For the second time in less than six months my wife and I found ourselves on the Queen Elizabeth. In March it was for a Panama Canal cruise over 14 days from LA and ending in Ft. Lauderdale. It was our first time on a Cunard ship and we were impressed until the debarkation.

When someone with a proper British accent apologizes us Americans are normally impressed. "We are dreadfully sorry for the delay," said the captain. Cunard was blaming it on the United States Government and the lack of Customs personnel due to the "sequester." I was going to miss my flight home and did not hold Cunard responsible until we found out that people staying on board who had bought $35 tickets to a shuttle bus to go to an outlet mall were getting off before departing passengers with air reservations.

However the rest of the cruise was so nice that I booked a 12-day New England-Canada cruise on the Queen Mary in October. Then my wife found a Southampton to St. Petersburg 14-day cruise on the QE on the 90-day ticker on the Vacations to Go website. The price for a balcony was just $1,550 per person. She bought this cruise that covered the second half of August. Read more