CruisingRavyn

No, he flat out refuses to try a cruise so I stopped looking.

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Cruising when the schools are in session will get you fewer families. Stay away from anything before Labor Day, Thanksgiving week, or the two weeks of Christmas and New Years. Look at the smaller ships in Royal Caribbean fleet (these tend to attract an older crowd), or Celebrity. Avoid Carnival and Disney. These are great cruise lines but tend to attract the families. However, even if you chose to cruise either of these you will likely not be too overrun with families if you cruise when school is in session. Make sure you buy travel insurance too! Especially if going out during hurricane season. Do research on purchasing the insurance from a company other then the cruise line as it will save you $$.

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I will start by saying I honestly have no clue and have no experience but my question would be what is his travel documentation? Does he have a US passport? If so does it mention where he was born? If not then how would they know he was Cuban born unless he tells them?

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Another great option is the new shuttle from Dockyard to Tobacco Bay Beach Bar & Restaurant. It's a $45 air conditioned shuttle with wifi that takes you right from the cruise dock to the beach and they welcome you with a swizzle! It's awesome !

 

An alternative, and I'd recommend this before taking the bus, is the public ferry from Dockyard to St. George's it is also air conditioned and you get to see great sights on the way.

Is that $45/person for a one way ride? That seems pretty steep just for transportation?

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According to their blog they ran a shuttle back to the Dockyard last year. If they want cruise passengers to book they need to do the same this season. I don't think they will book many cruise passengers for their tours if the return is an expensive taxi trip or a two hour plus bus ride.

Yes Charles! Thank you for the info. You are correct. I am interested in the tour but hesitate due to the transportation issues. An hour is much better and definitely bearable but ouch the price!

We were looking to do St George the first day and checking out Horseshoe bay that Sunday. The new facilities look very nice and from what I've read make that beach much easier on those with mobility issues. I will have my elderly mother that can walk by herself but has issues with steps and hard inclined/declines. The new entrance looks amazing! Kudos to the Bermudian Government for the great upgrade!

I can tell already that I'm likely to fall in love with Bermuda and will have to go back for more!

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I checked out the tour (Haunted History, correct?); the ending time is not good unless you are willing to pay for a taxi. Can you get someone from your Roll Call to go with you to help reduce the p/p taxi fare?

 

 

 

There is a "to do" list here.

 

 

 

SBtS

 

Yes, that's it. We have 6 in our group so no worries on needing more people. I just don't want to spend 2 hours on a bus or taxi. Just too long of a drive. Looks like we will likely be hanging out in Hamilton or the dockyard Saturday night. Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks for your help and the list.

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Yes, it would be about 2 hours by bus including any waiting time. Depending on the day your tour is on, the last ferry from St George's is at 5:15 pm or 2:30 pm.

 

 

 

An option for traveling from SG to the Dockyard at night would be to take the route #10 or #11 bus from SG to Hamilton; travel time, about 50 minutes. Last bus from SG departs at 11:45 pm except Sunday when it departs at 10:45 pm.

 

 

 

Walk from the bus terminal to the Hamilton ferry terminal and board the ferry to the Dockyard; travel time, about 20 minutes. The bad news is the last weekday ferry departs Hamilton at 8:30 pm; weekends, 6:00 pm.

 

 

 

Departure times from SG will have to be adjusted if you wanted to make the last ferry from Hamilton.

 

 

 

An option would be to bus to Hamilton and then taxi to the Dockyard.

 

 

 

Is this a CL sponsored excursion?

 

 

 

SBtS

No, just a walking tour I located on a visit Bermuda site. We are overnight Saturday-Sunday and thought this would be cool to do since there is no rush to be back but I'm not certain I want a 2 hour bus ride after a long day in port...

Any other suggestions of things to do would be appreciated. This July will be our first time in Bermuda.

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Is it really a 2 hour bus ride from St George's back to the dockyard? We have an overnight and were looking into the Ghost tour in St. George but it looks like the ferries don't run at night? Thanks for any info!

Liquid lunch today!

 

 

 

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what is this scrumptious looking yum yum?

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We always take snacks (chips and such) and have brought the left over unopened bags back home again. We've also purchased packaged food items (Rum cakes!) in ports and never had any issues bring them back in the States. As stated above the foods that are questionable are typically the agricultural items that could spread diseases.

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I'm also interested about that. Post 23 did say it was easy but that was 7 years ago.

Haha! Guess I shoulda read the date before posting. Maybe I can get a current answer in another feed. Hopefully people won't yell at me saying "there's already and feed for that!" [emoji23][emoji23]

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We will be in Costa Maya for our last port on April 6. We are only there for a few hours. I know the cabs will line up at the port when the ships come in and it will likely be easy to find a cab to Mahahaul. My question is how difficult is it to get a cab back to the port? Are they readily available or do you have to call for one? I'm a bit of a nervous nelly about missing the ship :o and tend to not venture out on my own unless I'm just walking from the port. This post has intrigued me and I would love to have some beach time here.

Well, there's a reason not to let it go! If cruise lines do monitor CC, they must be getting the feedback that there are considerably more arguments and support for further reduction in smoking areas on cruise ships than for maintaining the status quo. The reports of the smoke drifting from the open casino on the larger NCL ships has certainly put me off ever booking a cruise on one of them, and I suspect I am not alone. Other cruise lines such as Celebrity and P and O manage to have smoke free interior areas of their ships, no sign of them going out of business.

So any CC members who would like to enjoy, at minimum, a smoke free casino, and maybe even a smoke free cruise - what a heavenly idea!- please keep posting your comments. NCL, are you listening?

Pretty sure they can figure out from your "yes I would book a non Smoking cruise" that you prefer to be in a smoke free environment. Just not certain why everyone feels the need to be so angry and bitter and both sides of the fence. It's just a survey to gauge interest. Not a debate to convince the world that smoking is bad or (on the flip side) that the smokers are the "cool kids" and have more fun.

Former heavy smoker here. The only person that will convince smokers to quit is themselves. So being hateful and bitter and arguing just seems fruitless. A simple yes or no answer will tell NCL that you are pro non-smoking. No need to be angry for a cause all the time. We all know smoking is bad. If there are enough yes answers the cruise lines may consider giving it a go. Being angry won't. That only hurts the person that holds the anger.

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What amazes me is the fact that everyone seems to think this is an all or nothing situation. The OP says "if they offered non-smoking cruise" does not mean ALL NCL cruises will suddenly be non smoking. It also does not mean that a smoker will be forced to take a fully non smoking cruise. It's just a post to get opinions to see if it's something with enough interest to try. Believe it or not the cruise lines monitor and use CC frequently. Is a simple question geared to simply determine interest really worth everyone's anger and snide remarks? We get it. Everyone is either for or against smoking and no matter what is said here, that opinion will not change. Let it go folks. Should I post a video of my 3 year old singing the song?

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Project Fi from Google. Works great for us in 20 countries so far. I also carry an iPad mini with. T mobile data plan for $35 a month. With both I spend about $80 a month and have had great connections except when we were in Antarctica last month. Definitely on my tech list for the RTW.

 

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With the project fi can you use it on ship without incurring extra fees? Or just in the countries they list?

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Our grocery store sells gift cards which earn points, on certain weekends they offer 4X points which are good to redeem money off gas. When planning a cruise I will buy a $500 gift card and get 2,000 points which will let me fill my tank 2 times for $1.00 a gallon discount. I use my American Express Delta card and get airline miles. I then use the money I had for the cruise to pay off the credit card.

I'm with you on the miles. My Entire household goes on the Cap One Venture card for the travel miles then paid off monthly. I generally get enough points to pay for at least one cruise each year!

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Just FYI if anyone is booked on RCCL as well Verizon Rewards now has their gift cards available at 10% discount

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Bank reimbursed the fraudulent charges. Was advised the technology with hackers has advanced and this is currently a new way for them to get cc numbers and post transactions look like ATM withdrawals

 

 

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Wow! I'm glad you got your money back! Thanks for the heads up. I know many ATMs have started using the chip system so hopefully that will prevent some of the scams.

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I haven't heard of something called quality points. Entries in drawings are based on 100 points earned, but I am not sure based on your description what drawing you were entered or if a quality point is equal to 100 points. For earning points at table games, they record the time you start and what your buy in is. Starting with chips lets them put in a default amount, which is low. You should cash out your chips at the end of each session and buy in with cash...the more the better. They don't record when you buy additional chips as you play, although some people say they do. It only takes a bit of observation to see they don't.

 

To confirm what I had experienced and learned from casino staff, I started doing an experiment. I only play roulette for the same bet every spin and around the same amount of time each 7 day cruise. I used to buy in with $200 and would earn the free interior cabin bounceback offers. Then I started buying in with $1000, but only playing with $200. I would cash in the $800. Instead of earning the drinks card (3,500 points) on the 4th day, I would get it on the first day. On the 3rd day, I asked the host how many points I had and was told, "Don't worry, you already earned a free cruise (at least 5,000 points)." The bounceback offers became free oceanview offers. The premier cruise offers went from reduced price to free cabin premier cruises. So, don't start a session using chips. Buy in with cash.

Total casino newb here. I'm only on my 4th cruise coming up and the casino intimidates me. Do the points accumulate due to the amount of chips you buy or how much you bet or both?

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If they are fraudulent charges report it to your card carrier/bank. They should be able to remove the charges. And I'm no expert but how would they be able to remove money from ATM without a card?

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Greatly?? How so? I don't mean in theory. I mean actually right then and there?

 

 

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Immediately? it prevents me from enjoying my balcony because I don't want to smell the smoke.

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I've never cruised NCL before but I have been looking at some in 2018.

To answer the questions:

Yes

No

I just typically avoid the smoking areas which isn't hard to do. I'm not sure if NCL is set up differently than others but most have designated areas. If I have to walk through the casino I just tough it out. I would likely go gamble in the casino more if there was a non smoking area that wasn't actually full of smoke from the half that allows smoking.

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If you have the UBP, will they make the drink in your cup? Keep the drink cold that way...

They would likely make the drink in a clean cup especially if the have to use a shaker/strainer and would probably pour it into your cup if you asked. They are not going to use your cup in conjunction with any of there equipment. Remember illness can spread rapidly on a cruise ship if sanitation regulations are not followed.

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When I went to an All Inclusive resort we (and most everyone else) had brought our own "go cups" and the bartenders at the resort we more than happy to fill them right up (rather then using the tiny resort-supplied cups).

 

Do people do this on cruises too??

You can bring your own cups but you are limited to the drinks that are included. The only drinks usually included in cruise fare are coffee, tea, lemonade, and the ship's water (not bottled) you can fill a clean cup then pour that into your cup of any size (helps prevent spread is Norovirus) and in sure if you buy a soda or drink they won't have any issue with you using your own cup. Or if you bring you own drinks a cup may come in handy.

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Can an experienced user of these cards give a brief recap of what you're buying and how you use it for, or on, your cruise.

 

 

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There are certain businesses that offer gift cards at a discounted rate for their customers. Verizon wireless is a big one. You can purchase the card for 10% less than the face value of the card. So you get $100 for $90. I just purchased $500 in cards yesterday for $450. I will use the cards to pay for mine and my daughter's drink packages before we cruise in April. The total cost of the packages is about $480. So I've saved $30 on the packages and will have another $20 to apply next time. You can also use them to pay for your cruise which at 10% can equal huge savings!

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