islesdave

I'm gonna say it's a swan or long necked duck.

Hey all,

 

I'm fairly new to cruising (I've been, but it was a LONG time ago, and it was a short cruise to Mexico). I'm trying to book things like trains to/from cities (i.e. Civitavecchia to Rome and back) and I'm not sure how to work the timing. I read that you need to be back 2 hours before the ship leaves, but do they mean be back at port, or be back standing in front of the ship 2 hours early?

 

So, if my train is scheduled to arrive back in Civitavecchia at 4:45, and it's a 20 minute walk to the shuttle from the train station, and the shuttle comes every 15 minutes... let's just say I'd be back standing in front of the ship at like 5:50 assuming my train is 15 minutes late and I just missed the shuttle and had to wait for another one. The ship is scheduled to leave at 7pm. Does that give me enough time to get on the ship, or should I book an earlier return trip on the train? And if I book an earlier train, how much earlier?

 

Also - Civitavecchia is really the only port I've looked into yet. Do all ports have shuttles and such and take forever to get to the ship, or are some ports much smaller? Like in Nice or Naples, do I need to plan as much time?

 

THANKS!!

I was on the Epic last year doing those cities. Are you embarking from Civitavecchia? If you're already on the ship, all aboard time is 30 minutes before departure. Naples is much smaller, we hired a van from Aldo Limos, he met us where the buses and taxis are. I'm not He took us to Positano (Amalfi Coast), Sorrento and Pompeii. I'm not sure where the train station is in Naples. The trains are modern and everything ran on time. Granted, any train system works better than the LIRR!

Nice is also a smaller port. Depends upon where you want to go.

It depends upon where you need to fly/to from. IMO, if flying to Florida or the west coast from the US, book it on your own. Sometimes flying to/from Europe, it pays to book with cruise line. Norwegian Air isn't affiliated with NCL, they're a European based low-cost carrier, similar to SW or JetBlue here in the USA, with flights to and from Europe from some US gateways. I flew them last summer to Barcelona from JFK for my Epic cruise, business class tickets on the Dreamliner were $1000 cheaper than anyone else, even though the flights weren't direct. We flew from JFK-Stockholm-Barcelona, and through Copenhagen on the way home.

If you book air with NCL, they don't give you the itinerary until about 30 days out, and unless you pay for the deviation, you're arriving the morning of the cruise departure. I prefer to get to my cruise embarkation city at least 1 day prior, so I always book own airfare.

Hello Everyone,

 

My DH and I are trying to plan our next cruise we have only sail Carnival (2008, 2014, 2017). Because of our last cruise with them we are looking to upgrade cruise line because our experiences over the years with them have declined.. We are looking at two cruises one with Celebrity and one with Norwegian. Can anyone answer some questions? What is the average age aboard Norwegian? How is the nightlife because we love to dance the night away. And please please comment about the food because we are big foodies.

 

ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR CONCERNS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME

 

Thank you in advance and Happy Sailing

:*:*:*:*

While I've never had a bad meal on an NCL ship, Celebrity does have, in most people's opinions, better food. In terms of entertainment, NCL wins. NCL, to me, appeals to a younger demographic than does Celebrity. I find it a big advantage as well to be able to decide when and where you want to eat dinner on NCL, as opposed to the "traditional" dinner seating at a large table with the same people each night.

If you want a recommendation on an excellent NCL travel agent, email me at davehorowitz1@verizon.net.

some rooms hold 4 people, your friends cant squeeze you in somewhere. ?[/quote

 

wouldnt they have to cancel and rebook to add me ?

 

No. They can call whomever they booked it with (if they used a travel agent, all changes must be initiated by the agent, not NCL, the agent owns the booking). If the room has capacity and the lifeboats have capacity, you can be added at the extra person rate plus taxes/fees. If you book this way, you will not get the UBP as a perk (only first 2 get).

 

Maybe you can find another friend to go with and book a regular room?

I just did a dummy booking - there are 5 studios left.

I'm on the Escape on 8/5 returning 8/12. Unfortunately my flight back to NY is not until 7:50 PM. Thinking about renting a car for the day from 9-6, but prices are absurd, even renting from the airport rather than the downtown locations. Any suggestions?

I'm on this cruise in August. Did they change ship time to match local time? I'm doing a fishing charter in Cozumel and want to make sure that I allow for time zone difference if need be.

:( yea thats what ive read with the new ceo. at this point as much as i want to do this cruise it looks like i wont be on there :( didnt hurt to try!

Even on non-Norwegian cruises, those days are over. They have to supply CBP with a manifest of passengers I think 72 hours prior to departure.

The days of the fire-sale cheap cabins for last minute travel is just about done, if not totally done. I don't see the price dropping much, maybe $100. It's still "peak" summer travel season until the end of August pretty much as schools are still out on summer break for most of the country. I'm on the same cruise 2 weeks before. I keep checking for a price drop, and it's more expensive now than it was when I booked it.

No fire bets. They have 2 tables, the second one opens if they need it based on number of players. 5/10 min, 3,4,5 x odds. Just your main center-table bets, hard-ways, C, E, big red, horn numbers. No hop bets either.

Hi all! I've got a big family cruise booked for next June 2018 and it can't come soon enough! My brother and I are avid craps players and this will be our first time on the NCL Getaway. What type of limits/odds do they offer on in the casino? Are there any bets like all/small/tall or fire bet? Just curious as to how the tables are run.

Thanks for that piece of info - I just switched my reservation to 12910.

We were on the Escape and had rooms 12908 and 12910. Never had problems with soot or anything else.. However; If possible, I would recommend to move to an aft balcony on deck 12 or 9. These are the largest balconies with deck 13 being the smallest. We have the same two rooms September 30, 2017 we liked them so much.

What someone considers a "deal" is very subjective, one person might see it as a great buy, another not so much. The free at sea options are wonderful, you get to pick what you want, especially if you're a drinker and have the UBP. That can wind up saving someone a decent amount of money at the end of a cruise. Base price wise, IMO, NCL is a bit less expensive (not much).

That's a crock of bull-crap. If you're booking guarantee cabins, NCL assigns them up until 3 or so days prior to sailing and there's absolutely no way to guarantee that guarantee cabins will be connected, the only thing that it guarantees you is a cabin in that category. Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you don't. If you absolutely need to be in connecting cabins, do not book GTYs. Your TA is upgrading you to assigned rooms and the difference could be a few hundred each person to get to a non-GTY category.

Has anyone ever heard of charges on Norwegian to book adjoining cabins? A dear friend is taking her ailing parents and her kids on their first cruise. She just booked two guaranteed inside rooms for the June 24th sailing, but when she asked if they could get adjoining rooms or even rooms across the hall from each other, she was told by her TA that it would be a $1600 fee! Now I've never sailed Norwegian before, but that sounds like either incorrect information or highway robbery to me...or both. When she told me this, I said I'd hop on the CC Norwegian Board and ask all the helpful folks here what their take on this situation is. Advice, insight, suggestions would be most welcome. Many thanks in advance!

Does anyone have the Dalies for the 7 day Epic Cruise from Barcelona. This will be my first time in Europe and I want to make sure I make the most of sightseeing and the Ship.

 

Thank you!!

I left from BCN on the Epic last summer. I don't have the dailies, but the must-see sites in Barcelona are the Sagrada Familia church designed by Gaudi who designed most of the city, the Nou Camp stadium (home of FC Barcelona) museum and tour and take the cable car ride up Montjuic and see the old Olympic Stadium. I flew in 2 days before the cruise left to see the city and help adjust to the time. Buy tickets for the tours in advance.

I've never seen them look at the time on your e-docs. I always get to the port around 11 and am on the ship by 12:30.

Seconded. Love Getaway and the itinerary. Post on the sailing's roll call, see if there are other solos or groups that are planning excursions that you're interested in. There's a studio lounge that all solo cruisers have access to, even if not in a studio, and a crew member that is assigned that sets up dinners in the MDRs for the solo group, plus a board to post info about shows and other stuff.

Everyone sells cruises at the same rate. Any rock-bottom price used to fill a ship will not have the perks (no beverage package, etc.) It also seems that the days of claiming a cabin for pennies on the dollar are over in terms of grabbing last minute fire sale price. Plus, any savings on the cruise would potentially be offset by booking last minute airfare unless you're close enough to drive to the port.

As someone who works in IT and also plans cruises and vacations for people, watch who you give your email address to - those sites are fronts for SPAM bots and other Internet junk including malware and viruses.

A friend is considering joining me in my cabin. Does anyone know if we can still use the rate I have already booked? Or do we have to start a new booking? The cabin I have now is $1,000 more today than when I booked it. My TA is out of town, so I can't ask her. I have not made the final payment yet. Thoughts?

Shouldn't be a problem, however since you booked with a TA, NCL won't touch the booking. You need to wait until your TA gets back to modify it.

For the free at sea offers NCL has, one of the options is unlimited beverages.

 

If two people, one 22 years old and one 20 years old, go on a cruise, and the 22 year old picks the unlimited beverage package, does the 20 year old also have to pick that package? Their parent will not be on board so no alcohol buying for them, so they'd get downgraded to the soda package. But they don't want the soda package. Could they pick another offer instead? Or do both people have to pick the same offer?

If they're in the same cabin, they need to agree on what free at sea offers they're choosing. Both the beverage package and the specialty dining package are for the first 2 guests in the cabin, so if they choose the beverage package and they're the 2 in the cabin, the 22 year old will get UBP, the 20 year old will get soda. There's no picking and choosing, unless each booking their own cabin

Just for fun...

 

Any care to speculate (or know first hand) why NCL would lower pricing on its guarantee cabins but raise prices on assigned ones? Just noticed on my upcoming Aug 14 cruise, they lowered the inside guarantee but raised the price of all the other inside cabins... Just curious

Interesting. Their pricing model can be hard to figure out. Generally it has something to do with inventory and number of cabins available.

Inventory doesn't just miraculously open up a few days prior to sailing as anyone who cancels without insurance doesn't get money back. By booking a guarantee inside, you're guaranteed nothing worse, Can you get an upgrade, possible but not likely as a first time cruiser. You can call the upsell department and see what's available as well. Sometimes they will have a rock-bottom price, but no promotions (beverage package, dining package etc.) when you get this close to sailing to fill cabins. I just did a mock booking - there are still a few balconies and mini suites available. A mini suite gives you a tub shower instead of a stall shower. Search this forum for upsell department and see what they offer, remember it's a negotiation.

Enjoy your cruise!

This TA is unprofessional and doesn't look properly out for their clients. I know a couple of home based TA's - they should have placed NCL on hold and contacted you about the cabin "upgrade" before deciding to go ahead and make the change. If you find a good TA, yes they sometimes can and do give extras for repeat business, referrals and others. Some also can give you group benefits that booking straight with NCL by yourself doesn't.

Hello, I'm planning on a family cruise in December and out of NY as it's cheaper than Miami for the flight ( $1400 difference)

Am I ripping myself off as I'm realizing that we can't do any outdoor ship activities, pool, slides, ropes until the ship reaches a warmer climate as it'll be really cold from the New York to Miami. We can't do them on the way back as well. The family with two boys under 10 will be stuck inside and not being active outside.

 

Am I correct with this ? Thanks.

The weather in NY in December is hit or miss. More than likely the outdoor stuff on the ship will be closed for the first 24-36 hours until you're somewhere near the Carolinas. You will more than likely have 3-4 full days of closed slides,etc. You can try looking at flights to PBI (75 minutes away) or FLL (30-40 minutes). I'm from NY too, and the whole idea of a winter cruise is to get away from the cold as soon as you can.

What happens to sailaway if we get socked with a snowstorm? I can't imagine them letting the ship leave the pier.

Me and my husband are from the north of Sweden and just in the middle of planning our first cruise ever, celebrating his 50th anniversary in December on the NCL Getaway from Miami Dec 4, 2016. Ihave tried to read here and there on this website but I haven't found an exact answer of my question. I hope someone who has done the same trip can give some advise!

 

We will be visiting Roatan, Harvest Cay, Costa Maya and Cozumel and I want to do these thing, but don't know what to on on which Island.

 

1. One Mayan-tour

2. One beach day where you can walk by yourself and not attend a (payed) excursion.

3. Just stroll in the harbour, maybe visit a market and shop some souvenirs and spend some time on the ship aswell

4. Something else

 

Thanks in advance

Jessica

Harvest Cay is a private island, there's your beach day. Both Costa Maya and Cozumel have tours to Mayan ruins, the ship in Cozumel docks at Punta Langosta, and at the end of the port, there's a mall. In Costa Maya, there are local crafts shops set up. If you're interested in fishing, look up fishingcozumel.net - small group fishing boats. I used them, absolutely recommend them. If you catch anything, they'll take you to Margaritaville where the chef will cook your catch. There's nothing quite like fresh fish.