MOcruiserman

Are there any free excursions on the Pearl Mist 7 night Great Lakes and Georgian Bay cruise?

I've only been on one ACL cruise so other more experienced ACL cruisers may have had different experiences.

1-We didn't tip any ACL employees but did tip non-ACL excursion guides.

2-I didn't see any tables for two in the dining room.  We always sat at a table for four and there were a sufficient number of tables so no one joined us.

3-You could order beer or wine with lunch or dinner.  I don't know about mixed drinks with dinner, though various liquors were available at the bar during the happy hour (5 to 6:30)..

4-Our hotel was free for the night prior to our cruise.

We greatly enjoyed our recent cruise on the ACL Serenade and are thinking of our next one.  But we're torn between the Columbia/Snake River cruise and the Great Lakes cruise on Pearl Seas, the other line in the ACL family.  I would appreciate any input from people who've had experience on both.  Thanks. 

While I loved my cruise on the American Serenade I have to admit that the evening entertainment was the weakest part.  We had two performers, a pianist and a guitarist, who were excellent during the happy hour but also performed many of the evenings as well.  I would have liked to have seen more variation.

1 hour ago, Lorey2007 said:

Thank you, did you do the Graceland pre cruise pkg add on? If your trip was mid to late April what was the weather like more Spring or Summer? 

No we didn't as neither of us are big fans of Elvis.  The weather was good, mid 70's to 80, no rain.

My wife and I returned from my lower Mississippi cruise on the Serenade two weeks ago and I mostly agree with BaumD.  I'd like to add that the crew was super friendly and were very accommodating to the needs of us older folks.  Also our favorite part of the cruise was the happy hour, from 5:30 to 6:30, in the River Lounge where two excellent musicians played and sang and we were provided with an array of very tasty appetizers.

Norwegian was supposed to provide the transfer, gratis. But they refused to comply with their own offer, claiming that I didn't follow the correct procedure, which I did.

So they've lost my future business.

I've had a very unpleasant experience with Norwegian Cruise Lines and they've definitely lost my future business.

I'm supposed to leave for a cruise tour in Hawaii in a few days.

On January 25 I received an email from Norwegian informing me that Norwegian will arrange for a transfer from the Honolulu airport to my hotel but only if I let them know my arrival time. They gave me a phone number to call. I called the number and gave them my arrival information. Today I was reviewing my cruise documents and didn't see anything about the transfer. I called my Norwegian cruise agent and was told that there was no record of my phone call and it was now too late to take advantage of the transfer. I argued my case and was referred to a supervisor. The supervisor said, basically, too bad, there's nothing she could do. I let them know that I had booked an 11 day cruise to the British Isles in September, for which I hadn't paid yet, and that I would cancel that cruise and do no more business with them unless they gave me the transfer. The response was still, "sorry, there's nothing we can do."

Norwegian's decision to deny me the transfer is a business decision they may have had the right to make. But as a consumer I also have the right to take my vacation business elsewhere, which I will do.

I strongly recommend that my fellow cruisers consider this post before using Norwegian.

Thank you.

I've booked the City View Cruise Tour and I see that during day two the bus will let us off at the Polynesian Cultural Center at 12:15 pm and return to the hotel in Waikiki at 5:15. My wife and I would like to stay at the Center and go to the Luau and see the show. The show ends at 8:45pm

What would be the best and most cost effective way to return to our hotel after the show? Bus? Cab?

We recently went on a terrific cruise of several Caribbean islands on the Jewel of the Seas, a medium-sized Radiance class ship. The ship left from San Juan, Puerto Rico and stopped at St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados before returning to San Juan.

drove I4 out your way thist past Saturday. Traffic was extremely. Thick. Headed back on Saturday

 

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That is an UNBELIEVABLY cute dog!!:):):)

I couldn't do it. I like to have the freedom to go where I want and not have to be confined in a ship all day. Even if I could no longer drive I'd have a problem with living on a ship as I wouldn't have friends to socialize with. In an assisted living facility you see the same people every day and everyone makes friends (until they die, which is common in such facilities). But on a ship you'd be the odd man (or woman) out and every new crop of passengers would be unfamiliar to you. I love cruising but as a vacation activity, not a permanent residence.

It would be a shame but I doubt very much if it's going to happen.

Was on the Celebrity Summit in May 2016 and on the HAL Veendam in 2014 and Nordam in 2015. Enjoyed all three cruises but preferred HAL. The Celebrity ship had excellent food, perhaps better than HAL. But the HAL ships had better libraries - large attractive rooms with access to a coffee bar. The library in the Summit was a small room in an obscure location. Also the HAL ships had more varied and interesting daily activities, including movies with free popcorn.

On every cruise we've been on (5) we've at times experienced seas that caused the ship to rock. As folks have said, it's part of cruising. You have to get used to the occasional rough seas if you want to be a frequent cruiser.

I will be following this thread. We'll be on the Jade on Sept. 17, 2018, a long time from now (too long). From what I've seen so far the renovations look very, very nice.

Get him the beverage package.

You can always choose to cruise on another line. Sheesh, the things people complain about.

My wife and I recently took the RCI Jewel of the Seas from San Juan to several southern Caribbean islands and loved the cruise. The islands were Puerto Rico (starting point), St. Thomas, St. Kitts, Antigua, St. Lucia and Barbados.

Better food than RCCL, similar entertainment (excluding the newer RCCL ships), beautiful ships, older passengers.

I hope the refit includes a new outside TV screen along with new deck chairs and loungers--too many fat people have stretched out the plastic lattice work--myself included. The current outdoor screen has a lot of burned out pixels and has lost its brightness. I also hope the replace the bedding. Mine was hard as a rock on a Nov. '16 sailing. And they better repaint her real good, she's starting to look like a Somali pirate mother ship, as rusted as she's looking.

Cool Shippmates, I(we) will look forward to meeting you! Bon Voyage

Very funny!:D:D

We were on the Grandeur in 2015. While I loved the cruise and many aspects of the ship I could see clearly that it needed some fixing up. Someone has mentioned the "speed bump" on the deck - I agree. Also, the wooden railings are, in many places, chipped and shabby looking. One of the side screens in the theater was dimmer than the other and had color issues. Another issue, which may not be fixable, is that the tile floor of the Windjammer is not flat but rises up. When the floor gets slippery, which it often does, the footing is very treacherous. Finally I noticed a sour smell in many of the corridors outside the staterooms.

I hope they fix these issues.

We've only done 7-8 day cruises but we plan to do an 11-12 day cruise in the near future. We love cruising but are not a fan of multiple consecutive sea days, so our longer cruises must have lots of ports for us to consider them.

I've been on Celebrity and HAL and I plan to go on an NCL next year. To me both Celebrity and HAL cruise experiences are equally excellent and I expect I'll like NCL as well. The major cruise lines wouldn't last long if they didn't provide their customers with a quality cruise experience.

When we went to London we stayed at the Doubletree, Kensington - expensive and not worth it. If I returned to London I'd stay in a cheaper hotel, even if it was a bit further out, as you can always take the London tube to get where you want to go. It's a very clean, quick and convenient way to travel throughout the city.