tejmar

Thanks everyone for the responses. All my questions are answered. Much appreciated. 

If you get the always included drink package do you have to pay the 20% tip charge for the package? I know with Norwegian even though they “give” you the drink package you still have to pay the tips for it.  That’s quite expensive if you’re not big drinkers like my wife and I. Not worth it to us so we usually have them remove it from our booking.  If that’s the same policy with Celebrity we will also have it removed.
 

Also, with the Internet package it says for one device only. Does that mean that it’s really only for one device or just one device at a time? 

I see you’re the Steel City Cruiser.  I live near Canonsburg. Where are you located?

That’s great😁 Thank you for the quick reply.

Did they have pickleball on Explorer?

In 2004 we had an overnight docking in Hilo.  I rented a car the first day and asked the harbor master if I could park there.  He told me that I could park right outside the gate where they could see  it.  He said it was very safe there and it was free.  I don’t know if they still allow that.  You can always contact them to find out.

25 years ago when we cruised, food was fantastic and they didn't have "specialty" restaurants. But when you are trying to convince people they need to pay extra for these "specialty" restaurants or for the "better" food in the Haven, why make the free food good? There is little incentive for NCL to make regular food good, in fact, there is more and more incentive for them to NOT make it great. I think they have achieved their goal.

FREE FOOD!!! Where do you get that. I have to pay up front for my food on a cruise:D

Sorry for the late response, but I don’t follow cc much until I get close to my next cruise. What I did was contact NCL main number and they gave me the email for the special events coordinator for the ship. I let them know what the sport was and asked about setting it up. When I got on board I met up with the cruise director at a cc meet and greet. I asked hip about setting up times for play in he daily newsletter. He was very cooperative and set up three times on sea days. Not the best times to play. On our cruise we had 40+ MPH head winds. That was tough to play in. I actually played on two port days which was better, but had to play singles because I had no way to contact other players while onboard.

NCL does not have any pickleball equipment. I had to bring my net which I attached to the goal nets for soccer and I brought chalk fo lines as well as extra paddles and balls. I contacted pax on the roll call and on this forum to recruit players. All in all it wasn’t worth the effort. I only played on one sea day in addition to the other two times. If I would ever cruise with three other players I might try again because I know I would have enough players. My next cruise is on the Star in January and we will be with friends, one of which is a beginner, but I am only bringing my paddle and a couple balls for us to just keep loose.

If you want to play on a cruise your best bet is HAL who has fully committed to pickleball, Princess also offers it on some ships, and RCL also offers it on some ships. In the future, my cruises will be booked with that in mind.

My husband and I are pickleball players and plan on bringing our paddles.

That’s great! I always look forward to meeting fellow players. I’m hoping that the Dawn crew will be as cooperative in person as they are in their emails. So far I count 7 interested including me and that’s before we board. I’m assuming there will be other players on this cruise that are not using CC.

If you’re interested the other players are on the roll call thread and are signed up for the meet and greet.

Thanks! I’m up for playing either singles or doubles. Think doubles does sound like a lot of fun but know the scoring could be tricky given your explanation. I do love tennis so hope pickleball will be something else I can play for a long time. Will look for some type of announcement once onboard about where/when everyone interested can share info (cabin #) to keep in touch through the week and play.

 

 

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I will be at the M&G. I hope there will be other players onboard on addition to those on the roll call.

You can play singles (two players) or doubles (four players). The game is pretty much the same except in doubles the players on each side of the court get a serve. So, the player on the right side of the court would serve until a service break and then the partner would serve until a service break at which point the other team would serve. Each team server (1 and 2) alternate from the right side to the left side during their serve. In order to keep track of servers the score has three numbers. The first is the serving team's score then the opponents score and then the server number. For example, a score of 3-2-2 would mean the serving team's score is 3, the opponents score is 2 and server 2 is currently serving. Keeping score in doubles is probably the most confusing part of Pickleball.

Don’t see that you are part of the Meet and Greet so decided to post on this thread.

Bought a Gamma 2.0 Voltage graphite paddle earlier today. Getting excited to learn and play this game! ...also got a few outdoor balls.

 

 

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I haven’t signed up for the M&G but I have been posting about Pickleball there.

What's pickleball, sounds like throwing pickles about, which are small onions soaked in vinegar!!

Rather than going into a lengthy explanation just go to the usapa dot org website. They have everything pickleball related.

We are not on your cruise but just curious as we are pickleball players. At least my husband still is. We started over 10 years ago and I don't play anymore but might be tempted on a cruise. Hope you get enough players!

I already have 4 others that are interested. I'm hoping that there will be other players on the ship that will attend when they hear and see the notification. I would think that with over 2,000 pax there would be a few players in the group.

Where will they let you set up? On the basketball court?

Yes, the sports court where they have volleyball also. We will lower the volleyball net. I will also bring some chalk to mark some additional lines for play.

Are you a player or just interested in learning to play?

Yes, i plan on it.

Hi, I've never played pickleball before, but would be interested in learning.

Marie

When I meet with the events person during embarkation I’m going to see about announcing a meeting place to determine the number of people interested. I’m hoping there will be other players onboard to help out.

I read this with great interest, since we are pickleball fans!! However, we are on the January 17th sailing out of Tampa............

Awesome to see! I hope you are able to get a group together to play. It would be really great to see cruise lines add pickleball to their available activities. Have fun!

Hopefully, at the very least I will be able to get the crew interested in Pickleball and they will convince NCL that it is a great activity for cruises. Then maybe it will become a regular cruise ship activity for lo lines.

I have made arrangements with the staff of the Dawn to set up some dates to play Pickleball on the ship. Anyone pickleball players or other shipmates on this cruise (2/7/18) interested in learning to play please respond to this thread. If I can get enough interest before the cruise I will bring my net system on board.

Thanks for the reply. The reviews you show were actually much better than the ones I saw on another website. I was just wondering if anyone on the board actually stayed there.

I was also looking at QUALITY INN & SUITES, Tampa Cruiseport.

We really don’t need to stay at a motel since we will already be vacationing in Siesta Key prior to the cruise. I looked up the parking at the port an it is $14/day and would be around $169 for our trip. I was looking to see if there was possibly a hotel that had free parking and the shuttle for around the same price or cheaper.

Has anyone ever stayed at this hotel? They have a cruise shuttle and free parking for 14 days. Just wondering if it’s a decent place.

It is less about things blowing off the ship, as burning material blowing onto the balcony and starting a fire. This is a real hazard and if I recall correctly, a ship had a fire within the last couple of years, started by this same combination of laundry and a discarded cigarette.

You're talking about the Star Princess fire 2005. The fire was caused by a cigarette or cigar butt thrown onto the matting on a balcony which smoldered and caught fire. Not laundry. The cause of the fire was the cigarette/cigar butt not laundry.

What is the discounted price?

Thanks everyone for the positive comments on my review, I always try to be objective when I write reviews for anything. Sorry for not replying I haven't been monitoring this thread for a while. I wrote it shortly after we arrived home and monitored it for a couple weeks but it seemed as if there wasn't much interest in it since there were no replies. As I got busier I just forgot to go back to look at it.

Our cabin creaked all the time ship the ship was in motion of course it was much worse the faster we went. It bothered my wife and daughter more than me. The location of the cabin was good for us a couple decks up to the lido and 3 decks down to the main areas including the restaurant. Even with the creaking all of us thought we slept much better on the ship than we have since we got back home.

We never actually ate at fish and chips however we sometimes went up there to get away from the crowds and the noise. It was very nice place to be for quiet conversations with family as the main area of the lido restaurant was very noisy.

We're awaiting the rest of your review! :p:D:p

While you're waiting for this one, here is my review of my Freedom cruise.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1975690