jasper15

Thank you both for your replies. Much appreciated as I was starting to worry about the laws.

Now all I have to do is work out some suitable shore excursions for the ports as I doubt I'll ever have the opportunity to visit them again 🙂

Hi, My husband and I are Australian.

A couple of days ago we booked a 16 night NCL cruise in June 2025 from Hawaii to Alaska, ending in Vancouver on June 20th. Today I booked another cruise with Princess from Vancouver on June 21st 2025 to Anchorage.

I have since read some posts about the Jones Act/Canada Act and now I'm not sure if these two sailings are permitted? 

Could someone please assist?

I do not use a TA, I have booked these cruises directly with the respective cruise lines.

Thank you 🙂

I'm keen on going to this Distillery when we are in St Thomas in June (Harmony Of The Seas).

What is the best way to get there from the port? Is it walking distance or should we catch a taxi?

On 4/21/2023 at 5:28 PM, Ms411 said:

https://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g147405-d25452791-r886777663-Hamilton_Lafayette_Distillery-Charlotte_Amalie_St_Thomas_U_S_Virgin_Islands.html

I only just came across this thread and have sent Leo an email to see if he can show us around in late June. I hope no one else from our ship has beaten me to it!!

You haven't made it to Vintages yet?

It's our favourite bar on the ship after dinner. We go every night for a nightcap or 3 🍷🍹🙂

Last time I was there, they made me the best ever Passionfruit sombrero. Have you tried those?

I know tequila's not your thing but they are sooo good when made correctly. Sometimes though they are missing one or two vital ingredients.

DH and I did side by side cruises firstly on Vision, then on Allure of the Seas last month in the Mediterranean. Vision cruise was 12 nights which was a good amount of time, however we found there wasn't enough to do on the ship.

After the Allure cruise, DH said he doesn't want to cruise on anything smaller than Voyager Class in the future. For us, we love Vintages wine bar, entertainment in 270 as well as the pub. I also enjoy going to watch people on the flow rider and having plenty of room to roam around.

There is nothing wrong with Vision, the staff were fantastic and the ship is in good condition. It just wasn't for us.

We've cruised South Pacific and Caribbean both a couple of times.
 

Without hesitation I would say the scenery in the Caribbean is way better than South Pacific (having said that we haven't been to Suva and Lautoka).

Mystery Island is tiny, you will see all you need to see from the pool deck. Noumea is like entering a small commercial port. Not much to see there.

Sydney is by far the most spectacular!! But you can see everything if you are up on the deck for the sail away party.

We have sailed in a grand suite 3 times and never received a letter pre-cruise.

The most recent time was on Explorer just two weeks ago.

Only ever had a letter waiting for us in our room on boarding day.

Interestingly, there are still no dining packages available for purchase on Oasis in June. We are doing a cruise on Vision immediately before our Oasis cruise. Vision have all the dining packages for sale but still nothing for Oasis

If you are sailing out of Sydney, you can't take any fruit on-board. The only food items that you are permitted to take on are pre-packaged chocolates, biscuits, chips etc.

These rules are due to Australia's strict quarantine laws which are heavily enforced at the pier. Don't take the pears!

We sailed on Ovation of the Seas last week and the quarantine is very strict. We saw some people fined $400 for trying to take fruit on after walking past all the signage stating that you must dispose of it.

No wrist bands on Indy, well there certainly weren't when we were on here and I'm pretty sure that hasn't changed from what I have read.

DH and I did the All access tour on Anthem two years ago and absolutely loved it. It went for 3 1/2 hours and cost us around $150 each but that may have been AUD, I'm not sure.

There is a lot of walking up (and down stairs) although on a couple of occasions we used the elevators. Mostly we were standing up.

I've heard of it being offered on-board for purchase but I personally haven't seen that.

Perth is really pretty. Plenty of things to see and do. Margaret River is a 3 hour drive from Perth and has some faboulous wineries and restaurants if you are into that kind of thing. You could easily spend 2 or 3 days there. Fremantle is about 20 minutes by train from the CBD. It is a very picturesque area with a significant maritime history.

Darwin is one of my favourite cities in Australia and I would definitely recommend visiting there. Do the jumping crocodile cruise down the Adelaide River, it's amazing. Kakadu is a must see. However if you are planning on going to Darwin, it's best to avoid from November - March.

If you have the time, I would recommend going to Cairns. You can take a light plane up to Cooktown from Cairns. It's a great place to go for a day. Not many people get there and it's spectacular. Also from Cairns you can take a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef, visit the Daintree Forest etc. Lots of places to see and plenty to do. Hire a car and drive up to Port Douglas.....the list of possibilities is endless.

Of course opinions are subjective so I'm sure some people won't agree with me.

It would be helpful if you could list some of your interests :)

Uber drivers always rate their customers. And customers aren't given high scores if they don't tip, also they will give you a lower score if you slam the car door!!

On Allure in June, they were giving complimentary peanuts to customers at the Bow & Stern.

Not all the time but we were offered them a few times while the world cup was on.

I didn't line up for it but you could get your passport stamped when we got off the Allure in Roatan in June.

Great review. It's refreshing to hear someone else praise the food.

I don't understand either how some people claim that there is "nothing to eat" in the windjammer.

I've always found food to be of a good buffet quality with a great amount of variety.

Thanks for taking the time to write this :)

We were on Allure in June. DH likes his beer also. The thing we noticed is the difference in what is available from bar to bar. Some bars will tell you that the beer you are after isn't served on the ship but at another bar you can get it.

Keep asking and keep looking around. Bow and Stern did have some IPA, so too did the sports lounge a few doors away (sorry I've forgotten the name of it). Also surprisingly, the bar outside Johnny Rockets had a good selection of beers.

Or so I thought.

 

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Yes it was $14 when we cruised out of Southampton last year.

Brilliant photos. Thank you for sharing!

Haha I can't help myself either. We have 4 cruises booked on Royal between January and June, and I just booked our first Azamara cruise for January 2020. DH keeps saying that "we only live once so have to enjoy it".

Panama canal will be our next one, when the timing is right!

The problem with driving around NZ is that there are too many beautiful places to stop. DH and I hired a car to drive around NZ a few years ago. We spent two weeks on the South Island and never made it to the West Coast. Queenstown is magical, and the area around Dunedin is fascinating too.

We ended up having only one week left to see the North Island and we ran out of time. Rotorua is great (you will get used to the sulphar smell very quickly), Napier and Hastings were beautiful as is the Bay Of Islands.

If you like small towns/medium size cities, I would definitely recommend visiting Tasmania. Hobart is such a beautiful, historic city. I think Norwegian Cruise lines visit Tasmania as well as NZ on a cruise out of Sydney.

If you have a look on viator.com you will find some tours in most of these places.

Of course a lot will depend on how many hours you have in these places as they are all remote.

The Willie Creek Pearl Farm was a place that we found really interesting when we visited Broome. There is not much to see in the city centre. The best places are out of town.

In Darwin the Jumping Crocodiles Cruise on the Adelaide River is great if you have at least half a day.

It was around $55 for a Uber from National Hotel in Miami to Fort Lauderdale in June. The service was great!

We did the All Access Tour on Anthem two years ago. The tour itself was fantastic and well worth the money.

We received a lanyard each. Plus the bakers made us some pastries to enjoy after we had toured the kitchens and there were also drinks offered, I think champagne, beer or orange juice from memory.

There definitely weren't any photos, but you were able to take photos with the captain and crew when on the tour.