orangegrove

Here is an article that came out yesterday. My guess any ship over 1,000 pax no bueno. But who knows. More to come on Monday, March 4. 
https://www.cruisehive.com/bar-harbor-gets-approval-to-radically-limit-cruise-ship-passengers/124962

We are booked on NCL Gem the first cruise in Bar Harbor for the 2024 season. (May 2). Prior to Bar Harbor we will be in Bermuda. I purposely didn’t plan anything in case this happened. Now we are just waiting to hear if it’s going to be an extra sea day or if they will change the port. 
 

I’m kind of bummed about it but understand. I haven't been since I was a teenager and my husband never has. I was looking forward to visiting Acadia NP. I guess that will mean a future land trip. 

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Earlier in the cruise, Footloosenwas cancelled due to two cast members being injured during rehearsal. Tonight, Elements has been cancelled. The cruise staff has just moved the Beatles from the Cavern Club to the main theater. 
 

The next cruise is a long repositioning cruise. The Bird hopes that NCL has the cast of both shows back and healthy (Footloose for the final time). 

We are on the repositioning cruise leaving Monday. I certainly hope that the performers weren’t injured too badly. Hopefully they are going to be okay for our sailing. Otherwise it’s going to be a long 12 days of not much entertainment. 
 

I guess that will mean the bars will stay extra busy! Which may bring some unexpected entertainment! Lol

Thanks so much for your quick response! I kind of figured that but thought I would ask. :)

We will be going on NCL's Joy in October. We have never cruised out of NYC before. The itinerary begins in NYC and ends in Miami. We are looking at renting a car and driving to NYC. (probably flying home from Miami, but we may drive and stop along the way) I noticed there are several national car rental agencies near the port. Do any of them have a shuttle to the pier or will we have to take an Uber/taxi? I've looked at their websites but I don't see if this is possible. 

Once my son had a separate cabin my husband and I loved the room. Enough space for two and it makes it easier to us the facilities.

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Yes the studios are inside. My son had a regular inside because I didn't need a 15yo by himself without a way to get into the studio cabin. Your 40yo daughter would probably love the studios.

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IMO I think your 40yo daughter would be more comfortable in a real bed vs. the sofa bed in the cabin. We have been on the Epic twice with our son. First time he was 11 and the sofa bed was fine. Last time he was 15 but he is 6'2" and 230 pounds and we got him an inside room across the hall from our balcony. We have been on several cruises and as my son got taller and became a football player we had to adjust our travel arrangements. Also, 3 adults in an Epic cabin is tight but it can be done. There are many photos of the cabins. I would have her take a look and see if she could deal with the sofa bed.

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What a nice surprise to see so many responses to my question. Thank you everyone.

 

Albany would definitely be further to drive than Binghamton and since we have driven to Florida before using I-81 for the first part of the trip, it would be a familiar highway. I did not know there were tolls if going to Albany so that was another good thing to know.

 

We live east of Toronto making the route over to Watertown and down the best for us but from our home to Syracuse is about a 4 hr. drive. We can't leave home until 4 pm. I think Binghamton would be doable so long as I booked a hotel for late arrival. Another option would be to stay overnight in Syracuse and drive to Binghamton early next morning. The unknown factor is always customs. Most times there are very few cars lined up at the Thousand Islands and we are through customs within 30 minutes. Have even done it in 15 minutes. At least the weather should be on our side since it will be mid March.

 

The Megabus sounds like the way to go. Thank you to those who talked about Amtrak time! I tried to get a sense of the Megabus schedule but cannot figure out how to get onto the site. It comes up telling me I have to install something so I did but then it takes me right back to the first page and when I try to put in Binghamton to New York it takes me to install again and then tells me I've already done the install and I'm back to putting in the towns again and then to install.....on and on. How do I get out of this loop? I even tried another search engine with the same results. As well it would not let me enter a date to depart.

 

Amtrak from Syracuse to Penn Station for two seniors is $105.40 each way so this Megabus would be a great savings.

 

Anyone know about parking at the Megabus station? Or, if we stay the night there, any hotels where we can leave the car for 10 days?

I just pulled up the megabus site and it seems you can only book about 2 months out. They have buses leaving from Syracuse too! So that may be a big help. It leaves from the Syracuse Regional Transit Center which is where Amtrak is too. Parking is $8USD per day. Lots of information on both websites. It looks like there are more times from the Binghamton station though.

I just chose a different day of the week from Syracuse and there were more times. So play with dates in the upcoming months and see what works best for you.

How do they know unless you tell them the age?

All ship cards have ages imbedded in them. You show your passport or BC when you arrive at the port.

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I have been on both ships and I like the Sun just slightly better. The ship has a front observation deck that is unlike any of the others. The views are incredible and it is accessed through the lounge on deck 12. :) I assume at some point in the future this area will probably be turned into suites and the observation area will go. :(

I prefer the entertainment on the newer, larger ships because of the variety. I'm not saying the smaller ships have terrible entertainment, it's just the larger ships have new things that have never been on a cruise ship before and having been on over 20 cruises sometimes the ship becomes the destination vs. the ports.

I think whatever ship you choose you will have a wonderful time! It's such a relaxing way to vacation and you can unplug if you want to. :p

Staying the night never really occurred to us. I was thinking about flying in in the morning and going right to the ship. It says it departs at 4pm, is it not advisable to do that?

You are flying in from PIT in March I would fly the night before. You never know what the weather will bring. This year we cruised out of Miami in March and several people from the north did not make the cruise that day due to weather. We flew in from NC the day before and Florida was having severe thunderstorms and our flight was delayed 3 hours. You never know what is going to happen. Better safe than sorry.

Part of your vacation is the journey. Fly in the day before, enjoy the port area. There are several things to do in each of the ports. You will feel much more relaxed and not have to worry about missing the ship! :D

The glow party on Breakaway wasn't anywhere as good as white hot party. They had crew dressed in "morph" type outfits that looked ridiculous..

That is stupid! :eek: I like my neon idea a whole lot better. Oh, and they should have black lights with cool neon drinks that glow!

So is this the end of the white hot party? :(

Not really, just changed a name. From press release:

The line's exciting new H2GLOW Party, first introduced on Norwegian Breakaway and Norwegian Getaway, will also be rolled out fleet wide. I think they still wear white just give you glow stuff, and maybe you could also wear neon colors. I bet it's the same kind of thing.

We did a b2b on the Epic in 2010 and what you described is pretty much the same procedure. (except no specialty lunch :() You will get a letter in your cabin about what will happen and the procedure you need to take. You will go through customs. We left our bags in the room. Very easy.

I can't see your photos either in IE or Chrome. However, I can see Shyhova's pictures in his review and he uses photobucket. I also can see your test pictures. I was able to see your photos 2 days ago. :confused: very, very strange.

I fit over 30 pieces of clothing in the bag. Now I only sent in cottons. T-shirts, shorts, underwear. I rolled everything and had no problems.

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Thank you both, Christmas tree ornaments a nice touch. Obtainable in Turkey?

They have beautiful ones in the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. You can google images of them.

I totally agree with Fishbait17. Souvenirs are just dust collectors. As Fishbait17 stated we also collect Christmas ornaments from everywhere we go. I also date and write the name of the country/city at the bottom. I have a drawer in my house where I keep what we've purchased throughout the year and when Christmas time comes I pull the ornaments out and put them on the tree. We love looking at the ornaments and reliving the memories of our vacations.

Ornaments are small enough and I have some very unusual ones from all over the world.

What site is that? I'd like to check it out.

if you enter portmiamiwebcam dot com this will bring up the Port of Miami Web Cam and at the bottom will be a list of all available webcams for this particular company.

The UBP has to be purchased for all persons staying in the cabin that are over 21. The 1 year old does not need to purchase the soda card. When you purchase the soda card they put a sticker on your card. They only give you one glass of soda at a time. It is fountain soda not can. You can ask for a can if you purchase a soda without the soda plan.

Pull up deck plans and look at deck 9 and 10 towards the aft. They are much bigger. :)

We were just on the Epic with my DS15, niece14, and niece12. The 12yo was not allowed at all in the club. She hung with us until the teens left the club and then hung with her sister, my son, and their new friends. It worked out fine for her. She did not want to go to the younger club by herself. My son never had a problem doing that, but he's been cruising since he was 3. This was my nieces first cruise. (which they loved and are trying to convince their parents to go on another one!)

too expensive for the drink package I think. $6.50/day per person?

 

we have 6 sailing :)

 

 

So....they show an NCL cup at the beverage package page. Is that how it's refilled? Or, do you have to have a crew member fill it at the Buffet?

The mug is just a "souvenir gift" that your receive with purchasing the soda package. NCL puts a sticker on your card. Present your card with the sticker and they will fill a glass or your mug with fountain soda. You can get soda at any bar.

Sorry to hijack - but if the UBP includes soda, and we have two adults one child in the room, both adults purchase the UBP - do we have to buy the soda package for DD?

Interesting. My guess is you probably need to buy the package. You know I think I mixed up buying the bottle of liquor for the cabin with the UBP. The UBP drinks are gotten at the bar and they only give you one drink at a time. The liquor bottle in your cabin comes with unlimited mixers. You keep the bottle in the cabin and mix your drink there.

I just looked up the terms. They give you unlimited fountain soda. You could make two trips. But what about at dinner time? Or just in general during the day. You would have to get her drink every time.

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