RickCanada

5 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

And you are from what part of Canada?

Richmond Hill, Ontario

On 8/1/2022 at 11:19 PM, Blackduck59 said:

It's cotton candy in this part of Canada.

@GUT2407Fries and chips can get confusing around here. Fries are those thin cut semi crisp potato things you get from the fast food places like McDonalds. Chips could be those thick cut potato treats that are cut fresh from real potatoes and blanched in hot oil before being rested and fried to a crisp outside and soft inside golden brown. These are most often found in your quality fish & chip shops; or they could be those thin sliced potato disks found in a bag and called "crisps" in the UK.

What do they call "corndogs" in OZ? Snags on a stick?

Sweet fizzy drinks are usually called "pop" around here and "soda" in the US. Like @NSWP says soda is flavourless bubbly water you may add to a cocktail.

I always called it Candy Floss

Was an unexpected surprise on the Freedom

On 12/31/2021 at 3:27 PM, touesns said:

We have a sailing on the Allure of the Seas for Jan 8/22.  Also if our flights are not cancelled and we get a negative test back we  are a go.  We have our 2 doses and the booster, are both retired in our early 60's.  Have no health issues and are wanting to do Something.  Fingers are crossed all will be well!

 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!

 

We are on the same cruise.  Are you a Halagonian?

Does anyone know if there is a charge for the onboard teat?

On 4/19/2021 at 7:21 AM, rodndonna said:

 

Not sure I understand your question, do you mean you just want a return flight portions. I believe these are your 3 options (assuming cruise is out of Miami and you want to leave from Toronto) - 

 

       Toronto to Mami and Miami to Toronto

       Toronto to Miami only

       Miami to Toronto only

 

You can vary Toronto to city of your choice as your departure point but I think that's it.

 

I am going on Australian cruise and want to fly out of Miami and return to Toronto.

5 hours ago, Blackduck59 said:

 

I really don't want to get in a fight with you Julie or a back and forth for that matter. I have said many times I understand why the border is closed now and support it. Just as our border is closed to the US but it's a little harder to make that stick. I am talking about the thought process that says we'll lock our people up perhaps another year or 2 rather than make the virus less of a threat by using whatever we can to get our people vaccinated in a timely fashion.

So far there have been 2.6 million doses of vaccine administered in all of Australia and we passed 2 million doses in our province (population 4.7 million) on Thursday. Have we made mistakes? Absolutely. Were we able to keep the virus out? No, we share the longest undefended border in the world with a country which until recently had little interest in addressing covid 19. Has the Canadian population embraced the restrictions and protocols like you have in Oz? unfortunately not even close. Have we researched and approved several different Vaccines? Yes 4. Have some of our "pop up" vaccination clinics been a cluster F**k most definitely. They were set up in high incidence area and people came from miles away in numbers that far exceeded the available supply. That was a simple case of "me first" mentality. In BC there is a system, register by age group so as to not crash the system and they get back to you so you can make an appointment. It works until the same people who have flaunted the rules and helped the spread decide they are "entitled" to a shot out of turn.

Have we had screw ups? The list is endless. Has our Prime Minister failed at times? Yes. Has he been absent? no.

In Canada over 50 per cent has had their first dose.

If I book a flight from Miami to cruise and a return to Toronto is this a one way or a return?

If i want an outbound from Florida and return to Toronto is this a one way fare?

we plan on slumming it. We will take the Metro from our AirB&B and then take the shuttle from Columbus Circle to the ship.

On 11/30/2018 at 2:12 PM, btt726 said:

I will be cruising to Casablanca and several stops in the canary islands Jan 13-24. I need help picking shop excursions. Would like to do something that is not through NCL because of price.  I am unable to rent a car and drive around. We enjoy seeing historical sites and hiking. Itinerary is below. Thanks!!

1/15 Casablanca: 

1/17 Lanzarote, Canary Islands 

1/18 Las Palmas, Canary Islands 

1/19 Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands 

1/20 Funchal, Madeira 

1/22Granada (Malaga), Spain 

1/23Alicante, Spain 

Hi BT:  I am also on that cruise.  Why don't you join the roll call for "Norwegian Spirit, January 13, 2019"?  We will be having a meet and greet and there are already 50 people signed up.  People have arranged tours of which you could join.

On 10/20/2018 at 10:47 AM, Lindilia said:

Hi,

I am booked on the Norwegian Spirit for a European cruise starting January 13 of 2019. On January 17 we stop at the Port of Arrecife and we found a highly rated excursion with Lanzarote Experience Tours. However, it's only able to operate if enough people have booked the tour. Any other people taking this cruise that would be interested in booking? Here is the link to the tour: (South Excursion of Lanzarote, Timanfaya National Park)

https://www.lanzaroteexperiencetours.com/crucero/norwegian-cruise-line/norwegian-spirit/13012019-205/https://www.lanzaroteexperiencetours.com/crucero/norwegian-cruise-line/norwegian-spirit/13012019-205/

Hi Lindilia:  I think  that there is a tour arranged in Lanzarote.  Please check the roll call board for our date.  Ericka has arranged a number of tours there.  Please join us, we are also trying to arrange a Meet and Greet.  

I am seeking to contact people who are on this cruise to see about partnering for excursions or to find out if anyone has recommended excursions about the various ports. Also does anyone know if we can take a bus into Florence instead of the very expensive transfer offered by Celebrity?

There is a chatroom that has been going on for about a year just for this cruise. Go into roll calls and search for this cruise. Lot's of people arranging excursions and tours.

"Cruise Critic Message Board Forums > ROLL CALLS > Celebrity "Connections" Roll Calls > Celebrity Equinox Roll Calls > 7 September 2016 - Italy & Greek Isles "

For Florence I am taking the train as i think it avoids the traffic. I will probably share a cab from the port to the station.

If you are coming off a ship, I do not recommend trying to visit Montenegro. There have been many times during the season when border crossing can take several hours...you will miss your ship. If your cruise is stopping in Dubrovnik, why not stay there or visit Cavtat, Konavle or the Peljesac peninsula. The only time it makes sense to visit all those towns across the border is when you are here for several days.

We are actually staying overnight in Dubrovnik and we plan on touring the city the next day. Thanks for the suggestions re Cavtat, Konavle or the Peljesac peninsula.

We rented a car to drive to Ephesus and further to some other ruins. Had a great time.

Can you please tell me more about what you did? We will also be renting a car. Other than Ephesus, what else should we do?

Hello to our resident expert:

We are arriving at the Dubrovnik port early this coming month and are renting an automobile for the day.

We are thinking of crossing into Montenegro and visiting Kotor, Budva and surrounding area. Do you have any suggestions for us on where else to visit that day? Thank you for your ideas (now and in the past).

Contacted Celebrity Captain's Club and they said that they are still having problems. They are emailing the ship to register me.

Apparently travel agents get to book a room using some sort of 'group'. These groups have quite lower prices than the 123 deals. If I had booked my cruise with this 'group' rate I wouldn't have been able to get the free drinks or tips included. I checked both prices and for me the combined value of the 1,2 deal was better than the reduced 'group' rate, so don't feel too bad.

No, they refused to honour that deal even though we booked before the end of the deal date. We haggled with the TA 3 times, and she phoned them too while we were there. We still don't know why we never got the 123 deal.

People were still getting it after we booked. So we will need to buy a drinks package. Just off Ovation of the Seas and never bought one , as on Royal princess we did not need one, but ovation drinks were so dear we have decided we better get one on Equinox.

We are so lucky. We arrive on Sept 13 at 8AM and stay until the 14th at 4:30PM. The music festival is on at that time and hope to take in a concert. We are just starting to plan what to do the rest of the time.

Wow, you must be a fast reader as I know my reviews are a bit long-winded!! So glad you found the info helpful! Please let me know if you have any questions :) One bit of advice I will offer you is that you may want to see how many ships are in port the day you go to Grand Cayman. I had a lot of trouble finding excursions that weren't sold out when I started planning for this cruise last May. We had 7 ships and over 21,000 passengers in port the day we were there, so I hope you don't experience that kind of crowding, but you may want to book something now (if you didn't already book it) given that you are also sailing in March (spring break season!).

 

If you have been to Cayman before may I suggest that you rent a car and go to Queen Elizabeth botanical Park on the other side of the island. It is magnificent and most tours don't go there.

We booked through cruiseair for this reason: Our cruise is starting in Instanbul. We were concerned what would happen if they changed the starting port. With Cruiseair they would make the changes for us no charge.

Hi: Does anyone know who Shorefox uses for it's Roatan excursions? Does Shorefox have a good reputation? They seem to be a type of tour broker. thanks.

We have a 6:30AM flight out of Vancouver.

 

After getting off the ship we plan to rent a car near the cruiseport and spend two days somewhere other than Vancouver. We will then return to Vancouver for two nights including the night before the early flight.

 

We can keep the car for the two days and return it at the airport or we can check into a hotel and return the car.

 

Is there any real advantage to having a car if all we plan in Vancouver is downtown, Stanley Park, and various touristy stuff. If we keep the car we will need to pay for parking pretty much everywhere we go plus overnight parking at a downtown hotel.

 

My thoughts are that the most efficient plan would be to check in at a hotel near the airport (Richmond) that has easy access to SkyTrain. We can then return the car and get back and forth on public transportation.

 

Any thoughts, suggestions, or recommendations (hotel near airport and Skytrain station)?

 

NOTE: It will be me, my wife, and two daughters (11, 15).

We stayed at the Sheraton Richmond and it was only a few blocks away from the skytrain. It only takes 15 minutes to get into downtown that way. The hotel has a free shuttle from/to the airport which saves transit costs, car rental costs and parking costs. It worked really well for us.

There are dozens and dozens. These websites will likely help throw some light on some of your options:

• http://www.dinehere.ca/ Vancouver based restaurant reviews (narrow it down to Richmond, and all the various Chinese cuisines, and you'll still get dozens if not hundreds of options)
  
• http://www.shermansfoodadventures.com/p/recommendations.html Sherman Wong, locally based food blogger
  
• http://www.365daysofdining.com/ A food blog where the blogger is actually paid for by the city. An interesting read none the less.
  

Thank you very much. I especially like the dinehere.ca where I get people's opinion. Do you have a place that you particularly like?

This might help:

http://chineserestaurantawards.com/index.php

 

There is a very popular Shanghai restaurant called Shanghai River across Minoru from the Sheraton.

Thank you very much. Shanghai definitely works for me. I know about the awards.com but I wanted a local's opinion for family style, not necessary the fanciest and best, you know what I mean? I will check out the Shanghai River.