Back from Bermuda today! Any questions?

Hi. We just got back today. Took the NCL Crown from NY. Docked in Hamilton and St. George's. We are officially in love with Bermuda!!! I got so much wonderful info. here. If anyone has any questions, PLEASE ask away. I will try my best to answer and share what we did. (It will help me relive our trip, too!!) I am also going to post this to the NCL thread.:)

Hi my family and I are going on this cruise on august 5. this is our first cruise and I am very nervous. any advice and how do you get to horseshoe cove/??

We just booked the Crown, glad you had a great time. Are you going to write a review? Did you use the bus/ferry system?

Seasuzie-

Don't be nervous! You will have a great time!! You can take a bus or go by taxi to Horseshoe Bay. It is so beautiful there! We went later in the day and it was a lot less crowded then. Make sure you walk around a bit...there's so much to explore!

We just booked the Crown, glad you had a great time. Are you going to write a review? Did you use the bus/ferry system?

We took the ferry from Hamilton to the Dockyards. We enjoyed the pretty ride over. The ferry terminal is right next to where the ship is docked in Hamilton. (Get off the ship, make a left.)

Ahhhh....a trip report....I really should do one. I've never done one, so I'm afraid of how it would turn out!!! my biggest fear is that no one would read it!! :o

Hi. We just got back today. Took the NCL Crown from NY. Docked in Hamilton and St. George's. We are officially in love with Bermuda!!! I got so much wonderful info. here. If anyone has any questions, PLEASE ask away. I will try my best to answer and share what we did. (It will help me relive our trip, too!!) I am also going to post this to the NCL thread.:)

Are there any taxis in front of the pier at 7am?

Jackdis -- Tell us more about the Crown. How was the food? Prior reviews seem mixed. We are sailing in September.

Are there any taxis in front of the pier at 7am?

Quench - We were told by a taxi cab driver that they would be there (Hamilton) at 8:00. (That's the time we asked about. We originally had planned to go back to Horseshoe on our last morning there, but we decided not to take the chance in the end of not making it back to the ship.) So I'm not really sure if they would be there at 7:00. I would guess they might be.

Jackdis -- Tell us more about the Crown. How was the food? Prior reviews seem mixed. We are sailing in September.

Barante: have a great time!!

OK....food part of the my "review"....I must say, we were very pleased with the food and the service, despite the mixed reviews I had heard, mainly here. The main dining room, Seven Seas, was always very good. Nice selections. Great service. We got to know a few servers and had them repeatedly, so that made it more like "traditional" cruising in that they got to know what your likes/dislikes were. (By the way, we like the Freestyle cruising!)

The buffet was the Yacht Club. It was ok. If you are expecting an elaborate midnight buffet, you will not find it here. (There were a few snacks and some warm foods later each night.) Honestly, we ended up eating more meals (breakfast and lunch included) at the sit down place.

We also did eat at each of the signature restaurants. Reservations are required for these. They were all very good. Le Bistro was excellent!! The Creme Brulee was wonderful for dessert. Pasta Cafe was also excellent. They start you off with a nice table side antipasto selection. There was nice selection of choices. I had the lasagna. Yum. And the desserts were, again, fantastic. Chopsticks was good too. I liked the spring roll appetizer.

It might have just been me, but I felt that the desserts at the buffet and the sit down restaurant were not as good as at the reservation restaurants. Ice cream was available each afternoon at the buffet. We ordered room service once. It was ok. We just had sandwiches one afternoon when we got back to the room from someplace.

As for other parts of the Crown experience, the cruise director and her staff were great. There were a lot of activities to choose from. The shows were good. The comedian, Dave, was good. The ship was kept nice and clean and even though she will not be part of NCL's fleet in the Fall, she was in very good condition. (I was a little worried that it might show signs of neglect and wear and tear.) OK....I've rambled. Let me know if you have anymore questions and I'll go from there! Hope this helps so far.

Ahhhh....a trip report....I really should do one. I've never done one, so I'm afraid of how it would turn out!!! my biggest fear is that no one would read it!! :o

To "borrow" from Field of Dreams... If you write it, they will read! :)

Theron

To "borrow" from Field of Dreams... If you write it, they will read! :)

 

Theron

LOL.....you might have convinced me to do it!!! (At least a little one!!) How did I do on the part above?? LOL....

:)

LOL.....you might have convinced me to do it!!! (At least a little one!!) How did I do on the part above?? LOL....

 

:)

It sounded good to me!

Theron

LOL.....you might have convinced me to do it!!! (At least a little one!!) How did I do on the part above?? LOL....

 

:)

You should absolutely do it, while the trip is fresh in your mind. And people will read it, they read everything on these boards. You are just imparting your impressions and opinions of your recently concluded trip. The newer the information the more informative that it is. It would be a big help to passengers who are leaving on the Crown in the next few weeks. And it probably will reassure the nervous ones. Isn't Bermuda an absoulutely amazing place. I can only think of Hawaii and Disney World compare for me. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and I am sure it will not be the last time you go to Bermuda.:)

It sounded good to me!

 

Theron

Hi Theron,

A quick question for you: Where should I post my trip report? I would like to have it in its own thread. Bermuda or NCL? I'm not sure. I've got day one almost done!!! Just for you!!!! :) :) :)

You should absolutely do it, while the trip is fresh in your mind. And people will read it, they read everything on these boards. You are just imparting your impressions and opinions of your recently concluded trip. The newer the information the more informative that it is. It would be a big help to passengers who are leaving on the Crown in the next few weeks. And it probably will reassure the nervous ones. Isn't Bermuda an absoulutely amazing place. I can only think of Hawaii and Disney World compare for me. I am glad you enjoyed your trip and I am sure it will not be the last time you go to Bermuda.:)

That's funny that you should say that! I've already finished Day One. And I've mentioned Disney as one of our favorite places in it. Also, when we were in the beautiful water at Horseshoe Bay, we said that this is right up there with Hawaii as our favorite spots!!!!

It's getting late and I have to proofread, so I will start posting tomorrow. I am looking forward to be back in my own bed, but I wish it was fluffed with chocolates and my Freestyle Daily on it!!!!:)

Hi Theron,

A quick question for you: Where should I post my trip report? I would like to have it in its own thread. Bermuda or NCL? I'm not sure. I've got day one almost done!!! Just for you!!!! :) :) :)

I guess that depends on what you are writing the most about, the ship or the island. Probably both... I would probably post the review on one board (the NCL board will get more "eyes"), and then post a thread on the Bermuda board that points back to the review on the NCL board.

Do you know how to find and post links to threads?

Theron

Writing a review is not only good for us but it is good for YOU. We did not write a review for the first couple cruises and I regret that. As you get older the details are forgotten. :)

Now my DH and I carry a small notepad with us and jot down a few notes each evening and write a journal when we get home. A smaller review gets posted here without all the personal stuff.

I guess that depends on what you are writing the most about, the ship or the island. Probably both... I would probably post the review on one board (the NCL board will get more "eyes"), and then post a thread on the Bermuda board that points back to the review on the NCL board.

 

Do you know how to find and post links to threads?

 

Theron

No, can you please tell me how to post links to threads? Thanks. That's what I will do. Post new thread in NCL but post link in Bermuda. I'm getting excited about this.........

Writing a review is not only good for us but it is good for YOU. We did not write a review for the first couple cruises and I regret that. As you get older the details are forgotten. :)

 

Now my DH and I carry a small notepad with us and jot down a few notes each evening and write a journal when we get home. A smaller review gets posted here without all the personal stuff.

That is such a great idea. I've always wanted to do a trip report for our Disney vacations, but there is always so much going on that I haven't gotten around to it.

You are so right about all the details being forgotten. I can't wait to put this one together. Be kind, it's my first one!!!!:)

Theron,

One more question: I have started my trip report in Word. Do I just copy and paste into here?

Thanks!

I just tried pasting something from Word here. It works, but for me at least, none of the special formatting was preserved (bold, indents, etc.) But for just plain text, it looks like it should work OK.

One of the most important tools the boards offer is the "Preview" button. When you use that, you can see what your post will look like when it is posted, but then below that is the edit window so you can change it, then "Preview" again, until you are satisfied, then finally click the "Submit Post" button to post the final version.

For links, go ahead and post your review on the NCL board, then go back to the main NCL board listing. Your new post should be at the top, since you just posted it. You can then put your mouse on the link to your post, and "right click" and select the option that says something like "Copy Link Location" or something similar (each browser uses different text, I use Firefox). Then go back to the Bermuda forum, start your message, and Paste the link into the message window. You can then fill in the message text above and below your link. The link should automatically turn into a clickable link when you submit the message (or use the Preview button) unless you uncheck that option below the message text window (under Additional Options).

If you are a little more adventurous, you can use the "insert link" tool at the top of the message text window. When you click on that icon (), it will prompt you for the address. If you want to get fancy, you can type in a description of your link (I usually try to use the title of the other thread) in the message window, then "highlight" or "select" that text with your mouse before clicking the icon and entering the link address. In that case the description you typed will appear as a link to the address you enter, rather than the "http://..." part, which can be a bit ugly sometimes.

Hope that isn't too much for one message! Good luck... the best thing is to play with Preview a lot, test it before you submit it, then once it's good, Submit away!

Theron

Thank you for answering. Where is a good place for us to swim in Bermuda? Horshoe Bay?? My kids are 10 and 9. Thanks again for answering

TP - Thanks for the info. I am going to try to post it soon. I'll post here once it's posted.

Seasusie - We went to Tobacco Bay and Horseshoe Bay. They are both nice. My first thought was that Tobacco would be better for our kids - no waves at all. But Horseshoe also has a cove area that is nice and calm. I think the 8 year old would have loved the waves, too!!!

Ok, I think I've got it!!! Posted the actual report on NCL. In Bermuda, I took the easy way and just copied and pasted the address. (I'm using an IBook....not sure of what would be the same as right clicking if I was on my PC.) Now while the baby's napping, I can start Day Two...at sea.....and then onto St. George's. Thanks for the help.

Keep the questions coming! I am having so much fun with this. It's helping me get rid of the vacation withdrawals and extend our trip a bit.

Just getting back from Bermuda~ My Kids are 9 & 11 they loved Horseshoe Beach and St. Catherine Beach over in St. George. They had SO much fun! Watch out for Jellyfish at Horseshoe we saw alot the day we were there.