WisRiver

Two years ago we were on the Finnmarken from Kirkenses to Bergen. (We drove from Sweden to Kirkenses). The cabins are small, and if you look at room pictures, you will see that the beds are against the side walls and the window at the end of the room. The viewing is great, but you want to see from both sides of the ship. I seem to remember the loading and unloading was from the port side (left side as you face forward). We spent almost no time in our cabin, other than sleeping. We loved the observation lounge. Our heads were constantly swiveling on words (look at that!!!). We booked our cabin about 6 months before our late May departure.

We were on the April, 2015 transatlantic on the Constellation. We spent the night before the cruise at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street. They offer free shuttle from the airport. There is shopping across the street including a Winn-Dixie (for soft drinks, mixers and snacks). There is a wine store next to Winn Dixie, plus they sell wine in the grocery store. There are several places to eat, but since our plane arrived three hours late, we had pizza delivered to our room. On departure day we took a cab rather than booking a paid shuttle. We checked out at 12:00 Noon, had a small lunch, did our shopping and left for the ship at about 1:30 PM. No lines for checkin, the rooms were ready so we could drop our carry ons in our room, and have a second lunch on board.

Our most recent experience with HAL was on the Prinsendam in October, 2014 in the Black Sea. As in previous HAL cruises, the MDR appetizers were offered in Lido. If HAL would offer the onion soup in the Lido, I would be a happy traveler.

We were on the Prinsendam in October, 2014 for the Black Sea Cruise and on the Celebrity Constellation in April, 2015 for a transatlantic. We are three star HAL and this was our first time on Celebrity.

 

The Prinsendam is a much smaller ship than the Constellation. We did not notice the age difference. We had a 9th deck veranda cabin and never noticed any noise or vibration. We never had a problem with smokers on the other verandas. All things being equal, I would chose the Prinsendam. We liked having a real library with a comfortable place to sit. The Constellation library is terrible. They have no librarian, and a meager selection of books. Half of the library is given over to the Apple computer people (which we did like). The computer people are Apple/Mac specialists on the Constellation unlike the HAL ships which have Microsoft/Windows.

 

The MDR menus are about the same as are the Lido buffet for breakfast and lunch. The buffet dinners on the Prinsendam are better because they serve the MDR menu except for lobster nights. The Constellation has a nice big spa area with large warm pool.

We are not cruisers but winter near Progreso. Last February we stopped in on a late afternoon. The drinks were good (we had a gin and tonic and bloody caesar), and the guacamole was slightly above average. Prices were high for Progreso (about $8 US), but I cannot judge prices for a cruise ship person. You will be across the street from the beach. The pool is small, and seems to be best for cooling off. When we were there a couple of small children were the only ones using the pool. My personal preference continues to be Flamingos. You can sit on the beach under their shade or east inside. Good drinks and excellent ceviche.

ScarlettMLB:

 

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on 17th Street in FLL. We walked to the Winn Dixie (5-10 minutes), made our purchases, walked back. We took a cab to the cruise ship. The drinks fit in a big canvas zippered tote bag which we checked with our other luggage.

We were on the April, 2015 TA on the Constellation. We do not drink specialty coffees or bottled waters. We sometimes have a bottle of wine with dinner. My wife does drink two or three 12 oz. cans of Coke Zero every day.

 

Before we left Fort Lauderdale we stopped at Winn Dixie and purchased two six packs of 16 oz. Coke Zero, two bottles of wine, and several bags of chips, peanuts, some limes, and a six pack of tonic water. When we got on board I bought an in room bar set up of a bottle of gin. Total cost for the gin $86 and included some mixers and mixed nuts. The Coke Zero took us to Funchal where we bought another six pack, plus one more in Alicante. Our onboard beverage purchases totaled $360. No special beverage packages other than the regular packages were offered. We choose not to buy a beverage package, and thought we made the right decision for our drinking pattern.

The lighthouse is across the street from where the shuttle bus from the ship lets you off. The lighthouse is right in the middle of the downtown area about 200 meters from the edge of the ocean. The Spanish word for lighthouse is El Faro. I understand that the lighthouse was built at the edge of water. However, the city of Progreso has built out so that the lighthouse is not on the Gulf anymore. I do not believe that you can walk to the top of the lighthouse. Lots of fun things to do in Progreso beyond the bus ride. Walk to the beach, hang out for while, get a massage, swim, eat and drink.

There are three separate types of stationary bikes. The recumbent and upright bikes have pedals and are not compatible with clip on bike shoes. The third type of bike are for spinning class, and you can wear your bike shoes while spinning. The spinning classes are usually one hour per day and cost about $12 for a one hour session.

In Progreso our favorite restaurant on the beach is Flamingos, about 4 blocks east of the pier. They have good fresh seasonal seafood including excellent ceviche. I suspect their shrimp may be frozen and not fresh caught, but i think few local places serve fresh local caught shrimp. In our experience the really good seafood restaurants in Progreso are not within walking distance. We also like Eladios, which is close to the pier. We winter near Progreso, and often eat on the beach when the cruise ships are not in.

If you take the free shuttle bus from where your ship docks, you will disembark about 3 blocks from the beach. You will see the beach on the right as you get close to shore (the pier is over 4 miles long and you must take the shuttle bus). While the beach is free, there is little shade. The beach side restaurants offer shade and bathrooms to their customers. If you walk east, away from the pier, the crowds will thin. Our personal favorite is Flamingos, about 4 blocks east of the pier. Good food, good drinks, reasonable prices, and clean bathrooms.

We used some of our OBC to order the room bar set up on the April, 2015 transatlantic crossing on the Constellation. We like a tall evening gin and tonic while getting ready for dinner. Before we boarded in Fort Lauderdale when went to Winn Dixie near our hotel and bought bottles of tonic water, coke zero (not to mix with gin), cans of mixed nuts and 8 limes. The room bar set up came with a liter of gin, 6 cans of tonic and a box of snacks. We ordered them when we were in our cabin before muster drill, and they were delivered before 5 PM. The mixers and limes held out to Funchal.

We are 3* Holland America and did our first Celebrity Cruise in April, 2015. Our Celebrity Cruise was a Transatlantic (west to east) and we have done two Transatlantics on HAL (east to west) The cruise lines are comparable. Age mix of the passengers seem about the same. Lots of people in the 50+ age group, not many younger passengers. Each are filled with loyalists. The only major difference in the food was the dinner buffet in the Lido. HAL tended to serve the MDR menu buffet style, while Celebrity's was a different menu. We did not like the Celebrity dinner buffet. There were lots of little differences, but nothing that would be a game changer. Choice of itinerary would the major factor in choosing a cruise line. Our 2016 cruise will be on the Hurtigruten Fram to Antarctica because neither Celebrity or HAL ships allow you off their ship in Antarctica.

We will be on the Fram's Antarctica trip later this year. I understand that the ship's electrical system is 220 volts. Are the plugs the two round prongs like those used in France and Sweden? My wife has a 220 volt hair dryer she purchased in Sweden. Should she bring it or does the Fram have a hair dryer in the cabin?

 

Tack

If you go to Google Maps, you can see the Google street view of the exterior of the Uxmal Visitors center.

 

Since we winter in the the Yucatan, we have never done a tour to Uxmal. Since it is such a great place, usually visit every year or so. We were last there in January, 2015. The Google street view is what we saw. The vendors are outside the visitor center to the left of the entrance. There is also a small snack bar which sells drinks and some snacks. There is a sit down restaurant inside the visitor center. We have always enjoyed eating there. This year we had lunch at the buffet in the hotel across the street. It was not great food, but it offered a wide variety, and let our guests choose different foods.

If you check on Trip Advisor on the Yucatan Forum, you will find several positive reviews for Lawson's tours. Use TA's search feature. I think there are several positive reviews on CC from earlier this year. Again try using the "Search Cruise Critic" box at the top of this page.

We were in Cabin 6029 (port side) on the Constellation's April transatlantic. The balcony, as advertised is huge. There is no lounge chair, just two chairs and a side table. We wanted the port side because we wanted to avoid the direct sun on our eastward voyage. We never noticed any cigarette smoke from the smoking area since it was below and slightly aft of our cabin. We used the balcony while we sailing, and the breeze carried any smoke away. We liked this cabin.

We are 3* on HAL and sailed on Celebrity for the first time in April on a Florida/Italy repositioning cruise. We were on the 2000 passenger Constellation in April, and in October, 2014 were on the Prinsendam on a Black Sea cruise. We have also done three repositioning cruises on HAL. I prefer HAL. We do not use the MDR very often. The Lido on HAL serves pretty much the same dinner menu as the MDR, while on the Celebrity the Lido was constantly disappointing. The MDR menus on both ships were about the same. We did not eat in any of the premium restaurants on our last HAL trip or the Celebrity.

 

We do not buy any drinks packages. I like to buy a bottle of liquor for our cabin. The Celebrity package was twice the HAL

 

Finally, I like the library on HAL. Since we like to do repositioning cruises we have lots of sea days. The Celebrity library is a joke. While I bring a Kindle loaded with things to read, I always find something interesting to read. Plus the library on HAL ships is close to the Explorations Cafe, so it is easy to get something to drink.

 

Unless the itinerary is exceptional, I would choose HAL.

This is the only link that works for me for the Fram blog.

 

http://mvfram.blogspot.co.uk

 

We will be on the Fram in February in the Antarctic.

We were on the Constellation transatlantic in April, 2015. My wife and I had select dining. We met two people (traveling as singles) who had fixed dining. Both had full tables. We ate dinner together in the MDR 3 or 4 times. I would have go down to dining room at 5:00 PM and make arrangements for the four of us to have a table. I could not do it on the phone earlier, and I had to make the reservation. One of the our new friends ate alone, so there was no problem with table mates. The other person did not mind leaving an empty seat at an eight top. Select and fixed diners can be mixed, but you have to ask.

Can you tell us what the Mi Casa es Su Casa excursion entails? Some of us who do not cruise with Carnival but live part time near Progreso may have ideas.

On our trips to Norway and Sweden (including a Hurtigruten cruise) we shop in local stores. In Hammerfest, Norway my wife purchased some nice small paintings by local artists in a gallery. In doing some snack shopping at a COOP Grocery I found some local candies for grandchildren. I also found a liquor store in Trondheim where I could buy "sampler packs" of schnapps and aquavit. They were great gifts for adult friends, but you have to remember they go in checked luggage for the flight home.

We did a Med cruise on MSC several years ago before starting a HAL repositioning cruise back to the US. We enjoyed MSC. I like the dining room seating times, first seating at 7 PM and second at 9:30 PM. Very European. Our waiter said that when the ship had a predominately American passenger mix, first seating was at 5:30 PM. We are 3* Mariners, and it would be nice if MSC would provide the same perks (such as they are).

We did a transatlantic cruise in April, 2015 ending in Civitacecchia. We rented an apartment near Piazza Narvona. We made arrangements for shared transfer through Civitaccehia Transfer. The cost was 69€ for the two of us. [url]http://www.civitavecchiacabservice.com[/url]
The apartment company wanted a one hour window for our arrival. The cab company said if we were picked up at 9:30, we would arrive at 11:30 AM. They were waiting for us at 9:30 when we disembarked. This gave us time to have breakfast, finish packing, disembark, find our baggage and find the cab. We had an eight person Mercedes van that we shared with three other couples. We were the last couple to be dropped, and we arrived at 11:25 AM to find our contact person letting herself in to the building.

We were on the Constellation repositioning cruise in April, 2015. We are 3* HAL Mariners and the repositioning was our first Celebrity cruise. On HAL ships we usually eat in the Lido buffet at dinner because they serve almost the same menu as the MDR. This was not the case for the Constellation. The dinner buffet on the Constellation was consistently disappointing, so we wound up eating in the MDR (we had anytime dining). On formal nights my wife would wear a nice top with dark skirt, while I wore my blazer and tie. There were people who were dressed to the "nines", but we did not feel out of place.