TMLAalum

Driving last June to spend a night in Ottawa prior to a longer stay in St. Hippolyte, we drove up 81, then took local NY roads along the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburg where we crossed the border to the 416. We were the only ones at the checkpoint going into Canada! Welcomed warmly! Easy peasy! A few years back we flew out/into Toronto for an Icelandair flight. Parked our car at a Comfort Inn near the airport, staying there the night of our return on a stay/fly package, so it is a doable option. However, every border crossing over the Niagara River we've ever made has been less than pleasant- lots of traffic leading to long lines, spendy tolls and unfriendly agents, particularly heading back to the US. I concur with the suggestion to fly out of YOW vs, YYZ.

Try the coastal path. We toured the mansions on a land trip: Home | Newport Mansions Some of the less opulent mansions may have less crowds than those on the ship tour, and are worth touring. This website should help you decide if you can DIY: Newport Rhode Island USA Cruise Port (whatsinport.com)

We were able to walk from where the Edge docked in Fort Lauderdale to the next one over to board HAL's Nieuw Statendam.

@BuckeyeMark and @Mark_K Wouldn't it be a hoot if the two of you were on the same cruise that includes the Saturday after Thanksgiving in its itinerary?

If a deal for the Premium beverage package doesn't come along, I recollect you can pay the "upcharge" for a pricier beverage than is offered on the Classic package.

Sure hope the 2024 card doesn't result in as many "wall" games as this year's seems to! I'll have to check out the website you cited. For our NE cruise, we have 3 + the "dummy" to play actual mahjongg!

@mwne2nks Be sure to inform your Diamond Royal status to Celebrity's Captain's Club because it's not automatic. There are different membership numbers for each line. You will have Elite status on your May cruise

Yes! to knitting for me, and like @Straughn I bring a no-brainer project, although just the one, with me. And @SerraG, my DH brings along similar watercolor supplies and paints in our cabin.

We have next year's Edge departing in May booked, but will be cancelling- partly because no Maui and partly because we rethought the many sea days across the Pacific to Vancouver. We will only lose $200 NRD since the cruise was booked onboard. Love Kauai and will likely book a trip just to that island in the future.

That's a nice response. Thank you kindly.

We are so grateful to Cruise Critic's Roll Calls for so many friendships that wouldn't have occurred had social media been our only source of connection. @realnice46 I know we have cruised together- most recently on the Eclipse around the Horn in 2019? Thanks to the roll call, we shared several adventures together on that cruise and the Silhouette in 2013? And I recall sending my undrunk bottles of wine back with you since we couldn't fly home with them! Just earlier this week, we were contacted by a couple @Milhouse who'd shared private shore excursions with us way back on our 2nd Celebrity cruise in 2011. They've offered to give us a tour in Vancouver before we fly out after our upcoming Summit sailing. Prior to our Alaska cruise in 2021, one of our British Isles 2016 roll call stalwarts @DrKoob gave us a tour of Seattle and we had a wonderful dinner together with him and his wife! In 2013 we were skiing in Colorado and a couple from the Roll Call for that 2013 cruise invited us to their annual Souper Bowl gathering in Breckenridge. We arrived as strangers and were welcomed by their group of longtime friends. In 2011, a roll call friend @quanmama from a future European cruise in 2012 invited my girlfriends and me to experience a genuine SF dim sum lunch. Thank goodness Rebecca is fluent in Chinese and handled the menu for us. We've maintained friendships with Duncan and Elaine from the UK, whom we met thanks to the roll call and included us in the private tour of Ephesus they'd arranged on our 2012 cruise. Since then, we've met in Yorkshire England, had breakfast together in Sydney, and toured Coventry together on another trip to the UK. We have a group of folks that we developed and maintained friendships with thanks to @4774Papa who organized a Murder Mystery at Sea on our 2017 Eclipse TA. We are looking forward to our NE cruise where we will sail again with @Traveling Library! Thanks Cruise Critic for Roll Calls!

@Milhouse Fred & I decided that flying from YVR to PDX was the best option after all. Our flight departs at 1:30 pm on 5/10. IDK if this fits your schedule or not. I did send an email to the address I thought was yours but maybe not. Mine is beejaybeeohio at netscape dot net. Hope to hear from you! Barb

We will be in San Francisco from 7am - 5pm in early May on the Celebrity Summit. Our current plans are to head to the Presidio for a walk and Golden Gate views and from there head to Chinatown for Dim Sum. We will download the Clipper app, but not sure pre-applying for senior rates will provide any significant savings. We are scheduled to dock at Pier 27. If any Cruise Critic member can provide specific routing information via public transport it would be very much appreciated. I've downloaded the Muni Service Map but it looks like my yarn after it gets all tangled up!! Thanks.

Hello Wendy and Jay! I do remember you both and especially the tour to the Embera village via canoe. Fred is leaning toward flying to Portland on a 1:30 flight so if we choose that option, we would have the morning to get together depending on your schedules. Is Wendy's email still *****_** at telus? I took a gamble to see if either of you were still showing up on my netscape email. Will be in touch! Barb

Figured as much. Could take the 9am bus/train, rent a car or book a flight at double or more than either of those options for the both of us.

6 am arrival in Vancouver (previous port stop is Victoria) Train departs 7:15 am If we self-disembark is this makable?

We are on the same cruise as @maryec. Hope to see whales on the St. Lawrence. On a land trip a decade ago, we stopped at a provincial park just east of the Saguenay River. A naturalist onsite was pointing out various whales, e.g. minke, when she spied with her binoculars a pod of belugas. She predicted they'd be swimming by us in about 15 minutes and sure enough!

We have AAdvantage cc. The price difference is for a CLE-LAX return PDX-CLE is $100pp between Basic and Main. The cards will give us free checked bag and group 4 (to the best of my recollection) boarding. Miles accrue to our ff accounts and we need more on AA. I understand that seats will be assigned if we book this category, OR we can pay to select our seats. Does anyone have an estimate on whether the cost of choosing our seats will negate the "savings" of booking a Basic fare?

Sailing with a group of friends (4 couples or maybe more). On S and M ships it wouldn't be a problem to reserve a large table or two for us pre-cruise. But on E class ships how would this work? Sounds like it could be an S/M experience trying to get a table together if there even are bigger tables on E class,

Got RSV shot yesterday and was planning on getting the Covid vaccine along with it. But last booster was in August, pretty sure I had covid in early September on a river cruise despite negative test results from a kit we brought along. CVS pharmacist advised waiting until February. Friends who were with us in Europe, boosted pre-trip, and tested + for covid on our trip, got their vaccine Thursday, so go figure?

Hmmmm..... My High School is THE Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates NY (hence my cruise critic name) and I root for The Buckeyes of THE Ohio State University! I tend to refer to Celebrity ships with a /the/ before the name in posts and in conversation, but I noticed my signature is sans the /the/!

The date of my post was just before Covid arrived so our cruise was moot! Wish I could have been able to tell you how it went!

Re: Ports St. John's Newfoundland for sure since that Canadian province is only reached by sea or air! Bar Harbor gets you to Acadia National Park for nature. Saguenay and Portland are fairly large cities, but going up/dpwn the Saguenay River should be a scenic cruise. We've visited both those on land. IDK about Rockland except that it is one of the more unique, smaller ports on a NE/Canada itinerary which to me would be a PLUS.

I am starting to get serious about a private tour in Sydney. Has anyone had experience with this company: All Tours - Blackwood Tours - Tours of Cape Breton? Thanks!

I like your idea of the trolley. We often will do a HopOnHopOff bus tour in European cities after an overnight flight with morning arrival. Re: traveling with others. Don't be hesitant to "direct "the others especially if they are the procrastinating or vacillating type. Plan what YOU want to do, based on all the research and legwork you are doing, and tell them they are welcome to join in or present another idea. Have a gathering or more just for the purpose of discussing your proposals. Perhaps one of your group will have a suggestion that intrigues you, who knows? And of course, you all don't have to do everything together in either Anchorage or Seward,