kwahl1

On 4/7/2024 at 7:17 AM, Hogladyrider said:

We took our first cruise to Hawaii this winter via HAL.

 

We prefer low key and on our own.  It was not easy researching what to do but we managed great.

 

We booked the Kona Brewery Tour via their website and it did not disappoint.  We picked the 1st tour of the day which was around noonish.  We got there early.  It is walkable from the port, uphill about a mile, but we opted for an Uber, about $6 plus tip.

 

If you are a beer drinker this tour is a must.  It is amazing the sustainability they have built into this new brewery.  The tour is limited so it is not crowded.  The tour guide was extremely knowledgeable about all kinds of beer.

 

We were provided with 4 tastings, included in the tour price and a chance to shop.  We would not hesitate to recommend this tour or to do the tour again if we visit Kona.

 

We were also able to put some souvenirs right at the port pier at the local ABC store.  Reminder prices in Hawaii are high.  We felt that $25 for this brewery tour was a bargain!

 

The brewery also has a restaurant where we had  lunch, the pizza and salad was fresh and the beer was ice cold

Hogladyrider

Who did you book your tour through? Sounds ideal for me. We will be there on Oct 5th.

Ken

Any help. Move to another forum if you must! Been trying to search for some decent reviews of the Constellation and the Alaska itinerary. I've done ACL on Mississippi River and loved it and fell in love with small ship cruising. So much so, I booked a future cruise, Seattle to Juneau, 15 days in May of 2024. I'm going back and forth on whether I still want to finalize my payment. Been to Alaska 4 times so I know a little about the ports, glaciers and Inside Passage. Being from the Puget Sound area, the first few stops don't excite me. I can't seem to find any reviews of this itinerary. Sure the Constellation review are pretty much spot on if you've been on an American Cruise Line ship. Would appreciate what makes this itinerary unique being its a small ship and is it that much different of an Inside Passage cruise.  To be honest, I'm getting cold feet and thinking of other trips other than this $$$ one.

We stayed at the intercontinental in May 2022. Nice hotel and in a decent area of business hotels. You can walk to the French Quarter, but Iber would be a better option. We walked to the Creole House over on Canal St. Once on Canal, you can catch the light rail into the FQ. 
The New Orleans to Memphis cruise was wonderful. On the American Melody. 

We hop onboard the Melody on 5/13 in NOLA so I’ll keep my eyes on your post. We too are seasoned cruisers and this our first river cruise. 
 

ken and Janet

Just received a new brochure from American Cruise Lines. Quite disappointed in the brochure, too vague. Oh the itineraries look fantastic, but what ship on what route? No suite pictures. No dates published, just the month of sailing? Sold-out dates? Discounts ($$) published but no details. Worst of all no price ranges. They want you to call 1-800-981-9149, so that's what I will resort to today.

Just off the Regal in the Baltic, YES WE HAD PICKLEBALL. The equipment isn't the best, but neither are 90% of the players. The set up a second net, makeshift-type at best, so they could have two games going on at a time, and maybe 8-10 waiting to get on. If you think you need you own paddle bring it, but I wouldn't demand it. They have paddles and balls.

Just off the Regal and the Beatle Maniacs were playing for our Baltic 11-day cruise. They did a night in the Princes Theater and a night in the Piazza 2 night later.  That ship is headed to NYC now but I am not sure if the Beatle Maniacs got off the ship or where.

Is there a general search category for looking for repositioning cruises, say, Atlantic ocean from Europe to the USA in August of September. We took a TransPacific last year, loved it. Not sure where to start to look, Europe to USA on Princess only. Thanks for pointers

KEN

After the Sun leave dry dock on April 19th, where does she head? What here summer time look like? I see the Norwegian Sun will be in Seattle on the 19th, a quick jump from Victoria. Where to after that??

KEN

Princess won’t have any ship in the Caribbean for another week or two so, no, Princess has no way to take supplies to the Caribbean unless they put wings and giant propellers on ships. However, Carnival Corporation and the Arison family have donated $10,000,000 for relief. I know some people on other forums have criticized Princess for not doing anything and that $10M was too paltry. I disagree. Amazing how the media can influence impressions and manipulate facts.

Unrelated Pam. You are still cruisin? We met on a South America ship in '14, Chile to LA. Or on the Crown or the Grand. Anway I decided to look to see what's up with Princess on this issue. And saw your post and said "I know that lady from years ago". We leave next week Seattle to Sydney on RCL. Excited!

Let the kids go to the kids camp. Be creative about timing. If there older, and don't want to go to the camp. Give them a $5.00 for the archade.

How far would $5 go in the arcade? Maybe 2 minutes? Or do kids still play in the arcade unaccompanied? These older posts are a hoot!

Having family with almost 50 cruises on RCI to account for, Quest has been being changed up lately. Mostly because of the unfair morons that seem to think it necessary to show up with bag fulls of the so called requested items. Now how realistic is that? Especially to someone who has never been or seen? Seens tons of the Quest shows, and although they are resemblant of frat party hysterics and adult in nature, I don't see it being as bad as some are making it out to be. I am quite sure it wasn't a lap dance that was called for, despite what particular people saw it as. And if guys doing the worm is considered banging the floor...then hey...whatever.

 

 

 

Are they still doing this, ten year later. On the EOS next week. No one has mentioned this is on our M & M. Great sailing folks woohoo

We just called in to see if they offered OBC for anyone who has served in the military. They said it had to be part of the promotion when we booked the cruise. Is this correct? Whenever we book with Princess, it's an automatic $100 OBC with every cruise!!! We scanned in the certificate, and it's automatic with every Princess cruise.

Has RCI updated this policy yet? Will OBCs be offered on the Explorer of the Seas TransPacific coming up?

I cruised once and there was this lady who wouldn't shut up unless there was food in here mouth.

Is there a CC Board or any other type forum, other than CruiseCritic, where the crew "lets it all hang out" and gossips about what goes on behind the scene? Or great adventure stories? Anything we can read from the crew? It would be interesting, I think.

Is this that "Balance of Nature" food I hear advertised on the radio? I'm with the general audience, they will not heat up your food.

Must get creative with in-room heating with hot water bath or a hot water from the teapot. There are some creative food heaters out there at REI, survival stores, or MRE packets. All done without plugging in a single electrical device.

Do you know if the Junior suite, deck 9, have coffee makers or french presses? can you bring your own coffee grounds

This would interest me as I was ill for most of the 19 nights on our last cruise and have an 11 night cruise coming up.

 

Throughout last cruise in lifts etc all you could hear was 'seal' coughing as lots of passengers struggled with respiratory illnesses. Of course if you're ill advised to stay in cabin and air con always made me feel worse.

 

Sent from my SM-G930F using Forums mobile app

The cough and sore throat! Been there a few times. It's the A/C air is so dry in the cabins. So I grabbed a blanket and slept on the deck chair a few nights. Cleared it up. Another thought is to open your sliding glass door and let the sea air filter in. All weather permitting of coarse.

No judging here.

 

 

$3.97

 

Sent from my HTC One_M8 using Forums mobile app

As a former California wine snob this is disgusting stuff! Aged for 30 minutes then bottled aged on the shelf. May as well be MD 20-20.

From your settings select advanced calling and then wifi calling turn it on and you should be good to make and receive calls to and from all us numbers over a wifi connection bee sure to put your phone in airplane mode then turn on wifi to avoid any data roaming fees. Hope this helps

 

Sent from my SM-T800 using Forums mobile app

I have the iphone 7S. Is there an "advanced calling" in the settings so I can to the same wi-fi calling?

We are arrive on Oct 29th on the Explorer of the Seas from Seattle. Can I assume this will be docking at the Overseas Passenger Terminal there in Circular Quay? Big ship. I understand there is a smaller terminal but the smaller ships go there. True? Our hotel is not far from the Overseas Terminal.

Also, can I get a link to riding the train or subway, the one that goes to the airport from Martin Place.

KEN

Post-Pill, pre-AIDS. It was a tough time for moral busybodies, when there wasn't much to threaten people with except eternal damnation.[/quotTossing key

 

Tossing keys? I was thinking the same things. Thanks everyone for sharing the Song of Norway memories

We too are doing the October 2017 Transpacific re-positioning Seattle to Sydney. Our longest cruise. I love sea days, never a dull moment. Friend in Honolulu too.

Just ran across an oldie. The Royal Caribbean's Song of Norway. I had forgotten we cruised on this ship. Might of been our first cruise. Can anybody estimate the year? I'm thinking around 1991. Does anybody have of Song of Norway story to share or history lesson?

......and we thought our upcoming cruise on the Explorer of the Seas was a first for RCL.

DocSON.pdf

Once had a very bad sore throat, got the antibiotics, very professional folks. Another time there was an emergency call for O-Pos blood donation for an injured passenger, so I answered the call. All went well for me.