FredT

At work, one of my regular customers came running in one day and asked if i could come out and "reason" with the cop who had pulled him over. Being from St Thomas he had handed over his drivers license, and the cop was about to ticket him for not having a license "from the United States"... It took a supervisor to talk him out of writing the ticket.

BUT, to the cops credit, he came into our store a few days later and asked me to explain "what ARE US Territories? "

Just before Christmas I had to do a bit of shopping, so I grabbed a credit card I had not used in over 2 years. Went to the mall, did NOT see what I wanted and went home. On arriving at home, there was a message from the C/C companies fraud dept, asking if i had used the card in Jamiaca a few minutes before.

Nope, but when I queried them they said that I had probably been scanned by a portable c/c reader while walking in the mall... A common occurrence these days.

Got in the car to go to the airport (JFK in NY) only to find when we got to the terminal that our flight was out of LaGuardia... (Who knew, isn't JFK Jet Blue's hub??? :cool: )

The information I got was that the "non flying" pax had a duplicate copy of the boarding pass (Simply printed out another copy???) and just waved it to the GA after (legit) brother boarded.

Guessing now, but he could have simply said something along the line of "I already scanned in but I forgot my coat in the boarding area" or something like that.

I think the point here is that you CAN certainly bring kids with you, but the line does not (to my knowledge) have any formal kids club or even anyone to babysit them. In other words YOU will have to keep an eye on them, and entertain them. If they are anywhere as active as mine were, good luck this would NOT be a peaceful or relaxing trip for you... Our experience on Star Clippers has been that the ships are filled with mostly middle aged, (or older) people who LOVE sailing and the seas. As with others here I have not seen many (2 or 3) kids on board.

Don't know the company, but have 2 comments. FIRST, you may want to research and find someone who does a longer (5-6 hr) cruise rather than the "standard" 3 hr one. It's somewhat disconcerting to be one of 100 junks all going bow to stern in a line across the bay.

SECOND, if it's the BAY that interests you make sure that your tour wanders the bay, and does not take you over/dump you at a cave complex/pick you up and take you to ANOTHER cave complex/then back to your starting point. (Which is exactly what a large percentage of the companies do)

If you want to "really" sail, book onto the Star Clippers. Size of the ships are similar, the food is similar, but the rooms are smaller (but no less comfortable or upscale)

Every flight on every airline is FILLED with people who paid less than you probably did... Yet we never hear screams and wails from those who paid more for the "same seat".....

I would love to see the OP's response to a request for an airline to give her something back because she paid more than the airline was now asking for that airline ticket.......

Bravo!

A couple that purchased a live Scarlet Macaw in Brazil and were trying to bring it home as a pet...

Should I be concerned that I might miss something if I go to the lectures. Hopefully, they are done when we aren't close to anything important.

Dont worry. The lectures by Palmer Station personnel were given either A) By personnel on their WAY to the station (Hopping HAL as a sort of Taxi service from Chile) while at sea. B) by Palmer Station Personnel on their way OUT of a stay on the station, (Again while you are at sea also with nothing to see.)

Or, most fun:

C) The ship stops at Palmer Station (Actually a few mile off shore) and you are "invaded" by a dozen or so Palmer Station workers. (Who head STRAIGHT for the buffets and coffee bar) They then take turns giving lectures on their time at the Station... Some are scientists, some engineers, one was the small engine mechanic, and another the "wastewater" specialist. And nothing is to be missed outside, because for those 6 hours you are just "stationkeeping" in the same spot.

We select based on ship. It is getting difficult to get DW to opt for a HAL ship.....the cruise line has fallen down in her comparative pecking order. I cannot disagree. Perhaps the new K.

LOL... Took the words right out of my mouth, except in reverse. One of our first criteria in looking at a cruise IS the ship, and anything larger that 1800 passengers is just too large for us. We used to love Celebrity, but the thought of a huge ship with 3000+ others is simply not appealing any more, and unfortunately the cost of most other "small ship" cruise lines is somewhat prohibitive to us.

So, while not every cruise (last one was Star Clippers, the next is CMV) HAL remains high on our "pecking order".....

OK... Two Costa cruises, six HAL.

Costa is a lot more like Princess or NCL. Bigger ships, more "to do". Food is a lot more "European". (For example, you order shrimp in a meal you get the WHOLE shrimp, not just the tail) Decor is a lot more "garish", and service tends to be a lot more loud and boisterous.

I dont know if they still do "toga nights" in the MDR, but that (and a couple of "sing along" nights there made me cringe...

DW does not do Bangers and Mash :).

LOL, We just got back from Edinburgh for the festival, and found that A) We LIKE bangers and mash... and B) We DONT like Haggis. (Unless it is smothered in gravy) But a trip like this is certainly not about the cuisine... or the entertainment. Gonna be interesting!

We think the oldest cruise ship (still sailing as a cruise ship) is called the MV Astoria. She originally started sailing in 1948 and was then called the Stockholm. Yes, its the same ship that collided with Andrea Doria in 1956. But she was repaired and is now operated by Cruise and Maritime Voyages (the same company that now operates the old Marco Polo) and used primarily for British cruisers. We actually saw this ship a couple of years ago (while cruising in Europe) and she seems to be in pretty good shape....considering she is 69 years old! The oldest ship that we cruised, that is still cruising, is the Marco Polo (we cruised on her twice) which was launched about 1965.

 

Hank

LOL... Wish us luck Hank, We are booked onto the Astoria in march. I really wanted to sail this old girl before she faded away as my parents sailed on her in 1948 from Stockholm to NY.... We are actually looking forward to this trip as an adventure... (To be followed by a cruise on Crystal a few months later, talk about opposites! )

This is utter nonsense, don't blame the passenger for the condition of a ship, it doesn't matter what size it is, a cruise ship need to be in tiptop shape at all times both for safety and service, that's why we have both dry dock and wet dock, and the U.S Coast Guard to inspect the condition of the ship

I am certainly not "blaming the passenger" for the condition of the ship. Simply stating that if the customer base wants small/midsized ships, IN PERFECT CONDITION, they have to resign themselves to paying a LOT more (On every cruise, not JUST the VOV) or having ships that have "aging" issues.

And no, I am not talking about safety issues... these are mandated, and always comes to the "head of the line"....

Reality check.....

You all want ships to "be new", but you DONT want to pay the fare's associated with new ships. Sure, other lines have new ships... But the only way they can fund these new builds is to either A) Make them so big they get economies of scale, or B) Charge a much higher price per cabin...

You all rave about HAL's "small ships", and reasonable prices compared to the premium lines... THIS is the downside to this!

As long as you dont mind the smaller ship (with less to do on it) I would agree with Marco. To me the Dockyard (Where the larger ships all dock) is the LAST place I would want to visit on Bermuda. (Especially if yo have more than one ship in port) Where a ship docking in Hamilton (In the middle of the island) has access to a LOT of shops/restaurants/ and is a pleasant place to wander day and night.

I have a hard time believing the OPs story, especially since there is no response to how a copy was obtained on a holiday weekend.

 

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Oh I believe it... And once the OP found a copy (somewhere) they are probably scurrying around trying to get everything ELSE done before they sail. We probably wont hear again from them until after the cruise.....

We just used them on a Stewart (NY) to Edinburgh flight. New plane, fine service. Our only concern is what a couple of posters have already pointed out. If your flight is canceled for ANY reason, you have no possibility of being booked on another airline... And it may be days before Norwegian can reaccommodate you.

Our rule is this: Each of us has one checked bag and one carry on. We lay out all four on the bed and then COMPLETELY mix our belongings. (1/4 of my socks in each bag, 1/4 of DW's...and on and on.) So if we loose one bag no big deal... If we loose BOTH bags, we can still cope. Yep, we've lost bags before, and yep, it's worked like a charm.

And another name for it is the Puerto Rican "Cenepa"...... Now you make me crave it! (Just FYI, It;s also available in NYC for a month around this time of year)

Rather than the masses on a cruise excursion, try spending the day at SeaWorlds Dolphin Lagoon. A bit pricey, a great day with many things to do (You are in a separate park) food, lazy river, and huge swim in lagoon with stingrays etc. If I remember correctly, you get about 30 minutes in the water with a trainer, dolphin, and a small group of people. At least you know it's done "well" and the animals are not being mistreated.

Just a note... Yes, Star Clippers charges for drinks, BUT they charge in Euro's, which makes sodas/beer/drinks REALLY cheap to Americans at this time... If you are into "tropical" drinks make sure and try their Caipirinha, (National drink of Brazil) Unlike many places I have ordered it, they do it up RIGHT!

Four cruises on HAL, and while I have never purchased anything more than an embarkation shot, I have been pleasantly surprised how UNobtrusive they are compared to Carnival or NCL photographers. On our last two NCL cruises were told we HAD to have our photographs taken on embarkation... And they physically blocked our way to try to do so. (Needless to say, a small scene, and we went on our way... no photo.)