motravelerken

My wife and I intend to do an NCL Mediterranean cruise out of Rome (Civitavecchia) in the summer of 2025 and I am trying to "recruit" some other couples to go with us. I have cruised with NCL before and enjoyed the experience. I see the "NCL Free Airfare for second guest" applies to the cruises that I am interested in. I contacted NCL today to ask some general questions and asked about airfare program. They told me that IF I book using this promotion that IF we book using their hotel choice we can fly into Rome up to 3 days pre-cruise or fly out up to 3 days post-cruise. IF I book my own hotel than that would reduce to 2 days pre and/or post cruise. I would prefer to arrive 3 days early but could make the 2 day pre-arrival and 2 day post-departure work. Does anyone mind to share their experience with booking air through NCL to Rome and either positive or negative experiences? I am assuming that NCL chooses the flights for us or do we get to choose the flights? I was wondering what hotel NCL uses to book for Rome for the 3 day arrival? Maybe location is not great or cost of hotel negates the flight savings? Buy 1 get 1 airfare seems like a really good deal. I am quite a bit out from my trip but just trying to get an idea of if I should use the NCL deal or not. I have read mixed reviews on their airfare program but it seems like I have read that when traveling to Europe, it is the way to go. We use the Holland America Flight Ease program last year when traveling to Alaska and it was a great program.

Thanks All! Kind of what I expected to hear. I was on the NCL Epic 6 years ago and I don't mind the bathroom setup at all but I knew 4 would be too many in a room. Just wanted to hear others opinions on this though.

I am looking to book a cruise on the Norwegian Epic in the summer of 2025. Category of room is Balcony (BB). I am pretty sure the answer is no to this question but if I have 2 adult aged children (ages 19 and 21), can we have 4 people staying in 1 Balcony room? I think not but just curious. If the children were under 18, would the answer be yes. Would they be able to sleep 4 to a cabin if it was a family balcony even if it was 4 adults?

Taking a Liberty of the Seas cruise on March 18th. Cruise arrives back at port at 6 am on Friday, March 22nd. I understand it takes around 10-20 minutes to get to FLL Airport from cruise port. My flight is scheduled to leave at 10:30 am. I am assuming I have left myself enough time to get off the cruise ship and make it to the airport in time but just checking to see if I am missing something as it is my first RCL cruise and first time at FLL cruise port. I am planning on walking my own luggage off the cruise ship and taking a taxi cab to the airport. Any advice would be appreciated.

I would assume the Bahamas Travel Advisory is still in effect. I have some friends that are going on a Liberty of the Seas cruise in March. They will be arriving in Nassau on Thursday, March 21. They do not currently have any excursions planned for this day and their hope is to get off the boat, stay relatively close to the cruise pier and explore the Straw Market and possibly the "Queen's Staircase" area. I am assuming this situation would be like traveling to any big city. Keep your eyes open and be aware of your surroundings but I am guessing they will be safe? Any other places close to the pier that people would recommend they visit??

Looking to book a last minute cruise in March of 2024. I know it is late in the game. I have a chance to do various RCL cruises, particularly looking at a 4 night cruise that sails out of Fort Lauderdale on Liberty of the Seas. We are an older couple in our 60's. My concern is that it will be a "young person's" cruise and there will be many children on there (they are running a "kids sail free" promotion and it is Spring Break). I have options with Norwegian and Celebrity that are similar itineraries but the RCL cruise fits our price and availability is good. Should I be worried about being "too old" on the RCL cruise or will we be overrun with youth? Will the Celebrity and Norwegian cruises be more in our age range.

Currently on NA and getting off ship in Whittier tomorrow. We have private transport arranged to leave at 9:45 am (no later). Our disembark group will be called at 8:45 am. We are carrying our luggage off ship with us. Will our disembark time allow us to get to our transport by 9:30 am? I think yes and Guest services says “yes” but embark was kind of slow. Just want to make sure.

Sorry, I did not mean to offend anyone. I would not pay for that for the whole week as I would not want to stay in one stationary location for the whole week. I was just curious if I would be allowed to "check it out" to see if I would be interested in paying for a cabana for one day. I will make sure I stay away from that area.

Leaving for Alaska on the Nieuw Amsterdam in 10 days. We are traveling with other people. My brother and his wife (part of our travel party) just purchased a cabana on the Observation deck for $399 for the entire week. I am assuming I won't be able to "visit" him and his wife in their cabana. I am guessing they will have a system to keep those out that did not pay for a cabana? Will it be denoted on their key card? I am also assuming if his wife is not hanging out in the cabana, I will not be able to "sub in" for her??

Leaving on a Northbound Alaska cruise from Vancouver on July 16th. Has anyone else experienced this problem? I had completed my online check-in a couple of months ago. Very confident that I did. I was issued my boarding passes this morning. Received an email confirmation. Went in and checked my check in process just to see if I could see my boarding passes on the website. I see that I have a message that my online check-in was INCOMPLETE. But I know I completed it as I saw all green check marks few months ago. Checked with another member of my party and they had the same thing happen and they have not been assigned their boarding pass. Anyone have this happen before? No big deal to complete it again but what will keep this from happening again before our cruise? Strange.

We have a party of 8 sailing out of Vancouver on Sunday, July 16th on the Nieuw Amsterdam Northbound Alaska Cruise. We have the Have it All package so we get our 15 drinks per day and we made a reservation at the Pinnacle Grill for our one free specialty dining included with the HIA package. Here are my questions about our Pinnacle Grill evening. What is the dress code in the Pinnacle Grill? Can we wear dress slacks and collared shirts like we will be most nights in the MDR? Will we have to pay extra for anything or is it truly "free". I notice you have to pay extra for steaks in the MDR on most evenings. Will we get to eat steak for "free"? Will we get charged an 18% gratuity charge or will this be covered also? I am assuming we will be able to use our drink package in Pinnacle; cannot imagine why we wouldn't. Just trying to prepare as much as possible for those "hidden" costs that I am not seeing right now and it is our first trip with HAL.

Heading out on July 16th from Vancouver to Whittier on the Nieuw Amsterdam. We have the Have it all package which includes drinks. Just trying to confirm some of the things I have read on here. It seems like we get 15 drinks a day. This includes basically anything but coffee, tea and water. I am hearing (??) it includes bottled water, soda, specialty coffee, alcohol (wine, beer, and cocktails)? Some said that it might even include milkshakes? I am totally new to HAL. Never been on an HAL cruise and not many cruises period. How do the bartenders and wait staff know that you have this package? And how do they keep count when you reach your 15 drinks (not that I will likely even get close).? I have a party of 8 that I am traveling with and I am the information gatherer.

Looking forward to our upcoming July 2023 Nieuw Amsterdam Northbound (Vancouver to Whittier) Alaskan cruise. I was curious about the daily activities onboard the ship as we have essentially 3 days at sea. As I peruse my Navigator app that is now working, I go to Experiences-Daily Program and pick the day. I am assuming this is where our daily activities will show up once we get closer to our cruise date (or maybe even not until the days of our cruise). Right now I see our excursions on there, our dinner reservations, and I do see "Afternoon Tea is Served" at 3 pm. But not much else is there. What types of activities can we expect on a daily basis? We have 8 people and most of us are fairly active even though I will be fine just sitting around reading a book and I am hoping there will be plenty of interesting sights as we cruise the "Inside Passage", Glacier Bay, and the College Fjord. I see a cruise critic article that shows specific activities on the Nieuw Amsterdam and lists America's Test Kitchen classes (that would be cool), Arts and Crafts, Afternoon Musical Concerts, Beer Tasting, Wine Tasting, Trivia, Onboard Lectures, etc. Is this all accurate? Just trying to get an idea and a preview of what will be available and I am sure that boat is sailing now so just curious as to what is happening on there now (or what has happened on there in the past) and what we have to look forward to. Very much looking forward to our first sailing with Holland America. We are in our 50's but want some activities on our days at sea.

We are cruising the Nieuw Amsterdam from Vancouver to Whittier leaving on Sunday, July 16th. My wife and I would like to attend Catholic Mass while onboard. We were wondering if anyone out there has been on the Nieuw Amsterdam this summer and if there is a Catholic Mass available? Or how quick we will know if it will be available on our cruise? Are mass times listed on the Navigator App IF it is available? We can go to mass in Vancouver on Sunday morning before we board but if going to Mass on Sunday evening is an option, we might wait until then. My wife also likes to go to daily mass and that would be great if it were available. Thanks and much looking forward to our upcoming HAL cruise; it will be our first HAL cruise.

Going on an HAL Alaskan cruise (northbound from Vancouver on NA) in July. We have a Verandah room. Just for a point of reference, I looked at average sunrise and sunset times in Skagway for mid-July. Sunrise is around 4:15 am and sunset is around 10 pm. I am a fairly light sleeper and struggle sleeping while the sun is up. An example is that right now where I live, it is starting to get light around 5:30 am and it usually wakes me up. How good are the shades (curtains) on the NA for our verandah room? Will it keep things in the room relatively dark if they are closed? Will it be fairly dark outside between 11ish pm and 4? Just trying to get an idea of how much light in our room I will be dealing with. I could wear some type of night shade eye wear I guess. Just curious what people's experience is with this.

Therefore, it sounds like we will be good on communicating with each other while on the cruise ship.

Our carrier is AT&T. We have the internet plan on our cruise, it is part of the "Have it all" package if I am not mistaken.

Taking a trip with 8 of us in July. Taking the NA Northbound from Vancouver to Whittier. My wife and I have iphones and we share a plan. Others in our group will have iphones. Will we be able to text and call each other while on the ship? Does it matter if we are in Canada or not? When on land in Alaska, we should be ok, I think. Just wanting to be able to communicate with each other via our cell phones. When my wife and I went overseas to Europe a few years ago, we got a temporary international plan, and we could communicate with each other and everyone at home while on land. But we could not while on our cruise ship. I don't honestly remember if we could text and call each other while on the cruise ship. Also wanting to know while in Vancouver (on land) if we will be able to contact each other without an international plan, or if we will get charged extra? Looking for guidance. I would like to avoid getting an international plan. I don't care too much about calling people back home, I just want to be able to communicate with our phones with the 8 people we are traveling with.

I just spoke with an Air Canada rep. They were fairly helpful. I have a flight from St. Louis to Chicago that Air Canada says is actually a United Flight (its a smaller "express" plane). So I looked on United website and I can choose my seats for a $15 fee for each seat. My next flight is from Chicago to Vancouver and it is an Air Canada flight. On their website, I can choose my seats now for $30 per seat. SO I am guessing I can choose those seats now and pay some money or wait until right before the flight and get assigned to whatever is left? Seems like that was the process anyway. Does that sound about right?

Taking the Nieuw Amsterdam Alaskan cruise out of Vancouver in mid July. I have my flights booked through the Flight Ease program and check things occasionally to see if I can choose my seats. I checked this morning and see that my return flight seats from Anchorage to Seattle to STL have been chosen (Air Alaska) and I have seats assigned to me (that's a good thing). However, for my flight to Vancouver, when I choose "Request Seats", there are only 3 seats for me to choose. My concern is that I am traveling with 7 other people (I know they have not chosen their seats either) so obviously there are not enough seats for us to choose from. I am hoping that the airline (Air Canada), is holding the seats for us and have just not assigned them to us yet. When I look at the Air Canada website, the same 3 seats are available for my flight from STL to Chicago. When I check my flight from Chicago to Vancouver, there are plenty of available seats for me to choose but on the HAL Flight Ease site, it does not allow me to choose these seats yet (states "not available yet). Here is my question. With this issue, do I contact the airline directly? Or are they going to refer me to Flight Ease? I am guessing I should contact Flight Ease? On the Air Canada website, when I put in my booking number, it states that "I purchased the tickets from an outside agency and I need to contact this agency directly" so I am thinking I should contact Flight Ease. However, when I read the Flight Ease terms and agreements, it says that "Seat Assignments are controlled by the airlines". Just wanting to make sure I have seats on a flight. Flight Ease makes me nervous but I have generally heard good things and that things will work out.

Sorry. I meant to say that I am referring to the online check in process. Sounds like I can go through that process now if I wish. Thanks!!

Going on my first HAL cruise in July. Leaving July 16th from Vancouver to Whittier on NA. How early can I check in? How early should I check in? I have made my final payment and I have my passport. I have also booked excursions. I have the HIA package and made a dinner reservation at Pinnacle. Just trying to take care of things and wondering when to check in.

Just to give an update. I called flight ease today. They were able to find a better option for me that only costs $31 more. The disappointing part was this option was NOT available online. But at least I was able to get it taken care of. The Flight Ease employee was very helpful. I am now leaving STL around 11 am and arriving in Vancouver at 6:15 pm with a 3 hour layover in Chicago (all happening the day before our cruise). Thanks for the suggestions and crisis averted.

Cruising on the Nieuw Amsterdam one way from Vancouver to Whittier (Northbound cruise) in mid July. Used flight ease for my flight to Vancouver. We fly out of St. Louis, MO. Picked a nice Air Canada flight a few months ago. Price was ok and times were good. This morning I received a notification from Air Canada and Flight Ease that my flight had been changed. I now have a 7 hour layover in Toronto and will not arrive in Vancouver until just after midnight the night before my cruise. I am not thrilled with the 7 hour layover nor the midnight arrival. However, as I look at my options to change in Flight Ease, the options are not very good. And to change to a better option (less of a layover and earlier arrival) my cost increases around $600 per person. I have looked at Expedia and individual Airline websites and options are not good and cost way more. Example, I can get a great flight from St. Louis to Vancouver via Alaska Airlines for $2000 per person (no thanks). Here is what I am thinking for options but I am open to suggestions. My main question is in bold below. Option #1: Bite the bullet and keep things as is Option #2: Flights from St. Louis to Seattle that day are not bad via Southwest. Is there an easy way to get transportation from Seattle to Vancouver Cruise port the morning of the cruise? Does HAL provide this? Option #3: Possibly look at reversing my cruise from Whittier to Vancouver by canceling my current cruise and booking a southbound and checking out flight options going from St. Louis to Anchorage.

I have a cruise set for this July on the Nieuw Amsterdam to Alaska sailing out of Vancouver. We are going from Vancouver to Whittier in mid July. We are traveling with a party of 10. Most have had a Covid vaccine and a booster but there are a few within are party that have had neither. I believe that I have read that as of October 2022, we do not need a Covid vaccine to enter Canada. Are there any vaccinations or negative Covid tests to enter Canada and/or get on the Nieuw Amsterdam. I had many of our travel party ask recently. I tried to look it up on HAL website but it stated it was "not available yet" for our voyage. Just wanted to get a general idea of what we would need.