cruiser man 60

1 hour ago, thehowlingroad said:

 

Narita is about 90 mins from Yokohama, so that's a very expensive cab ride. Your cruise line will likely offer transfers, but you should take a look at their pricing and timetables.

 

We took the Limousine Bus from Yokohama City Air Terminal, which is their bus station, next to the train station, and about a $20USD cab ride from Osanbashi. We pre-booked tickets, and were glad we did because our bus ended up being so full that two people had to sit the fold-down jump seats in the aisle.

Thanks, I’ll probably save myself the stress & hassle and either get an evening flight or just stay overnight at airport hotel 

7 hours ago, Northern Aurora said:

 

Again -- which airport?  Haneda is about 45 minutes away.  Our experience is that Narita is farther, and slower to reach; we flew out of Narita in 2018 and left from our hotel in Tokyo.

 

We were on B2B cruises last month and disembarked on Sunday, April 21st.  Our ship was the only one at the Osanbashi terminal.  For us the line in the cruise terminal to get through customs and immigration was the "choke point."  There were multiple lines and we were not in any hurry but it seems to me that it took about 30 minutes to reach the head of the line.  We also quickly found our luggage, but some folks spent more time doing so.  We are to the point in our lives both financially and due to the fact my husband has a bad knee that we aren't interested in the shuttle transfers so we took a cab to Haneda.  The line for taxis was about 25 minutes long.  The drive time was about 35 minutes.

It’s narita, can you pre book transfer ?

We always tip at the end to those who have provided good service, this tipping for every drink delivered in bar is not normal practice throughout world except USA . Most nationalities would not consider it 

12 hours ago, thehowlingroad said:

Last month, we disembarked at 7:45 am to catch a 9 am limousine bus, and I'm pretty sure we were in a cab by 8:10 am, but I believe we were only ship in harbor that day. But we also disembarked on a Sunday, so we didn't have to worry about commuter traffic holding us up.

It’s a Sunday we will be disembarked, how long to get to airport for you?

Anyone who has done a japan cruise disembarking in Yokohama can advise how long it takes to get off ship at end, collect luggage and get to airport please.

we are looking at a 12 noon flight with ship docking at 7am, is this possible without delay in docking ie in normal circumstances?

You definitely won’t be automatically put on table for 2. You can ask & if they can they will try to accommodate you but it may not be at sitting you want.

Also a table for 2 is likely to be only a few inches away from other tables as they just split larger tables down so you will be very close to others anyway.

on larger tables you would be with same nationalities 

12 hours ago, 80sGal said:

When this happens for free, do you still need to accept it or are you automatically moved?  And if it is by acceptance, you know the cabin before you commit?  First time on MSC coming up.  Currently have Aurea balcony in a preferred location to my liking, an upgrade would be nice though!  

Not sure , I assume you could ring & ask to be downgraded back if you’re original cabin in still available.

We were in Aurea , were invited to bid for YC for minimum of £780 pp against advertised prices of extra £1500 pp.

However we didn’t bid but somehow got email with free upgrade confirming new cabin number etc

Lots of cruise lines have also cancelled Egypt, Jordan and any other stops in the area . Any ships returning from gulf, South Africa etc repositioned around Horn of Africa without passengers.

We didn’t participate in bidding as they wanted £800 each for YC from Aurea, however we got email Tuesday confirming free upgrades to YC 😀

Anyone advise what dress code is for yacht club eg can you wear smart shorts to dinner if you wish and does anyone else?

Also got any upto date YC menus?

I read some cruise lines are clamping down on the multiple entrees etc thing due to lots of wastage by some, again very rarely see it on European cruises where lots will have starter, pasta dish, entree and dessert and eat them all as that’s what they have normally.

19 hours ago, Mary229 said:

Our laws are very restrictive.  It is difficult to ask appropriate questions without being on the wrong side of the law.  

Ok so won’t see them in Europe then or anywhere else except America waters hopefully.

Is it just American cruise lines that don’t check properly that they’re service dogs, I have never seen a dog on a European cruise line other than guide dogs.

Certainly wouldn’t get away with it on European cruise lines 

Doing an independent tour in ports like Rome, Barcelona etc are fine as it’s very easy to get to next port if absolutely necessary as normally only short journeys from major cities. However doing independent touring small isolated islands is just asking for trouble as only limited infrastructure.

We have done independent tours all over the world including Caribbean, ANZ, ASia etc with no issues but never in isolated areas.

Whilst appreciating it’s not HAL went on NCL a few years ago and in MDR nearly every American male wore shorts with 50% in baseball caps worn back to front for some reason! !

53 minutes ago, AKJonesy said:

Holland has transfers and excursions, but I don't know the time for the transfer.  However, you might check out options for your day at HND airport if you don't want to do an excursion.  Keep in mind their airports are not like American airports.  At HND there is an Onsen attached to Hotel Villa Fontaine and you can purchase the Onsen without booking a hotel room.  Also at HND airport, there are luggage lockers to store your stuff because you probably would not be able to do a check in at your airline.  They also have quiet areas and sleeping rooms and more.  I think when I was researching a hotel for our LATE arrival into HND, they also had rooms booked for hours vs entire day and that might be a good option.  There are many shopping places on the non secured side.  I don't know about you, but at the end of my cruise, I sometimes am not interested in another excursion, so I bring this up as an option.  I have booked day rooms at hotels so I thought I would mention it.  

Thanks, we would be going back to uk, flights not until 23.55 so whichever way I look at it sitting around airport for 8/9 hours is not appealing. Probably do overnight in Yokohama or near airport and take morning flights but not travelling until next year so plenty of time to consider 

Is there an explanation of how mariners points are awarded and what levels mean

13 hours ago, cruisemom42 said:

I can't remember whether HAL offered a tour + transfer. If they did, I believe it was to Tokyo (where I've already visited several times) so I didn't pay attention.

 

However, someone on the roll call arranged a taxi tour that took us to several spots in Kamakura, a really delightful place with a lot of temples and shrines to visit. (It was once Japan's capital, before Kyoto.)  Most people know about the giant Buddha statue but there is a lot more to see.

 

Of course, we were all flying out of Haneda, and Kamakura is close by. It may be different if you're flying from Narita.

 

What time did they drop you at airport & what time was your flight departure?

We are booked on 14 day circle of Japan next year and considering whether to get morning flights back to UK which will necessitate an additional day in Tokyo or a very late evening flight. Does anyone know if HAL offer end of cruise tour and transfer back to airport as a excursion.

MSC have started making announcements over tannoy from captain saying don’t reserve seats etc or your belongings will be removed and then enforcing it with staff going around removing unclaimed items, that was last year so unsure if they’re still adopting this policy 

Do people really get dressed up these days, many cruise lines now tend to allow a very informal dress code for all meals with shorts common on every occasion? We went on a NCL cruise and nearly every American male had shorts on with the obligatory baseball cap on backwards at dinner, at the bar , at the shows etc!

47 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

Noordam has nothing scheduled on website between November 24th and December 8th 2024.  Location would appear to be Singapore, so that could be the drydock.

14 days doesn’t seem very long for a major refurbishment?

On 2/19/2024 at 4:02 PM, gypsie42 said:

My PCC was on Noordam a couple of months ago and was told it would be going into drydock this fall for a big redo - more than just fabrics, carpet, etc. Some recofiguration.

What dates are fall as being British we don’t have that expression? It does seem to have cruises advertised for most of 2024.

9 minutes ago, VMax1700 said:

So,  we interupt our regular programming with good news and bad news!

 

First the bad news!

Yesterday Captain Eric, in his evening address, mention that there was an 'uptick in respiratory infections' and that the crew was taking extra precautions and advised pax to take extra precautions including regular handwashing.

 

Tonight, in a special address he said that 'Covid infections are rising........masks will be provided in your room tonight........it is recommended that you wear them in crowded locations.

 

In the World Stage tonight at least 50% were wearing masks.

Yes there’s a new Covid variant which is very catching, started in Israel but been discovered in US as well & now spreading in UK

as long as fully vaccinated it’s not too bad apparently