Charles4515

In the past they opened for rentals at 9:00 am. There would be a small line when they opened. If you want to be away from the most crowded part ask for the chairs to be placed at the other end away from the facilities. Concession employees put out the chairs and umbrellas. I tip them to take them to the east end.

If cruises are priced too high they will have to reduce prices to sell tickets or reduce capacity, I.e. remove older ships from the fleet. They can’t sell the tickets regardless.

I am on my laptop now (MacBook Air) but usually I am on an iPad Pro. There are many things I prefer to do though on my laptop. Like my taxes with Turbotax. My brokerage accounts.

The Lido (Sea Breeze) is open.

You should have flown from Fort lauderdale! I think you may be able to use the Turkish Airlines Lounge. I have an AMEX card and use the Centurian Lounge in Miami.

Same here. I joined the Founders Club for $35 and became Elite on points and Diamond on points before the reciprocal match. That is probably why I have never been a fan of that program change. It was fairly easy to make Diamond. Take a bunch of short cruises. Then they came over to Celebrity as Elite.

The are going too make her Elite.

If they do a revamp they should make it harder to move to the next tier. There are too many Diamonds because it doesn’t take that many points.

AT&T or any US carrier will pass on any roaming charges. They will be itemized on the bill. Cellular at a Sea is treated as a carrier. Sort of treated like international roaming although it is owned by AT&T 50%.

I thought I had read April 1 a few years ago but May 1 makes sense to them when they don’t consider beach weather to start until May 24. I had read about the recent drowning. I am surprised people are swimming now. When I went in May a couple of times I could not tolerate the water temperature. He wants to extend the season but there are many beaches without lifeguards at all in Bermuda. Warwick Long Bay no lifeguards ever and a deep drop off. I felt current there right away. Church Bay strong currents. Elbow Beach no lifeguard and if you venture out you get pulled by a current. Horseshoe you have to step out a ways to feel current. To get in over your head. With all that…..drownings at those beaches including Horseshoe in the off season seem pretty rare.

A lot of business’s close in St. George’s for the winter season. There are only a few cruise ships in the winter so they can’t afford to stay open. Warwick Long Bay is pretty deserted even in the summer. Lack of facilities is the reason. I like to walk that beach but I don’t like the drop off and currents. Farther along towards Horseshoe there are several protected shallow coves. Portuguese Man o War would be arriving at this time of year so not surprising you saw a few. They usually peak in May. Lifeguards arrive at Horseshoe on April 1 and they pick the Man o War off the beach.

One ferry per time slot but on Harbour Nights they will often add a second ferry at 10:30 pm. As far as a mad dash for some reason Carnival passengers do that. Other ships not so much I have always planned to be at the terminal at the Dockyard 15 minutes before. Always got on but once in St.George going back and the ferry was full. Had to take the next one which was the last for the day. NCL runs their own ferry now for its passengers so if there is an NCL ship in port on those days should be plenty of capacity. The largest ferry is the Bermudian which carries 700. The others don’t carry near as many. They have ordered two new ones which are somewhat larger than the ones they replace but not near 700. The Bermudian was sent to the US for retrofit in September 2022. Supposed to take 11 months. I haven’t paid attention as to whether the retrofit was finished and it has returned to service. If you don’t go to the beach 4 hours is plenty in St.George in my opinion.

I brought one on my first cruise, then I didn't because the next few were on Princess which had laundry rooms. Did a few Princess cruises then a couple on Celebrity and brought a a steamer out of ignorance. Those were before 2000 and there were no cruise groups. In 2003 I joined Cruise Critic and found out they were prohibited. I was kind of skeptical and not happy about it but I never brought one after becoming aware it was a prohibited item. Now I have a strategy for avoiding wrinkles. They make great technical clothing that does not wrinkle.

If you have been getting it through you have been lucky. A friend in our group brought one, I did not know about it. We were in her cabins and she had not recieved her luggage and she got a notice to get it in the naughty room. I though maybe she had wine or something. She mentioned the steamer. They don't go in your bag, you have to go watch them search it. So I went with her and we waited in line 45 minutes because they go through the bags completely. Of course they found the steamer which was not the type that looks like an iron. The type filled with water and steam comes out. They gave her a receipt to pick up at the end but she did not bother. Really not worth it and if they flag your bag you won't get the bag until you go get it. They searched everything including her undies. Somewhat embarrassing. Doesn't make sense to bring something not allowed that they are looking for.

That is the current bus schedule.

Hopefully it won’t be something they do at 3:00 am. You should be prepared to be flexible and have backup plans. Going that time of year during hurricane season there can be changes.

Guest services called for us but I also have called one of the taxi dispatch companies Bermuda Island Taxi 1-441-295-4141. There are now two taxi dispatch apps, Hitch Bermuda and RideBermuda. I have not tried those out.

They don't close the gangway overnight on ships that are in port multiple days. Sometimes they take a ship out and turn it around. Maybe to do maintenance or lifeboat drills. I recall a recent post where someone mentioned they turned the ship around on thier Bermuda sailing. when omeone asked about what side of the ship they should book. In that case you will have to pay attention to your ships daily schedule and be off before the turning around. ..

What is the date?

My advice is that if you want a taxi at 7 or 7;30 is to prearrange. I have been out there early and while there were taxis they had been prearranged. I had arranged the taxis one sailing for a couple of friends who were going to mass and the other time for my friend who had a 7:30 tee time at Port Royal. After 8 is when taxis show up in large numbers. YMMV.

A time frame wasn't mentioned.

Why would you bring an item that is prohibited? Seen plenty of them on the confiscated items table. The scanners seem to have gotten a lot better. Likely a few don't get spotted but I don't think anyone could say why. Don't bring a prohibited item.

There is an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal by a civil engineer who proposes rebulding the bridge before the end of the year by keeping what is left in place, the approaches, and just replacing the 1200 foot span, truss design and all. I hope not. The design is outdated and I would hope that lessons would be learned from the catastrophe and that they would not rebuild it like it was built. .

Aren’t you being judgmental? There are people who would never take anything but a cruise line tour. I can have an opinion about that. I take all kinds too. About 55% independent, 10% cruise line, and 35% walk off the ship and walk or take a taxi. When I started cruising it was 75% cruise line and 25% walk off the ship. I quickly learned I could do better both quality wise and value wise booking independently. Four of us with a private guide at the Hermitage as opposed to 45 on a cruise ship excursion there wearing wireless earpieces trying to keep up with the guide who was rolling through every area. Why bother to go to St Petersburg for that? The cruise line intimidated the passengers to go on their lousy tours. But certainly if an attraction is far away I will book the cruise line tour. In Africa at a tender port like the people who missed their ship were visiting I would have booked the cruise line tour.

This we can agree on. I am a firm believer of having some easy days.