TMLAalum

6 hours ago, zqvol said:

To see the real effect of the reversal you need to visit twice, 3 or 4 hours apart. 

Yes. Fortunately, we were on a land vacay to NB and got to experience this at Hopewell Rocks.

Funny you should ask! Hopewell Rocks is the place to go but it is @90 miles to the east. And you would want to check the tide tables to be sure it is low tide when you are there so you can walk on the floor of the Bay of Fundy.

Probably a private tour would be the way to get there!

21 hours ago, Oakman58 said:

I know there are quite a few restaurants near the pier in Portland Maine, and I was wondering, with two cruise ships in port (NCL Breakaway and Sky) does it become difficult to get seated for a lunch? 

Hoping for you that Portland is NOT your first re-entry port into the US from Canada!

I am leery that we will clear CBP in time for our 1:30pm cruise on the Eleanor Hawkes since the Eclipse isn't due into port until 9:30am!

6 hours ago, the penguins said:

One of the complaints/comments from early risers who have had IV's has been that they have had to raise the blinds in order to open the window and in doing do have woken their partners.

33 minutes ago, RichYak said:

I'm clearly missing something. Lets say this wasn't an issue and you COULD open the window without raising the blinds. Why would someone want to do this--open a window that's completely covered by blinds?

Even if you don't want to lower the IV glass, the blind has to go up to see the great outdoors!

@TGfromTX Thanks for the height measurement of the IV glass when opened to the outdoors. Being a shorty who's shrinking, I hope my chin can rest on the railing! 

Here's a thought: why not sub out those uncomfortable chairs on the IV for bar stools! And a 36in circumference bar height table too! Probably won't be any more comfortable than current seating but at least there'll be no glass obstructing the view!!

@Lena11033

Loving your review, especially the photos!

What excursion did you take in Flam? It seems to have covered just about all the highlights (excepting the Flambana).

5 hours ago, Patty727 said:

Anyone interested in sharing a taxi on 8/26/24 from the port to Bruges?  My husband and myself are on the Celebrity Apex Aug 23 cruise from Southampton.  

Your best hope is to ask this on your sailing's roll call:

Celebrity Apex - August 23, 2024 Rotterdam, Holland & Brussels, Belgium - Celebrity Apex Roll Calls - Cruise Critic Community

You can also book Cruise Express:

Bruges :: Cruise Express (cruise-express.be)

I have read that taxis do line up outside the port and that 8 random cruisers can join forces for the r/t to Bruges and back:

Taxi zeebrugge, taxi brugge, taxi to bruges, havenvervoer (martinstaxi.be)

Not sure they are reservable ahead of time!

Happy for non-US citizens that you were able to clear CBP in a timely manner!

Livid to hear that US citizens cannot easily be re-admitted into their homeland!

Fingers X'd that our loyalty status gives us an early time slot when we dock in Portland.

10 hours ago, latebuyer said:

Thanks, mainly at mfa i want to see the monets, i’m not sure if they are in one room. As i said it may work out if embarkation time is later. MFA opens at 10am so i’d have 2.5 hours to spend there if embarkation at 1. Both seem worthwhile!

I've not done this in Boston, but I highly recommend taking a docent led tour if it fits into your schedule:

Gallery Tours and Talks | Museum of Fine Arts Boston (mfa.org)

We were immersed in Monet's Water Lilies at L'Orangerie in Paris on a tour led by an English-speaking docent. At the Getty, we chose to take the Collection Tour. Ironically, we are Cleveland Museum of Art members, but have yet to join a guided tour there.

Don't think the Gardner museum offers tours.....

@lx200gps

That would make sense! Our first US port stop after a TA was Boston. I don't recall any delays in leaving the ship for a day of sightseeing. From there we sailed to Manhattan for an overnight, Bermuda for an overnight, then Nassau and ended the cruise in Miami, without issue. 

By putting Portland at the beginning of the itinerary, we'd have a sea day before disembarking in Boston, which IMHO eliminates having to pack up after Portland for arrival the next day in Boston as our itinerary has us doing.

1 hour ago, Freckles1983 said:

We are scheduled to dock at 9am and my tour is scheduled from 10:15am-3:00pm.  I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.

It sounds as if you are on a ship-sponsored excursion you will be ok.

As for me, no lobster roll lunch ashore probably😡

On 7/15/2024 at 11:27 AM, Firefly74 said:

Just finished a Princess cruise that had a Portland stop as its immigration entry. It was a mess. We (US citizens) stood in line for 1.5 hours. We docked at approximately 7:45 a.m. and we personally were not clear of immigration until 1:15 or so. The line behind us looked as though it would take at least another hour or so to clear. Everyone, even those not going ashore, must clear immigration. The total process took from docking until 5:30 p.m. according to the captain's announcement.

 

And don't count on Global Entry. It's irrelevant in Portland. They do not have enough agents and the picture-taking routine backs everything up.

This is an unacceptable scenario except there seems to be no choice but to accept it.

We are scheduled there on a Saturday from 9:30 - 6. Wonder if CBP will be understaffed from the # of agents you mentioned since it is a weekend day. We did book a private schooner cruise with a 1:30 departure time so fingers X'd.

I suspect that Portland souvenir shops and restaurants aren't thrilled that cruisers time in port is reduced to nearly nil thanks to this.

I would hate to be in a cabin with free standing furniture in rough seas and stormy weather!

Instead of hearing the captain tell the crew to "Batten down the hatches" we'd hear her announce "Take out the tool kit provided to you and start bolting down the bed"!

At this point I would bail on TBL. Work through your credit card provider for your refund. Whatever highlights of the tour you'd booked try to replicate them if you can DIYing. 

It used to be easy to locate private guides via internet search engines, but nowadays all I ever find are GetyourGuide, TBL, Viator recycled over and over again. Every once in awhile a different tour provider is listed among the big three, so perhaps you might get lucky. You are a savvy traveler, Steve, so perhaps you've already pursued contacting the tourist bureau directly:

Klaipėdos turizmo informacijos centras (klaipedatravel.lt) as they may have guide listings.

Good Luck in finding an alternative and in being able to let this situation not overshadow the rest of your voyage.

Hi Milhouse!

There may be enough to keep you occupied at Verdon-sur-Mer:

Holidays in Verdon-sur-Mer : stay and weekend | Médoc Atlantique (medoc-atlantique.co.uk)

I think you may be able to rent a bike which would be great for you but IDK about your DW.

Does Celebrity offer transportation only excursion options to Bordeaux? Or can you rent a car in Verdon and then book a hotel for the night?

I agree with others who've posted re: enjoying the local cuisine while you are there.

Great photos. Thanks for sharing your cruise with us!

Would help if you included the itineraries for both ships.

Here's a different thought:

Choose a cruise itinerary that focuses primarily on Norway. To see Iceland, fly via Icelandair, taking advantage of their stopover in Iceland before proceeding to the departure city for your Norway cruise. Stopover in Iceland | Icelandair US We did this in 2015 and our several days land time via rental car in Iceland gave us time to see the highlights of the western part. You will have more time to explore both countries by eliminating lots of sea days. Our previous Norway cruise was in early May and only 7 days r/t Southampton. That was too brief a time IMHO as you can see by my signature- Apex 12 night in 2025!

@MillbrookMom

Great review and much appreciated since we'll be sailing the fjords in under 14 months!

Questions?

Where did you reserve your rental car in Honningsvag?

How far ahead were you able to book Flam RR/Stegastein with Norway's Best?

Even just driving to Ingonish is time-consuming! 

Can those translucent bi-fold doors separating the IV from the rest of the cabin be changed out for drapery as on RCCL ships? Or perhaps redesigned to be opaque? The top-down room darkening shade is problematic when one cabin mate wants to sleep in and the other is ready to rise and shine and enjoy the view outside.

33 minutes ago, PKB said:

OK, don't flame me here, I am just curious.  I see the question above asked commonly and always wondered.  Do you prefer the bed by the window or prefer nearer the bathroom?  Why?  Nearer the bathroom is more convenient during the night...nearer the window can see out better during the day....is there a more obvious reason I am missing?

If you like to invite friends/family to your cabin, bed by bath is better for entertaining. Particular to  E-class IV cabins, the bi-fold doors are close to the bed so the bed by bath arrangement gives the cabin a more spacious layout, imho.

11 years ago, Celebrity changed how loyalty points were awarded- 10 points earned Elite status! We began sailing the line in 2010 and earned 2 pt veranda>12, 2011=1pt veranda;<12, 2012=3pt (concierge +12), 2013=1pt veranda<12, 2013=3pt aqua>12. The last cruise got us there in the nick of time as rules changed to the current method just afterwards!

Reaching Elite was a desired goal for us, ergo we took that 4-night cruise just to get to that magic number 10!

Under the current system we'd have only reached 216 points at the end of 2013 and wouldn't have reached Elite until 3 cruises and 77 days sailing later vs. the 54 days it took us under the prior system.

If it weren't for PUPs, we'd still be 28 points short of Elite+ despite another 133 nights on Celebrity.

To reduce the abundance of cruisers with status, Celebrity can change the requirements for reaching each level, Zenith excepted. PUPs might have to be a thing of the past as well. And the reciprocal status among all 3 RCCL brands can be rescinded if the crossover is too detrimental to the bottom line, or more importantly to me, it diminishes the onboard experience.

6 hours ago, 1025cruise said:

If Portland is your first US port after being in Canada, a face to face with US immigration is required. 

It would be great if CBP agents could board the ship before it reaches Portland to begin the process. 

When we entered the US in San Diego, our port of disembarkation, from Cabo the screening occurred the day prior so we were free to leave the ship once docked.

Just browsing excursions offered by Celebrity, the earliest start time is 10:45. Arrival is 9:30. Likely those booked on ship tours will have priority, but we are hoping to book a city tour that begins at 11am. Doubtful, unless our loyalty tier helps us move to the front of the queue.

1 hour ago, princeton123211 said:

The hotel used to offer their own history tours which did include access to a couple of the top suites. 

They were not available when we were on a land trip to Quebec in 2012! The couple we were traveling with was especially disappointed about this since the husband's parents had honeymooned there. We did wander through the public areas, but a tour would have been so much better. Looking forward to seeing whatever we can with Cicerone.

We've done 3 land trips via rental car in England, 2 after cruises that began/ended in Southampton. (Ironically, our 14-night British Isles cruise sailed in/out of Amsterdam.) All of our European cruises have always included a land add-on.

I am a big proponent of the hub/spoke method of travel because we exchange into timeshares for a week- Torquay, Bogner Regis, Ripon and the lakes district. Like cruising in that we unpack just the once. We have been able to visit sights that otherwise could not have been included if going from spot to spot, e.g. Fountains Abbey, Castle Howard, Dartmouth, Hadrian's Wall, Arundel and the site of the Battle of Hastings to cite a few places.

Enjoyed the cruise immensely, though our only England port was Liverpool and from there we went into Wales. Ports on that cruise brought us to places we'd not visited on land trips to Scotland and Ireland.