Beachbum1944

10 hours ago, phinu said:

We both live in Florida, my wife and I still wear our masks but get dirty looks and have been yelled at for wearing them.  We have tested ourselves on Wed and today and are negative because we have worn our masks even when recommended it was just suggested.  Unfortunately on a 4 day on Independence of the Seas in December with mandated masks, the crew on the ship did not enforce mask wearing and many times wore their own masks improperly.  The cruise lines talk the talk but do not walk the walk.  In my estimation the captain knew on our cruise of the problems but did little to correct it until it was too late.  I hope that the current cruise does not have worse outcomes.   I am a retire pharmacist, my wife is a retired microbiologist we know how serious this covid is but too many people believe the misinformation.  

   I agree with your conclusion that the cruise lines talk the talk but do not walk the walk. But masking up is not the only area where this happens. Think of saving chairs by the pool, lining the stairwells to disembark, etc. They just don't want to offend anyone. But on this particular cruise, with the high volume of gamblers in that casino, and the amount of time people spent at the tables, machines, etc., even though there was no mandate until the captain announced all the positive cases, someone should have seen to it that masks were more than suggested. It was a hot zone in there and ground zero for transmission. Even though we wore our masks, are fully vaccinated including booster shots, we still got sick. Our bad luck I guess. I'm glad for those that did not get sick. 

Living in Florida, covid mitigation is a whole other topic.................No one wants to hear anything about it.

1 hour ago, phinu said:

I am not trolling your statement.  We are loyal customers.  Gamblers are pure profit for the cruise line.  The house never loses, and since the ships are not anywhere close to being full, a free room and food is  an inexpensive cost for the cruise lines.  The ship has to sail an empty room makes them no money, but someone losing a thousand bucks on a cruise is a tidy profit.  My wife plays penny slots and does not spend a ton of her money.  We never asked for the free cruises, the offers just started coming.  We got our offer in the fall, however, the ship was pretty empty so they sent out a new offer just a few weeks before the cruise to get more bodies on the ship.  It gave the cruise line an opportunity to fill  their coffers.

 

  I completely understand about the casino offers and the need for HAL to fill those cabins. And we also received the offer from them in the fall, much to our surprise. Neither my wife or I  gamble much or spend too much doing it. We like to play a little blackjack. Our issue was with the fact that VERY FEW people were wearing masks or even bothered to sanitize their hands in that casino. We saw people blowing their noses and touching their faces and then handling chips. Coughing was also common. I just thought with the amount of people in the casino HAL should have asked people to wear masks before the in transit people were tested and they found out there was a 20% positivity rate. Then they required masks for those last 2 nights, but too little too late. I understand the rate was even higher when those people were retested at the beginning of this week. And who knows how many people are positive and symptomatic when they got home, like us. I feel sorry for the dealers and casino employees last week. 

3 hours ago, rkacruiser said:

 

But, it is so difficult to smoke and to buy/consume beverages when one is wearing a mask.  

     I guess HAL would rather make the gamblers happy than protect it's loyal customers. Good to know when planning our next cruise. They should reconsider their priorities. Both my wife and I are sitting here with Covid, and believe me we won't forget this for a while. 

1 hour ago, idiebabe said:

@sailingdutchy and @riverrat  So sorry to hear you both tested Positive!  Love the story of the young couple!  😂

 

I read on the other Social Media Site that others who Debarked on the 27th have now tested Positive at home.   We both did the Binax Home Test this morning and are "Negative".  I wonder how many others are Positive and didn't find out until they left the Ship.  

 

 I was also very surprised to read that HAL dropped the Mask Mandate for the 27th Sailing.  It made no sense to us since the number of cases were so high.  

 

 

 

1 hour ago, idiebabe said:

I read on the other Social Media Site that others who Debarked on the 27th have now tested Positive at home.   We both did the Binax Home Test this morning and are "Negative".  I wonder how many others are Positive and didn't find out until they left the Ship.  

We left on the 27th and tested positive yesterday. We are both symptomatic.  Personally, I think a lot of transmission went on through the casino. It was absolutely packed every night and very, very few masks in sight. HAL should step up and enforce the masks for the safety of all passengers. 

Looking to rent a car for the day. Does anyone know any car rental places?

Thanks for the quick reply. So I guess I know where we will be going.

What beaches, besides Horseshoe and Tobacco, have facilities on them?:confused:

Thanks for the good info. We seem to be confused about the different beaches and which ferry to catch, etc. We'll take a look at the maps and try to get a better handle on it.

We're not going till end of November, but we'll be sure to report back on how we did. :cool::cool:

I'm so happy that I could help! I'm glad your friends had a good day. I found it very difficult to find good information on this port. I'm happy to share the little that I now know!

Could you tell us exactly how you got to Anse L'ane? You said you got the ferry to Anse Mitan, but then realized later that it was Anse L'Ane. Are there signs, are they near each other?

Thanks for any advice you can give us. We'll be in Martinique on the Norwegian Breakaway in early December.

Private charter gives you more time on YVD. Also nicer cruising to the island.

Pick you up at the cruise ship dock. $85 per person for 8 people. Less for more.

Anybody use New Horizon Ferry service chartered boat to JVD?? Looking into it. Prices are not too bad .

Police escort.

 

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Water Island is heavily, heavily visited the whole month of February. Most accommodations are weekly rentals which, unfortunately for day visitors, means few or no golf carts available for daily rental. And with two ships in Crown Bay the ferry will almost certainly be filled to capacity on it's scheduled runs. Be prepared for waits on both sides. On the way over to Water Island this is merely an annoying inconvenience which wastes up to an hour of your precious time; on the way back to St. Thomas DON'T wait until the last minute before "back on board" to return to the St. Thomas side because you may not be able to get on the ferry at the time you wish. Sorry - this is probably not what you were wishing to hear but it accurately reflects the situation as it exists.

We were there last week. 6 ships in port. We anchored and taxied to Crown Bay. There were about 10 people on the 10:00am water taxi. In no way was Honeymoon Beach crowded. Maybe 15 people all day at left side facing water. 2 or 3 party boats came in for about an hour each. It was a fantastic and relaxing day for all. We left at 2:30 and not a full boat.

Hope this helps!!

Do they still have beach chairs there? They did when we were there 2 years ago.

Norwegian will work with you on your allergies.

Having sailed the Norwegian Pearl, I can offer some point of view.

 

Overall Carnival and NCL are more alike than different. You will probably like NCL if you like carnival.

 

Ice Cream was always available and IIRC there is at least one 24-hour free restaurant on every NCL ship.

 

Food in the main dining rooms was comparable. Staff was comparable. We enjoyed the many dining option son NCL (which is irrelevant if you plan to not use any of them). The kids club is a little better on carnival, more organized IMHO.

 

The biggest downside of NCL, and it's not a really big deal, is that the cabins are noticeably smaller than those on Carnival ships. We sailed a "Mini Suite" on the Pearl, and it was about the same size as a standard balcony on Carnival. The balcony cabins on NCL are ~30 square feet smaller than those on carnivalWe just got off the Breeze. Had a Cove balcony. Very nice. Everybody says it is bigger and maybe it is, but I didn't feel it was any bigger.

 

 

We felt that the Breeze was way too crowded. We will be on the Breakaway this Sept. Curious to see if we feel the same about her.

Just fyi Carnival doesn't make you dine with other people, it's your choice or not. We never have.

We were on the Breeze last month and did the Anytime dining. Big disappointment. They have 4 tables for two spaced about 12 inches apart. When they fill all 4 tables up, then they come over and take your order like it was a table for 8. On NCL a table for 2 is just that, like any other restaurant on shore.

 

The clientele was an older bunch, mostly...we were on an 11 day cruise two weeks before Christmas. Most children are still in school at that point, but there were some children and younger couples. (My DH is 63, and I'm 53).

 

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This is one of the main reasons for booking an 11 day cruise....very few children, as most families book 1 week cruises.

QUOTE=JustMeandTheSea;42082534]Hello everybody.

I am a faithful Carnival Cruise Fan and I have never tried Norwegian, but I am considering my next cruise on the Getaway. I am looking for help from those who have recently tried both Carnival and Norwegian and can help me with my decision. I do have a few questions.

1.) Carnival has a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Is it the same on Norwegian? Very similar

2.) We will be opting out of any of the specialty restaurants if we choose Norwegian, so how is the food in the 3 included dining rooms? Are they open for Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and do you need reservations? No reservations needed for any dinning room They are open for all meals.

3.) Do you need reservations for all entertainment options? Not on older ships. I think you have to for some on newer ships.

4.) How did the staff compare to Carnival? More friendly on NCL. officers are more present and come to Meet & Greets, unlike Carnival.

5.) Is soft served ice cream available free 24/7? Some ships only during buffet hours. Some all day. Hard ice cream during buffet hours.COLOR]

6.) What will the clientele be like in January on Norwegian? A lot of Canadians due to Winter break(I think). Later in month some school groups have a winter break.

Thanks and any other advice/recommendations are appreciated

As you can see by my signature, we are NCL people, but early Feb. we did sail on the Carnival Breeze. There were way too many people and it took us a few days to keep from getting lost. There were lines everywhere you went all day long. We will be going on the Breakaway in Sept. Hope it is not the same way. We felt that the food in the dinning room was barely okay at best. I think you will like the food on NCL better....The 1 plus on Carnival is Guy's Burgers and the Mex. place by the pool.

Just want to let you know that the cakes are extremely sweet.

When I go out on our balcony, I am always nude. I really don't care if people going out of their way to look can see me. I would just wave back to them. As far as wearing a bathrobe out there, what matter does it make if they can see you???

This is from NCL web site:

http://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/gem/decks/2/15#tab_detail

It shows Freestyle sundeck.

According to a deck plan on CruiseCritic, deck 18 is a Freestyle Deck.

http://www.cruisecritic.com/norwegian-breakaway-deck-plans/dp/?shipID=642&deck=18

Clothing Optional means you can wear a bathing suit or not wear a bathing suit. You can also be just topless.