CRUIS4ME

On Feb 25th Viva cruise. Having a discussion with our tour guide in BVI as our itinerary and cruise mapper says we will be in port in Tortola from 7am until 4pm. Our tour guide checked with BVI port schedule…local…who says we are in port from 8am till 5pm. Can you recall the times you were in port for Tortola? And…can anyone tell me their itinerary times for their port visit to BVI? Thanks

Just an update. No win here. Wrote NCL Pres and Ms Katty Byrd with email printout screen shots of the selection and dbl point promo with my booking. Never heard back. The “NCL “cruise consultant” Jacob Toledo was useless and could care less as no reply from two phone calls and one email to him. Finally got a customer care rep who worked with two supervisors and they insist the date I picked to book was not on their list. I’m just done with this experience. Now just figuring if I’ll keep the booking or not….ho hum.

Wow…..I thought I had an isolated situation. It seems I have been a victim of the booking promotion scheme. Something told me to screen shot the 6 Jan email, the sailings that were included in the promo, etc. My invoice booking promo codes did not show the dbl pts code. Called several numbers, talked to five people from reservations and Latitude, customer care, the “personal consultant” listed on the email….all to no avail. They only go by “their list” of which marketing changed the sailings listed on 6 Jan email. Just wrote a letter and put email and screen shots enclosures to Mr Herrera and Ms Katty Byrd. Lots of documentation and paper that probably won’t be read. Thanks for posting above experiences as I now know I’m not daffy.

Thx. I am working on trying to get customer care to Give me an invoice that indicates the double points promotion under which I booked the cruise. However, they have deleted the cruise now and the care gal couldn’t verify the promotion. But I took screen shots of the latitude offer and the second page with dates of the cruise dates and price. I had to send a latitudes post cruise inquiry even though it is precruise. So waiting to see how this turns out as I sent them the screen shots also.

Thanks….will have to call them.

Just booked dbl pts promotion. Looked at invoice. Do not see double points latitude reward but there is LATREW*. Will that be confirmation of the double points? OR should I call? Hmmmm

It may end up to how frequently one cruises, loyalty to a brand, and how much pre investment one is willing to make. Not one answer fits all….happy cruising.

We took NCL Baltic cruise this past summer on the Dawn. It is a fabulous itinerary! Almost a different port everyday in a different country. Ship was our transportation and nightly abode. Then we hopped over to Southampton and took the Prima from England to Iceland. Again…wonderful itinerary. Prima is not a lot of fun as it is a ship with a lot of outdoor spaces and in the colder climates we’re not useable. So either of these cruises offer great opportunities to see and experience different countries. If you are hoping for a wonderful ship experience…using pools, theater, sun decks, etc….then I recommend choosing somewhere else.

We cruise with Royal and NCL. We try to plan a year out. This past summer, I purchased a Cruise First certificate before we went on our two NCL cruises. We talked to the Cruise Next folks extensively gathering information and analyzing how to spend our dollars to our best advantage. They will not combine a Cruise first certificate with a cruise next certificate for a booking. Since we had already invested $250 we could not understand why we would want to buy four $250 cruise next certificates only to use two of them on a booking, have two for a future booking, and still not be able to use the Cruise first certificate…and it would tie up about 1K of our funds on a cruise we may or may not take this next year. We booked our next cruise, applied the $500 from the $250 cruise first certificate and kept our 1K in our pockets. I am not sold on NCL’s cruise next program at all.

Upon arriving in Reykjavik, we had an overnight stay on the ship and added an extra day to our vacation. We reserved a rental car which was near the port and took a taxi to pick it up. We used our rental car for a diy day and then Kept the car overnight in the port parking area. Next day we disembarked, had the car to put suitcases in, drove to hotel then used the rest of the day for continued site seeing. Worked well. Easy to drive in Iceland.

Was on the Dawn for last summers Baltic cruise. The port visits were the incentive for us - certainly not the ship. Won’t be sailing on her again unless there is a great itinerary. Really was only transportation and sleeping quarters for us.

We ended at Palm Beach area for a catamaran excursion and it was tough getting a taxi back as we had to walk to a resort…there were none lined up…but the resort called one for us. I’m thinking the transfer from ship is probably best for us this time.

We used a shuttle. We caught the shuttle outside the port terminal. Cross the street and on the left corner, a line formed to get tickets and catch the shuttle. Recommend get off ship immediately and try to be in the first bus that departs. Coming back, recommend to catch shuttle by three o’clock. It’s a 45 min trip.

The day we had free before the cruise out of Southampton, we took the train to Salisbury and picked up the Stonehenge HoHo bus. We were there by 9:30. Great option…good day! Completely doable. After Stonehenge we hopped off in Salisbury where we went to the cathedral. Magnificent! They were practicing for a Handel concert and we lucked out with the music playing in the cathedral. Saw the Magna Carte which was a key stop for us. Went to a couple pubs and walked to a mini flea market. Took a taxi back to train station and was back in Southampton by five o’clock!

Just returned from Iceland. We rented a car through Reykjavik Cars and took a taxi to the Blue Car rental about 2 miles from port. Picked up at port and returned to airport. Took out all insurance options. Easy Peasy! Noticed Enterprise had a car rental near port also.

Just returned from Baltic and Norway/Iceland cruises. In 13 countries 20 ports….everyone took credit card as most were cashless. Even paid for potty entry with credit card. Had some Euros we used in restaurants as we decided….amazingly no need for dollars or money conversions.

Thanks for the tips. I checked our two cruises for June and price went down. Called and will have FCC email in a few days. Otherwise, would have kept thinking after final payment, nothing could be done.

I believe, If traveling outside US, Tricare for life won’t cover medical.

What ports?

We will be in at thomas from 7 to 4 in January. I want a snorkel trip and trying to find which beach, bay, etc. there are trips to Bick Island Refuge, there are trips to snorkel with turtles and stop at Honeymoon Beach. Seems like 3.5 hours is the usual time….a couple are four hours. I would like to know recommendations for a snorkel tour that will hit the highlights for and turtle watching….

We will be in at thomas from 7 to 4 in January. I want to book a snorkel trip and trying to find which beach, bay, etc. there are trips to Buck Island Refuge; there are trips to snorkel with turtles and stop at Honeymoon Beach. Seems like 3.5 hours is the usual time….a couple are four hours. I would like to know recommendations for a snorkel tour that will hit the highlights for and turtle watching….

I also like brewed tea. Rather than a glass container, I just bring my tea bags and gently place them in a water bottle and set the water bottles out on the balcony…or I guess near the window would work. Once they are brewed, I put in the fridge cooler and ask the stateroom attendant to please give me ice twice a day…. I do bring my insulated drink glass with top and straw. Walla….

It’s a fun food fest. We enjoy the atmosphere, presentation and taste. We went twice last cruise because it is fun.

Levant Solmaz gave a wonderful thorough tour for us…he does small groups 10-12 and managed the bookings individually so no one had to collect info…fabulous tour guide.

Regarding MTD. In my opinion, main dining room was fine to good. I definitely booked dining times ahead. I would look at the port, where we were, and what time all aboard was. I then set dinner according to what we were doing at each port. I allowed about an hour to get showered, etc if sail time was about 6 ….so dinner would be about 7. hope that helps. Israeli entry form. Form is available ten days before entry into Israel. The reservation/booking number of your cruise is the number to use for their form. Once you get the paper ticket form from passport entry, that covers both ports in Israel.