Arizona Travel Agent
“While we were at Castaway Cay on the last day of our Disney Magic cruise (December 20-27, 2008), a familiar-looking ship (the Disney Wonder) just happened to cruise by the island and toot its 7-note horn in greeting. Captain Tom told us it was only the 3rd time in his 8 years that the Magic and the Wonder had been together like that. That was a neat treat.”
by Tim Larison
We have been on a number of Caribbean cruises (Eastern and Western itineraries), but none were quite like our December 7 night Southern Caribbean cruise on the Crown Princess. We found this cruise to be different than our other Caribbean cruises in these ways:
Many shore excursions involve a public beach next to a resort. In our experience there are not usually public beach chairs. The resorts charge a nominal fee to use their beach chairs, so remember to figure this into your budget if you would like to use a beach chair during your stay on the beach. Also, be sure to bring your own beach towel.
Josh:
“My first time snorkeling was really fun. After we looked at some different islands, we came to Bird Island. Instead of playing on the beach, we got snorkeling lessons from a crew member of the boat. It was really fun and better than I expected. I thought it was going to be hard to breath, but it was easy. We even saw a crab walking on the ocean floor next to the boat. We had a great lunch with barbeque chicken, pasta, and banana cake for desert. After we left, we came to a snorkeling spot where there was lots of fish and coral. I saw some fish swimming around in the water and it was a really enjoyable experience. I hope I get to go snorkeling again sometime!”
by Tim Larison
In selling cruises I often come across figures for how many tons a particular ship weighs. Both Disney ships, for example, each weigh 83,000 tons. If you are like me, it is difficult to visualize how big 83,000 tons is! But the weight of a vessel is useful when comparing one ship to another.
by Tim and Anne Larison
One activity we like to recommend to clients on cruises when visiting Ocho Rios, Jamaica is to take a climb up Dunn River Falls. This is a unique excursion – there’s nothing on a Western Caribbean cruise quite like it.
by Josh Larison (age 12)
On all of the cruises that I have been on, there have been great video games. On Disney there were a lot of computers with a bunch of games on them. The only bad thing was that I didn’t get to play on them very much because there were a lot of people that got there before me. Royal Caribbean had computers like Disney and they also had a few Playstation 2s.
by Tim Larison
One of our favorite shore excursions to take on a cruise is a whale watching excursion. We have enjoyed whale watching in Alaska, Cabo San Lucas Mexico, and in Hawaii. Here are some tips on scheduling a whale watching excursion on your cruise:
by Tim Larison
With the recent tragic death of Steve Irwin (fatally injured by a stingray sting off the coast of Australia) some cruisers are thinking twice about doing a “swim with the stingrays” type of shore excursion that is commonly offered at some caribbean destinations (Grand Cayman for one).
by Tim Larison
Alaska voters will go to the polls on August 22nd to decide if cruise passengers will pay an additional $50 per person state head tax, and also require cruise lines to make some changes in the way they operate in Alaska.