RCVoyager

Under no circumstance should anyone book an aft balcony on any ship. As a service to all of mankind, when I cruise, I will think of the other person first and take the aft balcony off of someone else's hands. It's a heavy price for me as just one humble individual to pay, but someone's got to do it. TIC of course. Aft balconies are the bomb.

The peak of hurricane season is Sept 10 with a secondary peak Oct 10. The ships for the most part can adjust to avoid storms. Sometimes your Eastern Caribbean itinerary will become a Western Caribbean itinerary. As long as you are ok with that you should be fine. The only usual real problem is a hurricane that hits the home port on change over day. Can't avoid that.

Somewhere around here I have an 8 X 10 of my brothers and me with the 5 members of the Barenaked Ladies. They took a studio photo with each party that came on board the ship that day.

Something I've been thinking about with regard to America helping a cruise industry that is foreign flagged but affects American interests. How about rebates to Americans through the cruise lines to be paid at cruise check ins? Sure it may result in higher cruise fares, but the instant rebates would more than make up for that. The competition would be fierce, and we, as the users, would benefit.

One of the problems I see in the Scientific community is that you can't believe them anymore. If a guy can get Government funding because he says it was caused by bats, then he can get more Government funding to say it was caused by pigs and an HIV positive human in the wrong place at the wrong time. Then he can get more Government funding to say the combination was actually engineered purposely. The best example of this is global warming... err climate change. It's all based on modeling. The guy with the biggest hockey stick gets all the money. The fact that the weather don't come anywhere near what the hockey stick says just means the stick is longer and more angled than was previously thought. We need more money to properly research this but we better change the name to climate change since the reality isn't warming. Makes it hard to believe anything... even if you see it with your own eyes sometimes.

Nice topic Dan. My favorite ship specifically is the Adventure of the Seas and generally is the Voyager Class from RCCL. I've been on Voyager Class ships several times. The layout is great and the size is perfect from my view.. My favorite cruise is without a doubt January of 2007 on the Carnival Legend. It was Ships and Dips 1 (Barenaked Ladies Cruise). I've written about it here before. The Barenaked Ladies remain a favorite of many in my family and they gave an up close and personal experience to the passengers on the ship that week. There was the Barenaked at Sea photo, and it was there that my brothers and I met the band Gaelic Storm, a band that is not just our favorite band... a great band, but has become friends to our family. A band that is played at every family party. My parents, who are in their 80s, saw them live last year and loved it. My mom said she had to see them and meet them to thank them, specifically Patrick Murphy the front man, for their friendship and care during my brother's illness and ultimate passing. Bands and celebrities don't care, but Gaelic Storm does. Go see them live. It is unforgettable.

How about the following in lights: "$500 in OBC" ?

I believe that is the Breeze in Port Canaveral.

Hey Purdue Flyer. Boiler up. I have a brother and sister-in-law (husband and wife) who are grads of Purdue Flight School. That experience led to an amazing life for them and their family. Sadly, we lost my beloved brother to ALS a few years ago. Purdue was good to them.

I'm a little surprised RCCL is taking these huge ships into the small spaces the Alaska experience is. I didn't think they'd ever take anything bigger than a Voyager class up there. Would be a site to see for sure.

My classroom and pool work was at the local YMCA which was new at the time and very nice. My open water dives were at a nasty gravel pit in Muncie, IN. While I think it best to do the certification at home, 20 years later I think I'd take a pass on that gravel pit. I guess piggy backing on your idea Twangster, get everything done at home except the two open water dives. You could do those in the Caribbean.

It really is good to be certified. Do it at home before your trip if you can. As Sonny mentioned, vacation time is sacred.

The band is Gaelic Storm. The name of the song is: 'The Night I Punched Russell Crowe In the Head'. It's a true story. If you see Russell Crowe today, don't tell him about the song. Gaelic Storm is afraid Crowe will sue Patrick (the front man). Funny stuff.

I would give it some time. Late June is 3 1/2 months away. It would be best to let RCCL come to you with changes as you will get the best deal that way.

The peak of Hurricane Season is September 10th with a secondary peak on October 10th. That said, many people successfully cruise during Hurricane Season every year. The rates are low and the ships can mostly avoid the storms. The problematic issue would usually be related to a hurricane affecting a home port on embarkation day. Other than that, they can usually avoid the issue.