HappyGirl1959

2 hours ago, shof515 said:

When ships reposition from Miami to New York, the ship always sails empty with crew only.  there is no special cruise and no passengers. This is due to various laws and regulations that requires a ship with passengers to stop at a foreign port of call when sailing between US ports

 

Make sense. I'm new to NCL and most of the other repo cruises that I've seen seem to be longer cruises that stop somewhere else to satisfy those laws, but this is understandable. I've seen other lines with "unavailable dates"  because they are set up for some type of corporate cruise or a members only/specialty thing not available to the general public. I was wondering about this one because it's only 2 days. Thanks for the info! 

1 hour ago, www3traveler said:

The Escape will sail from Miami to New York City with crew only.  My guess is She should arrive about 8 A.M.

For this cruise, I would hope that cabins will be ready by the time boarding will begin.

 

Late departure time depends on the currents in the Hudson River and the tide flows.  Need low tide to go under the Bridge.

I was kind of hoping with a later boarding time that the cabins would be ready but I wasn't sure if NCL does some type of specialty cruise that isn't advertised and   may have passengers disembarking that morning.  Thanks!

I am SO disappointed with this!

First time on NCL and we are departing from NYC. Our Sail time is 8 PM and from what I understand, boarding will begin around 3 PM. I've only cruised with earlier boarding times and 4 pm sail away times and on those cruises the cabins were ready around 1PM. What time do you think we could expect cabins to be ready with this later boarding and departure time?

I also just noticed that this is the first trip out of NYC after repositioning from Miami. The cruise before this ends in Miami on August 20 then this one goes out on the 22nd. Do they do some kind of specialty repo cruise or just send it up to NY empty? There is nothing on their website for those 2 days. I'm guessing that has something to do with the late departure time. No inkling as to when it actually arrives in NY. 

Thanks! We're on the other side so hopefully there's no maintenance issue for us.

First time on Disney and had booked this cruise about a year ago and we were in ocean view connecting rooms midship on 2nd floor.

got a call from my TA today that because of maintence they are upgrading us to connecting balconys on deck 6. On the surface sounded great but checking the deck plans rooms 6140 and 6142 are all the way towards back of ship and navigator balconys..

 

Been on other lines in regular balcony rooms. Checked YouTube for these navigator bals and they seemed kind of odd.

 

So those that are familiar with these rooms are they really an upgrade from what I had? We are a little concerned about not being midship. Can they really just move me weeks before like this? Should I be asking more forcefully for compensation or better upgrade?

 

I asked my ta to try to get me midship bals and they said these were the only ones they could get connecting at this time.

 

Been on ncl, celebrity, princess many times have never had this happen to me before

 

Thanks

Would you mind sharing which cabin you were moved out of? We will be on deck 2 midship and now I have concerns (re- maintenance). Thanks!

I would pre-book. Chances of you getting an opening at the pier are extremely slim. If you decide to cancel you can get a refund as long as it is within the time frame that the company you book with gives you. It is one of the most cancelled excursions due to weather but it was absolutely the highlight of our trip! We used Coastal and they were a pleasure to work with.

We used Glacier Wind last month....they were fantastic. We highly recommend them.

We also had a problem with Avis in Juneau. The person at the counter really didn't know what she was doing. We were 4th in line and after 1 hour and 15 minutes we had to get a cab so as to not miss our booked excursions. The next day on the ship we ran into the person that was in front of us and he said he was there for another hour and a half before he got his car. (For his own reasons, he couldn't leave). The girl at the concierge desk for the hotel was kind enough to make the arrangements for us and get the cab. Good luck!

Love your pictures and your review!! Can't wait for the rest. :) Does the Radiance have an alarm clock or Iphone dock?

I am also interested on experiences with the helicopter/dog sledding excursion tipping. We are doing an extra landing and are wondering about if there are different pilots and what to do about the dog sledding people.:confused:

You'll get multiple ranges, but I've tipped those amounts you list, for 2 people.

Thanks! I think we'll just round up and pay $100 per person :)

I was just starting to think about tips! I would love to hear what people have done on Dave's tours to get an idea. We are a party of 3, I was thinking either $40 or $50. :confused:

I was probably the heaviest in my group, and was the only one to weigh in. I'll gladly tell my story, though realize that I flew on TEMSCO not Coastal.

 

As I walked out the dock to meet the agent, she saw my camera bag and said "we can't do carry-on bags", and I replied "I know, but I can lock it up at the base, right?". Yep, all is well so far. Then, "how much will you weigh with your camera? Remember to add 10-20 pounds for clothes." I answered with a bit of a smile, "249.9". Her eyes got huge, and she said you'll have to get weighed! No problem, glad to do it, just tell me what to do. We get to base, I stow my camera bag in a locker and keep two cameras with me, leaving a third lens behind for afterward. (In retrospect, I took the wrong lenses and could have saved myself 1-2 pounds...) I headed over to the scale, and grinned like a little kid when it said 249.6 pounds. :D :D :D

 

Honestly, I'd be surprised if the weigh-in was mandatory if someone is paying the weight surcharge (and not likely to be 375 or whatever the boosted total is). I really suspect the weigh-in is used as a way to not get asked on an endless basis "c'mon, billy's only a buck fifteen, I'm 255, can't you let it slide", as they'd be giving up valuable revenue AND inconveniencing 1-3 other passengers (the weight surcharge "buys" a half-seat ticket, so the rear seat that normally holds 4 is now limited to 3 bodies with up to 2 weight surcharges; if they let Bob the Big Boy sit in the back with three others, it will be vice-grip tight back there...it's tight with four <200-pounders). If they say "weight surcharge applies over 250, you must weigh in to prove you're under", they don't need the weigh-in if you've already accepted the fare premium.

 

In the end, it's all about center of gravity. If it's an AS350, it's pilot +2 up front, 4 in back. The three in front can pull the cg forward, the two outer in the back seat can pull the cg to one side or the other, etc. The dispatchers at base do this 1-5 times per round for 4-14 rounds a day, so they know the math well, but they also can't spend too much time on it, so the 250# limit gives them an 'out' to make the math easy again.

 

As a 249.6 pounder on that flight, I was actually amazed that I had the left rear window seat. I fully anticipated I'd be in a rear middle seat, but perhaps the right rear passenger was nearly my weight. *shrug*

Thank you for sharing your story! It is a big help.

For us the scale was behind the counter, about 5 feet from the nearest passenger. Quite discrete. I got into trouble and slightly embarrassed by having to be told to have everything I was taking, backpack, jacket and me on the scale. But they were nice about it.

Thank you! This is helpful :)

Two things to think about here:

 

#1 Each person will probably need to tell the dock agent meeting your excursion what they weigh, "as dressed". They need the number to figure weight/balance for seating positions, whether it's 37.4 or 374 or anywhere in between. I'd anticipate that they'll ask for first name and weight, so they can say "Joe, seat 1, Betty, seat 2, Jimmy seat 3", etc. This will be somewhere in the general gathering area for excursions, not at the helicopter base, so figure out how to assemble the gaggle of people so this is less of an issue.

 

#2 If the proclaimed weight is close enough to but below the threshold, maybe within 20 pounds, the weigh-in will be necessary. The easy way to skip the weigh-in is to just buy the extra half-ticket up front: if you flop that onto the dock agent's clipboard with the regular ticket, they'll accept it and go with the flow, and I'd suspect there'd be no need for a weigh-in at the base. (If someone says here's a fare and a half, they're admitting that they're above the line, and there'd then be no reason to question someone saying 255 if the threshold is 250. However, if someone is close, say 245 if the threshold is 250, the operator knows that they might need to allocate 1.5 seats for that individual, so if they're going to give up 0.5-1 seats to accommodate, they know they "want" the revenue replacement.) It's up to the individual to decide if the extra fare is worth the decreased hassle/show.

Thank you for your insight. #1) We will be meeting them at the airport as we will be renting a car & #2) we have been told by many that the weigh in is mandatory which is fine by me! I don't want anyone including myself to be in danger because of someone's vanity!

Of course safety is the priority....I wouldn't want it any other way! Our worrier will either join us or not, I was just hoping to get an answer so they can make their decision. Seems silly to me to miss out for this issue, but to each their own!

This may sound crazy to some, but I have a member of our party that is stressing over the "discreetness" of the weigh in process for a dog sled helicopter excursion. Is it done out in the open for everyone to see, or is it done quietly? Sadly, this will determine their decision to join us. We are looking at Coastal Copters if that makes a difference. TIA

I have a reservation for next summer made through Holiday Inn Express. After reading this thread I called and was told they are still in the middle of their changeover but they will be honoring existing HIE reservations and in a couple of weeks I can call back to request a letter from them on their new letterhead with the confirmation.

At Coastal Helicopters we were weighed right in their office.

How was your experience with the weigh in? Were they discreet?

You don't need to "check", of course there are more than cruise ship passengers who fly with them. Parking is right outside their door. You will be passing right by them, when you go to Mendenhall. Makes FAR better use of time, rather than wasting an hour.

Thank you! Yes, that will definitely be a better use of time. I am usually more of a "lurker" than a poster, but I have gotten such valuable information from reading your posts and responses to people. Thank you for taking the time to give such great information :)

Why don't you just drive to your tour? Did you book independently? The downtown area is very limited for parking.

Yes, we are booked independently with Coastal. I wasn't sure if driving/parking there was an option but I guess I should check with them. Thanks!

Is there a place to park a rental car in Juneau while going on a helicopter tour? We are hoping to go to Mendenhall Glacier in the morning via rental car before our afternoon helicopter tour but aren't sure if there will be someplace to leave the car. We could try to return it first if necessary but would like to keep it for further touring of Juneau after the helicopter tour if possible. The tour will pick us up at the pier, but maybe we can drive to their location?

Loving your review! Thanks for sharing :)

Yep for you... after customs, look for the car rentals booth... to the right is CDS baggage. They offer the $40 luggage service to the airport.

 

In addition to congestion...

• expect road closures along "Canada Place road" between the two convention centres. The Grouse and Capilano shuttles are likely to have their pickup points relocated to Cordova or Hastings. Pay attention to the signage/staff likely to be there to guide you for potential relocations.
  
• you have a bonus treat as you will be able to get pictures of the Olympic caldron as it will be ignited for your arrival that day.
  
• fireworks will be around the cruise terminal at night (but you will be on your flight that time)
  
• for 2016, this will be an extended long weekend as Canadians will be there Friday and Americans will be celebrating their day on Monday.
  
• get to Capilano and Grouse as early as possible. Expect congestion on the suspension bridges and gondola. Don't get stuck at the top of the mountain or the other side of the Capilano bridges.
  
• the subway to the airport will be heavier, but unaffected for your trip to the airport. Do pay attention to which trains.... the wrong train will take you to the Orient (Richmond).
  

Thank you for the information! I'm so grateful to everyone on these boards for sharing their knowledge and experiences, it really helps to have a heads up on these things to be able to avoid some stress :)