jtonra

We did a full day private tour of some key WW II sites through a company called Overlord Tour.  This was an all day tour which included visits to Omaha Beach, The American cemetery, Pointe du Hoc and a 1 hour stop in the town of  Bayeux on the way back.  This was a very good tour and our guide Fred was very knowledgable about all aspects of the invasion on D-Day.  He provided lots of details as well as old photographs of battle scenes, etc.  Really quite a powerful trip for any American.  We also stopped for a nice lunch along the way.  I would definitely recommend this trip as a great alternative to the 3 hour bus ride into Paris from Le Havre.

We did a full day private tour with Ophorus starting at the port in Le Verdon.  We had Rodolphe as our guide.  Rodolphe literally picked us up and dropped us off 20 steps from the base of the gangway in Le Verdon.  Rodolphe was an outstanding guide who was very knowledgeable of the whole region as well as everything about wine.  The three Chateaus selected were each unique in their own way which made for a great experience.  We saw everything from a classified growth Chateau to a small family owned and operated vineyard.  We had tastings and tours at all three and tasted some excellent wines.  We also had time for a very nice lunch in Pauillic at a restaurant recommended by Rodolphe.   I would highly recommend this tour. 

We're looking to hire a local guide / driver to pick us up at the port and take us to some of the Bordeaux wineries and lunch.  Don't need to go all the way into the city proper but would definitely like to get to Bordeaux rather than staying in the Medoc area; preferably Saint-Julien or Margaux.  Does anyone have any recommendations?

On 11/12/2022 at 10:02 AM, sailing the ocean blue said:

thanks for getting back on this I guess if casino slots change it may be done when ship goes into dry dock whenever that might be.

I think most, if not all, of the machines have configurable denominations.  I was on the ship a couple weeks ago and most of them don't specify a specific amount.  When you put money in, you can decide what denomination you want to use.

4 hours ago, Ocean Boy said:

It is very walkable. Of course, one's level of mobility factors in. But Old San Juan is really fairly compact and I find it easy to walk to just about anyplace there. Though the walk out to El Moro is longer than it looks from the road!

It really depends on where the ship is docked. I believe - although I'm not certain - that Voyager will be docking at the Pan American Pier which is NOT walking distance.  This page will give you some context.

On 9/9/2022 at 6:36 PM, Moltar said:

I just learned Voyager of the Seas does not have a craps table.... Looks like I won't be spending much time in the casino on my next cruise.

Is this really true?  I've never been on a ship that didn't have a craps table.  that would be very disappointing.

Just back from a cruise with a stop in Curacao and we dove with The Dive Bus.  Can't say enough good things about them.  Excellent healthy reefs, tons of fish and lots of critters including octopus, squid, and a seahorse.  We did guided dives on their house reef.  We had really long bottom times; both dives were well over an hour long.  This was my second or third time with them and have loved every dive with them.  Can't go wrong with the Dive Bus.

We're seeing an unlimited fitness pass being offered for our 12 night cruise for $69 pp. Unfortunately, there's not much information on the RCCL site about what's included. All it mentions are yoga, spin and pilates. Is that it? Does it not include things like TRX or boot camp?

Thank you!

OK, thanks, I will look into The Dive Bus some more for Curacao. I may wind up just snorkeling in Aruba - looks like it is easy to take the public bus to the beaches to the north and a couple are rated as decent for snorkeling.

I, personally, would not pass up diving in Aruba. It's not the best diving in the Caribbean but it certainly far from the worst. In my opinion, it gets a bad rap because Bonaire and Curacao are so much better. If you like wrecks, find one of the smaller operators recommended in this forum and go dive. There are GREAT wreck dives in Aruba.

It's been awhile and it was pre-Maria but I dove the Cane Bay wall in St Croix with Cane Bay Diving a couple of times and was very happy with them both times.

I've had good experiences with http://www.uniquesportsaruba.com/ in Aruba. I've used them both for cruise dives as well as stays on the island. They not the sort of "six-pack" operation that many seem to prefer but there also not a cattle boat by any means. Always had a good time with them and I've probably got at least a dozen dives logged with them. In Curacao, I've used http://www.thedivebus.com/ based on many recommendations here and have been happy with them both times I've used them.

We did this tour the last time we were in Antigua a few years ago and loved it. At the time, it was one of most talked about and highly rated tours here on CC. I haven't seen much discussion about it recently. Is it still a good excursion? We're thinking about doing it again and would love to hear any current reviews.

Another vote for disappointed with Cagney's. I was on this sailing as well and it was the most disappointing meal of the week. Sides came out almost ten minutes after our steaks (and were tiny), no one interested in taking a drink order and the creme brulee was awful. Overall, not impressed and I've always enjoyed Cagney's on other ships.

Don't worry about noise around from elevators & stairs, and no serious vibrations - 9288. Assembly Station inside Manhattan MDRk

Just to give a slight counter point to this... We were on this same sailing - all the way in the back on deck 12 (12310) and we did feel a fair amount of vibration over the course of the week. The sea conditions definitely factor in - it was pretty noticeable on Sunday night, not so much once we got further south. It's most prevalent when the ship is maneuvering, turning, etc. It never bothered us but if it's an issue for you, you should keep this in mind.

I've been on both of those ships multiple times. My preference would be Adventure. Adventure is a much bigger ship. Bigger theater = bigger / better shows. I also love the Royal Promenade and the pool deck. Main dining room is beautiful - three decks high. Great bars, great specialty restaurants. We enjoyed the Dawn as well but would choose Adventure over it every time.

thanks for the quick replies. is there any way to register for notifications for stuff like this?

I want to do the fall 2018 repo cruise of the Serenade from Boston to wherever she goes that year. Ideally, I'd like to book as soon as it's available so I can have the best choice of cabins. It's not yet available to book. When should I expect this to be available typically?

Stay away from Oasis, they were the worst and the rudest operation we ever have experienced, and we have dived in many, many places. To top it off, about 10 days after our dives their ineptitude and poor judgement resulted in the death of a Discover Scuba student. Search it here, there is a lot of information about that incident.

No disrespect to Laurie but I have another opinion to offer based on recent experience. I dove with Oasis through Carnival last week and was quite happy with them. They were significantly cheaper than the "on our own" options I looked into; this is unusual for a cruise line provided excursion in my experience. They were very pleasant and gave a good safety / dive briefing. There rental equipment was all in working order. Finally, they let us dive our tanks / computers rather than the typical everyone out when the first air hog runs out. I got two dives with max depths around 80 fsw and total bottom times around 45-50 minutes on each dive. They had a nice stable boat with multiple down lines for your safety stop.. On our trip we had a total of 8 divers plus the boat captain and a DM. The DM guided the dive but mostly let the buddy teams do their own thing.

I would use them again if I went back.

We're planning to do the helicoptor tour and we're wondering if there's a better time of day to do it? Is the light better for photography earlier in the day or at high noon for instance. Is there anyone who has done this who has any thoughts?

Carmel has a pricing guide on their webpage, punch in your particulars and chose your ride and they give you a price.

Thank you! That was very helpful.

Is there anyone in the NY area who might be able to give me some idea of the cost for this trip? I have friends in Rye where I might be able to park if it makes sense. There will be five of us with 8 days worth of luggage so we'd need a big car / limo for it to work.

We did one a couple years ago in Roatan. We hired a company called Victor Boden Tours. There were 4 of us and we told him what we wanted to do and he brought us all over the island in our own van. The zip line was amazing. They had a couple different ones depending on how adventurous you wanted to be. We did the longest one and at the top you could see the ocean above the forest. The zip line was amazing, around 10 or 12 different lines. The guides were great too and made sure everyone was safe.

I second this recommendation. Skip the carnival excursion and go with Victor.

So in general, would most consider the dive experience better in Curacao than Aruba?

I've dived in both places multiple times and can say unequivocally that Curacao is better. Aruba is good, and I would dive it again, but Curacao is better. Also, discover scuba courses are easier to do as shore dives (IMO) and there are few if any shore dives in Aruba.

Trying again since no one responded the first time. Anyone?