rocky1

 

I loved your post and thought it provided a bit of humour for the Celebrity board.

 

Thanks, I'm always glad when someone else appreciates my somewhat dry wit.:D

What could be better then that?

Well........how about sleeping in, no rush in the morning, having a quiet lunch or brunch before leaving for the port, no lines (just to name a few).

I think the tuba would only be allowed if it's a certified Emotional Support Instrument.;p

I hate to. Sound elitist but if you are in a suite, pool towels are in your stateroom.

Never been in a suite and always had pool towels in our stateroom also.

:confused: Got a question for you experienced NCL folks.

Is there any downside to booking a Family Balcony vs Midship Balcony for a party of 2 on the Jewel? We don't need the extra beds or the connecting balconies, but I see Family Balconies available for a lower price than the Midships which are located no closer to actual mid ship. Just wondering why?

premium tea - yes, for sure. And I am sure that they also brew decaf and all the fancy coffee lattes and such can be made with decaf. My mom will have to have decaf - I have no worries about it.

Yes. We always get decaf specialty coffees with our coffee cards.

Thanks! Makes sense, but we never asked before.

I agree the coffee card is a good deal for many, but now I have a new problem: Doc says lay off the caffeine. Anyone know if decaffeinated brewed coffee, premium tea and specialty coffees are available at the IC?

We usually eat dinner late and stay dressed if we do any other evening activities. Once I get back to the cabin and out of my suit you would have a hard time getting me dressed in anything other than a robe or PJ's :D:halo:.

I must be missing something. I'm just not sure what a travel agent could do for us that we couldn't do (and have done) for ourselves.

Saving you a boat load of money!

The new program is an absolute insult to our intelligence.

Absolutely!

I agree.

 

Princess has done a poor job of communicating the benefits of the new package.

 

I think Princess is just increasing prices to be more aligned with the competition as Princess has some of the lowest drink prices in their category.

 

Jim

I agree with the second statement quoted above. If they had just raised prices and not reduced benefits we would have a hard time justifying our complaints (IMHO) even though we may not like it .

As far as doing a poor job of communicating the benefits.......I don't see a single benefit to communicate.

No! Evaluating whether to cancel it for my upcoming cruise, purchased at the old price.:(

Recently on Facebook there have been quite a few discussions about sharing beverage packages with many defending the practice. I can understand why Princess has increased the price. To limit alcoholic drinks to 15 per days they must have analyzed card swipes and seen way too many that showed over 15 per day, incompatible drinks and purchase times. Next will be a return to all adults in cabin needing to purchase the drinks package. It truly amazes me how willing people are to publicize their lack of integrity, proud of it too!

Very well stated, and I agree that the "cheaters" contributed to the price increase decision. Being able to purchase the package for only one passenger in a cabin is a big advantage for many of us, and I hope Princess doesn't change that policy.

That being said, I think Princess made a mistake by raising the price and lowering the benefits at the same time. Normally a business will at least maintain the same terms or add some small perceived benefit when increasing prices. (If they want to keep their repeat customers.)

The reason Princess (or any line for that matter) is that they always include the phrase "Terms and Conditions subject to change". I can live with the 15 cocktails but the reduction of discount for bottles of wine is what gets to me. Plus why does it cover small waters and not large waters ? I guess we will have to get used to small waters and fountain drinks (no fizz tastes like syrup

While I agree that the "subject to change" phrase gives them a perfectly legal right to make the changes, it definitely does NOT make it the right thing to do. As far as the bottled water size, give me a break - maybe they're afraid larger bottles lead to illegal sharing - of something we can buy for pennies and bring on board as much as we want. :rolleyes::rolleyes:

Thanks for the feedback, Bruin Steve, Keith 1010, SadieN & scottca075. Keep those suggestions coming - Cruise Critic is BY FAR our favorite place for great travel advice!!

What in your mind are the "normal touristy things"?

Just sightseeing: Hollywood, Beverly Hills; maybe a studio tour, if we have time.

Thanks for the help!

Thanks Steve - we must have been posting at the same time - maybe some sort of ESP!

We are a "young" senior couple sailing from San Pedro in February, looking for some planning help! Neither of us has spent any time in southern California since childhood.

We plan to spend 2 nights pre-cruise, tentatively at the Wyndham Santa Monica, so we will really only have 1 full day for sightseeing. The rest of our time we'd like to just hang out in Santa Monica and find some good local bars and restaurants. Would appreciate any feedback on hotel choice and recommendations for sightseeing tours and transportation to the port. (We don't want to rent a car.) We mostly just want to see the normal "touristy" things - but no theme parks - and would like to get to Griffith Observatory.

We'll probably spend 1 night post-cruise before flying out of LAX the following day about 1 PM. Seems like it would make more sense to stay in San Pedro (where there are at least a few points of interest) rather than near LAX??? (The Crowne Plaza has been recommended on these boards.) There is plenty of time to tweak these plans, so any informed advice will be a big help. Thanks in advance!

Learn something new all the time. Next time we will write our status on the laundry form. Thanks for sharing.

Maybe we were just lucky, or maybe NCL is still adjusting to the new perks. I actually expected to have a problem, and am pleasantly surprised we didn't. Sorry it didn't work out as well for you, but as you say, we learn something new every day!

Several have asked about laundry. Our $19.95 special on a bag of laundry was not discounted another 50% by being Gold. We paid the full $19.95 twice.

We were on the same cruise, both gold status, and the gold discount was applied to the 2 bags of laundry we had done. We asked the Lattitudes rep ahead of time and followed his instructions (simply write GOLD along with your name and cabin number on the bag, no coupon required). He also advised us that we didn't have to wait for the designated "Special" day, which advice we followed, and we were charged only 9.95 per bag. Also, he said we could have done 2 more 1/2 price bags due to the length of the cruise, but we didn't need to try that.

Go to HAL. They serve lobster at the 2nd formal and usually even have them in the buffet.

We will try HAL.

We tried HAL a few weeks ago. The lobster in the MDR on Surf&Turf night was no extra cost and was very good. HOWEVER........that was the only meal we thought was as good or better than NCL. The overall dining experience on the mid-size NCL ships is superior, IMHO (more locations from which to choose, and more menu choices in the MDR). There are some very nice things on HAL, and we may try them again if we get a deal as good as we got before.;p

If you go to Tortola you have to go to The Baths (take a ship tour though as it's on a different island) but after 25+ cruises this was one of the most amazing beaches/sites I've seen. It's simply amazing, google The Baths and you won't want to miss it.

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Forums

IMHO the Baths are not that great, but special for some folks. At any rate, if you want to do this DO NOT pay a premium for a Ship tour, simply take the short walk to the ferry, ride to VG and return....easy-peasy.

My memory is that you can go to a shopping and restaurant area near the dock that is walkable.

 

Yes, there are restaurants/bars right on the waterfront. It's a beautiful harbor. You can enjoy a meal or drink and watch the yachts coming and going.

A question for anyone having recent experience entering the Azores via cruise ship at Ponta Delgada: Have you had your passport stamped or checked at all, or seen any place to get a passport stamp in the cruise terminal?

I ask because of being detained last year in the Amsterdam airport before flying back to the US, following a transatlantic cruise and a short stay in Europe. The Dutch officials wanted proof that we hadn't overstayed our 90 day allowed time in the EU without a visa. The most recent EU country's entry stamp in our passports was about a year old, although we entered Ponta Delgada, as our first entry point into the EU on that trip, about 2 weeks earlier. After showing our travel documents and signing an affidavit, we were allowed to board our plane.

We are booked on another T/A stopping in Ponta Delgada, and would like to have our passports stamped when we arrive to avoid having any issues flying home.

Thanks in advance for sharing your experience.

Engaging the services of a Porter to help you with luggage will shorten your wait for Customs/Immigration significantly.

Can't say for sure, since we didn't use their services, but folks with porters were waiting in the same line with the rest of us Sunday.