sailingships

17 hours ago, Smitheroo said:

Does NCL run buses to the various transportation hubs like Heathrow etc?  In 2013 I had figured out which bus and subway I needed to get to St Pancreas station in London from Southampton.

If NCL doesnt have buses to the train stations but they do have them to Heathrow go on one of those. The subway/underground/tube goes right to Heathrow. The Picadilly line goes from Heathrow to Kings Cross/St Pancras. 

For East-West TAs we usually fly to another country about 10 days/2 weeks before and then travel around by trains ending up at the embarkation port about 3 days before. We use frequent flyer miles/points for a free trip to Europe. Sometimes we've done the prior 10 day etc to make it a B2B lot of cruises. 

Never fly into Europe in time to get on the ship. Always go a few days early.

On 3/5/2023 at 7:41 PM, cruiseagona said:

, no more Park West (definitely not sorry to see that go), no more watching Top Gun 3 nights in a row. 

Sorry the art auctions and the movie repeats are on other cruise lines also.

On 3/3/2023 at 9:40 AM, Healthmark said:

Are Transatlantic cruises usually less crowded than regular shorter round trip cruises?

If so, what percentage?

The Gem was about 1/2 full in December, 1,200. Barcelona to NYC 

The next cruise (Dec 22) they were expecting 3,000 for the Christmas cruise in the Caribbean.

On 2/22/2023 at 4:04 PM, Turtles06 said:

San Juan – the second visit

 

 

In anticipation of visiting the fort, we’d brought our National Parks Senior Passes with us on the trip, which give us free entry to all NPS sites, including El Morro.  (Best 10 bucks ever spent!)  Oddly, the ranger at the entrance insisted that we show him not only our passes, but also a photo ID that had our respective signatures on it.  What?  We’ve never, ever, at any NPS site, been asked to show anything with our passes but a photo ID (and often not even that), never anything with a signature.  Indeed, the back of the NPS pass says “valid photo ID required,” it says nothing about a signature.  Nonetheless, the ranger would not accept our Global Entry Cards as proof of our identities – good enough to get us back into the U.S. from abroad but apparently not into El Morro!  Had it not been for the fact that we were carrying our passports with us because of the CBP inspection (we typically leave our passports in the cabin safe when we go ashore), neither of us would have had an ID with our signatures with us that day.   

 

Ive been using my NP card or my VA card to get into the forts for years and they have always asked for extra ID. I just use my DL. They dont look at any signature just the photo. I wave both cards in front of them and they wave me and my party (4 can get in using an NP or VA card) on in without looking closely. We went to the forts 3X this year so far 2x on the B2Bs and another time on the Sky in early Jan. Each time, no hassle. 

1 hour ago, Turtles06 said:

The Gem installs a wave pool

LOL I remember seeing that. The waves were also rolling and spraying quite high towards the rear wall. I wondered if anyone would break out the surf boards !!!

On 2/20/2023 at 2:47 PM, Turtles06 said:

23 days aboard the Gem doing B2B Panama Canal cruises, NY to Panama City/Fuerte Amador (Jan. 25-Feb. 6) and Panama City/Fuerte Amador to NY (Feb. 6-17). 

Yes It was great !!!  We did a Partial Panama Feb 2017 and had wanted to do the whole Canal since then. We got to do the Canal TWICE in the one week !!!  

On 2/21/2023 at 6:26 PM, Mikiejag said:

Fri	Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas	7:00 AM	4:00 PM	0
Sun	San Juan, Puerto Rico	10:00 AM	8:00 PM	1
Mon	Philipsburg, St. Maarten	8:00 AM	8:00 PM	0
Tue	St. John's, Antigua	8:00 AM	8:00 PM	1
Wed	Basseterre, St. Kitts	8:00 AM	8:00 PM	0
Thu	St. Thomas, US Virgin Islands	7:00 AM	3:30 PM	0
Fri	Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic	11:00 AM	6:00 PM	0

If theyve brought back the 'Cane Train' shore excursion in St Kitts go on that one. It used to be fun. For San Juan if youre a veteran the forts are free for you and three others. Theyre run by the US National Parks. Use your VA card. Also if you have a National Parks card take it with you. Again you and three others can get into the forts for free. 

On 2/24/2023 at 3:18 PM, Trappedontheboat said:

All the time I was on NCL ship I saw different colors of the room keys. Is there any pattern they use when they assign the color? It does not seem it is attached to the latitude level. Does anyone know anything about it?

The first time I cruised with NCL I sat next to a Diamond while we waited to board. She had the same-colored card as me, so it cant be the Latitude level. 

On 2/24/2023 at 6:37 PM, Broons77 said:

Booked a studio on the Prima and under the list of promo codes on my invoice is LATDBLX.  Anyone have any idea what that code is -  a double points promo code maybe?  I didn't see anything about that when I booked.  Would be a nice surprise for sure if it was...

 

Lucky you It means instead of one point a day towards the next latitude, you get three. Your usual one a day and two more. 

On 2/20/2023 at 9:22 PM, Birdnutty said:

  Also, make sure you have charging cords with adaptors, not just USB plugs.  There are NO USB ports in the room.  One woman we spoke to was so upset because there were no USB ports.  She'd only brought cables.  I guess she hadn't experienced many older ships, or she just doesn't travel as well prepared as she should.

 

I was on this cruise. Going through the Canal I discovered that the front wall in the Spinnaker only had European outlets, no American outlets or USB ports so we couldnt plug our cell phones in to recharge them as we took photos through the front windows. Luckily I had a regular plug with me and had recharged fully the night before in my cabin but some others hadnt. My phone lasted just to the end of the Canal. I was amazed that a ship with mostly American passengers wasnt set up to accommodate them. But as you said the Gem is an older ship. 

On 2/21/2023 at 6:41 AM, ziggyuk said:

 

 

I did Alaska 16th October 2021 from Seattle and to be honest a lot was closed, we did not go whale watching as we did that from Vancouver pre cruise and there were sill as lot about but September/October is when they head back to Hawaii so there were not as many as earlier in the season.
 

We cruised in Alaska Sept 17-26 2019 and the whales were everywhere, playing, tails in the air, chasing each other etc. Glacier Bay etc They hadnt left yet. We saw them every day, didnt need a shore excursion.  It was wonderful.

There used to be a small bar just by the Sheraton that did that for a small reasonable fee 

We were there last week on the Sky. Maybe only the smaller ships ?

Well regardless of what status or supposed 'priority' anyone might think they have, for the Gem TA from Barcelona on Dec 8 had whomever was nearest the top of the lines going first to 'embark' onto the ship.

The 9am time slots meant nothing to the Spanish workers. Anyone could check in any time.

15 hours ago, nwcruiselover said:

I am currently on the Celebration TA, and I can confirm that the price is indeed $19.00.  It hasn’t been open since sailed on Sunday because of rough seas and inclement weather.  Hopefully that will improve once we head south and the Bolt will be open.

The Channel is rough ? Did you get to La Coruna today ?

It was supposed to be Sept 2023 Did Carnival back the final date up ?

I'm a veteran. Every year at this time I get an Email from Carnival about special prices for cruises for military members and veterans.

Except I cant use them. Theyre not for me. They either have my daughter's name and VIFP number or my underaged granddaughter. And if I call up and want to use the offer Im told my daughter has to cruise and I can go with her. But I cant use it myself.

Carnival has my DD214 but that makes no difference I, the veteran in the house, cant book a cruise using the Email offer that was sent to MY Email.

And Carnival refuses to change the situation. I just got off the phone for the 3rd year running. I was told I need to call tomorrow and it would be changed. Ive talked to Carnival for the last few years about this No dice.

Now this in itself is bad. But consider these My non-veteran family members (who are quite welcome to use the offer with no proof that they are veterans), are not the only ones getting the Email. There must be many others who can take advantage of an offer that was meant for veterans just because someone received an Email with the non-veteran's name and VIFP number attached. While the veteran the Email was sent to cant because his name and VIFP number were not listed.

Any other veteran have this problem ?

54 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

How did you get around not giving your SS# if I might ask?

 

I dont do anything online that requires so much. I did the IDME thingy because it didnt need much to find me as a prior military member. I had confirmation right away. However years ago I faxed my DD214 to another cruise line so maybe the info was already online etc. The document had the SS# and a couple of other things blacked out at that time  Im sure NCL will require our VA cards as part of our docs to board.

18 minutes ago, farjar said:

In order to receive this offer you must verify your eligibility with ID.me first.  

It was easy to do the ID.ME thingy. i didnt have to give my SS# or service # only branch rank and any date during my service years. I got confirmation right away. Then you have to agree to give the info to NCL I booked today for January Paid the whole thing but got the 10%

You had to change your notes by Sept 30 if you were in the UK. Here in the US my bank deposited my 50 and 20 GBP into my account as dollars. They are now using plasticy notes just like the 5 and 10 ones.

I was in Belfast in 2018 and the cab driver from the airport wouldnt take my old 10 GBP. He told me to go to a bank or Post Office and change them.  I had no trouble doing so. For the cab driver a 20 was still good.

I flew into Vancouver in 2019 and there were machines that Americans could use that sound like these you described. if the ones in LHR are the same they are easy to use and save hours. I try to avoid flying directly into London. One time I was in line for 6 hours at that airport. This was before Globel Entry etc

Just one time 

3 hours ago, craig01020 said:

. Our cabin had the two twin beds pushed together, but there was a really big ravine between them.

Just one time An Interior on I think the Elation. I was doing a solo and Id wake up in the morning with my foot or leg caught in the ravine They brought a different mattress did the strappy thing but it made no difference LOL

4 hours ago, mattcj89 said:

The two that haven’t been mentioned are The Gateway, replacing the French Quarter and 820 Biscayne, replacing La Piazza according to the deck plans.

I loved those 2 areas on the MG The FQ and the LP. I hope they dont change them for the Celebration.