roger001

As mentioned, even when the tenders are rocking in choppy or windy water, there will be crew members holding and guiding you completely.

Hello all

 

I just read a review and the poster mentioned a coffee maker in her room on the Dawn... is this true? can anyone offer any other great tid-bits of information that a newbie NCL cruiser would need to know.....

We've always had a coffee maker in our rooms, balcony or mini suite. However, if you room does not have one, just ask the room steward for one. Good chance there's a spare around somewhere.

A friend of mine is a dentist. He said he looked into a program with some cruise line, don't know which, that would provide a dentist with a free and deluxe cruise experience, if they would serve as the ship's dentist on an as needed basis during the cruise. However, he said they only provided an on board dentist for cruises 10 days or longer. He declined.

We are both platinum and each got a laundry certificate. We sent the laundry out twice on a 14 day cruise and that was about perfect.

Sounds like a very fair review. All sounded fine except the MDR not being able to handle your larger group of diners. Maybe something for NCL to look at then. Otherwise, if you are sailing sometime , just the two of you, with all else that you did enjoy, perhaps you would enjoy NCL again. But for large groups, yes, go to a line that does have the assigned dining times and assigned seating. Because we do have so many choices, it does make cruising great. Something for everyone. Sounded like a good cruise and good ship otherwise.

I didn't see one in our cabin last cruise. I don't care...have too many hats, t-shirts, and pins now. But my wife likes them. I just swung by the cruise consultants desk, asked for one, and he gave me a small hand full of them. If you're a latitudes person, don't have one, just ask the CC.

There are stairs from Las Ramblas outside down to the Great Outdoors. But otherwise completely accessible from walking through the regular Buffet.

 

There are stairs to negotiate to Il Adagio though, so you might want to check that out if you plan on eating there.

You can access Il Adagio without stairs by going through the smaller MDR. It has a back access there, same deck level.

Thank you everyone who has answered! I really appreciate the info. :)

 

 

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And I might add, and I always do......do read The Path Between the Seas before you take the PC cruise. It's a long book, but super well written, easy to read, and will add sooo much more to your seeing the canal.

The Great Outdoors and the Garden Cafe (buffet) are on the same deck, level with each other, and as the other post said a sliding door connects them. You can also go directly into the Great Outdoors from the same deck Sports Bar through another sliding door.

We've done two PC cruises. And I don't remember many kids on board. Our cruises were on the Pearl for her re-positioning cruises, spring and fall. The cruise is a long cruise and during the school year. I'm assuming both issues could be the reason for not many kids. I don't know if an early Jan cruise would change that or not.

In the specialty restaurants, I always wear khakis/dockers with a collared shirt. However, with the exception of Le Bistro, which does not permit shorts, I've seen all levels of dress. The atmosphere in the specialty restaurants is purposely enhanced to provide a nice setting. Knowing that, and realizing other diners might be trying to be a bit dressier that evening, I try to look just a bit nicer than my usual self. I leave a $5 tip, although I have on occasion given $5 to both our server and maybe another server or wine steward who has helped make the evening especially nice.

While I always appreciate opinions, my only question was do they work, lol. I have NO INTENT of being disrespectful to others around me if I were to use them. If I were to use them it would be for safety reasons only. My 13 year old niece will be joining us and I (and she) feel more comfortable being able to check in now and then via a walkie talkie. We don't have the luxury of using an iphone app, so I thought we could possibly use this instead.

 

Rest assured to everyone that is so worried about the "annoyance" factor, it won't happen from this cruiser. That said, I surely hope everyone can show respect for one another. It's the one thing I wish everyone had a little bit more of - I swear this world would be a much better place to live in if we ALL showed one more ounce of respect every day that we live.

As my earlier post mentioned, for this question/topic, you were about to saturated with personal opinions...in addition to ...maybe...getting a factual report on whether they work or not. This particular topic...and a few others....seem to always cause that.

I think it is Santa Catalina...or something like that. I don't really like wine, however at the Latitudes parties, I try to do my fair share of consuming as much as possible in the limited amount of time. This last cruise, Sun about a month ago, the servers kept filling my wine glass. It actually, as red wine goes, wasn't bad. I asked the bar tender afterwards what was the house wine they were serving. It was the Santa Catalina....if I remembered it correctly.

Just one pair of kakies/dockers, and you're good to go........anywhere. I carry two pairs, just in case I do my usual spilling of food. Hanging in my closet at home, they are know as my "cruise pants".

We have never had a cabin steward that was less than excellent. Each one of them have added immensely to our cruise enjoyment. We've see some of them repeatedly on other cruises. I've always left $30 to $40 for a 7 day cruise. I wait until the last night, leave it in an envelope containing a personal thank you message, and always have filled out a Style/Hero card for them. However, as others have said, none of that is required, or expected. It just makes us happy to do so.

You'll get a lot of opinions on this topic. For starters, do a walkie talkie search and there is a huge number of lengthy threads discussing it.

Four years ago, before NCL stopped going there, we stopped on the Star. Mazatlan is a working class, industrial city, and the port is in a shipping container industrial area. We did take a tour, and during a lunch stop over in the Gold Coast (I think that was it) area, we had the biggest and best shrimp I've ever seen or eaten.

On just about every cruise, I've seen frozen margarita happy hours advertised on several different days, limited to usually just one bar, for $4.95. You can save a bit on drinks if you request it in a non souvenir glass, and house brand liquor. We get bloody marys and screw drivers for $5.25 like that.

We try to start a cruise as early as possible. We arrive at the port usually 10:30 if we can. Might have a small line waiting to begin processing. But once it begins, you are through super fast, sit in the waiting area until boarding begins, usually 11:30ish. Then on the ship. The main dining room is usually open for lunch at noon. It is never crowded if you prefer that.

Does the Sun have a walk all the way around deck?

Yes.

Check #3 for pics of the Sun pool deck.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1951326&highlight=sun+pool

Other than receiving a letter left in your cabin confirming the credit, I don't believe it shows up anywhere else. However, we've purchased quite a few. They have always been available, no problem when booking the next cruise...or two. In fact, once I didn't even know I had any left on my account. I apparently did because NCL applied it automatically for me when I booked.

We've stayed in both. Nothing wrong with the balcony cabins, but we much prefer the minis. The cabin is bigger, curtain around bed, tub, full length couch, and the actual balcony is slightly bigger. Here's a link to Pearl mini pics from a couple of years ago.

http://s241.photobucket.com/user/roganderson60/library/Pearl%20Mini%20Suite?sort=2&page=1

As others have mentioned, we send it out one day and get it back the next.

If I tried to book my next cruise (April) the month before the cruise, I'd be standing on the dock as the ship sails away. The mini suites, which we like, are already fully booked. So your logic does not work on many, many cruises. The last cruise we took, last month, from the time we booked it until it sailed, the price of our cabin (mini suite) had increased a total of $1400. A year ago, after final payment for a cruise on the Pearl, the price of our cabin (balcony cabin that time) went down to a point below the price then being asked for the remaining mini suites. We requested, and were given an upgrade to a mini then. Wow. Nice. There is no way to accurately determine what the pricing on a cruise will ever do. If you don't really care if you go or not, and you have the flexibility to go at the last moment, yea......wait until the last month. Maybe you will get a super good deal on a remaining unbooked cabin.....or maybe you will find nothing available for any price. What to do!