Birdnutty

I'm having second thoughts about the beverage package part of the Free at Sea Promotion. We've already paid for all of it, including the gratuities for this "free" perk. But now, we find that DH isn't really supposed to drink much, and the beverage package just makes it too tempting to resist. I don't really need it either 🙄. Does anyone know if I can remove that perk and get the gratuities that were part of the cruise fare invoice refunded? Our sailing doesn't happen for a month yet.

Got a real chuckle out of this. I use that saying all the time, word for word ( and spelling too) and people always laugh at me. But it's so true, metaphorically, at least. (I don't live near no crick.) I agree 100% with the OP. We are people who are fortunate enough to be sitting here reading these boards, meaning that we have the free time to do this and having experienced at least one if not many multiple cruises. Meanwhile, others can't even dream of a cruise. Yes, prices are going up. But the cruiselines are still there, and they have huge deficits to make up. And interestingly enough, on my first cruise, 38 years ago on the Nordic Prince, (about 700 passengers) , we had a tiny indoor cabin on the second deck. This year, we had a balcony cabin on a ship that held 5 times as many passengers, had enormous amounts of entertainment, more lounges, more food venues, constant buffets (as opposed to only one buffet at midnight)... I could go on and on. That balcony cabin cost me the same amount as I paid for the little dinky one 38 years ago. The same amount!!! The differences between cruising now and then are astronomical. But the prices, at least for us, were comparable. Now, we get a much bigger bang for the buck. Absolutely nothing to complain about.

I'm so sorry to hear the carpet fish are gone! I know it sounds stupid, but I loved those little guys. Thanks for all the pix. She really does look beautiful, altho I always thought she did, no matter how "vintage" she may have become. I, too, was hoping that the cabins would get some updating. That is the one place where they need to keep up with the times, with USB hubs and the like. I don't remember any of the cabins I had been in having a tub, but I certainly would not like one now. We'll be on her in a short while, And I look forward to seeing her new look.

We used it twice when our flights were cancelled due to bad weather in New York as we were due to leave from Florida. Aw shucks, we had to stay an extra day in Florida! I actually called trip insurance store during this time to make sure I was doing everything I needed to be covered. I took screenshots of the cancelled flights on my phone, and was meticulous about keeping records and receipts. It took awhile before they paid, but they did eventually. Covered the cost of the insurance, both times. That covered hotel, & food.

Good to know. I will check out the insurance forum (which I didn't know existed). Did you have to notify them every time you went away?

We love all the NCL shows. Have never seen one we didn't like. HOWEVER, the all-time BEST show, as far as we were concerned was a Cruise Director led show on almost all the ships we were on (a long time ago), was Fountains. Every ship had the same theme, but was different according to how that ship's CD wanted to do it. Ten or more ship's staff (usually very recognisable ones) came on stage wearing bedsheets in different styles of togas, with bare feet, each carrying a silver carafe that the waiters used to deliver water in the dining rooms. To an Enya tune, they stood in a line and well... check out these you tube videos for an example. We laughed so hard for the whole show. even though I probably saw it 10 times on different ships, it never got old and just thinking about it now makes me laugh. It started off slow and calm, but you never knew what to expect! And watching the crew members trying so hard not to laugh... oh my. Nowadays, they could never do anything like that for many reasons, but boy, was I glad to see the ones I did.

Has anyone ever tried this? Now that we're a bit older, and we'd like to travel more, we need to buy insurance more often, which is obviously more expensive because we're older and we're taking more trips (duh!🙄). I read somewhere here on cruise critic about folks who have bought this insurance which covers what I believe is all the trips for the year, instead of individual policies which cover one trip only. How does it work? Does it work well? Are there gotchas I should know about? How do you do comparisons among companies?

I've never run into this, but it wouldn't it just be easier to cash out your refundable cash now, just leaving the non-refundable? Or is it so messed up that the two are hopelessly entangled? Then when you use up the non-refundable, anything else gets charged to your credit card, for which you probably get points anyway. And you could save the cash to pay the credit card bill. Or not. I may be far off the mark on this, but it seems to me there are ways to pull this off.

The ports are not always the same on each leg, so it pays to look at each itinerary. Plus, they are subject to change. We are scheduled to do one (from NYC to Panama) in a few months, and one of the ports was changed already. The way return trip back to NYC has different ports, and more days at sea. I don't know if that's always the case with the east coast/west coast itineraries. So you really need to do your homework. As for which end is which, we opted to end and fly home from Panama. A the previous poster said, missing the cruise is far worse than being delayed on the way home.

Thanks for that. I’m wondering what they actually did. Major refurb? We’re planning on booking for late January, so I was curious. Thanks!

I saw on the cruise deck plans site that the Gem was scheduled for dry dock in Nov, 2022, which is pretty much over. Does anyone know if this is true? Or scheduled for anytime in the near future?

We’ve been on over 25 NCL cruises, and when the crew is unhappy, the whole ship feels it. The demeanor of the staff can affect my experience. On one trip, the crew, especially in the buffet, was sullen and almost seemed frightened. Made me wonder if they were being berated or otherwise badly treated. It raised the tensions everywhere. On others, the buffet staff were so happy, smiling at everyone and joking with each other, giving me warm fuzzies. I use buffet staff as my guide, as that is where I see the greatest number of crew together at one time. I’ve always enjoyed seeing crew of all levels mingling in public guest areas. They are people, for heavens sake, and not slaves. They work hard and long, and seeing them out and about always made me smile. And if I got a chance , I’d talk to them. I love to see dancers on the dance floor, entertainers, other crew out and about.

We did a ships's tour with Celebrity, and honestly, I would do it again. Yes, the boat was full - probably about 50 people. But I did not feel like we were in a stampede, and when snorkelling there was plenty of room to move around without being beaten up by someone's fins. Shark ray alley was busy - more because there were so many tour operators there. If the private tour operators can get you there between crowds, that would be the best reason to go private. (I almost always go private). I didn't check out the private excursion this time because we had so much OBC to use up. But I will definitely look up Coral Breeze next time.

Any word on how things are now? Such a beautiful place, and so very poor in areas. I hate to see damage to it.

There's nothing listed on Celebrity's website either, as of yet, although that doesn't entirely surprise me.

Our cruise on the Constellation is scheduled to stop in Belize on Tuesday the 8th. We’ve heard nothing about them changing the itinerary yet.

Thank you for writing this detailed review. We're contemplating a cruise on the Rhapsody and can find very little info on the ship. Everyone is too gaga about all the fancy newer huge ships. But the littler ships go to more interesting places. Do you feel there is enough to do for a couple who are active 70+? We love seeing the shows, but these sound like they are sub-par. Love the activities on ships - the dance classes, scavenger hunts, enrichment classes, etc. (Not much for sports deck stuff or gym activities) Do you feel there were ample opportunities for that? Once again, I know how much time a review like that takes. Thank you.

We like the WJ. The MDR food is delicious, but I find the options to be somewhat limited. I LOVE trying lots of different things just because they look good, smell good or I haven't had it before. I can take a tiny portion and decide if I want more. I actually eat a lot more in the MDR, because just sitting and waiting for the first course, of course those wonderful rolls must be consumed. (and no, asking the waiter not to bring them is. not an option). I like to do something while I'm waiting. No waiting at WJ - just get what I want, no more, no less. They also usually have a much better selection of vegetables, which is the mainstay of my diet. For many people, veggies are simply a garnish, and asking for a plate of them in the MDR usually results in the same assortment every time, even if I ask for more variety. And the desserts.... I love taking a tiny piece of many things. I don't bake much at home, so that, especially is a real treat. That all being said, one of my main reasons for liking the WJ is time. I don't like spending 2 hours at dinner, nor do I like making the waiter jump through hoops to get things quickly. I'd rather eat, then get up and go do something. JMHO

Agree with most of the posters here, on all points. Much depends not he ship you're on, also. We've been on 25+ RCCL and about 10 Celebrity. Last one was the Apex. One major difference, the one that affects us the most, is activity. We are early 70's, but find that the demographic for the Celebrity ships is markedly older, at least in activity level. Using Apex as my example - the ship is absolutely knock down gorgeous. Luxury oozes from every pore. We were on a two week B2B, and by the middle of the second week, we got bored. There were only so many aerialists we could watch, and trivia games we could play. They're big on sit-down activities. We participated in every activity that involved movement, like Zumba, exercise classes, scavenger hunt (which we loved) but there were very few of them - at least not enough for us. Going to the gym is something I can do at home, so that's not much a draw. They did have an assortment of activities at times - all scheduled for exactly the same time of day, so unless you could instantly clone yourself, you could only do one. So if you like a lot of (active) things to do, this might affect you. I haven't sailed many of the older Celebrity ships lately, but am specifically referring to the Edge class at this point, if you're sedentary, it's perfect. If more active, you may be disappointed. Of course, this is MHO only, and confined to the few ships we were on. YMMV

This has probably been asked so many times, but my searches revealed nothing. Are there CURRENTLY any shuttles that will take you to Tampa airpot to pick up a car? Rental companies used to do that, but may be different post-covid. Not familiar with Tampa as a port, so it's time for stupid questions!

We were on a western Caribbean itinerary once , and while onboard, after sailaway, they announced we were changing to Eastern Carib. Didn't matter - adjusted attitudes and had a ball. With hurricanes out there (and lots of other surprises), you need to be prepared for anything.

Talk about flaky!! One minute I'm researching a cruise I'm interested in, then leave that window open for a very short while to go to another site to check out something, come back and all the info is gone. Try another search for the same thing, and the search says there aren't any cruises at all on that ship available. Try going in through C&A, and it doesn't recognise me as a real person - my number is invalid ? I'm Diamond Plus. But I open another window and this time it goes through. Anybody else having issues? This is so frustrating. And while I'm asking questions - does anyone know if there is such a thing as a 24 hour hold on a reservation anymore?

One of my bucket list items is to cruise on a ship fully decorated for Christmas. My guess is that the ships all do this around Thanksgiving. Does anyone know for sure?

In my experience, the major shows stay the same for years. They are very expensive (like millions) to create, costume and stage, so they tend to stay on the same ship for quite awhile. The "casual" entertainment, as I call it, like musicians, comedians, and the like are easily transportable from ship to ship and change very frequently. So your major show(s) are likely to be the same as last year, (although the cast may be different) but all the other stuff is likely to be different. I hope this answers your question

The question was not meant to be snarky. I had heard some major horror stories about the waits, the disorganisation, general lack of preparedness, etc. Wasn't taking the point of view as a privileged, lazy "know it all" American who needs to be catered to. As 70 somethings, with some minor mobility issues and bad shoulders, (until I get "fixed"), it matters a great deal if I will have to stand for a long time in very long lines or move all my luggage myself, or get shuffled from one place to the next trying to go through the process. I've never boarded from a small island, and have no idea what to expect, so I was asking a simple question to see if perhaps this is or is not a cruise I can consider. Please remember that not everyone is young, spry and strong, and also try to keep in mind that questions can be from honest folk who are asking advice from those who might have had more experience.