Grandmaanne7

OBC for booking a 14 night cruise onboard:

Inside $200

OV $225

Veranda, Concierge, Aqua $250

Sky Suite $350

All other suites $450

(As of February 2015)

How did your rental return work for you? Thanks

Worked great! A bit of a wait (approximately 10 minutes) because there were 7 ships in port but the service was efficient and friendly. Nice clean shuttle bus.

Budget certainly does have a shuttle to the port. We used it Feb. 15/15. Quick and efficient. I'm assuming that since they share the office with Avis that Avis also provides this shuttle as nobody was asking or checking which company we booked with.

We did a private tour in Colon in January 2014 arranged by another member of our roll call so I cannot recall the name of the company used. It was wonderful! Lots to see and do and very enjoyable. Never did we feel unsafe or uncomfortable. I am not saying it is like Orlando or any other major US city. It is Central America and things are different. Go with an open mind and use common sense and you will be fine.

Yes, Budget does provide a free shuttle from their P2F location close to POM. We did this for our Feb. 15/15 cruise with no difficulty. Understandably, since there were 7 ships in port, there was a bit of a line up to get on the shuttle (approximately 10 minutes) but once on the shuttle, the service was friendly, efficient and included in the price of your rental.

Thank you for your responses. Somehow the question posted twice and responses to both posts have been consistent.

Okay. Thanks. It was worth a try.

Can OBC be used on the first leg of a B2B to purchase shore excursions for the second leg?

Can OBC be used on the first leg of a B2B to purchase shore excursions for the second leg?

I'm certainly enjoying your review Tom and I have to agree with your summation of Qsine. We were there a few night later and, had we not been with a group of wonderful people, we would have walked away disappointed. The service was great and the food uniquely presented but not amazing. Since it was an extra charge, I expected more. I'm glad we went for the experience but we will not return.

Just wondering why you wouldn't do an excursion everyday.

 

We're about to do the same cruise in a few weeks, but we haven't book all of our excursions yet.

 

And thanks for the upcoming photo review!

We were on the cruise with Tom and Pete and although I agree that it is exhausting to do an excursion every day (we actually did 9 as we did 2 in Bonaire - morning and afternoon), I wouldn't be able to decide which island to skip unless I had already done all the islands. We had done 3 previously (Aruba, Barbados and St. Maarten) and still chose to do an excursion on each stop, which we thoroughly enjoyed. The one saving grace was that we chose to do an afternoon beach break in St. Maarten and an afternoon snorkelling tour in Barbados which gave us 2 opportunities to sleep in a bit.

Sooooo looking forward to reliving the cruise through your eyes, Tom. I watched you take some very interesting shots and can't wait to see some of them!

There are 3 formal nights on the 14 day Eclipse cruise. Food is subjective but we found it quite good for the whole cruise. Lobster is only offered on the last formal night. On that evening, I had the beef wellington (excellent), DH had the lamb (also excellent) and then we shared a lobster tail (which was just good since we are accustomed to excellent Atlantic lobster).

SHIP: Eclipse

CABIN: 7130

DECK: 7

CLASS: 2B

AREA: Forward Starboard

BED NEAR: Balcony

QUIET?: Very. The odd clicking sound but nothing annoying.

BALCONY VIEW: Good

BALCONY SIZE: Normal

WIND A PROBLEM?:No

SOOT A PROBLEM?:No

PROBLEMS/COMMENTS: Although this is classified as an unobstructed cabin, there was a white overhang 2 decks below that prevented one from seeing straight down. Not a big deal but I was surprised. Otherwise, you could see forward and aft and actually watch them work in the bridge while docking which was neat.

We like the printed dailies in our cabin when we get back at night. It is fun reading them and planning the next day. As for the ads, yes, save the paper and the crew's backs emptying the garbage cans full of unwanted ads.

My thoughts exactly!!

Thanks for the heads up on Bear Stevens. Is he staying on for the next cruise? If so, I hope we enjoy him as much as DH enjoyed Jordan Peterson on the Century last year.

Glad to hear! I doubt there will be any noticable improvements for our upcoming cruise, but at least we have been heard and the bleeding may finally stop. Customer appreciation and value is extremely important and it sounds like Lisa realizes this. I will wait and see and hope for the best.

So....I'm assuming that the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice is also gone? That would really make me sad. :( No better way to start a morning. It sure does seem like there are weekly cutbacks. I wonder where it will stop and if we will have to revolt to get the message across.

I was wondering how this worked out for you?. I have the same drop off location for April. We have 6 people and luggage and I was wondering if they can accommodate all of us.

 

thanks

Will let you know when we return in March. Wish us luck.

Yes, you may upgrade only one person's beverage package.

Many hotels offer FREE shuttles to the port. Ask if yours does.

Congratulations to your wife on her milestone birthday and her choice of husband.

I actually surprised my DH with an Alaskan cruise for his 50th birthday. Since he is not the planner in the family and just asks what time to take off work and what to pack, he didn't find out where we were going or what we were doing until we landed in Vancouver and had to go through US customs to make our connection flight. (I had even packed for him so he had no clue! :))

We did this cruise in May 2004 with Princess and it was beyond description! I was actually not looking forward to it as I thought it would be cold, however, it was so warm that any Alaskan we met literally apologized due to the unseasonable weather! When we checked in with the kids at home, they were far colder than we were. So don't let weather be your determining factor as it will be unpredictable no matter where you go.

We both so thoroughly enjoyed this trip that we are planning to do Alaska again but extend it with a land trip so if you are planning to do Alaska only once, I would not suggest you do it this time as there is so much to see and do that 1 week is not enough.

Enjoy whichever cruise you choose!

Thank you Kenevenpar for your review. I enjoyed your writing style very much. We will be doing a B2B on Reflection in 2016 so hopefully we will not experience the sadness of leaving her so quickly. I'm glad your time on her was pleasurable and you will indeed be aboard her again soon.

Thanks for doing this. I'm excited for you (and with you - I could actually feel it as I read your first post!) We'll be on the Eclipse in February so really looking forward to lots of pictures and info on that. Enjoy your cruises!!

Not bad, for a Canadian haha, not quite Aussie standards.

You're absolutely right! Although I have Aussie blood in me (born in Sydney) the drinks were actually 2/3 DH and only 1/3 mine. He is pure bred Canadian so he might give you a run for your money. ;)

15 nights, 2 pax, 251 x $0.00 (loved the fresh squeezed grapefruit juice)