luvtheships

Why is it a bad thing to ask about parental supervision?

 

Fact: A stranger pulled the children from the pool.

 

Fact: A stranger performed CPR until the crew arrived.

 

Fact: a grandmother accompanied a child to the hospital.

 

Where are the parents?

it's not lala land out there anymore. unfortunately many grandparents, usually single grandmothers, are raising their grandchildren these days. There are many reasons for this, some avoidable, some unavoidable, some due to just plain bad decisions on someone or anothers part. I have no comment on this phenomenon.

but that is not what I am interested in and I too would like to know if this terrible incident was caused by lack of supervision or something else.

there is nothing wrong with wanting to know what caused this drowning. That is not finger point, that is truly getting all the facts.

Seems unlikely that a cruise ship would be an attractive target because of the number of passengers and crew they'd need to subdue...

Agree

Seems unlikely that a cruise ship would be an attractive target because of the number of passengers and crew they'd need to subdue...

Agree

Practical advice is cut back to one piece of luggage each and a workable size carryon tote.

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Great - thanks for all the information.

 

Has any one had experience in receiving the free tickets from the Group Tickets Booth?

 

Does anyone know whether it is queue-less, or I should expect to wait there as well? :)

I got a free kids tix in Venice at the Bell Tower (or was it a clock tower? LOL) We were very tired that day!

all I did was ask if kids were free and I asked in a very New York accent so they could not have taken me for European even though I do speak Italian ans Spanish and have been asked if I were a local in Italy.

come to think of it I should have asked if all of my under 18yo and/or student kids were free.

I found them to be very accommodating when asking for reduced prices all over Italy and received quite a few discounts in 2012..all for the polite asking.

well actually it was all a grand scheme on my part..LOL LOL LOL

I am so glad to see this policy change and also that the company I used in 2012 was a forward thinking company and allowed child in for free

Lol. Funny all this debate about my ripping off the Italian government when all along they were planning on allowing non eu kids in for free anyway

Knowing how long it takes to get stuff like this facilitated I am fairly confident that it was in the works for many years heck maybe that is why my kids even received freebies back in 2008.

And here you had me pegged as an international freeloader. When all I did was simply ask if they had a free or reduced price for kids! Just sayin lol

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Hi there,

 

We are a family of 4 and will dock in Civitavecchia on 2nd Aug 2013 (our youngest child's 11th birthday). As it's such a whistle stop tour, we really want to just see the Colosseum and Palatine Hill. Unfortunately, we've missed the boat (excuse the pun) for booking the fast train from the port to Rome as it's full.

 

Can anyone offer any suggestions as to how we can make the best use of our time in terms of travelling and viewing the Colosseum please?

 

Thanks so much.

 

xx

a private driver will cost about 450E for a family of 4. You were going to pay quite a bit for that fast train thru the cruiseline I believe, so why not just crunch the numbers..add in the incredible convenience factor and get a private driver guide?

we use RomeCabs and Stefano Costantini and last year did his Etruscan tour on our port day as we had already done 5 days on our own pre cruise.

in 2008 we did his Rome historical tour and it was perfect.

btw..you will now see posts totally questioning and criticizing this suggestion and telling you to just take the regular train and if that is what you want to do I say go for it.

I make MY suggestion based on the fact that the fast train thru the ship is not so cheap but offers speed and convenience on a cramped port day. As does a private tour with driver.

ymmv

Yes, in a policy change announced on May 29, 2013, the Minister of Culture made a "decree" that all state museums and archeological sites that fall under his purview will now admit all under-18-year-olds free, regardless of nationality. The announcement says that he has ordered the sites to implement this immediately, not waiting for the official process that will require it.

 

http://www.governo.it/Notizie/Minist...io.asp?d=71308

how interesting. hmmm....:D

Are the kids free now ?

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However if you are just on a port stop then just do the basic guided colesieum tour to save time. But do get a guided group tour. I despise the DIY headset deals. The guided tour will provide you with amplificafication earbuds so as to hear the guide

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I happen to love the colesieum and would probably opt for a group tour that included the underground and third tier. That is what we did last year and all 6 of us had been there several times before but still love it.

With one day my next move would be to metro it over to St. Peter's skip the Vatican and then do a meandering walk or take the metro again over to Spanish steps Trevi and pantheon area. Nice meal You will be very tired btw but don't miss out.

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I don't know of any advantage for this? What about this "zero" balance prevents it from being stolen?

Read my post #39. Just part of my travel methods as I always have plan b. c. And d at the ready

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I use a card that I do not use for anything so this is the only charge. My preference. If you notice fraudulent charges while away and notify the bank the card is frozen and useless to you. If you need to freeze the card best it be a card you don't use often. Don't have automatic charges going to and one that you are not depending on for the trip you are on. Again my preference

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There's no issue that anything can be done about. It's impossible to guarantee that everyone you hire will be honest.

Agree. But we are all getting to be too accepting of criminal behavior these days and just shrugging our shoulders. This complacency will only serve as a downfall In The future

I am guilty of saying nothing can be done as well but somehow I think that those that want to turn us all into "sheep el " are counting on his complacency

Sad state of affairs but that is for another discussion

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What company knows who will be a "reputable employee"? Companies are defrauded all the time by their own employees.

The best argument yet for vetting a company before giving them the contract. The real question to be asked is will anything be done about this issue or will they be afraid to ruffle feathers

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The check in personnel are not NCL employees, nor is the cruise terminal owned or operated by the Port Authority of NY and NJ. The cruise terminal is owned by the NY City Economic Development Corporation, and operations at the terminal are managed under contract by Ports America, a privately owned port operations company. At least in the recent past, the agents themselves are employees of yet a different company (sorry, I haven't been able to find the name of the company, although I knew it at one time).

 

So, you're not going to to get anywhere with the Port Authority or NCL.

 

You have to understand that unfortunately theft of credit card data is a problem that happens world wide, sometimes carried out by local criminals, sometimes the work of sophisticated gangs of thieves and computer hackers. There's not much corporations or local police precincts can do to stop it. Catch one person today and someone else will be doing it tomorrow. You've already done all you can...reported it to your credit card issuer, which then closed your account and reversed the charges. No sense in beating your head against the wall reporting it to this company or that...they can't do anything to stop it.

this is the real problem...sub contracting out to companies that are not hiring reputable employees.

maybe they are hiring the fired TSA employees that were caught doing a less than stellar job?

Just an FYI. Using cash to park and putting cash down on your sign and sail card and prepaying tips specialty restaurants and ship excursions could be a solution. Last cruise all that was on my sign and sale were tips and a few drinks and 1 photo. 200 bucks. I certainly could have put cash rather that a card down at check in. I chose to prepay the 2 ship excursions and the 3 specialities this cruise.

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Sadly all that will happen has already happened. You will get your charges reversed. The local police will pass the buck. And Ncl and the port authority have said what they have said to you and don't expect any further contact with you about this. And the person you stole your info will probably deny everything should they ever be identified

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Sorry to hear that.

 

It may have not been caused by the people working there. I am not sure how the communication takes place to authorize your card but your card could have been hacked by someone else.

 

I would let the port authority know.

 

Most likely you will not be responsible for any of the charges.

 

Keith

The daughters card was hacked also and the op mentions the only time she used it was at check in. IMHO the op will get nowhere with the port or Ncl and the best he will get is a reversal of the charges from the bank. Sadly this will never be investigated as it should be. I posted here that i read recently that the big international scammers apparantly have a regional headquarters in this area so this is not surprising it happened at the port.

What scares most is the real possibility that no one will ever investigate further. And I mean law enforcement investigation not bank investigation

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I am sad to hear that the culprits seem to be the port check in people. I recall seething awhile back on the boards as to who these folks actually work for. Is it the ship or the port authority? The logo on their jackets may just mean that they are assisting Ncl that day. And the next day they might have ccl logo just as easily

Isn't there something about ports America that runs the check in process

Those check in folks do not get on the ship except for maybe an officer or 2 but all those check on people are only day employees. They only work when ships are on port for those hours

I am sure we have an expert or 2 here so anyone have the specifics? I am just posting what I have read here on cc over the years

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Please keep us posted.

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When I sailed on the Veendam 2 years ago, I paid cash to park at the port. Knew exactly how much it was and handed it right over.

I have to think that they really must take cash. the poster must be mistaken or maybe the clerk requested a credit card purposely to be able to clone it.

I was just at the Atlantis and kept hearing over and over that they do not take cash and only credit cards are accepted. Well, I went to use my card in one of the stores and they wanted so much ID that I just handed them a $5.

When I asked about the credit card only thing, she smiled and said of course we take cash!

so much misinformation out there. I guess we are so used to gulping down the "kool Aid" that we have forgotten to question things!

If I were trying to park at the port and was told credit card only when I wanted to pay cash, I would ask for a supervisor.

We had an fraud issue with a credit card a few years ago. It was all for online purchases though. It doesn't sound like this was the case so I have to wonder what merchant would accept a credit card from someone without having the actual card? It's too easy for dishonest people to rip others off these days.

the card was cloned! a completely new and activated card was produced. This is a worldwide scam currently going on and there was a recent article about the biggest group of these scammers are located in the NYC/Yonkers area.

remember, the card was perfectly good...it had not been reported missing....

they made a cloned card..this is big business nowadays! heck, the payment clerk probably swiped it through a rigged machine right in front of the pax. I hope the pax has the receipt and I would be interested to know if the port authority even received the parking fee money at all.

It happened to me while in Venice last year after I went to an atm...thankfully I was not on a port stop and still had a day in Venice before we boarded. I was able to check my account back at the hotel on the my laptop, call the bank, and report it within an hour of the fraud. account was closed out and remainder of my funds were secured.

good thing I know to travel with an atm card to a pre funded back up checking account and to carry back up credit cards in addition to plently of cash.

my issue made zero issue in my enjoyment of my cruise but it did take me 2 months of calls, complaints and proving that I did not make the tranasaction to finally get my $650 back.

I was told that since I had the atm card in my possession that I could have made those transactions and that is why they made me jump through hoops. I would have been better off telling the bank that I lost my card...and not telling them it was still in my possession.

simple fact is my card was cloned and the atm I used was compromised and must have had a camera set up.

Many others were using the atm and yes, it was on the street and yes, I know not to use the ones on the street but I have to wonder if all of the other people using that ATM were also cloned.

About 20 people used the ATM within 15 minutes to withdraw quick cash. I know this because I was on line behind them.

It was a credit card, not a debit card. Total fraudulent charges that I see so far are just under $500. If I remember correctly, you can only pay for port parking by credit card, not cash. By the way, I was not driving some fancy, expensive looking car.

 

 

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I didn't realize it was card only. well, then as that is the case I would definitely bring it to as many peoples attention at the port authority as possible. This use of credit card only is ripe for fraud. they know you wont be back for a week and will have little to no internet access to check your balance, so you are basically a sitting duck. this is the reason to use a zero balance card and charge only this parking fee on it.

you can not be the only pax this has happened to and when you write, email, and call the port authority you should consider dropping a hint that maybe this is a larger problem than they will actually admit to.

the new York post may actually be your friend in this case, it might be worth a call there as well if you think you are getting the run around from the port authority.

We were going to use a car service, but we are so darn close it just doesn't make sense. We will pay cash. I also agree about the car. We never take the "good" cars into the city.

I was thinking about taking metro north in and then a cab on our last trip. DH expected to drop us off anyway so it was no issue, but if public transport is easy enough, that is such a great option.