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Maggie4nc

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    Lafayette, IN
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Celebrity

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  1. Wow! Thank you for all the great input! We have been Celebrity loyalists and have always loved it but it's good to try new things. This year we tried a couple Princess cruises, we liked them and would travel on them again. We are looking to RCL RCL as seems to offer high quality with more entertainment options. The fact they status match is nice too! We wanted to know where to start looking and now we have a great jumping off place! We will look at RCL for 2023, the Quantum class is most likely going to be our starting point then go bigger or smaller from there. This all being said, we just booked on Celebrity Beyond for November. Change is hard😜 Thanks again for all of your help!
  2. What ship should we try for our first RCL cruise? We usually cruise with Celebrity but would like to see what RCL is like. We are a couple 53/55, active and no children.
  3. We were glad we did. There were people walking in without reservations and they were sold out.
  4. We rented through https://www.acadiabike.com/ . They will send you to their sister store for ebikes. Both on same street, in town, walking distance from port. Their website has great info. They do offer a bike tour but it starts at 8:30am and we knew we wouldn't be able to be off ship and to visitor center by then. The area and paths are really safe. The bike company doesn't even give you locks for the bikes. The owner said "people don't steak bikes here." At no time would I hesitate to go alone.
  5. The bike shop gave great explanation of how to get to park and the routes to take. They used the Park Service map and we used that. There are lots of signs on trails too. We started at Duck Pond Bridge, rode past Eagle Lake to Jordan Lake Pond House (the only place that has food and drink if you need.)From there we went back up the other side and headed up to Witches Pond and Bubble lake. If looking at Park map we went to stops 5,6,8,10,14,15,16,17,7,9,6,4,2,1,3 and back to 5, in that order. In total, from bike shop and back, we went 21 miles and it took us about 3.5 hours with stops (total active biking time was 2.5 hours). Just enough time to have lunch and walk about town. There are lots of people biking. The ebikes we had were great as you could easily choose the assist. There are 4 levels and you could switch it off too. I had used very little battery in the end and was never concerned about running out. Carriage Roads are all gravel and wide, lots of bikers some walkers. Take downhills slow as gravel can be slippery. Our bikes didn't have a bag or basket so we were glad we had brought back pack for snacks and drinks. Both the bikes did have a bike water bottle on them.
  6. They had both. We ended up in a mini van and it was just the two of us.
  7. We just returned from a wonderful 10 day trip from Quebec City to NYC in August, 2022. The itinerary lent itself to a great mix of relaxing and busy. We loved the small towns where we could just wander and the bigger cities were action packed. Always glad to be back on the ship where Princess took great care of us and ensured a fantastic trip. I made notes of some things I noted or wish I had known. Things I think future cruisers would like to know. Getting there -ArriveCan was only needed when we boarded our flight to Canada in the US. The airlines checked our vaccine cards and ArriveCan status. Take screen print of ArriveCan barcode. That way you don't have to log into app to get code. Waiting to log in took the most time for people. -A mask is required on flight into Canada -Landing in Quebec is a dream. Quiet airport and the staff very helpful. You need to scan passports at little self service stations. Very similar to how it is in the US when returning from foreign land. -Once we had luggage, we walked outside and hailed a taxi. There were plenty available and cost was equal to Uber. Arriving at port -I have to say it was a bit chaotic. It seemed like we went through a lot of hoops for nothing. No one really knew what the heck was going on. It seemed like a waste of time and aggravation for people who had "green lane" status. It was much easier in Fort Lauderdale in December. Hope they figure that out. The Ship- Caribbean Princess -It's a smaller, older ship. Needs to be updated but nothing ever got in the way of our enjoyment of our cruise. We liked all the entertainment options were full and lively. -Steamers and Planks are being used as buffet overflow only. No specialty dining at those venues. -The staff all wear masks. We noticed a good portion of passengers also wearing masks, about 30%. Towards the end of cruise we heard more reports of illness but nothing official was mentioned. -We were boarded by the Canadians and reviewed of Covid procedures. The ship received one of the highest scores given. Well done! -There were places it was freezing on the ship. Make sure to bring a sweater. Cabin- BA Balcony B426 -Love those closets! We bring extra hangers, but more are available from cabin steward or via Medallion app-The bathrooms are our least favorite part of the ship. -The shower is small and there is a curtain. -There is no bar soap, so had our attendant bring some. Liquid soap was ok, but didn't lather much. Wish I had brought from home. -There is no space in shower for toiletries. Bring the travel bottles with suction cups on the back for easy storage in shower. -There are only TWO outlets and NO USB outlets. They are at the desk area of cabin. Thank goodness we brought an USB station and some long charging cables. -Bring approved extension cords too! -We used magnetic hooks and clips on walls to keep things organized. Glad we brought them. -Hair dryer is from the 70's, bring your own. -This cruise had temps from 60-85degrees. The room struggled at times to keep up. Mostly it was freezing. Towards the middle of cruise it seemed they got it all figured out. Again bring a long sleeve sweater. The itinerary -Quebec City- An absolute gem! What a surprise. Easy town to walk around. It's like being in Europe with out the long flight. Princess had a shuttle out of port to outside of town. Was fine for us, but some found the walk from shuttle to town too much. There were cabs available at port and think they would be a good option. -Saguenay- Get up early as watch sail in. It was so quiet and beautiful watching the Fjords roll by. We messed up our excursion reservation to hike the national park and weren't booked. It turned out to be a rainy day, so maybe that was a blessing. Hubby went for a run and I walked the town. There is a great local soap shop that many passengers stopped by to stock up for remainder of cruise. -Charlottetown- No excursion, just enjoyed the town. It was busier than Saguenay and had lots of local shops -Sydney- We had booked a rental car but ended up canceling it. Everything was an hour from port and we didn't want the hassle. It was a rainy day again, so we walked the town. Neat little churches and homes to tour for free. -Halifax- Our ship was the furthest out so we all needed to do the port shuttle. Lots of "meet and wait" in dining rooms to be hearded on to busses. Was envious of RCL and HA that docked right in town. Halifax was a great city. Lots of things to do. We walked to the Citadel. They fire the cannon at noon everyday, so it was fun to be there for that. Walked back to ship via the harbor which is action packed. Very easy city to get around and enjoy. *Before getting off ship to Bar Harbor we all had to clear customs as our cruise originated outside US. You are given a time to show up to have passports checked. We were given a time of 8am when doors open. Unfortunately, the people that don’t think times mean anything started to que up and the line to get in was crazy. If you are early you won’t be allowed in. Everyone that had a time late than 8 had to be moved to another area. Once the doors opened the process was quick and painless. Just be aware if planning an excursion in port that you may be delayed getting off the ship. -Bar Harbor- Tender port. Just seems like they could do it better. Lots of waiting and chaos. They used some nice shuttle boats but also used some life boats that were small and filled with diesel fumes. Fine in an emergency but not a great way to travel. We rented bikes and did the carriage trails in Acadia national park. I rented an e bike and was very glad I did. It was lots of uphills. Husband is an avid biker so he was fine with regular bike. Great day and beautiful national park. Boston- An amazing city. We took taxi from port. Again, easy and quicker than Uber. Same price and you don’t have to wait for Uber. Taxi’s are right there. Cost about $13 about 15-20 min drive. We did bike tour of town as we had already done Boston before. Loved ship was there almost all day. NYC-Disembarkation -We did self assist for the first time and will never look back. We had our luggage and just walked off. We had had enough of the "meet and wait". -Used Carmel car service to drive to LGA. Cost was around $60.They were early to pick us up and ride to LGA was about half an hour. We allowed an hour just in case. LGA is a beautiful airport now that construction was done.
  8. We just got off the Caribbean Princess yesterday. In Vines, Kiran and Dylan will take great care of you! I think they are there until January or February 2023.
  9. We just reserved one E-bike and 1 regular bike for August. The E-bikes are from Acadia Outfitters and regular bike at Acadia Bike Rental. They are same company but different location on same street. We plan on riding along Eagle Lake, Bubble pond and Lake Jordan. We were inspired by this https://youtu.be/fEraCgkweMI. Hubby is an avid rider, and I ride too but I usually rent an E-bike if it's unknown terrain and I want to make sure I can keep up. Looks like after Bubble Lake it gets hilly. Will do an update on our experience once back as it is hard to find info like this here.
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