Motegi

I hope you and Pam take the plunge! Even thought I paid s little more to rebook my trip to get this promo. It’s still worth it! I had to do all the math before basically told my husband I’ve made up our minds lol

 

 

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Comparing the new “Drinks On Us” cabin prices to the Fantastica prices that we booked or even the current Bella prices it appears that the new pricing is significantly pricier for our dates. Especially since we like to order more elaborate drinks than what is offered on the basic list. I think we may instead opt to buy the dinner wine package and stick with our Fantastica tickets for this sailing.

Pam and I tend to overdress. We are usually one of a handful of guests who actually wear tux and gown for Norwegian’s Night Out. I figure that since I own tuxedos, why not put them to use?

There are often many ladies who we see wearing nice dresses in the evening. Usually the women are better dressed than the men in our experience.

Of course, there will also be a fair number of people in t shirts, shorts, and flip flops so as long as you don’t mind being the best dressed person in your area you’ll be fine!

I’ve never heard of any costume restrictions at any of the Halloween parties on NCL cruises before. I wouldn’t think it would be any different at Masquerade.

 

 

 

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On the Carnival Victory in February our charter had arranged a superhero costume party. Many people brought and wore elaborate “Comicon” quality costumes.

About one hour into the party the emcee came on stage and stated that Carnival Safety Officers told them that any masks that covered guests faces were not allowed and must be removed immediately. So much for superhero costumes!

So I was interested to see what NCLs policy was on this.

Hmmm... Interesting. So they will actually let passengers wear masks at a party onboard?

I was on a different line with a costume party where they announced that masks that covered passengers faces were not allowed because of security reasons...

From the image in their social media post am I to assume that the theme is more of a traditional Venetian masquerade ball rather than Halloween style superhero costumes?

Cuba Port Havana schedule:

http://www.cruisemapper.com/ports/havana-port-32

Wow! This is amazing. Pam and I are excited to make the switch from Fantastica to the “Drinks on Us”!

I use a airline carry on sized rolling suitcase. Fits two 12 packs of soda/canned juice and the two bottles of wine perfectly!

There are no winners in this argument.

It’s like the service animal thread or the dining room attire thread.

You forgot the 'bathrobe' threads. My personal favorite!

Attend shows in a bathrobe?

I tend to be overdressed on my cruises and so I think that the minimum standards that the cruise lines list for their venues should be upheld.

On a visit to Walmart a couple weeks ago I witnessed a young lady walk into the store wearing a bright pink bathrobe and fuzzy slippers.

I am expecting that if she were on a cruise she wouldn’t think twice about trying to wear this into a main dining room.

What’s next, people wearing their bathing suits and beach towels to the dining room for dinner?

Thanks so much for your review! Pam and I are booked on the Seaside in September and are excited to check out all that the ship has to offer.

This will be our second cruise with MSC and it was because we had such an amazing time on Divina last June that we even considered the Seaside as we are normally NCL fans.

Af for lackluster room stewards we experienced something very similar on the Carnival Victory in February but wouldn’t have expected it on MSC. Much as yourselves we didn’t let it ruin our vacation and took a few things into our own hands. We did sympathize with him when he mentioned that they are now each assigned 30 cabins per day.

I'd suggest you make other plans, with only 2 spaces and 6 ahead of you on a wait list, not very likely.

It’s actually 10 spaces. But 6 ahead on the wait list. Odds are still not very good.

As a backup we’ve booked the morning helicopter to the glacier with dog sled excursion through Viator. We have up until 7 days before the excursion to cancel on the event that the Glacier Canoe shorex becomes available.

We’ve already booked the Tracy Arm excursion. It leaves the ship at 1:15PM just ahead of the Bliss’ 1:30PM all aboard. It looks like the Tracy arm excursion boat goes up toward the glacier just ahead of the Bliss and rendezvous with the Bliss at about 6:30PM.

No, sorry there aren't any other vendors. Ask to go on a waiting list with Liquid, and Above and Beyond. Forget about "looking" though anyone else. These are the only operators, don't involve middle men

Thanks for the advice!

I called Liquid and got on their waiting list. They said because of the timing of the NCL Bliss only one of their three tours that day will work. The max capacity for guests is 10. There are 6 others on the waiting list already so he didn’t sound too hopeful but we will keep our fingers crossed.

Above & Beyond said that they have openings but do not think that they can complete the excursion during the time that the Bliss is in port.

Pam and I will be on the NCL Bliss in Juneau on June 5th.

We were hoping to do the Mendenhall glacier canoe and ice cave hiking tour.

Unfortunately the three sources that we have for tour operators show the excursion as being sold out on that day:

1) Liquid Alaska

2) Above & Beyond

3) Alaska Shore Excursions

This brings us to a few questions:

1) Does anyone know of any other reputable tour operators who offer this tour?

2) What is the possibility that we can purchase this excursion from a different tour operator once we arrive in Juneau?

3) Are there any other tours that provide the opportunity to visit the Mendenhall ice caves?

If this is a big concern, then call Carnival with both booking numbers and make sure the reservations are linked together. Not only will this allow you to make sure you’re seated together at dinner (if doing scheduled dining), but it would make it extremely unlikely that they would move either of you or even offer any upgrades since your linked bookings indicate you want to stay together.

 

 

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We had 14 friends and family booked us when our issue occurred. I called to link our bookings for dinner seating.

Booking numbers and linking does not guarantee cabin location. Nor does it guarantee group seating at dinner from our experience.

One unusual circumstance that I ran into in February was that the ship (Victory) went into a major dry dock overhaul between the time when I booked the cruise to the actual departure date.

During the dry dock the section of the ship where we had chosen our cabin had been dramatically changed to the point where our assigned obstructed view interior cabin turned into one of two Captain’s Suites.

We learned of this and reached out to Carnival in advance for clarification as to whether or not we would be assigned the same cabin number as we had started to purchase items onto our cruise account and were arranging group dinner seating with our friends and family sailing with us. We were told by the cruise charter company that we would be staying in the same cabin number.

Two weeks before our sailing everything suddenly changed. I actually didn’t find out until I logged into the cruise account and noticed the cabin number change. Nobody called to inform us of this l and all of the things we had purchased for the original cabin had vanished from our cruise page. But the credit card company still showed that I had been charged. They had switched us to a tiny interior cabin in the back of the ship. It took over two hours of phone calls and speaking with 5 different people at Carnival to get things straightened out. They ended up putting us into a Scenic Ocean View Cabin over the bridge just two doors down from where we had initially been assigned.

So long story short, yes, there are situations where they will change your cabin assignments without prior warning. However those situations are rare. Keep an eye on your cruise reservation online to see if any changes are made.

The windowside tables just to the left of the entrance that we were seated at by the Maitre D the first night were occupied by the rush of passengers the second night. We ended up in the back right corner at two tables instead of the three tables the first night. On the final night we got two large round tables just inside the door in the center of the dining room.

If the tables were preassigned why were people in such a hurry to get there when the doors opened?

And if people took tables that weren’t assigned to them why didn’t the servers or maitre d intervene?

We are beach people (not shoppers) so we don’t mind Nassau because we have found beautiful beaches there. Atlantis is having a special in May so we are going there for our first time to enjoy the beach and water park and whatever else we are entitled to with our pass. For those who are not beach people I can see why they would just stay on the ship and feel the way they do about Nassau.

 

Happy cruising!:)

The beaches are very nice. But don’t think that this is the only thing to do other than Atlantis.

Pam and I aren’t really beach people. We live in Tampa just minutes from some of the top rated beaches in the country and we may not get out there even once a year. Yet we have found plenty of things to do in Nassau outside of the beach. TripAdvisor is a good resource. :cool:

We were there twice last month AFTER the travel advisory came out and chose to walk everywhere. We went to the Pirate Republic Brewery, John Watling Distillery, Pirate Museum, Graycliff Chocolate Factory, Senor Frogs, and Crab and Tings on Junkanoo Beach. Everything is within 15 minutes walking from the port.

We never felt unsafe as there were hundreds of tourists everywhere along these areas. There were also many uniformed police on the sidewalks monitoring during the daytime.

However I would not do any jet ski rentals as this has been a particular source of the recent safety concerns.

Also if your ship is in port overnight I would not go into town after dark as most of the businesses are closed and there are very few tourists out at that time.

We will be back to Nassau again in September and plan to walk into town again.

If you decide to walk, i recommend that you print a paper map of downtown Nassau and mark the areas that you want to see as you may or may not have cellular data service on the island.

So it all comes down to whether you are cruising to spend time on the ship or to explore the ports of call.

As you can see from my post and others above there is plenty to see and do in Nassau for a FULL day. Pam and I still visit Nassau even though we’ve been there a dozen times before. We cruise for the ports of call and find that the mornings, evenings, and a sea day or two are plenty of time to experience what the ships have to offer onboard. So when the ships stop we like to get off and explore. After all we are all paying port fees for the port stops so we might as well get our money’s worth!

As others have said don’t think that the ship excursions and Atlantis are all that Nassau has to offer. There are plenty of free or very inexpensive things to do.

:(Sorry to hear it was such a problem. Dinner is one of the highlights of our day:(

Dinners are usually the highlight of our groups day as well. We routinely get together at our local restaurants and always have a wonderful time talking and joking over meals.

The way the Maître d on the Victory handled the aft dining room seating was unlike anything I’ve ever seen on a cruise.

It was like being at a Walmart when they opened on Black Friday.

Did you all have assigned / fixed seating for early or late dining ... or did all of you sign up for "Your Time Dining"?

 

With assigned seating at either early or late dining you should have been given the same tables every night. On our last CCL cruise there was a group of 20 with late assigned seating. They had the same 2 tables - 10 tops- every night.

With Your Time Dining with a large group it's my understanding it works pretty much like at a restaurant where you get seated when tables for your group are available unless the maitre'd will work with you to be seated together with prior arrangements.

We all had assigned late seating in the aft dining room. And still the Maître d did not provide us with anything close to what I would consider proper group seating. We never sat at the same table or section during the cruise. We followed all the protocols including calling Carnival in advance of our cruise to have all of our bookings linked. And even spoke with the Maître D on embarkation day as soon as we boarded.

I was a little taken aback by the unorganized free for all on the second night as soon as they unlocked the solid outer doors leading to the dining room entry. People at the front of the crowd were literally running into the dining room to snag tables. We had people in our group with disabilities so we walked at a normal pace as were relegated to a back corner.

This was in stark contrast to the first night when they seated group by group at the Maître d stand and would t even seat us until everyone arrived.

We’ve never done a cruise with such a large group. Is this normal?

On MSC last year when we cruised with 8 we had the same table and same servers every night. And we didn’t have to go through the hassle of linking bookings and talking to the Maître D ahead of time.

Thank you for your reply. So you CAN tip additional in cash.

But if you don't, it is automatically added at end of the cruise, correct?

There is an automatic baseline gratuity added to your account. This is added whether you choose to tip extra or not.

You can of course tip extra if you choose.

On the other hand if you find that the service was poor you can request guest services to reduce your baseline gratuity.

I took my Mavic Pro with me on the Divina last year with no issues. Only trouble I ran into was trying to fly it in Ochos Rios. I asked one of the customs officials if I would be allowed to fly it and they told me that I was not allowed. So I kept it inside my camera bag.

On my sailing aboard NCL and Carnival in February I brought my Mavic Air with me. I was able to bring it aboard and off the ships in port with no issues. I obtained official clearance from the Bahamian government prior to the cruises to fly the drone in the country and made sure to follow all local rules pertaining to drones.

My three drones are all registered with the FAA and have individual FAA license numbers labeled on the outside. I carry the FAA certificates of registration with me when I travel.