Bitterman
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Posts posted by Bitterman
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Not necessarily guaranteed to wait, but you have a heck of a better chance having the ship wait if it's one of their tours that is late.This is not true - read your contracts, the only things that matter. No excursion is guaranteed to have the ship held for it. There are incidents reported here on CC where cruiseline tours were late enough the ship did leave without them. All that happens is they'll help you get to the next port to meet the ship on their dime - just like every private tour I've ever booked also guarantees...Unless cruiseline pricing is as good as private (rare, but happens), uses same size vehicles/groups (again rare, but happens), or can be verified to be contracting the whole vehicles of the best providers of Tour X in Port Y (also happens) there's only one reason to book with them instead of a private alternative tour - you have OBC that you need to burn!
Rent your own car/just take a cab and I agree you're completely on your own so need to weigh the odds - but let's face it, how often does a new car/well-maintained cab actually crap out on you? I certainly wouldn't rent a car anywhere on vacation without good insurance coverage but that's more for the 'some idiot T-boned me' angle than the car breaking down and needing to find another way back to the ship.
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What time does your ship leave in the evening? It takes about an hour to get there. We were just there about a month ago any traffic was slow going in the city with a good amount of construction. We booked our excursion through NCL and it left about 11:30. An hour or so to get there, about an hour at Peggy's Cove, we also stopped at the Titanic Cemetery on the way back for about 20 minutes.I'll be on The Grandeur of the Seas in September. The cruise line offers an excursion to Peggy's Cove at 11am and 3 pm. I was just wondering is there a best time to visit. I'm sure it's going to be crowded no matter what time :DSome people like to drive themselves or do private excursions, and that's fine....until you run into a problem or your private tour bus breaks down and can't get you back to meet your ship in time. If you book the excursion through the cruise line they won't leave you if your tour is delayed. If fact another tour through our ship was delayed with all the traffic and the Captain held our departure so they could get on the ship. You may not get the best deal booking an excursion through the cruise line but sometimes it has it's advantages. Just something to consider. :-)
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My DH was sent back to change from shorts to long pants when we went to the aft dining room.
We were just on the Gem a month ago. The Grand Pacific and Le Bistro were the only restaurants that specifically called for long pants and collared shirts (this was stated in the Freestyle Daily). We never did eat in the Grand Pacific but my wife and I did eat in Le Bistro and did follow the dress code (as did everybody else we saw eating there). In every other restaurant I wore shorts, sneakers, and a polo or a decent T-shirt with no problems.Was this on the first night? On most ships the Aft MDR and Le Bistro dress codes that require long pants but usually have an exception on the first night.The first night we just went to Magenta so no dress code. I didn't hear anybody taking about it but I would agree that they might wave the dress code for the first evening...at least for the early reservations.
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Bermuda isn't really known for spicy sauces like some Caribbean countries. I don't remember seeing much hot sauce last time we were there. I did find this but it's not really got.
http://outerbridge.com/op/sherry-peppers/
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There's also plenty of the standard stuff around...t-shirts, mugs, that type of stuff.
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Bermuda Rum Cakes come to mind. You can get them at the Bermuda Rum Cake Company in the Dockyard. Maybe some locally made jewelry. Liquor wouldn't be out of the question if you put it in your checked bags.
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Excellent
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We were there three weeks ago but didn't use Oli's. The tender dock is right in the "corner" of the town if you will. Also found this on Oli's site:
"Please check in for your tour at Oli’s Trolley gift shop, located directly on the tender pier at 1 West Street. From there, you’ll walk one block to Oli’s Trolley Station for tour boarding."
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Yes you can leave your phone on the whole time. Your phone will say roaming but as far as your account is concerned it is just like being at home. The $10 covers a 24 hour period from when you turn on your phone. You should get a text saying Travel Pass has started, as well as other updates.
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Just did the Canada/New England cruise on Norwegian Gem a couple weeks ago. Personally we love the Gem. Food in the buffet is generally fine and they have some great specialty restaurants too, but no lobster that I saw. Entertainment was very good. We had just a balcony room and as they turned down your bed at night. That's all we need to feel special. YMMV
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Turn on Travel Pass on your Verizon account. It doesn't cost anything unless you use it. It costs $10 a day and uses your existing plans minutes and data. I was just in Canada and it worked great there too (only costs $5 a day in Canada or Mexico).
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Last time we went in mid May there were some washed up on the beach and we saw one floating. They had life guards policing the beach and picking up the ones that washed ashore.
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It depends what you are used to. Some people will say the ocean is too cold unless it's as warm as a sauna. I'm from NY and am used to cool fresh water lakes. We've been to Bermuda in mid May and thought the water was perfect!
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We'll be there on the 28th and we're planning on walking to the Portland Lobster Company as well. Voted best lobster roll last two years I believe.
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I'm going to try to resist the urge to keep checking. Today I've gone from cloudy, rain, showers to sun, cloud and who knows what else!!!
It does get almost addicting checking and hoping for the best weather! I think your best site to use should be the weather.bm site. That is the actual Bermuda Weather Service with the data from the weather station and meteorologists right on the island. :-) Hope you get great weather!
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For Bermuda forecasts I have found you can't trust any of them more than a day in advance. Ten day forecasts are of zero value and five day forecasts not much. I think it has to do with Bermuda being a small island in the Atlantic. It is not easy to make an accurate forecast.
True of anywhere really, but probably more so for an island in the middle of the ocean. You can't go by forecasts more than a day or two out really even here, lol.
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Try http://www.weather.bm for Bermuda. And also Wunderground.com for forecasts. Wunderground has much more localized forecasts than TWC or Accuweather (weather observation is a small side hobby for me and I never use those sites, I find them very inaccurate a lot of the time).
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You should try to do both. You can see most of the things in the Dockyard (kings/Heritage wharf) area in a day easily.
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Sorry to post in a couple month old thread but I figured why start another thread! I'll be on the Gem in a couple months. Does anybody know what brands of cigars they have in the lounge and the approximate price? I could bring my own but odds are I'll just have one cigar the whole cruise so I'll probably just buy it in the lounge. Also what spirits are available in the lounge?
TIA!
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Will it be warm enough to wear shorts doing a tour from 5/17-5/19?
Coming from NYC so not really expecting it to be beach weather for swimming but hoping to be able to sit on the beach without freezing.
MARAPRINCE
We were there exactly that time a few years ago and it was fine. Wore shorts every day and thought the water was plenty warm. Air temps were upper 70's to lower 80's. I'm from NY as well, maybe an hour and a half north of the city.
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We always go mid May and find the water amazing. If you think that water is cold you should travel to Maine in July. It is cold but refreshing after baking on the beach.
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I'm used to cool NY lake water so the Bermuda water in May was perfect! We are cruising to Canada and Maine last week of June. We probably won't get a chance to do any swimming off the ship but I'm thinking it will still be chilly in Halifax at least!
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Tobacco Bay is not on the south shore. It is a small beach on the north shore of St. George's. It is known for its snorkeling off the beach. I would not go there for seeing pink sand. It has facilities and chair rentals which make it popular.
Correct. That's what happens when you wake up in the middle of the night and can't get back to sleep...post not entirely accurate information!
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While they may not say what "type" of power strip, they will take and test them. I went out of Tampa on the Star last April and had my power strip with surge protector, I didn't know about the rule, confiscated and never returned to me.
You would think with the way they worded the info on their website, almost comes across like they're recommending people bring power strips, they would be pretty specific about what was allowed. We're on the Gem in a couple months and will have to make sure we have an acceptable strip.
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Cruise line excursion to Peggy's Cove
in Canada/New England
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We did three excursions, all through NCL, for our last Canada/New England cruise in June. The Peggy's Cove & Titanic Cemetery excursion Halifax was well done and our guide was very informative and entertaining. We we slightly delayed due to the traffic and construction. An NCL excursion that left after us was really delayed and they held the ship for them.
Our excursion in Saint John was kind of a scavenger hunt and we were on our own exploring the city and it was fun.
In Portland we didn't do any excursions and just walked around on our own.
Or Bar Harbor excursion was a disappointment. "An Intimate Look at Acadia National Park". We got a rushed 20 minutes at the top of Cadillac Mountain and a rushed 15-20 at the Thunder hole. The rest was just driving around listening to stories from the guide. It was a little disappointing.
I guess in reality the odds of being delayed on either a private or cruise line excursion are pretty low, we just choose the little extra insurance of going through the cruise line.
Happy cruising everybody#
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