slhopper

Thank you for sharing this! We are going to Aruba for 5 days in May and will definitely look into doing this tour one day. Great pictures, glad you enjoyed your day.

We sail on the Pearl 12/30. We have only been on 2 cruises prior to this, both on the Dawn and we loved everything about it, especially the evening shows. I've looked at the dailies that were shared (thanks!) and this entertainment seems very different. Could anyone that has seen the shows recently share your opinion of them? I know they do a Legends show, but what about the others? It just list names of people I don't know... comedians? Singers? Would love to hear your feelings on them and how they would compare to the shows on the Dawn (aerialists, magicians, musicals) Thank you!

Harvest Caye does not have snorkeling, at least nothing decent.

Free flights for all of 2018? Can you share? [emoji847]

 

 

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Sorry to be so late in responding, been out of town and working. So here is what we did to get a bunch of free flights... Chase Southwest has 2 different cards that were offering 60k miles as a sign up bonus, so I applied for and got both of them. Southwest also offers a Companion Pass whenever you accumulate 110k miles in a calendar year... which we did with our sign up bonuses. When you make Companion Pass, you get it for the remainder of the calendar year you earned it (for us this means Oct-Dec 2017) and ALL of the next year. When I buy a ticket, either for cash or with miles, my husband gets to come along for free. You do have to pay the mandatory 911 fee, I think that is 5.60 pp each way. So with the initial 120k bonus miles and what we earn each month we should be able to fly free for all the trips we are planning. We basically live on our credit cards each month, put EVERYTHING we can on it, pay it in full each month and keep earning miles.

We just took our first trip this week, visiting kids in NC and our balance is still over 120k miles. Hope that helps!

Absolutely. We had 2 problems that day with zipling and the animals...all relating to safety.

 

 

You can read my review listed here ---> https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=30662590&postcount=23

Wow! Yeah, I would be scared of monkeys too! I actually had a similar experience at Daniel Johnson's place with one of his larger monkeys that wrapped around my head and didn't want my husband, or Daniel, to come near us. Little scary knowing the damage they could inflict if they decided to.

The zip-line issue is serious also, and I am glad you were not seriously injured. I would hope that they have made safety improvements since your trip there. As always, I really appreciate your reviews, they are incredibly helpful.

I don't mind your strategy (there are usually cabins available) if and only if what you save on the cabin isn't chewed up on airfare. From my aeroport the fully refundable tickets are often 2x-3x the cost of restricted tickets.

Very valid point, but for us, we have plenty of miles and my companion gets free flights on Southwest for all of 2018. So airfare is going to cost us less than 25 bucks round trip for both of us... in fact that is why we are looking at different cruises! We have sailed out of NOLA for the two cruises we have taken and our upcoming one, because we could drive there and not have to spend on airfare, not we have many more options!

Interesting to hear different perspectives on this, thank you! I understand what you are saying about cabin choice, for our upcoming cruise, I was able to get a sideways cabin, which sounded appealing to me based on reviews I have read here. I do have an upgrade offer in, but it is the New Year's cruise so I am not expecting to have my offer accepted. Last year I was able to call and upgrade to a balcony for 100 bucks, that was nice! Inside cabin is acceptable to us, we don't spend a ton of time in the cabin.

The price changes you wrote of are crazy! I think that is what I am hoping for :) The Nov 11 day Southern really entices me as we have only gone Western so far. hmmmmmm, decisions decisions!

Thanks for the input! We may just go ahead and get the cruise next certificates on our upcoming cruise and book it then. Thanks :)

We are getting ready for our 3rd cruise, all of which have been booked about a year in advance. I have been looking for a cruise that would work well for us next year, and have found an 11 day out of Miami end of Nov, 2018 on the Sun. There is a basically identical cruise THIS Nov, that is about 500 a person less than the one in 2018. This Nov cruise is only about a month out, so I am assuming the prices are about as low as they will get.

My question is, would it make sense for me to plan as if I have booked the Nov 2018 cruise (arrange for vacation, get fully refundable airfare, etc) and then wait until this time next year to actually book the cruise? I'm sure I am missing some important points, that is why I am here asking you pros about it :)

Thanks!

Daniel's place is wonderful! As the above poster said, it is a stop in your day, not your whole day. An hour there is plenty, but holding a sloth is bucket list stuff :) The monkeys are a blast too!

 

We have used Bodden before (with zip lining and such) and honestly, there were so many errors made that day with safety and getting hurt that I would NEVER use them again...for ANYTHING.

 

That is scary! Care to share more? I honestly have not heard any complaints about them before, so am interested to hear what happened.

Personally, I think it's never are you out of order to split an entrée, weather on a cruise ship or any other dining establishment. Particularly the case with large size Entrees, especially if you were ordering starters and/or desserts.

Thank you! I feel better now :)

Never dined at a specialty, and we do not have a dining package. I would like to have Cagney's for our anniversary dinner. Is it frowned upon to share an entree? I LOVE porterhouse steaks, but neither I nor my husband could come close to finishing a 32 oz steak! If we ordered separate soup/salad and sides could we share the steak? If not I suppose we could order a smaller/lighter entree and the steak and share both?

Also, I have heard wonderful things about the fries, any other sides or apps that are don't miss? Thank you!

Last time I went to West Bay, my agenda included walking down to Bite on the Beach to have lunch and check out the eels there. However, we never made it because we were on a "Zip & Dip" excursion with Bodden and our dip portion was supposed to be longer but the rest of the people aren't "beach freaks" like us and picked an earlier time to go back. I was upset, but what could I do?

What we have done is book a private tour... first time with Daniel Johnson (before his place got so popular!) and the second time (and upcoming 3rd) with Victor Bodden tours. With 4 people it is only 25 dollars a person for a driver and van for the entire day.... they go WHERE you want, WHEN you want. I never want to be tied to a group tour either :)

Honestly, I think is weird the people who paid for a vacation and when they get on board is constant bitchin, the food is too cold, the line is too long, the show is not good, the pool is too small, i can go on and on...stay home and you will have things they way you want them :cool: unless some things merit for you to complain about relax and enjoy you are on vacation.:-)

THIS!!!! My husband and I have made a joke out of the complaints we have heard. Alain (hotel manager on the Dawn) told us he received hate mail after the refurb about the artwork in the dining room... people told him they would never sail NCL again..over the ART IN THE DINING ROOM!

We also have heard people throwing fits over the stupidest stuff, so now whenever ANYTHING goes wrong... we get silly. I stubbed my toe, "I am NEVER sailing NCL again!" It rained for 10 minutes "I am NEVER sailing NCL again!"

Shoot, even at home... I dropped my dinner plate and my husband said, "That's it, I am NEVER sailing NCL again!"

We crack ourselves up, I guess we are just weird :) We live our lives trying to always appreciate the good, and not let bumps in the road ruin our day. Kindness is SO much better than being mad all the time.

Have a blessed day everyone!

that STINKS about there being limited food on the ship.

 

we are stopping here on our New Year's cruise. the plan was to get off for a few hours in the morning, then come back for free lunch on the ship and hang by the uncrowded pool..

My husband and I are on the Pearl's NY cruise too. We went to Harvest Caye in January and do not plan to leave the ship when we go back. Not complaining, just found nothing of interest to us personally there. The pool is gorgeous, so if you are a pool person definitely check it out!

I hope not too many people stay on board, we are looking forward to an empty ship! :)

Oh, as to beach chairs, unless you are on one of the BIG ships, there are plenty of loungers at the beach. We were on the Dawn and I dont think half of them were in use.

 

Beaches - parte dos

 

 

Roatán Honduras

 

Point 2. Tendering for the excursions was so poorly organized and executed that I know people that went to the excursion desk and cancelled while waiting to be called for a tender.

 

 

We were on this cruise too, and that tender was a CLUSTER! People waited (as they were told) in Bliss for tender tickets, then within about 1 minute of them starting to hand out tickets, they announced group 1 was able to depart, and then almost instantly called for open tendering! Caused a huge rush from Bliss, and many frustrated/angry people that had waited where they were told so they could be early off, only to be pushed to the back by an open call.

That was honestly my only complaint about the entire cruise :) Alain is awesome, Bob and I had fun joking about all the reasons we were never going to sail NCL again (as Alain said he got hate mail that people were so mad about the art in Venetian that they would never sail NCL again)

Great review of a wonderful cruise. Thanks for sharing!

If you are travelling with a family or small group you might want to consider a private charter. We used Islandlife Watersports (Captain Andrew Ebanks) for our family of 5.

Regardless of how you do it, interacting with the Stingrays is a unique experience I'm sure you will enjoy.

Thanks for that suggestion, I had not heard of them.

In the winter, your departure time of 5pm ship time (NOLA) would be 6pm Cayman time.

 

This site is really handy for calculating times:

https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html

Ok, that is what I THOUGHT it would be, I just wanted verification! Thank you, that gets us back to port 90 minutes before departure, which is within my comfort zone.. 30 minutes, NO WAY! :)

All the NCL cruises we've been on, the ship always adjusted to the port time. The notice was always given the night before. The tour operator also knows very well what time the guest must be back on the ship. However, a tour that only gets back 30 minutes before scheduled departure would make me very nervous.

Right! I would never cut it that close! My question is that our itinerary states 10-5, both cruises I have been on NCL out of NOLA, that time was NOLA time, and the captain chose to keep that the ships time at each port. What I am wondering is the time listed on NCLs website, is that NOLA time, or adjusted to each port's time? Because my previous cruises it was NOLA time, which would get us back to port at 330, plenty of time before a 5 all aboard.

Hello, I'm hoping someone can help me. We are booked on the New Years cruise on the NCL Pearl out of NOLA. This is our 3rd cruise, and the first time we will be in George Town. We want to book an excursion to Stingray City, not with the ship. My question is this: Our itinerary states we are in port from 10-5. The tour operator states the tour ends/back to the dock at 430. However, they are one hour ahead of NOLA, and the two prior cruises I have been on kept to NOLA time. If that is the case, then we would have time to do this tour (would be back at 330 ships time) Is there anyway to make sure this is correct?

Thanks!

Last year we cruised NCL Dawn for New Years. There were lots of folks in shorts and jeans, but in the evening there were LOTS in shirt/tie or suit coats and women in cocktail style dresses. There were several couples in tuxes/floor length gowns. I think the New Years cruises may be a bit dressier just because of the parties.

Last week we again cruised the Dawn and saw one couple full formal, but MANY were dressed up, cocktail/club style. Majority were casual, jeans/shorts/tshirts but there was enough of a mix that I don't think one would feel out of place at either end of the dress spectrum.

Enjoy yourself! I love getting to put on a pretty dress, and my husband likes to see me dressed up so that is what we do in the evenings.

When we were there Thursday the drink carts at the beach ONLY took US cash, not ship key cards. We did not buy anything else that day (food/gifts/etc) Sodas were cheap! 2 or 3 bucks for the bottle.

Could you report who the Cruise Director is? Will be on it in 2 weeks.

 

Thanks

gerry1.10

Just got off the Dawn on Sunday, new CD is Gio, it was his first week on the Dawn and his luggage did not arrive, he borrowed suits from the magician all week :)

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Nobody seems to have any info and there are no reviews of these, which kind of concerns me. They are 9151 and 9651.

Not sure when you are cruising but I just booked 9151 today for the Pearl's 12/30-1/7 cruise. Let me know if you sail before me what you think, and I will do the same for you!