RoxnDox

We had a family group vacation on that sailing, but not in the Haven... First cruise for some, others have been on too many to count. For my wife and I, 2nd cruise and first NCL/Caribbean. The cabins were nice, we had an MA mini-suite. Balcony smaller than the one we had on the Golden Princess to Alaska, but it's covered, so I would call it even.

Service was fine almost everywhere on ship - the exception being the salespeople in the jewelry etc area who were really pushy and annoying. The food was really good. Moderno twice, sushi bar, noodle bar, O'Sheehans, even the buffet (with one meal excepted). Bar service was fine, we took advantage of the UDP for sure.

The excursions we did were booked thru NCL, and those were fine. We had fun, saw some sights, got to swim with the dolphins & dive Cozumel, and got good value for our money (yeah I know we could have paid less, but that is beside the point).

For us, the ship itself was the major downside we encountered. Outside of our cabins, it seemed like everywhere we went we were elbow-to-elbow fighting crowds. It was damn near impossible to find a quiet(ish) area to relax, you had to walk over peoples' heads to reach the water if you wanted to hit the pools, and every sound system on the ship was turned up too loud (by just barely enough to make it noticeable as overdriven speakers...). We were ready for disembarkation, despite the good service and mostly enjoyable family time.

I suppose if you take a cruise anticipating a week-long party and Spring Break atmosphere, it'd be fine. If you want a little less noise and a little more relaxing, well obviously this wasn't the best choice. I would gladly go back to Roatan or Cozumel, or perhaps Belize other than Belize City, but only for a warm-water diving trip where that is the whole purpose. And I would get back on another Alaska cruise in a heartbeat, but only on a smaller ship. Mega-ships and climates where you feel like you've been slapped in the face with a hot wet towel, those I'll let others take...

Jim

I'll probably be the only one, but Pentax here! K-50 and K-01 and a couple of zoom's plus some old primes from my Pentax ME film days. Yes, you can use any lens Pentax ever made on their digital DSLR's. Anyway, gearing up for a Medi cruise in a few weeks and trying to decide how much gear to haul along!

Nope, not the only Pentaxian... K1000, K100D, K-30, K-50, and a WG-10 snorkeling p&s. Assorted lenses dating back to the late 70s. My usual walkabout kit is the K-50 & 18-135WR zoom. Good image quality and weather sealing good enough to go under Niagara Falls (literally, I did).

Jim

Trying to determine what we are doing. Guess we need to review the excursions in other ports since Harvest Caye probably won't be ready. Our friends are getting married on this cruise. Thank goodness the wedding was planned for another port.

We planned our other excursions and left this one open (July 3-10 cruise). We're just going to wing it and see where we end up.

We are booked on a Norwegian Getaway in July with Harvest Caye listed as the stop in Belize. If, as it sounds like, the place is not ready, would NCL be likely to shift to Belize City up the coast? Just thinking ahead for flexibility in shore time...

I didn't see any dock facilities that looked big enough at Belize City, is that a port where you are tendered in?

Jim

We went ahead and booked thru NCL, so we'll go with whomever they have. Whether good, great, or superb, all of them will be getting us into nice warm tropical waters with cool stuff to see. Rather different from our local waters, rich in life but cold and murky.

Jim

+1 for Bubbles Below Kauai... We were there in March, weather kept us on the south shore sites. Had a couple of fanntastic dives with the turtles and fish and first time seeing live coral.

Jim

On our Alaska cruise, just put on the Gore-Tex and boots. I have a weather sealed camera so no problem there 🙂 Good enough to take under Niagara Falls too, although when the lens gets really wet I have to switch over to manual focus... Rain is a fact of life, never ever let it get in the way.

As thread title says, I was wondering if anyone knows which operator NCL uses for their excursions in Cozumel? Booked on a family get-together for next summer (NCL Getaway, July) and my brother and I have diving on our minds... With the other things we want to do, it looks like we will be doing the dives at Cozumel (ruins at Costa Maya, dolphins/snorkeling at Roatan). NCL offers a two-tank excursion, just doing some research before booking this vs on our own. A coworker dives down there a LOT (DM, Instructor, tech diver, all that fun stuff - even has a house on the island...), and knows a lot of the folks down there. Asked me who they use, and it's not something I could find on the NCL web site.

That warm water is something I am looking forward to trying...

Thanks in advance,

Jim

(PADI OW cert, a bit rusty so yes a refresher is in the works)

(brother nearly done with his padi DM cert)

I stand corrected. I should have said that if a US citizen is going to take the White Pass/Yukon train to Canada they need a passport book OR passport card.

OR an Enhanced Drivers License if your state offers it. These are not the same thing as a papssport card. They are valid for land and sea crossings to Canada and Mexico, they are not valid for air travels.

Jim

<sigh> It is "colloidal" silver. It is the mineral you are familiar with, Colloidal just means "particles suspended in a liquid". Nothing to do with a plant.

Here is a wikipedia article on medical silver http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medical_uses_of_silver, and here is some actual scientific information http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-living/consumer-health/expert-answers/colloidal-silver/faq-20058061 http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-779-colloidal%20silver.aspx?activeingredientid=779&activeingredientname=colloidal%20silver http://nccam.nih.gov/health/silver

Snake oil won't help for Ebola. All it'll do is make hucksters money.

My flight was with ProMech instead, but we had a great pilot and a very smooth flight. No turbulence at all. And the weather gods smiled upon us - the only clouds to be seen were strategically placed for maximum photogenic scenery impact <grin>.

Jim

Hi All , we are on the Millie 5th Sept. Seaward to Vancouver, wondering if it's worth bringing my Tux . I don't mind dressing up ( Wife loves to ) will I be in minority . ? Cheers

Yes, you'll probably be in a minority, but you won't be alone. We had some Tux'ed up, some in suits, some just nice slacks/shirt. No problems anywhere we saw :-)

Jim

I took a flight seeing tour and that was jawdroppingly great, but not necessarily something for a little one. My wife did the Lumberjack show and enjoyed it.

I have not been to the totem poles, but from what I hear they are much more about the cultural history and significance of the poles, not touristy. Next time it's on my list :-) Totems can be fascinating and well worth a visit.

Jim

Thanks that's what I was looking for, there is such a grey area with the EDL card.

Not really a grey area, you can make land or sea border crossings with them, but not by air. The legalities may be poorly written, for those of us not lawyers, but it's clear enough.

We had absolutely no problems using our EDLs on the White Pass RR crossings.

Jim

Jim, do you mind posting the cost of the excursions ?

As I recall, $199 each for the whales/salmon/glacier tour, same for the Yukon tour, and $269 for the flightseeing. So about $1100 for the two of us.

Jim

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My wife and I did a 7 day roundtrip from Seattle last month - first ever cruise. We splurged on the trip and went for a mini-suite, and just did the excursions that looked best to us, regardless of the cost. It was our 30th anniversary, so we figured What the He(ck)... Although I did lots of research ahead of time, we went ahead and booked thru the cruise line just for simplicity. Ended up with a very nice set of excursions, and yes they were pricey but they were worth it!

Juneau - whale watching / Mendenhall / salmon bake

Skagway - motor coach to Yukon, train back to town

Ketchikan - flightseeing to Misty Fjords (just me)

Next time around, would get a car in Skagway and probably opt for fishing in Ketchikan and a smaller whale/wildlife tour in Juneau.

Jim

Always good to hear from another experienced diver that is dealing with hypertension. Thanks for letting me know! I am officially registered with DAN and am looking into a certification course up here, as my cruise date has been pushed back to April. This thread has been super helpful. :D

One more advantage of getting your certification at home first... When you're out in the local lakes doing your cert dives, you will be wearing probably a 7mm wetsuit (with a rather confining hood) for thermal protection. And a bunch of lead to counteract the wetsuit's bouyancy. Then, when you get to dive down there in those tropical waters, you'll be in a much lighter wetsuit (or none, possibly) and less lead so you'll enjoy it even more. :o

I got certified up here in Puget Sound, and most of the well-traveled & experienced divers (including our instructors) will echo the sentiment "Learn to dive up here in these conditions, you'll be able to dive *anywhere*"... :cool: You might even get hooked on cold-water diving :D

I certainly enjoyed the freedom from my usual gear when I went to Hawaii!

Jim

I used my (pentax) 18-135 about 90% of our trip. I only put my 12-24 on once, and my 70-300 was only used a few times, mostly in Glacier Bay. For our whale watching excursion, I took only the 18-135 (both for the range and for its weather sealing).

Jim

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Depending on the weather and winds and your tolerances... Either the open deck above the bridge, or the topmost deck (Sun deck?), or down on the Promenade level right at the bow would be the best views. We were there a couple of weeks ago and had a nice clear day for much of it, so shelter was less important. You may have to fight your way to a railing though :eek: Or do like I did - climb atop one of the stacks of loungers piled up there to clear the space :cool: Made a nice comfortable elevated seat :D

Jim

I am a big fan of Hawaiian shirts. I'll wear one in any climate, any destination. Including a cruise to Alaska! And I absolutely would NOT change my mind on that because of CC reactions...

Jim

OK..I had to go to google. I was amazed at 71.1 miles, it looks like I have grossly misinterpreted what that sentence meant. According to the National Oceanic website, the deepest spot in any ocean is near Guam and nowhere near 71 miles deep! LOL. I am gullible :)

 

In 1960 the Bathyscaphe Trieste descended to the bottom of the Mariana Trench near Guam, at 35,798 feet or 6.77 miles (10,911 meters), the deepest spot in any ocean.

Not gullible, just not up on the terminology… The epicenter is the location of the quake in 3 dimensions, latitude, longitude, depth. The hypocenter is the lat/long location at the surface above the epicenter.

Generally, the shallower the quake, the greater effects on us. This one was moderately deep…

Jim

I don't recall if Michigan is one of the states with an Enhanced Drivers License or not. We used ours on the border crossing a couple of weeks ago, but everyone else had to have their passports, yes. EDLs are valid for land and sea border crossings between US and Canada (and certain others not relevant here), but only a few states offer them.

Jim

I usually wax poetic about optical quality and such, but in this case I think it's worth at least considering how you want to use the camera. Consider that the 18-105 plus 55-200 combo might let you avoid a bunch of lens changes if the 18-105 covers enough to be of good use.

Last week, I ended up using my 18-135 most of the time. I only used my 12-24 a couple of times, and my 70-300 was only used for a while in Glacier Bay. I was shooting mostly landscapes, and the wildlife was, at least for us, well within the 18-135's range. So, unless you are really after the wildlife and need the reach, I would totally agree that it's worth considering if you will want to go with peety's idea.

Jim

Can you tell me if NEVILLE is still the Head Matra'D on the Golden?

As of last week, yes :)

Jim

I'm curious what is your source for this per passenger charge? I'm not doubting you but I wasn't able to find this information on the two links and that seems like an extremely hefty fee.

Well, here is a press release of sorts, from the NPS (so I rate it considerably more reliable than Internet claims... :rolleyes:), on the cruise ship contracts awarded back in 2009. It provides a figure of $12 per passenger - much more reasonable.

http://www.nps.gov/glba/parknews/2009-01-14.htm

Jim