graphicguy

Thank you! Yes, RI. I actually think it was one of those rough mornings now that I think of it. LOL! I have pictures. So, I know I was there. LOL! Thanks for having my back….ONCE AGAIN! 😉

Sorry we missed each other. The M&Gs (or lack thereof) were a little kludgy. I get the reasoning….lots of ports. The solo M&Gs arranged by NCL were good. “Handsome Rob” was our host and did a great job. He got us preferred seatings in the MDRs and the shows. Plus, we all got a chance to meet and mingle every day before going wherever we were headed. I missed more than a few people I had hoped to meet. But, as you say, just way too much going on…which I suppose is the best way to cruise. Those who I did get the chance to meet up with were wonderful. And we all had a good time when we met up…which many times was random and unplanned. This was probably the biggest group of CCers I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting on any cruise. Plus, the solo contingency was large, too. I may try my hand at organizing one when I cruise again. Don’t disagree with anything you stated….probably the best cruise I’ve ever taken. Although, I say that with just about every cruise I take (few exceptions here and there). I’ve never taken a “bad” cruise.

THE CABIN…. All positive….Club Balcony Cabin. Maybe a bit big for a solo, but I wasn’t complaining. I had Ferdinand, my steward, get me a foam bed topper, which made it quite comfy. I like keeping the cabin on the cool side, which I was able to do. The toilet worked as expected….always a good thing. The shower….OH….THE SHOWER. It was to die for. Big, GREAT water pressure, jetted to where you can direct where the water goes. Plus, it was easy to walk in in and out of (no big bathtub step). I used the balcony, but not nearly as much as I would on a Mexico, Caribbean or a Mediterranean cruise. a. We were port intensive and I didn’t dally on the balcony much b. During the evenings, it did get a bit chilly, so I tended not to have my traditional “night caps” on my balcony. But, I did have morning coffee on the Balcony to watch the sun come up (when, more likely “if” I drug my dear derrière out of bed that early). And, I liked throwing open the curtains upon me groggily rising to see where we were and what the day’s weather looked to be. If there were a complaint, it’s that there were no power plugs bedside. Big deal to me? Not really. More of a convenience thing. I would set my phone’s alarm, and would have to get out of bed to see the time (or yell “hey Siri…turn off the alarm”). A bit of a shock to the system when all you want to do is to roll over and grab another 10 minutes…..or 30 minutes…..or 2 hours of sleep to see if the the hydration packets taken the nite before had done they job. That said, there were two U.S. type plugs. Mentioned I’m in the Apple ecosystem. So, needed a Mag Safe cradle for my iPhone (also have a lightning cable), a USB A mag charger for my Apple Watch, and a USB C cable for my iPad. That meant I needed both plugs and had to use one portable plug with 2 ports to charge everything at once. Big deal? Nope! Just a few more plugs I needed to carry vs having plugs on either side of the bed. There was no coffee maker in the cabin. Ferdinand fetched me one as it was my first request. Maybe I’m a snob, but the coffee in the buffet is swill. I am a coffee drinker, and I consider it about the same as a cup of coffee out of those old coffee vending machines. That’s not good. While not ideal, I bring those Starbucks coffee packets with me. Not ideal, but way better than the buffet coffee. I also bring my own Stevia with me. I go down to the buffet on embarkation day to get those little cartons of milk, which I stash in the cabin fridge. I’m all set for my own personal coffee service in the cabin, with not need for room service.

PORTS… I must be part Irish (actually, 100% Italian but indulge me with the shamrock theme for a moment). I sail during Hurricane Season to the Caribbean. I sale end of season to Alaska. Now, I’ve sailed the last cruise out of NY on NCL for the Canadian itinerary. Aside from a cancellation on a Hurricane Season NCL cruise (a whole other issue handled poorly by NCL) before the COVID shutdown, I’ve had wonderful weather on ALL of them. Luck has blessed me weatherwise when cruising. I think Lady Luck needs to have a conversation with the casino gods, though. 😉 So, this was a port intensive cruise…. -Portland, ME -Bar Harbor, ME -St John, New Brunswick -Halifax, Nova Scotia Temps were in the 60ºs and sunny during the day, every day. My clothes were not too dissimilar than when I sail the Caribbean. Shorts, boat shoes (or tennis shoes depending on how much I walk) and instead of a Hawaiian shirt, I wear hoodies. Got a little sweaty a couple of times wearing a hoodie on some of the longer walking excursions. As an aside, I must crow a little bit here. I’m fresh off having a heart attack and having a stent put into place a few weeks ago (outlined earlier in this inordinately long thread). I walked 10,000+ steps/day (some days way more). Covered at least 3 miles/day (sometimes traversing the ship fore to aft and back several times). Feeling pretty good about being able to do those things shortly after my little ‘incident”. What’s the adage? Can’t keep a good man down? No…no…that’s not appropriate for me. Oh….wait…I got it…..I’m too old to rock and roll and too young to die. Yeah, that’s it! Although, I still like to rock and roll, too. Wait….Too old to die young? Whatever! ANYWAY…back on track. Posted the pics of the ports. I love the east coast. Being land locked in OH (if you don’t count the lake to the North and the Ohio River to the South), I don’t get to celebrate being in close proximity to large bodies of water, like the Atlantic. Given the North East Coast of North America was home to the first European visitors/settlers, there is a rich history that is sparse in my home state. We have the Indian Burial Mounds, which we revere. And, we have some military history. But, nothing quite as rich as the East Coast. As such, I immensely enjoy exploring the the eastern citifies/ports. If anything, I wished I could spend much more time in each of them to learn more. Each one of them has a story to tell. Each one of them is historically rich in maritime lore. I will do this itinerary, again! It was a first for me.

I didn’t hear anything after the Sapphire/Platinum announcements, either. Boarding was orderly as best as I observed.

Thanks..no drama at the pier. That’s always a good thing. Contested the SS charge. Once AMEX contacted them, they refunded the entire transport fare. I guess AMEX is a pretty big chunk of their payment streams. You’re right…Marathon didn’t interfere with the ride to EWR. The airport itself? Still kind of a mess. All AMEX Centurion Lounges are also closed! On a positive note, we took off on time. So, I had that going for me! 😉

Have some thoughts and reviews of the ports upcoming!

Thanks for the exact count….we met briefly at O’Sheehans. Hope you guys had a good time!

Missed my Bengals. Trying to watch it on my phone was pretty difficult. But they were already up by 14 as I was boarding. Paid $8 for WFi on the flight and couldn’t stream anything. Quick game. It was over by the time I landed. We win by 21!

I thought I saw them!

TIPPING....this seems to be a hot topic around these parts. So, I'll just identify who/how/why I tip. First and foremost, I tip my room steward. Mine (Ferdinand) worked his derrière off for me. He did so quietly and unashamedly. I asked for my laundry to be done in a day? He picked it up in the a.m., and had it back to me that night (I know, the laundry dept had something to do with that). He didn't have to run to the laundry dept to do that for me. But he did.....twice! I asked for a coffeemaker. Within an hour of my request, it was in my cabin. I asked for a mattress topper, and it was there before I went to bed the first night of the cruise. He ALWAYS answered my calls when I called, regardless if the time of day or night (and yes, I did not try to call him at unreasonable hours). I could go on, but he was exceptional. I was solo, but tipped him $100. WAITSTAFF... Kind of a pet peeve of mine, if you're dining on a Specialty Dining package, or Latitudes Perk, why give a receipt if your bill is ZERO (which is what showed up on the receipt. Why demand a signature on a receipt? Some say it is to keep inventory straight. That's fine. You don't need my signature for that. The receipt even states a 20% service charge will be added to the daily charges on your account. My TA covered my tips, so I didn't even keep track of those charges. I only ate in the MDR once, and that was for breakfast. My food, while good, took a while for them to serve me. Plus, the order was wrong. Not sure whose fault it was, but not worth an extra tip from me. I tipped my bartenders $1/drink. Like most folks, I had a couple of bartenders I liked going to. They were attentive, efficient and engaging. I tipped them $20/ea at the end of the cruise, too. Interestingly, I've sailed in the Haven, several times. Maybe it's just me, but I always felt "pressured" to tip more people and more money in the Haven than I did staying with the more plebeian guests (j/k). Service was every bit as good outside the Haven. SERVICE....just segue into this topic. Everyone was great. Some better than others, but overall, service was consistently great. Aside from the MDR breakfast incident and a guy at the Restaurant Scheduling desk, who ignored me for 10 minutes before the desk closed while doing something with some sort of key cards, and then told me he was closing...everyone else was fine. FOOD The food ranged from good to great. In the Garden Cafe, it was fresh, tasty, and the personnel were helpful. It got crowded at times. But, I was always able to find a seat. I went there often. I got hot water there for my Starbucks coffee packets. I would have fruit and a muffin there for breakfast. If I came back from an excursion and was late for lunch, I would stop by the Cafe for a burger, maybe a piece of pizza and a salad. Surprised the pizza was pretty good. Again, for buffet food it was good. Specialty Restaurants....ranked in order... 1. Ocean Blue 2. Cagneys 3. LaCucina 4. LeBistro Service in all of these venues was very good. I'll probably catch flack for ranking LeBistro so low. But, it probably has more to do with my particular tastes than anything else. LeBistro offers a lot of sea food. Do yourself a favor, if you're a fan of seafood, save your palate and go to Ocean Blue. I can take or leave Lobster and can never understand people's strange fascination with it. But, the Lobster in LeBistro was on the tough side, and smothered in a butter sauce that bordered on congealing. Not a good look or taste. And yes, I mentioned it to the waitperson about my dish. He said he would take it off my bill, except, I wasn't paying for it to begin with. Onion soup was quite good, though. The rest? Quick bite...hard to beat getting wings, a sandwich, mozzarella sticks, etc from O'Sheehans. Seems I would also stop in there for either a post excursion or late night snack. If I were up for a full breakfast, that was the place for me, too. Dinner at Noodles, where you could get dumplings, udon, etc, was also great. Matter of fact, I would rate it higher than LeBistro. Not a huge desert person, but I am a sucker for Gelato. The Gelato stand outside on the Waterfront was outstanding..... (to be continued)

Having had the chance to reflect on this cruise for all of a day (as I've not even unpacked yet), as promised, here's the review. Amazingly (maybe scarily), the weather was stunning. It's November, in NE U.S. and Canada, and most days were sunny and in the 60ºs. Yesterday for disembarkation, it was 70º + in NYC. THE CRUISE....last minute booking, which is typical for me. Trying to think of a cruise I've taken that cost less overall (fare, drinks, excursions, Specialties, etc) than this one. I can't recall any. So, this stands as the cheapest cruise I've ever taken. Not including the FCC I used, I was all in for under $700....in a Club Balcony Cabin. I even had a modest $110+ win in the Casino. TA kicked in tips. I also had OBC from AMEX (+a dinner at LeBistro with a bottle of wine) and NCL. This cruise was heavy on ports. We had embarkation day and the last day of the cruise as the only days we had totally at sea. I used every $50 credit/port and my 15% latitudes discount for the excursions. Some excursions ended up not costing me anything as a result. I think one cost me $9 and another cost $12. That's it. But, I didn't do anything elaborate, either. Most of what I did was to only use whatever excursions took me to what I wanted to see/do. No elaborate tours. Most were done so I could walk around. I think I ended up walking over 5 miles on the last excursion to Halifax. I enjoyed doing that. First time I had so many ports, and was happy for the opportunity to do so. As an aside, my visit to Maine completed a life goal of visiting all 50 states. Maine was the last one. Check that off my list. Pics are littered throughout this thread if you want to see where this cruise went. THE SHIP.....in excellent shape. Still very clean and felt modern, given it's nearly 10 years old. I heard all sorts of estimates on how many were on the ship. They varied widely, depending on who you asked. But, just going by my observations, I'd say it was about 80% capacity, or about 3,200 passengers, give or take. It never felt crowded, even the elevators were fairly easy to get. Even though the weather was good, it was still a bit to breezy and brisk to use the pools. I did see one child in the children's pool. That couldn't have been much fun. But, then again, I think I could count on one hand the amount of children I noticed on the cruise. Same goes for teens...hardly any. That's to be expected given school is in session. Felt sorry for the band who played the pool stage as there were just a few people listening to them and any given time. My friend @JamieLogicalused the Spa and had mentioned there were times the whirlpool was inoperative, but I did not use the spa. I observed no one doing the ropes course. Again, understandable because it was a bit breezy. Again, plenty of pics of the ship throughout this thread. (to be continued)

Maybe irrelevant to those who have not used ONPOINT Testing for COVID, but many of us paid them and found them to be unresponsive. I have already received a refund from AMEX. Irritates me to know they took fees knowing they were going out of business. Further, they never contacted anyone letting us know that they could not complete any testing scheduled with them. In order to keep ONPOINT from continuing to take money from others, I filed a complaint with my state's AG. Just received this note from them. FYI! "Thank you for filing your complaint with the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. We have made several attempts to contact On Point Testing, but our efforts have been unsuccessful as our letters have been returned and the telephone number appears to be disconnected. Because we are unable to locate or contact On Point Testing, it is possible they have gone out of business. If so, we are unable to move forward with your complaint. At this time, your complaint will be closed. However, if you have additional information that suggests the supplier is continuing to operate under this or any other name in Ohio, please contact us with that information. A copy of your complaint will remain in our complaint retention system. Additionally, to our knowledge the supplier has not yet filed for bankruptcy, so your claim has not been discharged by any court and may still be viable. You may wish to contact a private attorney of your choosing to determine what legal options are available to you.Thank you again for contacting the Ohio Attorney General’s Office. We appreciate your patience and regret we cannot be of assistance at this time.Very respectfully yours,DAVE YOSTOhio Attorney General

It was my pleasure. Great meeting you, too.

Pleasure meeting all of you, too.

A few “goodbye” ship pics…

@mking8288…we have definitely seen lines much longer and slower than these disembarking from this terminal….

If you’re on board now, go to O’Sheehans Bar and ask this guy for a BOOTY SPECIAL.

I would imagine the new passengers are boarding by now. I know they were still announcing past guests’ names to report to Customer Service @9:30 as I was disembarking. Thinking boarding for the new cruise wouldn’t happen until they get everyone else off the ship….maybe 10:30-11:00-ish! Bus to EWR went smoothly. Sitting in terminal A (United) waiting for my flight home.

Thanks for posting. I saw that, but had left my iPhone in my cabin, so didn’t catch it to post here. Missing each other gives us a reason to try to sail together again. 👍

Some folks getting in their last smokes….

Thanks all. I enjoyed posting. More to come. We’re docked and disembarking. I’m packed and ready. Last coffee, grab some fruit!

Not sure how much time I’ll have to post tomorrow. Loved it so much I wanted to extend it to a back-to back-to back (couldn’t)! Will have more pics, review and final thoughts next week! Suffice to say, it’s been great! Hope I got answers to everyone’s questions!

Still not clear on the time as we’ve had time changes the last couple of days. I’m probably going to get up way too early just to be safe. 😉

So, those of you sailing next week, just heard there’s going to be 2,300 guests. Should be fun!