alwalaska

Me too, but as far as Puerto Plato goes, it seems like the Dawn is not going to dock at La Taino. When the most recent sailing boarded yesterday, they were given a letter saying the port has been replace with Puerto Rico. I checked the schedule and Amber Cove will have 2 ships on the day they were supposed to be there, so at least that part of the theory is still standing. I really wish NCL would tell people BEFORE they get on the ship.

I hope you are right. I was trying to find the draught on the different ships, but it is not easy to find. It looks like the Sky is about 18 inches better off than the Dawn and the Dawn is only 6 inches better off than the Escape, unless the info I found was wrong.

The question is, other than the Sky, what is considered a smaller ship? We're on the Dawn in Feb and as far as I know, it has not been to Taino Bay yet, but our cruise hasn't been updated officially to Amber Cove either. Luckily (??), I don't see any other ships at either location on Feb 11, so hopefully we will make it to at least one of the two ports. I ended up booking a private tour rather than depending on being able to walk into town. Not giving NCL extra money just because they can't keep people informed.

I'm wondering if that is because it has not been updated yet. I do not think any of the large ships will dock at Taino Bay until the problems (narrow channel or something) that led to the damage on one of the ships last March is fixed. I've heard of a couple of cruises lately where they simply missed Puerto Plata or were changed to another port. One was told "civil unrest" which is possible, but not likely since there wasn't anything I could find in the news and the other was told "unknown" reasons. It seems like NCL is very low on the priority list for Amber Cove and only 2 ships can dock there. The Sky has been reliably hitting Taino Bay but is has a smaller draught that any of the other ships trying to call there. I'm curious to see what happens on Christmas with the Dawn since that is the ship we will be on in February. I guess we will find out when we get on board. So far, we are still going to Key West, but I realize that may change as well since the December sailings all had Key West cancelled.

I believe they both have pools and shopping areas, but I believe Taino Bay is the "new" one and Amber Cove was recently redone. I'm not positive though.

Any the Christmas in July sales.

We are booking an all-day taxi tour ahead of time. It is $120 for the two of us, and if we up it to 4 people, it is $140. Either way on the math for just a taxi to Puerto Plata, I'm feeling pretty good about our decision to book a taxi for all day on a cost basis. We are going to the cable car and then a short city tour and hopefully a quick stop at the fort and lighthouse.

I'm looking at them as well for Feb 14, 2023. Having them right at the pier seems like the easiest way to go. We rented from AVIS previously, but I can't find a location at the pier, even though the Advanced Car Rental thread mentions it.

Thanks for the explanation. That is crazy though. I think a lot of people get caught up in the bidding process and stop thinking about the overall price.

Thanks for taking time to post your info. I wouldn't affect any official excursions since they are only 5 miles or something apart, but Taino Bay is walking distance to both a fort and the old town while Amber Cove is neither. Even with the $50 off one of us, we typically don't do ship excursions.

That's sad. I was thinking about not booking anything and walking in Feb. Who is telling you Amber Cove? Did they change your itinerary officially? When I called NCL, they said Amber Cove had a different designation in their system then Taino Bay. It was actually considered a "different port", but that we wouldn't know until 2 weeks before sailing which location it would be.

Thanks for posting. That is good news for us since the Dawn is closer to the Sky in size than she is to the Escape and Getaway. When you have time, would you mind sharing your thoughts on the port area?

Thanks for the update. Needing the foreign port totally makes sense.

Sorry you didn't get to go at all. Was there ever an explanation? Did you just get another sea day?

I'd love to hear your Puerto Plata news when you get back. We sail in Feb in the Dawn. I hope they figure things out by then.

So, what happens with live bidding wars. I'm new to all if this.

We've been to St Thomas before, but haven't visited Paradise Point, or Charlotte Amalie. We want to try and do these 2 things. We're there in Feb from 11-7 on the NCL Dawn and I'm guessing all aboard is at 6. If the planning site is right, we are one of three ships and we're all at WICO. One is 200 people and the other two are around 2,500 each. The other good size ship is there 8-5. 1) Are there long lines to get back down from Paradise Point late in the day? 2) I'd like to take a shared taxi into Charlotte Amalie, but be dropped near the 3 queens statue, not down near the waterfront. Will this be possible? I have limited walking distance, so I trying to start at the top of what I want to see and walk down. 3) Will I be able to find a taxi to return to the ship? 4) If I decide to do Paradise point first, will there still be shared taxts to head over to Charlotte Amalie?

I'm enjoying your review. Thanks for sharing. I'm interested to see what happened to DR.

What are the requirements for the headshot photo. I'd like to have that ready for both of us ahead of time. Thanks.

We had a back corner balcony on Princess when we went through the canal and could see the side and some of the back of the ship at the same time, which was great. I second what the others said about moving around. If you are doing a full transit (I guess even with the half) you go through 2 sets of locks. For us, we got up super early and found a railing spot at the front of the ship, up high. We watched from there as we moved into the lock and while they started getting everything ready. Once we were closed in, we went to our cabin to sit and enjoy the next part of the process from that view. For the 2nd set of locks, we went to the front again as entering, but on a lower deck, we then spend some time both at the sides and went all the way to the back of the ship to see it from that angle. It was amazing and it was easily my favorite part of any ship time on any cruise. It is in the top 5 of all cruise vacation activities.

Thanks www3traveler. I realize that.

Thank you all. Now to do the math and see where my luck and my bids take me. 😉

I'm new to the upgrade bidding. The price says per person, is that for the entire length of the cruise or per day? I know there is a thread on accepted bids, but any quesses on a good place to start? Should I see how many rooms are left in each category? For example, we're in an interior. Upgrade to ocean view is listed at a min of $50, defaults to $150, and goes up to $250. I can bid on oceanview, balcony, and club balcony. Thanks.

Is there an easy way to know whether or not an OBC can be used towards gratuities? I know it isn't a lot, but I have a $100 OBC for an upcoming cruise and we really don't spend a lot, if anything, onboard. At the top, the code is the ubiquitous GRLOBC. When it first showed up on our Europe from 2021 that never happened, we had just moved our cruise from one TA to another. Our TA unfortunately had passed away unexpectedly, so her company and NCL both helped us change the reservation to another friend who is also a TA, but she has her own company. At first the description at the bottom said, "Free $100 On-Board Credit Certificate Non-Refundable. That cruise was then changed to 2022 and then cancelled again. When I booked my current cruise, the OBC showed back up and now says, "1xUS $100 On-Board Certificate per cabin - Non-Refundable." My prior TA would sometimes gift us with an OBC or something in our cabin as a Thank you. I'm not sure if this was a gift from her that had already been loaded onto our reservation before we switched, or maybe something from NCL to offset some sort of charge or something. I want to book an inexpensive shore excursion, but I'd rather do it on the ship and use that credit if I can't use the credit towards gratuities.

Thanks for the review and all of the wonderful pictures. Can you please let me know what cabin you were in? The layout seemed different from what I was expecting.