With the crazy high cost of wi-fi at sea, how important is it to purchase the packages? On our upcoming 5 day cruise, it will cost close to $100 to be able to check my email on a regular basis. After debating back and forth how important daily email checks are, I am no closer to deciding if it is worth spending that kind of money to be able to keep up on emails. My understanding is the speeds are so slow, uploading photos or anything along those lines will be impossible.

What do you do, go off the grid or pay the high price for the slow speeds?

Most cruiselines charge a single supplement of 200% cruisefare which makes things very pricey for a single traveler. Some lines are building single cruiser cabins into the new deck plan to make this more affordable. This still comes at the expense of your wallet and a smaller cabin.

Wouldn't there be some way the cruiselines could discount the fares a bit, this seems like such an unfair practice. It is not the single cruisers fault if they do not have someone who they would like to travel with. I also realize the lines are in business and a single cruiser produces less revenue from fares along with on board spending. I definitely think the single staterooms are a huge step in the right direction.

Keep it up cruiselines! We as consumers love to see our input being implemented onto the new ships. It encourages us to keep traveling with you.

The unfortunate issues with the propulsion system on the Celebrity Millennium has resulted in quite a few unhappy cruisers. Some were unhappy due to the cruise being cancelled before they ever left, others having to juggle and adjust plans while things are changing mid trip for them.

Compared to the compensation I have seen offered during other problem cruises, I very much feel that the compensation that seems to be offered is fair. The passengers who were on the cruises that were cancelled and cut short midway through the trip are really the ones I am referring to. At initial amount of refunds and looking at the overall total cruise cost, it did feel a bit small. But once you truly break down what the cruise fares were from the taxes and any land portion, the fact that they are offered a full refund of cruise fare along with a future cruise credit equaling the same cruise fare.

Anytime things don't go as planned on a vacation that you have put your time and money into it is a very stressful time. This one unfortunately tied many hands in the process of rectifying and trying to salvage what is left of a vacation. Hopefully all of those onboard are now ready to try to re-book their Alaskan trip using their refund and future cruise credit to replace their lost trip.

So sorry to have been away for so long! Things have been very busy and we just weren't able to have time to update the blog at all.

We are now back and are working on quite a few new topics for upcoming posts and are completely open to any and all suggestions for topics and discussions.

As an added bonus, we are looking for guest bloggers. All you do is send us a entry for the blog and if we use it, take $50 off your next trip with us! Easy as that.

The Carnival Triumph experienced a fire on board February 10, 2013 which left the ship with no power. The cause of the engine fire was a leak in a fuel oil return line that sprayed onto a hot surface, the Coast Guard announced Monday. The ship being without power meant having to be towed back to port with no power other than what was provided by the generators. Reports from passengers state conditions were not very "vacation like".

Reportedly, many of the over  3,000 passengers have slept on deck in the absence of air-conditioning, and a lack of plumbing. Some have said they have had to use showers, sinks and plastic bags instead of bathrooms. Food was in a very limited supply and water had to start being rationed. Mnay of the lower decks were deemed unusable due to sewage from the over flows along with no lights. This caused many to build tents on higher outdoor decks out of sheets and robes.

Carnival has refunded all cruise fares, plus offered a future cruise credit equal to cruise fare paid and an additional compensation of $500. I originally was leaning toward thinking this is completely fair and just. But what about people missing work? Did anyone lose their job because of being unable to return to work on time? Even with that being said, this is something you agree to based on the cruise contract. By being a passenger on a cruise ship, you agree that the cruise line at their discretion can adjust your itinerary as they see fit. This is definitely not an ideal situation but it appears the crew did a phenominal job making the best out of a tough situation. I think the compensation seems fair. Now there is talk about law suits. I amjust not sure why this needs to even happen. As a passenger who has had issues on past cruises, it is very simple to contact the customer relations department and speak to them making a request for additional compensation. the worst they can say is no. In all fairness, I wasn't on that ship, maybe things truly were that horrible to constiute legal action.

What do you think??? Any thoughts are welcome. 

If you are traveling to the Disney parks with your family, I highly recommend purchasing the Disney Dining packages. While the cost may seem a bit overwhelming, think about trying to feed your family of four at the parks just one time per day along with doing character dining. Character dining is pretty pricey but very much worth it.

We recently went to Disney and stayed on property along with doing the dining package for the first time. While I still like staying off property and renting a house for more privacy if you are only doing Disney parks for a short portion of your stay, being on Disney property when the entire trip that was the only thing you had plannned  for the length of your stay was very much worth it. Having the dining package which meant only having to pay for tips at sit down meals was such a nice change and much simpler than always carrying cash or credit card. All you need is your room key and everything can be charged to the room.

Food quality, while completely subjective, I felt was very good to good just depending on what we ordered. Sometimes we ordered well, others not so much. In hindsight, we ate dinner at the Rainforest cafe one night when we visited Downtown Disney. In hindsight, we would have preferred to do another character dining. Food was great but I would have liked to see the characters. Also, the quick dine meals, kids don't have to choose a kids meal even though they are available. Some places the kids choices made no sense. At the pool restaurant at the Grand Floridian for example. The kids choice was a chicken wrap with cabbage and veggies but on the regular menu there were chicken fingers. We just swapped meals since this was before we realized the kids could order any meal for their quick dining choice, not just a kids selection.

Overall there is so much value in the dining plan, especially when they run specials on it. I highly recommend it.

There are so many restaurants that are in the Destin area, it is hard to choose a few favorites but I will name my top 3 that MUST be visited everytime we are there for a vacation.

1. Crab Trap is my favorite for the view atmosphere and the kids meals come with a bucket and shovel so we try to hit Crab Trap for our first meal. I highly recommend the Amberjack sandwich. Very good from a girl who doesn't like much fish or seafood.

2. Donut Hole - I love the desserts here especially the Key Lime Pie. Only occasionally do I actually get a donut. :-) The brunch here is excellent. I have yet to try it for lunch or dinner. On a side note, they are closed during the winter months so check before you go.

3. Anglers - Love the view here also and there is a playground on the beach nearby that is a great way to kill time with little ones while waiting for a table. I honestly order the burger here because I like it but I hear the seafood is very good.

I just thought I would share a little piece of our cruise we took back in December to the Caribbean. It was a fabulous trip that I really wasn't sure we should take because it was over Christmas. Looking back it was perfect, the only downfall being my youngest daughter changed her mind and didn't go.

Normally, I don't advertise in my blog but I just can't help myself today.

We have group space booked to Alaska for 2013 including the land portion at an AMAZING rate in August.

Contact us for a deposit special, a great rate plus $75 on board credit per cabin!