Dizzneefan

We are booked on a cruise from NYC to St. John, Halifax, and Sydney in September 2023.  I've got a couple of questions for those who have been to these ports, especially in the fall.

Our cruise is September 16-23.  Can we hope/expect the foliage to be in full Fall glory by that time?

Regarding Sydney, as of now there is only 1 excursion being offer by Carnival.  I understand this may and probably will change, but in looking online for sites of interest in that area, I don't see a big selection at this point.  Can anyone offer any suggestions on things we might want to try?

TIA!

1 hour ago, Tennessee Rose said:

Friends and I will be on the 9/17 Canada (Magic) trip. 3 of us are retired and in our 60s; I'm the oldest at 67; my cabin-mate is mid-40s. We are quite happy to be sailing with seniors and looking forward to our 1st cruise out of NYC and to Canada. We know it will be different. Hope to maybe see you onboard! 

We are on this cruise, but not until next year.  Currently, there are not a lot of shore excursions for Sydney.  I was curious if you have one booked already or what your plans were for that port?

BTW, we live in Tuscaloosa, so not TOO far from you.

For reasons that go beyond the virus, it looks like we may need to cancel.  I don't have a medical emergency but am beginning to have symptoms that COULD develop into a retina tear. Should that happen surgery is required within 24-48 hours, and having functional vision in that eye only all my life, I just can't take the chance of being at sea and having an episode like this take place.

We purchased the trip insurance (which we normally do not do) so I am wondering the chances of a cash refund and all future cruises seem to be no longer an option.  I tried to call Carnival, but no luck in getting through.

Three replies and I'm  convinced already!  Going up the day before!

how "close" do you cut it?  We have a cruise out of New York that leaves at 4:00.  We can get a flight that arrives at LaGuardia at 12:30.  We are considering the Carnival transfers to/from the ship but wonder if this time table would work.  

Wondering if you did take your Drone and if you have any problems. We are planning on taking ours (also have a DJI Phantom 3)

Yes, he took it and had just a couple of issues. One was that the Drone itself was having some minor tech problems that he had to download a correction for that. The other was that on one of our tours to some Mayan ruins close to Guatemala, there were armed soldiers so was requested to not use it. But otherwise, he got some great video and pictures. As others have said, you can't use it on the ship of course, but while in port there were no issues other than the ones I mentioned above.

Thank you SOOOOO much for sharing your trip and this beautiful ship with us. It will be when she comes to Miami before we have a chance to sail on it but am already looking forward to the experience.

I've only used the sauna a few times but nothing like that has ever happened to me. When I first read this my reaction would have been to report it but I don't know where it would have lead from there. Would I want to spend a lot of my vacation time filing a complaint that would probably result in being contacted for additional information? Would it be "easier" to just let it go? Not a comfortable situation in ANY case

Personally I like Elegant nights. I even enjoyed it was Formal nights. I would carry my tux and DW a gown. This past trip I wore a suit and tie one night and the other night a tie with the same dress coat and dress khakis. It's two nights out of the entire cruise and you are told that from the beginning. If you don't want to dress up there are plenty of other dining options as a PP said.

It will of course depend on what cabins might still be available but you can always upgrade, paying the difference.

Yes, if you do not have Any Time Dining, same table, same wait team.

I've not every booked the next cruise while cruising so can't help there.

About three weeks ago I bought a GoPro to use underwater while snorkeling. Bought the flotation device in case it came out of my hand. Bought the strap that you can use to attach it to your head or wear on a backwards baseball cap. I was all set.

I thought I charged it fully the night before we left, but apparently when I used it to test it, I did not have a full charge and used more of the battery than I thought.

So, first day on board, I get out the little trusty camera only to find there was not enough battery to take even one picture. No problem, I'll just charge that sucker up.

It's hard to do when you leave the charger at home. And did you know that they do not sell those on board or in any port?

GRRR

I've gained five pounds just readin' and lookin'.

You mentioned that you arranged transfers and hotel through Carnival. What about your flights? Did you book those yourselves or through an agent? This ship looks too good to miss, so we started getting pricing and information last night as soon as I began to read your review and share it with DW.

Thanks for the review. We leave on the Dream in 92 days [emoji126] (not that I'm counting down or anything[emoji23][emoji23])

 

How was your cruise director? Was there live music at night?

 

 

 

 

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Our cruise director was JASE and he did a great job. Frankly, I'm not one of those who let the DC make or break our trips. As long as they are entertaining and informative, I'm OK. I know there are those who get disappointed if certain CD's are not on their ship, but not us. JASE did a good job and if he is there when you are on the ship, I think you will find the same.

I can't give you any first hand info on the live music in the bars as we did not go to those, but there was live music in the public areas i.e. Casino, atrium. I'll check with my DS to see what he thought of the live music in the bar areas.

What should you do? I'll answer from one who was in your shoes a few weeks ago and say "nothing". We had forecasts of thunderstorms in the 80% range and partly cloudy others.

Our thunderstorm day had a few sprinkles and just a very few. And the sun was out even then.

Don't worry over the weather because forecasts are often wrong and there is nothing you can do in any case.

Relax and enjoy your cruise!

DW and I were talking about balconies and in particular the Alaskan balcony we had last year, which was an aft cabin. With the exception of one cruise, we have always had a balcony and by far, the one that we consider a must was the Alaskan trip last year. We spent much more time on that balcony than on any other.

With regards to the excursions and their prices, we have one credit card that we use to pay for 95% of our purchases each month. Then we pay it off. We knew a year out what the excursions would cost so we just saved the points for a year, then cashed them in and the excursions for the three of us did not cost us a cent.

And of all the excursions we have ever done, the small boat for Tracy Arm tops the list. Words, even pictures, can't do it justice.

Before we took that trip last year, we knew it would be a once in a lifetime trip for us.

That's why we are now looking at doing it again!

I thought I would submit some thoughts on our just recompleted cruise on the Dream last week, May 15-22. It will not be a day by day, minute by minute detailed report, but just some things we did, enjoyed, and maybe some things that might have been better

Parking:

We parked at the Erato Garage, just for the convenience and so the vehicle would not be outside all week in the event of storms, etc. Arriving at 10:00 we had no problems finding a spot and it was very convenient to the ship.

FTTF:

I know that there are many thoughts on the value of FTTF but we enjoy the perks we get it. Getting to our cabin and getting off on debarkation day are nice features. With it, we were in Zone 3 to debark. Without it, we would be zone 30. As much fun as a cruising is, when the ship docks, I’m ready to get off .I do NOT like sitting there waiting and doing nothing. Getting to the cabin when we board is fun also. We did not need to use the early tender as our excursion in Belize was early so we would have been assigned an early tender anyway.

Cabin:

We had a balcony cabin, 9372 and it was your typical room. It was a little crowded as staying in there were myself, DW, DS and his GF, but we were not in there THAT much so no real problems. For privacy, I did purchase four metallic hooks from Home Depot and placed them in an “L” shape. I had a black curtain with metal O rings, so I could stretch the curtain across the opening when it was needed, then place the curtain in the other hook next to the wall when it was not needed. It made for a much larger dressing area then the bathroom alone.

Our room steward did an OK job, but not really an outstanding job. The room was straightened twice a day, but he did not really clean the bathroom as well as I would have liked. DW uses hairspray which always finds its way on the counter top, and you could feel the residue from it, so on most days I cleaned it myself. (I’m a neat freak at home too)

Shows:

We saw most of the shows and enjoyed all the ones we saw, especially “Dancing In the Streets” One thing I and DW did not like was having two dancers , one on each aisle, dancing alone before the shows started. It just looked dumb, and they not professional dancers by any means.

Gym:

I went to the gym four mornings and found it very nice and at the time of day (6:00 am) it was not very crowded. A little more so by the time I would leave around 7:00 but even then not too crowded.

Food:

With the exception of one evening, we had dinner in the MDR every night. The food was very good and the wait staff very attentive and friendly. None of us had any bad experiences with any of the dishes we tried.

Now on the Lido deck, we found breakfast VERY disappointing. On several morning, the eggs were luke-warm at best and sometimes even cold, even when taken from a serving dish that had just been placed. Other ships seemed to have much more enjoyable breakfasts than we had last week. And then there was the bacon police. When I want eggs and bacon, I want eggs and BACON, not just three slices. But I’m not a complainer so did not stand there and beg for more.

The pasta bar was quite good. We did not try the Mongolian wok area though as there was always s long line for it.

Odds and ends:[/

I had ready many complaints of long lines, on the Dream but we did not find that to be an issue at all, even though the ship was full.

Our shore excursions (12 Meter America’s Cup in Cozumel, Xuantunich Mayan Ruins with lunch in Belize, and Tabyana Beach Break in Roatan) were all good but the sailboats and Tabyana were our favorites. The Mayan tour was a long day and hot as everything. That was our second Mayan tour and probably will not do another as the other was just as hot. And we’re from Alabama so somewhat accustomed to heat and humidity.

We watched just one Dive In movie and it was fun. Looking at their schedule, I would have thought we might have done more, but that did not prove to be the case.

Overall it was a fun cruise. I don’t think any of us would say it was the best we have ever had, but we had great weather, great food, great scenery and we weren’t at work. So not a bad week at all.

I'm not sure of your stops, but if your are going to Tracy Arm, I HIGHLY recommend the small boat excursion on it. It was the best of our excursions. My next favorite was whale watching the Harv and Marv, followed by the all day trail/bus trip in Skagway.

I experience both. As the planner for our vacations, I am in the stress mode right not leading up to our cruise on Sunday. We've got all the excursions booked, I have gone over and over in my mind things to remember and carry with us, I think I have everything covered except for the one thing I can't cover.

The weather.

I know, I know, that a forecast a week from now is about as useful as last weeks TV Guide (if those are still published), yet I worry about it. We are visiting Cozumel, Roatan and Belize and it looks like a good chance of rain while in Cozumel and a little less chance in Roatan.

As you can tell by my name, we are Disney fans, and I know what to do in the parks in the event of rain, but cruising and excursions are a different setup.

When I get on board, I plan to relax and enjoy the days as I always do, but right now I can feel the anxiety increasing. My DW tries to keep me calm, but it's not working!

Going next week.....can't wait. I'll let you know how it was when I get back :D.

We are sailing out on Sunday as well. Hope you enjoy the trip!

We were in Cozumel one time when it poured, a heavy downpour. We had booked the Amazing Race excursion. They offered to refund us, but we purchased some heavy-duty and surprisingly reasonably priced ponchos at Ron Jon, and went on our excursion. By the time we were half done, the Sun was out. We had a great time.

 

 

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We have the same excursion booked for next week so I hope we are able to go through with it, even if it rains.

We've got some ponchos with a certain Mouse on it (see my screen name) but we might need something a little more substantial.

Just in case You!

We are scheduled to leave on Sunday out of NOLA on the Dream. Looking at weather forecasts for the ports we will stop has a cloudy day in Cozumel and the others not yet available.

Two things I know about the weather:

1.) You can't control it

2.) You can't depend on forecasts this far out.

But I began to wonder---have you ever been at sea days or in ports when it was less than what you had hoped for? Are excursions cancelled in cases like these? We've been on 8 trips, and with the exception of our first trip to Freeport where it was cloudy and sprinkled, I don't recall another cloudy overcast day.

We have a 10-10:30 boarding time so hopefully no problem finding a spot in Erato next Sunday.

We have a trip to Alaska in August and I know that I will need to layer clothing. I'm curious what people wear in the main dining room. I did a search on this and responses were from years ago where it seems that jeans were worn by the majority of people in the dining room. Is this still the case? I'm assuming that the elegant nights people still get dressed up.

 

I'm finding it hard to get excited for this trip -- my idea of cruising is palm trees and sandy beaches -- not mukluks and ice! LOL

We were on the Legend last June and dressed for dinner each night on other cruises. Suits and dress up on elegant nights and just dressy casual for other nights.

For years I never thought of Alaska as I am like you in that warm climates were my idea of vacation. But I was blown away by the beauty of Alaska. If you have the option of a small boat excursion if you will be in Tracy Arm, I would really encourage you to take it.

Our very first cruise was on the Fantasy so as you can imagine that size holds special memories for us. We have been on larger ships since then but went back to Fantasy to renew our vows for our 25th anniversary, even having the same cabin.

We sail on the Dream next week so we wil see........