dejanewkath

We are currently residents of Patzcuaro Michoacan Mexico and will be on this transatlantic as well as the 9 night cruise throughout Europe that follows.

Normally we are on a different board but it seems to be fading a bit..so are trying out this one.

 

We hope to meet others from this forum on this cruise! We are leaving Mex on Wed,. 25th and will spend two nights at Radisson Colon prior to cruise. We have booked a taxi for three persons for $90 U.S.D., Pan City to Colon.

 

We are flying Mexico City to Fort Lauderdale and Fort Lauderdale to Colon on Condor Air. David and I are also bringing our friend Dolores as well.

 

Chuck

Chuck, have you looked into flying into Costa Rica? Way cheaper & shorter. Only $238 from PV with a lay over in Mexico City.

We just returned from a Caribbean cruise on the Monarch and I recall one crew member, at least, was from Bali working in one of the bars.

There is no need to speak Spanish on the ship as all announcements are made in Spanish and English, and occasionally, on our cruise, in Dutch and Portuguese too as we were travelling to Aruba and Curacao as well as Caracas where people from Brazil got on.

This was our fourth Pullamantur cruise and English has been spoken by staff on the ships, at least well enough to deal with anything you need.

Hi, we can't get an answer from our Travel agent, are tips included in our cruise price?

My wife and I decided if we use the pool area on the Getaway next May, that if we go to the pool area and the chair hogs have dominated the loungers, we will indiscriminately claim two loungers to our liking, that are only saved by pool towels, and remove those towels ourselves.

 

On any of the mainstream cruise lines, they have anti lounge saving policies. So, when it appears to be no loungers available, we believe that most are being saved against policy, and especially the ones being saved only by a pool towel, are available for the taking.

 

Harvey

I do the same thing at resorts. I would get especially mad at the AI when a server is delegated to an area, depends on his tips and all he has is chairs with towels until 2 in the afternoon. I just move the towels to the next chair.

If it is against policy, am not dong anything wrong.

I will not go into the casino if there is smoking. I will not go near it. The smell that lingers is disgusting. The damage the second hand smoke is proven. I can not believe they even still allow it in this day & age. It is a KNOWN carcinogen.

I am glad they stopped it on the balconies. On my last cruise one of the balcony tenants was a heavy smoker & it stunk up the entire passageway.

I know this battle has waged for years, but sorry smokers, you ARE infringing on OUR health. Take it to a section & keep it there, where it does not affect others.

As far as the casinos worrying about losing business, if Vegas survived, so will the cruise ships.

I took this cruise in April/May 2013 & it was $20

After full payment has been made, what can you get?

Thanks everyone. I have been under the perception that I had to be onboard 2 hours early at every port. Good to know!

I don't suppose they offer a reduced price for those who don't drink?

I love the appetizers of Tapenade & the Portobello mushrooms.

Yes, the August cruise is very high right now. I do not care about location. The stateroom is solely a place to sleep for me (& to get warm! So much A/C!). I am up early every day & hitting the port. This is a very port intensive itinerary.

So what is the chef's table ? Is there a cost?

So prices have not dropped at all on our cruise. Still pretty high ($300 pp more) compared to what I paid last year (same cruise). My thinking is after the 90 day pay in full period the prices are going to drop. The same June cruise dropped $500 less pp than what I am paying. I still have 5 days to cancel without penalty. My question to all of you seasoned cruisers; I have my airfare, going in advance for other travel. Should I cancel & hope to rebook if & when prices start to drop after 90 day full pay period? It is the Sept 27 Norwegian Grand Mediterranean.

Good morning,

I am looking at the chart for cabins on the NCL site. Room 4498 looks twice as large as the other rooms. Could this be? If so, why hasn't someone snatched it up?

I am looking at Spirirt cabin choices. Room 4498 looks twice as big as the others. Could this be & if so, why has no one else chosen it?

There is no decent coffee (if you are a coffee 'snob' like me) on the ship, unless you pay for a latte. I bring my own French press & coffee & Starbucks VIA packs. Even the coffee from the 'cafe' isn't all the great IMO.

From the land of Seattle, I'll BMOC (Bring My Own Coffee)

Thank you! So the prices are all pretty close. So the perks, you just call until you get an agent willing to offer extra stuff? Or does this happen closer to sail dates?

I have not been in that type of room, but yes, ship coffee is horrible. I now bring a stainless steel French press and VIA packets from Starbucks.

We are on the Spirit. All good answers though for next time, diff cruise!

But of course!

What we did/what we are doing this time

Athens - DIY - We walked to the train station & went to the Acropolis. Go early! Lines get long. Before entering walk to the edge & stand on the rocks & just breath in the view of the city. WOW!

Spent a few hours there. Walked the back way out to find a place for lunch. Did a little shopping. Don't miss the iced cappuccino. VERY different from here & SOOO good. Getting THREE this time!

Doing the same thing this time.

Kusadasi, Turkey - different port - did not do Ephesus last time & regretted it. Definitely doing this time. From this port I believe you are able to do Ephesus & the bazaar. I also believe this is a port you can DIY. Go to the meet & greet 1st day at sea, find some people you like or make some acquaintances on the roll call & share a taxi. MUCH cheaper.

Istanbul, Turkey - another DIY port for me. We walked to the Mosque, stopped at a great sweet & coffee shop on a triangulated corner (Clean potty break as well). Another port you can share a cab if you like, but the walk is doable. IMO, stay away from the Grand Bazaar, all knock offs, I saw fake silver & WAY overpriced. I will do Spice Market & there were lots of great shops outside of Grand Bazaar. I bought 20 Pashminas for my store. The Blue Mosque was ok, I want to do the Hagia Sophia this time but again, go early. The lines to this can be brutal. Dress appropriately. No shorts, knees & shoulders must be covered, bring a shawl or use theirs. On the way back to the ship the fog was coming in & the hills across the water looked like a floating city. Have your camera ready because it goes away quickly!

Mykonos, Greece - Although pretty, a little boring for me. I am not a beach person. We went ATVing ($25). Roads are very narrow. We did see some pretty doors that go to nowhere, some farm life, some windmills. After a few hours I was sort of done, and COLD! Bring a light jacket or shawl. It was very pretty though just my least anticipated port to go back to. I plan to possibly rent a scooter this time (my traveling companion is 64!). It is cheap, about $25, the gas tank will be EMPTY! Fill right away. If on a Sunday the gas stations close at 1 or 2. When we were done we walked a little & did a little shopping. There are some lovely beaches if that is your thing.

Naples, Italy - We did 3 tours with Joe Banana Limos, I highly recommend them. If you do 3 ports you save 50 euros per port. I will be DIY for everything but Florence & maybe Rome as they are so far from port. I recommend this also. We did the tour to Pompeii, Amalfi Coast & Sorrento. It was lovely.

This time I am DIY. Walking through Naples, I want to see 'The Veiled Christ' statue. We will walk to the train station & take it to Herculean. From there if time we will go to Vesuvius or to the next train stop that looks interesting. I also LOVE small villages, so we will see.

ROME - ROME - my favorite! Athens was my close 2nd. We will be flying into Rome for 3 days first so still not sure what we will be doing here. What we DID do was through Joe Banana - The best of Rome tour. The Vatican Museum (couldn't do Basilica because the Pope was there that day). Next was the Coliseum, then the Trevvi Fountain, we saw the Forum from above, drove past many sites, went into a few others. This is a WHIRLWIND tour seeing much! I loved it. Since I will be on the ground for a few days I might opt for Tivoli Gardens. Since this port is so far away, you really do need transportation. There is a train, but people we knew did this & the return was VERY crowded, hot & stifling.

Florence - We met Joe Banana Mercedes Limo & went straight to Pisa. I did not want to do this but everyone else (private tour of 8 I put together on roll call) did. It was beautiful. AND it was an anniversary of Lamborghini & we saw about 300 of them parading through! Next we went to the Academia for David. A rather small museum but beautiful sculptures including the main attraction, David. Then to Florence for lunch & shopping. It is a lovely city & had the best leather prices of all the cities in Italy we visited.

We will do close to the same, not sure about Pisa, substitute the Uffizi for the Academia.

Provence (Toulon), France - DIY day again. We started to walk to some park with a friend. Gave up after a half hour of nothingness. Went back to street market. I loved street markets. Not a lot to do. Might do a tour into Provence this time. I don't drink so no wine country for me. I love lavender so see if I can find a field!

I did not care for Barcelona - But I think after 3 weeks we were just tired & tired of spending money. I did not find good food until last night (3 days here). Others will differ with me here. My experience in talking about Barcelona is people hate it or love it. I did not plan out Barcelona the way I did everything else. So there you go.

So there you go. About as close to a review as I have ever written ! WHEW!

Years ago (1980s), my wife cruised on the "old" NCL. She did 2 cruises for 11 days total. When she joined Latitudes in 2004, she wrote to them and included proof of those cruises. She received full credit. Around 2 years ago, there was some Latitudes activity for us (maybe for everyone - not sure) which resulted in her losing the credit. We are currently waiting for a response from Latitudes looking to restate the credit. We submitted the request along with proof about 6 weeks ago. Still no answer. We leave on a cruise in about 2 weeks. The extra would put us in "gold". Oh well!!

I also had past cruises from long ago. I was told when they 'restructured' the plan, everyone started out as bronze. I currently have 19 points, right on the cusp of Silver. I am going on my third 'current' NCL cruise in September & won't hit Silver until AFTER the points post. Sort of frustrating. I had to write them many times in the beginning to get my accounts merged. Not nice.

We are considering a 3rd person for our 12 night med cruise. How are the beds set up for 3 single women? Is someone going to have to sleep in an upper bunk? I am the youngest at 52 & nighttime potty breaks won't be cool if I have to climb up & down! I do not spend a lot of time in my room so I am not too concerned with space, other than maybe closet. 2 of us are VERY quick in the shower & getting ready. We are looking at a large picture window room.

Any input would be appreciated.

April/May is a Fabulous time to go! Weather was amazing. There are still crowds but not too bad.

The entertainment was OK. I thought the entertainment on the Pearl in Alaska was better. I walked out of a few shows. But then, I was up early & out ALL day on amazing excursions in Europe, but Alaska the ports were not my favorite. I'm originally from Seattle so to me it was like looking out my back door.

This is an amazing itinerary, I am doing it again this Sept with a friend.

Great review, thank you.

As far as

'I wondered if us noticing a difference in the level (not quality) of service was because we had a different cabin level. This is something we will take note of on our next couple of cruises.'

I had been upgraded from cheap-o room to large picture window on 5 th deck. We saw our guy many times a day & tipped him extra. I think it just depends on who your person is, how outgoing they are, where your room is located (we were by the linen room I think).

I too am not a partier & look for quiet spots. I did not know about steam rooms & might seek out on my med cruise in Sept on at sea days.

Agree with periodically checking prices... I was on the NCL site a few weeks ago "pricing" our upcoming trip & found that applying the "Military" discount in lieu of AARP saved nearly $500pp. In addition, we also picked up a $100 OBC as a Latitudes bonus.

 

I copied screenshots from NCL's web site to an email, which I sent to our TA... the next day, I received the updated confirmation... and still kept the $300 OBC from the TA!!!

I check all 3 discounts, AARP, Military & Latitudes & usually only the AARP comes up. How come? Do they pop up closer to sail date?