bsammon

FYI, I decided it'd be interesting to post this question on a coin-collector's forum (had to sign up for a new account).

Got some interesting ideas

Further details for the curious:

The port in question is Manhattan/NYC, so there's plenty to do within a half-mile radius.  I'm planning on just walking, so there's no being at the mercy of taxis/buses/traffic problems, and I'm pretty confident of my ability to walk/run a half-mile in under 15 minutes.

As for what I'm interested in -- I'm thinking stuff like maybe getting some really good pizza (might be the last chance for a while?).

Also wondering if Norwegian's bagels are up to NY standards (if not, I'd buy some bagels in Manhattan)

Maybe some other shopping.

Probably not worth trying to do a museum.

If I don't come up with any better ideas, I might go spend 15 minutes gawking at Times Square (think that's a little beyond the aforementioned half-mile radius).

I won't be able to talk the rest of my group into going into Manhattan a day early (we'll be spending the night before at family's house in Queens)

Can/have you leave the ship after checking-in (is that the term I'm looking for) and dropping-off your bags, if you would like to explore the city near the embarkation point? 

What can I expect from Norwegian if I want/try to do this?

I've seen something about "one hour prior to departure" -- what does that refer to exactly?  If I return from my "mini-excursion" 30 minutes prior to departure -- will they have already taken the gankplank up?  Will they refuse to let me on?  Will they yell/grumble at me?

Does being a Haven passenger make a difference?

Has anyone here tried/succeeded to buy rolls of coins in foreign (in my case "foreign" means non-USA) ports?

I have a few board-games that I frequently play that use plastic "coins", and I was thinking it would be interesting to replace those coins with foreign pennies (or other coins of similar value).  I have some gamer friends that might appreciate them as souvenirs, as well.

Maybe you could get them at a bank in the port (will they sell to a non-account-holder?) or at a Foreign-Exchange counter.  For just a handful of coins, in the past I've been able to ask random store-clerks at random stores to make change for me, but I wouldn't do that for this kind of quantities.

I'm also curious about what kind of premium to expect to pay for something like this, and whether to expect any kind of hiccups at customs/security checkpoints if I'm carrying a kilogram of currency with total value less than $10 (I doubt it, besides getting laughed at)

I'll probably make port-specific versions of this thread in the forums for the ports I'm planning on visiting.

9 hours ago, chengkp75 said:

fixture on deck at the other end of the ship goes to ground due to water getting into the fixture.  This ground, hundreds of feet away, and totally out of your control, can send "reverse voltage" to your surge protector, and the semi-conductors which provide the surge protection are not designed to accept this "voltage in the wrong direction" (the ground voltage is higher than the line voltage, which is impossible on land), and the semi-conductors fail in what is known as "thermal

I saw this "reverse voltage" explanation when I searched the forum for info about power strips, and I must say, I'm quite confused by it.

If we're talking about alternating current (AC) electricity, doesn't the voltage reverse 60 times per second, just like it does at home?  I think "reversing voltage" is exactly what these surge protectors are designed for.

I expect/believe there is some kernel of truth in this explanation, but it's been simplified down to the point of muddled-ness.

Now, the "voltage too high" argument, that makes sense to me.

14 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

You are 100% correct. There is NO restriction on brining a surge protected power strip onboard. 
 

 

9 hours ago, megansdad1 said:

Actually you have a point.  I checked my Edocs and they post a linked to the NCL webpage that lists the prohibited items. 

Heehee... "correct", "have a point".  My previous post was 100% question. 

If I were going to make a point, I would say that I don't necessarily expect NCL's webpage documents to correctly match the actual policy.

Huh.  In one of the articles I found somewhere, it was referred to as a player piano, but I had suspected that that article had made a mistake.

Now I have more questions.

I'm wondering what type of player piano it is -- what brand/model, for starters.

I imagine it doesn't use piano rolls.  I wonder if it does MIDI.

Techie that I am, I could see myself spending the entire cruise tinkering with the piano.

This is the first time I'm hearing about a power strip policy.  Just did a quick browse of NCL's webpage, and found a few pages about prohibited items, none of which mention restrictions on the type of power strips.

Google was not turning up any quick useful results either.

Anyone got links to official(-ish) documentation of this?

How are the pianos in the Garden Villas?  Are they any good?  Are they tuned regularly?  Or are they just for appearances?

And is "can you get us a piano tuner" the sort of thing you can ask the concierge?

So, I've been invited on a cruise, and I didn't have any input into the selection.  (I also don't have a customer login for ncl.com)

It's a NCL starting in NYC with a stop in Port Canaveral (continuing on to the Caribbean).

It's hard to find information in this forum about Port Canaveral specifically as a port-of-call -- it seems to get buried in threads about hotels/airport-shuttles/embarkation/disembarkation at Port Canaveral.

I'm specifically interested in places I can go to on the cheap -- walking, bus (is there anything cheaper than taxi/uber?) without booking an excursion.  Also I will probably be looking to get cheap/free wifi/internet access, as I'll be trying to limit my on-board internet costs.

Also feel free to post stuff relevant to the thread title, without worrying if I specifically am interested.

I'm also mildly curious about why Florida is a port of call.  Is it actually attractive to people as a destination (I guess there's beaches...), or is it more of a practical thing -- a place to refuel, swap out crew, performers?

Thanks, good information so far!

Does the free limo thing cover a ride to the port before the cruise, or just the ride out afterwards?

(thinking cynically) I suppose as far as providing future-booking-inspiring good memories, a limo ride after the cruise has more effect than a limo ride before the cruise.

So I'm going on a cruise in Haven and, as I understand it, we can get a free limo ride between the airport (say, JFK) and the port (NYC) before and after the cruise.

Has anyone here had/used this free-ride perk?  What to expect?

Will they only do it for an airport, or will they pick-up/drop-off at any location within a certain radius?  such as a hotel, or a private residence?

Is it a consistent-policy sort of thing, or more of a "it depends on who you talk to, and maybe what kind of mood they're in"?

I imagine this is a pre-concierge thing; the cruise is still far off enough that that hasn't kicked in yet.