jimsig

On 3/28/2024 at 11:08 AM, Middleager said:

Why is 74 the most painful number of points?  Many people would've loved to have cruised that many nights.

I'd say if you are at 19, 44, 74, 149, 349, and 699 points after finishing a cruise it's the most painful as you are only one point away from the next status.  A so close yet so far away type of thing. It's got nothing to do with being thankful you have cruised that may nights.  You can love the fact that you have cruised that many nights and also be bummed that you are missing the next level by only one point.  

It looks like it's about 8-9 cabins fwd from the stairs/elevator and not over O'Sheehan's which is nice so loud sounds should not be an issue but a nice close walk.  There is no cabin below either as deck 8 holds the lifeboats.

If you use Cruise Deck Plans- Norwegian Pearl you can drag and drop and see what is above and below your cabin.  

21 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

I'm pretty sure he just made that up.  But, you never know....  🤣

Crazy as it sounds they did.  

13 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

Hardsided luggage makes if far easier to find your luggage.

From watching a log of baggage carousels, most shop for luggage at Walmart and buy the black luggage.

We have hard sided blue and crimson luggage.  Really stands out.

I know people who spray paint their initials on both sides of their luggage with safety orange. Makes them stick right out.   

45 minutes ago, RocketMan275 said:

We were once booked on a HSV to SLC connecting through ATL.

Our HSV flight was delayed and the HSV gate agent told us we might  make our ATL connection but our bags would not so they were booking us on a later flight so we would arrive SLT same time as our bags.

(You know where this is going right?)

We waited at the carousel in SLT and our bags didn't show.

We went to lost baggage where we found our bags.

The bags had arrived on the original flight, the one we were told our bags would make.

Have had it happen a few times where the bags made a connection but we didn't.  We came down the escalator and we could clearly see our bags sitting in a roped off area.  Might have been the quickest I ever got out of an airport with checked bags.

Another time was connecting internationally through ATL so we had to recheck our bags.  There was supposed to be a noon and a 1p flight to our final destination.  We were on the 1p and the noon flight was being shown as delayed.  As I had a normal bag and a golf bag there were 2 different places to place the bags after being rechecked.  Get to our final destination and my suitcase comes out but no golf bag.  As I was about to go to lost luggage I hear them announce the noon flights bags were arriving on a carousel a few away from mine and it was on the way to lost luggage, ends up the noon flight left after ours.  I walked to that carousel and low and behold the first thing to come out were my clubs. We happened to know people on our flight and their luggage was also on the earlier flight and they originally boarded in ATL.  

1 hour ago, laudergayle said:

On our last flight, I was sitting in the airport lounge when my phone notified me that our bags were now loaded on a flight that wasn’t ours, arriving two hours earlier.  I imagined our bags on the carousel hoping someone wouldn’t lift them.  The desk agent assured me this was common and they would be put aside in LAX…they were.

Luckily the airlines have an agent go to the carousel after the area has cleared and will take any bags remaining with them for safe keeping so they don't go around for hours and hours.  But it still can be nerve-racking not knowing if they will be there.  

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

 

use TSA-approved locks on your bag, making your bag less desirable for a genuine thief. place an apple air tag or other portable GPS tracking device in your luggage to help you retrieve it. use a "lost and found smart QR code tag, which doesn't tell you where your bag is, but allows anybody who finds it (or walks away with it mistakenly) to scan the code and be put in touch with you. choose a luggage color other than black... most bags are black! and use inexpensive luggage.. if your bag looks like it cost $800, it's more likely to be stolen.  use NCL's "self-assist" disembarkation scheme which allows you to walk off the ship with your luggage (best if you have no mobility issues and have only one bag and a carry on.) 

 

Unfortunately all a TSA approved lock does is make people feel warm and fuzzy and gives them a false sense of security that they bags are safe.  Anyone can buy the master keys for the TSA locks from Amazon and in most cases a thief can use a pen to open up zippers. They can help when your bags are going through the airport or on the ship and left out etc as someone on the inside is looking for the quick and easy bag to get into.  However if you have someone steal your bag from the carousel or luggage drop post cruise they will just break the lock/luggage if they don't already have the master as they don't want the bag, just what's in it.  

As an FYI as the Wi-Fi and excursion credit doesn't cost you an extra, like say the drink package does for gratuities, so it does not let you deselect them.  But you don't have to use them if you don't want.

Right now the gratuity comes out to be about $22 a day so if you plan on drinking an average of 2 drinks a day you would just about break even paying in advance for the package.  It also includes soda so two drinks and one soda a day and you are saving money getting the drink package.  

3 minutes ago, david_sobe said:

I used to cruise twice a year then once per year. With prices and other priorities its not as much anymore.  When I retire it could be much more again.

I hear ya.  Got to do what you can when you can do it.  

On 2/21/2024 at 11:41 PM, Scubadoc said:

We are in 10664 which is an aft penthouse suite with large balcony. Anyone stay in this room or in this class of cabin? What are your likes and dislikes? We absolutely love the aft suites on Princess that have a giant wraparound corner balcony. It’s hard for me to tell from pictures how large the balcony actually is on the pearl. is it deep enough to have our loungers facing the water or do you have to turn them sideways? 

 

I know the ship has a Haven and we were not really interested in that but since we’re in a suite is there a sundeck that is reserved somewhere for those and suites? If not, is there a good adults only place on a sundeck that actually has some shade?

 

If I understand correctly, we can eat special suite only breakfast and lunch. So does that mean there is no special dinner for those in suites? We either eat at the regular dining or in a specialty  restaurant?

 

What shows are on the pearl? I’ve not been able to find that anywhere to this point.

 

Finally, we love karaoke! Princess has a contest called voice of the ocean, which I had the privilege of winning, which is a lot of fun. How does karaoke work on the Norwegian pearl?

 

thanx!

1.  If you booked directly with NCL call your PCC and they should be able to tell you the exact size of the balcony.   

2.  We were on the Pearl in 2016 in the 2br Family Suite, my trip report is in my signature, and did not have access to the Haven.  

3.  There is no Haven restaurant for dinner.

4.  I'm not sure what is currently on the Pearl.  Though things will probably change before then you could always look at a recent Pearl Roll call and see if anybody posted the Dailys or is willing,  

Have done the Pearl twice and she is a great ship.  Would sail her again if it works out in terms of location and itinerary.   

On 2/22/2024 at 11:06 AM, david_sobe said:

Guess what?  Only 2 more years till my next NCL cruise on the Aqua. 

People go 2 years without going on a cruise?  That's a thing?  

JK.  I've gone longer between cruises as you can tell by my signature.  

The two times I have been on the Pearl both embarkation and disembarkation has been from Deck 7.  

Looks like there are 2 Renaissance Hotels.  

According to Google maps:

It's a 10 min (.4 mile)  walk from the Renaissance New Orleans Arts Warehouse District Hotel

and a 23 min (1 mile) walk from the Renaissance New Orleans Pere Marquette French Quarter

16 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Thanks! I just tried that and saw a 10% discount for some cruise on the Bliss departing April 28, 2024, which just showed up one day. 

They are doing some Latitude member cruises on the Bliss.  I have one for Sept 28, 2024.  

As an FYI the current wait time for a Passport on average is very quick.  My sister got her kids passports for the first time and it took 21 days from the day they were sent until they received them.  

I just renewed mine and got it back today, only 18 days after I sent in the renewal.  

Others on social media have been reporting just as quick processing times.

Last summer/fall it was taking about 8 to 12 weeks with most getting theirs on the higher end.  But they have worked through the backlog.  

Thanks for taking us on your vacation.  Can't wait to board the Breakaway in only 69 days!!!

I know it's been covered on CC before but does the Breakaway have the Coke Freestyle machines?

20 hours ago, Sailing12Away said:

I have zero desire to sail on Carnival, and hubby has zero desire to try out Princess. He claims that any cruise line that had a documentary made about them for not good reasons is a cruise line he wants to avoid.

 

Might want to keep him away form the TV show "Mighty Cruise Ships" on the Smithsonian Channel then.  They have pretty much covered every cruise line including NCL.  

Forgot to add that at some point as a Disney fan along with a 14yo DD  I do want to try DCL.  Would also love to do a European river cruise.

I have sailed Carnival once, RC twice, and April will be my fourth NCL cruise.

I would do Royal again. 

On the second cruise we got priority boarding.  Granted it was the last of the priority groups but we were one of the first 25 or so on the ship as it was one of their oldest ships at the time.  As we were walking to the buffet an officer greeted us with a big smile and said, "Have we started boarding yet?"  we answered yes and he responded with "Ooops, I must have missed the announcement" and laughed.  

18 hours ago, KSSS2013 said:

 Quick update. 
 

  We flew out Friday morning for about a 3 hour flight. We did have first class and enjoyed a lunch of some meatballs over polenta. Turbulence got really bad the latter half so everyone strapped in until landing. 

  The hotel arranged a driver to pick us up at the airport so we had a nice ride to the Waldorf Astoria. I used points for the room and we were upgraded into a 1 bedroom luxury suite which is very nice. 

 

 We had a fantastic dinner at GW Fins then walked around Bourbon Street before heading to bed. We were surprised that it wasn’t overly crowded, but it was early in the evening.  I did get a couple of Hand Grenades and they are extremely potent.

 
 We got up today and had breakfast at the hotel. We had a tour of Cemetary #1 in the morning and then walked around the quarter until this afternoon. Dinner is still open. We plan to head to the port around 11 or so tomorrow. 

 

Stayed at the Waldorf Astoria back in the early 90's when it was the Fairmount.  We had our annual Fraternity meeting there and we had access to the Presidential Suite that Bill Clinton had stayed in just a week or two before.  It's a beautiful hotel and a perfect location for NOLA.

We are on the Breakaway in April out of MIA.  

On 1/25/2024 at 10:46 PM, Medusa_lives said:

PS: I won't pay $250 to NCL to book "special" which I can do myself direct or via Expedia. 

Don't use an OTA like Expedia or Orbitz.  It's OK to use them to look for flights but book then directly with the airline yourself.  If you run into issues you are then dealing with using a 3rd party as the intermediary adding an extra layer which can and usually makes things more complicated.  The OTA's have been known to be unresponsive an very unhelpful when problems arise.  Last thing you want when trying to remedy a problem, especially overseas, is to not have control over the booking

On 1/25/2024 at 2:24 PM, Elsammo46 said:

Radisson Resort at the Port is fantastic! Lots of pools, on-site restaurant, and a fun tiki-bar. Its like a pre-vacation before your vacation. 

I second the Radisson.  In the past they have an option that includes a shuttle from MCO to the resort. They also have a shuttle to the port.  

On 1/21/2024 at 2:17 PM, havoc315 said:

 

Miss the upsell desk... had their phone number, that's how I first experienced the Haven. $2,000 to upgrade from a "minisuite" as they used to be called, to a Haven 2BR for a week.  

 

On 1/22/2024 at 10:29 AM, Birdnutty said:

Us too!  We got a great bargain on a 12 day, which later became a 14 day when the cruises to nowhere were declared illegal. Our first time in Haven, and so far, our last. All though the upsell desk, which was great. (Thanks to CC or I never would have known about it.). Hoping to get it again, although we really can’t  afford to bid much higher than the minimum, and we know our chances are low. I would love to see the algorithm they use to determine the winners.  Wondering if the Latitudes status plays any part at all.  

Miss the upsell deck too. Went from a mini-suite to a 2br Family Suite (non haven) on the Pearl to Alaska for a total of $1500.   So worth it.   

One thing to factor in, if important to you, is sunset times depending if you have afternoon/evening port times.  

From May 18 to the end of May in Juneau sunset will range from about 925p to 950p

From Aug 18 to the end of Aug in Juneau sunset will range from 833p to 757p.