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To turn your air conditioner on, please place either your ship's card or $10 in the slot.

To turn the fridge on, please deposit $5 per use.

Lights are a bargain, and only $1 per day.

LOL

Stick anything card sized into the slot. If you don't have a card you want to leave behind (like a credit card or ID card), ask the front desk for an extra blank ship card to stick in the slot to keep everything on.

I have cruised on several lines before, but this will be my first on Norwegian.

I don't understand this about keeping a card in a slot to keep the fridge and the air conditioner running???? You have got to be kidding! :eek::confused:

You have to look up each country some are 3 some 6. There is a sorry tale on cc recently from a family who could not check in as they didn't have 6 months left when their cruise needed it. Worth a check before you travel

Mine expires one week short of the 6 month mark. There is no way I would risk it not being accepting.

But with little sign of the embargo being lifted any time soon perhaps our continued presents will be appreciated even more so?

Pun intended? LOL

No question that visiting Cuba is the prime objective but don't sell short the ship experience in itself.

I totally agree.

I also think that Cuba Cruise has done a great job in bringing the spirit of Cuba onto the ship. Usually, once you board a ship, you could be in any country in the world.

Oddly enough, this older ship with it's idiosyncrasies make the experience seem all the more Cuban. LOL

Board with a good attitude and you will have a cruise experience like no other.

Exhange rate today was .34 to purchase US. :eek:

Each booking is unique because there are so many things to factor in. Getting the best possible deal today takes a bit of homework.

I like to deal directly with a cruiseline whenever possible, because I don't like to have to run everything through a middleman. However, if Air Canada Vacations, Expedia, or any other major player offers the best deal, there is no reason not to book through them.

I have been visiting selloffvacations dot com and checking out land vacations too. But the food in Cuba is so tasteless. Another option is a Canadian travel service who often have great cruise rates. If you sail from a close US port, for me an 8 hour bus or train ride to NYC, then it is still doable.

We stayed away from Cuba for years because of it's reputation for poor food, but we spent a week before our Cruise in Havana and 4 four more nights after.

We found that if we asked for recommendations, there was indeed some excellent meals to be had at incredible prices. The worst meal we had was the most expensive.

We are only two, but I have to eat around 6:30 PM.

We were thinking of booking a 3 meal specialty dining package, but would like to save those nights for when the MDR menu does not excite us.

How easy is it to get last minute dining reservations?

I'm checking the price for OBC on the cruise I booked this weekend, and it shows $100 credit costing $111.11 CDN. Will that price remain constant, or should I be buying the OBC now before the CDN tanks even more?

I spoke with several reps but none wanted to give me a direct answer as to conversion policy. They have to make a fake purchase to see what rate comes up. This suggests to me that policy can change at any time, so buy your OBC at a good rate while you can.

All of us here on CC know how NCL can change their policies at any time, with no notice.

We booked in Oct 2014. Any idea if we'd have the $1.11 exchange rate?

If you booked in Canadian back then, they will honour the rate you were given at that time. You probably have an even better rate than $1.11.

I also purchased OBC today at $1.11 (the rate at which I booked back in April) and had confirmed that whatever I did not use would be credited back to my card at the same rate.

I just called NCL and prepaid my gratuities at $1.11 exchange, same as my original booking. I spoke with 3 different people who said they could not tell me if I could get the same rate on excursions, but when we booked a hypothetical cruise, it did indeed come up at that rate as well. So presumably that $1.11 will be honoured up until the time of the cruise.

You'll have to buy expensive Asistur coverage.

2.50 t0 3 CUC a day doesn't sound so bad.

http://gocuba.ca/client/news/show.php?news_id=17

I have a new one to add that I never would have thought of. We will be visiting penguin colonies while on a 'round the Horn cruise, and it has been suggested that we take surgical booties for walking on ground covered with slimy penguin poop.

We wouldn't want to ruin good hiking boots or carry that nasty stuff onto the ship.

The tips we pick up on CC!!!

Carnival is expecting high demand for the voyages and has priced them accordingly. Prices start at $2,990 per person plus taxes and port fees. A similar service-oriented trip on the same ship to the Dominican Republic starts at $1,540 per person.

That makes Cuba Cruise quite a bargain!

We knew we were dealing with a small company when it began to be obvious that Jane was the one doing all the work. LOL Any time I called, it was always with the pleasant and capable Jane with whom I spoke.

I booked our flights well in advance with the thought that we were fully insured, and if worse came to worst and the cruise was cancelled, we would simply go and spend more time on the island. After all our research, there was no chance that I would want to cancel just because the cruise did.

Fortunately, all turned out well and we had a vacation that we will always remember as the one of the best ever.

Jane at Cuba Cruise was really wonderful in answering all my questions. A couple of times she had to do some real digging, but she found the information and quickly got back to me. I was totally impressed at the lengths to which she went. She was also very cheerful about it!!!

I think maybe I saw the bear people on the Quantum's Inaugural. Or they have friends maybe?

 

How exciting to meet the famous bear family. I think I would have lost it when they were discussing Momma Bear's formal options.

When I went in April, I had locked into 1.0725 rate...pretty much at par, which was amazing.

That is amazing, especially since I booked April 3 and paid 1.11.

I guess I should have pre-paid gratuities as well. They say the $CAN is going to continue to sink in the foreseeable future.

Before booking, I called one of the biggest online US TA's and was told that they could not book me in Canadian. They offered a $400 OBC, but that would not compensate for having to pay in US.

What always upsets me is that in many countries they want you to pay cash in $US. What this means is that we are basically paying to convert twice.

I read "something, somewhere" this past week that said there were free excursions being offered. As another Cuba cruise is out of the question for us in 2016, I did not check into it further.

You say tomato I say tamato...:cool:

 

Cristal? Crystal? Seems as though we have our pick. In the last few days, news agencies have used both spellings. Cuba Cruises however now use the "y" when in fact last season it was with the "i". But Y knot? :D

Cruising around Cuba, I always thought of it as the "Luís Cristal", with the Spanish pronunciation.

No. For some unknown reason(*) we have to take the Presidential Suite instead of "our" Royal. It will take us a few days of drape shuffling to locate the door to the equally decadent deck. The morning sunrise won't be the same but we will soldier on...

 

(*) We were told that we were instead assigned this suite because the ship now sails counter clockwise from Havana :confused:

 

On a more serious note, when one reads the details of the accident it is a miracle that the two ships did not go up in a ball of flame considering the cargo of the freighter. The minor damage is a hiccup in comparison.

Few people get to truly see how the other side lives. :D

I was imagining myself on the deck when the ships collided, point of impact only a few feet from where I stood watching (even closer than where the captain would be standing :eek:). First I would put my life jacket and run. The thought of an explosion would be foremost in my mind. It would be terrifying.

Those on the far end of the ship probably barely noticed a bump.

Ron, were you able to get "our cabin" for all 3 of your 2016 cruises?