beastlet

Funny, I think the experience is cheapened because I can't get what I like to eat. The current Haven menu doesn't have a single appetizer I like, and the only dessert I like is plain ice cream or sorbet. I shouldn't have to go to the main dining room to get things I enjoy, they should be willing to bring them to me.

My experience was similar. First Haven cruise on the Breakaway they did any special request. They gave me pretzel bread at dinner every night because they saw I loved it the one time I went to lunch and had it, and they did it without me even asking. Same for creme brulee for dessert, I said how much I liked them in a conversation without asking for it and every night after that one appeared at dinner. On the Joy, I asked for pretzel bread at dinner every night and it was like I had asked for something totally unreasonable. I asked for creme brulee and again was treated like I was being an unreasonable PITA. It depends on the management of the restaurant, whether they are good and about service or if they suck. In the Haven, for how much extra you are paying these requests should be fulfilled without a qualm.

You can order only the turf. Or double turf. Or the turf with mac & cheese. My mom orders a lobster tail (or two) with every dinner, no matter what entree she gets. The one thing that makes that static menu work is that you can do anything you want with what's on it.

For $350 I would have done it. When we're going it's almost $600! For a Hampton Inn. I've already been to Boston, so am not interested in sight-seeing. When we went, many many years ago, it was much cheaper!

It's one night, we'll Uber Eats something if we need to. Not like we'll be short of food on a cruise. 🤣 I was sort of okay in a resigned way with the $300, but most of the hotels I was finding were $500+. Some over $1k. That's more than we're paying per night for the cruise, and that includes a lot of stuff beyond a bed.

Update: I got a room at the airport Hampton Inn for $312 total, and that includes a breakfast in case we want something to munch on in the morning. It also includes a free shuttle from the airport, so we'll only have to pay for one Uber ride to the cruise terminal. Despite being a long time HHonors member, the best rate I found was booking through Southwest Airlines website. The best deal I could get through the Hilton website was $352.

We are flying in. I am willing to stay further out and uber in to the port assuming the Uber doesn't add $200. I did find a hotel for $330 total, which is painful to say that is a "good" price, but I did book it. It's just annoying to pay that much essentially for a bed for the night. A Hampton Inn, our usual go-to for cheap hotel stays was almost $600.

Can anyone recommend something relatively cheap for the night before a cruise leaving from Boston, staying October 3, 2024 for a cruise leaving on the 4th? The cost for the hotel rooms I can find are 5% of the cost of our cruise, and that's staying in the Haven on Norwegian.

Some ports requires passport inspection all all people on the cruise. The cruise line collects all the passports and keeps them. Sao Tome is such a place. When in places that don't require this, I'm not sure what the deal is. This is why I always bring a photocopy of my passport on all excursions, in case of any problems.

You know this is BS since this was a tender port. Never was a gangway.

That's why they took an official ship excursion and not some dodgy private tour.

This was years ago, before the Ukraine invasion.

You overestimate the attention span of the public. In 5 minutes there will be another story and everyone except cruisegeeks like us will have forgotten this. Remember a few years ago, a family all over the news because they hadn't bought the cruise insurance and their kid was diagnosed with leukemia and they couldn't make the cruise and wanted their money back or a credit? All over the news. I bet very few people remember it now., And same situation. Family thinks they're special and should get a special exemption when they chose not to buy the insurance and instead took the risk. Their child being diagnosed with leukemia was sad and tragic, but isn't different than if their child had gotten appendicitis which is less sad, less tragic, but also would have made them miss the cruise.

Assuming this story is true, which I have my suspicions about, do you really think NCL is going to take the liability of people crossing from a vessel not designed to merge with the ship, onto the ship? Or should the unseal everything and re-lower a tender for people who couldn't follow clear directions about when to be back?

Yes, and how were they going to get onto the ship? Someone earlier in the thread posted a video of how the harbor pilot has to jump to a rope ladder from the boat to the ship. People who according to these sob story news stories are all older and disabled? If one of them fell into the ocean, that would be a real lawsuit.