njhorseman

i have the feeling that you may mistakenly believe that Kings Wharf is in Hamilton. It isn't, it's in the Royal Naval Dockyard. Of the three pubs you've named, only Hog Penny is in Hamilton. It also happens to be our favorite lunch spot and pub in Bermuda. To get there take the Blue Route ferry from the Dockyard to Hamilton and then it's a short walk to the Hog Penny, although you have to walk up a steep but short incline at the end. The Frog and Onion is in the Royal Naval Dockyard , where you'll be docked. It's also a good pub and lunch spot. It's a short walk from Kings Wharf. Hammerheads is part of the Snorkel Park beach complex that is also located in the Dockyard, but it's not someplace you would go unless you were going to Snorkel park beach, which has an admission fee.

No, there is not. The ship was built for the Chinese market and apparently a thermal suite is not something that would be popular for that passenger demographic.

Actually the PVSA regulations no longer allow a technical stop to satisfy the foreign port requirement. That change was made a number of years ago. The ship now has to make an actual port call with passengers being allowed to disembark. You no longer see the old "sail by" at Ensenada on West Coast cruises or the cruises from the West Coast to Hawaii and back.

LGA has been rebuilt and its gone from the worst airport in NY to the best. It's also the closest to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal and the least expensive to get to by taxi, Uber or car service. Assuming there's a flight from LGA that meets your schedule and price needs by all means fly from LGA.

When is your cruise? They try to process the applications in embarkation date order so if yours is a couple of weeks away you're probably going to be waiting a bit longer. If you don't get the approvals by 7 days prior to embarkation then call their toll free number . By the way they don't say processing is 24 hours, they say you have to apply at least 24 hours in advance.

No one's asking you to do any research. But anyone who makes a broad generalization by citing their personal and possibly limited experience runs a substantial risk of being wrong, and you are just that...wrong.

Yes, the GW or one of the tunnels to Manhattan are the best ways to go. Going via Staten Island when you're starting in northern NJ takes you far out of your way.

Yes, taking the Harlem River Drive and the FDR does keep you on limited access highways, but I usually find the driving conditions on 12th Ave . to be good, despite the traffic lights....but I was born and raised in NY City and used to driving in Manhattan. In the end it's going to depend on traffic conditions that day so you should check for delays . 880 and 1010 on the AM dial give traffic reports every 10 minutes. The WAZE app helps...as an example right now it shows the west side route as being faster than the FDR route. If you're coming from the Ridgefield Park area sometimes taking the NJ Turnpike and the Lincoln Tunnel will be the quickest.

I agree.

Source, please. edit: I think this is it: https://www.laguardiaairport.com/announcements/covid-19-testing

We never sail without a drink package, and have just about always been charged tax on drinks we get while at port. This was last on embarkation day on the Star in Barcelona. It is port-dependent . You can't generalize from your personal experience. Not all ports charge a sales, excise or value added tax. For example if you were to take a cruise to Bermuda you would not be charged tax while in port in Bermuda because doesn't have a sales tax or any similar tax.

If you read cruise lines' ticket contracts you'll see that they have the right to change the itinerary . They're under no obligation to to compensate the passengers for an itinerary change but sometimes the cruise line will do so a matter of passenger goodwill by providing a small onboard credit or a small credit that can be used towards a future cruise.

I have the impression from other discussions that they don't, but it does have your passport information so it's not totally out of the question. Since they might not get the ArriveCAN application until shortly before the cruise departs they may not have the time to run it against NCIC .

I've answered the question in some detail in response to your post on the East Coast departures Board

The cruise line doesn't have access to the NCIC database so they won't know about the conviction and can't prevent the person from boarding. The passenger manifest will be released to Canadian authorities upon the ship's departure and they will review it against NCIC records. There's a strong possibility that the passenger will be interviewed by authorities upon the ship's arrival in Halifax and they will decide whether the passenger will be allowed off the ship in Halifax or must stay on board . Once in a while a passenger will be arrested, but that is only if there's an active arrest warrant for the individual. There's a lengthy thread involving discussion about the topic on the Ask A Cruise Question board. The original poster there had a misdemeanor conviction but the process is the same. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2842352-alaskan-cruise-with-a-stop-canada-with-10-year-old-misdemeanor-non-dui/ You may also want to read this web page published by the Canadian government. https://www.canada.ca/en/immigration-refugees-citizenship/services/immigrate-canada/inadmissibility/overcome-criminal-convictions.html

It's not as simple as wages although that certainly plays a role. Wages are set by collective bargaining agreements with the unions representing the crew, not unilaterally by NCL. Hotel department crew on US flagged ships must go through a lengthy process in order to become credentialed seamen, something not required on ships flagged in other countries . Everyone must get a Transport Workers Identification Card (TWIC) as well as a Merchant Mariners Credential from the US Coast Guard . Per Cruise Critic's resident expert, retired chief engineer @chengkp75, it can take from 3 to 5 months from the time someone is hired until they can begin working on POA.

No, @ORVis wrong. @davenclis right: Here are O's rules: https://www.oceaniacruises.com/health FOR SAILINGS EMBARKING ON OR AFTER AUGUST 1, 2022, Oceania Cruises will no longer require guests to produce a negative covid test to embark their cruise, subject to local regulations. Please Note: Voyages embarking from the United States, Canada and Greece as well as those sailing to Bermuda, will still require a negative covid test at embarkation, until further notice. Needless to say all of this could change on a moment's notice.

What makes you think that Panama is closed to travelers? Ships from numerous cruise lines have been doing Panama Canal cruises . Vaccinated travelers have been permitted to enter Panama for almost a year. From the US embassy in Panama: https://pa.usembassy.gov/covid-19-information/ Effective August 31, 2021, travelers arriving in Panama who present a digital or physical full COVID Vaccination Certificate, showing that they received all required doses of a COVID vaccine approved by the WHO, FDA or EMA at least 14 days prior to their entry, are exempt from all testing and quarantine requirements to enter Panama.

As an aside, AFAIK Blacklane is also just a booking portal for third party drivers and limousine services and doesn't own any cars or employ any drivers. On their website they solicit applications from limo services and drivers to join their service.

On the thread you started I noted that the Crowne Plaza is coming up in the searches i did. IIRC others have said they were not notified of the Best Western's closure.

Yes, Best Western is now a shelter for homeless veterans. The Crowne Plaza is showing up on the searches I just did. Try again...perhaps there was a temporary problem causing it to not show when you searched.

Nothing I said contradicts that. I said the manifest is submitted after the ship sails. For almost every cruise that is at least 4 days before the ship arrives in Victoria . I also said that the cruise lines can't prevent you from boarding because they don't have access to the NCIC database . The point is that the decision by the Canadian authorities is made on a case by case basis. Yes, you'll be able to board, but you may not be able to go ashore in Canada, and if you happen to have an active warrant you might even be arrested by Canadian law enforcement. So just because you weren't interviewed by Canadian authorities and just because you were allowed to go ashore doesn't mean that everyone with a misdemeanor will be treated the same way.

You can't really put Blacklane in the same category as Dial 7 or Carmel, and the price of their service reflects that. Dial 7 or Carmel can be more appropriately compared to Uber, Lyft or a taxi.

Few if any people with a satisfactory car service experience will bother to write a review while those with complaints will so what you see on line isn't representative of the overall experience. Carmel transports hundred...probably thousands...of passengers every day and there are sure to be some screw ups.

I'm glad things worked out for you, but just because you didn't have any issues doesn't mean that others won't. First, your experience had nothing to do with the specific cruise line. Cruise lines don't have access to the NCIC database so they couldn't have prevented you from boarding due to a past conviction because they don't know about it. It's Canadian officials who make the decision whether to allow you into the country. They don't need to physically look at your passport because they have your passport information on the passenger manifest submitted to them by the cruise line after the ship departs the USA . Canada does have access to the NCIC database and they check for the passengers' criminal history. They make the decision on a case by case basis about who to admit and whether an interview is required. In your case they apparently decided to admit you...or it's also possible that your conviction wasn't even in the database as states don't always report every conviction. In any event you can't make a general statement that because you didn't have a problem no one else will. The decision is made person by person, case by case.