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gwen_o_lyn
09-08-2006, 07:16 PM
Are there any cruise-a-holics here??

If so, tell me about your adventures and what ships you have sailed!!

kj_yoda
09-08-2006, 07:17 PM
I love cruises, even though I have only been on 2 cruises. One in the carribean a long time ago and one around the hawaiian islands (both pre-9-11)

wwest
09-08-2006, 07:41 PM
I know its cold and everything but i want to take the alaskan cruize.. i think that would be the coolest thing.. alittle cold for some people but i would say just right for mw :)

gwen_o_lyn
09-08-2006, 08:49 PM
We have thought about an Alaskan cruise also, but when it comes down to going to the beach or going to the freezing cold..... Alaska never wins!

We are sailing Freedom of the Seas which just launched in June. We sail in December- I'm starting to get excited since we just paid our balance last night.

We are already talking about the next cruise- maybe to Europe.

thesaent14
09-08-2006, 09:19 PM
hey gwen i am in miami florida and i can tell you get a weeckend crues to bahamas you will not forget the trip

Rob
09-08-2006, 09:20 PM
ms gwen is a cruise freak..

hey gwen, you have been on what, 10-15 cruises?? lol

gwen_o_lyn
09-08-2006, 09:41 PM
nah.... my Dec cruise will only be #5.. and guess what? Matt says he is sick of cruises which sucks :( Not sure if he is tired of them or he just doesn't want to take off work, which is what he tells me. He works for a British guy and I think over in Europe those people take lots of vacation. Can someone verify this??? I may be talking out my poop shoot here... but anyways... He says he isn't taking anytime off next year to make up for the 3 weeks (1 week with a bad ear infection) he took off this last year!??!? He is crazy!! So I was telling him that since he works for a really cool British guy (34 yrs old and a millionaire I should add) that he can take off as much as he wants. Nothing wrong with 2 weeks per year!! But his reponse is "but honey when I'm bringing home the money, you will thank me later" but I don't know... fun is fun and work is work.

I will be going by myself and that is the end of my sad story :(

CarmieJo
09-08-2006, 10:55 PM
We went on the Celebrity Century a few years ago with my whole family. I didn't think I would like it nearly as much as I did. It was SO much fun!

kj_yoda
09-09-2006, 08:36 PM
Gwen, I am sure hat you can get someone to go with yo

V
09-10-2006, 12:13 AM
in the younger days of the free, they were denoted as the root ships, i do hope they still live up their names! :)

NaClFinatic
09-10-2006, 08:34 PM
Went to the caribbean last fall and it was fanatastic even without the best weather. Going back this fall. Both on grandeur of the seas.

gwen_o_lyn
09-10-2006, 11:41 PM
We went on the Celebrity Century a few years ago with my whole family. I didn't think I would like it nearly as much as I did. It was SO much fun!

Celebrity is a great cruise line- we took the Zenith, an older ship, to Bermuda and loved it!



Went to the Caribbean last fall and it was fantastic even without the best weather. Going back this fall. Both on grandeur of the seas.

Did you get caught up in a hurricane? We had quite an adventure during hurricane season a few years ago- our cruise was delayed by 2 days and we weren't notified until we were already driving to FL. So we got a hotel, visited the Keys, and tried to make the best of it. We ended up with a nice compensation: a $500 onboard credit and 1/2 off the next cruise. I think we donated the $500 to the casino.

Is your cruise for 9 days out of Baltimore?

NaClFinatic
09-11-2006, 10:28 AM
Last year we went on the 9 day out of Balt. No hurricanes but we followed the one that wiped out cosumel and Key West. So it changed our schedule around a bit. Guess there were some other storms that made for some cloudy days at sea and windy at the beach and rough for the tenders. Anyway still very worthwhile. So this year we are go taking 13 day. Lots of islands. Can't wait!

Raggamuffin
09-11-2006, 10:48 AM
I have never been on a cruise as most of you would understand it, back at my first job I built tall ships, most notably the "Lady Washington". Sailed with her many a places. If you have watched Star Trek Generations or Pirates of the Carribean you have seen her :)

CarmieJo
09-11-2006, 08:02 PM
Raggamuffin, that is so COOL! She is a beautiful ship. If my foot gets well enough we are going on a tall ship "barefoot" cruise. I raced sailing dingies from the time I was a pre-teen and think that a sailing cruise would be lots of fun.

BradJ
09-12-2006, 08:15 AM
I actually got married on a cruise ship. It was great fun. The whole wedding party, quite small, was on a 3 day cruise. Then my wife and I boarded a different ship for our honeymoon.

Princess is by far our favorite of the 4 different brands we've sailed so far.

CarmieJo
09-12-2006, 10:25 PM
That sounds like a pretty cool wedding!

fat walrus
09-12-2006, 11:15 PM
I hope anyone that enjoy cruises get to satisfy their desires. I for one will stay away from a ship. :mrgreen:

JeffDubya
09-13-2006, 12:59 AM
Disney Cruises rock!

gwen_o_lyn
09-13-2006, 08:05 PM
Princess is by far our favorite of the 4 different brands we've sailed so far.

Getting married on a ship is very cool. I would love to do the same or get married on the beach if I ever go down that path again.

Curious as to who else you have sailed with?

Maybe one day I will try another cruise line, but for now I'm very happy with RCCI/Celebrity. I really like the mega ships and the extra dining options. The best steak I've ever eaten was on the Navigator.

Jeff- I've heard great things about the Disney cruises. Once I have kids, I will check them out!!

JustDavidP
08-22-2007, 03:57 PM
JUST got back off of the Norweigian Majesty. I left from Boston and spent three days snorkeling around Bermuda. What an awesome reef! The northernmost reef system in the world!! I have two cameras full of snorkeling pics. It will be a few days before I get them back, but I'll be sure to post.

Until then...just to keep you on the edge of your seats... here's a list of species that I, personally spotted while snorkeling in Tobacco Bay, St. George Parish:

Fish:

Sergeant Major AKA Five Banded Damselfish (Abudefduf saxatilis)
Bluehead Wrasse (Thalassoma bifasciatum)
Yellowhead Wrasse (Halichoeres garnoti)
Blue Tang - (Acanthurus coeruleus)
Squirrel Fish (Holocentrus adscensionis)
Rainbow Parrotfish (Scarus guacamaia)
Princess Parrotfish (Scarus taeniopterus)
Spaniish Hogfish (Bodianus rufus)
Spotfin Butterfly - (Chaetodon ocellatus)
Slippery Dick Wrasse (Halichoeres bivittatus )
Puddingwife (Halichoeres radiatus)
cleaning goby (Gobiosoma genie)

Non Fish:

Green Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Hawksbill Turtle (Eretmochelys imbricata)

AWESOME Giant Caribbean Sea Anemone (Condylactis gigantea)

Spotted Sea Hare (Aplysia dactylomela) - Ugly sonn-a-fa-gun!!!

Blue Legged Hermit Crabs (Phimochirus Operculatus)

Corals:

Sea Rod (Pseudoplexaura porosa)
Purple Sea Fan (Gorgonia ventalina)
Grooved Brain Coral (Diploria labyrinthiformis)
Porites (Porites asteroides)
Bermuda Zoanthids (Zoanthus sociatus)
Common Button Polyps (Palythoa variabilis)

Dave

JustDavidP
08-22-2007, 04:00 PM
Some images from the land cam:

Snorkeling Site:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/SnorkelSite.jpg

Dave Snorkeling:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/DaveSnorkel.jpg

Family Snorkeling:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/snorkel.jpg

Spotted Sea Hare (hoping one of the underwater shots came out better)
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/Hare.jpg

Pools of blue legged hermit crabs were EVERYWHERE!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/BlueLegs.jpg

Green Sea Turtle:
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/turtle1.jpg

Like I said...as soon as I can get the underwater shots back, I'll post.

Dave

JustDavidP
08-22-2007, 04:01 PM
A Blue Anole or Somerset Lizard. They are gorgeous!
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/anole.jpg

CarmieJo
08-22-2007, 07:30 PM
Looks like a great vacation!

R. Deschain
08-22-2007, 09:00 PM
Hey, I know that vacation!

My wife & I went on that same trip, on the same ship on our honeymoon in 1998. That was the first time i went snorkeling....loads of fun! The ship just parked in St. George and was like a big floating hotel for four days.

Hope you had a good time!

Small Fry
08-22-2007, 11:12 PM
Wow, can't wait to see the underwater pics.

Now, how tempted were you to take a bag or two of those hermits outta there XD
:gifts:

Yupp can't wait to see the pics. :pic:

Hope you had fun on that one dave.

JustDavidP
08-23-2007, 08:15 AM
It was a good vacation. I've been on better boats (and larger ones). But otherwise, it was a good time.

I was more than tempted to take blue legs home... and the blue headed wrasse, and the tangs, and the many different gobies :)

Actually, I had a little disaster while I was gone. Gustavo (Neo) was watching my tank for me and on day 2, found the temps at 86F or better and my fish dead :( NOW ... how hard was that...to be snorkeling in a HUGE reef... seeing awesome fish and such....knowing that my take was bare at home *sigh*

Dave

angnak
08-23-2007, 10:16 AM
My wife and I went on an Alaska cruise through Norwegien crusies. I think they have the best because of their open schedules. They call it free style crusies. You can go to all your meals when ever you want, where most cruises make you go at a certain time, where suits and nice dresses and make you sit with other people. The only rule was no jeans. We went June-July for 2 weeks. It was awesome!! It was 74 in Anchorage, the northern most city we went to. Some days I was wearing shorts on the ship. When we got off to do the little land tours we would wear pants because most of the stuff we did was hiking. One city offers an underwater sub type ride where you go to see a cold water reef. We had to skip that port due to ship problems, but it sounds cool. Some days were colder than others and depending on where you were on the ship you would wear a wind breaker and been fine or shorts. It was weird though because the sun did not go down until like 2 in the morning and would come right back up a couple hours later. It would get dark though around midnight, but total darkness was around 2. We saw humpback whales (that is the time they are up north) and had a few dolphins and killer whales following the ship on a couple different days. It was amazing seeing the glaciers. I am not getting into global warming here but the shows where you see ice falling into the ocean from glaciers is common. Glaciers are always moving down the mountain and eventually some ice gets pushed off the glacier. It is called calving. look up Hubbard Glacier. That was the last stop on the cruise before we turned to come home. Even when we were outside looking at the glacier I just wore a pull over. Not to cold. I would highly recommend Alaska!! Sorry this was so long. I could go on forever about it.

Pescaiolo
09-01-2007, 12:13 PM
I never really liked the idea of cruises. I always like to be able to stay in a spot for as long or as short as I want and with cruises you are on a schedule and if you don't adhere, you miss the boat! My mom went on a few cruises and told me they were awesome! She went to the Caribbean and had a blast! MY fiancee and I are planning cruises for after we get married and we are seriously thinking the Alaskan cruise. I can't think of anything more romantic than sitting on the deck of the ship snuggled up watching the the beauty of the Earth. I hope we can see Aurora Borealis. We also want to do a Disney cruise once we start a family. I hear they are very good at keep the kids busy with activities while the parents can have a grown up vacation as well. Anyone been on a Disney cruise and have any input?