PATRLR

For the train: sit on the left going up and the right side coming down.

For the bus/van: sit on the right going up and the left side coming down.

 

Here's a helpful map: https://wpyr.com/wp-content/themes/wpyr/maps/routemap.html. The railroad is in orange to the right of the center of the map; the road is in black to the left of the center of the map.

This may seem silly, but I assume "right side coming down" means right side when facing the direction of travel. OK, so far so good. But, when I get on the train, will the engines always be in the front of the train, or, is it possible that coming down the engines are in the back? Said another way, how do I know the direction of travel when I board the train?

as you can see the answer is no, but they do have a lot of kids activities as well as daily family activities.

As does just about every cruise ship.

 

We've discussed bringing our young nieces/nephews on a cruise with us and the Dawn is explicitly not on our list because it lacks all the features newer ships have that would help entertain the kiddos.

Was able to call NCL and book entertainment for Bliss sailing 6/2/18. Jersey Boys schedule is 6/6 at 730 and 1030pm and 6/7 at 730 and 1030pm

Thanks for the heads up - I too just called and reserved.

What would happen if the animals were horsing around and jumped overboard? Don’t think it would work very well...

Well, it would become a swim race in that case of course.

Does anyone really believe that they used to have live horse races on a cruise ship?

Apparently yes, based on some of the replies in this thread. SMH.

I didn't know the Seattle port is that crazy busy. I'm glad I booked the Marriott across the street for next month.

I starting to think maybe I should have. But, I thought I read somewhere even though the Mariott is across the street, it's really not walkable to the pier.

It’s a Travel agency that has weekly offers. There is a UK edition and a US edition.

thanks. As we are booked on the Bliss/Alaska, it caught my eye, then, of course, I had no idea what it meant.

In the past, I've received an e-mail saying rejected.

U.K. edition of T Z site!

Can you translate this to American English please? :):D

We'll be sailing on the Bliss on June 2, arriving the day before. I was caught off guard at the expense of hotels in the city.

 

We arrive SeaTac at 11:30AM Friday. We thought we'd want to hang out in the city that afternoon and early evening. Maybe just wander around, maybe hit the Columbia Tower, etc. I actually have the Homewood Suites with a really good points/$ ratio, but, still it's expensive.

 

Are there any alternative good options for staying out of the city (in other words less expensive) with transport for getting in/out of the city? I suppose we could stay just about anywhere and Uber/Lyft in/out. I'm curious if there are decent trains, water taxi, etc public transport options I might not be aware of.

 

Thanks

It does seem to be a bit of a conundrum. And possibly the folks in the photos with the pool towels were trying to keep the lounge chairs clean. But it had a real "camped out" look to it.

I think you could very easily sit down and put your feet up, where the back of the heel of your shoe is the only part touching.

No doubt the folks in the picture were camped out. And of course it's the fact that they weren't there for an extended period that is the problem with those selfish dolts.

 

The chairs in the picture sure look to me like they are intended to have your feet on them. Is that not the consensus?

I don’t see your point? I’m assuming you are referencing the post about not quoting posts with photos? Well get over that as I will surely admit that there is no way I read every 530 some posts in this thread. Has nothing to do with noticing if someone would bring towels to the OL.

 

How about just don't include the photos when quoting? It's rude to those of that do like to read entire threads.

 

I am a computer programmer and cyber security expert and can assure you that not quoting a post with a picture has nothing to do with common courtesy.

 

Interesting, I too am a programmer and some would consider me to be a cyber security expert as well. I assure, neither has anything to do with common courtesy in discussion boards like this. I'll say it again: Including pictures in a quote, unless commenting on a specific picture, is rude.

Such a great thread, thank you.

 

Can't help but notice some folks might have missed something you posted in the beginning:

 

Speaking of pictures, I do ask that you not use the quote function for the pictures. Reposting them just clogs up the thread and makes it harder for me and others to see what you may have said and see new posts. If you want to comment or ask a question on something that is in a picture, then please delete the other pictures if you use the quote function for that picture. If you just want to make a general comment, PLEASE do not quote the whole picture post!

TLDR: Please do not quote pictures!

Thanks for the report so far. Does the Bliss have a dueling piano bar?

I guess you better stay with carnival.

Very inappropriate comment. If you don't have anything constructive to say, simply move on to the next thread.

We too live near Boston and loved the Dawn. We also loved the idea of the easy drive getting to/from the ship.

 

Finally tried a bigger NCL ship last week (Getaway). I wasn't impressed. The Getaway (and I assume most of the bigger ships) had better entertainment, but in my opinion that is just about the only area the Getaway beat the Dawn.

 

That all being said, my advice is to "try it" - it's really the only way you will know.

 

Are you west of Boston such that trying a big ship out of NY might be an easy option?

 

We came very close to booking that repositioning trip on the Dawn - we were booking late and when the hurricane wiped on SJ, we decided to avoid the uncertainty and booked Getaway instead. I'm a bit bored with Bermuda, so, looking forward to booking a future Dawn repositioning trip.

OMG. Absolutely the best trip report I've ever read... thank you to whoever revived it.

The credit that came from NCL was not on my e-docs. And of course, the credit that came from my agent wasn't either. But they all showed up on my account once I was onboard.

In the age of the Internet, "not enough selection" isn't really a valid argument anymore.

 

That's a matter of personal preference. For me, fine jewelry purchases include an emotional component (e.g. "I love it"). I'm not going to get that online. It's great that it works for you and I am sure many others, but, that doesn't work for me.

Since my fiancee works in Sales, we always make it a point to go to the Diamonds International presentation on the ship

 

I love the term "Diamonds International presentation" - because that certainly is what it is.

To the 2 recent comments about "why buy overseas":

 

First, your comments aren't really relevant to the thesis of the base note which is directed at those that are already of the mind to buy overseas. But, this is Crusie Critic and comments going off topic is common, so I'll go along and comment.

 

We have found that the Carribean shops have far better selection than you find in stores in the US, except for the chain stores in the malls. As for the chain stores in the malls, the Carribean stores beat those prices every time. We have purchased fine jewelry in the past and always had them appraised by a local trusted jeweler and we've always been very pleased with the result.

 

That all being said, one of the reasons my wife was reluctant was exactly 1025Ccruise had said - we hadn't done enough research. But that's the difference between my wife and I :)

I've learned over the past few years that the onboard shopping "consultants" are actually funded by the big stores (e.g. Diamonds International, Cariloha, etc) and to take their "recommendations" very lightly because they are only recommending the stores that pay them.

 

Unfortunately, my experiences on a recent NLC cruise hit a new low with them recently.

 

We were looking at a piece with a $13.5K price. I asked for their "best price" and they came back with $10K. We're thinking about it, wandering around a bit and the shopping consultant approaches us and we chat a bit. She says the most I'll get them to come down is another 10% but probably won't get that much. Also tells me we're dealing with the manager so, we'll get the best possible price. We go back and ask if they can do any better, they come down to $8900. We talk back and forth, my wife is still unsure and finally I say "can you do $8K, I think I can talk my wife into $8K". They go off, supposedly have to call NY (yeah, sure), my wife says to me "No, don't want to spend that much now", I tell them "never mind", but they quickly say "OK, $8K". We apologized and left. Later that afternoon, we see the shopping consultant again - she tells us she's been looking for us and the store is willing to give us an even better price (we didn't go back).

 

So the trusted shopping consultant tried to convince us the absolute best price was going to be $9K. We got them to $8K and apparently, they were ready to go even lower and they sent her out to find us.

 

The lesson: Don't trust the shopping consultants and make sure you keep pushing for a lower price. I got a 13.5K piece down to $8K and can't help but wonder how much further they would go.

We bought the more expensive seats. To be honest, I can't imagine my seat was any better than the "cheap" seats. Yes, we were right next to the stage, but the worst seats are probably less 75' from the stage.

 

This is a show that I will definitely see again, but I probably won't bother paying the upcharge.

 

Lastly, if you are a big eater, you might want to have a snack beforehand, especially if you are going to the later show.

Well, it’s been around over 7 years already, it very popular, and there is still mostly free entertainment.

Yep - same for the first of the pay restaurants. And then they exploded in quantity.

 

I hope I am wrong.

This is silly. It has a fee because it is a small venue. If it was free, you'd have 80% of the ship that would try but wouldn't be able to see it.

I'm sorry, but your statement is beyond silly, it's ridiculous. Using your logic, Cagney's, et. al. have a fee because they are smaller dining rooms, not because they offer a superior product that NCL is using to increase its revenues. Got it.

 

This is the same reason Vibe has a fee - because it limits the number of people.

Another ridiculous statement. So what you are saying is that NCL went to the trouble of isolating part of its deck space and then charged a fee simply to limit the number of people in that space. I suppose you believe they donate that money to charity, after all, the only reason they collect it is to limit the number of people.

 

And if you were a frog in a pot, you would probably believe someone who told you the only reason they were heating the water was to keep other frogs out.

 

Let's check back in a couple years and see how many more shows you need to pay for. My prediction is the "name" acts in Headliners will be the next ones you need to pay to see.