jcathers1

22 minutes ago, JAGR said:

Typical hours are 9 - 9.  They were open on embarkation day for walk-ins the first week of March.  Not that busy, since many of the reps were tied up helping schedule bookings for the week.  Nice thing is that they now have a representative in the YC TSL on Embarkation day to help schedule spa appointments.  They didn't have that last year.

 Awesome. Thanks.

Does anyone know where I can find the Seaside spa/hair salon hours? Specifically, are they open on embarkation day? TIA.

2 hours ago, LC2626 said:

You may have gotten your answers by now.  That is not a long time in port. We did have longer when we went, I believe 8-4p.  The drive across the island, taxi or otherwise takes a bit of time. And you’d need to check what the earliest time the ferry runs as well.  It is a beautiful place though! 

I actually did not get any answers. We decided to book with Caribbean Paddling (the 2-person kayak excursion). They agreed to modify the times for us to accommodate the shortened port times. We are being picked up from the pier at 8:00a and will head back from the ferry at 12:30p. We should get 3.5 hours on the island.

54 minutes ago, mef_57 said:

You can read the TripAdvisor reviews for it.  There are over 330, so some are bound to be legit.  It seems to be a popular ship excursion

https://www.tripadvisor.ca/Attraction_Review-g147347-d1211485-Reviews-Golden_Eagle_Tour-Philipsburg_Sint_Maarten_St_Martin_St_Maarten.html

Be sure to read the Poor and Average reviews to see what they are complaining about.

Or if you haven't, try posting in the St.Maarten's Port Board

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/57-st-martinst-maarten/

 

I read through the St. Maarten board and considered posting, but there wasn't much traffic there. I also considered Trip Advisor, but I know that these excursions can be booked privately, and each cruise line seems to offer it as well. I imagine the experience for Seaside folks is different from those on Royal, Princess, etc. due to the different port times.

That said, I will look through Trip Advisor to get a general feel. I was just hoping someone would have some experience with the excursion that is offered to Seaside folks with the 7:00-14:00 port time. Thanks.

Does anyone have any experience with this? We usually opt for private tours, but with the abbreviated port time in St. Maarten, we are considering going through MSC. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

18 minutes ago, js said:

This is exactly what I was saying in my above post.  I, like you, thought maybe we didn't engage with the YC bartenders as much, but they don't give you the vibe as in the Haven that they want to engage.  My last two NCL cruises were Getaway and then Escape and I fully agree with your statement.  Sailing Encore in Haven in July 2020, and hoping Bong is back in Haven as a bartender 🙂

 

Yes, we enjoyed Bong (and Miro) quite a bit. They were also always great with our kids, making them smoothies and other creations. The lounge in the Haven is quite a bit more compact than the TSL, so it felt like more of a gathering spot for us. That's not a knock on the TSL (we are on Seaside again this Saturday), but just a difference we noted.

I think this can be hit or miss on most cruise lines and varies from bar to bar. I wouldn't say our bar experience on the Seaside was particularly memorable, which I guess is good. I will say that the bartenders at the Haven bar on the Escape and Getaway were extremely talented and proud to be "mixologists". They would even entertain guests by asking them about their preferences and then making something unique for them on the spot. Very cool. I didn't get the same vibe from the YC bartenders, but maybe I just didn't engage with them as much.

We used them on the Seaside and loved them. Especially nice for the kids to run back and forth from the room without me having to dig their cards out of my pockets all the time.

If you don't like them, use the cards. No bid deal.

8 hours ago, puglady12 said:

We took pics at the forts.  There was a Walgreens and a Starbucks when we got off so we got some stuff we needed and a coffee.  We walked into town and had dinner at a local restaurant but then it got dark and had to navigate our way back to the ship.  Next year when we go I think we will stay closer to the ship.  

Why do you say you'll stay closer to the ship? 

Can you get away with it? Probably. But it is a terrible idea.

4 hours ago, micm said:

 

Quality fabric and manufacturing, most of the time dark colours and most important proper fit depending on the body type works not just with jeans to look like you made an effort. I just think of celebrity's evening chic, as I travel with hand luggage only including the upcoming 21 day trip on Meraviglia. So no space in my luggage to care about what exactly the cruise line or other guests expect. It has to be multi functional. 

Why choose a particular cruise line if you "don't care" about what their standards are? Are there any other cruise line policies that you feel free to disregard simply because it is inconvenient for you?

Last year, the amount was applied to my room card. I had to give my kids the card for them to use it. That said, it may have changed.

Has everyone had good experiences with Caribbean Paddling?

It seems strange to me that they would have the deck party on the same night there is a port call in San Juan. I'm sure there are some folks who would still be off the ship at 9:00 (including us). It feels like it would make more sense to have the party on a night when the ship is sailing in open water (after a port of call or a sea day).

1 hour ago, JAGR said:

May not be that way with MSC at all.  Double checked my final bills, and no tax charges show.  Friends that were in Aurea three weeks ago had no tax surcharges as well.   

Hmmm. That is very strange. Were you in the YC? I ask because on NCL in the Haven, we were required to swipe our card for any drinks, even at the Haven bar. On MSC, we were not required to do that in the YC area (therefore there is no traceability). Perhaps it is different for folks outside of the YC?

Here's a thread from the Princess boards describing the 7% Florida sales tax that applies to beverage purchases in port:

I do not recall checking when we were last on the Seaside, but on every other cruise, there was sales tax applied to all drinks served in the Port of Miami (until in international waters). All drinks are logged, time stamped, and all have a value associated with them (even if it is "included"). These charges are largely inconsequential (70ish cents on a $10 drink), but they are there. This is not a cruise line decision, but rather the state of Florida (or Dade County). 

5 hours ago, April42749 said:

Yeah....the going rate for "the bundle" is about 25% of my regular cost.  I thought I was misreading.   Jean Louis David is a well known salon.

Did you pre-book the appointment or do you have to wait until you're on the ship?

We did not book ahead of time. She plans on booking when we board.

I asked the forum a similar question a while back. We will be on the Seaside in June, and I was interested in purchasing a cut/color/style for my wife. The feedback I got from folks was 100% positive, and the price is great, so I bought her the package. Hopefully, it works out.

18 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

It doesn't make sense for a customer who wants a specific kind of cabin.

 

I will not book Aurea and hope to upgrade to Yacht Club because I'm only interested in the Yacht Club.

 

With NCLs bidding system I loose a lots of money. If they have two cabins and want $10000 for them they can either sell them for $5000 each or price them $7000 each and hope to get $14000. With the bidding system they can sell one for $7000 and if the other cabin isn't sold someone can bid and get it for $3000 and NCL get $10000 for both cabins.

 

I'm the loser because I'm only interested in the Haven and have to pay $7000 instead of $5000.

If you're interested in the Haven (or the YC), you simply book it at full price and pick whichever cabin you want.

If you mean that you'r the 'loser' in the bidding process because someone is willing to pay more than you for this product, then I suppose that's accurate. In the scenario above, if you simply bid $3500, not only would you get the second cabin, but you would get it at a $1500 discount off of what yo describe as a fair rate. That sounds like a good deal to me. 

10 minutes ago, Até said:

No, I used your "screwed" term in relation to the deceptive practices I and others have outlined that are commonly used by cruise lines in conjunction with the bidding process.  It's more about the buyer making a poor or uninformed decision because they were intentionally led in the wrong direction or given misinformation.  If consumers make a purchase from a company and their only source of information is gathered from that same company I guess they deserve it.  It happens all the time.

That's fine, but again this is a judgement on your part about what someone else paid. The data would imply otherwise: I'm not sure I've seen a single CC post where someone complained about their YC experience relative to the price. It's almost always quite the opposite, in fact. This tells me that people are extremely happy with the goods and services they purchased for the price they paid.

1 hour ago, Até said:

I don't rely on CC posting history so don't accurately know your sailing history with NCL and if your suite sailings preceded the bidding systems implementation. 

 

 

People get screwed in a voluntary exchange of goods or services for money every day.  That's capitalism, caveat emptor.  Buyers will continue to make bad decisions, that doesn't mean the cruise line is right for using the tactics I mentioned.   But they will do what is within the law, most of the time, to make a profit.  If the reality is that near sailing date a majority of the suites were not sold then they were not advertised at prices people were willing to pay.  I have no problem with that and the fact NCL will have to now rely on bids to fill those suites, but saying because the Haven or YC sails full due to bidders or upsells doesn't mean those cabins were priced appropriately for the people who are unwilling to take that last minute bid assigned cabin.

 

 

We sailed in the Haven when we had to call the magic number and get an upgrade quote. We also sailed twice with successful bids. We wouldn't have paid full price for the cabins--we just couldn't justify that much for the Haven value proposition (although we loved every minute of it). So we also had booked cabins that we were excited about, even if we didn't get the upgrade.

"People getting screwed" (in this case) seems to mean that you don't think they should have paid as much as they did. Again, that's not your decision. If you think it is raising the cost of cruising for you, it's understandable that you would be against the bidding process, but that also doesn't mean something nefarious is going on. And as long a enough people have good experiences with the process, it isn't going away anytime soon. 

6 minutes ago, Até said:

 

 

Second, whats wrong with selling the cabin for the fair market price in the first place.  Why should cabins "otherwise not be filled" if the cruise line was asking a market justified price to begin with.  I'm all for letting supply and demand determine that price, just not with the tactics that seem to be currently used and hidden from the consumer.  Why inflate the price to the point there are numerous unsold cabins and then rely on bidding to fill them in.  I don't see that being in both parties best interest.  It's a trick of being less than transparent that solely benefits the cruise line at the cost of the consumer.  And to beat all they market the bidding process in a way that half of the customers feel it's good for them.

 

The cruise line controls the visible prices and inventory, then controls the bidding system to further manipulate their customers.  As someone who often booked those higher cabins and suites outright I find the bidding system a little disgusting.  But I'm in the minority and there are lots of people who have no idea whats going on and will continue to think they got into the Haven for a deal.  I can only hope there's going to be a point where the cruise lines continuous building of more ships with more cabins to sell is going to exhaust the supply of cruisers willing to book through the buy in low then move up later bidding process they have come up with. 

 

 

 

 

You keep using terms like "artificially inflated prices" and claim that the cabins are not at "fair market value". Again, that's not how the free market works.  If the Haven or YC sails fully booked, then an argument can be made that the prices are actually not high enough.

No one gets screwed in a voluntary exchange of good/services/money. You may argue that the cruise lines have a bit more power in the relationship (because they have more information), but as long as people keep paying these prices, the prices will continue to rise. There isn't a monopoly on cruising. No one is forcing anyone to book a cabin or bid on a cabin. If enough people are offput by this, they will stop sailing, and MSC will have to change course. I cannot imagine that happening. Are people leaving NCL in droves because of this bidding process? It doesn't seem so. As someone who has sailed in both the Haven and the YC, I also cannot fathom why someone would pay literally twice as much for the Haven as for the YC (for virtually identical experiences). And yet, plenty do. 

It's easy to blame the terrible no-good greedy capitalists for the prices on these ships, but again, people are paying them. That means they are priced appropriately.

9 hours ago, Até said:

Once NCL opened up the bidding process it set off an ugly chain of events regarding the Haven and suites.  Pretty much right at the start they lost a lot of loyal customers by irritating people like me who regularly booked suites and don't want to take chances on a mystery cabin location.  Additionally, once they made the Haven available to a supposedly discounted bidding system I'm sure bookings plummeted.  It basically cheapened the experience and makes it less likely people who consider booking suites are going to pay asking price if NCL is going to offer a discounted way to get into the Haven.  But NCL's strategy was actually to raise suite prices because they had a new new target suite passenger who was the inexperienced cruiser and had no idea what those suites normally sold for.  Advertising the suites at multiples of the old rate most often fuels ridiculous bids from the unsavvy.  It's a game controlled by NCL.

 

After reading hundreds of bid reports I feel the true suite bid deals are few and far between, most of the claims of great deals are made in comparison to the new fictional suite prices rather than historic prices before the bidding system.  The fact that NCL keeps the system shows overall people end up paying more than what NCL was getting before, even if a majority of suites go out for bidding.  I guess so far it is working for NCL and the loss of customers like me doesn't really matter.   I still hold hope the long term effects of their bidding system's implementation, along with the continuous "Free at Sea" promotional tactic are still not recognized by NCL.

 

Hopefully MSC will find a way to implement the program in way that I don't get the feeling they are only trying to squeeze every possible dollar out of me and everybody else on the ship.  I've stayed with MSC so far because they have conveyed an appreciation for their customers and value their continued patronage.  I do believe some of the other lines' (Azamara?) bidding systems do take into account things like loyalty status.  I don't know if that would be enough.  I've watched MSC prices for about three years so if I see a similar trend to NCL I may have change my booking strategy or just move on.

You have a flawed view of the concept of free exchange of goods if you believe that only the cruise line benefits from this.We sailed in the Haven three times, twice by bidding and upgrading. We saved over $3000 and $4000 respectively off list price for those cabins. Was the price inflated due to the bidding/upgrading process? Perhaps a bit, but I cannot conceive that prices rose for the entire ship due to a few people bidding on suites. In fact, for the sailings we upgraded, there were only 2 or 3 cabins left available at the time of bidding (so we made our bid good enough to give us a great chance of getting the room). This means that the vast majority of folks in the Haven were paying full price for their suites.

The concept is relatively simple, and makes sense for both the consumer and the cruise line. If you're already booked in a room, would you pay a little more to upgrade to a better class of room (but still less than the full amount)? They want to move balconies to suites, ocean-views to balconies, insides to ocean-views, and then offer great deals for last minute inside rooms. Everyone in this scenario pays incrementally more, gets an improved product, and the cruise line fills a cabin it would otherwise not fill.

2 minutes ago, jes1941 said:

I agree jcathers1..Wow, theEvilQueen2 (why that name?! not very complimentary); we have never had a problem on any MSC cruise except on believing what a bargain sailing on MSC is; it was less expensive than any other cruiseline - and we've sailed on many - for the itinerary we were looking for.  Our last, we left the Seaside Saturday 5/18 and I'm still in mourning.  No one could have been nicer; do wish more spoke conversational English but that was a nit because there were 179 dialects on this cruise, and that's one of the draws. You speak of poor reviews..those, I may have seen a few, but not nearly enough to sway our view of MSC.  I feel the same way as another post..I hope this doesn't turn anyone off to experiencing MSC and forming his/her own opinion.  We have never had to visit Guest Services for any reason. Of course I'm sorry you had this unpleasant experience but we will never abandon MSC and the dedicated and amazing staff/employees...even though we cruise free on RCL..their itineraries are not as favorable as other lines, especially MSC and more often, we feel shortchanged with their time in ports, or having to wake up at the crack of dawn to disembark the ship in the different ports.  Wishing you sincere good luck in the future with whatever line you choose!

Agreed. We have sailed on NCL in the Haven 3 times, and in the YC on Seaside last year. There's a reason we are sailing in the YC again this June and July. With the exception of the room sizes in the Haven, the products/services are nearly identical (in our opinion), and a half the price (literally) on MSC.

Can anyone advise whether there are "open container" laws in Old San Juan? Are you free to walk around with an adult beverage, or or laws more akin to those in the US?