gwsster

Magic bands on the ship? Is this for children or for all passengers? I have used the Magic Bands at WDW and loved them. I did not know the ships used them too.

It is about a 16 mile drive and takes 20 to 35 minutes by Taxi. I think you are cutting it way too close if it is doable at all. I would investigate what plan B options are available to you if you don't make the 9:00 flight . Find out how much to to a fare change to the later flight or if you would have to buy all new tickets if you miss the flight. This is assuming that there are 3 seats available...most planes fly full now. Some people like to gamble, but I wouldn't do this at all. The ship may dock at 5:00 am, but there has to be customs clearance and they generally don't start disembarking much before 7:00 am. Just my 2 cents worth. This is a beautiful cruise and I wouldn't want to end it with a mad rush to the airport.

Depending on weather, I have a summer vest and a winter vest that has long inside deep pockets. I like them because they hold a phone, cash and whatever you want. Mainly I don't like carrying a purse while visiting a port. I like my hands free and don't want to worry about a purse or camera and "stuff". There are some Made by Columbia, Eddie Bauer and a variety of places. You have to check that they have the inside pockets. Columbia generally has the great inside pockets.

We have sailed this cruise. This is a US based cruise that goes only around the Hawaiian Islands and must follow Hawaiian Laws. There is NO Beverage/Alcoholic package for this cruise. The cruise is very port intensive and we did our drinking in port. What you would have spent on the drink package gratuities paid for a lot of land based drinks. This ship is essentially a floating hotel. The boat sails at night taking you to various major ports. There are a lot of posts regarding this particular cruise and reviews of this cruise. Don't let the drink thing deter you if this is what you want. It is the only cruise that does Hawaii in 7 days. There are a lot of options for visiting Hawaii that are land based too.

DH and I tend to sit in the back on aisle rows if we aren't sure if we will like the show. Some NCL shows are so "cheesy" and would be an insult to a high school production. The worst shows were those by Second City, we walked out the first time we saw the show, boring and NOT funny or even amusing. We were on a different NCL cruise and ship and thought we would give Second City another chance.....the same if not worse. NCL needs a little more sophistication in the show themes. I think part of the problem is that they create their own shows to avoid paying Royalties,the day glow costumes and bad stylized singing are not entertaining. NCL has the capacity to create better shows but could use a new Choreographer and show content coordinator. The Blue Man Group, the Jersey Boys were nice and were enjoyable and NCL needs more shows that are of this caliber.

We sailed Celebrity last September and went to Glacier Bay....We were on the Infinity.

I agree. Glacier Bay is by far the outstanding site of the Alaskan cruise. As RCI and Celebrity are not allowed there, they are ruled out for me.

Driving up PCH is very pretty, there is the Santa Monica Pier. There are also the Science Museums and the La Brea Tar Pits. Parking sucks around the La Brea Tar Pits but there are parking garages. The television studios have stand by tickets to see tapings of TV shows too. You will NOT be able to see it all, pick the thing you want to do most. If you want to see the ocean I vote for the drive up PCH, eat at Dukes or Gladstones and then hit the Santa Monica Pier. There is a pedestrian walkway at the secluded beach near where the stars live. You’ll find this open gate at the address 22126 PCH in Malibu. Carbon Beach is a gradually sloping beach which makes it great for taking off your shoes and kicking around in the shallow surf. Just note that at high tides the beach is mostly, if not all, wet. This eastern section of Carbon Beach

we will be in LA next month and have rented a car for the day. can anyone share with me the must see areas? we were thinking of driving up to Malibu - worth it?

How much is the water and for how many bottles of water? I didn't know Disney had a water program, time to look it up on the website. I like the convenience of having a bottle of water available at bedside.

Per Disney Website. I think there is confusion between Carioca's and Cabana's. I think Carioca's is being replaced by a new venue called Rapunzels.

Cabanas (Deck 9, aft): Touting a vibrant "Finding Nemo" theme, Cabanas -- the ship's buffet -- is conveniently located at the back of the ship, steps away from the kids' Splash Zone. Breakfast includes usual favorites, such as made-to-order omelets, meats and bakery treats (gluten-free muffins also are available). The lunch menu changes frequently but includes the standard soups, salads, sandwiches and burgers. For dinner, passengers can order signature dishes off the Main Dining Room menus, as well as other cooked-to-order items.

The buffet also occasionally hosts theme nights, such as after the Pirates of the Caribbean deck party, in which the room and stations are decorated and fun foods such as bubble gum ice cream and make-your-own-crepes are offered. Dining times vary for each meal, so be sure to check your daily planner for specific hours.

While we appreciated the buffet's variety of seating arrangements (booths and large six- and eight-top tables ideal for families), we found the space to feel cramped, even with seating outside. There wasn't much open space, which led to occasional confusion as to where the lines began and people having to squeeze around one another.

I agree that the reservations should be done away with....The "any time" dining was a pain. We had to wait until the Reservations were seated and at least once was a 45 minute wait. I was underwhelmed with Celebrity's dining plan. Make it traditional seatings and then true anytime dining where it is first come, first served.

Select used to work great. However it is the fallback for traditional diners who are too late to eat and suite or Aqua diners that want to try the MDR. Our first couple of X cruisers, Select was truly flexible and worked great but over the years the lack of flexibility has drove us to pre reserve times online in advance. This in turn reduces flexibility for others. In my opinion, Select should be ONLY for select diners and shouldn’t have reservations at all. I also think that tables in traditional dining that are not occupied within 30 mins should be opened up too.

 

 

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Treasure or Serendipity?

I agree, I didn't find much if any difference between the two cruise lines. Celebrity has NO sail away party, very bland but the entertainment was better. Food was the same on both lines, but the main dining room on NCL was better not as crowded feeling. It all depends on which size ship you are comparing to as well. The larger ships have more amenities and the smaller ships are generally quieter and older.

I vote Escape- newer ship more to offer. Celebrity’s experience wasn’t much different than ncl Qin my opinion.

 

 

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I just got back from WDW and found what I thought was a flaw in security. At all of the parks you go through bag screening first. Then you go through a secondary metal detector but your bag is slid on a table outside of the metal detector. If I had something in my waistband at the bag check, then transferred said item to the bag before going through the metal detector then what was the point? I am sure Disney has figured this out, but I thought the procedure was odd.

I had already flown internationally twice and visited Six Flags Over Georgia a few times before a terrifying "weapon" on my person was confiscated at Six Flags.

 

The offending item?

 

A set of small fingernail clippers, attached to my keychain. Not the "scissors" type, either. :rolleyes:

 

I'm not sure how you could consider them dangerous at an amusement park -- "Okay, I'm hijacking this roller-coaster to Cuba! Back off or I'll give you a manicure!" -- but there they went. :mad:

When is the Magic due for Refurb? Hopefully before September.

We know that the Magic will be getting some enchancements during its upcoming dry dock. Will the cabins be getting touched up as well? New beds? New carpet in the public areas? Etc

 

 

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Hi Moki's Mommy. There is a Taxi line outside of the airport and we waited for a van since there was 4 of us. It took us to the Hotel right across the street from the Cruise port for around $40.00 last September. It was quite easy and only a short wait. The Vans have easy way to load the luggage in the back and W/C as needed. On the way back we rented a car (Ford Escape) for just about $50.00 at the Cruise Port since we had a late flight. Reserve a car if this is a plan. It was a way to store luggage and kill some time by sight seeing until flight time. We dropped the car at the airport and there is a gas station right at the entrance of the Airport to gas up and then return the car. There is a Taxi area at the Port Terminal to the Airport, we have used this too. The line for the Van Rentals is shorter than the Sedans....Hint.

I am happy that this all got resolved. I am glad that a Supervisor was able to make a cabin change to accommodate your family. It is sad that you had 48 hours of angst over what should have been taken care of on the first day that the trouble began. Have a good time on your cruise.

Doing DCL cruise to the 7 day British Isles this year (Woot)! Booked the first week the cruise became available in a balcony for under $5000.00 including port fees. The same cabin is now $7775.00. We compared the British Isle cruises with other cruise lines including Princess and we couldn't beat the DCL price so we booked this trip. The prices might fall as final payment date comes up and people cancel on some cruises but the British Isles remain popular.

We did this once to my Sisters....2 Sisters in one cabin, me and my other Sister next door. The two next door went to bed early and me and the other Sis went out for a drink before going back to our own cabin . Passing their cabin on our way back to our room, we saw their door tag out for room service for the next morning. They only ordered for coffee and pastries. We added prunes to the list, we we guessing that this might help one of the grumpier Sisters. The next morning I hear my one Sister talking loudly "Prunes??? Prunes???? Sherry did you order Prunes?" We started laughing and they heard us and rang our room and we denied it of course, but they knew. It has been one of our favorite cruise stories....Prunes! BTW, younger Sis ate the prunes. No waste and we think she was a little happier after the prunes...who knows?

Some of you are just stick in the muds. We pranked my sister and brother in law one year when we cruised together. They had gone to bed early and had their room service card on their door. I took it and "added" to it.... LOL. My sister in law, not being one to waste food, ate most of it.

On the way home, my SIL mentioned how generous Carnival was with their room service food. Well, me being me, looked over at my hubby and just started giggling. That was when she realized she had been pranked.

Everytime we stay on NCL they give us a bottle of sparkling wine....It is nasty stuff. I think they only have 150 bottles and keep moving them down the hall on disembarkation, kind of like that fruitcake at Christmas.

We left the full bottle of Pol Acker sparkling wine (its French but not Champagne) that Cunard graced us with.

I started getting 1 to 3 calls a day from resort rewards. Thankfully I can block the numbers on my cell phone, but they still continue but now only about once a month....Who knows how they got my number....scam! My Mom gets calls every day from hotels saying that she has stayed there "recently". Dear Mom is 92, she hasn't been to any hotel in her name in many years. Scammers.

The Celebrity Select Dining did NOT work well on the Infinity. Celebrity should have the Traditional and the NCL version of Anytime Dining with walk up service only, no reservations. The reservations are what puts a kink in the system. Having two podiums one for Select "reservations" and the other for walk ups makes for a lot of frustrated guests and not a lot of waiting room area. Someone posted that they limit the amount of reservations....from my observation it was a LOT of reservations and they couldn't seat everyone and the wait times were long. Maybe it was the ship (Infinity) but the dining rooms were crowded and waiters passing trays over our heads and walking guests to seat them between close spaced tables did not make for a fine dining experience. Having only 1 main dining room didn't help much. We did find the specialty dining rooms at extra cost very nice.

Thank you Chengkp75......Cruise Critic can you add a LIKE button?

Comparing the airlines to cruise ships is apples to oranges. The cruise lines have to allow service dogs onboard because of the ADA. Airlines have to allow service dogs onboard because of the ADA as well, but additionally they have to allow ESA's (emotional support animals) onboard because of the ACAA (Air Carrier Accessibility Act). ESA's are not granted the same protection as service animals, even legitimately prescribed ESA's, except in two cases: air travel under the ACAA, and housing under the FHA (Fair Housing Act). ESA's, despite what many who have them, or many who have their pets impersonate them, are not guaranteed access to any public space, under any Federal law. This is because a "service animal" performs a task or tasks that assist the disabled person, the same way a wheelchair or walker does. An ESA assists the person by its mere presence, and this is explicitly described as not being a service animal under the ADA.

 

Personally, I feel the airlines made a mistake in allowing general pets in carriers to be in the cabin and not the hold.

 

As noted, all Delta's new requirements will do is open a new cottage industry of "medical professionals" to issue certificates. What it does in a positive direction is place the liability for the dog's actions on the passenger, not the airline. Once an owner of one of these fake ESA or service dogs gets sued by their seatmate because Fluffy bit them, this is what will slow down the scamming.

You will love the 12th floor, very few cabins and all are suites but 12504. If I had it to do all over again, I would try to book this cabin instead of the OS if there was enough of a cost difference. I was in port for much of the time, Sisters used the OS a lot but I was out sight seeing. The 12th has access to an elevator that many don't use. The access door to the 12th floor is kind of hidden, looks like it goes to a service area. We found the area quiet and my Sisters loved the proximity to the grill just outside of the entrance....LOL.

I thought the Real ID and Enhanced Drivers Licenses were the same....Man what confusion this has created. Currently only 5 states offer the true RFID Enhanced Drivers Licenses, I think all of those States border Canada. Maybe this is the trial for the EDL? Fortunately I have a Passport and carry when traveling. Have a GE card too for international travel.

In the US, Enhanced Driver’s Licenses are available only to US citizens, who must prove citizenship by showing a valid US passport, naturalization certificate, or birth certificate showing birth in the US. This is different than REAL ID driver’s licenses, which are available both to US citizens and to legal US alien residents. Another difference between EDLs and REAL ID licenses is that Enhanced Driver’s Licenses are slightly more expensive than standard licenses, and REAL ID licenses do not have additional fees. Additionally, Enhanced Driver’s Licenses contain an RFID chip, just like a biometric passport, but other REAL ID licenses do not.

I wonder if this is a Geo Blocking issue. Some people have issues with this "Anti Fraud" program. Google Geo-Blocking-credit cards. This may be part of the problem.