JillK

12 hours ago, finnegan5 said:

I was supposed to be on Anthem on Sunday. Given the announcement last night, I called my travel insurance company and was informed that since the announcement is a formal travel advisory for cruise ships, that my travel medical insurance would not be honoured. With that information, I had to cancel. That is just too risky, whether it be the virus or any other medical issue that may arise out of country.

This was also a big deal for us and further informed our thinking in cancelling. I'm honestly not concerned about catching the coronavirus in particular. But I know that things happen and hubby, myself or one of my four kids could get sick or be injured and require some kind of medical assistance while we are away. You just never know. Given that our policies wouldn't be honoured and the enormous cost of medical care in the US/out of country, it's another tick in the risk column. 

My mother once ended up in a Florida hospital for three days with a stomach infection while on vacation. She was so grateful to have full coverage through her insurance as her bill was astronomical (if I recall correctly in the $50,000 USD range). 

But again, to all of you who are still carrying on with your near-term cruises, I wish you all an awesome time. No doubt you will benefit from the ships not being at or near capacity. Can't even fathom a cruise without chair hogs!

My husband, four kids and my parents (68 & 73) were due to sail on the Anthem this coming Sunday and after a lot of consideration, we decided late last night to cancel. 

We did not make this decision lightly as we booked mid-2018 and the kids especially have been very much looking forward to it. Although my parents were in a balcony cabin, given their ages, they are in the more at-risk group. My family of 6 was in two connecting inside cabins. I cannot even fathom being quarantined on board with no access to daylight or fresh air. 

Although I do believe that this situation globally is very serious, and that we in North America are going to see more cases before things turn a corner, I also believe the media is creating a lot of fear. What turned the tide in our thinking was Canada's Chief Medical saying yesterday that although on the weekend they had urged Canadians to think twice about a cruise vacation, they were now say to avoid all cruise travel. That in and of itself is a remarkable statement.

Some people on our cruise's FB page report that their employers have said they would have to self-quarantine for two weeks once back if they elected to go. Similarly, I can see the border agents when trying to enter the country re-directing us to quarantine at CFB Trenton if there is any concern about an outbreak on the ship. All it would take is for one passenger on board to display any flu-like symptoms to have the spectre of a scare.

I realize that is very doomsday but as we weighed the pros/cons, for a 7 day cruise to Port Canaveral and the Bahamas compared to the worst-case scenario it wasn't worth pursuing.

I don't feel this situation is in any way a reflection on the cruise industry and once this outbreak is contained and the numbers start dropping, I have no problem resuming cruising. 

The best news of all - I am now able to start planning a new cruise with the FCC and at this point the few replacements I've priced are much higher than my credit so RCI will be getting more money out of me.

For all of you who are continuing on with your plans, enjoy! 

27 minutes ago, poffles said:

 

I beg to differ on this ... been on 10 cruises and I am not 'scared off' but I am cancelling my cruise so it's not just 'public that never cruise before that is scared off'.  I also doubt I am the only one that has sailed a few times but choosing to cancel (or postpone). 

 

The reason for cancelling is varied and not simply due to the cleanliness (or not) of the ship, I have considered all things in the mix that have actually been happening.  I consider ships clean and I personally have NEVER gotten sick on or shortly after a cruise so I am not cancelling due to my own health or belief that I will get sick.  I think if I didn't have to fly on many planes to and from the port AND across border, I might have made a different decision on this.

 

I do hope you have a wonderful cruise.  Have a drink or two for me 🙂

 

I agree with you. I have 15 cruises under my belt and we were due to cruise on RCI's Anthem this coming Sunday but have elected to cancel at this point rather than undertake the possibility of getting quarantined either on the ship (we are in two connecting inside cabins with our four kids) or at the border. 

Canada's Chief Public Health Officer today recommended in a press conference that "Canadians avoid all cruise ship travel due to COVD-19." Pretty hard to just continue on with our plans and have a relaxing vacation with this in the back of our minds. 

I don't feel that this situation reflects on the cruise lines. I have full faith that they are doing everything they can to keep the ship clean and sanitary. It's just a very fluid and dynamic situation that is beyond their control. I plan to use the FCC from this cancellation to book something next year and continue to eyeball an NCL cruise this coming December.

This in no way will stop my family or I from cruising in the future, it's just a poor time to travel right now. Since the lines have offered us an out, we are taking it. 

I sailed on the Epic many years ago and really liked the ship. The only thing that I really disliked about it was the casino placement that forced us to walk through it to get aft. The smoke was a major issue at the time but perhaps that has since been addressed.

For what it's worth, my husband and I were recently on the GEM and when we were chatting with staff throughout the ship about which ships they'd worked on and which one was their favourite, every single one of them said EPIC. 

Agree with everyone else to take what you read with a grain of salt and go in with a good attitude. Then you can decide for yourself if the negative reviews are warranted or exaggerated. 

Happy cruising! 

My husband, two sons and I stayed here before boarding the Escape in Manhattan (December 2018). 

We were very pleased with our experience and would recommend.

The room was spacious and clean, though a bit noisy from the adjacent interstate. If you are a light sleeper, I would recommend ear plugs. There is a large AMC theatre within walking distance if you want something to do the night pre-cruise. No restaurants close by that we could see but lots of shopping and food within 10 - 15 drive. Included breakfast was very good and our drive both to and from the port was quick and comfortable.

We are staying here again for our upcoming cruise on the Anthem out of Bayonne as we were so pleased last time.

Happy cruising! 

I too recall when lobster tail was served the first formal "Captain's Dinner" night. As others have pointed out - that tradition is long gone and I can't recall the last time or on which line we experienced it last (tempted to say Royal in 2003).

We were on the 12/02 GEM sailing and my husband paid the $19 upcharge to add a lobster tail to his steak at Cagney's. I would have to agree with Flaham who said not to bother. The "tail" was so small it was only three bites to eat it. Hubby says it tasted good but was not worth an upcharge as it was so little. We did leave this feedback on a dining comment card but was not contacted while on the ship.

He bought a full lobster while on Cockleshell Beach in St. Kitts and he says it fantastic and worth every single penny (I believe it was $45 USD). 

I think people can deal with paying an upcharge as long as they feel that they got what they expected. What is currently being served does not meet expectations. We have chalked that $19 up to a live and learn experience.

That meal in Cagney's was the only "miss" on our cruise though as the remainder of the food - both in speciality and main dining room - ranged from very good to exceptional (I had better beef in Le Bistro).

I will add into the chorus of people who saw this email and initially ignored it. 

I did book through an agent but after reading this thread on the weekend, called NCL directly on Saturday. The agent I got through their general number added our middle names to our documentation and told me that since we have air booked through NCL, she would have to contact the air dept. on Monday (they are closed on the weekend) to get that corrected as well. Am still waiting to hear back, as promised.

Interestingly, my booking documentation from my TA has always included our middle names but NCL has never picked it up for check-in documents... nor is there a place on NCL's site to add a middle name. If this is becoming the standard, they might want to add that field so passengers can manually add this info themselves.

I ate twice at Chops last spring and twice at Cagney's last December.

Honestly, I found little difference in both experiences. 

We had an excellent experience in both venues on both occasions. 

We generally eat simply so perhaps for those of you who are foodies would have a different perspective but we were happy with both. 

On 10/10/2019 at 7:42 AM, amitsuzu said:

Hi all, do bid minimums drop at all as you get closer to sail dates?  ie if a minimum bid is 200 today would you potentially see that change to 100 if it still hasn't been filled?

Yes they can.

The ranges for our cruise on the Escape last December were steady until about 3 weeks prior to the cruise when they dropped. Haven 2 bedroom went from $1,000 minimum to $750. After a few days it went back up. No clue why but since they went back up I would have to assume that anyone who bid between $750 and less than $1000 were then more unlikely to win their bid. 

We cruised with our sons for a 12 night cruise over the second and third weeks of December last year on the Escape (at the time they were 7 & 8YO). I don't know the exact number of kids but there were plenty of them and it was very busy at drop off and pick up time and offered complete Splash Academy programming. We also observed lots of teens hanging out around the teen club and arcade. 

We have cruised a few times right before Christmas when all our four children were in elementary school and have always found that there are lots of kids on board. The only time we didn't see many kids in our cruising experience was when my husband and I cruised last May in Europe for 13 nights. We could count the number of kids on one hand.

For all our Caribbean cruises, no matter what time of year we go, there have always been lots of kids.

Happy cruising! 

Hi Marcic.

Here is what I can tell you based on my experience on bidding for cabins on the Escape last December. 

We were booked in a balcony cabin as a party of 4 (eliminating the possibility of upgrading to Haven spa and courtyard cabins) and I was also interested in making a play for the 2 bedroom family villa. Like you, I was hesitant over the minimum $1000 threshold. I did monitor the upgrade site weekly to see if the thresholds would move and indeed they did.

At one point (I think about 3 weeks out) the minimum bid did drop to $750 per person but then was back up to $1000 the following week. 

You can always take a wait and see approach if you're willing to forgo your chance to upgrade at $1000 threshold for a chance to get it lower. Of course, there is no way to tell if the minimum bid will drop, when it will drop or what it means for your chances of winning, but it has happened and I would guess continues to happen depending on inventory and the activity in the bidding pool. 

Whatever you decide good luck and happy cruising. 

If there is lots of availability I agree with the above poster that your best bet is to self upgrade. 

Contact your TA and find out how much it would cost you to upgrade to the category you are interested in. You will have to pay the difference between the fare you paid and the current asking price of your desired category. You will also want to verify that you retain any perks you received with your initial booking before proceeding. 

I booked oceanview for my upcoming cruise. When we got the upgrade email, we bid the minimum ($25 per person) for a balcony as we were very happy with our existing cabin. Last week I checked current prices of the balcony categories and since the price has been steadily dropping since final payment, I was able to buy the upgrade to balcony directly through NCL via my TA for only $9 per person. I was able to retain my booking perks (pick 2) but not able to get the current balcony promo of "take all." 

Since it appears unlikely at this point that you will be offered the opportunity to bid via the upgrade process, you may want to pursue this route if you are keen in moving from your current cabin. 

Good luck and regardless of which cabin you end up with, happy cruising!

Home Departure City - Toronto

Arrival/Destination City - New York

Airline(s) used - ticketed Delta, operated by Westjet

Number of Connections - non-stop

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 4:35 pm / 6:11 pm

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 7:00 pm / 8:41 pm 

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? YES - fly in one day prior to cruise

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? 139 (before I even made final payment!)

Many thanks all - will check with Delta and see if there are any alternatives. 

If not, I'm still pleased with the flights though they would not have been my first choice, if I had been paying out of pocket. Saved over $1000 CDN so no complaints! 

Hi all.

Wondering if anyone has any personal experience and can advise before I got down the rabbit hole of contacting NCL directly.

Was checking in with Delta to view our flights booked via NCL as part of the free airfare promo. 

They have changed our arrival flight by more than two hours and as such there is a notation that we are eligible to change that particular flight free of charge. 

Just wondering if anyone has had success changing to a later/earlier flight under these circumstances? 

Many thanks! 

4 hours ago, ReneeFLL said:

 

I have never seen the drink cards on any of my cruises. How do you find out if they are selling them?

 

On the Brilliance last year and the Oasis a few years back, they showed up mid-cruise.

They were advertised in the daily planner and most of the bars also had a sign advertising them. You were able to buy them at any bar and for the mixed drink card it was $89 plus tip. Can't recall the exact price of the draft beer card which was only offered on the Brilliance.

Perhaps they only show up if booze sales aren't going as expected? 

12 minutes ago, red-dragon said:

Hello - I remember having a similar problem during our first cruise, but it did get resolved in the end. 

Sorry to hear you had that experience on Princess. What a nightmare 😣
 

I'm researching the best US exchange rates right now, have you had any luck lately?  The banks and currency converters seem to have the highest rates.  Today's is 1.3415 😮

 

I'd also like to obtain a US credit card (for Canadians), but my bank (TD) requires a minimum balance of $1500 to avoid any transaction fees.  With the rate it is nowadays, I can't afford to keep that much untouched.

 

Would appreciate any feedback!

 

Thanks!

 

Hey! 

Rates are terrible and I was reading a few months ago that they are expected to get worse over the next year. Hopefully that will change. It makes cruising so much more expensive right off that bat! I still fondly remember when I travelled in 2007 AT PAR. Those were the days! 

We use the card you've mentioned, TD USD Visa. 

I know CIBC has a card at the same annual fee as TD, BMO has a USD Mastercard for $35 and Royal Bank also offers a card but for $65 plus a fee for a secondary card. 

Another route I have seen discussed elsewhere on these boards is the Rogers Mastercard. It is in Canadian dollars and they do charge a fee for conversion (2.5%) but you get it back (plus a bit extra) in cash back (3% on foreign transactions purchases). They don't have an annual fee.

Good luck and happy cruising. 

That is very frustrating - especially that you have to be on the watch for and correct their mistake.

I agree with the other posters who suggested you try to seek a correction even though you are now home. 

I had something similar happen on a Princess cruise where even though I had booked and paid for the cruise in CDN dollars, I was using a USD Visa for onboard expenses so ticked the box NOT to convert to Canadian at check in (before it was all done online).

They still went ahead and charged all our onboard charges in Canadian dollars to my USD visa. That meant I got hit with the double whammy of Princess converting from USD to CDN at their exchange rate and charging the conversion fee and then the credit card converting from CDN to USD at their exchange rate and also charging a conversion fee. Very costly in fees as you can well imagine and I remember us being really miffed but can't remember if we ever took any action so probably didn't.

For the most part I now book in USD and have never had the problem again, but I would reach out and try to get the cruise line to refund the conversion fee at the very least if it ever happened again.

Good luck and please do let us know if you were able to get a resolution! 

It does seem to be all over the place with no real rhyme or rhythm. When it first became available for my March Break 2020 cruise it was $67/day. Last week it was down to $57/day and now it is back up to $61/day. 

Although we certainly like our libations when on vacation, we've done the math and for us at the current price, it's not worth the expense... on the Brilliance over the course of 13 nights last year, my husband and I had a bar bill of just over $400, including soda. Hard to justify spending over $900 on a 7 nighter just for the convenience of the package.

We were able to economize on the Brilliance as we took advantage of the punch card where you get 10 mixed drinks for a set price (believe it was $89, including gratuity) and we also got a similar punch card for 10 draft beers for a discount (if memory serves, $56). Those only came out mid-cruise but definitely helped us to save over buying all week a la carte.

We're hopeful to see those again in March!

As you may be aware it is around 1 hour from the port to the Orlando area. Presumably you will also have to factor in disembarkation time and time waiting for transportation (whether that's getting on a bus and waiting for it to load or picking up a rental car). 

You also have no way of knowing what kind of line ups the park will be experiencing that day. 

One trip to Disney that we did pre-cruise in early December we were able to walk right on to most rides, with at best a 5 minute wait throughout the day (heaven!). The last time we went to Disney in December 2016 post-cruise we had much more significant wait times and weren't able to accomplish as much of the park in a day as we had been able to the trip before.

Depending on your all-aboard time, your actual park time will be limited. Epcot is awesome but there is a lot of walking as it is an extensive park (especially if you try to tackle the individual countries around the back). Plus there will be wait times for popular rides like Test Track and Soarin'. 

Obviously it's up to you guys to decide if you will be satisfied possibly only seeing a portion of the park for full day price tag and the travel time involved. 

Whatever you decide, enjoy your cruise! 

You won't know how you like it or don't until you go. 

We have done several standard 7 nights, a 10 night, a 12 night and a 13 night. 

I find that I am never ready to go home when we cruise 7 nights and dread the last night when you have to pack up. 

The longer cruises feel just right for my husband and I. We have had a chance to fully relax and find that we are ready to go home when it's over.  

3 hours ago, NikkiDee-Canada said:

The daily service charge can be so painful. 🤣 We are a family of 5, so it often dips over past $1000 for the entire cruise for us, which is a substantial amount. I mean, that's another small trip for my husband and I! I'd much rather they built it into the cruise price, and paid the staff a fair wage. Out of sight out of mind. And then we could make our decisions on booking the trip based on the actual cost. It's misleading, and very easy to think we are getting an awesome deal that generally creeps up to a $9000+ cruise after all fees and gratuities are applied. It absolutely impacts how often we are able to go on vacation as a family. We will still go on trips, but are doing it every second year now, instead of annually, because of the cost increases.

It's really easy for a Canadian family of 5 to be pushing $10,000 without having the Haven experience.

We have to factor in 30% more due to the unfavourable exchange rate that we've been experiencing the past few years. 

We are a family of 6 so we always need two cabins and have chosen to cruise out of NYC for the next few cruises just to save on airfare which is ridiculously expensive. We only have two national carriers so there isn't the same kind of competition as Americans can benefit from.

For example, we cruised with two of our kids last December and switched to a 12 nighter out of NYC so we could drive since the airfare from Toronto to Miami was almost as much as the cruise fare for a 7 nighter (airfare was $3000 for four, cruise fare was approx. $3200 Cdn) The 12 nighter even with gas, meals and one night hotel was less expensive than the cost of 7 nights with air.

When looking at the cost of a cruise, I always have my TA include daily service charges as well as perk gratuities on the quote so I know the actual cruise cost (and I do use a US agent so it is in USD and I then convert). I then build my budget with related expenses for the vacation such as air, hotel, meals, onboard expenses, shore ex, etc.) Only when I have an accurate picture of the costs associated with the vacation can I evaluate it.

An increase of $0.50 per person per day is relatively negligible over the course of a week's cruise for my family ($21) so I have no issue with it even though it's gone up over the years fairly regularly. As a stay-at-home parent, I really appreciate the cruise experience where everything is done for me. It's truly a vacation for me and I am so grateful to be able to have a break from the things that I do daily at home that for me it is money well spent.

When will it be too much? I don't know. For us, if we can no longer afford the overall price of the cruise then something is too high, whether it be the base fare or service charge or perks gratuity or related costs (airfare & related fees, hotel, wifi, shoreex, etc.)

We have stayed at the Intercontinental and Marriott previously and they are both nice and well located. Lots of folks choose the Holiday Inn as it is probably the closest to the port but it's always been full when I've been booking! 

As tallnthensome mentioned, try the florida departures board when you have some time to do a bit of reading. You will get lots of recommendations and insights there that will provide you with tons of guidance.

Enjoy your cruise!  

21 hours ago, CruisinChills said:

Another quick question, the "deluxe" beverage package several of you have mentioned presumably includes ALL drinks?  We don't drink soda, pretty much just water, and then I am curious about alcoholic beverages (mostly "cruise cocktails" for me and beer for the husband).  What's the average cocktail price?  Beer?  Might make more sense to buy as we go but I really love not having a huge bill at the end ...

Have a look at your cruise planner to see what the price point for the deluxe drink package is for your particular sailing. Someone already mentioned that it's priced at $52 per person but for my cruise in March it is $65 per person. It was originally $62 when it first became available (we've had this cruise booked for a while) but went up a few months back. 

For us, it is not worth the cost to get the package but you would have to do some math to see what works best for you. 

Onboard the Brilliance last spring since we did buy drinks a la carte... draft beer was in the $7-9 range and cocktails ran the gamut of $8 -14, before gratuities. On that cruise we did purchase the 10 drink punch card when it became available mid-cruise. We had previously purchased a card on the Oasis so were looking for it on this cruise. One was for draft beers (can't recall price) that made it slightly cheaper than buying one-off and if memory serves the cocktail card was 10 for $89 (in that ballpark). 

Not sure if this is available on the Anthem but perhaps someone who has cruised on her already can advise as I'd like to know too!

My husband and I have cruised Royal several times but this will be the first one for our four kids so we're curious to see what they think of the experience (previous cruisers with Disney and primarily NCL).  My parents also booked a cabin beside us and while they are very seasoned cruisers across many lines, this will be their first with Royal in about 15 years so I'm *very* interested to get their thoughts (they cruise primarily Celebrity and NCL these days).

We are looking forward to our Anthem cruise and wish you a happy sailing!

Hi MamaToMany!

It's really easy to add the air deviation to your booking.

If you booked through a TA, just advise them that you want to purchase the air deviation to come in the day before and you will be charged the $25 fee per person. You may also want to cancel their transportation at that point (assuming it was charged automatically at time of booking). 

Hubby and I are going on a solo cruise on the GEM in December and we did this, no problem. In fact, we were given our flight information for that cruise already (Toronto - Newark) and realized a savings of over $1000 CDN for the two of us so it was worth giving up control of picking flight times (they are good, but not the ones I would have chosen).

We also have a cruise on the books with our four kids for March break 2021, taking advantage of the free air.

We are split 3 per cabin in two oceanview cabins so we will be paying $199 for pax 3 in each cabin for the air. As of now, we have not purchased a deviation but will likely do so in the future.

By the time that cruise rolls around, our kids will be 16, 14, 11 and 9 so I'm not overly concerned with us all being seated together as I would have been when my kids were little (one flight they had moved our then 3 year old on her own for a six hour flight if you can believe that!)

Enjoy your cruise!!