OBX-Cruisers

On 8/27/2019 at 7:53 AM, maryann ns said:

There is some information here: Sydney for Cruise Ship Visitors

THANK YOU..   THAT is the link I found once and could not find again

On 8/29/2019 at 5:57 PM, GradUT said:

We rented from Avis, arranging for a pickup right after we docked.  They were there right on time to pick us up and got us back to the ship in a timely manner — no waiting around. 

Thanks for the info. I worked in Arlington for many years before retiring to the Outer Banks...........much less hectic here once the tourist season is over and all you Virginians go back North!!  Will look into your suggestion and hope the hurricane season winds down before our early Oct.cruise from QC, Canada to Port Everglades.

I realize that this may be a redundant topic since I saw a similar title earlier today and cannot find it again up to the first 60 posts.

We will be in Sydney in early October and car rental sounds like a good option vs. a ship tour to see the area. Would appreciate suggestions from people who have rented about which rental agency has the best service for pickup from the port and dropoff afterwards.  Any other suggestions would be helpful.

THANK YOU

Ollie's does not have to be booked in advance.  There are many trollies and the 21/2 hr tour is well worth the price and gives you time for lunch and visiting town shops

Quebec City we found from previous trips is not served by great airline connections and is also very expensive. 

For our cruise from QC this October, I found that flying to Montreal from ORF (our small VA airport in Norfolk) was significantly less expensive and had much better itinerary options than flying directly to QC for the cruise.  There are several options for getting from Montreal to QC including a $10 pp CDN regular bus, rail  or a rental car.

Since we have never visited Montreal, 3 days there before heading to QC was a definite positive

The 2.5 hr tour followed by a lobster lunch and shopping at the many store in BH make for a full shore day as we found

6 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

Living in Portland, the following restaurants are right on the waterfront, a few blocks from the pier.  I don't recall which do lunch, since dinners on a cruise port call are problematic in many cases.  Eventide, Street & Co, Boone's Fish House, Gilbert's Chowder House for chowder.

Thank you for your helpful reply.  We have been to several places in ME during our few years in Boston, but never went to Portland and appreciate your help.  During those younger days we drove up the coast all the way to Prince Edward Island and then back, camping at Cobscook Bay State Park, right near Campobello Island.  We learned about coastal fog first hand being tent campers back then

Is the CASCO ferry within easy walking distance since the mail run seems like an interesting way to start the day and see a lot of the real life in Maine

A couple of replies mentioned good seafood restaurants and museums.  How close are these to the pier or do you need a cab?

Any favorite restaurants from previous visits?

On 4/21/2019 at 1:03 PM, Kate45 said:

Doing HALs transition from Quebec City to Ft Lauderdale this October. Haven't been able to get much info on HALs website regarding shore excursions yet. Actually, don't even know where we dock in NYC other than I believe I read somewhere either Manhattan or Brooklyn(?). Wouldn't they know by now where in NYC they are docking?  As hubby has never been to NYC and I was there when I was a kid, what are your suggestions for must see things. We are there from 8-6. Also, anyone know when shore excursions will be available to book thru the cruise line or is this a port that we can do on our own?  Thanks so much!  

Wife and I are in process to book this same cruise.  We are planning to spend 3 nts in Montreal, drive to QC and stay there 3 nts before the cruise since we have not done either before by ourselves.

We both have been to NYC several times both together and for separate events/visits so can suggest several options.  She is now in the room as I type and immediately suggested that you look at the Grey Line Tour that includes the highlights of the city and a visit to the Statue of Liberty.  The town is so big that unless you have specific goals and some tolerance for using the subway, you can easily get VERY frustrated.

Wife was there once when the President was in town at the U.N. and the city was essentially gridlocked on the surface streets.

Are you on the Zuiderdam or Veendam itinerary?  If on the Zuiderdam like we will be, let's keep in touch via the specific Zuiderdam page for the Roll Call for this cruise that appears to be currently very sparsely attended.

30 minutes ago, OBX-Cruisers said:

Prices for flying from the US to Canada are horrible.  You can often fly to Europe and diagonally to the other end of the US cheaper which does indeed seem insane

In your case it would be useful to know WHERE in Canada you want to fly to.  I saw some very reasonable one way fares to several major eastern Canada cities after my reply above.  For me, it is very expensive to fly from ORF to almost any Canadian city but FL appears to have much more reasonable fares at least from Tampa from what I saw

17 hours ago, skrapngal said:

My bad.. it is actually the 23rd LOL... I will try to favor the 12:30 or 1PM flights but it might well depend on price. Right now, they want more money than the Transatlantic flight to Barcelona which seems crazy!!!

Prices for flying from the US to Canada are horrible.  You can often fly to Europe and diagonally to the other end of the US cheaper which does indeed seem insane

23 hours ago, sparks1093 said:

The only reason I can think of that justifies your travel insurer from not providing coverage is if you didn't include those amounts in the policy coverage. It is regrettable but at least you were allowed to cancel without penalty. Last minute itinerary changes definitely suck.

The title of this thread appears to blame RCI for bad treatment when the facts indicate that RCI actually did more than required because of a change in itinerary due to weather conditions in the Atlantic.  The fact remains that the cruise was NOT cancelled, thus the decision to take full compensation FOR THE CRUISE eliminated that responsibility by the insurer.

For the remainder of the items considered a loss by the OP, hotels booked on a No Refund basis are a gamble, flights are a different story but would not have been a loss if the decision had been to take the modified cruise.

As mentioned by others, what would the OP have been posting if RCI had sailed through the storm and his disabled relative was injured because of a fall on a heaving, rolling ship??

I posit that the title of the thread is unfair to RCI in this case.

On 10/18/2018 at 7:41 PM, NurseJEB said:

Very usable.  Simply click the blue bullet to the left of the thread title to reach the first unread post and follow the discussion in its logical order.

The questioner said that sorting WITHIN A ROLL CALL is particularly desirable and I TOTALLY agree as that was previously possible and accomplished easily.

There is NO BLUE BUTTON on roll calls to accomplish this and no other apparent way to do what once was easy to do and now totally hidden in the New Improved Version.  STOP improving what was fine to begin with

On 11/16/2018 at 5:28 AM, notamermaid said:

I am looking out onto a sunny valley this morning. It is already cooler than a couple of days ago and this weather will stay with us now. Winter is coming. Yes, rain and snow next week with both frost and snow even down in the valley. The Rhine gorge hills covered in snow do like nice. Yet, rain would be better. Today and tomorrow will bring no rain to Germany and the outlook for next week is not too good as the overall precipitation is not substantial. At least until Thursday. Will next weekend bring more?

 

Back to today. The first filling station in an area served by the petrol depots along the Rhine has completely closed its business - temporarily - as it has run out petrol. Shortages have not come to our town yet but my neighbour was complaining the other about the price she had to pay for heating oil. We can now all feel the events of the last four months in our wallets. Some groceries are up in price as well. Still, we all have food and if we want to safe heating oil, we can always find ways to: stay in a café, spend a suspiciously long time at the neighbours who heat with gas... or if one is desperate just stay overnight in the office.

 

The river levels this morning: Maxau 327cm, Kaub 45cm, Koblenz 42cm. Kaub is forecast to drop a little further, below 40 is possible.

 

notamermaid

Love your German humor and good attitude..........Will make sure my wife of German heritage reads your comments.  Love to travel with people such as you seem to be

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

16 hours ago, Caribbean Chris said:

 

Very true. Also, Carnival Corp's Shareholder Benefit program gives an excellent on board credit for anyone who owns 100 or more shares of the corporation's stock. Nothing to do with the Mariner Club, of course, but it is a valuable benefit for any passenger, regardless of any Mariner points.

Although RCL has a Shareholder Benefit Program................surprise...........NO Benefit if you get ANY other perk from the cruise line.  Perhaps that is why most cruise reservations get a $25-50 per cabin credit that locks you out of the more generous SBP.  Carnival DOES NOT play that same nasty game and you do get the SBC onboard credit even if your reservation has other perks from the cruise line or booking agency

All cruise lines have video cameras that are all over the ship and probably recorded this event completely. When the couple sue Carnival that owns HAL, the video will provide the evidence that will either support the couple's story or will lead to a big settlement by Carnival.

After more than 30 cruises and many on HAL, I would be betting with the couple when you factor in the delay in the response by the captain and the lack of reference to video evidence..................debarkation on HAL is ALWAYS chaotic according to our experience on this ship of the senior citizens...........errr that would include me I guess so must be an expert witness

Pitty we don’t have more testimonials of people who were on board and saw it all!

 

 

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Reading these posts is helping me to understand why my wife and I are starting to think that after 25+ cruises we may want to try other land-based vacations instead. We ALWAYS tip our drink servers, waiters and helpers in the MDR and our cabin crew members and ALWAYS have. We are not rich but have always appreciated how hard these poorly paid crew from many foreign countries work to keep us happy on cruises. Rather than complain how tipping is not practiced in "your" country or that the cruise lines should pay these crewmembers better, think about their families back home who depend on them for their wages on these ships since they have so few opportunities in Indonesia, Phillipines, etc. etc. etc. [i collected signatures from crew from over 50 countries on our last RCI cruise].

Thanks to all who have explained why we see that the atmosphere and mystique of cruising has changed so much in our eyes.

Lots of angry-sounding or perhaps just defensive posts on this thread??

We cruised the older HAL ships before they came up with the money making idea of putting sliding doors on the promenade deck cabins and calling them "Lanai".

My personal opinion is that I would never book one of these cabins just to watch hundreds of people walk by and see them wishing for the old days when they could actually sit on YOUR chairs outside YOUR cabin. Our first HAL promenade deck cabin was on the Maasdam before the Lanai conversions and I never booked that deck again on 8 other cruises because of the picture window atmosphere.

We are 3 star on HAL and not that far from four for my wife who has accumulated more credits than I have because of her 15 day trip in AK with the ocean leg in a Neptune Suite.

I have 2 major problems with the current HAL vs. what it was several years ago.

The staffing in the MDR has definitely been tightened to the point of having to wait excessive amounts of times during dinner service. Second, the amenities/loyalty rewards for repeat cruisers are rather pitiful when compared to RCL or Celebrity as two comparable lines for prices and service. On our TA on the Nieuw Amsterdam several years ago, we could not go near the Queen's Lounge when BB King's Blues were playing because of the excessive and unnecessary volume. Our last cruise on the Eurodam this year shows this has improved but the venue is toooooo small for the purpose.

The worst thing HAL has done in my opinion is to combine the functions of the old Explorer's Lounge, Coffee shop and Bar into the one venue in the Crows Nest.

My love of HAL ships has been tainted I am sorry to say from our first days on the Maasdam and similar small ships, DAM dollar games that got passengers active and mingling and the quiet serenity of the Explorer's Lounge.

Carnival management should be ashamed of their offer of a 25% discount for a future cruise after allowing this disruption to go on for days and not immediately heading toward land to turn these hooligans over to authorities. Accounts from several passengers said they were afraid to leave their cabins which indicates they did not get the services that they had paid for. Therefore, 25% refund of their current fare for what will likely be applied toward the FULL PRICE for a future cruise is insulting.

For those of you who love Carnival, keep going on their cruises.

For the rest of us, we will abstain and give you lots more room on the ship, You all will likely not miss us so have fun on the FUN SHIPS

Good summary explaining why reading articles and first hand reports about this event is much more important than just commenting on a single video.

From personal experience, I predict with a VERY high level of confidence that your upcoming cruises on the NA and Celebrity will NOT have the same levels of excessive excitement.

Strawman argument. Nobody is blaming Carnival for not acting sooner, by 2 minutes of footage.

 

Did you not read any of the news articles? The violence began on day 1, and allowed to persist until day 9, with the captain telling passengers, "What do you want me to do about it?" That's enough information to condemn. Anyone can disagree, this is cruise critic.

 

Heck, maybe if Carnival had given the family until day 10, the they would have gotten this aggression out of their system, and placed apology letter's under bloodied passenger's cabin doors.

The one time it is imperative to use Choice Air is on a TA cruise where you need a one way fare. For 2 separate cruises I could not find anything close to the fares I got via the cruise line for flights to Civitecchia or Barcelona. The only thing even remotely close was to book a round trip fare and not use one of the tickets.....but even that was more than I got via cruise line booking.

I agree with you after our latest cruises first on the Eurodam followed by RCL Oasis. The loyalty program on HAL is NOTHING compared to our comparable level on RCL. The food on RCL was better in the MDR and particularly the lunch in MDR which is suprisingly wonderful at their buffet served there in style. Gala evening menu on HAL was really bad the first night and just OK the second.

HAL has been going downhill for years after being bought by Carnival and our last cruise showed even more differences from previous years (3 star Mariners).

My last cruise review of the Eurodam concluded with the statement that it would likely be our last on HAL when compared with the distinctly superior benefits of Diamond status on RCL that we achieved with many fewer cruises than we have on HAL for 3 star status with measly benefits.

I agree with this. We were on the Veendam 49 day cruise oct-dec 2017. Stewarts having 24 rooms to clean vs 13 b4 cuts.

Nobody playing blackjack because of the odds they used. Mostly 3 card poker and Texas Hold tables were full. Walked around the Lido three times every night trying to find something good to eat. Mostly ate in Lido. Two and a half hours to eat in the dining room I couldn't handle it. Great salad table in Lido. Deserts in afternoon great. At night not so much.

 

The crew staff was great (stewarts, waiters, bar staff etc.) Lectures were ok. Shows for most part were hit and miss. A couple of good entertainers.

 

Had a few problems with broken pipes. We got flooded out and moved to another stateroom for rest of cruise. No big deal. Seem to be a common occurrence.

 

We used private tours for the most part.

 

I also agree the loyalty program sucks. I can't believe the number of people who think it is greatest thing going,

 

I have cruised on another HAL ship and it was great. Maybe small ships are not for me.

 

 

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First, the higher up you are the more motion you are going to feel. Second, the bow is NOT a great location because you will get even more motion from bow waves. Finally, if you anchor at any ports you will hear the anchor chain in the morning.....or when you dock you might hear the bow thrusters..........but being high up is then a good thing since the lower decks will suffer that noise the most.

28 days is a long time and I would personally stick with that low deck mid-ship for a smoother ride.

We are on the Eurodam next year, and had a Category C ocean view cabin on Deck 1. Close to the elevator, mid-ship, standard size. It was also close to the ladies room, which I don't know would be a plus or a minus, but thought there might be some traffic from the Atrium bar. I think this is also near the location of the embark/debark doors, but I'm not sure?

 

I found a CQ available on Deck 10 in the bow area yesterday for an extra $100 total for both of us. This is a 28 night cruise.

 

We've sailed this route before and don't remember the seas being particularly rough. With a little bonine in us, we figure we are OK with extra movement. I read several reviews about this row of cabins, and was really interested in the 6x4 huge window overlooking the bow. The reviews raved about this, how quiet the area is, and how large the cabin is.

 

We also like the proximity of the Crow's Nest and Explorer's Cafe. The deck below is the gym, spa, and Lido Market, which is where we like to eat in the mornings and afternoons.

 

The cabin seemed to be a great room to have for the long cruise.

 

I'd like anyone else's opinion on our cabin choice. Appreciate any comments or advice.

Our experience on the NA was not the same and they used cloth bags on our TA in 2016. Just off the Eurodam and they had the same exact cloth bags.

These bags hold a ton of cloths of you roll them tight and pack until the bag is ready to pop............exaggerating a bit here but it IS amazing how much you can pack in one of these bags. We typically got clothes back either that evening or the next morning at the latest.

On our last cruise on NA, the bag was very flimsy paper and it tore as soon as we got more than just a few garments in it. It was much smaller than I thought it should be. Are the bags you're describing above more durable? How much do they hold?