kona_wahine

We did both, went on the helicopter from Skagway and it was an awesome experience. I’m standing by my Tracey arm statement. It was great from the carnival ship when they picked us up on the fjord. That’s why I talked e1 into it. The ride from Juneau was just too far. There was no time to see anything else after. And the view of sawyer glacier wasn’t any better than the 3 at glacier bay. Just my opinion  🤷‍♀️

Another thing, we all feeling a bit crummy last few days and one has a positive covid test. Not enough “washy washy” 🤣

We were on there with you. I think I recognize your picture! 🤣

we went to Cagney’s the last night and I could not have been more disappointed! 6:15 reservations for 9 and we just left at 8:15 without dessert. Teresa was our waiter and she was SLOW, but maybe they were understaffed. She appeared to have one main helper but there were others around. The meat was good but most of us spent the $25 for lobster. Small tales, overcooked, and cold. The sides were all cold also. it was not the upscale meal we were expecting. 
 

the buffet was always good, Taste was probably the best meal all week. Savor was another SLOW meal, like it was 1/2 hour just to get water. Super annoying, as we had reservations for a party of 9. 
 

someone mentioned Tracey Arm excursion out of Juneau. Tracy arm is beautiful but the trip there and back from Juneau was a very boring boat ride. It’s a 6-7 hour excursion and most of that is the ride to the fjord. No entertainment , no narration. I would not take it again. My family is not happy with me over that! I did redeem myself with the Neets bear by land and sea. We all loved it, saw 3 bears, lots of eagles, salmon jumping around. And we got to see whales playing around and flipping their tales. Over all we all had a great time, several first time cruisers. Just a couple bumps. 

We returned today. Temporary government ID WITH a picture on it is OK! We had a wonderful trip to Alaska. 

Thanks all. No passport needed on Alaska cruises. Took my GD 2 years ago with just a BC and it was a nonissue. All set for Sunday! ☺️

He doesn’t have a passport. We are going to Alaska, he is calling customer service. Everything I’m reading as long as it has a picture it’s ok. 

Ok, thank you!

We are cruising Sunday and one of our cruisers just lost his wallet. He doesn’t have a drivers license, just state issued ID. If her gets a temporary one, which does have his picture, will that suffice? Anyone have experience with this?

We are sailing the Encore Sunday and it’s been a couple years so have a couple questions. First, we have a group of 9, 5 different rooms. How does the group text chat work, I think it’s $10? We have both iPhones and android’s. Does it just go thru the NCL app? 
 

regarding dining in the regular sit down restaurants, do you have to make reservations? (Carnival you reserve thru their app)

thanks!

We are on this sailing! 

On 7/11/2024 at 8:06 PM, CruiserBruce said:

But you wouldn't know until you try it! And they can charge more! 😆

Where else can you get a chunk of ice thousands of years old? 🤣 I had a glacierita on the Tracy arm excursion, and the Glacier 🧊 tasted like water. 🤷‍♀️

I’m surprised it’s allowed in the observation deck on the Alaska cruises. That’s not right. We leave in just over a week, 3rd time to Alaska, but glad we have an extra large balcony. Last time on the encore was right after covid and the ship was very empty. It’s going to be a very different cruise. Lol

I was able to change in on her check in so one problem solved! 

1 hour ago, 1025cruise said:

Taxes will no longer be charged once out of territorial waters. It could be 30 minutes, could be an hour.

 

In terms of the hold, it's not just going to be a single hold. It's going to be multiple holds until the end of the cruise, and then a single charge. You then need to wait for the holds to drop. With a debit card, this will hold up her money. Could you put her on your CC and just have her pay you her expenses when done?

I might try that when we board also. Checking in there wasn’t that option. Thanks!

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

I highly suggest making a cash deposit instead of using a debit card. Put down what you think you will need and top off as necessary. The more things you prepay, ie. daily service charge, etc. the less you will need in cash. 
 

I often leave the ship without spending a penny on board because I prepaid everything. 

We’ve already inputted her debit card, but I guess we can just go have it removed and put cash on it when we board? 

I’m curious what time boarding out of Seattle has been starting. We have a 9:30 to 10:00 arrival time, just don’t want to be too early and sit. 
 

I know taxes are paid on the drink package but wondering if that stops as soon as we pull away from the dock or later? 
 

how much of a hold do they put on a debit card? My daughter doesn’t have a credit card and I want to make sure she has money to cover any holds. 

1 hour ago, jimbo5544 said:

Almost always that way at any home port.

We usually take the carnival shuttle and have never had issues but the Manhattan terminal no one, including the bus driver, knew what was going on. They never did take our tickets. 🤣

Personally, after taking the carnival bus from port to JFK, I would probably pay an extra few dollars and take a taxi back. It was a hot mess. 

Thank you! NCL sent us a letter a while back about the Mexico citizenship but then this new letter came and didn’t say anything about the Mexico citizenship, so it was confusing. 

A birth certificate is ok, and they sent a letter a while back about Mexican citizenship requirements. We don’t even plan to get off the ship for the short stop in Victoria. 

We have a large group cruising NCL in July and we all got a letter today from NCL as follows:

On behalf of Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL), we thank you for your loyalty and for making us your vacation of choice. We have important information regarding your upcoming voyage.
In advance of your cruise vacation, we want to ensure that you are fully aware of the local travel requirements for entry into Canada.
If arriving to, or transiting through, Canada by plane many nationalities need an Electronic Travel Authorization (eTA) or Visitor Visa that must be applied for in advance of arrival.
For guests arriving to Canada by cruise ship, only a Visitor Visa is required of many nationalities.
To check requirements for individual nationalities, and for further information, we strongly recommend all guests visit
https://www.cic.gc.ca/english/visit/visas.asp as soon as possible, in order to allow enough time for any required applications.
Failure to provide the required visas and documentation will result in denial of boarding for your cruise and the inability to extend
any refund of your cruise fare.
For more information on the required documentation to sail, please visit www.ncl.com/traveldocs. As a reminder it is your responsibility to ensure you have the necessary documentation and/or visas for your itinerary. (END)

Most of us have passports but a couple in our group are using their government ID and birth certificate. I’ve looked at the website and am totally confused. We are all US citizens. A couple years ago it was the ArriveCAN and now this letter. Do we need a travel visa? When I put in the info it asks what doc we are using for travel and BC isn’t listed. We leave July 21 so exactly 2 months out. 

38 minutes ago, Jeafl said:

We are staying at the Comfort Inn as well.  Is it really only a 2-minute walk as well?  We will have my mother with us who has a bad knee and cannot walk very far.  We planned on using an Uber, but if it is that close walking may be doable, even with luggage.

The one on W 48th street. The Venezia was about 2 blocks away. Super close and easy to walk to. The hotel has very small rooms, but it is NYC. 

We cruised the Venezia in October and flew in two days before, and picked JFK as it was the least expensive with flights that fit us best. We stayed at the comfort inn which was about a two minute walk to the ship. We were able to walk to Central Park and Times Square the day before and did a harbor lights cruise. We had never been to NYC before so did the touristy stuff. We took the carnival shuttle back got the airport after the cruise. It was a bit of a 💩 show at port as that poor bus driver was totally overwhelmed and had no one to help him, but we made it back just fine. We had a later flight. 

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????