Tired of hairy chest contests? Might I suggest...

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In Vancouver we are currently in the midst of a insane heat wave. It's about 5,000 degrees out right now and if I didn't think I'd be electrocuted, I'd be writing this from the comfort of my bathtub. One thing that does help, though, is the glass of cold, local chenin blanc I have at my side. I love wine and I love cruising.

No surprise, then, that one of my favourite things to do on cruises is to go to the wine tastings or seminars. They're fun: you get to drink some wine, maybe learn something new and meet other people. It's a great way to break up a sea day and come in from the sun for a spell.

If you've wondered about going to one but thought it might be too stuffy, I can tell you from my experience they're anything but. There's a bit of swirling and a whole lot of swilling but no spitting - no worries about dribbling red wine down your white shirt. They are informative if you choose to listen rather than quickly work your way through the wine in front of you. But the information is delivered in a fun, relaxed way. I've been to several and I almost always learn something new each time.

The wine samplings are decent - whites, reds and maybe a dessert wine. Princess has two wine tastings: one is a basic one and another features more higher end wines and champagne. You pay a bit more but probably the only time I'll ever be able to try Opus One!

A cynic would say they're just trying to sell more dinner table wine but so be it. It's fun, informative, and a good way to waste away an hour or so, all for the price of a couple of glasses of wine. If you're tired of the usual poolside shenanigans, try one on your next cruise. Maybe we'll be table mates.

Appeal to end Alaskan $50 cruise pax head tax

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Summit Participants Push Repeal of Cruise Tax

Roll out the barrel: bringing wine onboard

Like many, I like to bring wine on board when I cruise: some for cabin use, some with dinner in the dining room. Different lines have different policies, though, as to what you are officially allowed to bring on. Unless consumed in your cabin, they will all officially charge a corkage fee for drinking it in the dining room. Officially being the operative word in both cases and oftentimes randomly applied.

Below is a link to my list outlining each major line's policy. It is in scroll mode so you'll have to use your mouse to scroll down to read it in its entirety. Please keep in mind this is taken from their websites as of July 26, 2009. In some cases your actual ticket or contract may say something different. I'm no expert but if push came to shove over a disagreement while boarding I would imagine the ticket I carry - the official contract between myself and the cruise line - would be the final word.

As different as every line's policy is is the way in which these policies are applied. Some people talk of bringing more than the official amount on board, either in carry-on or in checked luggage. Others talk of having wine confiscated and held until the last night of the voyage if they're over the official limit. Some successfully bring wine on board at ports of call while others have it held until the end of the voyage. I've witnessed both happen, sometimes on the same ship but in different ports. Sometimes corkage will be applied every night, sometimes it's more hit and miss.

Please remember the attached is taken directly off their websites. I would welcome comments from all as to what your experience has been. Just click on "comments" below to post. I think this would be very valuable for everyone and help guide others in their decision.

Salut!

How much wine for which line?

Cruise ship impales baby whale, docks at Vancouver port

Oh, this is so very sad.

Cruise ship impales baby whale, docks at Vancouver port

UPDATE: This is a press release from Princess as of yesterday afternoon taken from their website.

News Article
7/25/2009

Sapphire Princess Statement

This morning at 6:30 am as Sapphire Princess was preparing to dock in Vancouver, a dead whale was discovered on top of the bulbous bow, the part of the bow that goes through the water.

We were shocked and saddened by this discovery, and sincerely regret the circumstances which led to the whale's death. It is unknown how or when this could have happened, as we have strict whale avoidance procedures in place when our ships are in the vicinity of marine life. We are not aware that any whales were sighted as the ship sailed through the Inside Passage to Vancouver yesterday.

Upon discovering the whale, we notified the Canadian Coast Guard, and they have asked for the assistance of the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. We will cooperate with any investigation into the circumstances of the whale's death.

We take our responsibility to be good stewards of the marine environment very seriously, and have clear guidelines for our ships on how to operate if whales are sighted nearby, which include altering course and reducing speed as required.

Fall out from Bermuda's stand on cruise ship gambling...

Holland America may stop visiting Bermuda?

Hotels chief: MPs are destroying tourist trade

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?

Chef Jacques Pepin to Open French Bistro Onboard Oceania Cruises

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Be still my beating heart: yum, yum.....

World Renowned Master Chef Jacques Pepin to Open French Bistro Onboard Oceania Cruises' New Marina

Reflections #3: Junk Food and Jammies

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Embarkation day for passengers: as exciting and fun as debarkation day is not. Getting on the ship for the first time, checking everything out, unpacking, lifeboat drill, maybe a cocktail or two before dinner. And then your first big meal on board and meeting your new dinner mates. Fingers crossed you're all compatible and there's not a lot of long, awkward pauses. After dinner maybe a nightcap or two, try your luck in the casino or a walk on deck, before collapsing in bed tired after your first big day on board.

Embarkation day for crew: exhausting. Everyone has been up bright and early getting the ship cleared, trying to get passengers off quickly, cabins cleaned and set up for the next round of passengers, sorting out and delivering luggage, getting stores on and sorted. On top of the work hard there is often the play hard the night before. Crew members are also often debarking that morning, going on leave. This can mean big send-off parties the night before that usually go on very, very late. Add it all up and crew are exhausted by the end of embarkation day.

On days like this my cabin mate and I, in the scant time we had between passengers getting on and off, would run over to the closest Winn-Dixie. We'd quickly run down the aisles and load up on the worst kind of junk food we could find along with some gossipy tabloids. Our favourite was the Weekly World News.

When the day was finally over - and we always worked longer than usual because embarkation day never went smoothly – we would pick up some beer or a cocktail from the crew bar and head back to our cabins. There we'd get in our sweats or jammies, prop ourselves up on pillows, open a beer, eat our way through our junk food and read the Weekly World News out loud, both of us trying to top the other with the most outrageous, ridiculous story we could find.

The long day, lack of sleep and the paper's utter nonsense and out and out fabrications would lead to hysterical fits of laughter, tears running down our face. That and a few beers later, the day's stress would melt away and we would finally crash, sleep well and be ready to start all over again the next day with a new voyage and new round of passengers. Hopefully rested enough to take on the next evening's formal night, always a big night.

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!

Reflections #1: Excuse me? I have to do what?

When I signed up to work on a ship, I pictured myself traveling the world, having fabulous meals, walking the decks late at night gazing at the stars. I never imagined myself in a cramped room, late at night, ink up to my elbows, in tears trying to get a printing press working while plotting its demise.

On our ship we in the purser’s office were responsible for producing all the ship’s printed material - the daily program, tent cards, cocktail invitations, menus and the like. The laying out part of it was kind of fun and you could even get a bit creative using an IBM Compositor and later an Apple Mac. Nice, clean user-friendly machines…

But no matter how much everyone enjoyed that part, they knew what lay ahead: the AB Dick printing press. There were rumours that one of our ships - the QE2 - had real printers who did this at union rates. Not us, though. We all had to take our turn on it once every four months. The most immaculately groomed of us could, within a matter of one shift, have deep black ink embedded under nails that could only be gotten rid of by growing them out. Despite smocks that we wore securely over our uniforms, the ink defied all odds, sometimes getting right through to our bras.

The machine was used constantly and as such had a tendency to break down, a lot. At sea with no technicians available, we were at the mercy of finding an engineer who could help us out yet again. The program had to go out every night without fail even if it took until midnight. You therefore had cabin stewards anxiously popping in and out looking for them as they in turn couldn’t finish for the night until there was a program under every cabin door.

When the press actually did work, it was kind of soothing to stand back and listen to the rhythmic “ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk,” as each sheet ran through. Still, you couldn't allow yourself to become too complacent as massive jams and breakdowns were only one sheet away, lying in wait.

I’ve no idea how daily programs are produced these days or by whom. I imagine the job is far easier now. But I can never look at one without remembering what we had to go through to produce them back in the day.

At last! Second Amtrak train between Vancouver & Seattle

It is finally going to happen beginning in August:

Go-ahead for new Seattle train

It looks like this will depart Seattle later in the day and then depart Vancouver in the morning, exact schedules unknown right now.

Hopefully the Seattle departure will be late enough to benefit those disembarking trying to get from Seattle to Vancouver. The current train is much, much too early.

As for leaving Vancouver in the morning ideally the timing will benefit those disembarking and trying to get to Seattle. If it's too early, though, it should still help those trying to get to Seattle to embark. Right now the train is far too late.

Either way, though, it might make day-tripping easier and it's nice to have another alternative.

I'll keep you posted!

Final Payment - Yippee!!!

Apart from the excitement of putting down the deposit on a cruise the next best part is the final payment date. Assuming you've budgeted wisely, of course, and you even have the final payment. Barring freak storms, flu outbreaks or civil unrest, the cruise is within sight.

I did just that today, well, my husband did, for our Oct. 2 Zaandam cruise. No more backing out now without paying cancellation fees. We are now firmly stuck in. Time to start thinking about filling out the online immigration forms and setting up our shipboard account. Time to remind myself that - yikes! - I only have three months left to renew my passport, something I'd foolishly been putting off when the cruise was far, far away.

As Holland America has now moved to e-documents, I made sure to request paper documents. It may well be the last cruise I ever take in which I have something tangible to hold in my hands before leaving, evidence of a cruise around the corner. There's something so much nicer about holding stiff coloured luggage tags rather than flimsy black and white ones printed off my computer, barely readable as I try to suck out every last bit of ink.

On a longer cruise, I would seriously start researching the ports now; however, this is only a 2-night cruise with a stop in Victoria. We may not even leave the ship this time but rather hang out in the hot tub, socialize and drink special coffees.

I know there are some who would start thinking about packing now. I rarely unpack from previous cruises except for what I need in my non-cruise life. But that's more because of laziness rather than any efficiency on my part. But the beauty of that is that apart from throwing in some smalls, I'm almost always ready to pick up and leave on a moment's notice. Well, there was the time, though, when I left all my bathing suits behind on a Mexican Riviera cruise...

But I think packing is a whole 'nother post in itself, don't you?

Shake it Like a Polaroid Picture: Shipboard Martinis

My husband and I are not really spirit drinkers. But we will always make an exception for a shipboard martini. There's something about them that is just so social.

Celebrity in particular is known for its great martini bars and the seriously entertaining bartenders who work them. I have often seen better shows put on by them behind the bar than by entertainers on stage.

Apart from the healthy sized regular martinis they serve, they also have a martini sampler. This sampler consists of six mini martinis all for about the price of a regular martini, although I have read recent posts that it is twice the price on the Solstice. Hmmm....

The sampler is something you definitely want to share with a friend. Not saying you have a problem if you don't but at the very least you'll have to drink them fast before they get warm. If one of the flavours doesn't appeal to you, they're usually pretty accommodating and will make one you do like. It's just a win-win situation whichever way you look at it.

But a word to the neophyte: martinis are deceptively smooth and can catch up with you all of a sudden. We saw it first hand on the Constellation after a young fellow went through two samplers on his own. When he finally, very delicately, got up he made his way out of the bar as if we had just encountered gale force winds. I'm not sure we had even sailed yet.

Apart from the bartenders and their fabulous concoctions, these bars are simply a great place to congregate before or after dinner. There's always a lively crowd present and it's a great opportunity to hook up with some other passengers and have a laugh or two. But the bars are tiny so get there early!

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!