lucywestie

So we have done two Alaska back to back cruises, both were the last cruise of the season to Alaska and then a west coast cruise ending up in LA or San Diego. We have now booked the exact same cruise for this coming year but just doing a different cruise line. 

Its your money so you do what you want on an Alaska cruise. On our first cruise the only organised excursion we did was in Skagway and we did the White Pass railway trip up into the Yukon and back. That was 12 years ago and it was expensive then. In Juneau we got off the ship and took ourselves up Mount Roberts and then had lunch at the Twisted Fish restaurant before we got back on board. 

On our second trip to Alaska our only pre-organised excursion was with Harv and Marv for whale watching and we were under whelmed considering the price we paid. We saw plenty of wildlife but our captain wanted to do her own thing and now follow the other boats and we missed out on a lot.

Personally its your trip and your money so do what you want. We saw lots of whales from the ship when we were at sea and just cruising. You have to have keen eyes and patience (a pair of binoculars helps as well) but for us the ship is always as much a part of the cruise as are the ports. We were generally always back on board pretty early and the restaurants were open and the indoor pool areas were usually pretty empty. We spent a fair bit of time sitting in the restaurants or bars that had views out over the town or the scenery just playing cards and watching the world pass by.

Im sure you will have a good time no matter what you do

Was on the Jade Xmas 2017. First NCL for us and we are on the sister ship Jewel next year. We really liked the quiet zone above the Spinnaker lounge at the front of the ship. It is labelled as a quiet zone and on a sea day you can't hear any of the noise coming from the pool area. Lots of loungers and lots of sun and its well protected from the wind by glass panels.

Sheehans for breakfast was always quiet. Also there is a card room and a library/reading room next to each other which got busy on sea days but other than that they are pretty quiet

Spinnaker lounge was nice on sailaway as it was pretty quiet and you are facing forward. They do seem to schedule a lot of activities in there so its not always as peaceful as you like

The Mojito bar was a nice quiet spot in an evening as well. Never seemed to be a lot of people in there apart from those waiting for their reservation at Cagney's.

Have done two Alaska cruises and going back on a third next September. All our cruises have been the last ones of the season so late in September.

For whale watching from the ship you have to be up high and forward so that you can get the best 180 degree or more view. I spent quite a few hours outside on sea days and saw lots of whales. The water is pretty calm on the inside passage so if you have your eyes peeled or if you have a reasonable pair of binoculars you can see their spouts when they breath or their tails when diving. It takes patience but I saw whales every day I was out and about at the front of the ship. Just wrap up warm if you are going late in the season.

The only time I have tipped above the DSC is if we are on a holiday cruise i.e. over Christmas. Then on Christmas day we normally will leave out a note and maybe $20 to $40 as a "Christmas present". Amount depends on the cabin attendant. On our Jade cruise last Christmas the attendant was superb.

We have cruised the inside passage twice (well 4 times if you count the return trip!!) and have booked to go again next year. I spent long hours out on deck and saw plenty of whales either at a distance or quite close to the ship. Also saw plenty of porpoises or dolphins (not sure which now I think back). We cruised the last ships that go in September and usually by then the Humpbacks are making their way south but I saw enough to keep me very happy. 

Just go to the most forward part of the ship that enables you to get a 180 degree view or more and then you get to scan ahead and both sides for the whales on the surface etc. Takes some commitment if its cold but its well worth it to me.

So we have booked a back to back cruise with Celebrity on the Solstice sometime in the far far distant future. It came with the beverage package perk which will be the Classic package. From reading the Celebrity description (yup, I read it) it covers drinks up to $9.

Now I read the Premium package description (yup, read that as well) and that comes in at an extra $14 per person per day. So $28 for my wife and I, plus gratuities on top, so lets say $34 a day. That package includes special coffees.

How much is a special coffee on the ship? I only ask because we might drink a couple of those a day. Though saying that, under the classic package it states "premium coffees" by premium to they mean cappucinos and lattes etc?

I'm going to assume that anything above $9 will be reflected on our onboard account. Saying that, what would be the average price of a cocktail, non top shelf liquor, lets say...an apple martini or Singapore sling.

Just trying to work out if it will be worth it to upgrade to the premium either once on board or before we cruise

This is our first time cruising with Celebrity, have cruised Royal, Princess and NCL in the past. Have never wanted to pay the extravagant prices that some of them want for the drink packages (NCL especially) but this one came with the booking so Im not complaining.

I did search the forum but its not the most helpful search engine at times.

Lucy

Cruised the last two Christmas's with Royal and NCL. On those ships they had carol singing, Christmas tree lighting ceremonies and on Christmas day they had Santa giving out gifts to the children. There were a lot of children on board and we also noticed a lot of family groups, so grandparents, aunts and uncles etc. Nice to see but at the same time these larger groups tended to take over certain areas, we noticed this especially on RCI Navigator.

Still, its a different way to spend Christmas. They served a full dinner in the dining rooms plus buffet areas so I wasn't complaining!

So I am taking a serious look at doing the Aloha to Alaska 30 day cruise in 2020. Its our 30th anniversary and we want to live it up a little.

Previous cruises have all been back to backs with two b2bs to Alaska and the west coast with Royal and Princess and then two southern Caribbean b2b's with Royal and NCL.

For the Oceania Regatta cruise we are probably looking at an ocean view as the verandah's seem a bit out of the price range right now.

So what can I expect. I have done some research on here and it seems that some of the Oceania ships are getting make overs in the next year or so. There is a pretty good deal on right now for the cruise we are looking at with included flights plus one perk. (drink package or 14 excursions, leaning towards the excursions, or $1400 obc)

So what can we expect with regards to service, food quality (always subjective I know), types/age of passengers etc.

Also, what about dress code? I read that it can be "country club casual" whatever that may mean. Considering a majority of the cruise is in a warm to hot climate can I assume shorts and sandals etc. are fine for day and evening wear if you aren't going to be in the main dining room etc.

We are in our 50's and enjoy a good book or movie rather than a night club atmosphere.

Many thanks for any help and suggestions

For our NCL cruise at Xmas I found they didnt offer at par pricing till after the final payment date had gone through. Our cruise was mid December and I think final payment was end of August. Somewhere around late September into October I started seeing Canadian at par. But.....if you accepted that rate then you couldnt add any of the so called "perks" such as the not so free drink package etc.

I actually sat down and worked out all the different pricings for the same cabin but varying the options such as at par...or add one or two perks etc. In the end they all worked out to be very close to each other in pricing.

Not really great deals to my mind

So planning a back to back Australia and New Zealand cruise for our 30th anniversary in late 2020. In the past we have cruised with Royal (Serenade, Navigator and Rhapsody), Princess (Sapphire) and NCL (Jade). We have cruised Alaska, Pacific coast and the Caribbean and all our cruises were pretty much back to back as we like an extended period at sea etc.

We tend to like the smaller sized ships (2400 pax or less)

As its our 30th I want to make it a bit special and so far I'm leaning towards Celebrity or Holland America. But saying that I was wondering what peoples experiences were like with all the cruise lines. The good, the bad and even the ugly (cue the Clint Eastwood music).

I realise cruise line choice is subjective and we have only tried 3 ourselves. I have friends that highly recommend HA and Celebrity but others have also cruised 30 times with NCL so I'm all over the place. Price could obviously be a factor as we will be away for such a long period of time.

One question would be, is a balcony necessary? We cruised Alaska twice and had an inside cabin as we found we spent so much time outside on the decks getting a better view of the ocean and shore line. In the Caribbean we had balconies.

Any help would be appreciated

$12000 !!! and Im assuming that U.S. dollars. I did a 16 day back to back on Navigator in 2016 and in 2017 I did a 7 day Rhapsody and a 10 day Jade back to back. All in nicely situated balconies and I paid about $9000 Canadian (so about $7000 U.S.) for 33 days of cruising.

I would never even consider paying that amount of money ($12000) for what amounts to going to the same ports of call at the same speed. The only difference from reading threads on the Haven is that you get a bigger cabin/suite and maybe if you are lucky some free water!

We went on the Jade and with NCL for the very first time at Christmas. Our previous cruises had been with Royal and Princess. We were impressed with the dining options on the ship. We liked the included Asian restaurant, Jasmine Garden I think, plus we did eat in the main dining room on a couple of occasions. We just turned up and sometimes we had to wait a few minutes but nothing major. Food quality was about the same on all the lines. The buffet wasn't bad though we mostly enjoyed the breakfast and lunch time selections.

Service was good and there seemed to be lots of kids enjoying themselves. I did find that the recliners around the pools on sea days filled up way to early (chair hogs) but you get that on every ship and every cruise line and its not the end of the world, there was always someone to sit.

I’m not regretful for anything. If you want to avoid places for reasons so dumb, stay the heck home. Your loss.

And there you have it in a nutshell. They are not "dumb" reasons at all. If your best friend insults you do you still go round to their house for your usual Saturday night poker game even though you were pissed off? At some point in life you have to start standing up to the bullies, and if you have to hit them where it hurts, which for Canadians going south would be in the U.S. wallet then so be it.

It is not "my loss" to not go on a cruise. I choose to cruise or I don't, there is no "loss" involved. I would find something just as interesting or creative to do elsewhere. You respond with "dumb reasons". You really haven't thought any of this through at all.

We were in Curacao at Christmas and to be honest I was thoroughly disappointed with the island. We did a private taxi tour we met at the port. Went to the distillery which is one long room that is a self guided tour, which then leads to a bar area and then into the shop area. Its very small but probably worth a stop. They sell various sizes of Blue Curacao plus other colours of the liquer.

I just thought that island was pretty dirty and uncared for. After the tour the taxi dropped us off at the floating bridge and there was garbage everywhere, in the water, in the gutters etc. Those pretty colourful houses you see in the tourist flyers are there but they forget to mention the huge oil distillery the other side of the bridge. We went to the caves (not wheel chair friendly at all) and had a tour of the island. Not a place I would consider going back to. Though on the same cruise we also stopped at Bonaire which is very under developed but was much more appealing than Curacao.

Did a back to back with RCI in 2016. So on the final morning of the first cruise all us b2b'ers were told to meet in a certain lounge. At approx 1000 hrs we were all escorted off the ship in one small group, taken down to the customs area in the terminal.

We were given new ship cards and I think customs might have checked out passports. Then we were escorted back onboard the ship in full view of alllllll the other waiting passengers. It was kinda awesome. You felt like a celebrity lol

For us we actually had two different cabins so all we had to do was pack everything that was in drawers into our suitcases and leave them in our first cabin. Our cabin steward then transferred all the bags plus stuff on hangers to our new cabin (gave him a good tip for the extra work fyi).

Very straight forward. We didnt bother getting off the ship to see anything in Miami. When we got back on board what we did do was take our swim suits and go straight to the hot tubs and pool when there was no one else around..was nice for an hour or so till they start embarking the new passengers

1. O'Sheehans for breakfast unless you do the dining room or the buffet. Its a small menu but we went a few times and always had a decent fluffy omelet and the place was uncrowded.

2. Pay the extra and do the Teppanyaki restaurant. Can't remember the cost but it was great fun and was a good two hours or so.

3. Jasmin Garden for supper. Good asian style food in a quieter atmosphere.

4. Second the Spinnaker lounge for peace and quiet. Only found it on our last day and I was annoyed about that

5. If you want to avoid the noise of the pool on sea days then go right to the front of the ship to the sun deck above the Spinnaker lounge. Its marked as a quiet area and you can't hear a thing from the pool area once up there.

6. The card room can get busy on sea days but other days it was pretty quiet. (if cards and games are your thing obviously, it was pretty well stocked with games)

7. For a cocktail that has had a bit more effort put into it (rather than the pool side bars where i found they just put in some premixed stuff for the daily special and then whipped them out really fast). Go to the Mojito and Martini bars. Different areas of the ship but loved the Mojito bar up by Cagneys. Was very quiet up there. In the evening they use part of the bar for the Brazilian restaurant but its still very quiet.

Boarded the Jade in December 2017 in Miami. Got there at about 1130am and the line up was out the door and down the steps at the terminal. This was just to get through the xray machines. (it was a hot day as well).

Once through the xray area there was still a long line to get to the agents where you do your paperwork and get your room key/card. (45 minutes wait at least). Then you get directed upstairs and we had another 30 minute wait while they called groups of passengers by number (you get given a tag with say number 23 on it and there might be 20 people in your group with that number).

I personally would wait till after 1pm to turn up as I bet the lines are shorter and thus the waits will be the same.

Once on board we went to O Sheehans which was nowhere near as crowded as other venues and we had a nice relaxing meal before going to our cabin. (I believe they released the cabins at about 2pm or maybe just before)

zbayette...regarding the toiletries. I wont be able to tell you the specific brand (Im a guy, I dont look at that stuff)..buttttt...it smelled very nice. It was Lemongrass i believe and we used so much of it that the cabin steward had to fill us up 2/3 of the way through the cruise. We brought our own products but my wife was more than happy to use the ships.

She did run out of conditioner sooo (here is where it pays to be nice to your cabin steward) we asked our steward if she had any and she gave us a bunch of Bulgari ? products that they use in the Haven. Stuff seems to be pretty pricey on line but she kept giving it to us. We did tip her extra for some body lotion earlier in the cruise, then a few bucks on xmas day as a present so I think she was just taking care of us in her own way.

The products were all excellent though. No dry skin or flaky scalp etc.

Just off the Jade last week. Our first cruise with NCL and our 8 cruise over all.

Liked nearly everything about the ship. The week prior to the 10 day Jade cruise we did a 7 day on Rhapsody of the Seas and there was huge difference.

We had a deck 10 balcony on Jade. Nicely renovated, and very modern looking. Plenty of storage around the room. The thing we liked best was the bathroom. Well laid out so that two of you could be in there at the same time unlike some of our other cruises.

Updated tv in the room with usual selection of channels. They did have two movie channels that played continuous loops of up to date films (Kong, Great Wall, Fast and Furious etc)

Loved the complimentary dining venues such as O Sheehans and Jasmine Garden. Have never experienced this before on other ships and they were great options. We used O Sheehans quite a lot for lunch or maybe just some dessert in the evening while we played cards. The place was barely every busy and we always got a booth seat by the windows. Burgers in there were very good along with their breakfast omelettes etc.

Lots of bars on board but our favourite was the Mojito bar up by Cagneys Steakhouse. I found that a lot of the bar tenders in the general bar areas were just throwing cocktails together without much thought as a lot of people were on drink packages and were knocking the booze back. But in the more specialised bars such as the Mojito or Martini bar they put more thought and effort into it.

On sea days the pool areas got a bit crowded and they arent that big. I went for breakfast early most mornings and would sit outside in these big comfy outdoor chairs by the pool. At 730am I was watching people run around throwing towels on chairs and trying to claim them for the day. If being by the pool is not important then go to the deck up above the Spinnaker lounge as they have a sun deck and its marked as a quiet zone. You cant hear any music from the pool area and its nice and relaxing, right at the front of the ship.

Casino wasnt to bad and was never very smokey. Come to think of it smoke never seemed to be an issue at all on this cruise which was nice.

Buffet was good for breakfast but pretty much "blah" the rest of the time. Main dining rooms were ok but had better on Royal Caribbean. We did Teppanyaki one night and that was a lot of fun. Also did La Cucina (Italian) but I have had a lot better at Olive Garden or mom and pop places. Things were way to salty or just bland. Cagneys was very good, had a Porterhouse that was prepared to perfection.

We like this size ship and we found it pretty easy to find our way around. Not into the mega ships so this was ideal

So we just got home after 10 day cruise out of Miami. We parked there last year and had no issues with the truck and security etc.

This year on arrival we were cruising with NCL which would be the farthest terminal from downtown Miami. When we arrived though there was apparently some special event planned for later that night and they had blocked off the garage for cruise ship passengers and we were forced to use the one about 300 metres away. No biggie in the scheme of things but if you have difficulties walking etc. it will be a long struggle in the 28c heat they were experiencing that day.

But I digress....my advice is that if you intend to pay cash using the ticket machines in the parking garage then make sure you carry either older $100 bills or just smaller older bills. Our parking ticket was $220 and it wouldnt accept any brand new $100 bills and I didnt have enough in smaller bills to make up the difference. They do have credit card capability I believe but as stated above..my wife was waiting at the terminal and i was over 300 metres away trying to pay!! There was ticket collector in one of the booths as you left the garage but it was hard to see if anyone was in the booth when i was walking up to my truck. I know they do say that the garage exits are all manned on cruise days, but just some advice in case you want to do the ticket machine route.

Just parked at POM last week for 10 days. Rate is now $22 a day but its secure and monitored and close to the cruise terminals.

Just got off the ship on Thursday having done the 10 day Xmas cruise.

This was our first cruise with NCL and we had just got off the Royals Rhapsody of the Seas the day before we sailed on Jade. Big difference in quality between the two lines and all in favour of NCL.

Had a balcony on deck 10 forward. Very nice cabin with just about enough storage space. Loved the bathroom though, shower twice the size of Royals, separate sink and separate toilet with a door. Great body wash supplied by the ship (Lemon grass I believe). TV channels are about the same on all ships but at least on NCL they had two channels dedicated to just movies and we managed to catch nearly all of them through the cruise. Reasonably up to date films like Kong and The Great Wall. Passed some time with them anyway.

Loved all the complimentary options on board such as Jasmin Garden (asian) and O'Sheehans. Always found a spot to sit at O'Sheehans no matter the time of day and its a good option for breakfast etc. The buffet was good for breakfast but very hit and miss for other times of day.

As for the ports of call. We have been to Aruba and Bonaire last year but the others were all new to us. In the Caymans we hung out in the port area until our privately booked glass bottom boat trip in the afternoon. The ship offers the trip at nearly 60 bucks a person but you can book through Atlantis for about 41 so much cheaper. We had lunch at Margaritaville and enjoyed the bar and the atmosphere (we are in our 50's). They had a dj that did some games with people on the stage but nothing as bad as say, Senor Frogs (such a dive).

In Jamaica (Falmouth) we just stayed in the port area. Had a wander and my wife got a very good pedicure for only 30 bucks. Bought some rum etc. in the duty free and got back on board. But everybody is very friendly and there wasnt much of a hard sell from the vendors. Also felt very safe. Heard from some people that we met onboard that they had gone to Dunns rivers falls etc. and that it was...just ok.

In Aruba we just wandered the port area and went to a nearby Starbucks and then a restaurant for lunch. Finished up at Joe Iguanas for drinks before heading back onboard. Last year we did a private taxi tour of the island. Way cheaper than the ships tour and only 6 of us on the tour.

Curacao we got off the ship and found some local vendors offering private island tours that lasted about 3 hours for 25 bucks a person. Our guy wasnt the best guide but we went to the Hato caves and then drove around the island showing us various spots. He dropped some off at beach and then he dropped my wife and I off near the swinging bridge. We walked around and stopped for a drink in the town before heading back to the shopping area near the ship where we had more cocktails before getting on board. My only thought about Curacao is that the tour brochures show you this pretty colourful town but in reality its just a few buildings on the water front. There is a massive oil production plant near the town plus there was a lot of garbage everywhere, floating in the water or just on the streets. They really need to put their tourist dollars to work and clean the place up.

Bonaire was our favourite stop this year. We had pre booked a golf cart through Bonaire Cruisers. Its 90 bucks a day plus a 100 deposit and you get it all day. We toured the south of the island at about 10 mph so were able to see it at a lesiurely pace. Saw flamingos and lots of lizards plus the salt mountains etc. Just a nice relaxed day and barely any people around.

We enjoyed the 10 day cruise much more than our Royal cruise the week before. The service was pretty good on NCL though I found the bar tenders in the general bar areas were just not putting much effort into the coctail side of things. We found that when we went to the Mojito bar or Martini bar there was a much more professional side to them and they took pride in their work. We didnt have a drink package, in fact we had none of the freebies that NCL "give" with their prices but we arent big drinkers in the long run. Including gratuities we only spent about 600 bucks on board which is pretty good for us.

Hope this helps

Hi there, we don't go to the Caymans until late December but we decided to skip going to the Turtle farm. We are doing another excursion instead.

Our Rhapsody cruise is leaving from Terminal 6 in December. From looking at google there might be self parking right outside the terminal. Am I right in thinking its the big tarmac'd area right to the west of the terminal. All the other terminals only have valet parking and then its the Channelside garage.

It looks like you can park there on the day and then its locked up for the duration of the cruise till the ship returns 7 days later.

Just wondering if Im right in my thinking about the parking there.

Before our cruise out of Miami I checked through the boards for same thing and came to the conclusion that parking at the port was the best thing to do. We were there for 16 days. Undercover parking, its security controlled and they probably patrol it throughout the week.

My only problem was the lack of marking on the various levels of the parking garage (the one closest to Miami itself, so far west garage). When we got off the elevator on the correct floor we got turned around and thought the truck had been stolen!! Even when I used the alarm button to try and locate my truck it wouldnt go off as we were to far away..but apart from that I thought it was pretty safe plus it was nice to be able to walk off the ship and get straight in our truck and be on the I-95 in a matter of minutes