Ella2

WOOOHOOOO! :D

Escape 12/30/17 NYE Cruise!

BF to lovely Haven Courtyard B5

Bid of $1180 per person accepted

AWESOME deal considering those were going for about $10,000 for this cruise! So excited to be enjoying the lovely Haven to start the New Year!

NCL Pearl leaving New Orleans Jan. 7. Just got notice this noon that my bid of $1260 to upgrade from balcony to H4 Haven two bedroom suite was accepted. Earlier this morning, mock booking showed two on 14 floor, and 2 SC two bedroom suites on deck 11. All are now gone. Casino at Sea had told me this AM that it would be $2000 to upgrade to either room.

Wast that your total bid, or a per person bid? Congrats!

I’ve been hoping shore excursions show up soon for my Alaska cruise this summer. Most other cruise lines are already taking reservations. Lots of people on the Alaska boards are already booked. Maybe I’ll just book independent tours instead of waiting for NCL

Independent tours are absolutely the way to go in Alaska, depending upon your ports! There are MUCH better independent options in Juneau and Skagway than ship options. Don't wait for ship excursions. I have been on three Alaska cruises so far and never took a ship excursion. Check out the Alaska boards on this site for ideas.

As far as the overall excursion issue, yes it is very strange that they are so limited in ALL areas. I thought it was just for cruises affected by the hurricanes and the changed itineraries, like my Escape NYE cruise. Things that make you go hmm.....

Just received upgrade to H3 on Getaway 12/10

Congrats! Do you mind sharing what category you upgraded from, and if your bid was in the poor, fair, good, etc. range? Enjoy the Haven!

I am sailing on the NYE Escape cruise? Anyone receive upgrades for this cruise?

Me too. :D And nope, nothing yet, have read the whole thread, no upgrades yet on our sailing. I don't expect we will hear anything until the 48 hours prior, but hopefully a little sooner. Fingers crossed for both of us!

Wow that's early. What did you bid?

Breakaway seems to be the only ship that routinely upgrades early, if upgrading. That said after reading this entire 132+ page thread and seeing what patterns emerged. Who knows why?

Don't count on any changes. The Cruise TT site never changed over to the NEW Western ports when they were announced. There have been no official announcements from NCL. Whatever shows on your "My NCL" page is the current itinerary. And you are correct that the list of NCL ship excursions is pitiful; my guess is with all the ships switching to Western itineraries after the hurricanes, there wasn't a lot of capacity for some of the more popular excursions in the Western ports.

Hey all, I’m still anxiously awaiting on my upgrade (hopefully). Anyone hear anything about 1/7 pearl?

 

 

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Based on previous posts, I think it is too early to be seeing anything for a January 2018 upgrade on the Pearl. The only ship that seems to get super early (as compared to other ships) upgrade notices is the Breakaway. And I say that after reading (over the course of several days) all 132 pages of this thread. :o Yes, I am also anxiously awaiting news for my NYE Escape cruise, but I don't expect to hear anything one way or the other until the 48 hours prior mark. Good luck with you on your bid!

$520pp from mid ship balcony to courtyard penthouse. Breakaway 12/29/17

was happily surprised :D

Wow, lucky you to find out so early, and that was a great deal! I have bids in for a NYE cruise on the Escape, hoping something comes through for us. Enjoy your courtyard penthouse!

We're going up to Alaska at the end of August on the Explorer (first cruise), and were wondering about child care on the ship. My niece will almost be 3 (~2 months shy at time of sailing) and is potty trained. Can she be in the 3-5 age group with her brother, or would she be with the babies?

 

We tried calling Royal's customer service regarding whether the age line was at all flexible, but the operator seemed confused and just read the website back to us.

 

 

It's fine whatever the answer, we're just trying to plan appropriately. Thanks for the help.

In my experience, RCCL is NOT flexible on the minimum age for participating in the drop-off children's programming. The child does need to be at least three years of age (they obviously have the birthdate and will know) and fully potty-trained in order to participate.

That said, there will most likely be times that are "open play" in the programming where your niece could enjoy the play area with an adult present with her. There also may be babysitting options available, for a fee. Hope you all have an awesome cruise, I will be on Explorer next Friday myself!

I've seen similar things on other ships. Typically drug related as others have said, they are looking for evidence, and keeping the girl out during the search. Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise!

What Bob said. Prepaid service charges are not automatic on non-charter sailings, but can be added. The charter contract probably required the prepayment.

The luggage tags will also be part of your electronic documents that are issued after final payment, usually around 45-60 days prior to sailing. The one included in the Set Sail pass is useless, I really don't know why they bother including it there, I know it can confuse some people.

Thanks so much, Ella! That is so kind of you. We are taking our nieces on this cruise and know they would enjoy a meet and mingle. Hope to meet you and your friends there!

Jan

You're welcome, Jan! We're up to 21 now (got the four of us signed up) so if you can wrangle up four more, you have your Meet & Mingle. I will go say hello on the roll call thread too. :)

Ella2, if you are on the July 28 sailing, hope you will either stop by the rollcall and say hi, and/or sign up for the meet and mingle ... we are not meeting the minimum number, though if everyone on the rollcall signed up, we would. Darn! Here's the link: https://secure.royalcaribbean.com/ccEntry.do

Hi jcross! Thanks for the link, I will sign my party of two up and will see if my business partner and her husband will sign up as well. That will get you up to 21 if all four of us sign up. It's been a long time since I've done a M&M on Royal, but they are nice events. Happy to try and help you get to the magic number of 25! :D

Hi! We left our hotel at 10 and got to pier around 10:40 using private car transport that the Hyatt arranged. NO issues! Chaotic yes. Long line waiting to drop us off. Unorganized as to where you drop off your luggage. But then we walked right in to check in. No line! Minimal line after security and we were eating in Windjammer by 11:15! So get there early if you can! The longer you wait the more backed up everything will get. Just my observation for June 30 th embarkation.

Good luck and have fun!

A

 

 

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Awesome, thanks so much for the VERY helpful information! We will definitely follow your plan.

I enjoyed Zumba by Silvia, but realized I missed the warm Caribbean! This was my first cruise that I enjoyed the excursions more than the ship. Room steward -- Jeffery and our waiters at 5:30 were outstanding. Only disappointed that we could not go down any arm-- Tracy nor Endicott due to extreme ice in water.

 

 

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Max and Ruby, how was embarkation? I know you asked about that in the West Coast Departures board. Just wondering if it was as chaotic as has been reported. I'm on the July 28 sailing. Would love any input you'd be willing to share on embarkation/debarkation and your ship experience! Thanks so much.

Great pictures! Looking forward to more when you have the time to post them!

 

If you have any questions about explorer post away and i will try to answer them or get the answe by tomorrow.

Frank, have you cruised Tracy Arm Fjord yet? I'm curious to know where everyone is heading for the best views that day. I've only cruised Alaska on Radiance class or smaller ships so being on Explorer in Alaska will be a new experience. I'm a little concerned about the lack of outdoor space for great glacier viewing. If you have any insights I'd love to hear them. Thanks for sharing!

There was a promotion a while back that included the Ultimate Dining Package free on certain sailings. I have it as well for the Getaway in September. :)

Hey - the Chiefs are on tonight; I'm a HUGE fan, as well! You can take us out of KC - but you can never take the KC out of us, huh?!

 

And thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying it! This one is only an hour; my Serenade review, so I hear, is now a 3-hour read or so. Yikes. :eek:

So true! Sadly, we rarely get a televised KC game here, unless they are playing (shudder) the Raiders or Chargers. ;)

I will have to check out your Serenade review when I have three or so hours to spare! :p Still enjoying this one...and will definitely have to sneak in some bad, private karaoke on my future cruise. :D

Sherri, first of all...I grew up in K.C., my mom still lives there (very close to the famous Jasper's on 103rd) and am still a huge Chiefs fan, despite living in So Cal for 29 years.

Second of all...YOU ROCK! :D I have spent over an hour reading every bit of this report, completely mesmerized by your adventures. LOVE your writing style! And your attitude! I've only done a personal trainer ONCE on a cruise (a Disney cruise, long ago) and could barely walk after that. I give you huge props for even going back to the second class. You are a trooper.

I will be on the Freedom on 9/30, have sailed her on a pre-inaugural and many other RCCL ships, and am enjoying your perspective on everything! Can't wait to read more!

Hey, I'm in one of those pictures! :D Rather, the back side of me is, it was at the sailaway as my husband and I were chatting with Gabe and Deb, looking out over the back of the ship. Sorry that we never managed to officially meet, I think I saw you at the meet and greet at the Wheelhouse but got busy chatting with other people. Your pictures are AWESOME and it was nice to relive the cruise along with you. :)

There was definitely a big pink boa group on the bow. They got lots of air time, good for them. :)

That formula works for my points, I'm Diamond with 125. Interesting information, thanks for sharing!