nybumpkin

Sorry to say that was our experience the week before, and the others at our dinner table had problems as well. We weren't even planning to get internet, but husband's boss was having trouble with a project and needed husband's input. (We figure we'll try to get work to reimburse half the cost.🙂) We made do, and husband was able to do what he needed to get done. I found a good signal in the Commodore Club so every day at 2:00, while husband was rehearsing with the guest choir, I went up there, ordered a gin and tonic, and caught up on the news.

I found the easiest was to wear an old-fashioned wristwatch and change the time manually. Each morning I'd check the phone in our cabin where ship time was displayed to make sure I was on the correct time.

I should add - I've sailed both Magic and Legend. If you prefer smaller ships without bells and whistles, you'd probably like Legend.

I've done both the one night and two nights in Bermuda, and two nights definitely is the better option - you can have one day to go to the beach and another to do some touring, with the morning of the third day to do some touring at Dockyard before you sail back. I hear you about Baltimore being easier, though - my son lives in Virginia Beach, and that drive to DC is no fun.😮 If you opt for Baltimore, I might suggest taking day 1 for the beach (there's a $7 per person shuttle to Horseshoe Beach from Dockyard), maybe an evening excursion (there are sunset sailings), and then spend day 2 - which is probably short - right at Dockyard. There's good shopping, a nice museum, and Bermuda Fun Golf if you like mini golf - it's the most challenging mini golf I've done.

I'm not the OP, but we were on the June 9-18 sailing out of Dover. We took the Carnival transfer from Heathrow to Dover the day of the cruise; we arrived at Dover around 1:00 and practically walked onto the ship. People who arrived earlier were already aboard. We also were picked up by a driver at the end of the cruise. We had told the driver 8:00 and that worked well. While they do want people out of their cabins by 8:00, and they did have debarkation available much earlier, we were able to disembark a little after 7:00. We simply walked into the terminal, collected our luggage, and went to wait outside for our driver. Note that there is very limited seating outside; be prepared to stand.

Unless something substantial has changed in the last week, I hope you're not disappointed. We didn't plan to get Wi-Fi, but DH had a work emergency. The service was spotty at best. Aside from computer issues, have a wonderful crossing! We just completed our third crossing, and there's nothing like it!

On the June 9 sailing it was The Sea Surfers Band. Four musicians and a female vocalist generally doing 70's/80's tunes. We really enjoyed them - in fact, we spent most nights in Red Frog. I'm not sure how long they're aboard, but this was only their second week since the ship came out of drydock before that.

Sorry, no tender ports on the Norway cruise.

I think what annoys me about the game is not the game itself - it's fun to watch. But it seems to be a replacement for what I consider "legitimate entertainment," such as shows or music. NCL is much worse in this regard than Carnival - they clearly regard it as a replacement for shows, or at least they did on my Prima cruise a few months ago. But it's just another way to get money out of the passengers....☹️

jimbo5544, I'm sorry I didn't get more of a review posted before you left. I ended up with just my thoughts about Pride's refurbishment (short story: not many changes) posted on Tom n' Cheryl's page. Looking forward to your review; we did the Baltic 10 years ago (you're doing a few different ones than we did).

I'm sorry for not responding timely - DH and I jut returned from a Norway cruise to celebrate our 40th anniversary. We stayed in Seattle a few extra days after the cruise, and they called a car for us to meet us at Shilshole to take us to our hotel. I found the staff was very helpful with all our arrangements.

We boarded the day you disembarked, and I have to agree about the beef (I didn't have either lamb or pork). One night I felt as if I needed a hacksaw to cut through it. Our waiter asked if there was a problem and I told him it was too tough; he asked if he could bring me something else, but between the appetizer and the sides (not to mention the dessert to come - I enjoyed all the desserts!), I had enough. The fish was very good, though.

NE John, DH and I are with you. Don't get me wrong; we love ballroom dancing. We're just not very good at it, despite taking lessons. When we first sailed QM2 four years ago, we tried the Queens Room but felt completely intimidated and gave up. It wasn't enjoyable for us; we just didn't feel welcome. We're much more comfortable with listening to the jazz or string trios in the Chart Room - and that's where we were after dinner during last week's cruise.

I was aboard and disembarked yesterday. Captain Hashmi kept us well informed - he first came on the PA system around 9:15, apologizing for interrupting our breakfast(!) and informing us that we'd be diverting to Halifax to disembark the ill person at approximately 1100 and be back underway around 1200. After we were back underway, he announced that we should be alongside in Red Hook at around 1500 on 30 June. We've done the Halifax-NYC run a number of times and the crew did a great job; they made really good time and we were alongside around 1430. We disembarked around 1630 and were through Customs & Immigration in about a half hour. (Four years ago, with an on-time disembarkation, it was three hours.) We were home (south of Albany) by 2030. I certainly can't comment on the embarkation procedure, but my one comment on our disembarkation is that they really needed to do better at keeping people informed as to where they should wait. Cunard tries to adhere to "silent disembarkation" so as not to disturb people residing in the Red Hook area, but there were way too many people who had no idea where to go. They stated that people should wait in the lounges and the theaters; we waited in the Royal Court Theater, but some folks there with us were being told that they couldn't wait there. A comment on people's general thoughts about being diverted. I doubt anyone was thrilled with having their travel plans disrupted (and Captain Hashmi was blunt about that happening during his initial announcement), but the vast majority of people understood and many told the captain (or sent notes) that their thoughts were with the sick person.

No noise or vibration at all. And I'm sensitive to that on Spirit-class ships, especially with aft cabins.

I'm back.... I'm working on my review, but thought I'd stop by with some quick thoughts about Pride's refurbishment. To be honest, I really didn't see much in the way of change. This was our fourth cruise on Pride. We had aft wrap 7347. As you will see from earlier in this thread, the most I really hoped for was an extra outlet in the suite. Not only were there no new outlets, but the one usable US outlet in the dressing room was broken. (I say "usable" because there are two additional outlets - but they're behind the televisions.) I spent the first two days plugging my curling iron into one of the TV outlets, then positioning myself so I could look in the mirror below the TV. (It did give amusement to DH.😀) They did fix the plug on day 2. There really weren't any noticeable changes to the suite. It was still a very nice room with a wonderful balcony, which let us enjoy great views of the fjords (the reason for booking the aft wrap to begin with). The one suggestion I'd have for this cabin is a bath mat for the tub. It may be a factor of my getting older, but I found it difficult to stand without holding on - and washing your hair one-handed can be amusing at best. As for the rest of Pride, there were the differences I noticed: 1. As you've probably heard, David has been evicted from the steakhouse. The Joe Farcus directional signs on the Promenade Deck still refer to it as David's, though (probably hard to change them). I did see one comment (I think here on Cruise Critic) suggesting that maybe they should call the steakhouse Fahrenheit 451 instead of Fahrenheit 555.😄 While we didn't have a dinner there, our tablemates did, and enjoyed it very much - and that's what really matters. 2. More important to me was the elimination of the card room, replaced by a nondescript shop selling beach gear. It's an odd location for a shop, being on a different deck from the other shops. All I could think is that it's close to the forward gangway, so they could make sales to folks who forgot water shoes, sunscreen, etc. The only problem with this theory is that the shops are closed when the ship's in port. (DH takes a more mercenary attitude - he figured the card room wasn't making money, so it needed to go.) I was a big fan of the card room - DH and I would get coffee from Java Blue (nearby), then settle in for gin rummy. We made do by using the cocktail tables along the deck near Alchemy, but they're not really intended for card games. 3. The casino bar is gone, as has happened on other ships in drydock. I'm not a casino player, so I don't know if there was an impact by its elimination - but I did see a number of bar servers walking around the casino. 4. Most of the artwork is intact (much to the dismay of folks who don't like it). However, they did eliminate the art from the elevators. Probably for the best - on past cruises, I saw vandalism in the elevators. As I mentioned, I'm working on an overall review of our trip - but if you have questions about Pride in particular, I'd be happy to help.

Jimbo, I'll try to do my review as quickly as I can (hopefully before July 4). We're not back in the States until the 30th - after Pride, we're spending a few days in southern England, making our way to Southampton to join the QM2 for a WB Transatlantic.

They reminded me of the old movie "The Boatniks": "We took out the engine and put in a wine cellar."

My favorite memory is our first cruise, 2004 on the Carnival Victory, NYC-Canada. We were looking for something "different," and I saw a full-page ad in the NY Times for 4 and 5 day Canada cruises. Around the same time, I had to take our youngest son for x-rays for suspected bronchitis; they were playing "Love Boat" reruns in the waiting room, and I thought to myself, "What about a cruise?" DH really wasn't sure about it; we both loved boats and he actually had done a short cruise on the South American from Cleveland to Detroit as a kid (one of her last voyages), so I'm not sure what his problem was. My reasoning was that we could do a short trip to Canada and, if we didn't like it, all we had lost was les than a week. He finally agreed, and I booked the cruise without his input.😀 Driving down to NYC, he was still unsure about the trip - then we crossed the George Washington Bridge, looked downriver, and saw Victory at the dock. By the time we boarded, he was sold. He booked the next cruise without any input from me.

We went though the North Sea Canal on a Baltic cruise. It's not the Panama Canal, but I thought it was a scenic canal (lots of farmland and small villages) and I liked the locks (but I'm married to an engineer). There are industrial stretches. I agree with Hattie, though, one way is all you need. If leaving Amsterdam works for your schedule you can get a good view then. Here's some photos of one of the locks:

Messina 2016:

Being on the "other side" of traveling with kids, this is absolutely the case. DH and I travel very differently now - but I wouldn't trade those travels with kids in tow for anything. One of my favorite Carnival memories is from our first cruise, a five-day NYC-Canada cruise (we just wanted to see if we'd like it😉). Our oldest son was 13, the younger sons were 8 and 4. One night Camp Carnival (it was all Camp Carnival, just divided by age. Nothing like Club O2 yet) had a pizza/pool party for the older kids, and there was older son by the aft pool on Carnival Victory, pizza in one hand, ice cream in the other, exclaiming "This Is Great!" Today he's a 32 YO Navy lieutenant who has more days at sea than we could ever accumulate. He has literally sailed around the world. I like to take some credit for his sense of wanderlust.🙂

Tom, we have an aft wrap suite on Deck 7 for next week out of Dover. I'll take photos. TBH, all I'm hoping for is an extra outlet or two.🙂

I find the older I get, the better notes I need to take. That's why I'm thankful they're bringing back the printed Fun Times - I use them as the basis for my notes. The itinerary our TA gave us will help as well on this upcoming trip, since we have a land vacation between our two sailings - she tells us where we need to be on a given day.🙂

We loved the canal tour we did (we went with lovers.nl/en). Afterward we went to a cafe by a canal and had a snack of Dutch cheese and Heineken. One word of caution: watch for the bicyclists and obey the crossing signals. Most are respectful of pedestrians and traffic signals, but some think that bicyclists rule.