cyntil8ing

We were seated with others only for that first lunch, and they asked before doing so. When we had dinner, we were not asked and always seated at a table for two.

Yesterday in Saint John, we did something unusual— a ship excursion. The tour was the Bay of Fundy Coastal Photography. It was a small group of 20, on a mini-bus with a wonderful photographer/guide. We really enjoyed it. Interesting about the huge tide changes in the bay. I took the same photo of the ship before and after the three-ish hour excursion and you can see how much the tide dropped in that time. One complete deck of portholes “disappeared“. We went to the Reversing Falls, Mispec Beach and Cape Spencer Lighthouse. So beautiful! After returning to the ship around 4:45, we grabbed a late lunch from the buffet. I am pleasantly surprised it is open so late. On other lines, our choices when returning onboard are often limited to pizza or burgers. I resumed my regular spot of the Waterfront for a few hours before we had dinner in the Manhattan Dining Room. It was fine, nothing memorable good or bad, except our waiter handed us a card to fill out, which upon reading was for exceptional service. We didn’t feel we had exceptional service, so we left it blank. After dinner we listened to the Latin duo in the Skylight Lounge. Since the casino was still closed, it wasn’t smoky. It will likely be our only visit there. Then we went to the adult comedy in the theater, then closed out the night with the Howl at the Moon pianos in the comedy club. I slept in until nearly 10 this morning! And have now resumed my post at the Waterfront while my daughter hits the gym and hot tub. I forgot my bathing suit, so no hot tub for me.😔

Bah! The steward delivering the card about the time change tonight should have been our clue. I thought it was weird. Not sure yet about the excursion we had scheduled for 8:30am in St. John since we won’t arrive until 10. I assume there will be info about it later. The app has updated our itinerary , but the My Plans portion is still the old itinerary. It’s strange to see our tender to Bar Harbor still on the schedule for St John tomorrow. Oh well, a three day cruise of the Hudson! It’s still a cruise, right?

I have been lucky enough to do four cruises this year. On four different cruise lines! I am currently on my first ever NCL cruise and really enjoying it. We were on Carnival two weeks ago, so I am pretty conscious of the differences. Honestly, this cruise feels throwback. We picked up our cabin keys in the terminal. We shared a table in the dining room for embarkation lunch. We get menus in the dining room, and the dessert menu is separate, given after the meal. The daily newsletter is delivered to the cabin the evening before, and it has ads for the spa and shopping (that I throw away). I am really enjoying it! My next two bookings are on Celebrity and Carnival, but based on this cruise so far, I will be looking carefully at Norwegian in the future.

Hello again. I lost track of this thread because we have just been so busy. Finally getting some down time to relax and catch up. Our Amtrak train was on time and a quick taxi from Penn Station to our hotel, Holiday Inn Express Midtown was quick and easy, costing less than $25 including tip. We did lots of walking Saturday evening and ended up with a great dinner at Five Napkin Burgers. Sunday morning, we waited out the rain since we were walking to the port. It was less than two blocks. So easy! Made a note to pack garbage bags for the luggage in case we get caught in the rain again. Anyway, there were no lines to speak of around noon. Walked right on board, checked in for the safety drill and went to Savor for lunch. This is our first Norwegian cruise and we are loving it so far. It feels so retro, from getting keys in the terminal, to the printed daily newsletter complete with art and shopping ads, to sharing tables for lunch, to printed menus in the dining rooms with a separate dessert menu. I hate having to order dessert with my meal! We had lunch with a lovely couple from Texas, Beth and Jack. That night, we got tender tickets for Newport and went standby for the comedy show. I was a little disappointed that we couldn’t find anything to do afterwards. It was probably just because it was embarkation day so everyone was expected to be wiped out. Lay night was much more fun and active. Yesterday in Newport, we walked nearly six miles, including parts of Cliff Walk including Forty Steps. It was unexpectedly hot and sunny and my daughter got a little sunburned. For dinner, we went to the Supper Club for Uptown Boys. It was fun. Neither the show nor the dinner was amazing, but it was a nice new experience. I doubt we will do it again. After dinner we went up to the District Brew House to watch MNF. We joined the crowd and became temporary Bills fans. Sorry guys! We will be back on Thursday to root for the Eagles. Today, my goal was lobster, so we slept in late, until 10:30-ish, then left the ship and wandered into Gilbert’s Chowder House just down the street. Good, if expensive, food. One thing I love about this ship is the Waterfront. I’ve been relaxing here watching the harbor action for quite some time. We have a balcony two decks up, but the seating is more comfortable, not to mention there is a bar a few steps away. On many other ships, any comfortable outdoor seating is in or near a smoking area, so this is wonderful! Anyway, I didn’t start this to be a complete trip report, but here we are, all caught up. Tonight is Bayamo for us. Here are just a few photos so far. IMG_2537.mov IMG_2609.mov

I met my husband when I was 32 and my child was 8. I didn't even introduce the two of them until we had been dating longer than 4.5 months! There is absolutely no flippin' way I would have traveled with them, especially sharing a room, that soon. Our first trip together was a weekend at an amusement park in our second year of dating.

My daughter and I will also be on this cruise. It is our first on NCL and first leaving from NYC. It is my 40th cruise overall. I just came off a storm re-routed cruise that was supposed to go to Bermuda, but went to the Bahamas instead. It was an adventure coming back up the coast to Norfolk over the weekend. Hoping our travels this time won’t be as rocky. We are taking Amtrak up from Baltimore Saturday afternoon and staying at a hotel walking distance from the pier.

Kelly’s Landing. https://www.kellyslanding.com/

My first NCL will be Escape next Sunday. I am a CCL fan, but this one just didn’t do it. I think it was mostly the port change, but I also didn’t feel there was enough going on at night. I felt like we ended up at the piano bar by default because everything else closed, and I am not a Carnival piano bar fan. I agree about the ports. We did get off and enjoyed our beach day at Half Moon Cay. At Nassau, I got off the ship long enough to walk around the new port area then back within 30 minutes. Stayed onboard at Freeport. Here’s a video from yesterday. Doesn’t look too bad as it was from deck 11, but those swells were big! IMG_2422.mov

We were supposed to be in Bermuda this week on Carnival Magic. We got rerouted to the Bahamas instead. Coming up the coast to Norfolk was pretty bad. Not the roughest I have ever been in, but definitely the longest lasting, over 20 hours at least. We got back this morning.

This morning, it cost us $50 with tip. In April, it was about $65 because there was horrible traffic.

Yes! We are casual fans and really enjoyed our visit last year. We spent about 90 minutes there.

Just checked email. Last year, I got my confirmation on 7/13 for our 8/6 tour.

Not OP, but I've taken my kids on Celebrity nearly a dozen times since they were 4 and 6. They're now 17 and 19. They have always eaten from the regular MDR menu.

If they let you book both, I would assume if the first is late returning, the second would still leave on time, but you would be eligible for a refund for the second. No experience though. I did try once by mistake to book a later excursion while having an earlier one booked already, but the times overlapped. It wouldn’t let me book the second until I canceled the first.

And lots of free lunch options. Guy's Burgers put the Mast Grill to shame! Also looking forward to the new dining room menus that are rolling out across the fleet -- old favorites and some delicious sounding new choices. The new dinner salad options are very interesting. Back to topic, I've done this cruise on Summit four times. In fact, 10 years ago today I boarded with my bff for a girls' cruise. I was very sad that next week is Summit's final Bermuda cruise for the season. We cruise in August and were looking forward to returning to Bermuda on Summit. So instead, we'll hop on a train down to Norfolk and board Carnival Magic next month. Same amount of time in Bermuda, arrive 9am Tuesday and depart 4pm Thursday. That's why we chose it over Carnival Legend, which leaves from our home port the same day, but is only in Bermuda from 9am Wednesday to 1pm Thursday. We're also planning on the Dockyard History Walk as soon as we arrive. Thanks so much for all your photos. It's really got me counting down the days -- 30 to be precise!

All of my cruise drinkware. I collect blue glass, so I had to have these. And watch out if you're ever in a scavenger hunt against us. We go hard for our swag!

It's good to see a review that mentions teens, and that they had a good time, even without the rock walls, skating rinks and zip lines. My own teens have been on Celebrity a dozen times since they were 4 and 6 including three times to Bermuda on Summit. They've always had a great time. We got all geared up for a return to Bermuda this year. Our last trip was in 2014! But unfortunately, Celebrity stops calling in Bermuda at the end of this month, and our cruise time frame is next month, so we will be cruising on another line.

We are on this cruise too. We chose it for the two overnights, which we have done multiple times on Celebrity Summit. Celebrity switches to Canada/New England at the end of this month, so it wasn’t an option. We also made the choice of 5.5 hours to Norfolk over 45 minutes to Baltimore for the extended time in Bermuda. We are taking Amtrak to avoid the I95 DC to Fredericksburg area. We got $22 each way tickets, so $132 round trip for the three of us. I don’t think we can drive for that!

Our first ever Oasis class cruise is a few weeks away on Harmony. I have put it off because of crowds and the ports we have been to multiple times on less crowded ships. I expect my reaction will be much the same as yours, but we will see. I am a firm believer there is no such thing as a bad cruise.

We also used Spain Day Tours last summer for two of our ports, Lisbon and Bilbao. Was very pleased with everything from initial contact through post-excursion follow-up. I would use them again without a doubt. Our Bilbao tour was shared. Our Lisbon tour was private.

Looks like there is only one cruise, a six day on Reflection in July for next summer right now.

Personally, if X brings Beyond back from Europe next summer and adds Coco Cay, I will probably book it immediately. We have a Canada/Greenland in late summer, but early summer is open and I have yet to go on Beyond. I have only been to Coco Cay once, but it was a lovely day. Beach day with drink package? Yes, please! As far as sharing Coco Cay with RCCL, I am sure they will work something out to not have both lines call there the same day. Carnival/HAL do it with Half Moon Cay, though I don’t think HAL calls there during the summer months. There have been lots of last minute Europe deals this summer. Maybe X has overdeployed a bit more than demand, so this is an attempt to balance. Not to mention there will be an additional X ship next summer. Any way, I am looking forward to the news and have no worries over it.

Ya know, I really try to be good humored and not fly off the handle at stupid posts, but sheesh. My dad has since died from the cancer-caused brain lesions that caused his seizure on the ship. But funny. Ha ha.

We staggered our passports so that we're not renewing them all the same year. If you go on a cruise each year, save an extra $10/month to get or renew a single passport each year. We didn't do that with Global Entry because we had to go over an hour away for the initial processing. Global Entry expires on the holder's birthday, so we could at least stagger renewals by month when we renewed last year. A few years ago, my dad had a medical emergency while we were on a cruise and we were faced with a decision of disembarking the cruise in Nassau. Since we all had passports, all of us left the ship while he was hospitalized then flew home together two days later. Had we not had passports, my husband and the kids would likely have stayed on board, while I disembarked with Dad. Then along with the medical issues, I would have been scrambling to get emergency passports. And since this was Christmas week AND over a weekend, we would not have been able to get them immediately. I was very glad we were not forced into that situation.