Fern Crest

Free daily breakfast room service is included in the Priority package, along with Priority Boarding, Tendering, Disembarkation and canapes one evening in your room.

Hero Cards are even better than cash tips, as these go into their file, and they get considered when going for promotions, and they can also be used for hours or days off.

The post-cruise survey was one of the easier ones I've filled out, and they let you get as detailed or general as you wish. You aren't required to name names, but if some of the service in the MDR wasn't up to your standards, tell them what night you were disappointed, and they will know what table you sat at and who your wait team was.

Just back off of a 10 day on the NCL Joy, and it was wonderful! Brought about 20 plastic ducks to leave around the ship, but I left the labels I had made for them on my desk at home. No biggie, I would just leave them anonymously.

  Day Two, we had a late breakfast at The Local. We were chatting and joking with the Hostess, and she saw that I had a duck, so I just held it out to her as a gift.

  Well, talk about making someone's day! She'd been on the ship 6 years, and this was her very first duckie! As I thought about it, some of the workers get to move very little in their job, like bartenders, hostesses, etc.

  I started just carrying a duck with me every time we left the cabin, and it never failed, we found someone being extra kind or going out of their way to help a passenger, and we gave them the duckie. SO MANY staff have never gotten a duckie - there's an unspoken rule that if an employee sees a cruise duckie, they should leave it for the other passengers to find.

  So, please think about giving your cruise ducks to staff that go above and beyond for you - and then fill out a Hero Card for them (or the cruise line equivalent).

Sailing away next week on the Joy out of Panama City at midnight - can't wait to try a new line, new ship class, maybe a new drink! We booked the Vibe, should be amazing!

Unless we are exhausted and fall asleep by 10:00, which is entirely possible! 😉

Wondering what's the entertainment on the Joy now that Footloose is gone. Will we still need to make reservations for the theater if it's just a comedian or single singer?

Anyone on her now, or very recently, with the inside scoop?

Thanks all! just bought Vibe passes for our 10 day Panama City to Miami cruise next month. Sounds like the perfect place to watch Panama go by!

Thanks for all of the replies! I'll call NCL today.

Yes, we did have an unpleasant experience with a connecting room. To say that our neighbors were "loudly amorous" would be an understatement.

It got so weird that after Day 2, we stuck a kindly worded note on the door, "We can tell you're enjoying your vacation! Intimately! :-)" Nothing changed.

Appreciate the advice, all!

We booked online and had a disappointing experience, and we are stuck in a connecting room. We tried to fix it through the website chat function, but that's not possible. We were assigned an Agent, and we had one conversation with her, and it went great! We explained our situation and that we'd like a different room. She said that she would look into it and call us back. That was 3 weeks ago. We have called and left several voicemails. We sail on Dec 6.

At this point, I'm hoping all she did was ghost us, and hope that something more serious hasn't happened to her.

Would anyone know what our options are? Can we get a different Agent? Are we stuck with our cabin? Hope that our bid for an upgrade goes through? Just avail ourselves of the drinks package?

Thanks for the coverage, Bird!

We are on the December 6th Panama Canal sailing, and I was wondering if you might be able to find out what the entertainment in the theater will be once Footloose is done? Will they move the Beatles cover band, or do the Broadway Melodies assortment as a main event?

I understand that the Wheel of Fortune sets will be installed during dry dock.

ChengPK to the rescue again! I asked a very similar question as I was packing for a cruise a few years ago, and he very kindly and patiently answered the many who 'absolutely knew better' about this topic. The roll of cushy TP goes in the suitcase, and if it gets squished, no harm done. Mash it back into shape when you get to where you're going, and you're ready to roll! ;)

As mentioned, if you're one of those people who wrap themselves from fingertip to elbow with potty paper, get yourself some feminine hygiene baggies or diaper disposal baggies. I doubt ANY system can handle that kind of a load!

CSB time: We used to have a regular houseguest who was an 'arm wrapper' ... After several expensive calls to various plumbers, we would purposely buy the thinnest TP we could find for his visits. :eek:

We ordered Chocolate Melting Cake "for the table", and it was the perfect size for three, maybe four people. We also had a creme brulee served that way, and even for a die-hard custard fan, it was a LOT! The dish is about 7 or 8 inches across, I believe.

Have a great cruise!

These three are outlet and usb chargers that specifically are NOT surge protectors, one has a worldwide adapter if you want that extra insurance:

NTONPOWER 3 Port USB Power Strip

MAKETECH Compact Aluminum 2-Outlet Travel Power Strip with 3 USB Charging Ports

AMIR 3 In 1 Travel Power Charging Station, 6 Feet Cord Portable International Power Strip with USB and Worldwide Travel Adapter

Have a great cruise!

The Hub app is free. You can use it to look at your S&S account, the Fun Times, and even have it send you event reminders if you want to go to something in the Fun Times.

If you want to chat using the Hub app, it is single charge of $5 per person, no matter the length of the cruise.

You do not have to buy a wifi package to chat on the Hub app.

The chat feature is ... spotty at best. Even with everyone's phone on with the app open, we'd get messages when it was convenient for the app. Many texts didn't show up for hours, and most of them were timestamped several hours in the future. Every so often, we could text in real time, and it was great. But that's not always the case.

We used it, we'd probably get it again, but I think it works on "cruise time", where everything is slowed down and relaxed. ;)

We played Pandemic Legacy for about 18 months, and took it on two cruises. But I wouldn't classify it as a travel game. Same with Feast for Odin. ;)

Others we have brought and enjoyed are:

Fluxx (there are many versions)

Escape the Temple

Burgle Brothers

Feast for Odin

Hanabi

Machi Koro

Race for the Galaxy

King Me

Bohnanza

Pictionary

CoMotion

Telestrations

Carcassone

Code Names

You can also bring along a box out of any Trivial Pursuit set and sit around any lounge, seating area, balcony and just ask questions, forming teams or not.. You might get random strangers joining in!

Have a great cruise!

;):D

What a wonderful video, thank you for sharing this amazing story with us!

Nicely done, Carnival. It's just SO great to see good things happen for people who really try to do good things.

Where's my tissues?!?? :loudcry::loudcry::loudcry:

It's absolutely possible. Simply tell your server.

They are on a slower mode in the Steakhouse; it adds to the experience, it gives you time to digest the rather large amount of food you're given, you're more inclined to get (and drink) a whole bottle of wine, or perhaps a different wine with every course.

Additionally, there aren't a lot of people with small children dining there. They tend to want dinner served and over as quickly as possible. The Steakhouses promote the more sedate, refined, carefree dining atmosphere.

They also don't have the high amount of guests to serve as in the MDR, so they can take their time at each table.

Have a great cruise!

Thank you for your reporting and the pictures!

Thanks for your review. We went on as you got off, and we loved the Conquest!

Sorry about the Atlantis dolphin excursion, sounds like it finally got handled. Glad you stuck to your guns until you got the refund.

Pete, the CD, was the worst one we've encountered. He talked way too fast, tripping over his words all the time, so you were never sure of what he'd said, which was an issue during muster and the fire drill they had one day. He didn't mingle at all, and generally seemed too busy to actually talk to anyone. He didn't ruin the cruise by any stretch, but this was the first one where the CD didn't add to our great experience. The "BYE-EE" on the announcements all the time got old really fast.

... Most people eating their burger and fries with their fingers.

That's exactly how most people eat a burger and fries, are you expecting something different?

Wemjam, that's just horrendous!

These poor crew are not personal servants, but imagine having to deal with divas on a daily basis as part of your job? And worse, you can't say anything about it.

:eek:

They provide a green, lemongrass scented bodywash, and a yellowish shampoo that I didn't use. Rest of the family didn't mind it, but we girls definitely were glad we brought conditioner. The sun, ocean and wind do a real drying-out number on your hair.

Have a great cruise!

We didn't see him/her on our last 3 cruises. Heard him plenty when it was dancing time, though. Every time we've written ahead to request a 4 top for the family (and gotten it), but I guess they are very busy with more high maintenance guests or new staff, or whatever.

Didn't bother us at all. :)

I was trying to be absurd because I believe that not tipping for your child is also absurd.

I wish there was a "Like" option on these boards, sometimes. Your posts were delectable. :D

You could try clearing your cache, and then reload your cruise documents.

When is your cruise? If it's very soon, and your tags don't update, bring a copy of your receipt to check in, and they will be able to print new tags for you.

If your cruise isn't for a few weeks, I'm sure one of the suggestions in this thread will help eventually.

Have a great cruise!