marbleski

Thanks for the reply 

On 10/31/2023 at 4:33 PM, 70Up said:

We cruised on the Pride of America from Oct. 14 through Oct. 21, 2023.  Here is our experience with rental cars during that trip.

Kahului, Maui- rented from Alamo, midsize car, total bill for 2 days- $81.61

No car rental companies provided shuttles in Kahului.  Only one selected taxi company and NCL excursions can pick you up at the pier.  Car renters had a 15-20-minute walk to exit the port facility, not ideal for those with mobility problems.  We spoke to a helpful security guard on the way out who told us we could park our rental at a nearby hotel for $25 or take our chances at the mall across the street where there was a chance we could be ticketed.  He said they had not been ticketing since the Maui fires but he did not know how long that would last.  We took a chance and parked at the mall that night and were not ticketed. 

It was a $9 Uber ride from the Longs Drugstore to the airport.  Service from Alamo was quick and easy.  At the end of the day I was allowed into the terminal to drop off my wife before parking at the mall.  I also dropped her off the next day before returning the car to the airport.  At the airport you have to go to the arrivals terminal to arrange for an Uber pickup.  They say it’s a 3-minute walk from the car rental area to arrivals but it looked a lot longer.  Fortunately, there is a tram that will take you there in a flash.  I took the tram.  Another $9 Uber ride took me back to the ship.  The Uber driver was allowed to drop me off inside the terminal.

Hilo, HI- Oct. 17, rented from Thrifty, car was a Jeep Compass, 1 day $69

There was a shuttle at the terminal for Budget/Dollar/Payless customers.  I tried to lie my way on but the driver had a list of customers so no go.  She did offer to take my wife and me on for $5 each which we gave her.  At the end of the day she gave me a ride back for another $5.

Kona, HI- Oct. 18, booked with Enterprise, $70.63.

Our ship did not stop at Kona due to rough weather or problems with the landing facility.  We had arrangements with Enterprise to pick us up after we landed.  They are not far from where the tenders land.  In any event we were able to cancel our reservation without any problems.  I would not recommend booking with any rental company that will not allow free cancelation.

Lihue, Kauai- Oct. 19, booked with Hertz, $114 for 2 days, car was a Chev Impala

There was a shuttle at the terminal for Budget/Dollar/Payless customers.  This time I didn’t try to lie my way on and the driver told us to get lost. (We should have lied to get on this one because the driver wasn’t checking any renters list.)  It was a short walk outside the terminal to where we could be picked up by Uber, however, I couldn’t get service on my Iphone.  A kind couple from Alabama who were headed to Hertz allowed us to jump aboard their Uber which we did.

The service at the Hertz counter was terrible.  Ten people waiting and one clerk.  It was an hour before we got our car.  At the end of the day finding a place to park was a problem.  There were a few places to park on the street near the two shopping areas outside the terminal but they were full by 3 pm.  I dropped my wife off at the ship and drove around to search for parking.  I finally settled on a residential street about 10 minutes from the ship.  It was a $7 Uber ride back to the ship.

In the morning (Oct. 20) my wife and I rode the Harbor Mall shuttle that comes right to the ship.  It takes you to the Harbor Mall which is about five minutes away.  From there we Ubered back to our car in the residential area.  At the end of the day we returned the car to the airport and Ubered back to the ship ($10).

Summary- Having a rental car gives you the freedom to explore the various islands at your own pace and I recommend it.  I would certainly lean towards renting from a company that provides a shuttle.  Kahului, Maui is the only stop where this does not seem to be possible and the 20-minute walk to get out of the terminal area I think is a real slap in the face to visitors.  The other problem is where to park your car on the two-day stops.  Maybe rent a car one day and take an excursion on the second day.

Anyway we hope you find this information helpful.

 

Thanks for the detailed information. Very much appreciated. 
 

You mentioned there is one taxi company at the pier in Maui … Will they bring you to the airport car rental Center or do they only do Taxi hires for the Day? If they do bring you to the Airport Car Rental Park do you know if the rate is much higher than the $9 Uber ride from outside the dock?

Thanks

14 hours ago, keckley said:

We recently did a River cruise of the Mekong. Started in Ho Chi Minh City and end in Siem Reap. 
We were not offered any pre or post opportunities. We were told to meet the tour leader on embarkation day at a hotel for them to pick up luggage. Thought that was odd. When we arrived at that hotel we were told that a group of us were going to a local place for lunch and then a 2 hour bus ride to the ship? We were not given that information. Worse yet was while on the cruise happened to find out we don’t disembark in Siem Reap we stopped in Kampong Cham and had to take a 5 hour bus ride to Siem Reap! We were livid! None of this was communicated. We may have thought twice about this cruise. Found out that it has happened before but just to those from the US.

We have complained and hope to have a suitable response soon.

How was the cruise, staff, ports, food, service?  Were you on the Emerald Harmony? Did they fill all 42 staterooms?

Thanks

12 minutes ago, gnome12 said:

I was in St. John's at the end of June 2016. I had expected the weather to be cool, but I threw in a pair of capris at the last minute. I think that I wore them every day I wasn't at my conference. The weather was in the high 20s (Celsius), until I went up to St. Anthony's and L'Anse aux Meadows where it was so cold I wore all the layers that I had. In addition, I had to buy a pair of gloves to wear on my iceberg/whale watching cruise.

Yep that’s us lol. One never knows what the weather will be like, especially May and June. Some days there is a10 degree temperature difference  from the east and west ends of town.  My son and his CFA (come from away) girlfriend visited us for 10 days near end of June last year and they lucked out with mid 20”s all but the day they arrived. It made for great east coast trail hiking, whale watching, puffin watching and so on.  

20 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

Oh my Ottawa has extremely cold winters. I don’t blame you I’d do the same thing. October through December it’s usually in the 50’s-70’s. January and February is our winter with a few cold snaps then it’s back to the 50’s-70’s until June when summer hits. We do have incredibly mild winters. It was in the 80’s today. Austin is a great place to live with lots of growth and job opportunities. It’s a couple of hours from where I live. I’m 30 minutes south of Fort Worth. 

We live way out on the very eastern edge of Canada on the Atlantic Ocean …  we think we hit the jackpot on few days summer days we hit 80 degrees lol 

4 hours ago, cruisinqt said:

Yeah it was a real bummer. People around here are pretty sore about it. 

 Our oldest son spent a winter term at UT Austin in 2016.  We put our name in the NCAA lottery draw and scored four tickets to the Final Four the last time it was held in Houston 2016. Wonderful friendly people in Austin.  I was hoping our son was going to stay for good so we could move in and spend winters with him lol. Seven years later I still suggests he should move to Austin because the winters are too cold in Ottawa where he lives now. 

44 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

I looked through my notes (yes I keep notes when I’m planning something like this) and I did look into getting a rental car in Seydisfjordur. I just didn’t like the tours offered they sounded boring and I really wanted to go to the Vok geothermal hot baths in Egilsstadir which is a 30 minute drive away. It has a swim up bar in the pools, a free hot tea bar, a sauna, and a really nice restaurant. But the only bus going that way left before we arrived and a taxi was super expensive. So I looked into car rentals but they aren’t available in Seydisfjordur. Then I found a private driver that will drive us round trip for $163 (that’s for a total of 4 people.) All we had to do was book Vok baths ourselves which was very inexpensive. He told me that there aren’t any rental cars in the smaller ports but it’s easy to get one in Reykjavik. Good luck. 

I noticed you are from Texas. Big day for basketball fans as the NCAA finals are on tonight live from Houston. Our family was hoping the Longhorns would be in the final. I still can't believe they gave up the nice second half lead they has last weekend. 

52 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

I never looked into it because I read some posts about it being a complicated and time consuming process in Iceland. But since we are in Reykjavik for 14 hours it might be worth it there. I just didn’t want to mess with traffic in a large city in a foreign country. 

Yep much more complicated than hopping on a motor coach on the dock. Plus the insurance and damage issues ... they seem to be mentioned often. I might dig a bit more and see if I can find a post from someone who rented a car last season.

Thanks once again

8 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

Reykjavik and Akurreyri are with Saga Travel which uses mini buses that carry no more than 15 passengers. The reviews often say there were only 8-10 people in their groups. With Grundarfjordur I used Sandra’s Tours which uses the large tour buses with reclining seats and a toilet. It’s a long tour with lots of long distance traveling so I think that’s why it’s a bigger group. I’m not crazy about big groups but there’s not a lot of local cruise tours to choose from and this bus sounds pretty nice. 

Thanks for the homework assignment lol. I looked briefly at rental cars for the two larger ports in Iceland but its a bit complicated and probably time consuming in Reykjavik.  Did you look into a car rental?

10 minutes ago, cruisinqt said:

Finding tours in Ireland and Scotland were easy since the ports are large cities with a big tourist industry and lots of cruise ships visiting. But Iceland was challenging. Reykjavik was easy since it’s the capital and a very large city. But the other 3 ports are small with only one or two small cruise ships visiting occasionally so they mostly cater to land based vacationers who will be there for a few days. So most of the tours I found online were very lengthy with no pickups at the port mentioned. I did finally get some amazing tours booked for decent prices though. Here’s what I booked all prices are for four adults:

Dublin- Boyne Valley Tours. A private tour with just our family where we choose where to go for a whole day for $550 

 

Belfast- Giants Causeway Tour with Odyssey Coach Tours for $238 GBP 

 

Reykjavik- Golden Circle Tour with Saga Travel for 79,600 ISK which is $580 USD

 

Grundarfjordur- National Park, volcano, & waterfall tour with Sandra’s Cruise Tours for $476

 

Akurreyri- Lake Mayvatn Tour with Saga Travel for 79,600 ISK which is $580 USD

 

Seydisfjordur- We booked a private taxi with Asgrim’s taxi’s to Vok geothermal baths for 150 Euros or $163 USD

 

Invergordon- Dunsrobin Castle & Distillery Tour with Thistle Excursions for 500 GBP or $619 USD 

 

All of these have very good reviews online and have good ratings with TripAdvisor 

OMG you are so good. Thanks so much for the quick reply. The Iceland tours seem to be the hardest to figure out during my first few days of research. Are your Grundarfjordur, Akurreyri and Reykjavik tours on the larger tour buses or small group tours? 

Thanks so much

On 2/18/2023 at 12:51 AM, cruisinqt said:

We are family (parents and adult children) so we don’t want to split up. 

It looks like we are the same cruise. We booked quite a while ago but I have just started looking at the ports, flights, hotels and so on.

We are travelling with our two adult children too. Did you make arrangements for tours yet and who did you use? The Iceland Ports are the first ones I am looking at as we visited the other three ports on our last cruise in the good old pre-covid days. On our previous cruises across the pond (we live on the other side of the Atlantic directly across from Ireland) I arranged small group tours and found others to join on our roll call. 

I am way behind on this trip. I looked over the the FB posts during the last few days and I have now moved on to the CC ports of call.  I seen your post and figured I would ask what you have booked in Iceland so far.

I plan to check out the roll call once I read up the ports of call threads.

Thanks 

On 3/23/2023 at 4:17 PM, McGarrett5oh said:

While we haven't completed a rental yet, we have cars booked with both Hertz and Alamo.  Both offices are about the same distance from the port (5-6km) and we read that taxis are pretty plentiful at the port.  We couldn't find a reputable car rental agency any closer to the port.

We are considering renting a car too. We arrive end of August.  We just started the trip planning and came across Alamo but the car rental company closes at 7:00 pm. Have you come across anything with a later return time.

7 hours ago, www3traveler said:

I can not tell you about the shows on your particular cruise, however shows in the Jewel's theater are usually at either 7 P.M. (7:30 P.M.) and 9:00 P.M. (9:30 P.M.).  No reservations are required.  Theater doors open 30 minutes prior.  When some shows, they miight ask you not to sit in the front row or ask that children not sit in the front row.

 

Enjooy

Thanks for your reply. Much appreciated.  We are getting closer to the mystery answer lol.  Hopefully the next reply can share the exact nights for each show.  We have four dinners booked and if one happens on show night we should have time to dine and make it to the second show. 

8 hours ago, julig22 said:

Um, looking on your roll call since you haven't sailed yet isn't going to be helpful. There are generic groups for the Jewel, groups for specific trips, past or present, plus groups specifically for posting dailies.

8 hours ago, julig22 said:

Um, looking on your roll call since you haven't sailed yet isn't going to be helpful. There are generic groups for the Jewel, groups for specific trips, past or present, plus groups specifically for posting dailies.

Thanks again for trying taking the time to help me find out the answer to my question. I have looked elsewhere.  No go.  My last  resort was posting here on the general NCL thread. There is much more activity on this thread so I rolled the dice and took a chance someone on the general NCL thread might have recently cruised on the Jewel to Alaska.   
 

My past experience is that most every possible question one could throw out there regarding a specific cruise was answered on a roll call … even thought the cruise had yet to sail someone somewhere seemed to have an answer.  Maybe activity on CC roll calls dropped off since our last pre Covid cruise.  Plus, I assume short cruises result in less roll call activity. 

21 hours ago, julig22 said:

Since you aren't getting any info here:

 

1.  Maybe ask on a roll call

2.  Realize that the schedules often vary and won't necessarily be the same so maybe not helpful anyway

3. There are groups on other social media sites where people post dailies, as well as ship-specific and cruise-specific groups.

Thanks for your reply.  
 

Unfortunately our roll call is non-existent.  Ditto for the one on other social media sources. 
 

Hopefully someone cruising now or in the very near future will respond.

Bumping this up

I am hoping to find somebody who who can help answer my question. 

I have been searching but I cannot find which nights and times the Velvet and Rock You Tonight Shows are scheduled for on the current Jewel Alaska schedule. 

Thanks 

Thanks for posting. 

If they are older teenagers consider booking a balcony and an inside across from one another.  You will have to put one adult in each room to make the reservation. 

2 hours ago, bookbabe said:

Thanks for the reply. It looks like the rate is now at 1.25.  You should be able to confirm the current rate by logging into your upcoming cruise and doIng a mock booking for a $100 usd on-board cruise credit.  It should now cost $125 Canadian down from $134  prior to the most recent updated exchange rate .   

12 minutes ago, JillK said:

I just went through the process of price comparison the other day for NCL and ended up booking in USD as I had CruiseNexts in that currency to use up.

 

In looking at the NCL site which only displays Canadian dollars (really should be able to choose like you can on Royal's site) I can't say for certain but based on my calculations (completely unscientific) it appears to be in the neighbourhood of 1.25. 

 

In USD their airfare is coming in at $149 and in Canadian it is $186.24. Likewise, their airport transfers are $75 USD but is $93.76 Cdn. 

 

Best bet would be to give them a call or start a chat on their website to verify. 

Thanks for the reply.  Much appreciated.

The Canadian Dollar has strengthened since the shut down. Has the NCL rate dropped from the 1.338 exchange rate offered pre Covid-19.

18 minutes ago, farmersfight said:

 

I was sensing a theme until I got to the bottom (last) photo. Where's your legs and feet in that one?

I have yet to master multitasking.  I  mistakenly cut my feet off in the last pic. For some reason I have trouble enjoying a drink and getting my feet in the picture at the same time LOL.  Hoping to do a retake  .......  someday.   

In search of a cool breeze we walked along the coastline this morning. Sitting back watching a pair of humpbacks enjoying a feed of caplin brought back my favourite cruise memories …… lounging about overlooking the vast ocean passing by.   Post photos of your favourite cruise memories?  

Gazing towards Ireland on our walk this morning I took this picture during a break in our walk to watch the whales. 

 My morning picture sure brought back the found memories from days like these below. How long do you think before my landlocked picture above turns into a Ocean View picture from an NCL Ship?  

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 jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj\

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