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Since the Spirit just came out of a short Dry Dock, does anybody know what improvements have been made to the ship.

 

Would also like to know the name of the ship officers, cruise director, etc.

Just came off the 2/23 sailing of the Spirit to the Canary Islands. Although we have been on several NCL ships, this is the first time on the Spirit, so, can't do an after dry dock comparison.

I can only give my impresssions. The room was clean beds very comfortable (might be new mattress), shower seemed new and clean, basin had small chips on the edge. One day we found a "wet paint" sign writen on the back of an old daily schedule, taped on the side of the basin counter. Not sure what was painted. The room had only one plug in outlet by the desk that can be used for either American or European power. It was a nuisance because you can only plug in one type of power device at a time. We had to charge our scooter battery and iPad alternately. The reception desk had outlet bars for checking out but it didn't help our situation. The TV remotes were certainly ancient. It had to be exchanged three times. The room steward kept telling us they worked for him (when he stood) right under the TV. We didn't want to have to get up to stand under the TV to change channels every time.

We had aft cabins. We could not hear the announcements. We had experienced rough seas several times, especially at night. One night, the sliding closet door kept sliding back and forth, banging the edge loudly each time. In the other cabin, the shower door fell off from the shaking. Not sure if we happened to run into unusually bad weather, as someone heard the captain said, or just the ship is old.

My main complaint is with the quality of the food served.

The daily dinner menu in the main dining rooms changed only by two to three entrees each day. There were many pasta dishes. Most of the soups were watery or tasteless. Gone are the days when they had lobster one night, scallops, and escargot, cold soups, and fancy desserts. The breakfast buffet was the same every single day. The saving grace is the friendliness off the dining room wait staff. Our wait person was Jenny.

The most outstanding service we had was from the shore excursion staff. They bent over backwards to make sure I was well taken care of on the excursions because I have mobility issues. If you choose to go with the ship's excursions, they are very honest and knowledgeable. Ina is the assistant manager in charge. Mariana was the person who took care of my needs.

Hope the info is helpful!

Look at this website

http://www.airporttransfersbuenosaires.com/fees-costs-

I just booked a BA cruise terminal to EZE airport transfer. They offer transfers to downtown, too.

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i am surprised that OneTravel has not appeared on Cruise Critic. If you look on the internet, you will find nothing but complaints about this company which is also owned with CheapOair by Fareportal. I, unfortunately, unknowingly booked my flights with OneTravel, only to find out they take your money and tell you every flight had been booked, and charged you for "enhanced seat assignments". Come to find out, no seats had been assigned. This is the eleventh day since we booked, after numerous emails and phone calls, we still don't have seats on two legs of our trip. There are 5 of us, three are senior citizens. There were seats together when we started, but now only scattered single seats remain on most of the legs. A different person answers the phone each time, each time you get a different story. The only consistency is they assure you that within a short time things will be taken care of.

If you want to read horror stories by the innocent victims, just look under OneTravel.

My tzora is also 10 years old and we are having a bit of a problem with the battery holding a charge, otherwise a great scooter unless you are bothered by bumping on uneven sidewalks, going over cobblestones etc as I now am. No shocks. Much loved scooter!

But the reason I am posting is to be sure you know the company I bought from, then called Planet Mobility was prosecuted by the Michagan Attorney General. They are back in operation again using a new name -discovery my mobilty is website I think-identical web design, still in Michagan. I strongly suggest you either check with Tzora to see all companies in US that carry it and be sure to find a reputable dealer. I have no clue of the court results but if you google planet mobility complaints I think you can see what was illegal.

http://www.tzora.com/category shows current two models-the easy travel and indoor/outdoor Titan and Titan 4 Could call the company and ask, plus website lists international distributors. I am uncertain if there are real differences in online light, light deluxe etc

I am so glad I found your post. I have spent the last two months trying to find a reputable distributor for Tzora mobility scooters. It has been horrifying to discover how so many of the companies use the similar scheme as Planet/DiscoverMyMobility to victimize the elderly or disabled, using bait and switch techniques with low prices. Others advertise "beat anyone's price" either do not respond or make up excuses when asked to beat Discover's advertised web prices.

Here is the worst nightmare. I wrote to the owner of Tzora, Adi, in Israel twice, explaining what I had been finding and asking for referrals to trustworthy distributors. He finally route my letter to Carla Frost, manager of Tzora's own warehouse in the US (also in Michigan). She offered to sell me any scooter at Tzora's MRP price according to Tzora's policy. I said I did not want to pay that price since everyone else was advertising for less and include free accessories.

Here is the topper. She wrote to tell me she had talked to Mike Woods, the same Mike Woods who was convicted! She said he wanted to talk to me but did not have my phone number; I could either call him (she furnished his number) or I could give her my number to give to him. I said, thanks, but no thanks.

Seems like Adi has no problem dealing with convicted business owners who engage in fraudulent business conduct. If anyone still wishes to contact Adi, please do so. It will be interesting to find out if he responds the same way.

I STILL WANT TO BUY A TZORA at a good price with free accessories, because it is a good product. Has anyone bought one from a company that you feel good about? Please let me know.

Mitsugirly,

Thank you for the wonderfully detailed review and photos. My husband and I will be in Nassau on the MSC Davina next weekend from 8 to 5. We are in our 70s and can't walk too much.

Can you tell me how far it is from the Blue Lagoon dock to where the dolphin and sea lion are ? I heard they can be seen without having to pay to go inside and see the shows.

Did you book through NCL for this excursion, or on your own? Please tell me how to go about booking your own if that's what you did.

Thank you so much!

Forget about book through the cruise's excursion dept. They are always more expensive for the same or better deals offered at the dock. I just read that many of the cruise ship companies use the same tour operator that you can book at the dock for $15 -$40 less.

I've always booked my own tours directly on cruises I'd been on. Less expensive and more personalized.

Google under "Nassau shore excursions" and you will find lots of info.

Please join the Roll Call for this cruise to share information.:)

I emailed the CT ticket reservations, asking about seating order in the main theater based on booking order as well as who will be performing in the main theater. The response from CT was that the seating are not being assigned yet and the performance schedule of the artists are still in the works. Thus, no info has been passed onto the reservations department. I hope the end results will be as described on their website.

I tried to book my reservations yesterday, choosing the "pay in full" option which offers a 5% discount. However, the total did not reflect the 5% discount. I wrote in to find out why, but no one has responded yet. So, I can't place my reservations yet.

For those of you who have successfully booked your reservations, were you able to choose your stateroom from an availability chart? I couldn't find it.

With this being a full charter, perhaps CT is handling everything without help from MSC which is in the travel business.

Have most of you booked your lodging, yet? Would love to hear from you all.

third time in Egypt next October any recommendation ?

quote=adriennerenee;23013476]Hello everyone. I want to highly recommend Ramses Tours for private tours in Egypt. We have found it very easy working with H.George, and his itinerary is

excellent. H.George is very responsive and does a great job. We have told everyone going to Egypt that they MUST book with RAMSES TOURS if they want to have a good experience.

Bob and Adrienne

I agree with Terry's Girls' suggestion to look into the various tour operators for Cairo and Alexandria. While many posters are raving about the above mentioned operator, there are some who have not had such a wonderful experience. This operator uses "freelance" guides. People who were fortunate enough to get assigned experienced guides have wonderful and fulfilling experiences, but those ending up with less experienced or inferior guides come away missing a lot. There does not appear to be a consistent quality for the guides used; "freelancers" are called in as needed. It's a matter of luck of the draw.;)

Christine and Johnny: I'll ask you the same question I asked Rina. Did you personalize your tour? or use Ramses' set tour? If you personalized it, would you mind sharing the itinerary (and the cost?)?

Many thanks. Kathy

Same question here. Also how was it?

Rina, did you personalize your tour? or follow their set tour? If you personalized it, would you mind sharing your itinerary with us? Thanks.

Kathy

Same question here. Also how was it?

Hi,

My family of 5 just returned from a RCI cruise that stopped at Alexandria.

We had booked our tour with Ramses months prior to departure. George, the tour operator was always very quick to answer my many questions and always made me feel that we would be taken very well care of. I even called him prior to leaving to make sure everything was well organized for us. Our ship was in Alexandria from 7am to 10pm. Everything we organized was carried out very nicely. We always felt safe and we were very satisfied with our guide and driver. We met our guide at the scheduled time of 7:30am. He was waiting for us with our name on a board right outside the gangway. He made us feel safe from the first handshake! We immediately were escorted to his comfortable van with air condition. We were 5 plus the driver and our guide. Our guide was a young man, who was very knowledgeable in all of Egypts's history. He talked the whole 3 hours on our way to the pyramids, giving us so much info in a very easy to understand format. Our 3 teenagers were really interested in all he had to say! He always answered our questions and pointed things out along the way. The 3 hours just flew by. Our driver was also very good. His driving skills were amazing and we always felt very safe. He would also point things out to us. Both guide and driver spoke perfect english and very easy to understand. Once we got to Giza, Our guide brought us to the pyramids and would always be next to us ready to give more info, answer questions or be our photographer! We had organized a camel ride for the 5 of us and he also took care of that for us. At the pyramids we were not haggled at all by any of the people selling stuff or asking for a tip. Our guide was always close by to us and the locals would say a few words to him and then they would leave. We walked to the Sphinx were more info was given to us. We spent about 2 hours at Giza. At this time he offered to take us for lunch. We had brought some food from our ship, so we passed on the offer. So he suggested we leave for the museum. He called the driver, who promptly pulled up to take us there. At the museum, the guide took care of getting us entrance tickets. Inside he showed us all the amazing statues and gave us more stories about each artifact. It was so interesting and so much to see. He manuevered us throughout the musem and brough us to the Mummy Room. This too we had asked that we include in our excursion. This room was amazing. The kids were just amazed. He then brought us to see King Tuts treaseres. We were so inspired by the richness and all the stories behind each artifact. It was important to do this tour with a guide since he provided so much info and always answered our questions. Once we completed the tour of the museum, Our guide asked us if we wanted to visit the Papyrus store. We agreed for a quick stop of 1/2 hour. There we learnt how papyrus was made and we bought a small one as a souvenir. No pressure was felt at all on making a purchase. We left and then stopped at local shop and bought some canned soda. We were done our excursuin and we started heading back to Alexandria. It was about 3:45. We stopped to gas up the van and we purchased some more drinks and a couple of local treats (packaged) that our tour guide recommended. We talked alittle while during our drive back, but then we all fell asleep, absorbing everything we had seen and learnt.I had mentioned prior to booking that I wanted to be back at the ship for 7:00. It was 6:30, so our tour guide offered to take us to the Alexandria library and we also stopped at a Mosque were my husband and 3 boys entered the mosque. It was an interesting stop were the boys learnt more about our different cultures. Our driver would drop us off with the guide and be ready to pick us up when our guide called him.

We had an amazing time and we were so happy that we had booked with Ramses. They delivered everything we asked for and more. We always felt safe and extremey stisfied with all the information we were given. I highly recommend this tour company. Their price was very reasonable. We paid much less the ship tour but got so much more!

If you need any other info, do not hesitate to contact me. The 5 of us were extremely happy of our day in Egypt! Thanks to Ramese , it was very memorable!!!!

Our guide and driver dropped us right off at the port. We parted and said our goodbyes. As per our guides recommendations, the boys praciced there negatioating skill with the vendors at the port. They had an amazing time with the merchants and felt they made great deals! Our guide had given us some tips on how to negotiate with the locals! The boys shopped till it was boarding time!!! 9:15!!! They enjoyed this part of the excursion immensely too!

Montrealmaria,

Thank you for all the good info. Do you mind telling me how much you were charged, by the number of people or as a carload?

Thanks