sleepbestonships

Thank you so much for your wonderful review and beautiful pictures. My husband and I are planning to do this cruise in May, we’re very excited to see Havana. Happy 20th Anniversary!

The Sky will be refurbished by then. You will have a great time!

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Hi

 

Thanks for your post. We are thinking of a last minute cruise on NCL to Cuba the first week in November but am concerned about the weather . Do you have any input on this? Also, you mentioned putting a bid in for an upgraded cabin. How did you do this?

We didn't bid- I checked prices and the suite price dropped about 12 days before departure. My travel agent was able to change cabins for us for the price difference.

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Your post is very helpful. We will be in Havana for a day during a seven-day on the Sun in October, and I'd like to plan something for the evening but not sure of timing - we depart Havana at 11:59 p.m. At what time did you depart Havana? Thanks!

We did not depart Havana until 6a.m. The following day.

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And that about does it! We had one more lovely meal in Cagney's, picked up all our pictures (free at sea), looked at our final bill, and prepared our tips/thank you'd for our concierge, butler, and cabin attendant. We packed in the morning, said goodbye to the crew, and self disembarked with Kadek's escort. Customs was quick. We are now hanging out in a day use room at the Sheraton airport because our flight is not until 8:30 tonight.

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Great Stirrup Cay was beautiful! We opted to do a wave runner tour. Our meeting time was 10:45, but we weren't on the wave runners until 11:45. I don't have pictures- but even though it took an hour to get going, we loved it! It was full throttle speed (up to 50mph) through beautiful water. It is not a tour in the sense of "exploring"- it is all about speed. We did stop near the end in a shallow spot to get in the water. We found a huge starfish (about 12 inches diameter).

We walked the island and I rented a float- which was pure bliss for me. I wish I had goggles- I would have just floated with my face in the water.

The food was yummy- I had chicken with a mild spice, corn on the cob, rice, watermelon, and pineapple

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I don't remember what we did on our sea day- but we enjoyed some time in Outrigger and on our balcony. We did the Captain's reception that evening and then ate at Le Bistro. Food was good-but we preferred Cagney's menu.

We did not do many ship activities, preferring to just relax and enjoy the views and quiet spaces. We honestly could be happy in an interior room- but we 100% enjoyed the suite perks and attention from staff.

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We were truly spoiled throughout the cruise for our 20th celebration. Being in a suite most certainly upped the celebration factor. I don't even have pictures of all the anniversary decorations.

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Our driver had waited through the show. We made it back to the ship, paid and tipped him, and turned in for the night.

The following day was our sea day. After breakfast, I headed to the Cruise Critic Meet and Greet that I had arranged. I think around 15 people showed up. It was nice to meet everyone. NCL provided refreshments and around 8 of the officers showed up. They were all really great and I appreciated the time they took to meet with us.

The pool was a crazy scene (of course). My husband and I spent some time in the fitness center and then walked through the craziness.

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After a long day of seeing Havana, we enjoyed some time on the ship. We ate dinner in the Palace MDR. We had a great table by the window and a lovely meal. I really enjoyed the Cuban inspired options.

After dinner, we got ready for Tropicana. I bought tickets online the night before the cruise and arranged transportation with Blexie. We had a classic car and paid $50 round trip. So - the Tropicana was an amazing venue, awesome costumes, and great dancing/singing. We were given a glass of champagne, a bottle of Havana Rum (1 bottle for 2 people), Avila each, and some nuts. It was pretty warm out and a few people were puffing on their cigars (also provided). The show starts at 10pm, I would advise arriving between 9:30 and 9:45, unless you want to sit around beforehand in the heat. Most people loved the show- but if you or your partner are not fans of "productions" or musicals, Tropicana is not for you.

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I arranged a tour through Blexie. Thanks to the suite, we had priority disembarking and it took us maybe 15 minutes to go through customs and change money. Our tour guide was Raul and he was there at 10 a.m. There had been a hiccup with the scheduled car (engine apparently gave out), but they made new arrangements on the fly and our tour was not impacted. We loved spending the day with Raul and getting the perspective of a Cuban. We saw many things- my husband's favorite was Fusterlandia. A few pictures:

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We ate at Cagney's our first night. The food and service there were excellent throughout our trip. After a little hot tub time, we turned in to rest up for Cuba. When we woke at 6:15 a.m., we were treated with the approach to Havana.

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Though it was raining in Miami, by the time we left port it had stopped raining. We upgraded our 100 free minutes of internet to unlimited (the 2 of us shared). The 100 minutes was worth $75 towards the (I think) $119 unlimited. It's easy to switch between users using the website login.con. But sharing meant we couldn't use our phones to communicate with each other (not a big deal for us).

Here are the current officers on the ship.

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The room was amazing. We were in room 8277, the "Aquarius Suite".

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I booked this trip about 4 weeks in advance to celebrate my 20th anniversary with my husband. We have been on one previous cruise- 17 years ago on the Sky to Alaska out of Seattle. We really loved that trip- but never got around to cruising again. For the Cuba trip, we initially booked an aft balcony, which is where we were last trip. We ended up in an aft suite for just a little more. We didn't bid, I just obsessively watched prices and then upgraded when the price was right.

The suite was amazing! I thought the Sky was in great shape, despite its age. But- it goes into dry dock for 19 days in January for a sprucing up.

Embarkation was a breeze- though the suite really helped. Once on board (by 11:30), we were escorted to Plantation, where our concierge Kadek told us about perks for suite guests. We had him change some dining reservations and make a shore excursion (wave runner at Great Stirrup Cay). We then went to Cagney's for lunch. Our room was ready by 1:00.

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I have a meet and greet scheduled on a 4-day cruise. I'll let you know if any officers show.

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You can find information here: https://www.cabaret-tropicana.com/en/

There are three price ranges for tickets. From what I have read (I will see for myself, hopefully, in 4 days), the seats are more expensive up front, but it may be harder to take in the full effect. You can buy the tickets online ahead of time, or just show up and purchase tickets. You can take a cab there and back for about 25 cuc each way. Or- if you have arranged a private tour, you can ask if they would also do your transportation to Tropicana.

Since there is a very high chance of rain at this time of year, I am not buying tickets until the day of. I read on tripadvisor reviews that if it rains, it moves indoors- which is very cramped and not as pleasant as the outdoor venue. So I will skip the Tropicana if it is raining. The tickets are pricey enough that I don't want to buy them "just in case."

I will be on the Sky soon and have downloaded the Cruise Norwegian app. It has a cruise countdown, My Vacation Home (lists available shore excursions, dining, bars & lounges, gits & more, onboard shopping, spa, and all onboard activities). It also has my "vacation summary" (includes on board spending and all perks and purchased items), and online check-in (allows me to pull up the edocs for both in cabin). I don't see where it would add the option to communicate with others- but perhaps that will become apparent when on board.

I had luckily received that advice previously- so I do have reservations (though some were already not available and I am hoping to make some changes once on board).

Am I correct that I cannot use any of my on board credit until I actually board the ship? I have a pretty big chunk and pricing everything out that I want to spend on, I really need to use the OBC to cover the specialty dining. I wish there was a way to pre-purchase things on board (like excursions or specialty dining) by using OBC.

A pre-bought dining package on my upcoming NCL Sky cruise is a $10 discount. I'm waiting to buy once on board because I have on board credit I want to use.

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I completed and submitted my form online for NCL, do I need to bring a paper copy also? Or- will they provide me a copy of the form I completed online?

If we have only carry on luggage we are keeping with us, I presume we don't need luggage tags. Is that correct?

There are some bar menus on this link https://boards.cruisecritic.com/show....php?t=2539744

BirdTravels- thanks for the link with your review. In your post, you included a picture of a vending machine with sodas and Monster Energy Drinks (my husbands caffeine delivery product of choice). Can we purchase those and bring them on the ship, or will they confiscate them after that point?

BirdTravels- LOL, that would 100% kill me.