Markanddonna

We used Choice Air (Air2Sea) on our May trip from Europe. I checked our reservation in March and it had changed. We then received an email an hour later that the itinerary had changed. Coincidence? or did my random inquiry trigger that email? I'm sort of guessing the later.

The TA is a fool. Their short term gains will be uncovered and the story will filter out eventually. This TA has lost a lot of future business and spread a lot of family discontent.

I have sympathy for your situation. I can also see that some people would lie and claim they shouldn't have to provide proof of a medical need. It sounds like the topic of service dogs. There are those with a legitimate need and who could provide medical proof and registrations. Then, there are those who bring on their dogs in strollers who have a suitcase for all of their dog's outfits...

How sad that companies can't be fair and logical.

Be sure your travel agent doesn't charge a cancellation fee.

So much variance in my experience! I was on the sailing Navybankerteacher referred to and it was wonderful! Many of us ended up at the same precruise hotel and did many tours and activities together.

Roll calls are important to me if we are on a long cruise (14 days+). I appreciate the advice and some folks even give a heads up when there is a price reduction. That landed me a nice free upgrade one time.

Our last TA's roll call (RCL)sort of fizzled because of lack of leadership and when a rude, self absorbed assistant cruise director showed up to lead the meet and greet. He was the only staff member to show. He controlled the event rather than the group being allowed to. RCL takes the Meet and Greet (mingle) out of the hands of the roll call. We didn't know the day or time or location until just a few days before boarding.

I have been to other events where even the captain showed up (NCL). I think a cabin crawl is great if you have an interesting ship. I loved seeing the three bedroom Haven hosted by some very nice folks who invited us all back for a party as we went under the Golden Gate Bridge (Panama Canal cruise). Gift exchanges can be tricky as some folks don't get the idea of what is expected.

We were hoping to book the cruise (we are Americans) but it is just too high and it seems that it excludes some of the perks being advertised. We just booked the Jewel for next March and I tried to book the Hawaii to Tahiti leg booking the same cabin (Suite- penthouse with large balcony). I was not given any options beyond "NCL rate" to choose between the five advertised options (free dining, UBP, $50 per port excursions, 250 mins of free internet, etc).

BTW- I was on the NCL Jewel for a Panama Canal cruise and it is one of our favorite ships. On this sailing, we were midship balcony and very happy. If you want a fabulous cabin and can afford it, look for the deck 9 or 10 forward suites. Excellent reviews, better than the pure Haven. The owner's suite on deck 9 & 10 has Haven privileges.

Unfortunately, the prices have to go way down before I could afford this cruise... We just want to get to Australia and spend the time there, not 39 days on the Jewel.

BTW- the third leg still is not showing on the US site and the first two sailings were off and on all day yesterday.

28th for Latitudes members. For reference lowest prices:

Van to Honolulu $1099

Honolulu to Tahiti $1,399

Tahiti to Sydney $1,999

NCL has the first two segments on the website. I called this AM and there was much confusion about it.

The transpacific voyage is being divided into three segments and several of the ports are repeated twice if you were to book the entire segment. The itinerary is very nice but keeps disappearing from the NCL site.

I thought I would book it ASAP but the cost is quite high and quite long (39 days).

I was looking forward to NCL posting their new itinerary to Australia in Oct. 2017, hoping it would be a transpacific. Instead, it is offered as a three segment trip from Vancouver to Hawaii, Hawaii to Tahiti and Tahiti to Sydney. The cost is quite high because of this and there is quite a bit of redundancy in the ports if you were to take the entire 3 segments. It is about $6,000 before taxes and fees for the lowest category but it is 39 nights, but sometimes visiting the same port twice.

I was ready to book it today, but I think I will wait and seriously think about this and try to think clearly.

I believe you are thinking of the Breakaway Haven pool area. I understand the Getaway does not have any retractable roof over any pool. It seems the Getaway is not ideal for Stockholm either. There are benefits to less than massive ships.

We book in Insides, Oceanview and sometime balconies, so our cruise fare often leaves no wiggle room for a travel agent. I'd say $100 in specific benefits (onboard credit, an exclusive offering like a dining package) would tempt me to go with an agent.

We got burned once using a travel agent who was not availble to talk to the cruiseline about a nice upgrade and he missed the deadline. You are correct that RCL won't talk to YOU about the adjustments. I always assumed that someone else in the agency would be there to address our issues, but this wasn't the case.

If you are the kind of person who wants to leave all your details to others and are not diligent about checking for better pricing, perhaps a TA is worth it. If I was booking a suite, an agent might be worth it because they have made a bit more on the transaction.

We spent almost 4 weeks on a Baltic TA. The weather in Helsingborg Sweden, Dover Endland then Copenhages. This was the beginning of May. The port cities warmed up to about 70 degrees and sunny. You just never know so think layers when you pack.

I think the issue of the distance between ports was a topic discussed in another post, not this one. The poster's issue was that the Getaway may not be able to do Stockholm. The Getaway is scheduled to be in Stockholm but at a different "gateway" to the city.

My concern was that the Getaway was built for warm weather, not the Baltics.

Not sure if your post is meant for this one. I have no confusion about the ports or itinerary.

NCL will be sending the Getaway to the Baltics next year. We sailed on the Getaway this past January and as "more mature" passengers, weren't that impressed. So much of the ship's valuable real estate was taken up by slides, kiddie pools, obstacle courses, etc and that made the pool deck scrunched. This seems to be a criticism of the Getaway in many reviews. When I saw the "adult pool", my thoughts were "where's the regular pool?" There is a relatively small adult pool with no roof or cover and the other pool is where you "land" after going down the slide.

Since the ship was designed for warm Miami sailings, it just doesn't seem like the right fit for the Baltics. The Haven is where many ships have their fabulous observation lounge and the best "views" are from private areas or specialty restaurants. Inclement and cooler weather will present a challenge for the 4,000 passengers looking for indoor space.

I love the itinerary NCL is presenting but not crazy about the Getaway.

I have taken one NCL TA and two RCL TAs. Many cruise lines provide a lecturer but often the topic is not interesting. It seems if you are going to Europe, a great topic would be European history. Instead, someone did a series of lectures on economic theory.

Can't recall a lecture series on the NCL cruise, but I know we were never bored.

 

That a said...there will be kids on EVERY cruise....lots of folks take kids out of school for vacations, and the number of home-schoolers continues to rise...

Very true. The Caribbean is very attractive for families from South America who are on school vacations when many Americans are "sure" that the kids will all be in school. Some groups from SA book groups for Qiuintacintera celebrations so your cruise could be filled with wealthy 15 year olds....

The only cruises that tend to have fewer children are transatlantics, Panama Canal crossings, luxury cruises and trips that are longer than two weeks.

If you are in Juneau on the 4th, you will need to pay attention. It is the equivalent of Christmas Day up there! The tour companies have reduced offerings and the parade sometimes blocks traffic. We took a bus to Mendenhall and it was detoured to get us back to the ship. That was the only port we ever worried about making it back to the ship ontime!

Dogs in strollers! Of course, unless the dog performs a real service.

My pet peeve is other passengers who hover over the fake service dogs and pet them with words of affirmation for this deceptive practice.

I just don't get the dog in a stroller thing. If the dog is supposed to "sense your blood sugar levels or stress or whatever else it is, how can they do that if they aren't right next to you? Dogs in strollers are almost always "dressed up".

On our last two week cruise, we had two dogs in strollers and one REAL service dog who acted and was treated as you would expect for a real service dog. The walking deck in the bow was closed off for their potty area. I am 110% in support of real service dogs, but the foo foo dogs that are fed licks of ice cream from their owner's cone (when the dog is supposed to sense diabetes issue) is a bit hard to accept.

How about not eating ice cream on a cruise if you are REALLY diabetic and leaving your dog at home?

We enjoy dancing on cruise ships and the Getaway was often a disappointment. The Tropicana has a wonderful dance floor but hardly any passengers use it for dancing. The bands may play for a short while during dinner hour but the music is more like background dinner music. Seems a waste of a huge dance floor!

More contemporary dancing is done in H2O at night and the ship had LOTS of teens from South America (January cruise), so it turned into a hopping up and down rather than dance party. This location is very weather dependant and some parties get moved into the Tropicana after the dinner hour (11:00PM). Since the Getaway was designed to sail out of Miami, I wonder how H2O is going to be used when it does TAs and Baltic cruises next summer.

The Bliss lounge is a sad box that was rarely used by anyone. The DJ sometimes didn't show up. Fat Cats was good except the doors to the outside deck have people walking right across the dance floor. It is pretty small.

The Centrum was used for some dancing, but I really don't like that sort of venue for social dancing. If you want the dancers to provide entertainment for the rest of the ship, maybe they should be put on the crew staff...BTW- my meager skills in dancing would never qualify...

Some pools use the large pool deck for some parties, but the Getaway has a VERY small pool deck areas.

The advice you received is generally correct, but there are even exceptions to those generalities. For example: the average cup of coffee if free but any specialty coffee (express, capacchino, etc), either in a restaurant or coffee bar on ship is extra. Most entertainment is free, with some exceptions. For example, on the Getaway, there is a great show in a special theatre called "The Illusionarium" and you pay extra for that. It is a dinner theatre and you have no choice of menu (steak, steak fries,etc.)

The bigger, newer ships tend to have more options, but they often will cost extra. You often don't know what is free or "the rules" until you board ship and read the dailies. Things change quickly in the cruise industry from sailing to sailing.

Your choices of a cruise line will be significantly limited if a self service laundry is necessary. We usually take 14-19 day cruises and do just fine with washing delicates and PJs in the sink and drying them in the shower area. We send a few things to the ship laundry (maybe jeans and khaki pants). We just survived almost a month on a TA and then in Europe with this method and only three items were sent to the laundry.

I'm TA , and FYI We can only see the bookings we made. We charge a Service Fee (50.00) for check in services. And we provide all the information to get to the port/ parking, etc. Also include the papers/boarding passes/luggage tags.

There are some people who are completely computer illiterate and want someone else to give them information that is readily available. Most of us on this board are pretty independant and don't need this basic help. Good for this agent who can find such dependant people or folks who are used to having an assistant at work do all this for them.

Most of my recent flying has been in airports in Europe and there were no delays. They had lots of staff. I had a connecting flight in Atlanta and things were handled very well there also. We had to go through customs (having been in Europe), which was no problem and the transfer of checked baggage was also very easy.

No problem European airports: Barcelona, Amsterdam, Warsaw and Rzeszow

I agree with you.

 

Like any other city in the world, be vigilant of your surroundings, monitor your belongings, etc.

We were prepared for the pickpockets but saw no incidents while we were there. We like funky hotels and there was nothing about Hotel Continental that bothered us. We were also there during the May 1 protests which started peacefuly but esclated after an hour when the protestors started going down side streets and the police started to jump out of their vans to block them.

The only time I felt "unsafe" was during this escalation of police actiivty and the North Africans came out of nowhere to sell their goods on the side walks. This was likely illegal but the police were intensely preoccupied with the protests. We just went back to the hotel and stayed there.