ferretktf

Yes they are stopping but tenders are often used … I tendered there twice this summer

Skagen is a lovely port with lovely residents, who turn out to greet the ships ….some-years ago they all clubbed together in a municipal investment to build a cruise pier …. Net result is that all the residents share the profits from cruise ships visiting … no local taxes for them!!!

it has grown from a nothing stop to (iirc) the second most visited port in Denmark after Copenhagen.
 

As another posted has said, it is worth the trek along the beach to get a photo with one foot in the North Sea and one foot in the Baltic Sea!!
 

Nice town to wander around regardless…with a well regarded Teddy Bear museum as well.

5 hours ago, kazu said:

 

Breakfast is served earlier on disembarkation day so that people can get off in a timely manner.  The times are posted on disembarkation / turnaround instructions usually as well as the last Daily (which is not really a Daily).    I believe they are on the TV as well.

 

they apply to all of us whether it is disembarkation day or turnaround day.

yes, but finishing 90 minutes earlier ~(and not even leaving 1 counter open for the B2B until normal time) was less expected

30 minutes ago, CruiserBruce said:

@ferretktf, 90 or better percent of the people are getting off on turn around day...the ship is being resupplied, heavily cleaned. Tons of stuff is going off, and coming on. Most staff are focused on that. 

 

For that obvious reason,  nothing special for B2B pax is done that day. Any special events will occur some other day...usually on the second half of your cruise.

Sorry, I wasnt clear, I wasn't expecting anything special *today*... But I also wasn't expecting the room announcements from 6am (probably should have been I guess) or the facilities shut in the morning (less obvious). 

And you are correct, only 100 of the 2200 are staying on! 

9 hours ago, Lido deck main said:

We are on a collectors cruise in July,  14 nights, leave from and return Vancouver.  Most people are doing 7 days, they either do the 7 cruise first then land portion, or land portion first and then cruise.  Our last collectors voyage, Zaandam 2015 Alaska, same thing 14 days, (split into 7's for land portion people.  I can't remember exactly how many collector people there, about 200, they had a special Indonesian lunch in MDR one day just for the collector people.  I will post back in late July if they offered us collector people anything special.

On one right now (Nieuw Amsterdam) …nothing special offered, no lunches, no reception etc.
 

Today is switchover day and we were anticipating a lie in but sadly from 6am, every 10-15 minutes, the in room speaker blared out the latest disembarkation status, so no chance of a lie in!  Guess we could have predicted this?

at 9am we felt, ok, the masses will have gone now, so time to go and get some breakfast …..only to find that all eateries on the ship were closed until lunchtime.  (To be fair I think they were doing a deep clean that they could not do any other time of the cruise, well other than during the night I guess)

ok, maybe we will take advantage of an empty pool and hot tubs, but unfortunately, despite being open at 7am very other morning of the cruise, they were also shut until lunchtime.

So we got off the ship instead and went for a hike!!

so overall, we do not feel very “special” at all doing the collectors voyage!  But then again, we were not expecting anything so no real issue.

Same boat here ….i downloaded an old version of Navigator APK from a link someone posted here (apicture) and am (hopefully) getting by with that.

On 5/16/2024 at 4:09 AM, BaileyMJ said:

Fruit Crisp I have had

Peach

Mixed Berry

Rhubarb

Cherry

Peach

Banana 

 

Are there any nuts in the Fruit Crisp?

7 hours ago, electro said:

Just did a TA on NCL the was suppose to stop at Gibraltar and Alicate and then finish in Rome.

Because of an engine issue, we travelled too slow that last 24 hours before Gibraltar so the stop was canceled, which meant the cruise only had 1 port stop in the 12 day crossing. 

We didn't even get the port fees refunded let alone any compensation.

I thing 10% FCC is pretty generous.

Lois

NCL never give anything for missed ports….when by rights they should refund the port fees. We got nothing for missing Bermuda in December.
 

I was on HAL last year in Israel when the attack happened. HAL credited two days Port Fees as OBC.
 

2 minutes ago, Crew News said:

Here is a price list that I created that may be helpful:  Internet Price List 2024

 

To operate bars and casinos, ships must sail 12 miles from shore so cell reception on board will use the ship cell tower at a very high cost per minute.  Whatsapp works fine with your phone in airplane mode while onboard the ship.. 

 

In smaller ports, a large ship overwhelms the local cell towers until passengers are dispersed from the port.  Cell signals away from population centers are problematic.

That’s amazingly helpful thank you … especially the insights about cellphone reception in the ports.

Hi,  we are on Nieuw Amsterdam Alaska 14 day in June (16-30)

I will need basic internet onboard to keep in touch with home (gmail, WhatsApp etc).
 

My cellphone has a US/CAN data package available for just $12USD for 5gb over 15 days.

trying to work out what is best for me.
 

I assume my cellphone will only pick up a signal when in port? (My itinerary and map is below, inside passage, close to shore)…But even if I cannot pick up a signal at sea, with 7 port days that is a lot of opportunity to use it rather than ship Wi-Fi. 

Buying premium Wi-Fi in advance gives 20% discount but requires all 14 days and OBC cannot be used.
 

I would be very interested in understanding the Wi-Fi options available onboard, the cost, the different levels etc. and critically the prices and how much they drop each day (as fewer days are left in the voyage).

also to understand the availability of shore signal to my cellphone as the cruise progresses.

any help or pointers you (or anyone ) can give would be much appreciated.
 

Thanks.

On celebrity Summit, I got the usb working by plugging in the usb key and the tv responded and asked me if I wished to switch (there was no other way to switch inputs)

it might work the same way if you connect the hdmi to an active device …the tv might detect the input and ask if you want to switch

My only HAL voyage last September we received our guarantee assignment just 3 days before sailing. That cruise was not 100% sold so I could understand the late confirmation due to upsells etc,

my next sailing in June has been a complete sell out for 4 weeks now but I still don’t have an assignment. This makes far less sense

Actually the change is dreadful.   You have to buy the missed port upgrade for each and every cruise. It only applied to one cruise…not a whole year as current.

My last NCL cruise [december] you could not use shareholder OBC in the casino.

Can you only take advantage of price reductions if you booked direct?? 

If not then do you just call your Travel consultant and ask them to get a reduction due for you? Seems awkward (does the price paid impact their commission??) 

12 minutes ago, Hlitner said:

You do realize that there are no trains to Honfleur (or anywhere close) and the SNCF has nothing to do with buses in Normandy?  As to the regional buses, I cannot find the future schedules but here is last year's schedule which can give folks some idea of the frequency (no nearly often enough).  Of course one would need to get from the port to the bus station in Le Havre.

Liaison-LeHavre-Honfleur.pdf (ville-honfleur.com)

Hank

Perfect ..thank you so much

We are in Le Havre on Thursday Feb 8th. … 9am - 9pm so a long day.

we are probably going to spend a couple of hours in Le Havre and then head to Honfleur.
 

We typically embrace public transport but am finding it difficult to get a grasp of the bus routes and timetables. 
 

any help from someone who knows their way around the bus system in Normandy would be greatly appreciated.
 

Thanks

Drinks packages only seem to be heavily discounted at the point of purchase.

Wifi is discounted, but only by around 20% or so for an entire voyage package. Once onboard there are certain Wi-Fi offers for ‘remainder of voyage’ so if you can cope without at the start, you can buy fewer days for cheaper later.

It’s really for slot players only,  very hard to earn sufficient points on table play.
 

I play $25 a hand blackjack and after monitoring the points I received I worked out I would need to play 14 hours a day every day of my cruise to get any kind of meaningful reward….or up my stakes to $250 per hand …..which obviously I was not prepared to do.

Wedding Update 

The Captain was legally able to officiate.... But he wanted $1000 😕 (probably plus 20% service charge) 

Fortunately there was an ordained minister onboard the passengers who carried out the service. 

Sadly, cruise Director Isha interrupted the ceremony mid way through with her loud 5 minute rundown of the days programme 

In short, very poor performance by NCL,, rescued by the good nature of the couple getting married... They were still absolutely made up that their wedding went ahead against the odds 

Just a little update on the Wedding party.

they are still getting married tomorrow…at 10am onboard (presumably by the Captain)

so they will still arrive in NYC as husband and wife 🥰

Due to uncertainties surrounding ability to dock in NYC on 18th or 19th December, the current itinerary is now skipping Bermuda and heading direct to New York where it will dock two days early on 17th December, where it will act as a floating hotel for the two days.
 

No official comment available yet, but captain said it was 95% certain at 11am this morning (5 hours ago) and we have now significantly changed course and logged a new schedule with the marine authorities, so it is definitely happening.
 

Sadly there is a wedding party onboard due to get married in Bermuda. Not sure what they will do now?

If these are ‘net fare’ deals (which they wont necessarily tell you) then essentially you are buying from the TA and not P&O and so they can operate under their own deposit schemes….and as they are holding the risk, should you cancel, then a higher non refundable deposit can be typical.

If they are just acting as the booking agent then they should follow the Cruise Lines deposit protocols.

HAL not included in the actual app … just 4 brands 

Ours was around 3 days out