DaisyGoldberg

The sun came out and the sky is blue, so you should be getting a great look at the ship (in case it rains later!)

Thanks!  No problem with a step in the second bedroom.  Just didn't want mom wrestling with a step in the middle of the night. 

The bedroom in the master certainly looks tight!  

If you don't require a balcony and are on a scenic cruise, the SJ suites are terrific. Lots of room, gorgeous floor to ceiling windows - we did Boston to Canada back to back and the views were just STUNNING.  There are suites with balconies as well, but not the same views from inside the room, clearly.

The Murphy bed is quite comfortable as well if somebody needs it.  And the location is great - a short walk to elevators and everything front of ship, and a short walk across the pool area to midship.

On a cool weather itinerary I'd take an SJ on the Dawn any time. 

Unfortunately, videos of these suites don't show what I'm looking for. Is there a step between the master bedroom and its bathroom? 

My mom uses a walker and we've stayed in multiple 2 bedrooms on various ships, including in Havens, and there has never been a step into the bathroom from the master. However, the accessibility document triggered by applying for wheelchair assistance to board the ship indicates steps entering BOTH bathrooms. 

I can tell from one video that there is no step up from the living room, but there are no angles in any films or stills I've seen that show the transition between master bedroom and bathroom. 

We'll cope, however it turns out, but I'd rather not worry about it if the letter is mistaken and it's one level on the master side of the suite.

Thanks!

The washable reuseable pads are great and you can use them in combination with disposable pads. If you have a light leak, the disposable one can be tossed, and the reusable one put away for the next evening if unaffected. We don't put it under the sheet - if you wash them several times they're quite soft, and they don't move. Just get a larger size so you aren't worried about what will happen if you roll over. The purpose would really be just to save the mattress/bed in case of a real flood.

Pad inside disposable diaper then lying on disposable pad on top of reusable sturdy pad is great protection, and you can easily dismantle when you get up in the morning so that the room attendant simply makes the bed as usual.  Give it a try at home and see how secure it is.

We buy the scented bathroom trash bags and just tie them up tight and put them in the trash (urine only). They've always been removed with the trash with no comment. 

We took some grab bars similar to those pictured above on our last cruise. They came in very handy for my mom to transfer from her chair into the toilet area. There was a very thin (more decorative than anything, in my opinion) grab bar beside the toilet, but that was a couple of steps in from the door - pretty useless in terms of transferring from a chair or walker. She would set her walker aside at the door and step into the cubicle.

So we put one outside the cubicle and one inside, so she could pass hand to hand with something to hold onto. 

They have a very sturdy grip on smooth surfaces and don't weigh much, so you can transport them easily. You just press them against the wall and snap the lever and they will hold a LOT Of pressure. To release you just flick the lever back up. Leave them up for the cruise and take them down the day you leave (you may have to tug hard!)

If you want to take them off and move them to the shower, that's easily accomplished, too!

Unfortunately they don't stick to the patterned surfaces in the rest of the cabin.

You can also discuss the individual ports with the concierge -- some may have a level walk off platform, others a steep ramp. Very port- (and sometimes tide-) dependent. They should be able to clue you in as to which ports you might be more comfortable being wheeled off vs walking off. 

We logged in five minutes early because I wanted to make sure we were both in frame, and the lady popped up and took us right away. So don't be surprised if you're greeted BEFORE starting time if you're there.

I think they just field these things steadily all day long, so if they have a break and somebody's there, they might as well get you out of the way. The link may only work within a narrow window, however.

Copley Square is a great location and walkable to all the sights, shopping, etc.

However, the end of October will be very crowded and expensive. A week earlier during the Head of the Charles race there probably wouldn't be any rooms in Boston at all.

On 8/3/2022 at 10:36 AM, KKB said:

 

But I suspect that even as a solo I will still want to do more activities the 1st week & chill more the 2nd week (when I have a balcony)

 

If it's a back to back with identical itinerary it will give you so much freedom - plan to see a show or have a certain dinner but just plain don't feel like getting up from your nap and dressed for the evening?  Roll over, sleep til 8, hit the buffet, go back to your room and watch a movie, make it an early night and maybe start the next day earlier than you would have.

The freedom of solo travel is doubled when everything is scheduled twice for you! 

10-15k for a Haven vacation and you end up at Water World!

Bet it's gone at first drydock.

Having sailed once in the Garden Villa, it's something we'd like to try again, but probably will only happen through bidding for the upgrade.

If after the cancellation date our family is in 2 separate cabins, and one of us wins the GV upgrade, am I right that the second cabin people would still be stuck with their costs for their cabin if they canceled it to join us in the GV? That would be the biggest reason not to bid for a GV upgrade as we'd have to figure the cost of that original cabin on top of the bid.

Only way around it I can think of is for the second family cabin not to be booked until the GV upgrade is unsuccessful, but that carries its own risks.

On 5/18/2022 at 8:56 PM, lepidoptera said:

I agree I wasn’t impressed with the sides at Cagney’s on my last cruise (September on the Encore). I had the truffle mashed potatoes and I thought they were horrible and even smelled unappetising. The appetisers (shrimp cocktail and tomato bisque), lamb and crème brûlée I had were all very good though. Next time I won’t order any sides I think. 

Just off the Pearl and the sides at Cagneys were shockingly bad. Steak was good, salad was good, soup was good.  The onion rings (all four tiny onion rings) were straight out of a frozen bag and completely unseasoned. The baked potato was virtually inedible - like it had been sitting in a chafing dish for hours. 

For the first time I can honestly say the main dining room outperformed Cagneys. I didn't have steak there, but I wasn't disappointed in a single entree or side or dessert. In future I don't think we'll eat at Cagneys more than once a trip, and maybe not that if they don't turn it around.

We boarded the Pearl a few weeks ago and were never asked for them. In the past I've handed them over with the passports  - man at desk just wanted the passports and pushed them back at me. 

But I'll always have hard copies just in case.

EDIT - WON'T LET ME DELETE - MY ERROR AS I WAS DESCRIBING THE PEARL BELOW. BUT MAYBE THE PEARL LOOK WILL CARRY OVER TO THE GEM EVENTUALLY?

Just got off a couple of weeks ago. The posts are now a calmer brown and the palm tree tops are gone, replaced with simple white bulbs that extend the column. Nothing remarkable. The green deck has been replaced with a light brown/gold as partially seen in the photos above - looks like maybe they had begun to transition the flooring by December? The bright blue inside the pools has been replaced by one that's a bit more caribbean in tone. The only bright blue pops are the umbrellas on some of the tables as seen above.

All in all much cleaner and less garish. They are definitely going for muted tones throughout the ship.

On 5/3/2022 at 6:31 PM, DaisyGoldberg said:

No, we had Budhi - he was great. I hope I don't come off as complaining. We loved it. The hot tub was always piping hot. I think the chill of Maine (it was 5 degrees that night) really soaked through the windows. 

I guess the ability to edit is time limited - I made a mistake - Budhi was our steward - Lazaro was our butler!

We went on the Pearl a few weeks ago with my mom in a wheelchair. First, be sure to contact the Accessibility department ahead of time to request the wheelchair assistance boarding (as well as any other aids you might need, like a shower chair, etc) This will then be reflected in your boarding documents. The ramp is quite steep in places, so you will appreciate the assistance.

• As the previous poster said, once you get through the "show your passport and vax info" line you'll be taken to the elevator and be in security immediately. A couple of people came and took my mom through a separate line where they frisked her, while we and the carry ons went through the metal detectors. She was done before the three of us were, and met us on the other side of the metal detectors. After that, there are lines sorting into different categories, but there are plenty of people to direct you. 
•  

Moving about the ship is pretty easy - there are some metal bars here and there on the carpet that you need to stop and boost the front wheels over before proceeding, but we found it very accessible. We were using a transport chair - if your mom has a regular wheelchair her experience may be different. In most restaurants we were able to tuck the chair beside us near an empty table as there was plenty of room. When room was tight they would move it out of the way after she moved to the table and return it when we were ready to leave. If she prefers to sit in the chair they will simply move the chair and she can roll up to the table.

Since the ships are not sailing at capacity, we nearly always had elevators to ourselves, so none of the jockeying to get on without running over people, or waiting as full elevator after full elevator went by. Very easy in and out.

On 4/5/2022 at 4:02 PM, rkacruiser said:

  I am very glad that I did not say "no, not ever, etc."  Now, that I have crossed another tech bridge and have a smartphone, given time, I hope to be able to learn how to make it a more useful tool than just make phone calls.  

I think one of the very best gifts I ever got just out of college was working with an older woman who would refuse to take 10 minutes to learn a computer task that would literally save her hours of work weekly (Merging a list with a WordPerfect document for sending a mass mailing she did every few days). She had just reached the point where she would rather do the difficult thing the difficult way it always had been done rather than try, and that amazed me when I knew I could show her in minutes.

Now in full middle age, I get it. But when I have that "i just don't FEEL like learning that whole stupid thing" I FORCE myself, because I know that if I don't keep up, eventually it WILL be beyond  my capacity to catch up. None of it is hard incrementally - children do it. But if you slack off staying current, boy do you need to scramble!

On 3/20/2022 at 11:06 PM, eileeshb said:

  If you want to play it safe pick a cruiseline that has a solos program like NCL, while it’s the largest ships in NCL have the solo-specific cabins they do (or did pre-covid) operate the solos host on the jewel-class ships as well. 

Just got off the Pearl a couple of weeks ago - per my dailies there was a Solos meet up in the afternoon of Day 1, and every evening at 6 pm in one of the bars - presumably this timing set up to facilitate dining/entertainment companionship if wanted, make plans for the next day, etc. These meetings were listed as unhosted, which may be a covid artifact - I seem to recall in the past they had a staff member involved, but maybe that's just the larger ships.  

My first cruise was the Seaward - I think she was 700 feet! 

I recall the dining aspect of old-style cruising fondly - the extravagance of having to choose between 5 soups, and 5 salads, 5 or 6 of every course. I do not miss putting on panty hose, full makeup and jewelry, nor do I miss the forced companionship. We never really lucked out and made friends - at best people were pleasant conversationalists that we'd wave to if spotted elsewhere. At worst... there was one couple that would spread all their vitamins/pills/supplements out on the table before each meal (before supplementation was particularly popular). Then we'd learn what each thing was *for*.  

I did like getting to know the servers over the course of the week, which despite the formality of the dining situation made for much more informal interactions with staff. And the baked alaska parade!

I was telling my family recently that those were the days where food wasn't available 24/7, hence the midnight buffet. If you didn't feel like going down to dinner, you were pretty much out of luck until breakfast, as best as I can recall.

Be sure to ask for your wine if you want it. I've probably done 20 Latitude dinners and not once been offered the wine. We don't drink it so don't care, but it's clearly one of those amenities you need to be proactive about.

I'm curious at all the folks saying they take a new picture at the port anyway. Just cruised last week and they didn't. I saw other people needing to reshoot theirs the old fashioned way at the check in desk, so it's obviously possible, but they didn't ask anybody in our party to. 

So if your picture is sufficient, that's one skip you will not NECESSARILY need to repeat. 

With masks you'd think it would not be quite as effective, especially as family members resemble each other. But I'm terrible at faces - others might be far more discerning.

8 hours ago, insidecabin said:

On the facial when doing behind the scenes tours(remember them?) you sometimes see a VIP mugs gallery in strategic locations usually any Ambassadors along with the top suite guests.

That could be it!  I wasn't surprised at being recognized after a few days in places we'd been (my mom has striking white hair and the wheelchair, of course), but that one really threw me. As a higher manager she probably had her own set of mug shots and maybe by glancing at ours she knew we were likely to dine outside the Haven!

My sister will die - she didn't care about her photo because who was going to see it - one guy for one second letting you board or get off the ship?  Heh heh heh.