robin13

Just did a 15 day TA and I found that I was ready to come home on abut day 11.  I did this TA solo and won't ever do another one this long solo.

It won't appear until about 60 days out.  Went through this several months ago for my TA that was in April.

Yes there is store on the ship that you can buy toiletries along with snacks and souvenirs but please be aware it is very expensive.

I had a great filet at Cagney's on the Epic last month.  I was a little worried about all of the bad reviews I was reading but had a wonderful time.

16 hours ago, KarlChilders said:

The staff will make an effort to herd you to the buffet, but we have chosen the Taste/Savor option for a relaxed meal. 

Yeah this happened to me on the Escape last April.  I knew that the dining room was available for lunch and I asked a staff member but she told me that it was closed.  I took her word for it and went to the buffet with the rest of the thousands of hungry people.  After I got to my cabin I looked at the daily paper they gave me at boarding and noticed that the dining room was open till 2pm.  I was so mad as I asked the staff member at 1pm.  Bad on me that I didn't look at their serving hours but bad on them that they steered me to the buffet.

I was on one cruise where I never left the ship since I had been to the ports before.  I love having the pool all to myself until around noonish as then it starts to fill up again.  Enjoy your port days at the pool especially since you will be heading back to cold weather.

15 hours ago, keywest1 said:

Also, for anyone looking at tours, I can highly recommend Joe Banana Limos.  We did Naples (Pompeii, Amalfi Coast, and Sorrento), Rome (without Vatican and catacombs), and Livorno (Siena & San Gimignano).  We had group of seven for 2 tours and eight for Rome.  Siena and San Gimignano were our favorites--breathtaking scenery.  Drivers were on time and had us back to ship in plenty of time.  We learned so much and they suggested stops along the way they thought we would enjoy.

For Cannes, don't forget to book tender when you get on ship.  You can do it on TV in your cabin.  

If you fly into Barcelona airport, don't waste time booking a transfer.  There are lots of cabs available.

I second Joe Banana as well.  I used him several years ago when I did the Epic Med tour and he was so much cheaper than the ship.  One of my most cherished memories is of the Amalfi Coast tour we did with him.  Was a very long day but the scenery and the knowledge that his driver had was mind blowing. 

2 hours ago, basicprincess24 said:

 

We did this on our recent Escape cruise as well. Noticed about 2 weeks out that the balcony pricing was less than what we had paid for our inside cabin when we booked. Called our travel provider and asked what could be done, and NCL offered a GTY balcony upgrade for no additional cost. We were a little nervous about the GTY, but ended up with a great location. We, of course, did not get additional perks, but did keep the 1 perk we had originally received with the inside cabin.

I also got to keep my original two perks as I booked with a group.  I got the drink package for free (didn't even have to pay the 20% tips) and gratuities were also free.  I was very pleased with how things finally turned out and learned that I needed to be more patient when booking with NCL.

Unfortunately they won't even talk to you since this was booked through a travel agent.  This is one of the pitfalls of using a travel agent and not booking directly with the cruise line.  Also there are some travel agents that charge a fee to make any kind of changes i.e lower price. 

Something similar happened to me on my recent TA on the Epic.  I way overpaid for a balcony cabin after final payment and then a one month before the cruise I noticed that the mini suite was about $800 lower than what I paid for my balcony.  I called my NCL guy and asked him if they would upgrade me to the mini suite for free.  He had to talk to his supervisor but they said as long as I accepted a mini suite guarantee then they would do it.  I recently had some bad luck with the guarantee program but I thought how bad could the location be for a mini suite.  Turns out the location for the mini suite was fantastic so I'm glad that I went for it.  So like the previous posters have mentioned call and ask to be upgraded for free or ask for OBC.  After final payment you really are at their mercy as technically they don't have to do anything.

What I noticed is that they don't send you an email telling you that your cabin has been assigned.  I did a balcony guarantee on the Epic TA in April and I looked almost every day on my NCL account to see if it had been assigned.  Only took a few days but when I saw what cabin it was I was so mad that I upgraded to another one.  They gave me one of those "enclosed" balconies which I really don't consider it to be a balcony as it looks like it has a big picture window surrounded by metal. Ugh!!   My upgraded cabin on deck 8 turned out to be right below the lifeboats so there went the view of the water.  So I changed cabins again to a higher deck but then I noticed that the mini suite was less than what I paid for my balcony so I got to upgrade for free.  However that was a guarantee cabin as well and it took almost a week to get that cabin number.  However, third time was the charm as my mini suite was in an excellent location and I loved the cabin.

On ‎5‎/‎27‎/‎2019 at 6:37 AM, geoherb said:

I wish the OP would come back and report on the cruise. I'm going on my first solo cruises in three weeks. DH has to work, so I decided to go without him. I'm on the waitlist for traditional dining. It would be nice to get pleasant people to dine with every evening. But I can do the anytime dining as well if I don't make it off the waitlist. 

I don't know how Princess does their seating but on my very first solo cruise on Carnival three years ago I was seated at a table of solo passengers.  I usually do anytime dining but for my first solo cruise I wanted to be seated with the same people for the entire cruise.  I was very lucky as there was a table of 8 and everyone got along wonderfully.  Some of us even wound up gambling together and doing the Chefs Table one night.  My other two solo cruises were on NCL and I ate with the solo group.  And as another poster said if you don't like your seatmates you can always ask to be moved to another table.

I always bring a bottle of water with me on my excursions and noticed that when I was getting back on the ship there was a large trash can filled with half empty soda and water bottles.  Since I bought and paid over $3.00 for my water I decided to keep it and see what happened.  My travel purse has a cutout for a water bottle on the side so I had it in there and it went through the x-ray machine with no one saying a word.  So for the rest of the ports I did the same thing and they never said a word. 

I just returned from a 15 day TA on the Epic and had the Unlimited Social package and it worked very well with WhatsApp and FB Messenger.  I was very glad that I spent the money as I felt it was well worth it.  I did hear a lot of people complain about the unlimited Wi-Fi which they said only worked now and then.  Glad that I didn't spend the big bucks on that as I would have been pissed.

I just used two of these towards my studio cabin for my 2/6/20 Epic sailing.  I guess since I didn't have a balcony booked is the reason why I didn't get an additional $100 OBC.  I was so excited that I got $500 taken off of what I owe as now my studio cabin with the drink package and gratuities paid for is just $930.  And this is a 10 day Southern Caribbean cruise!!  I was going to cancel it before I saw this deal as I'm sailing in November and I like to space out my cruises but I can't pass up this deal.

Thank you ladies!  For some strange reason I was very sensitive on this cruise and was really ready to come home as it was way too long.  I'm very glad that I did it and a TA is now marked off my bucket list.  As for my 2020 cruise I do know several people that will be on that cruise so I will have people to do excursions with.  And I will get back to Europe one day but it will probably be a land tour with friends as there are still lots of places to see. ☺

14 minutes ago, mef_57 said:

It's unfortunate that you would avoid an entire continent because of this experience.  It seems to me that some people are not as comfortable in their own skin and are much more self conscious than they need to be. What was the nature of the excursion? If they were information excursions (museums, historical sites, etc) I would go just for the content. Whether anyone talks to me is irrelevant to my enjoyment of the activity.  Even snorkeling or a physical activity, others would be less important to me. But if it was a pub crawl or something really intended to be social, then it is very unfortunate if others wouldn't interact.....and would indicate that the guide wasn't doing their job to help people mingle.

Perhaps an alternative approach is to book the most important (to you) excursions ahead of time, and leave some ports loose for activities with people from your roll call or you meet on board.....I get the impression that these opportunities came up but you were already committed to your early bookings.  Also, as a solo, it is often easier to squeeze onto a tour last minute - so you could book those onboard.

If you want to get comfortable 'doing things by yourself', start at home.

But then, solo travel isn't for everyone.  Sometimes it takes a bit to realize or accept that.

Well I guess I resemble your comment about feeling self conscious being the only solo on an excursion.  Since being divorced 4 years ago it has become very clear to me that older women are invisible to most people.  I can't tell you how many times people just ignored me on my tours even with me trying to start conversations.  The worst was a man that literally took my arm and pushed me out of the way saying "watch it they are trying to take a picture".  Are you  frigging kidding me??  I for a second thought that maybe I was walking into something and he was trying to save me.  But it seemed that the people taking pictures were more important than where I was walking.  I really wanted to say something to him but decided that since I still had another 2 hours left on the tour that I should hold my tongue.   Not all of my excursions were like this and there was one that had two other solo women so we wound up doing the tour together and eating lunch.  I'm just saying that on my excursions 99% of the group were coupled up and they just didn't want anything to do with a solo person.  And these tours were all walking city tours with visits to various palaces in Spain.

This was my third solo cruise but my other two were just Caribbean cruises and I didn't do any excursions as I had been to those islands before.  I have no problem sailing solo but my problem is with rude people that ignore you when you are trying to be friendly.  And you are right solo travel isn't for everyone.  If I had a choice I would rather travel with someone but since I'm alone and I want to travel I'm still going to do it.  Matter of fact I have another solo cruise booked for 2/20 on the Epic doing a 10 Caribbean cruise.

I just went through this on my TA last week.  I had booked all of my excursions ahead of time so there was no way to add any of the people I met on the cruise.  Almost all of the excursions were couples and then there was me.  I felt like a third wheel but tried to make the best of it.   Will probably be the last time I go solo in Europe as I am not one to do things by myself. 

On ‎4‎/‎19‎/‎2019 at 2:28 PM, Grover_ said:

 

I will try to remember to report back.  😃

 

I have been trying to decide if I want to book a tour with Barcelona Day Tours.  

 

 

 

The day my cruise ended in Barcelona I did a full day tour with Barcelona Day Tours and loved it.  They had several itineraries to choose from so I chose Montserrat and a Barcelona city tour.  I had been to Barcelona twice before but never really "toured" the city with a guide.  I was so impressed with Montserrat that I couldn't believe that I never visited it before.  Just breathtaking and so picturesque.  I loved the fact that they saved me the cab fare from the port to my hotel and they watched the luggage while we all toured.

So I just got back from my TA that ended in Barcelona and I'm happy to report that the shared shuttle worked out for me.  Since I was traveling solo it only cost me $17 US dollars and they were on time and got me to the airport very quickly.  I would definitely use them again if I was traveling solo.

I just returned from my TA and I have to say that Spain Day Tours did not disappoint.  They had the most knowledgeable tour guides who were very friendly and their mode of transportation was very clean and comfortable.  If I am ever in Spain again I would not hesitate to book them at all.

On ‎5‎/‎1‎/‎2019 at 9:16 PM, blcruising said:

Hi. Really no strategy involved. If I want to cruise in two weeks, I jump on the website 5-7 days prior to the date I want to sail to see what ships are available. Then, I start working on airfare if flying, car rental if driving or bus.

 

I don't start with a destination in mind though. I let the pricing guide my decision on destination. If you look on NCL.com tonight, you'd see a three-day Bahamas for $129 leaving Sunday, a 7 day Alaska cruise leaving May 20 or May 27 for $329 and $349, a 7 day New England cruise leaving May 11 for $399,  7 day Bermuda leaving May 10 for $469, etc. Of course, these are no frills, no perks, inside guarantee rooms. But there are often similar deals for other categories.

 

I recently picked up a seven day cruise for $299, inside sailaway guarantee. I ended up with a midship interior, IE on the lowest passenger deck and was quite pleased with that location given the price paid.

 

This is how I do it. This only works if you can be flexible, patient, and won't be too disappointed if a ship sells out. Something else will become available. Hopefully, you will get some other strategies from other members. Good luck with getting some good deals.

Thanks for posting this!  Getting a last minute deal on NCL is on my bucket list (lol).  Just got back from a 15 day TA that I way overpaid for I plan on using your above strategy.  I bought 2 CN certificates and I do have stock so for next year let's see where I can go for cheap.

15 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

 

 

 

 

The shower stall and toilet stall are longer. As you know, there is no bathroom on a balcony or minisuite on the Epic. There is a shower stall one one side of the entry and a toilet stall on the other. Some minis also have tubs. 

I was just on the Epic 15 day TA in a mini suite.  Loved the cabin but hated the bathtub as it was very hard to get into and out of.  There are some mini suites with a large shower instead of the tub so if you have mobility issues I would ask for one of those cabins. 

On ‎5‎/‎13‎/‎2019 at 3:42 PM, sarajean said:

Going on Bliss in June.

We are traveling with 5 other couples.

I know you need to make reservations for comedy shows and Beatle shows (and you should do it as soon as you are on board).

My question is: When I get on the ship and go to the Social to make reservations can I make them for other people in other cabins?

or do I need their card?   We are arriving at different times.

I was just on the Epic and you couldn't make reservations for the comedy show or the Beatle shows.  You just need to show up but beware as I tried to see the Beatles show in the Cavern Club and no seats 30 minutes ahead of time!!  They did have one Beatles show in the main theater first come but didn't get to make it.  They only took reservations for Priscilla Queen of the Desert and Burn the Floor.

Sorry but I have used my CN certificates on existing bookings before.  I just call my guy with NCL and he does it.  He even let me take one off of an existing booking and add it to an existing booking.