ronrythm

13 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

 

The wiki definition is underwhelming as to details.  Sea trials are far more than propulsion and stability tests, though those of course are important.  Sea trials will range from the mundane, such as "swinging the ship" to adjust the magnetic compass to more closely match the gyro compass, to emergency scenarios like black-out recovery, testing of fire fighting, fire extinguishing, and fire detection systems and the like.  Every system on the ship will be proved to the satisfaction of the owner's representatives.  Navigation systems to stage lighting and sound.  Vacuum toilet system and waste water treatment plant to the proper temperature in the bar refrigerators. Fuel handling systems (especially the new LNG fuel system) and A/C performance.

 

After sea trials, it is difficult to say how long the ship will remain in Finland.  There could be repairs needed that were found during trials (fairly common).  Since the company does not own the ship until sea trials and any required repairs are completed, at which time the check is handed over, much of the "owner's materials" have not been placed on the ship, so there will be some "storing" of goods and equipment.  Then there will be crewing up and final clean up.  Bunkering and taking on water.

Any ideas on how they will be testing the LNG fuel system? Is there anywhere there for them to load fuel?

 Thanks 

Ron

5 hours ago, jimbo5544 said:

Where are these airfare prices?  Lol.  Mind you I was not around in 50

He’s not saying prices, he’s saying the number of flights is way down.

4 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

First off, Pride of America is limited to operating in the Hawaiian Islands, it cannot do PVSA cruises anywhere else in the US, with the exception of repositioning to/from a drydock.

 

And, the ones who would complain about real, not potential, unfairness would be:  Alaska Marine Highway, Circle Line Ferry in NYC, Washington State Ferry, American Cruise Lines, Blount Small Ship Adventures, hundreds of river ferries, dinner cruises, casino boats, whale watching boats, and even the unsafe at any time duck boats.

 

And, all the unemployed folks in the US, do you think they will take kindly to allowing foreign workers to work in the US?

You can take Blount off of that list. They ceased operations in August. Not the last business we’ll see go down in these times.

stay safe

Ron

9 minutes ago, 0bnxshs said:

Just curious about how Victoria Island qualifies as a "distant" foreign port for Alaska cruises out of Seattle but Bermuda or the Bahamas don't.  Bermuda used to be a round trip destination out of Boston and NYC and still is for NCL (only one I checked, but I suspect others.)

Victoria doesn’t qualify as a distant foreign port. You only have to do a distant foreign port if you start in one U.S. city and end in another. If it’s round trip back to the same U.S. city, it just needs to be any foreign port, so Victoria qualifies. The one way cruises in Alaska all start or end in Canada, so they don’t need a distant foreign port.
Enjoy,

Ron

At our stop in ISP, I went on a bear tour and we saw several bears. When we got back to the ship, a group of whales were bubble net feeding in the channel. So we got both!😁

Enjoy

Ron

Please note that all those “pictures” with the ice in the background were not actual photos, but artists representations from the marketing department. We all know how well the marketing department relates to real life.

For those sailing Lake Superior, here’s a song:

enjoy

Ron

https://www.foxnews.com/travel/carnival-cruise-ship-discharges-grey-water-florida-port

 Another fail.

You may want to check cancellation policies, as Cabo is a tender port and sometimes gets dropped due to weather. You may not know until you get there if the port is too windy to tender.

Enjoy

Ron

You might want to figure in that the sun doesn’t set until after 9:15 even on the last day of July in that part of Alaska. Twilight lasts past 10. So you basically are getting a daytime stop.

Enjoy

Ron

I’ve done this route on Carnival a lot of times (I live 30 minutes from the port) and it varies. The cruise director and the captain decide. Most will do at least one time shift, some will do two to match PV.  Very few do no changes. You won’t really know until Panorama starts doing the route. And then it can change with the CD and captain.

enjoy

Ron

On 9/26/2019 at 4:57 PM, nascarcruiser said:

Oh I understand why you posted.   The fact its prohibited makes no sense to me 

Baby monitors broadcast on all sorts of frequencies that may or may not be legal to use in different countries. The ship is responsible for all broadcasts from the ship. Since it’s impossible for the cruise line to know if that monitor is legal in the country du jour, they just ban them all.

On 8/27/2019 at 8:49 PM, Dd3thomas said:

We sailed on POA back in December. Had the best time. We splurged and got one of the suites and they did have shampoo. Even if you don’t pack it, they have ABC stores at every port and you can grab some there.  Compared to some of the newer ships, POA is kinda small, about 80,000 tons (some of the newer ships are 220,000+) and has about 2200 passengers. It does not have all the bells a whistles as some of the newer ships, like a casino but we were fine with that. Because it is such a port intensive cruise, it’s basically a floating hotel. The staff was great and made us feel like family.

Getting on and off in Oahu, your mom will be fine. The ports in Maui and Kauai are a bit of a walk to get to excursion pick ups, buses or taxis. In Kona on the big island, you have to take the tenders to get onshore. While on the ship, she should be ok, the pool area will we wet and slippery but the rest of the time it should be ok. They have 3 different sets of elevators and stairs and they have seating areas all over the place if she needs to take a break or rest.

Not sure if they sell out all the time but our travel agent said POA is one of their best selling cruises.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Enjoy!

The fact that there is no casino is not due to the age of the ship, but due to the fact it’s illegal. Because it only sails in Hawaii, they have to follow Hawaiian state law on gambling.

enjoy

Ron

Try Prime Time and Super Shuttle. They are the largest shuttle companies in the area.

Plenty of taxis. There’s a lot of information over on the West Coast Departures board. 

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/315-west-coast-departures/

enjoy,

Ron

$18 a day.

http://www.cruisecenterparking.com/rates.htm

Enjoy

Ron

Anyone else noticed that the OP made their one and only post two months ago, and hasn't been back?😁

Enjoy,

Ron

What is your plan if you don't make it? Our weather here in Southern California in March often calls for fog so the port may be closed and the ship doesn't dock on time. Plus the ship has to be cleared by ICE and then you have to go through. On a good day you should make it, but have a backup plan.

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Many years ago Norwegian had a ship named The Norway. A fire in the ships' laundry killed several staff members and injured several others. The Norway was so badly damaged that She was sunk becoming a reef.

This post is totally false. The Norway had a boiler explode in engineering, it was not part of a laundry. The Norway was never sunk, she, after several years of trying to rebuild, was sent to India to be broken apart.

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What is your backup plan if you don't make it? Will SW honor your ticket for a later flight? Also, the port does get closed for fog at times. Plan ahead.

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I believe if the problems with these two shuttle companies were ongoing, we would be seeing more complaints than are showing up on this thread.

Enjoy

Ron

In some ports the ship is required to use local vessels by port regualtions or local laws.

Enjoy

Ron

Depends on what you mean as a pre-paid visa; if you mean one of the gift cards, you can't use it to set up an account as there is no way to run a hold on it. You can use it once your account is set up and there are charges against it and they can charge a specific amount on the card. These cards typically do not have a name on them and can be used by anyone who has physical possesion of the card. The other kind actually set up an account and the card has your name on it. These may be able to be used to set up an on board account. Check with the issuer to see if they allow holds and how long before they release them.

Note: I used my debit card on a lot of cruises with no problems; my bank didn't put the long holds on that some do. Your mileage may vary.

Enjoy

Ron

We're traveling to the same ports in April (different ship) with a 3-year old and have the same restriction.

 

For Mazatlan, Stone Island seems to be the most popular beach option and you can supposedly get to it independently without driving. There's a short walk and then a ferry. That's our plan.

Enjoy

Ron

Very bad idea to use a debit card for S&S card expenses (the temporary holds can take up to 2 weeks to clear, finalize or be removed) unless you keep a large balance in your checking account this is often an issue for many.

 

Just the fact that you are asking "when does it get charged" indicates to me this may be an issue.

 

Use a standard credit card, then when the charge gets posted, transfer the cash from checking account to pay the bill, works out exactly the same in the end.

 

If you browse thru/read other Sign and Sail threads here, you will find numerous complaints of people who used debit cards and later regretted doing so.

Your mileage may very.

Enjoy

Ron

We stop by usually on the second night. If it is crowded, we know he is good. Only takes the first night to make or break the place.

Enjoy

Ron