Mandalay5

@Ladyshopper23 that was exactly the info I was looking for-thank you! Since the bulk of this sailing is in Brazil, that would be add up quickly for sure.

I understand that Brazil charges a 25% VAT tax on purchases at ports or in ‘their’ waters. Can anyone tell me from experience how this works with FAS? Tax on drink value like at US port or on the “over $15” amount? Tax on the value of a free meal? Shore excursions? Any info appreciated!

On 8/15/2023 at 12:18 PM, CatBoiler said:

 

We are in 12922 in October. Any cabin quirks you can talk about? Any strange noises?

 

Thanks!

We were in 12922 last December. No strange noises, but having the bedroom door was awkward-you had to enter the bedroom and close the door to get past the bed. Other than that, the cabin is wonderful.

@ReubenR thanks for the tip! There’s never enough plugs for me, so I’ll definitely need adapters.

12 minutes ago, WillCruiseForMoney said:

@Mandalay5

"Is there an option for MDR meal delivery or just room service menu/specialty restaurant meals for dinner?"

Your Butler will happily deliver any Main dining room meal that you desire.  

Thanks!! We’ve always gone to the restaurant or MDR since (even in the Haven) there’s not a lot of table space in the cabin. Looking forward to dinner on the deck for sure!

@Sailing12Away DS is getting the middle room, quite the upgrade from his usual sofa bed or 2nd bedroom assignment. Random questions-is there an outdoor shower to cool off when hot tubbing? Is there an option for MDR meal delivery or just room service menu/specialty restaurant meals for dinner? Thanks for info-it’s our first time in a non-haven suite.

These pictures are great!! Now the real question for @us2you and @Sailing12Away which of the big bedrooms do I want to make sure I claim??? 

@us2you thank you!!!

On 3/4/2023 at 12:22 PM, us2you said:

We were in one of the GVs on the Star this past July.  They have totally remodeled the outside areas and upstairs deck.  Here are some pictures of it.

@us2you we are a GV on the Star in December-do you by chance have any interior pics from your trip? I can’t find anything post-remodel online. Please and thank you!!

Yes, please! Next cruise isn’t until December and I need every vicarious fix I can get.

1 hour ago, sherylc said:

Such a shame they couldn't do a dinner option with the Haven menu too. Disappointing to pay Haven costs on the Star but have MDR food every night for dinner. Really would have liked to have my "Surf and Turf" option!

 

We booked a Star DOS for the same price as the spa balcony from our cancelled Epic cruise in December.  I’d love to have the Haven dinner menu and pool, but I’m thrilled with the lower cost. The ‘real’ Haven is getting a little out of reach lately, especially for a port intensive cruise where we’re too tired to do much more than strap on the buffet feed bag at night.

14 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

They Joy has way too many Haven rooms for the facility since they reclassified the regular suites to Haven. 

I totally agree with you-it will be interesting to see what changes with the update

11 hours ago, unionhall said:

We were just on the Joy and had dinner with an officer. Some of the changes they told us were The Galaxy arcade is going to be a thermal spa and they are adding 24 cabins to part of the observation lounge. I really liked all the space that was in the lounge but I guess they need to up the revenue. They also talked about the changes the Joy went through when it came back from sailing in China. There used to be a lot of high end stores on it, three casinos, the Social was a casino and there was real Bermuda grass on the pool deck and a live tree in the middle of the deck. The brew house was a tea room.Another really interesting story was none of the cabins end with the number 4 because in Asia it is considered unlucky. Even in the theater the seat numbers skip over 4. 

Wonder if maybe the Haven will lose their observation lounge to add more Haven rooms? To me, that makes more sense than removing the regular observation lounge.

7 minutes ago, Firstin87 said:

I've wondered if this would work.  The vendor had no problem, I assume.

The vendor only cared that he had a ticket

On our last cruise, DH wanted to do an NCL fishing excursion and I wanted to stay on board. Since I was the 1st person on the res. I booked myself for the discount and he used the ticket.

14178 on the Joy has been one of my favorite NCL cabins. Loved the extra space on the balcony. It was a bit different to be outside the Haven courtyard but not a deal breaker- we got used to going back and forth in our robes 😉

We recently sailed on Bliss out of Miami. We got to the port fairly early and there were plenty of general check In stations open…it took about 10 mins to check in. Boarding was late because of guests from the previous cruise not disembarking, but Platinum boarded right after special needs. We made reservations for the shows at the kiosks by the elavator and were having lunch at the Local in a hot minute…no lines, no problem. Ship docked at Punta Lagosta in Cozumel.

38 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Since you can use your vouchers in any restaurant, wine should be available in all restaurants except Onda and Palomar (who have a sustainable wine list). 

 

Post-restart, they had the pre-pandemic wine list, which they had a lot of supply chain issues provisioning. (We had been on our 3rd or 4th choice before we found a bottle in stock on cruises right after the restart). Now, they have cut the list down to a few selections. 

 

Interestingly, we used our all of vouchers at Palomar last week for a family dinner and they offered us a bottle of wine. No one in our party drinks wine, so it may have been a limited selection.

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Good Morning Miami!

 

The Bird will complete posting restaurant and ship’s photos over the next couple of days. 

Thanks for bringing her back safely, Bird! We’re ready to board in the morning.

Thank you, Bird! We’re boarding Prima on the 11th, and I’ll look forward to your review to pull me through the next week!

We are doing “side by side” sailings next month, and it’s our first trip as platinum (both DH and myself leveled up). First up is 5 days Prima Haven, followed by 7 days Bliss club balcony suite. I’m wondering if we can save a couple of the platinum vouchers from the Prima trip to use the following week on the Bliss? Are they coded so you have to use or lose on the trip they’re issued?

2 hours ago, Maleficent's Dad said:

Crazy list.  

You forgot the Andrea Doria…

Oh yeah…any time you’re sinking it’ll put a damper on your day for sure.

Worst cruise vacations ever:

Titanic

Lusitania

Costa Concordia

Carnival Triumph ‘poo cruise’

Diamond Princess ‘covid cruise’

Route change to avoid hurricane at the height of hurricane season, no. Although the folks that went to Canada when they were expecting Bermuda take the top spot in that argument.

7 minutes ago, CT-Scott said:

Thanks for all of the useful info you shared, but wanted to pick this particular part out to ask whether being over the walkway on deck 8 was a positive or negative.

I personally like being up a little higher for an aft balcony (deck 12 is next deepest) as I think it’s a better view, and less noise but that’s just my preference. When the ship is underway, the wake will drown out noise. If the weather is nice, the bigger the balcony the better imo for sunning,  but you should have enough coverage from above to stay protected in bad weather in any event. 

Your original cabin (8730) is a large balcony club suite. Those  have a larger bathroom, huge balcony with loungers and include a free bag of laundry. They’re close to the restaurants and bars on deck 8 waterfront. My favorite if I’m not in the haven. Aft facing balconies on deck 9 are the deepest, have loungers, and are over the walkway on deck 8. Haven suites in the Joy are spread around the ship, so that’s a consideration if you don’t care to journey far to the haven complex. We were on deck 14 in a haven room last year and didn’t mind the trek. The extra cost for the haven can only be judged by you—the complex is lovely, the service top notch and the food is fabulous. The covered pool deck (imo) would be a definite plus on your itinerary due to the possibility of cold weather.