cruiseat50

Thank you so much! Now the hard part is picking from so many that I would like to see. I may have to stay a couple more days... $$ oh well, this is probably going to be a once in a lifetime visit. Thank you for this as I had never seen this before and will be useful in many ports! Thanks again everyone this has been so helpful and I'm feeling a little less overwhelmed.

Thank you all for your suggestions and I must have had a brain fart and forgot to post it over there. Are they all about the same distance taxi/Uber wise?

Hi, Well I finally booked a cruise on the Gem (haven't been on her yet) going out of NY and have never been there at all so any hints/tips/help is appreciated. We are sailing in March and will be going to Bermuda and Caribbean. We usually book an aft suite but decided this time to get a forward suite so that we can see the Statue of Liberty as my mom did when she came over after WWII. I have read a few things on some of the other threads and some of the questions I have so far is... Is there only one cruise terminal or many so that I know what to tell the cabbie. I think we will stay in Manhattan one night prior to the cruise and any suggestions for a good hotel that hopefully is somewhat reasonable (security being the highest priority as we are both somewhat disabled). What airport should we fly into - JFK or LaGuardia? We will stay a few days after the cruise and do some sightseeing and would like some suggestions other than ones we will probably go to Times Square, Empire State Building, maybe the Statue of Liberty. We will definitely see a play while there and I have started doing that research. We will not rent a car as I am the only one that can drive and I don't want that stress so will either take a cab or Uber. Probably will not go on the subway as that seems a bit too scary for us but what about Central Park during the day of course? Where should we stay - if Manhattan is too spendy for multiple days? TIA for any help/suggestions

I had looked last night (Ok, around 2am) to see if my nearest cruise next March had gone down any because I had booked through CAS and the agent told me I was just a little too short to get a comped cabin. He said that it needed to be at $699 or lower to get an inside cabin comp so I was stoked when I saw it was $699 last night which is only $41 less than what it was when I booked. When I called him today he said he still couldn't give it to me as that was the sail away price and it needed to be a cabin that was able to be booked. I really don't remember him saying that before but I will give him the benefit of the doubt. We booked both of these with the 40% promo and the new promo is 50% which I have never seen before (I know it may have been done before but I had never seen it). Anyway, the cruise price for March 2023 on the Gem actually did drop it by $190 so he sent me a change in the price. Final payment is on the 10th and I doubt it will go down again but will wait and see. Now, the best news is that we also had a cruise booked for March 2024 to go from Sydney Australia to the South Pacific dropped by $ 5,659!🤑 I was shocked as like most I figured that they normally raise the prices before they give you a better discount on the new promo but in this case it worked for me! Happy camper... no HAPPY CRUISER HERE!!💦🚢 Wishing you all the best of luck as well!

I hope NCL has something similar to this or we can book one through a private vendor. Sounds wonderful.

OMG! Thank you for posting and look forward to reading whatever you add even though we are not going until March 2024. Ugh... now seems so far away but this way I have time to do lots of research and read your review. Tahiti was also on our bucket list and when I found that NCL had a cruise there I jumped on it. We also will stay in an over the water bungalow for a few days after getting off the ship. We actually start in Sydney Australia and plan to get there a couple days ahead as I know the jet lag will be bad and don't want to be haggard getting on. We live in Spring Hill Fl so our trips will be about the same. Thanks again for any info you can give. 🙂

I do believe it was a little loud when we were in there but not annoyingly so. On the other hand La Cucina was very loud and annoying and unfortunately the food on that night was not enjoyable at all. I have never been real impressed with La Cucina but that was the worst.

I am looking for a shower as getting in and out of those tubs are dangerous for me with back issues. Last cruise I tweaked my neck getting out of one on the Dawn and have had nerve damage ever since. 😟

I know that they are changing the bathrooms on a lot of ships and getting rid of the bathtubs. I tried to book suite 9002 on the Gem as I had seen a video on You tube showing this cabin and it showed that the bathroom had a tub and a bathtub separate which is what I want. When I called and tried to book this room they told me it wasn't available and I ended up with 9500. I looked on YT and the only videos I found are older ones so not sure if this suite has been updated or not. Does anyone know if this one has been remodeled? TIA for any information. 🙂

Glad that this got worked out for you and now you can relax and get excited for your cruise. 😊

We love these as they are always easy to spot. 🙂 Sophie not liking that they are out of the closet.

Underwater scooter?

I absolutely agree with both of these as we have been to Nachi Cocum a few time and Stingray City/snorkel every time we go to Grand Cayman. We even went when we spent a week on GC.

I have booked through CAS several times and was always given a comp for a inside or ocean cabin which I would upgrade to a suite. The last cruise we were on (December 2021) I gambled quite a bit more than I usually do and I found out that I had earned a Sapphire status. Recently I found a cruise sailing from Sydney to the South Pacific – Fiji, Moorea, French Polynesia, Tahiti and I just couldn’t pass it up so I put a hold on it and would call CAS the next day to see what they could do for me. When I called they said that they couldn’t give me any comp as it was more than 18 months out since my last cruise which I was unhappy but understood that is there policy. A couple days later I decided to look and see what other cruises I could go on in the meantime. While knowing that I would go to the casino and could rack up some points that might help to get me something for SP cruise. I found one going out of NY to Caribbean and again put a hold on it and would call the next day. When I did I was told again that I couldn’t be given a comp so I asked why that is as it’s within the 18 month period. He told me that because I had booked the last suite in that category and the sailing was selling well that they couldn’t give me anything. The thing is that just before I called him and there was another suite within the category but the price had gone up. So, I just wanted to check with all of you if this seems like the truth about what I am being told (mostly about the Caribbean cruise). Should I call back and try to talk to someone else or is that truly the case that I wouldn’t get any comp? TIA for any insight you can give me.