JessyCruises

It decreases the # of turnover days which can be annoying especially if they fall on a work day and you need wifi first thing in the AM or have a conference call scheduled

My husband and I both work onboard frequently. We are in our late 40s and still working full time. We certainly don't do as many nights as the guy in the article - last year was 110 nights, this year will probably be 125 and 2021 we had 46 beginning 8/22/22. I think that is a lot for two unretired people and we can only do that because we can work onboard. I have been a remote worker for over 10 years. My husband is in sales and we was on the road pre-covid but lost his job in spring 2020 because of covid. The new job he started in Aug 2020 and now he is also remote. We worked onboard before covid, but once we started sailing again at the end of August 2020, we immediately realized the potential of us both being able to work onboard if we wanted to take longer cruise vacations. Because of the cost of travel from where we live, we now like to take cruises 3 weeks at a time, sometimes 4 so most of our cruises are B3Bs. If we are going to a port we love or have never been to before, we will take a vacation day, or if we are travelling with friends or family we take vacation days as well. Otherwise, we both work Mon-Fri 8:00-4:30 EST from onboard. We either work in the cabin or some other place that is quiet. If I do not have calls scheduled, I have been known to work from one of the big beds in solarium, especially then it is quiet on a port day. Then, as soon as 4:30 hits, we get ready and are out the cabin door ready to explore the ship and enjoy the venues. Our bosses do not care where we are as long as we can both do our jobs exactly the same as we can at home. We have a condo at home (it's actually across the street from the cruise terminal in Saint John NB Canada) so there is minimal upkeep. Our son still lives with us so he takes care of the dog and the condo while we are away. It is great because he gets his privacy and has it own place 1/3 of the year.

You are welcome!

When we were on the Explorer in June, they did not have anything on tap that I could see but had bottles of Bulmers which we really liked. I think it was 500ml

Yes you can. This is the link to New Brunswick's provincial liquor store which is the main way to buy booze on any kind in New Brunswick. Mostly apple but lots of others too. My favourite is Dunham's Run Strawberry. Delicious! https://www.anbl.com/products-search?qs=cider

While I was finishing off my live thread, I remembered we actually did try to take a bus on the way back after we could not get a cab right at Tronchetto. We walked up the hill and across the street to the bus stop, but when the bus actually stopped, there was no way to buy a ticket on the bus.

Our flight back to Canada was uneventful. The Venice airport is quite nice. I grabbed a couple spice packets to cook with when we got home. I have not tried them yet. Our problems started when we were in the air. Our flight home from Toronto was cancelled because of scheduling conflicts and we found out when we arrived home. We could not get home to the following day. Air Canada did say they would put us up in a hotel, but the only ones with vouchers that would not require us to pay and get reimbursed were 45 minutes a way. We were just too exhausted and decided to pay and seek reimbursement later. We were told them would cover $300 CAD + tax. They also said we could try to put in a claim for the delayed flight, but there were no guarantees. We wanted to collect our bags so we could get cleaned up and put on clean clothes - at this point we had been on the go for a very long time. We ended up having to wait more than an hour for our bags. It was crazy. The flight they rebooked us on left pretty early in the AM. We were supposed to get home around midnight and ended up landing at home just before noon. I am not sure I mentioned it above but Paul's work had given everyone Tiles to use for luggage tracking and I also have Apple AirTags. I knew before we even left Toronto that my bag was not on the plane. I did not get it until a few days after we got home which sucked. When it finally arrived, the wheels on this bag were broken. Two suitcases down the toilet on this vacay! When we finally got home, I looked at the Air Canada schedule for the last week or so and almost every evening this same flight had been canceled and it was all due to scheduling. It also continued for a few days after we got home. The law in Canada says that passengers that have flights delayed or cancelled as a result of something that is in the airlines control and are delayed for 9+ hours are due $1000 per person, which is pretty generous but can be difficult to get. I submitted the claims for the hotel, the bag and the delayed flights. The bag decision came pretty quickly. Air Canada sent me an etransfer to cover the bag. For the hotel, it took quite a while time. At first, they only sent me the pre-tax amount. I replied and politely said what the agent had told me at the service desk and they sent the rest of the money. The delayed flight claim was another story. It took a long time to hear back from them. Paul heard about his claim first. They said he was due $876 she sent him an e-transfer. He replied and said that amount was not right and has still not heard back. A few days later, I got a response that I was due $867 and was sent an e-transfer. Not sure why the amounts were different and neither were right. I replied and said it was not correct, however I did get a reply and they sent me the other $133. Paul has emailed a few times to get an update on the rest of his $ but has still heard nothing. I will probably just have to call or let it go. Sorry about all of the details about credits, etc, but I think it is important that airline passengers know their rights when it comes to issues with airlines. I can just imagine the number of people who never both to put in claims for some of this stuff. https://otc-cta.gc.ca/eng/publication/flight-delays-and-cancellations-a-guide

On disembarkation day, I think we were on the 1st set of shuttles heading back to Venice. We walked right off the ship at about 8AM. We had to collect our bags from the "terminal" which was just a big white tent. As soon as we exited the tent there was a long row of shuttles waiting for us. We gave the driver our bags and as soon as the bus was full, we were able to leave. The drive back was faster because there was less traffic heading toward Venice. We stopped at the same rest stop we went to on the way down. We had originally planned to take a taxi back to the hotel once we got to Tronchetto, but when we got there, there was no taxis. We asked someone who worked there if there were any available and they said no, we would have to take a people mover to the regular transportation hub or walk to there or a bus stop. We decided just to walk to the bus stop, broken luggage and all. It was a slog, but we got there. Unfortunately when the city bus arrived, we were not able to just pay to get on and could not take the bus. Some other cruisers who were there at the same time just hopped in the back door and did not pay. We chose not to do that. We then were just about to start walking to the Piazzale Roma so we could get a taxi when one happened to drive by. Paul flagged it down. Luckily the driver spoke English and said they do not normally accept rides like this but he would make an exception as he was headed by our hotel anyway. It ended up being 20 Euros. When we got to the hotel, my travel pouch with our Nexus cards and all of our other stuff was there in the safe. Thank you Hilton Garden Inn for having someone run out to rescue it from the bus stop last week!. Our room was also ready, which was great. We decided we were too tired after a long few weeks and just wanted to chill at the hotel for the afternoon and the pool area looked very inviting. We changed and headed there and chilled out there for a few hours. For dinner, we decided to use Uber Eats like we did when we stayed here the 1st night. Their Uber Eats does not actually use Uber drivers, it is essentially just a food ordering system. The restaurants look after their own deliveries. The restaurant we ordered from is called Pizzeria ERAORA. We got exactly the same order we got last time because it was so delicious. I got a Spaghetti all Carbonara and a Bruschetta but this time it was con Prosciutto e Funghi (Bruschetta with prosciutto and mushroom) and Paul got the same pizza diavola which was a pizza with spicey pepperoni and salami. Delicious!!

We did not do much on the last day of the cruise which was a sea day. We hung out in the solarium for most of the day. I am a huge Game of Thrones/House of Dragons fan so when I saw the drink of the day was a Negroni Sbagliato, I had to try one. Of course I ordered it with Prosecco. Apparently, I am not very sophisticated and it must be an acquired taste, or the bartender did not make it right, because it was just about the grossest drink I have ever had. I tried two sips and made hubby swap me for his cider. He took one sip and that was all he could do. 🤣 If you don't know, this drink went viral because of this clip.

Day 7 was Argostoli Greece. Luckily it was another dock vs tender. Again, we decided just to go on a nice walk and stroll through the town. Upon docking, we could see what looked like a bridge or dam crossing the bay so we headed there. Turns out it is called the De Bosset Bridge and is the longest stone bridge crossing the ocean. There were lots of turtles all around the bridge which were cool. Right across the street from the bridge is this little church called Ekklisia Panagia. it does not look like much from the outside, but the inside is incredible. I am a "recovering Catholic" but love visiting churches for the history, art & architecture. WOW!!! And I had to take these because they were pretty 🙂

We wanted to do the bus because we had purchased the 24 bus pass and figured we would take advantage of it to its fullest extent.

The shuttle was not free, it was 20 Euros per room. I booked it by emailing the hotel.

Yes they were able to but could not board again until they started regular boarding.

Well guys, I am nothing if not consistent. I always start off these lives with the best intentions, but something always happens to distract me and I never end up finishing it live. Thanks to those who expressed concern. We are both fine and enjoyed the end of the cruise. Paul did end up with what we think was noro but laid low for a day or so and was right as rain. I know I am a month & a half late getting back to this but I have been procrastinating! I keep intending to finish and then something gets in the way. I actually got further along than I thought I had - I just missed Argostoli, the night in Venice after the cruise, and the hellscape that was the Air Canada debacle of 2023 (more on that later). I am going to go through and answer any questions I missed and post the rest of my photos.

These are all my sailings coming up. It is all over the place. I have never been but I just looked up the prices. If anyone is on the Oct 15 Wonder sailing, I would not pay to book it. I am pretty sure everyone that is booked through the casino on the Signature offer is getting in for an event so it will be bonkers busy. Oasis Sept 3, 2023 - $121.99 Oasis Sept 10, 2023 - $83.99 Oasis Sept 17, 2023 - $121.99 Wonder Oct 15, 2023 - $131.99 Wonder Oct 22, 2023 - $121.99 Allure Oct 30, 2023 - $93.99 Anthem Dec 3, 2023 - $93.99 Anthem Dec 10, 2023 - $93.99 Anthem March 17, 2024 - $112.99

For the shuttle, we emailed the hotel directly - the email is info@hgivenice.com. It was $20 Euros a room. I would say it could seat 6-7 people. For the bus, it really depends on how busy it is. We had no problem getting on the bus in front of the hotel - we were going pretty early on a Sunday. We rolled the cabins in the back door and just stood back there. We did not end up taking the bus back. We ended up being able to flag down a cab on the way toward the bus stop, even though the driver said he was not really supposed to do that. One of the wheels on one of the big bags was busted and it was just too difficult to manoeuvre. There is definitely not enough space on the bus for that many people and luggage and regular users. I would recommend emailing the hotel - maybe they can set something up for you so they take a few trips with your party. If not I am sure they can recommend a shuttle company for you.

I think I kind of went silent towards the end of the review and did not really tie it up with a bow. The hotel in Mestre we stayed at was great. If I were to do it again though, I would probably take the shuttle from the airport as getting the bags to the bus at Tronchetto was a bit of a slog from the bus stop and it was difficult to get a taxi not the way back.

In Atlantic Canada, most people consider "cider" to be the non-alcoholic one that is seasonal and available around fall/Xmas. It is really a spiced apple cider with cinnamon, nutmeg and maybe some other spices. It is usually sold in the refrigerated produce section. It is normally served warm. Alcoholic cider is starting to be come very popular here, but the makers and liquor stores don't really label them "hard cider", it is still just "cider".

There is a Avis/Budget on Water Street just down the street from the Marco Polo/Diamond Jubilee Terminals - maybe a 2 minute walk. There is also an Enterprise Rental Car that is not very far either - about 25 or 30 minutes. If you are docking at Long Wharf, they would just be a bit longer of a walk

They are brutal!! Last year or the year before, hubby grabbed some chaises at the beach in front on the buffet while I went to grab some towels. On the walk from the towel station , I decided to stop at the buffet to grab a little snack to take over to the chairs. I forget what it was exactly but I know there were fries involved. I STUPIDLY forgot to cover the plate with another one for walk back. As soon as I stepped foot out of the buffet area and onto the sandy area, I was swarmed by gulls. There had to be at least 15 of them. I screamed and threw my hands in the air to cover my head. Needless to say, my towels, beach bag, phone and food went flying. I must have looked like a raving lunatic

Sorry I can't answer that as I do not eat there.

Hubby and I were wondering how the $25 worked. We assumed it was $25 OBC that they applied to the account, but it sounds like it is an actual "coupon" that is on your sea pass. Good to know! I can already envision what I am going to order at Playmakers and/or Izumi 🙂

Those chicken sandwiches at the Snack Shack are delicious!!

I am not quite a P yet, but I think you will also each get $25 to use toward speciality dining. If that is not accurate, please let me know.

If he cannot go, the only time you would have a problem is if you were booked on a casino offer that is in his name. If he does not sail, they may rescind the offer and make the rest of you pay the regular fare.