albertamom

We do have extra tip $$ ready;)

Extras like this usually equate with a better tip for the butler.

Without a doubt!!! :)

Thank you, all! Our butler on the POA was nice enough, but I always felt like I was inconveniencing him if I asked for anything special. I need to get over that, if I'm going to take full advantage of the suite perks. ;)

I'm definitely not demanding in the least, but dinner in our suite sounds lovely after a long day. I will be sure to give lots of notice. :)

I am considering purchasing the UDP for our upcoming Dawn cruise, however, I can't imagine that after a busy, active day in port, we will feel much like getting all prettied up and heading out for a 2 hour dinner. (Lazy, I know.) :o

Am I right in assuming that we could have our butler bring our dinner to our suite from one of the specialty restaurants? If so, would we just place our order with him/her the day before, along with a requested delivery time?

Loving your review! Keep the wonderful pictures coming!

Your experience with the horrendous waits for the MDR is very worrisome. Makes the ultimate dining package look more and more tempting!

Thank you so very, very much for the wonderfully detailed review! We will be in a suite, as well (in March), so your VIP details were greatly appreciated!

I loved hearing about what a wonderful time you had with your boys. Our kids are 14 and 16 and we love traveling with them. My dream is that when they are adults, they will still want to spend that special time with us! :)

Sounds like, although this was your first cruise, it definitely will not be your last! :D

A little history. I'm a water snob, 99% of the time I only drink bottled water. On my first 2 cruises I dragged bottled water onboard. It was easy because we landed in our port city the day before so we had time to pick some up.

 

On the 2nd cruise I did a pepsi/coke challenge, only with water. Using one of my prepurchased water and an empty water bottle filled with the ship's water that I had seen was processed similar to bottled water and placed them in the fridge to get cold. I had DH pour a glass from these each bottle and did a taste test. Surprise I couldn't tell which one was which.

 

The moral to this story is now I throw a couple of empty bottles into my luggage (therefore, no weight). Fill them with water from the ship, put them in the fridge to take on excursions. Voila, problem with water solved.

Now, isn't that a brilliant idea! How come I couldn't have thought of that? I found the water in the POA restaurants to be very good.

I love your comment about "no weight". My teenage son has always traveled with just a medium sized suitcase, which is more than enough for him. But, because of our "family weight sharing plan", I've decided to buy him a full-sized one for this trip. We carry a suitcase scale, and always seem to be down to the final pound on each suitcase (especially on the way home)! :)

Everything on right side (beers, sodas, waters) is the same price as in bars IIRC. Liqours though are more expensive, in a bar bacardi plus mixer is $5.75 + 15%.

 

 

The waters are ridiculously overpriced everywhere onboard - even with previously mentioned package deals. We always prefer bringing our own, for example with Pellegrino we save easily half the price and with still waters even more compared to onboard prices. But yes, there usually is a table selling water when you are leaving the ship in ports. Water bottles can also be bought from bars.

This is very good information. Thank you!

If we were driving, I'd carry on water for sure, but the cost of having our cab stop at a store on the way to the pier would no doubt cancel out any of the savings, so I guess we'll just chalk it up to the cost of cruising! :)

If no one on the sailing returning today can come in and let us know. 2 non-US citizens from the sailing that started today have promised to come back and let us know.

This is so good to hear! I am very, very curious! :)

Great picture, DGP111! Very tempting! I can see why people ask to have it emptied (to avoid the temptation)!:)

I like your idea, drbeamer. I like to have lots of water handy! I know that we will get a complimentary bottle of water in our suite upon embarkation, but I don't know that it will be replenished. If we can get the small bottles, they'll be much handier for excursions.

Thank you so much! That's a great help! Yes, roger001, it does look comparable to a hotel mini bar. I think I would have to be quite desperate, or feeling especially lazy, to pull one of those items. I would think that a quick trip to any bar would get me the same thing, for a much cheaper price.

I was hoping that they might have smaller bottles of water, for taking on excursions. If I remember correctly, on the POA, they had tables set up selling bottles of water as you left the ship. Is that standard fleet-wide? Can you buy bottled water at the bars or in any of the shops?

Hi all! We are cruising in an SC 2-Bedroom Family Suite on the Dawn in March. The only other cruise that we've been on was in an Owner's Suite, so the drinks in the fridge were complementary. I've read that many people have their butler or room steward empty the fridge, to make room for their own drinks that they have brought on board. We don't plan to bring our own beverages on board.

I know that you have to pay for anything that you take from the fridge, but for the sake of convenience, do any of you actually partake in the items? Are the prices really outrageous (like in a hotel mini-bar)?

It's not the cruise line that decides how it's done. US Customs and Border Protection determines how passengers will be processed, and those procedures can vary from port to port depending on facilities and the number of CBP agents on duty. The procedures also can change from time to time, so the way disembarkation clearance was handled last week or last month or last year is no guarantee of how it will proceed this week.

Having only cruised once before (on the POA, which is a completely different situation because all ports were on American soil), this is all very new to me. I was assuming that this segregation would happen at all ports where you leave from the US, dock in a foreign country, and return to the US. From what you've said, this is not the case. If it does happen, it's just something we'll have to deal with.

Either way, it is certain to happen on our Dawn cruise out of Tampa, and may or may not take much longer because of the new passengers boarding in Cozumel. Hopefully someone will be able to report first-hand about their experience.

As a Canadian, I am so anxious to hear some first-hand updates! Hoping to get some new information today. We are heading out on the Dawn in March, and this will be our first experience with being segregated for customs. It sounds absolutely dreadful. I've already moved our flights to late afternoon, but I'd still like to know ahead of time what to expect.

I was absolutely thrilled this morning to see another installment!:D

As a first-time cruiser, the idea of leaving our bags out the night before, and then trying to find them amongst the hundreds (thousands?) of other bags on the pier, seems so strange. Can you fill me in a little bit on how that works in Honolulu? It sounds like all your bags were very easily retrieved.:)

We have a shuttle picking us up at 9:00, so what time would you suggest we arrive at, and then leave Lazy J's?

You have definitely inspired me to stop and take time to smell the roses (or hibiscuses).:)

Because this will be our first cruise, and because DH likes to be busy, we have excitedly planned excursions at every port, but in most cases will be back onboard by lunchtime. We will make a concerted effort to appreciate every moment of this wonderful opportunity.:D

Looking forward to your final installment!

Sounds like an amazing day! My son will be all over that surf and turf! If he is having our butler deliver a shrimp cocktail for post-excursion enjoyment, my daughter and I may need to put in a request for the chocolate fondue! Yummy!:D

Yes they were always available.

 

I always made sure my kids ordered one even if they were not eating it so my son and I could double up.

 

They need to put more cocktail sauce with em so remember to ask for more in advance.

Great advice...thank you! Do you think that if we are off the ship through lunch, our butler could have one put in our fridge for later?:)

There will be a list in your suite when you board. It is usually a short list (one or two choices of Gin, Vodka, Whisky, etc.) and they say no substitutions some have reported they were able to substitute and others that they could not. Your butler will get your bottles and deliver them to you suite.

Do you know if there is wine on the list?:)

Do not read too much into my experience and lack of the amenities. The category SH being treated as a suite is an experiment by NCL.

 

My guess is that the suites that were already so designated probably had all these type items. We just have no frame of reference on the POA.

That's what I'm hoping (and expecting)! I've been telling my family how much you loved breakfast in Lazy J's. We can't wait for that! Somewhere I saw a Cagney's lunch menu that showed shrimp cocktail as an appetizer. Was that available at Lazy J's? My 13-year-old son is planning on having one or two of those every day!:)

We're also going to be in an Owner's Suite on the POA in a short 2 weeks. I'm hoping all of the "suite amenities" will be there!:o If not, I'll be sure to post about it!

Thank you brunolvr! Please, please, please post a review after your trip! I would love to hear every little detail about the suite. We will have our kids with us, so will be using the new sofa bed. Would you check that out, too?:D

Have a wonderful trip!

Yay! Another installment!:D

Congratulations (?) on getting your kids off and settled!

What a downer to read your description of the lack of suite ammenities.:( We are taking our first ever cruise in an Owner's Suite on the POA in December, and are looking forward to every little detail. Were there any bath products at all, or should we take our own?

 

Funny story - We found our picture from embarkation later in the week in the photo gallery. Our son had worn a green T shirt at boarding. The photo was taken against a green screen witha superimposed background.

 

When we got the picture, my sons shirt was gone, all we saw were his exposed arms and head and lower torso. Very memorable picture. They offered to fix it but we said no way.

That's hilarious! I will definitely make a mental note of that. (Although, my 13-year-old son will probably want to wear a green shirt on purpose!):D

I'm eagerly awaiting more of your review!:)

I am absolutely love, love, loving your review!!! :D

We will also be soaking up the suite life on the POA in December (our first cruise), and your review has me positively bursting with excitement!

My kids are 12 and 13, and I love traveling with them. Your stories of your now-grown kids are fabulous! Your line about taking advantage while they still live with you is priceless!:)