pattycake08

I booked Go Port and also reviewed the ratings and comments prior to booking, so I am well aware of Go Ports issues.  Most of the negative reviews were from customers that had issues related to Covid refunds, (company only offer a future credit) which I completely understand. With that said, I am flying in a day early before my Sept 19 Devina cruise, and the package for $200 (some cheaper based on Hotel), could not be beat, includes  transfers from the airport to the hotel,  1 night stay at the hotel, transfer from Hotel to Cruise Pier, and transfer from Cruise pier to Airport.  I will take my chances & will post back after my cruise to let all of you know about the experience

Hi, 2 weeks ago I signed up for the voyagers club once my cruise was booked, received the Voyagers club number then completed the status match form (boyfriend only) & a screen shot from the RCCL Website & submitted. So far, I have checked both my email and boyfriends, and I have also signed into MSC using his sign on & mine, have seen no update.  When I sign in to MSC Voyagers club, under membership info (Rectangular box) it says "Welcome Membership with the voyage number, Boyfriend's name , 0 points. To the right it has a bar grid, titled, My points, classic membership is highlighted, then the scroll bar is placed in the middle.  Once the status has been matched, will the points increase from 0? and will the bar graph show a different membership level? I'm not sure where to look to see new status match changed? Also not sure if I should call someone or maybe I haven't waited long enough

We are experienced RCCL cruisers, but this will be our first MSC Cruise on the Devina on 9/19/2021. While signed in to my MSC account, it mentioned my embarkation time is at 1:00 pm. However, we are flying into Orlando the day before & have booked a Fly, Snooze & Cruise package thru GO Port. The package  states that we will be picked up at our hotel at 9:30 am to take us to the cruise port. If it takes 40 minutes or so to get from the Hotel to the port that would put our port arrival time around 10:15 am. What does one do for almost 3 hours, if we can not board until 1:00 pm?

Hi  thanks, you are correct I am not Tech Savvy at all. My carrier is Verizon, I believe they have something that's called a Travel Pass for $10.00 /day, & I'm not sure exactly what that allows you to do and how that is different from using the free What's App.  was hoping someone on ae and guide e on the pros & cons of each. 

My Boyfriend and I are going to Caribbean in September 2021 on Vision of the Seas, stopping at 6 ports.  We are both vaccinated. We do not go on Ship Excursions as we find them too costly, so we take a taxi to one of the beaches close by for 2 hours then come back.  We recently heard that a couple was kicked of the Celebrity Edge for not being on an excursion, but have not heard any further details if it was because they were unvaccinated or if it was they left the excursion on their own.  We don't want to cruise with so many ports if we can't go to their beaches and be forced to only use excursions. Does anyone know if we are ok to visit the beaches on our own or is it mandated by the port country and/or ship and how to we find out the rules?

I've used the What's App between the US and Europe when my kids were overseas. It was free for texting and phone calls. I'm going on a cruise in September 2021 to the Caribbean on Vision of the Seas stopping at 6 ports. Does What's App only work in those ports once I get off the ship for free or does it work for free on the ship while in port or on sea days traveling to the other ports?  Trying to figure out why I would need Voom Surf (not Stream) if I have What's App, if Voom Surf would only be used for checking my home email?

We are a party of 5 that will be on the Freedom of the Seas next month.  My husband and son (both staying in the same cabin) have the Deluxe beverage package.  My other 2 boys and me are staying in another cabin, and do do not have the Deluxe Beverage Package.  I understand that with the Deluxe Beverage Package that you not only get unlimited alcoholic drinks, but that you also get a souvenier cup (1 for each) that can be used to get soda, etc.  My question is, can I just take the souvenier cups from my husband and son and give them to my 2 boys that are in my cabin to use for soda instead of having to purchase the Soda package for $9.00 per day for each son?

I was on a cruise a few weeks ago & dealt with Hurricane Lane on The Hawaiian Islands. We did not make it to all our ports 1 1/2 out of 4. I have Travel Guard Insurance which says The Trip Interruption covers 150% of the Trip cost. I put in a claim only for the cruise amount & deducted the amount of the cost for the travel insurance policy. I did not include the $2,000.00 cost of the air fare or the insurance policy amount. I am wondering after reading these boards if I should go back & amend my claim to include the air fare since it was $2K. Also, I am a little bit confused as to why a policy would say 150% instead of 100%. Should I go back & also include the airfare & does anyone know what is meant by 150%.

I like the others almost always buy travel insurance for my boyfriend and myself. My RCCL cruise to the Bahamas in October was fairly cheap, under $600 pp including air, so we could afford to lose the money if we had too. However, after reading some of the stories I am considering maybe purchasing for myself . Money is a little tight for my boyfriend at the moment, so my question is can I buy the travel insurance just for myself and not him or do we both have to purchase it. I made our cruise reservation directly with RCCl, no TA, and both of us are under the one reservation.

Lu Cruise, great post can't wait to see more as I am sailing on her on the Oct 1st sailing. There have ben many posts on the main board about RCCl's mattresses being too hard. So being that they just refurbished the Mariner wanted to ask you how comfortable the mattresses are so I know whether to order or bring a mattress topper with me.

I am considering purchasing the drink package for my August 2019 cruise. I have approx $200 in OBC that I would apply towards it. I see some have mentioned that you can cancel & rebook if the drink package price goes down. My question is will RCCL still apply the previous OBC towards the new lower drink package price? I don't want to lose my OBC should the drink package price go down.

We have stayed 3 times at the Intercontinental. We love it. In fact all 3 times we were able to get it through Priceline for under $100.00.

We were on the Pride of America 8/18/18 Hurricane Lane Sailing. We really looked forward to this cruise as it was planned for 1 1/2 years. Unfortunately due to the storm we had to make the best of it. Here are a few money saving tips that helped us. We stayed at the Marriott for our 1 day pre-cruise, and ate dinner at the restaurant in the hotel, the Moana Terrace. Just a hambugrger was $20.00. However, before the cruise I ordered The Entertainment book for Hawaii for $7.00 & it had a $14.00 coupon for the Moana Terrace restaurant. So that was some added value. Also I rented a car on each island thru Discount USA Car Rental and joined each rental car's rewards program which qualified you for free upgrades on the cars and bonus points to frequent flyer miles. Also I did not purchase rental car insurance, I called my auto insurance & found out that I was covered in Hawaii for the same coverage I had in my home state, but I did bring a copy of the policy with me but no one asked to see it . Also, I would suggest not pre-paying for a gas fill up, but rather going to the gas station before returning the car & fill it up your self. The difference was staggering a pre-paid fill up at the rental agency was $67.00. We had the car 2 days in Maui & drove to Lahaina twice about 80 miles over 2 days & we paid $17.50 to fill the car. We booked our cars in June for our August cruise and they were approx $50.00 per day. The week before the cruise I checked the prices and they were down to $35.00 /day for each car, so I made a new reservation for the same car, then cancelled the original reservation. The car we were given was a newer Altima which had an electric start, I had no idea how to start the car so far anyone who may run into this you touch the start button and step on the break at the same time. Also, NCL will provide transportation from the hotel to the pier free of charge, but we still needed to get from the airport to the hotel & then the pier back to the airport. The cost was around $45.00 for each trip. However, while looking for rental car info, Groupon popped up, which I never thought of, but was curious & am glad I did. I found shuttles from HST shuttle service from the airport to the Waikiki and from the pier to the airport for $8.00 per person each way on Groupon, what a bargain and the company is highly rated. With all that said, we would have loved to see all the ports, but really only had our 2 days at Maui & a shortened stay at Kauai. We spent 3 days at sea away from the storm, then came in to port a day late. The captain did a good job keeping up informed and safe. However, they were unprepared on how to handle the storm as far as opening up the phone lines to cancel/rebook travel reservations, it was a mess. Hope this post helps a few.

I dined at Cagneys 2 weeks ago during Hurricane Lane. The prices were very reasonable. I had the largest size Filet Mignon which was $20.00, had crab cakes for an appetizer which was $6.00, potato Soup which was $4.00. They had various sides to go with your meal, ie, baked potato, mashed potato, creamed spinach, etc that were $2.00 each per side, enough that you could share. The cost for the 2 of us was $71.93 including the tip. We were not interested in the deserts at Cagneys so we went to the main dining room for free, and requested a table to jut have desert & loaded up on them.

We also ate at Tappenyaki & the cost for the 2 of us was $74.38, and that was a combo of filet mignon & chicken. Tappenyaki has a set price of $29.95 per person. The food was great. One note though, you will notice that on the menu only some entrees come with noodles. Ours did not, and we really like them, so we asked the server if we could have them & she gave them too us. So if you ask, they will provide. Also there were some at our table that mixed and matched entrees that were not listed, ex, Chicken & scallops & the server was happy to oblige. Just ask for the combo you like.

I apologize something I should have mentioned before is the fact that we are sailing on the Pride of America and I just realized there is no Casino, so I would not be able to have them cash out my OBC. Any other suggestions?

Thanks to all for the info. I am assuming it is non-refundable OBC that I have, it came from my TA when I made the booking. I was unaware that you could go to the Casino & cash it out. So what is the process? Do you just go up to the Casino window and ask them to cash it out & they literally hand you the cash? If that's the case couldn't you just give the cash back to guest services and have them put that in your acct & then use that toward your DSC?

We have taken a few cruises in the past, mainly with RCCL. We will be cruising in 2 weeks on POA. Our TA gave us $450.00 in OBC. In past cruises, when we would view our account info from our stateroom TV, we would see the daily service charge plus all our other purchases. On the last day I would go to Guest Services and payoff the bill in cash. Being that we have such a large amount of OBC, I wanted to use the OBC toward our daily service charge, but thought I read that OBC can't be used for DSC. If not, how would guest services separate the DSC from all other purchases considering at the end they just add up all the monies that are due, deduct the OBC, and then balance you would pay?

We will be on the POA cruise in 2 weeks, and will be staying the night before at the Waikiki Marriott. We understand the food is rather expensive at restaurants. Not quite sure where the Marriott is located relative to other locations. Are there any restaurants/dining options within walking distance from the Marriott that are on the less expensive side.

Mariner of the Seas Oct 1, 2018 4 night Bahamas cruise has Senior Rate that I just recvd, two days ago.

We will be sailing on POA in August 2018 & understand that POA added Hilo & Kona back to the Itinerary after removing due to Volcano. Was wondering if anyone has cruised since the 2 ports have been reinstated & other than Volcano National Park has there been any changes to the places one can visit. Any changes in air quality one would notice as well?

We will be sailing on POA in August 2018 & understand that POA added Hilo & Kona back to the Itinerary after removing due to Volcano. Was wondering if anyone has cruised since the 2 ports have been reinstated & other than Volcano National Park has there been any changes to the places one can visit. Any changes in air quality one would notice as well?

Our sailing on the POA is the week of Aug 18th, 2018. NCL informed us by email that the itinerary has changed although our vacation summary on NCL still shows Kona & Hilo. NCL phone reps confirmed we will not be sailing to the Big Island. We will be in Honolulu for an extra day, & will be in Kahului, Maui for 2 days & then Lahaina, Maui for 1 day. We rented a car in Kahului so that we could drive & go the Kanapali Beach & do some shopping in Lahaina. Now we find that our 3rd day in Maui will now be in Lahaina. I believe we still need the car in Kahului as CC members have said there is not much transportation in the area other than taxis that are an expense. If we now tender to Lahaina on our 3rd Maui day, is there a need for us to rent a car in Lahaina or is there any transportation from the Lahaina Port to Kanapali beach or shopping on Front Street?

I will be sailing on the POA on the Aug 18th 2018 sailing & just recvd an email today from NCL that they have changed the POA itinerary for sailings from June 9 - August 25, 2018. The email states they will not be visiting Hilo or Kona until further notice, and that instead they will make the following changes. Sat - Ship will overnight in Honolulu , Sunday Ship will depart Honolulu, Mom-Tues - Kahului, Maui, Wed will now be Lahaina, Maui, Thurs-Fri, Nawiliwili, Kauai, Saturday - Honolulu. We have a pre-night stay on Friday at the Marriott. Question, being that the ship is overnighting on Saturday can we still board the ship on Saturday and comes and go as we please, as long as we are back by the time the ship departs on Sunday?

Will be sailing on POA in August 2018 & was wondering how comfortable are the beds. We have a balcony room. Does NCL offer anything like a mattress topper?

My TA offered provided us a one night pre cruise at the Marriott Waikiki. However, after reading the boards I see that some also have a pre night cruise at the Marriott with a transfer from the hotel to the pier. Does the transfer come for free with the Pre night, or do I have to purchase the transfer separately?