AcadiaL

Four days before the end of the cruise and the crew is already soliciting a score of 10 on our post-cruise survey. Guest services has even placed a call to our room asking how we are enjoying the cruise.

 

 

 

I'm telling everyone that until Celebrity starts enforcing no reserving of loungers, buffet tables, theater seats, and promenade deck lounger, nobody gets a 10. I also add that until they can figure out how to organize a line instead of allowing mobs to push and shove their way onto shuttle buses, nobody gets a 10. I sometime add that each time somebody solicits a 10, I deduct one point. The look on their faces is priceless.

 

 

 

If 10s are so important, they can earn them.

 

 

 

(Our MDR waiter is getting a 10 and a little extra)

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My husband and I both had swollen ankles on our last cruise and we do not drink. I think it is the desalinated water on ships, and also lots of salt in the food. I used one of the lifejacket cages as a footrest on our balcony last time, and it helped.

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I always carry a few paper towels either in a pocket or in my purse, and not just when I am on trips. I never touch rest room door handles, use my knuckles to press elevator buttons , and also carry dollar store individually wrapped wet hand wipes. Even with all of my many precautions, I still caught the noro virus on a two week cruise in 2013, on the last night, and two days later my husband came down with it at home. I think touching menus and serving utensils at the buffet plus hand rails, etc, may be common areas of germ transmission.

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I took Alexa with me on one land based vacation and was able to easily pair my iPad with my Echo Dot. I found that

I rarely used it, so from now on it stays home. I don't see any problems pairing it at sea if you have a good internet connection.

I would pack safe packaged cookies and cakes and would never trust a busy cruise ship kitchen staff to ensure that desserts are safe when you don't have to. Keep it simple as much as possible. I would be scared to take our 14 year old GD on any cruise. If a reaction happens and you need an emergency room, minutes count, and I would want her to be able to be treated in a hospital. I know I am more paranoid than most, but friends of ours lost their college age son 15 years ago when his systems shut down one by one even after initial treatment in an ER. He had eaten at a restaurant which assured him that there was no risk of peanut cross contamination. Mistakes happen.

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Loved the photos Steamboats. Vielen Danke! (spelling?)

We stayed at this HGI in Secaucus last September for our NCL Breakaway cruise to Bermuda. It offered free parking in their safe garage for the week, which was quite a good deal. Its a nice clean hotel in a safe area. There is only one restaurant within an easy quick walk, but there is a bus that takes you into NYC from almost in front of the hotel. This would be good for some pre trip sightseeing, but not good for hauling luggage. We used taxis, and the fare was like $90. including the tip for the return trip, and we shared a taxi on the way into to the cruise port with friends, so it was cheaper. The hotel is difficult to find if you are not familiar with it. I did Google Earth street view and visualized it at least six times so we would not miss our turns, and we did fine. It was stressful for us to drive there though as the signs all come up fast and we were so afraid of missing our turns and ending up going into the city and having to pay the tolls.

We would stay at this hotel again because of the secure parking there which was included. It was cheaper than parking at the port.

Just looking for a peaceful cruise. Does norwegian make congo lines on the cruise ship? make people dance and loud music all over ship?

Just read all the replies to this initial post. First of all, I can't believe this was a serious question, but then the replies all had me laughing out loud.

Oh, I want to hear about your "Heart of the Island" tour. We're signed up for that one. The reviews I've read of the Highland Village say it's very hilly, but it looks to me like there are stops along the way, not just one continuous long hill. Is that correct?

 

Thanks,

Kathy

Kathy,

We did the ship's Heart of the Island bus tour. The bus ride was scary as the driver drove too fast going there, but after several of us told him that, he drove more slowly on the way back. The Highland Village was really nice and the scenery up on that hill overlooking that huge lake was spectacular. Watch out for that pig who gave my husband a red mud snout mark on his tan shorts! Don't worry about the hill. The driver stops briefly at the bottom parking lot to allow people to use the bathroom, then everyone gets back on the bus and he drives you to the top of the hill and the tour begins. You gradually make your way back down the hill to where the bathrooms and the gift shop are. You also get a Scottish oak cake and a beverage at the end before you get back on the bus. Bring your camera. Hope you have a beautiful sunny day like we had.

To anyone wondering what kind of jackets to bring, you will need at least a heavy fleece jacket on this cruise. The ship itself was very chilly in the public areas each night. Quebec City was in the 40s in the mornings we were there.

Deck - 8

Cabin # - 8132

Class –

Starboard or Port Side -Starboard

Bed near?(balcony or bath) –bath

Quiet Cabin (With comments on problems. Note if connecting. ) – very quiet. Heard some footsteps above but never lasting too long. Could hear our party people neighbors when they were leaving or coming back with their friends, but rarely heard them in their cabin.

Balcony View - Give comments on view, noting if location of any obstructions was an issue. – just far enough forward to have no

lifeboats or anything else below to obstruct the view. Also the lights from Deck 5 were off to the right side and do not illuminate this deck at all.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? -

Standard balcony, plenty of room for two. Brought an inflatable ottoman and had enough room to stretch out my legs.

Was wind a problem?

Not usually. Since we were cruising near the Equator, the balcony was a bit too sunny and warm and muggy to really enjoy most of the time.

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem?

Any specific problems with this cabin?

Its a long walk to get to the dining rooms and buffet. Also felt a lot of

motion on this relatively calm cruise. I would book the same cabin again but only if I could not get anything closer to the center of the ship. Had the best room steward, Bayu.:)

Any other comments?

Instead of trying to hide them, we always call and ask to have them removed on the first day along with the bottles in the fridge,,,

We did try to have them removed but our cabin stewardess said that she

was not allowed to remove them and suggested where we could hide them.

This was on RCCL. I don't know if other cruise lines are as weird about it.

I hate when the counter space in my already small cabin is taken up by their "mini bar" items, which on my last RCCL cruise took up half the space!

When I hid most of it and the bar person came in to check it the last night, I got charged for two things I had hid, and then I had to straighten out the bill.

I also hate loud talkers, in any public area. Some people have naturally loud voices and don't have a clue as to how annoying it is to have to listen to them in planes, restaurants, or other areas where it is not easy to leave.

People equate money with class, when class is really shown by how much consideration one has for other people.

We needed a private tour taxi for 4, but since we did not reserve one of those blue flag taxis in advance (and since we were not among the very first ones off the ship), we could not find a blue flagged taxi. The only one I saw already had a group booked. So I walked among all the vehicles and finally found a man who did not have passengers, and asked him about his price. He said it would be $50pp for 4-5 hours. When I asked him about the govt. rate of $40pp, he just said that was his rate, and if we did not want to tip him, that was fine. So, not having any other choices, we all climbed into his light beige Mitsubishi van. He turned out to be a wonderful tour guide. He took us to every single parish on the island and educated us about everything we saw. His name is Lewis Foggo, and he was born and raised in Bermuda.

Here is his information: RELIABLE TAXI SERVICE

TEL: (441) 704-2109 email: lewis-foggo@hotmail.com The dash after lewis is the top underline lower dash on the same key, but it blends in with the blue underlining that came on automatically.

Lewis took us everywhere we asked him to go, and the five hours went by with us feeling like we got a great value for our money. We tipped him 20 percent and he earned it.