Joanandjoe

We are Regent gold cruisers who are considering our first Viking cruise.  No. wine lists will not be a determining factor; but we are curious.  If something as basic as Chateau St. Michelle, which would be a below average wine on Regent, is an extra cost wine, what IS included?

Viking looks fine to us in paper, but we haven't tried it yet.  For the two people who say they'll stick to Regent (despite the outrageously high cost), why wouldn't you try Viking again? 

2 hours ago, BaumD said:

Just finished the same cruise in the reverse direction.

How was the cruise?  Was it impacted by the low water levels of the river, or was it OK for the northern part where you sailed?  How did you get between St. Louis and Alton, and between Red Wing and either the airport or one of the Twin Cities?

Yes, we're aware that the cruise is actually Red Wing to St. Paul.  We'll be staying at the ACL Hotel, the Hotel St. Paul, and ACL is supposed to get us to the ship.  At the St. Louis end, our friend will pick us up in Alton.

I'm hoping that ACL will alter its normal departure times so that we can see fireworks. We are, as you stated, going downstream.

We are looking forward to our 4th ACL cruise on the American Symphony, 6/20/23 to 7/7/23, from St, Paul to Sr. Louis.  We've booked our flights and hotels (including the "free" night pre-cruise in St. Paul before the cruise and 3 nights in St. Louis, where a good friend lives, after the cruise).  We've even renewed our Global Entry cars, which include TSA pre-check, for what will be our first flights anywhere since August, 2019.  All of our vacations since 8/19, including an ACL Chesapeake Bay cruise, have involved driving rather than flying.

We suspect that Davenport, Iowa may be the highlight of the trip, since we hope to see the Field of Dreams during the day and a July 4th celebration sometime while we're in port. (This year, though, the fireworks and air show were on July 3rd, not the 4th.)

Will anyone be sailing with us?

25 minutes ago, Jimmcdaniel said:

Basically, yes. Although in my experience about half the people on the tour didn't read the instructions, download the app, or have headphones so they just had to walk close to the guide so they could hear. 

Interesting.  Regent used to use wireless headsets, which worked well on Regent and on my two recent trips with Road Scholar.  "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" Don't they know that many seniors, including the two of us, are not enamored of app-based technology?  Regent cruisers include a lot of seniors.

We're puzzled.  We both have old LG (which doesn't make smartphones anymore) Android smart phones, which we only bought after our flip phones were no longer supported.  We've never even tried to use headphones with them.  We will soon replace the phones with 5G phones.  Is Regent telling us that we need to buy headphones or wireless equivalents as well, even though we have absolutely no use for headphones under normal circumstances?

No, we're not luddites; but we only buy technology that we need.  If we're walking or driving, we don't want to have headphones to distract us.  J & J

15 minutes ago, forgap said:

Yet, as I said in my review, with all the guidance about dress codes it was not enforce - even on formal nights.  I saw men in short sleeved, open neck shirts, no jacket, stroll right on it, led by whomever was assigned to escort them.  give me Regent any day!  
 

 

Did you post your review on the SS board?  Of so, I wouldn't be surprised to find people attacking ("flaming") you for your unfavorable review.

Silversea has many itineraries that are more interesting than Regent itineraries, so we hoped to add Silversea to our favorites..  Therefore, in 2018 we took a Scandinavia cruise on the Silver Spirit that had one of the best itineraries we've ever sailed, to places on both the Swedish and Finnish sides of the seldom-visited Gulf of Bothnia,  As shown in the attached review (the CC link had expired, so this is a Word Document), the ports were great, but Silversea was a huge disappointment.

For cruises not wholly within the US (American Queen and American Cruise lines, with Viking an added starter), we'll stick to Regent.

Silver Spirit Review July 2018.doc

I'm glad you asked, and got the positive answer you wanted.  As Joan likes to say: "not asking is an automatic no."  Joe

They might or might not be helpful; but it never hurts to call the ACL office.  If they can't get you your excursions, maybe they can put you on a waitlist.   Joe

2 hours ago, doowopbob said:

Glad we canceled this cruise.  Hopefully this will change before our Sept Northern Europe cruise or we will probably cancel that to.

Sadly, we agreed with Bob, and cancelled this cruise.  We were supposed to spend 4 days with friends in Rustington (west of Southampton) before the cruise.  They suggested that, under current UK Covid rules, the risk of catching the disease was too great.  Shortly after we cancelled, one of the friends caught the disease despite having all four shots.  A relatively mild case; but still ....

Have a wonderful cruise, and keep wearing the N-95 of K-95 masks.  Joe

1 hour ago, BillHana said:

 

The claim that "the shared internet became under-used and unnecessary" is a copout statement. I found it was slow at times which indicates to me that many users are on at the same time. Many of us do not have the top tier data plans which provide hotspot access and lots of data. My laptop computer has only WIFI and no cell access. I like to keep up to date with news sources while on a cruise.

I hope that someone from ACL is reading these posts, and will reconsider the termination of internet access.

On our last cruise in Chesapeake Bay last November, internet was, indeed, lousy.  I wondered why Marla, the social director, was giving cell phone courses that only applied to iPhones, including a course on how to use your cell phone as a WIFI hotspot.  Now I know:  ACL was getting ready to eliminate WIFI.   My phone does NOT have to capacity to be used as a hotspot; so this may force me to buy a new phone.  That's definitely not appreciated.  I do not use my cell phone for internet except for emergencies:  the screen is too small.  Apparently ACL doers not want us to connect with the outside world.

The least ACL can do is provide people who can't use their cell phones as hotspots with portable hotspots, so we can use our laptops.  (I don't have a tablet; again, because the screen is too small.)

21 hours ago, FLgemini said:

I'm on June 5-19, 2022 Explorer from what was supposed to be Israel to Venice. Just received word they are dropping Croatia and Venice on our itinerary and now have us ending in Rome with no overnight on June 18 (as we will now be in Sorrento on that day) with prompt disembarkment the morning of June 19. I guess the folks who were on the Explorer after us are now starting their voyage from Rome. Assuming another casualty from Venice blocking cruise ships over a certain size.

I hope they don't make the same change to our Haifa to Venice cruise next year (10/15 to 10/29/23). That cruise has 3 Adriatic ports that would be new to us:  Tirana, Dubrovnik and Koper.  We have no need for a 4th or 5th trip to Sorrento, and we truly dislike disembarking at Civitavecchia and flying from Rome.  Hopefully the cruise terminal at what's now the Venice Industrial Port (Marghera)  will be open by then.

See https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=683820&et_cid=3500453&et_rid=48187025&et_referrer=Boards_Million_Member_Newsub

We had a few typos in the review, but we don't know how to correct them.  The last paragraph was about disembarkation, not embarkation, and the ARMY museum in in Yorktown is The American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, not the American Revolutionary War Museum at Yorktown.  Perhaps our host Jazzbeau can make the corrections.

All in all, quite a nice cruise.  BTW, masks were required in all indoor areas, including buses and excursion locations, and compliance was 100% for the crew and well over 90% for passengers.  If I were to rewrite the review, I'd add this comment.

Our review is now up (finally), and I'll start a new thread for it.  It's only slightly longer than post # 15 above.  https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/memberreview.cfm?EntryID=683820&et_cid=3500453&et_rid=48187025&et_referrer=Boards_Million_Member_Newsub

Review of American Constitution Chesapeake Bay Cruise 11/14/21

Embarkation was well managed.  We stood on a line for a few minutes to take our (negative) Covid tests, then went right onboard.  Our luggage was waiting in our room.  Easy!

Our AAC cabin was a good size at 300 square feet plus balcony, although we didn’t need a balcony in Chesapeake Bay in mid-November. 

Food and service were much improved from prior ACL cruises, and we didn’t miss having buffets at breakfast and lunch.   The menus for breakfast included daily specials such as lobster hash and crab Benedict.  At breakfast, you placed a tentative order for lunch and dinner, with three choices for each.  There was always at least one good choice for dinner, and usually a good choice for lunch.  If we didn’t like the lunch choices, we could get hamburgers, hot dogs, pizza and wraps at the Back Porch Café on deck four.  The café serves fantastic coleslaw.  We were comfortable with this arrangement, and enjoyed the food and wine.  BTW, wine and beer were readily available in several places most of the day and evening, while cocktails were available during the 5:30 to 7 pm cocktail hour.  Since dinner also started at 5:30, dining was staggered, and there never was an overcrowded dinner rush.

Shore excursions were mostly very good, but there were exceptions.  Our first stop, Yorktown, featured ARMY, the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown.  ARMY was an amazing mixture of films, displays, interactive exhibits and an outdoor re-enactment area.  A bargain at any price, we spent 3 hours there.  Only fatigue and the lure of lunch on the ship made us leave.  The same trolley that took us to the museum made a loop around the battlefield.  A more dedicated student of the American Revolution could have biked or taken a car through the battlefield. 

Our second stop, Crisfield, MD, was the biggest disappointment of the trip.  The ferry to Tangier Island should have been the highlight of the trip:  an Island where the people still spoke an 18^th century Cornish dialect, and many of the people still made a living fishing in the Bay.  Instead, the excursion was a dud.  The ship’s talk on Crisfield didn’t mention the island, the promised all you can eat meal at a restaurant turned out to be lukewarm crab cakes eaten outdoors, and the golf cart tours of the island were poorly organized (just three 6 person carts for 100 people, so there were long waits) and superficial.  The only saving grace was a film on island life at the local museum.  All in all, a tour that should have been a 10 was no better than a 4 on a scale of 1 to 10.

We were in Cambridge, MD for parts of two days, and had very different excursions.  On day 1, our excursion took about 20 minutes:  a short walk to a lighthouse, a short talk by a docent, and a self-guided tour.  Not worth the effort.  Day 2 was a follow-up on a stop in Baltimore at the Civil War Museum.  They convinced us the Harriet Tubman sites were not to be missed.  We signed up on the ship, and saw three sites.  The National Park site featured multimedia presentations of her life and work.  The general store where she was wounded featured a guide who loved her subject.  The storefront site in town was also interesting.   A standout excursion, well worth the extra $$.

We also enjoyed the Chesapeake Maritime Museum in St. Michael’s, MD.   All 14 buildings helped us explore the bay and its history.  I enjoyed the Art Gallery;  Joe liked the boat buildings.  There was something for everyone on the grounds.  We set out as soon as the ship docked, and returned after lunch.  The ship docked right next to the museum.    

Our last stop was at Annapolis, where we did two tours:  a city bus tour and an extra cost walking tour of the US Naval Academy.  Both tours were excellent.

Entertainment was fine.  Ron and Stephanie Yonskie provided a variety of fun.  They sang, ran games and Ron even did a “Mad King George” skit worth remembering.   The Cruise Director was friendly and fun.  The ship even had a woman come in and teach us to “pick” crabs:  delicious and fun.  We enjoyed her warm personality and the piles of crabs she brought with her.  Everyone emerged with sticky hands and smiles. 

Disembarkation was easy.  Joe brought our car to the pier. Ship employees helped us load our luggage, and we were on our way.  We reached home in New Jersey well before noon, after a terrific trip.

I guess a 15 day wait with the review not up yet is enough.  My next post will be the review.  BTW, in shortening the review a bit, I discovered a few typos and misstatements,  I hope I will be allowed to correct these before the review is finalized.

3 minutes ago, DaveinCharlotte said:

Hmmm.  Staff shortages, maybe?  If you still have the text you submitted, you could try posting the whole review right here.

We will if necessary; but it's rather long.  J & J

Believe it or not, our review still hasn't been posted.

We have submitted our review, and will post a link (probably in a new thread) when CC has posted it.  Overall rating:  5 on a scale of 1 to 5.  Cabin, food, and entertainment were a 5, and service would have been a 5 if CC had that category.  Entertainment, public rooms and fitness/recreation (shore excursions in our rating) were a 4.  J & J

We haven't yet written our (mostly) favorable review yet. but:

Yes we had a terrific cruise.  We had experienced some service problems on our prior two ACL cruises, but not on this one.  The food, entertainment and service were excellent.

Yes, we not only would we book ALC again, we have done so:  an Upper Mississippi cruise in 2023.

One month to go before we sail.  Will anyone on CC be joining us?

We are scheduled to leave for our Chesapeake Bay Cruise on the Constitution one month from today, with sailing the next day (11/14).  One question is how much to pack, which depends on whether we can wash our clothes (or have them washed for us).  We will be driving to the ship, so we could overpack; but we'd rather not do so.

Does anyone know what the clothes washing facilities are on the Constitution?  Thanks

4 hours ago, UUNetBill said:

Twelve years of Regent cruising for us and I have yet to meet the people that look like the brochure people.  😄  🤣  😁

I've met the "brochure people" for another cruise line.  Pretty good gig for a "seniors model":  they are paid modeling fees plus a free cruise in the same area of the ship as the entertainers. 

As you can see from our picture, I think Joan looks better than the female model-LOL.  Joe

Is a photo for online check-in a new requirement?  We've never had to send in a photo in advance of a cruise.  Will a snapshot do, or do we need a passport-type photo?  Our next cruise isn't until May on the Splendor, so we have lots of time to do what's needed.

22 hours ago, shipgeeks said:

When we got home, a neighbor on Neville Island (opposite side of the river) posted on Nextdoor that you were in the Emsworth Locks. 

Ship geeks, your post reminded me of of one of my favorite Pete Seeger songs, Monongahela Sal, which includes the following verse:

"He swore that he always would love her
As they locked through the old Emsworth dam.
But that night, overboard he did shove her
And then Moat Stanley took it on the lam."

There are lots of versions of this available online, including Seeger's:  https://www.shazam.com/track/60428288/monongahela-sal

Global Fish, have a great cruise.  You might even find it fun to ask one of the entertainers to play this song, if she or he knows it.   There are many other great river songs.  Joe