notes21

I am currently booked on a spring break cruise this March on the Magic, but due to a family member's visit that is better for everyone else in the family at that time, I am going to move to the Conquest 12/31 sailing out of ft lauderdale. The 90 day payments for that cruise are due 10/2.

Any idea as to how long it takes for there to be a price drop if they are going to have one after that point? I am traveling solo; so, any reduction in price is significant to me when paying double. The decision to change was decided yesterday, and it just seems silly to me to pay before that date since I'll be having to pay the full price really either time that I book. Does anyone have any experience with this? I know it could burn me the other way. I don't want to wait too long, but hoping this could maybe help some. I have checked that there are still a good amount of the cabins I want left.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Sorry to repost what others had said; I missed that someone else had already given the end date for the current program.

When I sign in , it is saying SmartRewards will end 11/1/17 and you can redeem points until then or until things are gone. There are still carnival cards available now

We took the excursion that does Rabat & Casablanca on the Casablanca day and really enjoyed it.....we were 30 minutes late getting back to the ship due to some traffic issues; so we were thankful to have been on a tour through the ship. We also did the Alhambra & Granada tour on the Malaga day which involves a drive, but is so worth seeing. We again were late getting back, but this time it was because of bus problems and having to change out buses. Since those two involve drives, I would really recommend doing the ship's version though others would argue with me on that....

Madeira -- make sure to take an excursion that does the toboggan ride; it is a lot of fun.

Going on this cruise next summer. Loving your review

I use OneSimCard for most of my international travel, and depending on which one you get, it functions like a local sim card throughout your travels. It has a voip app that you can use when you have wifi or use their data.

SeatheWorld07 - We used Barcelona day tours last December to do a city tour, and they were very professional. We didn't use the transfer option, but I would highly recommend them for a tour if you have the time for it, and I imagine their transfers are done just as professionally.

The Getaway is actually the NCL ship doing the Baltics this year, and then the Breakaway will take over next year. I'm scheduled for that cruise next summer as well. If you go to the NCL site without signing in, you can click shore excursions under Get Ready for your cruise. On that page you can pull down a port city under find the perfect excursion and see what is available right now for most of the cruises.

The one advantage to the transfer though is that if things are running late, etc. ...they will wait for you. We did a transfer the other direction from ship to airport and left within 10 minutes of finding the bus; so, the wait, etc. may not be as bad as some are saying. If you have a little bit of time and want to see some of Barcelona, I recommend Barcelona Day Tours. They will pick you up from the airport, tour with you and then drop off at cruise terminal/hotel/etc. We did that when we came in and it was wonderful. (I know that was not what was asked, but thought it might be an option if you had a little bit of time)

NCL has a premium air service for $50 that will work with you on finding the exact right timing for flights rather than just whatever their normal first available would be. We used this for our New Year's Spirit cruise out of Barcelona that went to Morocco and Canary Islands. The price was a little more b/c of paying for that service, but when traveling that far it was nice to have the reassurances that booking with them provided. We are on a Baltics cruise in 2018 and will probably use them again. Missing or having problems with an international flight when there may only be one a day could be a much bigger issue than domestic; so, for us it is worth it.

The Altun Ha ruins are some that you may have learned about in a humanities class at some point as large amounts of jade were found there. (I've taught humanities, so these were the ones I really wanted to see). It is not a terribly long drive though it can be bumpy, and it is a pretty easy walk around the ruins. You can still climb to the top of one of the temples there, and it provides an absolutely gorgeous view. We really enjoyed our trip there and did not feel rushed either at the site or upon return to the port.

following

We were booked directly through ncl not a TA.

We used NCL's premium air in December/January for our new year's cruise out of Barcelona. We were able to choose our flight this way coming in a day earlier, and paid I think $50 more than we could have gotten it through somewhere else, but we had the guarantee that comes with having their air. We were very happy with it.

If you pay with gift cards and then have to cancel, would you get money back or gift cards? My trip is a long way out (March 2018), but thought it might be worth buying the gift cards while they have them

We ended up on the same flights all the way to Tampa with the restaurant manager from the Spirit who was coming to relieve the Jade's manager for vacation. We talked with him quite a bit. I asked him about the dry dock, and he mentioned that the carpets were being done, the casino was being gutted and redone, and Raffles would be switching from the older, putting the pan in steaming water style of keeping the food heated to hot plates which should help with keeping the food hotter in the buffet. Its not a lot of info, but it is more than I had before.

Yes- blue lagoon

I just got off that cruise today & did a live review. The thing I noticed about all of the ports is that they were a long walk to the city center. Two of the ports had shuttle buses but the rest didn't. I know one was Alicante but not sure of the other as we didn't use them. It is a wonderful cruise! You'll really enjoy it.

The night or two before the end of the cruise, we received an envelope with a letter that would work as our transfer voucher and our tags for our bags. As we are a noon flight, we were in the light blue transfer group for flights 11:31-13:30, and we left the ship at 7 am. The baggage claim area was a moving belt like the airport rather than just the rows of bags everywhere. We located ours pretty quickly and headed to the bus for the transfer. We waited on the bus no more than 10 minutes, and we were off to the airport. Delta wasn't ready for check-in for our flight until 8:30; so, we had to stand & wait for a while. The whole debarkation process was very smooth and handled well. I would book the transfers and do this again through NCL without hesitation. In fact, I hope to be doing that in May 2018 for a Baltic capitals cruise, lol.

I've asked several people about the plan for the dry dock, but no one seems to know what is going to be done. The theater is not going to be changed. It is believed some carpets will be changed, but I was basically told that no one is really sure now that the dry dock is only 5 days instead of 3 weeks. (I'm sure someone knows, but it hasn't trickled down to even the cruise director yet)

I've enjoyed my time on the Spirit. She is a beautiful ship, but she is showing some age. The bathroom tile is definitely dated (small grey tiles with a border of yellow tiles and tiles with fish & seashells on them), and there needs to be more storage at least in the balcony rooms. Overall though, it was an enjoyable ship to be on for this port intensive type of cruise.

DAY 10 – ALICANTE, SPAIN

Today was a later excursion; so, we went to Raffles for breakfast before heading to the theater for our 9:30 meeting time. One of the shore excursion staff remembered me, and asked if I wanted to go ahead and get our stickers so that I could get a front seat. This was so nice, and was really helpful to keep me feeling good on the bus. We did Panoramic Alicante which did a little city tour, took us up to the first level of the Fortress of Santa Barbara where we could walk around a little while, and then to the Promenade Espana which has the marble wave feature that Alicante is known for. On the promenade we were given little cakes and a drink made out of small potatoes and sugar water (can’t remember the name). Then we were given about an hour of free time that we used to walk the promenade and go in shops, etc. The beach was nearby as was the old town if you were with people that were faster walkers; my mom was just struggling with arthritis today which made slower better.

We ate in Blue Lagoon for lunch and then all found loungers on deck 11 aft to read for a while. Sadly, we had to back to the room to pack before dinner which was at Windows. Tonight’s entertainment was Flyadage which is a husband & wife aerial/acrobat team. They did some amazing things and got a standing ovation. It was just a little slow for me at times probably b/c I’m used to the cirque shows where there are multiple things going on on stage at once. So, the many lifts and things felt like I’d seen them before. The aerial work was phenomenal though.

After that we looked at some pictures and decided which ones to get. I know it’s a big racket, but it never fails that they get some pictures of you that are better than any you’ve taken on your own. My parents got some really good portraits. Then back to the room for some last minute packing before sticking our suitcases out tonight. I’m sad to leave vacation, but I am looking forward to my own bed that is higher than a foot off the floor, lol!

DAY 9 MALAGA, SPAIN

For this day, we chose the Granada and Magnificent Alhambra tour which met at 7 AM. That was too early to be sure we’d get room service; so, we went to Raffles to their early breakfast which is just yogurt, cereal, and pastry items. I get very carsick and had been taking a nausea pill before every tour, but with this tour being so long I had thought to ask the shore excursion staff if they could reserve me a seat because of it. They were happy to do so, and the first seat had a paper on it saying reserved for our stateroom. That was much easier than trying to run and be the first one out like I’d done the other days. I wouldn’t request it for every tour but with 2+ hours of driving each way it was very helpful.

They did break up the drive by having a bathroom/ coffee stop about an hour and 15 minutes in which was helpful. Oh, a quick tip, if you make this tour just be aware that the temperature is very different in Granada vs Malaga. It was only about 42 F at the rest stop, and Malaga/the dailies had said 70 F for the day; so, some people were not dressed warm enough. The first stop once in Granada was to an overlook of the city. Then on to the main event – La Alhambra. The tour description is appropriate; it truly was magnificent. We had a very good guide for the tour, and it was a good pace (never too rushed or too long in any one spot). We saw the gardens & the courtyard of the Generalife first and then went over to the ruins and main palaces that you think of when you hear Alhambra. The tour was around 2 hours.

When we got to the bus area, we waited and then a new bus showed up, and we were told the other one had broken down. All of the stuff left on the bus had been moved over. We then went to the city center of Granada where we were dropped off around 1:10 and given until 2:20 to get lunch, look around or whatever. When it came time to meet the bus, the original bus showed back up;. This caused some problems as a few items did not get transferred this time around – a hat and a bag of souvenirs bought at the first rest stop. Our guide was just like “oh well” about it at first & a bit defensive about it, but the person who lost their souvenirs was rightfully pretty upset about it. Some calls ended up being made, and we ended up driving to the bus garage that the other bus was at to get the items. Those of us on the bus were very glad it was made right, but all of that took time and it was now obvious we were going to be pushing it timewise. Thankfully, the guide still had us do a quick rest stop in the same area as before as several people, myself included needed it. It was about 5:45 when the bus pulled into the port. I’d never been late back from any excursions, and now on this trip it happened twice. They were very long/full day excursions though, and thankfully, we were booked on NCL excursions so the ship waited.

We did Shogun for dinner which was fine. Not my favorite food on the ship but nothing wrong with it either. Though I didn’t care for the 5 spice chocolate cake. The show was Elements, and it was really good. It uses the magicians and acrobats with the production cast dancing. It had been a long day/ early morning; so, we went back to the room to rest and relax after the show.

Kierste - The biergarten is on deck 13 above the pool deck so you can hear the music, feel the breeze, & not be in the middle of too much craziness. It has burgers, hot dogs, sausages, chicken breast etc for build your own sandwiches with fries, potato salad & fruit. Raffles is fairly busy & noisy with the tendency to overeat bc of wanting to try everything. So when we haven't been really hungry the biergarten has been a nice choice.

DAY 8 – SEA DAY

Today was another sleep in late day which we thoroughly enjoyed. I got a massage at 11, and we ate lunch at the biergarten after I got done. Otherwise, we pretty much just relaxed and read in the room and/or various locations around the ship. We had dinner tonight at LeBistro. We each got the quatre cornets (savory cones filled with salad, pear blue cheese & walnut, duck confit, and smoked chicken salad), and enjoyed them all. Dad & I got the onion soup, and Mom got the mushroom soup. For dinner, mom had shrimp, I had beef tenderloin, and dad had swordfish. Dessert was crème brulee for dad and I with profiteroles for Mom. I think we all were pretty pleased with our meals, and I would definitely go back to Le Bistro on a future cruise. We had hoped to make the magic show tonight, but dinner ran too long. We did go to galaxy of the stars to hear the broadway cabaret by the production show singers, and I thought they did a very nice job. There were still some balance issues, but that is really the audio guys not the singers themselves. We also had a very large, loud group of people behind us that talked the entire time but that venue I think is always going to lend itself to that. Lahambra is tomorrow with a 7 am meeting time; so, we were off to the room after that to get our stuff together & hopefully get to sleep somewhat early.

I'm glad people are finding the review helpful!

Kierste - I added the entourage papers for the week into the folder I shared. That link again is - https://www.dropbox.com/sh/691bi1u4b9srmta/AADNIvlbR7J3Gw_ThVwGueZPa?dl=0