Appeal to end Alaskan $50 cruise pax head tax

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Summit Participants Push Repeal of Cruise Tax

Celebrity Cruises Artfully Presents 'The Essence of Equinox'

Art collection on new Celebrity Equinox includes pieces from Celebrity Galaxy

Celebrity Cruises Artfully Presents 'The Essence of Equinox'

Celebrity Cruises Launches 'Celebrity Life'

Celebrity Cruises Launches 'Celebrity Life'

Interesting - Celebrity and Oceania both have very intriguing dining changes within a day of each other. Others to follow?

Sea Days or Port Days?

If my husband had his way cruises would have no sea days - just one port after another. Me, I like a nice mixture of the two.

We have been on a couple of 14-day Southern Caribbean cruises where just about every single day was in port. Halfway through I was exhausted, wanting nothing better than to sleep in till, oh, I don't know, maybe nine. Instead, I found myself staggering out of bed early each morning, awakened by - horrors! - an alarm of all things. (Isn’t that what you take a cruise to escape from?) Barely enough time to prop myself up in the shower, quickly down a cup of faux coffee, rush out the door, down to the gangway only to realize that as usual,I’d forgotten my ID in the mad panic out the door. Once ashore - and awake - I was always glad to have started so early, the entire day stretched out to explore, snorkel, shop, relax in the sun and have some umbrella drinks or ice cold beer at the beach. One more beautiful port to take in.

The downside to all the port days, though, is the price factor not even counting the most obvious one - shore excursions. If you’re not close to the ship, there’s lunch. There's drinks ashore, chairs and umbrellas at the beach, transportation, shopping, tour guide tips, ka-ching! It can really add up and in the back of my head I’m wondering to myself if I’ll ever get a chance to see what lunch is like on the ship, something I've paid for and am barely using.

How much you enjoy or don’t enjoy port days can be dependent on such things as shipboard activities or lack thereof, the weather, or how easy it is to get a chair poolside or anywhere remotely near the sun for that matter. This, of course, being dependent upon the number of chair hogs on your voyage - a topic all to itself. There are those who are content to simply like back, relax, read, whatever and never get off the ship. For them, the ship is the destination.

I don’t mind a couple of port days in a row. You can sleep in knowing you don’t have to be anywhere at a particular time. You can check out activities, or not. You can eat whenever you want and don’t have to pay for it. Port days are definitely cheaper. Well, except for those poolside buckets of beer. Or the drink-of-the-day specials. Or the shops being open. Or the casinos being open which, on the other hand, if fortune shines on you, they can be a lot cheaper!

A stop in Cuba getting closer to reality?

Cruise lines surge as US-Cuba talks raise hope

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It was a dark and stormy night...

Or maybe it was a beautiful sunny day with what seemed the gentlest of swells. No matter: whenever I came back from leave I almost always got seasick when the weather or seas turned. It was usually just once and then I was good for another four months.

I wasn't alone. Both our cruise director and chief engineer, with many years at sea between them, got sick when they came back from leave, as did many crewmembers. You're either prone to seasickness or you're not and it can hit in the most unpredictable ways. You can make it through a windswept, rocking storm just fine and then become positively bilious on a bright sunny day with gentle, undulating swells.

To add to its charm it can hit without warning. One minute you're fine and the next you're frantically looking for a bathroom, bin, bag - any open receptacle will do. I remember being on the bridge once in casual conversation with others. The next thing I was dashing madly down the alleyway, the first mate yelling, "First door on your left! First door on your left!"

Some are affected by it worse than others. Once in Whittier, Alaska we were tied alongside on a beautiful summer day,the water like glass. Despite this, a woman phoned our office looking for the doctor, complaining of being seasick.

When I go on cruises I always come prepared because it is something you can usually stave off. I discovered Bonine a few years ago and swear by it. I like it because you only need to take one a day. I take it before going to bed and therefore am less apt to stagger around the ship all day like an extra out of Dawn of the Dead, an unfortunate side effect of Dramamine. Unfortunately, the last time I checked my local pharmacy I discovered it is no longer available in Canada for some bizarre reason. Just one more thing I'll have to add to my shopping list next time I am State side.

This isn't a what to do or what to avoid article on seasickness. There are plenty of those available on the Internet. But if I may add one piece of advice, don't foolishly court it as my husband and I did once on the northbound portion of a Mexican Riviera cruise. For some reason we thought it was a great idea, in rough seas, to go to the very top and forward lounge, stare out to sea and watch the ship go up and down, up and down, up and down in the crashing waves. But we did and paid for it by spending the last night in our cabin. Lesson learned; don't stop the Bonine just because the voyage is almost over...

Calling all wine drinkers!

Is it just me? I have Googled, Yahooed and MSNed and cannot seem to find a site that lists places close to embarkation ports - preferably worldwide - where you can pick up some wine before boarding. I know it's something I'd find useful and judging from the posts of others on Cruise Critic, I'm not alone.

I can do a lot of the research myself but would love to get input from those with first-hand knowledge of places that are close to embarkation ports and whose hours are convenient. Any other comments regarding selection, pricing, store websites, etc. would be very useful, too. I will be happy to compile all the information and post it somewhere for posterity. You can either contact me directly using the form at the very bottom of this page (scroll down - way down) or leave a comment at the bottom of this post.

And if such a site already does exist, please let me know because I can't find it!

Blink and you'll miss it: a lesson learned

As I'm sure many of you do, I keep my ear to the ground when it comes to price drops or adjustments.

I usually book in U.S. funds but on a recent cruise I purchased future cruise credits in Canadian funds since the dollar had been at par for some time. A month or two later, of course, the Canadian dollar started dropping leaving me to regret my decision. And by then I had already applied my future cruise credits (see blog below).

Recently, though, the Canadian dollar has gained strength and started to rise again. I could either cancel and rebook in U.S. or I could just wait and see if Princess adjusted their exchange rate which could potentially save me some money.

Well, I found out on Monday through a kind Cruise Critic poster that Princess had just adjusted their foreign exchange rate from $1.25 to $1.15. This effectively dropped the price of my booked cruise by about $170 a person. A nice little price drop and the second one since we'd booked the cruise.

But I was busy and got sidetracked. I figured I was safe because the drop was due to a change in their foreign exchange rate and what were the chances they'd adjust that again so quickly?

So I contacted my TA yesterday and although the spread between U.S. and Canadian prices were at the new rate, in the space of 24 hours the U.S. price had gone up. It had gone up to the point where the Canadian price was exactly where it had been before the rate adjustment. Grrrr...... my potential $340 savings gone.

So now I'm back to watching the pricing, hoping it will drop again and THIS time, I will move on it right away.

I'm feeling dizzy: must book another cruise...

I used to laugh at my mom who always felt ill at ease unless she had at least three cans of unopened coffee in the house. That was her worse fear: waking up and finding she was out of coffee.

I kind of feel the same way about cruises. If I have no upcoming cruises booked and there are no cruise countdowns on my signature I feel panicky. It's like a low blood sugar moment: a bit dizzy, lightheaded, unable to clearly focus.

One booked cruise is good; two is that much better. I see some people who have up to six upcoming cruises showing on their signatures. You must all sleep very well at night.

Is it just me? I sense it's not judging from what others post. Everyone knows the worst thing about a cruise is when it's over. One minute you're excitedly waiting to board the ship for the first time. Before you know it, you're walking downcast through your front door, hoping everything is in one piece and the cats have been fed.

And then horror of horrors, you're back to reality and work. All sense of relaxation gone, your tan starting to wash down the drain, the midsection bloat mercifully starting to subside.

For me,the only way to combat this feeling is to take things in hand, get proactive and book the next cruise. That is part of the fun of cruising: finding the next perfect itinerary, on the perfect ship, with the best cabin and at the best price possible. When I finally find exactly what I want and make a booking, a sense of calm descends upon me. I am at peace again, a small catastrophe averted. With another cruise on deck, I can get back to the task at hand and make a living to pay for it.

Except now my time is taken up with trying to find every possible picture I can of the ship online, checking out ports and the shore excursions, chatting with others, but that's a post for another day....

Cruising: something for everyone or may I interest you in a nude cruise?

Some cruise simply to relax with a book or stare out to sea all day, hypnotized by the ship's wake. Others may not see much of the day choosing to spend the evening partying and dancing away. Some never see much of the evening. You know the ones: poolside, drink in hand, at nine in the morning.

There are those who are up at first light, ship schedule in hand, determined to cram in every possible activity. And then there are the ones who never even open the ship schedule. Some cruise for the ports while others stay onboard, choosing never to get off the ship when in port.

There are cruises for foodies, cruises for wine lovers. Cruises geared towards families, cruises geared towards adults. You can golf on cruises, learn to ballroom dance, hone up on your computer skills, rock climb, skate, or surf. You can learn how to make sushi or exotic martinis. At wine seminars you can learn the difference between a cabernet sauvignon and a sauvignon blanc. You can show off your trivia, take the stage on karaoke nights, maybe even enter a talent show and perform in front of everyone at the end of the voyage.

And these are just things offered on regular itineraries.

Google "cruise" and your area of interest and you will find lots of specialty charter cruises, including, yes, clothing optional cruises. There are Elvis cruises, Beatles tribute cruises, jazz cruises, blues cruises. There are cruises on which specialty or big-name acts perform. One company, Sixthman, is responsible for putting together cruises that have recently featured such artists as Lynyrd Skynyrd (YouTube has some great clips from these cruises), John Mayer, Sarah McLachlan, Barenaked Ladies and a whole host of others. These cruises cost more than a regular cruise but if you love live music or are a huge fan of any such acts, they may well be worth your while. Instead of spending 2-3 days at an outdoor festival, lining up for the pleasure of using an outdoor toilet and camping amongst thousands of others, you can just stumble back to your cabin at the end of the night. It's like a festival without all the mud, muck and overpriced food and drinks.

Such is the beauty of cruising. There really is something for everyone.

Cruise Roll Calls

How many of you sign up for cruise roll calls on Cruise Critic but then never show up for the meet and greets on board? How many of you never even bother to sign up in the first place?

For those who may not know what these are, there are boards or "roll calls" on cruisecritic.com on which the commonality is a future cruise. You pick the line, the ship and then the actual voyage and meet other people who are taking the same cruise. The individual roll calls can range from hundreds of posts to thousands of posts depending on how active they are. Through them, a day and time is arranged as to when to meet or get together on the ship, usually held the first or second day. Depending on the numbers, sometimes a senior officer or two will come to the meeting.

I confess: I used to be a roll call lurker. I'd post a few times, maybe hook up with a few people for a private excursion but never showed up for the get-together on board. However, a recent 14-day Southern Caribbean cruise my husband I took with another couple completely changed my thinking. This was a great cruise with gorgeous ports of call every day but the downside was there was a definite lack of nighttime activity on board except for one very visible group of about 12 people. They were always out together and seemed to be having a great time. You'd see them in the specialty restaurant, around the pool, ashore, and in the public rooms at night laughing away.

Halfway through the cruise we met up with one of the couples from this group and it turned out they had all met through an online roll call. They obviously enjoyed each other's company and on the last couple of nights were already planning another cruise together.

So on a cruise we took in March I decided that this time we would actually show up for the meet and greet. As it turns out, we met two great couples who not only were at the next table to us in the dining room but lived about 10 miles away from us back home. Our group of four doubled to eight and we had a super time throughout the voyage with them. We had lively dinners together and great days ashore. We have since booked a future cruise on which one of these couples will be joining us.

Apart from friends you might meet, these roll calls give you the chance to join in on some great private shore excursions. We took two on our last cruise that were probably the best we've ever experienced and had we tried to arrange either of them on our own, wouldn't have had the wherewithal or numbers to do so.

If you've never signed up for a cruise roll call, consider doing so!