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On 5/17/2023 at 9:17 AM, Topdog52 said:

With some of the crazy stories about NCL Air has anyone used NCL? We are going Sept. 2024 from Cleveland, OH.

The price is about $540 round trip for Passenger #1.  Just to fly to Quebec is over $750 for the 2 of us. Should I take the chance?  

I am on the same cruise and traveling with a friend.  We booked our air last week and paid $435 each including taxes and insurance.  We are flying in the day before -Air Canada from Cincinnati, with a connection in Toronto before arrival in Quebec and flying home on Delta NS from LaGuardia the day of arrival in NY.

I'm on the Sept 25th cruise - Quebec to NY - you mentioned September and I may be mistaken about which cruise you're on.

5 hours ago, 1bighund said:

Do you mean an escorted land tour ?  If so then I just think it comes down to itinerary and cost.  I would not do an extensive land tour on my own even tho I wad once fairly proficient in Japanese.

Yes - I have done several of those, but they all have free time and some on your own evenings.

12 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

While you clearly won't get everything you could from a land-based tour, based on your descriptions, a cruise maybe an excellent introduction to the country. 

 

We are well seasoned travelers. We have toured Japan on a ground-tour and have been there on our own. And even for us, some of the travel logistics on your own were a bit daunting. 

My husband and I traveled all over the world and I was a road warrior with my job, so being by myself and dining alone isn't the problem, but I think I agree with you - a cruise would be much better for this part of the world.

24 minutes ago, Big Red 85 said:

Yes, that is true.  However, there were other costs, such as the photos we had taken at our local USPO and mailing.  All totaled to around $300 for two renewals.

EDIT;  Actually remembered where the passport costs were kept and looked the cost up.  Receipt for the money orders, ($260), fees, ($4), and priority shipping, ($9.65), was $273.65.  The photos were $30.00.  That's a total of $303.65.  They were much less ten years ago.

Yep $20 for photo + $10 to mail, but at lest they last for 10 years.

16 minutes ago, Big Red 85 said:

We recently renewed normally, no expidited fee, and we had our new ones in just a few weeks. Very quick turn-around time.  Cost is another story. The prices went up on all aspects. Over $300 for two if I remember right.

Well --- I looked it up and the web site says $130 for standard processing and that's what I mailed along with the paperwork, so I certainly hope that is the correct amount.

I'm also considering a cruise to Japan, but since I will be traveling alone I will have to pay the single supplement, which is generally more than on a land based tour.

But like security of being on a ship rather than being alone in a strange city.  When my husband was alive, we did several bus tours in Europe and there were always some nights when we were on our own.  Not sure that appeals to me in a country as different as Japan is to Westerners.

Just now, IAcruising said:

 

Thanks for clarifying. That strengthens my understanding that it is NCL policy, regardless of differing laws.

 

Well fortunately it was a Caribbean cruise, so just in case, I took my birth certificate with me, which would have worked it the passport had been a problem.

1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

There is no question I would pay for expedited turn around. At the moment I have three friends, for three different parts of the US who are all waiting for their passport renewals. Two are going on almost 5 months and one is just over 6 months 

Wow - that seems crazy.  I will start tracking mine in a few weeks and hopefully I won't be in panic mode sometime in August.

1 hour ago, Laszlo said:

There is no question I would pay for expedited turn around. At the moment I have three friends, for three different parts of the US who are all waiting for their passport renewals. Two are going on almost 5 months and one is just over 6 months 

Well, the packet it in the mail w/o paying for expedited processing , so looks I'll just keep my fingers grossed.

Thankfully fingerprints are not required - it took me forever to get TSA approval and the only reason I can think of is that my fingerprints are not very defined.  I've had problems with them for other background checks that require fingerprints, (volunteer work), and the machine can't "read" my prints.

41 minutes ago, IAcruising said:

All this discussion about the 6-month rule.

 

My understanding is that it is NCL policy regardless of where you are going. If a passport is necessary, and it expires in less than 6 months, you will not be allowed to board.

 

I am more than willing to be corrected on this.

 

The experience I had with my passport expiring one week after returning on a closed loop cruise was not on NCL, so not speaking from experience on that particular cruise line.

And my original question was do I have up to 3 days prior to sailing to enter all of my information into the system?  Perhaps not NCL specific, as I think that is probably SOP for all cruises, at least in N America.  

3 hours ago, versuco said:

We just renewed a passport.  They received it 4/15/2024 and we got the new one on 5/17/2024.  I think you will be fine renewing it now without paying to expedite.

Thanks - this is reassuring.

3 hours ago, mjkacmom said:

Does the OP even need a passport? Turn around time lately has been very quick.

Yes - the cruise begins in Quebec, so if for no other reason, a passport is required to fly into Canada.

1 hour ago, zqvol said:

Inaccurate. For closed loop cruises out of the US as long as it is valid on the day your cruise ends there is no 6 month requirement. Cruising in other parts of the world may require six months before expiration in order to enter a specific country, but even that is not everywhere. 
 

To the OP I would go ahead and renew it now, since it expires before your cruise. No need to expedite the service as it is currently being reported that renewals take 3 - 6 weeks. 

#1 - You are correct about closed loop cruises.  One year I cruised when my passport was expiring the week following arrival back in the US.

#2 - It appears my post was misunderstood.  I wasn't asking if I should renew now, I know that, it was simply a question if I should expedite processing even though my next cruise isn't until September.  It has become a non issue sine I just returned from the post office and only requested regular processing.

I'm sailing on Joy 9/25/24 and I have to renew my passport.  Do I understand correctly that I have up until 3 days prior to sailing to complete and submit my passport information?

My current passport expires in August and I'm on the fence about paying extra to expedite the new one.  The end of September seems like a long way off and I would think I would have to new one back by the end of July, but this is summer and I'm not sure $60 is worth stressing out about getting the new one in time.

51 minutes ago, mskaufman said:

As NCL Silver there is a 10% discount in addition to the $50.  That said, we do a mix of NCL, private, and DIY.

I'm also Silver - I don't sail on NCL very often and didn't realize there is an additional 10% discount.  Will be sailing on Joy in September. 

Two weeks ago there was an 80's party on Adventure.

36 minutes ago, sockmonkeygirl said:

This class is on sale for my cruise $34.  If it includes the tequila tasting and a margarita, seems like you could nearly drink the price you paid and walk away happy, no? 🙃

I did this on Allure several years ago and it was delicious - we were served several margaritas in addition to the tequila tasting.  Glad I didn't have to drive home.

4 minutes ago, fizzywm said:

Regardless, you are ultimately tipping employees you don't see either way. Either way they choose these jobs expecting (not "hoping") to make a fairly significant chunk of their money from tips. The minimum salary is not competitive in either scenario until tips are factored in. Like it or not, and I don't like it either. And I'm excepting the rare cases of restaurants in the US that have opted out of tipping and either make it up with higher menu prices or a service charge that actually goes to employees, like how some cruise lines include gratuities in the fare.

True, behind the scenes workers may or may not get a cut of my servers tips, but that is something I'm totally uninvolved in unlike cruise lines which specifically state that part of the auto tip goes to those people.

As I previously mentioned, at Panera I do not tip because it is pretty much a self-serve restaurant although there are people repairing my food, washing dishes etc.  I'm not sure why I should feel differently  at a full service restaurant about those workers.

39 minutes ago, fizzywm said:

The same way servers and dishwashers in US land-based restaurants make a guaranteed wage that isn't very competitive until tips or tip share is added in. People don't work in these positions "hoping" for extra money, they work with an expectation of an average salary that includes some level of tips on top of the guarantee.

But in this case the amount I tip my server is shared in a land based restaurant and I'm not expected to tip extra to cover the behind the scenes workers.

Back to food - my grandson and his wife just returned from Adventure.  They dined in the speciality restaurants 3 nights, MDR 2 nights, and the Windjammer 2 nights.  This was their first Royal cruise so nothing to compare it to, but they were pleased with the food in all venues.  The pictures they took of their meals in the MDR looked as good as or better than what I had on Allure last October before the menu changes.

16 minutes ago, broberts said:

 

😂 Let's see if I understand the logic.

 

Pay the US$18 / day or cruises will become unaffordable? Illogical.

 

Or is the argument that we should take advantage of employees so that our cruises cost less? Immoral.

 

 

It's not the $18 that is the issue.  It's the argument that the crew is exploited by the cruise lines and using the costs of living where they are from is not valid.

Totally ridiculous to not accept that in general, they are making much more on a ship than they would at home. To use pay standards for any other countries is pointless.

Most of us are not objecting to tipping the crew - as long as they are providing the services we have had in the past.  But when the cruise lines reduce services and expect us to pay more in gratuities, then some are balking at that.

I personally have a problem with tipping the behind the scenes staff - but that is an issue I have with things besides cruising.

While there may be a few who don't tip to reduce the cost of their cruise, I don't think that applies to the vast majority of cruisers. 

1 hour ago, broberts said:

 

That is akin to saying that cruise passengers have no costs over the fare. As the subject of this thread indicates, clearly not accurate.

 

Are staff provided with off duty clothing, luggage, toiletries, grooming, entertainment, legal services, communications with family, personal computing and communication devices at no charge? Just a few things we all include in our lives.

 

OK so let's have cruise ships pay a "living wage," (whatever the heck that means), and have cruise prices skyrocket to the point where only the truly affluent can afford to cruise = less ships, less jobs - not only the crew, but in all resources related to the cruise industry.

I can't wait to hear the outcry about that.

3 hours ago, Saab4444 said:

Norwegian Cruise Line Holding just proudly announce that they managed to reduce food costs by 30%. Not sure if this is really an achievement I would tell customers. Trust Royal has gone the same route…

LOL - perhaps install one less water slide and spend the money on food??????

54 minutes ago, nelblu said:

Everything looks and taste good, as long as I'm not cooking and doing the dishes.😊

I know a lot of people feel that way.  

With a few exceptions I am a bargain hunter cruiser - I look for the best deal out there and don't worry about the itinerary, ship, etc.  I've managed to travel all over the world and have saved $$$.

The only reason I mention that is because for the price I pay I'm somewhat tolerant of food, but I also know that people on the same cruise I have been on have paid considerably more and if I were them I would not be happy with some of the cutbacks that have been happening for the past 15 + years. (On all cruise lines, for that matter.)