The Tropics Are Heating Up!

Peak hurricane season is here, and the tropics are letting us know it.

Tropical Storm Danielle- 08/23/10 - photo by NOAA

Tropical Storm Danielle is strengthening in the Tropical Atlantic, and may be a hurricane before she makes a predicted turn to the Northwest in the next couple of days. If she turns sooner, rather than later, she'll be "going fishing," missing land completely. If the turn comes later than expected, Bermuda will need to batten down the hatches, something they are very good at doing.. UPDATE 8/23/10 : Danielle became a hurricane at 5 PM today

In the Pacific, Tropical Storm Frank is making his way along the coastline of Mexico, and the Mexican government has issued tropical storm warnings from Lagunas de Chacahua to Zihuatanejo. The coastal area from Zihuatanejo to Pumta San Telmo is under a Tropical Store Watch. Itineries for Mexican Rivera cruises are likely to be affected.

Meanwhile, in the far eastern Atlantic, a new weather system has just moved off the coast of Africa, and the NHC has already upped the chances for its development to 40%.

If you're cruising this hurricane season, be prepared! Arrive a day early at your port of departure, take along your favorite motion sickness remedy, be prepared for possible changes in your cruise itinerary, and make sure your plans for post-cruise travel are flexible enough to allow changes in time, date, or point of departure. For more detailed tips on cruising during hurricane season, see Special Notes on Cruising During Hurricane Season near the bottom of the New Cruiser Tips page at Cruise Ready Store.

L.A.'s Loss is Galveston's Gain . . . eventually

Royal Caribbean announced today that the Mariner of the Seas will make her last Mexican Rivera cruise from Los Angeles on January 9, 2011. She'll then head for a "short season" in South America, following which, she'll make Rome her homeport from March to October. Galvestonians will be happy to hear that her 2011-2012 winter homeport will the the Port of Galveston, from which she'll sail 7 night Western Caribbean vvoyages, replacing the Voyager of the Seas.

Mariner of the Seas, at a former home port - Port Canaveral

Texans (and others sailing on Mariner out of Galveston) are sure to relish the fact that they'll have an opportunity to try Royal Caribbean's excellent alternative dining venue, Chops Grill. Oh, the Steak! Oh, the Chocolate Desert! If anything is worth a few extra bucks, this is!

More good News for another hurricane ravagaed port: When Mariner deploys to Galveston, Voyager will head for New Orleans.

It's great news to see these two gems of the Royal Caribbean fleet being deployed to ports that have seen their share of hard times, and can use the economic boost a great ship with strong demand will bring to their area.

This happy news (for Texans and Louisianans)

brought to you by Shirts for Cruising

at Cruise Ready Store

We Sail Today!

Some persnal notes for today - Sailaway day! It's been SO long since we curised that I hardly know how to act, but today's the day!

We'll be on the Monarch of the Seas, with our good friends Sue and Dickie, and it will be three days of relaxing and catching up. Everything's ready. Bob and Marilyn are here to mind the house and Walker, and I've got my Bon Voyage to Me T shirt ready to wear.

Dickie informed me he brought his nautical tie clip - the one from my store with the cruise ship on it - but doesn't intend to dress up. Does THAT make sense??? Why bring it if you don't intend to wear it? We'll see. And Sue brought everything but the kitchen sink, as usual. The two of them are such fun. It's going to be great to cruise with them again.

They were really pleased with the way our little magnet door markers turned out. These come in handy for my guy, too, who can never remember his cabin number. Since all the doors on those long hallways look pretty much alike, I 'mark' ours for him with a pretty magnet. Here's a pic of the ones I did for this trip ... one for each of our two cabin doors. They'll be a nice little keepsake afterwards, too. This is just one of several designs available for personalization in my Zazzle Gallery. (There's buttons and shirts, hats, bags, and other things, too)

Well - time to get in gear... first, breakfast at our favorite pre-cruise spot - The Sunrise Diner. So, now IT BEGINS.

Cruising Musings is now Networked on Facebook

Well, it's done! Not sure that I followed the directions properly, or that I could repeat the process in the same order again, but this blog is now networked on Facebook!

This means (I think) that all my blog posts here will now be fed to my facebook Cruise Ready Store fan Page . (If you're on Facebook, please consider becoming a Facebook Fan of Cruise Ready Store!) So, you can now follow this blog right from Facebook.

If you'd like to set up your blog to feed entries to your facebook page, don't bumble through like I did... get some help at The Selling Lounge, where Valerie, of Mulewagon Antiques and Collectibles has been kind enough to post some step by step directions.

Well, here goes ... I'm gonna publish this post, and then see if it appears on my facebook page!

EDIT: It worked. (sort of) It's not feeding to a separate 'blog' page, but it's feeding.

Ida Rumbles On

Ida left some very sad marks on Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Reports are that over 100 lives were lost and more than 500 homes were destroyed. Americans, please remember our southern neighbors in your prayers
Now weakened again to a Tropical Storm - after becoming a Category 2 hurricane, Ida is now poised to make her presence known to the upper Gulf Coast of the United States.

Cruise itineraries have been affected - some more, some less.
A few ships substituted another port for Cozumel, spent an unscheduled day, or re-ordered their port stops. These included Carnival's Liberty, Inspiration, and Conquest, as well as the Crown Princess. NCL's Spirit found it necessary to leave from New Orleans about an hour and a half early for her current cruise. Hopefully, all the cruisers on these ships were equipped with their favorite cure for motion sickness , such as Cruise Ready Store's best-selling natural motion sickness remedy, Gin-gins double strength hard ginger candy


Passengers on two other ships will experience more drastic changes to their cruise vacations.
CARIVAL FANTASY's November 10 six day cruise will be shortened to five days, departing on November 11, with the visit to Progresso being eliminated. These passengers willl will receive a one day pro-rated refund of the cruise fare paid for the 6 day cruise.
CARNIVAL TRIUMPH's November 10 four day cruise will be shortened to a three day cruise, departing on November 11 instead. The ship will not visit Cozumel, and passengrs will receive a 50% refund of their cruise fare.