ontheweb

When we did a cruise out of Boston, we used public transportation (the MBTA) from the airport to the cruise port. I had asked directions in the cc board that included Boston, and got directions from a Boston native.

I believe the port that cruise lines use for Paris is Le Havre.

OTOH, if that same person unfamiliar with the geography thinks they are going straight to Rome. Paris, Florence, or Athens, they are in for a rude awakening.

We did manage to download pictures that finally allowed our documents to say completed, but then both had our pictures retaken at the ship. I had estimated our arrival time and we got there in the half hour period immediately before that time when our transfer bus arrived. No one checked arrival times on the boarding documents. They just had us all lineup and move towards the ship. It was actually very efficient. Even with having both having our pictures retaken, it seems to me we spent less time with the agent than on any previous cruise.

We had to find the NCL representatives at Heathrow in London. No problem, they were there in the baggage pickup area.

You're welcome. The main purpose of these boards is to try to help each other.

Perhaps you should pose your question in the following cc board that includes Norway: Northern Europe & Baltic Sea - Cruise Critic Community

And yet it is NCL that lists the real ports, not for instance Florence with Livorno in parenthesis as other cruise lines do.

But they are the TRUTH, where the ship actually docks.

I was actually surprised when we went to the cruise next presentation, and instead of listing places like Rome, Florence, Athens, and Paris, the actual ports were listed on the itineraries.

On our Prima cruise this past summer, we had a large group of deaf passengers. I knew in advance because one of them posted about it in our roll call. At a lot of activities there was a sign language interpreter. Also, you often saw several of them together signing. But, as far as I could tell there were no excursions not open to everyone.

One often hears of bad service. Good service is probably much more frequent. It is just that usually when everything goes as it should, that is not something that often gets posted here. So, thanks to the OP for starting this thread.

You're welcome. To @TxTeach79, I don't remember even putting down a time for the flight coming in. I did ask our TA what would be a good time to arrive at the airport for the transfer.

We had BOGO air to Heathrow in London with a 1 day deviation. Our TA advised us that NCL would ONLY transfer from the airport. Since we did not intend to schlep our luggage into London and were booking a hotel by the terminal in which we came in, this did not matter to us. And as previously posted, just go to the baggage claim area and you will see several NCL representatives carrying signs identifying themselves. They will get you to the bus.

Just out of curiosity (as it does not apply to me), could the cruise next certificates have been purchased in Canadian dollars? Did you ask?

Sometimes our tax dollars actually are very well spent.

I will agree that a naturalist is important for Alaska, and when we cruised Alaska on Princess we had an excellent one, Michael Modzelewski. Just the fact that I still remember his name when our Alaska cruise was in the summer of 2010 should be a sign of how much he contributed to the enjoyment of the cruise.

That is how it worked on the Prima this summer when we had reservations for the Donna Summers show. I believe you can also sign on board up to be waitlisted.

Nice list.

IIRC, the article said they were sailing on a guarantee.

When we did Tallinn, we followed the walking tour outlined in Rick Steves' Scandanavia book. No need for any paid excursion.

Yes, it would seem that at some point someone took one of those offers, and you sailed. But, in the OP's post he mentions reading an article where passengers were left at the dock by Royal Caribbean. (I have also read that article.) And that is quite different than what you and others have described in these posts.

That is an interesting question. Would the answer be the same for all cruise lines? And in fact, how do you define quality when it comes to passengers?

Meanwhile while we were on the Prima this past August and they had a Q & A session with the officers. I asked the officer in charge of the stewards about their workload and he made it sound like there was no change from before Covid.

I am part of the do not trust anyone over 30 generation, and I now have a son who is 45. 🤦‍♂️