Jump to content

cwn

Members
  • Posts

    2,650
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    Texas Gulf Coast
  • Interests
    Cruising, RVing
  • Favorite Cruise Line(s)
    Regent
  • Favorite Cruise Destination Or Port of Call
    Anywhere

Recent Profile Visitors

1,771 profile views

cwn's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Enjoyed your report. Hope you found your mother doing well. One more question please. I am trying to plan a tour we have done before for April 7, 1 till 6. Is the ship on Cozumel time or an hour different? I am assuming all aboard was the usual 30 mins ahead. Our port time is 11 to 7.
  2. We have changed times now. I don’t know if Mex changes time. We have been on round trip Galveston cruises that did both ways. This is a Galveston CT to Miami ET. Think Cozumel is on ET. Ship sails at 7 ship time tour is over 5:30 Cozumel time. Life is easier when the ship is on the same time as shore!
  3. We will be on Prima soon Galveston to Miami. Trying to arrange a tour. Need to know if the ship changes time from Galveston to Cozumel? Sail time says 7pm. Is that the same time as it will be in Cozumel. A time or two on another line the Cozumel time was different than ship time. Thanks.
  4. Loving your report. Had to laugh at your comment about the long ride to get to the port gates. Did you take a tour. We did a city highlights it made several good stops and drove sone interesting sites. The last drive by spot was the old British Colonial Hotel, Gala Face on the water. I collect stops for the night or at least a meal at those hotels like others collect magnets. Anyway the driver let us off and we went in for lunch. Had a delightful tour and history lesson from the hotel manager and he got us a taxi to the port. and then the fun began. We were told there was shuttle bus running to the ship and back, but it wasn’t. At least to the Navigator,..there was another ship in port that had service. After waiting, watching other leave for their ship and getting a little worried, someone at the gate called someone else and a bus showed up for us. Adventures in traveling, but enjoyed the day. Hope you did too.
  5. Yes. once inside of the terminal building there is a glass door separating the area for disembarking passengers and the embarking passengers. But the entrance doors were still locked when we arrived.around 9:30 and terminal staff kept us out side. Once we were let inside it was still a little wait to start the actual check in. I don’t think you will be let in the terminal door as early as before 5am…..if you go straight to the dock. YMMV
  6. When we were in Miami, you could not enter the port terminal building until after the disembarking passengers had left. That was some before 10. They had the door locked for a few minutes after we arrived at about 9:30…we sat on a cement bench waiting. They opened the main doors before check in started. We then waited in the entrance hall until they started letting people go though the actual check in process. Bottom line is you need a place to wait from arrival ant 4am until probably 9:30 because the port terminal will not be open to boarding passenagers. Would suggest two things…1. you get something to eat at the airport and wait there for a while before taking a taxi to the port. The airport was about 45 minutes away as I remember. Or 2. Taxi to a nice hotel near the port area…there are several. Wait in their lobby, have nice breakfast then taxi to the port.
  7. We always have filled out the mid cruise survey and mentioned the most helpful staff. Any problems have usually been addressed by then. The end of cruise survey was pencil and paper pre covid, can’t remember when it changed, but we also have problem getting the post do on line before we leave. Last two times when it didn’t work I just wrote a letter to the GM to praise the staff that had treated us so well. Put it in an envelope addressed to the GM and left it at the desk. Think that works since we heard from our waiter about our compliment on the next cruise. Agree, this is a bad way to get information. It leaves a bit of a bad taste after such a nice time.
  8. A voice of reason!!!! I total agree with you about finding out about tours. I usually am able to make a good choices for me, but in the last few years…especially on our WC in ‘18, I sat on the bus some because even though it seem doable on paper/picture/talk it wasn’t, but I was glad to see and do what I could of the tour! And if I got over my head I made arrangements needed for me and the tour continued for the rest. No one else’s fault. I can relate to the dead whale….2007 we wanted to go to Antarctica, picked a 100 passenger expedition ship, HD was very fit. Did two zodiac landings or zodiac cruises a day. Fabulous trip!! I knew I could stay on the ship, but wanted to do as much as I could. At the time I was using just a cane or walking sticks. The first landing was going fine, Deception Island, until we had to get back into the zodiac in about a foot of water😬…..well I leaned over the zodiac edge and the guide just flipped me over by my legs and I went siding in to the craft😂 looked like a whale rolling in!! HD has pictures…we all laughed and the guide said it wasn’t his first time…..and I did many more landings the next few days the same way…one on the actual continent and south of the Circle….priceless. I couldn’t do the hikes, but I could reach the shore and sit on a rock, there was so much beauty all around. Only you know what you can do safely, but do venture out as much as you can, even if you sit on the bus at times…just take a good book! And enjoy traveling!
  9. Many times they have either pictures or have called or emailed about my concerns such as what kind of steps are used to get in and out of the snorkel boat or on beach landing. If you haven’t asked you don’t know what the ships DD staff can find out. I have had special help from the ship’s DD staff a number of times.
  10. We travel on our own without a guide usually, just using trains, taxis arranged from hotel, port or street corner even then on Regent…they just don’t always have a tour to what we want to eat. The trains in Japan are really easy to navigate by yourself. But we have also used local guides in Japan and other places when on a cruise. Osaka castle is very nice but is new, built to look old. Himeji is a wonderful old small town, the castle is as original as it can be for its age and within sight and walking distance of the train station..… so you can’t get lost. When we went we were on at tight schedule Ship to ship about 3-4 hours. We were at the castle when it opened (ship was docked in Osaka). On the way back I was hungry so I bought an egg salad sandwich at the Himeji train station to my husband’s horror! Best sandwich I have ever eaten so ftasty and fresh, good bread!!! And I lived to tell about it! If you want to do something different than the ship’s Osaka tour, look on line for Tours by Locals or the Japanese version. These groups are a great way to see the special things and safely. We have used them in Japan and Korea. Have fun. Japan is a great country to visit so much to see and so different for us!!!
  11. Osaka was destroyed basically and has been rebuilt. Either do a second tour to Kyoto and see something different, there is so much to see… we spent 5 days and didn’t see all we wanted to. If they offer a trip to Himeji castle in Himeji, do it. It is a fabulous wooden castle. It is an easy short rain ride a little south and is wonderfully restored. It is easy to take the trains in Japan and you could do this on your own in part of a day. All signage is in Japanese and English. It is very easy to buy tickets at the station you can see schedules on line and the rains run on time!
  12. The Splendor was very comfortable ship (even if the toilet was a bit slow sometimes😁). It was the larger passenger load that was noticeable to us, the effect that had on the special small ship feeling and the ship was a bit shinny for our taste. We like the Mariner and the Navigator better We don’t miss the speciality restaurants. We just special order things we like from Compass Rose. Have a good cruise!
  13. Great report, love the pictures. Sounds like a fun tour. We went for a dolphin encounter two years ago. That was fun also. Was the glass bottom boat/sub something you could do alone with just a taxi or private car and driver. We want to go to Hassuki, love that kind of eatery. I couldn’t get reservations for any time/day on either the 3/29 cruise or the next one. Will try when we board… we should be at the port early. Sorry you are having a hard time sleeping, we have the opposite problem when the ship is moving. Hope you sleep better tonight. Thanks for sharing
  14. Well when we were on the Splendor our toilet almost daily at least one time didn’t flush. Most of the time it flushed in a little while in its own but once or twice we had a surprise……. Guess this means the Splendor is a no go too! Since the Navigator and the Mariner are old, the Navigator and the Voyager vibrate at some speeds, Grandeur has noisy rooms, the toilets on the Splendor and Mariner have problems…..so all that leaves is the Explorer…. Surely someone can find some problem with her too…. Chair hogs, vibrations, noise, cranky toilers….anything?🤣 Sorry, not sure there that came from
×
×
  • Create New...