DaisyGoldberg

We logged in five minutes early because I wanted to make sure we were both in frame, and the lady popped up and took us right away. So don't be surprised if you're greeted BEFORE starting time if you're there.

I think they just field these things steadily all day long, so if they have a break and somebody's there, they might as well get you out of the way. The link may only work within a narrow window, however.

Copley Square is a great location and walkable to all the sights, shopping, etc.

However, the end of October will be very crowded and expensive. A week earlier during the Head of the Charles race there probably wouldn't be any rooms in Boston at all.

On 8/3/2022 at 10:36 AM, KKB said:

 

But I suspect that even as a solo I will still want to do more activities the 1st week & chill more the 2nd week (when I have a balcony)

 

If it's a back to back with identical itinerary it will give you so much freedom - plan to see a show or have a certain dinner but just plain don't feel like getting up from your nap and dressed for the evening?  Roll over, sleep til 8, hit the buffet, go back to your room and watch a movie, make it an early night and maybe start the next day earlier than you would have.

The freedom of solo travel is doubled when everything is scheduled twice for you! 

10-15k for a Haven vacation and you end up at Water World!

Bet it's gone at first drydock.

Having sailed once in the Garden Villa, it's something we'd like to try again, but probably will only happen through bidding for the upgrade.

If after the cancellation date our family is in 2 separate cabins, and one of us wins the GV upgrade, am I right that the second cabin people would still be stuck with their costs for their cabin if they canceled it to join us in the GV? That would be the biggest reason not to bid for a GV upgrade as we'd have to figure the cost of that original cabin on top of the bid.

Only way around it I can think of is for the second family cabin not to be booked until the GV upgrade is unsuccessful, but that carries its own risks.

On 5/18/2022 at 8:56 PM, lepidoptera said:

I agree I wasn’t impressed with the sides at Cagney’s on my last cruise (September on the Encore). I had the truffle mashed potatoes and I thought they were horrible and even smelled unappetising. The appetisers (shrimp cocktail and tomato bisque), lamb and crème brûlée I had were all very good though. Next time I won’t order any sides I think. 

Just off the Pearl and the sides at Cagneys were shockingly bad. Steak was good, salad was good, soup was good.  The onion rings (all four tiny onion rings) were straight out of a frozen bag and completely unseasoned. The baked potato was virtually inedible - like it had been sitting in a chafing dish for hours. 

For the first time I can honestly say the main dining room outperformed Cagneys. I didn't have steak there, but I wasn't disappointed in a single entree or side or dessert. In future I don't think we'll eat at Cagneys more than once a trip, and maybe not that if they don't turn it around.

We boarded the Pearl a few weeks ago and were never asked for them. In the past I've handed them over with the passports  - man at desk just wanted the passports and pushed them back at me. 

But I'll always have hard copies just in case.

EDIT - WON'T LET ME DELETE - MY ERROR AS I WAS DESCRIBING THE PEARL BELOW. BUT MAYBE THE PEARL LOOK WILL CARRY OVER TO THE GEM EVENTUALLY?

Just got off a couple of weeks ago. The posts are now a calmer brown and the palm tree tops are gone, replaced with simple white bulbs that extend the column. Nothing remarkable. The green deck has been replaced with a light brown/gold as partially seen in the photos above - looks like maybe they had begun to transition the flooring by December? The bright blue inside the pools has been replaced by one that's a bit more caribbean in tone. The only bright blue pops are the umbrellas on some of the tables as seen above.

All in all much cleaner and less garish. They are definitely going for muted tones throughout the ship.

On 5/3/2022 at 6:31 PM, DaisyGoldberg said:

No, we had Budhi - he was great. I hope I don't come off as complaining. We loved it. The hot tub was always piping hot. I think the chill of Maine (it was 5 degrees that night) really soaked through the windows. 

I guess the ability to edit is time limited - I made a mistake - Budhi was our steward - Lazaro was our butler!

We went on the Pearl a few weeks ago with my mom in a wheelchair. First, be sure to contact the Accessibility department ahead of time to request the wheelchair assistance boarding (as well as any other aids you might need, like a shower chair, etc) This will then be reflected in your boarding documents. The ramp is quite steep in places, so you will appreciate the assistance.

• As the previous poster said, once you get through the "show your passport and vax info" line you'll be taken to the elevator and be in security immediately. A couple of people came and took my mom through a separate line where they frisked her, while we and the carry ons went through the metal detectors. She was done before the three of us were, and met us on the other side of the metal detectors. After that, there are lines sorting into different categories, but there are plenty of people to direct you. 
•  

Moving about the ship is pretty easy - there are some metal bars here and there on the carpet that you need to stop and boost the front wheels over before proceeding, but we found it very accessible. We were using a transport chair - if your mom has a regular wheelchair her experience may be different. In most restaurants we were able to tuck the chair beside us near an empty table as there was plenty of room. When room was tight they would move it out of the way after she moved to the table and return it when we were ready to leave. If she prefers to sit in the chair they will simply move the chair and she can roll up to the table.

Since the ships are not sailing at capacity, we nearly always had elevators to ourselves, so none of the jockeying to get on without running over people, or waiting as full elevator after full elevator went by. Very easy in and out.

On 4/5/2022 at 4:02 PM, rkacruiser said:

  I am very glad that I did not say "no, not ever, etc."  Now, that I have crossed another tech bridge and have a smartphone, given time, I hope to be able to learn how to make it a more useful tool than just make phone calls.  

I think one of the very best gifts I ever got just out of college was working with an older woman who would refuse to take 10 minutes to learn a computer task that would literally save her hours of work weekly (Merging a list with a WordPerfect document for sending a mass mailing she did every few days). She had just reached the point where she would rather do the difficult thing the difficult way it always had been done rather than try, and that amazed me when I knew I could show her in minutes.

Now in full middle age, I get it. But when I have that "i just don't FEEL like learning that whole stupid thing" I FORCE myself, because I know that if I don't keep up, eventually it WILL be beyond  my capacity to catch up. None of it is hard incrementally - children do it. But if you slack off staying current, boy do you need to scramble!

On 3/20/2022 at 11:06 PM, eileeshb said:

  If you want to play it safe pick a cruiseline that has a solos program like NCL, while it’s the largest ships in NCL have the solo-specific cabins they do (or did pre-covid) operate the solos host on the jewel-class ships as well. 

Just got off the Pearl a couple of weeks ago - per my dailies there was a Solos meet up in the afternoon of Day 1, and every evening at 6 pm in one of the bars - presumably this timing set up to facilitate dining/entertainment companionship if wanted, make plans for the next day, etc. These meetings were listed as unhosted, which may be a covid artifact - I seem to recall in the past they had a staff member involved, but maybe that's just the larger ships.  

My first cruise was the Seaward - I think she was 700 feet! 

I recall the dining aspect of old-style cruising fondly - the extravagance of having to choose between 5 soups, and 5 salads, 5 or 6 of every course. I do not miss putting on panty hose, full makeup and jewelry, nor do I miss the forced companionship. We never really lucked out and made friends - at best people were pleasant conversationalists that we'd wave to if spotted elsewhere. At worst... there was one couple that would spread all their vitamins/pills/supplements out on the table before each meal (before supplementation was particularly popular). Then we'd learn what each thing was *for*.  

I did like getting to know the servers over the course of the week, which despite the formality of the dining situation made for much more informal interactions with staff. And the baked alaska parade!

I was telling my family recently that those were the days where food wasn't available 24/7, hence the midnight buffet. If you didn't feel like going down to dinner, you were pretty much out of luck until breakfast, as best as I can recall.

Be sure to ask for your wine if you want it. I've probably done 20 Latitude dinners and not once been offered the wine. We don't drink it so don't care, but it's clearly one of those amenities you need to be proactive about.

I'm curious at all the folks saying they take a new picture at the port anyway. Just cruised last week and they didn't. I saw other people needing to reshoot theirs the old fashioned way at the check in desk, so it's obviously possible, but they didn't ask anybody in our party to. 

So if your picture is sufficient, that's one skip you will not NECESSARILY need to repeat. 

With masks you'd think it would not be quite as effective, especially as family members resemble each other. But I'm terrible at faces - others might be far more discerning.

8 hours ago, insidecabin said:

On the facial when doing behind the scenes tours(remember them?) you sometimes see a VIP mugs gallery in strategic locations usually any Ambassadors along with the top suite guests.

That could be it!  I wasn't surprised at being recognized after a few days in places we'd been (my mom has striking white hair and the wheelchair, of course), but that one really threw me. As a higher manager she probably had her own set of mug shots and maybe by glancing at ours she knew we were likely to dine outside the Haven!

My sister will die - she didn't care about her photo because who was going to see it - one guy for one second letting you board or get off the ship?  Heh heh heh.

19 hours ago, Artcricket said:

It’s great to read reviews from people that have realistic expectations and can note minor things that don’t affect their overall cruise. I was just joking to my son that I’d love to read the review from the “Buffett” lady.  

Thank you - I think we ALL know a buffet lady. It's a sad way to go through life.  

Maybe I should check the NCL/TripAdvisor ship reviews because she probably wrote one!

Yes, my sister smokes and I will ask her who got her the ashtray. She didn't go upstairs with it at all. The deck steward emptied it in the course of his rounds. She only used it a couple of times a day. No smoking indoors. It was quite sheltered at the dining table outside when weather was bad.

I think we told the butler 8 am but sometimes it arrived earlier. The coffee stayed hot in the carafe. He'd bring cups and saucers and creamer and a dish containing 4-5 pastries and 2-3 muffins, wrapped with saran wrap. He placed everything on the table which had a table cloth after the first couple of days when they saw we were using it. 

We also sometimes hit the buffet late at night and would leave the dishes/silverware on the bar. He'd pick them up in the same trip, I think. Ice was usually filled later in the morning. 

Don't be too concerned about the noise. The middle cabin is probably the quietest if you have a light sleeper, and it was not an issue the first couple of nights at all. It was a rough weather week (not terrible, but lots of intermittent driving rain). And it was April!  I think in June you will probably experience something much smoother. 

It truly is an amazing experience and a wonderful place for gathering together with family. We were only a group of 4 - with a larger party those big tables would have gotten a lot more use. You will have space to spread out but also gather together, while being able to close a door behind you in your room.

If you choose to have coffee/pastry dropped off in the morning, it's great not to have to leave the suite. Only two of us drank coffee, but my niece took the morning leftover coffee and made iced coffee. There's also fruit on the table and the butler will refill what he sees you are eating.

The Haven courtyard is steps away on the other side of the elevator bank, and you can just walk in and grab a cup of coffee and a snack to take back to the room, or sit down and order breakfast.

Here's the language from BDA after I submitted the initial information:

Bermuda Travel Authorisation (By Sea) (Cruise Passenger) Note

Dear Traveller,

You have successfully submitted your travel authorisation application.

If you have applied within 4 days of departure and uploaded your pre-travel test/vaccine certificate, your application will be reviewed between 9am and 8pm to ensure that the pre-arrival test/vaccine certificate you have uploaded meets Bermuda's valid test requirements as outlined here.

• If you have applied MORE than 4 days prior to depature - you will receive an REMINDER email 4 days prior to depature with a link to upload your documents - Pre-Test and Vaccine Certificate.
• Once your application is approved, you will receive an email with a link to your Travel Authorisation document.
• If your application is rejected, you will be notified as to why it was denied.

 There will be a link in the  reminder email allowing you to return to your application to complete the document uploads.

Bermuda appears to want you to do them separately, opening up the file in advance so that two days before all you need is the test result. NCL keeps contradicting them saying "do it at the same time!"

I did mine a week ahead of time, got the confirmation and case #, and multiple reminders to be sure to upload the results when they came in. Contrary to NCL's "it might be rejected if you submit separately" scare letters, the Bermuda folks seemed extremely organized and not the least bit discouraging about uploading the items separately. Each communication reminded me that I needed to upload the test results on that specific date, and provided the link to do so. It was all automated, so this is clearly the way they expect it done (or one way they expect it done)

My sister waited and did it all same day. Her covid test was 7 am. Mine was noon. I had my complete documents within a couple of hours and she got hers much later in the day even though her test was 5 hrs earlier than mine. I think they probably go in order of case number, since they can "move" cases faster if the only thing they're looking at is one item (the covid test result) as opposed to everything else.

12 hours ago, A1SusieQ said:

Great job with all the details. So useful as we will be staying in the Pearl GV in July. 😀

You're going to have a blast. It's a great ship and the crew are wonderful. 

14 minutes ago, oteixeira said:

Just an FYI, we had the Map channel on our cruise, I love to leave that channel on as I get ready each day...

That's good to hear. My sister really missed it.