Redriver2

A lot of good points brought up by all. Enjoyment versus environment vs profit seem to be the basic responses. I may be more on the environmental side. Plastic appeared to be a good option when I was growing up in the 60’s. Plastic is now on an increased path and much more, on steroids for enjoyment and profit.

Weeeeell, here comes Europe to provide their take. You want to sell on your tours here, make it sustainable. So sorry USA, your non-USA cruise ships come here too. No one use plastic. Welcome to the world ecomony...and 7+ billion trash generators, some minor, some not...oops, there I go dogmatic again. We are not the same as when less of us had convenience. Everyone now has access to plastic. Time to give it up. And I’m sticking to it 🤨

Disclaimer here...I stopped wanting a straw at a very young age when I found that straws don’t work with a good thick milkshake.

Try going a day without plastic, ain’t happening. We use it so much that the amount generated is not possible to be recycled in a manageable level. Might as well start small with something that pretty much is a fluff piece..remember that disclaimer ;)

We just got the Intercontinental on a Priceline Espress Deal for $120; going for $153 other places. Probably could have done better but I just didn't want to go through the bidding hassle.

 

We used to be able to get this hotel on Hotwire/Priceline for $80-90, but it has steadily risen in price.

 

Now they also have a $15 resort fee, which stinks because we don't really use the facilities. But it is a really nice hotel in a very convenient location. I don't know if that fee is per day or per stay, since we are only there one night.

Hotel pricing in general seems to have gone up. Used to be able to get 4 star under $100 at priceline fairly regularly. Not so much anymore. I agree with you that bidding may not be the best for some, but works for me. FYI, when you see a resort fee added before purchase, it can give you some insight to the property that you would purchase. Not all charge a resort fee or the same resort fee. Before purchase, check hotels in the specific neighborhood that charge that resort fee. One that matches is most likely the one that you will get.

If you are familiar and comfortable with priceline, their pricing is pretty pretty good. They have 4-star in the port-nearby Brickell area for a bit more than $100, not including taxes and fees. Downtown is just about the closet area to the port. Brickell is next to downtown. I’ve always started with ‘name your price’ at least 10% less than ‘express deals’ pricing and go from there.

Hi, booked my cruise on Escape few months ago, final payment is done. I see last week price drop of 150$ p.p for same cabin i booked(balcony) its 300$ for 2 people. Anyone know if a possibility to get refundable the difference ?If not possible to get something extra to compense at least? I called the agent(smartcruiser) where i book the cruise and called also NCL and they said they can't. Not a good way to treat customers i think.

It’s similar to plane fares and car rental fares and somewhat like car purchases. Supply and demand determines price at buy time. At least NCL doesn’t kick this in until 90 days prior.

Fair? Maybe not, kind of agree with you, but it is what it is. If they didn’t do this, everyone would pay the same price and nobody gets a discount...but we will have fun :D

A few years ago when first going to CC for tips, I found that yours were one of the most helpful. Thanks!

I’ve only posted very recently, so not well versed on the tools available on the site - copy/pasting, insertions, etc.

A possible and simple temp fix until a permenent one is found could be the use of the ending space of the message body. Paste half, or whatever portion of your signature reviews, etc. into the message body. You could have a snappy insert/line/wave or nothing at all that segues this portion onto your limited capacity signature line. I would think that the message body is ‘almost’ unlimited. I mention this as a temp as pasting adds one more step and not sure where it is best copied from - pc word, notes, other?

And those threads that mention the cabana cost being quite expensive at Great Stirrup Cay are correct. After seeing our our re-route there, was hoping that it would be the previously good pricing for a couple that was at Harvest Caye. A value now for the groups of 6, not so much for less than that. Guess I don't want a bit of beach shack that much.

FYI, 3 of our ports have excursions now available. My earlier comment about being open to routing back to eastern ports was only another urban myth and has been thoroughly proven false :o Only Costa Maya does not have excursions available yet.

Time to focus on fun. Come on 11/11 :bottle-pop:

Okay, I certainly do not want to start false rumors...but it is 34 days out and we've only seen excursions for Falmouth. Recent news out of the Eastern Caribbean has some ports, including our original ports, possibly operating by the time of our cruise. A BIG could - if there are ports open and they want ships to come in, wouldn't those previously scheduled have priority. I realize this could be an unwanted option for some if they've reserved spots in the Western Caribbean, like us. Just saying :cool:

All advice so far is very good. If you want to stay at the $1000 or less cost, you should stay with the inside cabin. You will have admin/port/tax fees that will add up to about $600 for both of you as a starting point. The upgrade to balcony will put you over $1000, maybe $1100-$1200.

You will most likely get the free beverage package as an optional perk. It is the best 'value' of the perks, but only if you enjoy beverages everywhere on the ship. It's a given for us :cocktail:The beverage package will add a $100 beverage service charge for each of you as part of the 'free' perk.

When you go CAS through your casino play, you most likely get a drink card once aboard in your room. Saying most likely as I've never inquired as to who, when or how on this. You are expected to play when using the card, though I walk up to the bar many times to order when the casino floor server isn't around. The bartender doesn't ask if you are playing ;) FYI on the free drink. While playing, I prefer a good martini. The $15 free drink doesn't cover the ful cost. You pay the extra plus tax, adds a couple of bucks that you can assign to you room or pay cash with the bartender.

The inside room plus the free beverage service charge should keep you under $1000. Add the balcony and you might be at $1500 for both of you.

A good way to go is look at the date restrictions on you voucher, determine which cruise works best for you, go to NCL.com and cruise the website for what meets the restrictions, then call the CAS phone number on your voucher and work with them on finding your cruise. They will tell you costs for each scenario as you work with them. The first cruise through CAS is the training lesson. The rest become a part of your cruise to paradise.

Enjoy!

Both look fantastic from my iphone. Looks like great time was had by all.

Hmmm, the google photo on your prior post now has the empty box on my iphone. Shutterfly still looks great. Latest photos looking really good. Great review.

Shore excursions are starting to show up. Presently there are 10 for Falmouth. None yet for the other ports.

My last attempt on pictures...DO THEY SHOW UP?

Picture #1 using Google Photo

Picture #2 using

Which one shows up on which devices?

Both look fantastic from my iphone. Looks like great time was had by all.

I tried to 'paste' a photo on my very first post recently. It didn't work for me and may be related to trying to do this via myphone. Doing the posting of photos on a pc or laptop might work. Your photos show up just as mine, an empty box. Maybe someone has a helpful suggestion for posting photos. My next photo post will be not be done on the phone.

If we purchase spa packages in the future, it will unfortunately include being assertive with the desk before entering and iterating that we would expect civility on adhereing to the 45 minute rule. The entitlement to hold loungers indefinitely that is done by cruisers and condoned by the staff is astounding.

Have done the spa week on the jewel and dawn, both had crowding. Not sure about the escape and spa crowding/hoarding :)

We were on the Escape in May, 2017. There was never a time when there weren't heated loungers available. Not once. There were a few times when we were annoyed by people talking loudly who obviously didn't have a clue how to behave in a quiet zone, but we did our best to tune them out. I really hope the thermal spa area doesn't become yet another over-crowded cruise ship area. We found the pool area to be completely unusable for us because of over-crowding. I think I'll stop telling people how great it is so it doesn't become unusable like the pool area.

If we purchase spa packages in the future, it will unfortunately include being assertive with the desk before entering and iterating that we would expect civility on adhereing to the 45 minute rule. The entitlement to hold loungers indefinitely that is done by cruisers and condoned by the staff is astounding.

Yes, they should be in school, but they won't be because they will be on a cruise with me! I am teaching them early on to suck it up when they are really sick and go to school/work and save their "sick days" for fun stuff.

No disrespect intended to krissim9, but I saw the comment as pointing out that we all have a want list. Plus did find the doc's comment fairly funny. For me, the fabricated village at Costa May isn't something I'll look for, but I will find something worthwhile. Haven't been to the other fabricated port, Falmouth, but after being at Costa Maya, there's a good chance there is more to do there. Yes, poor meets affluent comes with pushy vendors. One reason we don't see it in Costa Maya is because it doesn't have the average Yucatan penInsula person in this cruise created town. I've found that eyes open, a pleasant and firm attitude with vendors keeps the fun rolling...uh, oh, really really need-to-get-off-my-high-horse ;)

I sure that you will have fun with your young'uns. Sometimes they can learn more traveling outside of the classroom.

Dr. Jack Daniels

Cool Cruiser

1,462 Posts

Joined Dec 2005

#18

Posted September 22nd, 2017, 11:48 AM

Well why didn't you say so in the beginning? After all NCL should make decisions based on what's best for 10 and 5 year old kids instead of the adults.

Shouldn't they be in school?

Is that really necessary? :rolleyes:

Necessary no, but couldn't help to chuckle..plus he should know, got a PhD in his practice :')

No posted excursions this close is odd. Outside of GSC, we are doing our own in Costa Maya and will probably do elsewhere. Easier for us as we're beach bums, but would look for some fun inland. Don't have the blue water, white sand where we live.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but you are speaking about George Town, Grand Cayman, correct? I'm having a hard time finding posts about it.

I saw quite a few posts for Grand Cayman here:

https://www.cruisecritic.com/memberreviews/ports/grand-cayman-cruises/

Brings lots of dough for food and drinks :)

Looks like 7 Mile Beach and shopping are the top draws. Outside of this port, only one or two ships are docked. We have 6 here, but we do get there early:

https://www.cruisetimetables.com/visitinggeorgetowngrandcayman-14nov2017.html

Might have to search for that not-too-crowded stretch of beach.

Falmouth is very very poor. It is sad to see.

More reason to enjoy the visit. We have fun, they share our vacation funds, win-win.

Falmouth is very. I plan on getting off the ship not passl the gates to the city

New to Falmouth. It 'is very' what? Me being me, I need to pass the gate :)

No disrespect to Krissim9. Wrote my comment prior to seeing that comment. Sounds like you've been there.

An interesting article from 6 years ago on Fodors. Seems to be a RCI port and has mixed bag of comments while being built. I'm taking the half full :)

http://www.fodors.com/community/caribbean-islands/falmouth-jamaica-that-bad.cfm

We have Costa Maya set...time to look further into Falmouth and the other ports. Though never been to three of the ports, GSC appears to possibly be similar to Harvest Caye in activities.

Here is our Falmouth starting point so far.

Top 5 Thing To Do per TripAdvisor

• Food Tours
  
• Adrenaline and Extreme Tours
  
• Sightseeing Tours
  
• Red Stripe Beach
  
• Blue Waters Beach Club
  

Top 5 Outdoor Activities per TripAdvisor

• Chukka Caribbean Adventures - Good Hope Estates by Horse and Carriage
  
• Grand Jamaica and Dunns River Falls Tour
  
• Glistening Waters Luminous Lagoon Tour
  
• The River Bumpkin Farm
  
• Red Stripe Beach
  

The Falmouth Cruise Critic reviews and the TripAdvisor Forum have some good chats to help with specifics.

Sent from myPhone, typos included