thistimeplease

looks like BA is only ship in the Caribbean in July. That's typical really with other ships being deployed to west coast for Alaska or Europe for the summer.

BA is just doing Western Caribbean and we just did that. Originally, our GA cruise was rotating between Western and Eastern but that changed with the Hurricanes last year. Very disappointed that NCL doesn't have any Eastern next summer but then again it'll give us a chance to try RCL. Was hoping that maybe NCL might add to it's cruises and if they've done it in the past.

I was organizing a group trip for friends and family, and we found the same situation. We ended up booking on the Allure. It's a lot more expensive than NCL in my opinion, but I'd rather pay extra than go Western Caribbean. I'm not a fan of that side.

We just did the Western Caribbean and had a great cruise but would like to do Eastern next year.

I have a questions for those that have sailed NCL. I am looking to book a cruise for the Eastern Caribbean for July 2019 and would like to cruise with NCL but have noticed there aren't any Eastern Caribbean itineraries offered for then. My question is does NCL add new cruises or is the schedule for cruises pretty much set for next year? I'm also looking at the Allure since I don't see anything for NCL but dh would prefer to stay with NCL as we have loved all our cruises with them. Thanks for any info you may have.

We loved Trikes Cozumel!!! On our most recent cruise, July 2018, it was my favorite excursion.

We were there on 07/24 and it was pretty bad. We were told that they have never experienced it this bad and don't know why. It's throughout the whole Malecom. You can even see islands of it when sailing on the ship. Hopefully by the time you cruise it will be gone.

Did you do the Jolly Roger booked through NCL or booked through a third party?

We did this thru NCL, was well worth the money.

Fat Cats had bands that also provided slower dancing. One couple there were ballroom dancing the entire night. We really enjoyed watching them.

Just did this excursion this past week and thought it was awesome. Lunch was delicious, drinks strong and snorkeling great. Guides were very good and very helpful.

We booked thru their facebook page. Did this tour this past week and it was my favorite excursion this past week. Can't say enough about this excursion and is on our list to do again.

Just got back from the GA and no straws on ship but plastic straws at Harvest Caye. People asked if they could take them back to the ship and were told yes. Also, our first stop in Costa Maya people were getting straws by the handful. Have to say, I brought paper straws and they were awful. Ended up not drinking frozen drinks.

I have sailed this cruise twice out of NYC (on the Breakaway) and never saw anything close to this. That was before UBP was a "perk" tossed in for almost everyone though.

 

Hopefully all of Staten Island and the Jersey Shore does their cruising in July, because we're sailing the Escape in August and I don't want to experience any of this nonsense or have my kids experience it.

 

 

I'm glad the guilty parties were confined to their cabins. I hope they were tossed off the ship in Bermuda as well.

I missed the part where it was stated that they were from NY/NJ. I've lived on the Jersey Shore my whole life and the people who usually are involved in these type of situations are the tourists. Just because the ship sails from NY doesn't mean those involved were from the NY area. You know what happens when you assume.

Ok, after reading this thread, I'm considering a cruise to Bermuda...something I hadn't considered because

1. I'm not sure if the casino is open at night while the ship is in port and

2. I've always had the impression that Bermuda is oppressively hot

 

Can anyone speak to either of these?

CM

Can't answer regarding casino as we don't gamble but as much as I love, love, love Bermuda it was extremely hot. We went the end of July and it would probably be very hot wherever we went. When we go again, and we will, we will probably explore St. Georges more and spend the rest of our time at the beaches.

We did this cruise on the BA two years in a row. I would've loved to have gone on the escape to Bermuda this year but dh wanted to try a new itinerary. There is so much to do that when we do go again we won't be repeating anything, other than Horseshoe Bay. We did a catamaran snorkel trip, a car tour of the island, Wednesday nite Harbor nite, Horseshoe Bay and 1 other beach that I can't remember the name of. We also shopped and ate in the port. We loved 3 days in Bermuda and wish there were more trips like this.

You can not make reservations in the main dining rooms between 5:30 and 9 pm I tried.I am well aware there are better cabins available if you have the money.We didn't .I'm not going to get into a protracted argument about the ship or our trip it's over ,we had a good time,these are just my observations and my opinions .

Am leaving next week on the GA and hopefully we'll enjoy it more than you. Sorry about your experience. The only thing I question is the reservations in the main dining room. I know I have a reservation for 2 at 6:30pm in the Tropicana. I made them at 90 days out.

Saw them last year on our BA cruise. Didn't seem to be a problem.

O'Sheehans is very busy after 2am. We were there until about 4am and had a great time. It finally shut down, want to say about 4:30am, and our friends then went to the Atrium bar (we went to bed) to continue their fun.

Just curious—is there a reason you chose Paradise over Bananarama? Shore Excursioneer has both and the two appear to be very similar, but Paradise is a little more expensive. I'm wondering if there are advantages to Paradise.

We went back and forth trying to decide but after reading reviews Paradise seemed to be more for us, a little quieter. We also like the idea of a pool.

I have seen several posts about purchasing day passes at the resorts. However, my attempts to contact these resorts and make this purchase are failing. Does anyone have experience with doing that they could share?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums

We are going to Paradise, next to Bananarama, I believe. I booked the day passes thru shoreexcursioneer.com. Their packages include transportation.

I will probably get flamed for this but I can see both sides. The crew member wasn't thinking of the impact on others he probably was just in emotional pain. People in emotional pain do things all the time that negatively impact lots of other people. Given the lack of mental health services in some venues we see the effect in the news all the time. That said some cruisers can't work a buffer day into their plans either for work reasons or babysitter reasons or eldercare reasons. It's the classic case of some people trying to say one person's needs are greater than others. I agree that there are probably opportunists that seize on any little thing that happens in any venue not just cruises that try to profit from it. For those people I say shame on you. On the other hand there are probably people impacted by this that are truly suffering and I think it is not right to demean them.

I totally agree with this post. It's great that some can take extra days but unfortunately not everyone is in that position.

I just had a friend return from the Bliss and said there was never any issue getting chairs in the observation lounge. When I asked about people sleeping in the lounge they said they never noticed anyone doing it.

We stayed on 14 on the BA and loved it. Loved it so much we booked the same room on the Getaway for next cruise.

Please don't be sorry. I think it's wonderful that people are still able to cruise despite considerable health problems. Long may they do so! It's courageous. I love cruising and this won't stop me from going (though I may be even more careful than we are already).

 

As for the title of my thread I apologise if it was in any way misleading. I was not asking for medical help, just for any advice from those who might have experienced a similar occurrence. If it came across wrong then blame the fact that I had 100 other things going on and maybe I wasn't thinking clearly. I did not say MEDICAL HELP NEEDED URGENTLY. That is just some peoples interpretation. As it happens I DID get some very useful information, and the kindness and support from many of you on CC was heartwarming.

 

As far as NCL are concerned, that night we were on the phone to every number we could find, speaking to Miami and also trying to talk to the UK. Getting through to someone in NCL who could or would help was very difficult. Unfortunately offices were closed and I wasn't able to talk to anyone who could help until the next day, and even that took several calls. NCL did NOT step up to the mark until much later, and you can choose to believe this or not. It's no use saying what your experience was and how wonderful they were, it really has no relevance, and in this situation they were less than helpful, until a meeting was arranged 2 days later.

 

Should anyone need help from the UK offices we do now have a name and contact number which we would be happy to post, but it took a great deal of time to reach the right person.

 

I think that is all I want to say. I hope it may be of help to someone in the future and I'm glad it's given some people the chance to vent their spleen criticising me, my daughter and my family for just being caring people. If being self satisfied and critical makes you feel better then so be it. We certainly won't change.

 

As I've said before, I hope nobody who has read this thread will ever have to go through such an experience. We have cruised ourselves over 60 times and have seen our fair share of medical emergencies, evacuations and ships turning round. Our only thoughts at the time were thank goodness it's not us, please god they are ok, and how awful it must have been for those concerned and their families.

 

Enough said.

OP thank you for updating us. I think you did the right thing and would hope that my dh and I would be able to do the same if something like this happened to one of my children. I think you are wonderful and caring parents.

Interesting- since what you describe would be $100 for 2. Do you have a discount code??

 

It is $76 for 2, basic.

 

What did you book and how did you get that price?

I booked thru shoreexcursioner.com

I didn't have a discount code but did reserve a few months ago, price must have gone up 10pp

https://www.shoreexcursioneer.com/roatan/west-bay-paradise-beach-club-day-pass.html

They offer 3 packages, we chose the relax lunch.

We booked Paradise Hotel which is in that area for $79 for the 2 of us. It includes 1 drink each, lunch, shuttle to and from port, towels, lounge chairs and use of their pool. We booked through shoreexcursioner.com

Just my 2 cents but please do not take photos of children, clothed or unclothed. The parents are jerks but the kids don't know any better. With everything going on these days photographing children that aren't your own is a big no no.