Cruise Lovers's topics - tribe.net

Hi everybody!

riks — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:22:35 GMT

Hi i sugest all of you to visit this blog about ship news and about cruise ship activity and for all ship lovers!

http://sergiocruises.blogspot.com

hope you like and can return

You can traduce the page in top right under the main picture.
best regards

posted in Cruise Lovers - 0 replies

Cruise Book Published - Former Carnival Crewmember

Micha — Sat, 17 May 2008 06:16:14 GMT

Hi

I am a local author in San Francisco spreading word about my new book about my life working on a cruise ship. Permanent Passenger: My Life on a Cruise Ship chronicles my wacky job search to get my dream job as Assistant Cruise Director and takes you behind the scenes on a cruise ship.

Witnessing rescues at sea, stowaways, fatalities, and passionate romances are just some of the day to day events revealed in this intriguing and humorous account.

Go to www.permanentpassenger.com to see more about the book.

Available in Bay Area bookstores including Stacey's, Books Inc at Opera Plaza, Get Lost Travel Bookstore, Book Passage and online.

Truly a very funny insightful book that will make you laugh – cry – and throw up just a bit.

Cheers
Micha Berman

posted in Cruise Lovers - 4 replies

Shore excursion advice....

sayra156 — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 17:20:04 GMT

I'm one of those people that over-researches everything, and I'm looking for a website or book that recommends shore excursions based on port? Does anyone know of one? Or does anyone have a lot of opinions about ports of call on a Panama Canal cruise that wouldn't mind random questions?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 3 replies

Caribbean Cruises: What are your favorite ports of call and why?

Keith — Tue, 06 May 2008 21:30:15 GMT

For pure relaxation, Grand Turk is hard to beat. Great beach and pool right where the ship docks, plus shopping and a Margaritaville. You just walk right off the ship into paradise.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 0 replies

MSC Cruise? I'm not familiar with them. Any thoughts?

JimBoz — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 20:40:32 GMT

I'm looking at a work gathering type of cruise for 2009. One good value I saw in the Caribbean was MSC.

Anyone had experience with them?
And if so, care to share? Also, let me know what your experience with other cruises/lines would be, and your general preferences. Nothing polyanna, we all know some lines have different strong points. No cruise is all positive, and knowing the negatives ahead of time is forearmed!

posted in Cruise Lovers - 5 replies

Has anybody sailed on MSC Lirica?

mary pc — Fri, 25 May 2007 08:54:20 GMT

I am thinking about taking a 10 night cruise on Lirica next year. What do you know? The rates are very inviting.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 3 replies

Do you prefer Early, Late Seating or Open Seating

Keith — Tue, 24 Apr 2007 10:08:43 GMT

I actually prefer the open seating, eat when and where you like. Otherwise I like late seating but my spouse prefers early, so we eat early. Most smaller and luxury ships have open seating as does NCL (Freestyle)and Princess (Personal Choice) on most of their ships.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 9 replies

A good read on crusing

Gary — Tue, 06 May 2008 18:07:09 GMT

http://books.google.com/books?id=UUnbb9tXDtAC&pg=PA418&lpg=PA418&dq=Bergen+lounge+royal+viking+star&source=web&ots=xh_uxTaH1k&sig=kdZqY9SoNpJURihxnJbyIUdOVbA&hl=en#PPA58,M1

posted in Cruise Lovers - 1 reply

When Is Your Next Cruise ...

Candy — Mon, 26 Jan 2004 16:09:11 GMT

Just curious as to when your next cruise is ...

I will be taking my first cruise in October on the Fantasy ... I am so very excited ...

posted in Cruise Lovers - 51 replies

Seasoned NCL cruiser looking for more options

Thu, 12 Jul 2007 12:42:51 GMT

I sail NCL one for the convenience of the ports, (Boston & New York) for me. (I don't have to fly anywhere) and secondly, I'm a Platnium latitudes member and don't want to have to start over on other cruise lines. I'm finding that I tried most of NCL's itineraries and I'm running out of locations. I want to try out the latest ship the Pearl but I'm not thrilled with its itinerary. Has anyone sailed the Pearl? Is it worth repeating its current itinerary?

I want to start looking at other cruise lines.I've tried RCCL once and did not have a good experience and I've tried Carnival a couple of times. I find it to be as they say "a party" ship, if you know what I mean. As fellow cruisers which other lines would you reccomend and why?

Thanks,

Joanne

posted in Cruise Lovers - 12 replies

Carnival Paradise

Andie — Tue, 15 May 2007 15:35:45 GMT

Going on the three day Ensenada trip in December--how is it?

:)

posted in Cruise Lovers - 8 replies

March on Liberty of the Seas

Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:55:20 GMT

YAY - I am booked and paid for RCCL Liberty of the Seas in March, 2008
WOW that sounds like a long time away?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 17 replies

Carnival CEO to retire

Mon, 09 Jul 2007 15:29:44 GMT

Carnival Cruise Lines President and Chief Executive Officer Bob Dickinson will retire at year's end after a 35-year career with the Miami-based firm, Carnival announced on Monday.

He will be succeeded by Gerald Cahill, currently chief financial officer, effective immediately.

Dickinson becomes the second senior Carnival Corp. executive to announce retirement plans in recent weeks. Last month, Carnival said that Peter Ratcliffe, chief executive officer of its Princess Cruises and P&O Cruises brands, would step down next March.

Ratcliffe, 59, and Dickinson, 64, are subordinate only to the two most senior officials at Carnival, Chairman Micky Arison and Vice Chairman Howard Frank.

Dickinson, who joined Carnival in 1972 from Ford Motor Co., was Arison's boss in the early years of the company. Arison later became chairman after the retirement of his father, Carnival founder Ted Arison.

Dickinson is one of the driving forces behind the decades of expansion at Carnival and is regarded within the cruise industry as one of most provocative marketing minds in the business.

"I"m still hving fun, so giving all of that up has been a very difficult decision, but I"ll be 65 next month and have been pondering this with my family for some time," Dickinson said in a statement.

While Dickinson's background is in marketing and sales, Cahill has been in charge of the financial side of Carnival, joining the firm in 1994 as vice president of finance.

Prior to that, he served from 1988 to 1994 at Fort Lauderdale-based Safecard Services, first as chief financial officer and later chief operating officer.

Carnival also promoted David Bernstein to fill Cahill's role as chief financial officer. He had been vice president and treasurer.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 4 replies

sun tan lotion

Rannveig — Sun, 01 Jul 2007 23:03:04 GMT

Some places in the Caribbean require visitors to use biodegradable sun tan lotion. Does anyone know of any good brands?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 1 reply

New Ships?

Keith — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 00:47:30 GMT

Anybody excited about any of the new ships coming out in the next couple of years?
The new expedition additions (Quest and Journey)to Celebrity Cruises seem to be a great addition.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 5 replies

Pride of Aloha

firefairy — Thu, 24 May 2007 06:51:50 GMT

Hello All,
I just returned from a 7 day cruise on the NCl ship Pride of Aloha and my family and I were not very impressed. The food was amazing, soem of the best we havce had, but other than that the service was not all that great. The worst part about the whole thing was my dad was severly dehydrated and collapsed after the boat drill (He is fine). The medic team took at least 10 minutes to respond and no one would get him a glass of water until the medic arrived. Then they thought he had a heart attack so as a precaution they made him go to the hospital, which is understandable. However all of our shore excursions, including me and my sister, were canceled when my mom got off the ship becasue they were all on her credit card. Then the ship did no inform us so my mom found out by accident and by then all of the excursions were full so we had to book on our own. My sister and I almost missed the ship due to this.

There were a lot of shore excursions and lots of activities on the ship so that was good, but the service just was not that good. My parents said if they had never cruised NCL before they would not cruise them again if this was the service they had. So I just thought I would spread the word. If you are planning on cruising Hawaii, you may want to try a different line.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 1 reply

Alaskan Cruise & a wedding!

sayra156 — Mon, 10 May 2004 18:45:22 GMT

So, it's official.
I'm going to be getting married in July on an Alaskan Cruise.

Any tips? for the wedding or for the cruise?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 7 replies

Wish I was there

Sat, 12 May 2007 12:19:57 GMT

My friend Bob and his wife leave on the Aventura of the Seas out of Puerto Rico tomorrow. I love that ship, and really wish I was going.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 0 replies

Frequent cruisers benifits

Mary — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:22:07 GMT

Anyone belong to any of the frequent cruiser clubs? What are the different lines levels?

I am a diamond on RCL, I gotta tell ya, I LOVE the benifits!!

posted in Cruise Lovers - 22 replies

Voyager

Troy — Wed, 05 Jan 2005 23:16:35 GMT

Going on a cruise in Feb. on Voyager of the Seas(Royal Carribean) can't wait has anyone been on this ship?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 7 replies

Dress up or not?

Mary — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:20:43 GMT

What's your opinion on dress up nights? For them? Against them?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 17 replies

Would you prefer?

Mary — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:19:40 GMT

Paying one price for your cruise and having it include tips or tip on your own based on service?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 3 replies

If you could go on any cruise you wanted, which one would you go on?

sayra156 — Mon, 09 Aug 2004 20:21:18 GMT

Either:
1. There is a something like 20 day cruise up the coast of South America thru the Panama Canal that ends in Florida.

or

2. To ride that cruise ship with the apartments for a year. Never wake up in the same place. Think of all the weight I would gain.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 4 replies

Large or small??

Mary — Mon, 11 Jul 2005 19:24:26 GMT

Get your minds out of the gutters, I'm talking about dining room table size! Which do you prefer?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 8 replies

Panama Canal

sayra156 — Tue, 06 Mar 2007 18:32:49 GMT

Has anyone ever done this cruise before?

I'm debating whether we should do the round trip from Ft Lauderdale or go all the way across. I would much rather go all the way thru, but with the time we would have to take off work along with the expensive plane ticket that goes along with that one, I'm not sure it's possible. Any thoughts?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 5 replies

Queen Mary 2

pengrin — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 05:58:17 GMT

Has anyone been on it? Or seen it?

http://www.cunard.com/ourships/?ship=QM2

posted in Cruise Lovers - 2 replies

Favorite Cruise line?

Troy — Tue, 13 Jan 2004 19:27:30 GMT

Want to know what everyones favorite cruise line is and why?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 44 replies

This could have been way worse

Sat, 07 Apr 2007 11:15:45 GMT

When the Greek cruise ship sank Friday in the Aegean Sea, Boca Raton student tourist Amanda Hochfelsen's backup insulin supply was suddenly gone, along with a glucose monitor for her diabetes.

And her mother 5,800 miles away in South Florida panicked, after watching TV news footage and later getting a call from her scared child who was resting in an Athens hotel with her Spanish River High School classmates.

"I don't care about her luggage, I just care about her medicine," Mindy Hochfelsen said, concerned after hearing one pharmacy refused to provide insulin and other stores were closed for Good Friday. "I am so nervous she will run out of insulin. This is her lifeline."

Hopes are for a relief-filled homecoming today at Miami International Airport for the tour group, which includes 14 Spanish River students and Spanish teacher Dawn Russell.

Their $2,000, 10-day Spring Break vacation turned to misery when the Sea Diamond struck a volcanic reef off the island of Santorini. As the 469-foot vessel took on water, nearly 1,200 passengers and about 390 crew members were rescued by Greece's military, commercial ships and local fishermen.

Divers on Friday searched the sunken wreckage for two French passengers, the only people still missing.

The Sea Diamond, a 21-year-old vessel refurbished in 1999, struck rocks in the sea-filled crater formed by a volcanic eruption 3,500 years ago. The ship's operator, Louis Cruise Lines, insisted the ship had been well maintained.

"The vessel maintained the highest level of safety standards and was equipped with the latest navigation systems," spokesman Giorgos Stathopoulos said. It sank about 15 hours after the crash.

Investigators were questioning the captain and three officers. The rocks are marked with warning lights and clearly indicated on navigation charts.

After the ship lurched during contact, the students, sitting for afternoon tea, at first thought little of it, said Suzy Chevrier of Boca Raton, whose daughter Claire, 17, was aboard.

"She said some of the kids were making Titanic jokes," Chevrier said.

Their smiles quickly faded when crew members rounded up everyone for lifejackets and the hasty evacuation. They were forced to leave behind all of their personal belongings, including cameras with vacation photos, iPods with thousands of songs, money, cell phones and clothes.

"The beautiful white dress I bought for her graduation is at the bottom of the Aegean Sea," Chevrier said. "Everybody got off the boat with what they had on."

Russell, the teacher who arranged the trip, held everyone's passports. EF Educational Tours arranged for the group to take refuge at the Hotel Metropolitan while awaiting an earlier flight home today. The cruise line gave each displaced passenger 200 euros, or about $268 in U.S. dollars.

EF spokeswoman Lori Van Dam says travelers are urged to buy travel insurance for just these kinds of emergencies.

But parent Sally Belson didn't think she bought the coverage for her daughter, Jaclyn Belson, 18.

"Never did I think a ship would go down," Belson's mother said. "She said it was the scariest experience in the world."

Russell's daughter and 13 other Spanish River students signed up for the trip, along with Russell and her husband, Kurt. Russell has taken groups of students on overseas tours in recent years.

The school does not sponsor the trips, which are open to any interested student, said Assistant Principal Ira Sollod. As it so happens, another group from Spanish River has been in Europe this week, with Assistant Principal Marta Graw and teacher Barbara Boerstler.

"Just a pleasure vacation that happens to be with a [school] chaperon," Sollod said.

Yet one with a shocking ending the students and their families won't forget.

"It's surreal," Belson said. "They're so far away -- to see this on the news, to see pictures of the ship going down, to think, what if?"

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Marc Freeman can be reached at mjfreeman@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6642.

ONLINE: See how nearly 1,600 people were retrieved from the sinking Sea Diamond in a photo gallery at Sun-Sentinel.com/rescueatsea

posted in Cruise Lovers - 0 replies

Another Fall on a ship

Fri, 06 Apr 2007 17:37:58 GMT

MIAMI BEACH – A Coast Guard crew evacuated an injured 13-year-old girl from a cruise liner to a Miami hospital after she fell five stories over a ship's balcony early Friday, a spokesman said.

In an e-mail news release, the Coast Guard said the unidentified girl suffered mild head trauma from the five-deck plunge aboard the 680-foot-long Majesty, which is ported in Charleston, S.C. The ship is owned by Miami-based Norwegian Cruise Lines.

LocalLinks

The incident occurred around 6:30 a.m. on Friday about three miles off Miami Beach.

A Coast Guard rendezvoused with the Majesty offshore and transferred the victim into a small boat. She was then brought to the Miami Beach Coast Guard station and at 7:24 a.m. was taken by ambulance to Jackson Memorial Hospital in nearby Miami. A condition report was not immediately available.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 0 replies

Man who leaped off ship found alive

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 13:44:37 GMT

BY ERIKA BERAS, ANDREA TORRES AND CHRISTINA KENT
eberas@MiamiHerald.com
A 24-year-old man who took a flying leap off a cruise ship 30 miles east of Fort Lauderdale has been found alive after a search by air and sea.

The man, as yet unidentified, was hoisted out of the water at least eight hours after he took a header off the side of the Carnival Glory and fell 60 feet into the dark waters.

He was being airlifted to Jackson Memorial Hospital Friday morning. The extent of his injuries, if any, was unknown.

A witness said the man ran through a cabin window and off the edge of the ship about 12:30 a.m., according to Coast Guard spokesman Barry Bena. The witness said the man was intoxicated, although it was not clear how the witness might know that.

The Glory and a Disney cruise ship joined the Coast Guard cutter Vigorous and two helicopters in searching for the man, Bena said.

The Glory is 953 feet long, carries as many as 2,974 passengers and sails out of Port Canaveral.

posted in Cruise Lovers - 13 replies

Cruise Virgin

Celeste — Tue, 01 Aug 2006 20:56:37 GMT

Hi! New member here, I joined because my family wants to go on a cruise next summer and I am doing the planning. And I know nada. Not wanting to get screwed planning it I did a search on Tribe and found y'all! Yeah Tribe!

So it looks like Royal Carribian is the favorite, that helps. Can 'you' give me an idea of how much a cruise per person costs? say for a week? is a week the right amount of time?

Also, is anyone a member of Monarch Grand Vacations? I am supposed to be able to trade my points for cruise time, but I was told (by one Monarch employee) that it was really not worth it. We are leaving for Veaga's tonight (august!) and I am not sure if I should go ahead and use my points or pay cash.

hmn, sounds like We've got moola to spare,- nope!

Celeste

posted in Cruise Lovers - 3 replies

Cruise week of OCt 15 or the 21

Lani — Tue, 14 Mar 2006 06:15:15 GMT

hey all,
i'm planning on going on a cruise (w/ carnival) and am trying to decide whether to go to the bahamas, eastern caribbean or western caribbean. What are your votes for this time of year?!

thanks !!!

posted in Cruise Lovers - 4 replies

Cabo San Lucas Spa Recommendations

JimBoz — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 21:32:56 GMT

Early February I'll be on a Mexican Riviera cruise and was interested in tracking down a resort/spa in Cabo San Lucas for some spa services that might be cheaper than the cruise ship.

Services such as:
Full body deep tissue massage
Seaweed Wraps
Flotation therapies
etc

I've found quite a few options from Google searches and links from various travel sites, but it is quite interesting to pore over the sheer volumes of info.

So - anyone with any experience or recommendations?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 3 replies

Suggestions for excursions

Mary — Thu, 15 Sep 2005 00:48:34 GMT

In Costa Rica, Aruba, Acupulco, and Panama Canal? Anyone been here and have suggestions?

Thanks in advance

posted in Cruise Lovers - 6 replies

when and where?

Lani — Mon, 18 Jul 2005 03:37:01 GMT

Hey all,
I just got a certificate for a cruise for either the west caribbean or the bahamas... catch is i have to use it b/w Sept-feb...

suggestions?!?!?!

which would be better or at what time?

posted in Cruise Lovers - 5 replies

time of year?

Lani — Sun, 22 May 2005 18:02:04 GMT

i'd love to go on a cruise w/ RC (went w/ carnival last year to mexico). I went in oct. supposed to have decent weather, but it rained the whole time. thinking about the bahamas in sept.

is this a yay or a nay?

thanks

posted in Cruise Lovers - 7 replies

Hello!!!!!!

Mary — Wed, 26 Jan 2005 21:26:18 GMT

Hi everyone, just found this group of people and decided to check it out, hope you don't mind.

My name is Mary, I'm very happily married to Paul and we have a beautiful son Nicholas. We all love cruising. We will be going on our 12 RCCL cruise in May (just a weekender) and our longest so far (12 NT) in October to the Panama Canal. I'm looking forward to meeting other cruise lovers. What a great idea for a "tribe" :-)

posted in Cruise Lovers - 9 replies