bookbabe

On 1/3/2024 at 1:10 AM, CRUSINGFAMILY said:

Bookbabe - would you be able to help us with the cost of doing local bus, what bus # and where to get the bus to go to the turtle farm?

Thankfully, someone else posted.  We have a car, so I never take the bus.  🙂

Andy’s has a Seven Mile Beach location, but most chain options are near the airport.

Cayman Auto Rentals is the one that I think you may be thinking about, it’s relatively close to the port, and I vaguely remember seeing it mentioned here in the past.  I’m not seeing a website for them when I search, but my friend Google says their phone number is +1 345-949-6954 if you want to try calling them tomorrow to see if they’re still open.

Google maps shows a couple of other downtown options, none with websites, though, and all small local companies.  A quick google search for “car rental george town cayman” will get you a map to click on and see locations, get some phone numbers to try if Cayman Auto Rentals is no longer in business.

1 hour ago, millybess said:

@bookbabe If I recall correctly, you had an aft cabin. Was that a good choice for you?

For us?  Yes, absolutely.  Aft cabins, especially ones like the ES2 on Viking with a huge wraparound balcony, are our absolute favorite, and what we’d pick first given the option.  Then again, we aren’t prone to seasickness.  But we did have to ask for stuff like the water bottles and some other breakables to be removed, as things kept sliding off the table a few of the days.  It was very rough at times.  It was definitely a “hold onto things as you walk” kind of trip for much of the journey.

18 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

. @bookbabe what are your favorite itineraries?

We’ve only done two Viking cruises to date, the Caribbean one out of San Juan and the Wake of the Vikings one.  The first was just to try out the line and not for the itinerary, since we’ve cruised extensively on NCL and done a few on other lines, but had heard good things about Viking.  
 

I think Wake was so disappointing for us because it was a cruise we’d actually picked for the itinerary rather than using our usual method (see below) and it was a letdown that it really had nothing to do with Norse culture or history and they didn’t really make an effort to get you to the relevant ports.  L’Anse was an annoying miss because the other line scheduled to be there that day did their rescheduling weeks ahead of time, and took up pretty much all the tour availability at the replacement port.  We ended up joining someone else’s slightly chaotic last minute private tour to be able to get to the historic site, and it wasn’t really the way we would have preferred to do things.
 

We always pick a random Caribbean itinerary with lots of port days as our test cruise when trying a new line, since they usually have easy departure ports for us to get to and if we end up hating the line we don’t have any/many sea days to tolerate.

Our next Viking cruise is a B2B of Iconic Mediterranean Treasures and Trade Routes, Istanbul to Bergen, 46 days including the pre-stay.  We’ve also got the Egypt river cruise, the Grand European river cruise, and British Isles Explorer booked with Viking over the next few years.  Plus Hawaii and Alaska with NCL and the 2026 world cruise with Regent.  
 

We like to cruise, and every line we’ve tried has things we like and don’t like about it.  We tend to figure out first what region we want to visit and when, then look at what the various lines have to offer in that area at that time, and then pick from there.

55 minutes ago, LindaS272 said:

Sorry to hear that was your experience. It was not ours. The OP asked about favorite two week cruises and this was one of mine, with a totally different outlook.

This year or a previous year?  Maybe we just had bad luck?

Just pointing out that the itinerary pre-cruise is not necessarily what you get, and people’s experiences can vary greatly from one cruise to the next, so the OP should take all the recommendations with a grain of salt…

15 hours ago, daleybread said:

@LindaS272

What a trip! Not offered in 2025 but will add it to the short list. Thanks

 

We just did this itinerary in Sept 2023 and were somewhat disappointed.  Missed Shetland Islands and got a sea day.   Had a day before (but other cruise lines switched weeks ahead) change and stopped at a neighboring port instead of actually visiting L’Anse Aux Meadows so had to scramble for a private excursion since all the ship excursions were cancelled with limited replacements offered.  Faroe and Iceland were great stops, but I’m happy never visiting Greenland again.  It’s a one and done for us.  And if you are at all prone to seasickness, be warned that the route and timing means really rough seas in spots, so choose your cabin carefully.  And don’t expect a lot of Norse history and culture opportunities, it’s just the name of the itinerary and the onboard speakers and excursions won’t have any special focus, it’s just the usual random mixed bag of specialties.

16 hours ago, CharTrav said:

 

   - Sky has a gap between Dec '25 and May '26 that I'm guessing will be filled by a World Cruise given she will be in Ft Lauderdale in Dec '25

 

Out of curiosity, where is Sky scheduled to be in May?  Just wondering what the likely start and end ports for the world cruise might be?

On 12/25/2023 at 9:17 AM, Jammy Bun said:

We are onboard Venus at the moment, sailing from Athens to Tilbury UK, via Civitavecchia ( for Rome) at which point some guests will leave and others join the cruise.  In our cabin on boarding in Athens was a list of tours available to us in Civitavecchia  - all are to Rome and are 8.5 hours long, leaving the ship between 7:30 and 8:00am.  The included one is a Rome on your Own one, so that might be one you could use?  

If you get a chance, could you please post a pic of the Rome excursions list?  I know it won’t necessarily be the same in March on our Rome stop, but it will at least give us an idea of what type of offerings to expect.  Thanks.

On 12/25/2023 at 9:19 AM, Jammy Bun said:

Onboard now, the list of trips  us are all to Rome, so it looks like we’ll be heading to Civitavecchia on the shuttle bus.  Thanks for all your replies, and Merry Christmas!

If you get a chance, could you post a pic of the Rome excursions list please?  Just curious about what types of options there were.  

47 minutes ago, Peregrina651 said:

 

Just keep in mind that port times can change from sailing to sailing.  

And even from pre-cruise to day-of.  We had a bunch of ports on Wake of the Vikings where the port times changed at the last minute.

I anticipate lots of changes from what’s posted for our 36 day Iconic/Trade Routes B2B in the spring, with lots of last minute excursion announcements since there are 4-5 turnaround days with no excursions yet.  But that will be our fourth cruise in a year, so we have seen every type of port-related change you can see between our various trips.

Our Iconic Med Treasures in March shows Rome times as 5am to 8pm.  We’ve been told an excursion will be offered once on board.

Please post back after you get on board, let us know what the offered Rome excursion turned out to be for your date.

DH says Cheeseburger reef by Burger King is better than the one by Cemetery Beach, so that’s maybe an option if you end up DIYing.

If you go to the Kittiwake website, they list all the operators that have tours there.  I’d look for a company that does Kittiwake snorkels mainly because it’s on a different side of the island than Stingray City, so operators usually don’t combine the two spots.

The other option is DIYing a different shore snorkel spot, there’s a good reef by Burger King and another by the Cracked Conch.  You could bus/taxi there easily if you have your own gear.  Although Cracked Conch may rent gear, you could check with them.

FYI, the Airalo plans that give you voice calls as well as data can have phone numbers from different countries than you may be traveling to, so you may need to give people a head’s up so they don’t think you’re a spammer.  For example, our Global plan has an Austrian phone number, so we had to warn family that if they got a call from Austria it might be us, even if we were in Norway at the time. 

59 minutes ago, tundra1 said:

We will be there on a Sunday.  Is traffic bad on Sundays as well?  I think we will try to get to the beach early in the morning and then head back around lunch time, so we can get some shopping done as well.  

 

Do you recommend shopping along West Bay Rd, or somewhere closer to the port?  It would just be for the usual souvenir stuff:  refrigerator magnets, ornaments, earrings, and maybe a cute T-Shirt for the grandkids.

 

Thanks!

Sunday is usually better, but all bets are off when more than one or two cruise ships are in port.

On a Sunday, you’ll likely need to shop near the port.  Not sure what’s open, stores are usually closed on Sundays.  However, I don’t spend any time downtown on a Sunday, so maybe the stores near the port open up on a cruise ship day.

27 minutes ago, tundra1 said:

Thanks!  That is a big help!

As an FYI, traffic along that main road (West Bay Rd) gets HORRENDOUS after about 4pm.  A 10 min drive in normal traffic can take up to 40 min.  We got stuck in it Friday (Camana Bay to downtown took 45 min). Whatever you do, make sure you are back in the area of the port well before rush hour starts.

7 hours ago, tundra1 said:

We want to go to Governor's Beach or Cemetery Beach via Public bus.  If our ship leaves at 5pm, at what time should we leave the  beach to walk to the bus stop and take the bus back to the tender port?  We are there on a Sunday if that makes a difference.  TIA!

A 5pm ship departure usually means the last tender would be at 4:30, so I’d personally want to be back at the port no later than 4pm, so I’d leave in a taxi by say 3:30 at the latest.  Taking the bus will take longer than a taxi, there’s no way of knowing how many stops they’ll make on the way, so my comfort level would have me leaving by 3 pm.  But your mileage may vary, as they say, but I’d rather leave a bit early and have a bit of time to look in the stores at the pier than be delayed and miss the ship.  Adjust these times based on when your ship says the last tender is…you want to be back well before the departure time of the last tender.

DH and I are early 50’s, and have done two VO cruises in the last year, with a long Mediterranean cruise coming up in the spring.  We’ve likely been in the youngest dozen passengers on both cruises, and most of those younger than us were either honeymooners or part of a multi-generational family group.  However, we enjoy time on our own, we’re not looking for a party or bar hopping experience.  We’ve had polite conversations and interactions with other passengers, no issues with the age difference.  FYI, shorts and tees at the buffet in the evenings is totally acceptable, and even the rest of the restaurants are more collared shirt and nice pants rather than suit and tie.  It’s not a fancy cruise, DH calls it “casual luxury.”  And if you are used to bigger mass market ships, you’ll LOVE how easy getting off and on the ship is at the various ports…NO LINES!

5 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

The last I heard was either November or December of 2025....around the same time as Voyager. I also expect the WC to shift to a different ship but I don't know when this is going to happen yet.

Do you work for Regent?  Hoping for actual answers from an official source.  Even my Regent cruise rep only had the same vague rumors, so i would really like someone in a senior official position to step up and give us some concrete info, preferably sooner rather than later.

40 minutes ago, Pcardad said:

Mariner is going to be getting a special (and very extensive) refit in the future.

@mikemoore Hopefully I've tagged the right Mike Moore.

As you can see from the many, many threads here on CC and on FB, the condition of the Mariner is of concern to many, especially those of us with a world cruise booked (ours is 2026 thankfully).

Is there any concrete info about when Mariner will be getting a full drydock?

In addition to the toilet issues, our suite last week had the loudest constantly-running vents in the bathrooms, with no way to turn them off, and hot water took forever to arrive in the master bath.  There's obviously some serious HVAC issues on Mariner.  And the internet is still abysmal, even with Starlink.  Doable for a week, but not how I want to spend six months.

My rep at Regent could only tell me that there will be a yearly "refresh" starting in 2024, and that a drydock would likely happen in 2025 but he had no idea when.

For the price of a world cruise, especially in a larger suite, you hope for better than toilet troubles and crappy internet.  All the fabulous food and great service can't overcome the other issues, IMO.

Those of us with cruises booked on Mariner really need concrete info and answers from a reputable official source.

2 hours ago, jjwoben1 said:

What time did the transfer to ship occur?

What time was it scheduled for?  Or what time did it actually happen?

From surveying the crowd, people had transfer times booked for 11am, 11:15am and 11:30am.

The first bus finally arrived at 11:45am, the second at around 12:15pm (the one we managed to get on) and no idea if/when the third arrived.  The poor gal doing the organizing really didn't seem to know what to do, and most people just boarded whatever bus they could get on, or gave up and took a taxi/uber.

We had the Intercontinental Miami pre-cruise Nov 24.  Next time we will take the credit.  Hotel was meh and the transfers were chaotic. 

16 hours ago, Midnight_Buffet said:

What speed are you getting? Can you run speed test? They make it sound like with Starlink it would be super fast but seems like that's not the case?

 

Thanks!

DH says 2.5-3.5 download last week on Mariner, slower with a VPN on.  Speed didn't differ between the streaming and regular logins, just what website features (ie video) you could access.

On 12/3/2023 at 1:47 PM, LovesPurple said:

Normally, with 4 devices, you could have your phone, tablet and ereader all connected. When you upgrade, you can only use one at a time

We were on Mariner last week.  DH upgraded, and had one streaming login.  I had three regular logins.  We had to each use our own birthdays to access our logins.  I had the regular logins since I was guest one.  Maybe check with the nice gal at the internet desk and see whose credentials match up with which logins. 

Travel times very much depend on traffic volume.  Assume 10-15 min in normal traffic?  There will be taxis around, more commonly beach shuttles in the form of shared ride mini-vans.

You can see all the relevant areas in google maps to get distances and timings.