CruiserBruce

Not from what I saw on the Zaandam earlier this month. I commonly went through the casino about 5:00 am to check out ESPN on the Mix bar and the map of the ship's location. Other than some lights on, no signs of life in the casino any morning, sea day, or not.

I agree, a pick up after 8am is fine...as you mention, you are not in any rush. If you were in a rush, I would say 7am. And as mentioned, virtually any hotel will hold your luggage.

When the casino opens on sea days varies a little by ship, but it is never open "all day". It may not open until 10am, or noon, or something like that. But HAL have never run a 24 hour casino that I have ever seen.

There are many shuttle recommendations, if you look around the board...SAS, QLS, Jiffy Jeff, GO Shuttle, a couple others.

Everyone is an expert in how emergency responders should do their jobs. It always takes us too long to get to emergencies (like we don't like to drive with lights and sirens to calls, but then some complain we make too much noise arriving)...the list of expert advice we get could fill a War and Peace sized novel. And a second novel on people's illogical and selfish behavior. Not absolving the caption of Concordia one bit. But have seen far to many people behaving badly in emergencies... 35 years in emergency services...

They opened the gangway at 7:30...we were in the first couple of people.

We disembarked April 13th in San Diego, carrying off our bags. Disembarking started right at 7:30. We were in TSA at the airport...no line, at 8am. Our flight was at 10:20...no problem. There was NO Customs check. Customs is hardly a thing any more. Immigration consisted of picture taken for facial recognition by HAL shore based personnel...not be CBP. Took less than 30 seconds. 11:15 flight should not be a problem.

@marty playstead, here is the NCL Joy Roll Calls: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/803-norwegian-joy-roll-calls/ I don't see one for your sailing. So you can start one. Note the other Roll Calls, and how they are named. You might want to make this your "home page" for Cruise Critic, so you see the full breadth of what Cruise Critic has: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/

Less complicated menu and food presentations.

Agree with @RuthC. Late seating will be no later than 8pm, possibly 7:30. If you want more control over your eating time, why not book open seating? Then you can go whenever it suits you.

Can't give you the link right now, but you need to go Roll Calls, NCL, NCL Joy, then see if a Roll Call already exists. If so, join it. If not, create one. Follow the naming convention you will see on the NCL Joy Roll Calls. Also, please make sure you title your threads. Otherwise they default to your screen name, which is typnot related to your post.

Yes, it is. In square footage it's actually a little smaller than standard Neptune Suites. But the lay out, and windows can make it look bigger. The Pinnacle class ships have a window to the right of the TV...the best feature, IMHO.

If you book hotel and transfers through them, they should provide the transfers.

I wouldn't show up at your table and request something from last night. But requesting it a day or two in advance improves your odds.

You might want to check the thread pinned to the top of the Italy board about not recommending something you haven't done.

@schmoopie17, have you actually used this vendor?

Yes, the cruise ships pay extra for scheduled times to be in the Canal. Yes, your transit will start between 6am and 7am, most likely. There is a thread at the top of the board with the ships that fit each Canal. The two Canals only differ at the locks. The locks are fairly close to each other at times. The Canal provides staff for narration. Take a look around the board here. Tons more info. Almost every one of your questions has been discussed here frequently with many experiences, pictures, all sorts of valuable info.

The point is some planes aren't going to be arriving from Boeing when anticipated. Keep in mind airline schedules are developed well over a year in advance.

Its been a number of years, but we weren't allowed to go ashore until all pax on board showed their passports to one of only 2 Immigration officials who came aboard. Took almost 2 hours to clear the ship. Everything ran behind. The Captain was very unhappy. Hopefully they have fixed this system.

Bold and underlined? What does that mean? People complain about how expensive Ft Lauderdale is...particularly on certain popular weeks. Seattle downtown is pretty expensive. So is Miami. So are most major cities.

Are you confusing him with JakefromStateFarm? 😄😄😄

Check the link given in Post #6.

Was just on the Zaandam for 14 days. I am not sure they do this on ships other then the Pinnacle class.

There is no Customs if you are doing a B2B, (called being "in transit")in either the US, or foreign ports. The US typically requires an Immigration procedure, most foreign ports do not. In foreign ports, you come and go as you please. You are not impacted by the departing or arriving pax at all. They frequently add a second gangway for crew and in transit pax. You will receive very detailed and clear instructions. Glad you searched...it has been discussed here many times.

Sounds like making some of the routes seasonal, to me.