Radiance 9-14-07 Polar Bear Express "Special"!

Morning all! And so the countdown continues, 4 more work days.

I happen to catch a post by our "friend" where she was just appalled that it would cost them over $70 round trip from the airport to the cruise port in NJ. Someone posted that by NJ/NY standard they thought it was reasonable. I almost posted that they obviously didn't know the poster well as she always expected to get everything for nothing. And, she can't understand why NCL doesn't have shuttles.

Have a great Monday all.

d

Happy Monday morning all............

Diane and Jill--You are doing the 6 night Jewel,right? What are you doing in Playa Del Carmen?? We were very surprised by this port.......NOT all at like I thought....Dont get me wrond,nothing bad.just not what I thought......we ate lunch at the Blue Parrot(where Rachel Ray ate when she was there)...its the only beachfront restaurant............

So Jean-what amenity did you pick this time?? Im probably go with the wine(even though they arent that great) since I have all the other stuff........do you remember offhand what they are?

PH8 wrote:

Happy Monday morning all............

Diane and Jill--You are doing the 6 night Jewel,right? What are you doing in Playa Del Carmen?? We were very surprised by this port.......NOT all at like I thought....Dont get me wrond,nothing bad.just not what I thought......we ate lunch at the Blue Parrot(where Rachel Ray ate when she was there)...its the only beachfront restaurant............

So Jean-what amenity did you pick this time?? Im probably go with the wine(even though they arent that great) since I have all the other stuff........do you remember offhand what they are?

Yes, that's the one we're doing. The only port where we have something planned is Belize, we're going Cave Tubing. Never stopped at Playa so we'll probably just look around, what else is there to see .

d

frudutx wrote:

PH8 wrote:

Happy Monday morning all............

Diane and Jill--You are doing the 6 night Jewel,right? What are you doing in Playa Del Carmen?? We were very surprised by this port.......NOT all at like I thought....Dont get me wrond,nothing bad.just not what I thought......we ate lunch at the Blue Parrot(where Rachel Ray ate when she was there)...its the only beachfront restaurant............

So Jean-what amenity did you pick this time?? Im probably go with the wine(even though they arent that great) since I have all the other stuff........do you remember offhand what they are?

Yes, that's the one we're doing. The only port where we have something planned is Belize, we're going Cave Tubing. Never stopped at Playa so we'll probably just look around, what else is there to see .

d

We have never been there either so we will follow the leader and "Look Around" ...Later, Jill

Thats all we did..........walk around.......some people went snorkeling in the cenotes or went to Tulum or to Cancun........

You read so much about PDC being the 5th Avenue of the Mexican riveria,but frankly,i didnt see it........

WOW.......as I went to post,it gave me a message and said someone else was just posting..............I could look at that post(Jills) and see if I wanted to modify my post here......first time for that..

heres some pics of PDC I took.....click on for more..

frudutx wrote:

Morning all! And so the countdown continues, 4 more work days.

I happen to catch a post by our "friend" where she was just appalled that it would cost them over $70 round trip from the airport to the cruise port in NJ. Someone posted that by NJ/NY standard they thought it was reasonable. I almost posted that they obviously didn't know the poster well as she always expected to get everything for nothing. And, she can't understand why NCL doesn't have shuttles.

Have a great Monday all.

d

Diane, didn't you catch the mathematical error that she made? She got quotes of $19pp One Way or $38pp R/T for a total of $74! I could do that math in my head without a calculator!!

cruiseforme wrote:

Did about 5 pages of scrapbooking on the trip.....so far embarkation, cabin crawl, Icy Strait Point and the door sign page.......still have to print a ton of pics.....guess I'll be spending hours uploading to computer so I can order some....hopefully tomorrow...

Jen....sure wish I had been able to book the scp cruise.......I could have brought it all with me and then I would have been forced to finish it!!

j

Wish you were going too! I think we need to plan an Alaska reunion cruise!

I think I have about 12 pages done so far.... Everyone's teasing me that I will need several volumes, because the first 8 pages are before we even left the dock!

I stayed home and nursed my cold over the weekend. Managed to finally get my Christmas decorations put away, and that's about it.

Have a good week everyone!

Jen

PH8 wrote:

heres some pics of PDC I took.....click on for more..

Kathy: Loved the pictures, see that you have sailed with Sandy & Tom too!...We met them on Mariner 12/06 and have crossed paths many times since most recently on Radiance and Sovereign in Dec...They are such a nice couple...

Kathy great pictures. I'm really looking forward to Playa now, lots to see. I see you did the cooking class in Coz, isn't it fun? My daughter and I did it the other year and just had a blast. Luis is a real flirt and from the looks of it the menu hasn't changed we cooked the same things.

d

cruisenfever wrote:

frudutx wrote:

Morning all! And so the countdown continues, 4 more work days.

I happen to catch a post by our "friend" where she was just appalled that it would cost them over $70 round trip from the airport to the cruise port in NJ. Someone posted that by NJ/NY standard they thought it was reasonable. I almost posted that they obviously didn't know the poster well as she always expected to get everything for nothing. And, she can't understand why NCL doesn't have shuttles.

Have a great Monday all.

d

Diane, didn't you catch the mathematical error that she made? She got quotes of $19pp One Way or $38pp R/T for a total of $74! I could do that math in my head without a calculator!!

Yes, I caught the error. Hate to say what I think she has for brains but it's not gray matter. She's a piece of work that one!

d

Diane.that cooking class was one of the BEST excursions we have ever done...........second only to dogsledding on a glacier.......

Luis said he was changing the menu this year...........but yes, we really enjoyed it....all of us in that class(except 2) were all friends crusing together(we had met thru CC and cruised together before)so it made it even that more special.........

I saw that miscalculation and saw where someone called her on it...

Jill----I have cruised with Tom and Sandie before too...........we both did a b2b on the SS in 06........

Had no idea they were going to be on the JW..but like you, they cruise all the time so we were bound to see them again.....sorta like Herb and Marianne too.........

PH8 wrote:

Diane.that cooking class was one of the BEST excursions we have ever done...........second only to dogsledding on a glacier.......

Luis said he was changing the menu this year...........but yes, we really enjoyed it....all of us in that class(except 2) were all friends crusing together(we had met thru CC and cruised together before)so it made it even that more special.........

I saw that miscalculation and saw where someone called her on it...

I wouldn't mind doing that one again but I think I'll wait until next year. Tricia and I didn't know anyone in our class and as a matter of fact it was a combination of people from Carnival and RCCL which made it even more interesting.

d

Kathy, I went for another beach towel. I got one on Vision along with the tropical romance bouquet (after 49 credits you get 2 amenities on the longer cruises & they expand the list, including flowers again). I like the towel, so I'm getting another for our hot tub use. They're so big that I want to get them on the local cruises so I don't have to worry about packing - I can just wear it off the ship as a blanket if I have to, LOL!

Thanks for the tips on Nassau - I think we're going to wait until we're there to schedule stuff - we've gotten a letter and a phone call from the resort telling us to book now as things fill up, but I'm not biting.

I also loved the cooking class in Cozumel - we had an almost private one because our tender was late & they started the morning class without us. We were the only ones off the Jewel doing it, but another couple begged their way into the group. It's more fun when you have company!

Jill and Diane,
When we went to Playa years ago, we took a trip down to the Mayan ruins in Tulum, and since it was our whole dining table that went, we did some "funny fotos"...like me laying on the altar of sacrifice with Bob standing over me with a large stone and then we all did a Mayan totem...then we all went swimming in the Xel-ha lagoon....beautiful snorkling.

Jill...I tried to copy/paste each of the slides in that Polar Bear Powerpoint slideshow I sent you so that you could see it, but couldn't copy paste from PP to AOL...!

Booking our March Zip Line excursion today at RCI....wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Hugs, Mar

Jean-------I think I have the beach towel.........is it the blue one??
Do you know what kind(really the brand) of wines they offer for the amenity?? I think Laterre or Caliterra??(for the red),but not sure about the white.....

Exairgoddessl wrote:

Jill and Diane,
When we went to Playa years ago, we took a trip down to the Mayan ruins in Tulum, and since it was our whole dining table that went, we did some "funny fotos"...like me laying on the altar of sacrifice with Bob standing over me with a large stone and then we all did a Mayan totem...then we all went swimming in the Xel-ha lagoon....beautiful snorkling.

Jill...I tried to copy/paste each of the slides in that Polar Bear Powerpoint slideshow I sent you so that you could see it, but couldn't copy paste from PP to AOL...!

Booking our March Zip Line excursion today at RCI....wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Hugs, Mar

I'd love to see the ruins at some point, I just didn't want to spend a lot of time on a bus.

d

Tulum is not far from where you tender into PDC....45 mins...........on the other hand,Chichen Itza is about 2-3 hrs away!!

PH8 wrote:

Tulum is not far from where you tender into PDC....45 mins...........on the other hand,Chichen Itza is about 2-3 hrs away!!

Hmm, I'll have to talk to John tonight. So tell me is it like Cozumel, can you get reliable excursions at the port or do you think booking on the ship is best? We're there for 12 hours so it's not like we couldn't go to the ruins and shop.

d

Exairgoddessl wrote:

Jill and Diane,
When we went to Playa years ago, we took a trip down to the Mayan ruins in Tulum, and since it was our whole dining table that went, we did some "funny fotos"...like me laying on the altar of sacrifice with Bob standing over me with a large stone and then we all did a Mayan totem...then we all went swimming in the Xel-ha lagoon....beautiful snorkling.

Jill...I tried to copy/paste each of the slides in that Polar Bear Powerpoint slideshow I sent you so that you could see it, but couldn't copy paste from PP to AOL...!

Booking our March Zip Line excursion today at RCI....wheeeeeeeeeeee!

Hugs, Mar

Thanks for trying ...

frudutx wrote:

PH8 wrote:

Tulum is not far from where you tender into PDC....45 mins...........on the other hand,Chichen Itza is about 2-3 hrs away!!

Hmm, I'll have to talk to John tonight. So tell me is it like Cozumel, can you get reliable excursions at the port or do you think booking on the ship is best? We're there for 12 hours so it's not like we couldn't go to the ruins and shop.

d

Let me know what you decide and I'll discuss it with Dave...

PH8 wrote:

Jean-------I think I have the beach towel.........is it the blue one??
Do you know what kind(really the brand) of wines they offer for the amenity?? I think Laterre or Caliterra??(for the red),but not sure about the white.....

It's white at the borders with a huge RCI banner in blue & yellow. It's a nice big one, which will make it great for sunning & soaking, I think.

The red wine is Caliterra Merlot and the white is a Mondavi Chardonnay. It may be the Woodbridge, which isn't at the top of my list - drinkable but not great. After 49 credits they give you a choice of that or Geyser Peak (I think that was the label) Sauvignon Blanc. I got a bottle at Von's to do some market research and it was very good. We'll probably order a red & a white on Mariner.

Oh, get this: I got my 50th cruise credit crystal block on Vision! I had already gotten one on Monarch, but decided not to give it back. The truly bizarre thing is that my real 50th won't be until Mariner - they've been crediting me for a cruise from 2003 that we never took and I don't know where they're getting the others from. Another cruiser had the same thing happen to him for his 30th credit.

Diane......yes, there are tours(not sure how reliable they are though--I know nothing about them) available when you get off the ship...or do some research on the port of calls board(for PDC) on CC....Shopping in PDC is just ok......the stores nearest the tender are kinda crummy but they get a little better as you walk away from that area............5th Ave goes on and on......

Thanks jean.......I am pretty sure thats the same towel I have.......I really enjoy wine and wish they had some better to offer.........

On the EN,they give the crystal out to those with 20 credits!! I was on there for my30th and was all excited to get mine........but then my friend(with 20) got one too............With the cruises I have booked,my 40th crystal will be on the Monarch......UNLESS I book something before that or upgrade on another,,,,