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We are in Bar Harbor today. A couple of things to note: our cruise director mentioned last night that as of next year Bar Harbor is not permitting cruise ships so enjoy it while you can. We almost cancelled our excursion before we knew about this in favour of sleeping in and having a quiet day on the ship. Glad we didn't! Also found out last night we have to do a face to face mandatory immigration thing this morning...starts nice and early lol so wouldn't have been able to sleep in anyways.

No USB PORTS unless hidden behind the TV. TV is a small flat-screen approx 32 inches. It is attached to a shelf and cannot be moved so difficult to see what is behind it re outlets unless you look over the top of TV behind the wall. We were not given a specific boarding time. Boarding pass just said boarding begins at 12 noon. We are really enjoying the entertainment. There is the sing a long style piano bar in Mix who is lots of fun. Also the house band plays in Ocean Bar and they are good. Lovely solo singer/guitarist recently joined the cruise. There is also a more classical style pianist. Shows in 7 nights include 2 from Step 1 dance company, a comedian who plays 2 nights and a local group. Hope this helps.

Embarkation began at noon and sail away was scheduled for 3pm with all aboard being 90 minutes prior. We got notification 2 days before that sailaway was changed to 7pm due to operational reasons and all aboard remained 90 before sailaway so allowed for extra time in Montreal if you desired. I am guessing due to the tides. We got to terminal around 1215...lots of construction in Old Montreal so plan accordingly. 20 minute uber ride from hotel which was only a 6 minute walk. We stayed at Springhill suites which was ideal location and worked great for us. Huge line up at check in but it moved quickly. Took approx 30 minutes to get on the ship. Was able to go to stateroom right away and 5 minutes after we got to our room our luggage arrived. We had lunch at Dive In on embarkation day. Will look for the hidden plugs behind the TV...thanks for the info!

We are also on Volendam now. We forgot about there being only one 110v plug in the room. DH went to gift shop and bought a voltage converter with USB ports for 20$. Our stateroom attendant obviously noticed and put a power bar in our room. All that to say I recommend bringing an adapter if you have it so that you can also use the 230v plug as well. To get to Mdr level 4 you need to go up to level 5 if approaching from midship and then back down to 4. We are really enjoying the cruise. Ports are all repeats for us and most are easy to Dyi if you choose. Happy to answer any specific questions.

We are currently on a cruise that started in Montreal. Old Montreal is very close to cruise port and a lovely area to walk around and spend an afternoon if you have time. Cobblestone streets, cafes, shops etc. We stayed at Springhill Suites Mariott in old Montreal. Wasn't very expensive and was perfect for us. 6 minute walk to the cruiseport although we took an Uber as it was raining a bit and we had big suitcases. Took 20 minutes by Uber due to construction and traffic lol.

Following along as we will be sailing on the Volendam May 4-11. Will be our first time on this ship, however we have sailed on Zaandam which is similar. We once left our coats in a hotel in Florida before a Caribbean cruise back in 2019. Didn't realize until we were getting ready to debark the ship and knew we were heading back to cold weather and would need them. Of course it was freezing cold back home in Canada so I bought a zip up fleece in the gift store so I would have something warm. When we got home we phoned the hotel and they offered to ship them to us in Canada if we arranged a courier, which it turned out was very expensive. I had just retired so we found a great deal on a last minute cruise out of FLL. Was similar cruise to what you are on @kazu. Florida to Montreal on the Zaandam - all so we could go back to Florida to get our coats!! Was a very enjoyable cruise and I still have that coat! The joys of being retired 🙂 I hope the food improves @kazu. Am enjoying following along with you 🙂

Yes it is missing for me too. Tried on both laptop and phone and it is missing. Was like that yesterday too. Glad to know its not just me. Hopefully it is fixed soon.

When we were there in 2019 someone from our rollcall organized a full day small group tour through https://privategreecetours.com/ It was a full day tour and included the Acropolis. Was an excellent tour!

Hi all, we typically like to get the thermal suite passes but the longest cruise we have been on previously is 10 days. We have a 20 day Panama canal cruise booked for 2025, and the thermal suite passes being offered are for 21-25 days. While our cruise is also available as a 21 day cruise (as well as 14, 24, 31 days etc) we have booked the 20 day. Does anyone know if there is a thermal site pass for 20 days or do we have to get the 21-25 day pass? Thanks in advance for any insight.

Same thing happened on our recent Connie cruise. Captain made announcement at 6 am looking for blood donors. He put the pedal to the metal and we got into NOLA 2 hours early so passenger could get into the waiting ambulance. Since it was early in the cruise we received updates that the passenger was stable. Sue Denning got quite emotional speaking about it on the last night thanking everyone for helping to save a passenger's life.

Its a very small buffet - continental breakfast offerings. No hot dishes. Basically has all the items that are on the Elite breakfast menu, plus a few extras. Here is what I remember: cold meats, smoked salmon, cheeses, fruit, yogurt parfaits, pastries, croissants, danishes, mini bagels and cream cheese. There is still a menu for beverages - ie tea, coffee, latte, cappachino, smoothies, juices, mimosas etc. I also heard someone order a full size toasted bagel and was able to get it, so seemed like you could get made to order items as well but assume just variations of whats already offered. It was never crowded when we were there and we were on a full cruise on the Connie.

Similar experience for us on the Connie in Feb except our waiter recommended ordering the lobster as appetizer (he explained it was quite small) and something else for the entree. Worked well.

This was only our 3rd cruise as Elite. First 2 were waiter service. On our recent Connie cruise it started off as waiter service and switched to buffet half way through. We chatted with the manager and she said the previous cruise had so many Elite and up they needed a buffet to make it work. They got positive feedback and are trying it again. Not sure whether this will stick and be implemented fleetwide.

Agree with the positives already posted. Thanks for this thread 🙂 We were on the Connie last month and had a great cruise! Positives for us: - every meal in MDR was excellent and lots of choices - they are experimenting with making the Elite coffee/breakfast a buffet which we really enjoyed - no photographers in your face trying to get you to pose and buy pictures We had an amazing cruise!!

Congratulations! We have had to reschedule 2 cruises for the same grandchild lol! Found out our daughter was expecting around the time we were supposed to be cruising in Feb 2016 , so changed until Nov 2016. Well baby came early - in Nov 2015!!! We didn't want to miss his first birthday so changed again from Nov 2016 to Apr 2016. Thankfuly we have a wonderful TA who helped with all our changes. I think this was back before there was both refundable and non-refundable deposits. Don't remember it being an issue to change. Definitely worth it...nothing like grandchildren 🙂