Avalon35

Could you say why you like the Thermal Spa so much? And particularly why the Magic?

6 hours ago, bguppies said:

 

 

That being said we will be going on the Pride again this December, with majorly lowered expectations.

The excellence of the design of the Spirit class ships, makes the lowered experience on Carnival more tolerable. (We definitely won't be doing the Sunshine again for sure)

Why would you not go on Sunshine again?

Thank you for the info about OBC and cruise cash. That is what I am interested in. I did not know that is how you went about applying the gift card. I wanted to put it on the account before i prepaid any other options. 

Excuse me if this has been answered. But, if I get an AARP gift card and I want to put it on my booking now, how do I do that? 

First solo cruise. Hints, tips, suggestions? 

So, you make reservation for breakfast on app? How soon / early can you do that? And you just walk or push thru crowd to front desk? Do they have your name or you show phone? Or what? 

25 minutes ago, mz-s said:

I am prepared for an absolute cluster of a day to get on that ship in September.

 

The only reason I am going on the cruise is it was free and I've never been on a Dream class ship.

 

The parking lot does not seem to be terribly large judging by Google Maps, has anyone heard of it filling up?

 

 

The Cruise Norfolk website says you have to get dropped off at the parking lot. You didn't read that?

 

https://nauticus.org/cruise-parking-directions/

Other boards say an Uber or taxi can drop you off right at the cruise port. 

I am glad you started this thread. I will be getting taxi to port - where do we drop off and are there porters there? I heard you can get dropped off by taxi, Uber or limo right at that port. Where have you found it that we have to go to the cedar lot if we arent parking?  What is a good time to request for boarding if you do not want to be there first thing in the morning. I have read some pretty bad reviews about the port. 

Anyone been at the Norfolk port lately? How has it been? If getting dropped off by limo, where is best location so there is a porter for luggage? Also, what do you find as the best arrival time, if I dont want to be there first thing in the morning?

Can you bring the bottles to dinner with you? 

How do you get on waitlist for YTD? I just booked and ended up with late seating.  I do not want to end up at a table alone. 

Solo cruiser. How do I sign up for steakhouse? 

Thank you.

 

How can they offer a lovely alternative restaurant for suite guests to enjoy a special amenity and have our breakfast there and in this high end, 'special venue' not be able to get a Bloody Mary or Mimosa served to a guest at breakfast?

 

 

 

Cost saving is going too far when that is the case.

 

 

 

Especially since it is a suite perk in jan 2016 for mimosa with in cabin breakfast

We are new to HAL. Some questions on our recent booking. We have a guarantee for Neptune suite on NA cruise in Jan 2016 - when can we expect cabin assignment? We got explore 4 but where do I find the benefits - bev package and OBC in the reservation? How long do I have to transfer to a TA? Is there military OBC and if do can I automatically transfer from Princess or do we need to resubmit? Just some early questions and I am sure I will have more. Looking forward to our first HAL cruise.

Thanks for the review. We are new to HAL as well. Some questions on our recent booking. We have a guarantee for Neptune suite on NA cruise in Jan 2016 - when can we expect cabin assignment? We got explore 4 but where do I find the benefits - bev package and OBC in the reservation? How long do I have to transfer to a TA? Does the military OBC automatically transfer from Princess or do we need to resubmit? Just some early questions and I am sure I will have more. Looking forward to our first HAL cruise.

If you book online do you pay ahead of time?

I'm almost at that point!

Was trying to book our first HAL cruise online for the past 3 days.

It lets me get up selecting the cabin size and diner times, then will not advance to enter the Guest Info. Just......nothing!

 

As much as I want to book this cruise, it does put the thought into my head that "if this was something really important.....how would they respond"???

 

Will try one more time tomorrow after work!

Then I'll either call them or book my other choice.

Fingers crossed!

I am having the exact same issue. Tried for 3 days as well. Tried on iPad and chrome-no luck. I did book my other choice, but will try HAL again tomorrow and call as well.

I did a suite GTY once and got a bad location S2. Most of the S2`s on the S Class ships are under the Ocean View Café and very noisy. Also have large overhang so not much sun. I hope in the new build Edge ships they don`t make the same mistake. Crazy to put suites under the Ocean View Café.

Where are the best S2 suites?

If you think about it, on a ship with 3000 passengers, for the average age to be 75+, then half of the cruisers would have to be that old and half under 75. I think 1500 is a rather large number of folks for that age range. I suspect that the poster who said this just assumes anyone with grey hair or a cane must be approaching 80. :rolleyes: (We should all be so lucky.)

 

 

 

(I will attest to the fact that is indeed Pam on the zip line! Not a stunt woman!)

That is the median age . Average - you add them all up and divide by the number. With an average you can easily have an older grouping/cluster of an age which can skew average higher.

To Pam- you go girl!!!

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Agree!

 

 

 

I wish Carnival Corp. had a premiun line similar to Oceania.

Seabourn more upscale luxury line than Oceania

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Ahh.... A new one . You lose it before you can even use it . How is that for a new OBC policy. :)

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I often wonder how much of a headache CC causes Princess! ;)

Actually, Princess is probably very happy you point out all the loopholes so they can close them.

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I don't know how many cruises you take each year but spending large amounts of onboard credit isn't that easy when you're repeatedly on many cruises going to the ports you've seen many times before. There's only so many times that I can visit a rain forest, botanical garden, monkey jungle, or souvenir shop or buy an overpriced sweatshirt I don't need in a Princess store. Perhaps if they lowered their prices instead of playing all these discount games the problem of onboard credit wouldn't be so much of a problem.

You can pay for gratuities, you can buy the drink package, specialty dining, a bottle of wine, some bubbly, flowers, spa, etc - live it up!!! Use it or lose it :D

As I am not wedded to Princess, I do check out many cruise lines. And I look at itinerary, ship and fares... they are still the best price performer out there with the allowable OBCs. Many of the other lines are throwing in the gratuities, drink packages, etc as perks up front and the fares are higher --- Check out Celebrity for example. I like this approach as I can decide what "perks" I want to spend my money on instead of their decision ahead of time of what they think I should want with limited choices.... like just drink package and gratuities.

Royal is stopping at Grand Turk on Jan 28 cruise. That cruise is 10 days and does not stop at Princess Cays.

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Please see other people's posts about what IS happening on the CB. With that in mind, we cancelled because we had booked 3 separate solo cabins, thinking we could spend some of our OBCs and cash out some. But with the new way of treating OBCs, we were going to have way too much in OBCs (more than $1300) that would really get wasted. We can't drink that much wine or eat enough specialty meals, or take that much alcohol off the ship. We live in Florida so there are no Caribbean excursions that would interest us. We would never buy anything from Park West Gallery. So we cancelled those reservations, and re-booked for a lower fare with far less in OBC's.

Maybe you can call. Princess and they will pay you to stay home?

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