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Q. When is the best time to take a cruise through the panama canal?

these transcanal cruises are available from september through march at a wide range of prices. any idea what is the 'best' month to cruise the canal? is it because of great price, or great weather, or -- ?? thanks! we want to book such a cruise later this year or early next. any ideas and information are most welcome!

"The hottest months of the year for panama or the cooler months if you..."

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Q. When is the best time to purchase a cruise?

i am planning to take a couple of cruises, 1) hal zuiderdam panama canal 10-days december 23, 2009; and 2) hal eurodam gems of the baltic 10-days, july 19, 2010. when is the best time to purchase? are prices likely to go up or down as the time for the cruise draws closer? how about other incentives like shipboard credit, etc.? i have been watching prices on the december cruise and they remained fixed for more than a month, and then just recently the price of some cabins went up while others went down. the december 13 cruise was the lowest-priced of the sailings of that itinerary. my general question is how cruise pricing works, and more specifically, what is likely to happen on these two itineraries. excellent information so far, thanks! just for clarification sake, my wife and i are a bit more introverted and less interested in 'clubbing.' we have both enjoyed hal cruises in the past, with their high-level of customer attention. we are not huge fans of assigned dining and will probably get open seating. we are interested in a cabin with a window (even with an obstructed view) as my wife tends to get motion sick and being able to see out is very helpful. other than that, we are pretty flexible about specific cabins and such. thanks again for your answers.

"You may find that all the best cabins are gone and the only..."

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Q. I need to know about opening a cd time certificate account in panama city,panama,and i want to know which bank

gives the best rates, i want to know about a 3 months deposit. thanks for your help.

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Q. I don't get what is so great about costa rica?

i've been here 5 months,mugged twice and the 3rd time just said enough and run(lucky he didn't follow).my mom who is 60 was attacked during the day and hurt bad.people saw this,men and women they just stood and looked...i haven't met a person here that hasn't been robbed,attacked or know a few people that have.the police does absolutely nothing.the first two times didn't even show up after calling 911.come to find out that they don't jail if the theft is under $400.why isn't there more warning about costa rica?you look up the web and all they say "lower crime rate compare to latin america..".well,i never had a problem in panama and here is just an epidemic.locals will tell you - don't walk,don't carry too much cash but where is the warning from officials?beside that if you go to san jose is nothing but garbage.i am sorry but for all those that like to rub that tico is the best,next time panama have my money.nothing compares to bocas.two weeks to go and costa rica - never again! to william: after 18 years in bulgaria,7 in usa,7 in canada - no there is no crime like this everywhere.by the way back in my country,bulgaria - if 20 people see a old lady being attacked and hit by a man-that guy will die march,apparently you do.... that's why you can't stop robbing tourists william,cmon.you know very well what is going on in san jose with the crime and the police covering their eyes.what drives me crazy is that the people just accept that.not only tourists get mugged,ticos do all the time too and they don't help each other.please,tico men are sissies,watching women get attacked and turning away - that's no men for me.and by the way,because i am from bulgaria i am so disgusted,there even the women will jump to help.the truth is costa rica have a gorgeous nature and nothing else! ha - i found the word - garbage country

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Q. Help me and my best friend

okay, me and this girl have been best friends for almost a year now. about a month ago i invited her to come to panama city with me and my family. she came and we had a lot of fun, but i found out that she is just a huge brat. she was taking a nap one day and i was out on the balcony talking to my other friend janey who i have known since 2nd grade. she came out on the balcony with me after she woke up and told me that i need to hang up with janey and pay more attention to her and that i had come on vacation with her and not janey. and this other time i told her that no matter what i didn't want us to fight on this trip and that i had gotten tired of janey when we went on vacation together and that i didn't want that to happen. and she took it completely the wrong way and got all mad. i locked myself out on the balcony so i could be alone and the whole time i just told her i wanted to be alone but she just kept telling me that i was a selfish brat. now that we are back home i told her how mad she made me when we were in panama and how she really hurt my feelings. after that i noticed that i had made a mistake and that i was really mean to her and that i was sorry but that i didn't want to be best friends anymore and that i just wanted to be friends and be nice to each other and stuff. well now we are on the same cheerleading squad and she is just acting like we are still best friends. she sent me an email saying how she thought i was avoiding her and that i really hurt her feelings. i told her that it wasn't supposed to be that way and that i thought we had decided to be just friends not best friends. she wants to be best friends and i don't. i don't even know about even being friends after the way she treated me! what should i do ? should i still be best friends with her? am i being stupid about all of this? or is it time that we weren't best friends anymore but still nice to each other. i don't want to hurt her feelings, but i don't want to be miserable the whole cheer season, and i don't want there to be any drama. help me please!!!!!! i am so confused! you both are right, but she like takes everything the wrong way. what if she gets mad at me. we have a strict rule on our squad that there is no backstabbing or getting mad at each other allowed. if i get cought, i could get suspended from a game and i could even get kicked out of cheer off! cheerleading is my life! what do i do????

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Q. The love of my life died one month ago...?

jordan and i mett 4 years ago in highshool - he was 17 and i 15. he and i both had a passion for art & music.. aside from being in love we were best friends. we have come along way in 4 years, (breaking-up, getting back together, fights!, getten back together!!). no matter what, we knew we loved each other and that nothing could ever come between us. about a month ago he went to panama city beach florida with a couple of friends and he went missing in the water. two days later his body washed up on the beach; he had drowned. ive lost my mind. nothing seems real anymore. i lay in bed all the time.. i never want to get up. i lost my job two weeks ago.. so now i really have no reason for getting out of bed. ive thought so hard about suicide. i just want to be with him. this life is nothing without him. i dont care about anything.. here is an article about his death: http://www.newsherald.com/news/beach_4053___article.html/body_city.html dream about him all the time - it seems like the closest i can get. does anyone know what i can do? if there are any good books i could read or.. i dont know. ive tried going back to church but it hasnt helped. nothing has helped here are a couple pictures of us.. http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/jodieping15/jodiejordan2.jpg http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v97/jodieping15/jodiejordan3.jpg

"It's time to mourn and time to begin to heal..."

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Q. I lost the love of my life to death about a month ago..?

jordan and i mett 4 years ago in highshool - he was 17 and i 15. he and i both had a passion for art & music.. aside from being in love we were best friends. we have come along way in 4 years, (breaking-up, getting back together, fights!, getten back together!!). no matter what, we knew we loved each other and that nothing could ever come between us. about a month ago he went to panama city beach florida with a couple of friends and he went missing in the water. two days later his body washed up on the beach; he had drowned. ive lost my mind. nothing seems real anymore. i lay in bed all the time.. i never want to get up. i lost my job two weeks ago.. so now i really have no reason for getting out of bed. ive thought so hard about suicide. i just want to be with him. this life is nothing without him. i dont care about anything.. here is an article about his death: http://www.newsherald.com/news/beach_4053___article.html/body_city.html i dream about him all the time - it seems like the closest i can get. does anyone know what i can do? if there are any good books i could read or.. i dont know. ive tried going back to church but it hasnt helped. nothing helps

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Q. Can anybody help me solve this relationship situation, involving a german, a gay friend and panama?

i'm in high school, and this year, a foreign exchange student (who we will call tim) came to our school from germany. basically, he was european and attractive, so every girl in our class was obsessed with him for a good two weeks. i had an immediate crush on him, but at the time, he had a girlfriend we'll call norma who is also on foreign exchange, but in panama. then i started dating a guy, tim and norma broke up (they stopped talking), and so just about a month ago, we both became single. sometimes, though, tim refers to norma as his "girlfriend", which i'm hoping is a cultural/lingual confusion since he told me specifically that they broke up. over the past six or so months, me and tim have become really close. he's considered me his best friend in america for a while. we hang out often, spend many a night on the telephone, etc. etc. we've always been really flirtatious with each other, but more often than not, in a joking manner. so the past month i've been falling deeper and deeper in "like" with him, and thought he didn't know/care/feel the same way. last week, it became evident that we liked each other. and somehow, everyone knows. my friend "charlie" is the only one not giddy and excited about this. he's gay, and has always had a little thing for tim (but he never admitted to it knowing how i felt about him). yesterday, me and tim went on a walk in the snow during class and when we came back, charlie pulled me aside and was asking me (angrily) whether i'd asked him out, kissed him, etc. and i said no, and he looked like he felt better. also, norma has started talking to me recently! even though we've never spoken before. i finally got the balls to ask tim whether or not they were still dating, and he said no, they were not, and seemed happy that i wanted to know so badly. he was kind of annoyed that she was talking to me (especially since she used words like "sufficient" when she barely speaks english, he said). my issues are as follows: 1.) should i talk to norma? i think she's nice, and she's also on foreign exchange through the same program that i've applied to for italy next year. tim didn't seem ecstatic over our brief conversation, so i'm not sure. 2.) charlie is constantly all over tim, flirting with him, inviting himself over when we hang out so that we can't be alone, etc. how should i go about dealing with this without soiling our long-time friendship? 3.) is all of this even worth it? tim is leaving for germany in july, and i really like him, but i'm scared i'll ruin one of the best and most unique friendships i've ever had. thank you for anyone willing to help take on the task of this overly-complicated situation.

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Q. Where is the best overseas place for retirement?

i have heard and read a lot about such places as panama, ecuador, and mexico, but i am having a hard time deciding which one is best suited towards my personal criteria. below, i have listed my criteria and value weighted each one from one to ten with one being not important and 10 being very important. 1) weather-hot (at least 80 every day)-minimal to moderate rain- 10 pts. 2) health care-cheap and reliable-10 pts. 3) real estate-affordable, preferrably cheap-8 pts. 4) crime-the lower the better-8 pts. 5) close to the beach-should be within a one hour drive-8pts 6) infrastructure-7 pts. 7) close to a major city-in or near a big city preferrable-7 pts. 8) in a community setting. would love to mingle-6 pts. 9) language- english or spanish. will consider french or portuguese if conditions right-6 pts. 10) special benefits for retirees-4 pts. 11) proximity to the u.s.-would be nice, but not a must-4 pts. no matter what we decide, we plan on visiting first for at least 2 weeks, and renting for at least 6 months before making any permanent decisions.

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Q. Enviromentalists' lies?: artic ice melt opens northwest passage?

the european space agency is reporting that 200 photos alone this month, are showing an ice-free passage along canada, alaska, and greenland. the artic ice has shrunk to about 1 million squre miles. the benefit is that large vessels can go through. they'll be trimming thousands of miles, bypassing the panama canal on the way from europe to asia!!! well so much for certain scientists being liars!!! time is the best that can happen. it always brings out the truth.