Sailing12Away

Still looking for a dog sitter, so until that is resolved I can't quite relax yet. The few we rotated between have stopped doing it and the next trip is a long one so want someone we know the pooch will be comfortable with. Thanks for the reminder that we have that as our chore this weekend. We thought we could just put a dent into the beer reserves today...

The app only works on the ship. If you are late getting back onto the ship - they will call you. And they will not be nice or happy when they do. You do not want to get that call. Trust me.... And you better be in the taxi/car pulling up the port and able to describe to them the color of your shirt so they can see you running and hold the ramp for you. The walk (run) of shame onto the ship is not worth it. Or so I've heard....

Is there a reason you want to get all the way onto the ship before getting right off, as opposed to just dropping bags off, checking in and then going? When we sailed out of San Juan we took a shared van with about 10 other people (we got very cozy on that drive...) over to the port. We were sailing on the first day of San Sebastian festival so lots of traffic, but we got from the hotel to the port in about 45 mins. The couple that was sitting on each others laps to make room in the van dropped off their bags then took the van back into town to party it up before actually getting onto the ship. We bumped into them at Cagneys during the trip, fun guys. So yes, it is possible - but depending on what you want to see/do consider just dropping the bags and going rather than getting all the way onto the ship.

There's no harm in calling to ask what the cost difference and perks would be - nothing that says you have to go through with it. You can simply say 'no thanks, I'll stay where I am' if it's not a better deal. Sometimes it's worth it to give up those perks though if the savings is significant enough. When we first booked our PC trip we had 5 specialty dining credits. Price dropped significantly so we did an adjustment that came with the current promotion perks - only 3 dinners. We saved over 4K on the price drop - I can go and buy those extra 2 missing meals for way less than 4K.

Go early when they first open around 5:30. I think the music starts later in the evening. We've always gone at first opening and have never heard music (I hate country music, makes my ears bleed). As for the food - try it using just a single dining credit and get the sampler platter to share. You can get a bunch of sides and get to try a sampler of the meats, sausages, etc. If you don't like it or are still hungry you can always hit the buffet, MDR, The Local, or anything else to supplement. The first time we went we each ordered food separately with my hubby getting the platter - it was too much for the 3 of us with everything we ordered. 2nd time around there were 4 people using 2 credits and sharing 2 platters - plenty of food and no one went hungry. On the Joy you can always use your left over dining credit for lunch at Food Republic, another good sharable restaurant. So that's what we plan on doing in February - 1 credit to share an early dinner at Q and another single credit to share lunch at FR.

I honestly don't even remember my fridge ever being filled with anything at all. We have the butler put 2 pitchers in there - one of apple juice and one of cranberry, although next trip I may mix it up and go for a lemonade or iced tea instead of one of the juices. If there is stuff in there, it is not free unless you're in an owners suite or garden villa - in that case, anything in the world you could want is free.

I disagree. The jewel class ships are not a 'real' Haven to me for the simple fact that as you said they do not have a restaurant, a bar, or a lounge. All they have is the pool area and sundeck. Without the pool & sundeck they're no different from a non-Haven suite cabin. Having said that, at the right price point I would still choose to be in that Haven room if I could, but on those ships I'm totally fine opting for a non-Haven suite for a lot less money, I don't feel like we're missing much by not being there on those ships.

This is the one we stayed at. Walking distance to a lot of scenic things, nice and clean, and they have a free happy hour where we ran into a bunch of fellow cruise travelers and started making friends the night before. https://www.elconvento.com/

If you like port intensive trips, leaving out of San Juan is perfect. We did an 11 day southern Caribbean trip from there and it was amazing. Not a lot of downtime, but we're not huge fans of sea days so for us it was perfect. We stayed one night before the cruise in Old San Juan and got to walk all over town. Ate some amazing food, and the next day took a shared bus with a few other travelers from the hotel over to the port.

Short answer - it depends. They may enforce them, and if you get there at 9am you'll be sitting and waiting (possibly outside in the rain) for 2+ hours until your real time appears. Or, you may be able to get in and get one of the earlier boarding passes. It also depends on the port you're sailing from, as it seems the flexibility and rules vary greatly. Our Alaska trip out of Seattle we were not even allowed to enter the terminal building to check-in 30 minutes early. We literally sat on a bench watching the clock and the security guard for a half hour before he finally got sick of us looking at him and he said we could go climb the stairs. We were in Haven that trip too and it didn't help us get in more than 5 minutes before the time on our paperwork.

Unless you have an unlimited (not minutes based) internet plan, I'm not sure how texting to each other with a non-iPhone will work. Sure, you'll log on real quick to the internet to send a message through whattsapp, but the recipient would need to log on as well to receive it. If you truly want to text each other look into the talk & text package that NCL has. You may be able to upgrade your free minutes to that for a fee, but that may work better than trying to perfectly time both of you logging in just to see if there's a text present or not. Those free minutes go quick.

Yeah, the 2br on Prima & Viva is different from the typical Haven 2br room. P & V have a full bedroom with 2nd bathroom. On the current ships, it's more of a glorified large closet for that 2nd bedroom. So something isn't quite adding up - either they didn't look at the correct floorplan for the ship they'll be on and don't realize what they have, or there's already more than 2 in that room and the daughter doesn't want to share with granny or something. Meals can be arranged with the concierge to have non-Haven guests eat there - but there's no guarantee. Priority will always go to the regular Haven guests first. Tours are fine, escorted visits to your own room are fine. But lounging out in the Haven areas as a 'guest' is a no-no.

Any ship with a Haven area is lovely. We just adjust our expected price range and expectations accordingly based on the ship and the room we end up with. For a full Haven experience (Joy, Encore, Bliss, etc) - we expect to pay around $500/pp/night for a 'regular' (courtyard) Haven room. Anything less and it's a bargain, anything more and it needs to be an awesome itinerary that we love. Owners suites or garden villas are a class in themselves, so those prices would be higher of course. If I find those rooms at the $500 price point, I book first and find companions later. For the jewel-class ships that lack a 'full' Haven (no restaurant, no bar, no lounge) we would be comfortable paying about $350/pp/night. Otherwise a non-Haven suite to us is perfectly fine. We don't need that small pool area for an extra 2K, for us it's not worth it. Those are our price points based on our DINK budget and way we like to vacation. Other folks may scoff at paying more than $300/pp/night for any trip regardless of the ship or cabin. For a first time Haven guest, I would definitely suggest going for the cheaper rooms that are outside of the Haven area. Everything about Haven will be new to you anyway, so you get to work out the kinks and find all the tricks and secrets of what makes the trip better for you - without spending a LOT of money in case you find out that the butler and other Haven perks are not a value add for you. We don't like the aft rooms, they're enormous and the balcony is amazing, but for us on a full Haven ship we like to spend a lot of our time in the Haven area. So for us, the walk is too far from aft to front to do it often, and we prefer to be closer. Other folks don't care and like the walk to burn off calories - so that's for you to judge. The best hidden gem we've found are the HH, HI, and HJ rooms on the Joy. They're outside of the proper Haven area (so cheaper), and much bigger than those courtyard rooms. So cheaper, bigger, and it's midship so barely any inconvenience go get into that proper Haven area = win win for us.

There's another thread on this exact same topic - usually <24 hours. If it's been more than 48hrs contact NCL as it generally implies a problem on their end.

Based on what others have said, it depends greatly on your sailing. Are you traveling during peak times (spring break, holidays) where the ship will be not only full, but full of kids and teens? Or are you traveling in a generally quieter time with possibly not a full ship? Also depends on what is important to you, and as said above the number of sea days. If it's a port intensive trip, but you want a guaranteed spot to lounge in the sun when you get back on board - maybe have both Haven & Vibe is 'worth it' to you. For me.... my balcony is a good enough back-up if the Haven area is too crowded. I'd rather spend that Vibe pass money on a fancy bottle of bubbly to share with new friends in the Haven lounge.

If you don't see the edocs available within 48hrs of completing check-in, either call them or use the chat feature to inquire. It should really be <24 hrs, so anything more than 48 means it's a problem on their end. You don't HAVE to have them, but it certainly speeds up the check-in process at the pier when you've got them out, ready, and all your documents organized. We're usually in/out in <20 minutes including the line to get to the front desk.

The cruise lines ability to move you to a different cabin relies on the availability of other cabins to move you into. So it's hard to say, as each trip will be different. Even if they block aside 10 OV or balcony cabins that can't be booked to reserve for Covid quarantine - what happens if you're guest #11? You'll have to stay where you are. It's that level of unknown which prevents us from ever booking a cabin we wouldn't be ok staying in if worst case scenario happens.

You're jumping down the wrong person's throat. Someone asked if they were doing contact tracing. I simply shared my experience of "no", they're not doing anything of the sort. While on board we were told we would be contacted by "someone" to make sure hubby got tested on day 5. That didn't happen either.

Those grits were from the Joy. I'll be back on her in ~38 days so I'll report back if it's still there. Unless you're going before me - then you let me know. Just found the photo of the menu... I remember you raving about the sticks so I got them, but they were just blah. Yours definitely look crispier and tastier. Did yours have the lobster slider? Hubby said it was decent for an app. You got me going through all the photos from that trip so may as well finish it with dessert. If you get the chocolate bar - share it. It's verrrrry dense and too much for one. The nice thing that I've always enjoyed with NCL is that they're usually very very accommodating if you just ask. Especially once they see that Haven card. I'm a PITA with food. No allergies, I just don't like many things. But if there's shrimp with andouille sausage - I don't see why they couldn't skip the shrimp and double up on the sausage - and neither did they. Now if I asked for a mushroom risotto without the mushrooms.... not going to happen. Managing expectations and I haven't been disappointed yet.

They could have, we were able to pass other things through to each other that way. I wasn't that hard up for non-watered down Sprite, it was more the principle of it. For me, no. They said hubby was supposed to test himself on day 5, we tested when we got home and it was already positive. But my parents traveling with us on the trip were never contacted (they were in a different room, so maybe NCL didn't know we were in close contact more times than not), no one from the CDC contacted either of us, and once we were off the ship NCL never contacted me once.

I'm curious what you thought though about the rest of the ship itself. With NCL, I like the low key casual vibe and the tons of entertainment. With the fancier lines, I always presume that I would be looked down on for wearing a tshirt and shorts in the evening, and the only entertainment would be lounge bar singer type folks. Is there any pizazz or fun stuff happening, and is everyone as uptight and snooty as I picture them to be? It's available, worth it to try it and say you did it. For me it was just meh, but glad we got to try it. Opposite for me oddly. I find their dinner menu to be much more limited in terms of what I would eat. Lunch I have more options to pick from, dinner it's really just 1-2 things. My recommendation for the American Diner - go for the shrimp & grits. Or, since I don't eat shrimp, go for the double andouille sausage & grits. The mozzarella sticks were too gooey for me and had no seasoning in the bread crumbs. The shakes weren't worth the $5 each - too much whipped cream, although maybe I'll try it again and just tell them to not put any in at all. Halfway through I was just sucking on cream and no shake.

In September, I felt like I was coming down with a bad cold. A friend traveling felt the same, asked the ship to test him for Covid just to be safe - he was negative. The next day my cold didn't improve, so I asked to be tested. I came up positive right away on the rapid antigen test. That was the end of my vacation. We only had 3 days left in our trip, so I was quarantined to my cabin for the rest of the time. My hubby was either allowed to stay with me and be in lockdown too, or he could choose to move to a different cabin by himself so he wouldn't be on lockdown. We were in a HH Haven family suite on the Joy, so obviously there was nothing comparable to move him to. The best they could do was a balcony room a few cabins down on the same deck. He abandoned me and got to live it up for those last 3 days by himself (although I had the better room). I was resigned to my cabin with 2x/day temperature checks and getting meals dropped off at the door. The thing I didn't like, was that they didn't force him to get tested when I turned positive. Which means they didn't force anyone else to get tested. At the time he had no symptoms, but by the time we got home he was starting to show some and tested positive with a home kit. Our cruise ended in NY where we live, so not sure what would have happened for those last 2 quarantine days if we needed to fly home somewhere. Even though he moved to a regular room, he kept his Haven privilege's. But even though I had the drink package and couldn't leave my room, I still wasn't allowed to ask for liquor or cans of soda to be brought to my room with my meals. They were going to charge me I think $4/can of Sprite. Plus they didn't tell me I could use my last dining credit until the last day of the trip - previously they told me I had to order from either the room service menu (very limited) or the main dining room menu - which I didn't have a copy of. So either you sit there listening to someone read all the choices off to you, or you wing it and just get one of the classic dishes that you know will be there. For us, biggest lesson learned is to wear masks on bus tours because I'm 100% convinced I caught it from the man behind me who was coughing and sneezing his brains out on our Titanic excursion. And to self-test in your room and not be stupid. If you have symptoms, stay in your room regardless of what the test says. If someone looks like they have cooties, I have no quams about shaming them and telling them to stay the eff away from me and to go back to their room. There were officially 10 of us who got escorted in bunny suits off the ship at the end of the journey, but I know for a fact there were many many more who just didn't formally get tested. It spreads quick, so keep wearing a mask if you're immunocompromised or don't want cooties. I was grateful to have the giant Haven room, but I essentially lost all perks and benefits that come with Haven once I tested positive. The cabin steward called me every day to see if I needed anything, but no one was allowed in my room at all.

We abuse the bartenders when we cruise, so we tip generously midway through and again at the end. By abuse, I mean we ask them to make all sorts of funky convoluted concoctions that can take 5+ mins per drink. If they're just pouring a glass of wine or popping the cap on a beer bottle... I wouldn't tip as much as we do. Haven is a different beast all together, so I won't touch that since the fork has been shoved in and pulled out so many times on these boards there's no meat left to stick it into any more. Cabin steward - again, for us it depends on where we're going and what we do. Warm weather trips where I know I'm trekking in sand in my bag, shoes, snorkeling gear and bathing suit - they definitely get extra for cleaning all that up each day. Colder weather trips we tend to stock up on a lot of local beer/wine to bring back home, so the cabin looks like a chaotic mess midway with all our bags and purchases. So even though they're already covered in the daily service charge, for us we throw them a few extra bucks as our way of saying 'sorry we're such slobs'.

We've never been on the Escape, but the larger NCL ships are very similar. It depends on the types of things you think your daughter would enjoy and the locations you would prefer to visit. Escape has a ropes course and a zip line, Joy has go karts, virtual reality games/rides, and laser tag. They both have water slides and mini golf. Joy has a large observation lounge, plus a second one just for Haven guests - Escape does not (at least I don't think it does, I think those started with Joy, Encore, Bliss). Port of calls, I would opt for the Escape as I prefer the Caribbean over Mexico, but that's just me. The Haven on the Joy was great, we'll be back on her in February. Look into the lower category Haven rooms (the ones on decks 14 & 15). They're larger in size and cheaper in price - so a good way to try out the Haven without breaking the bank. Short 2 flights of stairs up and you're in the Haven only areas with everyone else. HH - Haven Suite w/Balcony HI - Haven Penthouse Suite w/Balcony HJ - Haven Family Villa Suite w/Balcony The family villa has a murphy bed that folds down from the wall, so it's a bit better than a couch bed. And the room is huge with a curtain you can pull across for a little privacy for your daughter. As for comparing it to RCC, we only sailed Royal shortly after the pandemic reopening and it was on a smaller ship (Jewel of the Seas). We found the fellow passengers much less chatty and harder to make friends with. It was hard to find a low key meal (simple burger, wings, or a sandwich) - everything was either specialty dining or main dining room with a 2.5 hr dinner (buffet was only open for lunch on our sailing due to Covid). So we definitely liked the NCL options for food better, but will give RCC a try in more distant post-Covid times. Entertainment on RCC was only trivia, trivia, or more trivia. Again, probably because of Covid reopening, but we actually felt bored and were in bed by 10pm most nights. On NCL, especially in the Haven, we're at the bar until they kick us out and always find new friends to chat with so we definitely liked the vibe better on NCL. Unless you sail on a mega ship with RCC in a Star suite, it seems the experience for suite guests is nothing to write home about on RCC. We haven't found a sailing that was in our comfortable price range yet on RCC to try that posh experience out yet, so we stick with NCL.

Yes, that will be fine. Only suggestion you'll see folks say here is to keep any meds or anything super important still with you. Just because you give them the bag, doesn't mean it will make it on the ship. Things can still happen, we're all just human. So anything that is vital, still keep with you in person.