Charles4515

The only beach on St. Marteen I have been to without peddlers is Pinel island. it is pretty nice there with I think two beach bars. You have to take a taxi to Cut De Sac and then a small boat ferries you over. The boat costs I think $12 round trip so the peddlers so I guess don't want to pay that. If you go you would want to prearrange with the taxi to return. Only pay on return!!!

A taxi to Orient Beach is not a hassle. I have taken a taxi there four or five times. The taxis are well organized. I have been going to Kakao or Bikini Beach. I noticed that the cruise line excursions go to those two beach bar/restaurants too. I think those two and some others may have the same owners.

It says they were open daily in the three summer months. Possibly they would not have tours or weekend hours in the off season and the website needs to be updated? Hope there is a reply.

It makes no sense to me if the website is correct that they would tout the Fort s one of Bermuda's most impressive forts and only have it open 3 months. Plus there is now a large hotel next door (St. Regis) that should increase visitors. There are a lot of things that they do these days in Bermuda that are head scratchers.

oops. My typos gt worse and worse as I get older. Too late for me to change. I will ask the mods to change. .

I doubt I would either for a short stay. Also I have read that some busnesses in St.George cut back in the winter.

As said put Port Everglades as that is the address. The terminal number should be in your documents but I would double check the signs at the entrance in case it gets changed for some reason at the last minute.

Hopefully. Since NCL has added a number of winter calls some past even November and December it will be interesting to see what NCL does.

I expect so. Usually it runs until the summer schedule is issued which in the past is the middle or end of April or the first week in May. Unfortunately exact the date of the summer schedule going into effect has been last minute.

Even not starting from scratch. I have used smartphones for years and besides learning new features that are added every year I have discovered features that were years old that I did not know about. YouTube is a good place to search for information and how to's. TiK-Tok somewhat too except there they claim they are posting secrets that Apple of Google don't want tyou to know......

I have done that with a lot of the info they sent to the cabin onboard. Like what is in the drink package etc. etc. Another reason to have a smartphone.

Same as past years Orange Route is not running in the winter https://www.marineandports.bm/Documents/Ferry/Winter Ferry Schedule 2022-23.pdf

Not surprising. They suspend it every winter. Effective October 31. https://www.royalgazette.com/transport/news/article/20221028/st-georges-ferry-route-to-be-suspended-for-winter/ https://www.marineandports.bm/Documents/Ferry/Winter Ferry Schedule 2022-23.pdf

Mass market cruise lines are in business to satisfy their investors. As for how passengers want to be served many older passengers tend to have fixed ideas about how they want to be served. They don’t like change. I hope I never get like that! The cruise line’s future though is drawing in younger passengers and those who have never cruised. So there will be change. Cruise lines that don’t change will be outcompeted out of business.

I have Virgin on my bucket list. Virgin has an advantage. They have started relatively recently from scratch and can build out without having to retrofit thousands of cabins.

OP could do that. To me it would be a nice to have but not a must have. If the door could recognize my voice or face and open on request that would be even better using a device but I won't suggest that either. I turn lights on and off by voice assistant and could do the same with my door lock but it is a low priority to me so I have not. Or I could also install an NFC or keypad door lock. But I have not. .

They could have done that. Such POS exists and can be incorperated in their app. That they have not does not give much optimism in Celebrity's capabilities. I made a pickup order with Uber Eats last night and it said 15 minutes and when I got there in 15 minutes it was on the takeout shelf.

They would not need an app. NFC is already built into recent watches and phones. They would need software on their computers to support. That already has been developed. That would have a cost.

This could be done without a watch or phone. Think Apple Pay and Samsung Pay.contactless. I have all my credit cards on Apple Pay but all my recent credit cards have an NFC chip and can directly tap the terminal to pay. Those who don't want to use a watch or phone could still have a plastic card or wristband.

The Apple Watch has an NFC chip which could be used to open door locks. Does not even require interent. I used may watch many times to open fare gates on the DC Metro with a transit pass that works the same way. Much better than an app. There are door locks that have NFC. Celebrity would have to change all their door locks though. And add a key card to the digital wallet. Both iPhones and Android phones can do this too NFC tap, and other smartwatches so passengers doon't have to have an Apple Watch. Passengers could still have an NFC tap card too for unlocking cabin doors.

Many places now the server goes straight to a tablet station and enters the orders which gets sent to the kitchen. The server does not write them down.

One of the mysteries of life to me was when I moved from the DC area to Texas about year ago was that almost every restaurant here had a QR code on the table that I had to use and access the menu on my smartphone. (that has lightened up a lot lately) It did take me a couple weeks to adjust as we get into routines but I did. Maybe I have brain fog but I don't recall QR code menues in DC. I had known my phone camera read QR codes but I gad never used it. Now it is second nature. Also in the DC area there were regulations that restaurants had to accept cash. The idea being that not everyone had a credit card or debit card. Here there are quite a number of cashless places.

It is not a requirement but it is headed that way.

As you have not cruised in 12 years a lot has changed. A smartphone is used onboard even if you don't purchase internet to the outside world. That is only an option. That is not required. The daily activity schedule, reservations, menus, folio and more are on the Celebrity app. Plus these days a smartphone is everyones camera. Most people new and old to cruising leave it running. The cruise line expects passengers to be using their smartphones.

You probably imagine yourself to be profound when you are not. The cruise line expects passengers to have their smartphone on. The activities, folio, reservations, notices all come on the Celebrity app.