cknic

On 8/29/2019 at 2:36 AM, Turtles06 said:

 

Sure. It’s worth more. 😄

 

Last summer, in Halifax, we decided at the port to get a taxi tour to Peggy’s Cove and some other places. The driver said the cost would be “two hundred dollars.”  I asked, “Canadian or American?” and he replied, “Either.”  🤣.  I was happy to have Canadian cash on me. 

Do the taxi drivers accept credit cards?

So happy to find this forum.  We end our HAL cruise in Montreal on Saturday, June 6 and want to spend the day sightseeing before flying home on Sunday. I have a reservation at Springhill Suites and it looks to be close to all the main sights which I have started to research.  My DH is not able to walk long distances or for extended periods of time so I thought a self guided walking tour would be best for us--concentrating on Old Montreal and the must sees in that vicinity.   We do want to see the Royal Mount Park area and Saint Joseph's Oratory but are not sure the best way to get there--small group tour bus?  HOHO?  Suggestions?  Also, we would like to see the inside of City Hall but saw it is closed on Saturdays.  Is the building open but no tours or is it locked up? Thanks.

On 9/15/2019 at 12:49 PM, Sunny AZ Girl said:

We are doing a tour next month in Sydney with Blackwoods Tours that includes the Bell Museum, Baddeck and Highland Village.  While I cannot recommend at this point, I have found the tour operator to be very responsive.  It is a small group tour (6 of us from our Roll Call).  I will try to come back upon our return and provide a review if you would like.

https://www.blackwoodtours.com/highland-village-baddeck-bell-museum/

What did you think of the tour?

1 hour ago, *Miss G* said:

Holy smokes!  $150!!  We paid $42 usd and got an suv as well.

Are the taxi drivers open to bargaining?

On 11/17/2019 at 3:19 PM, Crew News said:

Just made a payment on my Alaska cruise next year and AMEX said it met the qualification pending payment of the amount on the next billing.  The transaction was "Holland America Line Res".

When did you book your cruise?  I would rather make a payment on one on HAL booked last April for next May than use it on OBC if I have a choice.

10 hours ago, TheDougOut said:

 

Nice try.  

Agree..too bad it didn’t work😞

16 minutes ago, chengkp75 said:

Haven't been to Dewey's in decades. My top three for rolls are Becky's Diner, High Roller, and Boone's, but I've heard good things about Eventide's.

Thank you. 

On 9/12/2019 at 4:13 PM, chengkp75 said:

Well, there is a lot to see in Portland, and the downtown area is all about 3/4 of a mile from the terminal, but there is a hill down the middle of the "neck" the town is built on, and the streets and sidewalks are lots of cobblestones and bricks, so a knee scooter could be a challenge.  Taxi and uber are very available in Portland.  The Maine Brew Bus brewery tour is very close, the Portland Fire Engine Co (a tour of downtown on a vintage fire engine) is also close by.

 

Portland is also a foodie destination (frequently named in the top 10 nationwide), and by far the majority of these fine eateries are all downtown.

Do you have recommendations for the best lobster roll?  And are you familiar with the reopened 3 Dollar Deweys?  

On 6/4/2019 at 3:36 PM, rmurray847 said:

MISC / FINAL THOUGHTS:

I realize, going through this, that there are a lot of "negative" comments about our experience and the Bliss.  Like many, I tend to focus on faults to a disproportionate degree.  Overall, though, I highly recommend this cruise, this ship and this experience.  Yes, there were issues, and some were even quite annoying...but we still had a fabulous time.  Please don't mis-understand.

 

A few random things:

1)     There were many parts of the ship we did not experience this time.  Spa, gym, most specialty dining, the pool, and except for a brief visit, Spice H2O.  We didn't see the kids areas.  We (sadly) didn't get to bowl, as it was always busy.  (In case you don't know, this bowling is of the miniature variety.  A ball the size of a softball.  $5 per game.)  This was a port & sights heavy cruise...we spent all morning before arrival in Juneau out on deck, watching whales, porpoises and scenery.  We just didn't have the time to try out everything.

 

2)     Elevators.  When you're at a bank of elevators, make sure that pressing one button lights them all up.  Some elevators on some banks go higher than others and if you don't press all the buttons, you'll see some of the zip right past you.  And just be ready for the usual obliviousness from many passengers.  The are waiting for their elevator.  One arrives.  They immediately try to get on, no allowing anyone to get off first.  Always amusing.  

 

3)     Wi-fi. We splurged on the unlimited, deluxe package, and it worked fairly well.  We kept it on my wife's phone most of the time, and she pretty much never got cut off.  One morning, she was off for an hour or two, but otherwise, it worked all the time.  We were even able to watch the first 10 minutes of the GAME OF THRONES finale before it started buffering every 10 seconds.  So, while hardly what you get on land, it wasn't as bad as many experiences we've had.  It seems to get slightly better year after year.  (I still remember dial-up speeds 8 years ago.)

 

4)     Shops onboard.  We hardly spent any time here...totally typical experience.  They did have a small shop that was selling exclusively Alaska based items, which was nice if you forgot to get gifts for folks back home.  (It seems like this shop is a Margaritaville shop during parts of the year.)  

 

5)     Casino.  I spent a total of 1 hour here on the last day.  Note that the casino closes at 3:30 pm on the last day, as Victoria looms, and will not reopen for the duration of the cruise.  My one hour was plenty, the slots were all tight.

 

6)     Overall ship.  Everything was kept clean and everything looked pretty new.  The public restrooms were kept clean, although I have to say the automatic soap dispensers were all VERY finicky.  Be patient...the soap will eventually come.  The public areas looked good, and just overall it looked fresh.  Very inviting overall.

 

And that's about it for me, unless you have questions.  I will be very happy to help if I can.  Thanks for reading!!!

Did you buy the internet package before sailing or after? I am curious if there was a “sale” on board? 

Thanks for your review!

16 minutes ago, rmats said:

 

 

I would think so, assuming you aren’t running payment through travel agent.  I would CALL Holland America to make payment (instead of using website) to make payment to keep the charge as generic as possible.

If I booked through a TA I thought I would have to do everything through them.  HAL website for my booking says check TA for payment schedules.  Even so, I'm thinking the charge will show HAL as receiving the payment so it should work.  Thanks.

14 hours ago, rmats said:

It does not matter if cruise was booked outside of specified dates if you are buying OBC.  The charge shows up as a generic Holland America charge.  AMEX doesn't know what you're paying for.

Would that be the same if you are paying on the booking instead of OBC?

4 hours ago, DaveOKC said:

We used it on our last cruise i March by purchasing OBC credit for our cabin  on the HAL website.  Worked great!  Of course, you nevere know if Am Ex will change this (by enforcing the new bookings only rule). 

Thanks.  I want to use it to make a payment on the cruise which isn't until 5/20...I have used offers like this before but never had to contend with the booking date.  Will check further. 

The offer appeared this weekend on our Blue Preferred Amex.  Spend $500 or more, get $150 back.  The offer terms do state for reservations booked between 6/13/19 and 8/4/19.  I booked 4/29/19 with my TA. 

Has anyone used the promo successfully for a cruise booked outside the term stated dates?  

Thanks.

15 hours ago, Gizmosmum said:

Hey cknic

Come join us on the roll call 

Thanks for the invite but we had to cancel this cruise..health reasons. 

Have a great time.  Carolyn

Thanks for the update..we will be there the end of the month on Celebrity. Hope we have buses right there too. The Cruise-Excursion shuttle company just sent me an email in response to a query I sent them..and gave instructions that still involve the red port shuttle to the ticket booth for their buses. You must have been with a different company!

Just an update..the buses were lined up right by the ship and we had no problem purchasing round trip tickets for 20E per person. Drop off was at the ship also.

The walk into town (and back) was longer than we had anticipated though.

Following with anticipation! We will be on Eclipse August 30. Thanks for your posts.

when we made the mistake by taking the taxi a few weeks ago we were on Celebrity Eclipse and it looked like the buses were right there when we got off the ship I could be wrong because we didn't use them.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

You're welcome! And we didn't either. But when we walked off our ships, RCI, there were several coach buses lined up. It was super easy and convenient.

Thanks for the update..we will be there the end of the month on Celebrity. Hope we have buses right there too. The Cruise-Excursion shuttle company just sent me an email in response to a query I sent them..and gave instructions that still involve the red port shuttle to the ticket booth for their buses. You must have been with a different company!

In your position I would try and leave the ship as early as possible. I have disembarked several times at 6:45 am and there have been no queues (except one time when there was a queue of passengers from US waiting to embark). They were not queuing for taxis though.

 

We have made things really easy by having our breakfast in our room - yoghurt and juice brought down by us the previous day. We then self disembarked. The place was deserted and we had no difficulty getting a taxi and catching our train from the central station at 8:30 am. So you have a lighter breakfast but better to catch your flight than end your trip stressed. The alternative is to go to the buffet before 6 am and still self disembark. If you are off the ship by 7 am taxis will be plentiful, the later you leave it the more folk will be wanting transport.

Thank you. We will leave early and just for peace of mind since 9/11 is a big holiday there, I booked a car service too.

When there are boats, there are taxis :)

 

This is not to say the rank will necessarily be full at that hour, but since at any given time there are literally thousands of taxis roaming the city, they'll soon enough flock into the pier "if" there's demand for them. Most taxi drivers are associated to one of the many taxi associations in the city, and they are in constant radio contact with each other; if one picks up customers and sees a waiting line, he'll radio for other taxis to come soon enough.

Our ship docks at 6AM September 11, 2018 in Barcelona and we have a flight out at 10:30am. I am planning to leave the ship by 7:30 and take a taxi to the airport. Since the 11th is a National Holiday, do you think the number of taxis will be affected?

Thanks for your post..We were in Cartagena a few years ago and will be back in September. Nice to have an update before we sail.

Thank you for the great trip report! I am looking at sailing on the Jade to Greece (the eastern Med, I guess) in 2019. I have heard that she is an older ship. I know she has had some refurbishment. I wonder how her condition is?

Stained carpets, worn furniture, things like that? When we sailed on the Jewel in 2010

she was looking pretty dated!

Thanks for any insights.

Colleen

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app

I'm really enjoying your wonderful review. We are on the Jade 4/1/19 and looking forward to the experience.

Thank you Mura and LondonTowner.

If you have a driver (or rent a car) it's a short ride to Jerez. Maybe 30-40 minutes?

 

On our return drive the guide got stuck in traffic and we had to wait a long time for him to return to us. The result was a super-fast race on the highway back to the ship. They were calling our names when we arrived but we were technically on time! But we had a 3:30 "back on board" time. If you don't leave til 7pm that means be back on board by 6:30. That shouldn't be a problem.

 

If you don't leave the ship until 11am, you'd really need a private tour, I think, to make sure you get there in time for a noon show. Because you'd really have to leave the ship as soon as you can.

 

I was going to suggest that you also do the Clock Museum because it is quite interesting and is pretty close to next door to the Spanish Riding School as far as I remember -- I could be wrong on that but Jerez is not a large town. But even if you just see the show, I don't know that you'd have time to do all that you want to see in Cadiz as well.

 

I suggest you search for a guide and get better info than I'm able to give you 12 years later! I'd recommend the guide we used -- he was excellent -- but when I wrote to him a few years ago I never had a response.

 

 

We're going to see the Lippizaners in Kotor in May ... looking forward to that.

 

Mura

Thanks for your insight Mura. Do you know if a taxi can be booked in advance?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using Forums mobile app