luvs2beachit

We were also on this cruise and really enjoyed the food and the ship.

We ate in the HC, Alfredo's, Concertos and the IC. We loved Alfredo's. Food, service and atmosphere were great. The buffet was very well laid out. So many choices and the food ranged from very good to good. Loved the shrimp and mussels! Concertos was hit and miss. Going there at 8pm rather than 745pm made a big difference. No wait at 8pm but a long line at 745pm. We also found out that the entrance to the left never had a line and we were shown immediately to a table.

The ship never felt crowded. Always able to find comfortable places to hang out.

And now the biggie.....the coffee was very good all over the ship!! Amazing!

Does anyone know if there have been any updates as to when the group from NY that behaved badly on the Gem may be cruising in 2017? Trying to avoid it if possible. I heard that they will never cruise leaving on a Saturday so I know the 28th is probably ok. Wondering about Breakaway...or other dates in Jan on the Gem..want to avoid the madness if possible! Love this thread!:)

We were booked on a PC NYE cruise for this Dec. but in Aug we found out the cruise was a charter. We had booked the cruise over a year out and were really looking forward to finally going to the PC. but because we had had such a bad experience with a previous similar group charter cruise we had been on we decided to cancel and rebook for Jan. 2017. We will be on the Gem Jan. 18 which leaves on a Thursday and returns on a Saturday. So far have not heard that any group has chartered that cruise. Now the only thing we have to worry about is snow storms!

Thank you so much for taking the time to post such a wonderful review. Your pictures are amazing! I just found your review last night and I have not been able to stop reading. We have cruised all over the world but never Alaska. Thanks to you that will be changing in the near future, hopefully, this summer.

The bad part about your review is that now I will have to read all your other reviews!!

Thank you again.

Charters are generally full ship bookings....unless you pay the "charter" price thru whoever is chartering the ship, you can't book!

 

If you're looking for large groups, they are on every sailing...multiple "groups". Most times, you'll never know there are groups with you, as everyone does their own thing, just like any passenger. Some groups have private venues, like groups sailing for a particular band, or hobby...but that really doesn't affect the general public on the ship too much.

This was not our experience. On a cruise about 2yrs ago there was a large group that literally took over the ship. They were rude and had a distorted sense of entitlement. The group included a large number of children who were running all over the ship causing havoc. Parents did nothing. Many people were complaining but security did nothing. Our cruise experience was not good, so much so, that when we found out that a similar large group has chartered the NYE cruise that we booked a year ago, we canceled.:mad:

Looking forward to the rest of your review and comments. Thanks for taking the time to write.

Love reading your reviews! Am really looking forward to reading this one.

looking forward to the rest of your review.

NCL Pearl Panama Canal Dec 29-Jan 9...Unfortunately only found out day after I paid in full. Lesson learned! However WE Will make sure we have a good time regardless:) We are a fun couple and we will find other...Hahahaha

This was the reason we canceled our Pearl cruise. We were on a cruise about a year ago and it was a charter and there were lots of issues BUT we were traveling with with 4 other couples and we made our own fun. We avoided the group as much as possible and instead of letting things PO us we had each other to laugh with. If you go with the attitude you have you will probably have a great time! I look forward to reading your review when you get back.

Have a great cruise!

One last question. Can i use my fcc to pay for the admin charges and taxes?

 

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Just did this a few weeks ago to book our January cruise. Was able to use 2 Cruise Next certificates because of the current promo. In addition our comp we received two perks. Didn't take the UBP because we get the drink card from CAS and that works for us. Took the dinner package and pd gratuities.

• Bi Lo
  
• Giant Eagle
  
• Hy-Vee
  
• Kroger
  
• Lowes Hardware
  
• Safeway
  
• Simon Property Group
  
• Select Publix locations
  

And other than Lowes, none of those listed are in the NYC area!:mad:

Thanks for writing your review. We will be on the Regal in a few weeks so enjoyed hearing about your experiences.

Have done this drive multiple times with no problems. Arranged our car through Costco Travel. I believe the daily rate was $29 US for a mid-size car.

Dropped the car at the rental place in Miami and they had a shuttle to the port.

Drive was easy and was around 3 hours. No drop off charges. My understanding is that there are no drop-off charges interstate in Fla.

For us, driving is far more enjoyable than traveling by bus.

Just an FYI about Costo Travel. Keep checking their prices they change all the time. One day a mid-size is $50 and the next day you could a similar car offered from another agency for lots less.

Maybe, Oct 22 ?

Yes, that's the one. Am really looking forward to sailing on this new ship. Not crazy about it only being 5 days but it fit with our schedule. And I will take 5 days rather than no days anytime!

I would also be interested in this information. Bet we are on the same cruise!?:D

For us it's either a balcony or and interior. Having an ocean view just doesn't make a difference to us. We love the balcony when the weather is good and the sun is on the other side of the ship. We equally love interiors for the total darkness....great for sleeping. So in answer to your question, yes, we would do a B2B in an interior. We loved the Sunshine. Not too big and not too small. Easy to navigate. We were on her in July and the service and staff were great.

It sounds like you are hoping to get the 5-meal SDP on top of your two Free At Sea perks. Unfortunately, everyone who has asked about this and reported back on this board has said that the CN Ultimate offer cannot be combined with any current Choice promotion. So I think you could probably get your SDP back, if you agreed to give up your Free At Sea perks (but that would be a bad deal for you). I'm fairly certain that they won't let you have all three perks.

 

It would be useful to get this and other details about the program in writing from the CruiseNext people. If they send you anything, could you post it here, please?

I called and spoke to someone at CruiseNext and she said that I could under normal circumstances transfer both the FCC and the UDP promo to another cruise one time, however, because I was booking through CAS t it would not be possible to get the UDP and the current promo as CAS was and entirely different booking process. So for us booking a regular cruise and giving up our CAS was a no brainer. Our CAS comp is certainly more valuable than the UDP 5 dinners. In the long run it's not a major issue since with our CAS booking we could take advantage of the current 2 peeks promo.

Yes, depending on the line and also the itinerary.

CCl and NCL ...........mostly casual. One or two nice tops and black pants.

HAL, Cunard and Princess...........more dressy tops and a dressy outfit.

European cruises......clothing more sedate and more formal.

Thanks for your response and contact info.

What they are saying is that I can only transfer the Cruise Next certificate to the new cruise but not the 5 meal promo that is attached to it.

Yes, I can select two of the new promos with our new booking. That's not a problem...so far. This is very frustrating. I know what the sales person on the ship told me. I will call the phone # you posted this morning and see what happens.

Again, thanks for your help.

On our Nov. 2015 cruise we bought 2 Cruise Next certificates. The rep. told us when we bought the certificates that there was a special running where we would get the same promo we had on the cruise we were currently on (5 specially dinners) attached to the Cruise Next certificate IF we booked a future cruise while on board. He told us to book our future cruise as far as possible, which we did, April 18, 2017, and that when we found something we REALLY wanted to just cancel our April 18, 2017 cruise and reapply the certificate along with the 5 meal deal promo to the new cruise. Sounds simple.

So today I wanted to use that certificate for a cruise we want to book for Jan 2107. No problem. The rep canceled the April cruise and applied the certificate to the Jan 2017. She than informed me that the 5 meal deal does not transfer and that we in fact had lost it once we canceled the original cruise. This is not what I was told. I was told that the 5 deal promo was attached to the certificate NOT to a specific cruise and that it was totally transferable. That was the point of booking the future cruise. I do have a copy of the certificate and the 5 meal amenity confirmation which is attached to the Cruise next certificate. No where on either confirmation does it say anything about losing the meals if we move the certificate to another cruise. Anyone have any experience with something like this? Anyone have any suggestions as to who I can contact to get this fiasco rectified?

Thanks for listening!

We have eaten in the Conquest steakhouse several times and each time the food and service were wonderful.:)

Loved all our cruises especially the transatlantic cruises. Two that stand out are the 19 day from Venice to Ft Laud and our 16 day Baltic Cruise from Denmark to NYC.

WLS patients cannot have Lemonade. It is full of sugar. Excess amounts of sugar can make you very sick, with diabetic shock type of symptoms including heart palpitations, sweats, nausea, etc.

What??? Where did you get that info? All WLS / experiences are not created equal. Sugar has never bothered me but pasta and ice cream can make ME very uncomfortable. Everyone is different.

Regarding things to drink on board without caffeine. What I do to avoid caffeine is to make my own ice tea from decaf teabags which are always available. I use 2 bags in one cup of hot water, let it steep than add some ice and more cold water. Not the best but it will do. Do the same thing with coffee. Let it cool than add ice. I also bring crystal light to add to my water bottles. If you can tolerate 2% milk get a carton from the buffet and mix it with some decaf coffee and ice for a really good mocha drink. Have a great cruise!

So I finally decided to update this. :o I've posted the link below. Please continue to update the thread and I'll add revisions as necessary. I've kept the cruises that have already sailed in hopes that some groups book the same cruise year after year so if things are looking funky on a sailing you're looking at, that group might have also booked the same ship.

 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BxNUASjtcUQYNDlPVmluRHRnZlU

You did a great job! Thanks for all your hard work.

Does anyone by chance know how many points one needs for a bounceback cruise offer for a 5 day cruise on princess? We are booked for this October on a free cruise with $800 casino cash and am wondering if I should get an offer to book our next one for January or I should use my free inside from Tropicana casino and upgrade to a balcony and cruise Carnival .I guess I should call carnival too and see what we'll qualify for comp wise as well

Please come back and share what you learn as we are also interested in this information. :)

I asked the same question about our roll call and someone advised that it was so slow because it is a charter. I am not a happy camper and am still debating whether or not to rebook another date. Problem is we have already booked our air and paid for our hotel. Also, we would lose perks we booked with over a year ago.

Here is a link to a thread that was started for people to list info on charters they are aware of. It has tons of info. Hope it works out for you.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2333900