Lancer1568

We have rented a car in Skagway on two different occasions when our cruise stopped there.  Cannot remember the type vehicle but it was big enough for our group of 6.  The rental car cost around $200 for the day (i am sure it's more now) but that was a huge savings over the excursion prices.

It's an easy and scenic drive.  We drove several miles past Carcross and saw some beautiful scenery.

Have fun.

Sometimes the upgrade prices will show if you have one of these offers and look online but sometimes you have to call to get the upgrade pricing. So always call. Call the number on the email offer since not every agent knows how to book these offers.

Is this connection part of one itinerary or did you book a flight to Munich and another flight to Rome?

If it is all part of one itinerary, then your connection time meets the airlines minimum connection time so it should be doable under normal circumstances and your luggage can be checked all the way to Rome.  They don't go out of their way to book people into connections that they expect to be impossible.  Also, the airline will help you get rebooked if the connection cannot be made.  

Of course, if you booked two separate flights, it may be difficult because you will have to get your luggage, leave security and check in again.

Another vote for Harv and Marv whale watching.  In Ketchikan look at the Bering Sea Crab Fisherman's Tour which was fantastic.  Enjoy.

I have never done the train but have rented cars twice in Skagway and driven up into the Yukon.  A really great drive.  What I would be concerned about is if the people on the train actually clear Canadian immigration.  If they don't then you will have people leaving Canada that don't have entry stamps on their passports.

4 hours ago, pianobar said:

We received notice of the cancellation of our May cruise today, obviously not unexpected. As most cruise lines I assume are doing, we were given the choice of a 125% future cruise credit or a "lesser value refund" as they phrase it in their email. Interestingly, they are able to offer the credit option almost immediately (the default) but their customers have to fill in a digital form by a certain future date and then wait at least 3 months for the refund. Really?

 

I note many cruisers on this site defending Norwegian as some sort of a clever marketer attempting to save their company. I think the approach Norwegian is using is, simply put, despicable! This is a time when everyone is fearful and stressed. Many people, including Norwegian's customers, are losing their jobs or laid off. Many of Norwegian's customers saved money for many years to book vacations and, in some cases, to book the dream vacation of a lifetime. Now many of these people are struggling to pay their rents or even buy food. Now Norwegian appropriately cancels their cruise but then says they'll hit the left button on their system and you'll get a cruise credit in a few days.....or......they'll hit the right button on their system and you'll get a refund (aka the cash they may desperately need) but they'll take more than 3 months to give it to you. Despicable. Don't let the defenders of Norwegian's actions fool you into thinking that a credit card refund is more than a simple keystroke of a computer. Despicable.

 

For a company that is likely to eventually receive millions if not billions of dollars in bailout funds from our taxes, how dare you hold on to the $3000 or maybe $4000 or maybe much more of your customers' hard-earned money for more than 3 months when so many others are helping each other out.  Despicable. The small private tour operators we had booked through have already fully refunded our tours, a process that took just a few days (the simple click of a button on their computer). And these small companies are struggling for their very existence. Yet they operate with integrity and realize the money they took is not theirs until they fulfill their promise of a tour. Take notice, Norwegian! That's how you operate a business.

 

We have sailed with several cruise lines in the past. This was to be our first cruise with Norwegian. Other cruise lines may be operating similarly, but my current experience is with Norwegian. I will, with no hesitation, book again with the small tour operators and family-run hotels that have already fully and promptly refunded my money. However, I will never again book a cruise with Norwegian Cruise Lines. Their business model is completely devoid of integrity and compassion at a time when most of us need integrity and compassion the most. Despicable. Shame on you, Norwegian, shame on you.

 

 

I agree that sending a refund should be quicker but who knows the challenges they are facing in processing tens of thousands of refunds.  I do have one observation though.  You talk about how you and  Norwegian's other customers need this money now for rent etc.  How would you have gotten the money if the cruises had not been cancelled?

On 3/26/2020 at 12:42 PM, thesmiths said:

 

That is not Gambling.  Basically lets screw over the Cruise Lines and it will cost the people with a conscious  more money.

Thinking and following through like this is wrong, in my mind.

 

Why not just save the $250.00 over the next year and feel better about yourself?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Don't think Norwegian doesn't know people can do that.  My bet is that they would just love everyone to take advantage of them by paying them money now.  They have to need cash now so that's a good way for them to get people to buy cruises ahead of time even if they have to give the bonus 25%.  Also, it looks like the prices are higher than they were so you may not get that much out of the 25% extra.

9 hours ago, All-ready2cruise said:

Yeah, exactly. I also think, limiting the use of the FCC to only 1 year is an insult and could easily have been extended to the end of 2021, at the very least.  I think I'll probably be "eating" the 3K that I rec'd in the form of an FCC since I cancelled the cruise before NCL did.  My bad, oh well, live n learn. 

I think that you can use the FCC for any cruise until December 31, 2022 but you have to book with it and apply to a booking within one year of the date the credit was issued.

2 hours ago, BandBWCsmom said:

Thank you for this. For my 5 year old, what you mention above is about right and my 9 year old tends to order from the big menu. I guess my concern is that the buffet is not fun or easy with families. The lines are packed, seating limited and food - not the best. On Carnival and RCL, we tend to take them to the specialty burger or pizza place, or the taco place for lunch ... there the lines aren't as bad and we find a quiet spot. Walking through a buffet line with two kids and the plates...not my favorite. We never eat at a buffet for dinner and always do MDR with them or get room service for them and we do specialty dining. We always do the MDR for breakfast too as not as chaotic as the buffet (after getting coffee, juice and pastry delivered to the room first thing as of course they wake STARVING). 

 

Thus, my question about continental breakfast. 

As someone pointed out, you can eat at the specialty dining and the kids can order off the kids menu for free.

44 minutes ago, Cafedumonde said:

If the certificates expire 12/20, is it okay if it expires during a cruise?  

It is ok if it expires during the cruise.  The online terms and conditions say that you must BOOK and SAIL within 4 years of purchase of certificate.  Once the cruise begins then that ship has sailed!! so expiring during cruise would be ok.

On 10/4/2019 at 1:19 PM, Qcruise said:

We have sailed Princess mainly,  also Carnival and RCI......we live on the West coast so NCL has mostly pulled out of LA like RCI.  So now I just heard a radio commercial about the NCL Joy sailing out of LA this January and it has a five night baja to Cabo and Ensenada which we're thinking about doing.  Now with our usual lines we get a stockholder OBC and perks with our loyalty level.....why should be try NCL in January...?   At our age 50's and 60's our kids are grown with no grandchildren yet so we avoid ships with lots of kids type entertainment these days.  That said in January I would think this sailing would not have too many children.  We'd just do an interior to keep costs in check.  Can we ask anyone who has sailed the Joy to chime in and tell us what they liked or did not like to help us make this easier....?   Thanks in advance.......:)

We have sailed many times on Princess, Celebrity and NCL.  Our current favorite is NCL.  We like the specialty dining venues which are very good and the various entertainment around the ship seems better than Princess.   It is hard to know what someone else likes but we have really enjoyed NCL.  It's only a 5 day cruise.  Give it a shot.  Not sure what your budget is but if you can swing it, the Haven experience is wonderful.

3 hours ago, farjar said:

We are looking at a one way Panama Canal cruise in which the second to the last port is our home town.  Are you allowed to take your luggage and totally leave the ship one port early?

Ask the cruise line.  They have to approve early departure.  They will approve if they can.

All four of those are excellent.  Why not just pay the cover charge on the cheapest one and try all four.

I think when you use the air promo they automatically book NCL transfers so you have that to get to the ship.

I am sure that you have done your research on Oceania but just in case would offer a tip.  The older Oceania ships (all but the Marina and Riviera) have very small bathrooms unless you are in a Penthouse.  The bathrooms in Marina and Riviera are just great.  Although we have loved every cruise that we have been on, our current favorites sound similar to yours: NCL Haven, Celebrity Suites and Oceania.

Think that you will really enjoy Oceania especially the food.

What are your thoughts regarding restaurants on both. We have always been happy with the food choices on Oceania. We might take advantage of a very good price for a cruise of the Baltic area

Have been on 2 cruises on each line. The food on Azamara is good. The food on Oceania is great.

One plus for Azamara is beverages are included. Decent selection of included wine. They have a red and white wine of the day that is poured for free. We thought they were good. Also, the included spirits were good. Premium brands are and upcharge.

Azamara tries to special in longer port calls including later departures and overnights in port but Oceania also offers this too. It seems to me that Azamara does not offer this as much as they used to. Also the Azamazing Evening is a big deal for many passengers. We were not impressed. It was nice enough but not something we wold have wasted time on normally. I would have rather had an extra shrimp at dinner.

All things being equal would prefer Oceania but would happily sail Azamara again if we liked the itinerary

I am one that sleeps with my window open all year long....even in the dark winters of northern Ontario :eek:. On our last two cruises, around 2 am, (not every night) I was not able to sleep any longer because I was so hot! The room was very hot and stuffy, no air was moving.....checked to make sure that the thermostat was set right and sure enough it was fine. But it was like the entire system was shut down. I contacted the front desk on both cruises in the morning and was informed that someone would be around to check, and they did indeed check things out and they said everything was fine. Is it me or has anyone else noticed this? I was thinking that maybe pre-ordering a fan might be a good idea! :D

Did you have the balcony door open? I think that the a/c may automatically turn off as long as the door is open.

Hi! I'm just getting some ideas about setting up my on-board account and I have a question.

According to NCL you can use a credit card, cash, or traveler's checks to put money on your account. They don't recommend debit cards and won't take personal checks. I don't know many places that sell traveler's checks these days, my credit union stopped selling them, so I was wondering if anyone knew if I could use money orders instead of carrying cash to the port? I was thinking of bringing two $500 money orders, depositing the first one at check-in and the later if needed at a later date.

If anyone has any ideas on this I would appreciate hearing from you. Thank you.

The only problem with a debit card is that they place a hold on the funds and it may take a few days after the end of the cruise to clear the hold. Of course, if your bank balance is low and funds are tight then the extra hold can be a problem but if you have a little cushion in the bank, then the debit card is perfectly fine. We have used a debit card on many cruises with no problems.

I've had a couple of cruises on Princess and am thinking of trying Oceania, with the possible long term goal of doing a world cruise with them.

 

For those who have had experience with both, can you tell me what struck you as being different? I have enjoyed the ambiance on board Princess ships, but it seems that Oceania will be a bit more upscale, without being overly formal.

 

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

As most of the replies have stated, the food is much better on Oceania than on Princess. Although there is only one pool, it is MUCH easier to find an empty chair around the pool and the service from the waiters around the pool is vastly superior. The atmosphere, music etc is much quieter and relaxing.

One drawback is the basic balcony cabins on the Oceania R ships (all of them except Riviera and Marina) are small and the bathrooms ridiculously small for a cruise line of this quality. The balcony cabins on Riviera and Marina are spacious and very nice so I recommend to try one of them first.

Enjoy.

Have cruised on Oceania 4 times, last time two years ago. We are at Elite level on Celebrity. Just cruised on our first Viking ocean cruise. We came away feeling that we preferred Oceania to Viking. We are trying our first Azamara cruise in February. Interested in hearing from cruisers who have been on both Oceania and Azamara regarding how they compare.

Have cruised twice on Azamara and twice on Oceania. We much prefer Oceania. Food and service are better. However, we really like the overnights in port that Azamara does although it seems like as time goes by they are doing less of those and Oceania is doing more. We would definitely cruise on Azamara again if we liked the itinerary but would choose Oceania if given the choice. There is a lot more interaction with passengers by the senior crew on Azamara which many people enjoy but that is not important to us. I am sure you will have a great cruise.

This is very interesting to me. Just this morning I was thinking about posting a question about this! We are doing Alaska for the first and probably only time. Read many posts about people booking independent tours and was wondering whether you prepay these, what kind of cancellation in general do they have (Alaska is weather dependent). Normally when we cruise the Caribbean we hail a cab and do our own thing but don't think that is much of an option in Alaska.

Two things we did in Alaska that I have recommended to others that they have also enjoyed. Harv and Marv whale watching excursion in Juneau (you can check out their website as well as many good reviews here on cruise critic) and rent a car in Skagway (Avis and someone else has offices there) and drive up into the Yukon. You will see all the scenery of the Rail excursion at a fraction of the price. Be sure and take your passports if you do this because you will cross into Canada after only a few miles and you will need them to get back into the US. Great excursions that you can do your own thing on...Enjoy.

Hi - We are looking a some of the great itineraries offered by Oceania - thinking of trying them - but - have become very spoiled with some of the "suite perks" offered on Princess and NCL (which we've been sailing on lately) - especially the breakfast services offered to suite only guests - in a private' date=' separate dining area -

Can anyone comment on the type of suite perks offered on Oceania ?

 

Thank You !![/quote']

 

We have cruised twice on Oceania and 4 times on NCL in a suite. The suite perks on NCL are great but most of the perks are not really needed on Oceania. The food is much better and the ship is much less crowded so the private dining perk doesn't really matter. On Oceania the specialty dining is at no extra charge so you don't need that perk. On the 2 newer O ships (Riviera and Marina) we are perfectly happy with just a balcony cabin. On the older ships you will want a suite to have a similar experience as a NCL suite. The best perk on O with a suite is the butler. The butlers on O can do more for you than on NCL including course by course room service from the main dining room or the specialty restaurants. Enjoy

We have occasionally used O's air but have not used their transfers and in particular have not used their hotels. This was never required of us, and I agree with you that paying their rates for a hotel is generally insane. I did see in the past year one or two cruises where the hotel package was based on the room cost, not per couple, but the norm is per couple ... which makes their charges insane. On occasion I have booked the same hotel O is using for a fraction of the cost.

 

I would question the alleged requirement that you must use their hotel package with a deviation. Perhaps it is because your trip is only six months off ... but I fail to see why that should be the case.

 

With a deviation you can control any extra stops more easily. For us, leaving from NYC airports, this is generally not a problem. But for people from other parts of the country -- if you aren't in a gateway city -- it CAN be a real problem.

 

Good luck.

 

Mura

Think that the OP was saying that they could get the air changed to allow a post cruise stay in Barcelona WITHOUT paying for an air deviation if they booked the post cruise hotel stay with Oceania. This has been my experience as well.

Hi, This will be my second cruise with NCL this time on the Spirit sailing 12March. We booked a GTY balcony cabin BD. Tuesday we received a phone call from our travel agent to say balcony cabins have been oversold and offereing us a downgrade! Plus some money back. We informed our TA that we would still like a balcony cabin she said this was fine and we would shortly receive our cabin assignment. As of yet still no cabin assigned. Is this a normal thing to happen Hubby is getting quite concerned now and bending my ear?

They will give you a balcony or better. However when they are oversold, they often offer people money, credit, free cruises etc to accept a downgrade. You don't have to accept the downgrade but eventually, they will offer enough incentives that someone will accept a downgrade or even agree to travel on another cruise. Don't worry. Enjoy.

We are booked on the Escape in June. We are already thinking about another NCL cruise for Thanksgiving 2018. If we use CruiseNext while we are onboard the Escape, I understand there is a $100 "use it now" OBC for putting down a $250 deposit. I presume each of us (me, my wife, and 2 kids) would need to put down a deposit to book the next cruise, $1000 total -- would we then get $400 OBC? Or, if not, how exactly does it work?

The great thing about NCL is that the certificates are transferable so you can just buy as many as you are going to buy in your name. No need to confuse matters trying to put them in your kids names. As other posters will tell you, you use one certificate per stateroom or 2 certificates to book a Haven Suite as your deposit (although you may have put an additional cash deposit with the certificates to book the Haven). Periodically, they have specials where you can use 2 certificates per stateroom on regular bookings which is obviously a good deal since its basically free money. Always buy at least 2 certificates to get the maximum benefit. They used to make you pay for these and then credit you with on board credit but on our last cruise they just charged us half price for the certificate we bought.