kona_wahine

Thanks everyone. I called the group specialists this morning and spoke to a different person who seemed to know more and was more helpful. He checked and of course there was nothing left. He said to keep checking in case something opens up, but I’m not counting on that. He did explain to me to have one reservation book a 4 top and another book a 5 top and they will combine them. I wish the first person had told me that. We will just book as soon as we are on the ship and hope for the best.

I’ve only cruised a couple times with NCL and we have a group cruising Alaska in July. Specialty dining opened up 5 minutes ago and everything is just about gone except super late. Is that the norm? We have 5 cabins booked so I’ll try calling that department tomorrow and hopefully they can help us, as we we want to dine together as it’s a family vacation. There are 9 passengers so I couldn’t do it online anyway, I had to call tomorrow when the group NCL people are open. I was just checking to see what was available. I guess i don’t understand why they advertise the cruise with the free at sea and then you don’t end up getting the specialty dining????

We cruise Sunday on the Pride, and had an inside on deck 8 booked. I was worried because I wasn’t thinking when I booked and it’s right under pool area, so I was worried about the noise when they move chairs. I Got a call yesterday for an extended balcony on deck 8 for $300. I took it!

I was getting terrific casino offers, but they are sadly gone. I think they are sailing at capacity now, since covid over, and the amount of offers have dwindled. I’m not a big gambler, maybe a couple hundred per cruise, but sailed 2x with free offers last year. Been a year since I’ve received a decent offer.

We booked it thru Carnival. It was 4-5 hours. I really don’t remember the cost.

https://caymanresident.com/live/transportation/public-buses

We did a Havana cabana on the Vista. Loved the Havana area but thought the cabana was kinda waste of money. I’d definitely do an interior in the Havana area if there is a next time on that ship. But I probably wouldn’t book on the ships without a pool area.

Thank you for the bus link Vettebuff! We will be there in a couple weeks and this is super helpful. Do they announce stops? I’m thinking we might go to Hell (🤣) first and then back to public beach for the rest of the day. Or would Governors Beach be better? We would like somewhere where we can get something to drink, (soda water maybe a beer). Knowing we want the yellow bus makes it less worrisome.

I’ll tell you why. Because I’m 62 and sitting on the sand would just plain hurt. I got off the ship, grabbed a cab and knew exactly where I was going and knew I would have a front row seat. Worth every single penny we paid. And there you have it.

It’s posted above

We cruised end of October and had pretty much same experience. People on this cruise were very nice OR extremely rude. That was quite a turn off for me, but I was warned on TripAdvisor before hand that NY’ers have a tend to be rude, just the way of life there. 🤷‍♀️ casino smoke was horrible and worse when they tried to clean it with an overwhelming smell of air freshener. Yuck. Embarkation was actually pretty good for us, debarking was a bit ridiculous. We had the shuttle to JFK and what a mess out there trying to find the bus! That poor bus driver, I felt so bad for him. Rude, rude, entitled people.

We were at Big Bastards at great bay. We were the only ship in port so I think that had something to do with it.

We had 18 rolls of TP on our Oct 28th cruise. I counted. LOL we had a great cruise, no real complaints. Carola was the BEST bartender ever. Casino was definitely bad for smoke. I figured I saved $ by staying away. We had great service in MDR, all courses were served quickly, food was great. Sorry you had such a disappointing time. (Idk why the picture loaded upside down)

That picture is accurate for the Nov 28 sailing. More games than books.

We did a catamaran up the coast to the pitons, including Marigot Bay cruise thru. Several people on our ship said they took land shuttle and said it was horrible. Windy road and very slow. I’m glad we went by sea.

It’s quite an experience!

We did the bar\peddle boat thing out to honeymoon beach. We had about 2 hours at 5he beach, had a great time.

We were just there. We booked big bastards before hand. Got right off the Venezia (only ship in port that day) and caught the first water taxi. There was a total of 4 of us on it! 🤣 big bastards was sold out, we had reserved front row. Drinks and food were great, service impeccable. Highly recommend, but getting chairs anywhere along there wouldn’t be a problem unless more ships in port. Beach vendors are relentless, and that probably had to do with so few people that day. Beach was nice, calm.

Me too!

We got directly off the ship at 8:00 and headed straight there. (Along with several others) they were open when we got there.

USD

We were just there and shared taxi to harbor lights was $5pp. We were going to walk but sure glad we didn’t. It’s very hot and humid and the taxi price is cheap. We like having a lounge chair and umbrella but saw people just laying towels down,. Sun was intense so the umbrella is a must for me.

We were just at harbor lights and as far as beach it’s pretty much the same.

Ok, back for my review. We were there a couple days ago. We followed the signs off the ship to the taxi stand, very easy. They had tons of taxi vans, so all shared. $5 pp to harbor lights. Check in was quick and easy as we had front row reservations, paid in advance. They pointed us out the back and told us to look for our names. We found our 2 chairs with umbrella in front as promised. The beach was gorgeous, soft sand. Water blue and beautiful. You could rent jet skis, or go snorkeling if you wanted. It was interesting as the snorkeling spot was basically just right past the ropes, would be a quick swim but there is some boat traffic so idk about just swimming out there. We didn’t snorkel so can’t really tell you. Others said it was good. 🤷‍♀️ service was kind of lacking but we weren’t really pushing it. Started with a bucket of beer for hubby and a blended drink for me. They never came back but we could have grabbed someone if we really wanted to. I was just surprised as places like that usually want to sell drinks. As for the crowds, it was pretty full but it was fine. You won’t have a beach to yourself is all I’m saying. When we were ready to leave we grabbed a taxi waiting in parking lot, there were several, and back to port for $5pp. Oh, and there were a couple vendors but they weren’t obnoxious. (Like today in St Maarten. 🤣)

I’m on the Venezia now also and definitely have a different opinion on most of what OP has. The check in was a breeze, even with no priority as it was a journeys cruise, we were on fast. The crew are exceptional. So friendly, nice, welcoming, and helpful. The dining room is beautiful, and service fast, food has been really good. I have seen no dirt or stains. I really have no idea what OP is talking about! We have the cheers program and we are on deck 10. After a couple days we just walk up and the bartenders knew us and literally just pull a Corona out for hubby and hand it to him. They are awesome! getting to deck 12 is a bit of a pain, we just go into the interior stairs and go up that way. I really like deck 11 area over lido but don’t understand why they didn’t include stairs up from there. But not that big a deal. casino smoke is probably my only real complaint. At points I think they try to use some kind of air cleaner that is strong perfume smell but doesn’t work well. But smoke smell is very strong. I’m up a couple hundred so I’m taking my winnings and staying away from there! And yes, I booked a “free” casino rate inside room. ☺️. ship is beautiful, the crew is great, food is very good (much better then the other cruises post pandemic) and we always find so to do. oh yea, the fellow cruisers….. I will say, and IDK if it’s because it’s out of NYC, but ya, lots of RUDE cruisers. One lady complained when several people got on HER elevator. 🤷‍♀️) Lots of complaining about nothing. The ice wasn’t working one morning on buffet and a woman says to me that she will never sail Venezia again. Just really rude and ME attitudes.