CruiseCouple02

What’s a diamond rate fare? Never heard of such thing. If you mean you got the Diamond balcony discount, I doubt they take that away, especially if past final payment.

All I mean is that I received a discount for being diamond. It isn’t a balcony room. I’m sorry for the confusion

Hi all! This is my first cruise as a diamond member (yay!!!) and I have a kind of weird question.

I may not be able to go last moment due to a few issues. I booked a diamond fare rate. If my other 2 passengers still go, but are not diamond, can they be made to pay more? How does this work?

Are they serving breakfast again yet?

No official word on that yet.

Can you please get it in writing and post it here, so we have it signed, sealed, and delivered.

 

However, this only helps some.

 

But, thanks for the update!

 

Harriet

It is nowhere on board that I have found in writing at all. I will keep looking

I'm glad to read this, but if the UDP is limited to ONE a day, then this would be it? Can I, for example, have lunch in Margaritaville and then have dinner at Le Bistro?

I specifically asked if I could still use it for dinner tonight and I was told by 2 people yes!

I do not blame them at all.... I would be too if it weren't for the UDP. I think the food is good but not for what they are asking for it.

And you're welcome ladies! My pleasure to help! 😀

It would be nice if they changed the information on the NCL website:

 

 

Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville at Sea

 

Quit searchin' for your lost shaker of salt, it’s right here in the first-ever Jimmy Buffett’s Margaritaville at Sea. Take a bite out of paradise with signature items like the Cheeseburger in Paradise. Sip on a Who’s to Blame Margarita. Or sit back and groove along to island-inspired live music at this complimentary dining venue. Inspired by the lyrics and lifestyle of Jimmy Buffett, this isn’t just a restaurant. It’s a state of mind.:rolleyes:

I agree completely! There is mass confusion at the check in with this. It seems most people had no awareness of the change until they were asked at the check in podium at Margaritaville. Lots of pissed people.

On Escape now! Margaritaville is included in UDP

I'm on board right now. Yes they are charging as of today BUT UDP gets it free! Now SDP will take a credit but UDP has no charge and can still eat at another place later in the day. Hope this helps :)

Can you also check for those that have the UDP and booked this cruise months and months ago if we're 'grandfathered' in and it will be 'no charge' for us??

 

Thanks!

 

Harriet

I will most certainly check that easily, as I booked back in February with the UDP promotion. I will say, though, if the UDP doesnt cover it, I probably wont go!

Im boarding tomorrow, so if no one else beats me to it, I will post whats going on and the price if there is one. You might know that they start this with my sailing! Story of my life!!!! :mad:

Hi!

If you do not get this from someone who sailed last week or this week, I am sailing next week and I would be happy to share when I get back :)

I feel exactly the same way as the OP! We booked our upcoming cruise on Escape over 9 months ago. We got a great deal and some included perks (Kids sail free, UDP, $100 OBC) but it does feel a little like a bait and switch with all the changes. Im not complaining, dont get me wrong, but when we went on Epic last year, we loved the freestyle culture.... pay for some extras, but lots of traditional inclusions.... now it seems like just about everything is extra! I guess I would feel more jipped if we did not get the extra perks that we got when we booked (especially UDP since we love the restaurants). I was a pretty loyal Royal cruiser until they kept raising prices, which prompted us to look for a different line.... we were happy when we tried Epic because we felt we got a lot for the value.... but now Im not sure if I will continue with NCL.... ESPECIALLY since Del Rio came out saying he will continue to raise prices! The draw was the reasonable fare... if that goes Im likely done!

I don't know from experience, as it was one of the food places that I didn't go to, but from the comments I heard from others the food was very good.

Thank you Keith.... I read your review! I want to say that I really appreciate that you took the time to do it! Your pictures and commentary have made me super stoked about our trip! :D

I know that its only done a few cruises, including the TA, but does anyone who has been on Escape yet have any input on Bayamo? Im embarking in 20 days and Im wondering how the food is. TIA!

Thanks everyone! I feel better now. It's always been a nightmare of mine to get turned away at the port... Guess I'm good! :D

I understand now that the info about the 6 month rule may be wrong about Jamaica, but that site says different about Mexico http://travel.state.gov/content/passports/english/country/mexico.html

At this point I'm without a passport card for him unless it comes in the next 2 weeks. I need to know if I can get him on the ship and not get turned away at the port. Can anyone verify for me from experience?

Thanks for the replies so far!

Jamaica is on the list of the countries that require the passport to be valid for 6 plus months, so that is why I sent for renewal. We are going to Ocho Rios on the cruise. The passport office took the current card to process the new one. I don't have a card at all for him right now because the new one has not arrived. It appears policy says I should be ok but I'm asking to see if anyone has had experience taking their child with just a BC.

Hey everyone! I'm hoping someone knows this answer from experience because what I'm reading is a little confusing! We are going on Epic to the western Caribbean in 2 weeks and we ran into a small problem. When we cruise typically, we have a passport card for my 5 year old. This time we realized that his passport card was expiring in less than 6 months. We had read that a passport card has to be valid for at least six months past the date of travel in order to be valid. I booked the cruise about 6 weeks ago, so I knew that tried to get him a new passport card would be difficult. We immediately went to the courthouse to turn in the application. So far, we have not received the passport card back yet and unfortunately they took his old card to process with the new card. Are we going to be OK to cruise with him if we just have his birth certificate? I'm really worried that we are not going to get the passport card back in time. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me!

I can't wait!!! I sail 11/30! First time NCL... Looking forward to it :D

If you have purchased the UDP, do you have to pay extra for upcharge items like some of the entrees in Le Bistro?

Its funny you should mention about the cabin attendant walking right in.... we had the same experience on the same cruise! Twice we had our attendant knock and then walk right in 5 seconds later before I could even get up to see who it was! It was quite unnerving! :(

We took our two year old son to Dolphin Cove, which he really enjoyed.

 

This was my trip advisor review:

 

There were many highlights to Dolphin Cove, which is an enjoyable stop for families and people who love animals. They offer many good opportunities to play with and feed animals, and you can take many lovely photographs with animals here.

 

Dolphin Cove offers several different types of dolphin encounters, and if you have any questions about which dolphin encounter would be best for your family you should email their facility directly since they were very responsive to our emails when I was organizing this tour.

After you book a dolphin touch or encounter, they will email you a confirmation letter with the time of your dolphin encounter, and they recommend that you print out this confirmation letter and bring it with you. It is absolutely necessary that you bring this letter, since our family and the people on line in front of us were both initially assigned incorrect times for the dolphin touch and Dolphin Cove was able to easily fix this mistake when we showed them the correct time in the confirmation letter.

 

We signed up for the dolphin touch so our two year old could safely participate, and he really loved meeting his friendly and cute dolphin. Please note that if you are on a cruise, you may need to book this excursion directly with Dolphin Cove since some cruise lines (like Princess) only allow children older than 8 to participate in the dolphin touch. Dolphin Cove appears to be much stricter than other attractions in terms of allowing cruise ship passengers to book independently. They turned away a previous trip advisor reviewer who had disclosed he was arriving on a cruise ship and wouldn't take our reservation until we disclosed where we were staying on the island. Dolphin Cove can arrange transportation for guests, but we didn't want them to know we were arriving at a cruise ship, so Richard Brooks at excursionochorios@gmail.com provided us with very good transportation all day in Jamaica. Please note that Dolphin Cove, like all other dolphin experience locations, does not allow you to take your own pictures. Their photographers did a very nice job, but you should factor their costs into your plans for visiting this park. They also will take professional pictures of your stingray and nurse shark experience (they allow amateur cameras in these areas, but it would be hard to get good amateur pictures here)

 

It is important to note the time of the shark show, since this show is terrible (and seemed to consist of a lot of chanting instead of sharks) and the handlers are also the people who help you touch a stingray and touch nurse sharks. For the 15 minutes prior to the show while the performers are getting ready, you can explore the lovely trail above the beach, where there is a very nice touch tank and an enclosure where you can feed love birds who will land on you. There are also lots of parrots they can pose on guests. It was a very enjoyable afternoon, and our two year old had a wonderful time here.

So Kitkat343, you booked directly and told them you were staying at a hotel instead of on a cruise ship? Did they try to make you show any proof or did they not question it?

My husband and I are going on Carnival Breeze next month and taking along our 4 year old son. I think Dolphin Cove would be nice for him, but Im a bit confused. According to Dolphin Cove's website, admission includes

"Mini-boats and explore the coast, Interact and snorkel with stingrays, Take a glass-bottom kayak ride to explore the fascinating underwater world, Watch our hilarious Shark Show, Interact with exotic birds, snakes and iguanas on the Jungle Trail walk, Relax on our glistening white sandy beaches"

From what I understand though, you cant book directly through them if you are coming off of a cruise ship :mad:

Does Carnival's excursion include all of this or is it just admission to walk around? Please help! :confused:

one

Me too!!! See ya there! :D:D:D:D:D