jollyjones

I think you are being optimistic there - I have never found an accurate way of determining which will be tender ports before embarkation. And I do look because I hate tendering, I usually stay on the ship in tender ports unless I have a very pressing reason to go ashore. After one cruise I did that had eight out of ten ports at tender, I cancelled another cruise that had a similar itinerary, I just couldn’t stand it.

Generally B2B excursions are not offered until on board.

Actually, I think future sales for SS are strong in general, not just for Venetian sailings. I was on a cruise in November (on the Nova!) and made bookings for 2026 and found that even as far out as October 2026, I couldn't get near my preferred cabins as they had already sold.

None of our regular weekly cruises dock in Hamilton, they are all too big, I believe Two Rock passage has a draught of only 25 feet. We do get smaller ships still docking at Front Street but that is almost invariably on repositioning cruises across the Atlantic. And very occasionally, a smaller ship will still brave Town Cut and dock in St George, if the weather permits. You can peruse this year's schedule here: http://www.rccbermuda.bm/Documents/Shipping_schedules/2025 Cruise Ship Schedule.pdf

Yes, I have also found this to be true - not invariably but usually.

I have sailed twice on Silver Nova (sister ship, same deckplans) on Deck 6 above Silver Note and never heard a sound from it. Dolce Vita and the Panorama lounge are also on Deck 5 but I'd be surprised if you heard much from them either, the soundproofing seems to be pretty good. I'm not a morning person so I'd certainly always opt for being above a lounge where music is likely to end before midnight than under the pool deck where loungers may be moved around early morning, but you may feel otherwise. Under the Observation lounge shouldn't be a problem, it's carpeted, pretty deserted early morning and not subjected to noisy activities during the day. I'd never sail that far forward or high up in the ship to avoid excess movement in rough seas, but again you may feel differently.

Offers of low solo supplements to fill unsold cabins are no use to anyone, like me, who books flights well in advance - often 9 months or more out - as flight and seat availability for specific dates can be problematic if left too late. As the fare buckets for long haul flights fill up, prices go up.

Indeed, our next cruise ship arrival is Feb 14th and she's coming from Miami. No other arrivals till March. Bermuda and the Bahamas are a thousand miles apart.

An amusing but irrelevant point, just as a thought exercise - if SS and Manfredi had survived Covid without RCL, would New Crystal have happened?

I believe this is the beginning, middle and end of the story. Without the RCL buyout, SS would not have survived Covid. The End.

I always choose to buy the premium internet package (which despite pax saying it's $29 a day is actually only $20 a day if you buy the full voyage package) and these are the speeds I get. The included internet is generally about one tenth of these speeds. This as far as I'm aware is how it has been ever since Starlink was installed so I am having difficulty understanding the recent crop of complaints, I'm not at all sure what if anything has changed. I also don't understand why, if internet communication is important to someone, they don't just budget in the cost of the premium package. Pax seem to be happy to pay for amazingly (to me, absurdly, unnecessary) expensive extras - wine, dining, spa, excursions - but baulk at internet.

If you remain on the same ship you are effectively cruising from Fort Lauderdale to Boston without calling at a distant foreign port and so would be in violation of the PVSA. If you change ships in Quebec it would be legal. If it's the first scenario, you should not be able to purchase such an itinerary - if you have, whoever sold it to you doesn't know what they are doing.

Cedarbrook may be lovely, but for a less than 12 hour stay, and that in darkness, I would always go for a hotel within a short walking distance since I haven’t the patience to be waiting for a shuttle bus. Each to their own.

'Hilton Seattle Airport and Conference Centre" Just a quick walk through the car park and over the pedestrian bridge.

I'd choose May / June. July / August it can get seriously humid and hot. September is peak hurricane season. October's not so bad for hurricanes but often rains a lot.

And that's the UK ETA, not the EU EES or ETIAS.

I'm not saying that everyone else does this, but I wash my hands frequently. especially before heading to a dining place, so I walk right past sanitising stations, knowing that alcohol sanitisers are relatively ineffective against Norovirus. Trouble is, one can't tell who has washed and who hasn't.

This is the crux of the matter. It may turn out to be that these T&Cs are just something that Head Office thinks looks good on paper, and the people doing the actual booking go ahead and deal with the complimentary cruise benefit sensibly. As was my experience. Only time will tell.

Greek Orthodox

These T&Cs are from 30th May 2024 and appear to be frankly ridiculous, and concerned me greatly, but when I recently did some onboard bookings I asked about using my 14 day complimentary benefit toward a longer cruise and was told ‘sure, just select a cruise and we’ll apply it’. Which they did. I booked a 22 day cruise, admittedly starting just outside the June to August blackout dates, and my fare was pro-rated down by the expected amount.

Do Alaska first then New England.

I don't believe this is mentioned explicitly in the T&Cs, I did read them, but it is the norm that any milestone benefit that you reach during a cruise is applied for the whole cruise. I would also suspect that if the benefit wasn't offered at the start of the cruise, a polite request to reception or the Venetian Society representative would rectify this.

Just over $20 per day for whole voyage sign up, $29 per day if you buy it for 24 hour segments.

It's nothing to do with the money, it's the having to remember to find out if you have to do it. You have no idea what ETIAS will entail since it hasn't happened yet, although I hope it won't be much different to ESTA and the various ETAs. And I'm pretty sure your first EES exposure will involve a queue and a delay which may have some bearing on timing of an onward connection.

Not recent and not just the Nova. This is how it's been ever since Starlink was installed across the classic fleet - basic wifi just about good enough for emails, premium wifi about ten times the speed, at the speeds you quote. SS is not 'removing' any benefit, not sure what you mean?