CruiseyMcBoatFace

Hi, all. I'd love to hear experiences with any accessible Pompeii tours. My mom and I are cruising on Celebrity in July, and will visit Naples. She can walk, but uneven terrain -- like ANCIENT COBBLESTONES -- are a problem for her. Are the accessible tours truly accessible as far as walking goes? Or, are there places where she can sit out certain parts of the tour that might not be fully doable without missing too much? (She's not interested in a wheelchair for various reasons.)

Please share your experiences. I'd love for her not to miss this once-in-a-lifetime site. Thanks.

Many thanks, all.

Thanks so much for the helpful info.

Thank you so much, all.

Hi, all. I'm visiting in October and would love to snorkel with my mother, but she's not able to get in and out of the water on a boat ladder. Wondering if there are beaches that have good walk-in/walk-out access to snorkeling sites. Thanks.

Hi, all. I'm visiting in October and would love to snorkel with my mother, but she's not able to get in and out of the water on a boat ladder. Wondering if there are beaches that have good walk-in/walk-out access to snorkeling sites. Thanks.

Hi, all. I'm visiting in October and would love to snorkel with my mother, but she's not able to get in and out of the water on a boat ladder. Wondering if there are beaches that have good walk-in/walk-out access to snorkeling sites. Thanks.

Easy enough. Thank you both.

Hi, all. Can someone please explain where/when you get your cup for the Freestyle machines if you've purchased the beverage package? Do you get them at check-in, or do you ask at a bar, or...?

Thanks.

Hi, all. My mother is taking my ten-year-old son on a cruise in a couple of weeks, and I'm wondering about the spending money situation.

I would like to send him with some pocket money for ice cream, arcade games, etc., plus treating his grandma to a latte -- say, $10 a day.

What are my options for making this happen? Ideally the money would be put on his shipboard account for him to draw on as needed. (IDEALLY-ideally, there would be a daily limit that prevented him from overspending on one day or another, but that seems unlikely, and it's a fine opportunity for him to practice managing his money.)

Thanks.

Hey, I'll be cruising with my mom later this fall and she's a caffeine-free Diet Coke drinker, while I myself am a Coke Zero die-hard. We'll certainly take on a 12-pack of cans for her, but I'd also love to take some for myself.

Does anyone have experience with the supposed 12-can limit per stateroom? Is it enforced, or...you know, not?

Thanks.

Thank you, all. Great advice here.

Hi. In June, my mother is taking my son on Liberty of the Seas. I’d like to thank her by giving her a beverage package as a gift, but I’m not sure there’s a way to do that. (I know that will also mean paying for a soda package for my son; that’s okay with me.)

Does anyone one know if I can give the beverage package as a gift? Or would I have to just buy gift certificates which she’d then use to get the package herself?

Thanks. 

Thanks, all. This is helpful.

Is there any outdoor seating on the fantail on Adventure of the Seas? (Subject line says it almost all, except for my please and thank you.)

Sorry about your hard sell. I’ve enjoyed the Pearl spa immensely and don’t think I’d sail without a spa pass on the Pearl.

Nice that there’s something for everyone, right? I loved that about our cruise, with family members ranging from age 9 to 74, and of all different interests.

I actually don’t purchase extra treatments any more. A simple I’m not interested is usually enough to quell the hard selling but I am not interested in risking the need to tell someone over and over that I’m not interested.

But how will you know if you need detoxification, urgent dermatological care, or brand-new orthotics? :)

Thanks for this. My wife and I are considering for our Pearl cruise later this summer. We are mainly getting it because it appears the only hot tubs on the ship are in the main pool area and would like a quieter scene. Did you use the hot tubs at all? Our kids are in college so they won't be joining us...we are already spending enough on them :).

So I used the hot tub in the women’s area, but not the co-ed one — that one looked great, though I don’t think it has much of a view, if that matters to you. The women’s one was little bitty, like a bathtub, and not nearly hot enough for my preference. If you get a chance, check the water temp before you commit.

Happy cruise to you and your wife!

Hi, all. Just got back from a cruise to Alaska on the Pearl and thought I'd type up a review of the spa, in case it helps anyone else who's planning to check it out. This ran longer than I thought it would, so key points are bolded for skimmers!

I opted for the 7-day thermal spa pass. Because I love steam rooms, hot tubs, and the like, I thought I'd take advantage of the spa much more often than I did. I ended up going only twice. That's not NCL's fault; excursion days tired me out more than I expected, and my kids spent less time in the clubs than I'd thought. But it didn't end up being a good deal for me, so I'd encourage anyone else to be conservative in your estimate of how much use you'd really get out of a pass.

While the spa provides robes and towels, they don't furnish slippers of any kind. You can decide how much this turns you off, of course; I didn't like it because it meant that people were using their own flip-flops in wet areas, quite probably the same ones they'd been wearing all over the ship, on excursions, on the street, et cetera. Not super-hygienic, in my opinion.

And unlike every other spa I've ever been to -- what can I say? I have a habit -- the spa on the Pearl provided nothing extra in the way of personal care products. Usually you can count on nice lotion being available to slather on after a sauna, or good shampoo and conditioner in the showers, or even things like combs or styling products for post-treatment grooming. Not here; there's only the same shampoo and body wash you get in the basic-level staterooms. Underwhelming.

So that was two days. On another day, I did a salt scrub treatment. Can I just say I hated it? Fine: I hated it. I mean, I didn't much care for the massage therapist's technique, but that's not the main reason; it was the endless hard-driving up-sell that pissed me off. What they tried to sell:

1. Products. And that was expected: Of course they're going to try that. Like I said, I go to spas and I know how it's generally done. But this was truly over the top, with the therapist trying to convince me I needed a full range of products that would "release toxins," going so far as to draw dire-looking pictures of my poor poisoned tissues. I should have stopped her long before I did. It ate up easily 10 minutes of my 75-minute treatment time. I should have stopped her much, much sooner than I did. My advice? Start your session by saying, "I'm not going to buy any products." ("...And spare me that unscientific 'toxin' crap.")

2. Extra services. After offering unsolicited opinions about the rosacea on my face, my therapist tried to hustle me in to see "the doctor," whoever that was, "...if he has time right now for a consultation." (Pretty sure if I'd said yes, he'd have somehow found the time.) Not, I should stress, that I'm ill, or in any pain, or in search of medical advice. I went in for a salt scrub, not a liver transplant. Or, for that matter, a facial.

3. Even extra-er services. I thought I'd finally made it clear to the therapist that I wasn't buying anything more, but apparently not, because when she passed me off to the receptionist at the end of my treatment (with an attitude that suggested that I'd been wasting her time), the receptionist told me, "...And your therapist has recommended that you have a footprint/posture analysis." This would have come from the two enterprising dudes who'd been all over the ship hawking the same offer, now conveniently set up in the spa. I could almost accept the hard sell on the products related to the treatment I was actually having -- scrubs and lotions and such -- but this was too much.

Beyond that, I didn't care for the fact that purchasing spa services doesn't also get you access to the thermal spa for the day -- again, unlike any other facility I've ever patronized. I had a pass, so I did go back in after treatment, but before she knew I was cleared for entry, the receptionist made it clear that access was not included.

Overall, it was a fairly negative experience. I wouldn't buy a pass again, nor would I return for a treatment. I don't think it's in any way comparable to other terrestrial spas I've visited, and not equal to other Mandara-branded facilities, either. However, I do want to flag some positives, because there were a few:

1. If you can ignore the shoe issue, the place was very clean. Nice job by the staff keeping it that way.

2. The view from the steam room and the loungers in the ladies' area is magnificent. ...I mean, it's Alaska.

3. The spa provided a fairly quiet place to escape for a little while from other crowded parts of the ship.

So that's it. My experience didn't ruin my whole cruise -- not by a long shot! -- but I'm sorry I spent money on it. I hope this review is useful to anyone else considering the spa, either so you can make a more informed decision about whether to go for it, or so you can stop your therapist before she really gets going on the hard sell. :)

Thank you.

Hi, all. Can anyone tell me about bar seating at Le Bistro on the Pearl? Is that a thing? Can I go, have a few drinks, and maybe have an appetizer there without a full dinner reservation? (I'd love to treat my son to a plate of escargot, but we're not up for a full meal.)

Thanks.

Thanks for the review. It answered a bunch of questions I had about our upcoming Alaska cruise -- nice to have current info.

Okay, I'll bite: I'm seeing lots of experienced cruisers say they travel with...duct tape! What for? What uses do you find for it? I wonder how to justify the extra 3" it'll take up in my luggage!

Hi, all. Got a question. NCL's website is a little confusing on this issue, as far as my reading goes.

When in port, is it possible to send kids to Splash Academy while parents leave the ship?

I think the answer is no, but on the website there's some stuff about handy phones that makes it seem a little ambiguous. (Their punctuation is...non-standard.)

Can I leave the ship on a port day while my child is in Splash Academy?

Yes, unless you are given a handy phone* at least 1 authorized pick up person must remain onboard in case the staff or child needs your assistance.

Handy phones or pagers will be given out for the following reasons:

*Pagers and handy phones do not work in port while the ship is docked. Therefore, on port days pagers and handy phones will be issued if your child is in diapers or needs assistance with the bathroom and at least one parent/authorized pick-up person is required to stay on board.

Youth Program Manager reserves the right to issue a handy phone or pager to parents if the situation with the child requires parent/pick-up person assistance.

If a handy phone or pager is issued to you and your child is signed into the program, not responding to a page or call within 15 minutes will result in a $75.00 fee and your child will be dismissed from the program.

If a handy phone or pager is issued a fee of $150.00 will be applied to your onboard account if the device is not returned or if it is returned broken.

Thanks for any insight or personal experience you can share.

Hi, all. I'm taking an Alaska cruise this summer on the Pearl -- my first on NCL -- and would like to take my nine-year-old out for a special dinner. He looooooves steak. I'm wondering if Moderno or Cagney's is the better bet.

He's not terribly interested in side dishes or appetizers. For him, the meat is the main attraction! He can behave as well as any adult can in a restaurant, but we don't necessarily prefer fancy over relaxed.

Thoughts? Thanks.

Thank you!