The itinerary:
MON MOBILE, AL 4:00 PM
TUE FUN DAY AT SEA
WED COZUMEL, MEXICO 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
THU CALICA 7:00 AM 5:00 PM
FRI FUN DAY AT SEA
SAT MOBILE, AL 8:00 AM
SAT MOBILE, AL 4:00 PM
SUN FUN DAY AT SEA
MON PROGRESO, YUCATAN, MEXICO 7:00 AM 4:00 PM
TUE COZUMEL, MEXICO 9:00 AM 5:00 PM
WED FUN DAY AT SEA
THU MOBILE, AL 8:00 AM

This was a new experience for us booking two 5 day back to back cruises for New Year. We were on an economy kick this year trying to survive the very bad business conditions and continuing our tradition of taking an extended cruise for New Year. We booked the cruises from Mobile, AL in July. We also booked a pre and post cruise stay at the Marriott Renaissance Riverview Plaza Hotel on Water Street in Mobile. It included free covered parking for the duration of our cruises. We left on Saturday, Dec 26 and spent the night at a hotel south of Birmingham. We could have drove straight to port in about 10 hours, however we decided to take our leisurely time for this 605 mile drive. It was a very pleasant trip not having to get to the airport two hours before our flight and then flying 3 or 4 hundred miles north for our connecting airport and then waiting  2 or 3 hours for our next flight and after arriving at our destination waiting for our luggage and then finding ground transportation. Anyway, we arrived at the Renaissance around noon on Sunday, Dec 27. The hotel is one of the nicest we've stayed at. We had two large windows facing the water and would be able see the ship arrive at port. Well, that didn't happen! After we checked in and took all our bags to our room and did a little unpacking and getting comfortable we decided to go down to the bar and get a little lunch. After going out the door Rita remembered she wanted her sweater and we tried to get back in, to no avail. The keycard lock would not work. We went down to the lobby to get two more keys and went back up and still could not get in! A maintenance man came by and told us they were not supposed to rent the room because it had a bad lock. That's why when we first went up there with our bellman the door was propped open. To make a long story short they had to drill the lock off so we could more to another room across the hall. There went our great view! We headed down to the nice sports bar and spent the rest of the afternoon watching NFL football while they worked on the door. We finally were able in get in our new room in the late afternoon. Oh well, as they say sh** happens.

We were on the first shuttle at 10:45 Monday morning and were in the first group to board, around 11:30. We were told everyone's staterooms would not be ready until 1:30, so we did our own little tour of the ship until we ended up on the Lido deck for lunch.
Champaign was being handed out on Lido, kinda reminded us of our Celebrity cruises. Apparently it was because it was a New Year cruise.

The ship was very clean and the staff was very friendly. We liked the layout and once in our stateroom we liked it as well. The passenger's dress, including our, was a little weird for a Caribbean cruise--sweatshirts, sweaters, coats, and even parkas because of the cool weather. (low 40s) Another weird thing--Hoosiers! Of all our cruises we've only met a handful of other folks from Indiana. This one they were for the most part easily recognizable with their Colt's, IU, Purdue, Notre Dame, Butler, etc sweatshirts and jackets, including me in my Colts.

After lunch we went to find our late dining table in the Celebration dining room and were surprised to find it was a table for two. Our TA had us set up for a table for 6 or 8 for both cruises, with friends joining us for the second cruise. Carnival had it screwed up. We got with the Maitre 'D later on and stayed with our table for two for the first cruise and choose our table for six for the second cruise with the same waiter, Nino and assistant waiter. They did a fantastic job for our ten evenings in the dining room. They food was as good or better than any of our other cruises. We had breakfast in the dining room every morning except one and had lunch there once. All were good. The Windows by the Sea  buffet on the Lido deck was good, except it was very crowded on our first cruise because of all the families with kids. It was not as crowded on the second cruise, especially around the self serve ice cream. The pizza and sandwich bar in the Windows by the Sea, as well as the outside grill were good, as well. No complaints from us.

Our stateroom service from Noel was outstanding and Rita enjoyed the towel animals he made for us every day. We attended a lot of the production shows and they were all very good. The Beatle's tribute show and music was outstanding. The comedians, Ronnie Bullard and Happy Cole, were very hilarious including their adults shows. We don't normally attend many shows on our cruises but since all the lounges with dance floors and the piano lounge were all smoking, we attended the shows instead. They did not play ballroom music so we did not get to do much dancing. This we did not like! Only a couple nights, NYE and one other, were we able to dance outside on the Lido. It was just to darn cold!

The cruise director's staff was very good and we became friends with Dave, who was returning to England on our departure day, and Bonnie. They would always look us up to join in the activities, and we did. Rita won the hula-hoop challenge and Rita and Ellie won a couple of the trivia contest defeating the infamous Mr Google!

The ports were of no deal to us--we got off for an hour or so both times in Cozumel to shop. In Calica and Progreso we stayed aboard and took advantage of a little warmer weather and laid out to work on our winter tans. I did get to swim in the pool one day when the outside temp was around 70. Rita though I was nuts and she's probably correct.

All and all it was a good cruise, or should we say it was two good cruises. The only faults were the lack of our usual night life because of not having nonsmoking sections in the lounges. I smoked for 35 years and have been around smoke from welders, plasma, and laser cutters most of my life. Now cigarette smoke in a confined area gives me a sinus headache. Rita is just flat allergic to cigarette smoke. It's surpassing to us that Carnival bends over for 21% of the smoking public in spite of the 79% nonsmokers!

The Carnival Elation is replacing the Fantasy beginning in May. The Fantasy will move to Charleston. We cruised on the Elation about 10 years ago out of San Pedro, CA.
Mobile is such a convenient port for us and is a great city, however with Carnival's smoking policy and it's short (4 or 5 day) cruises we may not return. It would be nice to see other cruise lines there offering longer cruises.

Since it was my (Keith's) birthday we stayed over an extra night in Mobile. Thanks to Ellie and Frank for helping us celebrate! Also, Thanks for bringing the UNO cards. Our drive home was straight thru and we avoided the ice and didn't run into much snow until we were close to home.

Emerald Princess

Our ten day New Year cruise on the Emerald Princess, Dec 30, 2008 to Jan 9, 2009 with a two day pre-cruise at the Renaissance on 17th Street in FLL

The itinerary:
Dec 30 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 12:00 AM 5:00 PM
Dec 31 Princess Cays, Bahamas 9:00 AM 4:00 PM
Jan 1 At Sea
Jan 2 St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands 7:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jan 3 St. Kitts, St. Kitts and Nevis 7:00 AM 4:00 PM
Jan 4 Barbados 9:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jan 5 St. Lucia 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jan 6 Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda 8:00 AM 6:00 PM
Jan 7 At Sea
Jan 8 At Sea
Jan 9 Ft. Lauderdale, Florida 7:00 AM

Our cruise trek started on the morning of Dec 28 with our one hour flight to Chicago for our connection to FLL. We found out at our local airport that our four bags would cost us $160 extra since Princess booked our airfare with American Airlines. You pay for all checked luggage! It will be our last time on this airline, for sure!
We had approximately a 3 hour layover so we had lunch at an Irish Pub at O'Hare. We split a steak sandwich which turned out to be our best steak of our twelve day trip.
After arriving in FLL we were greeted by the Princess Rep. After gathering our bags she took us to the taxi stand were our bags were loaded in the first arriving taxi. Whoops, it was the wrong taxi! Since Princess was providing the hotel transfer we could only take a Yellow taxi. Funny thing, the Yellow taxis are actually painted white! Any way the driver who really did not understand how he was getting paid took us to our pre-cruise hotel.
We were very happy with the hotel and our room for our two day stay. We give them two thumbs up! Rita's son was supposed to be driving down from Orlando, however he called to tell us he had a very bad cold and would not be able to make it. That was a very big disappointment but understandable. We had dinner in the hotel bar as we watched two college bowl games at the same time on their big screens.
The next day we took a long walk looking for some shopping, however the liquor store was the best shopping we found. We picked up a small bottle each of Drambuie and Cognac for our stateroom. That afternoon our friends, Frank and Ellie, drove in from Solivita (Kissimmee) and later on that evening we went to the Big City Tavern on Las Olas Blvd to meet up with Rose and Howie for diner. Later in the evening Jason, Cheryl, and Wayne from CruiseCrazies joined us. We had a great time. You would never know we were in a recession based upon the number of people on Las Olas Blvd on a Monday night! The entire area was packed!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008, our cruise date had finally arrived. After booking on March 26 the wait was now over! We decided not to use the cruise shuttle bus and took a taxi to the port around 11:15 AM. It took all of 5 minutes and a fare of $4.90 to get us to the ship. We dropped our luggage with a porter and picked up our boarding number 4 in the cruise terminal. We sat there about an hour and fifteen minutes before boarding numbers were called. The speculation was the ship was probably being cleaned from an outbreak of the Norwalk Virus from the previous cruise. Once the numbers started being called the process took about 20 minutes until we were aboard and heading to our inside stateroom R507 on the Riviera deck. We were very happy with our cabin, which is one of the roomiest we've had. We met our room steward and the service was top notch for the duration of our cruise. We gave him an extra tip on the next to last day.

We met up with our friends and headed to Horizon Court for our first meal. It was like a feeding frenzy and pretty much stayed that way the entire cruise. The food was only fair at the best--in our opinion. This included the breakfast buffet. A lot of the time we had hot plates for lukewarm to cold food. I will admit I did like the sandwiches. The desserts were okay but not great. That evening we went to our assigned table in the Botticelli dining room for our late seating, however Princess had that messed up as we were supposed to be dining with friends. We got it all straightened out the next day and ended up at a table for four and had great service each night. The food, on the other hand, was just okay. Nothing to write home about. Remember, this is just our opinion based on sixteen previous cruises.Our waiter and his assistant received an extra tip from us for the great service they provided. With one exception that was pretty much the end of great service. Every where else we went on the ship from the clubs to the pools, etc. the service was fair to mediocre. The servers seemed like they did not understand, and in some cases, did not care to give good service. The one exception was Orlina in the Wheelhouse Bar. She was very friendly and acted as if she enjoyed serving us. She was the only other person we gave an extra tip. There seemed to be a turf war going on in this bar and the other servers had no clue of how to give good service. I would blame poor supervision and training. This was wide spread on the ship. It is a very beautiful ship, however beauty is only skin deep. We would not recommend this ship to anyone. Not sure if we would recommend Princess, as well. The nickel and dimeing on this cruise was the most yet.
It seems to be the trend for cruise lines these days.

We met some great new friends and had a great time with them and our friends from a past cruise. Some times you just have to roll with the punches. We do not let bad service ruin our vacation! Rita did get a sore throat a couple days into the cruise so we went to the medical center one morning to get her some medicine and that experience will stay with us for a long time. The charge nurse with the British accent made Nurse Ratchet seem like a saint. This was someone who definitely did not enjoy her job! One thing about her though, she was very consistent as she was rude to everybody!
We never attended any shows in the Princess Theater, as we been there and done that on past cruises. The theater is very nice and well designed. We did attend a comedian's show in the Explorer Lounge and he was one of the funniest we've ever seen. A+
We also went to the theme nights in Club Fusion and did a lot of dancing there. They have one of the best and biggest dance floors on the high seas. The three bands, Derringer, Tempo Quatro and Serious Sounds all played good dance music there and in the Wheelhouse and on the pool deck. We did a lot of dancing, which we do enjoy. We did an East Coast Swing in the dance contest and won a trophy and bottle of champaign. Only four couples signed up for the contest. This was amazing to us considering 3,000 plus passengers. We also had our invitation drawn out from the past passenger event and won another bottle of champaign.

Now as far as excursions went we only booked one--the pirate ship in Antigua. It was a blast. I got to swing out from the rope into the warm sea and jumped in from the plank. We also went to a nice beach, except for the bothersome vendors. The rum flowed freely and we danced and joined the conga line. In St Thomas our friends and the two of us took the tram to the top of Paradise Point and enjoyed the view of the islands. It make for a great photo opp! We stayed aboard ship at Princess Cays and did some shopping in St Lucia and Barbados. In St Lucia we were to meet up with our UK tablemates from the Constellation last New Year, however our ship and their ship, the Galaxy, docked in two different cruise terminals and we did not hook up. In Barbados we did run into our UK tablemates from our New Year Zenith cruise two years ago! They were also on the Galaxy.

The disembarkation went fast as we were in the first group off the ship. All and all we had a great time with our old friends and our new friends. They all made the cruise special.

Celebrity Constellation

Constellation New Year 2008 ten day cruise to the Eastern Caribbean, Dec 28, 2007 to Jan 7, 2008 - Our sixteenth cruise.
Ports of call: San Juan, Puerto Rico - Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas - Bridgetown, Barbados - Castries, St Lucia - Philipsburg, St Maarteen

This was our sixteenth cruise and it was outstanding. Unfortunately the cruise was over on Keith's birthday! The Constellation has now become our favorite ship!

Our trip started at 5:15 AM on Dec 27, 2007 with our trip to the airport. We flew out to Memphis with about and hour and a half layover and then on to FLL. We arrived around 1:30 in the afternoon and after being greeted by RCL staff we were shuttled to the Sheridan Yankee Clipper hotel. The hotel was in a nice location right on the beach, however the carpet in our room was not clean. When we checked out the staff asked us about our stay and I informed of this and they acted like is was no big deal.
Rita's son and his new girlfriend arrived shortly after us and after a drink or so at the bar we all went for a walk on the beach. That evening we went to the Oasis on the ocean front for dinner and watched the cruise ships go out from our swinging outdoor table. Rita and I remembered this restaurant from a few years ago, however the food and service has slipped a few notches since then.

The next morning we all had breakfast at the hotel and sat around the pool and talked until time for us to get on our shuttle bus to the pier. After our tearful good-byes and our short ride to the pier and another 30 or so minutes getting checked in, we finally were on the ship drinking our welcome aboard champagne. We headed on down to our mid ship port side outside stateroom to drop off our stuff. The stateroom was similar to size and layout of our previous three Celebrity ships. We were very satisfied. The service we received form our room steward for the duration of the cruise lived up to the standard of our previous cruises.

On the way to the Seaside Cafe for our first feed we ran into a couple we met last year on the Zenith. Later on in the cruise we met another couple from the Zenith. Sometimes it's a small cruise world out there. The Seaside had the typical buffet fare as well as the pasta grill and the sandwich grill at the rear. That grill is also used for fresh made waffles and pancakes in the mornings. Yum Yum! We visited it most mornings. Our first feed that day was actually at the pasta grill. We had pasta freshly grilled with the ingredients we chose. They had your choice of three different sauces.

That evening we went to our assigned table in the San Marco Restaurant late seating. We had a gentleman and his son and daughter from college at our table with two other empty chairs. They informed us they would be opting for casual dining the remainder of the cruise since they only brought casual cloths. The next day we received a letter moving us to a table at the very rear of the dining room next to the captains table.
It was a table for eight who only had two the previous night. We ended up dining with this great couple from NC and a couple from the UK, Sir Laurence and Lady Ann. They were all great mates. We also had a lady and her two daughters with us for one evening when our NC couple dined in the Ocean Liners specialty restaurant. Incidentally the Captain must be an early diner since his table was only set and occupied twice for our eleven nights. Both those times his second in command and others were dining. The food in the dining room lived up to our expectations except for the steaks. The ones I had were a little tuff. Our waiter, Cresent and his assistant, Peter gave us great service every night. We come to expect that on our cruises and, so far, have not been disappointed. We did get a strange phone call about midway of our cruise. The Maitre'D from our original table called and asked why we have no been to dinner except the one time. We told him about the table switch that no one informed him about.

The Rendez-Vous Lounge became our "hang out" for the duration of the cruise. A four piece band named the Cooler Kings played most nights. Also the party band, Top Secret and a solo guitarist and singer, Charlie Butler, played there. We really enjoyed the music and dancing. We did attend a couple production shows in the Celebrity Theater and they were as good as any we've seen on the high seas. The theme night dance parties were either at the pool side bandstand, outside deck ten, or at the Bar at the Edge of the Earth on deck eleven. They were not well attended, except for New Year Eve on deck ten. It was a wild time! We got to the dance floor at about 11:00 PM and danced almost continuously until 1:00 AM. We have the video to prove it. Since we were in it so much we forked over the $34.95 for the DVD. Afterward we headed to the casino bar to finally sit down and cool off and have a nightcap. Once we finally got to bed we sleep until 10:30 AM.

We may have stumbled onto the best entertainer on the high seas, Perry Grant. He plays the piano and sings in Michael's Club. Actually he does more than that, you just have to be there to find out. He packs the place every night and finding a place to sit is a challenge. We usually went in around a quarter to midnight and were able to find chairs and room on the small dance floor area in front of his piano to dance the fox-trot. He played until 12:30. We understand they would like to move him to a larger venue, however he will only play at Michael's. We met folks that have been on the Constellation multiple times just to see him perform. We would rate his singing and piano skills, and his banter with the crowd as A+++!

One thing we really enjoyed about this ship is the adults only indoor Thelassotherapy Pool. It's just a very large, or should we say big ass hot tub. We went there three or four times. It was very relaxing. It also had a low cal breakfast and lunch buffet, however we did not indulge. We also enjoy the deep swimming pool for stroking a few laps. Don't get to do that in the dead of winter in Indiana. The other outdoor pool was great for families with children. We found a nice hangout on deck eleven to get our winter tan.

The decor of the Constellation is probably the most appealing of all the ships we've been on. The art, like most ships we've be on, was very interesting and the holiday decorations added to the ambiance. This is a ship we would like to cruise on again.

We did visit two new ports for us, Bridgetown, Barbados and Castries, St Lucia. Both are very beautiful islands, however we would give St Lucia higher marks. We did not book any tours. In Bridgetown we took a taxi to the town area. We encountered quite a number of street beggars. In Castries we walked to the straw market and to a shopping area and stopped at a little cafe and I had a local beer.
In San Juan our port time was 2:00 to 8:00 PM so we just stayed on the ship. We did some shopping in St Thomas, however we saved our shopping spree for our last port of call, St Maarten, our favorite shopping island. We bought something for my three daughters, the two son-in-laws, and all the grand kids. What I like about shopping there, besides the great prices, is the dollar beers while shopping. The walkway on the beach on both sides is now complete so we just made a left turn and walked all the way to the end and then cut over to the shopping street. On this walk it was a nice sunny day and the topless sunbathers were in abundance. Once we got about half way I took a photo of the ship. When we looked at it later, low and behold was a small pair of "twin peaks" in the photo!

The only negative of the cruise, and it was a terrible tragedy, happened at St Maarten. We were the only cruise ship in port that day and a 43 year old woman from our ship passed away while scuba diving. We were told she had a panic attack while under water and shortly after they brought her up she went into cardiac arrest and they were unable to revive her. Her husband returned to the ship and it had to be an agonizing two full days at sea before arriving at Port Everglades. We were also told the body was brought back aboard ship, however we don't know if that was true or not.

All and all we would rate this cruise and one of our best yet. We met a great number of folks including the retired Scottish standup comedian/actor, Alex "Happy" Howden and his lovely wife. His last movie role was a bit part as the hangman in Gangs of New York.
He even said his lines for us one evening.
This was our fifth New Year cruise in a row and we will probably go for number six for 2009. Could even be a repeat on this ship.

Celebrity Zenith

Our Zenith New Year cruise Dec 29, 2006 to Jan 8, 2007

Ship Facts
Occupancy: 1370
Tonnage: 46,811
Length: 682 feet
Beam: 95 feet
Draught: 24
Cruisespeed: 21.4knot
Inaugural Date: Apr 04, 1992

Date Port/City Activity Description
Fri, Dec 29 Tampa, Florida Boarding Depart 4:30 PM
Sat, Dec 30 At Sea
Sun, Dec 31 George Town, Grand Cayman Tendered Arrive 9:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM
Mon, Jan 01 At Sea
Tue, Jan 02 Puerto Limon, Costa Rica Docked Arrive 7:00 AM Depart 6:00 PM
Wed, Jan 03 Colon, Panama Docked Arrive 8:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM
Thu, Jan 04 At Sea
Fri, Jan 05 Roatan, Honduras Docked Arrive 10:00 AM Depart 5:00 PM
Sat, Jan 06 Cozumel, Mexico Docked Arrive 10:00 AM Depart 7:00 PM
Sun, Jan 07 At Sea
Mon, Jan 08 Tampa, Florida Departure Arrive 7:00 AM

We started our cruise vacation by driving to Lake City, FL on Dec 26, spending the night at the new Holiday Inn, and on to Tampa for two nights at the Hilton Westshore on Lois Ave. They offer free cruise parking and a $10 shuttle fee to the port. Our room rate was $99 per night. Rita's son and girlfriend met us at the hotel and we drove to the International Mall which is only about 1/2 mile from the hotel. Our intentions was to dine at the Cheesecake Factory, however the wait was to long so we went to a Sports Bar in the same complex. I had bought Rita a new gown for Christmas, however it did not fit so she found a blue one at the mall--and at a great price!

The next day cruise passengers started to arrive at the hotel and we were recognized from the roll call board from that other board that we only use for that purpose. Basically the party started at the hotel bar and ended when the cruise ended. We met some great folks from all over, including a contingent from England. Ellie and Frank from Orlando became very good friends and we will try to cruise with them again. We did a gift exchange with a total of eighteen of us on our first sea day. I got a bottle of scrumpy and a tea towel from England and Rita also received a tea towel and a British calendar.

Cruise embarkation day began right after breakfast with our 10:30 a.m. shuttle to the port. This was the fastest and most proficient boarding we've had for our now fifteen cruises. We were sitting by the pool having the drink of the day (Bon Voyage) by 11:15! The buffet opened at 12:15 and our staterooms were not available until 1:00.

We had the customary muster drill at 3:45 and the sail away at 4:30, which was actually on time. We did notice a lot of wear and tear on the pool deck. Since the ship has been sold by Celebrity and is leaving the fleet in April we can understand wear. What we could not understand was the filthy windows and no one cleaning them.

Our stateroom, 9053, was located mid-ship port side on the Bahamas deck. It was an obstructed view cabin. We had a similar cabin on the Horizon that had a pretty good partial view. This one did not. We could only see some of the ocean beneath the lifeboat. The size was okay which plenty of storage. The bed was not to comfortable, however if you get in late and tired it was adequate. We were only 2 flights up to the pool and buffet, one down to the casino, and two down to the dining room.

We dined late (8:30) at table 10 in the Caravelle Restaurant with couples from England, NC, and CA. Our waiter and assistant waiter gave us all great service for the duration of the cruise, which included plenty of bread sticks we asked for the first night. The food presentation was good, however the food and choices were a little disappointing, at least to us. Other opinions at our table varied from ours to superb. It was not that the food was bad to us, just not as good as other ships we've cruised. The food was definitely better than what we get back home again in Indiana. Maybe we are getting to spoiled! We also had open seating breakfast three or four times and lunch a couple times and the service was very good. The food was average, however average works.

While we are on the subject our food we must say the buffet food in the Windsurf Cafe was very good, especially the waffles for breakfast and the spaghetti in the pasta grill for lunch.

We did attend the Martini tasting seminar the first evening (shaken not stirred) and met a very nice couple from Atlanta, whom are both airline pilots. We also met a nice couple from Charlotte who turned out to be table mates. The seminar was in the Rendez-Vous Lounge which had a Ukrainian husband and wife team called Rhythm of the Night Duo. They played diner dance music, including waltz, rumba, fox-trot, cha-cha-cha, and some swing, and were pretty good. We went there most evenings. We also went up to deck 11 to the Fleet Bar to listen to guitarist/pianoist Simon Belair from Montreal. He did requests from us and we enjoyed his music. We only saw one other couple dancing there besides us. He commended us one evening for dancing a cha-cha while the ship was bouncing around in the wind and waves. We must have been under the influence that counterbalanced up to the upright position. I will write move about the rough ride later. The party band Roots Link, from Jamaica mon was also very, very good. They played pool side and in the Rainbow room late night. We usually semifinished the night there. The actual finish was in the casino after all the music was over.

Three of the ports of call were exciting for us as places we've never been. The Caymans was our first stop, and since we've been there many times, we stayed aboard and enjoyed our day at the pool and winning prizes playing ring toss and winning the Motown music trivia contest, with help from Ellie! After leaving the Caymans on New Year's Eve on the way to Costa Rica, they ship had to turn around to take an injured passenger back to the Caymans for hospital care. We heard later that the passenger will be okay. Our arrival in Costa Rico was delayed until about 1:30 in the afternoon, which meant cancellation of a lot of tours. We actually heard people complaining of how awful in was for the Captain to turn around. There is nothing wrong with being disappointed on missing a tour, but to actually complain about the Captain's decision. Unbelievable! What if he had been one of their friends or relative.

The port was new for us. We just got off the ship with a group of others and toured the city, Puerto Limon. Not much to see. Our next stop was another new one for us, Colon Panama. We had the domed train tour scheduled, however since the train was not full our tour was canceled. No big deal. As they say, sh** happens. We booked a Gatum Locks tour of the Canal and a river excursion. After the excursion we walked a trail thru a rain forest. We took a lot of photos including, monkeys, birds, and even a crocodile. It was a very nice tour. We had heard that Colon itself is not a place to be on your own. After riding thru twice we certainly understand why. The next day we stopped at another new port for us, the isle of Roatan, which is a part of and just off the coast of Honduras. We did some nice shopping there and bought wood bracelets for all our grandkids and daughters We also bought a nice wood carving for our oldest daughter who was getting our mail, etc while we were away. We enjoyed this island.

Our final stop was Cozumel which we've been many times. We docked where the auto ferry docks next to Senior Frogs. We just got off and walked around that shopping area and bought a few things and took photos with the parrots on our heads. Now we are real parrotheads!

Our last day at Sea was Jan 7, my birthday. I received a present from Ellie and Frank and a nice card from our British table mates, and a real nice one from Rita. She said I have to wait for my present at the birthday party my daughters are having for me and our oldest granddaughter on the Saturday after we return home.

In summary we had a great time and met a lot of very nice folks. It was a very good cruise for us. The exception would be how the ship rocked and rolled. Many passengers became ill and one evening it was so bad they had to cancel the production show from fear of their dancers becoming injured. Speaking of injuries, we believe the ships motion caused the before mentioned passenger who was evacuated and the few others we observed wearing arm slings. There was also a couple passengers injured at the pool. We wondered if we had booked a doomed cruise with all the accidents and injuries.

Anyway, they moved the comedian ahead one night and did the show the following evening. While we are on entertainment we will say the production shows (we only attended one and one-half) were average. The comedian was a little above average and the Ventriliguest/Comedian was outstanding!

We also, apparently had a mild outbreak of Norvirus on our cruise as the railing was cleaned with ammonia one day. We also knew of two passengers who were quarantined in their cabin, and we heard there were a few others.

Disembarkation was very sad, but very fast. Celebrity does a great job in this area. After taking a taxi back to the hotel to pick up our auto, we were on the road heading north by 9;30. We spent the night in Dalton, GA and I watched the Ohio State-Florida football game that turned out to be a bust. Rita slept. We got up early and made it home and back to reality by 1:00 p.m. Tuesday, Jan 9.

Norwegian Sun

NCL Sun, New Year cruise December 29, 2005 to January 08, 2006

Holland America Zaandam

Our Zaandam New Year cruise Dec 28, 2004 to Jan 8, 2005

We booked this cruise in March, the longest wait for a cruise yet! With the Florida hurricanes playing havoc on some of our scheduled ports, things were a little hectic for a while. As it turned out, the ports ended up almost as when booked. We were both kind of stressed out with the big snowstorm that hit a couple days before we were due to leave and the roof collapse at our family business. We were driving to Orlando first to see Rita's son and we thought that part would have to be put off and we would be driving nonstop to make the ship.

Christmas morning, after having our big family get together with my daughters and all our grand kids on Christmas Eve, we decided the hell with it all and took off anyway. The record 22" snowfall shut down our little city and prevented Rita from getting to her hair and nail appointments before we left. After a visit and overnight stay with Rita's son and his girlfriend in Orlando, we continued our journey to Cape Canaveral to the Radisson for our park and drive stay. We left our auto at the hotel for the duration the cruise. The hotel was good and the shuttle got us to the ship fairly early, about 12:30. The return shuttle at the end of our cruise was another thing. We did not disembark the ship until about 10:00 and the shuttle was not around. We were eager to get on the road, so we took a taxi back to the hotel. The shuttles were there loading passengers for the Carnival and Disney ships in port. We probably would have had to wait at least an hour so taking the taxi was a good move.

We would say the embarkation went very well and the disembarkation was typical for other HAL cruises. There are always paxs not showing up for immigration and delaying the whole procedure.

The first thing Rita did after we boarded the ship was to book her hair and nails for that first sea day. They charged her one arm and both legs but, what the heck, she was happy! After that we had a great time together on our cruise. We refuse to have it any other way! We needed this time together by ourselves!

Now for HAL it self. We have a good comparison as our last HAL cruise before this one was also the Zaandam. We were very disappointed in HAL as they are becoming exactly like their parent--Carnival. Maybe they need to change their name to Halival! As soon as we got aboard they kept trying to sell us the $50 soda cards. You tell one no thanks and they keep coming at you relentlessly. We know they are just doing their jobs and are not blaming the messenger, just the message. We get enough spam at home--we don't need it on a cruise ship! All the little things that made HAL unique that we fell in love with on our first HAL cruise on the old Westerdam are now gone. No more Dutch night, no more afternoon lemonade at the AFT pool. They spoiled us, so they are responsible for our disappointment. We don't except change very well, especially when we have grown accustomed to the way it was. Not that the service was bad, it was not. It was okay, just not quite like it was. It just seemed like they had so much to do they didn't have much time to spend with you. No more making things out of paper and cardboard like the last time on the Zaandam and all the other HAL cruises. Just talking with some of the employees gives us the impression they are not happy with the new auto tipping policy. They claim they now have to pay for all their uniforms. We were shocked they even talked about that. Always before they seemed content. We probably tipped more on this cruise than any we have taken, considering the auto tip of $10 per day per person which equaled $210.00 for our eleven days, and the extra we gave to our great Waiter Ross, his Assistant Felix, the Maitre 'D, Wine Steward, servers in the casino, Rolando and Arlene in the Piano Bar, Bartender in the Dolphin Bar, our Cabin Steward, and a few others who took care of us. We considered having the auto tip removed completely to make sure those who deserved it the most get their share of the tip, however, we choose not to rock the boat!

By the way, we did get a Dutch hat--hand painted from Rolando.

Our wait staff was as good as any cruise we have taken. The service they gave us was outstanding at our 8:30 P.M. seating in the lower level of the Rotterdam. The food, however, was not. It was bland and had a lot of repeats. We were greatly disappointed as we get plenty of bland food here in our local restaurants!

We attended open seating breakfast on four occasions in the Rotterdam, and on three of them the service was, well, it was embarrassedly lousy. They brought us and others the wrong orders and got angry when we tried to correct them. They would bring pancakes without syrup, forget juices, toast, etc., completely and take forever to correct the mistakes they claimed was others. We were shocked. One morning we arrived at a table for six with the women all looking into the sun. They refused to close the curtain, so we got up and closed it ourselves.

The breakfast and lunch buffet in the Lido were okay, with lunch better. Hamburger, etc., at the grill was good, except for the fact that the grill was not working properly and for a few days was not working at all. Could not get a well done burger. Oh well, that's life. One thing we did like was at entrances to all the dining facilities were motion activated automatic hands cleansing stations. They were also at the gangways. It is a great idea if they would enforce everyone using them--they did not. It seemed to be about fifty-fifty.

Our cabin 2626, mid-ship outside main deck port side, was exactly as we expected. Plenty of storage and a Cabin Steward who hides under your bed until you leave. Just kidding! He did a great job except for keeping Rita supplied with fresh bottled water, which they rightly so charge for. I also used it for my bottle of scotch which miraculously showed up in our cabin! Rita called him once for water and he told her we would have to get it from room service. Huh? After that we just picked it up at one of the bars on the way to our cabin.

Showroom entertainment was excellent as far as the singers and dancers. The Hoosier comedian John? Was very funny, of course! The Xylophone performer, well what can I say, was kinda boring. The singer/impressionist, Paul Tanner, whom we have seen on two other cruises, is excellent, as well. The jazz trio in the Ocean Lounge was only so-so. We love to dance and ended up mainly in the Piano Lounge listening and dancing to Sonia Marie. We even showed up for her sing-a-longs and when she played the Tennessee Waltz, well by gosh we got up and did the waltz, by ourselves! The group in the Crows Nest were A+ and we danced up there quite a bit. The showroom band was also A+. They played at most of the port sail-a-ways. Speaking of that the staff was very unimaginable and played the same stupid passenger games each time.

The Rock and Rolldies passenger show was very good and funny. We take special interest in that show since we were in it on the Maasdam. I was Elvis and Rita was one of Bobby Darin's splish-splash girls.

Now for the ship itself--we love it! It is the perfect size and passenger count. It was kept spotless! The crew should be proud.

The only new port for us was the Dominican Republic and we enjoyed going downtown for a little shopping. We bought all the daughters and grand daughters necklaces in Santa Domingo. As far as Cozumel, Caymans, Tortola, St Martin, &St Thomas we have been there down that so we just got off and walked around or took a taxi. We did some shopping, or we just stopped for a drink. We did not book anything. I did find a nice bracelet in St Thomas to match a necklace, ear rings, and ring set I got Rita for our anniversary. At Half Moon Cay I went parasailing for my birthday, and with that and the long walk we always take on the island's beautiful beach, our time was spent. No time for anything else.

We hope nobody gets the impression we did not have a great cruise--we did! We make do with what we have. As we stated above, nobody is going to prevent us from having a great cruise. Will we sail HAL again? Maybe, we never say never. Will they still be our first choice? No, they will not. Would we recommend them to others? Not as adamant as we once did. We would now recommend other lines before them.

We must state that this is only our opinion and is the only opinion we are entitled to have--our own.

Celebrity Horizon

Celebrity Horizon New Year cruise Dec 29, 2004 to Jan 8, 2005

A very short review of our Horizon cruise. We choose this ship and cruise because it was only one of two that offered a greater than 7 day cruise for New Years. Actually the cruise chose us. It was a shorter drive to Tampa then to Ft Lauderdale.

Was it a bad cruise? No, there is no bad cruises. Even the Titanic was probably a good cruise up to the moment it sunk. Was it a great cruise? Probably not except that it allowed Rita and I a temporary escape from all the rigors of life. This was the first time I have been away from my daughters and grand-kids for two weeks. That was the hardest part, what if they needed dad/grandad and stepmom/grandma for something? Well, they got along just fine! I am just a natural born worrywart!

We had a great time on maybe a not so great ship--in our opinion only. Having cruised on five HAL ships with approximately the same passenger count, we just didn't like the arrangement of things. No aft outdoor pool, no "real" hot tubs, and no Ocean Bar. The lounge chairs on the lower level where reserved for life. We just do not get up early enough, nor care to. The only times we had a wake-up call was in PR to present ourselves for a mandatory US Immigration inspection and for disembarkation on the last day. The PR inspection was a fiasco as the officer did not show up when scheduled. A lot of excursions had to be canceled for lack of enough time. According to some of the Horizon staff this happened all the time. Our schedule the rest of our days was to sleep late and stay up late! We danced at the Zodiac most evenings and then made our donations to the casino before retiring, usually around 2:00 a.m.

We were late diners and had a table for eight against the wall in one of the "wings." The ladies complained about being cold because the return air was over our table. No one seemed to know what to do until the final 3 evenings when they took our suggestions and arranged another table. We had great table mates and enjoyed the conversation all eleven nights on board. They were the highlight of our cruise. We could not have asked for better. A couple from Florida who live not to far from our timeshare. We plan on meeting them for diner one night in May. Another couple from Colorado, who we will try to get together with on their next trip to St. Louis. We also shared our table with a mum and her daughter from England. They all seemed like family! We miss them!

Now for the food--in our opinion it was all very good. We especially liked the variety for the lunch buffet in the Coral Seas Cafe. We only made the full breakfast buffet once and it had a good variety, as well. We like the idea of the light breakfast buffet which went until noon. That's the one we made. It filled our needs. We never had lunch in the dining room, however, we did have breakfast in the dining room on our two early days. The service and food for our late dining in the Starlight Restaurant was very good. Our Waiter was somewhat of an amateur magician and he entertained us all nights. The assistant waiter was vert attentive and knew after the first night who wanted tea or extra breadsticks, etc. He always had a big smile on his face. They worked very well as a team and served us well.

Our cabin--very nice, although we did miss having a couch. Plenty storage space was available for all our stuff. This was the first time we were this high up, on the ninth deck. Very convenient, one deck down to the casino, probably to convenient. Two decks down to the Martini Bar and to the Starlight for diner and two decks up to the Coral Seas. We had an obstructed view cabin. A lifeboat blocked some of our view but not all of it. I think we will look for this type cabin on future cruises. It was better then our usual steerage cabins. Our cabin steward did a good job and quickly learned our schedule. We tipped him a little extra because of our schedule. He was from India and had a very beaming personality.

Entertainment--fair at the best. The Broadway type shows were old hat. The juggler/comedian was a legend in his own mind. The piano entertainer was just not our cup of tea. The international vocalist, Jack Walter, was in one word--outstanding. We did not catch his performance, however his rendition of Auld Lang Syne at midnight Jan 1, 2004 was the best we have ever heard! I had on my battery operated flashing lights bow tie and Rita had on her flashing light necklace for the New Year celebration at the outdoor bandstand. The comedian, Beni Mason was very good. We especially liked his joke about the 90 year old Jewish widower who's family sent him a lady of the night for his birthday. When he answered the door he asked her what she wanted and she said she was there to give him super sex. He thought for a moment and said he would take soup.


Lounges--some good some not so good. The Martini Bar was good for a pre-diner drink. The two servers had outgoing personalities and gave the place life. Watching them shakin' and a dancin' with the Martini shakers was a favorite of Rita. The specially Martinis at $7.95 plus 15% gratuity was a little excessive, however. Also, the seating was very limited and the bar very small. The Rendez-Vous Lounge was located next to the Starlight and got very crowded just before diner. Why do people deem it necessary to stand in line for diner 15 to 20 minute before the doors are opened? Is there some kind of honor in getting in first? We attempted to do our pre-diner dancing there, however, it was just to crowded. Rita got stepped on one night by a couple who thought they could do ballroom dancing on a barroom dance floor. Not enough room. Use your head people! She had a bruise on her leg and a run in her hose. I told the male that in my younger days I would have punched his lights out for being so stupid. A few days later we had breakfast with them and his mother. The couple that played the music was pretty good and would have been better served if they had been in the Zodiac away from the dining room. The dance floor there was larger and it had plenty of seating. Michael's Club--Very neat looking place that was mostly very empty, at least when we stopped by. It was once used as a cigar bar. Cova di Milano Wine Bar--Seemed like a waste of good space. Had a piano player want to be? America's Cup--Had NFL and college bowl games. Zodiac Club--was our favorite, however, just not enough live entertainment. The party band Exodus was very good, but they just did not play enough--in our opinion.
Ports, Nassau--went to the straw market and Senior Frogs. San Juan--should be skipped until immigration gets it's act together. That would have saved us some money that we lost at the Hotel casino. St. Thomas--did not dock at Havensight so we did not get off ship. Stayed on and got lounge chairs at the pool! We do like St. Thomas but just decided we would wait for St. Maarten to shop for two of our grand daughters upcoming 13th birthday. St. Maarten--our favorite port. We found silver necklaces and bracelets for our grand daughters. Tortola--New port for us, not much to offer. Key West--shopped and had a beer and margarita at Sloppy Joe's. Met a 100 year old gentleman and his nurse from our ship. She told us another gentleman turned 100 on the ship. How amazing is that--two 100 year old men on our cruise!

Other observations--Photos, not good. We both wear glasses and the photographers did not know how to deal with them. All our photos had glare. Also, they set up in the most crowded part of the ship in the before mentioned Rendez-Vous Lounge. The photo prices were outrageous, especially considering the quality. Palladium Show Lounge was very well set up and all the seats unobstructed. They also showed full feature movies during the day and, of course, bingo. We skipped both. Our afternoons were spent on the top deck having umbrella drinks and sunning. Service--Very good in all areas. Bar service was probably to good. Also, I had a very nice birthday aboard ship. Rita made it special when she made the finals of the slot tournament and won me a high rollers shirts. It is probably the most expensive shirt I've ever owned! She also won the hula hoop contest the next evening at the Zodiac 50s & 60s rock and roll dance. Embarkation and disembarkation--typical to other lines, maybe a little slower on embarkation.

Pre and post cruise--We drove to Tampa, leaving on Saturday morning, 12/27/03. Our intentions was to make Lake City, FL by 6:00 PM. We ran into bumper to bumper traffic from Atlanta on. Did not arrive until 9:00. There was many accidents. The next day the traffic remained heavy until we hit 275 to Tampa. We stayed at the Hilton Westshore by the airport for $130.00 per night. It included free parking for the length of our cruise. That saved us $110.00 for pier parking. It cost us $5.00 each for transfer to and from ship, so adding $5.00 each way for tips, we figured the stay only cost us $80.00. Not bad and Rita was happy to shop at the big mall near by. Our shuttle was waiting for us upon disembarking ship. We give the Hotel an A+++ We arrived back to the Hilton about 10:30 am on 1/9/04 and made it to Dalton, GA by 8:00 PM and to 27 degrees the next day. We made it home by 3:30 PM on the 10th. End of story, which now does not seem so short!

Would we chose to cruise on this ship again--no, unless it choose us again? Of course, we have yet to repeat on any ship. Just too many out there.

Holland America Maasdam

Hal Maasdam Fourth Anniversary cruise Feb 04 to 11, 2001

Excellent, Excellent, Excellent, and Excellent!!

This must be becoming an annual thing. We went on the Veendam. last year for our third wedding anniversary. We decided around Thanksgiving to look for a 7 day cruise around mid-Jan. Our 4th anniversary was Jan 18th. We considered other lines like Princess, Norwegian, and Royal Caribbean, whom we have yet to cruise. We ultimately decided on HAL's Maasdam because of the great time we had on the Veendam last year. The ships are basically clones. We ended up cruising a little later because it was already booked for the month of January. February is a boring month anyway, the Super Bowl is over, and no Bobby Knight a'ranting and a'raving on the basketball court!

This is the first cruise where we let the cruise line book our airline and pre-cruise hotel. It turned out well, but a little strange. We flew from Evansville/Cincinnati/ft. Lauderdale via Delta and from Miami/Chicago/Evansville via American on our return. We actually left in good weather, but our initial flight to Cincy was delayed for some unknown reason. By the time we took the airport shuttle to our gate for our connecting flight, our Lauderdale flight was starting to board. We did not have time to grab a sandwich, or have our Bloody Mary at Cheers. The only thing we had to eat was pretzels on Delta. What happened to their peanuts? At Lauderdale we were met by a HAL Rep, and after securing our luggage, we boarded our bus to the Hyatt Pier 66. We had to drag our luggage about a block to get on the bus. If I had known this, I would have rented a cart. I don't like to work when I'm on vacation!

After we checked in to the Hyatt, we discarded our sweatshirts and jeans for 80 deg weather attire, and headed to the outdoor bar for our Bloody Marys and food! It felt nice to see people swimming outdoors and enjoying the nice sunny day. A far cry from the 15 deg weather we left! We really liked the hotel. After our sandwich and drink(s), we walked the entire grounds. It reminded us of a resort more than a hotel. Although a bit pricey, I would rate the hotel *****, or something like that. HAL had a table set up near the lobby Saturday evening. They gave us our bus boarding pass for the next day. Ours was blue, the 2nd out of 3 total. Our time was 12:45 p.m. to leave for Port Everglades. We were advised to set our luggage outside our room by 10:00 a.m. Sunday morning. That is another story, our luggage!

Sunday
Our cruise begins! Well after a slight problem. We slept in until about 8:00 a.m. Our plans were to pack up everything and set our luggage out by 10:00 and go to breakfast. Rita decided she needed something out of our large overstuffed suitcase. Well, after she unzipped it, I tried to close it and the zipper came apart. OOPS, what to do now. I got out my trusty Swiss Army combo key-ring tool (pliers, screw drivers, punch, weed eater, etc.) and found the zipper was broken. I headed up to the bell stand to see if they had duct tape. All they had was scotch tape. Did he really offer me that? Anyway, I took a taxi to a 24 hour Walgreen drugstore looking for duct tape. The clerk, who couldn't understand me, nor could I her, just shook her head. I found it myself, next to the feminine hygiene department. I settled for the basic gray model tape, as the designer colors where not available.

After I duct-taped our luggage, we went to breakfast, shopped, and took another long walk around the pier. We boarded our bus around 12:45 p.m., was at Port Everglades around 1:00. We got in line for check-in, and after receiving our check-in number, we waited about 30 minutes or so before our boarding number was called. Once aboard ship, which was about 2:00-2:15, we were escorted to our cabin, number 531, main deck, starboard side, near the front. Our cabin door was loaded with balloons, and the roses I ordered plus flowers sent from our TA were in our cabin.

We met our Cabin Steward, Toni. He wished us a happy anniversary. I told Toni - only one problem with our cabin, you need to put the beds together, remember - anniversary? He got a kick out of that. Two pieces of luggage where in our room, so we started the unpacking process. Before we finished, Rita's cosmetic bag and our duct-taped bag was delivered. Now we had all our stuff. As soon as we finished unduct-taping and unpacking, we headed for our tour of the ship and to the Ocean Bar for our first round of the drink of the day. It felt like we were home. This ship is laid out exactly the same as the Veendam.

After our buffet lunch in the Lido and lifeboat drill, we headed to the Sail-Away Festivities, Navigation Deck aft, Deck 10. They already announced the sailing time was going to be an hour or so late due to some late arriving passengers. The steel drum band Pandemonium was playing some great Caribbean music.

As we were getting another round of the drink of the day, the Cruise Director Eric Dowlis, Bingo Pete, Shaun, and Amanda talked Rita into volunteering our talent, or lack of, in the Rockin' Rolldies 50s Night program. They wanted her to wear a towel, shower cap, and a smile and dance around "Bobby Darin" in his bathtub singing 'Splish-Splash'. My task was simple - they wanted me to be Elvis! Must have been my long wavy black hair and sideburns, or maybe just my beer gut.

It started to sprinkle as the Maasdam finally set sail at nightfall. We took cover and I video taped some of the ships as we sailed past them. Like the Westerdam, the Millennium, and the Grand Princess. It was a great feeling to be with someone special as we sailed into the night.

Later that evening we went to the Ocean Bar for Cocktail Hour prior to our late seating in the Rotterdam dining room. The staff in the Ocean Bar, were very attentive. Marife, Roel, and Romeo served us very well all week. They called us by name the rest of the cruise, and knew we liked raw veggies for appetizers, and would bring us the dinner menu to look at. They presented us another painted Dutch hat to add to our collection later on that week. We did some pre-dining dancing to the music of Nevada Quartet, a Hungarian group. They did music from Elvis to Louie Armstrong. We enjoyed them all week. We even bought a cassette of their music. We enjoy listening to the slight accent of some of our favorite songs.

After hearing the dinner chimes we headed to our table for two, in the Rotterdam lower level, deck seven. Although we love to be around and meet new people, we wanted a romantic setting and sitting. Our waiter Aak, his Assistant Made, our Wine Steward Jess, and our Maitre' D Parmono, made our dining each evening very special. Hey, the food wasn't bad either. In fact, it was outstanding!

After attending the 10:15 p.m. Welcome Aboard Showtime in the Rembrandt Lounge, we went to the Piano Bar and listened to Simon Casciano. He was very good, as was the bartender who also sung a couple songs.

Monday
A full day at sea! We actually got up fairly early and had breakfast in the Rotterdam. We walked a couple miles around the outside of the ship on the Lower Promenade deck. We like this design of the ship with the deck going all the way around. It also has wooden lounges, and is a great place to go just to relax, feel the ocean breeze, read a good book, and maybe even to take a nap. We then hung out at the aft pool for 2-3 hours. Our Wine Steward Jess was our server, and helped make it a nice place to relax, swim a little, and have an umbrellaless drink. That's right, they did not use the standard every day issue drink umbrellas! Later that afternoon, we played bingo for our one and only time on this cruise. We also entered the slot tournament, however we did not make the finals. No surprise.

Tuesday
We docked in Cozumel Mexico along side of the Carnival Victory. A very large ship! Our last trip to Cozumel was on the Mercury , SeaLetter Cruise Bash 3, Oct 99 when Rita and I took a Jeep Safari. Actually it was a "Jeepless" safari. They provide us with a GEO Tracker instead of a Wrangler. What a POS! Rita's fond memory of the island is a gigantic bruise on the side of her butt! We even skipped Carlos 'n Charlies. Not this trip. We just took a taxi to downtown, found our seven Granddaughters beaded T-shirts, and a plain one for our only Grandson. Then we went to C 'n C's and we each had a Yard Margarita. Rita also wanted some nachos, but regretted that later in the evening.

We set sail at 2:00 p.m., and from the Lower Promenade outside deck, watched people running to the gangway right at sailing time. After they raised the gangway, we saw another lone gentleman running, yelling, and frantically waving with one hand (he was carrying a beer in his other hand). They had to lower the gangway again. Reminded me of the 'Bama gang on CB2.

Later that afternoon after we sailed, we went to our one and only rehearsal for the Rockin Rolldies. Bingo Pete reassured me he would have enough alcohol on hand for our show Wednesday evening. After the rehearsal, Rita's stomach was starting to get queasy. I reminded her, actually rubbed it in, when I told her 'do not eat the nachos'.

Well to make a long story longer, we missed dinner for the first time on any of our previous cruises. I ordered room service, and they suggested a meal for passengers who were experiencing seasickness. They didn't have one for Se?or Runs! In sympathy for Rita's plight, I had the same bland meal. Yuk! She only ate a couple bites of the soup. After she went to sleep, I headed to the Casino. We missed Paul Tanner in The Rembrandt Lounge. He is a singer-impressionist. We were told by fellow passengers, his show was outstanding! Oh well, maybe the next time.

Wednesday
Welcome to Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We docked at 9:00 a.m., but we did not tender off the ship until around 10:30. Rita woke up starving and no worse for the wear. She felt fine, and even better after she ate. After our breakfast in the Lido, we had to go to the Rembrandt Lounge to get our tender tickets, and wait there until they called our number. The process took about 20 minutes. We did Stingray City on our Mercury cruise, so once again we went shopping. We were not interested in the turtle farm, nor did we want to go to Hell. We ended up at the Hard Rock Caf? for lunch and Cuban beers. We re-boarded the ship about 3:00, and headed for the aft pool. The ship set sail for Jamaica mon about 5:00, no problem.

That evening we went to the 6:45 show for second seating at the Rembrandt. It was the magic of Greg Frewin. His show is great. We saw Lance Burton at the Monte Carlo in Vegas a few years ago, and this show was almost as good!

Now for our show. Well any way, everyone seemed to enjoy it. I certainly would have enjoyed watching my fellow passengers making a fool out of themselves, had I not been one of the fools! But what the heck, no one will see us again. The 'plenty of alcohol' promised by Bingo Pete, turned out to be one glass of champagne. I am glad I doubled up on my scotch and waters at dinner!

Thursday
Ocho Rios, Jamaica, somewhere we haven't been, somewhere I couldn't care less if we go to again. At least we docked, no tenders. We had to walk the gauntlet of taxis, drug dealers, hot jewelry salesmen, and just plain old panhandlers to get across the street to a shopping center. We wanted to buy a souvenir from Jamaica and another dress for our youngest granddaughter, who was having her first birthday on Valentine's Day. What ever you do, bargain with them, you will get dramatically lower prices. It seemed like all the shop owners were either from India or Pakistan. After we found what we wanted, we took a taxi to Dunn's River Falls. I negotiated a fare with 'Slow Eddie', who had an air-conditioned mini-van. I told him if he did not try and talk us into any side trips, I would give him a good tip. He was a very good driver, and had a great personality. Also, he did drive slow, but very safe. The trip to the Falls only took 10 minutes. Rita and I walked down to the beach, stopping along the way for photos. We did not walk the Falls. It probably would have been easier walking back. There are a lot of steps! We stayed about 2 hours while 'Slow Eddie' waited and had him return us to the shopping center. Rita had a few more shops she wanted to visit.

We set sail at 5:00. That evening after dinner we went to the Rembrandt for the comedy of Don Sherman, who looks like the hairless guy on Little Orphan Annie. I believe his name is Daddy Warbucks or something like that. He was very funny. We also attended the Filipino Crew show. That was also very good.

Friday
A day at sea while we continued our sail to Half Moon Cay. We spent the day doing our usual activities, walking after having breakfast in the Lido, hanging out at the aft pool, etc. We also attended the Society of Mariners [Ed: HAL Alumni] get together in the Rembrandt, and were introduced to our new ship Captain. It seems our old Captain flew to Ft Lauderdale from Ocho Rios the previous day to attend a conference.

The show in the Rembrandt that evening was 'Up On The Roof' starring the Maasdam Cast. It was all right, but nothing to write home about. After the show we continued our usual nightly entertainment, dancing in the Ocean Bar, and listening to Simon in The Piano Bar.

Saturday
Half Moon Cay, what a beautiful island and beach. I had been trying to talk Rita into Parasailing all week, but to no avail. We just walked the beach, swam a little and relaxed. We enjoyed the barbecue cookout and took a lot of video and photos. We chatted with some folks from Indy who where playing cards at a table by the outdoor bar. Man, we Hoosiers know how to have some fun!

That evening we handed out our tips to our Cabin Steward, Waiter, and Assistant Waiter. For the first time on all of our now six cruises, we tipped our Maitre'D. We also went to the casino and got cash to tip some of the servers and bartenders who served us well, including our Wine Steward. Rita even tipped the one who rang the dinner chimes and served us mints. We missed most of the Variety Farewell Showtime in the Rembrandt that evening, but did manage to slip in late to see Paul Tanner do a Neal Diamond and Garth Brookes song/impression. He was as good as people said.

We met a lot of nice people on this cruise, Rick and Joyce from Dayton, Ed and Cheryl from Cincinnati, Ed and Darlene from Pennsylvania, Ray and Claire from Florida, Joe and Ruby from Nova Scotia, Neal and his wife from Montreal, and on, and on, and on. Sorry I can't remember all the names.

Sunday
The dreaded disembarkation. The cruise ship draws names for prizes for passengers filling out their surveys before this process. Some would probably want to change their opinion after this process. Not us, it went very well. HAL did an awful job on our first cruise with them on the Westerdam. The Veendam last year went very smooth, this one was even better. They did a great job getting us off the ship and busing us to Miami for our return flight back to reality.

Rita filled out the survey and gave 9's for just about everything. She said she would have given 10's if they were allowed. I agreed with her 100%. It was a great cruise, great ship, and even greater staff.

Holland America Veendam

Hal Veendam Third Anniversary Cruise Jan 23 to 30, 2000

This was our first "just us" cruise and it was our best cruise yet! The ship and the crew were outstanding!

Rita and I were married in Las Vegas January 18, 1997 at Treasure Island. Our wedding was supposed to be on the sixteenth, but guess what, we had an ice and snow storm and were delayed by two days. The next year on our first anniversary we once again headed for Vegas in just such a snow storm. I put my Jeep Wrangler in 4 wheel drive, and we drove 175 miles north to Indy in the snow and caught an ATF flight to Vegas. We just planned this one week before we left, so we had to take what ever we could get (reasonable). We ended up at the Monte Carlo because Treasure Island was booked. Whoops, this is not a Las Vegas Hotel review, it's a cruise review. However, if you go there don't miss the Lance Burton show!

The next year for our second anniversary, we decided to stay in E (Evansville, Indiana) town and not risk the weather. We spent our anniversary at our local Aztar hotel and Riverboat Casino. I believe the weather was in the 50s and 60s all week! Can you believe it? We vowed for our third we will not stay in E'ville, we will find somewhere to go in January. Anywhere but here! Well, maybe not anywhere, as long as it was south, with the possible exception of Arkansas!

Now for this year, with Y2K approaching, we were in a dilemma for what to do on our anniversary. Rita works as a civilian employee for the Vanderburgh County Sheriffs Department, and was on Y2K call until January 17, 2000. Well, with that and all the bad weather we usually get in January, it looked as if we would stay home once again this year. NOT. Indiana is noted for corn and basketball, not necessarily in that order. As the corn had already been picked, and we could no longer watch it grow, and IU's basketball was getting dull, it was time to get the heck out of Dodge. Low and behold around the first of December we get a brochure from Holland America. If we booked a cruise we would be entitled to the alumni discount. Hey we are having a mild winter, let's go for it! The Veendam has a cruise out of Ft. Lauderdale on 01/23/00, and has three full days at sea! Just what we want. I looked up a review in the SeaLetter by Sharon Jackson, and based upon her great review of the ship, we booked! The weather through December and early January was great! One of the mildest winters on record! Heck, on New Year's Eve before attending a big New Year 2000 party and dance that evening, I even washed the old Wrangler. It was 70 degrees!

Well, as fate would have it, we left for our cruise a day early in a snow storm, and in a basic subcompact turboprop smaller-than-small aircraft. (This turned out to be the only snow of the season!) I don't like to fly on anything that has the same name as a certain station wagon with a luggage rack, or any plane from South America. Remember that movie? They actually had to de-ice so we could get off the ground. Once we got to Cincinnati we were delayed again while they de-iced the 757. Our cruise bash one, two, &three friends, Bill &Jimi from the North Pole are probably use to this, we are not!

Once we finally arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and checked into the Radisson Bahia Mar, we headed for the bar and got reacquainted with Michael the bartender who served us for Cruise Bash 3 last October. We were happy to be out of that weather, and getting ready to board our first cruise alone. Then it hit us. We were without our Cruise Bash friends we've met on the three previous cruises. This is our first cruise by ourselves. No Bill and Jimi, no Sir James and Rosie, no Mike and Dottie, no Don and Judy, no Bob and Sharon, no Amy and Leif, no Phat and Be, no Debbie, Marion, and the rest of the 'Bama Gang, no Blenderman and Iowa Deb, no Slim Jim, no Dutch, no Rudy and Nathalie from Belgium, and on and on and on. We were by ourselves. We don't have to answer to anyone when we over sleep to three in the afternoon. We will miss them, but....

The next day we took a taxi to Port Everglades about 1:00 p.m., walked right up to the counter with no line and completed our booking and received a boarding number. We waited about 45 minutes for our number to be called and we were escorted to our cabin, 739 outside. Because of our late booking we just got our cabin number 3 days prior to our departure.

Upon entering our cabin, we found all of our luggage already inside. The cabin was about the same size as our cabin on the Westerdam for Cruise Bash 2. I think the bathroom was a little larger on the Veendam . Our cabin steward came in and greeted us and his cabin service turned out to be the same as all of our previous cruises, outstanding.

We took a tour of the ship on our own before the dreaded life boat drill. This was the easiest of all the ships we have been on to find our way around. We found our future route from our cabin on the fourth level, to the dining room. We would take the stairs up one floor to the escalator one floor to the atrium, and two flights to the eighth deck. We avoided the elevators as much as possible for the added exercise. After the life boat drill we made our way to the welcome aboard and sailing party at pool side aft. Rita even won a free drink in one of their left over 2000 millennium glasses by answering correctly on a bingo question. What is the last number in the G column? G 60. The glasses were the prizes all week. I think we brought home about a half dozen or so. They seemed to have a never ending supply.

The Veendam has 10 passenger decks, and a cruise capacity of 1,266 passengers. We never felt crowded. A fellow passenger took a photo of us with the ship in the background, after arriving at our first port of call, St. Croix. We were docked along side of the Carnival Triumph. I believe the Triumph holds around 2,700 passengers. Looks like a subcompact next to an SUV. But only from that view! Our previous cruises have been on Carnival's Sensation, Holland America's Westerdam, and Celebrity's Mercury. All have been wonderful, but this ship is now our favorite. The "dam" ships of Holland America, and their service staff is so far, in our opinion, the best. We do intend to try other lines as well. How could you not like a cruise? We have decided to take at least two cruises a year.

Our anniversary cruise was great. The ship was beautiful, the food was the best yet, and the service was outstanding. The ship rocked &rolled a couple days like the Westerdam had. Rita chewed the motion sickness pills and ate everything they put in front of her. She especially loved the desserts. We enjoyed not going on excursions and just getting off at the ports and doing whatever we felt like doing. Half Moon Cay was beautiful, the best looking mile of beach I have ever seen. On our Westerdam CB2 cruise we had to skip Half Moon Cay because of rough seas. Our other port of call was St. Thomas. We just took a taxi on our own and went downtown and did some shopping. Unlike two of the original members of the 'bama gang on CB2, we left plenty of time for our return to the ship!

We had early dining because we booked late. Two large groups had the late seating. A "Kosher" group from New York and the St. Louis Baseball Cardinals group cruise. We met some of the players, an ex-player/announcer, and management staff and their familles at the Crows Nest. They invited us to join their next group cruise, which should be about the same time of the year. We will have to see. We are Card fans, and go to one or two games a year in St. Louis. It was a thrill to meet them. Especially the Mad Hungarian. Rita (Briles) Smith is a long lost third cousin of an ex-player, Nelson Briles. Nellie, if you read this get in touch with Rita!

We dined at a table for four with a honeymoon couple who were married a day before the cruise began. He was a Nuclear Engineer Submarine Officer with the Navy and she was a Chemistry student at Yale. Boy were we out of our league! We had a great time with them, and really enjoyed their company. We think they enjoyed ours as well. We also enjoyed the company of some folks at the surrounding tables. We met a lot of people on this cruise and had a private contest going on to remember everyone's name. I think we did pretty well. The food was outstanding! I don't know much about presentation, however the food was even pretty. We dined so early (4 o'clock our time) that we did hit some of the midnight buffets. I think we would still prefer late sitting on a "Bash" cruise. We only made it in time for breakfast once in the dining room, and it was great as well. The breakfast and lunch buffets in the Lido dining room, as well as hamburgers, hot-dogs, tacos, etc., at the Lido pool were also very good. No complaints from us.

We received two painted Dutch hats, to go with the ones we received on the Westerdam . One came from the servers at the Ocean Bar where we went for cocktails and appetizers before dinner. The other was from the Crows Nest staff where we danced until 2 o'clock each night. They had a 50-60s Rock &Roll night, a 70's night, and a prom night. We actually won the twist contest. I must have been under the influence of alcohol, because I don't normally twist. We aren't exactly ballroom dancers, more like bar room dancers. Fast dancing is the second best form of exercise, slow dancing leads to the first!

As well as the groups mentioned above we had an interesting mix of people aboard. One was a blind lady, her husband, and her dog Wiley. We had one couple from Northern Indiana who married on the beach at St. Croix and two or three couples who renewed their vows. We even had a passenger who had to be airlifted by a Coast Guard Helicopter in a very risky looking maneuver. The basket was spinning like a top. The rumor aboard ship had it as a body being removed, however we met some friends of the person and they said he was alive. The ship's doctor apparently suspected a potentially fatal blood clot.

We spent an extra day in Ft Lauderdale after the cruise and drank Rum Runners at Pussers and watched the Super Bowl. Our return flights the next day went well. (no snow)

This is the first review I have written, so excuse the lack of detail. When Rita and I filled out the survey for the Veendam , we gave 9's for everything except entertainment, which we gave an 8. The steel drum band was outstanding and the others average. But that is just a matter of taste. For those not familiar with Holland America, 9 is the highest rating you can give on the survey. If they had perfect 10's, this ship and cruise would have earned some from us. If you do need more detail on the ship, go to the Holland America web site (www.hollandamerica.com) and click on the virtual tour of the Veendam. That is what we did. You can view the cabins from different angles and get an actual feel for their size. The ship lived up to our greatest expectations.

Holland America Line does not add gratuities to your beverage bill automatically, nor do they leave tip envelopes in your cabin. Tipping, and the amount, is solely up to you. We did tip our cabin steward, head waiter, and bus boy just as you are almost required to do on other lines. We got extraordinary service, so we tipped accordingly. We also tipped all of the servers, bartenders, and wine steward who served us well. We did this on our last evening aboard. They all helped make our anniversary cruise special. If you are reading this review because you are considering taking a cruise on the Veendam, go for it! Heck, get in touch with us, we may want to join you.

We also want to thank Sharon Jackson of Sealetter for getting us interested in cruising. Right after we married in '97, we decided maybe we would like to try a cruise in the late summer or early fall. I typed in 'cruise' on my ISP forum search, and low and behold I met Sharon Jackson. She was putting together cruise bash 1, and the timing was perfect. I guess the rest is history. Three years later, we will be on the SeaLetter Y2K Cruise Bash on Carnival's Elation out of Los Angeles in September. This will be our fifth cruise!

Sealetter Article by k.smith

To fly to port or not--that is the question, that we have answered!

Our last two cruises have been New Year cruises and we drove to the ports of Tampa and Orlando. We have decided to look only for cruises that are a reasonable driving distance for us. Flying has became to much, especially with cruise line bookings. We end up spending about 12 hours or more getting from point A to point B. This includes arriving very early at our regional airport and flying as far north as Detroit to end up in Fort Lauderdale, Orlando, or Miami. It becomes a very long, stressful, and tiresome day when we finally wind up at our pre-cruise hotel. We always arrive for our cruise a day early and spend the night in a nice hotel. In twelve hours of driving we can be in Lake City Florida, which is on I-75, just south of I-10. (We make this trip on week twenty every year on the way to our timeshare in Siesta Key, just south of Sarasota.) The next day we have an easy three hour drive to either Tampa or Orlando. We will not drive to the South Florida ports--they are just a little to far. Now we have more regional cruise ports like Jacksonville, Charleston, Norfolk, Mobile, and New Orleans. We look for those ports first, as we can drive to all in one day. Driving for us is a lot more relaxing than the airline hassle.

Our first flight after 9-11 was for a New Years cruise out of Miami on the Carnival Victory, in late December of 2001. It made us rethink flying anywhere. We think airline security is, of course, necessary. We also think common sense is also necessary. That's why we exercise it and choose not to fly to South Florida ever again. Because our cruise booked flights included two airlines and four airports, we were randomly chosen by whom ever does the choosing to be on the watch list for potential acts of terrorism. Our little city airport was remodeled and redone a few years ago. Actually the old terminal is still standing and we have a new and improved one with elevators, stairs, and jet-ways. The problem is the only jets we get are to darn small for the jet-ways! To make this seemingly long story a little longer, our airport is called a regional airport. In other words you can't get there from here without going to someplace else first. We also do not have any discount airlines like Southwestern or Walmart Air. Good economical fares are nonexistent.

When we arrived at our jet-way equipped little airport/big airport wannabe for our flight north so we could end up south in Miami, we were informed that because we chose to fly we where fixing to be scrutinized. They began, while we were at the ticket counter, to unpack the four bags Rita spent a lot of time and thought to pack for our seven day cruise and overnight pre-cruise. The female clerk paged one of the baggage handlers and the two of them put on surgical gloves and started their task. The people in line behind us was very unhappy, however, they were petrified to say anything. We were close enough to hear them whispering to each other under their breaths. I looked at them and grinned when I said "ain't life a bitch and then you die." They did not even crack a smile.

They carefully unpacked everything, and I mean everything, in each bag one bag at a time, and painstakingly repacked each item even better than before! This took about 45 minutes. Shortly after the first bag was un and repacked another clerk showed up and the folks behind us finally got to check-in. Took them about three minutes!

Finally we were checked in! We had about 20 minutes before the boarding call was to be made so we stopped and got carryon coffee. We then headed for the screening machines. But no, it was not simple enough that we had nothing on our person to set off the alarm, we were pulled aside because of the pre-mentioned threat for the wand treatment. Finally, as they were calling for our flight to board, we were thru screening and was on our way! (not!) Before going down the stairs to the plane we had to remove our shoes. (remember the shoe bomber?) Now we are on our way! (not!) One move item to check--we had to take a drink of our coffee to prove, we guess, that it didn't contain gasoline or some other threatening chemical.

Oh, by the way, I failed to mention that our neighbors were also traveling with us on the same booked cruise and airlines. They were randomly picked not to be picked for any of this extra security. When we deplaned at the big airport to catch de plane to Miami, we were once again pulled aside and given the wand and shoe treatment. Since we never left the secured area of the terminal, this seemed kinda redundant, or in layman's terms--asinine!

After our cruise, in which I caught a cold, our flight from Miami to Chicago was more of the same, only in Spanish. This time they took us to a room with our baggage and provided us with chairs while we waited our turn to have our bags, once again scrutinized. We didn't quite understand everything that was said when it was finally our bags turn to be searched. We stood there while they opened the bags, and with glove-less hands, felt around the edges and certified us as un-terrorists. We are so glad that potential terrorists would never put anything in the center of their bags, only around the edges. Must be some kind of unwritten terrorist law.

Now the kicker--to fly the friendly skies, once we made it thru the screening machines in the Miami terminal, we would be finally ready to board our flight. (not!) I noticed on the overhead TV screen that our flight has been delayed. It started to rain and I noticed something else, our scrutinized baggage was on the tarmac in baggage carts with no sides, getting wet. When I reported this to the check-in counter, the not so very nice young lady said that was not her responsibility and how dare us to complain, only trouble makers would complain. We are the airline and we can treat you how ever we darn well please. Just take you seat and wait! We will tell you when we are ready for you to exercise your privilege to fly with us.
Finally boarding was called and, of course, we were pulled aside for final inspection of Rita's purse and my camera bag and my crotch. After the female grabbed it and said something in Spanish I was tempted to complain, however, I just thanked her for noticing! Then she made me take out my camera and show her that it was a camera. I took a movie of the floor and that seemed to satisfy her.
Oh, by the way, remember our neighbors? Since they were observed talking to us they decided to check her purse and found a no-no. It was a plastic hair pick, which they confiscated and added to their collection.

Once we finally arrived in our little corner of the world, EVV, we went to collect our wet bags. (not!) They did not travel with us and did not deplane when we got off of the little de plane. Apparently they did not connect when we connected in Chicago. They were sent, via taxi, the next day. Actually only one bag had water in it, Rita's cosmetic and female doodads bag. It also had a large tear and busted zipper. Her hair dryer and a few other items had to be replaced. Of course the airline only offered an apology and nothing else. It was God's fault and not the airlines!

Our very last flights were to Houston and back in Oct 2002 for our cruise out of Galveston, and late Jan 2003 out of Orlando for our cruise from Port Canaveral. They turned out to be very long and stressful days, that began about 4 a.m. and ended about 6 p.m. when we arrived at our hotel. Also, for some of the time we had to set far apart from each other on a couple of the connecting flights. Although we had a lot easier time getting thru security, we felt the airlines continued to treat us like cattle with all the flight delays and waiting around in overcrowded and uncomfortable terminals. That is when we came to realization--it is our choice to fly and IN THE FUTURE WE WILL ONLY PICK A CRUISE THAT WE CAN DRIVE TO PORT!

As of this writing we just booked another New Years cruise--on the NCL Sun out of New Orleans. It a ten day cruise from 12/29/05 to 01/08/06, and we are driving. I just did a Mapquest and it's 687 miles and a twelve hour drive.

Update: Well as "Miss Emily Litella"  from Saturday Night Live would say, NEVER MIND! Some female named Katrina hit NOLA and our cruise was moved to Houston--and we did fly--and it was not bad! Made us rethink all of this. Guess what, we booked a September 2006 cruise out of Fort Lauderdale--and by gosh darn we are going to fly there, as well!