alwalaska

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.

Thank you for the great review. I was wondering if Bamboo is only open at dinner time, or if it is an option for lunch at any time? Thanks.

Yup - currently lowly interior. 😏

Thank you for trying. I believe from reading @KeithJenner's posts in his main dining thread that because I only have one FAS meal, I will be charged for the 2nd fixed price meal that I plan on using because NCL does not recognize the Platinum benefit until you are on the ship. Has that changed since I last cruised? It has definitely been a while for me.

Thanks so much for the info. Just a quick check, was that booking online or calling customer service like mattie00 said?