Leaving on the Crown next week - a couple of ??s

[CPT Trips]

Society Hill is a great area . . . lots within a reasonable walking distance. Here are two good sites - http://www.gophila.com & http://www.philadelphia.com/dining/. The smaller restaurants are very enjoyable. The desk or concierge at the hotel should have menus to check out.

I also recommend a visit to the Constitution Center if your time permits - http://www.constitutioncenter.org/.

[marylarry]

Hi everyone! We got back yesterday morning, and oh, what a ride! It was a bit choppy on the way to Bermuda, but the weather in Bermuda was warm, humid and windy. Beautiful!

 

The ride home was the wild part! We went through a nor'easter, had almost-hurricane force winds, and waves up to 20 feet high or so. There were dishes flying to the floor, people falling down,and a lot of seasick people (barf bags posted on the walls). One lady had to be carried out on a stretcher! But my Bonine worked great and we had to laugh at ourselves careening back and forth in the halls, trying to stay upright. It sure made the trip interesting!

 

The boat was swaying side to side, being hit by waves and wind, and also bobbing fore and aft. We still had a super time, and I feel like I can handle almost any cruise now!

 

I will be posting a longer trip report soon, but wanted to give a brief synopsis. I have lots of pictures of the room, which was very nice and roomy.* The furniture seemed new, but the mattress seemed old and hard. Ask for an egg crate mattress cover. That made a big difference.

(*I don't know how to post pics, but I will e-mail a few to you if you PM me your e-mail address.)

 

It was lot of fun, and we would definitely do it again! But we'd want to stay longer in Bermuda next time - and maybe go on a slightly bigger boat!

Kath1210

Glad you had a good time sorry about the bad weather. please send me any picture you have of the cabin, we are in that one on the 5/14 - 5/21 cruise

my email is marykfry@aol.com. Will keep checking back for your full review also.

[MikeT718]

Hi everyone! We got back yesterday morning, and oh, what a ride! It was a bit choppy on the way to Bermuda, but the weather in Bermuda was warm, humid and windy. Beautiful!

 

The ride home was the wild part! We went through a nor'easter, had almost-hurricane force winds, and waves up to 20 feet high or so. There were dishes flying to the floor, people falling down,and a lot of seasick people (barf bags posted on the walls). One lady had to be carried out on a stretcher! But my Bonine worked great and we had to laugh at ourselves careening back and forth in the halls, trying to stay upright. It sure made the trip interesting!

 

The boat was swaying side to side, being hit by waves and wind, and also bobbing fore and aft. We still had a super time, and I feel like I can handle almost any cruise now!

 

I will be posting a longer trip report soon, but wanted to give a brief synopsis. I have lots of pictures of the room, which was very nice and roomy.* The furniture seemed new, but the mattress seemed old and hard. Ask for an egg crate mattress cover. That made a big difference.

(*I don't know how to post pics, but I will e-mail a few to you if you PM me your e-mail address.)

 

It was lot of fun, and we would definitely do it again! But we'd want to stay longer in Bermuda next time - and maybe go on a slightly bigger boat!

 

Kathy look at my sig. you will find a link to web shots which is a great place to post your pic's then all you have to do is creat a sig. and people will be able to see them

[garycarla]

Not sure why anybody is upset over the passport thing. MILLIONS come across the Mexican border every year.

 

 

HELLO!

By the way, going from a US port to a US port is okay, as long is that is not the primary travel, meaning you went someplace international along the way. We did a NY-Boston-Philly-Baltimore-Norfolk cruise but had to finish in Bahamas - could not get off "permanently" at any of the US ports, could only "visit".

[NJGRANNY]

The two times we have sailed out of NY, the debarkation at the NY pier was the same. I had my passport out, but don't recall anyone looking at it. The first time we went through customs, the guy just threw our declaration in a messy pile of others. On the second trip, the lady piled them neatly, but hardly even looked at them. I think they just want to get the people through.

[newmexicoNita]

The cruise line checked us getting on the ship in San Juan, but not Customs/Immigration returning to Phila. Strange indeed.

I am surprised someone from immigration didn't check somewhere along the way; as for not checking when you returned to Philly I can't remember if or how closely they checked us when we disembarked in Miami a few weeks ago. This would be the job of immigration not NCL. Didn't you go through immigration one morning before you got off the ship in San Juan? NMNita

[CPT Trips]

I am surprised someone from immigration didn't check somewhere along the way; as for not checking when you returned to Philly I can't remember if or how closely they checked us when we disembarked in Miami a few weeks ago. This would be the job of immigration not NCL. Didn't you go through immigration one morning before you got off the ship in San Juan? NMNita

We started the cruise (after a flight from the states) in San Juan and went to two other counties before returning to the US. Only two people looked at my passport - the airport ID checkers at the security and holey sox check (they would have accepted just my drivers license) and the cruiseline person issuing our boarding passes in San Juan. I totally agree it is not the cruiseline's responsibility to assure only properly documented persons enter the US.

Passport and customs checks have been cursory in the past at other ports, but they occurred. This time, nothing.

[CPT Trips]

Not sure why anybody is upset over the passport thing. MILLIONS come across the Mexican border every year.

Gee, and I thought our officials did not want that method of entry. :)

 

By the way, going from a US port to a US port is okay, as long is that is not the primary travel, meaning you went someplace international along the way. We did a NY-Boston-Philly-Baltimore-Norfolk cruise but had to finish in Bahamas - could not get off "permanently" at any of the US ports, could only "visit".

I agree - The routing you took was due to the Jones Act. A foreign port anywhere along the line is certainly OK. My earlier post was in response to the assertion that because we went from San Juan to Phila there was no need to check citizenship upon entry.

[kath1210]

Here is the link to our pictures from this trip.

 

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=zzymafc.x4pcg30&x=0&h=1&y=dcg1ji

 

I hope it works. Let me know if you have any questions!

[marianneyaya]

Kath1210...Thank you for the great pictures!! We are going on the same trip July 2. Where was the Moongate in your photo? I hope to see several. Where did you take the carriage tour? Looking forward to your review!

[Degirl]

Thanks for the great Pictures! We are sailing on the Crown at the end of this Month!

[marylarry]

Kathy,

Thank you so much for the great pictures and the short review. The room looks great and now I know what to expect. Sure hope we don't run into the wild weather.

 

Mary

:)

[Neverbefore]

thanks kath1210 and marrylarry for pointing me to your pictures, now I am leaving my camera home and ordering yours...:)

 

kath1210,

can you tell if there is Captain's night and if so what to wear?

Thanks

[MikeT718]

kath1210

 

Great pictuers..We will be doing the Crown on July 8, 2007 but from NYC

[kath1210]

thanks kath1210 and marrylarry for pointing me to your pictures, now I am leaving my camera home and ordering yours...:)

 

kath1210,

can you tell if there is Captain's night and if so what to wear?

Thanks

 

We were just on a 5-night cruise, so I think that may be why there was not a Captain's night. We had an optional formal night, though. I'd say about 50% of the people dressed up. NCL is very informal, so anything you want to wear would be OK in the Seven Seas and the specialty restaurants, except jeans, shorts, and the usual after-5:30 p.m. restrictions.

 

The second-to-last night was the Captain's Farewell Dinner. We were a little concerned about that - wondered why the Captain was leaving before we docked! LOL!

[kath1210]

Kath1210...Thank you for the great pictures!! We are going on the same trip July 2. Where was the Moongate in your photo? I hope to see several. Where did you take the carriage tour? Looking forward to your review!

 

Thanks! I could not remember the name of the Moongate. It was in St. Georges, on what seemed to be the main road that went to the Forts. We saw it on the carriage tour. We saw a couple of others, but this was the prettiest one.

 

The carriage tour left from the port and went to the right at the main street and then looped around on that side of St. Georges, with the ocean/harbor on our right the whole time. It was only about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but they may offer a longer tour for those who are staying in port for a longer period of time. We left at 9:30 a.m. and barely made it back in time to get back onboard by 11 a.m.!

 

To everyone who is going, I hope you have a great trip, and MUCH better weather than we had on the way home!

[Jeanne S]

I don't think it particularly matters that we left from a US port and arrived at a US Port when we hit St.Thomas (purchase of dutyable items), St Martin (who knows what those Dutch and French might have given us) and the Bahamas . . . remember those smugglers on Miami Vice? Let's face it, when you do a round trip from Miami (or where ever), they check your passport to make sure you are authorized to enter the country . . . and I might have brought in some Cuban cigars or even smuggled my cabin attendent - who I need right about now :)

Customs and Border protection in Phila just plain fell down on the job! If we just went from US port to US port as you suggest, wouldn't it have been a violation of the Jones Act?

 

The Jones Act stipulates that a ship with a foreign flag cannot sail from say NYC to Port Everglades. There needs to be a foreign port of call. So NCL sails to the Bahamas for example.

 

You are cleared to get back on a ship in port by the port custom staff as well as the ships staff who do scan your bags and you when your sign and sail card is placed in the machine.

 

You are cleared to return to this country way before disembarkation. I live in NYC, no stranger to terrorists (and we sure are not lax about anything) and when I sail four times per year, have not once been asked for a passport upon return. This is because I have sailed on a round trip cruise. I am not returning from a land based tour in London but have been on a ship that cleared me to sail the entire time. All that is collected is ones Custom Declaration, and they really only care about those who have declared they are over the limit, which is why those passengers have to be processed by customs on board.

[CPT Trips]

SNIP

You are cleared to get back on a ship in port by the port custom staff as well as the ships staff who do scan your bags and you when your sign and sail card is placed in the machine.

 

You are cleared to return to this country way before disembarkation. (SNIP)All that is collected is ones Custom Declaration, and they really only care about those who have declared they are over the limit, which is why those passengers have to be processed by customs on board.

If my passport was "examined" by any US official at the San Juan port, they were not in uniform. (In all the other ports, I used my driver's licence as picture ID.) I'll say it again, only two cruise line employees looked at my passport (and one of them just to see that I had a passport, never looked at the inside).

Some one in the US government may have cleared CPTTrips to reentry the US, but they had to trust many non-citizens that the CPT that returned was the same one that left - so it seems to me that we have contracted security out to these non-US corporations.

[Neverbefore]

How much is a carriage tour and how many people fit into 1 carriage? I have 14 so I need to plan ahead...thanks

[Jeanne S]

If my passport was "examined" by any US official at the San Juan port, they were not in uniform. (In all the other ports, I used my driver's licence as picture ID.) I'll say it again, only two cruise line employees looked at my passport (and one of them just to see that I had a passport, never looked at the inside).

Some one in the US government may have cleared CPTTrips to reentry the US, but they had to trust many non-citizens that the CPT that returned was the same one that left - so it seems to me that we have contracted security out to these non-US corporations.

 

You were cleared by Homeland Security before the cruise. At the pier your ID was checked. No has to present a passport or B/C on return from a cruise. Your Photo Sign and Sail card matched you to get off the ship - they know the right person got off and you have already been cleared. You're photo comes up on the scanner.

 

Non US citizens must present themselves to immigration officials before anyone is allowed off the ship. You are confusing NON citizens who are always scrutintized with US CITIZENS.

 

 

Why are you so upset about this?