Turtles06

Imho, you can’t beat the convenience of parking at the cruise terminal. And especially when you disembark, you’ll be on your way quickly, not schlepping off to somewhere in New Jersey to get your car.

Yes. 😊

If you are talking about the St. Kitts Scenic Railway Tour, we did it in late 2021 and it was wonderful. A great way to see beautiful parts of the island. Live narration, local dancers who came aboard to perform, “adult” and non-adult beverages … A really excellent tour.

Thanks for the link. Interestingly, the article says this: “The authority that manages the canal added in a statement that this week's ship traffic represents a ‘normal’ level for this season. It noted that a month before the end of its 2023 fiscal year, the canal's total vessel crossings already total nearly 800 more that what the canal authority's budget had forecast. The additional vessel crossings, which contribute to a total of more than 13,000 transits so far during the fiscal year, show strong demand by vessel owners.”

I’ve never read anything like that. It certainly is not policy, and it’s totally at the discretion of the ship whether you get more free laundry than the policy states. In 2020, we were on the Gem for a 20-day Panama Canal cruise; we were each given 2 free bags of laundry.

If you are speaking generally about the wisdom of having travel insurance, I agree with you. But if you are advising people on an upcoming cruise to buy insurance now because of Lee, I think many policies will not cover you once a storm exists and has been named. In any event, everyone should read a policy before buying it. I hope all in the path of Lee are safe.

I have an iPhone 13 Pro that I bought a little over a year ago for its camera. My iPhone 8 was still working fine as a phone, but after seeing the quality of the camera images on my wife’s iPhone 11, I realized it was time to get a new phone. Once I got the 13 Pro, I also took an on line iPhone photography course, which was well worth it, because there are so many features built into the camera that you would just not know about. I’ve gotten to the point in my life that schlepping the DSLR, even mirrorless, with lenses, chargers, batteries, on trips is getting to be a bit much. In the past year, I’ve gone on a few trips with just my iPhone, and I haven’t regretted it, especially on land tours where I’m walking around all day. It’s been nice to go light.

@BillB48 thanks for the posts and info above. The photo in the first one looks very much as Fuerte Amador did when we were there in February. And it doesn’t look much changed in the still from the video. Well, one day it will be finished. 😂

You said the Statue was “yesterday’s news” on sail-in. 😂 But yes, I was under the Bridge as well. 😊 (photos by turtles06)

In terms of NCL’s “older” ships, the Jewel-class ships (Jewel, Jade, Gem, Pearl) are wonderful. They are a comfortable size, with a more traditional cruising experience (like a real promenade deck), and some great public areas. Re the Dawn, please know that she does not have a forward-facing indoor lounge or observation area. We’ve cruised once with HAL, a cruise we picked for the itinerary, and would cruise with HAL again, for the itinerary. Enjoy whatever you decide to do!

The Statue of Liberty can be seen from a ship docked in Bayonne. I took this early in the morning of November 4, 2015 from the deck of Anthem of the Seas, which had just completed her inaugural transatlantic from Southampton. (photo by turtles06)

You should spend some time reading about Europe and decide what appeals to you. And/or get a travel agent.

Speak for yourself. 😊. I’m up. This is from our most recent sail-in, in February. It was a misty, drizzly morning. (photo by turtles06)

May I suggest that you think about what you would like to see in Europe/what places you would like to visit, and then consider if a cruise makes sense.

It would be far more useful if you hadn’t started a new thread for each day of your cruise. Not to mention that you’ve neglected to identify the ship.

Too bad they didn’t take your excellent advice.

It’s great fun! My wife and I (two adults!) really enjoyed it, and it was clear that the kids there were having an excellent time too. We took a cab there, and had the folks at the front gate call us a cab when we were ready to leave. In terms of food, I think you could walk down the long hill to the Fish Fry, but I don’t know about the safety issues in terms of doing that. You might just want to take a cab back into town and have lunch there. (We love a place called Bahamian Cookin) IMG_3984.mov

Re the Caves, keep in mind that the cruise lines may book up available slots. The folks at the Caves said people on their own should reserve a spot before going out there, to ensure that they get in. This was a couple of years ago.

And that’s the problem. The font is unreadable on phones and tablets, which is how many folks access CC. Normally, when this is pointed out to a user, like @auscgguysgirlthey will change their font.

Yes, there are other sources of info. I think some of the concern is whether Tom is okay. His guides suddenly vanished.

I turned my phone over. 😂. Awesome balcony. Hope you have a great cruise, thanks for sharing some of it.

I’m curious as to where that information came from. (Did you email them and ask?) What I see on the website is that they are not taking parking reservations for that sailing, nor for the October 3 sailing of the Dream. They are taking parking reservations for the seven night sailing of the Norwegian Escape departing on October 1, which perhaps is impacting their decision not to take reservations for your cruise. If you haven’t emailed them about October 7, you might want to do so. Edited to add: I was typing just as @njhorseman was posting, hence the overlap. 😊

They are fabulous. You’ll have a great time! One tip: before you go, watch or re-watch “The Longest Day.” The production values are a little cheesy by today’s standards, but the history is spot on. (In fact, our guide from Overlord Tours asked if we’d seen the film!) A bonus: just about every male movie star or soon to be star of the 1960s is in the film.

Watching the Bermuda WebCam. Looks like a nice day to be at sea, I hope that keeps up for those on the Joy. Safe travels back to New York!

@AstoriaPreppy Thanks for taking the time to share your detailed and balanced review with us. My wife and I love the Gem, we have sailed on her many times, most recently for 23 days this past January and February, back to back cruises from New York to Panama. Overall, we had a great time. One really good thing surprised us — Cagney’s, which we have always found to be inconsistent in the quality of the food and/or the service. But on these recent cruises, Cagney’s was excellent, both the food and the service. So much so that we wound up eating there four times. We too were disappointed by the lack of entertainment in the Stardust Theatre. NCL used to have terrific production shows and quality guest entertainers. That was not the case earlier this year. It’s disheartening to read that this is still the case on the Gem. I’ll have to disagree with you about the redesign of Le Bistro. Yes, the original was fussy. But at least it had character and warmth. We found the redesign to be too bright, sterile, and monochromatic. But this is all subjective. 😊 We’d happily sail on the Gem again.