ged1967

3 hours ago, insidecabin said:

From the UK we have been seeing enough cruises under £1kpp with drinks service and flights 7-11nights.

I need to research this. Feel free to DM 😄

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Midnight buffet and Chocolate buffet were 86ed because no one went to them or ate at them. At the end, over 10,000 lbs of chocolate was being ground and fed to the fish weekly when NCL had a small fleet. Total waste of money that no one wanted. So, it's gone. Same is true of the late buffet,,, the vast majority of food at the buffet after 9:30 pm was being thrown out. NCL provides 24/7 restaurant service (unlike some other cruise lines), so there is always food available. 

 

I don't know about you, but all of the chocolate on our pillows went into the trash (which is representative of the quality of chocolate it was).

 

Same for towel animals... 2 or 3 towels * 2000 staterooms = lots of unnecessary laundry. 

 
I disagree that no one went to midnight buffets. I cruised with 3 very different cruise lines back in the 90s and the queues to get in was very long. Particularly for the chocolate buffet. 
 

The work that went into them must’ve been huge. Ice carvings, vegetable carvings & chocolate profiterole structures. 
The main buffet used to make use of left overs from dinner in the reastaurant thus reducing waste from the dinner menu (no open dining back then) 

Yes it must have cost a lot in time & money, and I fully understand that it had to be cut. 
 

Towel animals too. Thousands of extra towels to be laundered along with the crew time to make. Cabin stewards have many, many more cabins to look after now than they did 30 years ago. 
 

The same with the chocolate on pillow. Another way to cut costs. 
 

However all 3 were just that bit special. You didn’t get all that in any hotel, even 30 years ago. 
 

I just feel it’s a shame that things keep getting cut, but as long as cruise lines keep  friendly helpful staff that remember your name and drinks preferences that’ll help set them apart from land based hospitality. 
 

I’ve just thought about all the wait staff. How many waiters were there plus a sommelier (who kept your wine glass topped up almost invisibly) 

I miss those days, but times change and the open dining is a good change. (Remember the days when you were at a table of 6 or 8 and there was always this odd couple. Or the couple who were always late & held up wait staff.)

There are lots a facilities for kids & the big kid in us all (if we want) 

the evening entertainment is good. Day time entertainment is much the same. Its like Butlins at sea (a reference for us Brits of a certain age) 

I love cruising but if prices don’t come down in price then I doubt I’ll be cruising anytime soon. I really can’t justify over £3k for a 1 week med cruise on a basic outside cabin for 2 adults. 😞 

for the OP take all the negatives with a large pinch of salt. Make the most of your cruise. You’ll love it. 

My understanding of people that complain of nickle & diming are long time cruisers who find that items/activities that were included in the fare are now an extra charge item. 
Plus all the free things that have been removed altogether. Such as chocolate on pillow at turndown, towel animals, midnight buffets/chocaholic midnight buffet etc 

im sure there are plenty other examples. 

It looks like we’ve sailed our last cruise until the pricing comes down dramatically in price (if it ever does) 

I was looking at a 7 day Med cruise for August 2025 and the cheapest balcony cabin on The Epic for two was OVER £5,000 and that was cruise only!! 
 

We were in the Caribbean on The Dawn in February 2022 and with flights it was about £3,800. I thought that was expensive however we had FCCs from a cancelled 2020 covid cruise and with the extra on the certificate and the fact that we had paid the cancelled cruise in full we only had about £200 to pay. 
 

I’ve looked at other cruise lines including Tui and at first glance Tui appears cheaper until you add in the extras for picking your cabin, adding drinks package, picking seats on the plane Tui are just about the same. 
 

So it looks like it’ll be land based holidays for the time being. Which I find hugely disappointing as I love my cruise holidays. 

On 3/29/2023 at 12:07 PM, reece.twiggwhite said:

My husband and I have been together for 10 years, he proposed on Azura and we had our honey moon on Azura. However we have most definitely seen and been recipient to instances whilst on p&o cruises during our time we them.

 

• Men in Brodies shouting and asking "where are you two ladies drinking this evening then!"
• Ship photographer asking "who is the lady in the relationship"
• NUMEROUS conversations that start "I'm not homophobic BUT......"

I do have a funny story along this line. 
 

Hubby & I have been together 24 years in June & civil partnership 17 years in April. 
 

On our honeymoon on Thomson Destiny we were at the midnight chocoholic buffet (You young’uns don’t know what your missing these days) 

In the tradition of restaurant lunches the waiters just filled up tables so each lunchtime & at the nightly midnight buffet you were herded into tables of 6,8,10 with randoms! 
 

You had 30 minutes to walk round the fabulous displays to take photos (no touching or sneeky nibbles) 

You then queued up again to gain entrance to fill your boots! 
 

Back ti my story: hubby & I were sat at a table of 6; two other couples. One couple the woman had partaken of a few too many sweet sherries (drinks packages weren’t as prevalent in those days.) In a drunk hushed voice she “whispers” to her husband “Do you think they are what I think they are?” 
I was oblivious but hubby could hear. 
Her hubby trying to be discreet was trying to shut her up. Wifie was having nine of it and each time he tried to stop her she’d “whisper” louder. 
 

Eventually hubby leans over. Touches her hand and says “I’ll let you in on a secret….Yes we are!” 

The other couple just made their excuses & left. The hubby was left embarrassed & wifie just said “Oh I don’t think you could hear me”

Well as you all know although cruise ships are big once you’ve seen someone you see them all the time. We saw this couple every day thereafter my hubby gave her the biggest campest “Hiya”  ever 🤪 

Apart from that we’ve had no problems. Everyone is great. 
Jump forward to 2017. Onboard NCL Epic. Spring break. We got chatting to some college boys and ended up meet all their brothers & sisters &  becoming honourary Frat brothers! 

On 3/25/2023 at 8:46 AM, Cpt Pugwash said:

Though not Gay myself i did become friends with a Gay guy on a cruise where he arranged a 'Friends of Dorothy' meeting but no one turned up though there was other Gay guys on the ship so a bit of pot luck.

We’ve attended FoD meetings on all our cruises. As you some are busy (QM2 was very popular) others not so busy. You’ll see gays onboard but they don’t attend the social. It could be a) they don’t “do the scene” b) have the misconception that it’s full of camp old queens c) they think it’s  a sex fest (if only! 😂) or d) more likely they don’t know the term friend of Dorothy. Nowadays there is no need for Polari the use of codes be it words, phrases or even a hanky. 
the same for Bill W meetings. We had no idea what they were at the beginning. 
Perhaps they should just advertise as FoD as LGBTQi+ 

For a group of people who don’t like labels we’re certainly building up a rather large collection of letters! 

We had a cruise from Tampa February 2022. Flying from Scotland and booked with NCL as a package. Originally it was direct flights (I believe) with AA. 
then it got changed to indirect from Glasgow with 1 change in London. 
One week before I just browsing though my BA app and noticed our domestic flight from Glasgow to London Heathrow had been cancelled and we’d been rebooked on a flight leaving Glasgow AFTER our flight to the US was due to depart. 
A quick but panicked call to our TA got things sorted but now with TWO changed. London Heathrow & Miami. 
 

a couple of days before we left the U.K. we had really bad storms and flights were all affected. Our domestic flight was the red eye to London but we were concerned aircraft of crew would be misplaced. We were prepared to drive anywhere to get in this cruise. (Originally this was meant to be in 2020!)  The domestic flight departed on time no problems. 
However the first leg to Miami was delayed by 2.5 hours. We had a plane (it was sat at gate) we had crew, the flight deck even waved at us) however we had no gate staff to board us and there were two aircraft using the gate. 
Well we took off 2.5 hours late (not late enough to get a refund ☹️) arrive late into Miami & missed our connection. 
My partner needed a wheelchair & assistance at airport so we were lucky & missed all the queues at immigration & check in Miami. 
There was only 1 flight left that night with no seats available. The girl out is on standby for that flight and also put us in the first flight the next morning (in case we didn’t get the last flight) these were the last 2 seats available. 
With luck we got seats in last flight if day and made it to Tampa. 
We were meant to have transportation from airport to hotel but there was nobody there I think by this time we were 5 hours late so we got an Uber. In the morning again there should’ve been transportation to the ship. No! 
This was all part of the cruise/flight package booked with NCL. 
maybe because we were late but we’re both young 40s/50s and able to sort things out, but there are quite a few elderly that like to cruise and they could’ve been quite worried trying to get to hotel after midnight in a foreign country. 
luckily coming from the U.K. the flights are always 1 day early. Maybe next time I’d come 2 days early. 
 

the coach transfer on disembarkation was running. 

20 minutes ago, Brummijam said:

Hi Ged. On all of the Marella cruises that I have been on we were allowed to stay onboard and use all of the facilities until you disembark for the airport.

Regards.

Sounds good to me. 
Some decent stay & cruise packages out there just now. 

Hopefully this question hasn’t been asked countless times before. 
 

I'm looking at a cruise for 2023 with late departing flights home. 
 

I’ve not cruise with Tui for a number of years but back in the day you could stay onboard until your transfer took you to the airport. 
 

Is this still the case? I know with NCL, Cunard etc they require the ship to be completely empty of pax before allowing now pax to board. 
 

thanks. 

Dawn in Feb’22

CD was Jodie

ACD Vo(?)

in The Cellars Ernest (on vacation early April then moving to Encore. I think)

Sipho was bar tender there also. 
 

I’ll have a look for the dailies see if the crew are listed there. 

5 hours ago, Lionkingrichard said:

All aboard was 3:30 and at 3:40 I watched crew bring 2 large pieces of luggage down the gangway. They handed them off to the Port Agent. There he waited until we set sail around 4:10. They were calling their names over and over again. In came the gangway and the port agent wheeled the luggage towards shore.

They can come & pack my bags for me for my next holiday if they can pack it up & get it off the ship in 10 minutes! 

I heard on our recent dawn cruise that once the masks are removed, which is now, NCL would be looking at full capacity within a couple of months. 
 

However will they get full capacity? Many are still cautious about cruising, and numbers will build slowly. 
 

on our Feb 20th Dawn there was approximately 1,100 pax onboard. Up from around 850 on the first cruise in January. 
 

Deck 4 is exclusively for quarantine purposes.  
 

I am planning on posting a review shortly. 

Just off the Dawn 20th Feb departure. 
 

No nickel & diming there. Paper straws plentiful as was toilet paper! 😂 

but no stock of freestyle dailies to pick up from stand so remember to take your photocopier to copy the one in your cabin. 
 

though I’m sure you could ask for more from guest services. It’ll save on baggage. By the looks of some I think they had their kitchen sink too! 

Is there a 24hr contact number for NCL? 
 

We were delayed arriving at Tampa airport having missed our connection at Miami. 
 

There should have been a transfer from Airport to hotel last night and details of our transfer from hotel to pier should have been at the hotel. 
 

We took an Uber last night but don’t know when or if we have a transfer this morning. 
 

TIA

(sail NCL Dawn today)

3 hours ago, Peachypooh said:

Have they rebuilt the pier so the ships don't have to tender?

I’ve never been…yet!  Leave Tampa on NCL Dawn in 3 weeks 😃

As far as I know you need cash or a credit/debit card for food & drink. As the staff are locals not ncl staff. 
 

it was a deal (to give locals employment) the island government struck when ncl wanted to make it a private island. 

Is anyone sailing on the Dawn currently or on the following cruise 9th Feb? 
 

We are booked on her for the western Caribbean departing 20th Feb. 
 

Just looking for information on what to expect on board, face masks/how full (or empty) activities (that may be cancelled) etc. 

All info greatly appreciated. 
 

TIA 

On 11/5/2021 at 11:19 PM, KeithJenner said:

We may not get charged gratuities on the free at sea offers but we do have to pay extra to get them, at an amount which is very similar, so there is little difference really.

 

In fact, our way is worse if you would, for example, like the dining package but don’t drink as you pay the same amount regardless of whether you take the drink package.

Of course there is a difference. 
 

if we in the U.K. get a free at sea deal at no charge. We pay nothing for it. 
However in the US if they get a free at sea deal with no charge they pay gratuities. 
 

obviously the final price paid will fluctuate with any free offers. Do bigger discounts really make the total cruise price cheaper? If the drinks package is free does this make the total cruise price more expensive? 
 

I look at the total cruise price & what’s included on the NCL website I then shop around and get like for like prices. If I get a good price then I book. 

Being in the U.K. free is free (we don’t get charged gratuities on freebies) 

However I’m assuming you live in the U.S  therefore you’ll be able to take advantage of any price reductions (via refunds or upgrades) which we in the U.K. cannot do.  
 

it’s all swings & roundabouts. I do a mock booking every now & then for my currently booked cruise and no matter what the promotion is it has never been lower than the price I paid plus I got an extra incentive, OBC.  

I’ve cruised many times with various cruise lines but never Princess. Why should I chose Princess over other lines. 
 

Here is a quick breakdown of cruise ships/lines I’ve used. 
 

Cunard Princess (way back in the 90’s) that was proper cruising. Midnight buffets, getting dressed up. This was my first cruise & loved it. 
Airtours Sunbird Older ship. Great food, poor entertainment 

Thomson Destiny (same ship) food not so good, great entertainment

RCL Adventure of the seas. Food good entertainment poor (similar to Butlins/Pontins) although the promenade shows were very good. 
Cunard QM2 fantastic food entertainment great. 
NCL Epic fantastic food & the best entertainment ever on a cruise ship. 
 

All the cruises (apart from Cunard) had drinks packages included either free or for a supplement. 
 

What makes  Princess your cruise line of choice?

2 hours ago, Budget Queen said:

It’s not on a second page?   

 No. It was for 25% of £414 =£103.50 Just my two returned CNV, a credit my share of the cost of the cruise, another credit for 25% of my share of the cruise are showing on my latitudes account. 

I could have been. I travelled from Scotland to Southampton to to a TA on QM2. 

It it was only when in the hotel in Southampton that I realised I had left my suitcase at home! 

I have posted the story here. 

It it was funny running round PradaMark/Primarché (Primark) like Supermarket Sweep, the evening before we cruised buying EVERYTHING! Tuxedo, shirt, bow tie, shoes, belt, socks, underwear tea shirts polo shirts, cuff links, blazer +++ even needed a suitcase to put it all in!

it still gets brought but 6 years later! 

On 7/21/2020 at 4:39 PM, Misself said:

I don't think my TA paid NCL either as when I enquired about using the FCC with another agent, they could see no FCC on my account ( apart from £50 in respect of the cruisenext certificate which had already been returned to my Latitudes account).  However the original TA did still obtain 125% FCC on the full cruise price if we rebooked with them.   (We haven't and have now asked for refund).   But hopefully your TA will negotiate the FCC with NCL.

 

 

 Our FFC showed up on out latitudes account (I think I’ve commented on your own post about this) 

So for me it’s all good. Thankfully. 

Hopefully you’ll be alright too 😀

On 7/23/2020 at 1:21 AM, jancl57 said:

When we purchased our CN certificates we were told we would have to book by the expiration date. 

We were told that too. As long as we booked by expiration date. 

We were booked on Dawn 16/8/20. 7 day cruise with no sea day.