Rick n Jane's Cruise Escapades

Paradise in Palawan

2011-06-26T10:22:00.002-06:00

I WANT TO VISIT PALAWAN! THE MOST BEAUTIFUL PLACE ON EARTH, BEAUTIFUL UNSPOILED BEACHES & MOST OF ALL I WANT TO SHOW TO MY CANADIAN HUSBAND THE HIDDEN GEMS OF THE PHILIPPINES...

August 2009 - Barcelona/Venice trip and our Mediterranean cruise

2009-08-30T08:03:00.008-06:00

August 2009 - It was time for our long-awaited trip to Barcelona and our Mediterranean cruise! It would be our first trip to Europe and we were very excited and had done a lot of preparation. Instead of describing our (mis)adventures, we decided to post some tips about where we went and how we got there, both for ourselves (for future trips) and for anyone reading this who is considering a trip to Europe but isn't sure about what it's like.

The flight to Barcelona:

The flight was OK, but it was made better by bringing along a few things that helped us. If you are going on a long flight for the first time, you might want to bring some of these with you:

1) A bottle of water or two - they do provide water and pop on the plane, however on long international flights they don't come by very often, especially when people are sleeping. It really helps to have your own personal supply to get you through the flight without having to buzz the flight attendants every couple hours, or ask for three or four glasses of water at one time that will perilously sit on your tray. Keep in mind (for those that don't know by now) that you can't bring any water bottles past security, so you'll have to buy this water when you are at your gate waiting. Almost all airports (if not all in this day and age) will have stores in the gate area where you can buy snacks, water, magazines, etc.
2) A pair of earphones - some flights give out earphones for free (for watching the movies or listening to their music), some will but charge for them, and most times either way you have to wait until they decide to distribute them which can be a couple hours into the flight. Although some airlines will have special jacks that only work with their earphones, bring yours anyway just in case, so you can start watching movies right after they take off.
3) A pair of earplugs and a sleeping mask that will cover your eyes - most stores that sell luggage will sell these items. They are cheap and come in handy. Every long flight I've ever been on has a crying baby, loud passengers, kids, flight attendants that come by every little while and talk, and sometimes the lights are too bright in the plane (although they usually turn off most lights at one point). Makes it very hard to sleep without these items
4) A travel pillow, or a small pillow from home - If I'm sitting on the aisle I don't usually use one but if I'm by a window it's very handy to use as you can lean against the window relatively comfortably.
5) Some stomach pills (ie Pepto Bismol) and pain reliever (ie Tylenol). Airplane food isn't very good and can cause an upset stomach, and if you have a headache on the flight it will make the flight even longer.
6) Snacks - this is a great idea, because not only is airplane food not that good, you usually get only one meal, two if you are lucky, and they are rather small. So bring along a sandwich and some munchies just in case you don't like the meal or you get hungry in between meals. You don't have to bring the whole supermarket, just a couple sandwiches and a bag of chips or two.
7) A couple of pens - if you have to travel internationally, you will most likely have to fill out a customs/immigration form, and sometimes (but not always) the airline distributes the form on the airplane before you land. You don't have to fill it out on the plane, but if you have a pen handy it will save you a ton of time since once you land you'll be able to get in line at customs ahead of everyone who has to stop to fill out the form.
8) Some cash in the currency of the airline you're taking (ie USD on an American airline, CAD on a Canadian one) - this isn't a must, but sometimes the airline will offer items such as alchohol or food (much better than the standard food they provide) for a bit of cash. A lot of times they'll accept credit cards, but it doesn't hurt to have a bit of cash just in case. Also, you might want to have some anyway should you need to tip a porter (if you use one for carrying your luggage) once you land.

Barcelona:

Barcelona is a great city, it's safe, clean, and most people are very friendly and helpful. However, it's very different from a North American city, and it took us a couple days to get used to it. The biggest difference between Barcelona and a Canadian or American city is that not many people speak English. This might seem obvious, but it doesn't really hit until you are actually here. Communication can be very difficult, and you have to use a lot of non-verbal communication like pointing at menus, making numbers with your fingers, and saying the names of landmarks without flowery language (ie "Sagrada Familia?" as opposed to "Excuse me, can you please tell me how I can get to Sagrada Familia?"). Even most taxi drivers do not speak English, so you might want to show them a map of where you are going, say your hotel name and address, or the name of the landmark you want to go. It might seem a bit rude to you to do this, but unfortunately unless you know the local language, you have no choice. I find that if you smile and say "gracias" (thank you) after, most people here will understand that you don't speak their language and will try and help. Also, people in Barcelona don't speak Spanish - they speak a dialect called Catalan. It's a mixture of a few languages like Spanish and French, so if you take a Spanish course to prepare for Barcelona, you might communicate a bit better then most people but you still will have some issues communicating. Having said all that, if you are in the tourist areas (most major landmarks and "Las Ramblas"), most of the staff at the hotels, restaurants, stores, and landmarks will speak English.

Another major difference are mealtimes. Breakfast times aren't that different, but lunches tend to be a bit later (after 12), and dinner doesn't start at most restaurants until after 9:00! Again, if you are in a tourist area you might encounter "normal" meal times, but a lot of the best food comes from the non-tourist areas. The food itself is also very different. Breakfasts are usually tapas (hot/cold appetizers), lunches are fish, paella (a rice dish which is delicious and comes in many varieties) and other meats, and most meals are rather greasy, with a lot of olive oil. Combined with the heat in summer, this can make your stomach a bit queasy. Also if you are a vegatarian your choices will be very limited - there are salads available but not many - people in Barcelona love fish and meat. This might be a bit obvious, but anytime you eat in a tourist area, the price of a meal will go up. And if you go to a fancy restaurant in a tourist area, you are going to pay twice as much as you should. It's nice to have a nice meal in a fancy Barcelona restaurant, but I would advise to only do this once or twice during your stay or it'll cost you an arm or a leg. There are tons of small cafe's and restaurants everywhere outside the tourist areas and you can just sit outside and order tapas,drinks, and even full meals at a fraction of the cost of a fancy restaurant, and the food is just as good. For example, on our first night we met a friend for dinner and he took us to a small cafe where we sat outside and ordered several drinks and four or five dishes, and it only cost 27 Euros (about 40 Canadian dollars!). On another night, we went to a more upscale restaurant near "Las Ramblas", and ordered only two dishes and three drinks. It cost 56 Euros (about 85 Canadian dollars!). The food itself was very similar, as was the service, so don't "judge a book by its cover" and give a smaller "non-touristy" place a try! Speaking of service at meals, you'll find that you have to call for the waiter/waitress a lot more than in North America, and if you don't ask for the bill after, you'll find yourself sitting at an empty table for a LONG time. I don't think it's because the servers are rude here, it's more because the culture is more laid back and they just don't want to disturb you. I've noticed that you can sit at a table and just have a drink for a long time and no waiter will give you dirty looks or push you to leave.

In terms of getting around Barcelona, you have a few options:

1) Walking - Barcelona is a large city, with the tourist landmarks at different spots in the city, so you won't be able to walk to every single place in Barcelona or you'll be walking for a long time! However, you'll find that a lot of landmarks are fairly close together at different spots of the city, so once you get to that specific part of the city (with one of the options below), it's very easy to walk within that area. If you are walking there during the summer, be sure to be carrying a bottle of water with you as you'll need to keep yourself hydrated - even the locals carry around bottled water. If you find yourself without one, no worries, you will be able to buy one from any restaurant or store, even a pharmacy... just ask for "agua". Unless you are at a tourist spot, a small bottle of water should cost you about 1.2 Euros, at a major tourist spot it may cost as much as 3 Euros. Walking in Barcelona is very safe, as crime is very low. You may want to wear a money belt tucked beneath your pants to prevent being pickpocketed but otherwise walking is great in Barcelona.

2) Drive - we didn't choose this option, so I'm not sure how much renting a car costs, but from what we saw traffic isn't too bad in Barcelona, and there appeared to be a lot of public parking lots in the city (not sure of the cost though). The only thing of note is that there appears to be a lot of one-way streets and roundabouts in Barcelona so I'd imagine driving there would take some getting used to. I would think it would be possible though without too many issues. You may want to check on using your driver's licence there however, as I'm not sure how that would work.

3). The public bus/subway system - this was the method of travel we chose for getting to the major landmarks in Barcelona, and I must say it was VERY easy. The Barcelona subway system, or "Metro" as it's called, is very well mapped out, with signage everywhere, and many subway employees (wearing red shirts and dark pants to identify themselves) around to help with questions (almost all of them speak English). The system is divided into "zones". You can purchase single-journey tickets, or something called a "T-10" which is a ticket valid for 10 journeys (more economical but it is only for one "zone"). If you are going to be in Barcelona for more than two or three days and planning on using the subway or bus for getting around, the best thing to do is to buy a "Barcelona card" online and pick it up at the airport (or tourist information centers throughout the city) once you arrive (you just print out your "voucher" after you purchase it online and bring it with you). You can buy a Barcelona card valid for a certain number of days (you choose the length, obviously the longer validity you choose the higher the cost), and you need one card per person. Here's why it's worth it:
a) While the card is valid (ie a 4 day card is good for 4 days), you can use it for UNLIMITED travel on the Metro subway/bus system. Because we used the Metro several times a day, it almost paid for itself after our 5 day card expired. One note on the subway system - the trains themselves are air conditioned and quite comfortable, however the tunnels and subway platforms are NOT, and it can be stifling. Luckily trains come every few minutes there so you won't have to wait long during the day.
b) You can show your card at a lot of landmarks and museums and receive significant discounts - since you'll likely be visiting Barcelona to see the landmarks anyway, this is a major benefit. You'll get anywhere from 5%-20% off the entry fee to these locations, and a few are even free! Don't worry, when you pick up your card at the airport you'll get a map of Barcelona (including a map of the Metro subway system) and a paperback guide of the places listing their location, description, hours of operation, and the discount you'll get. Because we visited a lot of landmarks during our four days, I'm sure that these discounts along with the unlimited travel made the card pay for itself and then some.

If you do pick up the card at the airport, it's located in Terminal 2. The airport workers are very friendly, just ask one of them (or someone in an information booth if you see one) where the tourist information booth is located. For us, we arrived in Terminal 1 and just had to take a free shuttle (large green bus which had room for our luggage although we had to carry it on) to Terminal 2 - a short 5 minute bus ride. Once you have your Barcelona card, I cannot stress enough the convenience and savings it will provide you. I highly recommend it!

4) Taxis - Although this can be an expensive option compared to walking or the Barcelona card if you use taxis for every single trip you take in Barcelona, they are very reasonable if you use them here and there. For example, we took a taxi from the airport to our hotel located near La Familia Sagrada, and the cost with 3 large pieces of luggage and a small piece of luggage was only 27 Euros. It was actually 21 Euros but a small surcharge applies for the baggage you bring. A taxi from our hotel to the cruise port was only 18 Euros, including the luggage surcharge. A taxi between two major intersections (not side streets but major streets) cost only 4 Euros (with no luggage). They are also metered so you don't have to worry about haggling over what the fare will be. They do accept major credit cards officially, however just to be sure, you might want to flash the taxi driver your credit card before he starts driving and ask if you can use it to pay (just in case) My point of this paragraph is you probably don't want to take taxis everywhere as it does add up, but if you find yourself far from your hotel and you're too tired or hot to walk or take the Metro back, just grab a taxi. Taxis are EVERYWHERE in Barcelona and we never had to wait more then 5 minutes on the street to hail one. They are black with yellow trim, and if you see one that's free it will have a small lit green light on top with a sign inside that says "LIBRE" (meaning "Free" - not in cost but in terms of availability!). Remember my note from earlier - taxi drivers are very friendly however very very few speak English, so be sure to give them an address or hotel name or show them a map of where you want to go.

5) Turista bus or "Hop on hop off" or "HOHO" bus - this is a special bus (not included with a Barcelona card) that you can use to travel between major tourist landmarks - they just do a loop. We did not use this bus but we know a bit about it. You buy a one day or two day pass (I believe it's 21 Euros for one day and obviously more for two days). You can buy your pass online before you travel. You can board the bus (not sure of pickup locations so you may have to walk or take a taxi to one) and they drive you to various landmarks. You can "hop off" at any one of them and when you're finished, wait where you were dropped off and then when the next Turista bus shows up, "hop on" and go to the next landmark. I imagine that this would be the best option if you only want to visit the landmarks and don't care about the "non-tourist" areas, since you don't have to worry about making your way to landmarks and fumbling with maps. The only problem we had about this option is you're limited to just going to the landmarks and you'd have to find your own way to other places in the city. Also, if you are in Barcelona on business you'd definitely not choose this option - unless your business would take you to only the major tourist landmarks!

To get the true flavour of Barcelona, I'd recommend getting a Barcelona card (for each person in your travelling party) and using the subway system and walking to get around. It's a safe and beautiful city to travel in with a lot of "hidden treasures" that you'll never see on the "HOHO" bus or a tour bus, or even driving around. Even if you get lost for a bit, take it all in and enjoy - you will never be too far from a Metro station and taxis are aplenty.

Another major thing to note about Barcelona is the times the shops are open. If you're in a tourist area, you won't notice much difference. However if you are in a "non-tourist" area, you'll notice that most shops are closed on Sunday, and from Monday-Saturday are closed from about 1 or 2 to about 4 or 5 in the afternoon. If you're planning to do a lot of shopping during these times it can be a major roadblock so you will want to be aware of this and shop at other times otherwise stick to the tourist areas.

In terms of attire, you'll want to wear clothing that allows you to blend in with the locals and not "stick out like a sore thumb" as a tourist. By doing this, you'll avoid people staring at you, and possibly avoid being pick pocketed (although you still have to be vigilant no matter what and wearing a money belt is a good idea). Things to avoid wearing on the street are beach attire like swimwear, and other skimpy clothes. Polo shirts or nice t-shirts (with no loud designs or lettering) with long shorts (below the knees) work for guys, and for ladies as I mentioned avoid skimpy clothes like "short shorts" or swimwear. Don't get me wrong, you won't be arrested or refused service in a store or anything for not "blending in", but you'll be stared at and possibly attract the attention of pick pocketers or other unsavoury characters like street vendors trying to sell you cheap items.

Some notes about visiting major landmarks in Barcelona:

1) Get there EARLY, as in when they first open (most open around 9 AM) - lines for major tourist attractions (such as Casa Mila or La Sagrada Familia) can be LONG and you don't want to waste half your day waiting in line. If you are one of the first ones into a place you'll be able to view it without battling the hordes of tourists.
2) If you are visiting a place of worship like the Cathedral in the Barrio Gothic (Gothic Quarter), remember that you'll need to wear appropriate clothing. No shoulders or sleeveless shirts allowed, and no shorts ending above the knees will be allowed. You don't need to wear a tuxedo or evening gown to get in, but you will have to dress in a t-shirt or polo shirt with long shorts or slacks (for guys) and the same or skirts covering the shoulders and knees (for ladies).
3) Some of the museums do not allow flash photography, so turn your flash off and be discreet when snapping photos!

Some tips for picking a hotel:

1) If you want to surf the internet in your hotel, but sure to check that your hotel offers internet access. Even if it claims to have "wireless" internet access, bring along an ethernet or whatever wire you use with your computer to connect to the internet - just in case the wireless doesn't work.
2) Make SURE that your hotel offers private bathrooms in your stateroom. A lot of hotels in Europe have shared bathrooms, meaning you will have to share your bathroom with another room or even the entire floor!
3) If your flight arrives in Barcelona before your hotel's check-in time and you don't want to lug around your luggage all day, ask your hotel if they can store your luggage before you check-in. Similarly, when you are leaving Barcelona and your flight departs after the hotel's check-out time, ask your hotel if they can store your luggage after you check out and you can just pick it up before going to the airport. Many hotels in Barcelona have a luggage room and will agree to do this for you, but ask before you book!
4) Make SURE that your hotel room is air conditioned! A lot of hotels only offer air conditioning in common areas like the lobby. If you don't care about air conditioning but want to open a window to get some air in your room, make sure your room has windows that open
5) If you don't want to have to deal with street noise at night, do NOT book a hotel in the tourist area - specifically "Las Ramblas". Sure, these are great hotels, but they are not only pricey, you will have to listen to the noise of thousands of tourists on the street right outside your window each night. Not really a good thing if you are trying to sleep. Better to book a hotel close to the tourist area but not IN the tourist area. There are tons of hotels in Barcelona, so take your time, do your research on a site like hotels.com, and don't book "at the last minute" and make a bad choice.

A final note on hotels - rooms tend to be smaller than in North America and in many hotels you need to stick your room keycard into a slot on the wall to activate the room's electricity and air conditioning. But overall if you do your homework you can get a good hotel room at a reasonable price. If you don't, you'll either overpay by a large amount or get a poor quality room.

Our favourite landmarks

We saw a lot of good places in Barcelona, and what is "the best place" is really a matter of personal taste. Having said that, we'd highly recommend these spots:
1) Las Ramblas - the "hub" of the tourist area, it's a long street with tons of shopping and restaurants (pricey but good and they speak English). At the end of the street (by the water) there is a large monument which can be a great photo opportunity, and for only 2.75 Euros you can take a tiny elevator into a small observation deck for some great photos from the the top of the monument (it's a VERY small indoor room but the views are great)
2) Casa Mila (La Pedrera) - this is one of the buildings designed by the famous architect Gaudi. It's about 10-15 Euros to get in, and the lines are long (get there at about 9 AM when it opens) but it's worth it. Very unique and beautiful - be sure to visit the roof for some amazing photos!
3) The Magic Fountain - on Thursdays and Fridays at about 9 PM there is a free outdoor show in the huge fountain area. The water of the fountain pulsates to the beat of music, accompanied by bright lights of every colour. The show lasts about 60 minutes and is attended by thousands. People are laughing, taking photos, dancing, and everyone is happy. This was by far the highlight of our trip. People from every part of the world come here, and if everyone in the world acted as people do here, there would be no war. It is truly a place for the citizens of the world and the happiness is almost overwhelming.

There are also some "honourable mentions", such as visiting the nearby town of Sitges (you will need to take a train from the Espanya station which is not included with the Barcelona card but is 5.6 Euros round trip per person), La Sagrada Familia, Poble Espanyol, the Parc Montjuic (where the magic fountain is), the Olympic Stadium, the Magic Castle (Casa Montjuic), and the Barrio Gothic (Gothic Quarter) and the Cathedral. There's also many other great spots which can't be listed here. Just get out there and explore!

14 night cruise - Barcelona to Venice

We decided to head to the cruise ship terminal on Friday,August 14. Earlier that day, we had checked out of our hotel and asked them to hold our luggage, to which they agreed (remember my tip about picking a hotel that will do this). We returned to our hotel to pick up our luggage and took a taxi to the cruise terminal. It only cost 17 Euros and the taxi dropped us off right in front of the terminal entrance. No hassling with dragging our luggage to a bus terminal or train station or walking down the street. It was very convenient and affordable, and I would highly recommend doing this for anyone in Barcelona going from a hotel to the terminal.

There's nothing like approaching your ship for the first time and realizing how big and beautiful it is. This was our fifth cruise and we are still in awe at the cruise ships. One thing we'd highly recommend is when you book your cruise either online or through a travel agent, you visit the website of the cruise company (ie Celebrity, NCL, Princess, etc) and complete the online check-in process. After you book your cruise, you'll receive your reservation# and other information relating to your cruise. You'll use this information during the online check-in process, and you'll also need other information such as your passport (passport#, expiry date, etc). Once you complete this process, you can print everything and you'll need to bring it with you to the cruise terminal. You'll need to enter this information for every person in your travelling party. You also have an option during this process to enter a credit card # (one for the whole party or separate cards for each person), as the ships have a "cashless" system which I'll explain in a bit. When you get to the terminal, you'll give your luggage to a porter who will have them delivered to your stateroom later that day, and if you don't have luggage tags listing your cabin number, the porter can give blank tags to you and then take your luggage after writing your cabin number on them. From there, you proceed inside the terminal and are directed to a large check in desk with a lot of customer service agents. If you completed the online check-in process you can skip the long lines and go to a special desk of desks where you just present your check in documentation (that you printed from the online check in process), show your passport and credit card (or credit cards). They give you some documentation including a plastic card (the size of a credit card) to each member of your party. These cards have each person's name on it and they serve three purposes:

1) The card is your room key to enter your stateroom
2) The card is used as your identification card and you will need it when leaving the ship and returning to the ship in a port city
3) The card is used to purchase goods and services on the ship. Cruise ships use a "cashless" system, and almost anything you buy on board you will purchase with this card. The only place you'll use cash would be the casino and exchanging currency, and on some ships (but not all), buying postage and laundry services.

On your first night, you can usually dine in the main dining room in the same attire you arrived wearing to the ship. The reason is sometimes people don't receive their luggage (with their clothing) until later that evening. Ships have different standards for attire, but in general you need to wear skirts or long pants and sweaters or blouses for ladies and business shirts and long pants for the men. Certain nights (as listed in the daily program you'll get in your room from your ship daily) are formal nights, where ladies have to wear gowns or cocktail dresses or pant suits, and men have to wear suits or tuxedos or dinner jackets and long pants. In general, there is only one formal night for every four or five nights on the ship. If you only have one or two formal outfits, not to worry, the ship will offer dry cleaning and pressing services - it's a bit pricey but a lot less than buying another suit or formal dress you'll only wear once. Of course, every ship offers a buffet each night where you can dress in shorts and t-shirts so you can totally skip the main restaurant if you like. Or you can just skip the formal nights. It's totally up to you.

Also, on the first night, you'll have to participate in an emergency drill. It's mandatory for every cruise line and this is the only time on your cruise where you'll be mandated to attend an activity. It usually takes under 30 minutes and once it's done, you're free to do whatever you like. The drill occurs a couple hours before the ship leaves port, and it involves your party putting on your lifejackets (located in the closet of your stateroom) and going to your "muster station" or emergency meeting point. Your "muster station" might be listed on your plastic card issued to you, or perhaps on the map on the inside of your stateroom door. If you're not sure, just ask any crew member where your muster station is. At the time of the drill an announcement over the public address system will be made, and you'll go to your muster station and a crew member will take your names and/or cabin numbers. From there, you'll be led to a lifeboat and forced to stand in a tight group (it can be a bit uncomfortable). After a few minutes you'll be free to go.

Finally, on the first night, you'll meet your stateroom attendants. There's usually a team of two people, and they will clean your room each day and assist you with any questions you have relating to your stateroom. They work very hard and make things so easy for you. They work like magic - no matter how messy you leave your room, they will make it spotless when you return to your room that night to go to bed. I don't know how they do it but they always manage it.

During the cruise, you'll either have either "fixed" dinner seatings, which means you will dine at the same time everyday and at the same table, or "open" dinner seating, meaning you can dine anywhere in the main restaurant and at any time during the restaurant's dinner hours. Some cruise lines use "open" seating, some use "fixed" seating. If your cruise line has "fixed" seating, you'll find your seating time and table number on a card in your stateroom the first day. Just present this card in the restaurant and you'll be led to your table. If you skip the main restaurant the first night, no worries, any staff member in the restaurant would be delighted to lead you to your table on subsequent nights if you give them your card. Breakfasts and lunches are always "open" seating in the main restaurant on any cruise line. And of course, for any meal, you can always skip the main restaurant and use the buffet. The food at the buffet generally is less fancy, however the advantage is you don't have to "dress up" to eat there. Most cruise lines also have at least one "specialty" restaurant (some have more than one), where for a small charge ($10-$30 per person depending on the restaurant) you can eat there. Service in these specialty restaurants tend to be very formal and the food fantastic, so I'd highly recommend dining there at least once per cruise. Of course, these restaurants would require reservations (either by calling them the day before or visiting them the day before) and have a dress code, usually similar to the "non-formal" attire I described earlier.

Of course, all the ships have amenities like a shopping area (for liquor, clothes, and jewellery), a pool, whirlpools, an exercise room, many bars, a casino, a spa, and many many other amenities. Some are free (pool, exercise room, whirlpools), some are not (bar, casino, spa), but all of them are fantastic and you should at least have a look at all of them during the cruise. All ships also have beautifully decorated areas that make for great photos, such as on the open decks, the grand foyer, and several common areas. During days where your ship is not in a port city and is at sea, take advantage of these days and relax and enjoy exploring the ship! Also, everyday the ship offers activities as listed in the program you'll find each night in your stateroom (listing the next days activities), so if a port city isn't for you, or it's a sea day, you can participate in them! Some are free, some are not, and any pricing will always be listed. In general, I don't go to these activities as I like to relax on sea days and go into port on port days, but "to each his own" and some of these activities might interest you. There is always a large variety of activities throughout each day (and evening). Not to mention the entertainment - each evening the ship will put on two shows - the same show but one is early evening, the other 2-3 hours later (so people who eat during the early show can catch the late show and vice versa). The shows are always free and feature a variety of performers each night - singers, dancers, magicians, comedians, etc. If possible you should catch these shows - they are great.

A few pointers on things to bring:

1) If you are going to be in a hot climate, buy a few large bottles of water to use in port cities. The ship is air conditioned, but walking outside in the port cities is hot and water on the ship is expensive (up to $4 USD per bottle!)
2) If you are going to be in a cold climate, bring a jacket, gloves and hat (ie if you are visiting Alaska)
3) Toothpaste and toothbrushes, after shave, deodorant, aspirins, stomach/nausea pills, and shampoo/conditioner/soap (provided in the ship, but you can bring your own if you're specific). The ship generally sell these (its all dependent on what ship, though). Of course, soap and towels and bathrobes will be provided.
4) Cash - you won't need it on the ship usually but you'll want to have some when you visit the port cities. It's better to have some in advance rather than waste some of your day in a port city hunting for an ATM. Your ship will have an ATM machine, however as you probably know, there will be a service fee charged by your bank, so why not bring some cash beforehand?
5) If you have one, a Visa or Mastercard - you'll use these in the port cities. Of course, be sure to let your credit card company know in advance of the dates you'll be travelling and where you'll be, and that the cruise line you'll be using will be placing a charge to your card (whichever one you used during the online check in process) to settle your shipboard account at the end of the cruise.
6) Check if your ship has self-serve laundry facilities and irons and ironing boards (some do, some don't). If your ship doesn't, try and bring some detergent in a small plastic bag that you can use to clean your delicates (ie underwear) rather than have them laundered on the ship (which can be a bit pricey especially with a big travelling party). You can also have your suits/special formal clothing ironed at home before coming on the ship for those ships which don't provide irons and ironing boards.

A few pointers on the amenities on the ship:

1) Pool - they have lots of towels at the pool, and the pool is usually open from early in the morning to mid-evening (ie 7 AM - 8 PM). One note about the hot tubs - I tend to avoid them since they are a breeding ground for germs
2) Shops - they are usually open all day during "sea days" (where the ship is not in a port city), and when in a port city they're open in the mornings and then in the evenings only. If you're looking to get a good deal, check the shops each day or evening and watch for special sales like "2 for 1" or "50% off". Try not to buy stuff that's not on sale because the shops usually have a few sales each cruise (especially for jewellery).
3) Casino - you have to be of a certain age to enter (varies based on cruise line). The casino is usually open all day on "sea days" but generally is not open while in a port city. They usually, however, open after the ship leaves the port city. So if you're a gambler and the ship's in a port city, you'll have to wait for the late afternoon or evening to gamble... and if the ship is in a port city overnight, oh well, there's always tomorrow.
4) Photography store - people will be snapping photos of you on embarkation day, when you leave the ship at each port, and on the "formal" nights. They then sell the photos in the photo store (usually it's where the rest of the stores are), and display all the photos on a big wall so you may have to hunt a bit to find yours. One word of warning - THESE PHOTOS ARE EXPENSIVE! I would recommend that you buy only a couple photos that you really like and just have a ship staff member (ie waiter, bartender) or a friend take the other photos of you using your own camera. The photography store's photos look beautiful and yours won't be as fancy, but you're on a cruise ship - how bad could your own photos be? Plus you'll save a ton of money taking your own.
5) Internet packages - yes you will be able to surf the internet on the ship. Usually you have to go to a common area (internet cafe, grand foyer, lounge) to surf as it probably won't work from your stateroom, although if you ask a staff member in the internet cafe they can help you set things up so you can use your laptop and not just the computers located in the internet cafe - it is possible, just ask for help! One tip I can give you is figure out how much you plan to use the internet on the cruise, as the ships have various internet packages you can buy. Obviously, the more minutes you buy, the more it will cost you, however the less per minute it will cost you. For example, you would buy 50 minutes for $30, which is 60 cents/minute, or you can buy 100 minutes for $50, which is only 50 cents per minute. Usually you can buy a pay as you go plan but the per-minute rate is very high, like 65 cents a minute. So if you have a good idea how much you'll be using the internet, you can buy the most economical package. In general, if you buy a package and you use all your minutes and still want to surf a lot more, buy another package and don't use the per minute rate! This isn't a life or death thing, but choosing the right package can save you a bit of money.
6) Port & Shopping Guide - every ship has a "port and shopping guide" or a "port specialist" or someone called something similar. These fine folks will hold seminars on the best jewellery to buy and which stores to shop at. They can be a huge help if you want to find out about where the shopping areas are or even where good restaurants are (ie the tourist areas as opposed to the bad part of town). However, keep in mind that the stores they specifically tell you to shop at pay the cruise line a promotional fee, so the shopping guide is FORCED to point you to these places. I would ask them general questions about what areas to go to, but then go to other stores as well as the ones they recommend. Don't get me wrong, they aren't going to send you to a store that tries to scam you with low quality items, but you'll most likely be sent to a store with sky-high prices that claim to have the "best" prices. Check out their stores, but just keep my advice in the back of your head and don't be afraid to shop around.
7) Ship tours - OK this one is VERY important. The ship will push their own tours at you HARD, and say they make everything in a port city easy and worry free. Yes, this statement is true - everything is done for you. BUT - tours arranged through the ship cost DOUBLE (sometimes TRIPLE) the same tours that can be taken from private tour companies that are usually waiting for you at the pier, who try and sell their tours to passengers without plans. The cruise lines will tell you "don't use private tours" - don't listen, they are just trying to scare you into paying more for their tours. My advice to you is, go to www.cruisecritic.com and sign up (it's free, and no I am not affiliated with that website, I just have used it in the past and it's great). Go to the message boards and search for private tours in the port cities you're going to. Ask if there are tour companies waiting for passengers as they get off the ship. Start researching a few months before you leave that way you get your answers. You will be answered by regular people like you that have been to those port cities and know what things are like there. If there are tour companies waiting for you at the pier, just get off the ship and pick one. If you're told there won't be, research private tour companies in that port city and try and arrange a private tour for the day you'll be in that city. Usually you can even share the tour with people on your cruise (you can connect with them through cruisecritic.com, I have done this before) to lower the cost per person. Do NOT be fooled by the ship into buying their incredibly overpriced tours.

Having said that, there is only one advantage to taking a tour arranged by the ship, a very legitimate one. If you are on a tour arranged by the ship, and for some reason the tour is delayed and can't make it back to the ship before it departs, the ship will not leave until that tour arrives - you won't be left behind. However, on a private tour, if you arrive to the ship too late, it won't wait for you and you will have to pay your way to the next port city to meet the ship. So common sense prevails here - if you take a private tour, make sure the tour company brings you back to the ship at least 2-3 hours before the ship leaves - don't "cut it close". I've taken several private tours and have never had a problem missing the ship.

As for doing things yourself and renting a car or taking buses/trains around a port city to save money, I would strongly advise against it unless you are truly adventurous or are very familiar with the city. If you're neither of those, do yourself a big favour and let someone else show you around. You'll be much more relaxed, you won't spend half your day getting lost and staring at maps/bus and train schedules and wandering around confused. Take it from me, there's NOTHING wrong with saving money, but ask yourself this - will I really have fun arranging my own tour and risk getting totally lost for half the day? If you are willing to take that risk, go for it! If not, a private tour or even a ship tour (if you don't mind spending the money) is the way to go.

Ports of call
Below are the ports of call we visited:

1) Villefranche, France - This is a small port city near Nice and Monte Carlo. We didn't dock here, rather we had to take "tenders" or small boats to the shore. If you plan on going ashore here from the ship, I'd strongly recommend asking the ship's customer service people to issue you a "tender ticket" (perhaps the day before you arrive) so you could get off the ship first. Basically, the "tender tickets" are numbered, and you can only get off the ship when your number is called, although eventually an "open tender" is called where everyone can leave at any time - by that time though everything will get crowded and the lines for the tenders can be long. We decided to explore the area ourselves without taking a tour. We decided to take a train to Nice, and then a bus to Eze Village and then to Monaco. When we left the port, we turned right immediately and after about a 10 minute walk along the shoreline reached a set of steps on the left that led up to the train station. We bought tickets to Nice (very cheap only 3 Euros per person), which you can buy via either Euro coins or a major credit card (you will need a valid PIN number so ask your credit card company before you travel). After asking the train station employee which platform to stand on (there was one for each direction) we caught the train and it was a short 20 minute ride to Nice. From Nice, we walked to the bus station - it was a LONG walk and we had to ask for directions several times. We basically had to walk out of the train station, turn left, then turn right at the first big street (the one with the tram cars and rails). After a long 30 minute walk we made it to the street before the ocean, and turned left. After another 5 minute walk, we saw the bus station on the left hand side. We asked an employee where to stand for the bus, and it arrived after awhile. We boarded the bus, and you buy the tickets from the bus driver directly. He then gives you change and sticks your card in a machine to validate the ticket. If you travel without a validated ticket you can get a big fine.

The bus trip to Eze Village was about 30-40 minutes, and the trip was worth it. Eze Village was a great small village with a perfume factory, a lot of shops and restaurants, and even a tourist office. After looking around for about an hour, we took a bus (# 83) from Eze Village to Monaco, again buying the ticket from the bus driver, who validated it. I believe the ticket was 1 Euro per person. We arrived in Monaco about 30 minutes later, and even armed with a map we found it very confusing. We did find our bearings after awhile, and saw some major sights like the prince's palace, the casinos, the cathedral, and the aquatic museum. From there, we walked to the train station in the downtown area (wasn't a long walk from most of the tourist landmarks) and bought a ticket (I believe it was 2.8 Euros per person) back to Villefranche. The trip back took about 40 minutes and from there we just walked back to the ship, as we arrived at the same train station we left from that morning. Even though we did this on our own, I would recommend taking a private tour as the train/bus travel was confusing, and we lost some time once in Monaco getting our bearings.

2) Florence, Italy - we took a private tour, and visited one of the vineyards in Tuscany and saw many great sights including churches, cathedrals, squares, and of course the famous "Leaning Tower of Pisa". Actually, the tower isn't as big as we thought. All cathedrals have "bell towers" and this was just one of them, except for the fact of course that it was "leaning" due to it being built under loose soil for a foundation. Overall, Florence is a great place with lots of places to see or just "people watch". I would strongly recommend a private tour as it's a big place, and unless you are familiar with it, you'll get lost.

3) Rome, Italy - we took a private tour today. The ship actually docked in a city called Citivecchia, which was just over an hour's drive to Rome. Once we get there, Rome had so many fantastic things to see, I'd recommend staying there for at least three or four days in order to take it all in. If you can only stay one day, perhaps visit only three or four sites, as you'll NEVER have enough time to see everything. Vatican City was fantastic, although we only had two hours and we could have spent a day or two alone there. Other great sights there were the Trevi Fountain, the Parthenon, the Forum (although we didn't see it), and the "Wedding Cake". We saw the "Spanish steps" although we weren't too impressed. Unless you are very familiar with Rome, I wouldn't try it on your own, especially if you only have one day!

4) Naples, Italy - we took a private tour today. We visited the beautiful Amalfi coast and Pompeii, which was destroyed by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD. If you choose to visit Pompeii, I would HIGHLY recommend getting your private tour company in advance to hire a private tour guide in Pompeii. Otherwise, you'll just wander around Pompeii lost as it is HUGE and filled with ruins you'll have no idea about unless a guide is with you. Our private Pompeii guide (separate from our private tour driver for the day) cost us 100 Euros and for the 2 hour tour was worth every Euro. It was so informative and fun. We had 8 people on the tour so it came out to only 12.5 Euros per person. Naples is another port that unless you are very familiar with the city, you'll want to take a private tour. Another note - although we didn't visit the center of Naples, I heard from many people including two private tour guides that Naples is a tough city and crime is bad there, so if you venture in on your own, be sure to wear a money belt and don't wear a lot of "bling" like rings and necklaces.

5) Santorini, Greece - this was by far the most beautiful city on the cruise. For this port, we didn't dock, we "tendered", so you may want to follow the same advice I gave to Villfranche (see above). Once you leave the ship, you will need to get up a VERY steep hill into the capital city of Fira. To do this you can either take a cable car (which is about a 5 minute trip and costs 4 Euro per person), ride a donkey up a long set of steps (not sure how much the donkey ride is but it must be cheap), or simply walk up the steps (could take 30-40 minutes walk depending on how fast you are - the path is winding not to mention the donkeys & donkey poop along the way). The cable car is located to the left of where the tenders drop you off and you can clearly see the cable car lines going to the top. Try and get off the ship as soon as you can or else the lines for the cable car will be too long. If you ride the donkeys it's not too long a ride to the top, although obviously the donkeys smell pretty bad and they leave lots of smelly "presents" on the stairs. And should you walk, be sure you are ready for a long, tiring climb, with lots of donkey "presents" in your way, not to mention large donkeys climbing from behind you and descending from in front of you.

Once you're up the hill, enjoy beautiful Fira! You'll have tons of photo opportunities to take shots of the pastel-colored houses and churches and beautiful shoreline below. There are tons of shops, cafes, and restaurants, and some of them have amazing views! The people are friendly and speak very good English. I was truly amazed of this island. You can also take a bus to the other villages on Santorini. We took a taxi to Oia for 15 Euros, and on the way back we took a bus for only 1.4 Euros per person. One tip - the taxis aren't metered so be sure to negotiate your fare before you drive off. That's not to scare you though - the taxi drivers here are very friendly and informative about Santorini. Oia was even more beautiful than Fira, and a bit less crowded. There are several other villages we could have visited but didn't have time to. One note about the buses here - you enter and exit from the middle doors (not the front door), and once you are on, someone will walk down the aisle and sell you a ticket - just tell them where you want to go and yes, they can provide change. Don't worry about "validating" your ticket like you do in Villefranche, just enjoy the ride. No need for a private tour here, once you're up the hill in Fira you can spend the day walking around or board a bus to the other villages. Santorini is small and you won't get lost. Even if you do, remember almost everyone here speaks English so asking for directions should be a breeze. Enjoy this place of unbelievable beauty!

6) Athens, Greece - We took a private tour today. This city is almost like Rome in that you'll need more than one day to see everything, although you can probably do it in two days whereas Rome you'll need at least three or four days. Also, the port city is Piraeus, not Athens. It's about a 15-20 minute drive to Athens from the pier. Once in Athens, we saw the Acropolis (containing the Parthenon), the changing of the guard at the palace, the Acropolis Museum, the Temple of Zeus, the Ancient Agora, and a few other sights. I wouldn't recommend doing Athens on your own as the traffic is bad and there are a lot of confusing streets, a private tour is much better. Also, I would recommend telling your tour company that you want to see the Acropolis first, because after about 8:30 it gets BUSY and I mean you can't even take a step without bumping into someone kind of busy! Another thing, when you buy your tickets for the Acropolis (I believe about 12 Euros per person), KEEP YOUR TICKETS!!!! You will need them to visit some other sites such as the Temple of Zeus and the Ancient Agora. Without your tickets, you'll have to pay another fee to visit those sites.

7) Dubrovnik, Croatia - because the tourist area is in a small area of the city known as "Old Town", we decided to explore on our own and not take a private tour. The currency in Croatia is the Kuna, although most establishments accepted Euros. As of August 2009, 1 Euro was equal to 7 Kuna - you need to keep the conversion rate in mind as all the prices here are listed in Kuna. Once you arrive at the pier and exit the ship, you will see a building across from you - this is the bus terminal, where you can exchange some Euros into Kuna if you like and also catch the 1A or 1B bus to the "Old Town". The "Old Town" is easily distinguishable by the walls around it. You can buy a bus ticket at the terminal or at a nearby "Kiosk" (small outdoor store selling cigarettes and magazines), or even some travel agencies sell bus tickets. A fare is 8 Kuna, or I'm told if you buy a ticket from the bus driver directly, it costs 10 Kuna. One important thing to note - Euros are NOT accepted at most kiosks or on the bus, so you'll have to have a few Kuna. A good tip is to buy something at a store with your Euros and ask for change in Kuna. The bus ride to "Old Town" will take about 10-15 minutes depending on traffic.

If you prefer, you can exit the ship and look for a taxi. You will want to confirm the fare to "Old Town" before driving off, but as of August 2009 the fare from the terminal to "Old Town" was only 10 Euros, and of course you can share a taxi with other people. You will want to be one of the first to "Old Town" because it gets very busy by 9:30 in the morning, and taking pictures becomes very difficult. Once at the "Old Town", walk straight down the main street and feel free to explore the side streets, as you'll find stores and restaurants that are less busy than those on the main road. Should you wish to walk on the old city walls, it will cost you 50 Kuna per person (or 7.5 Euros are also accepted). One tip, the view from the side of the walls by the hills are much better than the side by the water, so don't enter the city walls (just on your left) after you first pass through the "Old Town" gates. Instead, go straight through the gates and walk all the way down the main street until you reach the large square and the street turns to the right. Don't turn right, instead, keep going straight and you will see the smaller road you take turn left just after you leave the square and main road. Take the smaller road and after it turns left, just look for a sign on the wall to your right in many languages saying "City Wall". It will be after an entrance to a square and small marina on your right. Enter the city wall area and buy a ticket, it opens at 8 AM and if you are one of the first ones on the wall at that entrance by the hillside, you'll see some fantastic views of the city and will have very few people to contend with when taking your photos.

One very important tip about Dubrovnik - wear comfortable rubber soled shoes (sneakers) and if you are female, do NOT wear high heels! The reason is, the streets are marble and are very uneven, and can get very slippery if wet. Without the proper shoes the stairs are a bit treacherous, especially on the city walls. Other than that, the people of Dubrovnik speak English fairly well (although I didn't find them to be overly friendly), and the "Old Town" area is surrounded by city walls so you won't get lost - and there's only one main street. I would recommend doing this one on your own, leaving early and sharing a cab from the cruise ship, walking the city walls when you get there (remember not to enter right after you get in the gates, use the other entrance), and take the bus back to the ship (1A or 1B, you can catch it just down the street from the gates (just look for the blue bus stop sign, you don't even have to cross the street).

8) Venice, Italy - There is no city like Venice in the whole world. It is a city made up of several islands, connected by bridges and canals. There are NO cars in Venice (there are on the outskirts but not in Venice itself), so there are only two ways to get around in the city - walking and taking a boat. Should you choose to walk, wear comfortable shoes because although Venice is a relatively small city (you can walk from one end to the other in about an hour), it can be confusing without a good map and a good sense of direction and you might get lost! You can get ANYWHERE in Venice on foot, as the islands that make up the city are connected by bridges. Walking is the best way to see the city, because you'll experience the real flavor of Venice. You'll see a ton of small stores, cafes, restaurants, bars, and tourist spots that you won't see from a boat. Here are some tips for seeing the city by boat and by foot.

Walking - again, the best way to see Venice is by walking. Unless you have mobility issues or small children which prevent you from taking long walks, you'll want to walk through Venice. Some things to keep in mind:
a) Buy a good map of Venice - there are a billion tiny streets and you'll get hopelessly lost without one. The smaller the map the better, as you don't want to be unfolding a huge map of Venice in the middle of the street. Once you're walking around with your map, you'll notice that Venice has squares (large open areas with shops, churches, and restaurants) in a lot of places and unless you walk down a dead end street you'll enter a square often. These squares are called "Campos" followed by the name of the square. If you locate the "Campos" you are in on your map you'll know where you are. Don't worry too much about street names as there are just way too many to keep track of.
b) Wear comfortable walking shoes - ladies, no high heels! Sneakers work in Venice. You won't be the height of fashion but you'll be able to walk for a long time. There are a lot of bridges with steps in Venice and a lot of the streets are slightly uneven
c) If you are really concerned (see my comment "a" above) about street names, most street names are displayed in the side of buildings about 10 feet above the ground. There are no street signs like in North America so don't bother looking for the metal pole with the street name, just look above you and on the side of buildings. The names of the "Campos" are also in this area. The direction to major areas such as St Mark's square (St Marco) and the Rialto bridge are marked in certain areas by yellow plaques with black arrows about 10 feet above the street and on the sides of buildings
d) If you do get lost, don't panic! Most shop owners and restaurant staff speak some English, and almost all police officers do, and everyone we encountered when asking for directions was very friendly. Just ask which way to get to where you're going or ask how to get to the nearest "Campo" (assuming you can find it on a map once you get there). Also, remember Venice is an island, so eventually you'll hit water (so you can't just wander 500 miles away)
e) Stay hydrated and wear a hat - it is HOT in Venice in summer. As you walk you'll pass a million places that sell bottled water ("Frizzale" water is carbonated, "Naturale" or "Flat" is good old bottled water), and depending on what part of the city you're in water can be very inexpensive. If you buy a bottle of water near St Mark's square or a restaurant/bar you'll pay more, so try and buy water from one of the many snack bars or variety stores you'll see.
f) Walking from St. Mark's square to Piazzale Roma (basically one end of Venice to the other) will take you about 45 minutes, if you walk at a steady pace (not stopping for shopping or pictures) and if you don't get lost. So if you're new to Venice and you're not good with maps, give yourself about 90 minutes to walk from one part of Venice to the other side as I'm sure you'll be taking a ton of pics and you'll probably get turned around a couple times.

Taking a boat - if you have mobility issues or have small children, it's probably not best to walk around Venice for hours at a time. No worries if that's the case, you have a few choices for getting around Venice by boat:
a) Water bus - these are Venice's version of city buses, only they are boats called "Vaporetto" that travel around the islands and through the Grand Canal (the "s" shaped waterway that dissects the islands). You can buy unlimited travel with a "Venice Card" (just search Google for more details as we didn't buy one), or you can buy a pass good for a day or more. If you are going to use the Vaporetto very infrequently, just buy a ticket as you need it. Keep in mind each ticket is 6.5 Euros, so this can add up! If you are going to use the Vaporetto a lot, consider a tourist pass. They give you unlimited travel on the Vaporetto for the time period purchased (with the exception of the routes Alilaguna, Clodia and Fusina but you won't need these to get around the city). Pricing is 16 Euros for a 12 hour pass, 18 Euros for a 24 hour pass, 23 Euros for a 36 hour pass, 28 Euros for a 48 hour pass, 33 Euros for a 72 hour pass, and 50 Euros for a 7 day pass.

Whichever option you take, you can bring one luggage item per person of up to 150 cm as the sum of its three dimensions. Word of advice though - the vaporetto can get pretty crowded and Venetians tend to not like it when tourists bring luggage on board. If you have luggage, consider a water taxi.

Finally, if you buy a ticket or pass from the vaporetto station (located on the water where the Vaporetto stop), be sure to validate your ticket before you board the boat (ask the ticket booth attendant how to do this, it's basically a machine nearby that you put your ticket against, electronically registering it). If you buy a pass instead of a one-time ticket, I believe you just have to validate it once but you can ask just to make sure. If you do plan on taking the vaporetto to get around Venice, buy a pass since one ticket is 6.5 Euros. Plus you can use a pass to visit the nearby islands of Murano (famous for glass making) and Burano (famous for colured houses and lace making). Just ask any ticket both attendant how to get to Burano or Murano - by the way they are separate islands so you can't walk there!

b) Water taxi - these are Venice's version of land taxis, only MUCH more expensive! You really don't want to take water taxis everywhere unless you're rich. A water taxi can cost 80 Euros (although that's not per person, that's per taxi which can hold about 10-12 people without luggage and maybe 6-8 with luggage), and if you're going to the airport by water taxi, about 105 Euros (again, not per person but per taxi). You can imagine how fast this adds up if you take a few every day! If you`re just arriving in Venice and want to get to your hotel from the airport without the hassle of taking luggage on a vaporetto, a water taxi will work, but otherwise try and not use these a lot. Be sure to negotiate the fare before getting on board.

c) Gondola - these are small boats paddled by a guy in a striped uniform that sometimes will sing as he brings you where you want to go. Generally regarded as a romantic way to see Venice, it can also be one of the most expensive, and can cost about 80 Euros for a short trip (30 mins). It might be a fun thing to do once just for the experience, but don`t use these for everyday travel. Be sure to negotiate the fare before getting on board.

d) Traghetto - these are similar to gondolas, only they are just used to cross the Grand Canal and don`t go anywhere else so it`s a short ride - remember there are only a few bridges in Venice that cross the islands, so if you don`t want to walk around to the nearest bridge take one of these. I`m not sure how much they cost so ask when you get to a traghetto, although I`ve been told that it`s only .5 Euros per person to ride. So it is a very cheap way to cross the canal, although it won`t help you with sightseeing.

If you are close (specifically if your hotel is close) to the edge of Venice where cars are used and you`re able to take your luggage over a bridge when getting into or leaving Venice, you can also ride a bus or land taxi. They won`t be able to enter Venice but they can help you arrive from the airport or take you to the airport. Again, only use these if you`re able to enter Venice or leave Venice by foot as these won`t be able to go into the islands. I believe a bus to or from the airport (I think it was the number 5 bus) was only 2.5 Euros per person (not 100% sure but I know it was cheap) and they only allowed 1 piece of luggage per person. We took a land taxi to the airport and it cost us 35 Euros - much less than a water taxi and since we had four pieces of luggage for two people we couldn`t use a land bus. Again, remember what I said about taking luggage on a Vaporetto so we couldn`t do that. If you`re not going to be close to the edge of Venice when arriving or leaving, don`t use these, just take a water taxi. Dragging your luggage through the heart of Venice for 45 minutes to 90 minutes in the hot sun on busy streets can`t be fun!

While in Venice, remember this tip when picking a restaurant - if you see a table with fine cutlery and dinnerware and wine glasses, it will be expensive. If you don`t mind paying more for a great meal, by all means have a seat and relax as surely you will be about to enjoy a great meal. If you are on a budget though, skip these places and choose the ones without fancy table settings - you`ll see a ton of pizzerias, cafes, bakeries, and snack bars, and almost all of them have great food (at about half the price of the fancy places). Here`s a good tip for saving money on food - eat as you go. What I mean by that is stop at snack bars or bakeries to buy a bottle of water and a pastry or sandwich and eat and drink as you walk, or stop at a cafe for a quick bite and drink as you sit for a few minutes to get out of the sun.

Overall, we had a great time in Europe. Although we`ve only been there once and I`m sure there are a lot more tips out there to help you on your vacation to Europe, hopefully the tips I`ve provided will help you when planning yours. Enjoy and let me know how things went!

MEDITERRANEAN CRUISE - SUMMER 2009

2009-08-07T11:11:00.002-06:00

TO BE POSTED SOON!!

Mexican Riviera - Hello Norwegian Star

2008-10-19T14:27:00.003-06:00

After we disembarked from Holland America's MS Veendam, we went straight to the airport to catch our flight to LA as we will be cruising to the Mexican Riviera. Mexican Riviera is the second leg of our cruise. We're stoked! This is the first time that we will be doing a back to back cruise (Alaskan Cruise & Mexican Riviera).

At noon, we took a shuttle bus from our Los Angeles hotel to our new ship, the Norwegian Star, one of Norwegian Cruise Line's newer ships. It was built in 2001, and one of the things we noticed immediately upon boarding was that the decor was much fancier than the Veendam. The main atrium was massive, containing two shops, the shore excursion office, the main customer service desk, and a coffee bar. It was also an open concept with a grand staircase and balconies looking down on the atrium from the upper floors. The colours were a rich mix of red, gold, black, and green, with a few accent colours. There were a lot of comfortable chairs and it was a big bright area. We felt welcome immediately, greeted by a friendly server with champagne and orange juice with vodka. We explored the ship after a buffet lunch, and there were many specialty restaurants and also a lot of bars. The only bad thing we experienced was a huge throng of people. It was very crowded and there was barely room to move. Our stateroom was surprisingly big for an inside cabin, and well lit. The colours were rich and the bathroom was well designed and the whole room was clean. One of the things that we noticed was a letter welcoming us to the "Latitudes" program, which was a program to reward people cruising with NCL more than once, and this was our 2nd time. We would receive several benefits, including bonus internet access minutes, the use of a private meeting room, and an invitation to an exclusive party.

After a buffet dinner accentuated by the sounds of crying babies and shouting, hungry people, we went to the shops and then up to the internet cafe on the 9th deck to purchase 100 minutes of internet access, along with 15 free minutes for being members of the "Latitudes" program. We decided to work out in the gym before the 9 PM show in the theatre, and we liked the gym because there were more excercise machines than on our previous cruise, including six elliptical trainers, whereas the Veendam had only two. After a 30 minute workout, we went to the theatre and saw a show which previewed all the acts on the ship for the coming week. The singers and dancers were better than the Veendam, the comedian was very funny, and even the cruise director was funny. There would also be a magician and gymnasts later this week, although they didn't appear in the show. We returned to the cabin after the show, showered and went to bed.

Mexican Riviera - Sea Day

2008-10-19T14:26:00.001-06:00

Jane woke up at 8 AM to go to the Atrium to e-mail her mother, and I got up shortly after. We decided not to go to the buffet because Jane heard that it was too crowded, instead we headed to one of the main dining rooms for breakfast. We arrived at the Aqua dining room on the 7th deck, and a smiling hostess proudly announced to us (and the entire dining room) that we were not allowed to dine there because it was only for people staying in a cabin with a balcony. She almost had the crowd wave goodbye to us as we quickly left the restaurant in shame, marked with a scarlet letter "P" (for Poor) on our foreheads. Norwegian Star 1, Ladermans 0. We went downstairs to the other main dining room, Versailles, on the 6th deck, and luckily we were allowed to dine with the other lowly people.

Following our breakfast, we realized that we didn't receive a daily program in our cabin, and we needed to find out if there was a self-serve laundry like there was on the Veendam. I enquired with the front desk on the 7th deck and got a program and was told that there was no self-serve laundry, we had to use their overpriced services. Norwegian Star 2, Ladermans 0. We went to make reservations for the sushi bar that night, and was told that we could just walk in, although we later made reservations for the Asian Fusion restaurant. After a coffee from the Java Cafe on the 7th deck, we headed upstairs to the internet cafe because it was nice and quiet. We entered a contest to win 500 free minutes of internet access, and even cheated by dropping over a dozen ballets in the entry box as the internet cafe manager wasn't there at the time. Despite our efforts, we did not win the free minutes. Norwegian Star 3, Ladermans 0.

After lunch, we saw an ice carving demonstration. The person carving the 300 pound block of ice was a Filipino worker, one of the chefs. He used three different types of chisels and reduced the block of ice to about 120 pounds, and the finished product looked like a dolphin! We took some amazing pictures of it, and the lady narrating the presentation kept yelling at the kids to stop going near the loose ice and throwing it in the pool. She was getting really mad and yelling at this one kid in particular, who didn't seem to care. We then considered some shore excursions as tomorrow we would be in Cabo San Lucas, and decided to wing it and find a tour after we got off the ship. We went to the Asian Fusion restaurant for dinner, and it was so filling and delicious, from the spring rolls and the pork BBQ ribs to the noodles, lemon shrimp and the oysters, to the three kinds of creme brulee for dessert. We were served by Louis and Rhea, and they were so friendly that I gave them a commendation to the manager of all the ship's restaurants. He didn't seem to care. Norwegian Star 4, Ladermans 0. We saw a show called "Music of the Night" in the theatre that night featuring the music of Andrew Lloyd Weber, and all the singers and dancers were good, but this one lady singer had an amazing, powerful voice. We couldn't believe that she hadn't been discovered yet. You never know, one day we might see her releasing an album and we could say we saw her perform live before she got famous.

Mexican Riviera - Cabo San Lucas

2008-10-19T14:23:00.002-06:00

After breakfast we saw the ship dock in beautiful Cabo San Lucas. We knew that all the positive things we had heard about this place were true as soon as we looked at the view. Crystal clear blue water, amazing rock formations, and a fantastic waterfront greeted us. We lined up early for tickets to the tenders (the small boats that would take us to the pier), and luckily enough we got #55 and #56, which meant we'd be on the first two boats to go ashore. It was a good decision because it meant we got first crack at the independent shore excursions that were awaiting us past the pier. In reality, they got first crack at us! We were immediately accosted upon exiting the pier with rather aggressive tour promoters. They weren't rude, but they were very pushy and kept following us around. We made a hasty retreat into some stores and began to shop for a bathing suit and some shirts and shorts. Jane bought a bathing suit, but it was hard to find any good shirts and shorts, because either they wouldn't accept credit cards or they didn't have a good selection. Our big mistake was not bringing a lot of cash, we only had enough for the shore excursion, in fact we had no cash left at all after!

The shore excursion we decided upon was a boat ride showing us the beaches, snorkelling & swimming at Lover's Beach. The boat captain showed us the rock formations, the beaches, exotic pelicans, and even a close up view of a family of sea lions! He tried to call them over but they were sleeping on a large rock and didn't come over. He then dropped us off with another couple at a beach called "Lover's Beach" for an hour of snorkeling, and provided the gear. The views were amazing, the water was very blue, the sand was very unique (made up of large salt crystals and small shells), however the water was too rough to do any decent snorkeling. There were also too many boats and water taxis around to venture too far into the water unless you were willing to risk being hit by one. We just swam for a bit in the rough waters and took some pictures. It wasn't the greatest excursion for snorkeling but the swimming and beach were great, and we got a good price on the boat tour. After coming back to the shore, we decided to do more shopping and began to walk along the pier. To our dismay, there were no good stores to buy clothes, and we were constantly (every few seconds) getting approached by vendors selling their wares (cheap shirts, trinkets, and jewellery). Some of them were even children, it was quite sad. We wanted to get some more cash as most stores didn't accept credit cards, so we found an ATM. I excitedly withdrew what I thought would be $200 USD, to my dismay it turned out to be 200 pesos (about $10 USD). We did find a good restaurant, and indulged on tropical drinks and fresh seafood. Despite being bothered by vendors and a mariachi band while we ate, it was still quite good although rather expensive for a Mexican meal (about $40 USD).

We continued to try and find a good place to buy clothes that accepted credit cards, but to no avail. After about 40 minutes of walking, we made our way back to the pier area, and finally found a store that accepted credit cards and bought some clothes, postcards, and a baseball cap. After returning back to the ship, we changed and went to dinner at the sushi bar. We saw Louis and Rhea again, and also met the two sushi chefs, who were also Filipino. We joked around with everyone while we ate, met the restaurant manager again and also the ship's executive chef (who knew Gordon Ramsay), and even had the staff get the piano player in the lounge below to play a Filipino song. We had a great time and would go back before the end of the cruise. After dinner, we went to the casino and withdrew $200 USD so that we'd have enough cash for shopping the next day (we learned our lesson today that we needed USD). In the theatre, we saw a magic show in the theatre starring Murray. He was very funny, although his tricks were kind of lame in my opinion.

Mexican Riviera - Mazatlan

2008-10-19T14:21:00.003-06:00

We got up at 7:00 and hurriedly had breakfast as the ship was docking in Mazatlan at 8 AM. Because we didn't like any of the ship's shore excursions, we again decided to find an independent tour. This time we wouldn't need to take tenders to the pier so we didn't need to line up for tickets. After exiting the ship we were looking around for the shuttle buses to take us to the security gate, and it was a hidden blessing that we had trouble locating them, because I was approached by a man asking if I wanted to go on a city tour. I called Jane over, and it turned out we could go on a 5 hour tour, including time to shop and have lunch, for only $30 USD each. We immediately agreed and after waiting a few minutes, were escorted to a van along with 8 other people. To our surprise, the driver spoke English very well and told us that he had a cooler filled with complimentary drink that we could take anytime we wanted. We saw many sights in old Mazatlan and stopped several times for pictures. Along the way we got to know two of our tourmates, Alex and Sara, who were Filipinos from San Francisco. We had a lot of fun with them, and we went shopping together before lunch.

Not only did our driver, Carlos, allow time for lunch, but he even drove the group to a great seafood restaurant in new Mazatlan (the "Golden Zone" or tourist area) and even had a table reserved for the group. Even though we had to pay for lunch, the extra effort he took was most appreciated by the group as we didn't have to hunt around for a reputable restaurant. We feasted on shrimp and nacho chips, and left the table so full we could barely move. Our meal was expensive ($45 USD) however it was well worth it, much better than our lunch in Cabo San Lucas. We spent some time in the "Golden Zone" shopping with Alex and Sara before going back in the van so Carlos could take the group back to the ship. We gave Carlos a good tip because he provided a fun-filled, informative, relaxed, yet very inexpensive day in Mazatlan. It was by far the best sight-seeing tour on any cruise we'd ever experienced. We agreed to meet Alex and Sara at the Java Cafe for drinks at 9 PM, and made reservations for ourselves at Cagney's Steakhouse for 6 PM so that we could eat before the 7:30 PM show. We also tried to reserve a shore excursion through the ship for Puerto Vallarta tomorrow, however the one we wanted had only 1 space left. Norwegian Star 5, Ladermans 0. Our second choice had 95 spaces left, so we decided to check for cancellations on our first choice a bit later that evening, and if no one cancelled, we'd book our second choice.

Dinner at Cagney's Steakhouse was great. It's located on the 13th deck, which is very quiet since it's mostly just cabins. It was worth the $20 per person cover charge. The food was delicious, the service friendly, and we left the restaurant so full. After dinner, we headed down to the shore excursion desk to see if there were any cancellations for "Las Caletes Hideaway", the shore excursion we wanted. To our surprise, the tour company gave the ship 10 more spaces, and we reserved 2 immediately! We were so happy. Norwegian Star 5, Ladermans 1. All we had to do after meeting Sara and Alex for drinks was go to bed early so we could have a quick breakfast tomorrow morning and go to the excursion which started at 7:30 AM. It was still early to meet them, so we swung by the photo gallery and bought a couple photos. The clerk tried to sell us some wallet size photos which came with this MASSIVE keychain, I have no idea how I would have fit it into my pocket, so we didn't purchase the extra photos.

Mexican Riviera - Mazatlan

2008-10-19T14:21:00.002-06:00

Mexican Riviera - Puerta Vallarta

2008-10-19T02:21:00.000-06:00

To be updated

Alaskan Cruise - Embarkation day

2008-10-11T20:22:00.000-06:00

Friday, Sep 19 - Day One

Today was the day we embarked on our 3rd cruise, our destination was Alaska. We set our alarm for 4:30 AM, and we were so tired that we kept sleeping until 5 AM. No time for breakfast, we had to get ready, make sure everything was turned off in the house, and then call the taxi to take us to the airport. At about 6:10 AM, I called the taxi to pick us up. We decided to take a taxi to our local airport and fly to Vancouver for the cruise rather than driving to the nearest city (5 hours away) and parking at the airport for 2 weeks. It would save us time and money to fly out of our local city anyway. We made it to the airport by 6:50 AM and had about 2 hours to kill, so we reviewed our documents and had breakfast. We flew to the nearest city, and then caught a connecting flight to Vancouver, where we had a delicious sushi lunch at the airport. We then took a cab to the pier, and saw our ship for the first time.

The check-in process was smooth and only took about 20 minutes, even though we had to pass through several checkpoints because the ship would be crossing into the US. We were both tired and had headaches, but we were determined to look around the ship anyway. Our first impression of the ship, Holland America's ms Veendam, was not a positive one. It was an older ship and the decor was plain and faded. There was also a bad smell in the hallway outside our room, and our room was too hot. Also, we got twin beds even though we asked for a Queen bed, and our dinner reservations were open and we asked for a fixed seating. To make matters worse, our cabin was number 315, yet we were on the sixth deck, which made no sense and confused us. So we were kind of grumpy. Also, we thought the ship boarded at 2 PM so we had lunch at the airport, but it turned out the ship boarded at 11:30 AM, so we could have had lunch on the ship and possibly a nap. We spend the first couple hours exploring the ship. The shops on the eigth deck were closed, but we did get a tour of the spa on the eleventh deck. We met a pretty beautician from New Zealand, and then later on our tour we were "ambushed" by this short European beautician who almost jumped into the hall when she screamed "HI!" from inside her room. We both jumped. She looked like a vampire, and went on and on about her services. I think she spoke in her native vampire language because we couldn't understand a word. Actually the only thing I heard was "$195", which was enough information for me. We quickly made our escape. At the end of our tour, we went into this amazing room called the "Thermal Suite". Inside there were four heated ceramic lounge chairs which were so comfortable. We lay on them for about ten minutes. A spa worker also showed us the other parts of the Thermal Suite, including a therapeutic jacuzzi, a shower, and a sauna with aromatherapy. She told us that for $159, we could both use the room as much as we wanted, so we bought the package. We were excited to use the room. After our spa tour, we saw some bars, the casino, the pool, and the buffet, and decided to have a snack around 3 PM. The food was not very good, salty and not very hot. We were not very impressed.

We went back to our room and I had a short nap while Jane unpacked and arranged everything. I couldn't really sleep because it was so hot, but I got a bit of rest. We decided to go up on deck to see the ship leave Vancouver, and we got some amazing photos of downtown Vancouver as well as some closeup shots of the Lion's Gate Bridge. As we left for dinner around 7:30, we met our room attendant Victor, who appeared to be enjoying his job just a bit too much. We complained about our twin beds, and he said he would replace it with a Queen sized bed. We lined up for dinner, and got seated after a short wait. We could barely keep our eyes open, but we ate anyway. I had some great chilled blueberry soup, a tomato/avocado/crab salad, and a steak. The salad was OK, the steak was not very good, but the blueberry soup was fantastic. Jane had a fruit salad and some salmon. We were so tired we couldn't appreciate our food. After dinner, we were so tired we went up to our cabin, had a bath, and went to bed. To our amazement, Victor had installed a Queen bed, our first good experience on the ship!

Alaskan Cruise - Sea day

2008-10-11T20:20:00.000-06:00

Sat Sep 20 - Day Two

After a well-needed good night's rest, we had breakfast. The buffet was OK but the eggs benedict I had was not good at all. After breakfast, we went to the gym and used the elliptical trainers. Jane used it for 20 minutes and did some stretching and weights, I used it for 35 minutes. After that we went to the spa's Thermal Suite. We only stayed about 20 minutes because we wanted to see a tour of the dining room's kitchen, however tragedy struck when I couldn't find my beloved IPod. We looked everywhere and asked the gym and the spa staff if they'd seen it - nobody had, and it turned out we missed our kitchen tour. We did go to a raffle at the jewellery store, but we didn't win. We then headed to the buffet for an Alaskan Salmon bake and lunch. Jane was happy because they served salmon and mussels, which she loved. We explored some of the shops and found our embarkation photo, but didn't like it and decided not to buy it. We bought a pair of powerful binoculars, and checked with the main customer service desk to see of my I-Pod had been turned in, and sadly it hadn't.

Jane went to the gym for a seminar on dexotifying your body, and I went exploring. I found a shortcut to the restaurant, and also tried to make reservations for dinner that night, but there were no more reservations available. After that, Jane had a pilates class in the gym, and I went there to excercise. I used the stationary bike, the treadmill, and one of the elliptical trainers. I noticed that about 10 minutes into Jane's pilates class, one of the fat ladies just collapsed on the floor and started breathing heavy. I could her her wheezing and gasping for breath over the sound of the exercise machines, and she just lay there for the rest of the class. After her class, Jane told me how hard pilates was, something I already knew (that's why I chose to not take the class). She limped away and we went upstairs to get ready for our formal dinner.

We got dressed and had our picture taken by the ship's photographer, and then headed to the dining room. Luckily we got a table right away, but it was in a very awkward position right by a pillar, and it was near the kitchen. Our waiter, who looked like one of Jane's brothers, took forever to approach us, and eventually Jane just reached out and grabbed him. He didn't look to pleased, but we were able to place our order. There were two old ladies beside us who were waiting for their soups, and they were complaining. We started to talk to them about the slow service, but as soon as their soups came they ignored us and started slurping them down. I think one of them may have eaten their spoon in excitement. The dinner itself was worth the wait. I had a jumbo shrimp cocktail, an Aragula salad, and rack of lamb, with a Baked Alaska for dessert. Jane had a brioche, a cold soup, crab legs, and crepes Suzzette. The food was excellent, even though our waiter seemed quite annoyed with us that we kept bugging him. After dinner, we went to see a Broadway show, and the performers were great, much better than on our last cruise. After the show, we went to a bar called Piano Bar for a drink, and then brought our drinks into another bar with a piano. The pianist was an older bald guy from New Zealand who couldn't sing very well. The bar was almost empty and no one was paying attention to him. He had the charisma of a leaking pen. He kept giggling and making very bad jokes, and we pitied him as no one was laughing. Eventually even laughing at his pitiful attempt at entertainment became tiring and we went upstairs to bed.

Alaskan Cruise - Juneau

2008-10-11T20:19:00.001-06:00

Sun Sep 21 - Day Three

We got up at around 7 AM and after getting ready, headed upstairs for breakfast. It was the same fare as yesterday, nothing too special. Unfortunately I got the eggs Benedict again as I hadn't had my coffee and forgot how bad they were yesterday. I vowed to remember tomorrow to get something else. After breakfast we checked with the front desk and the spa on my IPod, and it still hadn't been turned in. At this point I started to think that it was in fact gone forever. We exercised for about 30 minutes, and then headed back to the spa's Thermal Suite. I was asked by one of the spa workers if I found my IPod yet. I was becoming famous on the ship for my lost IPod. The Thermal Suite was so relaxing, as we not only used the heated ceramic lounge chairs, but the therapeutic jacuzzi and the sauna with aromatherapy. We stayed for about 45 minutes, and then headed to the culinary centre for a demonstration on decorating a dessert plate. The chef showed some techniques for using parchment paper and melted chocolate to decorate a plain dessert plate. It looked really hard to do but he said it's all about practicing. He then showed us how to use coloured marzipan to create edible animals, roses, and other creations.

It was about 10:45 after the demonstration ended, and we were starving! But the lunch service didn't start until 11:30, so we just looked around the ship for a bit and checked out the dinner menu, which made us even hungrier. Finally it was 11:30 and we had lunch. Again, the lunch was great. I had some crab salad, cottage cheese, and a minute steak that was so tender. It was a lot better than the New York Steak I had on the first night. Jane also had crab salad, along with salmon. We had a bit of ice cream and a vanilla mousse for dessert, and met a Filipina worker named Madonna. She told us about her years of experience as a flight attendant and working on cruise ships, and how she had three children and had to work hard to support them. It was after lunch that I shared an idea with Jane that I had the previous night. I told her it would have been nice if the ship would be going on another cruise so we could do a "back to back" cruise, but after this cruise the ship was sailing down to the amazon so it wouldn't be possible. She told me that she was excited and that we should research going on another cruise after this one and that she wasn't excited about driving back from Vancouver. Neither was I because we were so used to cruising and we were having a great time so far. We still had a lot to do - finding another cruise, arranging a flight, arranging our paperwork - but since it's early in our cruise we still have time to do this, and we were both so excited.

We spent some time looking out the ship's windows at the Alaskan scenery, and noticed a small US coast guard boat accompanying us. The boat had two people in it, the person steering and a person in front manning a large gun. We were worried a few times when he appeared to be pointing the gun at us! We docked in Alaska's capital city of Juneau around 2:30 and had to get down to the pier by 3:10 for our whale-watching tour. We thought that we'd have time to look around the city for a bit before our tour, but was disappointed when we encountered hundreds of people trying to get off the ship at the same time as us! It was very chaotic and we stood there for what seemed to be like an eternity, but luckily the passengers were in good spirits and no fights broke out. We finally made it off the ship around 2:55, and had only about 25 minutes to look around. We quickly went to a nearby jewellery store to get a free gift as promised by the ship, but were met by a disrespectful and disinterested staff that pretended like they didn't know what we were talking about. After about 5 minutes of being bounced from rude employee to rude employee, we finally got our free gift, but gave up on trying to submit a ticket to enter a contest as we were met with more rudeness. We didn't have any more time to look around, so we ran back to meet our tour group and got there just in time to be directed to our bus.

Our bus driver, Bob, had a very dry sense of humour as he gave us a tour of Juneau. It was a small but picturesque city, a lot smaller than I expected. It's the 2nd largest city in the US in terms of land area, but it has a very small population. Bob peppered us with humourous comments about Juneau, with very negative undertones. He appeared to be a very funny man on the surface but very bitter deep inside. Luckily, we made it to our tour boat after about a 30 minute ride. The boat was about 40 feet long and had seating on the main floor which was covered, and the upper deck which was outdoors. We proceeded immediately to the upper deck as we wanted to get the best view of any whales. The lady narrating the tour told us that the whales could surface anywhere, and once they dove, would not reappear for 6-8 minutes. Basically "We don't know where they are or where they're going, and you'll be lucky to see them more than once". Thanks. Early in the tour we were lucky enough to spot a bald eagle sitting majestically on a small island. We then spent the next 2 hours looking fruitlessly for whales, sometimes spying one in the distance that would appear on one part of the boat, and either never appear again, or appear on the other side of the boat, causing everyone to run across the boat to try and get a picture. We got the same speech over and over "It's very hard to determine where the whales will pop up". Thanks. Eventually I did get a good picture of one. Late in the tour we got to see dozens of stellar sea lions on a small island and got some great pictures, inluding one with two seals kissing. It was just timing and luck to get that picture. We had a couple whale sightings on our way back to shore but that was it. They tried to sell us some smoked salmon at an outrageous price, but we didn't go for it although some suckers did. Another 30 minute ride with sarcastic "Sideshow Bob" and we were back at the ship. We got back at about 7:45, and dinner service ended at 9, so we had to hurry! We showered and got dressed and made it to dinner shortly after 8. Dinner was great. I had a smoked salmon salad with tomatoes and avocado appetizer, then lobster bisque and duck a l'orange. After dinner we had drinks, then went to bed.

Alaskan Cruise - Skagway

2008-10-11T20:18:00.001-06:00

Mon Sep 22 - Day Four

At this point it seemed as though we had gone through an entire 7 day cruise, as it wasn't flying by like our other two cruises yet we were having so much fun. Jane woke up at 6 AM to use the gym, but I was too tired to go. Luckily, I wasn't too tired to join her at 6:30 AM for the buffet breakfast! This time, I remembered to have an omelet instead of the eggs benedict, and it was excellent. Finally a good breakfast. We had to eat breakfast early this morning and didn't have time for the Thermal Suite because we had to disembark in Skagway at 8:00 to meet our tour group. This was the tour that we had planned our cruise around. It was the 8 hour Ultimate White Pass railway tour. We met a very friendly bus driver named Jeannine, who would be our tour guide for most of the day. She drove us through Skagway for a short tour, and Skagway was even smaller than Juneau, with most of the shops being on one street, Broadway. She drove us down the highway and talked about our trip into the Yukon, its history and some of it's historical characters like Skookum Jim, Klondike Kate, and Soapy Smith. We saw some breathtaking scenery, such as waterfalls, mountains, and lakes. We've never seen such amazing scenery before. It was nature at its best, pure and unspoiled. Then we arrived at the Canadian border at Fraser, British Columbia. Our bus was boarded by a very unemotional but intense RCMP officer. I think he was the T-1000 from the movie "Terminator 2". We saw lakes with navy blue parts and aqua parts, the aqua parts being due to the silt being deposited by the glaciers. We learned that any mountain with rounded tops were pressed down by the glaciers, while any mountain with jagged tops were above the top of the glaciers. We saw "Dead Horse Gulch" where thousands of pack animals had perished during the gold rush of the 1890's. We learned about the "Golden Steps", where prospectors had to climb mountains in single file and then climb back down to get more gear, and keep doing this until all their 2,000 pounds of gear had been taken to the top. The RCMP dictated that someone should have at least 2,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to maintain themselves for one year, and if they didn't, they couldn't proceed past them.

We made several stops where we took some pictures, and then headed to a historical fake Alaskan village for lunch. We ate BBQ chicken, baked potato, coleslaw, and coffee, with donuts for dessert. After lunch, we went into this amazing museum. I bought my monkey a jade necklace, and then we went to take some great pictures of large replicas of animals, some sled dogs, and even photos of us pretending to be part of the trek up the "Golden Steps". It was a lot of fun and we wished we could have stayed longer. We got back on the bus and drove to a small Alaskan town called "Carcross", which was originally called "Caribou Crossing", but apparently there were a lot of towns in Alaska with this name and the US postal service got tired of it so they just started calling this town Carcross and the name stuck. I don't even think this should have counted as a town because it was just a few old houses with a small library, a post office, and a dock where boats could arrive. We did see a replica of a train, the remains of a shipwreck, the oldest store in Alaska, and two guys cutting wood. I don't know what there job was but they sure cut a lot of wood while we were there. After leaving Carcross, we drove back to Fraser for one more photo stop, then it was time to say goodbye to Jeannine. We boarded the White Pass railroad, a train that had been in service for over 100 years, and started to make our way back to Skagway.

It took us about 90 minutes to make the 37 kilometer trip back to Skagway, and the scenery was even better than it was on our bus ride. The train took us right against the mountains, rivers, and waterfalls, and gave us a spectacular view of a large bridge, as well as some old train stations and RCMP posts. It even slowed down as the lady on the speaker pointed out certain points of interest so we could get some photos. Jane went outside of the train car for most of the trip but I stayed inside as it was cold and the air smelled of the train's diesel fuel, although I did venture out once for a few minutes. Just before we arrived back in Skagway, the train staff successfully sold us a baseball cap which Jane planned to give to her father. We pulled into Skagway, were cleared by US customs, and we decided to look around Skagway for a bit before heading back to the ship. We went into a few jewellery stores, and got a free gift from a coupon we got on our ship, the gifts were distributed by very nice jewellery store employee. The other employees treated us horribly and just ignored us once they learned that we weren't going to buy the most expensive items in the store. Just before we headed out of downtown Skagway, I spied a final jewellery store across the street. We went in and Jane found a great deal on another set of earrings. We met a nice Filipino family as we were walking to the ship, and said our goodbyes after we boarded.

We went to our stateroom to change, as by this time it was about 5:10 PM, and headed upstairs to talk to the cruise consultant Dave. We told him about our plan to take another cruise, and after looking up some information, told us that the only Holland America 7 day cruise available was leaving LA on Sep 28 and was $900 each for an outside cabin. And we'd have to fly from LA to our town on Sunday and arrive about 7 PM, with nothing unpacked and no food in the house, and no rest, and we'd have to go to work the next day. So we decided to check online after dinner. Speaking of dinner, we had a great dinner. I had the venison and my monkey had halibut. She is becoming a seafood maggot. We were full so we skipped dessert, and we went back to the internet cafe to check on cruises. Unfortunately for us, the price of the cruise had gone up, and we were not able to book the cruise because the internet was so slow. We decided to try again tomorrow, and went for a drink. There, we met Madonna and her fiance, both were working at the same bar. They told us that they had been engaged for 7 months and were planning to get married in the Philippines in 2009. After our drink we went to bed because tomorrow we wanted to get up early and exercise!

Alaskan Cruise - Ketchikan

2008-10-11T20:17:00.001-06:00

Wed Sep 24 - Day Six

For the third straight day, we got up at 6:00 to exercise in the gym, and then had breakfast at the buffet. Both were great as always. After breakfast we had some extra time because we wouldn't be docking in Ketchikan until 10 AM, so Jane called NCL to find out about our documents for getting on our next cruise. Once we were able to get off the ship, we started to wander around Ketchikan. It was probably the most picturesque city we saw in Alaska. The city itself is at the foot of a mountain which looms large in the background, and in fact as you travel into the city you have to go uphill and even up steep steps if you're walking. We saw a horsedrawn carriage tour as we got off the ship, as well as a submersible bus which would go in the water. However, we were focused on finding an internet cafe where we could print out our cruise and flight documents. We found a couple places, and did some surfing, but neither had a working printer - why are all the printers in Alaska broken??? We were told to check the library and we made it there after a short walk. Luckily, they had a printer, but we were only allowed to surf for 15 minutes and print 20 pages, so we had to be quick! We finished in time but had 23 pages and had to pay extra, luckily the librarian let us keep the extra 3 pages. After we were satisfied that we had our documents, we toured a small museum next to the library. It had displays of the historical figures, places, and events of Ketchikan, and we spent about 20 minutes there. We then strolled around the city, visited a filipino internet cafe and store where many crew members were calling home after buying phone cards. We even saw our friends Rodel and Madonna from the Ocean Bar there. Jane bought a phone card and called home, and then we went shopping for some gifts at local stores. Around 4:30 we headed back to the ship.

After another great dinner, we went to see a show with illusionist David DaVinci. He was OK but nothing special. At 10:30, it was time for the chocolate buffet. Surrounding the pool on the 11th deck was a huge buffet of pastries, cookies, puddings, and cakes all made of chocolate. We took a lot of pictures and even had some chocolate to eat. It was pure decadence so we didn't have a lot. It took the chefs three days to prepare for this. We went to bed after that, and set our clocks ahead an hour to account for the change in time zones as we would be entering British Columbia that night.

Alaskan Cruise - Glacier Bay

2008-10-11T20:10:00.000-06:00

Tues Sep 23 - Day Five

We got up shortly after 6 AM and made our way down to the gym. After a satisfying 45 minute workout, we went for breakfast, and I had the same breakfast as yesterday. We then went to the theatre to hear a lecture on the local history but was told that it was going to be postponed until 2 PM. We went back to our room to change because we were about to pass through Glacier Bay, and it would be very cold on the outside decks where we would be observing the glaciers. After 9 AM, we went to the 6th deck to view the glaciers. The wind was blowing very strongly, and even though we had on two hoods, gloves, and heavy jackets, we were still cold. We passed a couple small glaciers and we couldn't believe how blue the ice was! We decided to go up on the 12th deck to get a better view, and it was a good decision. We got some amazing shots of glaciers, some were pure blue in colour, and massive. I even saw a large chunk of a glacier break apart and fall into Glacier Bay. It was a huge piece of ice and made a loud sound, much louder than you would expect to hear from a piece of ice falling into the water. We stopped in front of a huge glacier which was 1 mile wide and 200 feet tall! We got some amazing shots of the glacier, and then headed for lunch. During lunch we stopped at another glacier and got a great photo of a big stream of water shooting under a glacier. The water was a very large stream and was shooting out at a very fast pace, it was hard to imagine just how much water was inside those glaciers. We also saw another cruise ship, one bigger than ours, passing by us, and it was tiny compared to the large mountains and glaciers behind it. This gave us a perspective as to how big these glaciers really were, as you don't really realize it by just looking at them.

After a day of failure, we were finally able to book our cruise! We would be going on NCL's Norwegian Star on a 7 day Mexican Riviera cruise. The cruise would be departing from LA on Saturday Sep 27, the day after we disembarked from our current cruise, so we'd have to fly from Vancouver to LA on Sep 26 and stay overnight at a hotel. We had to arrange our flights, find out how we could get on the ship without documents or luggage tags, cancel our rental car in Vancouver (as we were originally planning to tour British Columbia and drive all the way home), and I had to inform my credit card company about our change in plans. There was still a lot of work to do, but it would be worth it to go on another cruise. To celebrate, we went to the Thermal Suite for about 45 minutes, and almost fell asleep on the heated ceramic chairs. The sauna with aromatherapy was too hot for us though, and we only stayed inside for a minute or two. We went to dinner and it was delicious as always. We both had the Thai Spring Rolls, Jane had chicken noodle soup and salmon, and I had a chilled apple yogourt soup and a steak, which was much better than the first night. We were so tired that we went to bed right after dinner!

Alaskan Cruise - Sea day

2008-10-11T20:09:00.000-06:00

Thu Sep 25 - Day Seven

This was our final day at sea, and we slept in until almost 9:00 due to our late night and the time change. We had another delicious breakfast, and then Jane used the gym and bought some jewellery for her family while I attended a presentation on the ship's disembarkation procedure. I was supposed to meet Jane at 11:00 in the theatre for a $100,000 bingo game but I knew she'd be shopping and wouldn't show up, so I went searching for her. Sure enough, I found her shopping for jewellery! After lunch, we went to the gym for the final time, I exercised as Jane took her pilates class. We spent some time taking photos of some crew members that we had met during the week and saying goodbye.

At 7:00 we had our final dinner, and it was delicious as always. We went to the spa and the Ocean Bar to take some final pictures, say goodbye to some more crew members, and finish our packing. We went to bed early around 8:30 that night as we had to disembark at 8:15 AM the next morning

Alaskan Cruise - Goodbye Ms Veendam

2008-10-11T20:05:00.000-06:00

Fri Sep 26 - Goodbye MS Veendam

We got up early this morning to have our final breakfast, and we savoured every moment. We knew that although we'd be going on another cruise the next day, this would be our last meal on the MS Veendam. After our breakfast we just had enough time to say goodbye to our cabin stewards Victor and Alim, and bring our bags to the public area to wait for our disembarkation. Unfortunately, nobody turned in my IPod so it's gone forever. At 8:15 we left our beloved ship, and caught a shuttle to the Vancouver airport.

Philippines - Lonely Planet..no more

2008-08-23T10:13:00.052-06:00

It is sad to know that I lived in the Philippines half my life but I never got the chance to explore the many islands we have and the beauty it has to offer. Ironically, I blog about the different places I've been to, yet I never had the chance to tell people that the place where I came from is almost paradise to me. A place where I always called home. Not because the majority of my family and friends live there but because this is a place rich with heritage. The Philippines is an archipelago that has 7,107 islands and is famous for its beach resorts, nice scenery, white sand beaches, lush tropical environment and it is considered as Asia’s Dive Capital. If ever I get the chance to visit there again and stay for at least a month of two, these are the top 7 places I would love to go and visit. I've always wanted to learn how to scuba dive (much to my hubby's dismay) and explore the beauty of the marine life underwater. Who knows by visiting these islands, I'd be able to accomplish my goals. Of course, there are other wonderful places and resorts to go to and visit . The choice is yours, however for me these are the places that I would want to visit..if given the chance.

EL NIDO PALAWAN

"Lagen Island Resort is set in a cove, fringed by a thick primary forest. The sprawling grounds cover more than four hectares. Lagen Island is a showcase of El Nido’s flora and fauna, where trees provide various niches for a diverse variety of birds and mammals, providing a wealth of opportunities and experiences for wildlife observation and sightings. At the back of the resort is a trail that passes through a forest and ends in a private cove. The Lagen trail is one of the best sites for birdwatching, more rewarding during the early morning or towards late afternoon. Lagen Island hosts a high diversity of birds including almost all of the species endemic to Palawan."

SAMAL ISLAND - PEARL FARM BEACH RESORT

This resort is only 2 hours away from our house. When we visit the Philippines next year, this is on our list for sure.

"Located in the southern part of the Philippines is the Samal group of Islands, an archipelago consisting of nine islands which stretch out over a land area of 28,000 hectares. Samal is a beautiful, tranquil and exotic island with a coastline adorned with white sand beaches, abundant marine life, rock formations, mangroves, and landscape elements of coconut palms, flowering plants and fruit-bearing trees. The area is blessed with various natural attractions and flourishing flora and fauna.

Nestled on the quiet side of Samal Island, The Pearl Farm Beach Resort is a mere 45-minute boat ride from the wharf. This fourteen (14) hectare spread was once a pearl farm, where thousands of white-lipped oysters transported from the Sulu Sea, were cultivated for their pink, white and gold pearls. Today, the resort beckons with the promise of a relaxing, private retreat, under the care of its friendly and charming staff."

BORACAY

"Voted the world's best beach by the Sun Herald, Australia and Harper's, Boracay is the perfect island getaway, with its warm blue waters, powder-fine white sand, and a palm fringed 4-kilometer beach. Boracay Beach has the finest white sand in world. It is located on Boracay Island, which is about 200 miles south of Manila, and which is, itself, off the tip of the island of Panay. I guess you could call it an off-off island. Boracay Beach is a top tourist resort, popular for family vacations and honeymoons. While is is commonly called Boracay Beach after the island, the two main beaches are called White Beach and Bulabog Beach. White Beach faces West, so is famous for its sunsets. It is also, naturally, well-known for its shiny white sand. Nearly 3 miles long, it has many resorts, such as the one shown above. it also has world-class golf, restaurants, bars and nightclubs. But for the sand alone, Boracay's White Beach should be voted one of the world's best beaches. "

ORIENTAL MINDORO -PUERTA GALERA

My friend Eva who currently resides in Prague dreamed that one day she can retire on this island. I'm not surprised as to why she picked this place.

"The foremost asset of Oriental Mindoro, Puerto Galera is blessed with one of the world’s most beautiful natural harbors. Known as the Pearl of Mindoro, it is world-famous for splendid beaches, coral reefs, and exquisite dive sites for new and experienced divers alike. There are shallow coral gardens, interesting rock formations, and colorful species to watch, like crabs, shrimps, sea anemones, moray, and trumpet fishes Puerto Galera is known among tourists for its numerous pocket beaches and many snorkeling and diving spots. The beaches have an active night life with their numerous beachside bars and restaurants "

PAMALICAN ISLAND - AMANPULO

I believe Amanpulo is one of the most expensive beach resorts in the Philippines. Mainly because it's a secluded private island. And that means we need to have extra money to be able to stay on this resort. Ugh...

" Amanpulo is situated in one of the world’s most idyllic island locations on the staggeringly beautiful Pamalican Island in the Phillipines. It is a private island, gifted with nature’s paradisiacal treats: powder white beaches, clear turquoise-azure-indigo seas, cirrus-streaked cerulean skies, and a polychromatic coral reef only 300m from the shore"

BOHOL - CHOCOLATE HILLS

"The Chocolate Hills are probably Bohol's most famous tourist attraction. They look like giant mole hills, or as some say, women's breasts, and remind us of the hills in a small child's drawing. Most people who first see pictures of this landscape can hardly believe that these hills are not a man-made artifact. However, this idea is quickly abandoned, as the effort would surely surpass the construction of the pyramids in Egypt. The chocolate hills consist of are no less than 1268 hills (some claim this to be the exact number). They are very uniform in shape and mostly between 30 and 50 meters high. They are covered with grass, which, at the end of the dry season, turns chocolate brown. From this color, the hills derive their name. At other times, the hills are green, and the association may be a bit difficult to make.
Features of Chocolate Hills in Philippines:

The hills from a distance give an impression of half a ball grown out of the ground.
The molehill-shaped almost the same sized hills make for a spectacular sight.
The conical shaped or dome-shaped hills are actually limestone hills wrapped in grass.
The largest dome measures to about 120 meters in height.
The entire area make for a picturesque landscape embracing rice fields and an avenue of households made of diamond patterned sawali or bamboo slats.
One should catch amazing sights of the Chocolate hills during dawn or twilight. They are sure to mesmerize you during this time.
The dense vegetation of the hills is mainly of the hardy grass species. The area in between the hills is utilized for rice cultivation and cultivation of other crops."

BUKIDNON - DEL MONTE PINEAPPLE PLANTATION

"Bukidnon is a highland paradise in the heart of Mindanao. It is home to the world's biggest pineapple plantation. Del Monte pineapple is harvested here. The famous plantation, Del Monte Pineapple, accounts for the vast area of Bukidnon’s rich plains and its pineapple produce is reputed to be one of the sweetest."

You would think, I'm done with my list. If I might add, I want to visit the newly developed Mall of Asia. Shopping is woman's best friend so I have to include this mall on my list.

MANILA - MALL OF ASIA

This is the shopper's paradise, my paradise and my husband's nightmare (wink). I will definitely advise him to bring his PSP while I go hopping from one store to another. Or better yet, ask him to watch 2 or 3 movies while I'm having the time of my life...shopping.

"The 'SM Mall of Asia' (also known as MOA) is the largest shopping mall in the Philippines and is the 3rd largest shopping mall in the world in terms of Gross Leasable Area according to Forbes Magazine, after the South Dongguan Mall (China) and Golden Resources Mall (China). [1] It opened on May 21, 2006."

Too many things to do...

2008-08-16T08:23:00.008-06:00

Our cruise vacation is fast approaching and I have so many things to do yet and so little time. For one, I have to complete all my shopping this month for our formal and semi formal evening wear. The thing is, there's not much selection here since I live gazillion miles away from the big city. So that leaves me with a choice to either buy them online (ie..Ebay, Amazon or any shopping malls online) or drive to Edmonton for five hours. Mind you, its a long drive and very boring. Not only that you have to spend money on gas, a hotel and food. Right now, I'm weighing all my options. There are advantages and disadvantages to both.

Also, I have to buy an insulated waterproof jacket that is both light and breathable. I normally buy them from Sierra Trading Post but I'm just waiting for the right jackets and if they're offering any discounts. Yeah..I love bargains! We're on the last leg of planning our Alaskan cruise so the temperature might be a bit colder. I'm scared of the cold weather but here we are.. we live in the northern part of Canada. If you ask me why we chose Alaska for our third cruise. Well, I heard from people (most of them are my friends and officemates) that Alaska is a MUST have cruise. Simply because the scenery is breathtaking, you'll see whales, wildlife that you've never seen before, glaciers and they told me that its an experience of a lifetime. I'm looking forward to it.

We're counting the days and I'm excited! But first I have to complete all my shopping. Luckily, yesterday I was able to get a good deal from Westjet on our flights. As I mentioned before, I love good deals on fares, travels and discounts on clothes and accessories.

TIME TO GET EXCITED!!

2008-08-15T21:14:00.003-06:00

It's time to get excited! It's only another month before my monkey and I go on our Alaskan cruise. My monkey bought this cruise as a gift for us a few months ago, but just last month my monkey came up with another idea. She suggested that we drive back home at the end of our cruise instead of flying. So after our cruise, we will be touring Vancouver, Victoria, Langley, Vernon, the Okanagan Valley, and Banff for a week until finally arriving back home. I thought it was a great idea, and agreed.

Still, we had a couple challenges. We needed to plan a route home from Vancouver after the cruise, and we needed to arrange a rental car we could drive all the way home. Not to mention, we still needed to find one way plane tickets to Vancouver. I recently discovered that as a member of the Alberta Motor Association, I was entitled to a discount on car rentals. Last week, we visited the local AMA office and got a reasonable quote on a one week car rental, which included unlimited mileage and the ability to drop the car off in our city. The unlimited mileage is very important since we'd be driving about 2000 kilometers over the 7 day period. I was also able to get several maps of the area which we could use on our trip home, as well as a fantastic book detailing local hotels, restaurants, and points of interest we could visit.

Finally, we were worried because airline tickets were very expensive from our city to Vancouver. In fact, the lowest rate we found up until last week was $385 each person one way. But today, my monkey found tickets for only $185 each. She called me in my office and I said "Monkey...... buy them" and she did. So now we are almost set. All we have to do is buy some clothes and pack and enjoy! I can't wait for the next month to go by. It should fly by - only 35 days to go!

ALASKAN CRUISE SUMMER OF 2008!

2008-04-26T17:51:00.003-06:00

We just booked a 7 day Alaskan Cruise with Holland America this summer. Actually, this is a gift for my ever loving husband who never ceases to amaze me.
We're very excited and looking forward to our cruise!! This is our third cruise and hopefully there will be more.

We would like to experience the beauty of the Inside Passage, be awed by the spectacular Glacier Bay National Park, College Fjord, Hubbard Glacier and the wonders of Southeast and Southcentral Alaska aboard the cruise ship "Veendam". Also we would like to discover the magnificent scenery, amazing wildlife and fascinating Alaskan Native and frontier history.

On our way to Hawaii

2008-01-12T21:36:00.002-07:00

The day was finally here! After almost a two year wait, we were finally going on another cruise. We had thought about going to a Sandals location, however after reading a few bad reviews, we decided to go not only to Hawaii, but on a Hawaii'n cruise! It turns out we made a great decision. Learning from our last cruise when I had jetlag the first two days, we decided to fly to our port city the day before the cruise. Not only would this give us time to rest, but it would give us time to look around the city before getting on the ship.

We got up the morning of Thursday November 29, 2007, and because we had the day off, we had the luxury of sleeping in. We had already done our packing and cleaning the past few days, so all we had to do that morning was ensure everything was packed and ready and all the power and appliances in the house were turned off. We left the house at 9:30 in the morning, and headed off to get some gas as we needed catch our flight in a city four hours away. As usual we stayed in our favourite hotel in the city "Hilton Garden Inn". After having a nice dinner in a nearby restaurant we called it a night as we still have a long flight ahead of us. We're very excited!!

Hawaii here we are!!

2008-01-12T21:30:00.002-07:00

HONOLULU- WAIKIKI

On our last cruise, we got up at 2 AM for our morning flight. Today, the alarm went off at 3 AM. Yay, an extra hour of sleep this year. It didn't help. We got dressed, packed up, and I even managed to have a cup of coffee. It helped a bit. We got to the hotel at about 4:15, and parked in the long term parking area for $15/day. It was an outdoor garage and very cold, but at least our car was covered and wouldn't be buried in snow when we returned.

We were hoping for a smooth check in process and a relaxing morning. We were about to be sorely disappointed. We knew that in this "post September 11" world, there would be some strict security measures. But sometimes it seems as though these guys make up the rules as they go along. For example, we planned on changing from our winter clothes into our summer clothes after we checked in and then storing our clothes in the airport (as their website said we could). We checked in, and asked where the coat storage was. We were happily told that once we checked in, we had to go to the security area and couldn't go back. After a bit of explaining our situation, the check in agent reluctantly allowed us to go back to store our clothes, but said we had to be back in 30 minutes. I have no idea why that time limit was chosen, as if we would be shot if we weren't back. So we changed our clothes and ran to the storage area, but the fat security guard happily informed us that they only stored items if we were in between flights. WHAT??? So basically I could take a flight from New York to Vancouver, stop over in this city and blow up the airport and be on my merry way and never be seen again, yet I can't check items in this city even though I'll be coming back here. Yeah that makes sense. Thanks arseholes.

So now we had to decide (the clock was ticking) if we wanted to lug all our heavy winter clothes, coats, and boots on the plane, or if we wanted to leave them in the cold car and then come back a week later in shorts and run to the car to get them. Because we didn't have enough room in our bags, and no stores were open yet, we had to store them in our car. So here I am, running to the car in freezing cold with no winter clothes, and then running back. I would have wished the same fate for the fat guard, but he was so fat he probably wouldn't have noticed. We made it back to the check in agent, and we weren't shot so apparently we made it within the time limit. We went to the security area, and when I removed my shoes and put them in the little bin to go in the x ray machine, I was yelled at. Apparently it's a mortal sin to put shoes in the box. And when I put our check in bags on a conveyor, I was yelled at and told that all locked luggage had to go on a special conveyor. Yeah, like a twenty-five cent tiny lock is going to mess up a multi-million dollar x-ray machine. Thanks arseholes.

We flew to Salt Lake City without incident, and after a brief stopover and lunch, made it to the Honolulu airport. When we saw the palm trees and the sunny beaches, our vacation became "real". We had arrived! We claimed our bags and easily got a cab to our hotel. Our cab driver was very bitter and explained all the problems in Honolulu, and gave his theory on each and every one. Evidently his wife loved it here and he hated it, and she wouldn't let him leave. He basically told us we wouldn't like it here. Thanks arsehole.

There is a lot of traffic in Honolulu, but the city is beautiful. Our hotel was on Waikiki beach, and that is one of the most beautiful places on earth. There is not only a beautiful beach, but a myriad of brand name stores, shops, hotels, and restaurants, all within a few blocks. Not only that, Waikiki has a reputation of being one of the safest cities in the world. We checked into our hotel room, and although the hotel was very nice, our room was small and stunk. We were unable to get another room as the hotel was fully booked, so we decided to open the balcony door and go for dinner. After a dinner of stale, lukewarm, overpriced sushi (we should have looked for another restaurant but just settled on the first one we saw), we decided to look around and do some shopping. Night time in Waikiki is beautiful, very bright, lots of happy people, friendly shopkeepers, and very safe with police walking and driving around. Prices were very reasonable with a huge selection of almost everything. We bought some shoes and other items - our favourites were the "Crocs" - the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn. After a couple hours, we were tired and went back to our stinky hotel room to sleep.

Aloha Pride of America!

2008-01-12T21:25:00.002-07:00

We woke up excited about the fact that we'd be going on our cruise today. We looked around Waikiki for a breakfast spot, and a lady in a tourist information booth directed us to Moose McGillicuddy's, which was great. We both ate eggs benedict, only with crab cakes instead of english muffins, and they were delicious. We spent the rest of the morning looking around Waikiki, shopping, and taking pictures. Jane loved the Waikiki shops and the beautiful scenery of the beach!

Just before noon, we checked out of our hotel and got a cab to the pier. Our cab driver was a very friendly viatnamese man, although he had major road rage, screaming at slow drivers. He was like "Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde". As we rounded a corner, we saw a massive white ship in the distance, and the cab driver told us that it was the Pride of America, our ship! We were so excited that it was so close. After we left the cab, we raced to the check in desk, as on our last cruise there was a huge lineup and it took over an our to check in. This time, we got to the ship just after they started boarding, and it was much more organized. We made it onto the ship within 20 minutes, and immediately ran to the restaurant reservation desk, as we were told the specialty restaurants fill up quickly (eating at the main restaurant is free, but for the special ones you need to pay a bit extra and make reservations). They were only taking reservations for two days, but luckily we were able to reserve a table in the sushi restaurant for the next night.

After that, we tried to sign up for a service that would have the ship send your luggage to the airport while you looked around Waikiki for the day (we had an 11:30 PM departure on Dec 8 but had to leave the ship in the morning). Unfortunately, we found out that the service was only available to people travelling back to the US, not Canada. We realized that we'd have to decide what to do with our luggage when we left the ship on Dec 8, but we'd worry about that later. We went up to our cabin on the 7th deck, # 7112, and found it to be very small, but very nice. The room was immaculate and well decorated - just as we expected!

By now, we were hungry, and went to the 11th deck to the buffet, called the Aloha Cafe. The food was OK and the selection was good. We sat at a table with a retired rabbi and his wife. They were very nice, but he confounded us with some bizarre theory on getting wiser with age. Jane told him I was Jewish, which would come back to haunt us later, as I told him that I wasn't very religious. After lunch, we went back to our cabin, and as Jane was unpacking, the annoying cruise director kept coming on the PA every 10 minutes announcing ship activities. He did this constantly throughout the cruise, from 7:30 AM to about 6:30 PM. At 4:30, we had the mandatory emergency drill, and had to bring our lifejackets to a meeting area. During the drill, Jane couldn't figure out how to put on her lifejacket, and while I was helping her, some arsehole was taking pictures of the ship instead of paying attention. Nice job, idiot.

After that, it was time for our first dinner! We sat at a table for two and were served by this overzealous waiter who was begging us to request him as a server every night. Needless to say, we were not impressed, although the food was very good. After dinner, we went to the 11th deck to watch the ship leave the Honolulu dock. We took some pictures, and went back to our cabin. We had planned to go to a show and have a drink, but Jane was too tired (a reversal from our first cruise) and we went to bed.
NCL-PRIDE OF AMERICA

PICTURE TAKEN ON OUR SAIL-AWAY PARTY

Hilo (The Big Island)

2008-01-12T21:20:00.003-07:00

On our first full day on the ship, we had an early breakfast because we needed to run to the excursion desk and book a morning tour. We were torn between kayaking and an 7.5 hour sightseeing tour of Volcanoes National Park and museum. We chose the 8 hour tour, but then changed our minds and wanted to go for the shorter 5.5 hour tour. So we returned to the excursion desk, hoping not to get the same agent we had originally. Luckily, we got an older lady who I called Arnold Schwarzenegger's mom. She helped us change our tour and directed us to the ship's theater for a mass embarkation.

The theater was very disorganized as there were people there for 3 different tours. Arnold Schwarzenegger's mom arrived and told us that we would need not only our ship card, but a piece of photo ID in order to get back on the ship. As a large group of people rushed out of the theatre grumbling, she announced that we'd be leaving shortly. Our group left before Jane returned, and I was worried she would miss the tour. Luckily, just as Arnold's mom was leading the last group out of the theatre, Jane arrived and I told her to follow me and we ran after the group. We were told to get on the tour bus, and we met our guide and driver, Laura, who I shall refer to as "Laura the Lip" because she never shut up. We also realized that every other person on the tour was about 90 years old. Our first stop was the Mauna Loa macadamian nut factory. Jane ate a lot of samples and made me buy a few items, in fact I had to go to the cashier twice. We also visited a volcano crater and museum. The highlight was walking along the top of the crater and seeing sulphur rise out of the earth. The smell was very strong and burned our eyes and made us cough, so we returned to the bus. After the crater, we visited the volcano museum, which was very informative.
Unfortunately, this stupid family with 8 crying kids got on the wrong tour bus and should have been on the tour that included lunch. So Laura the Lip had to drop them off at the building that was serving lunch and announced what was being served, which didn't impress the rest of the bus who was starving. At this point, Jane started crying from hunger. When the stupid family got off the bus, people were very friendly and said goodbye, but as soon as they were gone, bitched about how dumb they were. Nice job, you two faced arseholes. On the way back to the ship, Laura the Lip dropped some people off at a mall, and then encouraged us to buy a house in Hawaii as she was a mortgage broker as well as a tour guide. Yeah, no dice, arsehole. Then she went on for about 20 minutes about her two wonderful sons, a musician and a construction worker. Yeah they'll really change the world. I noticed that a couple old people fell asleep, and one of them may have died of boredom.

By the time we got back to the ship and through security, Jane was really hungry. In fact, she left me carrying all the bags and ran off to the ship, and I had to chase after her. We went to the buffet to eat, and again Jane ditched me and I had to find where she was sitting. Holy crap she was so starving that she forgot her husband! I wasn't in the mood for buffet, so after she ate we went to a 50's themed diner called the "Cadillac Grill", where I had a crappy hot dog and spicy fried, along with a fantastic Cherry Coke float. Jane had a papaya milkshake. After lunch, Jane had a nap and I took a walk. Unfortunately, the 6th deck jogging track was partially closed for maintenance, so I had to go to the 10th, 11th, and 12th decks to walk. I kept changing decks out of frustration, because I had to contend with either old people shambling around like zombies or people's kids bouncing around on a sugar rush. Before I headed back to the cabin, I stopped by the reception desk on the 5th deck to arrange our participation in the wedding vow renewal ceremony a few days later.

We had dinner in one of the specialty restaurants and had sushi. We got in even though the stupid lady on the 1st day arranged a 5:00 table for us even though she told us it was for 6:00. The sushi was OK but nothing special, it was very fancy but didn't taste that great. Following dinner, we had our pictures taken in front of a "green screen" on a surfboard, and saw a comedy act starring comedian Chris Alpine. I told Jane not to sit in the front row, and that was good advice, as he spend most of the show making fun of the people in the front row. He also told us a story about calling the Pride of America a boat, and the captain got mad and said "SHIP.. SHIP!". It became our inside joke for the rest of the cruise. After the show, we went to see the ship's pianist, Tom Theobold, play. He was great, and we had a drink at our favourite bar called "Pink's Champagne" bar while we listened to his music.On our way back to the cabin we ran into the retired rabbi and his wife. The rabbi shot me some dirty looks, I guess because I told him I wasn't religious and because I missed the Channukah service that day. After the dirty looks, we went to bed early so we could get up for snorkelling the next day.
MAUNA LOA MACADAMIA NUT FACTORY

TAKEN AT THE JAGGER MUSEUM- VOLCANO CRATER

SULPHUR STINKS!

FORMAL NIGHT

Maui (Kahului)

2008-01-12T21:18:00.003-07:00

Today was the day we were the most excited about, because today we were going snorkeling again! During breakfast, Jane discovered that there was an area at the back of the ship where they served Japanese breakfast (which consists of miso soup, fried fish, seaweeds, and rice), and made to order omelettes. We decided to eat there tomorrow morning. Japanese food is offered for breakfast to cater the Japanese guests. After breakfast, we went on our shore excursion. It was very windy, so we were taken to an alternate snorkel site. It was cold and rainy, so we couldn't see much in the water. I did see a sea turtle, however I didn't have my camera at the time so I didn't get a picture. We met a married couple from Ontario, and also another couple - the wife was always angry and yelling at her husband, who always looked scared. She was complaining about EVERYTHING. They served a deli lunch which looked crappy, so we decided to wait and eat lunch on the ship.

After we returned for lunch, I took a walk, and we bought some photos. We ate dinner and were served by the arsehole, who was still trying to impress us for a tip. It wouldn't work. We went to see a Broadway style show in the ship's theatre, only the singers were horrible and the dancers were fat. Luckily, the captain interrupted the show and made an announcement that due to the severe weather, the ship would need to leave Maui a day early, leaving people stranded overnight. He mentioned that everyone left ashore would be "taken care of", however we would find out the next day that this was not really the case. Thanks, arsehole. After the show, we went back to Pink's Champagne Bar to hear the pianist Tom Theobold, and we played "Name That Tune". Some 90 year old guy won, and I only got 8 out of 20.
LOVE SNORKELLING
FORMAL NIGHT

A day at sea

2008-01-12T21:14:00.002-07:00

We had breakfast outside on the 11th deck, Jane had her usual breakfast (rice, fish, miso soup and fruit), and I had a made to order omelette. Due to the weather, our shore excursion to a Maui beach was cancelled, so we knew that we were going to be stuck on the ship all day. The people who were stranded in Maui were back on the ship by mid-morning. We spent most of the morning looking around the ship, buying photos, and finally having lunch. I spent some time walking on the deck 6 jogging track, but again it was partially closed due to work being done so I had to walk on the upper decks and compete with the shambling old people and wild children.

Later on, we met the grumpy wife and the frightened husband from our snorkeling excursion. They explained how they were left in Maui the night before and were kept in a cramped area until 9:30 at night with no dinner, then sent to a crappy hotel. She must have been beating him like a rented mule at the time because he was shivering in fear when she was telling the story. We told them about our participation in the vow renewal ceremony tomorrow and she shot him a dirty look. Poor bastard!

We had a good dinner in the main restaurant, although we weren't served by the arsehole looking for a good tip, in fact we wouldn't be served by him again. HA HA! No tip for you, arsehole. After dinner, we saw a crappy magic show. Jane was so bored and tired she fell asleep, then she woke up and told me she wanted to go to bed. She got so mad at the boring magician that she wished he would vanished.
TAKEN ON THE SHIP

2ND FORMAL NIGHT

2nd day at sea

2008-01-12T21:13:00.002-07:00

We got up and had our usual breakfast of fish, miso soup, rice, and omelettes. We were looking forward to our shore excursion of rafting and snorkeling, but due to the weather it was cancelled. Not only that, the annoying cruise director came over the speakers and announced that we wouldn't even be docking in Kona. So instead of swimming in the beautiful waters of Hawaii, we spent 30 minutes playing trivia with a bunch of ugers (eg old people), and about an hour walking around the rainy 6th deck. It was again partially closed due to work, so back to the upper decks and competing with the ugers and the hyperactive kids.

While wandering around, we met the miserable lady and her scared husband. They told us about an excursion they were going on tomorrow that they arranged with an outside vendor. It was cheaper than one organized through the ship, but if for some reason they were late, the ship would leave without them. The ship would wait for an excursion organized by the ship, so we accepted their information even though we knew we wouldn't go on it.

We went to the buffet for lunch, and it was so busy that there were no tables so we had to sit in an adjoining bar called the "Gold Rush Saloon". There were videos from the 1980's playing, and we were dancing as we ate. An uger couple beside us thought we were crazy but we had fun. While we ate, we spoke to a waiter who told us about a luau tomorrow and said that we should go as it was the highlight of the cruise.

-Lunch, ate in Gold Rush Saloon due to lack of seats in the buffet area. Danced to a lot of 80's music and met a waiter who told us about the luau tomorrow and that we should go. We decided to book tickets for it, and while we were going back to our room we stopped by the French specialty restaurant. An older couple was there and while we were looking at the menu, the lady farted on us. She didn't even react or flinch. At about 4:15, we got dressed up for our wedding vow renewal. We went to the 13th deck and were greeted, given leis, and then had our photo taken. While we were waiting for the Hawaiian ambassador to show up, a woman walked in, followed by a guy that looked angry. One of the people in the room said he didn't look happy and the guy cursed and the lady gave him a dirty look. I wonder if he was this excited on his original wedding day. When the Hawaiian ambassador arrived he told everyone to stand and we repeated the renewal vows after him. It was very romantic and one of the highlights of our cruise. We got our picture taken with him after the ceremony.

Later on, we booked our tickets for the luau tomorrow night, and had a good dinner in the Liberty restaurant - it was lobster night! After dinner, we saw a hula dancing exhibit by some passengers who took lessons, and they were pretty good. Afterwards, we saw the comedian Chris Alpine perform in a smaller bar, and he was funny and made fun of the crowd again. After the show, we had drinks in Pink's Champagne bar as usual and went to bed.
RENEWAL OF VOW CEREMONY WITH THE HAWAIIAN AMBASSADOR

Kauai

2008-01-12T21:00:00.002-07:00

After 2 days at sea, the weather finally calmed down and we were able to dock in Kaui. We had breakfast, and walked off the ship to a few stores, which were only a 10minute walk away. We swam in the ocean for awhile, and because of the rain the last few days the water was murky, and it was also cold, but we had fun. We spotted a store that rented surfing equipment, and we rented a storage crate (for our valuables) and a kayak. Kayaking is great exercise, much harder than it looks. We spent about 45 minutes kayaking and went very far out from the beach. After that, we were exhausted. We had lunch in a great sports bar right on the beach, and the view was fantastic. After lunch, we went back to the ship for a 30 minute nap.

We got up around 4:15 to get ready for the highlight of the cruise, the luau, as we had booked tickets based on the waiter's advice the previous day. We went to the ship's theatre to line up, and there were a lot of people waiting there, so we knew it was a popular shore excursion. While in line, we met a fat lady full of compliments and her brother, and we talked for awhile. We were then herded onto buses and driven in the pouring rain to the luau site. The tour guide on the bus also was in the band later on that evening, and he knew a lot about the island history and explained what would happen at the luau. We got off the bus and were greeted by people in traditional luau attire, and had a lei put around each of our necks. We had our picture taken, and then went inside to find all the tables, free drinks, and a lot of vendors selling cheap crap disguised as luau merchandise. We didn't buy anything, but enjoyed a drink called a "cherry bomb" which had liquor (I think rum), ginger ale, grenadine, and maraschino cherrier, and it was delicious. At our table was the compliment lady and her brother, a pastor from Colorado springs who told some dirty jokes, his wife who gave him dirty looks, a guy who looked like "Haywire" from "Prison Break", his wife, and some couple who didn't talk all evening. Guess they just came for the food. At one point "Haywire" asked us about Toronto, and I was praying that he wouldn't track us down and kill us after the cruise. We sat right by the band, and I even got a picture taken with the band holding one of their instruments. The food was good, and I really enjoyed the poi. They served pork, salads, poi, meat, and some desserts, which were also great. After dinner, there was music and a show with live performers about the history of the people from Tahiti travelling to Hawaii and the struggles they faced. It was kind of hard to follow as it wasn't in English (thanks arseholes), but the dancing and music were great, and the final "fire dance" was amazing. It was a guy throwing and juggling sticks on fire. I have no idea how he did it but it was incredible. We caught the bus back to the ship, and some drunk old guy was singing "Oh Canada" after finding out where we were from. His poor wife was mortified and kept trying to cover his mouth. We bought some photos from the luau and went to bed. Luau Kalamaku was the highlight of our cruise! I would highly recommend this excursion.
SEASIDE LUNCH

KAYAKING
LUAU KALAMAKU

Kauai (Snorkelling)

2008-01-12T20:36:00.002-07:00

For the second day in a row, the weather was good, so after breakfast we headed to the pier for our morning shore excursion - another snorkeling trip! We met the tour guide, and he seemed to be very bossy and yelled at us for going ahead of the group, even though he told us to go to the van. Therefore we called him the "snorkel nazi". Our driver was named Manu, and very laid back, he even knew about hockey which surprised us. He gave us a brief history of the island and shared some tips on snorkeling. Once we arrived at the snorkeling site, we were instructed on how to select our equipment. While I was adjusting my mask, I was yelled at by the snorkel nazi, who made an example of me to the group on how not to put on a mask, even though I wasn't finished adjusting it yet. Thanks, arsehole. Once we got in the water, I was swimming freely, but most people were holding onto a board due to the strong current. Manu was pulling the board, and began to get tired. He told people to let go of the board, but almost everyone didn't, even a young couple who bragged about being experts at snorkeling before. Good job, arseholes. So before Manu died of a heart attack I helped him pull all the lazy bums in. After 45 minutes, the snorkel nazi told the group that he'd get the ship to refund our money because visibility was so poor in the water. We had a snack in the bus and drove back to the ship. I tipped Manu twenty dollars because they didn't make any money today, and we had lunch back on the ship.

After lunch, I was so excited because there was a "Seinfeld/Friends" trivia game. I didn't win the game, but I did win a frisbee and a bag because I sang "smelly cat" on the microphone. Jane was mortified and the leader of the game announced that for the rest of the cruise, we would be known as "smelly cat". Thank goodness there was only one day left. After the game, we relaxed, walked, and watched the beautiful Napali coastline as we sailed by. We also met two other Canadians. We had our final dinner on the ship with tears in our eyes as we realized that our beloved cruise was almost over. The food was great, we went to a Mongolian hotpot specialty restaurant called "Shabu Shabu", and even saw three dolphins right beside the ship! After dinner, we went to "Pinks Champagne Bar" a final time for a drink, and met the Canadian guys again. Then we went to bed for our final night on the ship.
TAKEN AT OUR SNORKELLING SITE

NAPALI COAST IN THE BACKGROUND

DINNER AT THE MONGOLIAN GRILL

Honolulu (Pearl Harbor)

2008-01-12T20:22:00.002-07:00

We were awakened by the sound of loud music playing. We looked out the window, and were saddened to see the Honolulu pier, which meant our cruise was finally over. The music was coming from a band playing, and they were probably hired by the ship to send the message "Wake up arseholes and get off our ship!". Nice touch. Saddened, we had one final delicious breakfast, and the food tasted better than ever because we knew that it was our last meal on the ship. After breakfast, we checked our cabin to make sure we didn't leave anything behind, and went to the gangway on the 5th deck to await the call for our group to disembark. We met the Canadian guys again, and a couple from Vancouver. At 9:40, we decided to leave, and we were very sad when we lost sight of the ship after going down the escalator in the pier. We still didn't know what to do all day since our flight left at 11:50 PM, so we found a place in the pier to store our bags for five dollars per bag. The caveat was that we needed to pick up the bags by 6:45 PM that night. We went outside the pier building and found a bunch of vendors selling tours. To our delight, we found one that would bring us to Pearl Harbour for only fourteen dollars, less than the cost of a cab! We arrived at Pearl Harbour, and due to security measures no bags are allowed, so I stored our carry-on bags for three dollars per bag. We saw the Pearl Harbour museum, which has a lot of photos and stories about Dec 7 1941 and the people that both survived and lost their lives. We also saw a poignant video about the attack, and were taken on a boat to the Arizona Memorial. It was very surreal there as we looked down upon the sunken ship and people silently dropped flowers into the water, as we were told to whisper out of respect. We then proceeded to "The USS Missouri" for a brief visit of the museum, it was very historical as we saw the missiles, the ship and other memorabilias that were used during World War II.

After getting back from the memorial, we caught a taxi into Waikiki and had lunch, then looked around and bought gifts for our officemates. We had dinner in a great sushi restaurant, the food was so fresh. We knew it was good because shortly after we arrived it got very busy, and by the time we left there was a long line outside the restaurant. We caught a taxi to the pier, picked up our luggage, and then took the same taxi to the airport. We were very sad as we saw the ship in the distance, knowing that there was a new group of people having dinner now, and then we lost sight of the ship for the last time. It was back to reality. The first sign of reality came at the airport, when we were unable to check ourselves in, and even the Delta Airlines agent had trouble. It took us almost 45 minutes to check in, even though there was no lineup in the airport. The second sign of reality came when I bought a coffee at Starbuck's, sat down, and realized that I didn't have any napkins in case I spilled some coffee. In a cruel dose of irony, I spilled the entire contents of the cup on Jane and her bag when I came back with some napkins and accidentally kicked the wobbly table. Good job, arsehole. We got on our flight at 11:30 and took off from beautiful Hawaii. Back to the snow....but we had a great time here. Hawaii is paradise and we will come back here one day.
PEARL HARBOR- USS ARIZONA MEMORIAL

USS MISSOURI

Flight back to Canada

2008-01-12T20:10:00.002-07:00

The flight was uneventful and we were able to sleep on the plane. We arrived in LA, and had a horrible breakfast. We looked around a bit and got on our flight to Salt Lake City. We spent a few hours in the Salt Lake City airport and looked around, and saw a lady that looked like Heather from "Hell's Kitchen", although when she spoke it didn't sound like her. The only excitement of the day came when the Delta Airlines agents called everyone from our flight to the gate and announced that the flight was oversold. A few people volunteered to take a flight the next day and receive four hundred dollars, a hotel room and a meal, but three seats were still oversold. The agents announced there would be a "lottery" picked by the computer to determine who would be left behind. Luckily, we were not selected, but those that were charged the agents like an angry horde. We rushed through the check in line and got on the plane, and were happy when we took off as we thought they'd change their mind and pull more people off. We landed in Edmonton, gathered our bags, had a quick dinner at the airport, and made the long drive home. We arrived at 4 AM, and our trip was officially over. We can't wait for our next cruise! And this time it'll be a 2 week cruise (either Mexican Reviera, Mediterranean or Alaskan cruise)! For now we're looking forward to our Philippine trip which is a few months away.

Journal of our 7 day Caribbean cruise - Day 1

2005-12-13T20:57:00.002-07:00

Below is a complete account of our 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise with Celebrity cruiselines, from start (Dec 3 2005) to finish (Dec 10 2005). It was truly the experience of a lifetime, and we hope to go on another cruise in 2007. Enjoy reading our journal and viewing our photos!

Day 0 - The night before
We had a 6:30 AM flight scheduled for the morning of Saturday, December 3, so we decided to get up at 2 AM. So on Friday, December 2, we took the day off and spent most of the day getting last minute supplies. During the evening, Jane did the packing since I am not as well travelled (or as neat) as her. This took from about 5 PM to about 9 PM, and despite my constant whining about being tired, Jane made me stay up until all the preparation was done. When she was satisfied that everything was packed and in place, we went to bed. I was so tired I fell asleep by 9:15, but Jane was very excited, and didn't fall asleep until about midnight. Needless to say, neither of us were very impressed when the alarm went off at 2 AM.

Day 1, part 1 - On the way
So we dragged our sorry asses out of bed, excited that we were about to go on our dream vacation, but wishing we had a few more hours of sleep. As I slowly and grumpily got dressed, still whining about being tired, Jane made sure all the lights were off, the water was off, the heater was lowered, all the cupboard doors were shut, the carpet strands were aligned, the cereal boxes in our kitchen were closed, the two remote controls in our living room were side by side and exactly 2.4 inches apart, etc. In other words, EVERYTHING and I mean EVERYTHING was exactly as she wanted it. And oh yeah, that we had our luggage, tickets, and travel documents. We had to leave by 2:30 AM because our flight was at 6:30 and we wanted to be there in plenty of time as this was an international flight. Also, we weren't parking at the airport, we were parking at a location about 5 minutes from the airport, at a company called Skyparx. You can park in their lot for about $50/week and they'll even drive you to the airport and pick you up for free, and they offer 24 hour a day service. We found Skyparx OK, and boy was it busy! The parking lot was almost full, and there were about 15 other people there waiting for a drive to the airport.. and this was at 3 AM! Everyone was friendly and very excited, and off we went to the airport. The driver admonished us for using American Airlines, telling us their service was horrible and they were expensive (and he was right as we'll describe later). So after muttering a "Sorry, Father" under my breath, we made our way into the airport. The airport was busy already and there was a lineup, although we were there in plenty of time. We checked in and made our way through US customs, and then caught the shuttle bus to the remote terminal where our plane would be taking off from... it was only a 5 minute ride, but thank goodness there was a bus, it would have been a hell of a walk in that cold weather. Once we arrived, it was Jane's turn to be whiny, as she exclaimed she was in dire need of a hot chocolate. Apparently I got the wrong kind because she wasn't happy with what I brought back, but she drank it anyway.

Now it was time to play "Musical airplanes". We saw that our tiny American Airlines plane was there, it only sat about 30 people, and it was so small that there was not even an indoor walkway to the plane, we had to walk OUTSIDE and go up a ladder. The guy by the gate called out something and we thought it was for us to board, but it turns out that it was for another flight. So he admonished us for not paying attention (drawing another silent "Sorry, Father" from me), and we sat back down. Let us call this "Musical Airplanes" round 1. About 3 minutes later he called our flight, and we ran up to the gate and he let us outside. As icicles began to grow on our faces on the run to the plane, we heard him calling out. Apparently the plane wasn't ready. Let us call this round 2. About 2 minutes later he called us again, and we started to walk outside, when he got word from some guy by the door of the plane that they had to reboot the plane's systems, so he turned us back. Round 3 is in the books. So he called us again, and I was about to say "Why don't YOU get on the plane, and once you're on we'll follow?", but we proceeded anyway, and round 4 was the lucky number, although he almost called us back AGAIN. So we took off on our way to Boston.
The plane was so small I swear I saw the pilot going out on the wing to put a new set of AA batteries in the engine. The ceiling was so short I even banged my head on it getting up once we landed, and I'm only three feet tall.

Once in Boston, we knew our gate already for our 9:30 AM flight to San Juan (they announced it as we were getting off the plane), so we decided to have a muffin and a juice in the airport before heading to the gate. I merrily walked through the airport asking aloud "Does anyone want any Joe Thornton jerseys - cheap?". Our flight took off and we were off to San Juan.

Mental note: American Airlines food sucks. We had a so called "breakfast" on board. The alleged "breakfast" consisted of some yellow cardboard that was posing as an omelette, and a mini-bagel the size of a cracker. There was also some yellow mold posing as butter. We were offered this or the other "breakfast", an entire.... rice krispie. Wow, American Airlines really goes all out. We would have had dessert but the stewardess dropped the chocolate chip on the floor. They announced during the flight that San Juan was an hour ahead of us, so we set our watches accordingly, and landed in San Juan just after 2 PM (really 1 PM but remember we set our watches ahead an hour.

We had purchased a transfer with Celebrity, meaning they would drive us and our luggage right to the ship from the airport (and in reverse after the cruise). We found the Celebrity representative right before the baggage claim, and he told us exactly where to go. We claimed our baggage and found a second Celebrity representative, who told us where the shuttle bus was. We dropped off our luggage for loading and got on the bus. The transfer process was very well thought out and seamless. We drove for about 20 minutes through San Juan (which is kind of scummy), and all of a sudden, in the distance, I saw this HUGE ship with a big white "X" on top... it was the Constellation, which would be our home for the next 7 nights!!!

Day 1, part 2 - Embarkation

2005-12-13T19:57:00.002-07:00

I'd always been told cruise ships are big, but you don't really appreciate the size of one until you stand in front of it. It was as tall as a large apartment building, and longer than a football field! We got off the bus and got in line in the terminal, and had to show our identification and our credit card that we would use for our onboard account. We then received our identification cards, which would serve three purposes. They would serve as our ID when getting on and off the ship. They would serve as our room keys. They would also serve as an onboard account card to buy goods and services on the ship, as the ship runs on a "cashless" system. At the end of the cruise, everything you purchase on your account would appear on an itemized statement and be charged to your credit card. We walked towards the entranceway to the ship, and were accosted by two photographers, who took our picture. It was our option to buy this later, and we did (we scanned this picture and it appears in the photos in the Links section). We then made it to the gangway, and faced a long line of people waiting to get on the ship. Many appeared to be over 130 years old, which made the line go even slower. It seems as though some old people don't understand the question "Can I please see the ID card you were issued a few minutes ago?". Fools were pulling out their drivers licenses, their social insurance cards, their bus passes, their library cards, etc. Idiots. We finally made it to the entrance of the ship and swiped our ID cards into a machine as our photos were taken and digitally attached to the card., The first thing that we noticed after that was a waiter in a white tuxedo with a tray of champagne glasses. Not being in the Caribbean state of mind yet, Jane and I grabbed a glass each and barked "Where's the elevators???" to the befuddled waiter, who was kind enough to show us the way. There are several sets of stairs and elevators on the ship, and usually they're not busy, but on this day they were since everyone boarding used the same set of elevators. After getting on the elevator with the same morons who didn't know how to show their ID cards, I found out to my chagrin that these losers didn't know which deck they stayed on. It was a long elevator ride.

Getting off once we reached deck 7, the Vista deck as it was called, we immediately noticed how clean the area was and how beautifully decorated it was. Plush carpeting, lighted wide stairs, artwork hanging and glass sculptures on the walls, it was a sight to see. Again, not in the Caribbean state of mind, I barked "where's cabin 7021?" to the nearest ship attendant, and he pointed out the way. Unfortunately for me, jetlag had set in and we quickly realized that our cabin number was 7014 and not 7021. To this day I have no idea where I got 7021 from. We made it to our room and slid in my ID card, and found our stateroom to be immaculate. The bed was made, the daily summary of activities on the bed, our pre-purchased shore excursion tickets on the desk, and two lush bathrobes waiting in the closet. At this point my jetlag was getting worse. Our stateroom attendant, Hafit showed up and introduced himself - quite an exiteable lad, but very nice. He tends to laugh at everything you say, even if it's not funny. I could have told him a man fell overboard and he would have peed his pants laughing. He introduced his assistant, a taller guy whose name I never caught. This guy was very nice, but didn't say a lot. I called him the "Silent partner". After that, I went on the balcony to have a look and also get some air (my headache was pounding and I was so tired). Sure enough, I had a task assigned to me even though I was on vacation. The old dumbass in the cabin below us locked himself on the balcony. I would have told Hafit about this but I was sure he would have laughed his ass off. Instead, I called the main switchboard of the ship and let them know about the dumbass. They said they'd send someone up. I never saw the dumbass around the ship after that, but I did see him on his balcony a few times, so I wonder if they ever sent anyone.

Jane went to the 10th deck to get something to eat (that's where the buffets were, see the pics in the Links section), but my headache was getting worse. We packed Tylenol, but it was in our luggage which hadn't arrived yet from the terminal. Soon it was time for dinner, and since we still didn't receive our luggage, as many other people hadn't either, we went to dinner as we had arrived. Luckily the first night was "casual" dress code, which meant shirt and slacks. The restaurant we were to dine in each night was a five star restaurant called the "San Marco Restaurant", with several wait staff per table (waiter, assistant waiter, wine sommelier). We did have an assigned table, but the first night was open seating, so we were seated with three other couples - 1) An old couple on their 35th cruise, and they bragged about their two demigod kids. One kid was an astrophysicist astronaut or something, and the other kid was a senior NASA worker who apparently controls a major satellite from a laptop in their house. Yeah, and I've seen Morgan Fairchild naked. Thanks. 2) An Asian-American couple from Illinois who were on their 13th cruise. The wife was very nice, as was the husband, but the guy never shuts up. He has an opinion on everything. He also must have cloned himself because I saw him EVERYWHERE during the cruise. In the bathroom, under our bed, in the kitchen, everywhere we went, there he was. 3) A hick couple from Illinois on their 3rd cruise. I called these guys "Ma and Pa Kettle" They were very nice, but not the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Finally the waiter showed up and took our orders, and the combination of my jetlag and listening to these genetic misfits babble on made me nautious. Halfway through the third course, which for me was the prime rib, I was about to throw up. Jane and I had to excuse ourselves, although we would see the Asian American couple and Ma & Pa Kettle again. We never saw the parents of the demigods again though. I guess their genius kids beamed them up. We went back to our room and our luggage had arrived, so I was able to pop 3 Tylenol. They didn't really help though, and I was so tired that I had to lie down. Eventually I had to get up and go to the party on deck and we attended the late night Caribbean buffet. Music was blaring and food was everywhere and people were dancing. The food was great and we had fun, but I had to return to the cabin shortly after we arrived because I just had to go to bed. The ship was swaying lightly due to the waves, but it was a gentle swaying and it helped us sleep. We would get a great night's sleep, and wake up refreshed and ready to go in the Dominican Republic.

Day 2 - Dominican Republic

2005-12-13T18:57:00.002-07:00

This would be our first shore excursion, but first it was time to eat. You have 2 choices for breakfast.
1) You can go to the main five star restaurant on the 5th deck, the San Marco restaurant, for a multi-course meal.
2) You can go to the buffet stations on the 10th deck
We chose to go to the buffet stations each morning, and there were several stations for breakfast
1) Lean/Healthy food
2) Waffle/Pancake station
3) Omelette station, where my Jamaican friend will prepare freshly made omelettes. He even flips the omelettes in the pan without using a spatula, which amazes me every time. I went there every morning!
4) The main buffet, with a variety of fruits, bread, pastries, eggs, bacon, sausages, cereals, juices, etc. Quite a large selection
There are a ton of choices, and you can keep going back over and over. The breakfast buffet runs from 6:30 AM to 10:30 AM each day. The waiters come by with juices and coffee, and even offer to carry your mountainful plates of food back to your table!

After stuffing our faces, we toured the ship and took pictures, several of which are in the Links section. There are so many places to go on the ship, such as the casino, the art gallery, the flower shop, the gym, the spa, the pools, the computer area, the shopping emporium, the bars and lounges, the amphitheatre, etc. We spent most of the morning exploring and snapping pics. We also accosted several crew members to snap photos of both Jane and I together. The crew members are from different countries. The senior officers are mostly from Greece, and most of the regular staff members are from the Philippines, Honduras, Indonesia, Poland, Turkey, Thailand, Australia, the UK, and other parts of Europe. There were even two people from Canada that worked on the ship! There could have been more, we only saw two.

At lunch (and dinner), you have the same 2 choices as breakfast, but the foods are a bit different at the buffet. Also, instead of the pancake/waffle and omelette stations, you have pizza/pasta and a hamburger/hot dog stations. The main buffet also has a different theme each day (ie Mexican, Italian etc). This was the only day we chose to eat at the San Marco Restaurant for lunch, we went to the buffet after this day. On the way to the 5th deck we saw a lady who was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Apparently she had fallen and couldn't get up (yes, just like the old bag in the commercial). We offered to help but she politely declined. There was also another lady there freaking out and offering to help, but the lady who fell politely told her to get bent. So we left her as she crawled on the floor contemplating her lawsuit. As it turns out, she ended up sitting at our table with her lawyer friend, as the San Marco restaurant offers open seating for lunch. The lunch wasn't very good. We also sat with another old couple (surprise, surprise). We spent most of the lunch talking about vacation destinations in Canada. Surprisingly, these people (they were all American) knew a lot about Canada.

Following our lunch with the old folks, the lawyer, and the clumsy floor crawler, we went up to the 11th deck to take pics of our arrival in the Dominican Republic (pics in the Links section). We then headed down to the gangway to disembark, where the staff was selling bottles of water charged to your account for the low low price of $3.75 US. Being the idiots that we are, we bought one. We swiped our ID cards into the machine to leave the ship, where the security guards watched over us (they were from the Philippines and Jane befriended one). We walked down the pier into the terminal and noticed many armed guards, as there was unrest in the area. We arrived at the terminal and found the person with the sign for our shore excursion, and were escorted to the bus. The terminal had several people with signs as many excursions were leaving that day. There wasn't enough room on the bus so the driver had to raise up a spare seat, and Jane got to ride beside the driver. Another guy got on the bus beside the driver, and he was our tour guide. The driver's name was Andres, and the tour guide's name was Vicente. But I called the tour guide Sidney Poitier since he looked like a young version of him.

Our excursion was a 4 hour getaway to Bayahibe beach at the Casa Del Mar resort, and along the way it started to rain. Great. To make matters worse, Sidney Poitier told some lame jokes. We laughed out of pity. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by children holding rum punches and cookies. Good to know there are child labour laws there (not). We have a pic of them greeting us in the Links section. We were given wristbands in order to get free drinks from the bar, and were escorted to the beach area. Sadly, the rain got worse and we spent the first 2.5 hours shivering under a beach umbrella. We could have taken a cab back to the ship but it would have cost $30 US so we decided to stick it out and ride back for free on the bus. Jane found us a nice table by the bar, and we enjoyed a couple drinks. I tipped the bartender $2 US and it was like he won the lottery, he looked so happy. I guess he doesn't make much money, plus we were the only ones who tipped him (that I saw). Everyone else on our tour had made a beeline for the heated pool, so when it finally stopped raining we had the beach to ourself and had a nice swim, even taking time to climb on a huge inflated tube. After that, we got out and took a few pics of the facility, and got back on the bus. Two people took a cab back to the ship, so Sidney Poitier didn't want to leave until he confirmed they were gone. We left about 15 minutes late, and as a result we got back to the ship just before our 6:00 PM seating in the San Marco restaurant. We were so rushed that I forgot to tip Sidney Poitier. Oh well, serves him right for telling his lame jokes.
Getting back to dinner, you have 3 options:
1) The buffet stations, which are the same as lunch but with different food.
2) A specialty restaurant called "Ocean Liners". It specializes in European cuisine, and is a five star restaurant so you have to dress up. There's also a cover charge of $30 US/person charged to your account, so we decided not to go there since the other food options are free.
3) The San Marco Restaurant. We went here for dinner every night. The only catch is, there are 2 seatings, 6:00 and 8:30, and you HAVE to be on time, as there are no open seatings for dinner. There are 3 dress codes - casual, informal, and formal. You'll know which one applies from the daily program sent to your stateroom. Casual is dress pants and a dress shirt for men, a sporty outfit for women. Informal is dress pants, jacket and tie for men, and a dress for women. Formal is a tuxedo or a dark suit and tie for men, and a gown or cocktail dresses for women.

Tonight was informal night, and because we were so rushed, we were a couple minutes late as we had to change. I showed my table reservation card (which they put in your stateroom the 1st day) to one of the waiters and he showed us to our table. As it happened, we were the only people at our table every night as Jane booked our table just for us. It was nice to enjoy a quiet dinner each night without having to deal with the other genetic defectives. On this night, we met our waiter, our assistant waiter, and our wine sommelier. Our assistant waiter was named Carlos, and was always smiling. He was responsible for giving you the bread & butter, water, and dressing for your salads. Our waiter was named Jose Vides, but he went by Vides, and he was from Honduras. He was very formal on this night, but eventually he got to know us and joked around with us. Our wine sommelier was from Poland, and I'd love to tell you her name but it has about 12 consonants in a row so I have no idea what it was. She was responsible for pushing booze on you as it is charged to your account. On this night, Jane sampled a few wines but didn't order any. When she came back to take our order, Jane said "No we don't want any wine tonight - we'll just drink what you gave us"... I was so embarassed, but the sommelier didn't care. We actually befriended her as the cruise went on - turns out she was married to an Indian fellow who also worked on the ship as a waiter. The food was so good, and the desserts were sinful. We have a few pics in the pictures section.

After dinner, we were walking back to our stateroom, but you have to pass through the Martini Bar to get to the stairs. As we passed through, this odd fellow who looked like Pee Wee Herman jumped in our way and said our table was ready. We were startled for a second, and then realized that it was a booze server trying to push booze on us. He was so full of energy that we decided to sit down. He convinced us to each order 6 mini-martinis (all different kinds), with flavours such as limon, apple, chocolate, dry vodka (regular martini), peach, etc. I finished them all quickly, but Jane couldn't finish. I told Jane that he reminded me of a former co-worker named Newton. Shortly after that Jane called him Newton as she thought I said that was his name. Turns out his name was Zurcan and he was from Turkey. Oops. Poor Pee Wee. We have a picture of him with Jane in the informal night section. After that, we relaxed and took more pictures on the ship. Jane checked out the gym for awhile and left me to look around.

Later on, we went to a tropical themed party on the 10th deck, complete with a huge buffet of melons and tropical fruit (we have a few pics). Jane befriended another Filipino worker who was preparing the fruit on a platter beforehand. After that, we enjoyed a Mojito and watched the party for a bit, and called it a night. We were tired, but could rest up because the next day the ship would not dock, but be at sea on the way to Grenada.

Day 3 - At sea

2005-12-13T17:57:00.002-07:00

We got up late, and it was time to eat! Back to the breakfast buffet, for more omelettes for me and pastries for Jane. In fact, my breakfast each day was always an omelette and some fresh smoked salmon. After breakfast, we looked around the ship, relaxed in our room, sat on the balcony, and went for lunch. More eating.

After lunch, we checked out the shopping emporium. They had lots of jewellery on sale like rings, necklaces, watches, etc. There were also cameras, bottles of booze, and souvenirs for sale. We didn't buy anything but the prices were pretty good! We also attended a seminar on buying jewellery run by a Canadian crew member. Her name was Jen. I forget her last name, but it began with Bro because she called herself "J-Bro". She had some good tips, and she talked about stores that she said were fantastic, but:
1) It turns out the stores she was pushing were so expensive. More about that later.
2) She talked about 300 miles an hour. I remember she was already on her third store and I said "Hey, got my pen ready". Jane and I called her Lindsay Lohan because of her red hair and her teeny-bopper attitude.

Later that day, we attended another seminar with Lindsay, again more good tips but she talked to fast. Jane was snoring in her chair by the end, as were several other people attending the seminar. The ship was swaying and J-Bro was babbling, it made people sleepy. Lindsay Lohan knows her jewellery, but couldn't hold an audience if she was superglued to them. Following that, it was time to get ready for our first formal night. Jane was so tired she fell asleep.

We ended up missing our 6:00 seating. I ended up going down to the restaurant to talk to the assistant Maitre' D, and he told us we could come to the 8:30 seating since a few tables were opened up due to people going to the other specialty restaurant and the buffet. We got dressed, and went to a couple photography stations on the 3rd and 4th decks to have our pictures taken. These photographers, from the UK and the Netherlands, were real pros, and we bought many of the pics they took, even though they were expensive. Many of these pics are in the photos section (formal nights).

We headed off to dinner, and the waiters looked fantastic, with white tuxedos and gloves. Even the cleaners were all dolled up. Dinner was fantastic as usual. After dinner, we went to the amphitheater called the Celebrity Theatre, where the ships captain, Apostolos Bouzakis, introduced his senior staff, and gave a toast in several languages. It went on forever and I felt like saying "Hey Bouzakis! Time to shut your lip and drive the ship!" Following his blowhard speech, we saw our first show on the ship "Spotlight Broadway" featuring the ship's singers and dancers. The singers were fantastic, but the dancers were off with their moves and out of synch. Looked like a bunch of pre-schoolers having a sugar rush, jumping randomly around the stage. Jane thought the show was great, but I thought it was just OK. After that, we were tired and went to bed, awaiting our arrival in Grenada.

Day 4 - Grenada

2005-12-13T16:57:00.002-07:00

Morning - time to eat! More breakfast buffet as we pulled into beautiful Grenada. Of all the ports on our cruise, Grenada was the most picturesque. The landscape was lush, green, and incredible. After making our way to the terminal, we were greeted by our tour guide named Martin. Very knowledgeable and funny, Martin took us on a tour of Grenada, making several stops. Along the way he showed us some of the devastation of the 2004 hurricane that hit the island, including damaged homes, churches, the national stadium, the damaged trees in the forest, and even the huge pile of twisted metal and wood that served as a garbage dump from the damage. He also showed us the Chinese workers who were rebuilding the stadium for the 2007 World Cricket championship. Martin took us on a tour of a spice plant and showed us several spices, how they were made, and how they were used. We went to a souvenir place where we could take pictures of Crater Lake and sample rum punch. I bought a bottle of local seasoning made from Thyme, Garlic, Clove, and several other ingredients - it's pretty good! The only problem with Grenada is the locals are very pushy when selling their goods, to the point of almost being rude. We also saw samples of the local wildlife, including a monkey that a man keeps as a pet. We were taken to a waterfall, where a couple locals in tropical costume posed with me for a picture, only to tell us after that we had to pay for taking the picture. They went from jovial to very agressive and hostile, demanding money. Another local demanded money from Jane as she thought Jane had taken her picture, when in fact she was just adjusting the camera in the local's direction. I paid the local $5 US to avoid getting stabbed and we got the heck out of there! We then went to an old fort overlooking the harbour, where we got some incredible pictures. I posed with a police officer, who was perhaps the only friendly local we met that day. Martin took us around the main city in Grenada and told us where the good shopping places were, before he took us back to the ship. Jane and I decided to stick to the ship due to the unfriendly and unscrupulous locals.

Lunchtime! More food. After lunch, we headed into the whirlpool for a relaxing soak, and afterwards ran into Ma & Pa Kettle (see notes from the first day). We spoke with them for awhile and found out they were big NASCAR fans (big surprise there). We also found out they were in cabin 7016, right next door to us! We looked around the ship for awhile and then wouldn't you know it, dinnertime!

Tonight was casual night, and we decided to order some sweet wine based on the sommelier's recommendation, which was quite good. We had some good banter with Carlos and Vides, and then headed off to the show in the Celebrity Theatre. Tonight was "A Taste of Cirque Du Soleil", a 30 minute show featuring several performers. There was a guy who performed in a big rolling metal disc who was amazing, a female dancer who did acrobatic moves on a silk rope from high in the air, a couple comedy performers, and some jugglers. Everyone was fantastic. We really want to see Cirque Du Soleil in its entirety one day!

Following the show, we went to the shopping emporium to buy masks for the 11:00 Masquerade party in the 11th deck bar called "The Bar at the end of the Earth". Luckily, the guy working there told us that we didn't have to buy masks, in fact we could get in just by putting a little paint on our faces, and that there'd be people by the door who would do it for us. We decided to go, and we got our faces painted. Nothing major like David Puddy from Seinfeld, just a few white lines here and there. The guy who painted my face was from Nova Scotia, and he had only been with Celebrity for 3 weeks. By the way, every crew member has a tag with their full name and nationality, which is how we know where they're from. When I identified myself as a Canadian, he asked me how the Leafs and Lindros and Sundin were doing. I said pretty good, not knowing we were in the midst of a losing streak - ugh. The party itself was OK, although there was a lot of fog and dry ice, which made picture taking impossible. The music was techno-pop, kind of weird, and there were lots of old people there. Jane and I had a drink and then danced for about 15 minutes before heading out for the night. Tomorrow is Barbados!

Day 5 - Barbados

2005-12-13T15:57:00.004-07:00

Morning! Time to eat. Back to the buffet.

We got up early that morning so we could see the ship dock, and we took several pictures from the 11th deck. After that, we went down to the terminal to wait for our excursion bus to take us on a tour of Barbados. While there, we met two other young couples. One couple was French Canadian, and the wife didn't speak much English. She just listened and smiled mostly. The husband was very nice and quite talkative, he had a heavy French accent but we could understand him perfectly. The other couple were from San Ramon, California, and were realtors. The husband was originally from Vancouver, and the wife was from California. We got along very well with them and would talk to them a few more times during the remainder of the cruise. In fact, we got their e-mail address on the final night and will be corresponding with them (hi guys if you're reading this now!). We all talked for a while, but eventually the tour buses showed up and it was time to go our separate ways for the day.

Our tour guide was a lady named Cheryl, and was very nice and extremely knowledgeable about Barbados. Jane once again managed to sit in the front seat on the bus, and befriended Cheryl by opening the bus doors at every stop, calling herself the "assistant tour guide". Cheryl showed us several churches, a rum distillery, the national stadium, houses of celebrities (like Steven Spielberg and Whitney Houston), the golf course where Tiger Woods got married, the house of the Prime Minister, and other sites as we drove by. We did make several stops for photo opportunities however. One was on a cliff overlooking the Atlantic Ocean, where a Bob Marley lookalike jumped out of the bushes and tried to sell us some cheap crap. He wouldn't even let Jane take any pictures until she bought something. So we left Bob in the dust. We also proceeded to Bathsheba, a beautiful fishing village overlooking the ocean, and got some fantastic photos! Here, I picked up a stone from the ground to bring back to Canada. I was saving it to put on my mother's grave, as I promised her before she died that I would one day go on a cruise. The rock would prove to her that I made it! We then proceeded to the only working windmill in the Caribbean and took some photos. On the drive after that, we saw a house that was built from the remnants of an old windmill that no longer functioned. It looked interesting! We also stopped for some pictures of a black bellied lamb - unfortunately Jane took a picture of a goat and not the lamb. We also went to a historic church, and got several photos inside and visitied the gift shop for some drinks and snacks. Again, we got some beautiful shots of the coastline. After that, we passed a beach where no one was allowed to swim due to the dangerous current of the Atlantic Ocean - there were even signs posted warning people of this. Our final stop was the Mount Gay Rum Distillery for a tour. It was hard to hear the Distillery tour guide due to the amount of people on the tour, so we mostly just followed and looked around. We took a bunch of pics of the distillery. The highlight of the distillery tour was the bar and gift shop. The knowledgeable bartender gave us a speech on different kinds of rum and how Jamaica was famous for making it, and we each got a free rum punch. It was so delicious. In fact it was so good that Jane and I bought a few bottles for people back home. The rum punch was cheap, only $4 US per bottle, and the bottles were pretty big for the money. On our way back to the ship, a torrential downpour came, so we ran off the bus, quickly tipped Cheryl, and ran into the terminal for some window shopping. It was very crowded because of the weather (no one wanted to be shopping outside), but there were some great stores there. Jane even bought a rum cake for my sister. The rain didn't let up, so we just headed back to the ship.

Dinner time! Informal night. We got our waiter Vides to take pictures of us and then enjoyed another fantastic dinner, followed by the evening show in the Celebrity theatre. Tonight it was a ventriloquist named Mark Merchant. The Cruise Director, Nick Weir, said Mr. Merchant was a great performer. However I think Mr. Merchant was replaced with a pod because the guy that performed that night wasn't funny at all. I could see his lips moving and his jokes were dirty. A few were funny, but mostly just boring. Jane actually fell asleep during the show. After the show, we had planned to lie down in our room for a bit and then go see another party and some karaoke, and perhaps get a drink, but we got tired and fell asleep. We were very excited about our final two ports of call, St. Kitts and St. Thomas, and tomorrow was formal night. It would be a big couple of days so we needed our rest.

Day 6 - St. Kitts

2005-12-13T14:57:00.002-07:00

Morning! Time to eat. Back to the buffet.

We couldn't wait for today's excursion, because this was the first time we'd actually get to do something "exciting". We had only gone to the beach and on tours the previous three ports, but today we were going snorkelling! We took some pictures of St. Kitts as we were docking, and the scenery was beautiful - we couldn't wait to get in the water and snorkel. We ran to the terminal, stopping to take a few more pictures, and found the sign for our excursion. While we were waiting we danced to the Caribbean music playing by a live band. People thought we were nuts but we had fun. We thought we'd take a bus somewhere, but in fact we were taken directly to a large boat, where we met our tour guide. Didn't catch his name, but he looked like one of our neighbours, Bruce, only thinner. Therefore I shall refer to him as "Skinny Bruce". He explained that we were going to be snorkelling in two spots, the first being Shitten Bay. No that's not a misprint. Shitten Bay. It got some laughs, but once we saw it we realized it was beautiful. Skinny Bruce gave us a few pointers on snorkelling, and helped us with our equipment, and let us go to it. Snorkelling takes some getting used to, as it's hard to breathe because you have to keep the mask on tight without moving your face at all - if you do, water will get in the mask. Also if you open your mouth even slightly, water will get in your breathing tube. I made the mistake of swallowing some salt water - it really burns! After a few minutes, we got the hang of it. We had purchased an underwater camera and I got some fantastic shots of the fish and coral under the water. The water is CRYSTAL clear, no pollution at all! I've never seen anything like it. Also, the water is very comfortable - not too hot, not too cold. Because of the salt water, it's easy to swim on the surface. Jane didn't stay in the water the entire time because she got cold and went back to the boat, but I stayed in the water the entire time. We then got back in the boat to travel to our next snorkelling site. Skinny Bruce told us that the wind was very strong, so we'd be going to a different site than normal. After we got there, Skinny Bruce also noted that the current was strong, so the novice snorkellers should stay near the boat. We got in the water, and Jane didn't stay in long because she almost got carried away by the current. I stayed near the boat too, and although the fish and coral weren't as nice as the other site, it was still incredible. I didn't want to get out of the water since I didn't know when I would have this chance again. Eventually, we got back in and made our way back to the pier. Of all the excursions on our cruise, this one was my favourite. We hope to snorkel again one day.

After snorkelling, we went into St. Kitts for some shopping. We went to some jewellery stores, but they were too expensive for our budget, so we walked to some small stores on the waterfront that sold handmade jewellery and crafts. Jane was haggling with the locals, but without success. Then we met Hazelyn, who was very personable. We bought a necklace, a matching bracelet, and some refridgerator magnets (we got a real bargain on everything!), and she liked Jane so much that she gave her a free bracelet. The people in St. Kitts are friendly, and less aggressive than in Grenada and Barbados. We met another merchant, who tried to give us a "lunch time special" bargain, but it turned out to be not much of a bargain, so we moved on.

Lunchtime! Time to eat. We were hungry, so we went to the regular buffet AND the hamburger and hot dog buffet. Following the buffets, we went to the 10th deck for a game of "TV Theme trivia". Now I know a ton of TV theme songs, so I thought this would be a cakewalk. How it worked was the staff gave you a sheet with 20 blank lines, and they'd play a TV theme for a few seconds (a total of 20 themes). You'd have to write the name of the TV show associated with that theme, and whoever got the most right would win a Celebrity T-shirt. I got 3 out of the first 4, and then the wheels fell off. Every single theme was from the 1950's and 1960's, and I wasn't even born until 1969. I still got 10/20 despite this, but the winning team got 15/20.Where were the themes from the 80's and 90's? Where was the Cosby Show? Cheers? Night Court? Family Ties? Monday Night Football? Seinfeld? What a sham. So that made me mad. But, no time to get angry, it was almost time for dinner.

Formal night! We got dressed up, and went back to the photo stations for more pictures. Dinner was unbelieveable. One of the choices for the main course was lobster, and it was so good. Vides even shelled our lobsters for us. We ordered another sweet wine from the sommelier, and the dessert was incredible. Jane had the coconut flan, and I had a vanilla/chocolate cake slice. During dinner, the assistant Maitre' D (he did this each night) came to our table to remind us of the show for the evening. Tonight's show was another production show called "Fantasea", about a young girl dreaming of different worlds. The production show was lavish, although the dancers were not very good. The singers were fantastic though. There was also a performance by two acrobats from France names Dominique and Clarisse, and they were unbelieveable!!! They hung on to a silk linen suspended high above the stage and performed some amazing aerial manouvers and acrobatics. They brought the crowd to their feet.

After the show, we went back to our room for a bit, and at 11:30 it was time for "Le Grand Buffet". This was held in the San Marco Restaurant, and consisted of a ton of food, as well as some amazing culinary art skills showcasing the talents of the chefs. There were also many ice sculptures. The food took 3 days to prepare and it was endless! We have several pics of this buffet however we couldn't do it justice. You had to be there to believe it. We've never seen so much beautifully prepared food in our lives! They only let us take pictures from 11:30-12:15, and after that you could eat. We were scared to even touch the food since it was so carefully prepared, but we did anyway. We were tired and only had 1 plate that we shared, but most of it was high-fat chocolate and sweets! It was so good, we can still taste the food. A bit of sadness set in as we ate, as we realized that tomorrow was our final day, and soon we'd be returning to the bitter winter of Canada.

Day 7 - St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands

2005-12-13T12:57:00.002-07:00

It was appropriate that this port was the final one, because it was by far and away our favourite port. We got up early to take pictures of our arrival, and we were blown away by the scenery. We went to the buffet for an early breakfast, because everyone on the ship had to clear US immigration before disembarking for the day, even US citizens. We made our way to the Celebrity Theatre, where the US immigration team was set up, and quickly were cleared. Unfortunately, we had to wait for everyone to be cleared, which didn't happen until after 9:00 AM. So we did a slow burn in one of the lounges. We were in a hurry because I wanted to buy Jane a ring and do some sightseeing before our two excursions.

We went to several jewellery stores in Havensight Mall near the dock and haggled with the store staff members. We got a good price on one ring, but kept looking. I'm glad we did, because at the next store, we got an unbeatable price on a ring - 14k white gold, .7 c white diamonds (3 stones round cut). Jane also negotiated a great price on a 14k white gold neclace with a fake stone pendant, and we bought both! I also bought 3 t-shirts. They would have the ring re-sized in a couple hours, so in the interim we went to our first of two excursions - the Skyride to Paradise Point.
This was a tram elevated on wires that took you high above St. Thomas, and you could go anytime during the day for this excursion (you just got 2 tickets for the ride). When we got to the top we met a gentleman who worked there named Elroy Brown, who was extremely friendly. He asked us about Canada and told us briefly about St. Thomas. He urged us to move there, as he said he had lived in Atlanta and New York before but there was no place like St. Thomas. He was kind enough to take a picture of us, and then we took a few of our own pictures. The view of the harbour and downtown St. Thomas was incredible, and we got some great photos! We were a little hungry but decided to trek on and do more window shopping. We said our goodbyes to Elroy and rode the tram back down, at which point we were approached by a taxi driver asking us if we needed a ride downtown. This is exactly where we were going, so we accepted.
The taxi fares in St. Thomas are unmetered an regulated by the local government, but to be safe I confirmed that the fare would be $4 US/person. The taxi driver agreed and we took the short drive downtown. In hindsight we should have saved our money and walked, the weather was nice, the view by the water was great, and the walk only would have taken 20 minutes. In any case we arrived after a 3-4 minute drive and were dropped off in the heart of downtown St. Thomas. We felt safe because the people are friendly, and there are a ton of tourists walking around. In fact I felt like I'd lived there all my life, there was no apprehension at all walking down the street. I even met a gentleman named Everett who was encouraging tourists to visit a local store, he was very cordial and not aggressive at all. We visited a couple jewellery stores, and the prices for the very same ring we had bought were outrageous. One store doubled the price we paid, the other store tripled the price! When I showed my receipt to the sales clerk of the store that tripled the price, he made the excuse that we bought a low quality ring, the diamonds were not really .7c, the store we bought it from was unethical, etc. Yeah, and I've seen Morgan Fairchild naked. Thanks. Now go charge the tourists $15 US for a glass of water. Have a nice day! Jane wanted to get a Prada bag for $35 US, but I didn't have enough cash on me to get it, and the bank was back by the ship. We didn't have enough time to go back and return because we only had an hour before our next excursion. Previous to going downtown I had urged Jane to visit the bank for some cash but she said it wasn't necessary - boy did she regret that decision. We didn't have enough cash for a cab, but we decided to walk anyway since the walk was nice. We hurried back to the ship, and had a very quick buffet lunch before changing for our next excursion. This was Jane's favourite excursion, the BOB (Breathing Observation Bubble). We met a gentleman from the BOB staff on the pier, and he asked us a few medical questions, after which he directed us to the diving boat where we met the other members of the BOB crew. The staff was very friendly, and even joked that the BOB equipment never worked. Jane got a little scared but I knew they were kidding. We did have to sign release forms though, but it was just a formality. This activity is not for the faint of heart and not recommended for claustrophobic people.

On our boat ride to the dive site, one of the staff members was fascinated with me because my skin was so pale, and she asked where I was from. After we arrived at our dive site, Buck Cove Island, our captain (who I shall refer to as "Macho Man" Randy Savage, the ex pro-wrestler, because he looked like him oh yeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah) explained how to use the BOB device, and that we were at one of only 8 locations in the world that had the BOB. It was even featured on the Discovery Channel! The device was like an underwater scooter, with the accelerator being a button on the right side of the steering wheel that you had to hold down. The catch was that your head was in a little bubble that would not fill with water, even at a depth of 25 feet. It would be like a little "air bubble" underwater. The scooter would also have an oxygen tank pumping air into the "air bubble" while you were underwater. The BOB would be attached to a buoy floating at the surface, which would prevent your scooter from tipping over underwater (if it did, the air bubble would fill with water) Macho Man explained the hand signals we'd use to communicate with the BOB staff (who would be scuba diving with us, not using scooters) who would be guiding us. We'd even have a chance to give our underwater cameras to the divers who would take pictures of us underwater. After a 15-20 minute briefing, off we went! One lady got scared and backed out. The reason is because in order to enter the BOB, you have to duck your head under the water for a couple seconds and resurface with your head in the air bubble (the rest of your body is outside, although there's room for your hands in the bubble if needed), and it's not for claustrophobic people, which the lady was. Jane and I got in our BOBs with no problem, and were submerged by the divers. When you were submerged, it was an adjustment because your ears keep popping due to the pressure at 25 feet under. You get used to it though. They had everyone hold hands (so no one would take off) until we got the signal to go, and I tried (with little success) to take a picture of Jane - it was hard because we were holding hands, she was on my left, and I couldn't aim properly and press the shutter. Also I didn't want to let go of my camera and lose it! We were given the signal to go and we were off! The fish were so beautiful you could almost touch them, they were right in front of you. If I were a smart man, I would have enjoyed the sights and the experience of being 25 feet under, something that very few people have experienced in the BOB. But no, I had to treat it like a race and do everything in my power to be in 1st place. So while Jane was enjoying it and saw sea turtles and corals, I was mashing the accelerator button with my thumb, and was WAY out in front of everyone, right behind the diver. The diver even told me to stop at one point and let people catch up. The divers would stop and feed the fish and they would swarm everywhere, you can feel them touching your face! Once everyone caught up, the divers took our camera and took pictures of us. They took a few pictures too far away, but a couple turned out OK. We then started again, and Jane saw a few scuba divers who waved at her. By this time, my poor thumb was throbbing, and I lost my precious lead. We were in the water for over an hour before resurfacing. After we got out of the BOBs, Macho Man said we could go snorkelling, but we'd only have 20 minutes. Because it would take us about 10 minutes to suit up and get used to the water, we just stayed on the boat - the water was very cold that day and it was windy. And we forgot our towels, some gentleman was kind enough to loan his towel to Jane. I wasn't that cold after a couple minutes - the wind was nothing compared to a Canadian winter. On the way back to the pier, the staff tried on vain to sell us overpriced T-shirts, but to no avail. We said our goodbyes and tipped the staff.

Before we went back on the ship, we went to claim Jane's ring, and it was fantastic. We thanked the store staff and went back on the ship after taking some final pictures of St. Thomas. We both want to go back one day, as this was our favourite port on the cruise. It's sunny, warm, safe, and friendly. It seems like a great place to live. If we ever win the lottery we will buy a house here.
Before dinner, there was a game of Bingo, with the prize being a 7 night Alaskan cruise! Tickets were $15, so we bought one. Sadly, we did not win.

Tonight was casual night, and it was a sad night because it was our last time being served by Vides, Carlos, and the wine sommelier (the one with 13 consonants in a row for her name). As I ate what felt like "The Last Supper", we had tears in our eyes because we realized the cruise was almost over. We wanted to go back in time and be pampered all over again. We tipped Vides, Carlos, Hafit, "The Silent Partner", and the assistant Maitre' D. Normally people use cash but we charged the tips to our account and the ship gave us vouchers to give to the staff. Everyone was so grateful - well the assistant Maitre' D didn't look like he cared less but everyone else was so happy. They also encouraged us to fill out the survey cards that were delivered to our stateroom. It seems as though Celebrity takes customer satisfaction very seriously. After saying our final goodbyes to our friends on the staff that had served us so well the part 7 nights, we went to the final show in the Celebrity Theatre. The show was called "Celebrate The World", and featured performances with music from all different countries. The show was probably the best one on the entire cruise, with the singers shining once again. Even the dancers were great on this night. Dominique and Clarisse again wowed the crowd with their unbelieveable aerial acrobatics.

Following the show, we went to buy some more pictures from the photo team, and went to the casino, where I dropped $60 US like a hot potato. Oh well, I gave it a shot. On our way back to our room, we met our new friends from California and had a long talk about our experiences on the cruise. They actually were on the first leg of back-to-back cruises, so as I write this they're on a cruise right now (hope you enjoy it!). We all love to snorkel, perhaps we'll meet up on a cruise one day and snorkel with them. After talking for a while, it was time to say our goodbyes. We got their e-mail address, and wished them well. It was back to our stateroom to pack. Jane did almost all of the packing due to her being more organized and neat than I am. I did a great job of supervising her and getting in the way, asking stupid questions. We made sure everything (except what we needed the next day) was packed, and we placed our luggage outside our door (has to be there by midnight) so that the crew could pick it up for us.

I was hoping to get up early and watch the arrival in our return port, San Juan, but when I got up at 6 AM, we had already docked. It was time to leave.

Day 8 - The end

2005-12-13T11:57:00.002-07:00

We woke up depressed, knowing that we would be leaving for good in a couple of hours. We ensured everything was packed away in our carry-on bag, and then got dressed and went to our final breakfast buffet. We savoured every moment, knowing the next meal we had we'd either have to pay for or make ourselves. After breakfast, we had to follow the disembarkation procedures as received in a letter the preceding night. In our case, we had to go to the Celebrity Theatre and wait for our group to be called. The groups were organized by colour and number (our group was Red 2). The only source of laughter we had that morning was when the gentlemen called another number & colour, (ie Yellow 1), I kept saying "Bingo". Other people gave us dirty looks but I didn't care. Finally, Red 2 was called, and I said my final "Bingo" and we headed off the ship for the final time.

We were directed to the area where all the luggage was, sorted by group colour and number. It was well organized and I found Red 2 right away, and for the first time in over a week, had to actually engage in physical labour by lugging our baggage to the bus - remember we had paid for a transfer to the airport previously. We got on the bus and the driver took our transfer voucher. The only problem was the truck that was to carry our luggage to the airport didn't show up on time, so we had to drive to the airport and leave our luggage on the pier. We were assured by the driver that our luggage would be right behind us. And I've seen Morgan Fairchild naked. Thanks. We got to the airport, and had to wait about 45 minutes for our luggage to arrive. During that time we talked with the French Canadian couple we met in Barbados, and I even made them laugh with my pitiful French language skills. Unfortunately we never got to say goodbye because we were separated when our luggage arrived. Hopefully they had a safe flight back to Montreal. Jane and I were considering taking a tour of San Juan, because it was only 10:30 AM and our flight didn't leave until 5:30 PM. But we were already tired so we decided to stay in the airport all day. We had a bit of trouble checking in for our flight because we didn't know where to go, but the airport staff was helpful and we found our way and checked in by 11:30 AM. We looked around the airport for a restaurant and found a little sports bar around noon. It was packed. We had some lunch and made conversation with a couple from Rochester, New York that had just disembarked from a ship called the Golden Princess - it turns out we actually docked beside their ship in Grenada - it was HUGE, bigger than ours! The husband ordered the same lunch as me, I noticed while I was eating that he was staring at my food. While we were eating, this loud music started playing and I started dancing... turns out it was a live band and live dancers roaming the airport. All the staff in the restaurant stopped to dance to - it looked so funny.

After lunch, it was 1:30 PM so we had about 3 hours to kill before we went to our gate, so we just looked around the shops and bought a magazine to read. We bought a few trinkets and some small bottles of rum, and while we were wandering we saw that roaming band and dance troupe twice. I danced both times and Jane got embarrassed. It was hilarious to see all the staff in every shop just stop and dance when the troupe came by each time. We got onto our flight to Miami, and the flight was only a couple hours, and non eventful so I won't really go into any detail. The only thing of significance was that we had to set our watches back by one hour as we were going back on Eastern Standard Time. I was worried that we'd miss our connecting flight to Toronto but Jane reminded me about the one hour time difference and I was reassured that we'd have plenty of time to get to our gate in Miami. Actually, when we got to Miami the pilot announced the gates for all the connecting flights, and the flight to Toronto was at the other side of the airport! We got to Miami at 7:05 PM and the flight started boarding at 7:35PM, to leave at 8:18 PM. So we had to RUN to the other gate. Signs said it was a 17 minute walk, but we made it in 8 minutes. We are in good shape! If it wasn't for all those old people in our way we could have done it in 6 or 7. After we got to our gate, I bought Jane a coffee at Starbucks (her favourite white chocolate mocha) with my remaining cash, $4 US (this will be significant a bit later). We boarded the plane thinking we'd get a meal or a decent snack. Well, remember what I said about American Airlines earlier? It still applies here. Despite being a 3 hour flight, the only thing we were given was a TINY bag of corn chips, containing 8 chips (I counted). We were also offered water or pop. Gee thanks. For the money we paid for these flights you'd think they'd have a decent snack. Also the flight attendants were kind of rude. I don't think we're ever flying American Airlines again.

We made it back to Toronto about 11:16 PM, and quickly passed through Canadian immigration as it wasn't busy at all - it only took about 5 minutes. The poor officers looked tired, but they were professional and friendly. After that we claimed our luggage. Jane has this habit of thinking that every bag coming down the chute is ours, so I spent the next 20 minutes hearing "Here comes our bag - oops, nope that isn't ours" over and over. Finally we got our bags and called the people at Skyparx parking to come pick us up. The representative told us exactly where to go for the pickup. We quickly passed through the final security checkpoint and proceeded to the pickup point. It only took us about 5 minutes from the time I hung up with Skyparx to the time we got to the pickup point, but the guy from Skyparx had already arrived! They're quick, and so friendly. We will definitely use them again since they take the hassle out of parking for a trip. The driver was the same guy that dropped us off a week ago, the one that admonished us for using American Airlines. I realize now that he was 100% right about that. We made some conversation on the quick drive back to Skyparx (only a 3-4 minute drive) about the weather, the recent crimes announced on the radio, and the fact that our hockey team lost again. It made us want to go back on vacation.

When we got back to Skyparx, all the cars were half buried in snow. The driver took us right to our car, which was nice since the parking lot was huge, and asked if I had a snow brush, which I did. He then helped me take the luggage out of the truck, and I gave Jane the keys to warm up the car. Remember how I spent my remaining $4 US on a coffee in Miami? Well here I was, facing this guy who had been so helpful, for a service we planned to use again, and I had no money to tip him with. Thinking quickly, I gave him a bottle of the rum punch we bought in the Mount Gay Rum Distillery in Barbados. I was nervous that he'd give me a weird look, but he must have been a rum fan because his face lit up and he looked so happy and thanked us. From there, we drove off and eventually made it to our house in Whitby. Home sweet home. But I want to go back to the Caribbean. Maybe one day!

Epilogue

2005-12-13T10:57:00.002-07:00

Looking back on the last week, I can honestly say that it has changed our outlook on life. Seeing the way the people in the Caribbean treat each other, and how they live their lives, it really puts things in perspective. They take things slow, enjoy each moment to its fullest, always smile, and take nothing for granted. For example, driving in Grenada we were told about their mantra, the reason they drive cautiously - "It's better to lose a minute in this life than to lose a life in this minute". That's deep, but it's true. In the Caribbean, it's not about the destination, it's about the journey. I'm not sure this way of life can be fully applied in the hustle and bustle of Toronto, Canada, but we will try our hardest to hang on to this ideal.

If all goes well, Jane and I will take another cruise in 2007 - perhaps a 14 night cruise to Europe and back! But we want to cruise again - there's nothing like it. If you can dress yourself each morning and lift up a fork, you can go on a cruise. It was worth every single penny and I wouldn't trade the time we had for anything. If you've ever considered going on a cruise but weren't sure, we would recommend one with 100% confidence. You won't regret it.

I hope you enjoyed reading the journal of our first cruise!