Ellis1138

It helps to adjust it in your head to not think about the CruiseNext thing as OBC. It's a discount. You're basically buying a couple of $250 certificates for $125 each.

Thanks. It sounds better than the tendering at Bar Harbor with the Escape. That was utter chaos and that was with me having an NCL Golden Ticket for an excursion. For our PoA cruise, I've rented a car so we can go to Pu'uhonua O Honaunau, the nearby bay to snorkel and then our final stop at Big Island Abalone Farm for a tour. If the traffic is just normal, then we'll make it back to the car rental place by 3:30 pm and the Kona tender place by 4 pm. I just worry that at 4, there will only be 1 or 2 tender boats and we'll be left behind. I've paid for the car with our loyalty points and the tour will be a 'walk in' that day, so if we can't tender, we're not out any actual cash.

I just thought of another question. How often do the tenders run at Kona? Is it like 1 boat every 15 minutes?

The CPAP is a medical device and is allowed. If you fill out the access desk form ahead of time, NCL provides the distilled water for the humidifier. I also had no trouble bringing my 7 inch USB powered fan onto the NCL Escape.

Ok, well everything is uniform now, I guess.

I don't know your age, preferences, activity levels or finances, but I'll tell you what we plan to do. Maui: My must see is Haleakala. Bring some thermal layers and decide whether you want sunset, sunrise or go up in the day. I liked Upcountry quite a bit. If walking around at 10,000 feet is not your thing, maybe snorkeling around Kihei. Big Island: Volcanoes National Park. Even Yellowstone doesn't afford you the geological experience that VNP does. Kauai: Waimea Canyon, Poipu Beach. Our sailing doesn't include the Na Pali coast, so if yours doesn't either, then book a helicopter or flight or a catamaran to see it. We're just going to rent a car and drive to these places.

Except that it wasn't NCL who did that. According to the URL you posted, Homeland Security lifted it in May. NCL is just keeping it updated. I'm not sure why you felt this needed a thread, but hey, yes, there are the current requirements.

The Diner is able to do breakfast before 6 am? That's excellent to know! Thank you so much for finding out! (We're hoping to do this on Kona day, in order to be able to eat and get on the first pre-ticket tenders.)

Yeah, CAS discount might be excluded, but I guess you could try anyway? Sending the form in doesn't cost much. And if the CAS discount is more than $100 over the webpage rate, then it kind of pays for itself.

Yes. I can't get it to work in Chrome, even with cache clearing. I'm using Edge, which seems to work most of the time, but I hate using that browser.

It does. If you own 100 shares of NCLH, you fill out a benefit form and either mail it in or email it to them prior to 15 days before the sailing date. I did it one month ahead and had the benefit the following week in my account. NOTE: You won't get the benefit if you have some sort of reduced or special rate on the cabin, which includes if a travel agent gets you a great deal or has group rates or some such. https://www.nclhltd.com/investors/shareholder-benefits

My favorite cruise was the Star Trek cruise. Not for the ports, but for the sheer fun of having the entire ship done up in all Star Trek themes. The entertainment was top notch. And having all the other passengers being Trekkies made the cruise so much more fun. Photo is of one of the elevators, decorated for the cruise.

I have a question, if it can be answered. Does the 24/7 Cadillac Diner serve breakfast? If so, what time do they switch to the breakfast menu from the overnight? TIA

U booked a table for 2 and then just updated it to be 1 when I got on board. Very easy.

It was $299 for the 7 day pass when I did the Sept 17th sailing. I don't think the price went up after boarding and then on like day 3, they started selling day passes at like $79.

I'm always able to book a specific cabin on NCL.com. I'm in the US. Not sure if that matters.

It's up to you. I always check in only and print out the docs, because I don't want to be filling out stuff at the cruise terminal.

In economy, it's excruciating, even when I did it when I was 22 years old and in decent shape. On the way, back, I couldn't sleep at all in the economy seat and the FA wanted some rest (I kept asking her for more coffee), so she brought me up to the galley, told me I could sit on her seat there, read my book and make all the coffee I wanted for myself. So, yeah, no one wants the fidgety passenger. 🙂 The second time I went, in my mid-30s, we broke up the trip with an overnight in LAX, which helped a ton with the jet lag and less discomfort in economy. This time, my husband wants the nonstop, so we saved up United Miles for 11 years so we can go in Polaris seats both ways. (He's 50 and I'm 60). I pondered doing Premium Economy on the way there, since we don't have to sleep going TO Hawaii, but ultimately decided that being able to elevate our legs fully would be better for DVT purposes. (I'm honestly not sure if I got a good miles bargain, but it was 400,000 miles for both of us, RT EWR/HNL and then the $12-ish for the fees part.)

I did see "Wheel of Fortune" in the Dailies, but didn't take note of where it was happening, aside from saying "Wheel... of ... Fish!" any time I saw it in the dailies. Choir of Man was only on twice during my sailing, I think. And I overheard some people who loved the Elton John thing and others who didn't. The snow room is there. It's very cold. I did mention in my spa portion that I wasn't able to do the snow room much, due to fear of slipping and falling. I mainly did Thalassotherapy massage pool, rinsed off with the public rain shower, then if the steam room was empty, did that and finished up by drying out in the full heat sauna. I never did the sanarium or salt room, but they are still there.

In the FAQ under "what if I get sick while on board" NCL states: "Medical centres will be equipped to test for COVID-19 onboard and if a positive case is identified, contact tracing for that individual will begin immediately and occur at the same time as treatment." They might quarantine you, but they will treat your illness. Any travel insurance would reimburse you. If you're going to US Ports, there might be some Urgent Care or CVS places with Minute Clinics too. Before I go, I always carry a list of In-Network hospitals, urgent care centers and pharmacies near the ports.

I had an NCL excursion and getting onto a tender was an absolute chaotic nightmare. And we did make our excursion on time. I had forgotten all about that. For our next one, on PoA, we're going to try for the 7 am early bird no ticket needed tenders.

In the standard fashion of our government, there is a possible shutdown coming because they can't agree on the budget. A note here: VNP the park itself (as well as Haleakala) will probably remain open, however the Visitor Centers and restrooms would not, if there's a shutdown. My husband and I are going on the PoA in the end of February for our double birthdays, so I will follow this thread. I'm especially interested in any tips like how long it takes at each port to get off the ship and make it to a car rental place and how long it takes at Kona, the day we tender. I've been to Hawaii twice on non-cruise vacations, so the "what to see on each island" I know. The ship is the wild card.

We had light traffic on disembarkation day and I was only going to Penn. Check on whether anything will be happening in the city on your disembarkation day (marathons, festivals) and whether it would impact the ride across. I'm assuming the taxi/Uber will go via Queens-Midtown tunnel as opposed to the Queensboro bridge. Even if you're in bumper to bumper slow moving traffic, you should still be able to get to La Guardia within 1 hour. (Normally 20 - 30 minutes). So to be at LGA by 9 am, you'd need to disembark and get into the Uber around 8 am.

That sounds about right. Thanks!

I was there on last week's sailing. The Escape used lifeboats, but there was also a local Nature Tour boat being used as a tender.