Zeno

thx for the replies.

My friend will be returning soon - not sure which ship they were on - I will get full details when she returns

That contract quote does not look promising. I guess the moral of the story is probably - read and understand the contract.

We have friends currently on an Avalon cruise who are having a very bad experience - their "river cruise" has become a "bus cruise". The ship apparently broke down and they are being bused around on uncomfortable, horribly long bus trips instead of getting their cruise.

They feel like their vacation has been completely ruined.

Can anyone advise as to the best way to deal with this major disappointment? Who can they contact at Avalon? Has anyone else experienced this? If so -how did Avalon respond?

I have to agree with punkincc.

We have done both ( a 'land' Hawaii vacation and the NCL cruise). Frankly the cruise is just the best way to get an intro to Hawaii because of the number of ports and the time spent in port (NONE of the other cruises can offer this). The Problem with a "land" vacation is one is really limited to 1 or 2 islands unless you want to waste a lot of time in airports and changing hotels.. On the cruise travelling is done at night so it really does not interfere with daytime activities.

I am not sure what the profitability of POA has to do with one's enjoying the cruise.

I feel I got what I paid for (a cruise wholly within Hawaii, seeing more of Hawaii

than other cruise lines offer). I am not interested in days-at-sea. My goal was days-in Hawaii and seeing as-much-of-Hawaii as I could within a given time frame without having to change hotels frequently. So I was happy. It all depends on what YOU want out of the vacation. If NCL makes money off my preferences - then fine for them. They are charging what people will pay.

I can only comment about our experience on the POA in Sept 2012. I found nothing major to complain about. The crew were friendly and helpful. Frankly it was no worse and no better than the experience I have had on internationally crewed ships - which is to say overall - pretty good.

Outstanding, NCL.

 

See, whining is underrated as a valid form of communication. lol

It's always worked well for me!

Just by the by, the first tour guide we encountered when got off the the ship was Lawrence and when we asked where we might find Voyages he pretended that he had no idea who they were.......really.:mad:

Really - you are angry and critical of Lawrence because he did not know who YOUR tour guides were and where you were suposed to find them? Lawrence some how "failed" by not having memorized the names and locations of EVERY other guide on the island??? How on earth do you know he was "pretending"? FYI there are plenty of tour guides on Antigua and I truly doubt that they all know each other and keep tabs of each others pickup locations for your convenience.

Jose and Patty

Fire and Ice

Jane L. Powell

All great.

My condolences.

Organizing a M & G can be a busy job.

I have had some great organizers of our M & G on NCL cruises.

 

Just curious if NCL (or any other cruise line) provides any perks to those that take on this responsibility (e.g. free dinner at a specialty restaurant or a free spa treatment)?

Nope - so don't volunteer unless you actually WANT do do this.

You might get something "extra" but you are more likely not to.

We got an invite to the "Officers" dinner but so did other people who attended the M&G - nothing special for me as organizer.

I have bumped this thread back up, as I believe there is a lot of information which will help a number of us in our planning.

Thx - I am going to cut and paste some stuff in my notes for my Hawaii cruise.

Sorry, I keep reading this "they should be researching it' and no sympathy for not knowing up front and putting the responsibility on the cruiser. Go to the website and tell me how easy it is to find that you need to pay the DSC. You can spend hours looking at cruises and pricing and never see one word about it. The responsibility falls on NCL to be up front with this. I agree with the charge but to go through a complete booking process online and the first time you are told about the DSC is after booking is wrong.

Uhm - go to NCL website. Click on FAQs. Click on "What's the service charge."

Completely detailed. Two clicks, minimal effort.

Or READ a brochure (either paper or online download) - it's documented there. "What's not included in my cruise fare." You can order them from NCL if you like paper.

Or get a TA.

All in all it takes maybe 5 minutes (except the TA).

1. Do your research before you travel - I have never had any trouble locating references to "service charges", "DSC charges", various taxes etc for ANY vacation I have taken - but then I make the effort to determine how much a trip will cost me BEFORE I book it.

2. If one finds service charges, DSC, whatever - to be so onerous - CANCEL the trip, get a refund and look elsewhere for your vacation (and maybe do some MINIMAL research before booking).

I know this sounds harsh but this constant whining about a WELL-KNOWN charge grates after a while. People need to accept personal responsibility for their travel decisions.

IF you are inexperienced go through a REPUTABLE travel agent. This is exactly what we did for our first cruise and she made sure we had no surprises.

I'm going on my first cruise either January 22 or 29th (booking tomorrow!), and have spent the last week or so pouring over various excursions. Which tour would you recommend for St. Kitts? I noticed that Royston's provides a (small?) lunch.

 

If Thenford Grey, how much better is The Tour compared to the Rainforest Tour?

We went with Royston (although I am quite sure Thenford is fine too). Lawrence provides light refreshments (soft drinks, water, beer if you like and and a snack (in our case delicious roti (kind of like a roll-up but with a warm filling - ours were chicken and yummy!).

He is very flexible and will customize tours to suit you.

His van is older and not air-conditioned but he can remove the windows which makes for great picture taking. We liked his van because of the great breezes and photo ops and we felt OK about tracking beach sand into it. If you need an air-conditioned van, he can get his cousin for you (who has an air-conditioned van).

We loved Royston but I think that you can't go wrong with either of these two. They both seem to have good reputations.

Excellent detailed review with lots of good advice!!! Just what I needed - since it looks like we may be going on POA in 2012.

So unlike the zillions of other posts, we are NOT offended by nudity on the beaches and are super curious, to the point of wanting to JOIN IN!

 

Here's my question--- I know there's a sign warning people coming from Pedro's that they're getting near the Nude Beach (Club Orient). But how do we go about getting over there? Is there an actual physical barrier we have to climb over?

No barrier - you just walk past the sign

Are we even allowed on "their" beach if we're not Club Orient guests?

Yes the entire beach is public but you can't use Club Orient's loungers. HOWEVER when I was there last you could rent loungers from a concessionnaire next to Pedro's and he would set them up for you just on the other side of the sign.

On the ACTUAL beach belonging to Club Orient, are there still people fully clothed (which I think is awkward and kinda rude...) or do people bare some but not all?

When I was there there were some people fully clothed, many people topless and of course mostly nude people. I was visiting friends who are naturists and was too shy to become completely nude - no problem.

Has anyone ever visited for the day and gone over "there" and bared it all?

Here's my questions:

 

~Do we have to get fully naked and walk around totally exposed?

No

~Can we wear our suits or towels and just drop them before getting in the water? Can we cover up with a towel without feeling like we're "cheating" the rules?

No problem - whatever you like.

~Is there a "better" spot on the beach to go where we won't be a tourist attraction and gawked at? (I have no problem baring it all for total strangers, but if I have to go back on the boat with people who aren't nekkid as well, that can be weird. So much for the "we're never going to see these people ever again, why not!?" mentality!)

On Orient Beach this really is about the best spot to get 'nekkid'

~Is everyone walking around young, thin, and tanned? Because although we are the first, we are not the others. LOL.

Definitely not. Fat people, older people, young people,skinny people, even little kids (one of our naturist friends had their little boy with them and he just loved being able to skinny dip). It's definitely not only body beautiful or creepy (well I think the occasional gawker is kind of creepy)

 

I just think it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I think we'd have a ball swimming/skinny dipping! I'm just not sure I want to strut around for a long time without being somewhat covered. lol.

 

I know, I know, I'm neurotic. But not a lot of people on here are willing to discuss how they WANT to do it, rather than how to AVOID seeing it. ;)

 

I want to make sure I don't look like a gawky tourist when I really just want to join in on the fun!

You will undoubtedly feel a little awkward - I did a bit - as the only mostly clothed person in our little group but it's a good place to give it a try. You can always enter the water, strip and give it you first try "covered by water". That's what one of my friends did.

a nice walking tour of Basseterre:

http://www.guidetocaribbeanvacations.com/st_kitts/Basseterre.htm

And a good map of Basseterre:

http://www.caribbean-on-line.com/sk/btmap.shtml

We were at Great Bay two weeks ago, many people in the sea and all looked pretty good to me.

I still won't swim in it. Bacteria don't wear large brown signs.

Excellent description and photos! I am sure this will be very helpful to people.

Great review! So much detail!

Personally - I would swim at Dawn or Orient Beach - both have good swimming and pollution is not an issue.

Been to both and I think Chichen Itza (MUCH larger and more extensive than Tulum) is by far the superior site BUT unless you are seriously interested in history and Mayan ruins it is much easier (and much shorter travel time) and much simpler to get to Tulum.

SO unless you are seriously into ruins, for a cruise excursion from Calica, I would recommend Tulum (the ruins are very pretty, small enough to do in a short time and easy to get to).

Thx Monte:

I have taken note that if we decide to do this 8566 is the choice NOT 8562 with the bangs

Thx for the picture HKG!

Monte - help - since I was looking at the cabins with the tiny lifeboats

Has anyone been in an obstructed view cabin on the Dawn? If so - how obstructed is the view - do you see anything or just daylight?

We are seriously considering a Dawn 9 Day for next year and I am looking at cabins.