CRUISERTN

Several years ago we used Dubai Private Tour. Website is Dubaiprivatetour dot com.  We spent several days there before a cruise and did several tours with them including one to Abu Dhabi and also arranged for them to take us to the ship on embarkation day. Would highly recommend them.  

At least the environmental officer reports to the captain and works closer with the ships operation than a gift shop manager or art auctioneer who work for other companies who are contractors.  Yes, haven’t had dinner with the  captain and senior officers  at a true captains table in years. But the spa manager is a new low.  I really like the idea of dining with a cabin steward or laundry worker - the ones who are employee of the month etc should be the ones - and they would probably really enjoy it as well.  And as one posted, you used to at least get one of the best servers at those tables.  Not any more.  
 

Another crazy change that we experienced recently on the Jewel.  In the past, top tier loyalty members were invited to dine with a ships officer.  We’ve done this quite a bit over the years and it was always a special evening, a special room in the MDR depending on the ship or a special table there and special menu.  A photographer would take a group photo and send a complimentary copy to your cabin the next day.  Always a special meal and great experience.  Recently on the Jewel, the “ship’s officers” tables were at regular tables in the MDR, same bad MDR menu, and the “officer” hosting the tables were the art auctioneer at one table, the gift shop manager at another, and the “officer” at our table was the spa manager.  Just a regular night at a regular table with a regular menu and someone hosting the table that is NOT a ships officer and merely a contract employee - what an insult to our intelligence.  Is that the way NCL now feels about their most loyal passengers?  We were shocked and could not believe how low they went on that one.  Don’t have “dinner with an officer” at all if that is the best they can do.  Same as offering a 10% discount on a future cruise as a consolation for something they cancelled while they continue to raise rates and lower quality.    Another slap in the face.  
 

Also since they raised the prices in specialty restaurants and lowered quality, they also added additional fees on top of the regular cover charge to some items that used to be included pre pandemic (ie filet mignon in LeBistro).  
 

A total decline everywhere.  

JT222-

I could not agree more.  

I have to agree with the original post that NCL has really done a nose dive since FDR left.  Or maybe it is post pandemic as well.  And I agree that all of the mass market lines have gone down a bit post pandemic. We’ve been on NCL, HAL, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Celebrity post pandemic and have seen declines on all, but NCL by far has declined the most.    And rates have gone up.  We have been cruising with NCL since 1975 and also many other lines.  NCL went downhill in early 2000’s and we stopped for a while.  When FDR took over, we tried again, and  it was  good again. Now it is horrible and we won’t be booking again.  Even after FDR took over, the weak link was always the MDR so we always ate dinner in specialty and the package prices were reasonable.   We recently were on the Jewel in Asia - first NCL post pandemic.  It was horrendous.  Quality of food and service in specialty has gone down significantly and prices for the specialty packages have more than doubled.  You used to be able to get jumbo shrimp and filet mignon in Teppanyaki and now it is small shrimp and a fatty, poor NY strip; the “filet mignon” in Cagneys is just a mediocre quality tenderloin - cabin steward was one of the worst we’ve ever had.  I can go on and on.  Guest relations onboard are trained to basically tell you there isn’t anything they can do and customer service shoreside is the same.  And, yes, Katty Byrd has others now responding to her emails.  I speak from personal experience.  Some rates on NCL are now comparable to Oceania for similar itinerary and same number of days.    I think the people who are really seeing the big decline are the ones that go way back with NCL and have seen how a once good line ( and like me remember  days of the NORWAY and when the very first specialty restaurant on any cruise line was opened - LeBistro- for a $5 cover charge) has gone down to the point that I think is beyond repair. So very sad. ☹️ We will now spend our money elsewhere.   

I used Dubaiprivatetour dot com - that’s the website -  used them 7 years ago when we spent a few days in Dubai before a cruise.  Did a full day Dubai tour one day and a day tour to Abu Dhabi another day and a few small tours around Dubai.  Also arranged for them to take us from our hotel to the ship on the day of embarkation. Enjoyed all of the tours and their services.  

Would recommend the New Grand Hotel in Yokohama.  Great hotel with lots of history and has a new wing as well as the old hotel.  Right across the street from Osanbashi pier and Chinatown is right behind it.  Also one of the airport buses that goes to Yokohama makes a stop at the New Grand but only runs certain hours. 

Would highly recommend snorkeling to Menjangan island from Celukan Bawang port.  We just returned a few days ago from a similar itinerary on Millennium - used West Bali Explorer tour company - due to ships hours in port we didn’t try to snorkel in Langkawi and did other things in Penang.  Also went to Gili islands for snorkeling from Lombok. Was very disappointed in the poor visibility at all 3 of the Gilis but found Menjangan to be a wonderful experience.  It is almost 2 hour drive each way to get to the boat and 30 min boat ride each way to Menjangan.  It was a long and tiring day but well worth it for the great snorkeling.  

We were on the Jewel 2 months ago and the cruise line did offer a “Saigon on your own” which is just the bus ride from the ship and back.  The drop off point was at the Rex hotel. 

We just returned from the Millenniim that disembarked at Benoa port.  It all depends on what time the ship gets clearance, and a few days ago we were cleared for the first groups to disembark around 7:30am.  It was very organized as far as immigration and claiming bags, but very chaotic outside the terminal. If you don’t have a ships tour or ships transfers, you have to walk with your luggage outside the bus parking area to find private pick up and taxis.  I would arrange private pick up if not doing the ships transfers.  I believe it is around 5 miles from Benoa port to the DPS airport but can take 30-45 min if a lot of traffic.  Hope this helps. 

If you are in Nha Trang I would highly recommend Hai- great guide and very good English.  He is also a rescue diver and also took us on a fabulous snorkeling tour to the marine park there.  You can message him on WhatsApp 

Yes we still plan on attending the Meet and Greet.  

We are still here - just haven’t posted in a long time.  Have been staying busy with a few land tours and just getting around to checking in again.  Looking forward to this cruise and meeting everyone. 
 

Leslie and Charlie 

The New Grand Hotel in Yokohama is a good one.  Right across from Yamashita Park and you could walk to the port if you didn’t have luggage.  A half mile short taxi ride.  Chinatown is nearby as well as train stations to go all over the area.  There is also a bus from Narita airport that makes several stops in Yokohama and the New Grand hotel is one of the stops.  You can get the info at the airport and the people selling the bus tickets are very helpful and speak English and will show you which bus to take to get there.  The bus only runs a few times a day so you would have to make sure your flight arrived in time to get the bus.  If you stay in Tokyo, allow yourself at least an hour or more depending on time of day and traffic  to get to Yokohama port by car.  Trains are easy to get there also but would be hard to navigate with luggage.  Then you would have to take a short taxi ride from the Yokohama area a train station to the port.  If you are planning to do a few day trips from Tokyo, most tours only pick up from Tokyo hotels and not Yokohama hotels.  

Just saw the announcement of James Rodriguez as the new CEO.  He sure has a lot of work ahead of him!

would love to get his email address.  I’m sure there are more than one James working there so not sure about his email address.  Does anyone have it? 

We are currently booked on the July 23 Svalbard cruise and booked a year ago.  The pre cruise experience has been horrible and yes, promises have been made but never in writing, and now the higher ups will not even return calls or emails.  If Atlss keeps up like it is, they will not last.  We have zero expectations for the onboard experience if Atlas will actually get us to the ship.  

I haven't read all of the posts, but we have not had any luck with the bidding system.  We are Discoverer Plus and when they had the old system of the $398 upgrade, we had booked several cruises way in advance and booked a balcony and were successful in getting the $398 upgrade to a continent suite.   Last year we booked a cruise for this August and booked a balcony again.  We booked the cruise 18 months in advance and felt we would have another good chance of the $398 upgrade.  We then learned months after that of the change and now the typical Royal Caribbean influence was the bidding system and LCV level would get you a "boost" but no one has EVER explained what kind of "boost" and when we asked the future booking agent onboard, he claimed it really is a "boost" but he had been sworn to secrecy as to how it works.    We receive emails from Azamara, but never got the invite to bid - I had also called upon finding out about the new bidding system and asked if those who had booked a cruise when the old $398 system was in place would be "grandfathered" in, and was told "no",  and we would have to bid.  We never received an invitation to bid, and I had to send several messages to LCV contacts and they finally sent me a link to place a bid.  We placed what they determined to be a "low" bid, and never got an upgrade.  To make matters even worse, we had friends who had booked an aft facing balcony just a few doors down from our cabin and cancelled about a month before sailing.  I called my travel agent and she called Azamara, and I also called Azamara myself to ask if we could switch to the aft cabin for what the difference was when we initially booked (approx. several hundred dollars a person) and was told "no", that we would have to pay what the price difference was at that time and it was an additional $7,000 per person just to switch from a standard balcony to an aft facing one.  I thought they were surely joking or had made a mistake, but after calling two more times we were told the same thing and needless to say we did not switch cabins.  We got an email from Azamara about 24 hours before sailing saying "sorry your bid was not accepted".   We had dinner one night with a couple who were top tier level and they had bid also but did not say what category cabin they were in before they placed a bid, and said their bid was not accepted either.  So, since the bidding system has started, I haven't known of anyone who has gotten an upgrade, regardless of their LCV status.  It seems the Royal Caribbean execs want MONEY instead of keeping loyal guests and could care less about the loyalty or LCV status and the whole "boost" thing is a joke.  Especially since no one will tell you how it works or if it really is such a thing.  We used to like to book way in advance to try to secure the $398 upgrade, but on our particular cruise we watched the price go from what we paid initially, to way up,  and finally right before sailing the price was lowered to what we paid when we booked 18 months in advance and the Inside cabins dropped drastically  to less than $100 a day and half of the people that we met were cruising with Azamara for the first time because they took advantage of the last minute price drop.  Now since the $398 offer doesn't exist any longer, and prices go up and down, if you are flexible and can travel on short notice, it doesn't give guests any incentive to book early any more, and doesn't give guests any reason to be loyal to Azamara if your LCV status really doesn't mean anything.

Is smoking allowed during the Parisien show? We want to attend the show, but do not want to be in a room full of smoke.

We loved the singers and dancers and the ballroom dancers and loved interacting with them while they were doing additional duties such as trivia etc (I laughed when I read a previous post about some of the trivia players taking the game way too seriously and almost turning the scene into a bloodbath - we have had similar experiences and ended up not going back after watching adults act like 6 year olds several times in a row - all for a tee shirt or coffee mug - LOL) - sure wish Azamara would bring back the singers and dancers - we have two upcoming cruises and hope they have reconsidered the entertainment before we cruise.

We visited Komodo on a cruise with Azamara. We did a private tour that took us to see the dragons and then a short boat ride to "pink beach" and the snorkeling there was some of the best ever!! The boat anchored not too far from the shore and there was not any current and we did not use fins - just like always, it probably depends on the time of year and weather, winds, etc. as to whether the current is strong or not. We were there in April and the weather was perfect for our day there - no wind, rain or rough water - just hot, humid and sunny - and the water felt great after walking around and sweating while seeing the dragons. You will love the snorkeling there.

We are considering Paul Gauguin - we enjoy shallow water snorkeling. Do they do any snorkeling from the platform on the back of the ship? Which itinerary would be best for shallow water snorkeling? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

I can also recommend Dora. I posted a longer review on another post above this one. Dora was prompt in replying to emails, and our guide, Mercedes, was great. The City tour covered more than what the ship's tour covered, and we had a nice, small group. I would highly recommend using Dora for a city tour in Cartagena. Our ship was only there from late morning until early afternoon, and doing the tour allowed us to see all of the sights and get back to the ship in plenty of time. Would have been very hard to do all of it going off on our own and getting back to the ship on time. We would definitely use Dora again if we get back to Cartagena.

We recently returned from a Panama Canal cruise and after reading the good reviews and learning that other cruisers on our cruise were booking with Dora, we decided to book the Cartagena City Tour with Dora. We are so glad that we did. Dora was very quick to reply to emails, and our guide was waiting for us right where she said they would be, and we had a great city tour. The cost was half of what the ship charges and we saw more sights. We saw the old city with a part driving, part walking tour, the fort and toured the monastery. She will let you customize the tour as far as how much time you want to spend at each area, and if you want to stop for shopping you can, and if not, they will not stop. Some may want to spend an hour walking through the old city and a half hour shopping and others may want to spend 30 minutes in the old city and more time shopping and at the fort, etc., - she will let you work out the amount of time to what you want during the number of hours allotted for the tour. Very informative about the area, history, etc. and while Dora was with another group, our guide, Mercedes, was friendly, knowledgeable, professional and personable. Nice, comfortable vehicles, too. I would highly recommend using Dora for a tour while in Cartagena. We were very pleased and had a very enjoyable day.

Have done the Celebrity Xpedition three times - 2006, 2011 and 2015 - they now have two additional ships but both smaller than the Xpedition - I would not do anything smaller than the 96 passenger Xpedition. A trip of a lifetime!! They have really gone up on pricing recently and now that Silversea has a similar ship, I would check both the Xpedition and Silversea and compare. I agree with others to definitely take the 10 day package if you do the Xpedition - we have been to Machu Picchu but did it with a separate Peru trip and much more economical if you do it separately and not an extension of the Galapagos trip, and you also get to see a lot more and spend more time there.

We were also on the May 2016 cruise and did the Azamazing evening and the ship's tour to Petra the next day. We were not overly impressed with the Azamazing evening as it was quite a bit of repetitive music and dancing and we were ready to leave after 15 minutes of watching the show. I wish we would have done the private tour with the dune bashing on the way to Petra and the overnight in Petra, and I would recommend to anyone to skip the azamazing evening and do the dune bashing in Wadi Rum on the way to Petra and overnight in Petra on the private tour. You will love this cruise and itinerary!!

Hi to Tony and Celia - we met you guys playing Trivia with Pat and Joe!!

Leslie