Andy&Mary

On 7/1/2022 at 10:56 AM, HicksRA said:

Got this email today and figured it was relevant:

Note the phone number.. 😆

 

So, I received this same email on Friday and within 3 hours I logged in to Cruise Planner.  The Barefoot Beach cabanas were showing (had not been before) but all showed that they were Sold Out.  I then called the number on the email and the agent said they were Sold Out and I should check when I board. Our sailing is in December 2022. Should I wait to contact the concierge closer to sailing or go ahead and book a Nellie's Beach cabana so that I'm guaranteed to have one? 

Great pictures, thanks for sharing!

About 10 days ago, I submitted a bid on a cruise leaving in 2 weeks and then I went back in on Sunday and increased it slightly.  Today, some people in my roll call said they got another email about bidding.  Out of curiosity, I went back to see if I could increase my bid.  It is still showing as "Pending" but I can't edit it.  Does that mean they may be in the process of accepting it?

wait... breaking news, DH said there is a new pending charge on the cc.

thanks!

I'm booked in suite for next month and 4 perks were not showing online or on my original receipt (but I had captured screenshots during the reservation process).  I called and she said I did have all 4 perks.  She sent me a new invoice/receipt with them all listed but they still don't all show on the website.

We had the opposite situation on our overnight in Maui... we got off the ship at about 2am to go to sunrise on Haleakala.  Tender was running only every hour, but that was quite a few years ago so timing may be different now.

Hope you have a great trip!! - following for updates.  Booked with DH for September to Bermuda.  Almost booked RS but opted for CS instead. My last time on X was on Summit in 2012 and I had a CS with my 2 sisters.

I was reviewing my e-docs for a December cruise and the list of prohibited items now seems to include curling irons and hair dryers.

https://www.ncl.com/prohibited-items

Current text of #21:

"Items brought on board the vessel and not supplied by the Company containing any kind of heating element, such as but not limited to: immersion heaters, heating blankets, flat irons, curling irons, hair dryers, water heaters, coffee machines with heating/hot plates, etc."

As referenced in a post above, the text from August did not include curling irons or hair dryers.

"Items brought on board the vessel and not supplied by the Company containing any kind of heating element, such as but not limited to: immersion heaters, heating blankets, flat irons, water heaters, coffee machines with heating/hot plates, etc."

Are there any recent/current cruisers that have been able to bring their own hair irons/dryers?

Based on a lot of positive reviews on the ports board, booked the day at Maya Chan for mid-December.

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First time on NCL coming up in early December (Panama Canal). Excursions have been slowly appearing, but still nothing for Gatun Lake. I keep checking every day.

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Any feedback from cruisers that have been to Nim Li Punit Mayan Ruins?

We are also stopping at Costa Maya so I was wondering if someone who has been to both would have a recommendation between Nim Li Punit and Chacchoben?

thanks!

Would you consider HAL or Celebrity if you are really looking to just chill?

 

 

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Have sailed Celebrity 7 or 8 times and HAL once. They are very similar and I have really enjoyed all my cruises on them. Only cruise I ever felt really overwhelmed with people (and kids) was RCCL Explorer of the Seas, 9-day over Thanksgiving.

Booked on first NCL cruise for December (Jade).

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Loved Curacao, Grenada, Dominica, and St Kitts. Agree with revious post, Aruba and Bonaire are very dry but Klein Bonaire had amazing snorkeling. After cruise to ABC islands, we decided we prefer the tropical islands over the drier ones. I don't think you could go wrong on either itinerary :-)

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A couple of years ago we had the same dilemma on RCL. Instead we booked private kayak tour through the mangroves near Port Canaveral. Very good time, saw lots of birds, dolphins. Manatees are common but we didn't get to see them that day.

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There have been quite a few posts on here lately regarding changes to itineraries. I get the impression from many peoples comments that they see these changes as being rare, but in my experience, that is far from the case.

 

Perhaps it is something that happens more in Europe, but we have been affected by itinerary changes quite often.

 

There have been some recent changes to cruises, which are slightly less common in that they fall after the period where people have started booking flights etc. However, whilst that is less common, it does happen.

 

I will say that changes are not always a bad thing. Actually, most of ours have resulted in a better result for us than we originally booked. However, it would be good if NCL just got the itineraries right in the first place.

 

Anyway, I've just had a brief look through my past cruises to try to demonstrate how often itinerary changes can happen. Obviously, my experience isn't the same as others, but I think it does show what can happen and may show people that some caution is always required when booking cruises a long way in advance.

 

I'm looking at a total of 17 cruises, including the ones that we have booked for this year.

 

Of these, 7 went ahead exactly as they were booked. This is less than half of them.

 

A further 2 had changes during the cruise itself due to weather. On both of these occasions, a port was missed.

 

3 had changes to ports made before we cruised, but the dates and embarkation ports have stayed the same.

 

We have had 2 complete cancellations. We received notification of both over a year before the cruise itself, and on both occasions we were extremely satisfied with the changes we negotiated with NCL, getting a better deal than we could have got had we booked the replacement directly.

 

The remaining three cruises were ones where the embarkation or disembarkation ports have changed. It is probably a concern that all three of these were planned for this year, which does suggest that this may be an increasing problem.

 

Of these three, we accepted the new itinerary on one, transferred to another date on the second and cancelled the third. The first two changes happened over a year before the cruise date, so again there was no problem with flights. We were lucky with the third one (the Epic this October) in that we were probably going to cancel anyway and would have lost our deposit if it wasn't for the changes, but some people who were booked on it had flights arranged.

 

Another of these changes was due to the disembarkation port being Istanbul. I can see the reasoning behind that decision.

 

Perhaps the biggest concern is the number of cruises like the Jade Summer 2017 itineraries, where NCL appeared to announce and sell them, and then had second thoughts and changed everything around. The Epic winter itineraries for 2016/17 were similar. It really would be better if they got it right first time.

 

As I am based in Europe, these changes are not a great problem for us, and we have done quite well out of them, but I think it's important for people flying from other places in the world to appreciate the risks involved in booking early, and especially with arranging flights etc too far in advance.

KeithJenner,

Were all of those changes on NCL? I've been on 11 cruises in about 15 years and had only 1 slight time change in a port and 2 skipped private islands due to weather. Generalky book 6 minths to 12 months before cruise.

Have my first cruise booked on NCL in December partial transit PC. Should I be worried?

Thanks

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I have been looking at The Haven Owner's Suite with Large Balcony (eg, 10004) on Gem. I have seen pictures and multiple videos that show the curtain between the bedroom and the living area. Is there a sliding door there too? Trying to see if someone watching TV in one room would disturb someone in the other room. Thanks for the help!

Mary

Hi Tim - great comments on the cruise and I'm glad your A/C issues were finally resolved!

We were on the cruise too. We were in RFS 8584 and the size of the room and aft balcony were awesome! We loved the Concierge Lounge and Francis (concierge) and Desak (bartender/server)!! Only complaints on the room were the lack of outlets, a couple of drawers were starting to fall apart, and the master nightstand drawer and 2 closets did not have magnets. With the rough seas out of Nassau, there was a lot of banging until I used 3 pillows to block everything closed! We found the mattresses to be thin and the beds are low to the ground. It was noticeable but didn't bother us overly. (They were the same in both bedrooms.)

We ate lunch at Izumi on the last day and it was delicious. Food in the Windjammer (buffet) and dining room was excellent and we felt almost everything was better than our cruise 11 months ago on Celebrity Summit. All desserts were exceptional. Our waiters were much better than on Summit as well (Richard and Cyrus, table 327).

As expected, the public areas and Centrum look brand new and wonderful after the revitalization. I prefer the smaller ships (~2,000 passengers), however we found the public areas frequently very crowded and small for the number of passengers on this ship. For example, in order to see one of the aerial shows in the Centrum, we arrived an hour in advance and found chairs on Deck 5. With no bar or servers on that level, we walked to Deck 4 (R Bar) for drinks. Thankfully we had the Concierge Lounge and our own balcony for quieter times.

As Tim mentioned, disembarking in Key West was difficult. Scheduled for 10-6, we understand weather conditions that shortened the stop, but when it takes until almost noon to go through customs and take the trolley to town, RCCL shouldn't advertise the port arrival time as 10:00am. At the Captain's Q&A on the last day, they admitted there were issues with the process and were going to make changes for the next cruise.

I'll try to answer any other questions.

Mary

Hi Tim!

I fear I won't fit in.... although kids in the 80's we're bringing our modern gear (digital cameras, droids, ipad for emergency work e-mails, and a new go-pro)! I think Rosanna may fit in though with a Blackberry that looks like it will quickly become a relic of another age.

If you had given me some advance notice, I could have brought a couple of early 1970's HP calculators for determining appropriate tips, discounts, and how much to spend on your next cruise when combining all of the applicable specials and obc offers.

:)

Mary (with Cara and Rosanna)

Great pictures! We were on the Summit in December and absolutely loved Qsine! Much better than Normandie where we had disinterested service and good, but not excellent, food. (I'm comparing Normandie to all of the other specialty restaurants on the M-class ships)

It is VERY easy to take taxis between MIA and the Port of Miami. If I remember correctly, the fare is about $24 plus tip.

Yes, I saw this figure quoted when I searched the board for this same information. Some cruisers had also posted links to shuttle services, but those were ~ $18 per person, I think.