hun

We had our first MTD experience on Vision in October. I had been concerned about wait time without reservations, so had prebooked most of the nights online from home.... We found there was really no need to be concerned - even on the nights when we missed our reservation time by 15 minutes or so and stood in the " no reservation" line there was never a very long wait at all - no more than 5 minutes really. Based on our experience, I'd agree to play by ear.

Thanks. Did it take 3 hours??

Oh no, we found that 2 hours was plenty of time. We had a 9:45 am flight and had stayed overnight after the cruise due to early flight time. Enjoy!

We found the airport to be pretty organized, but FYI they do "random" TSA checks of folks at the gates before the plane boards. They call out passenger names - as it seems to be time to board - and take them to a different area for another search of themselves and their carry on items. My husband was one of those and we had wondered why he got a different color on the back of his passport from the AA rep when we checked in .... In talking to one of the other travelers, he mentioned that he knew he was going to be one of the random travelers because he had a letter code on his boarding pass (as did hubby).

We were there in October so there may be additional procedures now -

ps believe it or not, the McD capuccino was great at the airport lol

We'll be first time NCL'ers next year and got the UDP as one of our "free" promos (with service charge). 14-night in Europe. We get 6 dinners and based on what I've read, thought we'd like to try Bistro, Cagney, the Italian one and Teppanyaki - not really sure yet which we'd go back to for the other times and hoped to be able to wait until on board to see what we enjoy.

Do folks recommend making reservations before sailing from home? If we don't, will we have a hard time getting reservations (say around 7) .

We had initially thought we'd just look that day to see what was in the MDR and book a restaurant for the nights we didn't like the menu, but I have a feeling we should at least book some, if not all?

Thanks [emoji5]️

(We'll only be in the specialty dining on our next cruise because of the "get 2" free promo!🍾[emoji322])

Thanks for this thread, I was confused as well... We just booked the dining package as our second promo and were charged $18 each as a service charge - I hadn't understand why really but now I understand those waiters don't benefit from the $13.50 DSC.

On another note, our cruise isn't until next September - has anyone noticed how often the DSC goes up? Not sure if maybe we should prepay?

Thanks! [emoji108]🏼

Unfortunately no Black Friday deals being offered for bookings made in Europe.:mad:

 

No "Pick 2" or even the extra Internet Package that they offered us in early November.

Sorry I think I may have misunderstood your comments - you're in Europe or cruise to Europe? 🤔 Our 9/28 cruise is the Star in Europe. The cabin price remained the same as when we originally booked a few weeks ago, but I called to add on the second promo offer (she had to cancel/rebook)

Wow thanks so much for the info! I just rebooked our Star 9/28 cruise (same cost for cruise, plus the $18 tips) and got the second promo! [emoji4]

We flew in and out of BCN for our RCCL Vision cruise last month and bought our tickets from cruiseline Choice Air. We flew on AA and connected in Philly and thought flights were great. Would do it again! We had looked at flights for BOS and NYC but the airfare was the same as it was for us to fly from Hartford/BDL (we live in CT)

Airfare everywhere - kayak, airline sites - had been right around $1300 for months, but booking via Choice Air was only $901 each. It was our first time using choice air so I was a little nervous (kept checking my AA itinerary!) but it all worked out great!

We just came back from our first Med cruise on RCCL (Vision) and loved it! As others have said, first step is to decide on itinerary. I took a few books from library and researched online. We chose our cruise because we wanted to do as much Italy as we could and include Florence, Rome and Venice. Ours also went to Villefranche, Salerno (for Positano/Sorrento) and Barcelona, which we loved.

This week we booked the September 28 Star based on the great itinerary! It'll be our first cruise with NCL, traveling primarily with RCCL but we loved the ports [emoji5]️

You can use as a discount off the cruise amount or OBC (we've done both for our upcoming cruise). We also used points for a free cruise for 2 :)

Well, goodness me, I've just read through the three pages of this thread.

 

My experience of cruising began with my late husband and we had a balcony stateroom on P&O Oceana Acapulco to Barbados. We loved it and enjoyed the experience.

 

When I sadly, had to cruise alone I booked an OS cabin on Q. Victoria Southampton to NY as it was winter. On transferring to QM in NY I booked a balcony to Cape Town. A wonderful cruise with the highlight of the 3 Queens in NY.

 

My goal now, is to complete a World Cruise...in two sessions.

 

In January, I cruise with QM to Sydney. Having paid double for single occupancy last time on QM, I realised that if I had an inside cabin, I could cross the Pacific and not have to leave the ship in Valparaiso. I will have a window...it overlooks the Atrium.

 

I spotted this thread and read it for some guidance as to whether i had done the right thing.

 

I will travel further with my money! I will grab the time and the moments and I don't think I will regret it.

I would have done the same!! What a wonderful trip you'll have - so envious!! Have a wonderful time :)

I got myself black on black Toms

This thread has opened our (RCCL, Celebrity and Princess) eyes to MSC as well! for those who have been on both Costa and MSC, how would you compare or rate them? [emoji41]

We sailed with Princess 4 years ago to Alaska and loved it! As others have said, look for itinerary first (we wanted Glacier Bay) and then go from there.

Sorry, I may have missed it, but is there a month/season of travel? We live in CT also and many of our best deals have been Caribbean cruises in April. I'd suggest flying from BDL to Orlando (Port Canaveral) or FLL for best airfares.

We have actually gotten balconies for $1000 on Royal Caribbean.

(We did Bermuda from NJ once and were surprised to find the cabins were much more expensive than what we were used to for Caribbean)

Happy searching! [emoji267][emoji41]

Thanks all! I'll try a few for our upcoming cruise next month!

I'm convinced! [emoji5]️ Any suggestions for where to get best prices for a few small/mediums to try? (have checked out TJ Maxx)

Thanks

We're booked for BDT for next month for the 4 hour your and I've always had a very prompt response from Anna - in fact emailed her a question this morning and got a reply within a couple of hours

For our upcoming cruise, we decided - based on what we had read from other folks' experiences on CC - not to risk a similar departure time and are staying over a night post-cruise. Hotels rates are pretty reasonable, we booked at Hotel Jazz.

Our RT air from BDL to BCN was consistently at about $1350 for October, honestly I had expected it would have been about $1000, so we kept looking.

We decided to take a look at Choice Air (RCCL) and, following suggestions on CC, called to speak to the rep and asked to book 2 one ways, which came to $901 RT on American [emoji108]🏼

Not sure if it's already been suggested, but you could also take a look at credit card promos which - depending on timing and promo - may give you enough for one RT ticket.

Creme brûlée [emoji18] as many nights as I can

Interesting - thanks for the info! We're going on our med cruise in a few weeks and was going to check those same places as we'll need about 650 in euros for our excursions. Unfortunately, it seems the great exchange rates of a few months ago are over (1.05!) [emoji57]

Thank you [emoji5]️ we'll be leaving in a month!