BirdTravels

A couple of weeks ago at GSC, we were told by the ShoreEx desk that clam shell could no longer be pre-reserved and that you had to do it on the island. "o.k." says The Bird. When we got to the island, there were people with their yellow ShoreEx tickets for clam shells there.

Hmmm.... a sudden turn of health is one thing. A baby would have been well known at time of final payment when you could have canceled with no loss of money.

This is business. They are trained to make a sale. By placing a courtesy hold, they create a sense of urgency... which is Marketing 101. I had a courtesy hold resulting from an inquiry last week. I paid my deposit and booked the cruise resulting from the courtesy hold.

The website is working correctly. Not a glitch. The $50 is for shore excursions. The Kayak or a Clam Shell is considered a rental and the $50 does not apply to rentals. That change was made after the pandemic.

Yup. We have been through bag searches disembarking in Bermuda multiple times. And there are always piles of contraband foods sitting there. Cartons of milk. Piles of fresh fruit. Piles of half-eaten breakfast. Imagine if they decided to arrest and fine everyone carrying prohibited items off the ship. And there is always a big pile of bags and bottles of pink sand at the bottom of the gangway in Bermuda from people trying to carry it back onto the ship. When we were in Tortola a couple of weeks ago, the lady in front of us was stopped with a bag full of rocks she was trying to take home with her. Cozumel is another port where they frequently search for contraband food.

Do you think that the terminal will be completed on time? Both the new RCCL and NCL terminals were [significantly] late.

It is really simple. Don't log on to NCL.COM when doing random searches. You are inviting calls to help you finalize your booking. It your action that results in NCL calling you. Just search anonymously and they have no way of contacting you.

The theater staging is very organized. The purpose is to hold people inside, out of the elements and not crowding the dock until their tour buses are available and the local tour guides are ready for them. There are many small ports where there is not enough space for all of the buses for all of the tours to be there at the same time. If your meeting point is in the Theater, there is no, zero, none benefit being in the HAVEN. You still have to stage in the theater with the steerage class passengers. You get no preferential treatment. You will still need to follow the ShoreEx guides from the theater to the gangway and out onto the dock. You have a meeting time. Be there at your meeting time. Don't be in the toilet at your meeting time. That is a no brainer. I used to tell my kids that if they need a toilet, use it before leaving the room. It is really sad that some adults don't do the same... and they expect the entire tour to wait for them because they are too important to use the toilet before their meeting time.

What did your email say? Maybe you should take it at face value.

Carnival does what NCL should have done: https://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/cruises/2023/11/16/cbd-gummies-carnival-cruise-lifetime-ban/71611590007/ Royal Caribbean: https://www.royalgazette.com/court/news/article/20181005/american-woman-has-cannabis-on-cruise-ship/

Carnival provides a bit more rationale behind drug prohibition: Carnival recognizes that some states in the U.S. have legalized the use of recreational and/or medical marijuana. However, cruise lines are required to follow U.S. federal law, which strictly prohibits possession and use of marijuana and other illegal substances. Consequently, marijuana, including marijuana for medical purposes is not allowed on board. Under U.S. federal law, all cruise terminals in the U.S. are federal facilities and, along with our ships, are drug-free zones. Customs and law enforcement authorities in U.S. homeports and foreign destinations are present and have the right to conduct routine and random inspections with the assistance of narcotics-sniffing dogs. There is zero tolerance for possession of narcotics (which includes marijuana, even in those states where marijuana has been decriminalized). All guests and their personal items may be subject to screening by law enforcement and any guest found in possession of illegal drugs and other prohibited items may be subject to fines, arrest, and denial of boarding without refund or compensation. This is beyond Carnival’s control. Furthermore, Carnival reserves the right to deploy narcotics-sniffing dogs in terminals and on board our ships in order to enforce our obligations to uphold federal law.

Whether or not the guy was a cancer patient is totally irrelevant. It is against the law (cancer or not) and against the cruise line rules (cancer or not). The guy was fined and should have been thrown off the ship and should have been deported from the country.

As they should... since it is against the law.

Seascape

I am always one to "help improve" service on a ship. And I am never shy about going directly to the Hotel Director should their be an issue such as the "miscommunication". I would have asked the YC Director for a meeting with the Hotel Director immediately. And if they did not comply (you gave them a chance) go directly to the Hotel Director. I would add that we are MSC Diamond, Royal Caribbean Diamond, NCL Diamond, and Cunard Platinum level. So, we do a fair amount of cruising (6-7 cruises a year). And don't want to go home angry.

They are not basically a passport. They are useless (other than a form of ID) unless you are crossing the Canadian or Mexican border by land. If you got stranded in a Caribbean country, you could not use them to fly home to the US. If you got stranded in Canada, you could not use them to fly home to the US.

On our Alaskan cruise, there was a note in the cruise compass and a card.

Since the presence of drugs puts the cruise line at risk, NCL should have packed all of their belongings, and thrown them off the ship. Lifetime no-sail ban.

So,,, when and if the port call is cancelled, you will get notified by the cruise line. How can you expect the call center to "know" something that hasn't been formally communicated to anyone. Now, if you took the same tone to the call center rep as you do in this post, the call center should just say "no information available" and hang up. They are there to help, not get a lot of abuse.

While we love forward facing suites on NCL small ships (we always book them), the forward facing CBS on the Prima was a let down. It's is a little, narrow walkway (not balcony). The hull balcony is similar to NCL small ships, but rather than sweeping the wind up and over you, it just amplifies the wind hitting you from the front and back. We really could not find a good way to enjoy the balcony anytime the ship is underway. The suite next to us at least had a plexiglass wind break. Note that the interior of the room is different on different floors based on the ship's structure. So, if you have looked at YouTube videos of this room, ours was different than those. I think that we lost some sq footage based on the room configuration.

If I don't get a free at sea alcoholic drink package, can I sub in the Starbucks one with free at sea? Or is it only an add-on? It can not be substituted. You pay full retail: $12.95 * 10 days = 129.50 + 20% gratuity = $155.40 I don't drink that much and the 300 tip charge seems a lot to me for 10 days if I'm only getting bar drinks a couple of times a day. Let's say the average bar drink costs $11 + 20% gratuity = $13.20. If you have 2 drinks a day, you will exceed the $21.80 cost of the drinks package. Do you pay in cash on board the ship? if so what currency? If I buy OBC, can it be applied to everything on the ship including food and drink? Can I tip the staff with USD? The ship is cashless. You charge everything to your room account. Most people settle their room account to a credit card. You can settle your account in cash on the last night of the cruise. Note: The currency of the ship is USD and there will be an unfavorable exchange if you use Canadian dollars to settle your account. If the price drops after booking, will they give us credit or refund? You can rebook (technically a cancel and rebook) any time up to final payment. After final payment, you will pay a penalty. And finally if I wanted to upgrade, how would I do that? Phone it in or online? You can rebook (technically a cancel and rebook) any time up to final payment. After final payment, you will pay a penalty. You can not change your reservation online - you would need to talk to NCL. I know I can phone in the questions but I want to book online because I have the Amex 250 credit deal and it specifies using the ncl.com. I don't want to sit through upselling (do the CSRs do that?)and I don't find the website that detailed. The call center don't upsell, but they will talk to you about your options.

The ferry belongs to NCL and is only operating for your ship. Times are adjusted based on your ship's schedule. This week's itinerary is a one-off with a different schedule than normal.

MDR?

Feel sorry for the crew having to be out just in case someone shows up.

Yup. Back in 2019, they removed a whole bunch of rooms to build the Observation Lounge. They put some back. And they used the Galaxy Pavilion space to build a Thermal Suite (the ship never had one because there is no interest for such things in Asia).