smart_alec

2 hours ago, cantgetin said:

Noodles was open in the evening on our TA cruise in October, in addition to those mentioned above.

We also had lunch specials on sea days during that cruise.  We got into the habit of checking out the lunch special and then deciding whether to do one of the brunch restaurants or The Galley..  The specials did not appear anywhere--not on the app, and the servers didn't mention them.  You had to walk around to the various stations and look.  THere was almost always a lunch special at the burger joint, and some days there were special varieties of tacos, noodles, and salads (although you can do a customized salad every day, so not sure why that was so special.)

Thanks, yeah, we noticed as well that there were unadvertised specials. I saw eggs benedict as a special at one of the Galley restaurants (I think the Hot Press one) for breakfast which weren't mentioned anywhere and seemed like you had to walk around to find them. Thanks for confirming!

I booked our upcoming 3/26 cruise on Scarlet Lady with Capital One points. Caught one of the 30% transfer bonuses last year, transferred points instantly and got the key pretty quickly (overnight). Haven't cruised yet but so far seems like a great use of the points. It was also a sign-up bonus for me from Capital Venture X (they had the 100,000 sign up bonus), thanks for 30% transfer bonus have quite a few points leftover in my Capital One account. Looking at cash value would've cost us about $2500 to book the same cruise, so it's a great value as far as I'm concerned. 

I'm yet to cruise with VV (my cruise is 3/26 on Scarlet Lady), but so far I'm with OP and I hate how VV does this. I was just surprised by this tonight. My cruise is in two weeks. I didn't even realize dining was open for booking. I just noticed it accidentally in the app. I watched several reviews by YouTubers that apparently were sponsored or invited by VV, and none of them mentioned the fact that restaurants get booked up weeks in advance. They just went on and on about how great the food is and how nice the food and restaurant variety is. I wish one of them actually mentioned the fact that you need to rush and book all the reservations as soon as you can.

Like OP, I like to book in advance, and I am stressed out to see everything completely booked out (except for Razzle Dazzle I ended up booking at 9:30pm since it was the earliest available). I also think it's condescending to tell people not to worry about it. Different people approach things differently, and being prepared and organized is very important for some while a complete drag for others. While I'm stuck with this cruise, quite possibly VV is not the right cruise line for me. 

I do appreciate everyone who contributed something significant to this thread (other than idiotic advice "not worry about it") to put OP's and my mind at ease by explaining that more reservations will open up and talking the restaurant hosts is the best way to secure reservations. 

In general, I'm pretty frustrated with VV so far. I had no clue that I couldn't check in for the cruise via the web site. I kept checking and checking not understanding why there isn't anything in my account about checking in, and why I didn't get the "it's time to check in" email. Finally (thanks to Cruise Critic) I learned I could check in only via the app. And even after that I didn't realize that the restaurants needed to get pre-booked via the app. I got 20 emails from VV about upgrading my room (no, don't want that). I got 50 emails from VV about pre-paying for booze and getting $50 with the $300 booze purchase. No, I don't want that either. I got zero emails about "it's time to check in" and "it's time to book your dining". I'm also tired of their cutesy web site that goes out of their way to be charming and playful and completely lacking any significant info.

Rant over. Sorry, had to vent. 100% with the OP. Hate how VV does this. 

I hope I will feel differently after the cruise. Not so far though. VV, I hope someone is reading this.

FWIW, I submitted a special assistance request with MSC and they were only marginally helpful. They will have wheelchair personnel only inside of the terminal. They said if my wife needed help outside of the terminal, I'd have to go in and find them myself, or talk to MSC staff posted outside of the terminal and have them call wheelchair assistance. This is definitely a lot worse experience than on our cruises with Royal Caribbean earlier this year. I provided that feedback to them. I will update this thread with our actual experience this Sunday. 

Hi all,

From reading prior threads it appears it would be 9:30am. I was hoping recent cruises could confirm that.

Thanks,

Alex

Thank you Silver Sweethearts! You are probably right, though we would hate to drag it with us since normally my wife manages to get around the ship with her cane and the railings, so it would probably just take up space in the cabin. We are not planning on going on any shore excursions on this short trip. I contacted MSC and will see what they have to say. We had great experience with Royal Caribbean so far, good experience with Carnival, and horrible experience with NCL. The jury is still out on MSC. 

Hello all,

My wife needs wheelchair assistance with embarkation, and our last experience at Port Canaveral was less than ideal. Fortunately there was absolutely no line, so she managed, but the main issue was that there was no wheelchair assistance prior to passing through security screening. The wheelchairs were all the way in the middle of the building. She managed, but if there were any sort of lines outside of the building it would've been horrible for her. Short of taking our own wheelchair (we normally avoid doing that because she can walk a little with her cane), is there any way to get wheelchair assistance outside of the building? I've seen pictures and videos of long lines of people waiting to board, and having experienced that last year with NCL (after which we decided not to ever cruise with them again, but that's a separate story), I really want to avoid that at Port Canaveral. I am able-bodied and don't mind either standing in line or pushing my wife's wheelchair, as long as she has one available. Is there any way to ensure that? And if so, should I contact MSC or Port Canaveral cruise terminal staff? 

Thanks,

Alex

We took 4 cruises with Royal Caribbean out of LA this year (I assume you are going on Navigator of the Seas?). My wife needs wheelchair assistance to board and disembark. The info kokopelli-az provided is mostly accurate. You should ask one of the port employees to point out the exact location to you, but basically there are benches in front of the building entrance where you will seat and wait for someone to come and get you with their wheelchair (unless you are coming with your own). That area is by the small white tent in front of the building, close to where you drop off the luggage and where the lines to board form. 

There will be two people helping you, port employee and then Royal Caribbean employee as kokopelli-az mentioned. Port employees pushing are not allowed to assist you with luggage (labor union issues). They will not even touch your bags. So you need to be able to handle all carry-on. 

They will help through security and gangway onto the ship. They will not take you to your cabin. Our cabin wasn't ready when we boarded, so it wasn't really an option. In our case they left us at Bolero lounge, close to the rear elevators. After that it was up to us to figure out how to navigate the ship. My wife can walk short distances with her cane, so we managed. 

For disembarkation definitely let them know you will need assistance so they will put you on the list. We had to go to the same Bolero lounge to wait for the wheelchair assistance. It was reasonably quick. It's also the same process with two people - Royal Caribbean crew member will take you off of the ship to the port and will "hand you off" to the port worker, who, once again, is not allowed to touch any of your bags. They will get you outside of the building. In our case we were catching Uber, so they got us to the island where you wait. There are no benches on the island, but there are benches by the building, Depending how long you need to wait for your transportation, you may want to ask them to leave you by the benches. You'd just have to cross the road to get to the island if needed. 

4 hours ago, happyfeet5164 said:

Thank you so much for the detailed information on PCR testing required by Burmuda. We are taking 10/10 sail as well and just took a PCR in a local CityMD Urgent care facility. Then we found out the test result may not be available until 3-5 business days later which put us in a very risky situation.

 

May I ask where did you take the 4 PCRs today? We live in NY Queens, and think we should take at least 2 more tests at different sites just in case. We are even thinking to use one of the Infinity Free testing mobile vans parked in the neighborhood. Not sure if it can be trusted though. Anyone used them before?

Hi happyfeet, I am in Seattle right now so I'm not sure if my info will help you. I was going to fly to NYC on 10/5 to spend there a few days before the cruise, but I re-scheduled my flight because of the tests and decided it would be easier for me to do all the drive-through testing here in Seattle area (flying to NYC tomorrow).

I went to a 

1. Local hospital that has drive-through testing (Snoqualmie Valley Hospital)

2. Walgreens 

3. Bartell Drugs 

4. UW Medicine / King County Free testing site (at Bellevue College) 

All four are PCR tests (or supposed to be anyway). I had to schedule all four in advance.

I saw your post on 10/10 roll call thread - someone posted a couple of recommendations for Manhattan / NYC area there per my request, but I can't comment on those (how easy or how reliable). 

44 minutes ago, Seany527 said:

Is that what NCL said? I wonder if the technical difficulties had to do with unlocking the performer’s cabin doors. 🙄

 

FYI- Burn the Floor dancers were required to have a 2nd quarantine. NCL is something else. 

Are you on 10/3 cruise? Is Burn the Floor cancelled again? 😞 I was so looking forward to that show. Saw that a few years back and absolutely loved it.

23 minutes ago, scottct1 said:

Thanks for the very detailed write up. I will check out that Roll Call.

Got to be honest, when I woke up this morning I wasn't planning on going on a Cruise.  My wife called me at Noon and told me she booked it so now I am looking up things and want to make sure we are all set. (We had cruise credits that are about to expire and she said she got a great deal.) 🙂 

Before Covid we use to sail all the time and have been down in that region so many times normally we don't  get off the ship at port.  But I want to have everything ready in case we do decide to get off the ship.

Thanks again for the great write up.

You are welcome. Please note, they won't let you *onto* the ship in New York without Bermuda Travel Authorization even if you are not planning to get off of the ship. That's what NCL communicated to me in emails and voice mail they left me on Monday. So regardless of whether you want to actually get off of the ship in Bermuda or not, you will have to get all of the required tests and Bermuda Travel Authorization or else they will deny you boarding in New York. Ask your wife if that deal still sounds as good as she thought 🙂 Also it will cost you $75 each for Bermuda Travel Authorization. 

18 minutes ago, scottct1 said:

Thanks for this, we just booked today for a Halloween Cruise to Bermuda.

The NCL person on the phone told us they did a rapid covid test at Checkin.  Reading what you wrote here I am guessing this is NOT the case.  Would we be better off getting a test done at home and bring the results with us?  Will that test be good for Bermuda as well?

Thanks!

If you read roll call from September 26th sailing, Jamie provided excellent detailed info on here.

Theoretically, you need 4 different COVID tests prior to sailing (practically only three).

1. You need to do your first PCR test 96 hours prior to your sailing. There are specific requirements (has to have lab contact info, etc., in the results). That's for Bermuda Travel Authorization. You will need to upload it to the Bermuda's web site as soon you get the results. You will need that Travel Authorization to board the ship. You are responsible for doing it. 

2. If you want NCL to cover some of the costs should you test positive right before the embarkation (see # 3 below), you should do a test 72 hours prior to sailing date to be covered by NCL. That's in theory. In practice, NCL told several people that the 96 hours test ( #1 above) is good enough. So you can skip this one (probably, I'm planning to).

3. On the day of embarkation, NCL will administer two more tests. One will be the rapid antigen test for NCL. If you test positive, you will be denied boarding. If you tested negative 72 hours before (see # 2 above), they will provide you some sort of financial assistance . If you didn't do that test, you won't get any refunds. (Again, for Bermuda they told several people that just test # 1 they have to do 96 hours in advance is enough, and you don't need to do yet another test 72 hours in advance).

4. Besides antigen test for NCL, they will also do yet another PCR test - that's again for Bermuda. They won't get the results of that until after the ship sailed. If you test positive, I'm not sure exactly what happens. My best guess is they quarantine you in your cabin. 

Again, there is very extensive and detailed info about what tests exactly you need to do in the September 26th roll call. NCL will also email you. Also, all of this might very well change before you sail. It changed after I booked my cruise (I believe I got email with all of these 20 test requirements early August). A bunch of people were in port without the needed tests and documentation on September 26th, which is why the ship sailed at 9pm instead of 4pm. They waited 5 hours for people to get tests they should've gotten on September 22nd, and then they were waiting for their Bermuda travel authorization from Bermuda government. 

If the above sounds confusing and nerve-wrecking, welcome to the party. I thought of cancelling, but decided to go ahead with my 10/10 cruise. I am going in for my first test tomorrow, 10/6 (96 hours in advance). I have 4 different tests booked for tomorrow just in case to make sure I get my results early enough (ideally before Friday) so that I can upload that to Bermuda travel web site to get my Travel Authorization. 

A bunch of hoops to jump through for sure.

10 minutes ago, Mike C said:

I believe there is a curfew in place.  Check the Bermuda Website

 

 

Will do, thanks!

40 minutes ago, Sxm13616 said:

Ive been to Bermuda many times on different cruise lines (not NCL).  Gangway was always open 24 hours so you could come and go as you pleased

 

Thank you!

Thanks for posting this! Sounds like you had a good time.

We are going on the same cruise this Sunday (or so I hope), 10/10. 

This is first cruise to Bermuda and also a first cruise with a multi-night stop at the same port. Can you get off of the ship at any time? We have a Tazzari rental booked for 2 days and I'm hoping to do some astro photography around midnight or so, so I was wondering if they "lock the doors" 🙂 or if you can get off the ship at any time day or night.

OBC is provided by NLC unless you are booking Sailaway. When I spoke to AmEx TA on the phone on Tuesday, she specifically said "NCL refused OBC on my Sailaway booking". She tried twice and had no success. She didn't offer anything else to me. What I am trying to figure out is whether HUCA would be helpful here or if nobody had success here recently (quite possible TAs commissions got reduced due to all the recent financial issues in cruising industries). 

I believe the OBC comes out of TAs commission if they give it to you specifically on Sailaway cabin category. I wasn't asking about whether the program is active (it is) or how it works (I know it perfectly fine) or how to book it (I've done it several times). I was asking specifically about whether someone has recently gotten OBC from they AmEx Platinum TA on Sailaway cabin category. While I don't have any specific proof that on Sailaway the OBC comes out of the agent's commission, the reluctance of the second agent I worked with (a few years ago, back in 2016) to give me the OBC makes me think it was a part of his commission that he was parting with. Otherwise there would be no reason for him to be reluctant. He offered no OBC, then $50 OBC, then finally $100 OBC (when I refused to book with less than $100 OBC). That was specifically AmEx Platinum TA (well, whatever company they subcontract to, email come form First.Last@ourvacationcenter.com). 

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone was recently able to get OBC via AmEx Platinum CPP (Cruise Privileges Program) when booking Sailaway category (e.g. wanting to book BX). 

I was able to do that twice in the past. I think AmEx travel agent has to kick in part of their own commission in that case. The first person that was able to do that for me just did it herself, without me even having to ask. She said "even though your cruise doesn't qualify for AmEx Platinum CPP because it's Sailaway/BX, I will add $100 OBC to your account for you". Unfortunately I lost her contact info. Next time I had to ask for it and be very firm. The AmEx TA was telling me he couldn't do it until I told him that I would just go to the TA I was previously working with, as she did that for me before. He reluctantly agreed to match that and added $100 to my OBC account. 

I just tried booking a new cruise for October (7 days, Sailaway/BX category) at even slightly higher price than before ($802 per person while previously it was about $500-600 per person), and she would not do it for me. Ended up cancelling my booking with her. 

Again, I understand that officially Sailaway is not combinable with AmEx CPP, but hoping someone can put me in touch with an agent that's willing to work the system (possibly parting with part of his/her commission). I understand that sharing TA names is not allowed, so if you could email me your TA to myact321 at hotmail dot com that would be awesome. 

Thanks!

I am thinking of using this on a cruise in October. How do you guys go about making sure you get charged $500 before the offer expiration in August? Do you call NCL and request to prepay/put larger deposit on your cruise? Do you buy OBC? (BTW, do I understand correctly if unused OBC that I purchase myself is refundable?)

Also, my wife has the same offer. I assume we just call NCL and ask them to split payment and take $500 deposit from her as well? 

@mmmbacon - Thank you for the review! Any chance you would post dailies from your cruise?

Thank you very much Chris! Too bad I can't *like* *thumbs up* *give rep* on cruise critic :)

Thank you for the TR! Great and informative!

If you do get around to posting Dailies, that would be awesome. I'd love to compare Breakaway to the Getaway. But thank you regardless! :)

$117 for the dolphin pictures - ouch... Things like that make me pretty mad. Might have to skip that one in favor of the ones where you can actually take the pictures yourself.

Thank you all! I was going to bring cash for tolls *thumps up* for the tip.

I believe most (if not all) tolls are cashless now - they scan a transponder in your car or take a picture of your license plate.

Cruised twice on Carnival (Victory and Inspiration) and three times on NCL (Spirit, Pearl, Getaway). Overall I found them pretty comparable, but I prefer NCL, especially after cruising on Getaway. Does Carnival have large ships? (Getaway and Epic are both around 4,000 people). I'm now ruined and can no longer cruise on small ships.

Here are the differences I can think of:

Water/Soda/Booze - does Carnival still allow bringing bottled water/soda/two bottles of wine (for free) on board? NCL no longer does, so this one goes to Carnival (unless they banned it as well).

Entertainment - much better on NCL on all of the cruises I've been on. It seems that Carnival does a lot of game shows and not as many main theater shows. NCL does plenty of game shows as well, but in addition to the production theater shows. The quality of the main shows on NCL is excellent. Not so much on Carnival. Both NCL and Carnival now have comedians (at least there were some on Getaway and I'm sure they will be on Epic as well). In addition, Getaway had two charge shows. Extra charges are annoying, but I was still glad to have that option. All main shows are comedians are free on NCL.

Buffet food - much better on NCL, always. I find that buffet food sucks on Carnival and great on NCL. That's important since I never have time to go to the MDR for breakfast or lunch (and sometimes quick snack at night).

Room service - NCL now charges $7.95 per order, not sure if Carnival does or not? I remember it being free.

Main Dining Rooms - equally good on both cruise lines, including selection, quality of food, and service. I don't believe NCL has assigned dining times or tables, but you can always request a reservation for a specific time and you can ask for a specific server.

Specialty Dining - not my thing typically as the MDR is always excellent. However, I was forced into it on the last cruise (Getaway) since I had to pick something for free, and it seemed like the best option. Can't compare it to Carnival since I never tried speciality dining on Carnival. NCL speciality dining was excellent - hibachi grill, rodizio grill, french, Italian, steakhouse, etc. Many good choices

Cabins - I think those are pretty comparable between NCL and Carnival.

Entertainment Staff - on the last NCL cruise it was great, however Carnival did better job than my first two NCL cruieses. I think they pick the best staff for their larger ships.

Nightlife - not a party animal, can't really compare. I enjoyed a couple of late night parties I stopped by on my last NCL cruise, but I didn't stay long.

Activities - somehow on Carnival activities seemed more superficial, and were mostly targeted towards selling you stuff. I enjoy activities on NCL a lot more. There are sales presentations on NCL of course, but there are a lot more activities that are just to entertain the passengers and not to sell them stuff.

On Getaway specifically there was ropes course, great rock climbing wall and excellent water slides (better than some of the land parks I've been to).

So I would very definitely recommend going on NCL epic vs. Carnival.

However, I feel that both cruise lines are more similar than different. I enjoyed Carnival cruises as well.

I haven't been on either ship, and I never cruised on RCL.

The nickel-n-diming on NCL is a bit annoying. Just got back from Getaway and here's what was annoying:

I don't care about the speciality restaurants since the main dining room is excellent (and there are other free places to eat, like O'Sheehan's bar & grill, the noodle place, and the buffet). However, they now charge $7.95 for the room service, which they still call "free" ($7.95 is a "convenience charge"). I never use it so I don't care much, but it is annoying.

We paid $35/each for their magic dinner show (The Illusionarium). The show was OK, the dinner was nothing special, overall I feel that it should've been included in the cost of the cruise. However, the theater is very small and it would've been impossible to get most of the passengers in. Overall I was glad to have an extra show to see, but was annoyed that I had to pay for it.

Wine Lovers the Musical was ok for $30/person since it included 6 glasses of wine. I'm not really a drinker, so I actually would've preferred another free show, but I thought considering the cost of the booze it was a fair price/deal.

The free shows were excellent, and they even had something going on in the main dining room every night (live band or the professional dance show, Burn the Floor).

I know this is not what's on Epic, but I assume Epic would be similar (could be wrong).

They did charge us mandatory 18% gratuity on the retail cost of the SDP, which was a bit annoying as well. We are already paying mandatory gratuity per day, and if we are not eating in the main dining room, those tips show go the specialty dining people. I didn't think the service was much (if any) better than in the MDR.

What other charges were concerned about?

I normally book last-minute deals, but looking at booking Getaway for September 2017. Is it easy to get the price adjusted if it drops between my booking date and the final payment? I remember reading complaints from people that weren't able to do that for one of the cruises where I got a crazy good last-minute deal. Are you locked in into the price once you make the final payment 90 days before the cruise?