Aesop081

Who buys this outright? Maybe a 3rd and 4th adult sailing free in a cabin?

There cannot be more than a handful of people who buy this outright. I never would. Only take the perk. When I do, I understand that what I'm buying is unlimited drinks for 18 dollars a day per person (20 now). That I can live with (ignore the slightly elevated room price...I'm going to drink anyway). So assuming that 70% of a ships bookings have the UBP as one of the perks a mid sized ship like the Jade will now make an extra 47, 000 per week in fees on the increase. Since these ships pay duty free prices for their booze and charge nightclub or higher fees for their drinks the profit margin is astronomical.

But as NCL knows that the perk of getting the UBP is very popular. No one is going to turn it down due to a 2 dollar a day per person (4 per day per room) increase.

AND don't forget, oil is climbing higher, they'll be nailing us with the fuel surcharge soon. MMMM...can't wait to pay more.

Never had this happen. Spidey senses are tingling though. Check with your credit card company to ensure that wasn't a phishing expedition. After all, no one thinks twice about small balance payments. But with the all the card data, it could be painful.

Even if you don't clear the airport(customs, baggage, etc) until Noon you will have no issues getting to the cruise terminal by 1 pm...easy. The Skytrain(read subway) departs from directly in front of the airport and goes all the way to Canada place. Assuming you're departing from Canada Place you will be there by 1240 at the latest. If you go the night before there are, as you can imagine, as many types and rates of hotels as any other city. Pick one of your choosing if you come the night before. If you do come the night before and have no desire to do any tourism then pick one away from downtown but on or near the skytrain (e.g. River Rock Casino which has the sky train station built onto it) have a good nights sleep and appear at the terminal at your leisure the next day. As I learned once. The cost of a hotel and meals for one night compared to the overall cost of the vacation is quite negligible. And the stress of almost missing the boarding call was horrendous.

We booked online and payed online. We were then "refunded" as a refundable credit to our onboard account after each port was visited and the excursion completed. However because of onboard spending there was by the end of the cruise, nothing left to refund lol[emoji1]

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Too many post to read all but if you're an Amazon PrimeTV or Netflix person have you downloaded all the shows and movies to keep you entertained. Kindle/Koodo full?

Ultimate Beverage Package (Unlimited Open Bar):

Applicable to guests 1-2 on the reservation.

Guest must be at least 21 years of age at time of sailing to qualify for the Ultimate Beverage Package. Guests under 21 will receive the pop package.

Eligible guests are entitled to one beverage per person per transaction.

Includes a variety of spirits and cocktails, wines by the glass and bottled or draft beer up to $15 USD. Includes fountain pop and juice, and non-alcoholic beer.

This is what I see in the fine terms & conditions.

This is interesting. I too found a page where it stated that the policy was one (1) beverage per person BUT I also found on their on board packages terms and conditions the following:

The Ultimate Beverage Package does not include room service, package sales, ship specific promotions or beer buckets, designated Super Premium brands (subject to change), bottled wine, mini bar purchases, bottled water, fresh squeezed juices, select Lavazza coffee beverages, energy drinks, vending machines, wine stations or spirits, cocktails, draft or bottled beer and glasses of wine over $15 USD. Two (2) beverages per transaction. Package can be used in all restaurants, lounges, bars and Great Stirrup Cay. Any items over $15 USD will receive a $15 USD discount and the guest will be charged the difference to their account. Ultimate Beverage Package is not available for purchase on charters, sailings that are two (2) days or less, the Pride of America or Harvest Caye.

This is what we were experiencing in March, the big difference being Two (2) beverages per transaction. Which makes sense since most people travel as couples, who both have to have the package if the other has it, most of those couples stay together, and most couples send only one person to the bar to get the drinks.

This policy was changed just a few months prior to our trip Mar 18. I hope they haven't changed it back.

And by the way, we drank whatever we wanted. Never had a concern about what type of alcoholic beverage or soft drink. The bartenders just swiped the card and the magic machine told them not to worry and they went to the next customer.

Yes.

Cool...received two pkgs with my upcoming 10 day cruise and have a teenage daughter. 50 dollars of vacation money to upgrade to the plan with websurfing and email will ease my mind on the overage or whining when the 500 min are gone.

That beach area is quite beautiful. We prefer Keawakapu Beach. Almost a mile of sand and mostly empty. However it is not on the excursion. None of the beaches have "hard" areas built on them as no one actually owns them. There is a public hard paved trail along the beach but I'm not exactly certain that would be a place to stay. Lots of joggers, and walkers all day long from sunrise to sunset. The Hotels are given permits to put chairs on the sand in a fixed area but not one drop of that sand belongs to the hotel. No matter what the employees renting chairs tell you. So the only way to have a place to put your equipment would be to rent a couple of chairs and place them side by side. You're looking at a transit time of 30-40 minutes from ship to beach by the way.

Maui No Ka Oi (Maui is the best)

My favourite place on earth.

Last March we were on the Sun for that infamous Panama Canal cruise and my DD, although reluctant, attended the teen meet and greet. Best thing she ever did, barely saw her the entire time we were at sea. The group even reserved themselves tables in the MDR and had their own formal nights. They hung out in the atrium and played all the organised events, sat out on the stern restaurant drinking and snacking as a group, played cards, basketball, you name it. They actually made the teen club host/hostess as lonely as the Maytag repair man most days (dating myself???).

We will be on that Jade trip starting Mar 22/19 for the 10 days, and although past performance is no indicator of future results, my 14 yr old daughter is determined to try make the teen club work again. The Jade, also the Sun, are smaller than the new 'resorts at sea' but kids are resourceful and full of initiative when not cobbled. That trip proved that to me beyond doubt.

As for the younger children, I can't say since she is my youngest, but we saw the group of younger children during their outings and they were all having a great time.

So if you decide the Jade...we'll see you next spring.

CVS is the most common method tourists use but not the only one. In fact you can get to Butchart by public transit, but the timings would suck for cruise ship pax. Too risky. Just be aware that all you are actually getting is transportation to the gardens. Guided tours of Butchart are not a thing. Once through the gate you are effectively on your own and must make the bus departure time from the gardens on your own. The gardens cover 50 acres of display area and sees approx. 8-10 000 visitors a day in the summer although in September it drops off dramatically. Getting from the cruise ship terminal to downtown is available from the shuttle, taxis, or walking. It's a great walk on a nice day and about 1/2 hour. Once you leave the ship area you are immediately into residential areas that I can only dream about affording. So no nasty port and industry to navigate.

I realize this is way past the original post date but for others reading this, Pagliacci's is great food, no view, but really good. Wharf Street past the tourist info centre is full of decent/good restaurants with local seafood and other fare. The downtown core is really fully dedicated to tourists and nightlife.

So, Victoria resident here and ex-Butchart Gardens employee. The gardens are wonderful to see in daylight but they also have amazing night lighting that is beautiful. With the current sunset time it is light out until almost 9. Also with the sun going down the smells of the garden are more intense. Every night until Labour (Canadian spelling) Day there is a free concert on the lawn between 7 and 830-9ish. So if you arrive later in the day and your bus doesn't leave too soon you can enjoy the music. Cruise ships dump a lot of people in a short period of time at the gardens, especially the days we have up to 3 ships in at a time...yes it happens. One way to not get stuck in the crowd is to do the Gardens "backwards" go through the Italian Garden first, then the Japanese garden to the Rose Garden and then past the concert lawn. Then head towards the main entrance but turn into the sunken garden before you get to the entrance, it really is the only way to approach that garden for full impact. Enjoy your visit.

On point #2. -- Our daughter, then 13 spent 15 days on the Sun in spring 18 (yes that sun trip) and we had to force her the first day to show up at the teen club. We almost never saw her again. A group of about 8 of them, age 13 to 16 coalesced into a roving group of well behaved kids. We would see them on the BB court, the card room playing games, hanging out in the Atrium sipping mocktails and participating in ship board games. Hanging around the Great Outdoors doing that teen talking thing. 3 times they even reserved their own dining room table and had formal night dinners. Even had pictures taken. All without parent involvement.

I obviously cannot state that your child will have the same experience, but if you give them the push to get to that first day meet and greet at the teen club, you could very well be surprised at how they get along.

Thank you all for taking time to respond to my thread. I booked the Hilton on the Rocks for my 2 day pre-cruise stay.

 

Can't wait. :cool:

 

Thanks again, Matt

I was going to suggest that place, it's GREAT, spent 3 nights there a few years ago. The Rocks are a wonderful location. Once a week, just around the corner they have an open air market in the Rocks. Can't remember what night but it's wonderful.

Anything and everything you buy on the ship is charged to your room. Cash/Visa is not good anywhere on board except for dealing with your Onboard account. You can keep smaller bills for tipping a bartender, it's not required nor that common since every drink has a 20% tip attached to it anyway, but in a crowded scenario, they will pay a bit more attention to you.

I would suggest keeping the laptop with you and enough carryon luggage to have a change of clothes, sometimes the bags can take many hours into the night to get to you. Sometime right away, luck of the draw. You can tip the porters at the terminal but it depends where on how much is expected. To be honest at most terminals they take the bags from you and move them all of a few yards to a cart and then the cart is taken to the ship. you be the judge how much that's worth.

Depending on the length of the cruise you can prepay up to a certain amount (450 US for >7 days) per person into you account. On the last day of the cruise when it's time to settle up with the ship, they will refund any unused portion. It's a great way to A) mitigate the cost of your cruise, and B) maybe bank a little wild money. If your cruise is far enough out then every now and again when you have a free 50 or 100 bucks drop it into your onboard account. Soon you'll have an easy relaxing cruise without worrying about the end bill.

Also as mentioned, pre pay the "service charge" when you finalize the cruise payment. That way, again, no nasty shock at the end of the cruise. Two people at 16 bucks a day= 32 x7 =224 for 7 day cruise. Make life easier and less worrisome by doing it upfront.

Just bring an empty refillable water bottle, or buy one on board and fill up with ice and water anywhere on the ship. That water is perfectly fine. you could just imagine the issues if unsanitary water was fed to 3600 (pax and crew) people and wasn't as pure and clean as possible. You can bet that it's cleaner than what you drink at home.

Under the bed you can easily fit 3 or 4 full size suitcases for clothes you don't readily need. Keep the clean stuff there and switch it out with the used clothing after 4 or 6 days. The closet was big enough for quite a lot of hanging clothes although we took our own cheap plastic hangers that cost next to nothing to supplement the ones provided. lots of little shelves and wire baskets plus the other drawers were enough for Wife, Me and daughter for Panama cruise.

Only pax 1 and 2 have to take the drink pkg together if one person takes it. 3rd person does not. However, I'm not sure the third person would get the promo rate of almost free (tip add on) as one of the perks since we only ever get it for the wife and I. Kids are not old enough. I don't know that I could recommend buying it full price unless you were the type to drink 10 fruity drinks OR 15 beer OR 10 glasses of wine in a day, everyday, including port visits. That is the only way to make it worth while. Best thing about the new, as of last year, change to the UDP is that you can get two drinks at a time now instead of one. For what that's worth.