org/regulatory/issues-facts/public-health-medical-capabilities/norovirus), so you have about one chance in 20,000 of contracting it -- pretty small --but those 1238 people all wished they had been more careful. (Of course, that doesn't count the people who were sick but didn't report it, those who had mild cases, those who were sick but not tested, and those who didn't get sick until after they had disembarked. The actual number of cases is a good deal higher.)

 

Don't let the fear of getting ill prevent you from taking a cruise or enjoying everything on the ship--just take a few precautions, and you will reduce the chances of getting sick.

Thank you so much for for your time and this wealth of information. If we were to take otc peroxide at the 3%, would you recommend diluting it before spraying or wiping surfaces with it in our cabins? If dilution is recommended, at what percent? Would the otc peroxide at 3% be too strong for our skin, say to use as a hand sanitizer? If so, could you also recommend how to use it for hand sanitizing?

Thank you in advance for your help.

In your case I 100% agree that you should take every precaution you can and I wish you safe and healthy cruising, traveling and every day living. For most of us though, come on people, you can't put yourself in a bubble.

 

Do you remember being a kid 50 years ago (okay aging myself) and drinking water out of the garden hose. We all lived. No bottled water, no wipes, no hand sanitizer. Go figure.

Thanks for the kind words. Oh, and I used to drink water out of hoses, climbed trees, played in the creek or ponds on a daily basis when I was much younger. I baited my own hooks, raised small farm animals and cleaned out coops. Those germs are usually far less problematic than those we humans spread, lol!

No, it's not possible to sanitize everything I touch nor would I want to. I have better things to do with my life than worry about germs or catching something. Just think about all of the germs on the menus in the MDR -do you sanitize those also? How about under the seat of a chair when you reach under it to move? I understand that area can be swarming with nasty things!

Funny you should ask...I use hand sanitizer or better yet wash my hands with soap and water after touching a menu IF I touch a menu at all. I normally do NOT touch under the chairs, arm rests on chairs or even the backs of chairs. I use my foot to gently coax the chair out and when I slide my chair in, if I have a coat on, I pull my sleeves over my hands and slide myself in.

Trust me, this is no fun way to live, but I have to protect myself the best I can. Trying to avoid germs is now second nature, having been diagnosed 15 years ago. I was trying to avoid germs long before it became the "thing to do". I know there are all kinds of germs that I still pick up anyway, including airborne. Having a fear of touching things is no picnic. Fear of whooping cough (been there done that), or even the fear of a common cold is much worse. And then add Noro to that and I'm even more cautious.

Not for everyone (or most people), but a way of life for me. :(

Heating Pad for my bad back!