Novastar

Thank you! I will be following along since we board the ship May 15!

Osanbashi

It's for two. If you look at the fine print, it says dinner for 2, 2 massages and 2 portraits

Most airlines open flights for booking about 11 months in advance.

Who are you using for your private tours?

We are on that cruise too. I have noticed that it "disappeared" from the website a couple of times previously. I assumed that it was sold out and then it would reappear! I last looked at it yesterday and prices have not dropped. Enjoy your cruise!

Which cruise were you on? We are booked for the May 15, 2024 cruise of Japan. I haven't been called and all the Japan cruises are still showing as available to book.

For those of you (like me) who have posted in this thread and think you may have had COVID-19 and were never tested and have since recovered, the NIH is doing an antibody study to see how many adults may have had a prior infection. For more information go to the NIH website and look under the News and Events tab. I have already indicated my interest to them and thought I would spread the word.

On 3/30/2020 at 9:06 PM, ksmcdonald said:

Would the ship you were on be the Joy, 16 day cruise out of Los Angeles?  My father came home very sick from that cruise and was immediately hospitalized with double pneumonia.  I think he got off ship on agency 2nd. Emergency Room said the same thing, he didn’t meet the criteria for corona testing, although finding out now Ohio didn’t even have test for corona then. He texted negative for flu.  He spent 6 days in the hospital. I remember him saying he had no smell nor could he taste his food. He is 82 years old and lost 20 lbs. on a 16 day cruise. He did say 3-4 people were life flighted off, although he didn’t know what was wrong with them.  I’m sure he had corona.  Fever, terrible cough. 

No. We were on the Gem Panama Canal cruise from Jan. 24 to Feb. 14. We are both better now but still with remnants of the cough. I hope your father is doing well now.

I had something very similar happen to me on our January Panama Canal with similar symptoms. I isolated myself to the cabin. When I got home I was still sick and my doctor tested me for everything - RSV, Flu and about 5 or 6 other respiratory conditions all of which were negative. I was not tested for corona because I did not meet the criteria at that time. I got sick after I had been on board for over a week. My husband came down with it about 1-2 weeks after I did. 

30 minutes ago, Tazzy0831 said:

I received this same letter for a cruise booked in March 2021 from Hong Kong to Tokyo.  

Tazzy and Sheila

Same here but it did not surprise me at all.

We will be on the Gem 1/24 sailing and will be visiting the same ports as you so I have a currency question. Can we get along with just US dollars and credit/ATM card? Is it necessary to get local currency at any of the ports? Thanks!

20 hours ago, pootsien2 said:

Or you can get a reservation for a day room at the TWA hotel at JFK airport.It is interminal 5. As you know everything takes longer to get to because of traffic and security. They have a pool on the roof and maybe? a hot tub plus there is a Constellation aircraft for a bar! Check out the website, they may have a baggage check without getting a room also...

That is a definite possibility and it looks like a fun place to check out. Thanks so much for the suggestion.

Thanks for the info. Is Schwartz luggage close to the pier? From there where would we find the hop-on-hop-off bus?

We will be arriving in the morning and will try to be among the last off the ship but our flight does not leave until 6:30 pm from JFK. The last time we arrived in New York (5 years ago) the cruise line offered a Manhattan tour with airport drop off. However there is no such excursion offered for our upcoming cruise. I have looked online and the only thing I could find were private tours in excess of $400/person. That is too pricey. Any other suggestions? Thanks

Remember that at one time we were all first-time cruisers and we keep coming back for more, so there must be many good reasons why.

We spent 19 days on Getaway recently. I never noticed any smoke smell on Decks 6 or 8. However, since the casino is on Deck 7 smoke could be detected outside the casino itself, particulary in Shanghai's restaurant which is located just outside the casino. We had lunch there once and could definitely smell cigarette smoke. I wouldn't go there again, plus we didn't really care for Shanghai's food.

I think you will be fine with any early show. Million Dollar Quartet and Burn the Floor were great fun. NCL was very good about labeling which shows were adults only and they were all late shows.

I agree with the previous poster. I have been in an Epic spa mini-suite and never had any negative experiences with noise or traffic.

I just stayed at the Residence Inn on Hornby St. 2 weeks ago. It's a nice hotel and is close to many restaurants. As another poster mentioned, there is plenty of construction going on in the neighborhood. I would not call it a tourist area really but it is not too far from Granville Island which is fun to visit. Other sights likely would require a taxi.

When I flew to Copenhagen a few years ago for a T/A cruise, I opted to fly Iceland Air because of their excellent fares and use the option of a free stopover in Iceland. I'm so glad I took advantage of that opportunity as I don't think I would ever have seen Iceland otherwise. From there I went to Copenhage and stayed a couple of days prior to the cruise. It was great and I highly recommend it.

If you plan to fly Delta, make sure you don't wind up with a Basic Economy fare. That particular fare is very restrictive and does not allow you to choose your seats. Seat assignments are done either at check-in or at the gate which means the only seats left at that time will be the ones no one else wants!

I've had GE for about 2 years and get precheck about 50% of the time when flying WN.

Also keep in mind that your flight is not until June. At that time the "anytime" fare is likely to be much higher than the fare being shown now.

Keep in mind that your bulkhead seats may have been reassigned to a passenger with a disability or a legitimate service animal. Such passengers have priority for the bulkhead according to Delta's Ts&Cs and may cause others such as yourselves to be assigned new seats.

On our Star T/A my SO entered himself in the Mr. Sexy Legs contest and won! He is still reliving those glory days. It was pretty fun because he had at least 20-30 years on the other contestants.