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aaerobear

By aaerobear,
in LGBTQIA+ Roll Calls

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BEAV

BEAV

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Marksocal & Ahhh,

 

Are you guys still sailing out on the Spirit this Sunday? Ahhh...did you find someone to share your cabin?

 

Tedson,

 

Are you and Ralph back from the Caribbean? Anxious to hear about your cruise!

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Tedson

Tedson

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Tedson,

 

Are you and Ralph back from the Caribbean? Anxious to hear about your cruise!

 

Yes, we've been back since Monday. I decided to try staying away from Cruise Critic in the hopes of curing my cruising addiction, but my need for a "Hyacinth fix" drew me back to my favorite thread :D

 

All in all, we enjoyed the cruise but can't say it was one of our favorites. We found Mariner to be too large for our tastes, and it appeared to be more geared towards families. The ship was overrun with teens who, even with all the activities offered, apparently got bored and took to running down the hallways in packs. One night, a group of them came around a corner and literally knocked Ralph to the ground, turned around and laughed at him and then kept going. I wasn't there but fortunately another passenger came along and helped him to his feet. We reported the incident but all they did was give us a copy of the policy regarding undesirable behavior. The seas were a bit choppy all week and it rained several of the days. Food was average for what we've come to expect from RCI, though the meal in Portofino's was excellent.

 

Will we cruise with RCI again? Yes, but not on another Voyager Class ship. I shuddder to think what Freedom Of The Seas will be like. We're booked on Serenade next October, Honolulu to Ensenada, and I'm sure we'll enjoy that much more as we really liked sister ship Brilliance with all its glass.

 

Have fun on NCL; a couple of friends are doing the 2 night cruise to nowhere after it returns from your 5-nighter.

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BEAV

BEAV

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Thanks for the report, Ted. In many ways, your experience matched ours from a cruise on Navigator OTS in 2003. Bigger is not always better (ships we're talking here...ships :D ). So sorry about the incident w/Ralph. I'm surprised to hear there were so many teens aboard. I always thought early Fall (Sept-Oct) was about the best time to cruise with the least amount of kids aboard thinking parents wouldn't take them out of school so soon into the new year. But I guess with year round schooling these days, it's a crap shoot.

 

And I agree with you, the Radiance class ships are more suited to our style of cruising than their big sisters!

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Ahhh

Ahhh

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Hey Beav

 

Yes, my friend Richard and I will be on the Spirit Sunday :D in a balcony cabin on deck 11. We are both looking forward to it emensely! I unfortunately have not found a cabin mate for January :( and it looks like I my have to give up my bargain cabin :eek: ...

 

David

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bepsf

bepsf

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Now THAT'S the way a cruiseline SHOULD be run! :D

 

Ted--

Have you thought of joining us on the Noordam Inaugural in February?

There's gonna be quite a crew of us boys on there - and I'm organizing some of my fabulous parties! ;)

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bepsf

bepsf

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Brian,

 

What is the itin for the Noordam in Feb? Just curious, we may need another getaway after the holiday cruise with Princess to Rio.

 

Ed/Jeff

 

0 New York, New York 4:45 pm 1 Cruising The Atlantic Ocean 2 At Sea 3 Grand Turk, Turks & Caicos Islands 7:00 am 2:00 pm 4 Road Town, Tortola Noon Midnight 5 Philipsburg, St. Maarten 7:00 am 6:00 pm 6 St. Thomas, U.S. V.I. 7:00 am 6:00 pm 7 San Juan, Puerto Rico 7:00 am 1:00 pm 8 At Sea 9 Cruising The Atlantic Ocean 10 New York, New York 8:00 am

We're planning to arrive in NYC on the 19th or 20th for the pre-cruise festivities and Bon Voyage get-togethers.

Check out the Roll Call on the HAL Roll-Call boards - we have quite a festive group!

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Tedson

Tedson

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Ted--

Have you thought of joining us on the Noordam Inaugural in February?

There's gonna be quite a crew of us boys on there - and I'm organizing some of my fabulous parties! ;)

 

Sounds like fun, Brian, but I'm saving up for the Hawaii cruise on Serenade next October. How's the availability?

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Tedson

Tedson

Posted
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Serendade?

Another Kid-Friendly RCCL ship?

Come to HAL, Ted - Come to HAL....

;)

I mentioned your invite to Ralph last night, and he started "Well, we COULD stay at my sister's on Long Island...and you know, Jet Blue has these great fares to New York..."

 

Oh Gawd, why did I mention it!?

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BEAV

BEAV

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Tedson,

 

I suspect Serenade to Hawaii (10-11 days, right?) will be much more "adult friendly" than ANY 7-day Caribbean cruise. We sailed Radiance last year Vancouver-Honolulu (11 nights) and it was no problem as far as the little munchkins are concerned.

 

But then again, never take bepsf's suggestions lightly, either! That Noordam cruise sounds damn good!

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aaerobear

aaerobear

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hey guys/gals did anyone take either of the NCL short cruises (1 night or 5 night) this last week? I heard from a couple of guys today that they were awful. Bad service and terrible food. I am not sure if these guys are just blowing steam or if it was really a fiasco. Let me know.

 

Ed

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BEAV

BEAV

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hey guys/gals did anyone take either of the NCL short cruises (1 night or 5 night) this last week? I heard from a couple of guys today that they were awful. Bad service and terrible food. I am not sure if these guys are just blowing steam or if it was really a fiasco. Let me know.

 

Ed

 

We returned yesterday from the 5-nighter with mixed reviews. Here's a link to the review I posted on the NCL board...

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=246418

 

Bottom line, it was fun, great to sail with others we've sailed with before, and of course no airports! Probably the best sailaway, weatherwise, from SF we've ever experienced...

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BEAV

BEAV

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One night four of us showed up at Le Bistro, one of NCL's alternative restaurants. When the hostess saw we were a party of four males, she asked where the ladies were? Boy, I could've had fun with that one, but kept my mouth shut.

 

A few nights later the same four showed up at the same place again. Same hostess, and AGAIN same comment/question from her!! No way was I gonna hold back this time. I replied "we just can't get the ladies out of the main dining room....us 'boys' like these 'special' restaurants!"

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aaerobear

aaerobear

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Thanks Beav,

 

Thats what they told us had happenned and I wondered. I guess i would be a little upset about it myself.

 

The one thing I am wondering about is the "booze police" I was under the impression that you could bring wine and champagne onboard and the corkage was only charged if you took the w/c into the dining room. If you comsumed it in your cabin there was no corkage. Is that right, or am I wrong here?

 

Ed

 

ps,

 

That was a great review you wrote, and I saw the Spirit on Friday at pier 35 backed in, it looked wild.

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BEAV

BEAV

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The one thing I am wondering about is the "booze police" I was under the impression that you could bring wine and champagne onboard and the corkage was only charged if you took the w/c into the dining room. If you comsumed it in your cabin there was no corkage. Is that right, or am I wrong here?

 

 

If you were "caught" with wine or champagne in your luggage, they charged you a $15 corkage fee right there on the spot. After paying the fee, you were free to consume either in your room or any restaurant or lounge. They would put a sticker on your cruise card indicating you'd already paid the corkage fee so you wouldn't be charged again later on if you wanted to consume in a bar or restaurant. If you didn't want to pay the corkage fee, it was confiscated for the cruise and you could claim it on disembarkation day.

 

The only way to both avoid the wine/champagne corkage fee and consume it was to sneak it aboard without their knowing!

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Ahhh

Ahhh

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I heard from a couple of guys today that they were awful. Bad service and terrible food. I am not sure if these guys are just blowing steam or if it was really a fiasco.

 

Hi Ed

 

I would not describe our experience as a fiasco. We enjoyed our experience very much with just a few glitches. First of all I have to say that food on a cruise ship cannot be compared to food you would find in SF restaurants. It would not be a fair comparison. A better comparison would be to hotel banguet food or to a caterer. Remember, unlike a restaurant, they are feeding 2,000 guests, mostly at the same time.

 

That being said, I felt the food on Celebrity was a click or two better. I do not know if, because this was a special five day cruise, the food was typical for NCL or not. I found half the fruit at the buffet for breakfast to be canned where on both Princess and Celebrity offered more fresh varieties. One day the lunch and dinner buffets seemed to be the same (I always looked at them - to see the NCL product - but prefered to dine in the other venues). I have to say that most days they had a roast "beast" (beef, pork, turkey) for lunch and/or dinner, that looked very good, but it was not offered all days.

 

Service in the dining rooms was hit or miss. We felt there were a lot of new staff in training and they all worked their b-tts off! Coming out of drydock this was somewhat a new ship for them to get used to also. We looked at the experience as a "dress rehearsal" for the staff - and it was priced accordingly! The soups could have been improved upon and the rolls had different names on the menus but they were in fact the same rolls. Questions got different answers depending upon whom you asked or you got blank stares and mumbled words (language barriers?).

 

My experience in Cagney's Steak House was less than I would expect from a service standpoint. They were not as attentive as I had thought they would be. The service was no better than in the main dining room. In fact, in all the venues I felt as though they were short staffed (I work in the catering field so I know when venues are short staffed).

 

Our steaks were very tender and done to our liking and the desserts were a "click above" what we found in the other venues. We were seated next to the door that went to the kitchen so everytime a server went thru it they had to "kick" a button on the wall next to it to have it open for them. I found that to be annoying in addition to the loud obnoxious drunks sitting nearby.

 

We had reservations at Le Bistro one night and, while waiting for our table to be set, I noticed that the lighting resembled a Denny's rather than a fine dining venue. Seems that during dry dock someone snipped a wrong wire under the new tile and carpeting and it disabled the "dimmer switch". Although guests were sitting under the bright florescent type lights, we found it distracting and went elsewhere.

 

Food at the Bier Garten was surprisingly good, (I had low expectations), and the Pub did NOT serve Fish & Chips on sea days on this particular cruise. Scrambled eggs seemed to be of the powdered variety but poached eggs were always done to perfection!

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aaerobear

aaerobear

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Thanks again everyone,

 

We have sailed NCL a few times and have seen these problems several times. I believe NCL is going through the same thing as other lines. Trying to cut staff and still maintain the same service levels. Does not always work.

 

So far this year we have done one Celebrity, 2 HAL, and are leaving in Dec on the Regal to Rio. Of all the lines we have sailed, we still like Princess the best, but then everyone has their preference and I respect that

 

Ed/Jeff

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Tess2mommies

Tess2mommies

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Hi everyone!

 

Dear Partner and I are going to book the Mexico cruise out of the City December 20th and we had a few questions, no better place to come than this thread!

 

How far is the pier from the Bart, is it advisable to Bart and then take a taxi?

Also, anyone recommend any good pet sitters or dog spa's?

 

Thanks a bunch!

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