calmpets

12 hours ago, Pwrmaster7 said:

I just thought I read somewhere that at 15 it was "their discretion" if you could have more and you would be billed at full price. I may have read something older or from another cruise line. Thanks all sorry for the dumb question lol

Princess has a 15 drink limit on their drink package. NCL has no limit for quantity, just the cost limit.

17 hours ago, CILCIANRQTS said:

Doesn’t sound like it.

 

On cruises embarking in a country where the legal drinking age is lower than 21 and where a young adult (age 18, 19 or 20) is not traveling with a parent or legal guardian, they will generally not be permitted to consume alcohol. There may be exceptions made to this restriction in areas of the world where local laws require and Norwegian Cruise Line concurs. Details on such exceptions can be obtained from the Guest Services Desk. No guest under age 18 may possess or consume alcohol at any time, while onboard or at our private destinations. No guest under age 21 may possess or consume alcohol at our private destinations. Any guest who goes ashore and consumes alcohol (whether under the supervision of a parent/guardian or not, is responsible for ensuring they consume responsibly and retain their ability to recognize and avoid potentially dangerous situations when they return to the ship. Parents/guardians are reminded they are responsible for the actions of their child/young adult at all times while on a Norwegian Cruise Line cruise.

Thanks! I did not find that when I looked on NCL's site. However, NCL claims Harvest Caye is not a private island, which is why you can't use the beverage package there, so I'm still not sure what rule would apply. Are you subject to the laws of Belize (18) or NCL (21)? Any 19 or 20 year olds out there who have personal experience on this?

I know the drinking age in Belize is 18, but is that true of Harvest Caye, or is it 21 because it's kind of a private island? My husband will be signing the beer & wine waiver for my 20 year old stepson, but I am curious if he'll be able to drink on Harvest Caye. Thanks in advance for any feedback!

1 hour ago, JT1962 said:

I went to Maya Key in 2008 when it was Fins & Flippers and enjoyed it.  I would like to go again in April when I will be there, but it appears you must book through your cruise line and Holland America does not list this as an excursion. I emailed Maya Key for options and got no response. I asked an TA and was told there would be a representative of Maya Key at the port and I could book there. Has anyone done this at Mahogany Bay? Does anyone know the cost if booked at the port? 

I am booked to go to Maya Key in March through NCL. Their rate is $79, which includes lunch. My understanding was that Maya Key doesn't allow direct bookings, and only books through the cruise lines at this point. Hopefully you are able to purchase once you dock, but I would have a backup plan in place, just in case.

6 hours ago, fstuff1 said:

Just Came back from the Dawn 11day Southern Caribbean and wanted to write a review of:

Grenada: Waterfall, spice farm, and Rain forest excursion

 

but i cant find it

Grenada doesn't show up at all on the list of islands with available shore excursions. My guess would be they don't have any future stops in Grenada scheduled at this time. I agree with caneable, write it on the Grenada board.

I don't think they keep that number on file past your sail date. If they did, I would assume I wouldn't have to enter it from scratch every time I do an online checkin. Please post after you've talked to them, and good luck!

44 minutes ago, vpearlkc said:

 

I have never had a health screening before any cruise and have seen many threads about norovirus in the last few months on this board. I don't think cruise ships are as pristine as you think they are.

By "health screening" I think they mean the form you fill out in the terminal, stating you aren't sick.

26 minutes ago, Hotspring said:

Exactly, plus think of the germs they might bring aboard!    While it may seem like a nice gesture, it was not well thought out.  Better that the cruise companies leave their left overs on the pier for the locals to pick up.   A lot of good food that has just been sitting out too long is being trashed.

There is no more risk to having them onboard than there is to visiting their island. Do you think their "germs" don't exist when you come in contact with them on land? I'm also not under the impression that orphans have different germs than children with parents.

27 minutes ago, SeaTheW0rld said:

What is one visit to a cruise ship going to do for them except show them more of what they don't have? 

According to the further info posted this morning, Carnival brought the inhabitants of an orphanage onboard (approximately 40 orphans), gave them some gifts from the kids club, showed them the ship, let them play mini golf, and gave them burgers and ice cream. It was the burger line that ticked off the person who made the initial complaint. In fact, let me quote it here "Why are all these children allowed to come on the ship in Roatan today. They are all in line for guys burgers. We paid to be on the ship and enjoy the peace when most pax are ashore. I was told it was an orphanage but why are they allowed to come on the ship and tour? I would have thought the answer would be no, for security purposes."

So even though I have never sailed on Carnival, I follow John Heald on 🙂📖, and I found a post yesterday about Carnival having a group of orphans onboard one of their ships when it stopped in Roatan. Does NCL ever do anything like this? It's a nice humanitarian gesture. Unfortunately the context it was mentioned in was some soulless person complaining about it. Seriously, who complains about anyone feeding orphans? Regardless, it made me wonder if NCL does similar things that we may or may not be aware of. Any thoughts?

Whew! I just finished reading all 22 pages of this thread, and am happy to say I've found my people! My husband thinks I'm nuts. I am currently organizing a cruise for me and my cousins. It's a total of eight staterooms, and I've been having a blast getting everything put together. I started simple, with a timeline spreadsheet so I wouldn't miss anything that needed to be done, and a cost prediction. My dad is picking up the tab for everything, so he wanted a guesstimate of what it would all total up to. About half of my cousins have never cruised before, so I've been trying to provide info on what to expect, but not to be overwhelming about it, so the timeline has been really helpful. Other docs include a detailed shore excursion spreadsheet, a guest list spreadsheet with all the online check in info, individual itineraries to be put in folders (I have a binder with copies of everything included), a list of what to include in the folders, a sample packing list, etc. I am also creating business card size lists of room numbers per guest, so everyone can find everyone else once onboard. I ordered lanyards & luggage tag holders for everyone. Norwegian, in an effort to keep me on my toes, has changed my itinerary three times since the trip was booked, so that was fun. At the moment I have everything under control, right down to the edocs being printed, which just makes me feel like I am missing something, so this thread was an amazing find.

1 minute ago, adonisr said:

 

Bridge cam on the Royal shows them at Amber Cove.

Yes, I am hoping they will turn their phones back on and text me while in port. We all have T-Mobile, so international texting is mostly free.

I have family currently on the Royal Princess. If the Regal skipped Princess Cay on Monday, then their stop this past Sunday would have been the last visit to the island before the fire. I texted them to see if they have heard anything, but so far have no reply. If they have any other info, I will post it here.

I totally agree with everything said in this letter. I also agree with those who say NCL is not concerned with how happy their guests are, as long as the ships keep sailing full, although I hope you have better luck than I did. I sent a letter at the end of September to NCL corporate. It was regarding the fact that my itinerary was changed three times, and on the second change I was not only not notified, but when I called NCL to question the possibility of a change (because I suspected another switch), I was told that everything was status quo. My original letter was ignored, so I sent a copy of the original, along with a tersely worded follow-up letter, about two months later. The second letter elicited a phone call, where they claimed to have never received the original letter, claimed I was sent notice for all three changes, somewhat apologized for the number of itinerary changes, but still could not tell me a specific reason for the second and third changes. They simply said "berthing conflict", which is outrageous since the problem was that they scheduled two ships to dock at the same time at Harvest Caye, an island they built, and therefore know full-well it does not accommodate two ships simultaneously. Anyway, it was quickly obvious that my letter had fallen on deaf ears, so I ended the phone call.

When I started sailing NCL they seemed to be very customer-service oriented, and were still turning a nice profit. Over the past two to three years, or around the time Frank Del Rio took over, I noticed a dramatic switch to a financial focus, often at the expense of customer satisfaction. Complaints on public forums seem to have tripled, and contact with corporate often gets you nowhere. In fact, the most generous corporate responses seem to be when people go to the media with their complaints, even when they aren't particularly valid, so maybe that is the answer. Anyway, please let us know if/when you receive a reply from NCL. I'd be curious to hear what they have to say.

I'll be sailing in March with 8 staterooms, so I am creating a business card size list of who is in what room to give to each of my traveling companions, just to make it easier for everyone to contact each other. Depending on how many rooms you are talking about, you may want to do something similar.

48 minutes ago, Mike_DeA said:

I haven't seen any $5 tables at all on my last three cruises (Escape and Getaway), with the exception of craps.  And they haven't been lowering the stakes during the day.

To be fair, my last NCL cruise was April 2017, so maybe they phased out the $5 tables. But they definitely had them for craps and for three card poker early on the sea days. I don't play blackjack, so I can't be helpful there.

I have seen $5 tables earlier in the day, but in the evening you are looking at $10 minimums, on average.

I'm in the category of people unlikely to sail the Epic ever again. I think the ship itself is sort of a love it or hate it proposition, and I was just not happy with most aspects. JP4GA covered all of my issues, and then some, but my biggest gripe was the room layout. Despite having done my research and knowing what to expect, it was harder to work around than I was prepared for.

One of my party just became Platinum Plus, and we were wondering what color her room card would be. Is there a different color to signify the plus level? Thanks in advance!

Your post is not the first time I've heard that the passengers made the delayed disembarkation more difficult than it had to be. I'm wondering if they were first-time cruisers, and just freaked out because of the curveball the fog created. In any case, your advice is excellent! Glad you had a wonderful time, in spite of the difficulties. I am sailing on the Pearl in March with my extended family (eight staterooms), so I'm always glad to hear positive reports on her.

15 hours ago, LeesaB said:

Pretty sure that's not gonna happen.  The island is only built to handle one ship's worth of passengers at a time.  Do two ships ever stop at the other (actual) private islands on the same day?  (Actually do not know the answer to this - never heard of it happening but assuming not)

I would have assumed that too, but both the Pearl and the Breakaway were booked to be at Harvest Caye at the same time, on multiple sailings, for over a year before they changed the itineraries. Either nobody paid attention when they put the itineraries together in the first place, or they had some intention of making accommodations for two ships simultaneously. My guess is that it was done in error, but that's a pretty big screw up.

1 hour ago, timf2001 said:

There's a link at the bottom of the email that allows you to unsubscribe from shopping reminder emails.

Thanks so much for that tip! I just happily unsubscribed.

Cozumel Bar Hop posted on their facebook page back in November that they have a new third stop. El Pescador replaced Playa Bonita, which, according to the comments, has permanently closed. 

2 minutes ago, ProgRockCruiser said:

 

I hate to sound obtuse, but isn't Cozumel part of Mexico, just an island off the mainland?  So do you mean the price is cheaper than on the mainland?

That's my fault. I wasn't clear. I meant that $35 at Costco in the USA is more expensive than what I've seen it priced as anywhere in Mexico, but specifically Cozumel. Hope that helps!

I don't recall the specific pricing, but it was definitely much cheaper than that in Mexico. Plus you can bargain with the vendors, so even if it's marked for, say, $20, you can probably get it for less than that.