alwalaska

We booked with a different group. We used E&J Taxi Tours Puerto Plata. They were amazing.

We were on the NCL Dawn in February. Our cruise itinerary said Taino Bay, NCL kept insisting it was Taino Bay, but we docked at Amber Cove. I was glad that we had booked a private tour. We talked our tour operator into leaving us to just roam around the Parque Central area and get some treats and do some shopping. At first, he said he would walk around with us, but eventually, he left to go relax. I felt perfectly safe. There were some less good areas not far away, but the main tourist area was fine. I'm not sure if NCL has gone back to only Taino Bay, but for a while, most ships weren't docking there after one of the ships hit the sandbar. Teleferico and the National Park were amazing. From what I have heard, the price for a taxi will be almost the same as what we paid for our private tour. We had 8 people from our CC tour, and the price was $140 for 4 people per van. We paid our own way into the cable car, but they provided us with bottled water for at the National Park and some local beers for people who were interested. Even if you do it on your own, I'd be inclined to do the cable car first. The lines can get really long later in the day. It is a slow ride up and back down and it doesn't take long for the lines to build. The fort was important to me, so we stopped there too. There is a small fee for headphones and to go into the fort. I thought it was very interesting and worth it for us. Even if not going into the fort, there are beautiful views and the grounds are very nice. Please let me know if you have any questions, want to see pictures, or want more info about our tour guides. They are on Facebook.

We all wish for clear black and white clear rules. It would make things so much easier. And just like with any phone support, some of them don't know what they are doing, or say they can't do something just because they don't want to do something. When I called to see when my points would be refunded on the cruise that NCL canceled, the lady I was talking to was able to look and say that one of the two cabins that I really wanted was still available at that time. If you know what category the upgrade works for on a particular ship, you can check availability for yourself too. It does not seem to be like airlines where once x% of the cabins are booked, you can no longer do upgrades. Based on the category you book, you can upgrade to a specific level or anything below that level. When I called to actually make the upgrade, I was told 1) that I couldn't upgrade until AFTER final payment was made. When I told her I had previously upgraded long before final payment, she said she would try, but knew it wouldn't work. Well, guess what, it worked. Then she told me the cabin I wanted was not available. I asked her to try typing in the cabin number to see. She said that wasn't possible. Even though the first time I booked the upgrade the person typed in the cabin number I wanted. Since I couldn't tell her how to type in the number, I picked the best cabin from her list. I then emailed my TA and low and behold, she could move me to the cabin I wanted because it was available, NCL just hadn't fixed the bug yet for the newish cabins on deck 10 to show up on the maps, they only showed up if you manually typed them in. Lesson to be learned, if you aren't sure of an answer, call back and talk to someone else.

Let us know how the booking of the cruise goes and have an amazing time. We did NE/CA quite a few years ago and loved the itinerary. The only thing we found were horrible lines trying to get off of the ship at almost every port. This was on the Dawn and we sailed the Dawn again recently and didn't experience congestion getting off of the ship except for final debarkation, so other than most port days starting a bit later in the morning, I'm not sure what the problems were.

I did not cancel my cruise, NCL canceled my cruise where I had done a double meta. I was going to be rebooking as soon as the 20% code for our cancelation was available and I too wanted a preferred cabin where there are only 2 of them and one was already gone, so I wanted my points back. It took 2 days for my cruise to show up in the NCL site as fully canceled. Another 2 business days after that, I still didn't see anything happening with my points. I called the World Points number and nicely explained the situation. They looked it up and said, "No one has processed your points cancelation. I can do that for you, please give me a minute." She processed it and said that it could take a couple of days to show up, but it was there within hours. As my TA recently said when I asked if it was worth checking on getting something for a price decrease, "It never hurts to ask."

Thank you. That Fritto Misto looks amazing. I feel my arteries hardening while I think about it.

I usually talk a good game when I'm riled up, but I rarely go through with it. Part of the reason I ask these questions ahead of time is so that I am prepared and won't get riled up. I am a rule follower at heart, so if when I sit down they tell me I can only order a,b,c; I'm not going to try and order more and hope that they don't charge me for it.

It was the Dawn that we were on in Feb as well. I'm hoping the Spirit will be more flexible. I'm thinking I would like to try for my husband and me to share an antipasti, a pizza, and a pasta, skipping the Secondi and maybe on side. That still seems like a lot of food to eat, but it is only 5 items total between the 2 of us. I guess I'll find out in Feb.

Thanks all for all of the responses. It is good to know that we should plan on sharing items like the veal. Pictures are very helpful. I'm allergic to citrus and I never would have thought to remind them about it when ordering a veal cutlet.

So - what are these items pictured?

Hi! I know that people are frequently given everything they ask for and are not charged extra, but I would like to know what the rules are for Onda. I'm not worried about not having enough to eat, but it is nice to know ahead of time when I'm looking through the menus for things I'd like to try. What sections can you pick from with the Dining Package? What sections can you pick from with the Latitudes Coupon? We learned last cruise (different ship) that in Cagney's with the Latitude coupon, you get 1 appetizer, salad, or soup, 1 main course, and 1 side. With the dining package, you get an appetizer and either a salad or soup, and 2 sides, along with the main course. Onda seems to have 5 categories. I'm particularly interested in the pizza and pasta options and whether they can be in addition to a secondi or if they are instead of. Thanks.

They definitely completely shut down in an ice storm, but you can hit bad weather anywhere. I was in Houston one January when an ice storm came through, and they started shutting down before the temperatures even hit 32 degrees. They are not regular occurrences though.

Thanks for sharing. I was looking at Galveston for Feb 2024, but now we're doing our Australia/NZ trip in 2024, so 2025 will have to be a cheap cruise of some sort. If we do Galveston, we'll probably drive, even though it is a long haul from Ohio, there are still places in Texas we want to visit and the weather is quite pleasant for us northerners in January and February. 🙂

Sorry, I can't help with that. I'm going in Feb and will have more info when I get home. I do know that there are places that the regular ferries go that the HoHo ships do not, and I think the ferries are more point to point, where the HoHo options make a circuit. I haven't been able to find great info on ferry pricing on the different routes, nor whether or not ferries are "free" once you hit the daily max on the Opal cards. Maybe someone else knows.

Thank you for all of the pictures and info. Architecture and library - you hit the nail on the head with that one. I love both.

That is true for the FantaSea cruise. I'm sorry, I forgot about that. The HoHo Bus is available all days of the week. Also, the Captain Cook HoHo (which Bing has a bad email address for at the top) is all days of the week. Hop On Hop Off Sydney Harbour Explorer | Captain Cook Cruises Sydney Harbour .One thing I read is that it is better to do the zoo purchase separately if you are doing that. Someone had a hard time exchanging the coupon into a ticket at the zoo. Also, the sky ride that usually takes you from the ferry point to the zoo is currently closed, so I think we will take a bus to the top of the zoo and then use the ferry to get back to our hotel or wherever we are going next at the end of the day. Again - my info is all web learned. I have not been on my trip yet.

Thank you. I'm pretty sure this is what we are going to book. I just noticed that you are from the suburbs of Melbourne. We're thinking about taking the public transport from near the cruise port to downtown inside the "free zone", and then using a combination of the tram and our feet, explore the area, hopping into some of the museums, checking out what looks like some really amazing architecture, etc. 1) From the public transportation side, it looks like the myki visitor pack no longer exists. I've been trying to read up on the public transport and it seems like the best bet will be to load myki into the Google Wallet of both of our phones, load it with $10 each (full day fare across 2 zones???), and call it good? Does this sound right? I'll have been in Australia prior to the cruise, so I can make sure I save cash for this day if it will be easier (or even possible). Am I missing anything on this plan? 2) Anything that we absolutely should not miss? 3) Our all aboard will likely be 4:30 pm. How early should we leave and head back? I don't want to be worried about missing the boat if there are problems getting back due to rush hour. I appreciate all of your help.

WARNING: My answer is all from research - not real knowledge 😉 Supposedly if you always use the same credit card to tap on and tap off when riding, it has the same discounts and daily max values as the Opal card. I plan on getting the OPAL card to help keep myself straight. We will be there for 6 days, so although I plan on using a lot of public transportation, I do also plan on getting the combo Ho/Ho for the bus and the cruise because I like having the narration to help me get acquainted with the area and learn more about the history. There are at least two companies that offer the HoHo cruises. One is FantaSea and they are the ones that work with the Big Brown bus to do the combination tickets. Captain Cook is the other and you can use your Opal card to pay for it according to this site: https://transportnsw.info/travel-info/ways-to-get-around/ferry/how-to-pay-for-your-ferry-trip

Thank you again for sharing your info. I'm looking at Zealandier and they say the tour is a small group tour. What size was the vehicle you were in?

I'm so sorry. Please keep us updated.

That is just wrong. I would try to open up a customer service incident if you would like to go to Australia a year earlier than your original plan. There seems to be room on all of the itineraries.

Were you previously on an Alaska itinerary or an Australia/New Zealand itinerary? We were originally on Aus/NZ. I think the 20% offers were specific to the itinerary, not just the ship. Our 20% was only good on the Spirit and only from June 23, 2023 (which was impossible since we didn't get the cert until the 23rd) and April 2024. The Jewel was doing similar itineraries to the Spirit in Alaska I believe. But yes, NCL has definitely messed things up and did not do right by a lot of people in my opinion. I'm so sorry that your situation has been so frustrating. Can you at least make use of the 10% coupon on your Jewel cruise?

The coupons are for the Latitudes free meals.

Thank you! I had been on the page with all of the menus, but didn't see this page. I appreciate your help.

I only know about Cagney's with the current rules. I would use the Free at Sea Dinners at Cagney's if you have somewhere else to use the Latitude coupons. Although not every server on every ship does it, the Latitude's coupon gives you Pick 1 from appetizers, salads, and soups, and 1 side. The Free at Sea gives you 1 appetizer, 1 Soup or salad, and 2 sides. We used our Latitude ones on the Dawn for Teppanyaki and the Brazillian place because they were fixed prices and no different, but you don't have either of those choices. I hope someone can help you with Le Bistro and La Cucina.