missjanet

We are also going on a cruise to Canada in June 2022 but visit only 2 ports - Halifax and Saint John's. Does anyone have any thoughts on which of these trips in Saint John's might be better than the other? We've been to SJ before but didn't get to the Bay of Funday. This time we're looking at these excursions on RCL:

Saint John & Bay of Fundy Top 10 - (6.5 hours long) I admit I like the sound of this one because of the stop at an Irish pub. Last time in SJ we did a pub crawl through Norwegian & just had the best time

Saint John & Bay of Fundy Up Close (short at 2.5 hours)

Bay of Fundy & Fundy Trail (longest trip at 7 hours - would it be worth all that time spent?)

I'm not sure what to do in Halifax. We've already been here 3 times and it looks like most of the excursions include Peggy's Cove and/or Titanic cemetery, both of which we've seen. There isn't much to choose from on RCL unfortunately.

Thank you for your thoughts!

That was my concern, too - we now have a cabin on deck 8 which is between 2 decks of cabins only. The BF category is deck 7 and is over a nightclub. It seems very chancy even if NCL would let us do it. Thanks for your input.

We are booked on the November 2nd sailing of POA - I had reserved a Sail Away Balcony rate of $2049 which didn't include any of the "free at sea" items. We were assigned a balcony cabin on Deck 8.

Today the lowest balcony rate that's not Sail Away is $1999 for what I think is a GTY & which says you will get a cabin on Deck 7 category BF. This rate incudes 4 Free at Sea items. Even with the gratuities for the freebies of $316.80, it seems as this might be a good deal. The cost is very close to what we have already paid NCL.

Would NCL let me make such a change to our booking? If so, is it worth doing this since we'd be giving up a cabin on Deck 8 which seems quiet while the BF Deck 7 cabin would be underneath the Mardi Gras Cabaret Lounge? I have no idea how noisy the club could get & we aren't up late as a rule.

We already have reservations for Cagney's and La Cucina. If we did get the Free at Sea promotion, would we be able to keep our dinner dates as part of our free specialty dining? It wasn't easy to get those reservations.

I appreciate any advice or info you could give us. I know I could call NCL & ask about this, but I'd like to hear from cruisers who might have done something like this - was it a good idea or not? Thanks so much!

We were on Anthem of the Seas in April. We hurried to Shore Excursions to ask about renting a bungalow as soon as we boarded. They said all bungalows were long gone & no one ever cancels their reservation for one. We were supposed to be on a waiting list but never got a call about one becoming available so I’m not sure they hold any back for people onboard.

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We are looking at either the 4/29/2017 Ruby Princess or 5/4/2017 Island Princess wine cruise - we have never sailed on either ship. We took a Celebrity wine cruise in 2012 that sailed from Vancouver to San Diego. The ports were wonderful especially since we overnighted in San Francisco - visited lots of great wineries. But the activities onboard were lacking except for the party they hosted on the first night - $5 entitled you to as many wine tastings as you wanted. It led us to believe that the rest of the week would have activities of that caliber but we were disappointed.

I would love to hear more about Princess wine cruises if anyone can give us information. I have looked at the available excursions, but I would like to hear if they provide onboard wine-themed events. And I don't know which ship would be better so if you've got an opinion, feel free to share it.

Many thanks!

I've cruised twice on Princess, 4 times with NCL - just got off the Gem a week ago. I have to say I prefer Princess although I do think the Dawn is a wonderful ship - we've sailed her twice, once to the Bahamas out of NYC and the other time to Bermuda out of NYC.

As for food, I was disappointed in last week's offerings &, as I remember it, Princess food was quite good in my opinion. But I choose most cruises for the itinerary & the price - this time NCL had the itinerary I wanted & the price for the Gem's Canada/NE cruise was considerably less than the Regal Princess cruise. We had sailed almost the exact itinerary on the Caribbean Princess in 2011 so it was an easy choice to make & we sailed on the Gem.

I think you will have a good time on the Dawn. They had a lot of onboard activities as I remember it & there was a very positive energy about it. Just relax & enjoy yourselves!

We sail Saturday on the Gem. I went out today & bought all kinds of seasickness remedies in case the seas are really rough. All I can do is wait & watch the forecasts to see which way Joaquin goes though.

Wishing you all the best of luck with your weather, too.

3 days until we sail away on the Gem! I can hardly believe it's almost here!! :)

We will be going from Maplewood, NJ, to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal on 10/3. Parking is expensive so we were thinking of trying Uber for transportation back & forth. We've never used Uber before but our family members seem to love it.

Has anyone used them for a trip from NJ to the Manhattan Cruise Terminal? Were there any problems of the Uber driver was unfamiliar with the destination? Any hints or advice you can give us would be appreciated. Thanks!

Midship deck 9 was great.

I'm happy to hear that midship deck 9 is good - last week we booked the Gem for 10/3-10/10 & got the only available inside cabin that wasn't a guarantee. It is 9053 & looks to be pretty much in the middle of deck 9. Thanks for the intel.

Sorry I didn't see your reply, Mrs. Go-Bucks, but I haven't been online much since our cruise is over. As far as Sydney goes, it was the 2nd time we've been there. It is a nice little stop - we did the Bell Museum tour. The first time we did the fort. The short time in port was long enough for us.

I liked the itinerary, too, but would have liked one more at sea day to break up the 4 port days in a row at the end of the cruise (just to have a little more time to enjoy the window suite). I, too, will probably not have such luxurious accommodations again, but it was worth grabbing the WS when it came down to mini-suite prices. Such great memories I have of it though...

Hi Go-Bucks,

I remember when Princess had the price reduction on the window suites & we switched from the mini (after seeing the perks). I am so glad we made the switch - best cabin I've ever experienced (or am likely to) even with the smoke smell. Only wish I'd thought of bringing some sort of deodorizer because my sinus problems (caused by the smoke allergy) made me dizzy. But I'm still glad I took that room - could have been bothered by the smoke smell in any cabin anyway & NOT had those fabulous perks.

So glad you enjoyed the cabin - as far as the room steward, we had a man named Rolan. Is that who you had? He was okay, not outstanding, I have to admit. Once I asked for ice because I thought he was bringing around a cooler filled with ice (as he cleaned his cabins) like I've seen on other cruise lines & it would be a simple task. Turned out he had to take my cooler out of our area to another hallway to fill it up - seems like a complicated procedure & that surprised me.

Other than that, I can't recall him doing anything in particular good or bad for us. We were in F309 - which cabin did you have? I believe the room steward on one of the May sailings was a different man, not Rolan.

Just had a WS on a cruise that ended yesterday. The day we arrived I could tell smokers had used the room - I have allergies & a sensitive nose. I could smell the stale smoky smell in the carpeting & fabric in the cabin, but I will say that as the week went on the smell dissipated. I don't believe the smell came from the cigar bar as the WS hallway smelled fine.

Odor aside, I would book another WS in a minute. I loved just lying on my bed, looking at all the space around me, something I'm not used to when cruising. And the suite perks made it worthwhile, especially since on my cruise the WS rate was on a par with a mini-suite which we had originally booked. I loved the double sinks, too.

Just Sabatini's breakfast, free internet, complimentary laundry & those addicting chocolate tuxedo strawberries made it worth booking!