Cruising

[RockDoctor]

What we have done on some cruises, is go to the cruise critic website, look for our exact cruise, and see if anyone is putting together private excursions. These can run from 2 to 10 people, and you can see a lot more.

I always go to the Cruise Critic site and sign up for my cruise's roll call. Have gotten in on a number of private excursions, and also received excellent advice regarding local tour operators, and walk-off options. And someone usually organizes a meet and greet on the first sea day for the CC roll call participants, so I get to meet my new online friends.

 

[ychuck46]

After a hiatus of 30 years the wife and I will be cruising out of New Orleans next May for our anniversary (she became violently sick on our 1988 cruise, and it took until now to get her to go again, albeit with Sea Bands and a variety of OTC drugs). Looking forward to it. We travel about 4-5 months per year with the timeshares and hope this opens up another avenue to augment that. Agree with others; for the price and what you get it isn't a bad deal, particularly on the biggest cruise lines. We'll be doing Carnival for the same reason that many do - the cost is reasonable whether we can afford better or not.

 

[omni550]

After a hiatus of 30 years the wife and I will be cruising out of New Orleans next May for our anniversary (she became violently sick on our 1988 cruise, and it took until now to get her to go again, albeit with Sea Bands and a variety of OTC drugs). Looking forward to it. We travel about 4-5 months per year with the timeshares and hope this opens up another avenue to augment that. Agree with others; for the price and what you get it isn't a bad deal, particularly on the biggest cruise lines. We'll be doing Carnival for the same reason that many do - the cost is reasonable whether we can afford better or not.

A recommendation from a fellow seasickness sufferer: I also wear the wrist bands plus I get an Rx from my doctor for Transderm Scop https://www.transdermscop.com/
(Per the directions, I applied a patch a day before the cruise, so I had 'protection' by the time I boarded.)

I was still not 100% on the cruise (maybe ~90%), but survived and actually enjoyed a 15-day cruise in some rougher waters.

omni

 

[Nemo2]

I also wear the wrist bands

Not what I'd consider rough, but DW, who gets mildly queasy, wore the wrist bands through this up near the Shetlands without discomfort:

 

[Souschef]

Not what I'd consider rough, but DW, who gets mildly queasy, wore the wrist bands through this up near the Shetlands without discomfort:

I have an almost identical photo, taken on the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia. DW suffers from motion sickness on planes, trains, and ships. She now takes Bonine (generic meclazine) and does not have a problem.

 

[Nemo2]

I have an almost identical photo, taken on the Tasman Sea between New Zealand and Australia.

The worst I've had was up near the Whitsunday Passage circa 1966.....tail end of a tropical cyclone aboard RHMS Patris, (a small ship by today's standards).

RMS Bloemfontein Castle / RHMS Patris

Most passengers were sick, so I had great service at mealtimes.

 

[ychuck46]

A recommendation from a fellow seasickness sufferer: I also wear the wrist bands plus I get an Rx from my doctor for Transderm Scop https://www.transdermscop.com/
(Per the directions, I applied a patch a day before the cruise, so I had 'protection' by the time I boarded.)

I was still not 100% on the cruise (maybe ~90%), but survived and actually enjoyed a 15-day cruise in some rougher waters.

omni

Omni, Thanks for the reply. The wife has some prescriptions she takes that the Transderm patches could possibly interact with, so she has to stay OTC. Have heard the patches work for many, though, so I am glad they worked (mostly) for you. Cruise well, my friend.

 

[omni550]

Omni, Thanks for the reply. The wife has some prescriptions she takes that the Transderm patches could possibly interact with, so she has to stay OTC. Have heard the patches work for many, though, so I am glad they worked (mostly) for you. Cruise well, my friend.

Thx. Wishing you two a wonderful time on the cruise.

omni

 

[kcowan]

In an otherwise lovely trip through the Croatian Islands in the Adriatic, we had to cross open water during a cyclone. The life vest was mandatory:

 

[kcowan]

We did have some good times though. Here are the Aussies showing us how.

 

[lawman]

My wife and I are considering a round trip cruise from Vancouver to Alaska through the Inside Passage..Wondering if anyone here has taken that cruise and would appreciate your trip review and suggestions..

 

[Souschef]

My wife and I are considering a round trip cruise from Vancouver to Alaska through the Inside Passage..Wondering if anyone here has taken that cruise and would appreciate your trip review and suggestions..

Attached is the trip story from our Alaskan cruise. We have booked another on Princess next year. It will be round trip from LA (NO FLYING!)If you have any questions, please PM us.
I would suggest arriving a few days earlier and taking the ferry to Victoria. Bouchart Gardens are not to be missed.

 

[lawman]

Attached is the trip story from our Alaskan cruise. We have booked another on Princess next year. It will be round trip from LA (NO FLYING!)If you have any questions, please PM us.
I would suggest arriving a few days earlier and taking the ferry to Victoria. Bouchart Gardens are not to be missed.

Wow! Outstanding..Since you are taking another I need not ask if you would do it again! Thanks!!

 

[Teacher Terry]

We took the Princess cruise round trip from San Francisco to Alaska and back. It was horrible and we are not fussy. The ship leaked through the light sockets and they put buckets in the hallways. The tender boats leaked when it was raining . The food in buffet was cold and nasty. Staff was rude. Half the public toilets quit working half way through the cruise. Some people had their rooms flooded and they put industrial fans in to dry it out.. You would have to pay me to take another one.

 

[lawman]

We took the Princess cruise round trip from San Francisco to Alaska and back. It was horrible and we are not fussy. The ship leaked through the light sockets and they put buckets in the hallways. The tender boats leaked when it was raining . The food in buffet was cold and nasty. Staff was rude. Half the public toilets quit working half way through the cruise. Some people had their rooms flooded and they put industrial fans in to dry it out.. You would have to pay me to take another one.

Wow! Have you cruised before? Do you remember the name of the ship and when was this?

 

[REWahoo]

lawman, we took an Alaskan cruise out of Seattle on Princess a couple of years ago and it was very good. We experienced none of the issues TT was plagued with.

 

[kcowan]

I would suggest arriving a few days earlier and taking the ferry to Victoria. Butchart Gardens are not to be missed.

Also a trip to the Capilano Suspension bridge and elevated forest walk, plus the gondola to Grouse Mountain before you go. Both available as tours from downtown Vancouver.

 

[audreyh1]

Wow! Have you cruised before? Do you remember the name of the ship and when was this?

I’m sure Teacher Terry will answer, but they go on many cruises.

 

[Teacher Terry]

Yes we go on 2 a year. I don’t remember the name of the ship but it was a older ship. We now only cruise on Royal Caribbean. We have cruised on a older RC also and had no problems. I wrote Princess and never received a answer.

 

[Teacher Terry]

This was 2 years ago

 

[Moemg]

I took the trip from Vancouver to Alaska several years ago . The inside passage is so interesting .I bought a map of the inside passage so we could track our journey .We went in May and had great weather . We only had showers one morning .This is the one cruise were a balcony gets used a lot . We stayed in Vancouver a few days before the trip and really enjoyed it .

 

[athena53]

I wrote Princess and never received an answer.

That speaks volumes.

 

[lawman]

Thanks guys..I appreciate all the responses..

 

[MisterBill]

And you board 'tenders' (smaller ships) to haul you onto port and back to the 'mother ship'.

'Too large for the port' cruise ships are the reason for using tenders.

omni

Wow..I would never have guessed that.

Missed this conversation a couple of weeks ago. It's not always (or even usually) due to the large ships. We're going to be in Newport, RI on an Oceania ship that holds under 700 passengers and we need to tender. In Grand Cayman, all ships must tender because there are coral reefs that surround the island. And we had a cruise in January that cancelled our GC stop because bad weather caused them to cancel all tendering. I learned that MSC does not refund port charges for missed ports, even though they don't have to pay them (and collected them from passengers as an add-on to the published fare).

In our case, since there were only 6 of us, we went down and said we had a meeting that we had to get to (not a lie) and they let us off before the ships busloads. We did have to walk once on the pier. The bus was right at the gangway

We tendered a couple of times in Norway ports recently on Holland America. The first time, we went down a half hour before the advertised arrival time and were off the ship before the scheduled time (the ship arrived early). Not all of the ship's tours leave right away so they do not need all of the first tenders. On the second tender port, I got complacent and did not go down early and had to wait, although we did still manage to get one before our private tour time.

 

[Nemo2]

It's not always (or even usually) due to the large ships.

I guess I should've clarified my laughing faces....aimed at the definition of and utilization of a tender.