3412mom

On 3/23/2023 at 12:14 AM, Amberle3 said:

- We did opt for the 2-for-1 airfare because it's literally half the price of booking on our own, and since the cruise leaves from Portugal that's a pretty significant difference. We will be putting in for a 2 day (on each end) air deviation because a) there's no way I'm flying in the day the cruise is supposed to leave and b) we'd like some time to explore the city after the cruise.

How do you get the 2 day deviation?  That is what has me leery of doing the NCL flights--No way am I flying in the day of the cruise!  I did not know it was an option to ask for different days.  TIA for any help you can provide

Search for "wine diaper" or "jet bag".  I think some are sold on Amazon. We have used these several times when traveling to places that do not offer our preferred wines.  I put the bottles in these and also bury them in clothes. I am planning to do the same when we fly for our upcoming cruise in May.

Just off the Sky yesterday.  Supposed to be a Cuban cruise, but of course that was not to be....so we stopped in Nassau, Freeport, and GSC instead.  I was worried since I have read on some of these forums that the shorter cruises that included "open bar" for everyone (and not as part of a package deal) was just a glorified "booze cruise".  We did not find it to be that way at all (and I just called my sister to see if she noticed something that I didn't but just didn't mention it).  This is my second NCL cruise--My family did Dawn to Bermuda (out of Boston) about 4 years ago, and have cruised on RCL, Carnival, and Disney as well.    At no time did we hear the cruise staff "pushing" drinks. I found this cruise much more fun in terms of activities (compared to Dawn) even though it is a smaller ship.  The trivia and other games were much more interesting than my previous NCL cruise, and more people seemed to be participating and having a good time.  In general,  the fellow passengers on this cruise were friendlier and more fun overall (and not in a "drunk" way--I am in my 40s and my liver can no longer handle too much "drunk fun").  I DO think it is likely the luck of the draw, but that "luck" probably has a small bit to do with timing, and maybe even port.  BUT--the "general idea" that this short "booze cruise" out of South Florida would be some type of party boat/drunk fest was certainly not my experience.  I enjoyed it MUCH more that I thought I would, even to the point that I would repeat it......which is saying something, because I really like to try new ships or ports.

As to the Original Post--

1)serving alcohol in the thermal suites seems counter to the "point" of thermal suites and is really just kind of gross, and probably not very healthy as consuming alcohol (even moderate amounts) while purposely sweating  (losing fluid) seems like it would be extremely dehydrating

**I think there is less enforcement of policy by some staff and that if passengers insist, I could see staff "giving in", and I have seen this in all areas of travel business, not just cruises.  Such a shame, IMO--if people would just follow the "rules"-both passengers and staff, things would be smoother

2) Sorry you found the cruise line to be pushing booze.....that seems to be a bad business model when drinks are "free"  (unless it was maybe during activities that more alcohol could loosen purse strings--like an Art Auction)  I really hope that was more of an isolated event and not company policy.

Just decided to try again this morning before heading out. I allowed me to print our edocs. Hope you are able to also! Just a little stress before vacation......makes look forward to next Friday even more.:)

We are on the June 5th Dawn to Bermuda cruise also. A few days ago, it said online check in was 100% complete, and I could have printed edocs. Unfortunately I did not do it yet, because I am usually on my laptop that is not hooked up with the printer. I was planning to print and organize everything this weekend, so I am glad to see your post to know that I am not the only one that is having trouble. I too did not see anything about arrival times when I first checked us in online ( a while back), and this time it said that we did not have to choose a time since we are in a suite. So that does not seem to be the problem. When I go to the online check in section is appears that we are all check in in every section---so I can not figure it out.

Hope it is some weird glitch that will be fixed tomorrow! Good luck to you also in getting this situation resolved. I guess I will try to contact NCL tomorrow, and see if they make me call my TA

:confused:

Never tried chocolate wine before, but now I need to!:)

Glad we will be able to get some dessert wines onboard. We may bring our own port and still try what they have available. With the ubp, the up charge will beat any price we would get at a restaurant at home and I plan to try lots of new things!

Thanks to all of you for your answers to my question. I really appreciate your help.

I'm inclined to believe that the government really doesn't want to sell the ticket books to cruise passengers because they reduce the cost of transportation so much while at the same time it's the cruise passengers that put a great strain on transportation services. They'd prefer that ticket books be so hard to get that mostly residents will buy them.

I am inclined to agree with you, and really (even though I will be one of those tourists/cruise ship passengers) can not really blame the government for wanting to make more revenue from those of us that are visiting. I am sure that the thousands of people descending on your island, while likely boosting the economy, also put a huge burden on the transportation system that many residents rely on.

In our case, it will likely work. Not sure if we will be heading into Hamilton to purchase the ticket books. But it is good information to have if we decide it is worth our time to seek them out. As we have not yet completely decided what we will do during our roughly 63 hours in Bermuda, I am not sure if it will be worth the effort. I am completely dreading the crowds, and am considering not even going to Horseshoe Bay because of the reported crowds. :eek: Maybe we will get up early one day and try to head out that way before the crowds get too bad......but with a teen and pre-teen, that may not happen!

Again, thanks for the information and insight! CCers rock!:)

Ok, If I am understanding correctly, the booklet of 15 buss/ferry tickets are not usually for sale at the Dockyard/Kings Wharf/cruise ship area.

So my question is......where exactly can these be purchased? Is there only one place or several? (I have read you can purchase them in Hamilton, but I am not certain where in Hamilton)

Sorry if this is a stupid question and/or has been answered many times, and I missed it. I am a first time visitor to Bermuda and trying to figure all of this out so that I am able to get us where we want to go.

Thanks in advance for any information provided.

Yes, it is on its way to you now! Have a fabulous trip! :)

If you have a chance, and do not mind, I would really like to see your research. We leave for Bermuda on the Dawn in a little over two weeks and our schedule has been (and will continue to be) so crazy that I have been unable to do my usual (over) planning. Thanks so much! my email is

rondellmerritt@gmail.com

Thanks for posting this review. We will be on the Dawn in an SJ in early June. First time on NCL. I am looking forward to reading your impressions, and really appreciate the time you took to write this. Thanks again!:)

Oh, one last thing. Since there's been a lot of discussion about you "can" possibly take sea glass from the beach in St George, but you "can't" take it from the one by the dockyard, can someone tell me if you get back on the ship with sea glass...how the heck do they know where you took it from? Seriously? I don't get it. :confused:

We go to Bermuda on the Dawn in early June. I was wondering the same thing. I just want to see the sea glass, not necessarily take some home, but I too was wondering how they would know where you got it--especially if you only had a piece or two.

Thank you so much for your detailed review. It was wonderful and so helpful! We will be on the Dawn in early June for our first NCL cruise. We are not local (and this will be our first trip to Boston as well) but I have always wanted to go to Bermuda and this trip fit in our "window" for travel this summer.

My boys are 11 and 13, so it was good to see that your daughter had a good time. I have a question about the T-Rex pool.....Is there a posted age limit? Just wondering if my 11 year old will get to go down the slide. I know it is not as exciting as the ones we had on our last Carnival cruise, but he may want to give it a try. So I was wondering if you saw anything posted about ages. (He is only 11, but is big for his age and already has braces, so he may get some strange looks!)

Thanks again for the wonderful review--it gave me lots of ideas.

Glad you guys had such a great time on your first cruise!