Cruzn Bills Fan

What a great thread! We're sailing in January. Staying at the Hilton Riverside which based on your pics looks like it's right there. BTW I could feel your pain as you talked about disembarking, Thanks for taking the time to do this!

I'm going to try to reserve the BTS tour today using the Pre-Cruise Concierge for our January Breakaway cruise. It's worth a shot.

I did this when I was a young sailor in the US Navy heading from Norfolk Va to Perth/Freemantle Australia in 1981. I'm sure it was quite different! 

On 5/26/2023 at 8:11 PM, Firstin87 said:

NCL used to let you use OBC to pre-book shorex, but have stopped since the return from the pandemic.

 

 

Not true, we did it in December 2022. You just have to get it authorized.

On 7/6/2021 at 3:17 PM, mitsugirly said:

We've been there twice and had a great time each time (we love to snorkel). 

 

I have reviews with pictures if you are interested. First time there click HERE

 

next time click HERE

 

I believe they have updated their water park though since I was there and they also have flamingo's at their beach now.

Love your reviews! We're planning on doing this in December on our Norwegian Dawn cruise. We were wondering if anyone has been post-COVID. 

We plan to board the Epic in San Juan this December.

1 hour ago, Budget Queen said:

Good grief.   It’s more effective to work directly with shore excursions.    And your claim you “had” to -  was you “wanted to”.     

LOL! Grumpy this morning? Looking to pick a fight? I was in the Haven so I used the concierge. Lighten up! SHEESH.

On our last cruise on Escape we didn't meet our Butler until day 2. Now we were out and about partying etc. so not his fault. He did make sure to stop by on day 2 and introduce himself. We don't use the Butler for much so not a big deal, but we do like to know who we're dealing with.

31 minutes ago, Turtles06 said:

 

Of course, you could also have gone to the Shorex Desk yourself to have it applied.  🙂   (I don't want anyone to think it takes the intervention of the concierge to do this.  There's no issue at the Shorex Desk about it.   The issue is that NCL doesn't do it automatically, and likely that's intentional.)

What good is the concierge if I don't use him? 😄

Absolutely, however on Escape a couple weeks ago we had to have the concierge contact the shore excursion desk to have it applied.

Your concern shouldn't be getting off the ship in a timely manner, it should be the God awful security lines at FLL.

If you're talking about the 8 Feb cruise this makes me happy.

On 7/18/2019 at 3:17 PM, js said:

 

That is a great price.  My dh can only cruise in the summer or holidays for a few more years so we are stuck with paying high prices.

We're currently booked on Escape for Feb in a Haven Spa Suite. When I booked I paid $3199 pp. I always keep an eye on prices and this weekend I noticed the price had dropped to $2999 pp. Called and got the new price! 

We were in Cozumel and Costa Maya in January. We went to Jaimie's Blue Reef in Costa Maya and because of the breakwall there was zero sargassum, however we did the Fury catamaran in Cozumel and their beach was covered by it. Also we were in Playa Del Carmen last month for a long weekend and the beach in front of our resort (Hilton) was unusable.

We only cruise in Suites or The Haven but only when its around $6K for the two of us.

I don't like it at all!

We’ve been on the Sunshine 2X out of Norfolk. 3X glory. And 2 Holland ships back before they pulled out of Norfolk. RCCL used to also have a ship. I really would love to see the port utilized more than just 2 months a year by Carnival. This may the new Sunrise will be going out of Norfolk. We live 15m away so it’s super easy. Plenty of parking decks in downtown Norfolk. I don’t know why the port isn’t used more. I heard rumors about high port taxes.

You're right that there's plenty of parking very close to the port. We cruised Maasdam in 2006(?) and the convenience was great. Dropped off and picked up on the corner right in front of the terminal on Waterside Dr. Ya can't beat that. Now the fact that my DW and I were one of the youngest couples on the ship is a whole different issue. :D

Bridge clearance will keep it to smaller ships, which means older ships, which means less likely to have scrubbers installed or clean engines. Bay bridge: 186'. NCL Getaway: 179'. Verrazano Narrows bridge in NY: 228'.

I've said it before. This problem goes away if they cruise out of Norfolk. There's a beautiful relatively new cruise terminal in downtown Norfolk, no bridges to go under and roughly a couple hours to the open ocean.

This must be one hell of a sandwich. What's on it?

 

And I can confirm the roast beef/french dip sandwich is still dry.

I always take the meat off one half and put it on the other half. Makes it much better.

141 til we Getaway. :whiskey-glass:

We absolutely love Fury Catamaran.

Just booked Jaime's for 19 of us for our January visit to Costa Maya. I'm really looking forward to this and will let you know how it went.

We pack them all. Bottle, solo cup, can.

Six months one day! :D

One hundred ninety days. Seems like forever!