Caribbean Vacation Zone

I just came off the inaugural sailing of RCCL’s new Liberty of the Seas yesterday – she’s the sister ship to the Freedom of the Seas, the two largest passenger ships in the world. She’s a beautiful ship with everything and more than you could ask for. This is my fourth sailing with RCCL in the past two years (my wife and I are in the "Premium" level category) and I’m here to say that "bigger does not always mean better"! I find the food quality, service, menu selection (in both the dining room and for room service), and attention to detail, to be far superior on Celebrity (we are "Elite" level here). I also like the ship layouts much better on Celebrity.

Consider this – Celebrity uses a three elevator bank layout on almost all of their ships – that’s one bank forward, one mid-ships, and one aft. RCCL uses only two – one forward and one aft. So your mid ship cabins – the most desirable location on any ship – and where we just were on the Liberty – required us to walk to the forward or aft banks of elevators any time we wanted to go anywhere on board! My wife and I are in good shape, but I would not recommend the Freedom or the Liberty to anyone with health/walking issues.

However, to answer your question directly, my favorite RCCL is the Radiance of the Seas, ("known as "a ship of light" for all the glass used in her design), and by far, my favorite Celebrity ship is the Century – even more-so since her recent $55 million refurbishment!

I hope this information is helpful to you. One final word of advice, give your local travel agency a call and ask to speak with a Cruise Specialist. There’s no additional cost for their sevice and their information and advice is very valuable.

Costa Cruise lines—in my opinion is the ultimate of Italian lines for food of perfection and service. Love, honey

Royal Caribbean Cruises for kids/teens?
I have been invited to take my family on a Royal Caribbean cruise (with work so I will be in meetings some of the time). Just wondering is this a good cruise for kids? I have a 9year old a 12 year old, a 15 year old and a 17 year old. What things are there to do for kids and what are the kids programs like? Also is the teen areas supervised? Thanks

Every ship has another style. So there are some ships with special offers for families with kids, some are specialized particularly for lonely singles, some for elderly people… You may better ask the cruise company before you choose the ship, if they are attractive for teenagers and kids.

My husband and I are going on a Western Caribbean cruise around New Year’s Eve for our anniversary. What should we pack for the weather there? We will be stopping at the Bahamas, Jamaica, and the Grand Caymans. We have our formal wear for Captain’s Night, but beyond that, I am at a loss.

Carry light layers for casual wear. they weather is usually nice and will range from the high sevnties and can drop to the mid 60s at night. The further south you go the less change you will see in temperatures. The light layers are for the evenings or in case of a cold front. Other than that its like regular summer clothing. The Bahamas is the northern most part of the Caribbean (we technically aren’t in the Caribbean sea, but The Atlantic Ocean) and in December its usually still pretty warm during the day and comfortably cool at night (with the exception of cold fronts) so Jamaica and Grand Caymans should be just beautiful.

I live in Montreal and plan on working on a cruise ship around the caribbean. I know I must send an introducton letter to the different main offices but what I don’t know is WHERE to find these adresses, and how to make sure they are the right adresses to send my letters to whee they will be sure to be read ?! Can anyone help me?

Find the various cruise line websites, locate the contact us sectoin, or the Vacancies section. They usually have a mailing address, email address and contact number listed