bonship

Great Review!  We took our first Gate 1 river cruise in April to Netherlands and Belgium on tulip cruise and loved it.  This was our third river cruise and by far the cheapest.  Gate 1 is 20-30% cheaper than other companies and very comparable.  We had taken several Gate 1 land tours and thought we'd see how they did in the river cruise category.  They delivered in every respect!

Bidding process is easy-peazy.  We leave next Sunday on the Regal.  I originally purchased a balcony aft on Marina deck, which is our favorite location.  About six weeks ago, I bid the minimum, $70 per person for a deluxe balcony.  I was notified last Saturday that bid was accepted and we now have a deluxe balcony on back of ship on Marina deck.  I have always wanted to try an aft facing balcony so immediately accepted the offer by paying for it on My Princess.  The whole process was very easy, and, in our case, we got a new cabin very close to original location.  It is very easy to bid and a fun warm-up to hitting the casino onboard. 

Thank you for the detailed directions.  We had a devil of a time finding the parking garage on our last cruise.  I'm going to print these directions out for future reference.

Just a heads-up Cruise Suzy, we did the Mountain Views and City Sights tour last January and really enjoyed it, but there are many steep and uneven stairs in the botanical gardens and some steep slopes.  You walk down the mountain through the garden to get to the bus.

Just tried to book EZ Air for Sept. 2 TA and won't bring up anything.  We have tried to do this cruise the last two years and both cancelled.  Yikes.  Hope we can all sail on the Enchanted.

We were on Sky two weeks ago and there were 2100 on-board.  Last week there were only supposed to be 1500, so it must really vary from week to week.  I'd guess around 50% for TA. 

Sky last week--Dolphin deck

Zero problems with Ocean Ready on our Nov. 28 cruise and zero problems with upcoming Feb. 5 cruise.  Also, made dinner reservations for Feb. 5 cruise a couple of weeks ago.  No problems.  I use iphone 11. 

Personally I love the app, but mu husband who is not very tech savvy complains about it all the time.  Usually user error.🤣

We went on the Princess excursion to Carambola yesterday and thoroughly enjoyed it. The drive there was beautiful and informative. Umbrella rental was 10$ but we moved 4 chairs closeby and no one said anything about it. Princess tours were the only people there, so there were probably 100 empty spots. There is pretty good snorkeling around the rocks. My husband saw 4 squid in a line, which was very cool. Also speckled sting ray and many fish. Everyone on our bus seemed very happy with the three hours we spent at Carambola This was our third trip to St Kitts. Love the island. 

We are on Caribbean Princess right now and were in St thomas Weds. We got off ship, took taxi to Red Hook Ferry and travelled to St John for the day. No restrictions other than masks on taxi and ferry and walking through shopping area in St John. Lovely day. 

We are in St. Kitts today on Caribbean Princess. Only ship excursions allowed. Passengers received letter last night saying we could not leave marketplace area at pier except on Princess excursions. 

Just now, Phil650 said:

 

We have tests scheduled at CVS for Sunday here locally.  Where is the CVS that cancelled yours?  Ft. Lauderdale?

Fort Wayne, In

We are sailing Sunday out of Fort Lauderdale and had Covid tests scheduled for Friday for us and traveling companions at CVS.  I scheduled them about 10 days ago just to be on the safe side.  They cancelled all four of our tests via email this morning with no explanation, and there were none available at any CVS within 50 miles.  We finally found appointments at a Walgreens that will work.  The same thing happened to friends of ours using CVS a couple of months ago.  Have a backup plan if using CVS or just go to Walgreens.  Fingers crossed.

We are sailing Sunday out of Fort Lauderdale and had Covid tests scheduled for Friday for us and traveling companions at CVS.  I scheduled them about 10 days ago just to be on the safe side.  They cancelled all four of our tests via email this morning with no explanation, and there were none available at any CVS within 50 miles.  We finally found appointments at a Walgreens that will work.  The same thing happened to friends of ours using CVS a couple of months ago.  Have a backup plan if using CVS or just go to Walgreens.  Fingers crossed.

We are sailing on Caribbean Princess this coming Sunday and are still scheduled for Princess Cays.  Wondering why some sailings changed to Nassau.

I emailed my request for credit in late October and never received the credit or a reply.  Our cruise leaves this coming Sunday, so I called the number listed above last night (800 872 6779 ext. 30317), waited on hold about five minutes, and spoke with a very nice young lady who took care of the credit for our two upcoming cruises.  She said they were swamped with email requests.  Just call.  Easy Peasy.

We have done Thenford Grey's Island tour twice.  Loved it both times.  Highly recomme3nd if he is back in business. 

https://www.thenfordgreytours.com/the-grand-tour-of-st-kitts

This looks like good news if you are stopping at St. Kitts

https://www.cruiseindustrynews.com/cruise-news/26030-st-kitts-building-on-cruise-restart.html

Love this!  Raggedy Ann looks good to go.

We used port valet after Alaskan cruise last July.  We flew on SWA and if I remember correctly, the service was offered for flights  between 11:30 or maybe noon until 6 pm.  Seems like we got forms on second day of cruise.  Good luck. 

JacknShelby, we have been back from our cruise for a couple of weeks.  The Elm Wildlife Tour was absolutely fantastic.  I highly recommend it.  Our cruise, overall, was great, but we missed two ports (Akaroa and Fiordlands) because of high winds and had 27 hours of rocking and rolling in the Tasman Sea.  We had a good time, but if I had it to do all over again, I would take a land tour of New Zealand.  Such a beautiful country and we only got a taste of it. 

Just got off the Ruby a couple of weeks ago from New Zealand/ Australia cruise.  This was our fifth trip on the Ruby so we have seen her age and change through the years.  We love the ship overall and found the food to be very good on our last voyage.  The Ruby has great beds and the staff was great on our last trip.  We missed the best New Zealand ports (Akaroa and Fiordlands) because of high winds, so that put a bit of a damper on the voyage, but was not the ship's fault.  We had 27 hours of rocking and rolling in the Tasman Sea, but the crew handled it all admirably.  Some of the passengers, not so much.

Hi, Carla-

We are going to be in Dunedin on Jan. 5 on the Ruby Princess and I had the same dilemma as you when making decisions about what to do in port.  The train ride is very expensive and many of the reviews are lackluster.  After looking at many possibilities, the four of us decided to book the Elm Wildlife tour to see penguins, sea lions, and albatross.  The tour lasts about seven hours and has great reviews and appeals to our love of nature. 

10 minutes ago, Jeter02 said:

From a few bloggers who have posted on the ship the past few days, I've seen your photo in the cabins. I heard that each deck displays a different photo in all the cabins.  One my vloggers I follow had your photo in their Marina deck cabin. It's a beautiful photo by the way. 

Thank you so much Jeter02.  I would be so appreciative if you would send me the link to this blogger. bonship at gmail dot com.  Thank you!

Love that you are sharing your experience with us, Sandra and Chris and that you are willing to answer questions.  I have a crazy request: One of my photos was chosen  for the public areas and cabins of the Sky.  The photo is of King Penguins in the Falkland Islands.  If you see it anywhere, would you let me know, or better yet, snap a photo?  We plan to cruise on the Sky in the next year of so, but would love to see my penguins having a  good time without me.  Enjoy your cruise and your scavenger hunt!