Turtles06

Tip: it doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the NCL system doesn’t open for check-in at 12:01am ET even though the app and your account on line do have a live “check-in” button/link. You can press it to your heart’s content, but check-in might not be available for hours.

Paul, definitely no smiley emojis at the time. 😊. I’m just trying to make the best of it, it’s such a bizarre thing to have happened. And I’ll add for those reading that NCL refunded all of our pre-paid expenses (except our cruise fare) to our credit card in about two weeks. I was pretty impressed by the speed.

It’s not true. Except for the actual cruise fare, NCL refunds all pre-paid expenses: taxes, port fees, FAS gratuities, prepaid DSC, WiFi upgrades, shorex, etc. Not only does NCL refund those things if you cancel after final payment, it will also refund them if, say, you trip and fall and break your wrist two hours after embarkation and are then medically disembarked after your two-hour cruise to nowhere. I’m sad to say that I even know this. 🙃

We’re on the Gem that day. NCL has not been bringing the bigger ships to Taino Bay, so maybe the Dawn and Gem will make it. In any event, this says that three ships can dock at Taino Bay. https://www.porttainobay.com/en

Thanks! We're on the Gem in Jan and Feb and I've been told that's where we are docking. Fingers crossed that's the case (since it's not a mega ship).

Yes, but no doubt lots of British pounds to be paid for the rights. 😊 The best show we’ve ever seen on a cruise ship. And it’s fabulous on land, too. 😊 (We saw it in London this fall. Fantastic.)

Five years ago, before our first Canal cruise, I too was looking for info here on CC regarding Costa Rica and could not find any despite all the time I spend on this site! 🙂 Finally, by accident, I stumbled upon a post concerning Puntarenas, traced it back, and realized that CC has Costa Rica in the *Caribbean* forum, even though it also has a Pacific Coast! (Other geographic anomalies here on CC exist as well. One of my favorites: Lisbon is under "Other Mediterranean Ports.") https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/120-costa-rica/ You'll find discussions of Puntarenas in the above forum. In a nutshell, I'll just mention that we did a private tour with others on our Roll Call that included a boat ride along the Tarcoles River. It sounds hokey but it was fabulous. Lots of crocodiles (up close, too), birds, cows ... There was more to the day as well. We really enjoyed it. (photo by turtles06)

Perhaps you haven't seen it, but there's an entire forum devoted to Canada/New England: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/9-canadanew-england/

I don’t have time and date show IN my photos either. But on an iPhone (I can’t speak as to Droids), the time and date show above the photo when you open it in the photo app.

We’re on the Rotterdam in July, and the port web site is showing us at the sea walk.

It will usually be less expensive to book on your own. (Cruise lines typically charge for the hotel per person, rather than per room.) And you’ll have more choices. If you go to the Mediterranean Ports of Call forum here on CC, you can do a search for hotel info, and also ask about hotels. (There are sub-forums for Spain and Portugal.) And of course there are other sites, like Trip Advisor. You can also price out the NCL hotel option to compare. (It might also include transfers to/from the airport and ship, but I’m not certain about that.) https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/472-mediterranean-eastern-western/ Enjoy your trip!

Agreed, it's not real.

The only way to know that is to look at the specific terms of your own policy.

Are you positive you'll be tendering? There is a sea walk at Geiranger that allows the pax on one ship to walk ashore (no tender); it's my understanding the first ship to arrive that day that is willing to pay for it will get to use it. Here's the "cruise calls" page of the port website. Find your date and ship, and then look in the "Kai" column, which shows your ship's position. If it shows "SW," that's the sea walk. https://www.stranda-hamnevesen.no/cruise-calls/

Can you please tell us about how long it took to get to Flamenco Island once you were on board a shuttle? Thanks!

Hopefully someone who boards in Fuerte Amador before you do will reply, but if you ask a cab to just take you to the cruise terminal at Fuerte Amador, and they are only allowed to go as far as where the buses drop folks on Isla Flamenco, you'll get there! 🙂

Indeed, I recall in one of the earlier posts from someone who had a port call to Fuerte Amador that shuttles were used to take guests from the ship out of the construction zone of the cruise terminal over to Isla Flamenco.

We had a two-day port call in Reykjavik, and used one of those days for a small group tour (about 16 people from our Roll Call) with GeoIceland. One of the best tours we've ever taken. Fabulous guide, terrific company, and a partner with Saga Travel (which operates more in northern Iceland), which I think also gets excellent reviews here on CC, but do check. During the pandemic, I'd read here on CC that GeoIceland had gone out of business, but looking now on the internet I see they are back. (Obviously, I have no idea what changes might have been made.) Also, looking at Saga Travel's website, they both appear to be under common ownership. (Scroll to the bottom of each home page under the About Us info.) In terms of hotel pickups, they list many pickup options on their website (once you get into the booking page). They were great in replying to emails and terrific to deal with, so ask them any questions you have. https://geoiceland.is/ https://sagatravel.is/ Have a great time!

Even our one day South Coast tour was fabulous. Stunningly beautiful. I think the South Coast is a “don’t miss.”

There are numerous recent posts here complaining about the flight arrangements made by NCL. They are booking the cheapest flights for you, not necessarily the best. If you want input into what is booked, you need to pay to go through NCL’s premium air department.

There’s an entire sticky thread at the top of this forum devoted to how to get from London to Southampton and vice versa. Beside that, there are many other threads with personal recommendations for Blackberry Cars (including my own). Just do a search in this forum for Blackberry and you will find them. 😊 https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2662148-transfer-southampton—london-incl-lhrlgw-train-car-other/

Thanks Bill. Sounds like quite a mess. ☹️

Oh, sorry you missed Lea Michele. One of my friends said she is just incredible in this show.

My wife and I saw “1776” in New York the other night. I promised earlier in this thread that I’d come back here to post my thoughts about this production after we saw it. I won’t bury the lede – we both thought it was fantastic; we haven’t enjoyed anything that much in a long time. Some background. I saw the original Broadway production of 1776 in 1969. It was the first show I’d seen that just punched me in the gut, in the same way that Sweeney, Les Miz, and Hamilton did in the ensuing decades. I’ve seen 1776 on stage a number of times since, and have seen the film as well. I love the show, including the music. And I just loved this new production. Without changing the book, lyrics, and music (except for some small changes in arrangements/orchestration), directors Jeffrey Page and Diane Paulus have used a “multiracial cast of female, transgender, and nonbinary actors” in a way that resonates about the founding of our country, including the original sin of slavery, and about what America can and should be. It was powerful and uplifting. I would gladly see it again.

Do you mean the Gem’s January 25 – February 6, 2023 Panama Canal cruise out of New York? If so, you were right to suspect that the docking info you were told was not correct. It would not be the first or last time that cruise line telephone representatives gave out misinformation. How could we be docking in Colon, on the Atlantic side of Panama? Think about it; we are doing a full transit of the Canal on February 5, from the Atlantic to the Pacific. In order for us to dock in Colon, we would have to turn right around and go back through the Canal again. The Gem’s next cruise, departing from Panama City on Feb. 6 to go back to NY, is going through the Canal on Feb. 7, which it could not do from Colon. There’s a very active Roll Call for our cruise, I hope you’ll come over and join us.