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I have been looking at the best dates for value and perks for each of the four cruises and there has been some itinerary changes so I wanted to get you input if you feel you might want to sail with us.

Independence of the Seas - 6 night - Feb 28 is best availability date. The ports are now Berlize, Costa Maya Mexico, and Cozumel with two days at sea. Pricing including taxes range from $ 849 for inside to $ 1799 for suite with a great value of $ 1199 for balcony (which I ofren recommend). If you plan to travel with children let me know as RCCL has the best childrens program.

Liberty of the Seas - March 14 is the best available date. Best itinerary for first time western carribean sailing experience with the private island, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel with two days at sea. Pricing about $ 100 per person more than Independence but you get an additional day.

Celebrity Century - Is a short 5 night sailing which may lead to more "partying". Now ports in Key West and Grand Cayman with 2 days at sea. A relatively short sailing if you are flying to Florida to board. Pricing ranges from about $ 600 for inside to $ 1100 for suites. Children may become bored if sailing. March 1 is the best value date.

Celebrity Solstice - Newest of Celebrity ships and quite luxurios with spectacular shows. Ports in San Juan, St. Maarten, Tortola and private island in Haita with 2 days at sea. An upscale experience for a value price. After sailing on it in November I held space (which can be cancelled if this ship is not selected). Pricing is lower than you can find on the March 7 sailing. Again Celebrity is not as well recommended for families in comparision to RCCL. If this ship is selected we are limited to 24 cabins as group space has "sold out".

On all sailings a deposit of $ 250 per person is required by May 1st or as long as cabins last. Final day for "voting" is this Saturday, February 14th. Details should be available on this site by February 22nd.

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Thank you Frank for noticing my typo. Century suites from $ 1100. $ 110 would have been some kind of a deal.

I have been on two cruises. The first was with Princess. It toured the carribean (7 nights). It was fine.

The most recent cruise was on the Celebrity Summit. It was awful-to-poor. (14 nights from Spain to Puerto Rico).

I suggest avoiding the Celebrity. Princess has been great (and people that I know who have sailed both have had a very recent cruise on Princess and still like it a lot).

Both ships had several and more grand pianos. One of the Celebrity pianos was badly out of tune. Another was pretty good. Every piano that I saw on both ships were Yamaha.

I suggest adding workshops where knowledgeable instructors could lead sessions (blues, jazz, theory, etc.).

Thanks for the feedback Hop,

I would love to add workshops, but that would depend on who is joining us.
If we get enough people to sign up, I can work on "incentives" for some of the pros.

Otherwise, you may have to settle for listening to my rock arrangement of Moonlight Sonata :-)

...which is well worth the price...

Do you mean Belize instead of Berlize?

I AM SO WITH YOU ON THAT MONICA!

Yes Belize. Goes to show that you all read well. Hopefully many of you will elect to join us. Hope to have a ship and voyage selected by next week, keep the comments and votes coming in. Summit and Century are part of the "older" class of ships (although only a few years old) which may make comment above valid. Also shorter cruises tend to have the older ships. We are trying to find the cruises and cruise lines which will provide us with the most opportunities to meet and have fun at the same time.

I have been on five cruises, four with Royal Caribbean (East and West Caribbean and two to Alaska) and one short re-positionig cruise with Holland America.

I have done the Royal Caribbean cruise to the Private Island, Jamaica, Grand Cayman and Cozumel stops and enjoyed it immensely.

I have found RCCL to be first rate in all categories that one would expect to find on a cruise ship.

The food was excellent, the activities and entertainment were fabulous and the accomodations and service were second to none.

I have done a 5, 7, 10 and 14 day and found the 10 day for me was optimum.

I would say that a 7 day cruise should be a minimum. Anything less and I found that it seemed that you just get settled in and it's time to leave.

As for workshops, we often have posts here from Bradley Sowash, Neil Miller, and others.

We could always "invite" people like Mark Harrison or Tim Richards, or other people often mentioned on this forum.

Perhaps posters know of others.

Yo soy un Berlizer...LOL

For workshops and discussions that a piano is not needed, RCCL would be the best choice since they have rooms specifically set aside for conferences on deck 2. I would also think that they would have more piano's as I know there are only 2 really available for meeting and playing at the same time. If anyone on this forum has sailed on either Fredom, Liberty or Independence of the Seas and can provide locations it would be appreciated. I was invited and sailed on the pre inaugurals of both Freedom and Liberty of the Seas but in all honesty cannot remember.

Actually Bill, I cannot imagine a meeting with our group that would 'not' require a piano!!!

Could you check on that for us?

We are players/gatherers/partygoers all day and all night! And if attending a lecture/performance/shoptalk we still need a piano on hand.

And a place to meet for just the get-togethers could be most anywhere that there is a place that a group could gather within the large group...
or a big private estate room or adjoining rooms for the after party events.

In other words, the trip itself is only the frosting on the cake. Our get together and a place to meet and would be of utmost importance.

Otherwise, we could take any old cruise at any old time!

I hope I am speaking for others interested in attending. If not, I apologize for being forward about this.

Good points Lilylady.

Bill, if you scan a few of these posts, you will see how we usually operate.
We can meet just about anywhere, as long as there is:
~ A Piano (or 2 or 10 or...)
~ Food
~ Drink

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/22/145/2.html


http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/22/171/3.html

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/ubb/ultimatebb.php?/topic/22/133.html

http://www.pianoworld.com/ubb/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?/topic/22/147/3.html

I'm sorry to hear you had a bad experience with Celebrity. A number of years ago, my wife and I went on a Celebrity cruise, and were very impressed with the ship and crew. At the time, Celebrity was still owned by the Chandris family, and not by RCI, as they are now, so perhaps things have changed.

Cruise ships are very hard on the environment. Some companies are trying to become more responsible. I hope you will consider going with them.

There's an article in today's NY Times:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/travel/15green.html?ref=todayspaper

It is a matter of scheduling. Once we have selected a ship I will begin to work on scheduling. The space and time offered to us will depend on how many people we have (ie with say 20 to 40 we could probably use the piano bar during the day. With larger groups again gatherings would be during the day in most cases and probably in the upper "crowsnest" lounges.

It is a matter of scheduling. Once we have selected a ship I will begin to work on scheduling. The space and time offered to us will depend on how many people we have (ie with say 20 to 40 we could probably use the piano bar during the day. With larger groups again gatherings would be during the day in most cases and probably in the upper "crowsnest" lounges.

Cruise ships are very hard on the environment. Some companies are trying to become more responsible. I hope you will consider going with them.

There's an article in today's NY Times:
http://travel.nytimes.com/2009/02/15/travel/15green.html?ref=todayspaper

Hi Frank,
Saw you posts for the piano cruise. Sounds like a great idea. We would do our own entertaining and spend less time eating all that food. We have been on several cruises, the most recent last Feb. on NCL's Gem. Nice ship, great shows, and service. In 2005 we fly to London, took a 10 day cruise back to the states on NCL' Jewel. Again, a very good experience. They have Yamaha's in their lounges, with good pianists. In 2000, when I was still working as a Nurse, we did an educational cruise on NCL's, Norway. They were very accommodating, setting up rooms, and private breakfasts. Have you checked them out? Have you set a time of year or month? Looking forward to possibly joining you.
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