Rmt1948

BON VOYAGE

Have a great trip and smooth seas.

Maury

Thanks all. Linda and I are so ready. And yes Stephen, you are going also.

Maury

Just checked my cc company and they are doing away with their travel insurance programs for car/air at end of February and nothing for other travel. How rude!

 

Will check with those companies that were recommended above. Any others want to provide the companies that they used?

I can vouch for going through Squaremouth. They have a variety of different plans including plans with whatever reason coverage. We had to cancel our original trip due to my wife’s medical condition and while we had to provide some documentation, they reimbursed 100% of our non-refundable costs.

Maury

OP, I thank you for reminding everyone why we need to be certain to have everything in order before leaving for a trip. We have a portfolio with our cruise documents and I will be sure to add our passports to the file.

Maury

Appreciate all the responses. Looks like DL, ship card, cc and small amount of cash, especially small bills should be good.

Maury

Thank you all.

Maury

sorry, know I have seen this before but can’t seem to locate it again. What should you carry off the ship when it port? For example credit card, some money, drivers license, passport or just copies?

Thanks.

Maury

I think you can find Pashmina shawls, real wool ones, for around $25.00 or so. My wife has several that we will be taking with us on our trip coming up.

Maury

Yes, there are several Neptune Suites on the aft that wrap around. If you go to Halfacts.com, you can see which decks and suite numbers.

Hope this helps.

Maury

Thanks for the great article. We will be there in less than 3 weeks. Can’t wait.

Also looking forward to your article on the Zuiderdam. Hope you enjoyed your trip.

Maury

We are taking our first cruise in over 15 years and all our other cruises have been short trips to Nassau. We are going for 11 days and I am curious as to how other cruisers feel about the use of packing cubes. Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Maury

Would not take a cruise without it. We had to cancel our cruise in November when my wife’s cancer trial drugs stopped working and she had to start a new trial. We were reimbursed 100% of our costs with very little paperwork. Purchased our insurance through Squaremouth.

Maury

I feel this whole topic has gotten out of hand. I agree that they could have chosen a better place to do the drug testing, but there must have been a reason for using that area. When you are dealing in an industry where there has to be a quick turnaround, you don’t have the option of sending them off site. You could wait until dry dock, but that would not be random. Might be embarrassing for the crew, but certainly not something that should be viewed as gross by passengers.

As to the maintenance of the lifeboats outside a room, I have stayed at more than one hotel where there was work going on outside my room. Certainly didn’t stop the hotel from selling me the room. They were nice enough to provide me with a note telling me it would be noisy during certain hours. I think they figured that I wouldn’t be using my room all day.

Maury

Following since we're sailing Feb 7th. Our first HA cruise. Thank you for reviewing.

Which ship are you sailing on for your cruise? If you are on the Zuiderdam, come join our roll call.

Maury

:D (y)

Can’t wait to hear the rest of the story.

Maury

Also looking forward to seeing your full review. We are on the Zuiderdam starting February 7th and are anxious to know the ins and outs of the ship. Glad you enjoyed your trip despite some minor disappointments.

Maury

We are currently 30 days from our sail date and I just checked to see what the price would be for our Neptune suite. They are sold out and we would be SOL for this trip. Even the Signature suites are sold out.

Be happy and enjoy your cruise.

Maury

We did the city highlights. We enjoyed the fortress but it is a good climb up in the heat even though we left early in the morning. We had a very limited stop in the arcaded market and then a short walk through old town with a visit to two churches followed by too much time hanging out by the emerald stores. Overall it was good, but the pacing could have been better.

Thanks for posting this Bennybear. We have this same excursion set up on our trip in February. My wife has some mobility issues and we felt this was a good compromise. Might not be the best tour, but we are newbies and just getting our feet wet.

Maury

Check for yourself, of course, but you will probably find that the only way outsiders can see in is if it is dark outside, fully lit inside, and the outsider stands right at the window and shields eyes while peering in. If any outsider is that interested in my "super-ripped extra-buff" old-timer's body, I welcome the attention. :cool::evilsmile::D

Have to agree with you on that Arnie. If someone wants to do all that to see my 70 year old body, enjoy. Afraid they might die laughing at my “super ripped extra buff” body. :eek:

Maury

Thank you for the excellent review. Nice to see all the positives. I truly believe that some people only see the negative in a trip and that draws more negativity to them.

Maury

Glad you had a great time. Enjoyed your review and hope your adult children enjoyed it despite the lack of excitement. We are considering an Alaska cruise in 2019 with our family that has grandkids that will range from 13 to 5.

Maury

Our trip in February was our Christmas gift to each other.

Daughter and son-in-law along with grandkids getting a cruise in July from his parents. Going on Carnival Liberty to Nassau.

Merry Christmas to y’all and fun cruising in 2018. :cool:

Maury

Maybe I am simply an “ old school” person, but there are certain things that I cannot leave behind in this new age day. While my days of wearing suits have been left behind, mostly due to the fact that they no longer fit, I still wear coat and tie to weddings, church and to funerals. Fine dining for the most part is now collared shirt and wool slacks with coat and tie if the occasion calls for it.

While cruises no longer require men to wear coat and tie in the MDR, I fail to see where shorts are ever appropriate for either men or women. Someone on another thread complained because no one told her that shorts were not appropriate especially for a Gala night and he did wear a pair of “ dress Bermuda shorts “. While my better half has already informed me that my current crop of cargo shorts might not make the trip and I am in need of new shorts, I am struggling with the concept of dress shorts. I have a couple of pairs of Bermuda shorts, but I would never consider them to be dress. Having just watched “ The Crown”, maybe the Royal Navy dress white shorts might qualify.

Just my two cents.

Maury

Thank you Roger for the great trip. Can’t wait to see your pictures and the menus.

Maury

Great review John. We are believers that you live in the moment. While we have not yet cruised on HAL and are still neophytes to cruising, we can hardly wait for our trip in February.