The Traveling Man

I think the Valet requires your flight number so they can get the bags on the correct flight for you. Flying standby might not work with them.

Sorry, I must have misunderstood. I thought you meant that you were traveling between the cruise terminal and the Hilton. The only tracks I'm familiar with are those between the Hilton and the river. If you were coming from the airport, I'm not sure why your taxi would need to cross any tracks to get to the entrance of the Hilton.

You can walk through the River Walk Mall from the Julia Street cruise terminal to the Hilton without needing to go outside. We have done it several times and no access card was needed to enter the walkway to the Hilton.

We have never used the Valet program ourselves, but we have heard great things about. It's convenient, inexpensive, and reliable. We usually spend a day or two in Seattle before or after the cruise, so the Metro between the airport and downtown usually works out best for us, but I agree that the Valet is a great way to go for many.

Let me guess - Djamel?

2300 / 3100 = 74%

Ben, your recollection of the Copenhagen to Southampton cruise is different from mine. Most of that cruise was in Norway and most days it was either too cold, too windy, or too rainy to make use of the outdoor seating at the food hall, the buffet, or the specialty restaurants. Especially in the food hall, the ship design relies heavily on outdoor seating to provide adequate space for the expected number of passengers who wish to eat there. I don't recall the precise number of passengers on that voyage, but it seemed like it was more than 50% capacity. I do recall the absolute cluster flop of a mess upon disembarking in Southampton. Much of the problem could be attributed to UK Customs, but the Prima crew seemed to be doing nothing to alleviate the situation. I do agree with you that the observation lounge is woefully undersized for a ship with that many passengers. Several of the venues, such as the internet cafe which you mentioned, are shoehorned into odd nooks and crannies.

Thank you all for your assistance. I submitted my request for matching status on Wednesday evening and received a reply by today, less than 24 hours later. My Diamond status with the NCL Latitudes program translates to Gold status with MSC. Now I just need to browse the MSC website to learn what perks that level provides.

Thank you.

Sorry if this has been covered before, but I wasn't able to find the answer by searching this forum. I have heard that MSC will match the status level of other cruise lines' "frequent floater" programs and honor that status with the benefits or perks of the Voyager program. How does that work? Can someone direct me to information on the MSC website that mentions the terms and conditions for matching? Is it a one time benefit, or will MSC continue to honor my NCL Diamond status for as long as I choose to sail with MSC? TIA.

Get the name of the staff member, particularly if they are a manager or an officer, go to the Guest Service Desk, and report the incident. If they choose to do nothing about it and you believe that your cruise experience is being diminished by someone smoking or vaping near you, then your alternative would be to ask for a reduction in your daily service charge. If the staff is failing to provide an expected service, such as enforcing the rules regarding smoking, then you may choose to reward (or rather NOT reward) their service appropriately.

NCL's terms and conditions, as listed on their website, specifically prohibit vaping in most areas of the ship. If someone started vaping in a restaurant near me, I would ask the staff to remind the offender of the published rules. Smoking, including cigars, pipe, electronic cigarettes and vapor smoking devices, is not permitted in or near venues serving food, the jogging track, outdoor sporting venues, children's pool areas, Vibe Beach Club, Posh Beach Club or The Waterfront.

We were on the Sky last month and ate breakfast at the buffet about half of the mornings. Smoked salmon was available for breakfast each day we ate there.

No penalty should apply on the PoA since the entire cruise is not only within the US, but within a single state, and the PoA is a US flagged ship. As others have stated here, though, it would be best to check with NCL first. OTOH, if your cruise were on a foreign flagged ship and were to originate and terminate in the US but also include foreign ports, you would be subject to the rules of the Passenger Vessel Service Act. The PVSA specifies hefty penalties under certain circumstances for passengers who disembark at intermediate ports. I spoke about this subject with an NCL Security Chief with whom we have sailed several times. His department would be responsible for keeping up with the comings and goings of passengers, so I believe he is well versed in the PVSA. He told us that NCL would pass on the penalty fee to any passenger who violates the PVSA rules. There are exceptions, of course, such as medical emergencies, but simply walking off a ship governed by the PVSA without prior notice could certainly result in a penalty being charged.

Gary, you always post thoughtful, non-judgemental, and insightful comments. Thanks for this post!

We have sailed the Caribbean several times, so on our recent trip on the Sky we didn't try to do a lot on shore. Mostly it was a trip for my wife to snorkel and scuba, while I just walked around the port area or city center. In Cayman she took a snorkel tour then met me at a restaurant near the dock for a seafood lunch. In Costa Rica (or was it Cartagena?) we walked down the pier to the gift shop / bird sanctuary and had a drink while the peacocks strolled past. We have been through the Panama Canal twice before, once through the old locks and once through the new ones. On this trip we took a land tour while the ship was passing through the locks. Our bus tour spent over an hour at the locks museum (VERY interesting) then dropped us off at the station for a train ride from one ocean to the other. The bus got us back to Colon where the ship had docked for the evening. We could have had dinner on shore, but chose to return to the Sky early for dinner on board. My wife took a snorkel tour at Harvest Caye, but I remained on board. The dock there can accommodate only one ship at a time and one of the BA+ class ships got there first. I've been to Harvest Caye before, so it didn't seem worthwhile to take a tender just to spend a few minutes wandering around the island. At Cozumel my wife booked a scuba tour while I just wandered the port area looking for a place to have a drink and find a free internet connection. Since we have been there, done that, many times, this cruise was all about disconnecting from our daily routine and just relaxing.

It's possible that it is scheduled to be out of service for refurbishment. If that is the case, I would recommend not booking the last cruise before the refurb or the first cruise after. We have seen them cut cruises short or start them late so they can get in a couple of more days of work.

We have only had the global Entry pass for a few months, but we have taken three international trips since then. It has really paid for itself when returning home, especially when half a dozen or so international flights land at DFW within minutes of each other and the line at Customs goes from zero to 1000 people in a minute. The card has holographic images of a plane and a ship. Too bad CBP doesn't make use of it at cruise terminals.

Our negative Manhattan cruise terminal experience was on the Escape in September 2018.

On our recent return through the Miami cruise port they likewise were not using the Global Entry line. There was a lane marked "Global Entry", but they were not allowing passengers with Global Entry to bypass the line and proceed directly to the Global Entry lane.

Sorry you had such a bad experience, but this sort of thing is not limited to LA. Several years ago we got off the Breakaway in Manhattan. As soon as we stepped off the gangway we were placed in a line outside the entrance to the terminal. We were told that the delay was with baggage handling and that they hadn't arranged the luggage yet, so we had to wait to enter the arrivals hall. We had chosen the "easy walk off" so we had our bags with us. We could have walked right through the terminal to the cab stand, but no, they weren't letting anyone inside. We stood around for almost an hour before they allowed us inside. This past September we were on the Prima in Southampton. When we got off the elevator on Deck 6, we saw a line of at least 1000 passengers waiting to exit. It seems that UK Customs agents had boarded the ship and were checking passengers before they left the ship. We were in line for more than an hour before we got to the Customs agent. We had allowed more than an hour to get to the bus terminal for our ride to Heathrow. On previous cruises to Southampton we had made the short ride to the bus station in 10 or 15 minutes, so an hour seemed like plenty of time. It wasn't, of course, so we missed our bus. The next scheduled bus was fully booked, and the one after that wouldn't get us to the airport in time. A cab ride to Heathrow seemed like the only alternative at the time, and it cost over $175. A couple of weeks ago we returned to Miami after a cruise to Panama and back on the Sky. We managed to get off the ship and into the terminal building in short order, then the line of passengers ground to a halt. It was about 90 minutes of stop and go inching along until we reached the US Customs agents who barely looked at our documents before allowing us to pass.

There is enough room in the bag for about four days of clothes for two persons, if you pack it tightly.

Put socks and underwear on the bottom, then roll your shirts and slacks and stand them upright like pickles in a jar. If you have enough shirts to fill the bag, nothing should fall out.

Glad you enjoyed GW Fins. About a block further, in the opposite direction from your hotel, is Antoine's on St. Louis St., home of the original Oysters Rockefeller. I would highly recommend it if you haven't been there before.

If you enjoy classical music, be sure to check the website for the Concertgebouw. They sometimes have concerts around noon on weekdays at a price that is significantly less than their evening concerts. It is a remarkable concert hall and is located just across the Museumplein from the Van Gogh Museum.