minniemouse427

1 hour ago, Charles4515 said:

I prefer going by way of St. George on the ferry because I prefer the views on that route, I like St. George, and I prefer taking a taxi from the ferry, not a bus but time wise bus or taxi it is pretty much a wash from either St. George or Hamilton. The ferry schedule to and from St. George is limited, no weekend service and this year the weekday it is more limited, less daily runs. So often ferry to Hamilton is the best time wise because you don’t have to work around the ferry schedule limitations. 

We will be there in a couple of weeks and plan on taking the ferry to St. George and then make our way to Tom Moore's Jungle/Swizzle Inn by bus. When returning to the ship, we will take the bus to Hamilton and then take the ferry back to the Dockyard from there.

Gives us some time in St. George without having to deal with the limited ferry return options.

2 hours ago, barric said:

Does Switch use AV cable or HDMI to connect to a tV?   It so, you will be able to select that input. Not sure about bluetooth.

HDMI

We are prepared to bring a remote, existing dock & cables, as well as a HDMI to VGA cable to make sure we have whatever is needed to make it work. Dh is an IT guy so we just have to pack what we already have. 😎

13 hours ago, barric said:

Just off eclipse 5/26 sailing. 

1.  The tv has accessible inputs for AV and HDMI.   

2.  The Samsung tv remote does not offer Input (source) choices

3.  I brought a universal programmable remote.  It was easy to sync it to the tv

4.  This remote brought up the tv's input menu, so I could switch to AV.  The remote also worked all tv functions.  Very handy.  

5.  I plugged my portable dv player in.  Everything worked great.  My Sony DVP is excellent.  I played all sorts of prerecorded dvds (Science channel shows, Poirot, movies, etc).

6.  Having only the basic wifi package, my Fire TV stick did NOT work.

7.  In Bermuda, our TMobile plan gave us cellular service. Still, Fire TV was very limited.  YouTube not working for example.  

 

I was EXTREMELY pleased with these results.  The X tv lineup was as limited as ever.  

Should I expect that this would work to hook up a Nintendo Switch as well?

We are sailing at the end of the month and we have a person that will be spending their downtime in the cabin w/ their Switch. It isn't the end of the world if it cannot connect to the tv, but if it is as simple as bringing a universal programmable remote ...we can do that.

(Yes I know there are a lot of things to do around the ship instead of video games ..they however involve people and the energy to deal with those people. Downtime is essential here and we are doing all we can to make them comfortable.)

On 5/18/2024 at 8:25 PM, Stumptowngal said:

It seems that people might want to consider the option of putting them up inside their cabin on the magnetic walls. Then you’d actually get to enjoy seeing them more.  

Was on the Anthem of the Seas in Feb of 2023 and then again in Jan of 2024. In 2023 almost all of our door magnets were stolen so I purchased twice as many for our 2024 cruise. I put about a third on the door and the rest on the wall as you walked in ...and not one was stolen off the door. 🤣
Now we have enough for our door and our kids' door when when cruise in July! 🙂

Booked our 6/30 Eclipse cruise back in January and there hasn't been a single "sale" for our sailing since then ...including the Memorial Day sale.  ☹️

1 hour ago, princeton123211 said:

It will be less time overall taking the ferry from the Dockyard to St Georges. The ferry takes about 45 minutes. If you took the ferry to Hamilton and then transferred to a bus it could take double that amount of time especially if arrivals and departures don't line up. 

 

We usually take the ferry to St Georges over in the morning and then take taxis to work our way back going and doing what we would like to Hamilton. It's been the right balance of cost/time savings that's worked for us over the years. 

I am envisioning a loop where we take the earliest ferry from the Royal Naval Dockyard to St. George's, check out St. George's for a bit and then take the bus towards Hamilton getting off at the Swizzle Inn. Do Tom Moore's Jungle and the Swizzle Inn, then hop on the bus and head to Hamilton and eventually ferry back to the Dockyard.

Off to put together a presentation for the family (me, dh, 22yo dd, and 18yo ds) about all the things we can do in three days while docked in Bermuda ...and the things I am recommending. 🤣

I am thinking one day we do the above, another is BUEI & Aquarium Zoo, and a third for beach time. Will throw in miniature golf at the Dockyard as well. I have one beach kid and one that wants nothing to do with it so I have to balance out beach time!

Thank you so much for this information. I was contemplating doing the same thing when we are there in July. 

We are looking at this as well as a trip to see BUEI and the Aquarium/Zoo. We have three days to explore! 🙂

Wondering if it is easier/quicker to take an early ferry to St. George's and the bus vs Hamilton. I know that the ferries run more often to Hamilton but if we do an early one to St. George's would that be better? ...and maybe return from Hamilton?

I have been looking for more information on this vs. renting a bike and doing it independently.

My husband is a cyclist (ie there are multiple bikes, bike shorts, shoes, pedal clips, etc) that routinely rides dozens of miles per ride and trains for longer group rides. There is definitely a concern that the excursion would be far too slow for him to enjoy the ride. 

Thoughts on renting and logistics of getting to and from the trail w/ the bike, vs the excursion?

Thanks!

I plan on decorating with magnets on both of our doors (we are next door to our two young adult children). The kids will probably roll their eyes a bit, but we are paying for it all so they can deal!

Don't care if we are the only ones, it makes me happy!

20 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

If you have been to caves in Kentucky you might be underwhelmed. Much smaller than east coast caves. I was but Crystal Cave is small and interesting. The tour guides provide good stories. Fantasy Cave is pretty meh in my opinion. You don't have to do both. 

We have visited Luray Caverns in VA and Crystal Caves in PA as well as a few other random ones. 

Thank you, this is good information and I will bring it back to the family. I am guessing they will vote to not visit it in lieu of other more interesting places, but who knows!

Can someone that has visited the caves elaborate on the experience? We have visited a few different caves in the Eastern US and wondering if this is a similar or different experience?

Trying to figure out if we should spend time underground when we could be taking advantage of Bermuda above ground!

We are planning our three days in Bermuda this summer and have one non-swimmer.

Things I have on my possible list, we won't do all of them!
Mini golf at dockyard
Aquarium & Zoo
Crystal Cave
Bike ride on Rail Trail
Storytelling Walking Tour in St. George
Explore Hamilton
Explore St. George
History tour/fort
Blue Hole Park
Underwater Exploration Institute (BUEI)
Catamaran Cruise (non swimmer hang on boat for swimming portion)

I can redeem award points for Celebrity gift cards at work, but it says we can only redeem them for online bookings. Not sure if the wording is just outdated w/ the older policy and we would be able to use them for on board purchases on our upcoming cruise. 

May not be worth the risk of trying and losing the funds if it isn't valid.

Our first cruise was on the Century in 2000. Have done 7 cruises on three other lines since then... and we will sailing on our second Celebrity cruise in July on the Eclipse. 😎

1 hour ago, minniemouse427 said:

Interesting comments. 

Our first cruise ever was on the Century back in 2000, pre-kids. It set a very high bar and I know that there are no longer members of the wait staff eager to carry my tray from the buffet to my table for me! 

Subsequently we have cruised on Carnival (4), Disney (1), and RCCL (3) ...in pretty much that order. All but the last two on RCCL were pre-COVID. We (both mid-50's with 22yo and 18yo) are scheduled to sail on the Eclipse the week of July 4th.

As of right now, my ranking is Disney, Celebrity, RCCL, and Carnival. Loved our Disney experience but the cost is prohibitive. We definitely enjoyed our RCCL cruises. The first on a smaller ship (Majesty) with our then teens and the last two on the Anthem, post-COVID and left the kids at home. 🙃

We are eager to cruise Celebrity again and are looking forward to the cruise. Will definitely report back after we return in July!

Will add that we sailed in a Junior Suite on the Century (a wedding splurge) and balcony cabins on the remainder of the cruises. Our upcoming sailing will be in a Concierge Balcony.

Interesting comments. 

Our first cruise ever was on the Century back in 2000, pre-kids. It set a very high bar and I know that there are no longer members of the wait staff eager to carry my tray from the buffet to my table for me! 

Subsequently we have cruised on Carnival (4), Disney (1), and RCCL (3) ...in pretty much that order. All but the last two on RCCL were pre-COVID. We (both mid-50's with 22yo and 18yo) are scheduled to sail on the Eclipse the week of July 4th.

As of right now, my ranking is Disney, Celebrity, RCCL, and Carnival. Loved our Disney experience but the cost is prohibitive. We definitely enjoyed our RCCL cruises. The first on a smaller ship (Majesty) with our then teens and the last two on the Anthem, post-COVID and left the kids at home. 🙃

We are eager to cruise Celebrity again and are looking forward to the cruise. Will definitely report back after we return in July!

24 minutes ago, smokeybandit said:

Nor do local laws even require them

... but the laws of physics still apply, even on vacation. 

We cruised when our now 22yo was 2 and 3yo, we brought our car seat with us (used on plane and airport/hotel/port transportation). Once on board the seat went in the bottom of the closet and we didn't use it again until the end of the cruise. 

At ports, we stuck to walking to places close by or excursions on buses (no car seat used on buses) instead of lugging a car seat around. 

I saw that the original post was from 2022, but a subsequent post was from this past summer that said they had a similar experience so we decided to switch. 

Change of plans. Read some scathing reviews about the RCL excursion to Secret Sands/Smith Bay Eco Park so we switched to an excursion to Trunk Bay. A bit more $, but should be relaxing.

30 minutes ago, blue_water said:

Yes that works for someone who isn’t comfortable hopping a taxi to spend more time there…

Arguably the nicest beach and water on the island! 

Not uncomfortable about the taxi per se, more uncomfortable about exploring on our own further than just steps from the ship. It is our first Southern Caribbean cruise so all the ports are new to us. This is the first of four excursions. Our only RCL one, but the rest are all first thing in the morning with lots of time after before the ship is scheduled to leave!

Ended up with an RCL excursion to Secret Sands/Smith Bay Eco Park. It is only 4hrs and the transportation is taken care of which is less stressful for my better half. It includes a drink and a lounger so we will be fine for a few hours. 🙂

A question...

The link above shows that the beer trail must be redeemed by 12/21/2023 (last week). Should we expect that this will be updated for 2024?

We are cruising next month and I think my husband may be interested in participating in the beer trail. 🙂

4 minutes ago, TTEllis said:

Oh God. 

10K passenger and another hmmmm 4K crew members. I'd get off the island and take the ferry to St. John Trunk Bay. I couldn't do that last time because St. John was closed so I went to Secret Harbor. So should you.

Anthem 4,180
Summit 1,950
Getaway 3.962

Only there from 8am - 6pm so I don't expect that traveling to St. John would be overly relaxing which is my husband's goal for this cruise!

Secret Harbor is now at the top of my list!

6 minutes ago, TTEllis said:

Good grief brilliant minds certainly do think alike.😁😎😁😁

 

Secret Harbor. 

I gotcha, here goes it. Catch a safari van I did, straight to Secret Harbor. 15 minutes max from Havensight. 

 

 

We are on RCCL so I believe we will be at Crown Bay. Hopefully it will be just as easy from there. 🙂