gatorclaws

I'll add my experience and a little of what I heard.

People who showed up early were sent to pier 90, then were assigned groups for boarding which if I remember right started a little before 5? Sounds like most of these people were never notified of the time change, I know no one from my group of 3 cabins was told. i only found out by reading it here.

We delayed our arrival until about 5:00, parking at the pier. Upon arrival they wouldn't let us in the parking lot, so we found a place to wait them out and luckily they opened the parking lot in about 10 minutes. Seems like the late arrivals were ushered directly onto the boat instead of being sent to a waiting area. Walking through security was a breeze, the line to check in and get cards was a little longer, but after that we were sent directly on the boat.

I believe when we boarded they had just called group 13? so people who got there early had to wait longer than us to board. We went from parking a little after 5 to being seated in the dining room a little after 6, so we definitely lucked out and got through super fast.

16 minutes ago, RareBird said:

Thank you all for updates!  Waiting patiently at home, now aiming to arrive at 7pm at the pier.   Lucky we live just 1/2 hour away. 

 

I wouldn't wait that long.,. It's crowded but we're moving. Nobody is going crazy. I'd be nervous of being too late waiting till 7. They just called boarding group 5.

FYI, parking is open

So is parking not open yet? We're confused and they waved us past

58 minutes ago, lfreda said:

Did you call to see if a direct upgrade was available?  I think this whole thread is flawed because it doesn't take into account original booking price.  I could be wrong but I am guessing the pricing model is to make the most amount of revenue on a given cabin.  If I paid 4k for a balcony cabin and then bid 250 on an upgrade to bring me to 4500, I would guess that bid would be taken before a bid of 500 with an original booking price of 3250.

I did a mock booking through NCL and noticed the total price was only $60 more than my current total, so I called my TA and they processed the upgrade for $60.

I had bid $160 more through the upgrade program but I don't think those aren't being processed yet for my sailing (in 1 month)

It's weird that they allow prices to drop below what someone's bid is without accepting that bid first. I had a small upgrade bid of $160 ($80pp) to go from balcony to mini-suite. Today the price dropped so that it only cost me $60 ($30 pp) directly and canceled my upgrade bid.  I guess they didn't want the extra $100 I was willing to pay.

No, unfortunately they don't allow any changes unlike some other lines. Your options are either a paid upgrade at posted prices or trying to upgrade through the bidding program.

I struggled to find a similar topic to ask this question in, but how are paid upgrades supposed to work when you've got a 3rd person in the room when it comes to the free additional guest promotions?

In my specific scenario, we're inside the penalty period. We originally booked a guarantee sail away rate with 3 people, so 3rd guest is paid for and not free. I saw a specific cabin I was willing to pay the upgrade for, which also includes the free perks. However, in trying to process the upgrade we were told the 3rd passenger is treated as a cancellation since they were a paid guest and would now be free under the promotion. The cancellation of the 3rd guest fare caused an additional $99 penalty ($399 * 25% penalty) beyond the total fare difference so we didn't do the upgrade. 

Does that sound right? I know sometimes you get a different answer depending on who you talk to so I want to make sure I got accurate information.

Snorkeling really isn't good anywhere at labadee and all the beaches are close to food/bars. That being said, I'd recommend Columbus Cove. It's the furthest walk but best beach for those not in suites. The northern beaches have rougher/rockier sand.

I'm on an upcoming canada/new england sailing. If there's one thing you'd say is "don't miss", what would it be. Excursion or otherwise. Still trying to plan out exactly what we want to do while up there.

Where exactly do you relatives live? For a nine night cruise you should be leaving on a Thur and returning on a Sat. Where are you coming from that is 10 hours away?

 

Parking would be $180. There is nothing like getting off the ship into your car and on the road for a 10 hour drive. If you self disembark, you can likely be on the road home by 7:30 am with no rush hour traffic.

From Cincinnati, family lives in Scotch Plains NJ. You're correct on the Thursday to Saturday, we're driving up on Wednesday.

I was originally planning on taking them up on their offer to drive us there, but as I've started to look at more details I'm thinking of just paying for the parking and making the day driving home a little easier.

I'm trying to decide the best option for getting to the ship for our 9 night cruise this fall. We are driving in the day before, about 10 hr drive, and staying with family that's about 35-45 minutes away from Cape Liberty in NJ. The relatives have offered to drive us to the cruise port and pick us up when we get back. Or we could just park at the port for $20 a day ($180 or $200 for a 9 night cruise?). It's our first time leaving from Cape Liberty.

We would ideally arrive 10:30-11:00 and when leaving try to be one of the first groups off.

If family drives us, we save the parking cost but I don't want to cause them to have to sit through a lot of traffic. They've never driven to the port and likely don't know what kind of time commitment they may be making to take us. How long would it take them to get through all that traffic, specifically the morning they pick us up? I'd feel pretty bad if they had to sit in an hour of traffic in addition to the normal commute time.

If we park at the port, the biggest advantage is being able to get on the road sooner for our long drive home that day instead of needing to go back to their house to get our car.

For those with experience in similar situations, what's the best option for us.

I got it as well

Speaking of the caves, I've been to Mammoth caves in KY multiple times and green grotto caves in Jamaica.... would the Crystal Caves be a disappointment in comparison?

We're taking the 9:30 ferry to St George and plan on coming back on the 3:30 ferry which gives about 5 hrs to do things. We'll be at tobacco beach and st Catherine area for most of that time, what would be the best thing to do for the remaining 1-2 hrs in the area?

I booked about 45 days out, just got my assignment this weekend which was a little more than 30 days out.

We have a group of 11 people and I made verious rsvp for the whole trip.

All of our bookings are "linked" together so when I made our MTD rsvp it was pretty easy. I had to call once to get us all in snyc but it was no problem.... I would say call "Customer Service" and see what they can do for you....Oh and I hope it doesn't take you 3 hrs. on hold before you get though to them!!! :mad:

Our reservations are linked now but they weren't when MTD reservations opened up which is what caused the issue. Part of our group was out of town at the time so they had to wait until they were back to book. Luckily we only have the 1 conflict.

I'll try giving customer service a call. I figured they'd just tell us the same thing we see online, that the 7:30 time is sold out.

We are cruising on the Allure with a group of 7 and 3/7 made their dining reservations a few days after us. They weren't able to make reservations for one night because the time we selected (7:30) is now sold out. We have show reservations at 9:30 so the system won't let us book 7:45. The only remaining times are before 6:30 which isn't ideal since we're in port until 7:00.

-If only 4 of us have reservations for 7:30 and the other 3 just show up with us, will we be able to sit together since reservations aren't technically required?

-Should all 7 of us just go to the no reservation line?

-Would we be able to get them added to the 7:30 reservation after we board?