PATRLR

As I recall it was a long excursion, multiple hours on the bus. With frequent stops it didn't feel like a lot.

There are a few variants, be sure people are reporting to you on the same one you are considering. We have done the "WHITE PASS RAILWAY & YUKON EXPEDITION" excursion with NCL. There are a few components to this excursion: The bus ride up gives you a different experience and views than the train does. Our driver was a great guide/narrator so I found the bus ride interesting and well worth it. The stop at the town of Caribou Crossing (Carcross) was ok, couple neat little shops, small area to explore. We didn't have a lot of time there. The stop at "Caribou Crossing Trading Post" was classic tourist trap. The "wildlife museum" and "Dog Musher's Village" were built for the tourists, to give them something else to see/do when coming up to that area. The chicken barbecue was "ok" - pretty much what you might expect for a "BBQ" serving hundreds. We made a few other stops for pictures, all beautiful and worthwhile. The train ride down is fantastic. It's the White Pass Railroad, plenty of reviews on what that's all about. All things considered, I'd recommend this excursion. It seems to me that riding the train up and down (if that is what the other excursion does) would be a waste of half the excursion. If you haven't already done so, I recommend spending time in the Alaska port forum here on CC.

Yes, there is also the tax. My prior post was a typo, the fee is $25 plus 20% tax for total of $30.

I'm not sure this is entirely true about not needing a Day Pass. Their web site indicates you do and I exchanged mail with them and they seemed to indicate a day pass was needed ($24 PP). Now, maybe if you show up, eat lunch, they would then let you use the facilities, I'm not sure.

We're considering this excursion with NCL: NCL ST. John Champagne Catamaran Sail & Snorkel. The description says: "you will arrive at Honeymoon Beach within the Virgin Islands National Park. You will be free to snorkel, stroll along the sugar-white beach and relax as you see fit. You might stretch out on a beach towel, linger in the shade of a coconut palm and swim in the sea with nothing on your mind other than enjoying yourself. " Does anyone know or have any idea how the transfer from catamaran to beach happens? Does it pull up to the beach? Are we expected to swim? We aren't really into snorkeling, so, the beach part is all we're interested in. Also, I've seen some other posts that seem to indicate the concession operator is not allowing people to use much of the beach, can anyone share insight into that situation? Thanks in advance.

I would stay away from the Prima, I've seen too many and too consistent reports that it just isn't a good cool weather ship. We've ruled it out. We are looking at Norway next summer also. RCCL Anthem of the Seas July 12 had a great itinerary. Celebrity Apex had a couple good ones too.

I'll second the statement that it happens automatically. Only need to go to CS if you have leftovers.

Wow, this exact same question was asked on this board about 7 hours earlier than this one. Same answer, see this thread. And please don't stop at the first post, scroll through the replies where there are a few things added:

There are two type of onboard credit, you need to know what kind you have. Check out this thread, I think it's still pretty accurate.

Did you by chance end up doing this excursion? I'm looking at it now and curious about any reviews and who the operator might be.

just curious, where in St Maarten?

Bird has a well documented dislike for the Vibe and does not believe it's worth spending any money on.

What you completely skipped over in your response is this part of RocketMan275's post: These contracts have been described here fairly well by people who these boards have come to trust. So your ability to judge character may be excellent, but in this case you were played.

I agree 100%. But, reading what people are writing on these boards and other places, I feel as if we are heading back to those days, and quickly. Seems like people are talking about tipping just about everyone they come in contact with. I admit, I'm part of the problem. I now tip bartenders/servers that I expect to frequent and I find myself tipping our room steward anytime I ask for something.

FWIW, I'm in a Club Balcony Suite (category M2, not Haven) and got luggage tags sent to me. I don't recall the last time I got luggage tags from NCL, if ever. I also see no point in the protectors. I typically don't even print them at home, I just grab the tags they have at the port and write my cabin number on them.

We saw Jersey Boys on Bliss back in June 2018, when Bliss was still rather new. That was not only the best musical/theatre show I've seen at sea it was better than some shows I've seen on Broadway, West End, or touring. And I don't mean better in that I liked the music/story better, I mean better production. I acknowledge that a show like Jersey Boys is uber dependent on top shelf performers, especially for the lead. Perhaps that first(?) cast on Bliss was the best of the best, I don't know.

Cute. Do you really want to go there? Shall I refer you to NCL and WTH marketing material that refers to the DSC as gratuities or tips? (In full disclosure I probably couldn't find current NCL marketing materials, but, they definitely used to do it in the not too distant past. WTH affiliated agencies continue to do it to this day)

That was no "hypothesis", that is a fact.

And I will add, NCL for years and NCL's major partners (e.g WTH) to this day refer to the DSC as "tips" and "gratuities" in marketing materials. IMO, people can stamp their feet all they want that the DSC isn't the tips, but to me they are one and the same.

Thank you. But I am aware of how to contact the resort directly. I was asking @Arzeena how they made their reservation.

where did you get your day passes? Resort for a Day doesn't seem to have this resort and looking on the resort's web site I couldn't find day passes.

I'm on Dec 15 Viva and you can't make reservations in advance for the main theatre shows. I am encouraged to hear that they intend to have reservations for future sailings, presumably, I'll be able to make a reservation once onboard.

@pete_coach - What sanger727 wrote is spot on. I will add a bit to this part: I'm not so sure it's a "glitch", United Airlines actually promotes this capability on their planes. I will however agree that it is never guaranteed to work. Our experience was quite a bit different. We had good luck texting to and from other iPhones both on the ship and at home. It's important to remember text only (no pictures/video) and only to/from iPhones (so using iMessage even though most users don't recognize the difference from regular SMS texts and iMessage texts). We did find that sometimes the messages could be delayed so it wasn't the best at on-ship communication but it was great for communicating with our daughter at home.

The word inaugural seems to be used rather liberally. I'll be on Viva Dec 15 and I see people referring to that cruise as the "inaugural San Juan" cruise.

NCL's land-based customer service is awful, especially in situations like this. Maybe if you had something very explicit in writing you might get them to do the right thing but it sounds like a rep gave you bad information and NCL isn't going to correct that. They just don't do that. My suggestion is you just accept that their land-based customer service is awful and move on. Go on the cruise and have a good time. NCL is different from Carnival in some ways but from the big picture point of view, they are very similar because both are mass market-oriented cruise lines. There will be things that Carnival does better, try not to let those differences ruin your cruise. There will be things NCL does better too.