DarkJedi

3 hours ago, purpleally said:

okay, never mind. I understand now

So what was the answer? Mass chaos?

They are responsible for everything food, except actual cooking, in every place you eat. From fine dining to room service. You may see them standing around calmly but chances are they are just taking a breather running from one incident to another.

Sadly, due to allergies, we get to meet every one on all our cruises. Some are good, some not so good. On Costa we had the best even though he spoke almost ZERO English. He stopped by for every dinner, in the dining venue and the specialty restaurant, to make sure DW got the right food. He also introduced her to two servers who worked the buffet and when they saw her one of them would come over and assist her with picking food.

7 hours ago, complawyer said:

dont be a chump. ncl clearly indicates drones are on the do not bring aboard list. if you briung it, theyll take it away, and youre outthe drone.

You mean like dive knives, spearguns, and other items that people bring on board and security holds for them to use on port days?

I have even taken firearms on board for use in port, never had an issue with security storing items and giving them to me for use during the cruise. Although I will admit I pre-planned the firearm with the head of security before the cruise so as to avoid any issues on that one, and had to do all the cleaning prior to returning to ship.

9 hours ago, laurabegorrah said:

 

It's the opposite for me - I love aft, but most ships, trying to find a room that is not directly below the buffet or directly above the theatre can sometimes be challenging.  With food in front, many more room opportunities open up for me!

True, you do get a less noisy aft that way. But I never really found it an issue with noise. The only ship that I disliked aft balconies on was the Jewel, and that was because for some reason the ash from the stacks tends to get blown back on to the balcony.

The place will be packed quickly. Keep an eye on your time and you should be good, it is maybe 15 minute walk to most of the docks?

Epic buffet is in the front. Which is really annoying when you like aft balconies....

Odd that they would say 2 pieces of luggage and my wife and I just got 6 tags for the two of us????

I would order a replacement passport on general principle.

However I can't think of any Carib countries that will prevent you from day visits on a cruise ship for passport issues like that.

And the US will allow you back up to the last day without issue.

We have Aqua Marine booked for our next cruise, since they go out by boat and not a beach dive it should be much easier than a shore dive. Diving from a boat means the captain can pick the best spots based on the current weather and sea conditions.

If you really enjoyed your discover scuba though, I would suggest getting certified. Many more options, and less money. For the Discovery at AM you get pool instruction and 1 dive for $140, as a certified diver you get 2 dives for $120.

On 2/8/2020 at 8:16 PM, reeinaz said:

Thanks for giving me things to consider. I think it will be great to have options that I equally enjoy. I definitely want to dive enough to make the time and expense of getting certified worth it. I also know that I will need to become much more experienced to enjoy the more interesting dive sites, so will need to take that into consideration also.

I'm going to call BS on the experience for more interesting sites. One of my favorite dive sites in the world is Pumpkin Patch in Nassau, shallow, easy current, beautiful corals, lots of fish, and I have never dove there and not had sharks (my favs).

As for getting experience, just let any dive operator know your experience and comfort levels and you will be fine. They set things based on the lowest experience/comfort level and many dive operators run more than one boat to separate newer divers from more experienced divers. And operations of shops also run differently, some require all divers to stay with the guide so they can keep track of everyone, others let you fend for yourself. Make certain you know which type of dive shop you are booking.

The other thing I will mention, get certified AT HOME. Do your online classes and find a local or semi-local dive shop to do pool and open water cert with. During classes you are mostly paying attention to your instructor and all your gear (breathing, keeping track of air, looking at depth gauges, ect.) and not really enjoying your dive. Don't waste valuable vacation and enjoyment time to do these things.Doing them in a lake or quarry may be boring, but you are there for class. This way when you do hit the Carib, you can spend all your time enjoying the dive and not going over skills.

We love the Epic, especially the Thermal Spa.

A balcony gives you plenty of time looking at the sea, and the spa actually has most of it co-ed so DW and I can be there and spend time together.

As for the bathroom, didn't really find it that difficult to use.

Destination first, then ship.

For us the ship serves as a taxi service and place to sleep. We do want some amenities, but don't need much on the ship.

We are all about port time and seeing new places/doing new things. Our next cruise in March we will be diving in every single port. Then we will decide which islands to go back to to spend a few days diving and sight seeing.

I am a little confused by your wording and want to make sure I understand correctly:

You booked the cabin and then NCL upgraded you to an OA. Then you bid, won, and PAID NCL for the upgrade.

Now they have put you in a lower class room than your original booking?

8 hours ago, TPgal said:

Setting your OBC math aside personally, I would book enough SDP to cover the sea days, and the last night on the ship.   I like to have a reason to be somewhere on sea days and like to cap off the cruise with a 'special' dinner on the last night.  

 

You might consider the night of the canal transit as well.  Once the sun goes down there isn't much to see and people will have been "busy" all day getting their moment at the windows/on deck, so having a place to land for dinner where you don't have to elbow others might be nice.

 

It sounds like a wonderful adventure, have fun.

Same plan we use for determining our meal plans.

When on board we eat almost exclusively by the ding plan or the buffet. And on sea days that means a LOT of grazing if there aren't set meal plans for us. OK, for me, DW isn't such an issue.

1 hour ago, Pauser said:

I understand your disappointment, but this seems like the smartest decision. It also doesn't force people to give up their paid-off cruises out of concern for their health. Hopefully the Coronavirus will be resolved/contained before the end of the year, but this seems proactive and in everyone's best interest.  

I agree with it being the smart decision, but until December seems excessive. That would mean the outbreak lasted twice as long as the next longest modern outbreak, and most likely would be a worldwide pandemic leading to total global collapse by that point.

You can also try Adobe Premiere Elements. Should be pretty easy to white balance and maintain. Do keep in mind that as the camera goes up and down in the water the balance changes and will need to be adjusted.

When you get out of bed put the camera in the bed under the covers. This will warm the camera up without a lot of moisture and should keep it at a decent temp until you take it out of the room. If you keep the room really cold, after it warms up under the blanket put it outside (balcony) wrapped in a towel.

Resort casual is excepted, you may see someone get a pass dressed down a bit, and you will see people dressed up. But most will be resort casual from what we have seen, and that included a transpacific where we ate at Cagney's alot.

I'm biased as a diver, so keep that in mind.

There really isn't much reason for me to snorkel, anywhere, at any time, if I can dive. Like Dive Master, my wife and I both have folding snorkels in case we need them, or if we get a chance to jump in the water with dolphin, whales, or other fun critters between dives, or can't dive by law.

Went snorkeling in Alaska in 2018, drank more water than I care to remember because I simply kept forgetting that I was not breathing from a tank and kept dropping below snorkel height to see things closer/better.

8 hours ago, MisterX88 said:

The NCL Joy is sailing the Mexican Riviera (Cabo San Lucas, Puerto Vallarta, and Mazatlan) and the rules are similar to the US. The maps look like it's good to fly close to the areas where the ship docks. My drone is under 250g so no need to register in Mexico or in the US.

Just a side note because of all the people discussing that you should not bring it because it is a prohibited item on the ship: so are dive knives, spearguns, and firearms, all of which I have brought on to cruise ships and left with security until I requested them for different ports. To say nothing of alcohol, scented candles, and power strips, which are often smuggled on to cruise ships.

Just because you can't have it on the ship, does not mean that you can not have it for your vacation.

12 hours ago, Hopes4 said:

 

None of the on board credit from Priceline will be there.  Travel agencies don't usually purchase the credit until the last minute.

I would call Price Line and see what their intentions are regarding the new limitations.

I agree completely. This isn't an NCL issue, Priceline sold it with the OBC, they need to honor it.

Check with each country before travel to see what is required for drone usage. You don't want to be stuck with a $5k USD fine for illegally using your drone.

Pack it in a hard case, Pelican makes several good ones.

Identify it for security and explain that you will be using it in the different ports. They will store it slightly different so that they can get to it, it will not be considered "contraband" but it will not be treated gently.

I have never had an issue traveling with ship prohibited items that I planned on using ashore, as long as security knows you are working with them they tend not to be jerks about making sure you have your items for shore time.

I'll second this reminder.

Soap and water also washes everything off of your hands. Sanitizers kill most, but not all, things but still leave anything on your hands on your hands.

Grand Turk ask for "Meat" as a dive guide.

I know this sounds strange but we got the advice from here, got in a taxi and said we were looking for him and the driver took us right to the resort he was working at.

There are actually a couple of different dive operations on Nassau, although Stuart's is the largest and best known. They dive only the southern side of the island and have several famous dive sites as they are tied in to the movie industry.

Very good operation and do recommend them. When we have stayed on Nassau to dive we use them, almost every dive will have sharks. If you are a more advanced diver and comfortable with being a bit "away" from the crowd, let your DM know that you will be on the edges. You still have to stay with the group, but they won't hassle you about staying in a clump as long as they know you are diving safely. I've let them know I was dropping down in the Tongue and they have just waved bye and checked that I was OK when I floated back up and it was no big deal, they just need to know where you are and that you are safe.