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Thanks all. Originally the NCL price for Capri on Your Own was $140 AUD (94 euro). Overnight it changed to $199 AUD (134 euro) and it is effectively just a return ferry which is around 44 euro if purchased from the ferry companies! 

Another thread said NCL are allowing independent travel in Italy now.

If there was any "peace of mind" in booking with NCL and returning, I might think about it, but you are "on your own" and still have to get back to Marina Grande. This is more of a worry, as I have been to Capri in early May and it was very busy, so a little concerned about how busy it will be in late June.

Are the other islands e.g. Ischia, worth considering?

In regards to the water bottles, can you carry the plastic ones with you and bring them home or is completely illegal to possess them? 

Can we now do independent travel in Italy or are we still required to use ship excursions (NCL)?

The price for Capri on Your Own has increased significantly, so is it possible and safe to catch either the SNAV or NLG jetfoil to Capri? Is one line better than the other and which is closest to where the ships dock? Is pre purchasing tickets worthwhile and/or necessary?

Any advice appreciated! We sail in late June.

Hi upgrade experts

I am Sapphire latitudes and have sailed with NCL numerous times, but normally in a 2 bedroom suite on ships like the Jewel, Jade and POA. Never in the Haven though. The S type suites with "suite" privileges, but not Haven access.

We have received an upgrade offer for the Epic (June Mediterranean) which a new ship for us. I don't like our chances, as there are very few suites available, but then you never know with the world in turmoil and with covid restrictions in Europe.

So for rooms like The Haven Aft-Facing Balcony and The Haven Spa suite, does it mean you have access to the Haven, though not located near it?

I assume the HF The Haven Courtyard with Balcony is actually in the Haven? Why is there only one of its class on the Deck 16 Haven rooms? Is there anything wrong with it?

We are currently in a balcony. With Sapphire privileges, we are supposed to get a lot of "priorities" anyway, but do these happen for non-suite guests e.g. tenders, boarding. Does anyone have experience of receiving these privileges, if not a suite guest?

I am trying to weigh up the value of upgrading on what is a port intensive cruise (every day). I assume on top of the upgrade, we would be up for butler and concierge tips. Any thoughts?

Also, what does "The actual upgrade price may vary depending on your original fare and upgrade availability" which is in the blue question mark?

We recently cruised POA. For Kauai, we booked at Hokuala direct, which is the course you sail past on the way in. They provided a shuttle for $10 return. Play on first day there.

There is a golf pro aboard and though not official NCL excursions, he organised my husband to play with another POA golfer in Maui at Wailea. Cory McKim. Email him at cory @ hawaiigolfcruises.com ( I have put spaces in). Wailea is very scenic.

He has golf excursions at other ports also. Car hire or Uber may be cheaper but no guarantee you will be playing with someone else.

Another time we hired a car and my husband played Kapalua Plantation on Maui. Do it on your first day in Maui so no rush getting back to ship as play can be slow. Expensive course but it is the PGA tournament of champions course, so special to play.

Hawaii tee times has good descriptions and prices of courses. Sometimes the course will match their prices for direct bookings. Courses in Hawaii are great but expensive!

Yes, Jefferson’s Bistro on Pride of America is the same as Le Bistro. 

Lovely food!

Thanks all. That really rules it out for me also. 

Thanks! What a shame there isn't a door between main bedroom and lounge room.

On 7/18/2019 at 12:31 AM, KeithJenner said:

Most likely they will allow this.

 

As you say, the vouchers are non transferrable, but they do seem to allow some leeway especially if you are all eating together. People have reported being able to give their platinum vouchers to others. I would go for it, and would be surprised if it was a problem.

Reporting back that we were allowed to use my platinum vouchers for two of our four and the dining package for two (myself and spouse). 

One of our group had two platinum people. We checked and they advised only voucher one per stateroom, but they suggested doing the above, so all four in each stateroom were covered.

The cover charge was up to $35. We ate at Le Bistro one night and some people ordered lamb which was $36 - they did not charge the difference.

When we were paying for someone, we did have to check it was charged to the correct account. 

I pre-booked Teppanyaki and Moderno. We were not charged at time of booking - I think because there may be children in a booking so they do not know how much to charge. I was able to book more places than people in stateroom. We had a big group, but once on board, we combined our bookings.

Has anyone travelled in the Golden Princess two bedroom suite? Do the bedrooms have doors for privacy? Is it suitable for two couples? 

We booked through Hertz for Kahului. We waited for a shuttle but didn’t see one, we tried calling, but it was constantly engaged, so we walked. It was a good 15 minute walk.

The Hertz people at the hotel were not very efficient and pick up took quite a while. Lots of computer tapping even though we prepaid.

In complete contrast, we hired a car from Hertz, Kauai where the shuttles ran constantly to Lihue airport. When we arrived at the airport, the car was ready without a need to sign or do anything and we drove off straight away. Drop off was the same, somewhere there to meet us and no waiting for a shuttle.

Thanks Keith for all your information. Very helpful.

If we have 4 people in a stateroom with speciality dining packages for 2 people and one person is platinum, can we use the platinum voucher for 2 people and the dining package for the other two? The platinum person is Person 1 on the booking. I know the vouchers are not transferable, but if we are altogether in a group (our group has 3 staterooms), will they allow this?

We are on the Pride of America docking at Kahului and wanting to book a car for one day.

Hi

I was considering booking a Hertz car at Kahului airport for the Sunday. I have read all the recent posts on car rental and I am still unsure if a Hertz shuttle runs from the pier to airport.

Hertz suggested hiring from Hertz, Maui Beach hotel, but it closes at 2 pm on a Sunday and the charge for one day rental is $20 USD more - would an uber or taxi to the airport depot, be a better option?

Can anyone with recent experience advise if Hertz has a shuttle or not and is it to the airport or the hotel?

Can anyone confirm which companies definitely have a free shuttle from a recent experience?

Thanks

Thanks all. The flight is booked for the Sunday, which will save a lot of stress!

Hi

I have read a lot of the Speciality Dining posts, but I wondered if someone could assist with the following:

We have a suite with four people (all adults from one family) on the POA. I am platinum, so will receive dinner for two in two different restaurants so that should cover two of our four people for two meals.

If we have the three x Speciality Dining for two people as an inclusion on our cruise, are we fine to use two of these to cover the other two people in our suite so we do not have to pay for two meals for four people in the speciality restaurants?

And if we have paid the gratuities up front, is there still an additional gratuities charge in the speciality restaurants?

With POA is it necessary to book before we depart?

Thanks for your assistance.

Do any recent Pride of America cruisers remember the earliest time you could leave the ship? There is an international flight at 10:30 am that one of our group is considering.

A recent Freestyle daily shows first disembark time as 7:15 am, NCL say 10:30 am is the earliest flight time and we will be suite guests.

But does the ship dock on time? Is it ever late? How easy is it to get a taxi or Uber if you get off as soon as you can?

Is this enough time to get to the airport?

I posted on the NCL site but received no responses.

Thanks all.

Do any recent Pride of America cruisers remember the earliest time you could leave the ship? There is an international flight at 10:30 am that one of our group is considering.

A recent Freestyle daily shows first disembark time as 7:15 am, NCL say 10:30 am is the earliest flight time and we will be suite guests.

But does the ship dock on time? Is it ever late? How easy is it to get a taxi or Uber if you get off as soon as you can?

Is this enough time to get to the airport?

Thanks all.

It was a tender port for our recent P&O cruise near Na Thon on the north west side of the island. There were lots of taxi drivers with cars and vans waiting where the tenders dropped us off. We had no problems getting one to take us to the other side of the island and wait for us while we shopped and had a swim at Chaweng Beach. We paid him at the end of the day.

If you go to hyperdia.com ( hyperdia dot com) you can enter From "Shinjuku (JR)" then To "Nihon-Odari" and then date, time and select "arrival". It brings up several options. Best two options for next Saturday for example are either via Yokohama or via Shibuya for 650 or 710 yen. Takes 52 minutes.

We went on a Princess Cruise from Tokyo.

The pier is called Osanbashi at Yokohama.The nearest station is Nihon Odori. We caught the train from Shinjuku. We had to change trains at Yokohama.

Take JR Shonan Shinjuku line via Tokaido Line Track no 1 to Yokohama. Takes 30 minutes. Change trains at Yokohama and then take a train from Yokohama to Nihon Odori on the Tokyu/Minatomirai line (towards Motomachi-Chukagai.)

We walked from the train station to the pier. It was a 10 minute walk, but easy enough. There is a ramp at the end, but there were a lot of helpers that came to greet us and assist us with luggage up the ramp.

I used HyperDia.com to work out the trains which is like a trip planner - just enter JR Shinjuku to Nihon Odori and you can note down the details. We bought tickets from the machines and the station attendants came and helped us with our selections. I think we may have bought the ticket for the second train trip at Yokohama and again some very helpful locals helped us with the machine. We could not buy 6 tickets in one transaction, which confused us.

The train was quite crowded even on a Sunday. I think a lot of people doing day trips and in general, just a lot of people! We had a group of six, all with luggage and it was fine.

I had looked into transfers, but they were quite expensive from Tokyo and the Green Tomato transfer only left in the afternoon. The train is very cheap - around 550 yen per person ($5-6 USD/$9 AUD)

There was a huge line up of taxis from quite a way back which made me think it wouldn't be worth taking a taxi from the station unless you did not want to walk 10 minutes with luggage.:)

We went on a Princess Cruise from Tokyo.

The pier is called Osanbashi at Yokohama.The nearest station is Nihon Odari. We caught the train from Shinjuku. We had to change trains at Yokohama, but that may not be necessary if you come from somewhere else. There is a trip planner that can tell you which train to catch when you know where you are staying.

The train was quite crowded even on a Sunday. I think a lot of people doing day trips and in general, just a lot of people! We had a group of six, all with luggage and it was fine.

I had looked into transfers, but they were quite expensive from Tokyo. The train is very cheap - around 550 yen per person ($5-6 USD).

We walked from the train station to the pier. It was a 10 minute walk, but easy enough. There is a ramp at the end, but there were a lot of helpers that came to greet us and assist us with luggage up the ramp.

There was a huge line up of taxis from quite a way back which made me think it wouldn't be worth taking a taxi from the station.

There was a convenience store not far from the cruise terminal where you could purchase duty free alcohol and other items. Princess allow one bottle of wine per person.

We arrived via Narita airport. It is quite a long way out. On the way home, we flew out the evening the cruise returned. We took a disembarkation tour through Princess which took us to Meiji Shrine, Asakusa Sensoji Temple and Nakamise-dori shopping street. Our luggage was on the bus and then we were dropped at the airport. We had to be flying out after around 5 pm, I think to be able to take the tour. It was a good tour with an excellent tour guide and although we were at the airport early, it made our last day very easy.

We had to avoid going to these two major tourist places prior to the cruise though!

We are considering this cruise for 2016. It is our first time to Japan. Is it a good itinerary? Are the ports worth visiting?