Firstin87

Denise,

Thank you for this review.  We are doing this sailing next week and were wondering if Charlottetown would be open.  Now we know it is and we can continue to look forward to uor Double Decker bus excursion.

Once you've sailed on NCL, you become quite a fan!  It's our favorite line by far and we sail it often.  I LOVE that petit filet mignon at Cagneys!  If you go to La Cucina, their fillet is delicious, as well.  Nice to know that Spinnakers plays music from the '80's.  So glad you're enjoying your first cruise.  Hope you are able to go on many more!

Thank you both very much for your help.  I will probably do some laundry in the laundry room, too, which I don't mind.  Want to keep the luggage to a reasonable amount.

I bookmarked the Photo Review of the Marina and will look at it with my husband.  Thank you for sending it.

Glad I found this thread and got some of my questions answered.  Thanks Moosemarty for starting it.

We're going on our first Oceania cruise in March - 20 days from Miami that hits many Caribbean islands we've never been to, as well as Charleston, SC, and Cape Canaveral.  A great itinerary that isn't repeated as far as I can see on their website.

We will be returning from a 9 day Panama Canal cruise on Feb. 13, so only 15 days to recover, repack, fly across the country, and get spoiled rotten again.  Life is tough - lol.  Because of the short turnaround time and this being our first time on Oceania, I'm anxious to understand the little details early.

I know we get 3 bags of laundry done.  Their website says "20 garments" in a load and I'm wondering if that is the specific number of garments you can send as a load or if it is an estimate of how much the laundry bag holds.  20 items isn't that many days worth of clothes for two people. 

I got my information off of AmEx's site and I am probably reading too much into the word "gratuity".  In my experience, Oceania is the only line I've cruised on that calls the daily fee a "gratuity"; NCL calls it a Daily Service Charge, Princess calls it something similar.  Since no one has experienced a problem with this, I'm sure it's just me worrying about nothing. 

We will be cruising for the time on Oceania in March and will have the $300 OBC from AmEx Platinum card.  I read on another site that it cannot "be used for gratuities".  Does that mean it cannot be applied to the $23 per person per day gratuity we are charged for our suite?  Or does that refer to using it as a tip?

Thanks,

Cyndy

Thank you very much for your help.  We've heard good things about Dora - always get the best advice on CC.  We also thought the stop at the restaurant was a time waster for us, and we can't figure out why that tour is so much more expensive than all the others. 

Hi,

DH and I are going on a Panama Canal cruise in Feb. 2023 that stops in Cartagena, Columbia.  We're researching the large variety of shore excursions that tour the walled city and are curious about one called "Exclusive Cartagena".  It is $189, about 3x as much as the other tours, and we can't tell from the description why it is so much more expensive.  Has anyone been on that tour and can you tell me a bit about it?

Thank you,

Cyndy

50 minutes ago, milolii said:

We used the laundry when we joined the ship in Vancouver after a ten day trip through national parks in Wyoming, Montana and Alberta.   We had a lot of laundry, 2 or 3 bags.  It all was back the next day.  After reading posts here, we now take pictures of the clothes before we bag them.  

Sounds like a great trip you wen on.  Thanks for the tip about taking photos before bagging your laundry.

2 minutes ago, JF - retired RRT said:

Depends on what you toss in from those 3 days.

We reuse our shirts for at least a day or 2. The timing varies depending on if we make a mess while eating (frequent) or sweat a lot (rare).

Undies, socks - go in the bag

Pants rarely - unless we make that mealtime mess.

With those as a starting point, usually 3 days could fit. However, we'll usually send the things we've tossed in every 2 days more or less. That way our clothes are constantly rotating.

 

BTW: don't put anything in the bag that you'd be sorry to lose. Some report lost clothing, torn clothing, etc. It's never happened to us, but it could.

Thank you!  Very helpful to plan and pack.  I've heard to be cautious about what you send, so nothing that would be hard or sad to lose, just in case. 

On 3/18/2022 at 12:47 AM, caribill said:

Full suite passengers have priority over Elites when it comes to having laundry done, so it is possible for full suite passengers to get laundry back in a day.

About to use our laundry benefit for the first time .  About how much does the bag hold?   Used this perk on NCL and their bag holds about 3 full days of clothes from two people.  Is Princess similar? Thanks much!

8 hours ago, luvcruzing said:

These are the brochures mailed to my address for my underage grandson over the last two weeks. 
 

You'd think they would at least delete prior passengers who are under age 18.  Simple enough to program to do that.

Thank you for the detailed review.  We're on the Joy next week and you answered some of our questions and gave details about things we are interested in. 

I think the physical mailers are for those who do not have email or browse the internet for cruise options.  Considering some of their customers are in the age range of less computer savvy people, the mailers may be what they use to call their travel agent or NCL and book from.  Just a possibility. 

The mailers sure are slick and costly to produce, even in the huge bulk NCL prints.  I like the idea of having an option to opt out of receiving them.  Would save the planet and less clutter for the post office.

thank you so much, Traveling Man.  We've been Platinum for quite some time, but have never used the laundry perk before.  With three cruises between now and the end of April, (7, 9, and 10 days), I'll finally use it.

I'm looking forward to being able to do a BRS tour.  Hopefully, that returns soon.

About to use our free bag of laundry perk for the first time.  I assume whatever you put in the bag is done in the same load and the temperature is warm.  Does anyone know if that is correct?  Thanks.

Thank you for the update.  We are on the Joy Feb. 26 (also in the Haven) to celebrate my husband's retirement.  Booked it earlier this week and have been pleasantly surprised to find that we could get the excursions we wanted and only have two changes to ask the concierge to make for our dining reservations.

Glad to hear you're having such a good time!

7 hours ago, colecandler said:

For cruises with embarkation dates beginning March 1, 2022:

Our cruises will operate with 100% vaccination of crew and guests age five and over, therefore face coverings are not required while onboard. However, we recognize the added protections provided when wearing a mask covering and recommend that all guests do so onboard when indoors, except when actively eating or drinking, or seated at a table in a dining setting, or when in their stateroom. Mask coverings are also recommended outdoors when physical distancing of at least six (6) feet cannot be maintained. The decision to wear a mask covering when onboard is at the discretion of each guest.

Woo hoo!  We just booked a cruise departing Feb. 26 and, like others have already posted, are figuring NCL will not enforce wearing masks as of March 1.  I think they put "departing after x date" to make it easier for people to know whether or not their cruise requires one.

We're on the 1/29 Dawn from Tampa, 11 days in the Caribbean.  Decided we're not going, but have not cancelled yet.  Cancelled all our excursions and the refunds were processed quickly.  Remember - if you pre-booked excursions and paid for them in advance, then if you cancel the trip that money will also be part of your FCC.  If you cancel the excursions on your own before cancelling the cruise, you get them refunded to your form of payment.

The sailing before ours was just cancelled today.  Fingers crossed our sailing gets cancelled next week.  Such a weird feeling to be hoping our 14 months planned for vacation gets cancelled.  These days, I'm surprised ships are still having 7+ day sailings as that increases the risk of COVID finding its way onboard.  

Thank you for posting this as a photo.  I suspect this thread will be deleted fairly quickly, so I saved the photo on my computer for future reference.

Such a headache for so many people, so many hoops to jump through.

Hope we can all get back to sailing like the old days soon!

We're on the Jan. 29 sailing on the Dawn from Tampa for 11 days.  the itinerary is (was?) for six ports on Days 4 through 9.

Just got an email from NCL Shoreex that our excursion in St. Thomas (Rumporium) has been cancelled.  Not sure if it is a staffing issue or a sign that St. Thomas may be skipped. 

To kfnesq,

Since you're on the sailing just before ours out of Tampa next month, I thought you would be interested in this information post from the Roll Call for our sailing.  Looking at the time requirements and our port dates, its not looking good for making most of them 

18 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

We are the one before you - Jan 18.  Likely same itinerary though.  At any rate, if they start dropping ports I agree the trip is hugely impacted, at least for me.  These things seem to be changing daily though, so I guess we see what happens tomorrow.  And the next day.   🙂

And the next day... and the next day...

Really takes a lot of the fun out of planning a trip, but, as the kids say, "first world problems".  Grateful to be healthy and working.  Really miss "the old days", though.

22 minutes ago, kfnesq said:

Same.....if this holds true for our cruise, we would have to test at the port, on day 3, and then again on day 6 I think.....UGH.  Logistically that is a lot for NCL to take on.  Or, as you point out, perhaps we miss those two ports.

Sounds like you may be on the same cruise we are - the Dawn out of Tampa on Jan. 29.

We are scheduled to visit six ports, but if two are removed form our itinerary, that really impacts the trip. 

Thank you for posting this.  Yikes!  We are on an 11 day Caribbean cruise late Jan. to early Feb. and hit both St. Thomas and San Juan.  Or, maybe not...

So many changes every day.  Just the hassles of trying to stay on top of the changes to plan for the trip is enough to make someone need a vacation - lol.