The Traveling Man

Shouldn't Ultima be the last one in the series?

And that's the reason that Baskin Robbins sells 31 flavors of ice cream - everyone has different taste preferences. When my wife and I eat at Los Lobos, we usually just order a couple of appetizers each and rarely if ever order one of their main courses. The dining coupon rules are set up for one app, one main, and one dessert. It certainly is possible that some restaurant managers may be willing to modify the terms and conditions and substitute some apps for an entree, but I'd rather not bother. We usually eat most of our meals in the specialty restaurants rather than the MDR, so we often end up paying for dinner once or twice per cruise, anyway. For us it works out better to use the coupons in Le Bistro, Cagney's, etc., and just pay as we go in Los Lobos. YMMV.

Let me help you shade any expected heat for your opinion. I agree. All other things being equal, I would pick Celebrity over NCL. Of course, all other things are never equal, so while we have over three dozen cruises with NCL, our cruise with Celebrity a month from now will only be our fourth with them.

I'm not sure if that was intentional or a typo, but I think you just won the internet for the day.

It has always seemed to make sense to us to use the dining credits in a different restaurant, such as Le Bistro or Cagney's, and just pay a la carte when dining in Los Lobos.

Proud to hear you testify. We usually manage to burn through our OBC by booking tours while on board, so I don't recall ever having experience carrying over any non-refundable credit. Not being sure about that, it seemed better to report on only what I have experienced myself. Good to know that you have carried over non-refundable credit on a B2B.

They are treated as two separate cruises for such things as Latitudes points and benefits, but your on-board account from the first cruise will be rolled over into your account for the second cruise. You will then receive a single charge to your credit card for the total. This is true even if you have to change staterooms between cruises. Also, if you have any refundable credit on your account from the first cruise, the credit will carry over to the second cruise and applied to any charges applied to your account in the second cruise.

That's a Lionel O Gauge Polar Express set, Lionel item #2123130, suggested list price $479.99, plus about $100.00 worth of additional track to make a larger display.

You can ask, but unfortunately I doubt you will meet with success. NCL seems to be rather inflexible about awarding Latitudes points only after the completion of the cruise on which they are earned.

The loop has been in place since at least August 2015. That was the date of our first visit to Skagway when we took the steam train. The steam engine remained coupled to the front of the train and pulled the train around the loop for the return trip to Skagway. When we rode to the summit behind Diesels in 2017, they did not use the loop. Instead they uncoupled the engines from the coaches on a siding, ran the locomotives around the train, the pulled the train back down the hill without turning the cars.

You definitely do not have to go through the check-in lines a second time. You will receive a letter or packet of info in your room a couple of days before your first cruise ends. You'll need to stop by the guest service desk the morning of turnaround day, or preferably the night before, to pick up your new key card with a new expiration date. You'll also get a name tag of sticker to indicate that you are a continuing traveler. When you get off to explore the turnaround city then return to the port, the port personnel will see the tag and let you pass straight through to the gangway, just as you do on any other intermediate port. In most cases you will be asked to exit the ship, at least for a little while, so the ship can zero out the passenger count. In a few cases, so I've heard, passengers have been allowed to remain on board after checking with security or guest services to let NCL know that they were accounted for. If you will be changing rooms at turnaround, you need to pack your bags, tag them with your new cabin number, and leave them in your room. Your steward will take them to your new room while you are out on the town.

We have taken the WP&Y trip on three different cruises. The first time we booked it ourselves so we could ride behind the steam engine. NCL did not offer that version. We had to walk into Skagway from the cruise pier so we could board at the downtown station. The train ran up to the Canadian border, then turned around on a loop for the return trip to Skagway. This is absolutely the top choice for true blue rail fans who want to experience the steam engine straining to climb the steep grade to the summit. This train runs with fewer cars than the other trains, so seating is more limited than on the Diesel powered trains. Those can run with multiple engines so they can pull more cars. Our next trip was booked through NCL, so we were able to board at the cruise pier right next to our ship. You may have to walk a few hundred yards to walk to board your train, depending on how many other ships are in port that day and where your ship is docked. Our train was powered by multiple Diesel units and climbed the hill to a siding just past the summit. The locomotives were uncoupled from the train and run around to the other end. You can flip the back of your seat over to be facing forward on the return. Unlike the steam train, though, which actually turns on a loop of track, this Diesel train to the summit returns without turning the cars. Your seat will be on the same side both ascending and descending. The last time we were there, we took the Diesel powered train all the way to the end of the line in Canada. NCL provided shuttle buses to take us into town to board the train at the station. There is a nice souvenir shop at the station for WP&Y memorabilia. There will be a stop at the border to check passports. There also is a stop a few miles into Canada where they set off one of the Diesels. The terrain is flatter for the rest of the run, so they don't need as much pulling power for that part of the run. There's an opportunity for a comfort stop there, plus after that stop you get a box lunch to eat on the train. Once the train gets to the final stop, you have an hour or so to wander the shops, find some delicacies for dessert, or listen to some street music. The return trip is by bus. Depending on the arrival and departure times of your cruise, this tour may be flipped, with the bus first taking you into Canada, then boarding the train in Canada for the return trip to Skagway. I enjoyed each of these trips, but my favorite was the steam train. I'm a bit of a train nut, so my preferences may not be the same as yours. The longer trip into Canada has it's appeal, too. You get to see more locations, it includes lunch, there's lots to see and do in Canada, and the return trip on the bus takes a different route so you don't cover the same ground twice.

The bus does sometimes sell out. It depends on the time of day, of course, with mid-morning buses from Southampton to Heathrow being quite full on days when a ship arrives in port. You may be able to walk to the bus station, but with a load of luggage it probably will be worth it for you to take a taxi. Be sure to allow enough time to debark the ship. On a cruise on the Pr1ma last year, we allowed 90 minutes from the time we reached the debarkation deck until our scheduled bus departure. Having been to Southampton previously, we thought it might actually take about 30 to 45 minutes, which we believed would leave us with 45 minutes to an hour to bide our time at the bus terminal. The British customs / border patrol / immigration officer who was assigned to check the passports of the 3000 passengers on board certainly took his time to complete the task. Yes, ONE officer for 3000 folks, so we finally arrived at the bus station just as our bus was pulling out. The rules in place for the bus meant that they couldn't let us on after they had backed away from the terminal, so we tried to change our tickets to the next bus, scheduled for an hour later. Unfortunately it was fully booked, so we would have to wait until about three hours after our originally scheduled departure. That would have been too late for our flight, so we took a cab all the way to Heathrow. Lesson learned. Next time we will allow at least two hours, and probably more, to get from the ship to the bus in Southampton.

That's true, but to me it seems easier to adjust my daily schedule one day at a time rather than trying to overcome jet lag after not being able to get even a wink of sleep on a ten hour flight that results in a seven-hour time zone shift.

The same thing happened to us last month on the Dawn. Sailing around Great Britain and along the coast of Europe we changed time zones three times. We also went through the change from DST to standard time, so there were four times in 18 days that we had to reset our watches. We got the notification card in our room only twice. One other time the notice if the Freestyle Daily was prominent enough to catch our attention. On the other occasion we woke up an hour earlier than we needed to and didn't realize there had been a time change until we went to breakfast. A few years ago on a Caribbean cruise there were a couple of ports where the ship's time did not match the clock setting in the port. Fortunately our tour providers were careful to make note of the difference.

The cabin crawl can be fun, especially when someone in the group has one of the more spectacular suites and is willing to host a party / reception in their suite at the end of the crawl. I would have to agree, however, with your assessment of the other activities at a typical M&G. To my way of thinking, though, the real benefit of a M&G is the opportunity to get to know and exchange hints & tips with other seasoned cruisers. No matter how many times we sail (well over 40 cruises) I always manage to learn something new or gain some new insight from my fellow travelers.

Excellent point. However, I also have noticed a decline in interest of IRL get togethers on board. In past years we might see several dozen to as many as a hundred folks at a M&G. On a recent cruise on the Dawn, there were more officers present than passengers.

Djamel and Dan-Dan are two of our favorites. They always have welcomed us warmly.

Agree wholeheartedly.

It seems like NCL is consistently having IT problems. There are multiple threads on this forum addressing the issue.

95 points are mighty respectable, but they still represent just five per night you were on board. Outs came to ten points per night, though we did kind of cheat by staying on just three nights of a ten day cruise.

Never had a problem doing this on several cruises.

Not exactly Chinese in origin, but I get your drift. For what it’s worth, the highest rate of return we ever got on Latitudes points was 30 points for a 10 day cruise where we were only on board for three days.

One hack that I have used on several B2B cruises where we changed cabins is to turn in a bag of laundry on the last day or next to last day of the first cruise. Be sure to write the number of your cabin for the second cruise on the laundry ticket and they will deliver it to your new room. That will cut down on how much you need to pack.

We have done laundry as many as three times on a two week cruise. They never questioned it or tried to charge us. Just write “Latitudes” and mark a zero dollar amount on the ticket and you should be fine.