Beachgirl85

Thanks. I called a couple of times and did receive different answers. So I asked the rep to check with a supervisor who said they are refundable. Hopefully they are correct because if I include them they bump me up to the next level.

Does anyone know if you have to cancel last minute are the beverage and dining service charges refundable?

Just trying to figure out what to include for trip insurance

My daughter is turning four and we will be celebrating her birthday on our cruise. This will be her 4th cruise. You will have a great time! Definitely bring the stroller and a few small toys, stickers and magnets to play with in the room.

Anyone ever been river tubing? Since the new height requirement is 40 inches for cavetubing, we need to make new plans. Cavetubing.bz offers river tubing for families with small children and I'm wondering if it's worth it. Is it the same river? Is there still a hike? Is there a way that some of us could cave tube while some river tube and still meet up in the same area after? Thanks.

Did you decide to go river tubing? I was thinking about doing this too. I think my 4 year old would love it

Does anyone have coupon code for parking at the cruise terminal in Tampa?

We have cruised NCL three times and looking at a Feb cruise. How do I go about getting a PCC?

I bought the duck tub at toys r us and it worked out great. It is small but DD loved climbing in and out of it and splashing the water around. I also used it for bath time

We sailed may 9 and only 2 small shops were open. It's going to be very nice when complete. Our taxi driver said the shops should be complete in dec

How much was the taxi to Cane Garden Bay per person? Did you just ask them to come back at a certain time to pick you up and take you back to the ship?

It was $8 per person, no charge for children. On the way to the beach the driver said there would be plenty waiting there to return us to the ship. We left the beach around 2:30 and there were about 5 safari taxis waiting for everyone.

Thanks for your review! I am so sorry about your daughters incident. It does seem if they called your cabin to look for you, they would have used the pager. Did you just get a taxi there once you got off the ship in St. Thomas to go to Coki? We had thought about doing this, but aren't 100% set on it yet. I do wish they would add the GSC stop instead of Nassau. It seems almost all cruise ships stop there. And as for Tortola, we are undecided. We want to either do what you did or my husband and oldest daughter want to do the Baths excursion to Virgin Gorda.

Thanks, I was a bit dissapointed for her but we still had a great time!

Yes, it's very easy in St Thomas to catch a taxi, it was the safari type a bit expensive at $9 per person but Coki beach is beautiful, great snorkeling and if you want to visit Coral world it's right there.

Tortola I wanted to do the Baths but decided to wait till our DD is a bit older. The taxi to Cane Garden Bay was $8 per person and children are no charge [emoji3]

Just returned from the Getaway 5/16

Awesome cruise, beautiful ship!

Embarkation-we arrived around 11:30, we have never had to wait in line outside before that was a bit warm but was on the ship within 35 min.

Cabin- balcony room floor 9 tiny balcony as everyone has said. Room steward was good, somtimes the room wasn't cleaned until late in the afternoon but my DD stayed at the pool all day so not a big deal for us.

Dining - we tried all of the complimentary dining rooms except for Flamingo grill and found the experience a bit like eating at your local Applebee's in food and atmosphere. The menu choices were a bit boring and repetitive especially the appetizers but we always found something to order.

We used the buffet for breakfast and lunch each day and it was very good!

Kids Club- my DD (3) was very excited to go to the kids club the first night they issued us a pager and asked where we would be we said Taste dining room, when returned to the club to pick her up they said she had fallen asleep and the tried to call our cabin. She woke up scared not knowing where she was and that was it for the kids club. She refused to go back. A bit disappointing if they would have paged us we could have picked her up earlier. When I asked why they didn't page is she said it wasn't an emergency?? Just a little confusing cause they did call the room attempting to contact us.

Entertainment- my daughter loved the kids pool and my husband and I enjoyed the slides. The adult pool is very tiny!

Burn the Floor and Legally Blonde were both very good!

UBP- having the package was awesome, I would never pay for it but it was a nice perk. No issues -everything we ordered was included in the plan. The only compliant was there were no servers walking around, you had to go to the bar to order your drink and they seemed a bit understaffed.

Ports-

St. Thomas - taxi to Coki Beach - awesome!

Tortola- taxi to Cane Garden Bay another great beach day. My husband walked down the beach to the Callwood Family Rum distillery (Caribbeans oldest continuously operating distillery 200 years) and bought us a large bottle of Rum, I can't wait to try it out!

Nassau- walked down street and into a couple of shops but returned to ship ( wish they would cancel Nassau and add private island instead)

General thoughts-

This was our third NCL cruise but we have been using Holland America lately. The "deal" with NCL was too good to pass up and while it was nice there was never any "wow" moments. I would cruise NCL again if the price was right but I think I would skip the balcony, there are so many outside spaces to enjoy the balcony cabin doesn't seem necessary. The waterfront area is really cool.

I have a three year old and trying to decide between sapphire ( so hubby can snorkel a bit) or Megan's bay?

Any advice?

I was on my iphone

There was a thread regarding balcony placement and the last post was link I like a dummy clicked on it without realizing it was a weird blog (I assumed it was pictures) now I'm worried my contacts were hacked? I received an email today that looked like it was from my husband with a link to a diet supplement. Has anyone else had any problems?

He last post has since been deleted.

And under what's included in my cruise fare states room service, I know this topic has been discussed at length but just curious if anyone has just requested the convenience charge to be removed based on the info provided in the welcome packet?

I think it's very dissapointing!!! Just another charge

I did it [emoji1][emoji1]

Thanks everyone I'm so excited to have a balcony!! I tried to keep it as a birthday surprise but it was way to hard not to share my joy

And Happy 50th Nola 26

Well, I'm curious as to how much to upgrade to an oceanview? You would still be eligible for the UBP...

The oceanview rooms are priced the same as the balcony rooms, I guess they sold really well.

Thanks to everyone for the advice and thoughts. Talking to my husband, the cruise is to celebrate his 50th :)

I know there are many variables but trying to decide if we should upgrade from an inside to a balcony room on the getaway for about $500, that includes the UBP. Typically our bar bill isn't very high but it's usually b/c we just don't order a lot of drinks because of price. I love the idea of having a balcony room and no worries with the drinks [emoji1]or is it smarter to set an amount for drinks and save the money. Ugh decisions decisions -- just needed to type it out I guess

i'm leaning towards just getting a cheap inside room. it'd be my birthday during that week and i think i'd rather splurge on a spa treatment or do something really cool on a port day..

 

i'm like you.. sometimes i won't order a drink because of price.. we just came from getting married at sandals in jamaica in november so the idea of all inclusive drinks is enticing.. but i don't want to have to try to drink a ton just to justify the cost.. that could get ugly lol

Love that idea!! Spa treatment and something fun from port!!

I was faced with the same decision, would love to have the balcony room and UBP but couldn't justify the $741, our typical bar bill isn't that much granted it could be more because sometimes I wouldn't have a drink b/c of the $$but I decided I could have a ton of drinks and other stuff for $700.

Sapphire Beach was beautiful, quiet and not crowded at all - maybe 2 dozen people & not all of them from the ships - some vacationing on land. Nice sandy beaches & views, place to change/shower/restroom & rentals, refreshment & a small gift shop selling local crafts.

The ride back to the ship was a leisurely 20 minutes for us as driver took his time and had us back with plenty of time to do more shopping across the street at the mini malls, if we wished to.

These're taken when we sailed CCL - the top left pix is Magan's Beach with other 3's from Sapphire - I use these in rotation, among others, on my computers as wallpapers to day dream, LOL.

 

Been to both beaches and I personally prefer Sapphire beach. Magen's beach is more crowded, whereas sapphire will only have a few people there. There are bathrooms and rentals at each place. Megans has an entrance fee, but I believe cab might be slightly cheaper. I think the views are prettier at Sapphire. You have a view of multiple islands in the background including St. John and the water is a pretty crystal blue. Megan's is more protected so I always feel water isn't as fresh. I'm slightly biased towards Sapphire obviously, but they are both beautiful beaches.

Thank you for the awesome beach info and pictures!! Both look great! I think I want to try Sapphire this trip :)

We went to Magen's Bay - grab a transportation shuttle right at the dock and paid 5 pp.

 

 

 

We didn't plan to rent chairs - so we took towels and enjoyed the beach!

 

 

 

Easy.

Perfect Thank you. Trying to decide between Magen's Bay and Sapphire Beach.

What beach did you visit in St Thomas?

If I prepay the service charges and then for some reason have to cancel are they refundable? I have trip insurance but didn't include that charge in my total trip cost.