bookbabe

Emailed the form and a screenshot of our holdings page from the website on Friday, email and OBC confirmation in my email this morning. FYI, make sure the date and your name shows on the screenshot as well as the stocks. Had it sent back for a redo last year because no date showed.

We did Alaska on the Encore in May and it was great. Glacier Bay especially is a must-do.

Info on the caves themselves is here - https://www.caymancrystalcaves.com Nice enough attraction if you’re into caves. Kaibo is a beach restaurant in the Cayman Kai (Rum Point) area. https://www.kaibo.ky I used to be a bigger fan of their food before they got all poshy. Nice place as far as atmosphere goes. Starfish Point is a spot near the Kaibo where you can often (but not always) see starfish in the water. Okay beach, shallow water. if you put the various spots into google maps you can get a good idea of where they are in relation to the port and to each other. The only way to get to the caves is by land, and they mention Kaibo lounge time post-caves, and there’s a no-caves option, so I’m assuming that they take you by boat to Stingray City and then Starfish Point first, then dock at Kaibo. They must have a shuttle parked there to run you to the caves and back, about 15-20 min each way maybe? And then by boat back to town and then a shuttle to the ship. Knowing the distances, that seems to make the most sense. Driving to Kaibo and the caves from town would take much longer, about 45-60 min each way, and since starfish point is about a 2 min boat ride from Kaibo, I can’t see them lugging you into town to come all the way back out to the caves. That just seems weird. If they didn’t mention going to the Kaibo after the caves, then maybe they’d be doing the cave part separately by land, but there’s no way they’re driving by land all the way to the Kaibo if they took you to Starfish Point by boat. If the various stops are of interest, then it looks like a decent tour. Captain Marvin’s has a pretty good reputation, lots of good reviews of them online. (I’ve been to the spots DIY, just not on an excursion.)

Any (NHL) hockey? I’m worried DH is going to go into withdrawal…

Close-ish to the cruise port your best option with okay beach and okay snorkeling would be Smith Cove Barcadere. There’s restrooms but no other facilities. I’d take a taxi there, and make arrangements for them to return for you at a set time. It’s not an easy walk. I would not try snorkeling at the Eden Rock or Sunset House areas without fins and a life vest unless you are a very experienced snorkeler and strong swimmer. As noted above, the best beaches tend to have the crappiest snorkeling, and vice versa.

Traditionally…. Most (if not all) stores will be closed, including grocery and liquor stores. Some (but not all) restaurants in the tourist areas will be open, especially those in hotels, but they may have limited hours. Some (but not all) excursion companies will be offering tours. In past years, the island has been pretty strict about observing Christmas and Boxing Day closures, including closing for an extra weekday afterwards if one of those holidays falls on the weekend. No idea if this first post-lockdown Christmas will follow the usual pattern or if more things will stay open to cater to whatever ships are in port. Lots of people who rely on tourist dollars are still hurting for money, so maybe? But it’s a very Christian island and Christmas is generally a big deal. My personal recommendation would be to book a ship excursion that day. Beach day, I’d check with Coral Beach to see if they’ll be open. Or, plan to DIY on a busier beach like Public Beach and prep for maybe having to throw a towel down on the sand if no rentals are available.

We’ve done numerous NCL cruises, both pre- and post-lockdown. We generally like the food, including that at the buffet. We’ve sailed in the Haven a few times, and while the food is okay, the same menu every day is not something we are fans of. Even the best food gets boring (for us) when it doesn’t change from cruise to cruise. I’m really hoping the Prima MDR menu experiment is a failed one and this doesn’t roll out fleetwide. And, as someone who doesn’t mind Golden Corral food, especially since I am a “try a tiny bit of everything” buffet fan, I will happily take that food over the fancy “Foam and Swirls” dishes that some people seem to feel is the only option for Fine Dining. There’s nothing DH and I dislike more than menus where it seems like the chef is a failed artist and wants presentation to triumph over taste. I’ve never had pig slop on an NCL cruise (or at Golden Corral for that matter) and even if a particular dish wasn’t to our taste, we’ve rarely had badly cooked or poor quality food. YMMV, I guess. Good thing there are lots of different cruise lines out there, with all types of dining styles and food options.

While anchored in Cabo, we saw whales from the buffet windows on an NCL cruise in November. More, in fact, than we saw on our May Alaska whale watching excursion.

Nope. Couple of tiny booths selling magnets and other touristy junk. Not a shopping stop.

We just got back from a two week land stay, and I didn’t even see it anchored anywhere. But your best bet is probably to contact the company directly to ask. https://caymanpirates.com

Your bigger problem is going to be finding a cruise operator that is still in business. Many are not. I know Cayman Safari is still in business, not sure who else. I haven’t toured with them myself but I know people who have and had a good day. But you might want to go with a ship excursion if they have one, just to be sure of having a tour. https://www.caymansafari.com/cayman-adventures The Botanical Garden is a fair distance from the cruise port, but it’s a straightforward trip. If you can’t find an excursion, you could always rent a car and DIY.

Not a snorkel spot. Good beaches generally have crappy snorkeling. See Capt BJ’s answers in your other thread.

Try through Orlando. Are there direct YVR to MCO flights at all? Then do your overnight stay at the Orlando airport. We ended up with that route for our February cruise out of San Juan, YYZ to MCO then MCO to SJU the next day. There’s lots of flights and our cruise has an overnight in San Juan the first day, so we are flying to SJU embarkation day rather than our usual day-before. The timings just worked better.

I’m looking for later this month, so while it might not be a priority for them, it is one for us. They did finally respond late last night, $130 for 3 people LAX to Disneyland (pre-cruise stay).

Watch it, buddy. Good real maple syrup is no laughing matter. We take our syrup very seriously in the Great White North. Your syrup is much like your beer, a watered down imposter at best. 😉

Same here. It’s been almost a week and no response to the online form other than the automated acknowledgement.

Flat and firm, or flat and floppy? I’m hoping their memory foam ones will be okay, since they sound similar to what I use. But do all ships have them?

Thanks. My pillow is a Casper, and flat rather than neck-shaped, so sounds like I should be okay. As long as they’ve got some kind of firm memory foam pillow available, I can manage. I just can’t do the overly-soft floppy regular pillows that seem to be the norm in the hospitality industry. Thanks again for reporting back.

An excursion purchased via the cruise line might be your safest bet on a stat holiday.

There’s some good YouTube videos that walk you through the Prima cabins, posted by a very tall travel agent. Search by the ship name and cabin type and they should pop up easily.

And ArriveCan will be optional as of this weekend as well. But still way too soon to expect NCL to have updated their website.

As a guess, a lot of American tourists who don’t bother to exchange their money for local currency before a vacation and then find something they absolutely have to have someplace that doesn’t accept credit cards for their particular transaction amount? Like em-sk’s example of a coffee shop, many merchants will have a minimum limit for credit card transactions. Or, some merchants only accept either Visa or MasterCard but not other cards.

If you are looking for a distinctly Norwegian cruise line, check out Viking. Owned by a Norwegian family, with Scandinavian decor, art, history, etc on board. Even a number of Norwegian food options at the small cafe onboard where the owner’s family recipes are served.

We really liked Taino Bay back in November. There’s lots of good info and pics in the ports forum.

It’s a long weekend there this weekend, give them another day or two.