Just a short note to post a link http://www.comeawaywithme.co.uk/LondonAudioGuide
Anyone who is going to London, check it out...it's a very nice map of London Landmarks, with pictures of dozens of landmarks and audio information...just click on Picadilly Circus, for instance, and get a brief spoken rundown of the location, history and interesting contemporary commentary. Best of all is the charming British accent of the hostess!
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
New NORWEGIAN EPIC website
For a sneak peak at the new Norwegian EPIC, click HERE . This is a truly fantastic new cruise ship, which is now available for booking through Dave Holman Travel Services...I could go on and on, but it's better you go to my site and check it out for yourself.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Carnival returning to Mexico
STATEMENT REGARDING H1N1 (SWINE) FLU ITINERARY CHANGES
Miami - May 15, 2009 5:00PMCarnival will resume visits to Mexican ports of call based on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which is no longer recommending against non-essential travel to Mexico. Once all voyages with previously modified itineraries are completed, those vessels will revert to their original routes featuring stops in Mexico. Most itineraries were modified through mid-June. Click here for a ship-by-ship listing including dates for when each vessel will resume its original itinerary. Carnival is extremely pleased to be resuming our port calls in Mexico, which is one of our most popular destinations. Additionally, we would like to thank all our guests and travel agent partners who were impacted by the modified schedules in recent weeks for their understanding and patience.
from the Carnival Cruise Lines website
Miami - May 15, 2009 5:00PMCarnival will resume visits to Mexican ports of call based on the latest guidance from the Centers for Disease Control, which is no longer recommending against non-essential travel to Mexico. Once all voyages with previously modified itineraries are completed, those vessels will revert to their original routes featuring stops in Mexico. Most itineraries were modified through mid-June. Click here for a ship-by-ship listing including dates for when each vessel will resume its original itinerary. Carnival is extremely pleased to be resuming our port calls in Mexico, which is one of our most popular destinations. Additionally, we would like to thank all our guests and travel agent partners who were impacted by the modified schedules in recent weeks for their understanding and patience.
from the Carnival Cruise Lines website
Carnival Splendor, again, again
Well that last cruise was so much fun, I am going back on the Carnival Splendor for the 5/31/09 Sailing. Last chance to cruise from LA to Canada. This one has port calls in Victoria (again), but replaces San Francisco and Seattle with Astoria, Oregon and Vancouver, BC.
Decided to do another, because the prices are crazy cheap. This time I will be taking my 3 neices and nephews as well as my sister and brother in law. Should be a fun introduction to cruising for the little ones.
This is the first time I have ever boarded the same ship three times in a row, and I might have the record for most days onboard the Splendor since her redeployment to the West Coast...
And I got in just in time, as Carnival announced today they are resuming their Mexican Riviera iteneraries after the 6/11 sailing. Doubt I will do another daily post, but I will review as soon as I get back.
Decided to do another, because the prices are crazy cheap. This time I will be taking my 3 neices and nephews as well as my sister and brother in law. Should be a fun introduction to cruising for the little ones.
This is the first time I have ever boarded the same ship three times in a row, and I might have the record for most days onboard the Splendor since her redeployment to the West Coast...
And I got in just in time, as Carnival announced today they are resuming their Mexican Riviera iteneraries after the 6/11 sailing. Doubt I will do another daily post, but I will review as soon as I get back.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Carnival Splendor, Day SIX and SEVEN
Ended the cruise with two days at sea. Heading south the seas calmed and it got progressively warmer, until finally it was warm enough (almost) to try out the waterslide.
Spent most of the two days running around the ship with some new friends, playing Trivia contests and Digital Scavenger Hunts, hanging in the Piano Bar with Ron Pass, the best Piano Man in the Carnival Fleet, and eating...did try the Burrito Bar, the Mongolian BBQ, the Deli, the Tandoori and the Rotisserie...they were all good to excellent, with the Tandoori still being my favorite, and the Mongolian BBQ pretty good.
Not much else to say, so I will just post the pictures, and you can decide if I had a good time.
I will tell you that I have booked the Splendor again for the 31st of May...so it must have been pretty good!
Sunday, May 10, 2009
Carnival Splendor, DAY FIVE
So....Seattle wasn't quite ready for cruise ships...I had plans to meet my neice for lunch at a place 600' from the pier. Alas, we were sent to the OTHER pier.
When I looked out from my room, just before they started letting people off the boat, there were at least 50 cabs waiting, so I figured "no problem". I can just go down, have one of the cabbies radio for a ramp van, and we'll be on our way. Between then and when people actually got off the boat, the port authorities made all the cabs move to a different location. Most of them decided to go to the airport. ;-}
When cabs finally started showing up, after multiple calls from disgruntled passengers standing in the cold and damp, none of them would make a call, so I called dispatch and requested a van. Then I waited about an hour...then I called back, and they actually got all the relevant information...then I waited another half hour...then I called back again, and found out that Yellow operates a total of 6 ramped vans in all of Kings County (and it's a pretty good sized county), and they had not yet matched me up with an available van...after ANOTHER half an hour in the cold and damp, I gave up, called my neice and had her come to our pier and pick us up (could have done that ahead of time, but I really didn't think I would need transportation, based on what I was told as to where we would be docking.
Anyway, it ended up a nice lunch hour with Andrea, got caught up, and gossiped about all the family that wasn't there, etc., and then headed back to the ship
When I looked out from my room, just before they started letting people off the boat, there were at least 50 cabs waiting, so I figured "no problem". I can just go down, have one of the cabbies radio for a ramp van, and we'll be on our way. Between then and when people actually got off the boat, the port authorities made all the cabs move to a different location. Most of them decided to go to the airport. ;-}
When cabs finally started showing up, after multiple calls from disgruntled passengers standing in the cold and damp, none of them would make a call, so I called dispatch and requested a van. Then I waited about an hour...then I called back, and they actually got all the relevant information...then I waited another half hour...then I called back again, and found out that Yellow operates a total of 6 ramped vans in all of Kings County (and it's a pretty good sized county), and they had not yet matched me up with an available van...after ANOTHER half an hour in the cold and damp, I gave up, called my neice and had her come to our pier and pick us up (could have done that ahead of time, but I really didn't think I would need transportation, based on what I was told as to where we would be docking.
Anyway, it ended up a nice lunch hour with Andrea, got caught up, and gossiped about all the family that wasn't there, etc., and then headed back to the ship
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Carnival Splendor, day FOUR
keeping it short and sweet today....Victoria was 47degrees and raining...not really "vacation" weather for me. We stayed on the ship, cruised around the decks a few times, got in a nice afternoon nap, watched a James Taylor concert on the Big Screen by the pool, and had a nice dinner.
After dinner, and half a basketball game, I headed down to the promenade deck to see what was going on...amazingly both the Casino and the Piano Bar were closed on the same night...fortunately there was a good guitar player out on the promenade, listened to him for a while...the band in the back lounge was okay, but not my style, and the karaoke bar was SRO all night...finally gave up and headed to the Sports Bar to watch the Lakers kick some Rocket butt...that was fun as the bar filled up for the second half...
Seattle was good and bad, and I will tell the tale tomorrow...
After dinner, and half a basketball game, I headed down to the promenade deck to see what was going on...amazingly both the Casino and the Piano Bar were closed on the same night...fortunately there was a good guitar player out on the promenade, listened to him for a while...the band in the back lounge was okay, but not my style, and the karaoke bar was SRO all night...finally gave up and headed to the Sports Bar to watch the Lakers kick some Rocket butt...that was fun as the bar filled up for the second half...
Seattle was good and bad, and I will tell the tale tomorrow...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Carnival Splendor, Day THREE
Today was a Day at Sea...spent the day roaming the ship...tried the Burrito Bar for lunch, listened to music in the Atrium Lobby, blah blah blah. Also spent a couple hours in the Casino...started nicely, ended badly. In other words, the usual.
Really nice touch with the magrodome over the Lido Pool...warm and bright there.
It was a formal (or, as we say these days, Cruise Elegant) night. A surprisingly large number of people dressed up. I had the Supreme of Duck, it was excellent, along with a sushi starter that was interesting, and the chocolate melting cake for dessert.
After dinner, we went to the show. It's a new production number called "The Beat"...excellent...lot's of good rock 'n roll music, and great choreography.
\
Finished the night in the Piano Bar. Best crowd so far. Apparently an overflow crowd in The Cool, where the "Legends" auditions were still going on, pushed some people into the piano bar, so it was packed, and Ron was in fine form, as well as my Montana and Arkansas friends (some of whom are actually from Utah...my bad).
Anyway, today we are pulling into Victoria around noon. Not sure yet what we are doing...it is around 50degrees and drizzling off and on...so it depends on the whether. However, the mornings cruising thru the Sound has been quite scenic.
All for now...
Really nice touch with the magrodome over the Lido Pool...warm and bright there.
It was a formal (or, as we say these days, Cruise Elegant) night. A surprisingly large number of people dressed up. I had the Supreme of Duck, it was excellent, along with a sushi starter that was interesting, and the chocolate melting cake for dessert.
After dinner, we went to the show. It's a new production number called "The Beat"...excellent...lot's of good rock 'n roll music, and great choreography.
\
Finished the night in the Piano Bar. Best crowd so far. Apparently an overflow crowd in The Cool, where the "Legends" auditions were still going on, pushed some people into the piano bar, so it was packed, and Ron was in fine form, as well as my Montana and Arkansas friends (some of whom are actually from Utah...my bad).
Anyway, today we are pulling into Victoria around noon. Not sure yet what we are doing...it is around 50degrees and drizzling off and on...so it depends on the whether. However, the mornings cruising thru the Sound has been quite scenic.
All for now...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Carnival Splendor - Day TWO
Not that I had any real desire to go to San Francisco - but I am glad I did...the "Sail Under" of the Golden Gate Bridge was spectacular...I have sailed under the bridge before, in tour boats of various sorts, but I have NEVER been quite so close...it seems we cleared it by just a couple feet, and standing on the fantail as we went under, you could see the faces of the people lining the bridge to watch and wave.
And then, after docking, when we got off and started walking towards Pier 39, we caught a real break...Sunshine, glorious sunshine. Had to take my jacket off, it got so warm...a real surprise, after sailing all day thru fog. So, we walked from Pier 27 all the way to Ghirardeli Square (I forgot that last block was straight uphill, and on the way back went out the Hyde Street pier to look at the historic boats, stopped and had a bowl of clam chowder, got a sketch portrait down by a street artist (Mothers Day is coming), then walked out Pier 39 to watch the seals (some serious seal Sumo wrestling was going on, as two bulls fought for a spot), get a picture of Alcatraz, etc...all in all we spent 3 hours playing tourist and had to hurry back for dinner.
When we got back, we found our dining table had been re-assigned (the first night we were all the way in the back, and had to do some serious manuevering to get the wheelchair out). Not only did they get us a table right by the door, but the Maitre d' came and positively fawned, making sure our new table was right. Since a ton of passengers stayed in town for dinner, we spent pretty much the entire meal talking to our new waiters...I had the Jerked Pork Loin, which was as good as last time, Steve opted for the Penne Mariscos, which was loaded with shrimp, scallops and calamari - good dinner, great service.
After dinner we wandered the halls a little and listened to music. Paul and Linda, in the Atrium Lobby were excellent, Bruce, on the Promenade deck, outside the casino was as bad as I have ever heard on a ship, outside the Karaoke, and finally we ended up listening to the Legends Auditions...apparently the Legends show at the end of the crew has passenger/performers (as well as the regular entertainment cast)...the auditions were pretty much like the first episode of American Idol...from the ridiculous to the sublime. A couple of the passengers could easily be working on the ship, and a couple should really leave it in the shower. Most were just average, but they all deserve some credit just for giving it a shot!
Anyway, we finally sailed off at 10p.m., Steve went to bed and I closed out the night, you guessed it, at the Piano Bar....lot livelier crowd last night, including a couple celebrating their 60th Anniversary....nice to know it's possible, anyway...
Later
And then, after docking, when we got off and started walking towards Pier 39, we caught a real break...Sunshine, glorious sunshine. Had to take my jacket off, it got so warm...a real surprise, after sailing all day thru fog. So, we walked from Pier 27 all the way to Ghirardeli Square (I forgot that last block was straight uphill, and on the way back went out the Hyde Street pier to look at the historic boats, stopped and had a bowl of clam chowder, got a sketch portrait down by a street artist (Mothers Day is coming), then walked out Pier 39 to watch the seals (some serious seal Sumo wrestling was going on, as two bulls fought for a spot), get a picture of Alcatraz, etc...all in all we spent 3 hours playing tourist and had to hurry back for dinner.
When we got back, we found our dining table had been re-assigned (the first night we were all the way in the back, and had to do some serious manuevering to get the wheelchair out). Not only did they get us a table right by the door, but the Maitre d' came and positively fawned, making sure our new table was right. Since a ton of passengers stayed in town for dinner, we spent pretty much the entire meal talking to our new waiters...I had the Jerked Pork Loin, which was as good as last time, Steve opted for the Penne Mariscos, which was loaded with shrimp, scallops and calamari - good dinner, great service.
After dinner we wandered the halls a little and listened to music. Paul and Linda, in the Atrium Lobby were excellent, Bruce, on the Promenade deck, outside the casino was as bad as I have ever heard on a ship, outside the Karaoke, and finally we ended up listening to the Legends Auditions...apparently the Legends show at the end of the crew has passenger/performers (as well as the regular entertainment cast)...the auditions were pretty much like the first episode of American Idol...from the ridiculous to the sublime. A couple of the passengers could easily be working on the ship, and a couple should really leave it in the shower. Most were just average, but they all deserve some credit just for giving it a shot!
Anyway, we finally sailed off at 10p.m., Steve went to bed and I closed out the night, you guessed it, at the Piano Bar....lot livelier crowd last night, including a couple celebrating their 60th Anniversary....nice to know it's possible, anyway...
Later
Monday, May 4, 2009
Carnival Splendor...Day ONE
Okay so far. Got to the port about 12:00, after a brief detour through Los Angeles (no, it's not really on my way, from Hesperia, to Long Beach, but stuff happens).
Zipped thru the line, onboard by 12:30, and a room service lunch by 1:30...Steve was a bit tired from the drive, so he chilled in the room, while I took a walk around and determined the Splendor hasn't changed since I last sailed her, all of 5 weeks ago.
The room is very cool. We are in a 4G, which is sold as an inside cabin but has a window. The window looks out over a walkway, and there is no view of the ocean with out standing on tiptoes, but it does let in light and blue sky. It's a triangular shape, with the bathroom at the base, so the main part of the room is an "L" shape, with two beds at the bottom, and the closet/vanity/fridge/tv along the right as you walk in....very nice flow, actually, with the wheelchair. I have a bunch of pics and will post them when I get home.
So, we sailed off at 5:30 after the Meditation...oops, I mean Muster Drill. Met three people from the Cruise Critic Roll Call...no one else showed up. Just me, Steve, Tycruiser and his friend, and Bacardibatgirl.
Anyway, after the M&G we went to dinner. The usual...I had a steak, it was okay, Steve did the Tilapia...I should have as well...
After dinner we walked around a bit, hit the casino, lost a little money, and Steve was ready for bed. I went on down to say "HI" to Ron Pass at the Piano Bar and stayed til 1am...great bunch there...11 family members from Montana, a nice couple from Australia and 3 ladies from Arkansas...As I suspected, some people on the ship are just trying to make the best of it, as they could not change their plans when the itenerary change came along, but an awful lot of us booked in the last 3-4 days, and are just loving life and Carnival and cheap cruising.
We finally hit some waves about 2am, the ship was rocking and rolling pretty good, but this morning it was dead calm and foggy. Now, we are hitting the Monterey Peninsula and she is once again moving pretty good. The biggest downside to that cabin right on the bow...but, oh well.
We are supposed to be getting into San Francisco about two p.m. I can't wait to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge...
Later
Zipped thru the line, onboard by 12:30, and a room service lunch by 1:30...Steve was a bit tired from the drive, so he chilled in the room, while I took a walk around and determined the Splendor hasn't changed since I last sailed her, all of 5 weeks ago.
The room is very cool. We are in a 4G, which is sold as an inside cabin but has a window. The window looks out over a walkway, and there is no view of the ocean with out standing on tiptoes, but it does let in light and blue sky. It's a triangular shape, with the bathroom at the base, so the main part of the room is an "L" shape, with two beds at the bottom, and the closet/vanity/fridge/tv along the right as you walk in....very nice flow, actually, with the wheelchair. I have a bunch of pics and will post them when I get home.
So, we sailed off at 5:30 after the Meditation...oops, I mean Muster Drill. Met three people from the Cruise Critic Roll Call...no one else showed up. Just me, Steve, Tycruiser and his friend, and Bacardibatgirl.
Anyway, after the M&G we went to dinner. The usual...I had a steak, it was okay, Steve did the Tilapia...I should have as well...
After dinner we walked around a bit, hit the casino, lost a little money, and Steve was ready for bed. I went on down to say "HI" to Ron Pass at the Piano Bar and stayed til 1am...great bunch there...11 family members from Montana, a nice couple from Australia and 3 ladies from Arkansas...As I suspected, some people on the ship are just trying to make the best of it, as they could not change their plans when the itenerary change came along, but an awful lot of us booked in the last 3-4 days, and are just loving life and Carnival and cheap cruising.
We finally hit some waves about 2am, the ship was rocking and rolling pretty good, but this morning it was dead calm and foggy. Now, we are hitting the Monterey Peninsula and she is once again moving pretty good. The biggest downside to that cabin right on the bow...but, oh well.
We are supposed to be getting into San Francisco about two p.m. I can't wait to sail under the Golden Gate Bridge...
Later
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