IrieBajan54

On 2/17/2023 at 9:15 AM, little britain said:

@elbodans hi - can you advise how much a cab was? Did you barter?! Fixed fare? And how did you pay 💰? Thanks x 

I was in Cartagena last December. Four of us (solos), left the terminal where organized taxis were and walked a short distance to where the independent taxis were located. One guy in our group spoke a little Espanol. He haggled with a few and settled with one driver for $10 to the Old City. So, it was $2.50 per person. It was the same price with a different driver on the way back. The second driver had the AC blasting which was really nice.

This is a hilarious thread. I hope it keeps on going and going. For years, I have always taken a few Ziplock bags on cruises. What I do beginning the first morning in the Lido, is to take a bowl and make trail mix based on what is available: walnuts, almond slivers, pecans, Craisins, raisins and etc. I walk the covered bowl back to the cabin and pour in a Ziplock. Comes in very handy when I need a snack or if I decide to catch a soccer or NFL football game in the cabin. I don't care for comfort foods like wings, pizza and most fried items but for those who do, just ignore the naysayers and get your snacks.

This thread reminds me of an NCL cruise I was on and sitting at dinner with a bunch of solos. So this one guy was full so he decided on taking his unfinished entree back to his cabin. I asked him how he was going to heat it up at midnight since cabins don't have microwaves. His reply was "that's what hairdryers are for!"

5 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

I had a very unpleasant conversation with the CN lady on our Prima Oct 31st cruise.  

 

She had acknowledge my Diamond status and clearly knew I wasn't a rookie NCL cruiser, yet when I said I wanted to buy only two certificates she got very insistent about me buying eight  (You have probably heard the sales pitch.)    I again said, "I understand the value and I always use CN to book but  I just need to buy two on this cruise".  She was very snarky with me and continued to push.  I finally said I have to meet my husband and will come back later.  

 

Why couldn't she just sell me two?  After all of the covid cancellations I'm sure many of us have had a supply of CN certs to re-use.  I already had three other cruises booked and just wanted two more CNs for a future cruise.  I should have taken note of her name.  I think she was a senior CN agent but not sure if she was the manager.

I never buy more than two and the same thing happened to me. I can understand if they were dealing with Bronze members but why do they think upper level members would be easy prey for the buy eight gimmick? The comeback by some to just fill out the form and drop it off should not excuse their snarky attitude. Plus the couple of times it happened, I was actually at the desk for other information and figured why not go ahead and buy the CN the same time.

On 1/20/2023 at 7:12 PM, farmecologist said:

Wow...so punish the worker bee employees when the entire decision was from upper management? How nice of you...👎

So why should it be a concern for guests instead of management who hired them?

You may have to spend extra time on the slots. As an alternative, is there anyway you could chat up some of your fellow gamblers to do a trade? You could buy what chips they need and they would hand you the cash.

Wouldn't surprise me! I was on cruise #5 (NYC to Galveston) and stuff was already broken. As for lack of bar ingredients, checkout the threads about alcohol brands not available and other cutbacks. Par for course or sign of the times for NCL.

3 hours ago, wolft927 said:

Look at the studio cabins on NCL ships. 

I cruise solo and the Studio cabins are never cheaper than an inside cabin. I take an inside cabin every time (more space) and sometimes got lucky with a balcony. I always book Sail-Away rate:: don't care where my cabin is located and  FAS is not even on my radar.

I agree with OP that decent solo rates are hard to get now. I enjoyed many last minute bookings up until COVID. A month before the shutdown, I cruised my favorite ship, the Gem 11 days in a balcony for $824 base fare.

55 minutes ago, kitkat343 said:

Am I correct in my belief (and I'm not sure so don't do anything until someone else on this board confirms it) that you can cancel a flight 24 hours after you book it without penalty?  If so, I'd book one of the 1000 flights just to have a backup and hold it for a day while you wait to see if Southtwest cancels your flight and insurance would cover the difference (because by the time Southwest cancels your flight there might not be any flights left available, and I'd hate for you to not have a ticket if your insurance would have covered the difference in the cost).  

i think the refund policy pertains to flights booked more than 7 days before departure.

I got off the Bliss this past Saturday (12/17) and we met in the Studio Lounge every evening except the first and last nights of a 15 day cruise. 

To the comment on size for a studio cabin, I am 6' and I found the toilet stall on the Epic uncomfortable. Breakaway wasn't much better and the oversized bed took up way too much room. I think big/obese passengers would have an issue or simply just suck it up. Since those two experiences, I book inside cabins (more spacious & cheaper) and sometimes balconies.

1 hour ago, KyleClark said:

I'm onboard and I just spoke to the cruisenext people.  They are using some fast talking to make it sound like you are getting a deal. I told them I want to buy 2 certificates and want the obc to be applied to the cost (I will not be using the obc) then they said we will send you home with a$1000 then. I think she meant she will give me 4 certificates if I'm not going to use the obc. I have to go back down and challenge them on making this confusing so they get an extra sale.

CruiseNext reps most likely have sales goals to retain employment. These reps remind me of scammers with the all the trickery/gimmicks.

12 hours ago, MarkusToe said:

Today disembarkation.....,in theory

Plan to be off ship 8 AM.

Now its 1010 AM .

3 other groups to call upfront ours.

Total process stopped by customs, due to the big zoo in arrival hall. 

Wow! I was on your cruise and did self disembarkation. I got to the curb at 7:20 a.m. waiting for my ride. I was surprised that so few were leaving at that time. Your pic is what I am accustom to on many cruises, especially NYC.

7 hours ago, Goldconnection said:

On board the BLISS right now. Up this morning bright and early thinking we would get through custom and get back on the ship for the last leg of our b2b2b. We reported to the Maltings at 8:45 as instructed. It is now 12:25 and we just got word we are now being moved to the Manhattan to hurry up and wait. Still have to make it through customs. Ship has to zero out before embarkation can take place. 

Issue…guest dragging their feet getting off. 12:45 guest still on ship. Now they have move about 11 of us from the Manhattan us to the corridor of the terminal. No chairs. 
 

Just heard there are still two passengers on board. 😡

I got off the Bliss this morning about 7:20. There was no line on the ship like previous cruises and the walk all the way to the customs officers was uncongested. The lines were about 7 people deep at passport check.

I prefer how it was done when I got off the Prima in Galveston in October with NCL personnel doing facial recognition check on the ship. We then proceeded to walk through the terminal and no customs officers did any checking.

It was a good cruise on the Bliss but now NCL has discontinued providing smoked salmon in the Garden Cafe for breakfast. According to the restaurant manager, this change will be fleetwide. Great bunch of solos. Henry, the host was a lot of fun.

Even though there are some ports I don't care for, I generally get off to stretch my legs. I spend too much time on my rear end while onboard anyway.

Doesn't surprise me! I was on the Star and found it a very tired ship. It was a waste of money, so have no intention of ever booking it again.

It's back on my account but I don't go on cruises shorter than 10 days so it's automatically useless for me.

19 minutes ago, jpcdds6 said:

I liked the Star. Had an Aft Penthouse Suite, and the staff was great. What happened?

Don't worry! It's like that old saying to each his own. I just found the ship old and dreary.

Gem x7

Pearl x4

Jade x3

Jewel

Epic x3

Breakaway x2

**Star

Sun

Joy

Prima

** Never again!

2 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

For both, you go to the Cruise Next desk as soon as you embark and sign up. First come first serve. 

In my case, I get specialty restaurant and show reservations settled first. Then I head for the CruiseNext Desk. On my Joy and Prima cruises over the the past two months, I enjoyed Wines Around the World tastings.

On 10/28/2022 at 8:15 PM, PistolPete13 said:

- The interior of the ship is a bit of a mess in terms of just traffic flow.  I hated having to walk by people in the 8th floor Starbucks, or the casino, or the buffet, etc. just to get somewhere.  Want to goto the gym?  Walk past the spa peeking at everyone there getting treatments.   

- The signs on the floors listing the cabin numbers were not visible until you walked into the hallway.  And 50% of the time (or more) it turned out I guessed the wrong side of the ship!  And this is without any drinking.  

I never used the elevators for the entire cruise. I was on Deck 9 and I walked the stairs always. I never figured out whether to turn right or left for my cabin. I think I guessed wrong 90% of the time. 

23 hours ago, CruizinSusan70 said:

Thanks for your brief overview of the 12 day report from NYC to Galveston.  Since you did not mention it, by any chance did you attempt to see any of the shows at Syd's?

Nope! Never went to Syd's except on the first day to sign up for the 3 shows I mentioned which I saw in the Prima Theater.

1 minute ago, SeaShark said:

 

I can only go by what information you shared...the rest I have to infer. So I guessed wrong on how the conversation started. Just like how you guessed wrongly that I'd be surprised that people converse while in the hot tubs.

 

Perhaps if that is your line in the sand, you might want to be consider being more clear in the future. Had you bothered to mention the hot tub conversation in your initial post, then I wouldn't have had to come to a conclusion in the first place.

 

However, it is still odd that people feel the need to give you information on something that you yourself stated that you did not use onboard.

 

 

Come on, the bolded is silly. I am not a gambler but on the same cruise, I talked with a Casinos at Sea cruiser in the hot tub. Among other things, on one occasion, he told me that so far, he was a little ahead. On another occasion, he told me he lost $400 the night before and he was kind of sad. Even though I don't believe in a game of chance, I find tidbits like this very interesting ... what makes people tick ... what they enjoy or don't.

A little feedback from the 10/15 cruise.

We had good weather pretty much the whole cruise so cruisers were spread out. Prima's design works best on warm/hot weather cruises.

I booked 5 days before embarkation and NCL assigned me to an accessible cabin. It was the most spacious inside cabin I've ever occupied. On 3 of the 12 days, there was limited flooding in the bathroom due to how it is designed for the handicapped and how it drains.

I only attended 3 shows and all were in the Prima Theater (Noise, Price is Right and Summer). Good attendance but they were not sold out. Some scattered  seats on deck 7 but more availability in the balcony on deck 8. Stopped by the Pemrose Atrium on different evenings when a duo was performing and there were no vacant seats.

Seating for breakfast and lunch during peak times in the buffet was very limited. However, there was a sign saying that Palomar was available for the overflow.

I ate breakfast in Hudson's one morning and there were plenty of tables available. Hudson's is definitely the most beautiful NCL restaurant I have been in and some of us solos ate dinner there several nights. It is gorgeous with floor to ceiling windows and panoramic view. At night, the pretty light fixtures reflect in the windows giving off a Christmas look. 

One more thing on restaurants. I was sharing Latitude dinners with another solo since there was no restriction yet. On the night we ate at Le Bistro, we showed up at the restaurant 45 mins. early because the solo gathering was already over. The hostess had no problem seating us right away. On another night, we had a reservation for 6:45 at Onda. Two other solos had an 8:00 p.m. reservation. We decided to eat together if they had a table for 4. Went over at 6:30 and was immediately seated together. 

3 minutes ago, SeaShark said:

 

You don't do water slides and drops...nothing wrong with that, of course, but why would multiple people just walk up to you just to tell you whether or not the slide was operational? Kind of like telling someone with no kids that the Splash Academy is closed.

I have read many of your posts and this is your typical modus operandi. You weren't on the cruise but you came to the conclusion that other cruisers "walked up to me ..." To help you out, I spent several days in the covered hot tub near Waves Bar. You would obviously be surprised that cruisers converse with each other in the hot tubs.

2 hours ago, RVACruiser43 said:

Everyone has been very quiet recently.  I have a friend who claims there are some posts with damages on the ship. Cracked slides, Cracked Ocean walk glass, cracked mirrors.  Anyone have any info on what is happening?  Makes me think this is the Enterprise-A at the beginning of Star Trek V  Yikes!  Or is it fake news?

I was on the 10/15 sailing. At the Waves Bar, five (5) of the bar stools were broken. They were wrapped in yellow caution tape. Furthermore, there are only 6 elliptical machines in the Fitness Center. Four were out of order. I don't do water slides and drops but was told by a few cruisers that the The Drop was out of order.

Norwegian Getaway

November 28 - December 8

10 days Caribbean (Port Canaveral round trip)

No single supplement!

Sail Away Inside $549 plus $177 port/taxes

Sail Away Balcony $799 plus $177 port/taxes