Saga Rose Greenland Voyager August 2007

[Kapricorn]

Do you have one suitcase dedicated to suntan lotion, sunscreen, all that tropical jazz?

 

Are you looking forward to Hawaii or equally getting out of your domestic environment? Have you explained to The Dog that you'll be out of pocket for awhile?

 

Have a wonderful cruise to sunnier climes. Are you sailing out of Vancouver?

 

Ruby

 

Ruby, I am taking two suitcases for 16 days of travel. I am flying to San Diego on Sunday morning and embarking on the cruise ship the next day. Shorts, t-shirts & sandals for daytime, nice clothes for evening. I am splitting these stuff in the two suitcases, as well as sunscreen & toiletries. Never know if one suitcase might be "lost" by the airline.

 

The Dog hasn't been happy with the rain here in Vancouver. We have been out for only about a dozen minutes daily this week.

 

Gosh, I really need this vacation!

 

Donald.

[MMDown Under]

Ruby, I am taking two suitcases for 16 days of travel. I am flying to San Diego on Sunday morning and embarking on the cruise ship the next day. Shorts, t-shirts & sandals for daytime, nice clothes for evening. I am splitting these stuff in the two suitcases, as well as sunscreen & toiletries. Never know if one suitcase might be "lost" by the airline.

 

Gosh, I really need this vacation!

 

Donald.

 

Have a great holiday, Donald. Smart idea to split your stuff in your luggage!

[Host Sharon]

Have a good time Donald - Hawaii is another place on my bucket list !!

[Conte Di Savoia]

Have a great trip Donald and have one of those great Martinis for us.

[Kapricorn]

Thanks to all who wished me a great trip. I will start packing the suitcases later today. As usual, the cats are sensing that I am up to something ...

 

Donald.

[RalphRackstraw]

Good morrow, gentle discussants!

I have been away from this thread a very long time --- I may never re-qualify for the read-every-post Ph.D. in shipboard sociology --- but I have thought of you all quite frequently. This very week, the association was jogged vigorously when I booked passage on the CTMA Vacancier for the 6-13 September 2013 "Gourmet Québec" special itinerary cruise, remembering that our adventurous Australian friends blazed that uncommon trail.

 

The occasion is rather a special one: my dear mother, Lady Frances Rackstraw, just turned 91, has been feeling the yearning to go to sea again. Her last cruise was our transatlantic crossing on RMS Queen Elizabeth in July 1966! My eldest son and daughter-in-law, happily established in Montréal since November 2011, have been yearning to spend some time with Lady Frances. I have been yearning to try the CTMA Vacancier ever since I learned of its existence through this very thread. These yearnings have all intertwined gloriously in this upcoming cruise for the four of us.

 

Since you last heard from me, my lady and I enjoyed our first visit to New Orleans 7-10 February, plunging into the Mardi Gras weekend festivities, and then sailed on the Norwegian Star for a week in the Western Caribbean. Great fun was had by all. I even composed a song with which our Roll Call group serenaded the ship's officers at the meet & greet.

 

Hoping you are all well and cheerful, I remain, prodigally yours,

[Saga Ruby]

The occasion is rather a special one: my dear mother, Lady Frances Rackstraw, just turned 91, has been feeling the yearning to go to sea again. Her last cruise was our transatlantic crossing on RMS Queen Elizabeth in July 1966! My eldest son and daughter-in-law, happily established in Montréal since November 2011, have been yearning to spend some time with Lady Frances. I have been yearning to try the CTMA Vacancier ever since I learned of its existence through this very thread. These yearnings have all intertwined gloriously in this upcoming cruise for the four of us.

 

Since you last heard from me, my lady and I enjoyed our first visit to New Orleans 7-10 February, plunging into the Mardi Gras weekend festivities, and then sailed on the Norwegian Star for a week in the Western Caribbean. Great fun was had by all. I even composed a song with which our Roll Call group serenaded the ship's officers at the meet & greet. Hoping you are all well and cheerful, I remain, prodigally yours,

 

I admire Lady Frances being up for her next cruise. Sounds wunderbar. Also, I am impressed that you survived Mardis Gras and the Star. It must have been a bit of a head-turner for folks from the Pacific Northwest to enter the fray of festivities in Nawl 'leans.

 

I can only wonder what kind of suntan you enjoyed, going from the Great Northwest to the Caribbean. Whew. Quite the dichotomy. And a tip of the hat to Marion for inspiring Lady Frances's next cruise.

 

Good to hear from you, Ralph.

 

Ruby

[RalphRackstraw]

I admire Lady Frances being up for her next cruise. Sounds wunderbar. Also, I am impressed that you survived Mardis Gras and the Star. It must have been a bit of a head-turner for folks from the Pacific Northwest to enter the fray of festivities in Nawl 'leans.

 

I can only wonder what kind of suntan you enjoyed, going from the Great Northwest to the Caribbean. Whew. Quite the dichotomy. And a tip of the hat to Marion for inspiring Lady Frances's next cruise.

 

Good to hear from you, Ralph.

 

Ruby

Ruby,

Thank you for your comments, gracious as always. Mardi Gras weekend in Nouvelle Orléans was quite exhilirating and not intimidating, though we stayed out of the French Quarter Friday and Saturday nights. With careful application of sunscreen, I survived tours of the Mayan ruins in the Yucatan and Belize without dermal trauma. Ocean-kayaking off the shore of Roatan Island, Honduras, my right upper arm got splashed too much with seawater, washing off the sunscreen and allowing a moderately nasty burn --- but it was worth it! It was also romantic celebrating Valentine's dinner in the same shipboard restaurant where we celebrated our 25th anniversary in 2009.;) Peeling is all done now, and we are happily processing our 450 photographs.

 

I expect Donald will return with some spectacular views of Hawaii!

[Kapricorn]

Hi, Ralph! Good to see you here again.

 

I'm trying to figure out how to copy photographs from my Photobucket file, as the procedure has been changed considerably. :confused:

 

Donald.

[Kapricorn]

Mount Rainier from the Vancouver-San Diego flight

 



Beach north of Honolulu, with surfers on the wave

 



Cove where Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster had their torrid kiss scene in "From Here to Eternity"

 



Above the clouds at Haleakala Crater in Maui

[Kapricorn]

Waterfall near Hilo

 



Another scenery near Hilo

 



Inside the entrance to a lava tube, near Hilo

 



Convivial shipboard friends in the Martini Bar. The two guys are from Australia, the lady from San Diego.

[Kapricorn]

My favourite photograph! Exulting in the magnificent scenery at Haleakala Crater.

[Saga Ruby]

I really liked those photos but, like you, I think the best one is you celebrating at Haleakala.

 

Funny you should mention the From Here to Eternity beach. Recently, I did some research and learned that Pfeiffer Beach in Big Sur in CA was the locale for some reshooting of that scene in Hawaii. The rock falls and pounding ocean surf is unbelievable. I hope to visit that site in CA in the future.

 

From your Hawaii cruise, do you have some favourite memories of exotic places? How was the weather? And how was the ship?

 

Ruby

Edited March 23, 2013 by Saga Ruby

[Kapricorn]

From your Hawaii cruise, do you have some favourite memories of exotic places? How was the weather? And how was the ship?

Ruby

 

What impressed me most about the cruise was the extremely high visibility and friendliness of the Captain and officers. I've not had Captain Iatrou before, but I liked him very much.

 

As for the ship, she is showing her age, with maintenance staff busy every day fixing and repairing just about everything, including elevators, water pipes and the watertight doors. The plastic shade of my above-sink bathroom lights had cracks, and bits of it fell off every time I used the hair-dryer. A section of railing on the top deck was missing. Apparently the ship will be drydocked sometime this summer, as Captain Iatrou mentioned that he would return from his vacation to supervise activities during the month-long drydocking. He left the ship in San Diego at the conclusion of the cruise. It seems that the drydocking will be done by the time I board the ship at the end of August for the Alaskan cruise.

 

The Captain and Cruise Director said that the weather on this cruise was much better than during the previous cruise. Nevertheless, the first two and last two sea days were, as usual, rough and windy. Passengers began sunbathing on the third cruise day. Oahu was rainy, unusual for this time of year, Maui was sunny at Lahaina but cloudy elsewhere (as shown in the panoramic Haleakala Crater photograph), Kona was cloudy and Hilo was, of course, rainy as usual.

 

This kind of weather suited me just fine, because of the photosensitivity caused by the drug terbinafine. This was interesting because my skin was affected only on the upper part of my body, both front and back, from the nipples to the head. The rest of the body down from the nipples were not affected, even if I had not applied sunscreen. I used SPF 15 and 30 on my face and upper body, and restricted my exposure to the sun to 20 minutes at a time, yet still broke out in red blotches and other skin discolouration. These were not long-lasting, and most of it cleared up by the time I went to the Martini Bar for my nightly pre-dinner drink.

 

The Cruise Critic group was a very convivial lot. My cabin crawl was a success, with about 40 people participating in inspecting seven cabins, ending in the spectacular Penthouse Suite. I sat at the Cruise Critic Luncheon that was attended by 60 or 70 people, with the Captain, Cruise Director and three or four other officers in attendance.

 

I became fast friends with the two Australian gays, who joined me in the Martini Bar nearly every night, and I sat with them twice at dinner in the anytime dinner venue. On the third or fourth day of the cruise, one of the Australians was informed that his mother had passed away in the UK. Due to the 1920 Jones Act, foreign ships are not allowed to transport passengers from an American port to another American port, thus the Australians could not leave the ship in Honolulu. We were not due in Ensenada, Mexico, until the final night of the cruise. Consequently the two Australians had no choice but to stay for the remainder of the cruise. Guest Relations staff were helpful and considerate, giving them free use of a telephone to make flight changes and funeral arrangements. Many Cruise Critic passengers provided the support necessary to make the most of a difficult situation, and the Australians managed to at least enjoy their first-ever cruise. The very pleasant couple in the Penthouse Suite twice invited us and a select group of 15 to 20 people to a party and, later, a sailaway from Kona.

 

Donald.

Edited March 25, 2013 by Kapricorn

[Conte Di Savoia]

It sounds like you had a great time meeting interesting people. That and good martinis, can make or break a cruise in our experience. I'm surprised that the ship had some cosmetic issues since it was recently "Solsticized" to bring it in line with the newer vessels in the Celebrity fleet.

Celebrity should use your pictures for their publicity!

[Conte Di Savoia]

So after a year's absence from cruising I finally relented and have booked a cruise at the 11th hour. We will be doing a 12 day transatlantic from Barbados to Lisbon aboard Silver Cloud leaving April 22. It was too good a deal to pass up and has the advantage of lots of sea days which we really enjoy. Time to load up the Kindle Fire and find a comfy deck chair!

[Kapricorn]

So after a year's absence from cruising I finally relented and have booked a cruise at the 11th hour. We will be doing a 12 day transatlantic from Barbados to Lisbon aboard Silver Cloud leaving April 22. It was too good a deal to pass up and has the advantage of lots of sea days which we really enjoy. Time to load up the Kindle Fire and find a comfy deck chair!

 

Way to go, Conte! I know that you'll enjoy the cruise. I loved all the sea days on the Hawaiian cruise, which I used to simply relax and be pampered by the staff.

 

Donald.

[Host Sharon]

Well done Conte! Sounds lovely. And I finally booked my BIG birthday cruise next year - 28 days to Caribbean so 17 sea days to look forward to there.

[Saga Ruby]

So after a year's absence from cruising I finally relented and have booked a cruise at the 11th hour. We will be doing a 12 day transatlantic from Barbados to Lisbon aboard Silver Cloud leaving April 22. It was too good a deal to pass up and has the advantage of lots of sea days which we really enjoy. Time to load up the Kindle Fire and find a comfy deck chair!

 

Huzzah! Sea days, relaxation, and a Fire to keep you entertained. Sounds like the best kind of cruise. Do y'all have any stops on the crossing or is it a straight shot from Barbados to Lisbon?

 

Ruby

[Host Sharon]

Huzzah! Sea days, relaxation, and a Fire to keep you entertained. Sounds like the best kind of cruise. Do y'all have any stops on the crossing or is it a straight shot from Barbados to Lisbon?

 

Ruby

 

I read this and had visions of a cosy log fire on board!!

 

Maybe a stop at the Azores ??

[Conte Di Savoia]

We have seven days at sea before reaching Madeira, which should be great at this time of the year, and then on to Cadiz, Portimao and Lisbon. Most people take a tour from Cadiz to Sevilla, but since we were there for a few days last September, we will probably opt for a tour to Xeres to taste some sherries. Portimao is along the Algarve coast of Portugal, a region we haven't been to. We'll fly home from Lisbon the day we arrive since we recently spent time there as well.

 

Sharon, what ship are you taking to the Caribbean? Have you been before?

[Host Sharon]

We have seven days at sea before reaching Madeira, which should be great at this time of the year, and then on to Cadiz, Portimao and Lisbon. Most people take a tour from Cadiz to Sevilla, but since we were there for a few days last September, we will probably opt for a tour to Xeres to taste some sherries. Portimao is along the Algarve coast of Portugal, a region we haven't been to. We'll fly home from Lisbon the day we arrive since we recently spent time there as well.

 

Sharon, what ship are you taking to the Caribbean? Have you been before?

 

 

Not much at Portimao but we went to Sagres and Lagos which are quite lovely and the scenery stunning (see photo below). The sail out was very interesting too.

 

I will be on Oceana - not my favourite, but a nice ship nevertheless and a good size. I have been before but not to all these islands and I wanted something relaxing....and warm!!

 

[Conte Di Savoia]

What a great picture! I just checked on line and see that they do offer this tour so I have to decide whether to book it now or wait until we get on board.

[Saga Ruby]

So after a year's absence from cruising I finally relented and have booked a cruise at the 11th hour. We will be doing a 12 day transatlantic from Barbados to Lisbon aboard Silver Cloud leaving April 22. It was too good a deal to pass up and has the advantage of lots of sea days which we really enjoy. Time to load up the Kindle Fire and find a comfy deck chair!

 

On 22 April, Silver Whisper will be crossing the Atlantic on the way to the Caribbean! I leave on Monday for Johannesburg, a cool 15.5-hr. nonstop flight from ATL, then on a domestic SAA flight to Cape Town. We sail out of CPT on 05 April and I'll return home on 01 May, just in time for the summer heat and drought in Texas.

 

Can't wait to return to the luxury service on Silversea, thanks to your recommendation.

 

Do you find that crews usually sign up for another contract for the same ship or do they let the calendar determine their next assignment? Will I be seeing some crew from Shadow or, in your experience, will this be a totally different staff?

 

Ruby

[Kapricorn]

On 22 April, Silver Whisper will be crossing the Atlantic on the way to the Caribbean! I leave on Monday for Johannesburg, a cool 15.5-hr. nonstop flight from ATL, then on a domestic SAA flight to Cape Town. We sail out of CPT on 05 April and I'll return home on 01 May, just in time for the summer heat and drought in Texas.

 

Can't wait to return to the luxury service on Silversea, thanks to your recommendation.

 

Do you find that crews usually sign up for another contract for the same ship or do they let the calendar determine their next assignment? Will I be seeing some crew from Shadow or, in your experience, will this be a totally different staff?

 

Ruby

 

Ruby, I'm delighted to hear that there is a nonstop flight between ATL and JHB (would that be the intials for Johannesburg?)!

 

After having visited you and explored Silver Shadow in Vancouver, I have absolutely no doubt why you would repeat the experience on Silversea.

 

I imagine that the staff turnover on Silversea might be the same as on Celebrity. On the Hawaiian cruise I met a few staff who welcomed be back, and others whom I did not remember, but nevertheless they welcomed me back aboard.

 

A negative about Celebrity Century is that it seems to be a training ship for new staff before the experienced ones are sent over to the new monster apartment mega-barges. In the Elite Lounge one evening, a few new staff were passing around trays of hors d'oeuvres. I indicated to one of these on the tray, and the newbie moved the tray closer to me, indicating that I was to pick up my selection. I recoiled in horror (what, no forks or pincers for him to deposit it on my napkin?). He casually picked up my choice by the toothpick and deposited it in front of me. My companion was equally horrified when she picked another item, and the guy picked it up by the toothpick but spilled the contents over the table in front of her. What did he do? He picked up another one by the toothpick and plunked it on top of the messy one on the table. My companion complained to another server about it, and we never saw that guy in the Elite Lounge again.:eek:

 

Donald.