Ohio_Bob

Just called and had my reservation for a 1/18/2022 cruise on Dawn repriced with the new promotion. Got the extra freebies and saved $600 on the cruise fare for the two of us. BF PrivaSea balcony cabin on Deck 9. [emoji106]

Can't say for certain on the Sun, but I'm guessing it depends upon whether the sauna and steam are in the coed part of the Thermal Suite or in the locker room area.

 

On Gem the sauna and steam room were in the men's and women's locker rooms and attire ranged from swimwear to towels to nothing at all (rare but happened). On Breakaway and Escape the sauna and steam were in the coed area, and it was only swimwear.

 

 

Thursday:

 

We used Thursday as a tour day to see the island. We got up and had a great breakfast at Savor and then headed out to the ferry to go to St Georges. We had decided to have a look around St George and then maybe go to Fort St Catherine. After that, who knows. We got in line for the ferry and as we were boarding, we realized that it was not the free NCL ferry. That was not scheduled for another 45 minutes. We ended up just paying the $5 pp and taking the Bermuda ferry. I've heard rumors that the NCL ferry is really slow right now and takes twice as long as the Govt ferry. We got to St George, walked around for a few minutes and then hired a mini-bus to take us to the Fort. He charged us $3pp to get there. I will admit, when we got there I was worried because there were not taxis or anything there for the return trip. Our driver offered to pick up back up and we gladly agreed. We settled on an hour for his return.

 

Fort St Catherine is a really cool place. You can explore the underground tunnels, see how the soldiers lived, see where the ammunition was housed and some of the procedures they would have used. Be forewarned, that some of the tunnels were pretty dark. My son looked into a lightbox (where they placed lamps for light) and there was a manequin staring at him. Scared him to death Lol. We told the driver to come back in an hour but I would recommend at least an hour and a half, maybe 2 if you like to read all the information posted. We seemed to be a little rushed but we did get to see everything. There is an entrance fee of $7pp.

 

The driver actually returned about 15 minutes late and we were getting a little worried. He eventually did show up. While we were waiting we decided to go to see Crystal Caves. He took us there and charged us $10pp. When we got there, the next tour of Crystal cave was not for like 2 hours so we decided to see the other cave, Fantasy cave (I think). We paid our $21pp and waited for about 10 minutes. Our mini-bus driver waited for us at the ticket window to get our tickets to see what time our tour was. He again offered to come back and pick us up and we gladly accepted. The Fantasy cave tour is a 3 minute walk to the cave entrance, followed by a BUNCH of steps down a tight stairwell. My wife is very afraid of heights and was nervous because of the open nature of the stairs at one point but she was able to make it down. If you're afraid of tight spaces, you also may get a little nervous. Once we were done with our tour, we went into the gift shop, purchased some snacks and waited for our driver. He literally showed up 5 minutes after the tour was done and actaully got out of his van and come to the waiting area to find us. I'm sure that's because there were like 10 private mini-busses and taxis waiting for people, but still pretty good service. He took us back to St George, back onto the ferry and onwards to the Dockyard.

 

At the Dockyard, we decided to do a late lunch / early dinner and went to the Frog & Onion pub. All of the food was VERY good as was the beer. They weren't very crowded so wi were able to have a nice conversation with our waiter who used to work on NCL. He left the cruise ship and decided to stay in Bermuda. He was telling us all about the island and was actually trying to talk me into moving there. He said accountants are in high demand and make a lot of money there, FYI.

 

After dinner, I think we ended up just going back onto the ship and playing some games at O'Sheehans and hanging out. We also enjoyed some time at the Waterfront in some loungers.

 

More to come:

Thanks for the review!

 

Re: Embarkation in NYC, do you recall the order?

 

Obviously Haven first... was Casinos at Sea next? Or were Latitudes next (platinum+ etc)?

We were on the same Cruise. As Buckeyefrank said, embarkation was a little weird because of the Coast Guard drill and everything was pushed back a bit. We had number 9. We saw the Haven people board, but then never heard any numbers called at all. Eventually there was a general announcement saying they were going to begin boarding, and then everybody just started heading toward the gangways. We just boarded as soon as we heard the announcement. I never heard any numbers called at all. I think if we had waited to hear our number called, we'd still be sitting in the terminal.

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I think you still have to go to their Hamilton location to rent and return them (easy with the ferry) but you can park and charge them in dockyard. I'm planning to rent one in May on Escape.

We rented scooters in St. George. There is much less traffic at that end of the island. If you stay away from the causeway you won't see much traffic at all. It does drive on the left and scooters are quirky. I wouldn't rent in Dockyard or Hamilton. Far to much traffic, and local drivers drive fast. Rental scooters are underpowered; the locals fly.

I always just use a $5.00 bill the first day until I get a chance to buy tokens without a line. Or if I forget to buy a token...

Each way. They also take $5.00 cash (no change), they just don't promote it.

The little gift shop at the bottom of the gangway said they had WiFi that was free with a purchase. They gave us a code but I could never get it to work. It may have been my phone...

 

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

Since his death, I thought that Art Mel's had closed. But I may be mistaken.

 

Edit: My error, it was the St. George location that closed.

We paid $199 per person

And probably the best money you paid on that cruise. We lived in the thermal suite on our cruises. Loved it.

We bought from their store in Hamilton. They took care of delivery to the ship. It was very convenient, but to be honest, the prices weren't really much different than the ship, or our shops back home for that matter. Their distillery is not in Bermuda anyway - but they do blending and bottling there for the local market. The rest of the production for the US market is done in Kentucky, I think. It is yummy though.

 

Other than the novelty of buying it on the island, I don't see any real advantage to where you get it. The few dollars you save isn't worth lugging it off the ship. I would just buy it back home. Just my opinion based upon a small sample. YMMV.

We did Bermuda June 2016. Did not even consider renting a scooter. BTW, I ride motorcycles.

 

My biggest concern or obstacle was driving on the wrong side of the road. Really not interested in giving that a shot.

 

Anyway, we took the ferry to St. George. I would have had no problem whatsoever renting a scooter there, as there is so little traffic. Once we got to Fort St. Catherine's, we hardly saw any cars.

 

So, if I ever do St. George again, I definitely will get a scooter and see a lot more.

That was our thinking too. Traffic is very light on that end. Yes, you can walk St. George, but you can see much more (and much more efficiently) by scooter, particularly if you want to head over to Ferry Point or St. David's.

 

I didn't find the opposite-side issue to be a problem, it was more the narrow roads and the difference between the slow speeds of the rental scooters and the higher speeds of the locals.

I don't disagree. It's definitely a calculated risk.

We were there 20 years ago, and again last September. We were a little nervous about renting this time, but did anyway. We stayed away from Hamilton traffic and rented in St. George to explore that end. Traffic was light and things really hadn't changed. Glad we did it. Sure there are risks, but there always have been.

I agree about the ships tour. With just one day that might be your best bet. There are a couple of catamaran snorkeling options that get pretty good reviews.

 

Another option could be to rent a Boston Whaler from Somerset Bridge Watersports for a few hours. It's a short cab ride from Dockyard . You could putter about on your own and find your own spot to picnic/snorkel/swim.

The ocean water was a lot chopper that the lake we had been on the first time. Plus the speeds were much faster. She was just trying not to be thrown off.

You can read all about them on TripAdvisor, but I think their web site is down. They also rent Whalers. I think we'll do that next time. More serene, less terrifying. 😁

My wife and I were a tandem. I don't think she saw any part of the tour though. She was hanging on for dear life. We were jet ski noobs. Their equipment is first rate. The skis looked brand new.

We did the tour offered by Somerset Bridge Watersports. It was great. I think it was about 90 minutes and went all around the west end of the island to where the ships were docked. It was full speed all the way. Very exciting. Particularly for an inexperienced driver like me. I struggled to keep up a bit. My rear end still hurts. And my cruise was in September. It is probably geared more to someone with some experience on jet skis, but I recommend it highly.

The frozen drinks (Pina colada, daiquiri, Margarita) were mostly batched on Breakaway back in September.

You can pay $5.00 cash as you board the ferry. You don't need coins. They don't advertise it, but you can do it. We did when we were there in a September.

I would vote for 5447 or 5453. They seem to be below (or near) the Spiegel Tent on 6, and the Tent probably isn't as busy as being below the atrium, headliners and some of the noisier stuff on 6. When we were on BA, musical events were done in the Tent by mid evening and the Tent wasn't doing much during the day. When it's running, it's probably noisy (music), but it should be quiet outside of those events. The busy areas on 6 are busy late into the night and early in the morning. Hard to say though since I didn't spend much time on 5 and aren't familiar with the inside cabins. Good luck.

I don't have first hand experience, but we were on Breakaway, and that has the same venues. Neither was reservable before sailing. I might be mistaken, but I don't think you could reserve headliners on BA, you just showed up. It was usually pretty busy but I never saw a huge line. I believe that you reserved the Ice Bar at a kiosk outside the door. I didn't go in, but there didn't seem to be a problem for people who wanted to try it out. Others probably have more direct experience that will be more helpful to you.

another vote for the Great Outdoors. We had breakfast there most days. Many lunches and snacks too. Nothing like eating outside at the stern and watching the sea pass by.

I think the beds are pushed together by default so you should be good to go.

 

If you wanted them split your room steward would do it.