SSMcruises

We are a group of 9.  I booked tables of 8 and hope they will squeeze one in.  Fingers crossed ! 

I had some given to me and once opened it was very stinky and nothing like vanilla.  I would be very cautious of anything bought in the touristy areas.  It could be very diluted and/or not safe.  

I have a friend staying in Mexico for teo

months that will bring me vanilla beans etc back, but she purchases it from the farm directly.   

I have read some posts where the Encore has docked early in SJ, rather than the scheduled 530 pm

Curoius what time the ship has arrived?  Would love to visit the Fort if we dock early enough 

I have to say that I was hopeful that our 2/9 would have GSC added as we missed it last round, but we have a charter booked for Tortola that I am really really excited about.  I will take the longer day in Tortola! Can’t not wait to be on vacay!! 

37 minutes ago, 2+2 said:

I  have a question.  We are now under 55 days until our cruise.  How am I  notifed that our air flights have been set up and confirmed ? Do I  get an email? Does it show up somewhere on the web site? Do I need to call?  At this point the web site says the Edocs can not be retrieved.  Does this seen normal.  Am I missing something? 

I started checking daily  to see if my edocs were ready around day 60, and I think they were there done 57??  But the email did not come for another few days.   Our flight info email also came our edocs 

Maybe they whole thing is a techie computer glitch! 

Great StirUp Cay has been added to some Encore sailings, which would have been great if it was added to our Feb 9th one AND if it was anywhere likely to actually stop there.   We missed it two years ago on the Escape and ended up in Nassau instead.  

Thr salings before and after ours seems to have it.  Plus a number of other sailings through the spring.  Interesting how NCL changes these things without any fanfare or information.  

Wait.   We had the same thing.  Tickets and edocs were ready around 57 days out.  

1 hour ago, miataman19 said:

Last time we were on Tortola was 2 years ago on Escape. We used https://www.oceanmagicmitch.com/

We got 12 people and used Captain Rudy. Probably more now but we paid $75 each plus tip. Met him at the end of the pier. Walked 10 minutes to the boat and off we went to Soggy Dollar. Saw the 2 excursions from the ship come and go. We got there about 10 am and left around 3 pm. Got back to the ship in plenty of time.

We have this group booked for Feb.  approx $100 pp.  

very much looking forward to it 

On 11/21/2019 at 6:39 PM, SSMcruises said:

 

 

we were confirmed 81 days out, told would be ticketed 40 days out 

Ok, so we got changed.  At 59 days out our edocs were ready and our flights had changed again. 

Our place holder flights were always Toronto to FLL, we spoke to NCL and they confirmed flights on the phone to us (as above), flying into Miami.

Yesterday when checking edocs realized it had changed again 

Home Departure City - YYZ- Toronto

Arrival/Destination City - FLL - Fort Lauderdale 

Airline -Air Canada both directions 

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 6:20/9:38 AM

Number of Connections - 0

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 7:30/10:38 PM

Number of Connections - 0

ultimately happy with it, our group is still together and we will enjoy the extra time in FLL when off the ship, rather than a 3 hr connection in NYC.  

Over on FB Encore groups people are reporting that their cabins have been re-assigned (not guarantees or sail awaits) due to a mix up on NCLs side.  Apparently some 3 person cabins were mislabeled (prior to the ship being completed) as 4 person cabins, and they are shuffling reservations around.  Most are stating that they only noticed when printing edocs.  

Has anyone heard of this?  It seems weird that it keeps coming up on that other pages but I haven’t seen anything here.  

We have 2x 4 person cabins booked in Feb, that are currently next door to each other.  

I am sure there is a fancier name for the machine that pours wine for you but let’s call it the vending machine.  You swipe your cruise card and voila, your wine is poured 

is this machine available under the beverage plan?  It wasn’t the last time we sailed but maybe it has changed.  

Thx 

10 hours ago, Rocket_man said:

Home Departure City - ORD Chicago 

Arrival/Destination City - MIA - Miami International 

Airline -American out / Jet Blue Return

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 6:00/10:09am

Number of Connections - 0

Return Flight departure/arrival time - FLL 9:45pm/11:55pm 

Number of Connections - 0
1/12/2020 cruise. Notified 51 days out. 

 

My worst nightmare.  basically up all night to make a 6am departure then for return wait 13hrs to arrive home in the middle of the night the next day.  I can’t think of a worse schedule. ok, connecting flights but both departure times suck. 

I personally don’t think  they are Terrible and it is exactly what I was anticipating for our flights.   Look at resortforaday or whatever points you have for hotel or travel - spend the day sitting poolside or in a comfortable room unwinding from the cruise.  

I understand that the NCL flights are not exactly how we would book our own flights.  But we can’t bave it both ways - want the perk of free/reduced airfare but also want to control the booking of the airfare.  

I called this week to ask about a request for our Feb 9 flights and was surprised to hear they were booked.  The NCL agent immediately sent me the confirmations but did indicate they wouldn’t be ticketed until 40 days out 

We were able to have ours opened two years ago on the Escape.

 The side connecting to unknown guests had been opened from the previous cruise so when the steward came to our cabin to close that one perhaps he felt he couldn’t say no to opening the other side.  

Yes.  Sailing Feb 9.  I called this week and was sent my info.  I don’t think it would have been sent out this early. 

Home Departure City - YYZ- Toronto

Arrival/Destination City - MIA - Miami International 

Airline -American out / Delta home

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 6:00/9:45

Number of Connections - 0

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 12:10/3:07//7:25/9:38

Number of Connections - 1

we were confirmed 81 days out, told would be ticketed 40 days out 

We as well have 2 days deviation and were booked on early morning flights.  Our group was booked are different flights (which has since been changed), but both flights were early morning.  

I called NCL Air to request early morning flights however our flights were already booked at that point - 81 days out 

Great to know BudgetQueen.   Thanks 

I was shocked and very happy not only that they were willing to change our flights but that they also put us all on the much better, direct flight.  

There are limited seats available on the flight down, and all are single window seats, unless you upgrade.  I am hoping to upgrade to business class but I will have to be patient and wait until we are ticketed.  

We are 81 days out from sailing the Encore out of Miami.  3 cabins / 9 ppl, all of the reservations were linked together.  

My ‘place holder’ flights have been - 

Toronto to Charlotte to Fort Lauderdale, with two days deviation 

Miami to JFK to Toronto, no deviation 

Today I decided to call Premium Air and ‘request’ morning flights down.  I was surprised to be told that our flight were already booked but not ticketed.  Our flights were exactly the same as the ‘place holder’ flights for two cabins and a direct flight to Miami for the other cabin.  Everyone’s flights home were the same.   I questioned why one cabin would have been booked differently and the NCL rep was very kind to spend the next 25 mins getting us all on the same flight, direct to Miami.  We are all very thankful for that. 

The rep sent me all 9 confirmation emails but she also said that the flights wouldn’t be ticketed until 40 days out.  There are booking reference numbers on the confirmations and the flight status is listed as confirmed 

Flights are American down and Delta home.  

I would like to upgrade my seats etc but assume that I won’t be able to do that until we are officially ticketed????  

Thoughts on the flights changing? 

I have to say that I was impressed with the willingness to switch flights around and help us out.  Nothing but positive feedback for NCL air at this point 

We are looking to spend a day beach side and relax.  

Must haves - washrooms, chair/umbrella rentals, bar/restaurant 

Nice to haves - snorkeling, not excessively crowded 

Which beach would you recommend?  

I understand that taxis will be plentiful, however would like to avoid waiting around for a taxi to ‘fill up’ or make numerous stops.   Can a private taxi for 9 be done?? 

Thanks in advance.  

Our reservations open up on Saturday and I was wondering what nights it was offered? Trying to plan specialty dining and entertainment for our group of 9?

Great attitude!  I get that not booking your own flights can be nerve racking etc but it’s all how you look at it.  

We are completely expecting night flights home the day we get off the cruise, so we are treating it like another day of vacay.  We have booked a room at a hotel with a sunny, spacious pool deck and will spend the lounging about / recovering from our cruise.  If we happen to get an earlier flight booked, we will just cancel the hotel!  

All in all, the hotel cost (we actually booked on points) is still far less than paying for our flights.  

Happy Travels 

We are on the Encore out of Miami in Feb and will be using the free airfare.  We have basically decided that the disembarkation day will be one more day of vacation, anticipating the  later flight home.  Using hotel points, we will sit poolside somewhere for the day and relax.  We selectively booked with a stat holiday the day after our cruise so that we will still have a day at home.