junglejane

@raven72 The NCL website says: My cruise arrives/departs from Quebec City, Canada. Why are my flights booked to arrive/depart from Montreal (YUL), Canada? As a result of limited flight availability into Quebec, guests embarking or disembarking in Quebec City may be booked on flights arriving or departing from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL). Ground transportation is available at the same cost from Montréal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport (YUL) or Québec City Jean Lesage International Airport airports. https://www.ncl.com/air-service-standards

We've had this happen whenever we book through AA on BA flights. But we've never had a problem checking in or boarding.

@julig22 What you say makes perfect sense to me and I'm sure that for many situations the Montreal airport location is not a problem. What caused us problems was that we were doing a 3 day post cruise hotel stay in Quebec. That meant that we couldn't take advantage of post cruise excursions to Montreal or the shuttle they had going from the dock at disembarkation to the Montreal airport. Plus NCL Air gave us a morning departure time from the Montreal airport that would've been problematic to make from our Quebec hotel. Again, it was our fault for not studying the terms & conditions. Lesson learned.

I was one of those people posting last year about my NCL Air. We were on a Boston-Quebec cruise and booked under a BOGO promo. I freely admitted I hadn't carefully read all the Terms & Conditions and had no one to blame but myself. My only excuse was that this was a first time on NCL for me and I was used to Princess EZAir which gives you a lot more transparency and control. The fact that it was $249 total should've made me realize it was too good to be a desirable itinerary! The air itinerary didn't come out until about 60 days prior to the cruise. The flight from Phoenix to Boston was a red eye with a connection at O'Hare at about 4 am. The return was a nonstop but it was from Montreal. Because we were doing a post cruise extension in Quebec, the NCL arranged bus to the Montreal airport was not an option. They had us on a 9:00 am flight out of Montreal but were on our own to get there.from our hotel in Quebec. We ended up just eating the $249 and booking our own air. I would be very hesitant to use NCL Air again due to the lack of control. We are booked on the NCL Sun next year in Japan, and will book our own air.

If you are there by 6:00 you should be first in line.

@Heartgrove @May B Any further thoughts on the itinerary change for the Octanis? I posted the revised itinerary above.

Day Original Itinerary Revised Itinerary Day 1 Thunder Bay, Ontario Thunder Bay, Ontario Day 2 Thunder Bay, Ontario Thunder Bay, Ontario Day 3 Duluth, Minnesota McGarvey's Shoal Day 4 Bayfield, Wisconsin Silver Islet, Ontario Day 5 Houghton, Michigan Duluth, Minnesota Day 6 Soo Locks Scenic Transit Soo Locks Scenic Transit Day 7 Mackinac Island, Michigan Mackinac Island, Michigan Day 8 Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee, Wisconsin

I have friends booked on Octanis 7/7/23 Thunder Bay, Ontario to Milwaukee, WI. They were just notified that: "there have been itinerary adjustments due to expected inclement weather at ports Bayfield, Wisconsin and Houghton, Michigan." McGarvey's Shoal and Silver Islet, Ontario have been substituted. And comments on why that would make that adjustment so far in advance?

OP here. I think @casofilia summed it up best. Cheap fares mean more troubles. Our BOGO fare was $249. We should've read all the terms & conditions more thoroughly. In the end, we decided to write off the $249 and book our own flights in both directions. When I asked NCL about cancelling and just forfeiting the $249, they wanted to charge us a cancellation fee on top of forfeiting the fare. I can't recall the exact amount but it was around $75 pp. So they wanted us to pay them an additional $150 for being polite enough to notify them we wouldn't be flying on those flights. The CSR also acknowledged that if we just "no showed" that nothing would happen beyond forfeiting what we had already paid. So that's what we did. We received reminders from the airlines to check in to our flights but we just disregarded them. Meanwhile. my brother and SIL flew on their NCL-booked red-eye to BOS. They were so tired when they got to their hotel that they checked in early and went to sleep until dinner time. So no sightseeing in Boston for them on arrival day. They booked a different flight for their return home in order to fly out of Quebec instead of Montreal. So they only forfeited their return flights. Like us, they didn't formally cancel their NCL return flights because NCL would've charged them a cancellation penalty.

Just FYI, I'm booked on a Panama canal full transit on the Viking Star in October 2023. I contacted Viking to ask about which locks. I was told that they will always use the old locks if possible, but they cannot guarantee it because the final say is in the hands of the local authorities and is only determined shortly before the actual transit. Basically, my understanding is that a ship that can fit through the old locks will always prefer it because it is cheaper, and will only use the new locks if required to do so due to traffic conditions.

That's why I wondered about OP checking the credit card used to see if it provides any Trip Delay coverage. On a land trip a couple years ago we missed our connection in Philly due to weather and had to stay overnight at the airport Marriott. We made a claim on the insurance coverage provided by our credit card (the one used to pay for our flights) and ultimately got reimbursed for the hotel stay and a couple meals. We had to provide a bunch of receipts and we submitted some news articles about the weather delays causing the flight cancellations.

I'm confused as to why this wasn't covered under the AON Trip Delay coverage. You say it was in the "fine print" but did they explain what part of the policy language they were relying on? And as @dog suggested, check to see if the credit card you used for payment has Trip Delay coverage (I believe this is Trip Delay not Trip Interruption, but I'm certainly not an expert). Maybe look at the credit card you used to pay for the hotel room you couldn't use? Trip Delay generally requires that the delay be for a minimum defined amount of time and for a covered reason for the delay (like weather, stolen documents etc).

Amen to this! My kids are now 22 and 26. They started cruising when they were 4 and 8. The first night of the first cruise (Caribbean Princess) they learned with excitement that they could order off the adult menu. I remember my 4 year old with a prime rib that was so big it hung over the edge of the plate, and she enthusiastically polished off every last bite. After that they never looked back and loved trying out new foods in a low stress situation where Mom and Dad wouldn't freak out that they'd ordered an expensive appetizer and didn't finish it.

Maybe that is happening sometimes, but it wasn't the case when my D booked on 11/1. She and her fiance deposited on a 7-day Med cruise in Sept 2023 on the Enchanted Princess and had no problem booking a Deluxe Balcony for 2. (This is the cruise where the fiance wants to cancel and go on a land trip for their honeymoon, which is probably what they will do.)

One of the points I was trying to make is that there's a difference between a 7-day "beach and sun" type of cruise (Caribbean, Mexican Riviera) vs a longer (10+ days) port intensive cruise. On the longer, port intensive cruise I think the choice is often driven much more by price, itinerary and timing with amenities like waterslides etc maybe being a tie-breaker. And for families with kids who have busy schedules even in the summer, sometimes the available window of travel dates is pretty restricted. So you find yourself narrowing it down to just a few choices before you even start looking at onboard amenities.

Families are not one size fits all. Not everyone wants their cruise vacation filled with waterslides, etc. Also, there are different types of cruises. Especially for a port intensive cruise, you're less likely to care about that stuff when there aren't many sea days and you're off the ship all day. We took our kids on about 16 cruises when they were between 4-18. Only one was on RCL, 10 on Princess, 4 on Celebrity and 1 Cunard. We did 2 Mediterranean cruises, 1 British Isles, 1 Baltic, 1 Alaska, 1 crossing on the QM2, with the rest Mexican Riviera or Caribbean. Has anyone else noticed a resistance to cruising among young adults due to environmental concerns, missing out on local night life, and a general feeling it's "uncool." My D is planning her honeymoon and they initially put down a deposit on a Med cruise during the Love Boat sale, but her fiance wants to cancel and do a land trip for those reasons I just mentioned.

Is Princess still moving people to quarantine cabins these days, or having them quarantine in their own staterooms? (I'm asking more as general policy than about the Majestic specifically).

This is so true. We took an NCL cruise in September with a BOGO air promo. $249 for 2 people to fly PHX-BOS and then home from Quebec. I failed to carefully read the fine print -- and as @FlyerTalker says you have to read both the promo terms and the regular T&C for NCL air. The outbound flight was a red-eye connecting at ORD, and the return flight was from Montreal and we were on our own to get to Montreal from Quebec because we'd done a deviation. If I had carefully read the fine print I would've realized this would happen because both possibilities (red-eye for a West to East flight) and return flight from Montreal, were disclosed. My fault for not looking. Never again. PS - We had a good experience with Princess EZ Air where we paid for business class.

I have no problem with the sentiments expressed in OP's original post. I do think it should've been titled differently because it was specifically about Virgin Voyages vs Princess. The title made it sound like it was a more general comment about comparing to other lines. Princess is our "default" preferred line. In Sept 2022 we went on an NCL Canada/NE cruise because we were invited by my brother and SIL. We had a good time and I liked the greater variety of restaurant options on NCL. We had a basic balcony cabin and it was severely lacking in storage space. I do think that the fact that the ship was only at about 65% capacity probably contributed to our overall good experience. Bottom line is that I'd only go on another NCL cruise if there was some unique itinerary or I was invited by friends or relatives. We have good friends who swear by Viking Ocean, so we're going to give it a try. We booked a Panama canal full transit for October 2023. I just finished helping my DD (age 26) book a Med cruise for her honeymoon on Princess. We also looked at Celebrity because I thought it would have a better "vibe" for her age but I was surprised by how much higher the prices were (this was Enchanted Princess vs Celebrity Edge). So Princess won out.

Yikes. Imagine the library sharing the space with the Internet Cafe! I generally only go to the Internet Cafe when I need to print something, but the Internet Cafe manager is always helping several folks trouble shoot problems, and often those problems involve complicated issues where the internet aspect is only incidental such as problems with their flights home. And often the passenger is angry, frustrated or melting down. I've actually thought that being the internet manager must be one of the more challenging thankless jobs onboard.

@knagl Thanks for pointing that out. It seems like a deal killer for Carnival. I think that Princess only requires that one person in the stateroom be over 21.

Hi. I'm the parent of a transgender son. He is graduating from college in May and wants to go on a cruise as a graduation present, and take his girl friend. Son is 22 and GF is 19. Son has not done a legal name change yet (plans to do it later in summer 2023 after starting new job where they know he's trans). So all identity documents such as passport, driver license etc still show the female name. The photos are at least fairly recent. We are longtime Princess cruisers but looking at a cruise on the Carnival Panorama for him because it has the itinerary he wants (Mexican Riviera -- Puerto Vallarta, Mazatlan and Cabo). The other option is a California Coastal itinerary on Princess (San Diego, San Francisco, Ensenada). He particularly wants to go zip lining and the Mexico itinerary appeals to him more. He's been to all those ports before on past cruises with us. GF hasn't been to any of them. My impression at least of Princess is that they are LGBT friendly but haven't updated their processes to anticipate things like preferred names and pronouns. Any feedback, suggestions on this? I read the other thread about "Trans Woman on Board" but wondered if you all have other feedback for our situation. Anything we or he should be aware of, or tips to make this the most successful experience possible?

There is no PVSA problem. Cruise #1 (Seattle to Vancouver) is not a problem. Cruise #2 (Vancouver to Sydney) is not a problem. The PVSA can be violated if two cruises "add up" to a violation, but here the aggregate trip (Seattle to Sydney) is not a problem. If Cruise #2 ended in Hawaii (Vancouver to Hawaii), that would be a problem. But if Hawaii is just a port stop on a trans Pacific cruise, you are fine.

I'm checking back in to report that we decided to book the 10/24/23 Panama Canal & Pacific Coast (full transit) on Viking Star. We love the Midnight Sun itinerary and want to do it eventually, but right now the available 2024 dates aren't good for us. DH has always wanted to do a full transit Panama Canal cruise. We had one booked for 2/21 on Princess that got cancelled due to Covid. Thanks everybody for all the help! I'll be celebrating a milestone birthday on the Panama Canal cruise so that should be fun.

How can you tell whether your ship is doing the old locks? We are looking at the Viking Star 10/24/2023 full transit but can't tell.