vacation luvver

"i hope as a last resort they can just accept my expired passport and my daughters birth certificate which has my place of birth on it, but I’m not holding my breath on that at all."

As many people have advised you, an expired passport will not be accepted.  I was on a cruise when I met a woman who said that she was denied boarding because she mistakenly brought her old expired passport with her, instead of her brand new passport.  She was asked if she had her birth certificate with her, but she didn't.  She joined the cruise a few days later when the ship docked in Puerto Rico.

You said that your daughter's birth certificate has your place of birth on it.  When you gave birth to her and filled out the information about yourself, were you required to show them your birth certificate showing your place of birth, or did they just take your word for it that you were born where you said that you were born?  If they took your word for it, then it's meaningless.

The cruiselines say that they want birth certificates or current passports.  I don't know of any that say that an expired passport is okay if you bring along your child's birth certificate.

Yes.  It was a fourteen-night New England and Canada cruise on the Celebrity Summit beginning in September of 2012.  There were big problems with the shore excursions.

Our first excursion out of Maine was absolutely perfect.  We were told to meet at the end of the pier, and we did so, and everything went well.  However, for our next excursion, for some reason, instead of being told to meet on the pier (or wherever) and then get on the bus, we were told to meet in the theater at 10:45 AM for our 11:00 AM tour.  When we got to the theater, we saw that there were about a dozen tours scheduled to leave at 11:00 AM, and each tour group was led downstairs one at a time to get on the bus, and our group was the last to be led downstairs, and we got on the bus very late.  We were so late that the tour guide was annoyed that we were late and told us that we would miss some of the sightseeing that we had already paid for.  This happened with all of the rest of shore excursions at ports where the ship docked.  When I asked a member of the shore excursions department why we had to meet in the theater instead of going outside and getting on the bus, she said that it was done this way so that they could help us.  I said that they weren't helping us at all by making us late for every excursion and missing out on sightseeing that we had already paid for.

Things were so bad when we had to tender ashore that at one port, it was announced that some excursions were cancelled because there was no way to get people off the ship in time, even though the shore excursion department had promised a few minutes earlier that we shouldn't worry, because they weren't going to cancel ANY excursions.  And by the time we got ashore, we were late (and missed more sightseeing that we had already paid for).

But the worst was Bar Harbor.  My traveling companion and I had Select Dining, which meant that we made dinner reservations ahead of time and prepaid our tips.  Before the start of the cruise, I called and asked what time I should make our dinner reservation for on the day we went to Bar Harbor.  I was told not to make a reservation for any earlier than 7:30 PM.  So I made our reservation for 7:30 PM.  By the time we arrived in Bar Harbor, we were one hour late, and the tour guide told us that we wouldn't have time to see the gardens that were supposed to be included in our tour.  The tour ended at 6:40 PM, and we got on the end of an extremely long line to get on a tender.  7:30 PM came and went, and the line hadn't moved at all, and now there was a huge line behind us.  7:30 PM was supposed to have been the time that the last tender would leave from Bar Harbor.  I eventually found out that the tenders had not run for several hours, because they were being used to ferry lobsters onto the ship.

So we waited and waited and waited, and finally we got on a tender.  Unfortunately, the tender driver drove very recklessly, and the tender crashed into some rocks.  After about an hour, we got on a boat to take us to the ship.  By the time we got to the ship, it was after 11:00 PM, so we didn't get the dinner that we had paid for in our cruise fare, and we had to tip just as much as if we had gotten it, because I refuse to ask for a reduction in my daily service charge.  We went to the buffet, because the daily newsletter said that pizza would be available until 1:00 AM, only to see that the pizza station was locked up.  Very nice to lock it up when approx 96 people didn't get a chance to have dinner, and when the newsletter said that it would be open until 1:00 AM.

The next day, the captain called those who had been on that tender to meet with him.  He said "Sorry about that!"  He didn't offer us even one penny in compensation.  I guess he didn't think that we deserved any, that hearing him say "Sorry about that!" was sufficient.  I didn't hear anyone at that meeting ask him about compensation.  I think we were all too stunned by his attitude.

After the meeting, I went to the shore excursion department to ask for partial refunds on the shore excursions where we didn't get to see what we were supposed to see.  I had no problem getting discounts for my traveling companion and me.  When i mentioned that we didn't get to see the gardens at Bar Harbor, the woman actually asked me, "What gardens?"  "How should I know!" I said.  "We didn't get to see them."  And when I mentioned one particular excursion, before I could say one word, she said, "Oh, yeah, we heard about that one.  How about I give you 60% off?"  Fine with me, but I was annoyed that in order to get a discount, you had to take the time to go to the shore excursion department to make a complaint.  Because if I hadn't gone there, they would have thought that my traveling companion and I were perfectly happy with paying for sightseeing that we didn't get to see, and they wouldn't have given us anything.

Afterwards, I kept hearing passengers talking about the people on the tender that had crashed into rocks, and I would say that I was one of them.  I was always asked, "Did they make you sign anything?"  I always said no.  Then I was always asked, "How much are they giving you?"  "Not one penny!" I always said.  Because the captain had acted as if we didn't deserve even one penny.  A few days after I got home, Celebrity called me and asked me for my side of the story.  I told them everything, and a few days later, they offered my traveling companion and me a generous settlement.  I just wish that they had made an offer while we were still on the ship, because if they had, then I wouldn't have told people that we weren't getting even one penny (after they asked), and I wouldn't have been so upset and so eager to get home.   

Here's what happened to a couple who went on a three-day cruise without passports, just their birth certificates and photo ID.

https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/medical-emergency-leaves-couple-cruise-stranded-bahamas-hospital-bills-pile-185216471.html

OP, you've been given some great advice, but I don't think that anyone has answered this question that you asked:

Can I still go to the dining room alone?

The answer is yes, of course you can.  Did you think that the cruiselines ban people traveling by themselves from eating in the dining room?

I won't sail Celebrity again. My friend and I planned to take the tender to Bar Harbor and then take a Celebrity shore excursion. As we had Select Dining, I called the cruiseline before we set sail and asked what time we should make our dinner reservation for on that day. I was told that we were guaranteed to be back by 7:30 PM, so I made our dinner reservation for that time. FWIW the last tender was scheduled to leave at 7:30 PM.

We got on the end of a very long line for a tender at 6:40 PM. Eventually 7:30 PM came and went, and the line had not moved. Not only were there many, many people in front of us on line, but there were also many, many people behind us on line. Finally we boarded a tender, but the driver drove very recklessly, and the tender crashed into some rocks. We had to wait for 45 minutes before a boat picked us up and took us to the ship. Another passenger passed out life jackets. The tender's crew did nothing. Someone who was able to see the driver told me that the driver shouted "Emergency!" and then just ran around in circles.

Not only had we missed our 7:30 PM dinner, we also missed the MDR, because it was 11:15 PM by the time we got back to the ship. So we missed a dinner that we had already paid for and the dinner's prepaid gratuity. Since the newsletter said that pizza would be available until 1:00 AM, we went to the buffet, only to see that the pizza place was shut up tight. Very nice. So we ate salad, because that's all that was available. I was too tired to go to Customer Relations and stand on line and complain that the guy who was running the pizza place had decided to close up early. I don't know what Customer Relations would have done about it anyway. There didn't appear to be anyone in charge at the buffet that I could talk to.

There was a meeting with the captain the next day. He just said, "Sorry about that!" He didn't think that any of us were entitled to even one penny for having missed dinner or the inconvenience of getting back to the ship after 11:00 PM. He also claimed that all of us from that tender had been asked if we were in need of medical assistance when we finally got back to the ship. That was NOT true.

The following day, whenever I heard people talking about our situation, I mentioned that I was one of the approx 96 people on that tender. I was always asked if I had been asked to sign anything. I always said no. Then I was asked how much money I was offered. I told everyone that the captain hadn't offered us even one penny.

A few days after I got home, I received a call from Customer Relations asking me to give them my side of the story. A few days later, Customer Relations called me again to offer my friend and me enough credit to take a one-week cruise to Bermuda in an inside cabin. I would have preferred cash, but we accepted the offer. So we went to Bermuda, where we did not have to take a tender, and I told everyone I met on the ship the circumstances about why I was on that cruise. I also told them that it would be my last time on Celebrity.

The only way I'll ever sail Celebrity again is if the cruise is free, and there aren't any tenders. Oh, and it would be nice if the pizza place stayed open until the time announced in the daily newspaper, unless that's too much to ask.

So if you're old enough and whine enough to the right people, you CAN rip off a cruise line.

Yeah! I'm a senior citizen, so there's nothing preventing me from booking a cruise with NCL that I have no intention of taking, showing up for it and complaining that oh, dear, I packed my passport by mistake, and whine and cry about it, so that they'll give me back all my money and a free cruise, which I'l use to take a cruise I really want to take. Of course, I wouldn't really pack my passport. I would just tell them that I did. No way would I let my passport get out of my control. It seems that NCL just took the old couple's word for it that their passports were packed. And if NCL didn't give me my money back plus a free cruise, I would complain to the media that they did so for that old couple, so why not for me.

No, I don't think that I would do this, but I bet a lot of other people would, seeing that it worked with this old couple. all their money back, plus a free cruise! NCL doesn't do that for people who are foolish enough to carry their passports instead of packing them. Why aren't people who follow the rules entitled to a free cruise?

While you say they treated you "badly" (repeated five times) - you never mentioned what the problem was.

You're right. I didn't. That's because I've mentioned it so many times on the Celebrity board, and I forgot that this isn't the Celebrity board, meaning that possibly some or most of you never read my posts.

Anyway, my friend and I went to Bar Harbor via tender. We had Select Dining, and I called to see what would be a good time to make our dinner reservation. I was told that we would be dropped off at the tender station at 6:40 PM, so we should not make a reservation earlier than 7:30 PM. We made a 7:30 PM dinner reservation.

We were dropped off at 6:40 PM, and we got on the end of a very long line. The last tender was supposed to leave at 7:30 PM, but at 7:30 PM, we were still at the end of a very long line, which hadn't moved at all. After a few hours, we got on a tender. The tender driver drove much too fast and much too recklessly, and the tender crashed into some rocks. The tender driver and the other Celebrity personnel on the tender didn't do a thing. Other passengers handed out life jackets. There weren't enough life jackets to go around. After another couple of hours, we finally got picked up by a rescue boat and taken to the ship. We were picked up by the second rescue boat. By the time we got to our cabin and decided to have dinner, it was after 11:00 PM, so we knew that we couldn't go to the MDR. Luckily, the newsletter said that the pizza station would be open until 1:00 AM. We went to the buffet, but the pizza station was locked up, and I did not feel like going to Customer Relations and asking them to open the pizza place. Luckily, salad and rolls were available. Since we had Select Dining, we had to prepay our tips, so we paid and tipped for a dinner we did not get to eat.

At the meeting, the Captain seemed to think that saying "Sorry about that!" was sufficient. As I said, he did not think that we deserved even one penny for our inconvenience. Not that anyone asked for money. We were in too much shock. And I know that there are people here who get angry at those who were treated badly who demand money as compensation.

But, as I said before, other passengers on the ship soon found out that we weren't offered even one penny. And by the time we were offered compensation after we got home, it was too late to tell everyone, "Yeah, they treated us very badly, but at least they compensated us." But we did tell other passengers on our Bermuda cruise that the only reason we were there was as compensation for the other cruise, and we had no intention of sailing with Celebrity again. (If they had given us money instead of cruise credit, I would have been very happy, but they didn't.)

My traveling companion and I were 2 of approx 96 people who were treated very badly on a Celebrity cruise. We were treated so badly that the Captain called all of us to a meeting where he apologized to us. We were treated so badly that when everyone was on board, I heard two public announcements on the ship about how badly we were treated, and I know that there was at least one public announcement made when not everyone was on the ship. We were treated so badly that people kept talking about it everywhere, and every time I said that I was one of those who had been mistreated, they would ask me if I had been asked to sign anything (meaning did I promise not to sue Celebrity). When I said no, I was asked how much money they had offered me. I said, 'Not even one penny!"

A couple of days after the cruise ended, Celebrity called my traveling companion and me, and we told them how angry we were at how we had been treated. I guess the other approx 94 people told them the same thing, because they called us and offered us enough cruise credit to pay for an inside cabin on a cruise to Bermuda, plus the daily service charge. We accepted, and we went to Bermuda. But there is no way that we will ever sail with Celebrity again.

I was sorry that the Captain never said one word to us about possible compensation, or I would have told the people on that cruise, when they asked how much money they had offered me, that I didn't know yet. But he didn't say a single word about financial compensation, so all I could say was that they didn't offer us even one penny.

It turns out that because the table was near the doors the other people on the table had requested changes and nobody had noticed that left me on my own

I have a feeling that the other people weren't all seated together at some other table. I bet they were split up, and each person was seated only with his traveling companion(s) at another table. You probably weren't automatically moved because you didn't complain about the table being near the doors, and they figured that you were happy to sit there.

One just can't count on being seated with others in the MDR nowadays. Sure, your assigned table may include other people, but maybe they eat at the buffet all the time, or in specialty restaurants all the time, or, like this example, they didn't want to sit at their designated table.

That's why I'm a fan of Select/As You Wish dining for solos who don't want to eat alone in the MDR.

Someone earlier stated that we should tip the servers there, but I thought they were part of the DSC. Please advise: not trying to be cheap, just want facts.

That would be me. Not that I said that we SHOULD tip the servers there, but that the servers were not covered by the DSC, which I was told when I was there, and there was nothing on the vouchers to indicate that the free meals included a gratuity. Meaning that the server could not turn in the vouchers I handed over and receive a gratuity. So the free meals meant not eating the meals in the MDR that I had already paid (and tipped) for, plus paying out additional tips. (I asked if there was something for me to sign, meaning could I sign for the tips, but I was told no. So if I hadn't had sufficient cash with me, the servers would have been stiffed.)

So the "free" dinners aren't worth it to me, except for the wine.

Also, in the MDR, you get get more than one appetizer if you want. Try getting an extra appetizer in Le Bistro (if you're getting a "free" meal).

Before my recent cruise on the Gem, I never had dinner at a surcharge restaurant. I was always very happy with the food at the MDR, so it seemed silly for me to pay for a meal at a surcharge restaurant when I had already "paid" for a meal at the MDR (and had prepaid my gratuity).

The Gem was the first time I cruised as a Platinum. While I was a Platinum, my traveling companion was not, and I wondered if I would be given a free dinner at Le Bistro for one or for two. For some reason, I was given two free dinners for two, both including a bottle of wine. The hostess at Le Bistro said that one dinner for two was for me, and the other one was for my traveling companion. This didn't make sense to us, as my traveling companion is Silver, not Platinum, but if they insisted that we have two free dinners for two with a free bottle of wine at each dinner, that was fine with us.

While the food was very good at Le Bistro, I didn't think it was worth paying for (and skipping the dinner in the MDR that we had paid for in our cruisefare). Most of the dishes were also available in the MDR. One night, I had Fruits de Mer, which I did not see in the MDR, and the other night, I had roasted duck with duck confit, which I also did not see in the MDR, but I had seen in the MDR on another cruiseline's ship. Some of the desserts (creme brulee, profiteroles, and ice cream) were available in the MDR. I thought it was funny that the a la carte price for ice cream in Le Bistro was $3.99 (not including the 18% gratuity), when you could gorge yourself on all the ice cream you wanted at the buffet without paying one extra penny.

And then I found out that I was expected to tip the waiter for the free dinners, because gratuities were not included. If we had eaten in the MDR, no additional tip would have been asked for. Another disadvantage to eating at Le Bistro was that we had to make reservations. We really like being able to walk into the MDR when we're hungry, not when we "have" to eat there.

The only real advantage to me of eating at Le Bistro is the bottle of wine. They don't give you any free bottles of wine in the MDR! We're not big wine drinkers, so one bottle was enough for us at both dinners. We were told we could take the other back to our cabin to drink (which I figure was code for we could bring the bottle of wine home with us), and that's what we did. So I rationalized to myself that even though I had to tip for the four meals, which I would not have done if we had eaten in the MDR, because we always allow our prepaid gratuities to stay in place), at least we got two bottles of wine.

skeetns, I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if your gold blouse was delivered to another cabin, just like the man's suit was delivered to my cabin, even though it was clearly marked with the man's cabin number (not my cabin number).

Treven (I'm sorry I misspelled your name before), I'm getting the impression that you think that I think that you did something wrong. No, I don't. I just don't like the situation in which a cabin steward intentionally leaves the doors to several cabins open so that people can wander in and out of them, as you implied, since you said that you didn't want the cabin steward to come back and find you there. I really don't know why they (the cabin stewards) do that. I mean, if someone walked into an open cabin and told the cabin steward that he wanted to leave something there (whether or not he had a note to leave) and he then stole something, the cabin steward would be the one who came under suspicion. And if he defended himself by saying that he left the cabin door open for a while and ANYONE could have entered the cabin, I don't think that would go over very well.

On our first cruise we had a bottle of rum from Cozumel that was in a collector's bottle. It was for a friend who was taking care of our two cockatiels and that is all she wanted for the pet sitting. We did turn it when we got on the ship, they showed us our signature in the log book that we signed when turning over the bottle but never could find out which cabin had received it by mistake. That $40 bottle of rum cost us another $20 because we had to buy a replacement bottle of rum on the ship. But in 17 cruises we consider ourselves lucky that is all that went missing.

 

Its all part of life. You take the small disappointments with the good luck.

If someone broke into your home and stole forty dollars or a forty dollar-item, would you be upset, or would you just say that it was a small disappointment?

If my cabinmate and I weren't honest, a guy on one of our cruises would have thought that the laundry stole his suit. I don't know who is responsible for delivering cleaned clothing, the cabin steward or someone in the laundry department, but my cabinmate and I (both female) found a suit in our cabin. Our cabin steward knew that both of us were women, so I don't know if he decided to give us the suit anyway or if it was someone from the laundry department who decided to give us the suit. The cabin number on the slip of paper wasn't even our cabin number. We took the suit to the cabin whose number was written on the suit. If, for some reason, we had decided to keep the suit for ourselves, the suit's owner might have thought that it was stolen by the laundry.

I explained to him that I wanted to drop off a bottle of wine for the folks in cabin 1234, and he told me to go ahead. I went in and left the bottle on their desk and left. The cabin attendant was no where around, and all the doors to the cabin were still open.

I think it's bad enough that the cabin stewards think it's okay to leave the cabin doors wide open for anyone to enter, but the idea that they would allow a stranger to enter someone's cabin if they said, "Hey, I want to leave them something" just boggles my mind. NOT that I am accusing Traven of doing something wrong. It's the cabin steward that I believe did something wrong.

I once found a beautiful diamond ring on deck and I took it to Guest Relations. I was concerned that they refused to give me a receipt or even take my cabin number. They said it would be put in lost property and basically it was nothing to do with me. The next day we were back on deck in the same place when I saw someone looking carefully around the deck and I realised he was looking for the ring. I asked him what he was looking for and he described the ring in detail. I told him that I had found it and had taken it to GR. He and his wife were able to retrieve her ring and were delighted. I often wonder if they would ever had got it back if I had not bumped into them on deck. They said they had been to GR a couple of times and been told that it had not been handed in.

So now it appears that the people at GR are either crooks or extremely inefficient.

Also no need to contact the port agent when on a ships excursion. Most likely the tour operator has already been in contact with the port agent and the ship to find out the ETA on the return of the tour.

In my case, I don't believe our tour guide ever told either his tour company or the port agent that we would be several hours late. However, he did tell us not to tell anyone that he had deliberately caused us to be several hours late. When we finally got back to the ship, a number of officers were standing outside waiting for us, and they looked absolutely frantic. That gave me the impression that they had no idea when we would arrive. I told them that the tour guide had deliberately made us late, claiming that the ship would wait for us no matter what, and that he had told us not to tell on him.

I hope that Royal was able to get the tour company to pay any fine that was levied due to the ship remaining in port for several extra hours.

I was told that when passengers are late returning, the ship makes every effort to contact them via cell phone.

Really? When my friend and I were on a ship's excursion out of Portland, Maine, and the tour guide had the bus driver drive around in circles for several hours, telling us that the ship would wait for us no matter how late we were, the Explorer of the Seas did not call us on our cell phones. At the time, I didn't know what to do, so when we eventually returned to the ship, I asked if there was a phone number for us to call in the event that this happened again. I was told that there was no phone number for us to call.

Afterwards, I was told at cruisecritic that I could have called the port agent. But the ship's personnel never told me that. And, as I said, they never called me.

I agree with everyone who says that it's not rude if you read when you're sitting by yourself in the MDR, but be prepared to be ignored by the waitstaff. It happened to me - I looked at the menu and decided what I wanted to order, and then I closed the menu and put it down on the table, which I figured was a signal that I was ready to order. I then picked up my book and started to read. Eventually, I checked my watch and saw that I had been reading for 20 minutes. I asked someone passing by to find my waiter/waitress. When she finally showed up, she said, "I didn't know you wanted to eat! I thought that you came in here to read!" Yeah, right.

Reading this re-enforces how right we are to have changed to requesting a table for two.

You can say that again! On a Celebrity Summit cruise, my friend and I had Celebrity Select dining. We planned to go on a ship's excursion in Bar Harbor, to which we had to tender, and I asked what time we should make our dinner reservation for. I was told no earlier than 7:30 PM. So we booked a table for two at 7:30 PM. After the excursion, we got on line for the tender at 6:45 PM, and I figured that we would be able to keep our 7:30 PM dinner reservation. 7:30 PM came and went, and the line for the tender hadn't moved. The last tender was supposed to leave Bar Harbor at 7:30 PM, but there were so many people in front of us on line, and so many people had gotten in line behind us in the 45 minutes between 6:45 PM and 7:30 PM that we didn't know what time everyone would be able to get on the ship. We finally got onto the ship hours later, and we managed to get to the buffet at 11:15 PM.

I'm sure there were people on line who were supposed to eat at the second sitting who didn't get to the MDR on time, and I have no idea how they were supposed to let anyone know that they wouldn't be able to make it. I don't know whom they were supposed to call, or how they were supposed to make the call.

I can see the ship waiting for you when the tour is late because of traffic or other unforeseen things but what about the couple that says "we are on a ship excursion so I don't have to hurry. That's the reason we book them".

 

Maybe the solution is to put on all shore excursions tickets that if you miss the transfer because of your own actions like not being back to the dedicated transportation then you are on your own.

Oh my goodness! While I have always booked ship's excursions because I knew the ship would wait for me if necessary, it never occurred to me that I could be late returning to the bus and that the bus would have to wait for me because it was a ship's excursion. To me, the ship waiting for me and the bus waiting for me are two completely different things.

On one ship's excursion, our bus was divided into two groups to take turns going into a small building to see a movie. We should have been divided into three or four groups, because there weren't enough seats for half of everyone. And then we were divided into two groups to tour an old house. We should have been divided into three groups, because not everyone could fit into the rooms. After the tour, we stopped at a drugstore and had to wait for 15 or 20 minutes for one of the passengers to buy stuff. I figured that she told the tour guide before the tour started that she needed to go to a drugstore to buy stuff, and the tour guide decided to inconvenience everyone else on the tour by cutting short the amount of time we used to see the movie and tour the house so that there would be enough time for that woman to go to a drugstore. I hope that woman gave that tour guide a really big tip, because I don't think the other people on the bus gave the guide very much. I went to the shore excursions desk afterwards to complain, but as soon as I mentioned the tour, before I could utter a word of complaint, I was told, "Yeah, we heard all about that tour. We'll refund you 60% of the cost."

On another ship's excursion, we got back to the ship several hours after it was supposed to sail, not because of any traffic problems, but because the tour guide announced that the ship HAD to wait for us, and he instructed the bus driver to drive around in circles. Other passengers were frantic that the ship wouldn't wait for us, even though I tried to reassure them that it would wait. I didn't know what to do. I eventually learned from cruisecritic that I could have called the port agent and told him what was going on, but I didn't know that at the time, and when we got back to the ship and found all of the officers outside waiting for us, worried out of their minds, I told them that it was completely the fault of the tour guide. I asked in case this happened again if the ship had a phone number that I could call, and I was told no.

I really don't know why that tour guide delayed us by so many hours. It certainly didn't result in big tips for him.

When the guide says be back ON the bus in 10 minutes he means 10 minutes not 10 minutes and then another 20 or so while the rest of us wait for you. I remember one trip we waited almost 20 minutes extra while someone had to have ice cream

No, that guide did NOT mean 10 minutes, because he waited an extra 20 minutes for whoever got ice cream. If the guide really had meant 10 minutes, the bus would have left without the ice cream people. That's what people have learned - that when a guide says to be back on the bus in 10 minutes, he really means "Take your time! Don't worry, we'll wait for you, no matter how long you take."

It's sometimes hard to make sense of NCL's scheduling.

That's for sure. On a cruise to Bermuda, my friend and I signed up for the singles dinner. We weren't told until after we signed up for it when it would be. We then found out that it was scheduled for a night that we would be in Bermuda. Even though our names were at the end of a long list of people who had signed up, when we went to the dinner, there was only one other person there. I think it would have been better if the dinner had been scheduled for a night that we were at sea.

On another cruise, my friend and I signed up for the singles dinner, and again, we were not told when the dinner would be until after we signed up. We found out that we were supposed to meet in a bar at 9:00 PM for a drink and then proceed to the MDR on the night before we had an extremely early port call (meaning that people who had booked shore excursions were supposed to meet at 7:00 AM in the theatre for tendering). It was also the night that, for some reason, there was only one performance of a show, and it was at 9:00 PM. I told my friend that we were going to skip the dinner, because I really wanted to see the show, as did she, and if we went to the dinner and found no one else there, and we missed the show, I would hit the ceiling.

I asked various NCL employees why the dinner was scheduled so late before a very early port call, and why it was scheduled to take place at the same time as the one and only show performance, and everyone said, "I don't know."

Cozumel is a late arrival. Scheduled to arrive at 11am, and the excursion that I am looking at is at 1:30. So perhaps it doesn't interfere with the port day after all?

I wouldn't count on that. When your excursion is at 1:30 PM, you generally have to meet somewhere at 1:15 PM, and it might take you a few minutes to get to the meeting place. Plus you might want to brush your teeth and use the restroom after lunch. I wouldn't book what should be a relaxing, fun luncheon at noon when I have to be somewhere at 1:15 PM. It wouldn't be relaxing for me.

A PCC will not call you for visiting the website.

Not true. Mine did. And he told me that he called because I visited the website. I said that I hadn't, even though I did without having logged in. I figured that I didn't owe him the truth, since NCL did not buy my computer for me. He insisted that I had visited the website. I said that maybe someone else used my computer to go to the website, but it wasn't me.

Luckily, he hasn't called me since then. If he should call me again, I plan to tell him that if he ever calls me again, I will ask NCL to assign me a new PCC and that he had better never call me again.

I thought they asked for yrs married when they had the anniv party.....have not been to one of those recently.

Maybe they do. But what about couples who have been married for a long time, but it isn't their anniversary and they don't go to the party? I guess that's why they have couples screaming out how long they've been married at the first show on the cruise, because the show is open to everyone.

Every time I've seen a "who's been married the longest" contest on a cruise, the prize has been champagne and a diamond necklace. What I've noticed is that people just shout out how long they've been married. And no one has to show any proof. Meaning that bryanjaync's folks could say that they've been married for 66 years, and another couple could then shout out that they've been married for 67 years. And another couple could then claim that they've been married for 68 years. And it's assumed that everyone is telling the truth.

iMHO if a cruiseline really wants to give a prize to the couple married the longest, they should have couples submit proof ahead of time (such as a copy of their marriage license) and not just have couples scream out how long they've been married.

Same goes with giving a prize to the people/person with the most cruises. What's the point of having people screaming out numbers without any proof?

Ask to be seated at a large table in the dining room. You may want to consider traditional dining as that way you'll see the same people over and over and can perhaps meet up with them during the day.

I totally disagree with this advice, because so many people dine at the buffet or at surcharge restaurants, and there is no guarantee that you will see them "over and over" in the MDR. What's funny is that I have pointed this out in numerous threads, and people kept telling me that that would never happen, but someone did post that on his solo cruise, no one ever showed up at his table in the evening, and I said that that proved that I could be correct. Go with My Time Dining or its equivalent, and as long as others show up and say that they want to eat with strangers, you won't be alone.