TruRed76
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Posts posted by TruRed76
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I have been on the Dawn post-refurb and have done a cruise out of San Juan with similar ports - I love the smaller ships and the Southern Caribbean ports so I think you made a great choice! One thing not mentioned was that I felt there was a different clientele leaving out of San Juan - more European and Australian than cruises we’ve gone on that left mainland US. We absolutely enjoyed that cruise!!!
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Looking forward to it! We will most likely walk around Split, possible take a taxi to Trogir. For Corfu, I’m leaning towards renting a car and doing our own version of the 4x4 tour.
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I have posted on the ports of call boards but have not had much luck with getting responses so I thought I would try here. We are going on the Spirit in April stopping at both of these ports. These are the only two I am still up in the air about.
For Split, do you think it would be possible to get over to Brac via the ferry? I know it will be too cold to swim but I want to at least walk on the beach and explore the island. Or do you think we could do it via a private boat tour? Or should we just do the palace and Trogir?
For Corfu, I have no ideas! I really wanted to explore the island from the water but it seems that boats won’t be ready for the season yet. We plan to walk around Old Town for a bit but want to get to the coast as well. Has anyone rented a car? How easy is it to navigate? We are planning on renting a car in Koper as well - would you recommend an International Driving Permit?
Thanks in advance for your thoughts! We have private tours planned at each port and feel that if we miss the boat, it’s part of the adventure so we are willing to take on a little risk :)
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Just wanted to let you know that I did a sister’s cruise with 4 of us sharing an inside. My youngest sister’s (twins) had just graduated college and we all shared a room to save money. It was great!! We had no issues, even with only one outlet. We would take turns going down from the pool to the room to shower, sending one of us down every 20 minutes or so. There’s so much space on the ship that if we needed “me” time, we would just go someplace for a little quiet. We honestly did great.
I will acknowledge that it was probably easier being that close with sister’s versus friends :)
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We were on the Dawn last year. Here are some pics of the pool deck area. There are large couches and chairs as well as dining tables/chairs on each (I think!) side of the ship with the normal loungers being closer to the pool. Luckily, all the dining tables are standard height and not bar height so it will be easier for you to get in/out of. On sea days, the couches/chairs were taken early. At night, we had them all to ourselves.
Good luck! My daughter was NWB for eight weeks this summer.
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We sailed the same week last year, disembarking on Easter Sunday. They had a fish option in the MDR on Good Friday. On Saturday night, they had fun bunny and other spring-themed fruit displays and tons of candy set-up in the buffet. This was on the Dawn out of NOLA.
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We will be visiting Split in mid-April via NCL Spirit. We will be in port from 8-4. We are intrigued by the idea of trying to visit Brac. Do you think this is feasible? How reliable are the ferries? And would we need to rent a car/scooter if we do get to Brac?
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Just another scenario...
We originally booked a Sail Away Inside (IX) and received no perks or promos. I continued to watch the prices daily. After final payment, there was a huge price drop on the Family Inside (I1). That category was now only $50/pp more than what we paid for our Sail Away Inside. I called and upgraded to this new category. In doing so, I also received one Free at Sea perk as well as the Distinctive Voyage perks.
We actually had the I1 category on hold at the time of our original booking, but the Sail Away rate opened up so we went with that. The difference in the price between that original hold and our booking now is $860 for the same category.
Yes, it was a gamble but one we were willing to lose (because I don’t think you lose anything by being on a wonderful cruise!).
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We did ask about the “u” shaped configuration but were told no.
We loved the Dawn! We thought the layout was very intuitive and the ship felt like home to us after a day or so. The only time we really felt crowded occurred when we were trying to get off the ship at port right when they announced we were all clear.
We truly are never in our room so the arrangement works fine for us. If we need alone time, we go find a quiet spot to sit elsewhere on the ship - usually by the food ;)
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I thought I would share a few pics of our stateroom on the Dawn. We had a 4-person ocean view on deck 5. As you can see from the pics, it is quite cozy! But it worked well for us. The room steward would put up the bed on the wall every day but the “cot” stayed out. The window ledge was quite large and my kids enjoyed sitting there to watch the water.
Hope this helps some families! I had a tough time finding pics before our cruise.
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We have also used Cosol tours and had a great day! I was worried about spending so much time in a van but I was wrong. It was an action-packed day with wonderful people. We got a group together on our roll call so we all shared a van. The people in our van definitely helped to make the trip!
In St. Kitt’s, we just hired a taxi driver for the day. The person in charge had a map of the island. We discussed what places we would go see and agreed upon a price. He then assigned us a driver for the day. It was another memorable adventure and we loved being able to make our own itinerary.
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Loving your review and your pictures are amazing! I am cruising in Europe for the first time in April and your review is getting so much more excited!
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Thank you for all the replies! I wasn’t sure if the security table for alcohol was available at embarkation. I’m hoping to be able to ship. That’s also good to know they can refund a corkage fee. I am not a wine drinker but plan to bring some home for gifts.
bluesea777 - we are finalizing plans for tours!! Getting so excited!
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Pre-cruise question-
We have Scavi tour tickets for a 9:00 am tour. Do you think it would be possible to participate in the breakfast at Vatican beginning at 7:15 and then make our 9:00 Scavi tour? We are wanting to view the Sistine Chapel before the crowds; we know we would not be able to do anything else during that time period before the Scavi tour.
Additionally, are the Vatican tickets good all day? Would we be able to come back later in the afternoon of that same day to tour the museum?
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We are leaving out of Rome on the Spirit in April. We will be spending a few days in Rome prior to boarding. If we purchase a few bottles of wine to take home (not to drink on board), how would you suggest bringing it on board as we do not want to pay a corkage fee for each bottle? I know we will have to “give it up” for the duration of the cruise but not sure if this should be done via security check with our carry-on or going to the naughty room in our checked bag?
Additionally, do you know if it is possible for a store to ship to our home? I know we will not be able to ship it ourselves as we do not have a liquor license.
Thank you in advance for any insights!
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Thank you for asking as I was wondering the same thing! We also will be on the Spirit in April and was unsure if we should tip in USD or Euros. We do the same, $1/drink in cash (but we do not have UBP).
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Thanks for the info on the seas - it helps! I was thinking of changing to a guarantee room; we are going to keep the room we have now :)
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Thank you for your review and beautiful pictures! We will be in the Spirit in April, also in an inside. We will not have very many ports in common, though, just Malta. We have also only sailed on the smaller ships. How did you find the seas? I’m prone to sea sickness but have heard the Mediterranean and Adriatic are fairly smooth.
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We were in Roatan this past April and did the Daniel Johnson tour. It is a private tour; we contacted him via Facebook. We were picked up at the port and had a driver for the day for just our family. We chose to do the Monkey/Sloth Sanctuary with snorkeling.
First, we went to see monkeys, sloths, and birds. A guide took you around to each animal and you were able to interact with many of them. Below are my daughter with a monkey and my son holding a sloth!
After, we took a short boat ride out to the reef to snorkel. The area was very shallow, calm, and had decent snorkeling. In the pics below, my hubby is kneeling in the sand and you can see how deep the water is where my son is. A guide was in the water with you and lifejackets were available. There was a family on the boat with us with a two-year old. The mom and child played in the water next to the boat while the Dad went snorkeling. The snorkeling part lasted about an hour.
After, we were driven to a beach with a restaurant/bar and could stay as long as we liked. We had the same driver the entire day. She was great and we loved getting to know the history and about life in Honduras. It was my kids favorite port day and a wonderful experience!
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We submitted our request for Scavi tickets on November 8 for tours the week of April 9 . On November 14 (two days ago) I received confirmation of a tour on Friday April 13 at 11:00 AM. We plan to the Scavi tour, try to eat some lunch inside the security area, and do the free English language tour of St. Peters at 2:15 PM. Some questions.
1. We know there is a security line on the right side of St. Peters Square as you face the Basilica under the colonnades. Our experience is that this is a long line, often stretching across St. Peter's Square. Is there a security line on the left side where you enter for the Scavi Tour and the TI office for the Basilica tour?
2. We will have about an hour between the tours. Is there somewhere we can eat lunch without having to do security again?
We have tickets for scavi at 9:00 am on April 13! We may be passing each other in the street :)
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Quick question about timing...we also have Scavi tickets for April. Our tour is scheduled at 9:00. Do you think we could do one of the early entry tours (7:30) to do a quick look at the Sistine Chapel before the crowds hit and make our 9 o’clock Scavi tour?
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Following along...we are also going to be in Rome for three days pre-cruise in April. I️ have been doing so much research my eyes are going crossed!
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We did this exact itinerary and loved it!!! Here is a link to my review which has pics of each port as well.
Review: Summit, Southern Carribean, 4/6/2013
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MSC Seaside May 26 Review (compare to Royal-RCL & Carnival-CCL)
in MSC Cruises
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Thanks for the review! We are trying MSC for the first time next year and are very excited about the ship! I always hate sea days and I find that I’m actually looking forward to them this time!
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