Kaptivate

Can you tell me when you did this tour through Shore Excursioneer did you have to take the water taxi from Belize City to Caye Caulker or the boat you got on in Belize city was the one that took you to all the snorkel sites? The issue I am having is the Carnival always stays on ship time which is the time of the departure port (Port Canaveral). So when we are suppose to be in port 8am-5pm that is really 6am-3pm local time. The first water taxi leaves at 8am local/10am ship time which greatly reduces our time for this tour.

We tendered from our ship to Belize city. Then we met our guide and he walked us over to a group of people and after some time waiting we walked about half a mile over to a small dock where we got on a small boat. That boat took us to the different snorkel sights and then to a lunch spot. Then they took us back to Belize city where we walked back to the pier and tendered back to our ship. On our excursion there were people from several different ships. One couple was so worried about the time that they literally ran back to the pier because they were afraid the ship would leave without them. Their ship was the last to leave I believe and no one else from their ship seemed concerned.

 

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We are cruising out of New Orleans in June. We are looking to stay 2 nights pre-cruise in NO. I have never been to NO, and therefore want to experience the culture, food and Bourbon Street. There will be college students in the group, therefore we are looking for a nice hotel on / near Bourbon Street that is economical.

Any suggestions????

We stayed at two different hotels in new Orleans. Hotel le Marias and place d'armes. Both good locations. Place d'armes was cheaper but not as fancy, older and not very updated but clean and we enjoyed our night there. The other was very modern.

 

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How did you get in touch with them once you got into port? I am so glad you had a good time! We are scheduled with them in about two weeks. Any info would be appreciated.

We followed the instructions to the tickets we printed. There was a man waiting for us and he walked us to where we needed to be. You have to walk a little bit because they are not allowed to set up inside the port area because they don't work with the cruise ship. Don't get nervous, it all worked out great.

 

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Is this the same boat as in https://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2577309?

Same boat, very different experience.

We did not use the laundry service.

 

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I will be in the haven next week, can you tell me what day/time the haven cocktail party with senior staff was? Also how were the butler and concierge attitude wise?

 

Thank you!

The cocktail party was the first sea day at 6:30 I believe. We did not attend because we had prior plans.

Every single person we interacted with had a smile on their face at all time. Never an issue.

 

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I've heard about Haven snacks... and having the fridge emptied. Do you REQUEST the snacks, or do they just come? If you wanted soda in the fridge (diet pepsi), is it included with the Haven, or is it a per-can charge?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and experiences!

I did request to have the fridge emptied. And yes you can request snacks, we were just very lucky to have a butler that picked up on the things we liked so we didn't have to request much at all.

We don't drink soda so I don't know how that would work. But there is a haven courtyard attendant that will bring you drinks from the bar such as soda when you are relaxing in the courtyard

 

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Back from our most recent cruise, a little under the weather so this will be fairly short but feel free to ask questions and I will answer what I can.

Everyone always wants to know if the Haven is worth the price. For us, the answer is 100% yes. Our cruise was not without issues, but everything was taken care of with extreme speed and friendly smiles. Something was loose in the wall behind our bed, banging something terrible through the night, fixed.

We ordered a dvd one night, dvd player stopped working mid movie, fixed. For some reason we were charged for our dinner at cagneys one night even though we had SDP, fixed.

Priority disembark at the ports is just an amazing thing, especially on days when tendering doesn't go very smoothly.

I asked our amazing butler Richard for a pitcher of ice water and sliced lemons at the start of the cruise and I never had to ask for a refill. If he saw me or my husband snacking on something he would bring an entire plate of said item to our room. The oatmeal cookies were my favorite, for my husband it was the yummy bears. We ended up with a full bowl of gummy bears in our room for all 9 days.

On our last sea day back, my husband fell ill. He ended up needing to go to the medical facility. Me being the worrisome wife I refused to leave his side for quite some time, Richard came down with breakfast and lunch menus and made sure I wanted for nothing during this time.

We really had an amazing trip, the only reason that I call out the little things that went wrong such as the DVD player is to let people know, if there is an issue, mention it to someone in a polite way. Amazing what that will do sometimes.

This isn't meant to be a full on review of our entire cruise, just a quick recap of our experience. Hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

 

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I saw that one and was wondering how it was. Who ended up being the tour company?

 

 

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Splash wave tours was who did ours. It was a great deal of fun. It seemed that not many tours for the other snorkeling offered had the required number of people signed up so they were instead put in our group. Which was probably a good thing or we wouldn't have had enough people either. We had a small boat of people, maybe 20? And that was with the mixed groups.

 

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Hello all! I am wanting to do an excursion that goes to both Hol-Chan and Shark Ray alley and I was wondering if anyone had good recommendations? I was looking at coral breeze but noticed they only go near Hol-Chan. Any help would be appreciated! Thank you!

 

 

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Did this with shore excursioneer just last week.

 

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For those of you who have been on the pearl recently, have they updated the televisions to having the pay per view options? We will be in the haven and had heard pay per view is an included perk.

 

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Going on first cruise in a couple weeks and wondering what the best thing is for motion sickness on the ship. We are mid ship. I don't usually get too motion sick however I want to be prepared. I have heard it is better to start taking whatever you use a few days before getting on the ship. Any and all suggestions appreciated!

Look up sea bands. They are things you wear on your wrists and work great.

 

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I understand, we sail in haven and it is only two of us so the perks work out well for us. The other promotions switch in and out but dining and drinks is pretty standard.

 

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Drink package and dining package is for the first two guests in room.

 

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Thanks for this post, actually reminded me to purchase insurance for our upcoming trip. Best to be covered just in case.

 

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Thank you guys. We bid low, if we get it great, if not we will still have an amazing trip.

 

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Thinking about bidding for a deluxe owners suite with upgrade advantage. If we were to get accepted would we get the three bottles of alcohol or is that only for those who booked it outright? Thanks for any insight.

 

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I am looking for recent menus from specialty dining venues on the pearl. We are debating if we want to do specialty dining every night of our cruise. Thanks in advance.

 

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Would I be eligible for the onboard credit if my cruise is before final payment date ,and is one of the cruises applicable to the promotion, but my category is currently sold out?

 

 

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I was not able to get any credit added for my sailing because our category is sold out.

 

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Thank you for the pictures of the courtyard. Looking forward to our first haven experience in December. Looks like the courtyard will be a nice play to relax on sea days.

 

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I reserved our next cruise on the pearl in the haven with nothing more than our cruise next certificate. Reservation was made in October of 2016 for a sailing in December of 2017. If they have changed they way this works I have not been informed.

 

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Following since I am also curios to see the changes.

 

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It is a mistake on the website. Feel free to call NCL or the cruise next line if you wish, but according to the website, the rest of my deposit was due in August of last year. I made a frantic call to NCL about it in July and they assured me the website just doesn't update that way. But as I said, if it eases your thoughts, give them a call.

 

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Thank you for this. Not the suite we will be in, but it is nice to at least be able to see some of the changes that will be in our room. Love the new colors. So different from our last cruise on the pearl!

 

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We did the two bedroom family suite on the pearl for alaska. A wonderful room. Priority embarkation and disembark is really nice. Breakfast and lunch in cagneys is now something we cannot do without. Butler service is really nice because they keep you stocked with lots of snacks. Room service will not come with the $7.95 charge. Also you don't pay the gratuity on the beverage package that comes with the room like you would if you choose it for a promo in a lesser room. Also, the bathroom is amazing. We will be on the pearl again in december. Lovely ship.

 

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I couldn't have said this better myself. I 100% agree, I never thought I'd fall for cruising (family dragged me a few years ago) but I really enjoyed the Haven on the Jewel and we're booked for the Breakaway in March. The casual "ship within a ship" with tons for the kids to do is a winner. And I know this sounds horrible but I cannot do lines/crowds.

It doesn't sound horrible, it's honest. We book the haven because we like having a big shower and a separate living room area. And my husband cannot stand waiting in lines. Haha.

 

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