Aesop081

On ‎11‎/‎21‎/‎2018 at 8:44 AM, HHIturtlelady said:

I am gluten free and have travel twice now with NCL this year. The first one was literally a nightmare. I let them know ahead of time. I talked to the restaurant manager when I got on the boat. I ordered meals in advance. They lost my orders. They gave me the wrong food. The argued with me over what I could and could not have. I was not treated nicely like other guests. They avoided me and didn't want to do anything extra for me. I am hoping that was just a one time bad thing and no one else has to go through that.

 

I just got off the Jade (prematurely) and was in the Haven. Completely different experience. They took great care of me and made sure I could order anything I wanted. Room service was great, the butler made sure I got what I needed. Gluten free sandwiches and pizza! It is the main dining rooms where I have the most trouble.

Heading out on Jade in spring, also in Haven (1st time) and you have just made my day with the GF pizza comment.  OMG...gonna get fat!

Tendering in Cabo is operated like a machine.  They use a lot of civilian contractors to extend the capabilities of the ships tenders.  The dock at the Marina is exclusively for the use of cruise ship tenders and cruise ship excursion vessels with security to ensure it stays that way.  Of course leaving everything to the last minute is a bad idea.  If the excursion is ship booked then you will be on a tender by the time required if you show up at the meeting spot on the ship on time.  If a private excursion then give plenty of time to get on a tender(as excursions are given priority) and get to shore...5 min ride.  

You know what, I spent 15 days on the ship and never went in the pool.  Not the largest and weather was hot leading to extreme crowding in and out of the pool.  However I did learn that the water was saltwater. 

7 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

The water packages are cheaper if you pre book. I drink tons of water, so I had some delivered to the cabin, plus brought a yeti to carry around.

As mentioned by mjkacmom Yeti's are the answer.  If you've never had one, buy one.  Keep water cold all night, ice will survive, next to the bed.  Keep my tea (not a coffee drinker) hot for hours, not warm, hot.

Ships water is probably safer than most city water.  Think if you can of the issues, legal and otherwise, if that water they use to cook your food, make your ice, and put in your glass at the table was anything but ultra filtered, reverse osmosis purified no matter where you take it on.   Just like what they do with bottled water,  take it from the city supply and do what I just said, and then charge you many bucks.  Get a Yeti.

10 hours ago, jpcdds6 said:

Few more to add: Tables against the windows aft in Grand Pacific, cocktails before dinner at Sugarcane Mojito Bar, cocktails after dinner at Magnum's, sitting on the stools, drinking a Rebellious Fish, looking over the pool area at the Pit Stop, wings and a beer, at 1am in O'Sheehan's (liquor before beer, and your in the clear). She's a great ship.

Mmmmm, Rebellious Fish, I remember that drink, that and the Bahama Mama.   Never had a Mojito (not sure why), maybe I should sample the whole list with the Drink pkg.  It's good to have a goal in life.

Good question OP as I am interested as well.  This will be only my 2nd NCL vessel and I am wondering about the Spinnaker Lounge.  ON the Sun there was the Observation lounge.  One of my most favourite places to spend the day with a few drinks and a book, when at sea.  Is Spinnakers (I believe located in the same relative position, high and forward) a relatively quiet place like the space on the Sun?

3 hours ago, cdnsteelman said:

It's always worth shopping around using different devices, IP addresses, and clearing cookies on a regular basis. This is not just cruise-specific guidance. Many sites track what they've quoted you via cookies so that if you check back on that same site day after day the price might not change BUT if you check on a different device, you may find the price is different. 

Yessir,  this is a thing.  Ever since I started using a VPN service I've noticed that shopping on the PC vs the tablet (no VPN) almost always gives differing prices.  Specifically when returning over time to same site to check on prices.  Also VPN is great for checking pricing and promotions in other countries.  They can be different.

Seems like a lot of energy for 30 bucks worth of savings.  When compared to the overall cost of the whole vacation. 

So all the changes are to DECK 8 cabins.   They've reclassified all the BV Balcony obstructed to BW, and turned the MF mini suites to ME.

Not certain if that's good or bad for consumers.

Ok then, time to pay more attention to the cabin decks. < selects ctrl+ ten times)

Hello, we're travelling on the Majestic Princess out of Sydney in Jan 2020 for a New Zealand cruise.  I always like to do some research on what I'm travelling on prior to leaving (lots of research) and was noticing that when looking at the deck plans for the Majestic Princess they ask Pre or Post April 14, 2019.  I've done what I thought were pretty good side by side (two browsers) of the deck plans provided and couldn't find any difference.  Although to be honest I didn't analyze the room decks very closely. 

Does anyone know of any work being done on the ship next spring that would cause them to offer up two options of deck plans?   There must be a "thing" happening but I can't seemed to find it on what is provided.

Thanks

We're doing the Haven for the first time next March on the Jade so all this sounds like great service and attention to detail.  Can you tell me if there are any no no's when communicating with butler/concierge.  Except of course being civil and treating people as people?  is there a limit to what they can do?

Wine is a great gift, I just used the link above to "gift" myself a bottle online for my cruise next March on the Jade.  I didn't go through with the purchase but I wanted to see what the pricing was like.  I selected Banfie Le Rime Pinot Grigio, because my wife will drink that grape variety.  They wanted 56.67 Canadian (I'm a Canuck, can't see US prices without VPN).  I checked the local wine store here for the same wine.  16.99 Cdn.  And we pay a whack of taxes here on our booze.  I'm a fan of gifts but a 41 dollar mark up is a wee bit much.  My opinion of course.  Also you'll need to know either their reservation number or the birthday, and date of cruise and ship to order the gift. 

We're frequent vacationers to Maui, at least once a year and as previously stated, it is only the road after Hana that they forbid you to travel on.  Some people like to circumnavigate Haleakala and that's how you do it.  Remember most vehicles now have GPS tracking through ONSTAR or similar on board programs.  They'll know if they want to find out if you've damaged the car.  So go ahead rent from anyone and enjoy the road to Hana.  Just allow at LEAST 6 hours for the trip.  It's only 30 something miles once you're on it but it'll take that long +/- an hour depending on traffic and getting from Kahalui.   If you're anchoring in Lahaina add another 1 1/2 hrs just to get to Kahalui and back.

Canada has indeed made cannabis legal thatis a fact.  Good or Bad, personal preference.  However, as this sign states at every border point, including ports.  As soon as you enter into, or leave Canada, with cannabis you have committed a crime.  So just don't.  And for those of us that don't smoke anymore (teen years were in the 70's) that stuff really stinks, please vape, or ingest...puhlease!

Well thanks for the input, we've booked it for certain, deck 9 midships to keep her happy.  Didn't want deck 8 since there could be noise from below.  And we've convinced 4 other couples to come along.  Looking forward to the 14 hour flight...not.

Is the OBC refundable? Say if I reserve online, then get the OBC after the excursion, and don't spend all of it on board.

In the case of the Shore Excursion Credit of 50 dollars refunded to your OB account after you've taken the excursion, that one is paid out to you if you don't use it and you have a positive balance on your account. Only that one. It's because if you book through NCL by calling, you get it discounted right away. If you book online and you get it after the excursion it's like cash. But seriously, who has anything but debt on their OB account at the end of a cruise.

The Sun is a nice ship, still personable, not mega crazy with crowds. Best place for Breakfast (IMHO) is a tie. First, the Great outdoors. No more beautiful place to eat early in the morning when the sun isn't so intense. 2nd, grab your food in the buffet, walk around the pool bar, to Moderno's where there is quiet seating. You can also have Omelets to order here. Big thing, it's usually very quiet and comfortable. Also a good place to take you plate of food on Embarkation day once you fill it up in the buffet.

Best place to read a book and relax with a drink is Spinnakers. Forward Deck 12 it has a floor to ceiling wrap around view and a walk way directly in front of it for entry and exit into port watching. All ships should have this.

Cagney's is definitely worth the visit. Big Fan.

Windjammer bar is a good place to listen to music in the early evening, the kind that you sit around a pub and sing along and interact with the piano player. Tips in the jar, Piano man kind of thing.

During the day for music and drinks the Atrium was a good place to sit.

There are free, stretch and mild aerobic workouts each morning which although the wife had to harangue me into going, I truly enjoyed the wake up it gave you, and justified the extra bacon with breakfast.

A variety of places to sun worship, noisiest the closer you get to the pool, quietest on the bow top of deck 12, kinda 12 1/2.

Enjoy, it's newly renovated which we were involved in and didn't get to enjoy, but the crew are/were great.

Where are you getting your info? 1000 tons an hour in fuel?? A quick Google search shows shows research that puts this number closer to 250 tons a DAY... Not 1000 per hour.

 

RCCL's Freedom of the Seas only hold just over 3500 metric tons of fuel. By your figures, they could travel for 3.5 hours before needing to stop for gas. :-/

Yeah I was thinking about that on the way into work this morning. Thinking I must have done something wrong because it sounded ludricrous. I'm not certain what button on the calculator I messed up on. Looks like 2 decimal places to be honest. But thanks for the correction.

Back to Grade 8 math class and remedial calculator I go...

EDIT: I was using this report from Bright Hub Engineering and messed up the math in conversions

Fuel Efficiency for a Large Cruise Ship

Just as with cars, larger cruise ships tend to have lower fuel efficiency, at least in gross terms. To give the reader an idea of the fuel efficiency of large cruise ships, I'd like to use the world's largest cruise liner as an example. The MS Oasis of the Seas, completed in 2010, has a total length of 361.8 meters, a height of 72 meters above the sea line, and room in its 16 passenger decks for 6,296 passengers. At its cruising speed of 22.6 knots (26 mph), the Oasis of the Seas burns 11361 gallons of fuel each hour. The fuel efficiency, then, is 0.0023 mpg, or 12.08 feet per gallon!

But it still expensive...last check the cheapest 'gunk' is 467 bucks a ton and the good clean stuff is 700 a ton.

I was on for 49 day Maiden Voyage last year from Rome-Shanghai through the Suez and in a variety of Seas: Indian Ocean, North and South China Seas and don’t remember any movement at all. But I am not sensitive to this at all but I remember no comments from friends or others at all. I often have to ask people if we are underway. Mike

 

 

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Wow, sounds like an amazing trip. Thanks for the data, that should help convince her that "open ocean" is nothing to worry about.

If you select ANY perk you have to pay more. For instance, MX category cabins receive no promotional add-ons. If you want a perk you must book a higher priced cabin to receive the perk. Nothing is free with NCL.

I'd go further on this. Nothing is free...ever with ANY cruise line. The cruise fare is usually a loss leader for most of the lower (below suite) fares. The nickle and dime, "fees", "tips", specialty restaurants, yoga classes etc, and extras are what they count on to make their money. Ships costing a billion bucks aren't cheap to own or run. The new big ones get about 12 inches to the gallon. They burn almost a 1000 tons...that's TONS of fuel an hour when cruising at 21 knots. So somewhere, some how they're going to get your money.

Take a main line cruise at main line pricing and you will pay extra every step of the way. Pay the big bucks for the cruise lines that charge nothing for "most" items. (e.g. Viking Sea) and you pay up front.

Just be used to what the end VISA bill will be when you get home. Understand it, accept it, and book again.

Hello, Besides the obvious that bow and stern locations can have more motion we are about to book a mini-suite on the Majestic for the Jan 08 2020 13 day NZ tour out of Sydney. I've never cruised on quite this large a vessel in these waters. Tasman sea for example can get quite roley poley. I've been there once but on a smaller navy vessel. I know they don't compare but all boats move. I'm looking for feed back on the Majestic's sea keeping motion (wife is concerned).

Absolutely any other tidbit on the vessel would be appreciated also.

Two dollars more per person per day isn't huge, but when you see a fare that includes a beverage plan nearly $1,000 more than a sail away fare, that IS huge. And then it's another $20 a day on top of that. If someone only wanted a few drinks, they certainly would do better by taking a sail away fare and paying for drinks a la carte. Only issue is not being able to pick a cabin.

What you say is true, we always balance that exact thinking. We enjoy our mimosa, beers in the sun, and wine with and after dinner. Wife and I drink almost nothing at home unless entertaining because life is busy. So when we cruise we like to throw caution into the wind and enjoy. I would say the times we've not used the UBP when not available on other lines we run a 750 to 900 tab for a week. With the ridiculously priced bottles of wine on the ship (seriously, compare them to the grocery store price) it just takes away the hassle.

I'm glad you mentioned that, duty free prices for their alcohol. I'm going to have to look and see if any of the bottles have a tax stamp on them.

 

Also, with the volume they buy, they have to get rock bottom pricing too. Does anyone know in Florida if you have to buy from a distributor or if you can buy direct from the manufacturer/importer?

Only 4 days to your next cruise....I'm so envious. Enjoy

Having more than one plate of anything delivered is poor training. During our Panama Canel trip during the cruise officer briefing we were told they had about 40% of their crew just out of the training system and had as many as two trainees per experienced crewperson in certain areas. And at times the eagerness of the new crew was wonderful, other times it met with annoying experiences. And on our last cruise we sadly experienced just that in the dining room. Now I will go out there and say we also had fantastic service, it really mattered what table we were sitting at. With freestyle comes the lack of familiarity that we used to treasure as the week or 10 days went by and you became "friends" with your table staff.

One case of bad training ( I won't call it bad service because the individual was...untrained) was when my wife ordered a glass of Pinot Grigio and when the wine arrived, not only looked wrong, but smelled oaky. We tasted it and sure enough it was a definite Chardonney. OK, so far just a first world problem of getting the wrong wine, but, when challenged about it the server said that, "yes it wasn't Pinot Grigio because they had no more in the restaurant, but a white wine is a white wine so this should be good." ....No, no it isn't!