Jump to content

luckybecky

Members
  • Posts

    2,541
  • Joined

About Me

  • Location
    San Antonio TX

Recent Profile Visitors

2,309 profile views

luckybecky's Achievements

Cool Cruiser

Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  • Great Review Rare

Recent Badges

  1. No. We brought the wine to consume on our balcony so didn't take it to any restaurant or other venue. And we had the drink package.
  2. I always have a carry-on size suitcase with me. It's a hassle to drag it around while waiting for the room to be ready, but I have a change of clothes, swimsuit, toiletries, and any other essentials --- just in case my luggage is misplaced. I ALWAYS do this whether traveling by land, sea or air. Of course this is the biggest pet peeve on cruise critic. We don't spend a lot of time at the pool but do hit it for short periods. We don't need a chair right at poolside, but somewhere nearby to leave our towels and stuff while we are in the pool or hot tub. It is frustrating when EVERY chair is "occupied" We take the stairs to walk off the 5* dining 🙂 Or we walk to the other end of the ship and take the elevators from there 100% agree. The problem is that stewards want you out of the room at the crack of dawn (I love our stewards, they are just trying to do their job). I'm not a morning person and would love to sleep an extra hour. But we are always awakened by 7am at the latest. Much banging and door slamming. So once up, what else are you going to do? Nothing happening on the ship aside from fighting the crowds in the buffet. At some point we just give in and join the line to get off the ship. We can't sleep in and nothing else to do so off we go... Yes, I agree! More courtesty and patience is needed. We try our best and hope others will too.
  3. Thanks everyone for the tips about the ferry. I wish there was access to it because I bet the views are amazing. I just saw some footage of the fireworks in Sydney which looked spectacular. I hope you all have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.
  4. Thank you for that. Now I'm even more confused! LOL Looking at the ferry schedule, it appeared that there is a ferry from the Balmain East ferry dock very near the cruise ship. What am I missing?
  5. By the way, I was speaking to an NCL rep yesterday and asked about turnaround day in Sydney, specifically if we would be able to get off the ship early, soon after docking. She assured me that there would be no problem whatsoever. No mention at all of any of the concerns raised here. 🙄 We've only had one other back to back. That was in Italy and it was super easy, no problem at all. So I just want to be sure I know what to expect and can plan accordingly. Thanks for any info 🙂
  6. I'm terribly confused after reading this thread -- but glad I did. We are B2B New Zealand to Sydney, and then Sydney to Tahiti. With only a few hours in Sydney, we hoped we would have time to do a half day tour or something. But reading this, it sounds like getting off the ship could be very complicated and time consuming. We have the same cabin for both legs, so we didn't expect to have to carry anything off the ship with us. We don't expect to have anything to declare as we generally don't do any duty free shopping and buy very few souvenirs when we travel. Can someone help clear this up for me? Will we be able to get off the ship early enough to perhaps take the ferry to Circular Quay and do a bit of sightseeing? Sorry if I'm being dense in not following all the info that has been posted above.
  7. Hello cruisers! We are planning our return after a 25 day cruise on NCL Spirit, ending in Papeete. We have considered getting a day room and taking a red eye flight, and we received some very helpful info from folks here. However, we also have the option to take an early morning flight departing at 7:40am. We arrive in Papeete the night before at 8pm and are scheduled to be there overnight before debarkation in the morning. My question is, does anyone have experience with getting off the ship very early in the morning, like 5am? Would the gangway be open with security staff to check us out? And would there be taxis available near the port to take us to the airport at that early hour? Or is Uber an option? The early flight might work better for us than the late night flight that doesn't leave until almost midnight, but we want to be sure we won't have any trouble getting off the ship and catching a cab.
  8. Thanks for the detailed info! I really appreciate it. In your original post you mentioned the Intercontinental. But it looks like you decided to go with the Hilton instead. Any particular reason for that choice? We stayed one night pre-cruise at the intercontinental several years ago. It was beautiful but we weren't there long enough to use the facilities, mostly just sleeping after our long flight from the US. We are considering using it again for our upcoming trip but have also looked at the Hilton. Both are expensive but I agree with you that they could be worth the splurge. We won't be business class, alas. Thanks for the heads up about the airport lines. I don't recall that being a problem when we flew out of there last time, but maybe it's just my faulty memory. I DO remember that we had a day tour while killing time waiting for our late flight. We would rather skip any tour and just rest/relax before our flight this time.
  9. Wondering how this worked out for you? We are considering doing the same thing. Did they allow you to check in early (if needed)? Were you able to leave your luggage at the bellhop desk and use the facilities while waiting for your room to be ready? We get off the ship in the morning and the flight we are considering doesn't leave until almost midnight.
  10. Thanks for the pictures! Much appreciated. I can't quite tell from the photos -- was there any seating in the room besides the stool at the desk? Any sofa/chair/loveseat? All very good information! Thanks everyone for the helpful comments. Littlelulu01, did you find the hot tubs to be warm enough? We were on the Spirit a few years ago and they were barely lukewarm, and certainly not hot enough for a cold weather cruise (we were in Norway).
  11. Haha, I'm the same way! Much more comfortable with my laptop vs. trying to do things on my phone. But this time, that's where I went wrong. i tried googling the website and ended up in the wrong place, apparently. The app was much easier.
  12. Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions. I was able to successfully complete the application with the app. It had a hard time scanning our passports but we got through it. BTW, the original site I went to was what came up when I googled visitor visa for NZ, and it did appear to be a govt.nz website. But whatever I was applying for looked way too complicated so I'm glad you all were able to put me it the right direction. Thanks again!
  13. This is the website I found for a visitor visa https://www.immigration.govt.nz/new-zealand-visas/visas/visa/visitor-visa
  14. Oh, and the application also wants to know if I have $1000NZ. We usually spend very little cash when cruising. We don't shop much -- at all -- and rarely eat at restaurants. We just eat on the ship. Excursions are usually prepaid. Whatever we do spend is almost always on our credit card. So we carry only a little petty cash for small items. Do I literally have to carry $1000 NZ?
  15. I'm trying to apply for a tourist visa for our March 2024 cruise. It has been a total PIA! In fact, so difficult that I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong. I've spent at least 3 hours on this so far and that's just for me -- haven't gotten to my husband yet. For example, It wants to know if I'm working. When I enter that I'm retired, it still wants my dates of employment, profession, employer address, phone number, and email, etc etc. Wants to know where I worked: when I enter Texas, I get an error message because I didn't select "Tex as" from the drop down menu. When I tried to submit my photo, it said I have two heads. I mean it's just ridiculous. Wants to know my financial situation. And on and on. I still have not been able to successfully complete the application. Is this typical? I feel like I'm applying to get something much more complicated than a typical tourist visa, like I'm wanting to move and work there or something. Am I doing this right? And I still have to do Australia 😬
×
×
  • Create New...