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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 01:27 am | 1st Post |
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Hey everyone, we're booked on this one, and have been for quite some time.
Anyone wanna come along??
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Catnip
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 02:37 am | 2nd Post |
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We'll be cruising the exact same time as you......4/4/08 Brilliance of the Seas.
Don't forget we'll be in Aruba on the same day! Let's plan to meet somewhere!
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33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 02:39 am | 3rd Post |
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Catnip wrote: We'll be cruising the exact same time as you......4/4/08 Brilliance of the Seas.
Don't forget we'll be in Aruba on the same day! Let's plan to meet somewhere!
Denise, it's almost like being on the same cruise, huh.!!!
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Catnip
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Posted: Tue Jul 24th, 2007 02:40 am | 4th Post |
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I wish we were going to be on other islands together, too.......
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33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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sailing away
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Posted: Mon Dec 31st, 2007 05:28 am | 5th Post |
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| Hello mind if I join this chat? My hubby and I are booked on the Emerald princess 4/08. Any one have any recommendations on what to see and do and what to avoid?
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Catnip
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Posted: Mon Dec 31st, 2007 02:14 pm | 6th Post |
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Welcome!!!! You are most welcome here on this thread, or any!!! Please feel free to jump in wherever you want! Any forum, any thread!!! :coolguy:
We love to meet and chat with new folks---we have lots of fun threads. We even have a special forum (our Topless Deck), for non-cruising fun. We have a library to talk about good books, a Hapy Hour thread, Good Morning thread, joke thread and tons of others. Look around and post wherever you want to!
I have not sailed on the Emerald before. I have sailed on Princess about half a dozen times.
Have you been on Princess before? Any other cruise lines?
____________________
33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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sailing away
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 05:33 am | 7th Post |
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We have not been on the Princess line and have only been on one other cruise. That was on the carnival Pride when she was new. We took her first voyage to the Mexican Riviera. It was great and a good warm up fro my husband who didn't think he would like cruising. He really liked it and we are excited to try the Southern Caibbean. Have you been there? What island is best for just snorkling and laying on the beach? Any tour recommendations?
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 08:15 am | 8th Post |
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sailing away wrote: We have not been on the Princess line and have only been on one other cruise. That was on the carnival Pride when she was new. We took her first voyage to the Mexican Riviera. It was great and a good warm up fro my husband who didn't think he would like cruising. He really liked it and we are excited to try the Southern Caibbean. Have you been there? What island is best for just snorkling and laying on the beach? Any tour recommendations?
HI SAILINGAWAY and welcome to CTT. This will be my 8th cruise on Princess,
but the first time to MOST of the islands. We have a big roll call going for
this one on a different board with about 130 of us on the roll call ---
Anyway, we usually do the Mexico route on Princess out of San Pedro, and I've
also heard good things about the Pride. Princess is a lot different than Carnival,
IMHO. They have Personal Choice dining, also known as "Anytime dining".
Princess is a little more laid back than Carnival, yet there is always a lot going
on, and what I like the most is there is a lot to do at night. The crowds are
comprised of people mostly in their 40's and 50's, and depending on the time of year, 60's and 70's, but because this is the tail end
of Spring Break, I'm expecting the crowd to be a good mixed-age crowd.
There will be a lot of people on this sailing; it's almost sold out, and this is my
first time on a ship that holds so many passengers. Most Princess ships hold
around 2600 and this one, 3,100.
As for tours, we still don't know what we're doing in most ports, but we have
been to St. Thomas twice before, and this time we're doing the Princess tour
which goes to St. John [neighbor island]
To this day, that place rates at the most beautiful beach I've ever been to.
We've also done an island tour before and that was very nice too [St Thomas]
We've been to Princess Cays before, and it's only Princess people that go there.
It's at the southern tip of the island of Eleuthera in the Bahamas and we love
it there too! We're not renting a cabana or anything [$25] because we plan
to get off the ship first thing at 9:00 a.m. and get two nice lounge chairs under
a shady palapa hut for free.
If you have any other questions please feel free to ask.
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sailing away
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 04:56 pm | 9th Post |
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| Thank you so much for that input! We had looked also at that St. John tour and wanted to know do you really have to book ahead or can you book your tours when you get on the ship? On Carnival we just booked on the ship but if this is almost full maybe we should rethink that. Also we were going to reserve a cabana but I am glad you can get chairs for free. Happy New Year!
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Catnip
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 05:27 pm | 10th Post |
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sailing away wrote: We have not been on the Princess line and have only been on one other cruise. That was on the carnival Pride when she was new. He really liked it and we are excited to try the Southern Caibbean. Have you been there? What island is best for just snorkling and laying on the beach? Any tour recommendations?
What islands will you be visiting? I have been to most of the islands.
Are you sailing out of San Juan? Will you be flying in the day before the cruise?
____________________
33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Tue Jan 1st, 2008 07:35 pm | 11th Post |
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Catnip wrote: sailing away wrote: We have not been on the Princess line and have only been on one other cruise. That was on the carnival Pride when she was new. He really liked it and we are excited to try the Southern Caibbean. Have you been there? What island is best for just snorkling and laying on the beach? Any tour recommendations?
What islands will you be visiting? I have been to most of the islands.
Are you sailing out of San Juan? Will you be flying in the day before the cruise?
Denise,
OUr itinerary is as follows:
Aruba, Bonaire, Grenada, Dominica, St.Thomas, Princess Cays and 4 sea days!!!!
To sailingaway: If there is a tour that you're very interested in, you will be better
off booking in on line through the Princess Cruise Personalizer. You can always
cancel your tickets once you board the ship. The tickets will be in your room
on embarkation day, but you can simply return them to the Tour Desk and
they will be credited to your shipboard account. Make sure you return the
tickets at least 24 hours in advance though.
Most people book their tours on line these days, at least with Princess, and
I'm afraid by waiting, that will render you unable to get the more desired tours.
The tour I was referring to was the St. John snorkel tour. THey also have a whole
day and half-day catamaran to St. John, but the half-day gets poor reviews
and the whole-day gets mixed reviews.
On Dominica, we might go with a private tour. There is http://www.benotours.com
which a lot of people on another board seem to like a lot, and there is one
other guy who gives a most comprehensive tour but his name escapes me right now. We usually do do ship-sponsored
tours, but if we're familiar with our destination, we feel comfortable doing a
private tour as well.
The feedback with Grenada seems to be one of "go with a ship sponsored tour"
because there are some rough folk there, but once again, that might be subjective.
Bonaire is well-known for it's wonderful scuba diving and snorkeling. A lot of
people seem interested in Klein Bonaire. You can google that, too.
Princess has a tour for 3 hours to KB which sounds nice. But we're torn
between going there or going on the all-day beach tour.
I'm a beachy person and my husband is not ... the thing dissuading me from
Klein is there are no restroom facilities there, and although it's only a 3-hour
tour ... well, you know...
St. Thomas is the "shopping" island, but I'm not really a shopper, nor do I buy
jewelry while in the islands, but the jewelry shopping seems to get a lot of
people excited.
As far as Princess Cays, when we were there last, we disembarked the
tender boat and then went to the right-hand side [as you're facing the island] and
they had plenty of loungers under palapa huts; it's not nearly as crowded
on that side of the resort. But if you like water sports, then you might want
to veer to the left.
About the cabanas: If there was no other shade option, I would pick a cabana,
but as others have pointed out, unless you get a cabana in the front row facing
the ocean, you will be in a cabana that faces the back of another cabana...
Most all Princess ships we've been on have been nearly identical. The Emerald
represents the first ship that will be somewhat different for us, namely, an
extra passenger deck [Riviera] and a slightly different atrium area which now
has a place which sells paninis, et cet.
There is also the Horizon Court which is open 24/7 on other ships, but on the
Emerald, I'm not sure. They also have Caribe Cafe, which is a part of the Horizon
Court, and that is offered for casual dining if you don't want to go to the dining
room.
There is the specialty restaurant, Sabatini's, which IMHO is too much food.
We did that once in 2003, but haven't felt compelled to go back.
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sailing away
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 01:08 am | 12th Post |
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| We are hopefully flying in the day before. Cost is a factor if we fly into Ft. Lauderdale or Miami. Not sure if it costs much to get down to the cruise ship from Miami. We fly out of the west coast. Nothing goes straight into Ft. Lauderale and we have to change planes 1-2 times. 10-12 hours of flying. We are also going to the same islands that elizabethtaylor mentioned. Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, St. Thomas and Princess Cays.
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sailing away
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 01:13 am | 13th Post |
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| Wow you have all been so helpful!!! I thought that once you bought your tours you were stuck with them. Nice to know that we can trade or cancel. I also appreciate the info on the cabanas and the food. We have been booked on this cruise for 6 months now and it seemed a long ways off but it is coming up fast!
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 02:59 am | 14th Post |
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sailing away wrote: Wow you have all been so helpful!!! I thought that once you bought your tours you were stuck with them. Nice to know that we can trade or cancel. I also appreciate the info on the cabanas and the food. We have been booked on this cruise for 6 months now and it seemed a long ways off but it is coming up fast!
I know what 'ya mean, we've been booked for about 6 months too. We're flying
from the San Francisco bay area.
We fly Oakland, transfer in Dallas, and on to Ft. Lauderdale. We try to avoid any snowy states because of the potential delays.
If you're coming from the L.A. area you might want to look in to Jet Blue out
of Long Beach. I think they have a direct flight. I highly recommend flying in
the day before. It's a long-haul flight for those of us on the West Coast!
There is
a direct flight from SFO to Miami, but then we'd have to deal with getting
transportation up to Ft. Lauderdale, either Super Shuttle or taxi. According
to my research, it would have cost at least an addtional $75 for the two of
us, $35+ per person from Miami, to Ft. Lauderdale, so we've opted to
go directly to Ft. lauderdale. The cruise port is only minutes away from the airport.
We are flying in the day before since we are coming from so far, and believe me,
we've had situations before with delayed aircraft flying in to try to catch the ship
on the same day. Just not worth the stress! I can't recommend enough flying
in the day before. Hotels are pricy in April too since it's Spring Break time,
we were able to get the Renaissance on 17th Street for $200 a night. Right now
it runs $400 per night. All the Hampton Inns, et cet are around $200 right now
without a Priceline bid. Somebody just scored the Ren for $188 via Priceline.
We didn't want to take a chance of no hotel rooms available, so we booked
it back in August.
We got our airline tickets back in august for $340 rd trip and now they're $200
more per person --- there are stil good fares to be had, but yikes, horrible times...
Last edited on Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 03:04 am by elizabethtaylor
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sailing away
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 03:08 am | 15th Post |
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| Yikes on the prices of hotels! We are flying out of Portland. It seems that the prices are up and down. Maybe we will check into taking a hopper out of Portland to SFO and then over. Never thought that way might be cheaper and we could use some of our frequent flyer miles! Thanks for that thought! I will get busy and check into that hotel cost also. We could take a flight over night from PDX that gets us into Ft. Lauderdale at 7:00 on the 4th but that seems to be cutting it to close. And what do we do with our luggage and such until the ship boards? So may things to think about!
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Catnip
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 02:17 pm | 16th Post |
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sailing away wrote: Nothing goes straight into Ft. Lauderale and we have to change planes 1-2 times. 10-12 hours of flying. We are also going to the same islands that elizabethtaylor mentioned. Bonaire, Aruba, Grenada, St. Thomas and Princess Cays.
YIKES!!! You will be jet-lagged!!!!! That's longer traveling that when my DH went to England a few years ago. 
Not much in Bonaire, but it's great for scuba diving, if you do that. It's been many years since I've been there, so maybe the little town has built up more.
Aruba is very nice. We took an ship-sponsered 3-hr island tour and enjoyed it. 3 hours was a bit long, though, for me. The town has 2 shopping centers that have cute shops. I have not been to the beach, but hear it's very nice. There are tons of taxi's and people offering island tours and trips to the beach right when you get off the ship. I would think they are cheaper than the ships's excursions.
Princess Cay is one of my favorite's! A very nice beach day. Water sports galore and a pretty beach.
St Thomas is the place to shop for electronics, jewelry or booze. Tons and tons of stores!
Grenada has a cute harbour area that is nice to walk around. Nutmeg is grown there and most stores have it for sale. You can even get nutmeg ice cream!
Last edited on Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 02:17 pm by Catnip
____________________
33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Wed Jan 2nd, 2008 11:47 pm | 17th Post |
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sailing away wrote: Yikes on the prices of hotels! We are flying out of Portland. It seems that the prices are up and down. Maybe we will check into taking a hopper out of Portland to SFO and then over. Never thought that way might be cheaper and we could use some of our frequent flyer miles! Thanks for that thought! I will get busy and check into that hotel cost also. We could take a flight over night from PDX that gets us into Ft. Lauderdale at 7:00 on the 4th but that seems to be cutting it to close. And what do we do with our luggage and such until the ship boards? So may things to think about!
Hi sailingaway!
I just went to Portland for the first time in July and loved it!. My good friend
moved up there from San Fran.
Getting to Ft. Lauderdale can be a bit cumbersome, even for us. Too bad
we don't live in L.A., because they have a straight through on American Airlines.
We too had considered taking a red-eye and landing in FLL around 8:00 a.m but
also didn't know what to do with ourselves for 4 hours until being able to baord
the ship. We had a red-eye once to Puerto Rico and landed at 1 p.m. their
time after leaving at 10 p.m. OUR time and it was horrible -- worse than a flight
to Europe.. Needless to say, we were zombies on the first day. LOL
Airline tickets and hotels are so much pricier at this time of the year in Ft. Laud
unlike when we went in the off times where you could get a hotel for $64 which
retailed for $350. No such luck right now and it sure pushes up the price
of the trip. have you tried Southwest Airlines?
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sailing away
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 04:06 am | 18th Post |
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Hi! I hadn't thought of Southwest as they haven't come up on any of the search engines so I went right to the web site and about choked on the cost. It was almost $1300.00 for the 2 of us. I will contact my travel agent and let him do the work my head and eyes are going to fall off and out!! We have even thought about going day 2 days before just so we can see some of Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe then the price of tickets would be lower but then you spend your savings on hotel, so it is a catch 22. Will away travel agents input.
Portland is a great place. Close to the mountains for skiing and the beach for camping and the desert for hiking and fishing. Have thought and thought and can't come up with a better place to live. Except the rain of course but you just learn to run and dodge the drops! LOL
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elizabethtaylor
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Posted: Thu Jan 3rd, 2008 10:22 pm | 19th Post |
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sailing away wrote: Hi! I hadn't thought of Southwest as they haven't come up on any of the search engines so I went right to the web site and about choked on the cost. It was almost $1300.00 for the 2 of us. I will contact my travel agent and let him do the work my head and eyes are going to fall off and out!! We have even thought about going day 2 days before just so we can see some of Ft. Lauderdale. Maybe then the price of tickets would be lower but then you spend your savings on hotel, so it is a catch 22. Will away travel agents input.
Portland is a great place. Close to the mountains for skiing and the beach for camping and the desert for hiking and fishing. Have thought and thought and can't come up with a better place to live. Except the rain of course but you just learn to run and dodge the drops! LOL
Try http://www.farecast.com
They have a lot of airlines in their search engine.
I found tickets for $405 --
http://www.farecast.com/flightSearch.do?unique=&viewMode=list&datelimit=01%2F03%2F2008&searchType=mainpage&depPortText=Portland%2C+OR+%28PDX%29+-+Portland+International+Airport&o=PDX&depPortText=Ft.+Lauderdale%2C+FL+%28FLL%29+-+Ft.+Lauderdale+International+Airport&e=FLL&d1=04%2F03%2F2008&r1=04%2F14%2F2008&p=2&b=COACH&compareWithHTW_rt=on&submitBtn.x=54&submitBtn.y=28
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sailing away
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Posted: Fri Jan 4th, 2008 04:38 am | 20th Post |
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Yeah I found some of those same fares only they are flying out of Ft. Lauderdale at 6:00 am on the 13th. Since we don't get in until 7:00 do you think they might hold the plane for us!!???? LOL I am getting frustrated looking and am not sure what to do. Then I found a great rate on Orbitz and when I pushed purchase it said it had gone up to $615 per person, YIKES!!!
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sailing away
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Posted: Sun Jan 6th, 2008 03:23 am | 21st Post |
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| ALL done! Everything is booked, air fare, hotel and holding on the tours. Would like to find some place to do some parasailing! Scared of heights but son and D-I-L did it on their honeymoon and they just loved it. So would like to try. Anyone ever done this in any ports?
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Catnip
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Posted: Sun Jan 6th, 2008 03:26 am | 22nd Post |
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I have never tried it, but it does look like fun!
____________________
33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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sailing away
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Posted: Sun Jan 6th, 2008 03:29 am | 23rd Post |
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So you are going to the canal in April? That is one that we thought about. Hopefully that will be our next one. What line are you on?
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Catnip
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Posted: Sun Jan 6th, 2008 03:38 am | 24th Post |
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We'll be on RCCL's Brilliance of the Seas. We've been on this ship and this itinerary before and really enjoy it. The canal is not to be missed!!
____________________
33 previous cruises..
Next up: Celebrity Solstice 1-09/Jewel of the Seas 3-09/ QM 2 11-09/ Queen Victoria 1/10
**Triangles Are For Losers!**
When only cops have guns, it's called a "police state"
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sailing away
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Posted: Sun Jan 6th, 2008 04:46 am | 25th Post |
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| We look forward to trying all of the cruise lines. So far just Carnival and next it will be princess. Have you tried many? Which is your favorite?
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