GrandmaHofmann

That does not negate the value of his warning.

We are booked on a January 14 cruise around Africa.  A bit worried about using NCL air which we have never done.  But the fact is that it would cost us at least $1500 extra not to use it.  Has anyone been flown to Cape Town, South Africa by NCL? We are leaving from Chicago.

Has anyone taken this excursion?  I am wondering if the whole group goes around the gardens lockstep or if you go on your own and meet at a time? thank you

We dropped ours.  We are not drinkers other than the occasional beer.  Found out the gratuity charge for our 12 day cruise was over $500 which you paid upfront.  Wow. 

We are booked on the Jan 26 South Africa and Namibia cruise. Any advice? This is our first trip to Africa. Anyone ever fly out of Chicago? Which airline did they give you? Thanks!

We will be on the Fantasy.  Things could be a little different than on the Dream.

On 8/16/2021 at 9:50 AM, jrbeccles said:

Watching the You Tube VLOGs from the first cruise its sailing with about 1600 passengers or about 60% capacity. 

Sadly they stopped well over 100 people from boarding as they didn't have the correct paperwork. 

What paperwork were they all missing??

7 hours ago, LizzyDragon said:

No pirate parties. They had a super scaled down pirate night- mostly just the different menu in the dining rooms and characters in pirate garb. Children’s clubs were open, except for the nursery. 

Disney told me that there was a Buccaneer Blast instead, fireworks. But that that could change back to pirate night

On 7/22/2021 at 3:19 PM, serene56 said:

Disney is so expensive and the meet and greets was a hard sell for me.   I really am torn but will be moving my August cruise to next year.   (I cant even get a confirmation about the kids clubs for under 12 year olds-- which again is a huge draw for us. 

I emailed  Disney.  There will be many characters walking about and you can take pictures with them but you have to be three feet away from them.  You can take your own pictures or have them taken but no crew member will touch your camera. So mostly, you will have the character behind you.  No autographs.  However, he said that may change by my cruise date which is not until December 5. As to clubs, 30 days ahead, you can book times for your kids.

On 8/17/2021 at 9:17 AM, LizzyDragon said:

I just got off the first and second sailings of the Dream. They had characters out frequently- they were listed as something like "character waves". Guests could walk up to the characters and talk to them from 3ish feet away- but no hugging/touching and no autographs. People could take photos with their phones. Sometimes in the evenings Disney had a photographer out with the characters as well.

Was there a pirate party? Were children allowed in the clubs?  

I find it very hard to believe any server was inefficient, unfriendly, or otherwise inferior.  We've taken four Disney cruises with children. Our last one we took our whole family to celebrate out 50th.  We have over 45 cruises under our belts and are about to leave on another Disney Cruise Oct. 12.  No servers compare to Disney's.  They are delightful with the children, are unfailingly efficient.  You must have gotten a bad apple who had not been in the basket very long.

You don't need to get 100 pictures. I choose the 10 digital only photos. I then can take the file and have any size picture made from wallets to large photos at a much more reasonable price than I would pay Disney per photo.  The first time I ordered the 10, I was given all pictures by mistake.  I figured I really didn't need more than 10.  How many professionally taken pics do you need with characters?

Thank you

Does anyone know what movies are currently on the Fantasy? We leave on the 10th and I am wondering what's up.

Does anyone know if they sell the hats the female dancers wear in the Owodori dance? If so, where? Thank you

This was a great account. Thank you

Thank you!

We leave on the Crown Princess January 6. Can anyone advise me as to any shows or performers we should be sure to see? Any bombs?

On 8/21/2018 at 11:14 AM, EllieB said:

Husband and I just returned from this cruise and loved it. This being basically our first real visit to Japan, we were concerned about navigating on our own at ports with the language barrier so we did book the ship's excursions for the three festivals. Absolutely loved the festivals...it was great being in smaller towns and getting to experience more local, cultural, family activities as these towns celebrated. All three festival excursions were offered as evening trips, which left you with time for other interests during the day. I would also add that at all three locations, there were numerous guides located in Akita and Tokushima that were directing people between shuttle drop off points and the venue, making it hard to get lost in the crowds, usually wearing a yellow arm bands.

 

Our favorite of the three was probably the first one in Akita, the Kanto festival which involved teams that balance bamboo poles carrying up to 46 candle lit paper lanterns. The teams are supported by a group of musicians playing drums and flutes. The various teams compete during the day and then demonstrate their skills at the night event. The ship charged $150, which included the bus to town with a guide to lead you to your paid seating at the venue and then priority boarding of shuttles back to town. As per norm, they scare you that if you do this on your own, with all of the crowds, you may not be able to make it back to the ship in time, hence the priority boarding for the shuttle back to the ship. While our guide was helpful with preparing us for the festival, herding us to the location, pointing out restrooms and places to buy food; this festival can fairly easily be done on your own.

 

Princess had a Shuttle into Akita (about 30 minute ride), which they charged $10/pp for the day. The shuttle took you from the ship and dropped you off near Senshu Park and close to the museum of art where some of the judging was occurring (got to watch the little ones balance the poles with lanterns.) That shuttle drop off location was only until 4pm, and then was moved to Bunka Kaikan Hall from 4pm-9:50pm. If I recall correctly, the Kanto ended around 8:30pm, so you had a little more than an hour afterwards to make the last shuttle, which was probably about a 20 minute walk from the venue, depending upon crowds and traffic. The paid seating was located in the middle of the streets with benches, while other people just secured the curbs of the street on both sides for free viewing, using chairs they brought, blankets, etc. There was no wait for the shuttle to return to the ship.

 

An alternative to the Princess shuttles was a free bus to the Akita Port Cruise Train, located across the street from the port. The train cost 200 yen each way and took you right to Akita station, and you could purchase another 200 yen ticket to return to the port. The negative to the train was that the return schedule only ran every 2 hours, which made it more tricky on a tight schedule.

 

We were in port for the last day of the Nebuta festival in Aomori, which involved a daytime parade of the floats from 1pm-3pm and an evening water parade with fireworks that started around 7:15pm. Since the floats are illuminated from the inside, I would imagine that daytime viewing would not be as dramatic as evening viewing. The festival evening event would probably be impossible without booking an excursion because the city closes the bridge/streets between the port and the event viewing area around 6pm till after the event. Princess did offer a $5/pp shuttle pass from the ship to the train station, but the shuttle only ran until 5pm due to the street closures for the evening show. The Princess excursion involved paid seating for the evening water parade with fireworks and required a meeting time at around 3:30pm, which made it a tight window to see the day parade and get back to the ship in time for the evening excursion, so we did not see the daytime parade in the street. This excursion cost $85/pp and featured seating of probably 15-20 rows of chairs, with no elevation, on a pier. The one hour and 45 minute fireworks show may have been viewed from the ship, but it was very dramatic to view them exploding directly overhead at times. The Diamond Princess sponsored a segment of the firework show, so you could hear the ship blowing its horn during their segment of the show, which was kind of neat. Many people were unhappy with this excursion as it was difficult to view the floats as they boated past the pier from their seats. It was cool and breezy that night on the pier, and as the evening went on, I observed more and more people huddling around the porta potties, I assume to use as wind breaks, and perhaps to stand up so they could see the floats. Prior to the evening show, since the excursion had to drop you off early at the event due to access closures, you could walk around the Aspam building, where they had the floats on display and could take pictures. There were also lots of food vendors and it was great for people watching.

 

For Tokushima, the ships docks in Komatsushima and Princess provides a free shuttle to take you to the Komatsushima train station, where you may then purchase train or bus tickets to get into Tokushima. The ship's evening excursion cost $240 and had paid bleacher seating, which seems crazy. Again, they brought you in early, leaving you a few hours to walk around prior to the event. Since there were multiple performances of Awa Odori dance going on throughout the city (we walked past 2 of them while waiting for our show), this is a festival that you could do on your own if you left earlier in the evening. Keep in mind, though, with no Princess shuttle between Tokushima and the ship, you are completely relying on public transportation and competing with all of the locals for space on trains, buses, taxis to get back to Komatsushima. I would also say that it was kind of a long walk for people with mobility issues to get from bus drop-off and pick-up sites, especially with the heat, and some seemed to be struggling.

 

Kochi was also having the Yosakoi festival while we were in port, but Princess did not have an excursion for it. Instead of going to the festival, we chose to go into the mountains, so cannot comment on this festival.

 

Hope this helps answer some of your questions.

Great Job!

Has anyone taken this cruise who has written a review of it? If so, can you link me to it? 

In all of my cruises, there has never been a time when I needed a microwave. Ever.

There is an abundance of food and drink at any given time. No need to stock up for "later".

 

Unless, you are thinking heating up baby formula or something like that. In that case, you should contact special needs department.

Actually, nobody asked you if you could think of a reason why anyone would need a microwave. Typical snarky comment from this group. Some people have medical needs you may not be aware of.

We are leaning on the Getaway on Sunday. My daughter wants to know if she’s allowed to wear ripped jeans to dinner. Assuming not for Tropicana. What about other restaurants? The Haven?

Why would she WANT to dress like that?

That's the question.

Nina, we are on your cruise. We are taking a taxi from the ship to the disabled access area which is very near the main area. Look for my posts on the roll call and shoot me an e- mail. I will explain all the info I have sourced about the best way to get up and around if you are concerned about walking.

You may not be aware that only people in wheelchairs can use the small, rather rickety elevator. Once you get on top, using a wheelchair is not an option. I saw people with canes turned away from the elevator.

Be aware that you don't just walk right up to the Temple from the street. It takes some walking to get to it. Summer Palace is awfully large for a short stop.