Blackout tonight on the Venezia

[stobe1]

2 hours ago, madamerkf said:

I am thinking they will pull out of HMC for this new island and either abandon it or sell it to another line?

 

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

HMC is Holland America island. Most likely the island will be returned back to Holland America for their ships to use. 

 

There are numerous itineraries that will sail to Celebration Cay and HMC as well as Princess Cay. It looks like Celebration Cay won't be impacting sailings to HMC or Princess Cay.

[MadManOfBethesda]

5 hours ago, madamerkf said:

So I’ll end this story with the last messed up thing. We were on the second floor mid ship. Last morning we go to leave our cabin at about 7:44 am to go get breakfast before debark and the hallway is filled with a line of people the length of the ship with all their luggage looking to get off at the second floor gangway! I had to fight our way out of there and was told someone gained because it was so hot and long of a wait! Craziest thing I ever saw.

Sorry to hear about your travails, but I appreciate the heads up. My wife and I were getting ready to board the next cruise as you were ending yours. The embarkation process was the most ridiculous, convoluted mess I've ever experienced in over 40 years of cruising on multiple cruise lines out of multiple ports around the world. Our boarding time was 1pm and we arrived at the terminal shortly thereafter. To make a very long story short, after standing in multiple looong, loooong winding lines, we made it onto the ship at 3:45pm. And as we were opening the door to our cabin, the whiny cruise director with the most annoying voice I've ever heard, was complaining that the ship wasn't going to be able to leave on time because well over a thousand passengers hadn't checked in for their safety drill yet. Well, no poop, Sherlock! That's because they're still stuck in the terminal.

 

Haven't encountered any difficulties once on board, but then again, we haven't done much yet, either. After running around NYC all weekend, we spent most of the first day of the cruise relaxing in our cabin. (We accepted an upgrade offer a few days ago for a larger cabin at the rear of the ship with a wrap-around balcony.)  It is a beautiful ship, and we will definitely do more as the cruise progresses. Hopefully, we won't run into the difficulties that you experienced on the last cruise.

 

But I am already dreading the disembarkation process on 12/28.

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

Sorry to hear about your travails, but I appreciate the heads up. My wife and I were getting ready to board the next cruise as you were ending yours. The embarkation process was the most ridiculous, convoluted mess I've ever experienced in over 40 years of cruising on multiple cruise lines out of multiple ports around the world. Our boarding time was 1pm and we arrived at the terminal shortly thereafter. To make a very long story short, after standing in multiple looong, loooong winding lines, we made it onto the ship at 3:45pm. And as we were opening the door to our cabin, the whiny cruise director with the most annoying voice I've ever heard, was complaining that the ship wasn't going to be able to leave on time because well over a thousand passengers hadn't checked in for their safety drill yet. Well, no poop, Sherlock! That's because they're still stuck in the terminal.

 

Haven't encountered any difficulties once on board, but then again, we haven't done much yet, either. After running around NYC all weekend, we spent most of the first day of the cruise relaxing in our cabin. (We accepted an upgrade offer a few days ago for a larger cabin at the rear of the ship with a wrap-around balcony.)  It is a beautiful ship, and we will definitely do more as the cruise progresses. Hopefully, we won't run into the difficulties that you experienced on the last cruise.

 

But I am already dreading the disembarkation process on 12/28.

We were in a corner aft wrap for 13 days in Sept - the balcony was our happy place - along w/Teppanyaki and the sea day brunch in the Steakhouse. Do yourself a favor and be sure to secure a slot for that. It's complimentary for Terraza cabins and was the 2nd best food on the ship.

Enjoy your cruise!

[MadManOfBethesda]

2 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

We were in a corner aft wrap for 13 days in Sept - the balcony was our happy place - along w/Teppanyaki and the sea day brunch in the Steakhouse. Do yourself a favor and be sure to secure a slot for that. It's complimentary for Terraza cabins and was the 2nd best food on the ship.

Enjoy your cruise!

Thank you for the good wishes. We didn't know about the brunch, but we went to the Terraza bar area right after the safety briefing yesterday and the bartender told us about it and had a staff member come over to us and take our reservation. The choices were 12/20 or 12/25 and we went for the Xmas morning brunch.

[Haljo1935]

2 hours ago, MadManOfBethesda said:

Thank you for the good wishes. We didn't know about the brunch, but we went to the Terraza bar area right after the safety briefing yesterday and the bartender told us about it and had a staff member come over to us and take our reservation. The choices were 12/20 or 12/25 and we went for the Xmas morning brunch.

Nice choice! I wonder if you'll have a different menu. Enjoy!!

[Pellaz]

On 12/19/2023 at 12:30 PM, ProgRockCruiser said:

Were you on Vista two weeks ago?  Because that is exactly what the Captain told us during the BTF tour about docking in GT the previous day - the winds were almost too high, and yes, the max speed to allow docking is 35 knots, and they were getting close.

No, I wasn't on the Vista two weeks ago.  My BtF tour was several years ago.  

The Captain added reflectively "Very tricky approach to Grand Turk with high winds -- and there is no port-pilot."  

 

Do you perchance go on Cruise To the Edge?  I've been eyeing that one for a few years now. 

I very nearly went on the Prog Nation At Sea cruise years ago...and maybe I should have, since it became a once-and-done due to too-low cabin sales.  

 

 

[ProgRockCruiser]

On 12/20/2023 at 11:40 PM, Pellaz said:

Do you perchance go on Cruise To the Edge? 

No, never have done that yet, and probably never will, even though I'd love to.  It typically falls at a time of year we're not really ready/able to cruise, and doesn't leave from our nearest port, so laziness wins over.