Queen of Oakville

On 5/14/2024 at 7:03 PM, Liljo22 said:

The gratuities are being estimated as if everyone in the cabin is 21+.  Once you enter the birthdates of your teens, the gratuities will be adjusted.  If you get two cabins, they will get the soda package as a replacement.  The gratuities for that package are $1.99 per person per day compared to $21.80 pppd for the adult package.  If you have all four of you in one cabin, they do not get the soda package and there is no additional charge beyond the adult drink package.

 

That makes sense,  I was looking at two cabins but had not put in our ages yet, well, exxcept for mine, and saw that I had a senior discount, and then had a mini meltdown 😂.

We are not soda drinkers.  on X and Royal, the kid use their drink packages for smoothies, and coffee drinks.  DH prefers the water package or non-aclohol package.  He's happy drinking water all week.  I'm the alkie in the family.  Does NCL force both adults int he cabin to get the drinks package? 

Thanks all.  Still haven't worked out our trip details yet.  I didn't even think about parkign at the port.  While we have sailed out of newark before, I barely recall the port.  We'll have a rental car so not to worried.  An option might be to return the return and have them shuttle us, like we would do at Port Canaveral.

thanks for the link to trinity

1 hour ago, mjkacmom said:

Haven suites are way more expensive than 2 balcony cabins. The gratuity on the UBP is $21 pp pd. If you drink more than one alcoholic drink a day, you are on the financial winning end. I personally love the Gem, spinnakers lounge and the great outdoors are my favorite spots.

The amount quoted to me was 871 or 891 - there are four of us. There is no way we would consume 891 in drink costs (yeah,I know it can add up) let alone spend 891 in gratuities.

I priced out the Gem sailing from boston and it was not cheap.  Have to admit I got a bit of sticker shock.  Especially the gratuities on the beverage plan.  I tihnk when we've had beverage plans before the gratuities were not as high . I tihnk the beverages were comped at $1,400 and the beverage gratuities were charged at 891.  We're not huge drinkers and would never spend that much.  I think I read somewhere that you could pass on the "free" beverage plan.  That might make sense for us to pay as we go.

I have two teens - 18 and 17, so we are either looking at two cabins or a suite.  

I'm not clear on Haven - I think that is just a larger suite, is that correct?  when my kids were younger, they loved HAL and Celebrity.  but they also loved our recent cruises Oasis and Symphony.  

I was trying to avoid a flight to Florida, so I figured if we could drive to Boston or NJ - it made sense and we have never been to Bermuda.

lots to think about ~ thank you to all who responded.

I think we've sailed every major cruiseline except Norwegian!

What should I expect to be different compared to Royal/Celebrity.

Food, Entertainment, Service - compared to other lines.

Is there anything I should know about booking my a cruise with NCL?

Following

are the celebrity ships still mostly non-smoking?  I hope that hasn't changed, especially the casino.

has the entertainment gotten better or same?

I'm with you Poncho ... thinking of doing a tester cruise.  Our last cruise was November 2019.  The kids really miss it and we all really need a holiday.  Through covid ,I swore we would never get back on a ship again!

This is my first visit back to these boards in about 5 years!!

thinking of getting back to cruising, after 2020, never thought I'd cruise again, ... and here we are 🙂

sad to read all the indecision because we previously loved Royal and Celebrity.

.. but I have to ask, what is infinite verandah?

I made it to page 6 before finding a post from 2010, so figured it was safe to post this question!

Thinking of driving from Ontario to NJ rather than flying.  Any recommendations for a hotel near the port with free parking while we cruise? Any hotels  that shuttle or would we have to uber to the cruise port?

2 hours ago, FirstAnthem said:

I second pcur above on the Apple pie dessert. I had it on Adventure. Not the regular Apple pie with raisins in it—that was horrible. I had that awfulness on Oasis.  But the Apple pie that is like a purse, kind of open on the top. I got it every single night, except one night I got the baked Alaska because I love that too, but my husband ordered the Apple pie that night so I could at least have a bite! So so good. For meals I really liked the spaghetti bolognese, chicken Parmesan and the fried fish with jasmine rice. We ordered extra bowls of the rice! Something about it was just so good. So simple but delicious. 

FYI - at least on symphony - the apple pie no longer has raisins it!!!  

I think you are both speaking about the apple purses.  I had this years ago on Grandeur and had a terrible allergic reaction to the almond paste filling.  They don't advertise the nuts in the description of the dessert, but there was definitely almond paste in in (if we are speaking about the same dessert.

One of my favourite desserts was the key lime tart - it came with a meringue top that I scraped off, but the tart was delish.  A few days later they had a lemon meringue tart at Park Café which was also delish.  I was pleasantly surprised with the desserts on symphony.

One of my all-time favourites is the chocolate ganache tart which I've had both on Royal Carribean and on Celebrity.  On celebrity they put a little raspberry liqueur in the middle.  It's basically a chocolate ganache poured into a chocolate cruse tartelet shell.  So yummy!!!

Am I the only one who read the thread title and thought the OP was completely paralyzed and wanted to book an excursion with a high level of activity?

@mattR  I get my insurance through RBC.  I've had to make claims in the past and RBC had been amazing to deal with.  I've never had issue getting reimbursed.  I just buy the annual travel plan now and renew it every march break.

I would call them and see how they would insure your mother's situation. If  it is insurance coverage they offer, then I would recommend them.

Worth noting, I don't bank with RBC for any other purpose, but I am very satisfied with their insurance product.

11 minutes ago, mayleeman said:

The problem is better analyzed by using more descriptive terms. It involves a few steps, so please forgive the length of this post.

 

RC has FCC of two sources, it seems. One is for compensation instead of a refund for cash spent (e.g., what you get out of your NRD less $100 if you cancel prior to final pymt). Call it "refund FCC".  The second type appears to be FCC given as good will--money in addition to your refund for a cancelled cruise in some value usually calculated as equal to or a portion of your cash outlay.  Call this "bonus FCC". 

 

Here, it seems that the OP took FCC in lieu of cash as a refund at some point in the past, making it kind of a hybrid but really it is direct compensation for cash the OP previously spent.

 

The problem is that in calculating his new "bonus FCC" for the Oasis cancellation, it sounds like RC is treating OP's original "refund FCC" as if it were a "bonus FCC" (i.e., a gift from RC).

 

We can probably understand that RC should not have to double its gifts by both refunding "bonus FCC" and then giving additional "bonus FCC" in that amount. "Bonus FCC" added to "bonus FCC" could be done, but it doesn't really make sense. Refunding the gift once seems sufficient. 

 

Now, if I read it right, the OP is saying whatever he deserves to be granted should be based on his initial cash outlay that led to his original "refund FCC" rather than solely on his Oasis cash outlay, but RC treated it as if he used a "bonus FCC".

 

If the premise is correct, I think the OP has a point--the "refund FCC" should be treated as cash for the new calculation because it represents his cash, not a gift.

 

If the premise is wrong, and if the original FCC was really a goodwill gift rather than a refund, he has nothing to complain about because he is out nothing if RC does not choose to give him a double gift rather than simply returning his gift. Most critics seem to think this is the case, but he emphasizes that he had a choice.

 

Bottom line, RCC probably cannot account easily for this, or follow it through several transactions. They should, and use of a differential terminology would help.

 

 

@kittentanz  If this correctly addresses your situation and you chose to pursue this further with RC - I think using terms such as "Refund FCC" and "Bonus FCC" as @mayleeman explains will help convey your issue to RC.  The explanation you used throughout this tread is somewhat confusing, and I can't see Royal siding with you if they don't understand what you are upset about.

13 hours ago, destiny217 said:

Thanks.  Did you notice if taxi cabs were plentiful or had a long line?  Thanks again.

When we got off symphony (same day as the OP) - it was mass chaos outside of the terminal and very poorly mangaged by port staff.  We could not even wade through crowds to find the uber pickup area.  We found the taxi line and went for it.  The line was huge - and we stood for an hour in the line, while others bypassed the line altogether and taking cabs from the end of the line.  it was tempting to do the same ,but we were not in a rush, stood the line, and waited one full hour in that line.  

Moral of the story, is beat the rush and get off the ship early.  We started trying to get off the ship at 9, had a huge wait for an elevator and were outside the terminal at 9:30.

I think the fairness of this all depends on the circumstances under which the FCC was accepted.

I recently accepted FCC for problems with use of the drink package for my minors without onboard spending privileges.  I was given FCC for each passenger on the sailing.  I thought the FCC was more than fair, was never requested, and exceeded my troubles.  Under this scenario - I would have no issue with the way OP's situation was handled.

If I had accepted FCC for something such as a cancelled excursion - in that case, I would have not been happy with the FCC unless it was in addition to a full refund.

Good to know what the OP's experience has been and will take this under advisement when accepting a FCC in lieue of a cash refund.

If an FCC is solely for my hassle and frustration, then  I have not issue with how Royal has handled this.  If the FCC was to reimburse me for expenses paid, then this sucks.

And now I'm hungry and I wanna go to Chipotle.  Burritos for lunch, anyone?

I'm confused.  Did Royal just make your cruise credit disappear, or was the cruise credit reinstated?

I assume you are talking about a future cruise certificate but maybe we are not talking of the same thing.

If I paid for a cruise with a FCC and cash, and the cruise was cancelled, I would want my money back plus my FCC back.  I would not expect my FCC to be replaced with cash.

The 4 device plan refers to the number of devices that can be connected to the account at the same time, it doesn't matter how many people are using those devices.

Our family of 4 has shared the 3 device plan in the past when DH insisted he had no use for the internet.  Guess who always complained that he could never get on??  

19 minutes ago, atush said:

I dont disagree, all smoking should be banned.

 

Even from the casino (hear this might happen).

Non-smoking casinos work on celebrity.

We love HAL, but won't sail with them because my eyes get so irritated by all the smoke in their casinos.

20 minutes ago, Queen of Oakville said:

 

 

What exactly is prohibited on ships?  Smoking or cigarette smoking?  If smoking is prohibited, that should include all smoking, whether it is for medicinal or recreational purposes.  Even if you have to smoke it for recreational purposes, the designated smoking areas should apply.

 

 

 

Meant to say "even if you have to smoke it for medicinal purposes, the designate smoking areas should apply"

31 minutes ago, atush said:

"And I'm also surprised that the pot-smoker has not warranted much outrage on this thread"

 

Probably because you c an walk away from potsmoker.  Cant walk away from your balcony and still use it.

What exactly is prohibited on ships?  Smoking or cigarette smoking?  If smoking is prohibited, that should include all smoking, whether it is for medicinal or recreational purposes.  Even if you have to smoke it for recreational purposes, the designated smoking areas should apply.

We had to sell a house we loved because neighbours were backyard chain smokers.  We could never open our windows in the summer.

I'd be upset too.

And I'm also surprised that the pot-smoker has not warranted much outrage on this thread.

I would have reported both.  And if security gave me the response of "I can't do anything" I would have asked for the supervisor and kept his cell phone number handy so he could be quickly called when the violators were on their balcony.

2 minutes ago, framboesa said:

Thanks! That's what we sometimes do, we ask the steward for a corkscrew and glasses and open it in the cabin. ☺️ But I was wondering if we could already have the bottle at the bar instead of returning to the cabin after dinner to get our wine 😉

I'm too cheap to pay the corkage fee 🙂  Besides the walk back to the cabin helps burn off the calories.

When Royal dropped the corkage fee a while back we tried storing a bottle in the dining room. - we felt rushed to consume the bottle as the waitstaff were always trying to fill our glasses.  We stored an open bottle in the dining room, but then had to open another bottle if we wanted another glass of wine later in the evening.  We prefer having access to our open bottle.

Enjoy your cruise 🙂 

Pack your own corkscrew.  

Open your own bottle.

Get glasses from closest bar and take back to your cabin.

Pour your own wine in the cabin.

Take wine with you wherever you wish to drink it, even in dining room or theatre.

Store your own wine in your cabin.

1 hour ago, mscinmia said:

Royal/Celebrity at most of the terminals in PEV now has facial recognition which really speeds up the debark.  If you have a passport and have not over purchased, do self assist and you will be off fairly quickly.

At Port of Miami, this option was not available to Canadians.  There was a separate queue for Canadians and US Citizens with birth certificates only.  Fortunately, it was a VERY short line.

The biggest delay we faced getting off Symphony (Miami) - was the cab line.  Granted we got off the ship late (9.30) - but we waited over an hour in the lineup for a cab.

Granted you avoid a lot of this by being first off the ship - but just an example of a delay beyond your control.