Ellis1138

I have never had that happen. I have a long sleeve swim shirt UPF50, although I wear long men's bathing suit for a bottom (comes to my knees). I've never been told I can't wear them into pools and hot tubs. Just tell them it's a swimsuit and made of polyester/lycra/spandex and not cotton, if they do ask. Bringing the tags is also fine, as they don't take up space.

I thank you and I will be following the posts if you can do them live. Then I will be on the Escape the week after you.

The companies who label the wipes as "flushable" should be sued and made to clean all the fatbergs in the sewers. Yes, if a person NEEDS to have these wipes, they should put them in the little trash bin.

I was able to read about both families. The $60,000 people did not get any insurance and also made the mistake of flying from the East Coast of the US to the West Coast of Canada on flights with layovers on the same day as the cruise. They probably could have made the ship if they had Ubered from Seattle to the border, crossed over, then called another Uber to take them to the port. They mistakenly thought that if they purchased the airfare through NCL, that it would be like an NCL excursion and the ship would wait. (Not the case) In the case where the family bought insurance, they only bought Essentials, which did not cover the circumstance that happened to them. It's very important to know what kind of policy you need and to read all the fine print as to what is covered.

Cabin #14500 is the 3 bedroom garden villa. The most expensive room. But yeah, 78k is still huge.

Because they used to have 2 people doing the job (steward and the assistant). Now, the steward is alone and has more cabins to clean than they used to. Part of it is the cruise line trying to shave costs during this high inflationary period, but there's also less people willing to do this type of work than there used to be. So, the "why can't they do it" doesn't matter when they don't do it. If they don't do it, then I go do it.

I got the plastic luggage tag holders with the steel 'key ring'. The paper tags can rip too easily, even with packing tape.

NCL has a special form you fill out, but they like to get it 45 days in advance. They do have an email at accessdesk@ncl.com At this late of a date, your best bet is by phone to the Dedicated Access Coordinators at 866-584-9756. I have severe food allergies and I always make the arrangements ahead of time. On embarkation day, I meet with the crew member who will go over the menus with me. I'm a planner, so it doesn't bother me to pre-choose what I'm going to eat the next day and where. The buffet is a roulette (for allergies) but they should have those types of things marked. For the MDR and specialty restaurants, they made stuff custom for me.

I had the issue, but didn't have to log in and out. I didn't even use a different photo. I just added and removed it and clicked 'save' and after the 4th time, it finally did it. I think the NCL online system is just glitchy.

Deep in the fine print of NCL's air booking, they do state that they only book it. It's not like NCL ship excursions, where they WILL wait. So booking the airfare with NCL is the same as doing it with any third party. That family had a sort of Perfect Storm of mistakes: They let the NCL rep assure them that a same day flight across a continent was fine. They didn't have travel insurance (or in the other case of the one who did have it, they didn't have the right type.) That said, even if you book your own flights, if you book them the day of the cruise, you are risking the whole thing.

I've only ever done the 'drag your own luggage off the ship" disembarkation. I would assume there are people with too much luggage to be able to do it or there are people who are not physically able to do it. I honestly can't recall having to go through customs, but I also did round trip cruises that started and ended in the US in the same city, so maybe I didn't have to go through. We do it not just for the speed, but because I worry I'll pack something important that we need before leaving.

They should be, although they might close the pool if there are rough seas or really bad weather.

It's so funny you say that. When my husband and I went, the water was very nice (and we went in a February). Like Monica887, I did research and for $30, we spent the day at a beach club in Mahahual that had beachside massage for basically $1 a minute. Great lounge chairs, shade under palm leaf hut things, tasty food and coconut water. But it reminded me of Seaside Heights, due to how each beach club touched the next. Crowds, hawkers and such. But we enjoyed it so much.

You might need to call the Dedicated Access Coordinators at 866-584-9756 if your sailing is coming up within 45 days (which it seems to be). Scan that doctor's note into a computer or something, because you may have to get it to them via email. If you can't do this, ask the doctor if there is a powder form for the shake. The protein bars will most likely be allowed on, but any liquid will not be.

Depending on the smells: Sewage type smell: Pour some cups of water down the floor vent behind the toilet. Basic mildew/bathroom: Bring some hanging Damp Rid and/or hanging charcoal bags. Either Lysol spray in a travel size, or some small essential oil bottles can cover the smell.

There is a caveat to it: They will charge you for any towels that are not returned, sometimes as much as $25. I tend to misplace or lose stuff, so what I do is bring a couple of $4 cheapo beach towels from Walmart/Dollar (whether from home if we drive or I buy it at whatever port we leave from) and then I take the cheap beach towels with us on excursions. That way, if I lose them, no big deal. The day before disembarkation, if I still have my cheap towels, I ask my room steward if they would like the them. So far, they've said yes to that.

We were on the NCL Sun in mid-September for the Seattle to Inner Passage round trip. The pool was heated enough that I swam in it every day and enjoyed having it mostly to myself. The air temperature on the outside deck was in the high 30F to low 40s. The pool is not covered. It's up to you whether you would swim if the air is cold or not. They did have warm blankets available, which I did wrap myself up in after I got out of the pool and hot tubs.

Both good reviews and bad reviews can be helpful. I read them with the idea of "Okay, is this important to me?" And then, if something is, I decide what to do. Will long dinner service times at Skyline make me not go on the cruise? No. Maybe instead of rushing back to the Pride of America for dinner, we'll eat at a restaurant on the island we're in port. If anything is truly awful on my cruise, I'll take photos and go to Guest Services to try to get it remedied. As far as the sewer smell issue on PoA, that seems to come and go and have a few causes. 1) The AC in your cabin dried out the trap (remedy: pour a few cups of water down the floor drain that's near the toilet. 2) Someone in a nearby cabin flushed something they shouldn't and the system is clogged and needs to be opened for maintenance. (Remedy: patience. ) 3) The wind is blowing the sewage treatment fumes back into the AC intakes for the cabins. (Not much can be done about that. Get some FCC from Guest Services if it's too awful and they can't switch your cabin location.) 4) The smell is coming from the port. (Once you get off the ship and/or away from the port, things will be fine.)

Yeah, when people did social distancing, washed hands, covered their coughs/sneezes and such, yeah. No contact with sick people = no spreading illnesses. Now that everyone is back to their original un-hygenic ways, all the illnesses return.

I bought coconut water (they chop off the top of a green coconut and put a straw in it), walked around and then went into the giant swimming pool and relaxed on Harvest Caye.

I grabbed a 50% discount on the Pride of America sailing. I booked it on Jan 31, 2023 for a Feb 2024 sailing. I had watched the site and done dummy bookings every few days until the price was what I wanted to pay and then I actually booked it. I lucked out again on Feb 16, 2023, when they had a 50% on the NCL Escape September 2023 sailing. Grabbed a studio cabin for $879. I have not seen a 50% sale since then. It's been 35% most of the time. (I still do dummy bookings to see if my cruise price has dropped.)

You could always go by the CDC sanitation score.

I stopped reacting when she went to the smoking section. Yes, correlation is not causation, but when you have allergies, you go through a process of elimination. The pool was pretty far forward of the funnel and I have yet to react to the fumes from the ship. I didn't ask what kind of substance she was vaping because at the time, I didn't realize it wasn't all one thing. She was also not a pool's length when I reacted. She was about 6 feet away from me. It's also possible she had a fragrance on that I couldn't smell. (Unhappily, I also get reactions to fragrances, even peoples' laundry detergents. Especially Gain for some reason.) The issue began when she sat down on the edge near me. The issue was ameliorated when she moved away. I was also lucky in that she was friendly and amenable. And my own health minefield aside, the ship rule is still that vaping goes in the smoking section.

Here I am again. Vaping affects me. I still remember the first time I encountered it. I was in a pool on a cruise ship, nowhere near the smoking section. But I started to wheeze like someone was smoking. I was really confused ... I couldn't see smoke, couldn't smell anything... until I saw a young woman sitting on the edge of the pool sucking on what looked like a USB drive. So I asked her about it, found out it was a vape thing, and then asked her if she could do it in the smoking section. She was honestly shocked it gave someone a reaction and complied.

My only concerns are allergies, which are helped by filtration in general. If I was worried about carcinogens (and could afford to move), I would move out of Central New Jersey.