From: utzoo!decvax!harpo!utah-cs!sask!dvlcn!dkatz Newsgroups: net.travel Title: Re: Cruises Article-I.D.: dvlcn.91 Posted: Wed Jan 5 13:50:46 1983 Received: Thu Jan 6 20:08:08 1983 In response to query about cruises in the Caribbean - Last year my wife and I went on a Holland/America 10-day Caribbean cruise. The line was recommended to us by our travel agent both because of the good responses from previous bookings and because of the composition of the crew. It was her observation that the Indonesian stewards are best, and that she personally prefers Scandinavian crews over Greek or American. I don't have a basis for comparison, but I can certainly say that the attention we got from the crew/stewards was continually excellent. The ship was the Statendam which was the oldest one belonging to Holland/ America. It has since been de-commissioned, but we did have a chance to see the Veendam (?sp) and it looked good. Some hints: - Look carefully at the ports of call. Some are not particularly interesting or are unfriendly to tourists. Haiti was perhaps the most depressing stop on our cruise. I also understand that Jamaica is less accepting of tourists nowadays (this from a co-worker, I've never been there). - As a matter of comfort, I would suggest finding cruises that do not have a long time at sea after the last port of call. We spent 2 1/2 days going home after the cruise was over!!! - Never book onto a ship that has never sailed before unless the line is VERY reputable. A standard scam is to leave the ship in dry dock (or sell it, or go bankrupt) and then withhold some or all of the passage money. I know that it may not be legal, but who cares about the legality when you are sitting around home stewing because your cruise was 'cancelled'. The best bet is to only travel on a ship personally recommended by a friend. - Cruise lines depend on ~80% return customers for their business, so you can complain when justified and be sure of being heard. They can't afford to ignore customers. - Enjoy yourself!!! Good luck and happy cruising %-} Dave Katz