Jldevlin

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

as a resident of hell's kitchen, i would argue that there actually is a lot to do nearby, without traveling very far. times square is a fifteen minute walk away. and t

We were in New York a month ago and stayed for 3 days right in Hells Kitchen. It was fabulous!! Never felt unsafe and so many food options.....We will be looking to coming back very soon.

Just back from a cruise where Rome was our last stop.  You can easily stay in the heart of Rome and get to the port with no problem...hotel to dock is   $125 Euros .. Might not be the cheapest but it is the easiest if you are not comfortable with booking anything

Just off the Escape 16 day Transatlantic.    Our 39th cruise and 12th with NCL.   Food is subjective as we all know. We are not picky but i like to eat !!! We found the food and the choices in the dining room to have been good to great !!. We have been on cruises where it has just been okay. This one we had trouble picking what to have because we wanted so many things on the menu but cant eat as much as we think we can. Service was fast and our wine glasses were never empty. It was a full ship and only felt that way in the Atrium where people camped out there all day and you could not get a seat ever.   Choir of man was a great show and one of the 3 comedians was funny..Casino was pretty good to one of us. Overall a really great cruise.

12 minutes ago, blackjackz said:

Was planning on both me and my wife using the $750 deal together, but now with the news that they are enforcing the one reward per room thing, what would be the downside to each of us booking our own single, with the cruise fare for a single still being around the $750, or slightly over?  Would this work or am I missing something?

If you are okay with being apart in a little room then it would work. Availability might be an issue.

We have used the $ off promo twice. Both of us could use it for each booking. We bought it on friday and called in on sunday to book it and were told it is now just one reward per cabin. Can no longer use one per person.You could get another answer of course but we were told it changed on Thursday and would no longer be allowed.

So many transatlantic cruises have crappy ports...this one has lots of good ones with Abiza !! It is a new one for us so we are happy to be on this one. Just the right amount of sea days and port stops to make it interesting. With it leaving from New York it gave is a chance to finally stay there for a few days ahead.

And you dont have to drink your bottle of wine that you get with the dinner. Keep it corked and take it to your room for later or take it home.   I have a few in my wine rack now lol. 

Go take a look at the ports of call section. That is the best place to find what each port offers. Hawaii ports are quite different from each other. Then you can find what suits you best!

At dinner one night we heard a woman complaining about her Sting Ray tour...we had been there that day so I sort of leaned over to hear what she was saying.  She had booked a private tour  and there were other boats in the water!!!! It was not private at all, and she wanted all her money back. She really thought it would be just her and her husband in the ocean.

I go to the pool bar before entering the spa and get a glass of wine from there because it is in a plastic glass...  Park myself on a lounger and read my book and enjoy my wine.  I have done this on Holland and NCL and never had a problem.

1 hour ago, ItsGood734 said:

Is there a consensus on these rewards as far as getting a $750 off voucher vs a free cruise? If the cruise you want to go on is available, is that better?

We have done it both ways and the $ 750 off is a better deal. 

1 hour ago, SPacificbound said:

Thank you to all who responded!!

I have sailed Celebrity and NCL in the last few months and I found that NCL had more options. Guiness, Bombay Sapphire , and Amaretto are available while an upcharge on Celebrity.

We have two weeks on this ship in December.. I love tompouse and have not had it since being in Holland 10 years ago ...I will be ordering this !!!

1 hour ago, sandygal said:

Hello!

so we are sailing out of Vancouver in the Volendam  in a few weeks. We are a group of three different parties and we’ve each received a different embarkation time. Ours is at 10:30, the other Group at 11 am and also 11:30.  Can everyone check with us? We haven’t cruised since 2018 so not familiar with this process , nor have we cruised from Vancouver. Thanks in advance, and any tips for navigating Canada Place gratefully accepted 🎉🎉🎉👍🙏

We sail out of Vancouver often and to make your day easier I strongly suggest you get there before ten to line up or after one. The main problem is customs that everyone has to go through first. We were on Nieuw Amsterdam in May and got there at 1:30 and were on the ship by 2. We go in 2 weeks on Koningsdam and will do the same thing. We dont need to be the first ones on and would rather not stand in line for hours. 

Because you like to walk, there is a beautiful statue of a whale breaching about 20 minutes away that is worth seeing. Once off the ship go left and head towards Overstreet park.  It is fairly new so maybe you have not seen it yet.

The Jewel is our favorite  ship. You will love the spinnaker lounge to whale watch. We have been sailing lately in interior cabins and have not regretted it. 

We live here and sail out of Vancouver often, We find that heading to the port after 1 you will have a much easier time of it. The actual boarding starts around 11 if everything goes well and lunch will be ready for you.

1 hour ago, Thrak said:

We stayed 4 nights at the Hotel Continental (an "experience" in itself) right on La Rambla. We just took a taxi to the port. Not expensive and an easy thing to do. (I'm glad I wasn't the one having to drive in Barcelona!)

We love this place!! Just booked it last night for a cruise in next September

We just did this a few weeks ago ... It was so good. They say all you can eat and they mean it.. they constantly walk around with big bowls of crab and give huge portions. I am pretty sure I ate at least 3 crabs maybe 4. It is dungeness boiled in salt water just like it should be. 

Million dollar quartet was really good..Six was okay...We could not do more than half an hour of Footloose...we really wanted to like it but it was just awful. We have seen Velvet quite a few times and it was fun. But ncl was different with the production shows and losing that will be sad for the people who are just starting to sail with them and did not get to see what is possible on a ship.

We leave on Sunday on the Nieuw Amsterdam and our check in time has been pushed to 2:30. Which will actually help us as the other 2 ships can get most of their passengers on before we go and hopefully avoid the long lines in Vancouver... sucks for those that have no where to go and will still be stuck down there waiting.

3 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

What is your sample size?

B2B on the Jewel last year and just off an 8 day San Diego to Vancouver ... not only did we rarely see a line up but the dining room menu was great and the food was better than before. With all the cutbacks we thought it would be not as good. Happily surprised.

Nope ....the longest we had to ever wait was maybe 5 minutes.. 

Yes they are... b2b last May and most of the time I had them to myself. People walking by saying it never occurred to them to even bring a suit with them.

This is my favorite port!! The walk into town with the whales all bobbing up alongside you is something you dont get in the rest of Alaskan ports. The whole area at the cruise dock has been fancied up and not near as nice as it was...give me a walk into town and I am happy.