Costa Cruise Lines

Hello, Tom - you ARE ornery today. Notice my last phrase is addressed to "Su" who asked about CELEBRITY TO ALASKA. I just answered hers. Maybe should have made it another post so as not to confuse.

 

No more that usual. I just have this thing for facts, and I don't like to see them misstated.

 

Don't fuss with Tom on statistics!!

 

I love the 10-day trips. They truly give enough time to fully relax and allow the magic of the sea to work.

Practical sense, the 7-day (board at noon Sat and off at 10 am the next) is most workable. Only miss one Sunday. It takes time to unpack and get to know the ship.

We ALWAYS take our swim suits as carry on, since bags won't be delivered to the room until 4-6 pm. That way we go thru embarking (about 30-45 minutes), go to eat (can't miss a meal! and we often eat light the morning of leaving because we are flying in or at a motel in the port), walk around the ship, then get in the adult warm pool area.

All the rest of the afternoon people, waiting for suitcases, will walk the ship and come by. We are 100% by ourselves, luxuriating in the pool and amenities and beginning the relaxation.

Our last cruise was in February and we CAN'T WAIT until the next cruise Dec 18-28.

 

Nope.

 

I agree with Dr. Bob. The longer the better!

Our last cruise (also in February) was 8 days out of San Diego. We visited Acapulco, Zihuatanejo, and Mansanillo, Mexico. We had a great time. That was a Carnival Spirit class ship.

Prior to that, in December, we did a Monday through Friday with our daughter, son-in-law and two grandsons. 5 days with to very active toddles is enough, thank you!

A few months earlier we did 8 days (on Holland America) out of San Diego to the Sea of Cortez stopping in Cabo San Lucas, Loreto, and La Paz. Great time.

February of 2004 we did 7 days out of San Diego to Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan, and Cabo San Lucas. That was also a nice cruise.

This summer we are going to do the Alaska Inland Passage again, this time for 10 days which includes an inland trip. Looking forward to it.

 

Great envy to you, Sir Thomas. Living in San Diego, I'm assuming you can get some last-minute deals on cruises not quite full.

Had some friends in Ft Lauderdale that took cruises that would cost $1000 (example) and they got them for $350 and they were ALWAYS cruising.

Us in Wyoming? We have to schedule flights, hotels etc long in advance. And can't get any kind of last minute "deal".

 

If my wife and I feel like getting away we call whichever ship is in port and talk to the purser to see if there are any unsold cabins or no-shows. The trick is getting the phone number! We can usually get aboard for about one third of the lowest advertised fare. It's nice living 15 minutes from the cruise ship terminal.

 

A "freak wave" more than 70 feet high slammed a luxury cruise ship steaming for New York yesterday [April 16, 2005], flooding cabins, injuring passengers and forcing the liner to stop for emergency repairs.

The Norwegian Dawn, an opulent ocean liner almost 1,000 feet long, limped into Charleston, S.C., yesterday afternoon after it hit vicious seas in an overnight storm off Florida - then was creamed by the rogue wave after dawn.

"[My room] was destroyed by stuff getting thrown all over the place," passenger James Fraley, of Keansburg, N.J., told NBC News before embarking on the 12-hour drive home because he didn't want to set foot on the ship again.

The ship, which sailed from New York last Sunday with 2,500 passengers, had been due back today.

It weathered most of a wild storm that featured gale-force winds and choppy seas. But then the vessel, longer than three football fields, was suddenly smacked by the "freak wave," said Norwegian Cruise Line spokeswoman Susan Robison. It broke a pair of windows and flooded 62 cabins, she said.

"The sea had actually calmed down when the wave seemed to come out of thin air at daybreak," Robison said. "Our captain, who has 20 years on the job, said he never saw anything like it."

The tidal wave wrecked windows on the ninth and 10th floors and wreaked havoc below decks, destroying furniture, the onboard theater, and a store that sold expensive gifts.

It also injured four passengers and terrified scores more, many of whom lost belongings and were being flown back to New York early this morning.

"My daughter said people were freaking out," said Mel Blanck, 74, whose daughter, Caren Hogan, 42, of Matawan, N.J., was vacationing aboard with her family. "She said some doors were ripped off and broken glass was everywhere."

In a message Hogan left on her parents' voice mail, she said her ship "feels like the Titanic" and described "water running everywhere, with people getting hurt and panicking."

"She felt lucky that she and her children weren't hurt," said Blanck, whose daughter had called from South Carolina last night. "She's calm now, but she said it was a nightmare."

The floating city of a ship, which was commissioned in 2002, left New York a week ago for Orlando, Miami and the Bahamas. It had started heading home when it ran into the wicked weather.

During the storm, one frightened passenger called a relative who relayed the information to the Coast Guard, which escorted the ship into Charleston yesterday.

"The ocean is unforgiving; it doesn't care who is out there," said Petty Officer Bobby Nash of the Coast Guard in Florida. "This could have happened to anyone."

Repairs were done last night, and the ship resumed it's voyage around midnight after a team of Coast Guard inspectors gave it approval.

Many of the Norwegian Dawn's passengers remained on the ship while it was readied for the sea again, Robison said. The battered vessel is expected to return to New York tomorrow.

All passengers would be given a partial refund, a credit for a future trip and access to the ship's open bar, Robison said.