cruisinmeme

If for some reason there isn’t one in your bathroom just ask the cabin Stewart.sometimes the first day can be pretty hectic so I have left a note on the bed with things I need. 

You make all 4 of the reservations at 125 days ahead of cruise.we love to book Teppanyaki for the first night.(use platinum ) then i book Italian for our other platinum . I am happy with a pizza so we dont come close to exhausting the allowed food.  Then i use the 2 dinning package meals that allows more choices for other restaurants.

It should say exactly what the tour does and about it in the expanded description. You can buy tickets in port for the hop on hop off tour. I want to say it was actually cheaper.

Cash is best. If you use your room key/ sign and sail card there is a 3% charge. I usually put in my limit of cash and you get a paper with your balance that comes out of machine when you cash out. I just move to another machine with it. 

I was plenty happy with the coffee I made in my cabin.  Since I only drink one cup per day that worked for me.  My daughter was too lazy to make in her’s in cabin so she tried coffee in MDR and said it was awful so she picked up coffee at Starbucks each morning on the way to breakfast.

When you tell them you are using the free at sea meal plan they will tell you what all it includes. I know you get more with this meal than what comes with a platinum meal. 
the 7 layer cake chocolate cake is real good but usually to full to eat it. Rib eye and prime rib is 16oz each. Lobster bisque is yummy. 

5 hours ago, golden6911 said:

Even though me and my husband don't drink, we still got the Free at Sea Plus package for the cruise since the other perks (more specialty meals, unlimited internet, excursion discounts) made it worth the cost.  The Free at sea plus upgrades the included "Open Bar" to add Starbucks drinks to your package as well. 

We do not drink so I take all the free at sea and take the drink package off. The gratuities for it is quiet a bit so not worth the few virgin drinks I may get. 

We have brought our own paper cups with lids. Needless to say we are stopped constantly and asked where they came from. My husband is a big coffee drinker and it is so easy. He seems to forget the tumbler type everywhere.

We became platinum with carnival. Then we tried NCL and haven’t looked back. We became platinum pretty fast with NCL (now sapphire) booked suites and that got us platinum fast. 
we love the Breakaway. Favorite deck is deck 8 . We get two specialty dinning meals for being platinum but for the very small fee we take the free at sea 2 meals. 
mid you cruise a lot you will see a huge difference in what NCL does for a platinum guest as opposed to carnival. 

I just check my cruise every single day.  I just go to the web site and check my price. It has gone down once a month for about 6 months (50.00 each per month) so far this month it is going back up. 
 

So she is ok paying for a cruise and not going.  I don’t think I can wrap my head around that. 

1 hour ago, LisaDee said:

 

I understand that the cruise fare for guest 2 is forfeited, but she was going to let the voucher expire anyways.  I just wanted to make sure they wouldn’t then make ME (guest 1) fork over more money when she doesn’t show up.

Edit to add: the cruise fare is about = voucher so I’m not out any extra cash.

Things can change on a dime but we have taken our grandkids on many many cruises and never once have they even ask to see the papers we filled out. 

We also have Verizon . When in Mexico you can do just like the USA. No charge. 10.00 for other places.  Just isn’t worth it in my book. I do t go on a cruise to call and text all day.  We do any research on a port before I even Leave for the cruise 

the 150 minutes was plenty for internet. 

My daughter and family had two cabins in that very location .  They loved it. No noise and no extra movement.   We always take precaution and take non drowsy dramimine.

When Katrina hit and tore out the docks in New Orleans. We originally had cabins near my daughter, son in law and 2 small grandkids. My mom was with us. We jumped to Galveston and jumped to royal carribean. We knew nothing about their ships. Anyway we booked and as it turned out we were on different decks and opposite ends of the ship . I will say we managed really well. Hardest part was babysitting my mother that refused to learn her way to their suite. She had no problem leaving the cabin and finding the casino. As it turned out they had a suite the size of an apartment so she stayed in the extra bedroom. 
Another cruise (NCL) my daughter and granddaughter had picked their cabin and had the free at sea perks. Sorta last minute I decided to go and did the sail away. I didn’t need the free at sea . I am platinum and already had two free meals in specialty restaurant . I don’t drink . Of coarse we were floors apart and opposite ends. We managed to meet up just fine.

We have done option ONE too many time to count. While it is ok option TWO was my favorite of 25 carribean cruises. It was for my granddaughter graduation cruise.  While they went on different excursion than me all were wonderful . So different from the western carribean. Also with option TWO when you go to GSC your meals are provided.  A huge choice of food. Not sure about the drinks because I do not drink.  (Booze) if it didn’t involve flying to Miami from Louisiana we would only do that option. Loved StThomas. Took a wonderful excursion to StJohn. 

3 hours ago, MagnoliaBlossom said:

In February on the BA, they did not open until noon, so if you boarded early there was a short wait.  O Sheehans was open, though.

 
we were shocked in January when thought there would be a wait and both dining rooms were open about 11:30 when we walked up.  This was on Breakaway.  I will say first time in maybe 10 cruises. Always have to wait until noon. 
it is just me but we enjoy the dining room for embarkation meal.

For a really good pizza I would order one from Italian resultant . Of coarse I am not even sure they have to go box’s.  It is much better pizza than the stuff on buffet. 

2 hours ago, knitlady037 said:

I have a friend that is on the NCL care team. They were all called into the port. One arrived with100 pizzas and more were ordered. They had cookies ,chips snacks and waters available. Once the ship docked, anyone that needed help with air arrangements was given assistance

Also read they got a 25.00 pp OBC.  So guess carnival wasn’t the hero of the day after all.

We sailed the dawn several times. Had the grandkids and stayed in the family suites. I love that it had LosLobis. We ate there like 4 or 5 nights. Dawn is fine for us.

I have the Starbucks app and i always put the gift card on my app (so not sure they allow just gift cards ) nothing was added to the purchase .i just dint want to be drinking all that Starbucks to make the package worth it. In fact i believe i only had two specialty drinks in 7 days. 

In January 2023 we were on the Breakaway and went to headliners comedy club and all the reservation for all specialty restaurants were done there. There is a phone number you might try to handle it ahead of time.

3 hours ago, LGinPA said:

What is Spiegel tent? 

 

It's listed on deck 6 of the Breakaway on every deck plan and on the quick reference guide that bird posted, it's considered a specialty dining. 

Well I am curious also.  Been on Breakaway 3x and Getaway once and never even realized it was there. 

Once on the ship and the app is on ship function the deck plans are super easy to see. Going on Breakaway in early March.  This will be 4th time. Also been on Getaway (same layout) so i pretty well can maneuver the ship.