tray

5 hours ago, brovol said:

This issue, and folks being so upset over the refund delay, is a bit curious to me.  You paid for a cruise in advance, which means that you budgeted that money accordingly, and since you spent it on a cruise I assume this was surplus, or play type vacation $, rather than the part of your budget that should be used to pay basic necessities; food, mortgage payment, shoes for the kids....  The cruise was cancelled, so you didn't get that vacation, but you also shouldn't be in a position where you "need" that money immediately, because until now it was already "spent" as far as you were concerned, right?.  Actually, if we assume you would have spent more of that "vacation" money while on the cruise, like most tend to do, you actually already should be in a better financial position than you would have been had the cruises never been cancelled. 

 

I get it, and don't disparage anyone for being upset over the situation.  I generally expect a merchant to provide me with an immediate refund when I return something, or when, for whatever reason, the merchant cant provide the product or service I paid for.  I am just surprised that so many folks, (1) don't understand that the cruise companies are in a desperate mode, and are working on passifying a lot of masters at the same time; creditors (including cruisers looking for their refunds), governments, shareholders, and more, and aren't in a position to simply refund everyone immediately; and (2) seem to be so cash strapped themselves that you cant wait 90-120 days to get money which you already budgeted to be gone anyway.

This makes sense, but you also have to realize many of us are living on less right now, just like the cruise lines. My husband is an internal medicine physician in private practice, and he has had to take 1/2 salary since the beginning of March to help retain employees to continue taking care of all of these patients. Unfortunately, this has affected individuals in many different areas, and that deposit $ could be used to pay bills. Yes, it was vacay money, but plans were made when we were making double the salary. And let’s not even talk about stock market loss 😣

Hi Shipster! Just curious if you’ve already taken your cruise and if so, did you do the day of sailing? Just curious how much of Mykonos you actually get to see, since it will be our first trip there. Not much info on Mykonos tours on these forums. 

Joreey: we haven’t cruised to Mykonos yet, but I am currently researching so thought I would weigh in since no one else has. You may have already found what you were looking for.......but just in case.......there are quite a few highly rated excursions on Trip Advisor (look under the ‘Things to Do’ tab) of the town, Little Venice, etc that last 3-4 hours without any actual swim time. Many of them allow you to customize the tour. Of course they are somewhat more expensive, but the reviews indicate it’s worth it!

Thanks everyone! 

I am considering the 2 bedroom on the Haven Getaway for a cruise next August. We would have three in the suite, but only two of us would get the drink package perk. Right now, it will cost ~$1300 for us to purchase a drink package for the third person. The third person is 'free' when booking; although, the suite is $13,000 plus with gratuities, insurance, etc added..... So her cruise fare is hidden in there, in my opinion. I know there will be varied opinions on that, but my question is this: do they ever run specials on their drink packages since their perks are always offered?

3 hours ago, tomservo said:

 

For a cabin of 2, 4k for a 7 day in the Haven (Breakaway/B+) is definitely doable, I just found 15 sailings between 4k and 4.5k for 2 in the Haven (mostly spa suites I think). We are a family of 4 so we're usually looking at H6/7/8's, so for us my threshold is under 6k (under 850/day). Some people have less flexibility with their travel schedule or can only travel during the summer. The above cruises I mention start at 6k for 2 in summer 2020. It's like any other cabin - you can get good prices if you sail offseason and/or at the last minute, or you pay more for the peak travel season and by booking in advance.

Is this per person, or actually the total for 2 people? I’ve been looking at the Haven on the Getaway for August 2020 and the cost is $4500 per person.

18 hours ago, smplybcause said:

 

Ah! Well, every time I've been on an away class they have tender tickets. If you do a NCL excursion you automatically get it, otherwise it's a self serve - likely available to select the day before but it varies. Though they always ended up calling numbers early (Caribbean cruises). I've never waited an hour to get off once I got in line, but I haven't been to that port. 

Santorini is a tender stop, but apparently the time it takes to tender is inordinately long if you aren’t platinum or above or in a suite. On top of that, there are five BIG ships in port that day so trying to get anywhere apparently takes time. I am going to book a private tour, so that should help us get to Oia a little faster. 

2 hours ago, smplybcause said:

Though based on what it sounds like, it's kind of crazy to pay all that just to get off the ship a little faster on the last day. 

No, lol....it was mainly for Santorini priority disembarkation.....probably still not worth it! I had a stroke in January and walk okay but find that I’m a little slower post-bleed. I just don’t want to get off the ship an hour or more late due to long lines (which I’ve read are common from other NCL threads) then slow things down even more once finally off the tender due to my frustrating slower pace.

Okay, thanks! I have been really torn between switching from three mini-suites to one 2 bedroom Haven and one penthouse Haven for $5,000 more......which just seems astronomical to me. Now I find out that if I opted to pay $5,000 more for the cabin upgrades, I would then have to tack on another $700 plus for the third person drink package. Just can’t justify it.....as much as I wanted to! We haven’t cruised since 2016, so I guess I’m out of sync with suite pricing.

So, if we book the Haven 2 bedroom suite and have three of us in the room, we won’t get perks for all three?

Does NCL ever have price drops when they are running their freebies special? I have been watching prices for over a month and haven’t seen any drops. We need space for three people in one room on the Getaway, but the price difference between a mini-suite and the Haven suites is astronomical (for us, anyway). RCCL is having some pretty good specials right now and an Owners suite is half as expensive. We won’t use the Haven pool or dining area much;  we enjoy the vibe of the crowds on the ship. There are no regular suite options (I.e. we used to book the penthouse suites on NCL) on the Getaway, and we are only gold on NCL so don’t get priority disembarkation. We are diamond on RCCL so we would have priority disembarkation there. The reason I haven’t already switched over to RCCL for this cruise is because I really like our itinerary on the NCL cruise we are considering. Any advice on watching for price drops from you seasoned NCL cruisers?

Thanks everyone for your replies/advice! MikeD: did you find the ‘kids’ bed comfortable? 

Thanks so much!! That helps!

Thanks Two Wheels! Your answers/photo were very helpful! One other question: does the lower bed open up any more than that? I thought I read somewhere it was a full size bed. 

We will be on a 10 day Med cruise on the Getaway in August 2020 and originally booked 3 mini-suites for our family. It appears that my niece (who was going to be rooming with our daughter) may not be able to go due to a job conflict, so I started researching solo rates versus other cabin options for my daughter. There is a Haven 2 bedroom suite, which would work out for our daughter to stay with me and my husband. Which leads me to my first question:  is the second bedroom a ‘regular sized room’? I’ve seen one or two photos but it’s hard to get a good feel. Second question: is it worth the extra $ (~$1;000 more), if we mainly want it for priority disembarkation in Santorini? And last question: if we change our cabin to the Haven and leave my son & his girlfriend in the mini-suite, will they allow them to use priority disembarkation with us? Thanks!

Is this common to have hotel rooms robbed? I didn't see much information in the article on if the room was locked or if  there are any precautions one can take to try to prevent this from happening. 

Wow!! Thank you everyone,  for your great advice and for sharing your personal experiences! I have actually booked a place and we are really looking forward to a great new experience in Rome!! 

Thanks so much for your advice and insight!! We are fairly inexperienced travelers (this is only our second time to travel to another country!) & have only stayed at hotels (except locally). Have to ponder this one, but we have lots of time!!  

Thanks for your reply. I apologise if my question came across as questioning the safety of renting in Rome, but I have never used Airbnb internationally and remembered reading a thread about several people having their rentals cancelled last minute. I have rentef through Airbnb quite often where we live and have never had trouble, so I am hoping it will be three same elsewhere. But maybe we've been lucky this far. So frustrating that people can't ask a simple question on these boards without offending someone. I never once used the word "safe". I asked how reliable it might be since I don't know anything at all about how Airbnb is regulated.

We will be traveling in August 2020 with a three day stay in Rome prior to our cruise. I am considering renting an Airbnb but want to make sure this is a reliable option. I thought I saw something a month or so ago (when I first began planning) about some people receiving last minute cancellation calls from whomever they rented from. But I can't remember if it was Airbnb, and I've tried to search and have found nothing. Any advice?

Wow!!!! Thank you ALL so very much for the valuable words of wisdom! You have definitely given me a much better idea of some of the things that we may want to consider. We are not super picky and love cruising, and we do love to have fun but everyone’s perceptions are different so I am grateful for everyone’s insight. I will keep you all posted if we do decide to book, so that I can report back after the cruise! Thanks again!

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Our anniversary is in May and we want to go on a short trip somewhere; we are both missing cruising so thought we would book a cruise out of Galveston (we live in Sugar Land). We have cruised RCCL (diamond) and about five cruises on NCL. We have never tried Carnival, but our one and only option out of Galveston(for a 4 or 5 day cruise) is the Carnival Valor. We have cruised all sizes and types of RCCL ships (from the Rhapsody to the Oasis), so I was hoping some of my royal friends who may have tried the Carnival Valor out of Galveston can tell me what you thought. I have tried to search comparisons on these boards but the results haven’t been very helpful. Thanks!

We just went on the 3 hour morning excursion today and the reviews were 100% accurate. This was an amazing snorkeling trip!!! Dee and the entire crew spent a great deal of time preparing for our snorkel, making sure each person's mask, snorkel and fins all fit just right. They offered long sleeved water shirts to prevent burning, which we initially declined. One of the crew members explained the water gets colder the longer you are in so the shirt also provided warmth. We snorkeled for a solid 45 minutes, and I had goosebumps the entire time so I was thankful I had the shirt on! This was the best snorkeling I've had in 15 or so years. We saw an octopus, two sea turtles who swam with us for a bit and hundreds of some of the most colorful fish you'll ever see. The coral was huge. We stopped at a couple of different places for one of the crew to check out the sea life before they chose our spot. You are in three different groups, so your snorkeling experience is personalized. My husband has a mustache and beard and was really drinking some salt water initially, so they immediately switched his mask out so he could snorkel with no problems. Once back on the catamaran, you get beverages (French beer and rum punch were both refreshing!) and a hot meal of a wonderful noodle dish with chicken and a Bonaire spring roll (think stir fry). Everything was included in the price! Have fun.... this is a memory we'll cherish forever!!

Wow, this is all very helpful information. Stupid question, but do you use the same uber app that we use here? How do you know where you have to walk to meet them?

Uber works great for most places in Puerto Rico. We found it to be easier and cheaper than the taxis (and they take credit cards). But they can't pick up at the airport.

I am leary of the uber/taxi wars there. You didn't have any problems?