Turtles06

Please read the post from @WYB! on our Roll Call regarding his port call there last year. 😊

The Man in Seat 61: If you're only using Eurostar, not onward trains further into Europe, buy tickets at either www.eurostar.com or www.sncf-connect.com, no booking fee. https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-eurostar.htm#how-to-buy-tickets

Great resource regarding the Eurostar (and other rail travel in Europe): https://www.seat61.com/trains-and-routes/london-to-paris-by-eurostar.htm If you do decide to take the Eurostar, I second the advice above to get your tickets as early as you can, as they will be cheaper then.

No dock. It's a tiny island and a tender port. https://www.whatsinport.com/Isla-Catalina.htm

Thank you so much for your post and the detailed info you provided. I'm sorry you both got covid, but glad it wasn't serious and you are both okay! Your info is exactly the type of info I was seeking when I started this thread, so thank you again for taking the time to share it. Stay well, and happy travels!

Plenty of recommendations in other threads (West Quay Cars, BlackberryCars, etc.), including in the aforementioned sticky. Good luck!

OMG, "Fountains" . . . totally hysterical. We were surprised to see it when we did (this was a number of years ago), because I'd read here that they'd stopped doing it. (I hope the participants were truly volunteers and had fun.) As for the crew talent shows, I still recall one show where one of the crew members had a truly fantastic voice; he was far more talented than any of the professional performers we'd heard on board.

Thank you, and of course it's not irresponsible. To the contrary, for some folks, Paxlovid, taken within the first five days of symptoms, would prevent a very serious case of covid. That's a critical reason for seeking medical attention for symptomatic covid. The unanswered question remains: is NCL sending folks who test positive to isolation cabins, or allowing them to remain in their own cabins?

Weather can cause a port to be cancelled anywhere, anytime. Many private tour operators will refund your money if a ship can't dock. Best to know the policy before you book.

And that's because Amber Cove only has the capacity for two ships. 🙂

For so many months here on CC after the re-start, across all cruise lines, there was almost constant discussion of how a particular cruise line or ship was handling the situation when a guest tested positive for covid-19 on board. Were guests being moved into an isolation cabin? What type of cabin? Could they remain in their own cabin? How were they being treated, were they getting food timely, was someone from medical checking on them every day, etc. As we get ready to sail on the Gem later this month, it struck me that I haven't read any recent reports about what NCL is doing now if you test positive on board. Are you allowed to remain in your own cabin? Etc. Anyone have any recent information? Thanks in advance!

Well, maybe you never heard of it, but it absolutely happens. The ships have to navigate into the Dockyard by sailing next to a shallow coral reef. High winds can make it impossible for a ship to do that without damaging the reef (especially a mega ship, which is essentially a big sail). In Oct. 2021, we missed two of our three days in Bermuda on the Breakaway because high winds prevented the ship from docking. The weather was otherwise sunny and beautiful. The Captain tried to get close to the Dockyard, but the winds prevented this.

We'll be on the Rotterdam for 21 days this summer cruising the Norwegian fjords and also up to the North Cape, and are really looking forward to it. Lots of ports, and we've planned a mix of DIY days, private tours, and some HAL shorex (given the HIA promotion and the fact that in some of the small towns, HAL is the best option). Over the past few months, as we've been setting up tours, I noticed that many of the HAL shorex, in port after port, showed departure times of 7:30am (after a 7am arrival in port), including for excursions for which that time made little sense. We nonetheless booked a couple of those shorex since we wanted to do them, but it struck me that the departure times might be placeholders. Interestingly, in the past few days, we've received emails from HAL moving those shorex departure times to 9am and 10:30am, "due to operational reasons." We're totally happy with the new times, but I have never encountered a situation with ship-sponsored tours available for booking that showed such early departure times. This will only be our second HAL cruise, and I was just curious as to whether this might be a "placeholder" thing that HAL does while it works out the specific timing arrangements with the actual tour operator.

Obviously I'm not Bird, but iirc she's mentioned in one of these Puerto Plata threads that her cruise on the Encore was back in early April 2022, not long after the Escape incident. She'll of course be able to tell us for sure. 🙂 I don't recall anyone stating that one of NCL's larger ships has docked at Taino Bay since then.

OP: some suggestions: There's a Cruising Technology forum here on CC, where it would be good for you also to ask you adapter questions: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/677-cruising-technology/ I would also ask those questions in the MSC forum, as you may find someone who can help with what works in those ships. (I've never sailed on MSC, and have no idea where the outlets [receptacals] are or what they have -- American only? American and European continent?) https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/49-msc-cruises/ And there's a UK Cruisers forum, where you might find folks who have already solved this problem. https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/ Finally, a search for "UK to USA plug adapters" returns a number of results, including this from Amazon, which I don't believe mentions surge protection. (It converts to a USA two-prong plug, so again you want to know what the outlets are on your ship) https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/544-uk-cruisers/ Good luck and enjoy your cruise!

Unfortunately, there are other CC geography oddities as well. For instance, some years ago, before our first Panama Canal transit, I was looking for information here on CC about Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Could not find any until I stumbled upon a post mentioning that Costa Rica is found in the Caribbean ports of call forum, even though it has a long Pacific Coast, including the popular cruise stop of Puntarenas on that coast. And someone looking for information on Madeira, which of course is in the Atlantic Ocean, won't find it unless looking in the "Other Mediterranean Ports" subforum, where I can't imagine folks would think to look. Lisbon is in that subforum too, despite not being a Med port. 🙃

With only one other ship scheduled for Amber Cove on Jan. 16, it seems like a good bet for the Escape.

The next day, my account again showed the option to only upgrade one person. And it still shows that. This is scrolling down on my Vacation Summary page to Vacation Add-ons. The one-person option does not exist on the App.

You are scheduled for Taino Bay, which can accommodate three ships. "The port has 3 berths for large cruise ships and has the capacity to receive up to 14,000 passengers." https://www.porttainobay.com/es/home It is Amber Cove that can only accommodate two ships, and where priority will be given to Carnival Corp brands You are confusing Amber Cove and Taino Bay. @meyermtacmj, to whom you replied, is on the Dawn, scheduled to dock at Taino Bay, which can accommodate three ships as noted above. (Yes, at Amber Cove, priority is given to Carnival Corp brands, but that's not where the Dawn, the Encore, and the Constellation are scheduled to dock on Jan. 20.)

I'm so very sorry for your loss. My prayers and condolences to you and your family.

@rosepetals may I suggest you repost your question in the British Isles/Western Europe forum, which is where Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc. are covered, and information and advice regularly given by a number of local experts: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/

And that's where it belongs, but unfortunately it's been moved to the Northern Europe forum. @sea mom may I suggest you repost your question in the British Isles/Western Europe forum, which is where Amsterdam, Rotterdam, etc. are covered, and information and advice regularly given by a number of local experts: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/148-british-isleswestern-europe/

Does the app alert you to an incoming message? Some cruise line apps do not, which makes the messaging feature pretty useless, as you'd need to be looking at your phone constantly or at least often.

Typically, a cruise line will charge per person for a hotel, rather than by the room. Regardless, it's always a good idea to check what price you'd get booking independently. (In some instances, the cruise line may have gotten a really good group rate you can't get.) And, as @CruiserBrucesuggests, I would look at other hotels too. We stayed at the Leonardo Royal Hotel Tower Bridge this past fall for two nights as part of a group (land) tour (the hotel was picked by the tour operator). As its name suggests, it's right near the Tower of London and Tower Bridge, which, for me at least, is not as ideal for walking around and seeing and doing the things we wanted to do, so we booked several nights on our own before the tour at the Radisson Park Plaza Westminster Bridge, which is just across Westminster Bridge from Parliament and Westminster Abbey. (I personally like staying in the Westminster area.) But I don't know how long you plan to be in London; the Leonardo's location may suit you in any event, it's certainly convenient for visiting the Tower and St. Paul's, and it's very close to the Tower Hill Tube station. The Leonardo was fine for the two nights we were there. One negative: most of the bathrooms (at least, in the rooms occupied by our group) had tub/shower combos with a tub wall that was very high, making it extremely difficult for some of those in our group to take a shower (including me).

It’s only better if you can make use of the FCC. With the 12-month sail-by deadline, not everyone can.