Thursday, January 31, 2008

Excitement of Anticipation

Yes, I haven't posted anything for a couple of weeks as life has been extremely busy and challenging and haven't had any new questions that would be appropriate for this BLOG.

This morning however, while sitting on the porch (I love living in FL especially in the "winter"), I started to really anticipate an upcoming cruise in April. What got this started was the fact that I just got notified of my air schedule returning from Barcelona, Spain. The cruise is a 16 night transatlantic from Ft. Lauderdale to Barcelona with some very exciting ports of call in the Med.

I was mentally picturing getting on board and seeing the ship (Emerald Princess), getting to our cabin and un-packing, being on deck for sail-away and watching the Ft. Lauderdale skyline disappear behind the ship, sitting on our balcony over the next few days as we are crossing the Atlantic and there was nothing but water all around us (we love sea days) and a transatlantic sailing is very peaceful and relaxing. I was thinking about the ports we will go to and so on and so forth.

Not only is a cruise a wonderful vacation but the excitement and exhilliration plus the anticipation of what to look forward to gave me a great start to my day. Everyone has experienced this during their lifetime in many different situations - getting married (ok, getting divorced ), finishing school, a new job, going to an event (concert, ballgame etc.), and others I hope this gets you thinking about and reminiscing about the "good times" you've had or are going to have.

But for me and my wife, the anticipation up to getting to sailing day and embarking on a ship makes the value of the whole experience that much better. This is now not a 16 day cruise that we paid for, but a 2 1/2 month experience until we get to start the cruise and did not have to pay any more for that. Talk about value!

What? You've nothing to look forward to right now. Well go on our cruise finder and check things out or give us a call and get your next adventure in motion. I promise you that the "Excitement of Anticipation" is going to be worth as much as the experience itself.

Al

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

A challenge to Food Network Chef by Sapphire Princess Culinary team

Just found this and will watch and post results later

Princess stars in TV culinary challenge15/1/2008

In the third season of Food Network’s ‘Dinner: Impossible’ series, chef Robert Irvine accepted a ‘gastronomic dare’ by Sapphire Princess’ culinary team, the results of which will be revealed at 10 p.m. ET/PT Wednesday.

Viewers can tune in to see if the noted chef was successful with his challenge to cook aboard the ship during an Alaska cruise last summer.

In Ketchikan, Princess master corporate chef Alfredo Marzi threw a curveball: challenging Irvine to create a buffet of hors d’oeuvres for a 2,900-passenger sail-away party to take place in seven-and-a-half hours.

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Cabin Location -Midship, Forward, or Aft?

Happy New Year to begin with. I will get back to putting in a little story about the cruise last month with the Grandkids one of these days. Hopefully will be able to upload the Welcome Aboard pictures - 12/21/97 and 21/21/07.

But today relates to a question from a good client yesterday about location of the cabin on a ship. Is middle, forward or aft the best? Higher or lower deck? Inside or balcony?

Here is my own thought since we have been in a cabin in all areas of a ship - the only true advantage to a midship cabin is that you are halfway to the front or the back of the ship! Is it less "rough" in the middle? NO. If the seas are rough, the whole ship is going to rock so it makes no difference. Actually the lower decks will sway a little less. Think about a tree. The whole tree may sway but the top does more so than the bottom.

I think the aft cabins are better than the forward cabins in rough seas though. The reason being, if the ship is hitting the waves with the bow, that wave is smoother the further back as the stern goes over it since a path, so to speak, has been cut through. The ship will still rock but the "bump" may not be felt as bad 3 football fields back (most new ships are 900+ ft long).

Another advantage to an aft cabin and especially true on the very back of the ship is the wonderful panoramic view.

Now type cabin. Our personal preference is having a private balcony. "But I never spend much time in my cabin" is something we hear all the time. "Why spend the extra money for a balcony when an inside will be just fine since it's only to sleep in anyway?" I could ask "but how much time do you spend in your walk-in closet at home?" Or "did you ever book a hotel room without a window?" If you a relatively new to cruising, you will probably spend more time out of your cabin then you will in it. Once you become a little seasoned, you may find that the peace and quiet and privacy of relaxing on your own balcony is quite the way to go, especially on sea days.

Enjoy an evening cocktail, morning coffee, read a book as the sea goes by, see the sunset and/or sunrise all in private. Also, we like to leave the door open and hear the surf at night. A little motion and the sound of the sea - life is good!

There are lots of different thoughts about this location question. It's more important to know what is above and what is below your cabin then whether it is forward, aft or middle. Finally, put me anywhere on a ship and I'm happy.