VideoTech

On 5/6/2019 at 12:55 PM, OceanNerd said:

We will be doing this excursion in June.  Sounds like it was a good choice!  So the luggage does just stay stowed in/under the bus during the tour and you collect it once you arrive at the airport?  That has been our only worry for this trip.  Thanks So Much!

Yes, the luggage stays on the bus while you tour. You collect it from the bus at the airport

On 12/26/2018 at 10:23 PM, DaCruiseBug said:

 

Slots players certainly have the upperhand here. The thing I don't like is that all i'm doing is pushing a button over and over. Whereas when I play table games I feel a bit of a challenge and my actions have a direct impact on if I win or lose. That's why I prefer table games over slots.

 

Also, casinos like slots better because the house has a much bigger advantage on them. If you play blackjack correctly the house has about a 1% advantage.

I agree with you completely - it's one reason why for a long time, my slots play was Video Poker. You know what the payback % of the game is, and there's an element of skill in playing correctly, every hand. But of course, the casinos penalize VP players (twice the coin-in for one point vs slots) because we know the payback % of the game. They claim this makes us "advantage players" even though it's no different than knowing the correct play on every hand of Blackjack. 

But since it's now almost impossible to find decent pay VP - and it's never been possible in ship's casino's - I've cut way back on my VP play.

Another reason the house loves slots is that there's no cost to operate them, beyond the electricity required to run them and the salary of a tech to do maintenance!!

21 hours ago, Diane123boys said:

we are sailing out on Marc h 10- staying there 2 nights before -  we had planned on Sunday going to the Bacardi factory  on Sunday - but first we thought we would drop our luggage off then go over - does anyone know if there are taxis available easily from the port or should i do transportation ahead of time ? 

 

Whenever a ship is embarking or disembarking (at any port, really) there are tons of taxis around. They want the business.

And yes, when we boarded the Dawn in San Juan, there were taxis dropping people off (including us), that you could easily grab to go somewhere else.

We have always gotten either an internet package or unlimited internet on all our NCL cruises. We use it mostly for email, and more recently for FB messenger texting with those back on land. Service for those purposes is fine. Web browsing is slow, but doable if you're patient. Can't speak to any other uses such as Skype, Streaming, or anything else...don't do those.

Keep in mind regarding any cellular company International Data packages: These will only be useful when you are in port. You can't use them on the ship. 

On 12/26/2018 at 6:37 AM, Gampy1967 said:

I know the Dawn is now sailing out of Puerto Rico thru the month of March.  If you call they tell you it is scheduled to sail out of Old San Juan #4 but everywhere on the boards always states when sailing out of Puerto Rico the embarkation and disembarkation is at Pan American Pier.  Old San Juan is only used by NCL when Dawn is making a stop in Puerto Rico.  Can anyone who has just gotten off the Dawn in Puerto Rico confirm what Pier you left/arrived at.  I am trying to arrange transportation from our hotel to the ship for Embarkation and don't know whether to schedule it from the hotel to Pan American Pier or Old San Juan.

 

Thanks.

Just sailed the Dawn out of San Juan last week. Pan Am pier, not Old San Juan.

Some years ago, NCL did use the Old San Juan pier. But now that pier is used by Carnival.

Don't know how it works on Princess, but on NCL there are two kinds of OBC.

Non-refundable OBC cannot be used for play in the casino.

Refundable OBC can be used for play in the casino.

56 minutes ago, sverigecruiser said:

 

I'm not really a "NCL cruiser" right now so I haven't tried to get any information about the changes.

 

My guess, it's really only a guess, is that without the butler room service will probably cost. As for free movies I can't see what that has to do with butlers so that should still be included, I think. 

Butlers deliver you DVD movie selections. 

Lindquist beach is absolutely the best...simply for the reason that it's a park with an entrance fee, and not much in the way of facilities, so it gets a lot less crowded than the other beaches. There are ship's excursions that go there (it's sometimes called "Secret" Beach), but it's still usually less crowded. Coki is awful..stay away. Megan's gets very crowded when there are a lot of ships in.  

I can't speak for doing Lindquist with a toddler and a car seat, but you can certainly hire a taxi at the cruise port, have the driver take you there, and arrange for pickup again at a certain time. When calculating the return trip, remember that the traffic can be brutal. Talk to the driver. He/She will be able to advise, but leave some wiggle room in the timing.

Absolutely, assuming no unusual delays in docking and clearing the ship for disembarkation. If you're really concerned about the time, be in the first walk off disembarkation (taking your own luggage). Take your own transport to Seatac (don't use a shared ride shuttle because you'll have to wait for the others to get to the van). Uber, Lyft, Taxi or Car service. 

An 11:30 am flight is fine. We've cruised out of Seattle many times (and have family there) and typically would easily make flights from 11am on.

Hotel suggestions: There's really nothing around your cruise pier. I'd opt for a hotel in downtown Seattle for easy access to the tourist attractions. There are many hotels, in all price ranges, but remember that June in Seattle is the tourist season and prices will go up across the board.

The POA leaves later than most cruises (7pm if I remember right - but check), and most POA cruisers do exactly what you're asking about; they use the day to tour Honolulu.  

When we did our POA cruise, we boarded at our normal time (midday), and found the boarding areas and ship almost empty. So I suspect that with everyone using the day to tour, the boarding area only gets crowded late in the day. Best to keep that in mind when deciding what time to go to the port.  

No one on this board or any other can tell you what a "winning bid" is likely to be. It's a silent auction and no one except an NCL employee could tell you the rules uses to select the winning bid.

Bid what you can afford, realizing that if you win, your credit card will be immediately charged for the full amount of the bid. And also realize that you have no say in what cabin you will be assigned to. 

If you feel you're going to need to use an ATM in another country, I suggest checking on using your credit card instead of your debit card int the ATM. While this transaction becomes a cash advance on your credit card, a lot of credit cards do not charge foreign transaction fees. Of course, you may end up paying a cash advance fee to the CC company, so if your card does also charge a foreign transaction fee, you would not want to do that. 

But in the end, I wouldn't even bother with getting cash in any port. Your CC is likely accepted everywhere, and provides protections for you that cash or an ATM card will not. If you use local cash (or even U.S. dollars) in any port, you may get your change back in the local currency. If that happens, be aware that most banks and exchange booths will not accept foreign coinage to convert back to U.S. dollars. Just paper bills. 

DW has bought jewelry on the ships - not high end product, but lower priced things she found that she likes. Typically she'll wait for the sales that always happen before the end of the cruise. She wouldn't buy if she didn't feel the price was at least realistic. 

In at least one case, she found out that some of the product on the ships isn't available elsewhere. She liked one piece, but elected to pass on it thinking she'd find it cheaper on land. She never could find it, not even directly from the manufacturer. So we believe that the ships do carry a certain amount of product that's only available on board.

And no, the onboard shops do not bargain over pricing. (Edit: We've never found they would bargain, at least not on the items DW is interested in. But perhaps that's because those items aren't marked up as much as the higher end product).

For every person who doesn't feel the need to have Butler service, there is one who enjoys and does use the Butler service. For us, it's part of the overall Haven experience and while we don't keep the Butler hopping, we do use his/her services and appreciate them. 

What bothers me is that (as has been pointed out), NCL won't create a cheaper "Non-Butler" class of cabin. What they'll likely do is use the opportunity to add an additional charge to the price of cabins that have Butler service.  

I wouldn't bother with the air fare promo. You can do better on your own, and if you let them do it, you have no say in the airline, flights, time of day, or anything else.

Since you're rookie cruisers I will suggest you book your own air and go to Seattle at least a day before embarkation. Too many things can go wrong with travel when you fly "day of" embarkation. If you're going to go early, and have the time and interest, go several days early and tour the Seattle area. It's a lovely city with lots to see and do. 

As to the other promos: The drinks package is what it is. I'd get the specialty dining package as the best food is served in the specialty restaurants. As for the internet (mistakenly called "wifi") package...well, most people get it because they either need or want to be connected back to work/family during their cruise, or they want to post selfies as they cruise. You can buy internet connectivity by the minute, but there's nothing wrong with the "wifi" promo to give you a basic amount of connectivity. We find that's about all we need on a cruise, but then we don't want to be connected 24/7. 

There is an ATM on every ship, usually  in the casino. The fee charged is fairly steep if I remember correctly - I think it was around $5 or $6 per withdrawal. Then you also have any fees that your bank would charge, if they do.

As far as I know, there's no limit on the amount you can withdraw, other than any limits imposed by your bank.

And yes, you get U.S. dollars.

You can also get money through the casino, with a service charge of 3% of the amount requested. Of course, they'd like you to use it to gamble. The advance shows up as a room charge on your shipboard account.  

I really hope this isn't an indication of the general direction NCL is heading, but sadly, I'm afraid it is. 

Are you by chance cruising in a Haven suite? If so, the concierge desk might be able to help quite a bit.

The fact that you want to use the departure night dinner for the occasion might make it a little harder, since whatever you want to have done will have to be arranged before the cruise departs. 

I guess I'd suggest starting by contacting NCL...they certainly have a department that helps with people arranging weddings at sea and so on, and I'm sure they can suggest something.

Of course this increase is to increase revenue. It's really no different than the way airlines now sell their seats...you pay extra for 1" of extra legroom --- or in this case, for 2 sq ft more of balcony space. 

A couple of quick web searches reveals that Holland America is owned by Carnival, and uses their casino players clubs. Link below.

https://oceanplayersclub.com/

At the risk of offending the table games players here, this is the reason why we always play slots. Tracking is completely electronic, and we've never felt that we've been shorted points on any of our cruises. But the bottom line here is that you can't just go around the corner to another casino where the pit bosses do a better job of rating you, so you're stuck with whatever they do at the tables, good, indifferent, or bad. 

(And I'm not trying to start a conversation of table vs slots....I agree that everyone deserves to play the games they like, and be rated accurately for their play) 

11 minutes ago, fstuff1 said:

interesting.. why waste fuel and go in circles?

why not just anchor just outside in intl waters of the next port till docking time?

Depth of water may prevent anchoring. Also a ship at anchor may not ride as smoothly as one that takes a slow course in the direction of the smoothest ride for the passengers (plus, ship's stabilizers work like airplane wings and the ship must be moving through the water for them to have effect). A ship at anchor can't quickly take avoiding action for storms or other ships. And the ship's engines have to be running anyway for electrical power, so it's only a minimal impact on cost to cruise slowly offshore....the azipods that drive most ships these days are electric motors powered by the generators in the engine room. 

DW and I are cruising on the Dawn over the holidays. It's been a while since our last cruise, and during that cruise we used the old iConcierge app. 

I've downloaded the new NCL app, and the first page (login/register) looks a lot like the page where you sign into NCL's website to view your cruise. So the question is, do we each sign in separately (separate user names and so on) or do we both use the same sign on as we would use to manage our cruise on the NCL website? 

Thanks in advance! 

2 hours ago, lovetotraveltx said:

We are taking a cruise on December 30. Although we are going to the Caribbean, I'm guessing it will start out and end up cold, out of New Orleans. So, how do you dress? Do you bring some fall type clothes and sweats to walk on deck...? Thank you

New Orleans temperature range right now is low 50's at night, low 60's during the day, with scattered showers possible. 

The Caribbean should be pretty steady mid 70's at night, low 80's during the day. Periodic rain is very likely, but otherwise sunny and mild.