mabones

I’m so glad I was able to help!

3 minutes ago, Paula_MacFan said:

Thanks for the heads up -- I will have to check this out!

Glad I could be of help.  I was on the AARP Rewards for Good site to use up my points for Carnival Gift Cards before 
September (they are starting a new rewards program) and saw the Princess Cards.  They just went up.  Its part of the new program. 

I don't know if this has already been mentioned, but AARP (Rewards for Good) now has Princess Gift Cards available in $100 & $450 increments.  They are the same as the Carnival Gift Cards!

I checked the aforementioned website and it stops @ 2016.  Does anyone have anything current for 2019?

If you plan on stopping at Paradise Point, make sure you purchase your tickets from the Ships Excursion Desk.  They are much cheaper.  Also allow yourself at least 1 1/2 hrs to sit down at the restaurant for a cool drink and snack.  There are also shops up there.

Personally I would prefer to see nice pressed Jeans and a Sport Jacket instead of some of the get-ups people wear. 

On 2/4/2019 at 1:33 PM, gidat1 said:

In Chefs table do they include Alcohol ? Or we have to pay extra. Thanks.

Instead of state-Balcony cabin we have reserved Cabin with Window, so we can splurge a bit. 

You will start our with Champagne.  Then you will be asked what type of Wine you prefer and they will keep you hydrated until the end of the meal!  This is all included with the price of the Meal.

On 2/1/2019 at 11:59 AM, gidat1 said:

My original post ask about Captain's Table it was Chef's table for $ 75.00 per person.

Is it worth it?

Every Penny!  

This is what i just received from my PCC when I inquired:

I see what you mean – the main difference is the one you have now like always includes drinks up to $15 – the new one includes all drinks up to $35 if you wanted it instead

Here is what else I know about it below:

The PPBP can be purchased as follows: 

·         Guests who already have the Ultimate Beverage Package (UBP) can upgrade to the new PPBP once they get ONBOARD for $34.80 pp/pd (including 20% gratuity) 

Premium Plus Beverage Package Terms and Conditions

·         Must be at least 21 years of age at time of sailing to purchase any alcoholic package and to consume alcohol. See the terms of our guest alcohol policy.

·         Packages must be purchased by all qualifying individuals residing in the stateroom or additional staterooms under the same method of payment for the entire length of the cruise.

·         Packages may not be shared and are non-transferable and non-refundable.

·         Eligible guests are entitled to two beverages per person per transaction.                                                               

·         Includes all beverages by the glass. Beverage selection is subject to change onboard.

·         Includes fountain soda, freshly squeezed juice, bottled water (flat and sparkling), energy drinks, non-alcoholic beer, and specialty coffee (for all Sky and Sun voyages coffee inclusion is limited to dining rooms only).                                     

·         Includes select wines by the bottle when dining. Select wine list is subject to change.

·         For non-select bottles of wine (champagne and sparkling included), “Wine and Spirit Experiences”, tastings, and flights, guest will receive a 40% discount when purchased on board.

·         Does not include: Room service, mini bar purchases, wine dispenser, vending machines, or pre-cruise wine bottle purchases.

·         Guest's check may reflect applicable VAT and/or taxes for certain ports or itineraries.      

·         Package can be used in onboard restaurants, lounges, bars and Great Stirrup Cay.

·         Offer is not applicable on Harvest Caye, nor sailings that are two (2) days or less.

·         A 20% gratuity and beverage service charge will be added to all package purchases.

·         Guests purchasing this package on board during the dates of March 1st through April 15th may only be able to purchase on embarkation day.

·         No substitute for package if guest cannot consume all beverages included.

·         Package price is subject to change.

·         Other terms and conditions may apply.  

On 8/27/2018 at 3:37 PM, mleng said:

RT from Seattle, Aug 10-17.

Overall:

My family had cruised more than a dozen times in the past,on Carnival, Celebrity, and Royal Caribbean. We are all Platinum, including our 2 teenage kids. This is actually our 3rd time onEOS, with the first 2 times to Bermuda and Caribbean when EOS was home-portedat NJ. This review is not much of a blow-by-blow description of thetrip, but more of a collection of practical observation and tips.

 

Seattle:

 

Our family of 6 (3 generations) flew to Seattle on Wed. We spent 2 nights at Fairfield Inn by theSEATAC airport. I had lots of Marriottpoints from business travels, so it came in handy for summer peak season whenthe room rate would have been more than $250 per night. If you stay there, and if you are sensitiveto noise, ask for rooms on the top floor. The building is wood-framed, not concrete. You could hear the footsteps of the guestsabove you if you were a light sleeper.

 

We bought ORCA cards ahead of time and loaded them withRegional Day pass for our sightseeing on Thur.

 

Tips: (1). Senior andYouth pay half price for the Day Pass, but I had to order the special ORCAcards ahead of time via postal mail. Ibasically had to prove to them the users were indeed senior and youth. (2). Fairfield Inn, Holiday Inn Express, andHampton Inn were next to each other, all within 3~5 minute walking distance tothe Angle Lake Light Rail station. (3).For the day, we took the Light Rail to downtown Seattle for a walking tour,then took a bus to Ballard Lock, then another bus back to Chinatown for latelunch, and finally Light Rail back to the hotel. Google Map was great for directions – I couldchoose the option of “public transit”, and it would tell me how to walk to thenearest bus station and when the next bus would come. I could optimize on Quickest Trip or LeastAmount of Walking or Fewest Number of Bus Transfer.

 

Embarking:

 

We booked Seattle Express for roundtrip to Cruise port. 6 of us plus luggage would have been toolarge a crowd for any normal vehicle. Asmaller family might be able to spend less money by taking an Uber ortaxi. Seattle Express offers a discount forAAA member, and there is another discount if you take the earliest shuttle at 9AM. I initially was concerned that 9 AMwould be too early, but as it turned out, it was perfect. And due to the time difference (we are fromthe east coast), everybody was up and about by 7 AM anyway, so it was noproblem at all to get ready by 9.

 

We arrived at the cruise port about 10 AM due to 3 stops atdifferent hotels for pickup, and a little bit of traffic through downtown. Already quite a few people had arrived, andthere was somewhat of a line, but the line kept moving at a good pace. We basically never stood still in the line,and went through security and check-in within 20~25 minutes. 5 minutes after we finished check-in, theyopened up the ramp for getting on the ship. By 10:45, we were on the ship. Wecamped out at the library, played some board games, picked out some books, andtook turns to go to lunch, and before you know it, it’s 1 PM and the cabins areopen.

 

Cabins:

 

I booked this cruise on the first day the itinerary openedup (about 18 months before the departure date). I accidentally stumbled upon a new category of rooms called PanoramicOceanview room, on 12th floor all the way to the front, basicallyright above the ship’s bridge. Isnatched up room 1864 for my family of 4 and room 1866 for my parents. There were a lot of discussions of theserooms on the boards. You can go and seesome photos for yourself. 1864 wasespecially gorgeous with 5 floor-to-ceiling windows covering the entire frontwall that faced the ocean. For an Alaskacruise, it’s especially nice because we were able to sit in the cabin and watchthe postcard-worth view of Seattle skyline and later the fjord andglacier. However, there were some practicalconsiderations: (1) If there is a fog at night, the ship is required to soundthe fog horn repeatedly. I didn’t timeit, but it seemed to be about every 30~60 seconds. The horn was above the bridge, so basically rightoutside of our window or the windows of any of these panoramic view cabins. On this trip, the horn went off for 2 hoursfrom 10:30 to 12:30 during the first night and 3 hours (1 to 4 AM) during thesecond night. It was brutal. The Guest Service desk gave us freeearplugs. I also had a White Noise appon my phone. I turned the volume to thehighest level, and with the earplugs, my kids and I were able to drift off tosleep. My wife, who must have had moresensitive hearing, got barely any sleep in those 2 nights. (2) The closet space was bad. The quirk in the layout of the room that madethe cabin twice as large as a normal cabin also made the closet space only halfas large as a normal cabin. We had tohang our windbreakers and sweatshirts in our parents’ cabin next door. (3) When the ship was going at full speed andthe wind picked up, it was rocking! Thehigher the floor, the closest to the front, the more you would feel it, andthis cabin was basically on the highest floor and closest to the front. (4). We had 4 people in the cabin and wasable to sleep comfortably. I wasinitially a little concerned about the pullout couch since my teenage son anddaughter wouldn’t want to share a couch bed. To our delight, the cabin steward converted the couch into 2 separatetwin beds. Problem solved!

 

Food:

 

We had My Time Dining and I made reservations ahead of timefor most of the days. For the 2 days inport we didn’t have reservations because we didn’t know how late we were goingto be. When we did come back and decidedto go to the dining room, even though we didn’t have a reservation, we wereseated without any wait. The actual foodin MDR was so so. My family and many ofthe fellow passengers agreed on one thing: all the dishes, from appetizer to entrée to dessert, looked better thanthey tasted. Don’t get me wrong. They were not bad, but they felt more likeApplebee’s or Friendly’s food than a fine dining establishment.

 

We ate 2 evening meals at Windjammer. I had to admit that I was pleasantlysurprised. In the past, the eveningbuffet was basically the same food as MDR but sitting under heat lamps for along time. This time, they had uniquechoices and the food was all very fresh. One night was Asian night – not genuine dim sum or sushi, but at least avaliant attempt with roast duck, bok choy, snowpeas, noodles, miso soup, andetc. And the other night was Seafood –raw oysters and clams on ice, freshly fried crab cakes and tempura fish andshrimps… And they always had a bigselection of dessert, including a chocolate fountain. They definitely had put more efforts to makeWindjammer a better dinner option. If Ihad known, I might have gone to Windjammer for dinner more often.

 

Entertainment:

 

Nothing new to say about the regular entertainment. Having been on multiple RCCL ships, I haveseen the same ice show and production show a few times.

 

They did have a new game show which was basically an EscapeRoom, but adapted to an open lounge area with 30 or so teams competing to solvea series of riddles. That was veryenjoyable. I hope they keep trying andcoming up with new entertainment ideas. In reality, they probably could set up a real Escape room on board andtake reservations for one group at a time to solve it.

 

Ports:

 

Juneau had terrible weather, resulting in our HelicopterRide to Glacier being cancelled. We wentwith the backup plan of Whale Watch. Itwas ok, not that great. I never understoodthe fascination of some people had with watching whales. This was not like a BBC or Animal Planetdocumentary. The boat had to stay atleast 300 ft away from the whale. All wesaw was a spray of water which indicated there was a whale, then everybody onboard rushed over to the side and stared intently at a lump of a thing barelypeaking above the water. A few seconds later, the tail flipped up when thewhale dove down into deep water. Theneverybody started scanned the horizon for the next spray of water. Repeat this process 5 or 6 times during anhour, and that was it.

 

In Skagway, we chartered a private small bus from a companycalled Trail of 98 Tours. The owner Tomwas the driver and tour guide. That wasthe highlight of our trip. The famousWhitePass railroad sounded good, but most people only rode on it for a veryshort segment – without even leaving Alaska. Our driver took us about 3 times as far, leaving Alaska, going throughBritish Columbia, and into Yukon, stopping at various scenic spots as well asmajor stopping/playing locations such as Tutshi Dog camp, Village of Carcross,Bennett Lake, Emerald Lake, and Carcross Desert. I highly recommend Trail of 98 Tours if youhave a large group or if you are able to find some people to share thebus. The bus could seat 14. We teamed up with 2 other families (throughRoll Call on CruiseCritic) to split the flat rate of approximately $900 for awhole day’s worth of sightseeing, which worked out to be about $70 perperson. That’s a great deal!

 

Victoria was ok. Thewalk from the dock to downtown was only 20 minutes, about 1.5~2 miles. There were things to look at and most of thesidewalk was under shady trees – very easy and pleasant walk. The CruiseCompass mistakenly said it would take 40 minutes to walk. I wondered if they tried to scare people intotaking the shuttle bus ($13 round trip – a ripoff in my opinion). After walking to and back from downtown, wewalked 10~15 minutes in the other direction to the beautiful Beacon Hill park,where my wife and I sat on a bench on the cliff, overlooking the ocean and theship in distance. It was very relaxingand a great end to the vacation.

 

Disembarkation:

 

It was very easy. Wehad a late flight out of SEA (around 2 PM), so we chose as late adisembarkation time as possible. We wereassigned to leave at 8:45. The LCDscreens by every elevator showed which group could go off – much better alternativethan loud speaker throughout the ship. Westayed in our room until 8:40 when the screen showed that our group could gooff. We could have stayed later if we wanted, but since we were ready, wewalked off. It was very quick to get offthe ship and pick out our suitcases in the designated areas. The customs agents were not checking any IDor asking any questions – they simply stood by the door and asked everybody tohold up the passport showing the ID page (regardless which country’s passport). Everybody just walked on at a normal speedwith the passport in their hands. Ididn’t see them stopping anybody. By 9AM we were outside the terminal.

 

Seattle Express had its dedicated spot for their vans. We went to it, checked in with somebody whohad a list of names who had reservations, and boarded the bus.

 

As the bus was pulling out of the area, I noticed a fewinteresting things: (1). 3 lanes oftraffic had to merge into one. Theperson directing traffic always gave shuttle buses the priority. Quite a few yellow taxis were lined up inqueue waiting for the buses to leave first. (2). There was a sign advertisingfixed rate for taxi rides: up to 4 persons, $40 flat rate to airport. For a party with 2, 3 or 4 people, this wouldhave been a better deal than Seattle Express shuttle. (3) As our shuttle was driving away, I saw lotsof people were dragging suitcases and walking on the side of the road. The normal sized 3-ft wide sidewalk certainlywasn’t big enough for the number of people and suitcases, so a lot of peoplewere walking in the road where the buses and cars were squeezing by with inchesto spare. They literally looked likerefugees. I thought they were walkingtoward the parking lot to their own cars, but a minute or so later, I realizedthat they were going to a remote area that’s designated for Private andRide-sharing pickup. That place wastotally congested with hundreds of people and dozens of cars. Walking ½ mile with suitcases, spending 20~30minutes trying to find your driver, then another 10 minutes trying to get outof the port – in exchange for a saving of $5 or $10? Not worth it.

In summary, it was a nice trip. The ship was good, the food/service/entertainmentwere about par for the course for RCCL. Our room was great 99% of the time, when the fog horn wasn’t goingoff. The pictures taken out of the cabinwindows certainly elicited a lot of “cruise envy” or “cabin envy” amongfriends. Weather didn’t completelycooperate but it’s expected. Is it timeto plan my next cruise vacation yet?

We will be going to Alaska next June.  Did you add any other options to the tour in Skagway?  What did you do for lunch?  Do you remember what time you arrived back to port?  

Get a room near stairs/elevators and going down to 7 would be really close by

Thank you for the quick reply. I booked this with my PCC and he has me near the Stairs for easy access to Deck 7.

Does anyone know if there is outside access on Deck 8 of the Gem? Considering a 14-day and trying to go economically but need a large window in Oceanview with possible outside access close by.

“Our” bar is getting more and more crowded...

 

 

I found beer!

 

To me it will always be The 5 O'Clock Somewhere Bar from the Escape!

OMG Doug, Sue & family! Cruise Critic has been sorely lacking good reads! I'm all in for this new chapter in your escapades!

The hubby ordered the Apple Pie A La Mode and said it was very good. As stuffed as I was...I had to try it and it was amazing!!! The apples were cooked just right!

 

 

After dinner, Sakari was off to the kids club to spend time with her own people and we were off to the casino for a bit. I won $32 and called it a night walking out a winner. LOL

 

We picked up the munchkin and headed back to the room where I wouldn't have homework tonight because I had planned ahead and did my test for the week last night. Go me!

 

Here was our towel animal.

 

 

The hubby would watch a little t.v (I might add that EVERY commercial was in Spanish for some reason) and I wanted to check in with my son...to see if the dog and fish were still alive. You see this pattern of non-trust here?

 

Our dog, Loki, does not like Kolin for some reason. From the minute we brought him home last year he has never liked Kolin. Kolin has never done anything to him but I can only speculate that he must have been abused by someone that either looked like Kolin or something. (Trust me, there's a story behind me thinking he was abused).

 

He loves his mini-human though and has a fit when she's out of his site (at least according to my blinds that I've had to replace several times).

 

 

Kolin has a hard time with him as far as getting him to come inside from going potty or anything else. He pretty much has to hide for Loki to walk past the door and into the house or go get my neighbor to call him in. It gets frustrating. He's a Husky...so he's a runner too and can not be caught.

 

 

But we love him just the same and Sakari would have a fit if anything would ever happen to him. She takes good care of him and she says "He's my brother too". So I guess I actually have 5 kids. :o

 

So far...Loki was doing just fine.

Loki looks just like our female Skyekura. We had her for 12 years & my hubby misses her everyday. She would throw a fit every time he came home from work, running from room to room and screaming. She was very vocal.

Four common sunscreen ingredients were shown to kill or bleach coral at extremely low concentrations (as low as one drop in 6.5 Olympic sized swimming pools).

• Oxybenzone (Benzophenone-3, BP-3) - Sunscreen ingredient that disrupts coral reproduction, causes coral bleaching, and damages coral DNA. Oxybenzone is found in over 3500 sunscreen products worldwide.
  
• Butylparaben - Preservative ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching.
  
• Octinoxate (Ethylhexyl methoxycinnamate) - Sunscreen ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching.
  
• 4-methylbenzylidene camphor (4MBC) - Sunscreen ingredient shown to cause coral bleaching. Allowed in Europe and Canada, not in USA or Japan.
  

We have had great success finding common (cheap) sunscreen like Banana Boat without these ingredients. It is hard to find spray without oxybenzone, though - I have only found one.

There is a new Sunscreen out there now made specifically without all the above ingredients. It is made by Sea2Stream. It works great. It comes in different strengths plus they have shampoo & body wash. I suggest you check them out.

JEWEL OF THE SEAS

 

I have cruised with Royal Caribbean only once and it was back in the 90's (or it might have even been in 2000), on the Majesty of the Seas. So, basically I'm a "newbie" to Royal again I guess you could say. I've always wanted to try them again, but their prices are just so outrageous every time I've looked. I did some research (since we always cruise at Spring Break) and found that the Jewel, cruising out of Puerto Rico, was a price that I just couldn't pass up! FINALLY! I would get to try out Royal again. I booked and was super excited!!!!

 

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We'll start with the "formalities" and get that out of the way. (Mostly copied from all of my other reviews, because things don't seem to change too much) with any updates we might have added/adjusted.

 

PLEASE NOTE>>> My reviews are LONG...as in VERY LONG, with a lot of details, A LOT of pictures and this is the experience of my family on the cruise, sorta like a blog.

 

*So, if you are not into long reviews and want something short, sweet and to the point...this review is not for you.

 

*If you expect this review to be done quickly and you don't like to wait...this review is not for you.

 

*If you don't like personal details of our daily activities, this review is not for you.

 

*If you expect me to sugar coat everything, this review is not for you.

 

*If you think I tell you about something that wasn't appealing or I didn't really care for or seen happen and you consider me "complaining" or unhappy...this review is not for you.

 

I'm open, I'm honest, we have a good time no matter what, but I report everything I see. It doesn't make or break my cruise or experience and I always manage to have a great time no matter what.

 

It's sad I feel the need to say these things with my reviews now due to certain people who like to come on a be rude in the past.

 

However, if you like to laugh, get a chuckle every once in awhile, think of our family and some of the things we do that could be pictured on "the people of Walmart" and want details and pictures of places...you have come to the right place.

 

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ABOUT MY FAMILY AND WHO CRUISED THIS TIME:

 

This cruise was myself, my husband and Sakari (pronounced just like it's spelled Sa-Kar-ee, our now 9 year old daughter who will be turning 10 next week). This time, my 3 adult children would remain home (Kenny-31, Kendra-29 and Kolin-23).

 

Kendra, usually tries to cruise with us (pulling along my grandson B, sometimes her fiance, and the last cruise her daughter Kam). But she bought a house last year and they completely gutted it and made it "brand new" and they have been working diligently on trying to get it finished the week we were gone so that they could move in this month. Although it was a hard decision to make, she decided to sit this one out.

 

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My Cruising Experience:

 

As you can tell from my signature line, we mainly cruise with NCL and I have been trying to cruise the entire fleet but have been adventuring out over the last few years with Carnival.

 

In the 80's and 90's I also sailed with NCL and Royal Caribbean. So, this will actually be my 2nd RC cruise.

 

This will make my 21st cruise, my husband's 19th cruise and Sakari's 18th cruise...I think? After awhile, things are starting to run together.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

ORGANIZATION FOR THE REVIEWS:

 

People always ask how I organize for my reviews and it takes A LOT to put together a review like this. Once I decided to post how I personally organize for my reviews and if you are interested, it can be found HERE-1ST HALF and the 2ND HALF HERE.

 

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CAMERAS:

 

I am constantly questioned about what type of camera's I use for my reviews.

 

Several years ago I decided to purchase my first Olympus point-and-shoot camera (not by choice, but because I had one of my many "bloopers" with my Canon cameras). I have loved the Olympus since that purchase that we actually have quite a few of them.

 

This entire review was shot with my Olympus Tough TG2 & a few with the 620. I take my model 620 & 830 along with me for back up because you never know what might happen and I would be devastated if I was without a camera. Last Christmas, we also purchased Sakari her own camera (the 620 model) and she uses hers as well.

 

I'm a photography FREAK! Always have been. I do have a DSLR with tons of equipment, lens, and so on, but I find that I just don't want to lug it around with me on a cruise...and of course it's not waterproof.

 

When I process my photo's, I do take it in to PS (I have to get my watermark on there somehow) and I have an "action" that resizes the picture for a more appropriate posting size, and sharpens for web and I put my stamp on it. Every once in awhile I'll get a really crappy picture that just needs something (like white balance) done to it and I really want to share it and I might white balance it. For the most part, I don't do much of anything...no one has time for all that with the thousands of pictures I take!

 

I take thousands of pictures on vacation and I do a lot of walking and snapping. Yes, I may get some outstanding photos and quality, but for every good picture I get, there may be 3 bad ones. You win some, you lose some. I've been known to stand in a spot and take 3-5 pictures of the same thing, using different settings on the camera, just to get what I'm looking for to share. That's just me.

 

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ABOUT MY REVIEWS:

 

I am a very open and honest person. Everyone has a different expectation and experience, but I report how I feel during mine. You may or may not agree with my thoughts or views, but that's the beauty of it...everyone is different and all thoughts and comments are welcome.

 

We are a fun loving and outgoing family that, for the most part, don't get upset about much and roll with the punches. We've had a lot of "bloopers" (especially when the kids come along=Kendra lol), but it is what it is and I have learned over the years that getting mad or upset doesn't solve the problem and only takes away from the fun, so I try not to dwell on bad things (although I will always report them...not to be a Debbie-Downer, but to show this is the experience I had and how it contributed to what was going on at the time) and I move on.

 

We are BEACH people. So, if you are the touristy type of person that likes historical stuff, seeing the sites, or likes to do the land tours, this review might not benefit you too much as far as the ports. If there's a beach, we will be there! I have to drag Sakari the Mermaid out of the water every place we go. So, to the beach it is for us.

 

Sakari decided in 2016 that she wanted to "be a scuba diver" and took classes and became a certified PADI Seal that year. In December of last year, she finished all the PADI classes and became a MASTER PADI SEAL!! I think she was one of the first at her scuba shop to complete the program. They made quite a big deal over it. Now, she is just going to class monthly and repeating the classes for the fun of it.

 

So, you will find us doing some scuba diving in reviews as well.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

LAST BUT NOT LEAST: WHY I DO THE REVIEWS

 

My reviews are meant to be helpful to others looking for information. I'm a "picture" kinda girl and if I'm looking for information, give me a picture to help me understand and it will go 10x further in helping me with a decision. So many of you wonderful cruisers have helped me decide places to try out, shared your experiences with me, and even cruised with me....and this is my way of thanking you and continuing to help others the way they have helped me.

 

I'm keeping this "opening" a little shorter than normal. Most people around here know me and I hate to constantly repeat things...so if you want a more detailed "opening" statement, you are welcome to click on one of my other reviews (in my signature line) and it will give you more info on us.

 

With that said...I hope you enjoy the review.

Just found this review. We sailed on the Jewel back in 2005 on a 10-day Boston-Bermuda-Caribbean-Boston. This sold us on long cruises! Can't wait to read about this Ship.

I did a mock booking also and had the same reaction. For some reason, booking air tickets 18 months out is ridiculously expensive. I then tried using this November to see if booking 6 months out was a better reference and the prices were much better starting under $300.

 

Thank you Doug and Sue for another great live review.

That’s what I did and it came up as $2700. I’ll have to do my homework! We already have a 5-day booked for next February, 7-day Alaska on Bliss that June with some extra days thrown in. Now I want to book the 11-day trans on Encore!

Try booking a round trip ticket. I did it on British Airways (through American Airlines) for less than a third of what it would cost for a one way ticket (from Boston)!

 

 

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Good to know!

Look into Norwegian Air it’s who I flew when I did a TA last fall was pretty reasonable. That’s who I’ll probably fly for the Encore TA unless I find s cheaper flight.

 

 

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Thank you!

We used a combination of points and $ to fly Virgin Atlantic premium economy. Quite a few people flew Norwegian Air premium economy and were quite impressed.

 

There are deals out there. Scott flew from Nebraska for under $300.

Thanks for the info 🍻

We’re doing the Baltic run on the Breakaway in July. Considering it’s a birthday cruise for my dad and we’ll have the whole family going, I won’t be doing much of anything “live”.

I have loved reading about this cruise because I'm thinking of possibly trying the Encore TA. When I did a mock booking to look for Airfare I nearly fell off my chair. What I have found so far for one-way to London is just as much as the cruise itself.

I know you left from NY but we would be leaving from Boston. What is the best priced airline to use?

Following along. Will be on her in June 2019.

The wind is certainly an issue we experienced also a couple weeks prior. The best alternative IMO would be the heavy, SS based umbrellas that NCL has in the Vibe. Takes almost 2 to move (unless gifted). Yet, with the wind as you note and we experienced, they would not have been able to have been opened. As with the NCL Vibe umbrellas, they would tie them up on such wind and leave in place (that heavy base).

Loved the Vibe! Had passes this past January.

sorry - no specials on board - i would book in advance,

I booked the 20 piece . On NCL we get a free bag of laundry.