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Jayhawk

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Cool Cruiser (2/15)

  1. Yes, they did have it, however, it was a paid show. We did not go...looks like on our cruise it was days 2, 4,5, and 7.
  2. You know you are right! No one ever checked our name or a ticket!! But it took forever.
  3. No matter how early you get there, you aren't going to get on board before 11:30. The rooms just aren't ready. Our friend's boarding time was 10 and ours was 11:30. They supposedly got there just before 10. According to texts, they were through security/check-in by 10:30 and in boarding group 9, but they didn't board until closer to noon - so about 2 hours start to finish. We got there at 11:20 and were sitting in the waiting area by 11:50, and in boarding group 29, which got on right about 12:30. So even less than I thought. I think 11:30 was a sweet spot. Just under 30 minutes of "standing" and 40 minutes of sitting waiting for your number to be called.
  4. Thanks for the review! Question - you zipped in Honduras? Our driver was talking about that but we thought it was too rainy. As a side note, some friends that went to Daniel's DID snorkel there and said it actually wasn't that bad. While I did think they managed that many people well and lines generally weren't bad, it did take a bit more work for the restaurants. You definitely couldn't walk up "freestyle" and expect to be served in under an hour most nights during prime time. Did you consider an uber or lyft as you left? Wondering if that would have been better than the taxi stand? My app showed 2-3 minute waits....but we had already done the transfers.
  5. You may be right on sprouting legs. We didn't have an outlet by the bed. I did keep my watch by the bed (unplugged) but since it synched with my phone, about half the time it didn't have the right time given the time change. At one point, on the last day, we had 4 phones and 4 watches between us, and only 1 of the 8 actually had the correct time 🙂 .
  6. Sounds like you've done your research and are making a good choice on parking. We aren't local so I don't know the difference in the lots. Yes, the waiting room was really huge. I want to say the rows had about 20 people each, and no idea how many of them there were, but well over 20. It was like 2 blocks long, seemed like. There had to be space for up to 1000 people in the waiting area. I am in your camp, I have NO regrets showing up at 11:15 or so. I think we waited a bit less time than our friends that got there much earlier.
  7. Someone did tell me that halfway through the ship. But in an indoor cabin with the phone not close to the bed and no backlight, it wasn't very helpful in the mornings 🙂 . Didn't think about the TV! Still a clock by the bed with some lighting and the correct time would have been nice 🙂 .
  8. They don't let you board until around 11:30 I think....so even if you go early you are just sitting and waiting. There's a giant area for sitting. Standing in the lines for security and check-in itself was less than 1/2 hour start to finish (maybe 10 minutes between the two in a continuous line) and they moved pretty quickly for both us and our friends that arrived just before 10. The remaining 45 minutes was just sitting in a large room - they were calling group 2 at the point we hit the room and I think we were in group 28 or something like that. Getting off the ship was much worse, longer lines with no place to sit that went on forever. My guess is it depends which week you are going and how crowded it is. Also, I forgot to mention, the people on the cruise before us had their cars broken into in the lots they left them, so make sure to vet that if you are driving. (There's articles about it you can google).
  9. All the major shows were amazing - I commented a bit on SIX above....my daughter was really looking forward to it. We saw it both nights. I saw SIX on Broadway in November and honestly, it was about the same caliber. I expect some of these women will be on Broadway themselves! I thought Burn the Floor was equally amazing. The shows on this ship really set it apart from other cruises. Several people on our FB thread said they tested positive for COVID or RSV after coming home. My husband has a stuffy nose as of yesterday, thankfully no other issues and none of the rest of us have gotten sick.
  10. Caveats: We joined friends for this Christmas cruise, two other couples and their college age kids. We were the late adds and by the time we signed up for what was ultimately a sold out cruise, rooms were pretty pricey. We did a four person inside cabin.... which we had done most of our lives when the kids were little, but not the last several cruises. So it was tight quarters on a crowded ship, but a blessing to get that extra time with the adult kids. We didn't upgrade to specialty dining or the drink packages either, so I can't answer questions there. We choose cruises based on ports and timing generally, and this one was an exception. Also, five of our seven days were rainy and cool which impacted a lot of our on and off ship activities. New Orleans, Dec 20-23: We arrived in New Orleans three days before our cruise to spend some time in the city. Very grateful too as there was a snowstorm back at home in Kansas! We did a “haunted” carriage ride around the city the first night, then the second day, a friend of my daughter's who goes to LSU showed us around the city. We met him for mass at St. Louis, had lunch in the French quarter, took the St. Charles trolley to the Garden district, and then came back to relax. On Thursday, we got up and went on a cemetery tour at St. Louis cemetery #1, and then did more shopping including stopping at Café DuMonde for beignets. Friday morning we headed to the port and BOY was it cold – 24゚with a 10゚wind chill! That’s even cold by Kansas standards! Friday/Saturday, Dec 23/24: We woke up and took an Uber from Homestead suites directly to the ship port. We arrived around 11:15 am, and boarding went pretty fast, just over an hour all-in. Since we had waited so long to get tickets for the cruise we wound up in a 4 person inside cabins with essentially 2 bunk beds It had been a long time since we’ve done that it was much tougher with for adults. We explored the ship during the day and had a nice dinner at Taste. The next day we just kind of enjoyed ourselves on the ship, but it’s still very chilly only about 50゚and rainy so didn’t spend much time outside. It was Christmas Eve, so we watched mass and dressed up for formal dinner at Manhattan, then also hit the piano bar. I was disappointed NCL didn’t have any type of Christmas service… although they did have visits with Santa the next morning. Sunday, Dec 25, Costa Maya, Mexico On Christmas day, if I could have found a Catholic Church with known services, we would have done that. There was supposedly one by the Krazy Krab, but since we didn't dock until 11 am and I couldn't get a mass time confirmed, we gave up on that. Instead, we went on a tour with Native Choice with one of the couples. It was a bit different than our excursion 4 years ago on our cruise that was supposed to go to Cuba but wound up in Costa Maya. They added a location a bit closer to the port, but it was still a decent walk to reach them. We still visited a local family and had some local food and made our own tamales and tortillas again, but it was a much bigger production with many more people and two sets of visitors at that location. Afterward, we went to the 7-color lagoon instead of the ruins like last time…but with the coolness and rain, didn't get in the water. Headed back to the port just before the ship took off. Dinner again at Manhattan with three famines and adult kids and watched the Christmas Spectacular which truly was…Spectacular! Monday, Dec 26, Belize (Harvest Caye) It was the fourth rainy, cloudy, cool weather, and it is getting old. I am reminded of why I don't like private islands. We just aren't a sit at the beach family, get too bored. There was a little butterfly sanctuary and Chris took an overpriced single zipline but there wasn't much more here in 70゚ drizzling weather. We only were off the ship about 2 hours. Lines were too long for dinner and we had 7:30 Burn the Floor tickets so we just went to the buffet and it was actually pretty good. Burn the Floor....wow not enough words, it was amazing!! Don't miss that amazing dance show. Tuesday, Dec 27, Roatan, Honduras Another rainy cool day which messed with our plans once again. We hired a private driver from Rony's named Rolando, who was great. We started the day by meeting with some local children and we had bought them school supplies, and enjoyed the visit. Then we went to Daniel's and got to hold sloths and play with monkeys. It was still raining at that point and so we canceled any plans to try to go parasailing or horseback riding. Instead, Rolando took us over to the East side of the island and we drove around Punta Gorda and saw a few local places there. Then we went on the last-minute mangroves boat tour which was very interesting. The girls were getting pretty tired at this point so we decided to head back to the ship. That night we went to Taste for dinner and the comedy club, Jon (can’t remember his last name) was really good. Wednesday, Dec 28, Cozumel, Mexico Finally we have nice weather! I was not sure I remembered what the sun looked like as it had been about a week since we’d seen it. We booked an Intro Scuba Diving with a place called Cozumel DSD (buyer beware: This was a vendor I did NOT choose based on reading CC, and I learned a lesson). First issue was they said to meet outside the port.... but neglected to tell us there were 3 ports! So we had to get a taxi. Once we arrived, it still took an hour to get in the water, and once we did, they really rushed us. My husband and younger daughter weren't comfortable and didn't go in anymore from the shallow section. I did dive with my older daughter and the other family, but it really was a mixed experience. Afterwards, we went to a restaurant called Sunrise Grill for a late lunch and then got massages (four 30 minute massages for $100)! Back on board we headed to the musical Six very early for front row seats at 7:30 and it was amazing!! My younger daughter had been waiting all week for that show – we booked both nights of tickets the moment we boarded. We met two of the queens Moms after the show, and they actually arranged for the cast to sign her shirt! Dining options were mostly shut down....we tried to get into the Noodle Bar for the third time without luck and hit the buffet before closed. Thursday, Dec 29, at sea Slept in today and it was leisurely at sea. We hung out in the sun when we could find a chair... did I mention there were 4800 guests on the ship? Older daughter did the ropes course and hung with friends and Sabrina and I talked with one of the Six performers and sat in the sun. We had dinner at Savor in a big group. We saw Six a second time. 🙂 Friday, December 30, 2022 We bought the transfers to the airport as we were a bit worried about ubers….we knew that folks were coming in from K-state for the Sugar Bowl the next day! Disembarkation went on but took a long time….it was over 2 hours from the time our number was called to arriving at the airport. In retrospect an uber would have been faster and cheaper but we didn’t know that. I think they just wanted us off the ship! But we were thankful to get on a flight as Southwest had been imploding the previous days and cancelling 80%+ of their flights. Overall, it was a great trip, with the exception of the weather. Things I wish NCL would change: * Hand sanitizer at each dining table. I'm not a germaphobe but the concept of maybe 5 %of people washing their hands before walking through a buffet and the rest just touching serving utensils one after the other with no cleaning mechanism on the table is a joke. * Digital clocks in the indoor cabins. With four time changes in the Breakaways itinerary, we were never sure of the real time and our phones and watches were often wrong. There you go...hope this is helpful to future cruisers!
  11. Thanks so much! Last question... are there formal nights anymore? Or at least nights where most people dress up and they have photos around the ship? Not sure if the Christmas version is different with the Christmas eve day on ship as a bit more formal too...
  12. And can you do it through the App, and if so, can you do it will waiting to board? I saw Six on Broadway last month and it's amazing, my 18 year old is obsessed and we are holding off on dinner reservations to make sure we get in. We're on that completely sold out ship over Christmas. If you get the unlimited internet package, you can still sign on with different devices, but not at the same time, correct? BTW, how full was your ship? And someone said there was an Ice Bar? Also...was there a 70s/80s night? (Asking for the college students!)
  13. I heard back! Must have gone to spam the first few times...whew.
  14. We are cruising on the Breakaway in December, but I don't see a parasailing excursion? Does that mean they are sold out?
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