Turtles06

Certainly not the case on NCL ten years ago.

NCL.com lists the total approximate size of "club balcony suites" on the Getaway (categories MB and MA) as "236-310 sq. feet" and the balconies as "32-103 sq. feet." Those are big variations, and I'm trying to find out which of these staterooms are the largest, as it's not really apparent from the deck plans (at least as far as I can tell). [I'm only talking about the regular "club balcony suites" and not the "aft-facing club balcony suites."] I'm sure that the information I'm looking for is here in the NCL forum, but a search for "Getaway club balcony" yields no results, and the individual search terms are far too common for a search. So I would appreciate any information and advice. Thanks! (And I know these aren't really "suites," just deluxe balconies with some additional amenities now thrown in. 🙂)

It's a horrible tragedy; prayers for all affected. It's hard to understand what might have happened. I assume a harbor pilot would have been on board the container ship at that time. Is that a correct assumption?

We did exactly that -- walked over to Trinity Church after visiting the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Not only is Alexander Hamilton buried there, but the grave of his wife, Eliza, is at the foot of Alexander's grave. And the grave of Eliza's sister Angelica -- a person very important in Alexander's life and in the show -- is nearby. Fans of the show know this from one of the lyrics in "Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story," as Eliza sings to Hamilton: "I rely on Angelica While she's alive, we tell your story She is buried in Trinity Church near you...."

For folks who don't know about this and might be interested, the "Rodgers & Hammerstein 80th Anniversary Concert" that was performed and filmed last December at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London will be available for on-demand streaming in North America starting this evening (March 24) at 7pm ET with a "watch party." Tickets are $19.99, and entitle you to stream the concert whenever you want, through March 31, 2024. Below is the link for information and buying tickets. At the upper right hand side of this web page you can see the entire programme and which stars are singing what -- - it's quite a collection of R&H hits. https://concert.rodgersandhammerstein.com/

Never? Oh, please do yourselves a favor and see it. It’s absolutely brilliant. (I’ve seen it six times live, watched the film capture of the OBC six times through as well as pieces of it countless times when I needed a “fix.” I did finally give up Disney+ though. 😂)

The Halifax Public Gardens are absolutely beautiful and well worth a visit (assuming the weather cooperates). They are back up the hill, not that far from the Citadel. Do what you did before, take a cab up the hill. Saves time apart from everything else. https://www.halifax.ca/parks-recreation/parks-trails-gardens/gardens/halifax-public-gardens I suspect your reference to the Cathedral is to St. Mary's Cathedral Basilica. It's Gothic Revival architecture, which I always find interesting (and did when we visited). If you look at a map, it's downhill from the Public Gardens, so you could start at the Gardens, walk down to the Basilica, and then walk down to the waterfront. https://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/saint-marys-cathedral-basilica/1307 A "must do" for us along the waterfront is to have some BeaverTails. Yum! (They are located at 1549 Lower Water Street, about midway along the boardwalk in a cluster of other food shacks.) If it's pouring rain that day and you're looking for something indoors that you haven't already visited, there's the Maritime Museum of the Atlantic. We haven't been there yet, so I can't give a personal recommendation. https://maritimemuseum.novascotia.ca/ I hope this was helpful. Enjoy your trip!

Jamaica and the Cayman Islands are both fairly anti-gay places, Jamaica possibly worse from what I've read. Neither would be on my current wish-list of itineraries. As @njhorseman has said, the Gem and Pearl are sister ships. I haven't been on the Pearl, but I've sailed on the Gem six times (including three full transits of the Canal), and she's among my favorite ships.

This is good advice if the port prior to Boston is not in the U.S. But the Eclipse is doing some NE/Canada cruises RT out of Boston, where the final port call after Canada is Portland, and so immigration will be handled there.

What I suggested to the OP was that they not overschedule themselves. For example, if you sign up for team trivia that is played every morning at 10am, that will soon be 7am body time and then even earlier. Not a lot of fun there. 🙂

You are correct about Spain not being on DST time yet (they switch on March 31), but the OP is leaving from Galveston, TX, in May, so it will be a 7-hour time difference for them. (I realize you were replying to @tscoffey, who missed the fact that the OP's cruise leaves from Galveston.)

The OP specifically said they are leaving from Galveston, TX. That's in the Central Time Zone, not Eastern. And when Barcelona goes to Summer Time (Daylight Saving Time) on March 31, it will be 7 hours ahead of Galveston. The OP isn't cruising until May, so it will be a 7-hour time difference.

Welcome to Cruise Critic! Since it sounds like you haven’t done an eastbound TA before, I just want to suggest that you not underestimate the effect that losing an hour a day for seven days during your crossing will have on you. Don’t overschedule yourself, especially in the morning. Have a great trip!

Thank you @princeton123211 and @Milhouse for taking the time to provide such helpful information. We’ll certainly have some good choices for our one dinner. Anyone have any suggestions for a good place for a poutine lunch? We stumbled across one in the Lower Town on our first visit and I really enjoyed it. (I can’t recall the name of the place; it was quite casual.) BeaverTails is on our “must have” list. 😊

Unless something has changed recently, what it gives you is your domestic plan internationally. So if your domestic planning plan is unlimited voice and data, that is what you will get in most countries outside the U.S. And the $10/day is limited to a $100 charge per billing cycle, which works especially well if you are going to be traveling for more than ten days.

A really good place to ask these questions is over in the Florida Departures forum.

We'll be overnighting in Quebec City this fall. Do folks have additional recommendations for a restaurant for dinner, or more thoughts about those that have been recommended? Thanks!

@RWK1952 Depending on the specific port, we do a mix of DIY days, private shorex, and cruise line shorex. Typically, if the destination is quite far from the port, and/or the next port is pretty hard to reach (e.g., the other side of the pond on a transatlantic), we would be more inclined to do a cruise line tour. The typical problem with cruise line tours is that you are generally on a big bus with about 50 of your new friends. And the quality of the guides varies. I think that private tour operators are less likely to keep a guide who is just not very good. It terms of picking private tour operators, of course it's critical to do advance research -- e.g., reading up on Trip Advisor and elsewhere, and reading up and asking questions here on CC in the specific port of call forums for your cruise. Some comments about several of the ports you will be visiting: Vigo, Spain -- we found the city itself not very interesting; I think the best thing to do here is to leave town and visit Santiago de Compostela, the old town of which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Cathedral is a centuries-old famous destination of Catholic pilgrims, who come on foot and by many other modes of transportation. (See the happy bicyclists in my photo below.) Probably a good opportunity for an NCL tour. Palma de Mallorca is do-able on your own -- take a shuttle (if one is running) or a cab into the heart of the city, and you can tour the magnificent Cathedral and surrounding area on your own schedule. In Le Havre, I would strongly recommend taking a private tour of the D-Day sites with the highly regarded Overlord Tours. They were fabulous (and if you head over to the France port of call forum you can get more feedback). They book up quickly. (Paris is a very long way from Le Havre.) I hope this was helpful. Enjoy your cruise!

Indeed (and as I know you know), my wife and I did these as B2B cruises in January/February 2023. The first cruise began in NY on the NCL Gem and ended in Fuerte Amador (having transited the Canal southbound). The second cruise began in Fuerte Amador, transited the Canal northbound, and wound up back in NY. It was a fabulous trip, a total of 23 days.

If you take a partial transit from the East Coast, you will have the option after going through the Gatun Locks on the Atlantic side of the Canal to take an excursion in a ferry-sized vessel that will go through the Pacific locks and a big part of the Canal that you would otherwise have missed. And then you'll rejoin your cruise ship back in Colon on the Atlantic side of the Canal. The best place to look into all of this is over in the Panama Canal Ports of Call forum.

I hadn't seen it either. It's a good move!

I absolutely agree with you. The open air museum is not to be missed.

Of course, you won't get "the best of Iceland" in a single day, but that tour will include some major highlights and it will be an interesting and good way to spend that day; it's what I would do if I were in port for just that day. (The South Coast tour from Reykjavik is awesome and stunningly beautiful, but I don't think you really have time for that.) Check these folks out for private tours: https://geoiceland.is/ https://sagatravel.is/ (read reviews here on CC as well as Trip Advisor. Pay attention to post-pandemic reviews, as these terrific companies I believe reorganized during/after the pandemic.)

That was the biggest plus for us. There hadn’t been anything listed before for Rockland, sold out or otherwise.

They are both Hilton properties, both under the Hilton Honors program. Just pick one hotel name or the other to book; the rooms and amenities are different (and, on quick glance, so are the prices). 🙂