Cruise Ship Dance Journey - Organized by Ray Sahelian, M.D., Lora Cain, and Arthur Pond
Join your fellow dancers on the cruise ship Monarch of the Seas, February 23 to
26, 2007. We will have dinner together each evening (we will rotate tables each
night so we get a chance to sit and talk to a variety of people) and dance
around the ship in the night clubs, on deck, or wherever there is music. This is
a fun trip with no pre-arranged dance classes or facilitators. You are free to
be part of the group dancing and prancing around the ship, or you can
do your own thing, or hanging out with other passengers. We are just getting a group together to enjoy our time
together in a relaxed way. We did this cruise 2 years ago and it sold out with 30 people! We all shared such a good time together that
we are organizing another one. Monarch of the Seas is a 4 star ship run by Royal
Caribbean Cruise line. It has over 2000 passengers.
Cruise Itinerary
DAY PORT
ARRIVE DEPART
Friday Los Angeles, California -
5:30 pm - you can embark anytime between noon and 4:30 pm
Saturday Ensenada, Mexico
8:00 am 5:00 pm
Sunday At Sea - -
Monday Los Angeles, California 8:00 am - you
will most likely be able to exit the ship by 9 am
Cost per person, including port charges and all the food you can eat. You will share a room with another person.
Inside cabin 320
Ocean view 350
Better Ocean view 360
Superior Ocean view 480 - bigger room
Junior suite
with balcony 660
Additional
expenses will be parking, about 10 days per day and tips, usually about 10
dollars per day.
Reserve soon since there is a possibility of the cruise being sold out or prices
increasing.
Cruise Ship Communication
Until recently, cruise passengers who wanted t
o make a call from the open sea had to bring their
own satellite phones or use the ship's phones, generally paying $8 to $10 per
minute. With the new technology, guests will be able to use their own cell
phones and handhelds anywhere in the world. When a call is placed, it will be
detected by cellular antennae onboard the ship and transferred to a satellite.
The satellite redirects the call to a base station on land, and it is then
routed through the cellular network, connecting the call within seconds. Cruise
lines such as Norwegian, are the first to offer cell phone service at sea,.
Other cruise lines have announced that they will offer this new technology --
Carnival, Crystal, Norwegian, Oceania Cruises, Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, Silversea, MSC Cruises and Regent Seven Seas.
The cost to install the necessary equipment is about
$250,000 per ship and is paid for by the communications companies. Cruise
passengers will not have any charges on their onboard accounts but will see the
charges on monthly cellular phone bills. The cruise lines will receive a portion
of what the communication company makes on every call. The cost for the service
will vary based on where the call is placed and which cellular phone network is
being used. Most calls will cost $2 to $5 per minute. The cost for guests to
send e-mail using handheld devices or text messages by phone will be a few cents
per message.
Cruise Lines
Carnival cruise
line
Celebrity cruise line
Clipper cruise line
Costa cruise line - Costa Magica - 7 Night Eastern Caribbean from Ft.
Lauderdale; Costa Romantica - 7 Night Western Mediterranean from Rome; Costa
Fortuna - 7 Night Tunisia/Spain/France from Genoa; Costa Europa - 7 Night Canary
Islands from Genoa.
Cruise West cruise line
Crystal cruise line
Cunard cruise line
Delta Queen cruise line
Discovery World Cruise
Disney cruise line
Holland America cruise ship
MSC Cruises
Norwegian cruise line
Oceania Cruises
Orient cruise line
P&O Cruises
Princess cruise line - On July 18, 2006 the brand new Crown Princess, the crown
jewel of the Princess fleet, departed Port Canaveral en route to New York on the
last leg of a 9-day Caribbean cruise. At 3:30 pm, 11 miles from port and in calm
seas, the ship suddenly tilted 16 to 18 degrees, sending passengers and crew
(and anything else that was not nailed down) flying. The frightening incident
lasted 30 seconds and injured 240 people (there were 3,100 passengers and 1,140
crew members onboard at the time). The ship returned to Port Canaveral. Guests
with minor injuries were treated onboard, but 94 passengers were taken to area
hospitals. At last report, one passenger remained hospitalized and was expected
to make a full recovery. All passengers were given a full refund for the cruise
and Princess arranged for transportation home from Florida for all who required
it.
Regent
(Radisson)
Royal Caribbean
Cruise line
Mariner of the Seas, 7 Night Eastern Caribbean from
Port Canaveral. Vision of the Seas, 7 Night Mexican Riviera from Los Angeles;
Navigator of the Seas , 7 Night Western Caribbean from Miami; Jewel of the Seas;
Adventure of the Seas, 7 Night Deep Southern Caribbean from San Juan.
Seabourn cruise line
SeaDream cruise line
Silversea
cruise
Star Clippers
Uniworld cruise line
Viking River Cruises
Windjammer cruise line
Windstar cruise
Riverboat Cruise
Avalon Waterway - you can cruise the Rhine River on the Avalon Tapestry, a new ship owned by Avalon Waterways, which is in turn owned by Globus Tours. On most river cruises, at least part of every day is spent docked in a town. In Basel, Switzerland and Kehl, Germany Avalon Tapestry docks in industrial areas where buses are necessary to reach the tourist areas. Everywhere else - the German towns of Speyer, Mainz, Rudesheim, Coblenz, and Cologne plus Amsterdam -- the main tourist areas are an easy stroll from the ship.
Cruise Destinations
Africa
Alaska
Alaska Cruise Tours
Asia/Far East
Asia/Far East Cruise Tours
Australia/New Zealand
Bahamas
Bermuda
Canada Cruise Tours
Canada/New England
Caribbean (Now thru October 10)
Caribbean (October 11 thru November 25)
Disney World & Bahamas Cruises (Combination)
Europe Cruise Tours
Greek Isles
Hawaii
Mediterranean
Mexico/Central America
Middle East
Northern Europe
Pacific Northwest
Panama Canal
Repositioning
River Cruises
South America
South America Cruise Tours
Tahiti
TransAtlantic
Cruise Alaska now more expensive
On August 22, 2006 voters in Alaska narrowly approved a controversial $50
per-person tax on every cruise ship passenger entering state waters. Ballot
Measure 2, or the "cruise ship tax" as it is commonly referred to, was sponsored
by Bluewater Network, a California-based environmental group, and an
organization called Responsible Cruising in Alaska, among others. Their stated
goal for the initiative was to better protect Alaska's resources and to generate
additional revenue to pay for infrastructure needed to support the cruise lines
and their passengers. From every $50 collected, $46 is supposed to be spent on
port and harbor facilities and other tourism services, and $4 will be dedicated
to the creation of "ocean rangers" to be deployed on every cruise ship to
monitor wastewater treatment practices and pollution control. Ballot Measure 2
also calls for a 33% tax on onboard gambling and a corporate income tax on
cruise lines' marine revenue. The measure will require cruise lines to
prominently disclose their mark-up on shore excursions. Residents of Alaska can
file complaints or lawsuits against cruise lines for any alleged violations of
any environmental statutes and receive 50% of any fines collected. Cruise lines
currently provide 70% of Alaska's tourists, and tourism is responsible for
26,000 jobs. Communities that depend on cruise passengers are worried that the
taxes may discourage travelers from visiting Alaska and reduce the amount of
money cruise passengers spend ashore. Cruise companies such as Carnival Corp.,
which deploys 16 ships to Alaska--eight from Holland America, seven from
Princess Cruises and one from Carnival Cruise Lines are upset with the vote. CEO
Micky Arison released a statement a few days after the vote stating, "We are
very disappointed that Ballot Initiative 2 has passed, as we believe this will
inhibit the future growth and expansion of Alaska's tourism business." Other
cruise lines have had a similar reaction, and several organizations intend to
appeal portions of the initiative in court. In Alaska, the final vote was 52% in
favor of the tax and 48% opposed.
In addition to taxing passengers, the Alaska Cruise Tax measure
creates a new 33% tax on onboard gambling profits and a corporate income tax on
cruise lines' marine revenue. It also requires cruise lines to disclose their
mark-up on shore excursions and allows Alaska residents to file complaints or
lawsuits against cruise lines for alleged violations of any environmental
statutes, and share in any fines collected.
Passport Requirement
A plan by the US Department of State called the Western Hemisphere Travel
Initiative, requires people traveling to and from Canada, Mexico, Panama, the
Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda to have a passport to enter or re-enter the
United States. The implementation of these new passport requirements for land
and sea travelers, begin June 1, 2009. Citizens of the United States, Canada,
Mexico and Bermuda will be affected. The proposed timeline is as follows:
Beginning January 8, 2007, a passport will be required for all air travel to or
from Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean and Bermuda.
Beginning June 1, 2009, the passport requirement will be extended to include all
land border crossings and sea travel to or from the above-mentioned
destinations.
Currently, passports are recommended but not required for travel to and from
Canada, Mexico, Panama, the Caribbean, Bahamas and Bermuda.
Cruise
Ship Doctor and other Travels
Right after I completed my medical residency in
Philadelphia, I signed up to work on a cruise ship in the Caribbean.
This was in 1987. I also worked on a cruise
ship sailing out of Honolulu in Hawaii and I spent several months on the
Southward, a Norwegian Cruise Line ship, sailing out of San Pedro in Los
Angeles. The cruise ship company based in Honolulu was American Hawaii cruise
line. I worked on the Constitution in the summer of 1988.
February, 2004
I took a cruise in the Caribbean on board of Costa Atlantica. I was a cruise
sponsored by Yoga Journal.
May 2006
I spend a week on the cruise ship Sapphire, from the Princess Cruise line,
cruising the Inside Passage from Vancouver to Whittier,
Alaska.
Other Travels
June 2006- A trip to Greece with visits to Athens, Delphi, Santorini, and Crete. Yoga retreat on the island of Santorini.
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