Sixtytwo

1 minute ago, lenquixote66 said:

As am I .

Well, Happy Birthday! I hope your day is more exciting than mine will be! I volunteer at the city visitor center on the historic Natchez Trace. So, I will be smiling and welcoming travelers all afternoon! 🙄

On 4/25/2020 at 9:11 PM, lenquixote66 said:

How about one for 75 and older ?

YES!!! As of Friday (Oct 😎 I will join that elite group! Looking forward to many more days at sea!

16 hours ago, KINGBOBOFTHENORTH said:

If your credit card still charges a 3% foreign transaction fee, you need a new credit card. Everyone I have no longer has such fees. They make their money on the international conversion itself.

Exactly why I don't have or will have cards that do charge foreign transaction fees!

We are also cruising from Manhatten Terminal and will be staying the night before. I would suggest checking some of the booking apps. I have seen lots of prices that are less than $200/night including tax/fees. Some are national chains, some are sketchy sounding. We are flying into LaGuardia so will likely stay in the area around the airport (not on the airport). 

So many credit cards now charge a "foreign transaction" fee somewhere between 3%-5% that would cause me to consider getting/bringing cash to save those fee $$s!

21 hours ago, Essiesmom said:

This is not always true.  I sailed on MSC Seaside, and tried the odd card for the slot, didn’t work.  So, I had brought my previous MSC cards…didn’t work.  It either had to be a card for that ship, or that sailing.  But another interesting discovery…I was dashing along my corridor and taking cabin pics, but the insides were pretty dark with no way to turn on the lights.  But then I tried MY card, and it turned on the lights in every cabin.  EM

Interesting...

Tommy, I expect you are 100% correct! Most ships have gone to the power that requires a card in the slot by the door. I would add that it does not matter what kind of card is used. Even an expired card works.

3 hours ago, CampNCruise74 said:

Yum yum, great choice!   What flavor did you go with?  We gravitated to the Pistachio flavor.  What was your favorite flavor?   Hey, I just thought of a new question to pose to the group....    🙂

No particular one. We did like the pistachio and a couple of others. Whatever we tried was, as you say, yum-yum!

April 24, 2022! New York to Rome, 16 days!!!

As I read your post, I felt like it was me writing it! Though I am approaching 75 (in a matter of a few days! 😔) I still love the sea and what a cruise offers. We probably do eat more meals in the MDR than other venues, still attend selected shows, and enjoy some of the activities, our most rewarding  things are late night strolls on the deck to admire God's creation, maybe an ice cream cone/dish, and the do it as we please activities. Hope we can continue to cruise well into the next age decade!

Spent 15 days on Breakaway from Copenhagen to New York and LOVED every minute of the cruise. Crew was great in all areas! Looking forward to our next trip on her!

On 10/2/2021 at 3:48 PM, CampNCruise74 said:

Yes, good call 62 I remember thinking that they need to put a fan there next to the cookies and other food.  The girl was working just as hard keeping them away as she was serving people.  I'm wondering how Disney did that on their Island because I don't remember any flies in there and it was pretty much the same setup...

Yep, after the fly episode, we just had to go back to the ship and indulge in a large cup of gelato! That made everything much better!

Our first MSC cruise was on Meraviglia and it was great! First impression was that this is a mighty "fancy" ship! But, after we got over the awe of first impression, we realized she was a great ship with a great fun atmosphere. She is beautiful and the crew were some of the best we have experienced in all of our cruises. I tend to agree with others, the food could be improved on a bit but I assure you we did not go hungry!

One ding I would offer was on the day at Ocean Key. Plenty of space to enjoy some semi privacy, ample places for an adult beverage, and lots of flies on the food! Every place we saw for food was open air so the flys were abundant! Maybe a few more of those adult beverages and we would not have noticed or cared! 😁

I noticed on the Plus package pdf, at the top it has the $35 crossed out and $29 shown. Looks like it is $6/day cheaper now. 😎

Did you do a mock booking to find out the price had dropped? We are still about 6 months from our TA but sure would enjoy the thought of a possible upgrade or even a FCC!

We have been platinum on CCL for many years but have taken our most recent cruises on NCL. We totally enjoy NCL and are back on NCL again in April for a transatlantic. I think the two lines are pretty similar in ships, amenities, and food. Honestly, our complaint about CCL were the news stories about the garbage dumping and ships breaking down. Also, this will be our second TA which CCL does not offer on a regular basis, unless they have started since we were cruise searching.

My guess is that you will enjoy NCL. Ya never know until you try it! 😁

58 minutes ago, John Bull said:

Hi, Jimbo, and a belated welcome to Cruise Critic,

 

First off, I'm presuming from the content that that you're based in the UK. Most contributors are American or Canadian, hence suggestions about sailing from places like New Jersey to places like the Caribbean. 

A suggestion - when you find the time, add your location to your screen-name. This will help to avoid any inappropriate advice, for instance about visas etc.

 

Kuoni are an excellent holiday agency, but you need a CRUISE SPECIALIST agency.

Naming agents is against Cruise Critic's rules so I can't make any suggestions, but dial "cruise agents UK" into Google & check out the websites - then use the PHONE, not the internet. Cruise agents can help enormously by finding out your preferences & giving you the lowdown on different ships, cruise lines & itineraries, and by addressing some pretty basic matters which you might not know about. When you've settled on a particular cruise, get the best price that you can find (and ask for freebies like upgrades, drinks packages, cruise parking etc). Then phone back to the agent who you have found to be the most helpful and ask them to match it - as a newbie, go with them even if they can't quite match the best deal. They can then guide you through cabin choice (not just category but location too), dining options,  on-board accounts, going ashore, and a thousand other things.

 

Just a few personal opinions based on your posts .................

Cunard No longer British, but the most formal cruise line in the business - for instance jacket & tie at dinner every evening, except in the buffet. currency is USD

P&O also expect standards, but far less-strictly - for instance on formal nights (one or sometimes two per week) dining is a collar-and-tie affair (most, but not all, in DJs) in both the main dining room and some bars,. Again, no such restrictions in the buffet. Tips are included in your fare, though most reward excellent service from cabin stewards & waiting staff. Bar prices lower than most, & no tips added. Bear these things in mind when comparing fares. Some ships (not Aurora) are adults-only - sounds good, but attracts a much higher proportion of  seriously-elderly. P&O is actually American-owned, part of the Carnival stable, but geared very much to Brit tastes. Currency is £.

Royal Caribbean is very American. They do have formal nights but the dress code isn't strictly-enforced and that results in a pretty unhappy mix of DJs and Hawaiian shirts. Other than that, a pretty good cruise line. Currency is USD.

Celebrity is one of the more up-market sisters of Royal Caribbean & a higher proportion of older folk.

NCL are indeed very informal throughout. They do have a reputation for nickel-and-diming and up-selling. They probably have the highest proportion of speciality dining venues, great for a special occasion but expensive if you use them every night - which they'll try to persuade you to do, and with "tips" added to those bills even though you're already paying one of the highest daily service charges in the business!. Don't be put off, but do bear in mind when comparing value for money. Currency is USD.

Fred Olsen is geared very much to Brit recently-retireds.  We've not sailed with Fred, but know many who have. Older ships bought second-hand, but Fred has a very loyal customer-base, and very friendly passengers & crew.. I don't know about tips, currency is £.

Princess was a subsidiary of P&O many moons ago - now it is American, but as "English" as American ships get. Much more refined than Royal Caribbean & NCL, a little more up-market than P&O. Currency is USD.

Oceania is one of those cruise lines I can only dream about, same applies to Azamara, Silverseas & a few others.. They operate smaller cruise ships, vaguely 600 to 1200 passengers.

Viking is a new boy on the block, seems worth considering.

I don't think Marella (Thomson /TUI) or Virgin would suit you, 

MSC and Costa are probably not best for a first cruise, Hurtigruten is very different from standard cruises.

 

I've mentioned currency. Altho ships are cashless, if its not your home currency it can be a bind to mentally figure value-for-money, and there'll be conversion charges to charge your card. (nb don't let the ship convert "for your convenience" - your card supplier will convert at a much better rate

 

Bear in mind the size of ships, they vary from  600 passengers to over 5,000.

We find about 2,000 gives the right balance between crowds and facilities - one reason why Aurora is a favourite of ours.

 

If you want to sail from the UK , I'd strongly recommend the Baltic. 

 

JB 🙂

 

 

JB, as always you are a fountain of great information!

Does NCL require that passenger show up at the port already tested within the 48 hours or will all pax be tested at the port? I am somewhat confused by all the different requirements from the various cruise lines. 🤔

10 minutes ago, john watson said:

 

Twelve days maximum is not really a long cruise. That is his first cruise limit.

 

Regards John

Definitely not for those who have the cruise "bug". For newbies...🤷‍♂️

Here are a couple of links to a site that gives pretty good and up to date information on travel to most countries around the world. You can select the region and then the country.

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions

https://www.kayak.com/travel-restrictions?®ion=europe&travel=open-to-vaccinated

Just one question: How do you know you will enjoy cruising enough to be locked in to a longer length cruise? I believe you indicated you had never cruised, and, some who thought they would like cruising found out it was not for them. We were totally hooked after our first cruise to the Caribbean in 1997 and have been happy cruisers ever since. So, hopefully, you will get the benefit of much fun and excitement from your investment!

Nope, that is a CDC guideline and the cruise lines have adopted the 48 hour timeframe for the test.

Just saw an article on The Points Guy that said Carnival and one other line is now requiring a negative test 2 days prior to boarding, not 3 as it has been! Seems like this is a CDC recommendation now. 😳

239 days 20 minutes until NCL Gem NY to Rome!

I am assuming NCL requires some form of a statement showing stock ownership from your broker or account. Am I correct? Also, with CCL, it had to be dated 30 days or less from sailing. Is this the same with NCL?

Thanks!