|
Thanks - and that makes, sense, not making money while in port. Speaking of, port webcam has my new home for 2 weeks sitting at J https://www.portmiamiwebcam.com/ Also, sounds like someone fell over a balcony and landed on someone below on a Virgin ship just as it left Miami a couple days ago which necessitated the ship to turn around and come back a few hours after it left.
|
#
?
Apr 5, 2023 15:11
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 03:16 |
|
|
Going on an Alaska cruise with Holland America next month. I'm going with my parents and brother and his wife and we're narrowing down what to pack, though I hear I need a good raincoat. Do they do formal nights?
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 14:08
|
|
|
DTaeKim posted:Going on an Alaska cruise with Holland America next month. I'm going with my parents and brother and his wife and we're narrowing down what to pack, though I hear I need a good raincoat. Do they do formal nights? Unless Alaska sailings are different from Caribbean, yes, Holland America does a formal night. Normal dinners in the main dining room are "business casual". I don't know how closely they enforce that.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 14:38
|
|
|
The cruise lines that skew older are more strict with formal nights. Holland and Princess are the two that come to mind.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 14:41
|
|
|
We went with Holland because Glacier Bay National Park was a must-have and I think only like three or four cruise lines are allowed there? I'll tell my family to pack a formal outfit in case. It's strange I can't seem to find out when their formal night is.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 17:25
|
|
|
WhiteHowler posted:Unless Alaska sailings are different from Caribbean, yes, Holland America does a formal night. Normal dinners in the main dining room are "business casual". I don't know how closely they enforce that. I think they're pretty strict about it on standard sailings. The JoCo Cruise has to explicitly state ahead of time that the MDR is not going to hassle people about dress code, but that implies that normally they would be turning people away for not meeting the dress code. DTaeKim posted:We went with Holland because Glacier Bay National Park was a must-have and I think only like three or four cruise lines are allowed there? I'll tell my family to pack a formal outfit in case. It's strange I can't seem to find out when their formal night is. The formal night usually happens partway through the sailing, during an at-sea day, on the Caribbean cruises. I'd imagine it'd be similar for the Alaskan one, but they might not have it down on the schedule yet because they're still fine-tuning things. It's a nice opportunity to dress up fancy, though.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 22:26
|
|
|
I hate formal night. I completely understand those who want to dress up, but leave me out of it and let me get my normal dinner please.
|
|
#
?
Apr 20, 2023 22:28
|
|
|
Go eat in the Lido deck buffet if you want to avoid formal night. It’s a great choice and I honestly did 90% Lido and 10% main dining on all my HAL cruises.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 02:16
|
|
|
The HAL dress code is a lot less strict than it used to be. On formal nights, they would really like men to wear a collared shirt and slacks and women to wear a dress or skirt/slacks and a blouse but technically it's just "no jeans in the main dining room". Go to the Lido if that bothers you.quote:Most evenings smart casual attire is appropriate. Shorts, pool and beachwear, distressed jeans and tank tops are not permitted in table service restaurants. Typical Southeast Alaska summer weather is 55 degrees and rainy and you should plan for this even if the forecast claims it's going to be 70 and sunny the whole time. If nothing else, you'll be thankful for warm clothing when you're in Glacier Bay.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 05:04
|
|
|
I get dress codes in the sense of not wearing ratty jeans and wife beater muscle shirts, but as long as you are clean I really don't care and would hope most others wouldn't. The ironic part of dress codes is that the luxurious companies like Regent and Oceania seem to have less of a dress-code than some of the more mid-tier/large volume lines  The only thing they seem to care about is wearing long pants of some sort other than jeans in the PM and a shirt with a collar which wasn't a problem as I was wearing something like that half the time anyhow. I'd really rather not pack a suit or anything more formal than a polo or short sleeved shirt.Speaking of Regent, we just returned from our 2 week Trans Atlantic. It was a good time and would absolutely do it again. Didn't get sick (other than maybe slightly from self induced causes twice) but I ate so much it was revolting. To the point of physically not being able to eat anymore I was so gorged. I'm genuinely surprised I only gained about 3-4lbs as I really only worked out once but even had to cut that short due to a hamstring injury I had about a week before I left. Food and drink was great. The ship (Regent Voyager) was just as I remembered it in 2018. It is a little dated being from ~2000, but absolutely spotless and in excellent shape. The staff was, in a word, phenomenal. By the 2nd day the staff was calling us by our names (Mr. and Mrs slidebite) and the service was fantastic. I could count on one hand the number of times my glass was getting close to empty and didn't have an offer to refill it. If anything, the service was too attentive and having people ask if they could get us anything. I was concerned that there might be some staffing issues based on what I read with other lines, but absolutely no sign of any problems on our voyage. I tried the pool grill a little more than we used to (their informal outdoor venue). Ironically being a luxury line, discovered they had some of the best chicken wings I've had in years. I don't know what they used for hotsauce, but it was perfectly spicy for me along with their blue cheese dip. Once I had them at about 3-4 days in I had 6-12 them probably every other day. We totally lucked out on the weather and the seas were great, with only the slightest issue with seas/showers leaving Bermuda on Easter Sunday. An NCL ship was delayed about 4-6 hours getting into the Dockyards because of the weather. Other than that, it was better than I think we could have realistically expected for an Atlantic crossing. Mrs. Slidebite who gets seasick quite easily had virtually no problems and could eat/drink every day which is not typically a given. I would do a TA again but probably not eastbound. The moving an hour ahead every other day on average (at least once before we hit the Azores was 2 days in a row). It grew tiring, both physically and mentally. I stayed up for approx 28 hours yesterday coming home from Barcelona which was not fun at all. Here are a couple photos. It's the smallest/cheapest cabin category on the ship (Deluxe Veranda) but still pretty drat swanky. That said, I'd like to try one of the newer ships next time (Explorer, Splendour or Grandeur). We were absolutely on the younger side of the curve but there were a few couples younger than us and one couple had a generational cruise with mom, dad (early 50s), Grandma and their 16 year old daughter. She was without question the youngest on the ship. A really nice aspect with the ship being relatively small is we could dock right downtown in Hamilton Bermuda. It would take me less than 5 minutes to go from my cabin to exploring downtown. It is really fun going in (and leaving) as you get really close to a couple islands navigating from the downtown dock.   
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 15:50
|
|
|
DTaeKim posted:Going on an Alaska cruise with Holland America next month. I'm going with my parents and brother and his wife and we're narrowing down what to pack, though I hear I need a good raincoat. Do they do formal nights? For comparison, we leave in 9 days for a 7-day Alaska trip, and we've been notified that there are 2 formal nights (probably on the 2 sea days). Never been to AK so early, the season has been expanded - hopefully it won't be too cold. Bonus is waaay fewer kids (they're still in school).
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 20:24
|
|
|
Silly Burrito posted:I hate formal night. I completely understand those who want to dress up, but leave me out of it and let me get my normal dinner please.  Same. I'd be lying if I said that Disney Cruise Line's totally optional formal night wasn't one of my favorite aspects of the whole deal.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 20:45
|
|
|
I was so happy to not pack anything formal for the Disney Wish in December. If it’s just me, I don’t care - but family vacay, I have no interest in dressing up.
|
|
#
?
Apr 21, 2023 22:11
|
|
|
poolside toaster posted:For comparison, we leave in 9 days for a 7-day Alaska trip, and we've been notified that there are 2 formal nights (probably on the 2 sea days). I would love to hear your trip report. We're planning on packing a winter coat and a raincoat and probably formal wear as well.
|
|
#
?
Apr 27, 2023 17:40
|
|
|
Scammers gotta scam https://twitter.com/garybembridge/status/1658823222576443394?s=20 Also, for those that haven't followed him, he has probably one of the best cruising channels IMHO. Short videos, good production value and the info is on point.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2023 17:09
|
|
|
slidebite posted:Scammers gotta scam Seconding this. Sometimes his advice can sound a little curmudgeonly since he's older, but he knows his poo poo and all his videos are pretty tightly edited. If he's ever gone over 15 minutes, I haven't seen that video. For anyone wanting to check it out, it's Tips for Travelers: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qE-Obs2ocdmPXY0TIU-cw I've actually used a good bit of his advice when it comes to booking excursions. I also appreciate that he talks to other passengers so he's giving more objective points of view.
|
|
#
?
May 17, 2023 19:06
|
|
|
Anyone have opinions on MSC (specifically Seashore) and Royal Caribbean (Allure or Freedom)? Is there an obvious best option out of those three for a first cruise? All are similarly priced for a 4 night Bahamas or Caribbean cruise. In this case, I’m someone who wants to spend the least amount of money outside of the cruise fare as I’m mainly trying to use a flight credit I have expiring.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2023 17:06
|
|
|
I have no experience with any of them, but be wary about what it says is “price” because often what’s included in a base package can vary significantly. Some of the differences may be insignificant — for example having “premium” coffees included might be worth $25/day for some people but $0 to others. Same with alcohol, Wi-Fi, spas, non-buffet dining options, etc. WithoutTheFezOn fucked around with this message at 19:19 on May 25, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 25, 2023 19:17
|
|
|
birds posted:Anyone have opinions on MSC (specifically Seashore) and Royal Caribbean (Allure or Freedom)? Is there an obvious best option out of those three for a first cruise? All are similarly priced for a 4 night Bahamas or Caribbean cruise. What I mainly remember about our two Royal Caribbean cruises was that they nickel and dimed you to death and a lot of their food options closed early. Other than that, the cruise itself was fine.
|
|
#
?
May 25, 2023 19:28
|
|
|
The aforementioned tips for travellers guy has a few videos on MSC. Might be worth watching to get an idea on the experience.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2023 00:55
|
|
|
birds posted:Anyone have opinions on MSC (specifically Seashore) and Royal Caribbean (Allure or Freedom)? Is there an obvious best option out of those three for a first cruise? All are similarly priced for a 4 night Bahamas or Caribbean cruise. I’ve done RC cruises a few times over the last 20 or years, with the most recent being 5 years ago. My experience is that less and less is included in the base price now compared to my first couple cruises, and overall quality has decreased in some regards. For instance, room service used to be free for a limited menu about 18 hours of the day. Now, only very basic breakfast room service is included, and anything outside of that window costs extra. Additionally, the dinner menu in the main dining room repeats itself a lot more than it used to (more of an issue on 7 day cruises than 4 day cruises). Unless you and anyone else in your room 21+ are heavy drinkers (at least 3-4 drinks per day of the cruise per person, since they force everyone in the same room to each buy the package if one of you does), don’t buy an alcohol package and instead just pay out of pocket for any drinks. Same goes for any of the non-alcoholic drink packages. Spa packages aren’t really worth it compared to what you can get on land somewhere, but up to you if you’re willing to pay for it separately. Food that’s included in the bar price usually includes the main dining room, the windjammer (buffet style cafeteria open for all meal times), a pizza-by-the-slice place, and maybe one or two others depending on which ship. There are also specialty dining restaurants that cost extra. Chops Grille, the steakhouse, is pretty good but pricy when considering the other dining options are included. Freedom of the Seas may have been one of the ships I’ve been on, but it’s been refurbished since then and has additional amenities so I can’t speak too much to that. Otherwise, any excursions cost extra but depending on the stop, some of the excursion options aren’t great anyways and you may just wanna hang out on a local beach or even stay on the ship. Most Caribbean stops are hit or miss in quality, and may require travel away from the port to find an area that isn’t super touristy and/or owned by the cruises/port. Be careful about booking anything outside of the official cruise excursions if it will take significant time or take you far from the ship, because the ship WILL leave you behind at the port of you don’t board in time. Seen it happen on every cruise. If you’re just adults traveling alone, there’s plenty to do all day and night on the ship to enjoy yourselves, particularly if you enjoy trivia, random games, comedy nights, etc. otherwise, they do have plenty of bars and other hangout areas, plus the pool areas, including an adults only pool area. If you’re with kids of any age, Royal Caribbean still has plenty for them to do and is great for families, while not coming at the cost of Disney. As a young teen, I loved the teen hangout area so I could escape my family sometimes and hangout with kids my age, and then leave the teen area with them to explore the ship. I have no idea how RC compares to MSC though, especially in nickel and diming. Try to work with a travel agent who specializes in cruises when booking, because they can often get you extra on-board credit while your cost to book stays the same as ordering the cruise online yourself. This helps mitigate some of the nickel and diming. Also, be prepared to be forced to pay mandatory gratuities that get added to your account, and there’s heavy encouragement to pay your housekeeper and dining staff additional tips beyond that (please do, they are overworked and underpaid and away from their families for months at a time. Yes, the cruises should pay them more but you just should budget extra knowing you’ll be giving them additional tips).
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2023 04:21
|
|
|
Appreciate the insight. I’ve got a bit of research to do now that I’m also considering a Pacific Coast cruise with NCL or Princess. Seems like every cruise line charges for everything from what I’ve read so far. We would just be traveling as a millennial aged couple and don’t really care about excursions and more just want to explore a huge ship and drink.
birds fucked around with this message at 06:11 on May 26, 2023 |
|
#
?
May 26, 2023 06:05
|
|
|
I had a really good time on my two MSC cruises around the Caribbean, but at the same time I was in Yacht Club for both of them. There's something drat magical about drinking a free beer while sitting on your balcony at 2AM and just listening to the Ocean as you stare out into the darkness. Service was solid on both of them and there was plenty of distraction on the ships.. Casino stuff is fun if you're into that and there was fairly consistently some trivia offering that kept me busy. Obviously the free drinks in Yacht Club situation makes both of these way more appealing.
|
|
#
?
May 26, 2023 07:25
|
|
|
On an impulse, I booked myself and my husband for Star Trek: The Cruise for next February. My husband has never been on a cruise, and I’ve been on one like 20 years ago as a teen (Carnival Fantasy, RIP). We’re on RC’s Mariner of the Seas out of Port Canaveral, stopping in Aruba and Curaçao. My only question for now is: if we plan on flying into Orlando, what’s the best way to get to the port? It sounds like as of a few years ago there were shuttles, but it’s almost an hour away so I’m guessing alternatives like Uber are going to be outrageously expensive.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 12:27
|
|
|
There are still shuttle services. I have no personal experience with them so I won’t make any recommendations, but they still exist.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 13:30
|
|
|
There are shuttle services. Check out Mears. Also you can check with Royal Caribbean. They may have a shuttle add on.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 14:01
|
|
|
Anyone have any experience with checking in on the Carnival app? Our checkin window opened this morning, wife and I got up to do it, we completed everything but the final "check in" button is grayed out and won't let us complete the process? Obviously this isn't a tech support thread but wanted to see if anyone else has had experience with this before we call the customer service number and spend two hours spinning our wheels to get nothing done.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 14:03
|
|
|
DTaeKim posted:I would love to hear your trip report. We're planning on packing a winter coat and a raincoat and probably formal wear as well. We ended up packing a third suitcase with just cold gear and formal wear, both of which we usually eschew. Typically we would travel with two suitcases only. We packed everything from light jackets to full pea coats just in case. The weather started out cold and rainy, and it was rainy in Juneau when we were there (every other trip we've been to Alaska, every day of the trip was perfect), but the following day in Sitka it became cold and sunny and remained that way for the rest of the trip. It was nice enough for just light jackets and a head cover from that point, and some days on ship I would just toss on a henley over what I was wearing. Big missing thing was wildlife, which I was prepared for due to the earliness of the trip. Our Sitka excursion was supposed to include a cannery but they cancelled that part as no salmon were even running, and the cannery would have been empty. It was a good trip, the ship was maybe 40% full, maybe 10 kids on the ship at all. Not a fan of the ship itself (Discovery Princess), the pools were too exposed to use; we found the previous cruise experience on Majestic Princess to be much more to our liking.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 17:56
|
|
|
One week to my second cruise for 7 days (Boston -> Bermuda 3 days -> Bar Harbor ME -> Back). Excited but a little bit bummed that the ship is going to basically be the same ship as the Alaska cruise I did last summer (NCL Pearl this time vs NCL Jewel last time). Would have liked to see some other type of ship but pickings are slimmer when we have to stick with NCL (rebooking of cruise from pandemic) and we don't want to go out of Florida. Still should be sufficiently different enough as it is Bermuda instead of Alaska and just me and wife instead of me, wife, and kid along with my wife's parents and my mom.
|
|
#
?
Jun 9, 2023 18:07
|
|
|
Has anyone ever spent any time at port in Tortola? Besides The Baths (where apparently two people have died lately), is there anything else worthwhile? Or would be good with a 5-year old in tow? The one and only time I was ever aboard a ship stopping at Tortola, I was so sick that I walked off the ship for about 35 minutes. Looked around, said "Ok I guess technically I've been here now" and went back on board to sleep. This was in February 2020, a week or two before all cruises shut down.
|
|
#
?
Jun 14, 2023 17:32
|
|
|
Doronin posted:Has anyone ever spent any time at port in Tortola? That was my first experience in Tortola (I assume you're talking about Road Town; I don't think there's another cruise port on Tortola). There's the little touristy area at the port, and then it's kind of an unappealing city from there. When I visited again this year, I made it a point to figure out something else to do. We found a botanical garden just over a mile from the port and walked there. The walk is... interesting. Apologies in advance if this has a "privileged white guy" tone. Road Town is a modern city but not one with a lot of money. I never felt outright unsafe, but it seemed like a lot of eyes were on us. I definitely became more comfortable when we linked up with another couple from our cruise ship for the walk back. Treat it like you would walking through any urban area without a lot of foot traffic -- keep an eye out, travel in a group if you can, and everything should be fine. The botanical garden is fairly nice. It's not the most expertly curated or maintained garden I've been to, but there's a wide variety of cool plants, lots of paths to walk around, places to sit, and it was only $3/person to enter.
|
|
#
?
Jun 15, 2023 00:10
|
|
|
I live in SFL so taking Caribbean cruises is just easier than traveling by plane anywhere that always just seems to eat up so much time both ways even on short haul. I need to find a fun and affordable 3 day that id like to do multiple times, I was hoping the Norwegian Sky would be it but blah February trip on that just had too many things go wrong and I didn’t care for the ship much at all. I have 2x $250 cruisenext to use over the next few years though, so maybe a short trip on the Gem or Pearl (done in Alaska) will hit a price point I like. Shame the days of cheap rear end cruising from here are very much done these days, I never got to take advantage. Cruise 6 and 7 are booked/booking though. Back on Celebrity with the family for Thanksgiving and really looking forward to that. Did the Millennium a few years ago, also for thanksgiving, and that was a great time. Not done an Edge class yet, maybe that’ll be in the future. Then September 2024 I’m waiting to lock in with Virgin. First time using https://www.cruisecompete.com - I submitted the cruise info I wanted then a bunch of reps send their offers. One was a few $hundred less than the Virgin Voyages site and also had $700 in onboard credit included. Not too shabby, just waiting for them to confirm that. Virgin definitely looks different, and polarizing. Doing Bimini on both of those which I’m excited about. gently caress Nassau, that’s a port day to take advantage of cheaper and quieter stuff on the ship going forward for me, Bimini is ace though and looking forward to going back.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 16:15
|
|
|
Ah, I know exactly what you mean by how you felt on that walk. I was feeling awful the one time I was there but walked far enough to definitely notice a change in temperature when it came to how welcome we were. Unfortunately, you really do have to keep your head on a swivel in most Caribbean ports. I had a similar experience in Montego Bay back in 2008 when I decided to go exploring, except I paid a guide to go with me. I've also heard Antigua is getting pretty bad in its own right, which is a real shame. Anyhow, that's a solid suggestion on the Botanical Gardens! I know my daughter would probably like that quite a lot. Ever since we got back from Alaska, she clearly didn't care about seeing humpback whales. All she could talk about was the walk we paid to take through some woods in Ketchikan. So I'm definitely marking this down as an option for her sake. Doronin fucked around with this message at 17:09 on Jun 16, 2023 |
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 16:24
|
|
|
EL BROMANCE posted:Doing Bimini on both of those which I’m excited about. gently caress Nassau, that’s a port day to take advantage of cheaper and quieter stuff on the ship going forward for me, Bimini is ace though and looking forward to going back. Agreed, Nassau suuuuuucks. My rating of Caribbean ports that I've been to: 1. San Juan 2. St. Croix 3. Half Moon Cay (Carnival/Holland America's private Bahamas island) 4. Santo Domingo 5. Tortola 6. Watching someone throw up in the elevator during rough seas 7. Nassau
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 16:25
|
|
|
Virtually all ports I’m still yet to venture to, and should rectify. I need to take the plunge and book a 7+ day that goes further out and sees more interesting places. Recently came back from St. Maarten where I stayed a week and that’s a solid island, would definitely like to go back to Philipsburg in the future too. Of course we saw the drat Sky in dock - part of my negativity towards that ship was the change in itinerary of Freeport (whatever, not been but it doesn’t sound too exciting) and Great Stirrup Cay, to ‘Day at Sea’ and Nassau. I had booked one of the 2 bed villas at GSC for the 12 of us on the trip, as gently caress yeah that worked out at like $70/pp for the best cabin on the island. Everyone saw my face just drop when the announcement came in. I can’t believe people spend 10+ days on that ship. When we were at sea it was like they had no idea what to do with people. Couldn’t even just spend the afternoon in Spinnaker easily watching the water as they were holding an art scam auction in there of course taking up 90% of the space.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:12
|
|
|
I've never been, what's so bad about Nassau?
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:13
|
|
|
Small write up on NCL solo studio experience https://www.insider.com/solo-cruise...n-the-future-10 Doronin posted:Has anyone ever spent any time at port in Tortola? Other than that, it was a totally unremarkable, boring place.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:31
|
|
|
Not a multiple-time thing, but the Bahamas' 50th independence anniversary is July 10th.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:40
|
|
|
Judgy Fucker posted:I've never been, what's so bad about Nassau? It’s just an incredibly common port and once you done it, there’s rarely a reason to go back. It’s very much cruise port personified, same type of stores you see everywhere with no real personality anymore. Last time we went we did a taxi tour and it basically comprised of going to a set of vendors that his friends worked at, doing the royal steps (which is genuinely nice) and going to Atlantis. I’d definitely stay at Atlantis for a night or two, it’s pretty cool and I’m sure staying there is an experience. There’s also a craft beer bar with the worst tasting beer I’ve ever had. In contrast, Bimini is just fun. The Dolphin House is just wild, and it’s a tiny place you can just zoot around on a golf cart eating conch and drinking Carib, and the people are super nice. Way less feeling of being hustled like Nassau. slidebite posted:Small write up on NCL solo studio experience I nearly did a solo studio the other year, but due to the way NCL have dynamic pricing it worked out cheaper for me to book a balcony room for myself. They look neat tho, and I had a bunch of fun cruising by myself. quote:Only thing I remember from Tortola (admittedly many years ago) were chickens/roosters everywhere lol Everywhere should have street chickens imo.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:49
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 18, 2024 03:16 |
|
|
Judgy Fucker posted:I've never been, what's so bad about Nassau? It's tropical Cleveland. Really though, it's two blocks of awful, overpriced tourist traps near the cruise port, and then the most boring city I've ever been to beyond that. I went geocaching with a group from the ship, so we covered a lot of ground around the city, and I did not see much in the way of culture or activities or even interesting places to eat or drink. I'm sure they exist, but they're not easy to find just by walking, I guess.
|
|
#
?
Jun 16, 2023 17:51
|
|