jaapie

Be sure to spend a half hour or so at the little wild life area within the cruise port itself before or after you get a ferry or taxi to the town of Cartagena. There are peacocks, flamingos, toucans, monkeys, etc in the area around the gift shop, no charge to view and take photos of the creatures. On our first visit to Cartagena we took the ferry to the old town (a really nice trip in itself, Cartagena has modern condo buildings on one side of the bay, reminded me of a mini Miami, and the old town on the other side of the bay), then joined a walking tour around the old town for a couple of hours. On our second visit to the city we just visited the wildlife area and walked back to the ship (just a short walk but there are free shuttle buses as well).

Not sure how often it happens, but today I received an email from NCL notifying us that our February 2019 cruise on the Sun has one port substituted for another because of "

"

It is a 2-day service. on a 7-night cruise, the bundled laundry service is offered on Day 4 with clothes returned Day 6.

 

We cruise multiple times a year and usually send in 1 or 2 bags. No problems. No issues. We send in shorts, t-shirts, polo shirts, dress shirts, blouses, underwear, socks, slacks.

On our two week cruise this past April/May we twice had laundry done. We sent polo shirts, t-shirts, shorts and socks and they came back folded in a basket. Unfortunately they use some sort of washing powder that is very harsh because the laundry came back stinking of chemicals, so as others have said don't sent delicate garments. The first week our laundry came back in a couple of days, the second week when it had not been returned on the 4th day I went to guest relations (after talking to our cabin steward a couple of times asking where our laundry was). The first person I spoke to at guest relations (a supervisor) said "oh, it will be back soon". She had no interest in helping me. A few hours later I went back to guest relations (our cruise was ending the following day) and spoke to a different customer service person, he asked if anything was valuable in the laundry, I said no, just regular clothes, he said "oh, after the cruise just file a claim for lost laundry". About 8pm that night I made one last attempt to retrieve our laundry and went back to guest relations, this time the customer service person tried to help and didn't give me the brush off as the others had done, he even went himself to the laundry department to look for the missing basket of laundry. He found it! It wasn't really 'lost' but put in the wrong locker in the laundry department and none of the other people I had spoken to could be bothered to look for it.

A piece of advice for my fellow cruisers. If you ever see anyone go overboard start throwing things that will float over board. Trash cans, life preservers whatever it may give the person something to help keep them afloat and also helps to mark the location of the incident.

 

living the CruiseLife

Be cautious when throwing things overboard. When I was on a Caribbean cruise, a tender port, as a tender full of passengers approached the ship, the tender exploded. Many people in the sea. Passengers on board the cruise ship started throwing things overboard for the swimmers. One woman was hit by a chair thrown overboard and ended up with a broken jaw from the chair and not from the explosion (all persons on the tender were saved).

I really loved the Emperor’s Nectar I had at Le Bistro on our Star cruise. I also liked the Dark and Stormies a lot. My least favorite was probably the Mr Worldwide. It looked good so I ordered one, but I didn’t realize it had sparkling wine blergh

Emperor's Nectar is also my favorite. The first time I had it was several years ago in Le Bistro. But many times since then I have ordered it on various NCL ships at the bar outside Le Bistro, it is not on the menu but the bar tenders at the bars near Le Bistro (not usually other bars like the pool bar, etc) know how to make Emperor's Nectar.

You can use your coupon on any day you choose.

 

 

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Thank you

Do platinum members have to use their free coupon on the same day as the $19.99 bag is offered, or can we use our free coupon any day of the cruise?

It's not just entering/leaving Spanish ports that tax will be charged, but also if sailing close to land. When we sailed on the Jade from Alicante to Barcelona, there is a strip of land north of Benidorm that juts into the Med, and we were charged the tax for about an hour and a half while sailing in that area.

I think you are right about the captain saying where the deep water meets the shallow bay it causes the ship to roll substantially (he also said surfers like it). I would have been nervous when it happened had I not heard the captain's announcement the night prior to our stop in Nicaragua that we were to expect this rolling motion and not to be alarmed as the ship would not tip over!! We were having breakfast in Versailles when the rolling occurred, sitting near the kitchen port side, and each time the ship rolled to port I thought the water was going to reach the outside of the window of the dining room! We heard lots of clattering from the kitchen as crockery was being broken.

I too was on this cruise. I thought Captain Matias was the best, I really enjoyed his daily updates.

Norwegian Cruise Line is making an adjustment to its final payment schedule for all bookings beginning December 18, 2017. To align to a consistent schedule amongst stateroom categories for the majority of our itineraries, all seven-night or longer cruise bookings will now require final payment 120 days prior to sail date. One to six-night cruises will now require full payment 90 days prior to sail date for non-suite stateroom categories, while Haven and suites category stateroom bookings will continue to require final payment 120 days prior to sail date.

 

This adjusted payment schedule will further allow guests to book with confidence, as those who book early receive optimal pricing and stateroom choice.

Does this mean that cruises booked prior to December 18, 2017 are grandfathered into full payment 90 days prior, and cruises booked on or after December 18 must be paid for 120 days prior? I have a cruise booked that departs April 22, 2018 so am wondering if I now have to pay the balance of my fare in December or January.

Yes, they advised they will get to me eventually :)

My pricing increased when the switchover was done from the Gem to the Breakaway. I called ncl and was told it would be fixed in a couple of days but it wasn't so in a couple of days I called again, and was told a supervisor had to fix and it would be done in a couple of days. When a couple more days passed and it still wasn't fixed I called again, was told my account had been flagged for a supervisor to fix and it would be a couple more days. Yet again when it wasn't fixed in another couple of days I called again (pain in the ... to keep calling but I was determined!), on that fourth call I spoke to a really helpful agent called Heidi and she said hold on, I will get a supervisor to fix it now while you are on hold. A few minutes later she said it was fixed. I asked Heidi to hold on while I logged onto myNCL and verified the price was correct, which it was. So I really believe it depends how helpful and conscientious the customer service agent is whether or not the account gets fixed in a timely manner, as I am sure there are many many accounts that have been 'flagged' for supervisors to review and some may fall through the cracks.

For a port call or for boarding. It seems port calls are in Old San Juan and boarding is at the Pan American pier.[/quote

 

Not always. On our Dawn cruise four months ago from New Orleans to Boston we docked at the Pan American pier and all passengers and crew had to go through immigration, took many, many hours, no explanation given. If San Juan had been our last port of call before Boston perhaps I could have understood it, but the day after San Juan we spent the day in Tortola.

We were on the Dawn April 2017 cruise from New Orleans to Boston. We did not dock near old San Juan but we docked at the Pan Am pier. What was even worse was EVERYONE had to go through immigration, including all crew members. Whether some passengers and crew wanted to go ashore or not, we all had to get off the ship and go through immigration. Passengers went off first and we stood in line, first on the deck and then on the dock, for at least two and half hours to get through immigration (we are US citizens). We then got a taxi to the old town where we spent several very pleasant hours. On our return to the ship the crew were still standing in a looooong line waiting to go through immigration. That evening in the restaurant and bars the staff was really struggling to keep going as they had not had any time to rest between shifts or go ashore. And it wasn't as if San Juan was our last port of call before Boston, the day after San Juan we stopped in Tortola.

That's good to hear about Lagunitas. We responded at the same time. It definitely wasn't on the Getaway just last year. Maybe that Heineken takeover is doing some good after all!

There was Lagunitas Lil Sumpin on the Jade last October. It wasn't on any menu, and it wasn't at every bar, but if you asked for it by name the barman would go into the room behind the bar to get it.

I hope that is the case. I have a cruise in December, booked before the changes that would put us at 54 points. We would still be silver under the new tiers, but if we get the old tiers then we would be Gold!

It's not just with platinum, it's with gold too. In January I had 41 points and was silver. In February I booked a 12 night cruise which I went on in April so now MyNcl shows I have 53 points, but it shows my status as gold even though the minimum for gold is 55 points.

A Dark n Stormy on NCL runs 17.95, an up charge of 2.95 plus 18% over the UBP. The same drink on Carnival is 8.50. Grey Goose unflavored vodka is covered under the package, but after the price increase from 6/16, the flavored variations have the up charge, but all of the bottles cost the same to purchase at the duty-free shop.

 

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My husband drinks Dark n Stormy. I've forgotten the brand of rum they use in it on NCL ships, but in April when we were on the Dawn my husband would just ask for a Captain Morgan and ginger beer and there was no upcharge.

We got off the Dawn on Friday. At the onboard Q&A with some officers it was said that the maximum number of persons allowed on the Dawn during a cruise is 4,000 (that includes passengers and crew). When there are too many passengers on board, for instance because of a high number of 3 or 4 in a cabin, then in order not to go over the 4,000 limit some crew members do not sail with the ship but are put up in a hotel for the duration of the cruise. The Cruise Director said this is very popular with the crew as they get an expense paid vacation on land. I did not know this happened occasionally and found it to be very interesting.

Is the OBC refundable to my credit card? (I have already prepaid my DSC, excursions and gratuities for UBP/SDP for next month's cruise).

Wonderful thread. Thanks so much for keeping up with the spreadsheet.

Enjoy. Hope you have a good cruise/flight

Certainly would. No TA for us this year, doing a repo next month and Panama in the Fall, but we're booked for another TA April 2018 so TAP will be one of the airlines I will look at for our flight home (depends where else we visit in Europe after Barcelona).

Customer service great, very professional.

One checked suitcase included in fare and one cabin size bag in overhead bins included.

No extra charge for good meals and free alcohol.

TAP code shares with United, but in my opinion TAP is superior (got United frequent flyer points for the TAP flight).

We flew with TAP last October before our TA. Had a two hour layover in Lisbon (could have spent a day or several days in Lisbon at no extra charge). The one way flight was $313 per person from Miami to Barcelona. Very pleased with TAP, on a par with US airlines such as Delta or American, not 'no frills' like Spirit or Norwegian Air.

Christmas 1973. Of course I was much younger then so it was all an adventure, now as a senior citizen would stress me out a bit.

Spent a month on the SS Canberra, only 45,000 tons but a large cruise ship in those days, in fact flag ship for P&O at the time.

Southampton to the Caribbean and return to Southampton.

Very rough crossing some of the way, I remember one night a grand piano sliding across the dance floor, completely from port to starboard.

In St. Thomas (had to tender ashore in those days), one of the tenders returning to the ship exploded, all those aboard the tender went into the water, everyone was saved but one woman suffered a broken jaw because an over zealous passenger on board the ship threw a deck chair overboard for survivors to cling to!!

When we were leaving another Caribbean island (can't remember which one, maybe Bonaire or Curacao), ship was grounded on a sandbar, had to wait for high tide for a tug to drag us off!).

A petition went round the ship to have the captain removed but don't know if that happened.

Our cruise made the news in the British newspapers - passengers overboard in shark infested waters, etc!