Cruisers from the LEFT COAST of the USA- let's talk about our CRUISES..

[Juscaus]

Happy tuesday......one day closer to our 2011 cruise!

[Desert Cruizers]

Aloha, Chris are you still having troubles getting a countdown clock, I am hoping when I put one up I remember to do it right. I may have forgotten a step when I sent you the proceedure.

They are still working at solving the official cause of our fire earlier this week, they have ruled out arson, but seem to be questioning a power line might have sparked it. With so many down I can't see what else could have started it.

 

Gay

[mountainhouse]

Good news over the weekend. Doin' the document dance now. Always makes a cruise seem closer. Final payment = :p, and then Documents = :D

 

Linda - that countdown clock with the picture of Venice keeps catching my eye. Ahhhhhh, Venice.

 

[Desert Cruizers]

Frank, someone told me to be able to sail out of Venice was the ultimate Sail Away. I was watching a video on Venice, learned you actually fly unto an island then have to take a boat back to the City of Venice for your Hotel. How easy is this, the Video showed some interesting and scary facts about the city and its flooding.

 

Gay

[mountainhouse]

It really is an amazing place, Gay. We were flying in from Amsterdam a few years ago, so to get a good airfare, we flew in to Treviso. Took a bus into Venice. If you fly into Venice, via water is the best way from the airport, however, the airport is not on an island - map. More info on transportation is here.

 

YES, the sail away was amazing. Unfortunately, my current job won't permit long vacations. We took 4 weeks in 2006. :cool: Holland > 10 day Greek Isle > Italy. I wanna go again! Here's a view from the ship looking down on Piazza San Macro. Yes, it gets pretty busy during the day in the Summer. Best to spend a few nights and enjoy the city at morning and evening.

 

 

[cctn]

Frank - gorgeous pics -- thanx for sharing -

Now I have to ask - as I do with everyone who has great pics... what kind of camera do you have?

I need to upgrade - seems I just did, but you know how technology is--

carol

[cctn]

Frank - Congrats on the Doc's -- love doing the Doc Dance! you are just seconds away from embarkation that way!! Carol

[cctn]

Happy tuesday......one day closer to our 2011 cruise!

 

 

--and one day closer to those who have concrete cruise plans !! ha! ha! I don't have any- except for the 2011 one right now - that's making Carol a NOT very happy person cuz I need to have plans so I can look forward to a cruise! I have tentative ones that we are considering but that's not the same!!

I did look at a left coast route - Alaska - but didn't come up with anything definite.

carol

[mountainhouse]

Thanks, Carol. I have a DSLR. I carry too much stuff around. :) In particular I've collected some pretty good lenses over the years. For starters, you can go to Steve's best cameras or Jeff's best cameras, and you'd get one of the best. Let me know what type of camera you're interesting in, and I can offer some suggestions. What most important? Size of the camera? Shooting things in the distance (telephoto)? Image quality? Let me know.

 

What does RCCL do for return cruisers? With Princess you can put $200 deposits down on open bookings while onboard. They hold it for several years. That way, whenever a cruise fancies you, there's no additional deposit. Easier to pull the trigger. We always have one open booking around, just in case.

[Desert Cruizers]

Frank that is a gorgeous picture, I am keeping an open mind for Fall of 2011, if the Voyager is pulled away from their Fall TA, I am considering the Ruby Princess, 18 days TA out of Venice. I think the only differance, if we were to do a 7 day Med on the Voyager before the TA (b2b),the Princess does Lisbon and the Azores, whereas the Voyager skips Venice and picks up, Categna, Funchal, Portugal & Tenerife. ( 21 Days). Princess is early around Oct, the Voyager is in Nov.

 

Gay

[mountainhouse]

Have you done a TA before? There's something special about going the route of the great ocean liners. :cool: I've done a TA, but since I was only 4, I don't remember too much...... I misplaced the passenger list. I have it somewhere, and my father says if we every want to cruise HAL, we can show the passenger list and get repeat cruiser pricing. :)

 

[cctn]

Frank - I want a compact digital that I can put in my purse - at least a 10 zoom - 3" lcd - I have a panasonic lumix now - it's ok - but it takes 10 or more seconds after taking a pic before it's ready to take the next one - don't know if it's in my adjustment or not.

I also want one that takes SHARP pics -

Olympus? lots recommend the Canon to me -

and it has to be cheap!! heehee! Carol

[cctn]

WE've done two TA's - and one Best of Europe - I loved the TA's - both started in Barcelone - 2 other ports in Spain, LIsbon, Nice France, Funchal and I think one other stop. The six days at sea is nice. The two TA's were in '05 an '06 both on the Brilliance of the Seas.

 

When I was 7 yrs old - yes - a million yrs ago, my mom and I did a 3 week from SF to Manila - on the SS Pres. Wilson - I found a postcard on Ebay that was being sold for $5 and I bought it - so cool to have found that postcard - I still have two decks of playing cards from that 1957 cruise... ok, you all know how old I am now!! heheee!!

 

Carol

[cctn]

That was definitely a Left Coast Cruise as we started in SF and ended up in Manila - and then 3 months later after a long visit with my Mom's family in Manila, we headed back and ended up in SF... I loved stopping in Honolulu both times cuz we had relatives there- no high rises, went around the island and it truly felt like it was a true island then - have pics.

carol

[mountainhouse]

Can you post any of the pics, Carol? It would be great to see them! Trans-Pacific - Now THAT's cruise.

 

I was born in Holland, and we immigrated over on the old Maasdam. I think it was a 6 day crossing. Then a 5 day rail journey to LA, and that's where I grew up.

 

Wow, Marianne ordered all the Rick Steve's shows for this decade. Just got'em. "40 hours of travel on 13 DVDs" :eek:

[cctn]

Can you post any of the pics, Carol? It would be great to see them! Trans-Pacific - Now THAT's cruise.

 

I was born in Holland, and we immigrated over on the old Maasdam. I think it was a 6 day crossing. Then a 5 day rail journey to LA, and that's where I grew up.

 

Wow, Marianne ordered all the Rick Steve's shows for this decade. Just got'em. "40 hours of travel on 13 DVDs" :eek:

 

 

you'll be doing a lot of DVD traveling!! unfortunately my scanner went to scanner heaven - the pics were all black and white too - mostly of people - just a couple of pics of us at the pineapple fields on Oahu - I remember being all dressed up as they did in those days. We went there in July and the seas were calm - I had two friends I ran around the ship with -- coming back in Nov. was pretty rough. Yes, thanx for letting me dig up old and pleasant memories - it's a miracle I am able to think back that far! hehee! Carol

[mountainhouse]

Frank - I want a compact digital that I can put in my purse - at least a 10 zoom - 3" lcd - I have a panasonic lumix now - it's ok - but it takes 10 or more seconds after taking a pic before it's ready to take the next one - don't know if it's in my adjustment or not.

 

I also want one that takes SHARP pics -Olympus? lots recommend the Canon to me - and it has to be cheap!! heehee! Carol

 

I think they'll all take sharp pics. So 10x, 3" LCD and fast recycle. Maybe Canon SX200 IS or Lumix DMC-ZS3. Those reviews might be a bit long, but they do contain sample photos.

Panasonic: "Expect to wait about 1.5 seconds before you can take another photo without the flash, and 2 - 2.5 seconds with it."

Canon: "After you take a photo, you'll wait 1.5 seconds before you can take another. If you're using the flash, the wait goes up to four seconds, which is on the slow side."

Hope that helps.

 

If you can, take a memory card to a local Best Buy and shoot some shots before you buy. Hope that helps.

[cctn]

I think they'll all take sharp pics. So 10x, 3" LCD and fast recycle. Maybe Canon SX200 IS or Lumix DMC-ZS3. Those reviews might be a bit long, but they do contain sample photos.

Panasonic: "Expect to wait about 1.5 seconds before you can take another photo without the flash, and 2 - 2.5 seconds with it."

Canon: "After you take a photo, you'll wait 1.5 seconds before you can take another. If you're using the flash, the wait goes up to four seconds, which is on the slow side."

Hope that helps.

 

If you can, take a memory card to a local Best Buy and shoot some shots before you buy. Hope that helps.

 

Thanx - our first digital was the Sony when they first came out - 2 mgpx ... now you can't even buy the cards for it - not even a converter - cute camera too - the lcd is so small - that can go into a camera museum..

My friend just got a Sony Cyberspace that was bigger than my small Lumix but he wasn't happy with the flash unit.

I'll shop - and try to get another one. My other friend loves her Nikon but mostly I notice others have Canons.

carol

[Desert Cruizers]

Frank I have never done a TA and aked my husband & he said he would love to do one. Since we are on the subject of Pictures, Frank would you like to see a photo I took during a Dolphin Tour with my Canon A520.

Carol I am by no means a pro when it comes to a camera, but that little Canon A520 I bought two yrs ago, has very little lag time between shots. I love it.

 

Gay

[cctn]

Frank I have never done a TA and aked my husband & he said he would love to do one. Since we are on the subject of Pictures, Frank would you like to see a photo I took during a Dolphin Tour with my Canon A520.

Carol I am by no means a pro when it comes to a camera, but that little Canon A520 I bought two yrs ago, has very little lag time between shots. I love it.

 

Gay

 

 

thanx Gay - our nephew just went to Costa Rica and his pics were great - he recommended the Canon too -

I know you would enjoy a TA - you do all your ports the first 5 or 6 days then straight sea days - there's a lot to do on the ship and we were never bored. My favorite stops were Lisbon, Funchal Madeira, and Villefrance - I loved taking the tour and going to Monaco - we were able to see the graves of and pay our respect to Prince Albert and Princess Grace -

Carol

[Desert Cruizers]

Carol I have found with the Voyager TA, they see very few Ports, this is the reason I was looking initially at doing a 7 day Med then their TA home. Their TA only sees Cartegna, Funchal, Tenerife, & Nassau. If we do the 7 day Med first, then we get, Naples, Rome, Livorno ( Pisa ), Nice, Marseilles, & back to Barcelona before doing the TA. Princess ( Ruby) on the other hand 18 days, out of Venice, does, Venice 2 nights ( before leaving), Naples/Capri, Rome, Florence, Marseilles, Barcelona, Lisbon, Azores, Ft Lauderdale. So my decision will be based on which Ports other then the Med we would like to see. I really like the idea of cruising back to Galveston then its a short flight home, but in 2 yrs, the Voyager may not do this itnerary.

 

Gay

[Arizona Laura]

I absolutely love looking at everyone's pics. I do not know much about cameras so I could have the nicest one in my possession and would not mean much.

I have been turning the video on in error so need to see what I am doing wrong.

Are you posting about the 2011 cruise on your Ca thread?

Due to my limited vacation hrs I can not take more than a week or so off at one time. Since I am 58 plan on working a while yet so 7-8 days will be the limit for our cruises.

Thinking cruises alot today trying to decide for next year 2010..2 of them. Early 2011 is the Left Coast one so I am set there. It helps my sanity at work.

Hope everyone is having a nice day. Heard we may get some rain tomorrow so will need to check out our weather.

Laura

[Desert Cruizers]

Hi Laura, yes we are in full swing regarding the 2011, 7 day Mexico Cruise. I can't wait to meet everyone and enjoy the Mariner even if it is for 7 days. This si the main reason I want to do an additional one Fall of that year.

 

Gay

[cctn]

Yep Laura - our lovely TA is doing amarvelous job organizing her details - and Gay is helping 100% ...

I am looking forward to this 2011 trip - I like the 7 day schedules esp when they are near and do not require flying.

Laura - did you see Chris's pics? it's on his website - he finally uploaded all his Mariner pics - lots of pages - I think up to 59 pages. that kid sure was active on that cruise.

So many cruises to think about - so many parts of the world to see -

carol

[Arizona Cruz Chic]

Hello WC cruisers....looks like this thread is really off taking off!

Thought I would chime in and make it official of 100 posts! :)

 

Laura...remember last year when our AZ thread we had our contest for who would get the 5,000 post? :D

So just a bit more to go here to catch up!

 

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