PopPopBear

Haven't had many cruises with connecting rooms. Just got off the Disney Dream week before last and had a connecting room. Could easily hear noise from the connecting room and did not hear any noise from the neighbors on the other wall (solid). Luckily, the connecting room neighbors were two adults with most of the noise being the TV. They were considerate and only had it on in the afternoons and never past 10pm or so. 

Following along. Wife and I will be joining the ship in Sydney next month on the 9th. Thanks for the refurbishment report and pictures. 

On 7/27/2019 at 8:55 AM, gma rae said:

PopPopBear Take a look at this article.

AmaWaterways vs. Viking

http://www.cruisecritic.com/articles.cfm?ID=2496

Thank You! I enjoyed the comparisons. A lot the same with a few discernible differences.  

My wife and I will be on the AmaStella next May. We have river cruised with Viking twice so aren't new to river cruising. I would like to hear from anyone who has cruised both with Ama and Viking about any differences we can expect.

TIA

Sailing on the the Westerdam June 30-July 7. Anyone know which nights the Gala Nights are scheduled for?

TIA

Sea days especially for itineraries we are repeating. A couple of years ago we did B2B cruises on the Magic, the Mediterranean then the WBTA. Loved the sea days on the crossing after the port intensive itinerary.

My wife and I have been on 11 DCL cruises. Only two were with our children and/or other family members. We enjoy all things Disney and are willing to pay for the service DCL provides. There are many options for those who are cruising without children. We have met many other couples doing the same thing so you definitely won't be alone.

Agreed. 

My wife and I have been on many Disney cruises without any friends or family and have always been seated with other couples cruising by themselves. Those other couples are always within our age bracket and mostly savvy cruisers as well. We've met and made good friends with some. We are actually cruising on the Dream in a couple of months with a couple we met in 2015 on the Magic. I think we are all looking forward to warm weather as we live in Alaska and they live in Wisconsin. 

All in all Disney does a wonderful job in matching up table mates. 

To meet the Frozen characters on the Wonder you can reserve tickets. https://disneycruise.disney.go.com/faq/booking-reservations/frozen-meet-greet-tickets/

As for other characters there are many scheduled meet and greets throughout the cruise. For these you will stand in line for. The schedule of who appears where is listed each day's Navigator. 

Hope this information helps.

My wife and I were on the WBTA in September 2017. We found there was a nice variety of activities as well as a good  balance that allowed for enough downtime to make the cruise feel like a vacation. While the first portion was port intensive the consecutive sea days were a nice welcome. We didn't find ourselves bored or feeling like we couldn't find something to fill our time. This is one man's opinion but  I think the extras that are included on the TA crossings make some great times you wouldn't get otherwise. 

I'm sorry to hear about your experience. From my Disney cruising experiences I can say this was not a typical dining experience. My rating of the dining staff on my Disney cruises range from highly acceptable to outstanding. Many times we have been asked by them throughout the cruise if there's anything they can do better. I wonder what happened with your serving team to cause them to ignore you so. Did you note this on the disembarkation questionnaire? Here's to hoping your experience is better on any future Disney cruises you may be on.

As many have stated there are many to choose from. My top choices are (in no particular order):

 

 

 

Sailing in to Budapest at night and seeing the Parliament building lit up.

 

Sailing in and out of New York Harbor (Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline, various bridges)

 

Three Gorges Dam

 

Lisbon

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As many have state there are many to choose from. Mine top choices are (in no particular order):

Sailing in to Budapest at night and seeing the Parliament building lit up.

Sailing in and out of New York Harbor (Statue of Liberty, Manhattan skyline, various bridges)

Three Gorges Dam

Lisbon

Yes thank you, so did you use the NCL transfer bus?

We did. Was easy once we found where to go. The first NCL rep we saw outside the terminal wasn’t helpful.

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how far did you have to walk to the ncl bus?? I thank you in advance.

Not very far. Tenth of a mile more or less. Took a couple of minutes once we were pointed in the right direction.

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Thank you for your report.

 

Keith

You’re welcome.

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Thank-you for the interesting report.

You’re welcome.

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What time was your flight out of LAX? What time did the NCL transfer bus leave? Did you see any Uber's or taxis? Trying to figure out best way to make a 1:05 flight..thank you

 

 

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Our flight was at 2:25. We were off the ship a little after 8:30 and on the bus at 8:45. The bus left a little after 9:00 and we were at the ticket counter about an hour later. I didn’t notice where the taxis and Ubers were as we were being herded out of the terminal and focused on finding the bus. Hope this info is helpful.

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My wife and I enjoyed our Panama Canal cruise. Who wouldn't, huh? Especially those from the colder climates. :cool: Like all cruises there is the good, the bad and sometimes the ugly. Fortunately no ugly on this one. I would rate as a 3.5 out of 5.

• Ship was clean but is showing wear and tear here and there. I try not to compare too much from our previous trip on it in September 2016. Needs some attention in various places although not glaringly so other than a few places. Pool tiles missing on wall and some type of rust colored crud as well, threadbare carpet in places to name a couple.
  
• Most of the crew were friendly and helpful although I received conflicting information on several occasions. This happened with the photo gallery staff and the activities crew. Nothing that created any real problems just showed to be a lack of communication from their managers. The staff in the restaurants were friendly and attentive.
  
• For the most part the food was slightly above average although we did enjoy our two dinners in Cagney's and one in Moderno. Teppanyaki, O'Sheehans's, Aqua and Versailles were just average. The Market Cafe was above average considering it's a buffet.
  
• Our cabin (9116) more than met our needs. It was clean and in good shape. Our cabin steward was not the friendliest but took care of the cabin in good order.
  
• Itinerary was amazing. It helps when most of the ports are places you've never visited.
  
• Embarkation was a longer wait than I ever remember experiencing on any cruise. While long it wasn't a bad wait. I think most passengers were seasoned cruisers and knew how to roll with it.
  
• Disembarkation was smooth with very little wait.
  

The two big downers were the pre-cruise hotel (Pullman Miami Airport) and the transfer to LAX after the cruise. We will probably never use the NCL pre-cruise hotel again. For the price we certainly didn't get much value. The hotel had a funky smell and the staff were not very friendly or helpful. The restaurant for breakfast only offered the buffet at $23.00 a person although they a menu posted. Makes no sense to post a menu if you aren't going to allow guests to order from it. It seemed like it wasn't necessary to have paid for the transfer from the port to LAX. There was no list of names of who could board the buses so it left us to wonder who had paid and pre-arranged for the transfer. I don't mind paying but since they were directing passengers going to LAX all to the same area and there was no check-in process it lead us to believe there were some getting the transfer for free. At the end of the day not a big deal but still pretty rotten if that's the case.

Like I mentioned we enjoyed the cruise and will continue to cruise with NCL but room for improvement is there. Hopefully, they will receive candid survey responses, reviews, etc. then take notice and act accordingly.

Anyone else on this same cruise want to share their thoughts? I would like to compare notes, so to speak. :D

yes, just go the the front desk and ask them, they will give you a receipt that you can hand to them to show the tip

Thanks!

Jumping in here with tipping question. Boarding the NCL Star on the 19th. Anyone know if tips to butler and concierge can be charged to your shipboard account?

Thanks

Enjoying your report. My wife and I will be on the Star in 21 days. Excitement is building.

Anything that is sugar free.

Totally agree. Tried a sugar-free dessert at Cagney's before. It wasn't worth the effort to be healthier. Tasteless and bland.

Also, how did you get off by 7:10?? This cruise docks at 7. I was told it takes about 2 hours to clear, which means earliest I could walk off would be 9!

I'm not sure of your cruising experience. Not all cruise disembarkations are the same. You will have to go through Customs at the port. I've been on cruises where it's been very quick and easy (walk-off basically) while others have taken over an hour. There is no definitive answer although the odds are in your favor. Still very close though. I hope this helps.

Thanks!

Small sampling but I guess it depends on each person's perspective. I was on the Magic last month. The ship looked great to me, and it was in dry dock the year prior to the Wonder. It's 1+ year away but I am looking forward to sailing on the Wonder again. Hopefully, it will be in good shape then.