BaWBarmy

We're on the Bliss Transatlantic and have booked a couple of nights in NYC. We are hoping that the hotel will look after our bags until we are allowed to check in and similarly allow us leave them when we book out as our flight is from JFK at 10:30 ish. If this is OK that should give us another couple of days to look around. We have finished cruises in NYC twice before. The first time we arranged an NCL transfer to JFK and sat for 3 hours waiting for check in to open and then another 3 hours in the terminal. Not recommended. The second time we were picked up by friends, who we had met on the first cruise, who lived just opposite Manhattan in New Jersey, they allowed us to leave bags at their apartment and we had a day out in NJ.

Sorry to drift off topic slightly, but, in researching for the second trip I saw that there are quite a few places in NYC that will store your bags for the day for a small fee. Its just a case of getting a cab to take you there. Have a few hours round NYC (its great).

No charge for Breakfast.

Then its $7.95 per trip.

For those of you in and around London, have you tried Borough Market? Plenty of artisan cheese makers. I was able to get Lincolnshire Poacher from Selfridges once, although the place were its made is only 15 miles from my house so it was a bit pointless really.

If only the visitors had time to get up to Leicestershire before going to Southampton. Stilton, Red Leicester and Melton Mowbray Pork Pies.

If they only offer me single points, I am going to call NCL and quote "Numersguy" and say he told me I get double points.;p

 

 

We booked the cruise on December 28th, 2016 for our sailing date of December 28th, 2017. With what I have heard from posters here, I hope to get my double points. Thanks for your input.

I am pretty sure that NCL have said that those points for booking over 9 months in advance will still be awarded as long as the cruise was booked before the change in conditions. I hope so because we should have 30 points due after the next cruise. A 10 night cruise booked 12 months in advance and as an Insider deal. Should take us within reach of Platinum and with a cruise on the Bliss booked too, that should do it. :D

Wash it down with a super hopped pumpkin ale for a real stomach churner...

 

bosco

You can't beat a bit of good quality Stilton washed down with a nice glass of Port.

Supermarkets are very hit and miss with Stilton, some of it is really very nice but every so often you'll pick a piece that tastes like soap with salt.

I LOVE Wensleydale. We can find it with cranberries infused and it ROCKS!

Noooooooooooo!!!

Cheese with fruit in it is an abomination.

A few grapes on the side maybe, but never in the cheese.

I'm going to have to have a sit down now.:)

BBC = Baileys Banana Coloda

 

 

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If slushy frozen cocktails are your thing then it is quite honestly the best cocktail that NCL do. Very little alcohol, so you can drink them all day and night without fear of getting blotto. I love 'em.

If poster booked through NCL Europe, is this advice the same? Rules for customer service seem very different between US and European bookings.

 

 

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Should be in this case.

We were on Jade earlier this year when one of our ports in the fjords was cancelled due to snow not clearing. The credit appeared as refundable OBC on iConcierge almost as soon as they knew the port was cancelled.

Check your confirmation. Sometimes MyNCL doesn't show any OBC from Insider offers etc. At the bottom of your confirmation should be a list of everything you are entitled to.

Right here goes.

You need some proper biscuits (English not US) for cheese, a slice of Lincolnshire Poacher, a spoonful of good chutney or pickle. I personally like to wash it down with a nice cider because I don't like Bitter.

There are an amazing amount of really good British cheeses from crumbly Cheshire to a really sharp Cheddar. I'm particularly partial to Lincolnshire Poacher Double Barrel or a really good Stilton.

Good shout on the Melton Mowbray Pork Pies whoever said that. Oh and Reblochon.

My experience of cheese on NCL isn't great. Once served very large almost tasteless chunks of Brie at one of the latitudes cocktail events.

Having booked a Norwegian fjords cruise for next year on Jade I've been looking for postings with reviews, information, questions, guidance, etc. regarding Jade but they seem to be far and few between. Any ideas why?

Might be better off checking the reviews section rather than the message boards. It's where I post my reviews including the one of the Jade in the Norwegian Fjords.

No, we land at 11:00 pm and off to the hotel in N. Bergen, NJ. We have all day Saturday to recover and explore then cruise departs on Sunday.

My plan was to train/subway to Manhattan from airport then taxi or Uber from there to hotel, but I wasn't sure if that would be safe for the family. Nothing says tourist more than a family dragging Hawaiian flowered suitcases through the subway. Lol

 

 

 

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Could you not fly into Newark instead?

Our second trip involved us being collected from MCT by friends, who we met on our first cruise, and taken for a meal and then back to their apartment in West New York (NJ) very close to N Bergen. We got a taxi to JFK through GETT (recommended by friend, like Uber but they use cabs) this was Saturday 6 pm the cost quoted was $92 plus tolls, the journey took one and a half hours, due to heavy traffic and a problem on the freeway in Queens and there were five of us plus suitcases and carry ons. The total cost in the end was $147. We made JFK in plenty of time. This was in 2015.

Newark would be so much easier.

We are on the Spirit at the end of November so I just checked the Deck Plans. Looks like there is the Main Pool (Tivoli) and the Buccaneers Wet and Wild pool for kids. Couldn't see any more, sorry.

We have cruised from NYC twice and flown into JFK but we usually have a stay in NYC for about a week before the cruise. I'm not sure where you are going to go after you get off an 11 pm flight, it usually takes at least an hour to get through Immigration and customs making it midnight, I'm not sure the cruise terminal is open. I don't mean this to come over as critical or anything by the way.

I've never felt in any danger when we've used the subway and that included the 1 am trip back to midtown after a Yankees game went into extra innings, it might be a bit more difficult dragging cases, hand luggage and younger members of a party. You could try Uber or GETT once you've got through the Airport. We have always used a shuttle company but they are not necessarily that good and I'm not sure they operate that time of night.

NCL do offer a shuttle from the port to the airport, you can book it in advance or on board in the last couple of days of your trip. Comfy shuttle usually plenty of space, all dependant on what time your departure is and it's usually on the expensive side.

Hope some of this helps and enjoy your cruise.

You will need to bring your own power strip for Cpap machine

 

Not strictly true. I have my own extension cable now but on my first two cruises with NCL I asked at Customer Services for an extension cable, which they were happy to supply. A $10 deposit was taken from my account but paid back when I returned the cable.

The new all inclusive pricing states "Children, adolescents and adults are offered unlimited juices, soft drinks and water."

Hope that helps

We did this exact cruise last Sept/Oct. There were 7 of us in our party

Naples: Surrounded by taxi drivers as we left the port. We arranged a fee with one to take us to Pompeii and wait for 3 hours. As a bonus we got a visit to a Limoncello Emporium and an hours guided tour round Naples. We didn't pay until we got back to the terminal, this worked out at about 29 euros each.

Rome: We jumped on the shuttle to the port gates, then on a bus to the railway station (2 euros) then bought return rail tickets plus tickets for one of the Hop On Hop Off buses in Rome (available when you purchase your rail tickets) total cost was about 47 euros each. Get up and off the boat early to maximise your time in Rome, take a note of how long the outward journey takes, and give yourselves that time plus a little extra to get back to the ship in plenty of time.

Livorno: At the dockside we negotiated a price to Pisa with a two hour wait, this worked out about 30 euros each. We got ashore too late to take in Florence too although there were mini buses available (8PAX) to do both for around 400 euros.

Cannes: Tender to harbour. You've got enough time to walk around if you wish but there is also a little train that rides round the town for a fare of 10 euros

Marseille: An NCL shuttle at a cost of $15 per person will take you to the old harbour, a few shopping streets are nearby.

With all these we saved money over the NCL excursions even when using the local taxis (Naples & Livorno) the main thing to remember is to give yourself time to get back to the ship.

Its the first time we had gone DIY for a trip but from now on we'll only take NCL excursions as a last resort or if they offer something unique.

Enjoy your cruise. We did.

Room service but there's a charge

We sailed on the Jade in May and there was no charge for Room Service as long as it was a Continental Breakfast.

I like to eat my breakfast at the Great Outdoors dependant on the weather. If its warm then there is no better place to have a buffet breakfast.

Much though I love balcony cabins there are certain times when an inside cabin makes great sense. We are booked on a trans Atlantic crossing and thought nine days of gazing out at the Atlantic wasn't a good exchange for saving some money. A tip given to us by a captain on another line was to turn on your cabin TV and tune into the front of the ship show (CCTV) that way you can still see entrance to ports etc. and even wake up to a glorious sunrise.

As for the rest, as Europeans we now get the drinks package whether we like it or not (we do) and have to buy the SDP if we want it, to be honest we are always quite content with the MDR and occasional trips to the buffet. Can't really compare with RCI because we've never sailed with them.

For what its worth I think you've made the right choice and I hope you enjoy your cruise.

There is a small beach at Cannes just the opposite side of the pier to where the tenders drop off. Plenty of people there swimming and just dipping their toes in. Great if the weather is quite warm.

Usually if you book your cruise as an Insider offer you get extra OBC. We got $50 each ($100 per stateroom) on our last cruise and are getting again on this cruise according to our confirmation.

If you didn't book the cruise as an Insider offer than I don't think they will just give you the extra OBC for being a latitudes member.

I have been known to be very wrong in the past but that's my reading of it.

I have been through the Kiel Canal twice, once on Adonia and once on a Fred ship. I wouldn't pay money to do it again, quite boring actually.

We went through, both ways, in 2014 on the Fred Olsen ship Braemar. Surprisingly enough the captain informed us that it was the largest ship able to navigate the canal, maybe he meant without modification. I personally thought it was great, like a mini river cruise on an ocean going ship. A really pleasant and surprisingly enjoyable experience. I suppose it depends on what you enjoy about cruising, each to his own.

Almost everyone has been effectively paying for the beverage package for a few years now. When free at sea came in, it coincided with a general increase in fares. People have been complaining for years about paying for other peoples drinks.

 

Those of us who had bar bills at the end of the cruise have found the overall cost of cruises to be very similar to what it was before free at sea came in. Those who don't drink have been experiencing this issue for years now.

 

I think that the price increases that people are seeing these days with all inclusive are mainly down to the exchange rate movements and NCL just taking the excuse to put prices up. I've said it many times, and I'll say it again. Never encourage a supplier to change the basis of how they charge you. Unless they are crazy they will take the opportunity to put the prices up.

 

In this case, I think NCL are right to do so to an extent, as they didn't react to the exchange rate movements last year. Your example of the price doubling is an extreme one from what I have seen, and as you are looking at the same cruise but big differences in booking dates, it's difficult to say how much is caused by all inclusive. I've looked at some cruises that I've done in previous years, and compared to how much they would cost to book for next year. For example, we did the Epic last Spring, and the current price for the same itinerary is 18% more now. That is based on very similar booking dates, and that is the sort of increase that I've generally found.

 

Given the exchange rate movements, that probably isn't too bad an increase over two years, but I'm sure there is something in it for NCL as well.

I appreciate what you are saying and I would have preferred if they had left things as they were. Then again like you I always paid the DSC up front and was quite happy to do so. The following example does show the lengths that NCL have gone to though and that they may be driving European customers into the arms of other companies.

10 Night Morocco and Canaries Cruise Balcony Cabin late November booked November 2016. Price for 2 adults £1888 total including DSC and Port taxes. UBP and OBC as part of Free at Sea deal. This is an exceptionally good price admittedly. Especially when you see ...

10 Night Morocco and Canaries Cruise Balcony Cabin late November at todays NCL website price of £1819 per person. You cannot reduce this price by getting rid of the drinks even if you don't drink.

And don't get me onto the cost of flights and transfers.

Yet even for my moaning about this point I would still go with NCL as my first choice cruise company because once I'm on board its great.

Well said Blondie 008! Agree with you 100%.

We have also taken to pre-paying our charges for about 3 years now. With the pound crash it made very good sense.

Now that we have all inclusive I wonder how long it will be before we get Brits on CC boards complaining that they are teetotal and object to paying other people's bar bills. With some people the cruise lines can never get this one right.

To be fair, they sort of are.

We have a 10 day cruise booked for November, we booked it last November and as usual quite happily pre-paid the DSC. We took the UBP as one of our Free at Sea deals. The price was great. Winding forward my in laws contacted us last week saying they wished to cruise with us. We were straight onto the NCL website and were shocked at the prices under the new Premium All Inclusive deal. I appreciate that the DSC and Port taxes etc. are included and that's fine BUT the exact same cruise is now double what we paid for it. We can only assume that this is down to the drinks, you cannot choose not to have it included so unless our in laws plan to stay inebriated for the entirety of the cruise, they are sort of funding our freebie UBP, well they would be if they were prepared to pay the price, which they're not. Any UK or European cruiser with NCL is now paying for the package, and, like it or not, that is funding those who still have the opportunity to get it for free as a promo.

Usually pay the DSC in advance although as a UK cruiser this will no longer be necessary.

I can't be bothered to get into an argument about the merits, or lack of, of the tipping/gratuities/service charge system but you know how much it is going to be, so try to put the money aside and just pay it at the end of the cruise.