nicoleinwi

We are total planners.  I’m getting antsy as our cruise is May 2020 and I have no idea when NCL will release our shore excursions.  Sure I can see them in general but not actually book yet.

Coming from someone who previously lived at Pearl, there isn’t anything special to see.  If you want to visit Arizona Memorial make reservations in advance as you could be waiting awhile for you tour.  Right now I don’t think you actually get onto the memorial as under repair but there’s still a tour.  

I also 2nd what the others said about Hale Koa, it’s a great resort.  We’d go stay for weekends even though we lived so close.  Cheap drinks by HI standards and the PX sells affordable decent souvenirs.

if you do decide to visit the base, I guess the best thing I’d say is go to the Hickam side and try to figure out if any ships are coming in and head to Bishop Point. It’s neat to see them come into the harbor there.  And, an added bonus if coming back from deployment and topside is lined with sailors in theirs whites.  Emotional experience.   

I guess main take away form this is check out all costs before booking. 

But go and you will have a great time.  We had a cruise to Bermuda last summer and I thought it was pricey ($6300 for everything for DH & I).  I knew the cost going in and was fine with it.  But then as the trip got closer I started thinking about wanting to go elsewhere for that price.  We still went and it was one of favorite cruises.  Sometimes the ones that you don't think will be, will end up being your favorite.  

I also don't think that non-residents are able to rent a actual car in Bermuda.  Maybe what lacy1987 is referring to is the Twizzy?  Those tourists could rent.  Also for $40 to rent at 2 places you might be better off just picking up a set at home.  I've seen Body Glove ones at Costco or Sam's for $30 or so.  

13 hours ago, Wolff said:

Thank you...  I will have to find my way there by ship..  😀  Sounds like a good excuse to book..

We did Xplor from a Cozumel port call.  Ferry over to mainland then transportation over to the park. 

The zipline is really a good setup with a lot of different ones, such as what you see in the pic. That’s the final one. 

Maybe with their planned system outage, it means they're finally going to give us a new promo???  And not just the same one reworded differently. 

I check as well, but I call up NCL and just  have them apply the new price or promo.  I book direct with them.  It sounds like though some of you are able to do this yourself online?  Do you just cancel then stateroom goes back into inventory then just book it again?  I as well book far in advance as I want the room I choose.  I call up so I know I'm keeping my room.   

Doesn't help with shore exc, but the one crew member (an officer) we befriended over the years lives when not out to sea in a city we frequently travel to.  If he's land based when we travel there we will meet up for a day or two and do activities in that city, go out to eat, bars, etc.  

I guess it never even crossed our minds to do stuff with him actually on the cruise, other then visiting a lot with him.  We figured during his down time he just wants to chill, like we would during a normal work week when we aren't at work.  

Very nice gesture though to offer to take your friend out for an excursion.  

I don't have any experience with being able to move it.  I'm assuming the issue you're running into is because you will want your stateroom card to go to your credit card and hers to her card.  

So two options, if you just book your excursions online now and pay for them (in full now) your friend will get OBC each day you have a ship tour booked, just have her give you half of the OBC for excursions in cash.  Another option is if you call up and book excursions through the shore ex desk I believe they don't charge you until you are onboard so you aren't out the money now.  Have all excursions bill to her card and then you just pay her in cash for your half of the excursions.  

On 4/27/2019 at 8:22 AM, p2lockhart said:

Thanks for the prompt reply.  

Is there anything walkable from the ship that is worth going to ?

 

I thought National Museum (old fort) was decent and it's easily walkable from ship.  However, I wouldn't choose that over other attractions.  We did the museum when we had some time to kill in-between other activities.  

I'd say everyone should pack a rain jacket.  National Museum is a good backup plan. They have indoor exhibits but you are walking from building to building.  As for the tram, not sure if it will be running, but if it is, it's all open (well roof overhead) so you will still get rained on from the sides.  Unless the tram is just about ready to board (and assuming everyone can walk at a decent pace) I'd just walk over, even if in the rain vs waiting on the tram. 

Another vote for Sheraton Old San Juan.  We did a tour that picked us up at the hotel one day (kayak and rainforest) and another day it was so convenient as we could walk to the forts in Old San Juan.  Plus nice location for restaurants.  

I guess it really comes down to how long do you want to be gone. 

When we went on our Med cruise, we did RT out of Barcelona hitting Western Med on NCL for a week.  The price for a 12 night on the same line (NCL) from Venice to Barcelona was about the same price as our week long.  Most people would think a no-brainer go 5 nights longer. 

Our rationale for doing shorter was that we just don't like to be gone that long.  Even though DH & I both get 5 weeks vacation a year we didn't want to use up 2 weeks in one trip.  We like to visit both embark and disembark ports if we haven't been so we would have been adding days for Venice as well as the extra nights on the ship.  

For us, even though it will cost more, our travel needs are better suited going back and doing a cruise of out Venice and hitting the ports we missed on a week long cruise at a later time.  

Depends on what you want to do.  If you want a beach break my vote is for St George.  They have Tobacco Bay and it is beautiful, great snorkeling.  Wander around the town then head to the beach.  

I think they've done away with all discounts in place of their never ending "free" at sea promo.  Yep military gone and so is senior citizen as we are going with DH's parents on a cruise we booked in March and they said seniors is gone now too. 

We went on Escape to Bermuda last summer and loved it.  

I guess I'm in the minority as so many people talk about NCL nickel and diming you, I don't feel that way.  Sure I could either get their free drink package (and pay tips) or pay per drink.  We haven't sailed on any luxury lines that include alcohol with dinner so paying is what we are used to.  We are going with DH's parents on their first cruise and I don't expect they will end up paying for anything extra.  

My issue with booking a guaranteed stateroom is you aren't sure where you'll get.  When we book our rooms we check above and below to make sure there isn't going to be late night entertainment on either that will thump through the cabin.  

What we did pay for extra on Escape was Choir of Man dinner show, but I now believe that is free.  I though even paying the $25pp was worth it (and you received unlimited beer).  We've never done speciality restaurants as we think MDR is good.  Alcohol we paid per drink as we figure cheaper then tips on the free package.  And casino.  Sometimes we'll pay to play bingo or another game but didn't on Escape as enough other stuff to occupy our time.  

Escape has some water slides, a drop loop slide and one that you ride on a tube.  Both were fun and no additional charge. Ropes course as someone mentioned, was really fun and no additional charge.  

As for stuff within walking distance of Dockyard, not really.  There is a fort which we toured and it was OK.  Had a lot of information about the various wrecks.  I think maybe $10pp.  Going to Horseshoe Bay (pink sand beach) is pretty popular and shuttles will run from Dockyard there and back for $7pp each way.  I think it was about 1/2 hour ride.  

I'd just look at Amazon and order a few that have free shipping back.  Or, Eddie Bauer will likely have some online if you search their clearance section.  You should be able to do any return to a local Eddie Bauer.  

I'd do everything I could now to find the gear, last thing you want is her to be is miserable because she couldn't find one in AK.  

On an upcoming Alaska cruise out of Seattle the only option was reduced at $200pp but out of an airport 2 hours form home, vs the regional airport 10 mins from home.  So we didn't take it.  We will pay more then $200 for our tix so money wise it's worth it.  However, we opt for convenience.  

Ours just comes down to itinerary.  Even though we've been loyal to only NCL and Royal Caribbean so far it doesn't stop us from looking at other lines when we plan a trip.  We'll find similar cruises with Princess but then it is usually a tad cheaper on NCL or RC (and we know we like them) so we stick with them.  Or we see Carnival and it will be a tad cheaper but we figure not worth the lower cost since we aren't familiar with them.  

But as for service, I have such low expectations of customer service in America that I can't see how the on-board service could drop below the bar I have set for most places, lol!

I wonder if the length gave you the older crowd?  It's convenient to do a 7 day leaving on Sunday, fly in on Sat and fly out early on Sunday.  Only one week of vacation time.  And, for families it could be more affordable then a longer cruise.  

That's the only thing I can think of.  I notice when we do 3-4 night cruises, relatively young party crowd.  Week long, mix of all ages.  Then over a week usually older crowd.  

2 hours ago, Buck1949 said:

 

Nicoleinwi.....

this is the exact tour we (4 older adults) are looking to do...stingray swim, turtles and Hell.  We have no real thoughts/desire to snorkel. We will be coming in next February 12th on NCL at 11am. and leaving port at 6pm. With having to Tender I figure we safely have about 5 hours.  How long was your overall tour,, and do you have any other thoughts or suggestions about how to best do this?  We ‘normally’ do private tours so anykind of suggestions - ship or private would be appreciated. 

 

Thank you!

We were in port 8-4 and our tour started at 9. I don’t recall how long it was but after the tour I think we had maybe an hour to wander shops. 

We aren’t usually into ship tours either, but did for this one.  I think the reason was either we could find a private tour to do all 3, or the tour started too early and with tendering we didn’t want to risk not getting on 1st tender.  The only nice thing about the ship tour is you don’t have to worry about tender tix, as you’ll have priority to get off.  Unknown to us though, the tour met on the pier and we were easily able to get on the 1st tender and just looked around port (nothing was open) before we met.  With your later port call people might be ready to get on land and still not finishing up breakfast like we had.  

You didn’t actually snorkel with the stingrays (or maybe you could, we didn’t).  It is so packed with boats you basically stay near your boat and just stand in the water.  I’m 5’7 and depth was about chest high.  The stingrays are just swimming all around you.  

2 hours ago, Jembeccatoo said:

 

maybe have a lanyard to carry keycard

 

Thanks for the tip for a seasoned cruiser!  Usually we cruise in warm weather climate and the shorts I usually am in during the day on the ship (under armour style athletic shorts) don't have pockets that I feel secure carrying around card.  So I always leave mine in the room or make DH carry it.  Don't know why I never thought of that! I mean in thinking about it, I saw other people with it.  I probably at the time thought a great idea but I didn't want the standard logo one they sold in the gift shop. Now I will put in on my list to find one before our next cruise. 

DH & I have cruised many times on NCL but we are going with his parents (68 & 70) who have never been on a cruise.  We'll be cruising on the Bliss in Alaska.  There are some questions they have, where DH & I never had to be concerned with it before: 

We always carry our luggage off the ship ourselves.  We do the stairs as elevators seem too much of a pain on disembarkation day.  His parents will not be able to handle their suitcases going down the stairs to disembark.  Yet, if they put luggage out the night before, the stuff they'd pack in their carry on bag would have to be rearranged into their checked bags once they picked up their luggage inside the terminal, so it seems like a pain to do that.  Are elevators open to guests with luggage to disembark?

MIL drinks hot tea.  They will not have a drink package.  Is tea available in the MDR and buffet?

We have balcony rooms next to each other.  Do I put in a request beforehand to have the divider removed?  Or is that something I ask our stateroom attendant to do?

Both MIL & FIL can't have alcohol, so I'm assuming I would have to put in a request for meals so theirs is not cooked in any alcohol.  I assume call up before?  Or go to MDR on embarkation day?  Once they have the note in the system, how do they actually know your dietary restrictions because you don't show your waiter your card to scan?  Are you telling them each time?  If it helps we'd likely prebook dining times once that opens up.  

Embarkation day we always do buffet.  However, it only seems relaxing when we board really early before the masses of people. Are there any other complimentary restaurants open on embarkation day for lunch? I think a restaurant might be more relaxing.  But we enjoy the complimentary food and don't go to paid restaurants.  

Thank you in advance, and any other tips for a first timer would be appreciated.  We can't remember our first time cruising and the things we learned.  And, when we are planning the trip to include others we want to make sure their experience is great.  

We did the tour the night after a full moon, didn't bother checking the moon schedule like you did.  The day before our tour we received a text that conditions would not be great and we could cancel and get our money back or $20PP credit if we chose to take the tour.  We will did the tour.  It was OK.  

What I didn't like about it, you would have regardless if dark conditions or not.  The kayaks are so packed in, you go down long mangrove type rivers and you aren't really able to paddle much as there is literally a kayak inches in front and in back of you.  

After the mangrove you got out into a large bay and all the operators have you stop in different areas so it is not as packed.  They had a big plastic tarp that they would come around to a couple kayaks and put it over you so you could see the bioluminescences.  Even given number of kayaks, we'd probably still do it again.  It was something to do at night, since we aren't big drinkers. 

We did our excursions pre-cruise and did a full day tour.  Picked us up in Old San Juan then took us to the rainforest, after rainforest to get late lunch / early dinner, kayak tour then pack to Old San Juan.  

I agree with others, book now for 2020.  Last month we booked our cruise for 2020 to Alaska.  Was shocked the limited number of balcony rooms left that were decent.  Meaning ones that didn't have late night entertainment above or below them.   

It was hard to see that the same cruise for the same time this year was $2,260 less.  But the room availability is even less.  

I'm hoping for some price reductions before final payment to get our cost down a little, and if not I'm fine with the price we paid.  

My main worry about not booking far in advance is your shore excursions could be limited.  They may be booked up already if you were thinking you'd book spring for a summer cruise.