Don Haynes

John, I have been thinking of doing either a Jade or Spirit cruise out of Venice. I am a little leery because I am a 67 year old widow who travels alone. Would I be safe in Venice?

 

I live in the Walla Walla Valley 4 hours up the Columbia River from you folks. It is so foggy this morning, I can not see out my front window to across the street. Winter is here. I loved your review and pictures.

 

Mandy

Europe has its professional pick pockets, and tourist attract them like flies. The key is to not keep your money in a wallet or purse. When I travel to Europe I wear a money belt hidden under my pants for all of my important valuables. Use your purse for make up and tissues type stuff.

Until the public demand the cruise lines enforce rules against chair hogs, there will always be chair hogs. The only solution is to boycott the cruise lines and their ships. When the cruise lines understand their product is flawed, they will enforce their rules. There should be no mercy for a chair hog!

I have had land based vacations ruined by electrical power black outs when ice storms and other storms knock the lines down. While I doubt a ice storm will knock out the electricity aboard a ship, fires and other mechanical break downs can. Why do some folks think electricity is completely safe on a ship? While it is a goal we all wish to achieve, electricity can be knocked out at any moment every where.

The tap water aboard is clean enough to use for a one week cruise without jamming up the CPAP machine. I can not say the same with the tap water from my home town. For a longer cruise one can always buy some distilled water at the first port of call, or before boarding the ship at its home port. Every drug store sells distilled water. Tap water aboard a ship is very similar to bottled water, drinking water.

The outlet is across the cabin, so bring an extension cord. Twelve feet is sufficient. Six feet may work, but will leave a cord to jump/step over. Which usually ends up pulling the CPAP machine off its table in the middle of the night when a person doesn't step high enough. Or during the middle of the day.

Hi - thanks for the review we are going in July and this will be both our first time to Bermuda as well a first on NCL (sailed Carnival and RCC) and one of your comments caught my attention- what did you mean that you the second pool was a pay pool?

 

Thanks so much!

 

Tammi

There is a small indoor lap pool in the spa area which is supposed to be used as an exercise pool. Since it is in the spa area there is a charge to use it alike everything else in the spa area.

While she isn't exactly the same as the Norwegian Spirit, the Spirit has a sister ship with the similar Asian decor, the SuperStar Virgo.

There are many who have had turbulent flights this week. No one has received any compensation for a rough ride and heavy weather. Why should cruise ships do so when the airlines don't?

The cruise lines will compensate for the port fees of the ports of call you missed, and prorate any cruise length shortages, but that is all they have to compensate for. Anything else is gravy.

Unfortunately, NCL dining isn't four or five star dining, never was and never will be, speciality restaurant or not. NCL food is hotel banquet dining, nothing more. When you are serving up to 10,000 meals a day don't expect the same experience of a restaurant serving 1,000 meals a day. Yes, quantity instead of quality.

Frankly, I am happy and pleased on a cruise to have eatable food. I would never attempt to judge the food aboard a ship to a five star restaurant. A cruise ship doesn't get fresh deliveries everyday. Almost everything is frozen for a week or more. Ask Gordon Ramsey about fresh food?

Order a filet or tenderloin if you desire tender steak. I order food aboard a ship I can't get at home. Since I live in a small town I order the French, Italian and Asian cuisine. I also order the seafood as well. If I wished to dine on pizza or hamburgers, I would have stayed home. I always look forward for the lamb, something I can't find anywhere near my home.

I believe NCL considers the competition is too strong considering the fuel expensive itinerary. Princess has been very strong on the west coast, and Holland American has been strong in the past. Carnival is updating their ships, and Disney is moving into the market full time. Royal Caribbean has introduced one of their super mega ships as well. While NCL did well with the new Star, the Star isn't new anymore. NCL tried for a year to provide an eight day vice a seven day itinerary and ended up discounting much to much especially for the weekday departures. The California economy hasn't helped matters lately either...

The Star lately has been the ship with the least profits. When ships don't do well the cruise lines relocate them to a more profitable market. Florida is the heart of the US cruising world, not New York City or Los Angeles. Central Florida is as accessable as southern Florida to the vast majority of Americans living east of the Mississippi River. Plus itineraries can be much more varied and are less fuel expensive from Florida. There are four major departure ports in Florida, and NCL needs one ship from Tampa too....

Disney sees a need for a west coast ship with links to Disneyland, NCL doesn't...

Just booked a couple days ago ... ( inside gty).... and ended up with a cabin on the Oslo deck.

Has anyone been on the Oslo deck?

It looks like there is no elevator access to that area of the ship. Anyone know exactly where it is located and how many stairs there are?:confused:

As I recall the stairwell is a half stairwell, there is no turnaround half way down/up. Its located by the lobby by the forward elevators and stairwell since that deck is in the forward part of the ship.

I too just booked Sky's Oslo deck Oceanview cabins.

I'm glad to hear that they are quiet. NO elevator should be no problem.

Do these cabins have Port holes or Picture windows?

Thanks

Picture windows. Portholes are on a lower deck...

Darrengs is correct, Don. In answer to the question PP posed, a power strip with nothing plugged in (and no light) would draw no power. The real grinch is transformers, which are in so many electrical items (rechargers, for example) and draw power whether or not they are in use. A separate problem is items designed to "stay warm" for one reason or another and therefore draw power even when they are nominally "off". Printers, for example, which might want to keep some ink device warm, appliances which want to avoid a warming-up period, etc.

 

As far as opening the rear of a TV, there are two separate dangers. Obviously, if it is still plugged in, you could accidentally touch a live connection. However, even unplugged there is the problem of charged capacitors (which may stay charged for many hours after being disconnected). While they draw no power (once they are charged), they sit there like time bombs, ready to discharge their entire load into any human who happens to come in contact with them.

 

Bill

Obviously an electrician and a electronics technician have different views. But have you ever seen anyone use a power strip without something plugged into it? And have you seen many unplug a power strip when not in use? Case closed...

Thank you for clearing that up. I am not an idiot but never really thought it all the way through. We have PDAs, Phones, a FLIP, iPods, camera etc and we'll just be sure to stagger the charge times. The thing we don't have is curling irons and things to make us look better in the pictures :rolleyes:

Thanks for the thanks. Standby power wastage has increased significantly in an era of higher energy costs and electric bills. While we all have power strips by our computers at home, not many of us have power strips in every outlet in our homes. All I am attempting to get across is its getting that way on cruise ships which have limited electricity production, especially on the older ships...

The PP is correct if there is a power strip without a light and there is nothing plugged into it then there is no load. The same for a standard extension cord, just plugging in an extension cord does not put a load on the circuit until that circuit is closed.

 

You are correct about electronics and appliances drawing power when plugged in. However, your point about the screwdriver is wrong, you can plug it into an outlet and if it is not grounded there is no "load". I am not sure I understand what you are trying to say, are you saying an open outlet is drawing a load "Juice is flowing through, and that is a load"? Because that is not true.

 

More and more chargers are being made green so that when there is nothing plugged into them they shut down and do not draw any power. In fact I picked up an "AT&T ZERO Charger" for my iPhone prior to our cruise last month.

Maybe my use of the word load in your opinion is wrong, but juice is flowing through the outlet. If not why do electric clocks still run when you turn radios and microwaves off? Plus in the utility power line transmission line business electricians see a wire as a load... And if a wire presents resistance an electrical outlet presents resistance and is a load... And surely a power strip lengthens the wiring to an outlet on the strip from the wall outlet...

Furthermore a transformer is made of coiled wire... Wire is resistance... Wire is a load... When an electrician rewires your outlets and light switches, the electrician turns off the juice to the outlet or switch at the circuit breaker or fuse box...

Ohms law: E=I X R

But what is the purpose of a power strip? To provide more outlets to plug more gadgets into at the same time. How many of us use a power strip without anything plugged in? The only power strips I see without anything plugged in are sitting on store shelves or hanging on store peg hooks...

For another link of standby power, read this link from the University of California Berkeley...

http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2001/02/09_energ.html

As I said before, its not the power strips or extension cords that are the problem, its the fact we don't unplug much if any of our gadgets...

If nothing is plugged into the power strip and the strip does not have a lighted switch, what causes the load?

My, the physics of electricity must be taught in high school... Obviously its not being done with so many questions. The gadget you have plugged into any circuit has juice running through it whether its turned on or not. Those gadgets have power supplies, transformers, resistors, capacitors, etc.

Weren't you ever taught in school to unplug an appliance or gadget if you were going to open the back cover of say for example a television set? Haven't you read the the instructions booklet that comes with every appliance and gadget? Have you ever plugged a screwdriver into an outlet? Juice is flowing through, and that is a load...

I posted a Wiki link to standby electricity and many still don't get it.... :rolleyes::rolleyes::rolleyes:

There are so many posts and threads about saving money with cruising. Some think $25 is too much for a laundry bag special. Never-the-less many could save that much if not more by unplugging appliances and gadgets at home not being used...

Read this Wiki link explaining standby power demands. Up to ten percent of most homes electricity consumption is standby power... And that is with refrigerators, freezers, hot water tanks, furnaces, and air conditioners consuming much much more.

Many of those things aren't in a cruise ship cabin. Thus the standby power load in a cruise ship cabin out of that one outlet probably approaches twice that amount if not more. We don't like to unplug our appliances. Nor do we like to unplug out battery chargers using a power strip on a cruise ship. The power strip itself is a load plugged into the cabin's outlet which during a cruise is never unplugged. We don't like to unplug power strips either...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standby_power

No. Carnival tried to ban them, but their passengers threw a hissy fit. Every line allows power strips. But the underlying reason for Carnival's ban still exists...

Simply put, the power strips outlets place a load on the ship's generators. The ships have a limited amount of power aboard and don't have the luxury of tapping a power line at sea.

Passengers power demands have gone up considerably. Many of the ships power plants, generators, and switchboards weren't designed with so many power strips and load in mind. There is a reason why most cabins have only one outlet in the cabin and/or a second one in the bath room...

Gone are the days when passengers brought only razors and hair dryers aboard a ship. Today they bring every conceivable battery chargers for video cams, digital cameras, notebooks, blackberries, iPods, cell phones, etc.

Its not that passengers wish to recharge their batteries that is the problem, its that the passengers wish to recharge all of their gadgets at the same time with more than one outlet...

besides NCL--what other new ships that were built the last two years

have no forward observation area because this space was used for suites???

 

BG

Carnival Magic doesn't have a forward observation lounge...

Ah.... good poiint..... I love having a forward facing lounge to enjoy. :(

Unfortunately, many of the new ships being built today don't have a forward facing lounge... As more and more passengers demand aft and forward suites aboard a ship, the forward lounge alike an aft swimming pool is being squeezed out...

What is happening to the Star reflects what is happening with new ships being built...

Both of you must be some of the few that liked Fanning Island. Most of the rest of NCL passengers considered Fanning Island the worst port of call in the world, and it took two or more days from visiting Hawaiian islands...

Cruise lines keep itineraries that fill ships. Unfortunately Fanning island didn't...

Outside my few suits and heavy winter coats, I doubt the rest of my clothes in my closet weighs 100 pounds. I do have a small closet and have thrown out all of my clothes I don't fit in any longer... But that small closet is full...

When I went on a tour with Rick Steves, PBS, I had to get down to one 20 pound bag. When I cruise I can do the same, but I usually settle for about one 23-25 pound bag. I believe the trick is to mix and match your clothes, providing more than one day of usage for pants. And if you are willing to spot wash a shirt, one can easily get two days of usage too, the under arm area being the key... Hang the shirt overnight to dry or use the ship's hair dryer.

When traveling less baggage is best. Read my signature and cllick the video link below to pack lightly with fewer wrinkles...

If the ship goes through a storm, and you are prone to sea sickness, it really doesn't matter where your cabin is located on the ship, you will be dizzy.... While I prefer midships, others prefer forward and/or aft. Someone has to fill the cabins on the ship. I had a cabin just about everywhere, forward to aft, and frankly I haven't noticed much of a difference....

Another "rule " with no teeth. Until they publish an overweight charge this is just a requested weight limit. As posted the porters will take all your bags $$$.

The biggest benefit will be that we all should get our bags sooner onboard.

Don, NCL is not going to put in scales and airport baggage systems. The operations at the pier belong to the port and unless every cruiseline demands it, ain't going to happen.

As we all know what is NCL policy (you can't bring water onboard) and what is practice at the pier (no problem bringing water onboard) are and will remain very different.

Wouldn't cost much to do so considering how much they spend on ships. Keep in mind there are a lot of cameras aboard the ship, especially in public spaces. Those security cameras cost much more than will a few receiving stations for luggage.