Sandyshore

Are the extra days because they had to cancel the CTN?

Must be. Would have been silly for the ship to float around empty for those two days. I half expected them to add only sea days; getting 2 new ports is great, and I don't care about losing St. Lucia and St. Kitts. Happy sailor here :D

Count me in among the disappointed if there's no more brownie sundae, but my waistline will be much better off. Here's a question: reading this thread, I just told DH about Blue Lagoon being replaced by O'Sheehans, and he, not a CC member, thought I was just saying "Oceans" funny, having only heard it, not seeing the name. I said, No - it's the CEO's last name -- but he insists it's an intentional pun. Any truth to that? It never occurred to me before!

So are you sailing on the BA or on the Gem? If the latter, come over and join the Roll Call. :)

Well, since you asked...full disclosure: I'm not actually sailing anywhere this June :o. My son might be getting married at Liberty Warehouse in Brooklyn on the Sunday those 3 ships will be sailing right by, and I was seeking the timing info to advise him about optimal ceremony start time. (Ideally, it will be an outdoor ceremony.) I knew the folks here on CC would provide the answers I needed!

I really do check cruisett.com when I plan a trip. Next one is in December on Gem! Thanks for all your input, and have a great cruise :)

SAFETY notwithstanding I hope all cruise lines do not schedule the MUSTER DRILL during this PRIME PHOTO OPT.

Thanks to everyone for pinning down the critical timing sailing past these most memorable sites !

On my NCL cruises, the muster drill always occurred before sailaway, and now that it's no longer required to take your life jacket to your muster station, there's no need to hurry back to the cabin to drop it off before staking out a good spot. Of course you'll want to be able to move around the ship, going from port side for the NYC skyline to starboard for the statue.

We're on that Gem sailing to Canada (6/21/15). I hadn't checked other ships in port yet (it's a long way off :) ), but with the Breakaway there, we'll be sure to park our car early!

 

Are you asking about ships in port on that date for a specific reason?

I always like to check the number of ships in port, just to be prepared for crowds and, like you said, parking. I also check each port on the itinerary to help plan my day.

Queen Mary 2.. From Red Hook.

P.S. Gem sails on Saturdays, not Sundays. Unless it's a trip to Canada. Breakaway will be the only ship at Pier 88.

 

 

Robin

Norwegian Breakaway July 2014

Carnival Miracle 2010

Carnival Legend 2006

Every Day at Sea is a Great Day

Hmmm interesting. I'm going by the cruisett.com site, which shows all 3 ships in New York but doesn't differentiate between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Thanks for letting me know about the QM sailing from Red Hook. Gem does sail to Canada on June 21st -- a 6-day itinerary.

Yeah...30-40 minutes depending on the time of year, and how much Hudson River boat traffic there is. Each time we sailed we were the second ship to leave the pier. It seems endless sometimes - I don't feel like we're really on our way until we're under the Verrazano ;)

It's a Sunday in June, with 3 ships docked in Manhattan -- Gem, Breakaway, and Queen Mary 2. Both NCL ships leave at 4, QM at 5. I have no idea who pulls away first -- Gem or BA. Thanks for the quick response!

Do any lines use the Brooklyn terminal these days??

Quick question, that I should be able to answer myself, but I've never paid attention to the time while sailing out of NYC. Can anyone tell me approx how long after leaving the Manhattan pier does the ship sail past the Statue? This assumes a 4pm departure time. I don't know if it takes longer for the Breakaway than the Gem to pull away from the pier, since it's a larger ship. I'm trying to get an idea of the window of time when either ship is passing the Statue. Thanks for your help!

I took your advice and emailed terry, I tried to get another private company to do it about a month ago but they weren't helpful...keeping my fingers crossed that terry can pull though and set up a spot to ask her to be my wife :)

Don't forget to ask Terry to take photos or video of the big moment!

Thanks for your review! Been on this itinerary twice and I'm looking forward to visiting Sapphire and Cayo for the first time.

 

Have you been to Megan's Bay and how does it compare it to Sapphire

I can answer that one -- Megans is quiet and calm. Nothing more than a ripple when I was there a couple of years ago. Nothing to see if you like to snorkel. I spent the day at Sapphire last January and would call it the opposite of Megans. Nice sized waves and good snorkeling. Megans is a nat'l park and charges an admission fee ($4pp I think) which doesn't include chairs or umbrella. Sapphire you can just walk on and rent chairs. We didn't need an umbrella -- there was plenty of shade.

Cabin 12306 the bed is near the balcony doors...no problems!

You wouldn't by chance have a picture, would you? I have never been in a cabin with the bed by the balcony and it's hard to imagine. But I guess the advantage is that it's easier to get to the closet? I'll do some searching online for that type of layout. Thanks for the heads up.

12310 has the bed near the door and a huge balcony.

Thanks Cubechick! I've been reading your pictorial review and drooling over that balcony photo :D

music was over 1 ish!

I can live with that. Thanks again!

we recently stayed in 12306, no problem with that "cut out" you mentioned, I never even realized it until you pointed it out. Room size is adequate and comfortable. Very large balcony with 2 chairs, 2 loungers and a small table. However, I should mention that H20 is a couple decks above and it is very noisy at night even with the balcony doors closed. We were awake many a night due to the noise!

That helps! Too bad the nice, big balcony comes with a trade-off tho. :( Spice H20 is on deck 15. How late at night did the noise go?? Later than 1 or 2am? If it's that noisy, I would think any aft balcony is going to hear it, so moving to a lower deck might not help, and the balcony would be smaller, so I guess I'm sticking with 12306. 2 chairs, 2 loungers and a table and it's not a suite?! Better than I'd even hoped. :D Thanks for sharing your experience, Pitipat! Did you get all that, Nashville Cruiser?

I cruise on September 1st! I will let you know about the cabin Sandyshore and I will take plenty of pics!

Thanks! I'll look forward to it :) And lucky you, cruising so soon. Enjoy Breakaway and Bermuda! I've been 4 times - love it there!

I had the same question Sandyshore! I was reluctant to book 12306, but it was the only cabin available on deck 12 so I went for it! I'm hoping someone will post the answer!

When are you sailing, Nashville? I have to wait until Feb 2015! If you see that cabin before I do, please come back and post photos and an explanation! Hopefully somebody will fill us in before we sail. There are still aft balconies available on my sailing on deck 11, but I'm hoping to get more info about 12306 before I switch.

Can anyone explain to me about the deck plan of the Deck 12 aft-facing balcony cabins 12306 and 12310? I'm following Gambee's advice about deck 12 having good-sized B1 balconies, but there's a cut-out of some kind on these 2 cabins that doesn't exist on the other decks (I've looked). It doesn't show up on 12906 or 12908 on the starboard side; those cabins look bigger but aren't available on my sailing. I'm currently booked in 12306, but if it's going to be "weird" I'd like to change cabins while I still can and maybe go to another deck. Thanks for any insight!

We also just returned from the Jewel (hi Sally!). When we realized that our World Points credits could not be used towards the DSC and were listed as non-refundable, we cancelled (onboard) our ships excursions (already paid months ago with our card) and immediately rebooked the same excursions. The cancelled amount was refundable; the "new" excursion costs were applied to our non-refundable, non-DSC OBCs; problem solved.

 

Lynn

Very clever work-around, Lynn!!! I'm impressed. :D We didn't have any pre-booked excursions to cancel; our OBC other than the points truly was non-refundable. We even booked a ship's excursion just to use up some of the credit (Barbados beach trip).

One more thing, while it's fresh in my mind (see above post). When I redeemed my World Points for $300 in OBC, I asked my PCC if I could use that portion of OBC to cover the DSC (Daily Service Charge) and he said YES.

HOWEVER - once on board, I asked that question of Guest Services and they said NO, it was considered non-refundable credit and not eligible for the DSC. That's what led to me asking about returning the points to my MasterCard. PCC admitted he was misinformed and apologized. So the DSC was charged to my NCL MC and I got double points for that.

i could not go through all the replies so i hope this isnt a duplicate post.

 

i have enough points from the card too get $200 obc . if i dont use all this up can i get the money back at the end of my cruise ?

I'm just off the Jewel this morning. I had $300 in World Points credit and for a while I didn't think I'd be able to use it up (yeah -- hard to believe, but I had a LOT of OBC this cruise). I checked with my PCC by e-mail and he assured me I could have the World Points returned to my Mastercard if I wasn't going to use them. His direct reply:

"You can return the points back to your master card as long as they are unused at the end of your cruise. The points returned can be redeemed toward future cruises or many other options i.e. pre-paid Master card, gift cards or select merchandise. Our customer service relations team can help you return your points back to the card post cruise."

So you won't get cash back, but you won't lose the points. BUT -- if you use part of your $200 OBC, that may be a different story. My PCC's reply sounds like ALL the points would have had to be unused at the end of the cruise. End of story: we spent the $300 on a couple of watches from the Gift Shop :D

Hope that helps to answer your question.

DH and I sailed on the Norway back in 1993, only our 2nd cruise. We had a tiny inside cabin with bunk beds - not the highlight of our trip! I remember the Broadway show performed that cruise was "Meet Me in St. Louis" with full, period costumes, just beautiful. We were told in advance of theme nights in the dining room, and we packed suitable clothes - even bought a few things to match the theme. There was 60's night, so we dressed like flower children; a Caribbean night; and one other theme I can't remember but for some strange reason DH wore his Star Trek uniform shirt :D:rolleyes:.

Our dining table mates were some of the nicest people we've ever been seated with - a family of 3 from Texas and another family of 3 from Pittsburgh. It says something about the fun we had that I can still remember everyone's name.

We loved the ice cream shop! Swenson's? Not like the soft serve stations in today's buffets, but an old-style ice cream counter where we would go every day for hard-packed cones. Sigh.....

Our CD's name was Bruce. He led a staff presentation of "If I were not upon the sea" that left us laughing till we cried. Very fond memories of that ship. I'll see if I can scan some of the old photos and post them. Probably won't get to it til after Thanksgiving tho.

Hi, I just signed up for the NCL CC and it said sign up and get a $100 On board credit for signing up. I did that and now nothing, I got the card, but no on board credit. Please help, thanks

 

P.S. Their CS sucks, they didn't help me

You have to make a purchase on the card. It's the first use of the card that earns you the 10,000 bonus points. The points will show up on your billing statement when the cycle closes. Only then can you redeem the points for your $100 OBC. It's not just from signing up for the card.

I just applied for the NCL MC with the 10,000 bonus points offer. Found out about it from an email from NCL. When I got the email, I was confused, because I already have a NCL World Points MC from a few years ago, before it was World Points, when the exchange structure was much more favorable. But they converted me to World Points and sent me a new card, which I haven't been using at all.

So, on a lark, I called customer service, and lo and behold, my existing card did NOT give me double points for every $1 spent on NCL. I wonder how many offers I've ignored in the past few years thinking I already owned the card?? :confused:

Anyway, I was approved, so as soon as I get the new card, I'll cancel the old card, and see if they'll move over some or all of my credit line.

Does anyone know if this offer has any connection to Latitudes? Meaning, would a 1st time NCL cruiser be able to apply for the card and get the bonus? I have friends booked on their first NCL cruise in November and I would forward them my email with the link if they could apply and get the OBC in time.

Thanks!

I'm telling you all the banks and credit cards are taking away all the perks... slowly but surely. This keeps up I'm going back to cash and screw the banks. They can't get a cut of money if I'm paying CASH!!!

So true!! I just got a notice from Capital One that on my No Hassle Rewards visa card, beginning in November, the cost of a ticket times 100 = the # of miles required. Used to be cost x 80 = # miles required. This is for the no-annual-fee card. We also have the $39 annual fee visa that earns 2 points per mile. Don't know if that's the same as the Ultra being described here. I thought I was really raking in the miles on that until I realized the redemption structure requires so many more miles to pay for a ticket, e.g. 60,000 miles for a ticket from $350.01 - $600.

At this point, I have more cards than I really want, but I'm reluctant to cancel any because I've heard so often that your credit profile looks better when it shows that many banks think you're credit worthy. So I just use some for minor charges to keep them active (like my poor old BOA NCL card).

You didn't by chance get the amount you can spend on Cruises in Jan-Mar? I'm guessing that 2x on BOA might have the $15-20 on Discover beat. Since I'm sure I will drop at least the $100 of slot play in the casino I might as well use 5000 points to get that instead of $50 OBC if it is still available.

No, sorry, the Discover website will only show me details on the current quarter and the upcoming quarter promos. You could probably call them to ask what the max purchase is for each category. Jan-Mar is all the travel stuff: airlines, hotels, cruises, but that's even more laughable than groceries if the cap is as low as $400 in purchases. Apr-June is home/fashion.

Warm Water Diver: It's not much of a promo to be sure, but I do like the 1% cash rebate with no cap to it. (At least so far there's been no cap.) We use that for business expenses and it adds up quickly, so the card's far from useless. Take note, at least on ours, you have to reach a $3000 threshold before the full 1% kicks in, like Amex Blue where you have to reach $6500 first.