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On 3/30/2024 at 1:40 PM, itsnotjustme said:

I always say once I embark on a cruise ship, my responsibilities plummet. Tough questions like which restaurant for dinner, what entertainment, etc.  My biggest responsibility on a cruise it to meet the all-abord time.  It certainly sounds like members of the group were aware they could be late but did not sway the tour operators to make sure they were not.

 

I do not blame NCL.  Even if in the harbor still, they would have to make an additional tender round trip, and possibly re-lower and re-lift that tender.  That would make them late for the next port penalizing all the passengers or make them spend a lot of extra money in fuel for faster cruise speed.

 

Exactly, and I can also see why the ship wouldn’t let them board when being approached by a boat with Island national guard on it.  It’s up to them to protect the other passengers on the ship.  They wouldn’t know if the national guard had guns and were perhaps going to try to board with the passengers.

1 hour ago, PhillyFan33579 said:

 

I was in a similar situation with a cruise going to Cuba. I got an email from Carnival, which said I could cancel the cruise with a full refund, even though I booked it with an ES fare. This was confirmed when I called Carnival. I would assume the same applies to your cruise. If so, I don’t see how you can fault Carnival for something beyond their control. 

I don't fault any of the cruise lines however Carnival switched out some good ports for some crappy ones.  People who had Key West and Cuba now have Bahamas only.  

I was on one out of Charleston that was affected and opted to switch to a different ship/itinerary because I wasn't going to pay the price they charged for Cuba for Bahamas.  Our cruise was in 2020 and while I somewhat agree that 2019 cruisers were affected more there isn't a whole lot of difference between Dec of 2019 cruises and Jan of 2020 and feel that Carnival should have given the OBC to everyone.  When I called to switch the person who took my call in fact told me right away that I would get $50 OBC pp.  I didn't question it but was kind of pissed when she called back 2 hours later and told me she had to remove it.  Seriously?  I could have taken my entire cruise fare and gone to another line which was a possibility since we cruise on several others.  I feel they should have chalked it up to a mistake and let us keep it.  I wasn't going to argue with her over $100 but after what some of the other cruise lines gave their affected passengers felt they should have just eaten it.

The last NCL cruise we took in 2015 I changed at least 3 times. I had it booked several years in advance and our son was planning on joining us. We changed it to just my husband and I and changed the cruise/ship 3 times. They had no issues doing this with a phone call.

I have read were some Carnival Cruise ships, not all, have a party on board were everyone dresses in white, depending on the CD. Do they have a white party on the Sunshine? I sail in Nov and am trying to decide what i may need to pack for this cruise.

Sounds like NCL's "White Hot" party they have on every cruising.

We sailed on the Dream in January. No issues at all. It was a great cruise.

It all depends on when Easter falls. I can't remember a grade or high school spring break for our son that fell around Easter. A week after or several weeks before. Colleges are another matter. Easter falls smack dab in the spring break time frame for a ton of them.

We felt the same way before our first CCL cruise on the Valor. We had only sailed NCL and loved them (still do). It was a family reunion cruise and we had no choice of line or ship. We had one of the best times ever and booked another one for 2016 after taking another NCL this year and an RCI last year. We love all 3 of these lines and will sail them all. Never been on the Breeze but perhaps 2017.

Can't wait until January. Just got Faster to the fun.

WAY TOO LONG! Just got FTTF last night. YAY!

After weighing the pros and cons, I decided that I would try it on my own. I still have a few carbs, but have drastically cut them overall. I have used the Power Crunch protein wafer bars when I get sugar cravings and they are OK, but I really loved the IP wafer bars in the strawberry and I may try eBay to get some. I bought some Ketostix to see if I was producing ketones instead of having my coach do it for me. I miss having a coach, and I did have one huge cheat afternoon, but I got back on track the next day.

Don't rely on the sticks. They are not accurate. I know I'm in ketosis because I'm steadily losing weight but the only time it reads on the sticks is first thing in the morning when I'm dehydrated. I just ate my last IP lemon wafer but still have 3 packs of the strawberry ;)

I began in IP but am now doing alternative products. The key to maintaining weight loss with this diet is to do the 4 phases the way the diet was designed. I don't think any diet is a recipe to gain all your weight back. You can lose weight with hundreds of different methods and gain it back with any of them if you go back to old habits. The best diet for someone is the one that works for them and the one they are able to maintain long term until they reach their goal weight. I have lost 25 pounds since March and feel better than I have in years. This diet may not be everyone's cup of tea but right now it is mine!

Me! Coke is too sweet in my opinion. Both my DH and I prefer Pepsi when we drink soda.

We like both lines. We found them pretty comparable. CCL has the best aft wrap cabins and they are a lot cheaper than an NCL suite. I know there are no perks but the balconies are super duper. Food was pretty comparable also in my opinion. We didn't see any shows on our CCL cruise so I can't compare but NCL has great shows. CCL has faster to the fun which gets you on this ship faster, in your cabin faster and your luggage to you faster. Only $59 per cabin so well worth it in my opinion. We only book suites now on NCL but our CCL cabin was as big as our forward PH this Jan. and bigger than our aft in 2012.

I honestly can't blame the other passengers who were given the rooms for not wanting to switch. When I pick a cabin I wouldn't switch it unless something really good was offered. Mini suite probably wouldn't do it for me alone because there isn't much difference in the size of the balcony. As far as they know they booked available cabins and may have gotten exactly what they wanted. All the blame here goes on the TA in my opinion.

The Sun has an awesome front observation lounge. Good for chilly days. We love her and have been on her twice.

I always book directly with the cruise line. I'm able to complete my online check-in (except for luggage tags and cruise documents) as far in advance of my cruise as I want and I check it often to ensure there aren't any changes plus if I make a change myself I get an email almost immediately. My advice is to enjoy your cruise and try to get something out of the TA for this. The ships aren't that big that you'll have a horrible time if you aren't across the hall.

Time frame, port of embarkation, ports of call, ship, price last.

Hahaha, I put a reminder on my email at work to check several times a day. Haven't seen it yet but my cruise isn't until next Jan.

We like all 3 lines. We liked RCI a lot but it was a lot more expensive. When we cruise NCL we usually choose a suite. We are hooked on CCL's aft wraps and will be in that cabin on our second CCL cruise next year. On our one and only RCI cruise we had their version of the aft wrap which was a corner aft balcony that had a covered and non-covered portion. The best of both worlds.

They haven't begun offering any shore excursions for my 1/24/2016 cruise yet but I keep checking everyday.

We took our first RCI last year on Indy. She's a fantastic ship with tons of stuff to do like the climbing wall and wave runner. We took our first CCL the previous year on a Conquest class ship, the Valor and loved that too. Personally I think it's fun to try other lines and haven't taken a cruise I didn't love. As for drunk people you find them on all lines but if you haven't tried RCI the Indy is a perfect ship for a first.

In 2012 in our first suite we also had a bad experience with our butler. He wasn't rude or anything but couldn't seem to remember that we also had allergies to shellfish and continued to bring it as part of the snack delivery. We even made it easy by telling him to just bring cookies but he either couldn't remember or didn't care. He got a minimal tip because other than show us how to use the coffee maker was non-existent as was the concierge. Granted we didn't go looking for either of them because we booked the suite for the balcony and cabin and preferred to make our own dinner reservations.

I know some people think the $10 per day is what should be tipped but in my opinion they should be tipped based on the service you ask for and receive and for everyone that is going to be different.

I think you will find them comparable to RCI and CCL. We did. MDR food was very similar. The steakhouse on both CCL and RCI were better than NCL's in my opinion.

I hope you have better luck on your cruise in February! We haven't tried an aft balcony yet, but that might be something to check into!

The aft balconies on some of the ships like the Star on deck 10 have enormous balconies. Almost as big as the aft PH's. We have also discovered corner aft cabins on some of the CCL and RCI ships have huge balconies. Our last two cruises were in non-NCL aft wraps and the cabins were the bomb!