Bocadude85

I was able to finish the check in this morning. Must have been a glitch with the website.

I decided to do our online check in for our upcoming May cruise(I like to get things done early.)For some reason when I enter our passport info I keep getting a error message stating that they can not verify our information at this time. Has anyone else had this problem? I was able to save steps 1,2 and 4 and our check in shows as 75% complete. I know we have plenty of time before the cruise, I was just wondering what the problem could be?

We did a January cruise in the Med and would not think twice about doing it again. Yes it was chilly but for the most part we had great weather. The biggest draw for us was the lack of crowds at the major attractions.

We are going on an NCL med cruise in September. Can anyone tell me what the bathroom amenities are like, ie shampoo, body wash etc. and do you know if you take a bottle of wine to your cabin either from the bar or after paying corkage fee? Thanks.

I do not recall what the shampoo or body wash was like. But I can tell you that yes you can bring wine back to your room. At least that was the case on the Spirit last year.

I understand some budgets can't handle the airfare to Australia.

I used miles for my ticket when we flew to Australia and my DW's ticket was about $2200 to fly from JAX to Perth Australia.

 

We normally spend about $1250 pp to fly to Europe pp. We flew to Singapore and back from Dubai for a cruise for $1750 pp, which is about a thousand dollars more for two than flying to Europe.

 

If just getting away to a warm place is what you want, perhaps the Caribbean is great, but going to Australia, China, Japan, Singapore, India, etc. is wonderful. Sure, flying to Australia will cost you about a thousand more pp than flying to Europe, which is about what we spend on a hotel and meals in Europe for five days.

Every now and then you can get lucky and score some great airfare. We flew from Miami to Auckland for $1299pp two years ago.

Can someone explain what this means? I assume some form of TAX but is this just while in Barcelona or 10% the whole cruise? That would suck and if true should of been disclosed by NCL.

The VAT is charged while in Barcelona. Since the cruise visits a non EU country(Turkey) the VAT is not charged during the whole cruise. The VAT may be charged while in some of the other EU ports however. If it was I do not remember which ports it was.

We did the Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii tour through NCL last April. It is a very busy day but we never felt rushed. Overall I would say it is a good tour for someone who wants to see as much as possible in one day. We had more then enough time in Pompeii in my opinion.

The casino uses USD.

We are two friends(leaving the men home) and right now,have an inside.....but seriously considering a balcony...those cabins look way too small for us..

The oceanview rooms 8500 & 8000 are huge rooms, larger then the balcony rooms and usually cheaper also. If you book early enough you can usually snag one of these two rooms.

None of that has anything to do with 3-star reviews written in 2011. Your point gets thrown out the window when you look at the member review dates.

Reviews from 2011? That was 4 years ago. I don't usually take any reviews over 6 months old into consideration when traveling. I feel like the most recent reviews will offer the best insight into what you will be getting, a lot of changes can take place in a 4 year time frame.

Looks like someone missed the (indirect) slight I left for that poster....

 

The OP was weighing one cruise line vs. another. Items on his hit list were food, whales and other issues related to one cruise line over the other. For someone to post their thoughts regarding a method of seeing the islands (e.g. land tour rather than ANY cruise line) that was not related to the original posters question was ...um, shall we polite and say "mis-guided" rather than "in-appropriate"?

 

It would be like you asking where you could find the best crab legs in town and me replying with something like.... The 1972 Canadian hockey team was SO much better than their opponents that year!

 

LOL

If the OP is not happy with the selection of cruise lines that sail Hawaii I see nothing wrong with suggesting an alternative option that will still allow the OP to see Hawaii. I did not suggest going on a land trip to Canada( that would have been "mis-guided") I suggested a land trip to Hawaii which is the destination the OP is looking to travel to. And as far as whales go, during certain times of the year whale watching can be done from shore. Further there are plenty of whale watching tours available that leave from many of the islands.

We just got back from Hawaii last month. We have been a few times. My vote is to just fly there and do a land vacation like we did. We flew to the Big Island, then onto Kauai and finally Maui. We skipped over Oahu this time. The inter island flights are only 30-50 mins generally and are fairly inexpensive. I think you get a better feel of the islands when you are actually staying on them and have the ability to rent a car and explore on your own and not have to worry about time constraints.

Just drove from Orlando back home(Boca Raton) yesterday. There was a accident on the turnpike and we sat in gridlock for hours. I would drive down the night before.

Love New Zealand. We spent about 10 days there about 2 years ago. We did not do a cruise however. We flew to Sydney after and took a cruise up to the great barrier reef. We would be happy to answer any questions you might have.

We cheated with Royal about two years ago and came running back to NCL

Thanks, Mrs. W. I realized excursions might be limited due to the size of the islands. Not much on TripAdvisor about these locales, either.

This is the excursion we took while in the Whitsunday Islands.

http://www.oceanrafting.com.au/

Not sure if the cabins are available or already booked on your sail date but you should look into cabin 8000 or 8500. These ocean view rooms are huge compared to the rest of the ocean view rooms and the windows were clean and offered great views.

why? Because they expect not to have bed bugs in their room? why is that a luxury request? its a most basic expectation not to have bugs in your room.

I was not referring to the bed beg issue as even a 5 star resorts can have bed bugs. I was talking about the other complaints he mentioned in the letter.

"The sink was chipped in two places and was completely unacceptable"

" We went to the other Mini-Suite at 8055, and we had issues with this room as well. It was very noisy, and had lots of vibrations in the floor"

"This does not include any of the other issues related to this ship, including way to many people, people fighting over chairs on the pool deck and at the buffet, lots of stress on board, no free deck chairs on the pool deck. We could never enjoy the pool deck on the sea days"

This is my favorite quote of the OP. What this has to do with his bed bug complaint I do not know?

" I am lifetime Platinum with Marriott, and I am only 38 years old. I have been to over 40+ countries around the world"

Perhaps you would be better suited sailing on a luxury line like Oceania or Regent.

We have done a few med cruise and have another booked for May of next year. The 12 day grand med cruise aboard the spirit is a great choice as you will get to see a lot in a relatively short amount of time. I would try and do a late April through late May cruise or a late September through October cruise. The weather should be wonderful and the crowds should be gone for the most part.

Thank you. I won't be going until Mid January 2016 and don't know if the Escape will dock or tender at that time. However, the time frame we'll be there will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

 

I doubt I'll have time for both, although I wish I would....

but if you had to choose just one.....which would it be?

Why?

and can you give a small description of each in your own words rather than Google's.

 

Thanks!

 

Harriet

who knows she's asking a lot of you.

Having been to both places if I had to choose one then I would probably choose Jost Van Dyke with a visit to the Soggy Dollar Bar. My reasoning is that it is a little more off the beaten path then the baths are and the experience of swimming to shore from the boat is very memorable. And In my opinion the beaches on Jost Van Dyke are much nicer then the one at the Baths. The Baths are beautiful but when it comes down to it all they are is large boulders resting on the beach, they do create private coves or "baths" that you can swim in but in my opinion they are often over crowded and if the ocean is rough swimming is very difficult. The scenery at the baths is beautiful but the experiences on Jost Van Dyke are more memorable in my opinion.

We have been to The Baths several times and have also been to Jost Van Dyke. Both are wonderful. The experience of swimming from the boat to the Soggy Dollar Bar on Jost Van Dyke is one of a kind. I would be glad to answer any questions you may have.

No it is not. If you get the lobster, as I did last week on the Dawn, then you get a $10 bill at the end of dinner even if you have the Dining package.

We had the UDP and ate lobster on three different occasions at Le Bistro while on board the Spirit and were not charged the additional $10.

We love NCL. We have never had a problem with the food or service. We usually sail in the suites so perhaps that makes the experience some what different. We sailed on the NCL Spirit last April and loved everything about the ship even though it is the oldest ship in the fleet. We have tried RCCL twice and have decided not to sail on them again. Have yet to try Princess or Celebrity, but that may change soon as they offer more variation in itinerary then NCL does.

Id shop around a little for airfare. Were flying Miami to Dallas and then Dallas to Hawaii in May and paid a little over $900 pp round trip.