Flick

We have a junior suit on Explorer of the Seas cruising New Zealand in April. Can we use the suite lounge?

We did the hibaci experience on Allure's transatlantic this past October/November. Possibly the best food I had on the entire cruise. We also went to Samba and were very disappointed. The portions of meat they give you are small (for instance 1 lamb chop and you know how big those aren't) plus you have to get your own appetizer, salad and dessert. As far as we were concerned it came close to being a rip-off. Please note on the hibaci experience when you reserve they charge you $30.00 but when you get to the restaurant it is an extra $5.00 for a combo meal (chicken and steak for instance.) Still was excellent and I highly recommend it!

We did the hibaci experience on Allure's transatlantic cruise. Possibly the best food I had all cruise. We prepaid $30 when making the reservations online before the cruise but we were charged an extra $5.00 to do a combo meal. Of course the drinks were extra. Don't worry about not liking sushi...I can't stand the stuff but you get enough to eat that you won't be hungry when you are finished. Now one hour later...that may be another story!

I also used ETA for $9.95 and it was very easy. Had a confirming email almost immediately and then a written confirmation that I made a copy of and put in my passport. We are on the New Zealand cruise on April 12 but will spend a couple of days in Sydney both before and after the cruise.

Two warnings about their laundry "service". First they use hot water so don't send anything you don't want shrunk. Secondly, their wash and fold service is not what you suppose. They crammed the clothing I sent to them back into the sack so it was so wrinkled and messed up I couldn't use it.

We are on the 12 night Transatlantic on Allure the end of the month and we HAD to make reservations at both dining and show venues or we would be stand-by for those events. Go to RCI Website and find your cruise then scroll down and you will see where you make reservations. Some venues such as the comedy club are very small and without reservations virtually impossible to get in to. Good Luck and remember the Allure is a VERY BIG ship and she won't even be aware she is on a ship.

We will be on that cruise with you and you're right...Karen has done a fantastic job! Unfortunately my next cruise in the Spring isn't well organized at all.....

Same here. Enjoyed having that last sea day to relax from the port intensive itinerary.

Since we REALLY like cruising we are going on the Allure Oct. 25 from Barcelona to Ft. Lauderdale. This is a 12 night cruise with ONE port (Malaga, Spain) then just "wanderin' over the big pond back to Florida!

Next April we have booked a 35 night cruise from Sidney, Australia around New Zealand for 11 nights then from Sidney to Seattle via French Polynesia, Hawaii etc for an additional 24 nights. That Transpacific only has 5 ports and in two of those we are overnight...Figi and Maui.

We have literally travelled all over the world in the past 30 years but I picked up a new idea that I like from this thread......transfer "some savings" to a seperate checking account and get an ATM card for THAT account only!

I would like to remind everyone that when travelling away from home wether it is in your own country or a foreign trip, be sure to notify your credit card companies of your plans or they might stop you from using the card to check out of the hotel (happened to us in Singapore...bought too much furniture and jewelry in Thailand when they thought we were in Florida!!!

Sorry my Italian is not very good but people in Rome can tell how to get there..Il Vinyard Papa or in English The Pope's Vineyard. Price fixe at $35.00 per person it is all the food and wine you can consume while listening to a wonderful trio of singers. (The tenor owns the place and he won't leave until the last guest is gone.) Very, very good!

Has anyone had any experience with Driving Guide Tours in Florence..either good or bad?

to Belle2 and mnsweeps, I buy my insurance thru Insuremytrip.Com! They have good rates and you can compare the various policies available. I do not recommend buying the insurance thru the cruise company. I used to be a travel agent. I had clients who would file a claim if a Port was missed because of weather etc. under the interrupted trip clause. The ship, on the other hand would take the position that you paid for a 7 day cruise and you got a 7 day cruise therefore no payout was justified. I'm sorry but I cannot tell you whether the claims were paid or not, I just know they occured.

Several months ago I deposited for an 8 day cruise on Breeze leaving tomorrow, the 15th. Things happened and I dropped out of the cruise before final payment. Unexpectedly, my father died Wednesday night and if I did not have insurance I would be out of luck since obviously I can't go on the cruise. Maybe I could have gotten a refund upon presentation of a death certificate but maybe not. No matter how healthy YOU are can you really justify not buying travel insurance? As they say the best laid plans always get taken over by life!!!! Please consider travel insurance as part of the cost of the cruise...not an extra.

Howdy folks...long time no talk Rick here. Heidi I am praying for a "January thaw" since Kay and I have to fly to Rockford on Jan. 23 for a week. Unfortunately, my Father has cancer and as an only child it is necessary for me to go up there and help him "get his affairs in order". I have not been up Norh during the winter in 17 years so to say I am terrified of driving in snow and ice is a vast understatement. He is now incapcitated so guess who will be all the driving while there on various and asundry errands!

On to happier news.....hope all of you have a wonderful and refreshing cruise in February!!!

It turns out that with several mandatory meetings and other events that month that it would have been almost impossible for us to go on this cruise with you. Ya just never know, do ya?

We're back from our cruise on Brilliance of the Seas. I do not understand why in the world we picked the shortest 7 day week of all time to cruise...at least it never felt like a full week. I hooked up with another roll call here on CC and that group numbered 131 at the meet and mingle. RCI does a nice job......the cruise director raffled off a few prizes and they set up a very nice appetizer bar for the group. We did a cabin crawl but let me make a recomendation. They set this up so that the cabins were all at opposite ends of the ship. Way too much walking! (My second epidural shot wore off the day before the cruise so I had to use a cane.) However, on the bright side we did a poker run in conjunction with the cabin crawl and I won $40.00 for the worst hand! We went with a group from our church and there were cocktail parties evening except the last night...we ended up bringing two bottles of wine back home.

No offense taken....I had it and wanted to warn others. I'm still in shock that the Chinese would want my computer for their grand scheme! When we went to the tree it identified the Chinese as the hackers.....

I may have mispelled Koobface and made it koopface but ther service I use for regular check-ups on my computer is the one that found it on my harddrive. I would more than pleased if indeed this it a thing of the past!!!

a warning to everyone on Facebook. The chinese have placed a worm in several home computers called Koopface that will when needed take control of your computer to link with other compromized computers to create a Super Computer. This worm got into our computer by cancelling the firewall. You really, really need to check to see if you have this worm. Go to msconfig then type in tree and you can see if it exists on your harddrive. It cost me $69.99m to get it removed and now I am going to be very careful about facebook or other social media outlets. I also have a new firewall both on the computers as well as the home network. This is serious stuff and not some crazy wacko email!!! Take care cruising buddies.

Announced today, Pentagon returning most of the civilian employees back to work. Hopefully DCMA will be back at work Monday. Now if we could get the Senate and House to talk to each other.

Possible good news for you but why in the world would the House and Senate want to talk to each other? They are getting so much publicity they're falling all over each to get in front of the cameras to show the "folks back home" their "concern". It's called election politics for want of a better word and besides it's real cheap......

Heidi I just went thru the physical therapy thingy and it lasted for probably a good three weeks at most. Of course I am doing all the exercising I can do-both floor and pool but I found one that is just wonderful. In addition to a "lousy back" (official doctor diagnosis!) I have some sciatica in my left hip. You probably know what a water "noodle" is, it is a 3 1/2 foot long foam tube that is not closed and is used a s a float in a pool. At any rate, I hang suspended by my arms in deep water so my feet don't touch for 15 minutes. Gravity draws everything down and I am pain free when I leave the pool. It literally "stretches" you!

Dave, all the repairs except to my wallet are done. Thanx for asking but no thanks for reminding me.LOL

One of the primary reasons I left being a travel agent (my second career after my first retirement) was that people were doing their own thing on the computer, screwing up, then coming to me to "fix it" all for no money! No matter how much you try to be "customer-oriented" this just plain didn't work for me anymore.

That happened to us on our NCL cruise around the British Isles on The Dawn. Our luggage didn't arrive for 5 days but the ship really took care of us with different officers sending bottles of wine to the cabin, free laundry every night, t_shirts plus they tracked our luggage and told us at least twice a day where it was or supposed to be. Finally we were docked in Cork and they sent a truck to Dublin to get our luggage. THEN our problems started...we had to decide each day what we were going to wear that day!!!

Heidi, I must have mis-read your post. For a minute there I was thinking you were going to try to sell the kids at a garage sale! Surely having them home isn't that bad....is it?

Welllll I guess we will have to accept your excuse since it's Door County but why oh why didn't you take your laptop with you so you could contact us? (I actually got a message like that from my former employer.....so I retired early!)

My goodness, we are soooooo quiet right now. Where did everyone go??