Mom2B&Z

We haven’t sailed out of Martinique but have visited many times. You should know that in general, they do not go out of their way to cater to cruisers. If you can find a transfer and a place to store your luggage, I would book them ahead of time.
It’s an extremely safe island, and a little knowledge of French will go a long way. I’ve personally seen people be ignored at tourist venues while speaking English, and I’ve moved to the front of a line by addressing people in French (I happen to speak enough to get by in Martinique). 

Thanks for the amazing review! We sail March 10 with a 16 year old and will definitely be using your tips for making sure we can disembark without any surprises. 
I do believe you can check your online account through the MSC and ME app, though I may go visit guest services the evening before we disembark to make sure we have no surprises. Better to wait in line then than when we are trying to get home!

I was having the same issues with the passport scanner, I kept adjusting the angle and glare on the passport and eventually it scanned all 3. Not that this helps much but I feel your pain!

We sail on Meraviglia on March 10 in an Aurea grand suite with whirlpool, two adults and a 16 year old (Z).  We have sailed once before on MSC, but didn’t fully take advantage of the Aurea perks. 
I have questions:

1.  Our cruise ticket clearly shows we have access to the thermal area. While it says access is for adults only, other cruise critic posts say that 16 year olds can use the thermal area with a signed waiver. Does anyone have experience with this?  Do we need to reserve the thermal area?

2. Our cruise ticket also shows Balinese massages available up to 2 days prior to embarkation, but I can’t figure out how to book this. Last time we booked the massages on board. I’ve tried signing in to my MSC account and adding to my basket, but it shows the usual cost. 
3. Similarly, it shows a specialty restaurant package available up to 2 days before embarkation but no instructions for how to book it. 
 

The two adults in the cabin are both diamond status if this makes a difference. 
Help and suggestions appreciated!

We just returned from an 11 day cruise on the Gem in a 2 bedroom suite. We had an ok butler, he delivered a pot of coffee one morning, the usual mid afternoon treats and one dinner, we tipped $200.  We also gave $200 to the concierge who was amazing, $50 to the suite restaurant host who was an absolute delight and $100 to our cabin steward. 

We are platinum cruisers leaving in 2 weeks (YAY!) on the Gem. I’m confused about how exactly the new latitudes dinner rewards can be used at Teppanyaki, specifically what are “4 items” when the meal is a flat fee? I’d like to book it but want to know exactly what is and is not included.

Thanks!

8 hours ago, Charles4515 said:

Bikes do have weight limits. Depends on the type of bike and the frame material. I suspect OP won't be happy with me for posting this but it is what it is. There are bikes for heavy  bike riders but the tour companies might not own such bikes. 

I’m aware bikes have weight limits, thanks. The bike rental companies I have contacted don’t list weight limits on their rental sites, nor have they asked when I’ve inquired about renting. 
I’m not here to debate weight limits on bikes, I’m asking for help finding a tour. 

55 minutes ago, 1025cruise said:

The bikes might not have weight limits, but the insurance companies do.

This comment is not helpful and completely unwarranted. I know many avid and capable cyclists who exceed this arbitrary weight limit. 

Thanks to those who have replied-Oleander isn’t open and I’m working with a bike shop in Hamilton which is open Sundays. We don’t want scooters or e-bikes, the whole point of this was to get out and enjoy our love of cycling while in Bermuda!  
Thank you for the info about taxis and retuning to the ship. This is a huge consideration and I appreciate the heads up. I think we may have to forego this idea unless we can find a organized bike-specific tour without weight limits…which I don’t get because the bikes don’t have weight limits. 
 

I’m hoping someone has a recommendation for a private tour guide willing to take 4 adults and 2 teenagers on pedal bikes down the rail trail. We are an avid cycling family (I own 5 bikes…) and we would love to incorporate cycling into our vacation. However, NCL’s tour has a weight limit of 250# and we would likely want to travel faster than that group. I can’t seem to find a detailed map of the trail and have read many reports of how it is not continuous, can be difficult to find entry/exits etc. 
Right now my loose plan is to take a taxi from the Royal Dockyards and rent bikes out of Hamilton, bike the Hamilton to St George part of the trail and return to the ship by taxi.

We are on the Norwegian Gem, in Bermuda Sunday March 12. Advice and guidance appreciated. 

Yes, we’ve booked under Canada at par and still received upgrade emails. 

Glad I found this thread, CC is going to get much less of my attention without an app.  

At least I can delete Tapatalk :)

You can ask for both bar soap and conditioner. And they’ll resupply the lotion. Personally I did not care for the smell of the Bulgari that we received in the Haven the one time we were in a Haven suite. I did like the “regular” stuff we just used in a regular OV on the Sun. If you don’t like the Bulgari, ask for the other...

This. We’ve always had a bar of soap in suites. The conditioner is ok, I usually bring a deep conditioner as well. The Bulgari products have a strong scent, but it reminds me of being on vacation :)

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Breakaway’s Haven roof can open and close, whereas *I believe* Getaway’s Haven does not have a roof.

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Agree with bringing your own seats, it’s not easy to know whether a seat is installed properly unless you are familiar with it. I was a volunteer car seat tech for 5 years and I always travelled with our own car seats and boosters.

If you are in the US you have different options than what we have in Canada. There are some folding boosters that are convenient for travel, my preference was for car seats with built in lock offs when travelling so they can be installed anywhere.

Remember, if you don’t own the seat, you don’t know the history. Car seats are (in general) one accident use, so if the seat has been dropped or in a fender-bender, you may not know because it won’t have damage visible to the eye. There are risks associated with checking a car seat, but the car seat forums have good advice for packing them safely. Or install the car seat on the plane, it’s the safest way for kids to travel by air too.

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We did. There were two tour options, we chose the longer one. We still didn’t see everything there was to see at the memorial, though we saw quite a bit of it. We chose the tour for convenience, but in hindsight I wish we would have rented a car and spent the whole day there. I was worried we wouldn’t get tickets to see the Pearl Harbour memorial itself, but I know many people do this tour on their own and still manage to get tickets.

It’s an amazing place.

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We have sailed the Gem twice, most recently was March 2018. The Gem is not new, and like most ships we have sailed, occasionally has issues. We didn’t notice any issues from the Jan 2018 water when we sailed two months later.

We love the Gem, it’s a nice size and the crew is amazing. Some of our favourite spots are the Great Outdoors buffet and eating area at the back of the ship, the forward lounge, and the pool deck! The games room was popular with our boys on our last cruise, they enjoyed the board games that were available and it was a great way to pass time when the weather was not so nice.

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CBC television has a satirical show called This Hour has 22 Minutes, they recently did a sketch on the NCL Dawn being detoured to Canada. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did!

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Yes, we have done it in the past.

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We are a family of 4 (boys are 14 and 11) cruising March 9 2019 on MSC. Our flight into Miami arrives at 8:25pm, so I’m looking for an inexpensive hotel for the evening. I’ve poured over Trip Advisor, determining that the La Quinta airport east is the only hotel with shuttles to the airport and port, but it looks like the bed set up is two full beds, which won’t work for us. Two double beds are tight, two Queen’s are preferred.

I can’t seem to find another hotel with airport and port shuttles which includes breakfast. Does one exist with queen beds? I’m trying to book with aeroplan points and I have a lot of options, but none seem to meet all of my criteria. I think if I have to give up one of those options, I’d give up the port shuttle which is bound to be cheaper than feeding my 14yo son breakfast!

TIA for suggestions and compromises.

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As I understand it, Splash Academy is drop off only...is that correct? We were hoping for things that we could do with the kids!

Yes, splash academy is drop off only.

We too like to spend time with our children while on vacation :). I forgot to add that there is shuffle board and a big chess set on the promenade deck. Even my little guy has always enjoyed trying to make shots or keep score!

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We’ve sailed several times from NYC in December and March with children as young as 5 yrs. We are comfortable getting into the pools on the first sea day, usually in the afternoon. On Breakaway they were in the Haven pool, but on the Gem they were happy with the main pool.

The Gem has lots of interesting things for kids to do, including Wii sports on the big atrium screen, the kids club, games/card room, or the sports court. My kids were never bored! We were on the Gem last year for an 11 day cruise, they were 10 and 13 at the time and had no trouble amusing themselves.

We love the two bedroom family suites on the Gem, if the weather isn’t great the kids have a space to hang out and play without bothering other passengers. You can often upgrade for about the cost of two balcony cabins.

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We were in Cuba many years ago with a 5yo and 2yo. Seat belts are a challenge. You have a couple of options: find a tour that uses coach buses (no seatbelt needed, and there are large coach buses in Cuba), or use rear facing car seats that can be installed with a lap belt. If you can contact the tour operator they can verify that lap belts are available, but then you’d need car seats that fit both children rear facing. Probably not a big deal for your two year old, but a bit more challenging for the 5 year old.

Cuba is a beautiful country and my oldest still has great memories of our time there. The youngest doesn’t remember much lol!

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Our experience has been sometimes it can happen, other times it cannot. Every time we have asked, the steward has told us it has to be approved by the captain, as they need to know how many balcony separators are open and where they are. This is on NCL and RCCL. We were also told they could be closed at a moment’s notice. It’s very convenient to have the balconies open, but I wouldn’t count on it.

I always ask as soon as I can find our cabin steward, with the idea that if I’m one of the first to ask, I may be approved.

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We’ve been to all of those islands with our boys, here are my suggestions:

St Kitts: if your little one loves trains, try the train ride around the island. Transportation was on large coach buses which means you don’t need a car seat. The train moves slowly and there are lots of things to see. My second choice would be a beach, you’d need a car seat for the taxi but most places will let you store the seat inside if you ask...I’ve never had anyone refuse me!

Martinique: you can definitely walk the city, there is an online walking tour map you could print ahead of time. Last time we were there we toured the fort, I wouldn’t suggest it for a little one. My boys are preteens now and love history, they got bored towards the end. The botanical garden is another option, you can take the city bus, taxi or a ship tour.

Antigua and St Maartin are both good places to either walk around or take a taxi to a beach. Again, you need a car seat for taxis, but I have always found taxis with seatbelts suitable for a car seat install.

We travelled with a car seat that had a built in lock off, they are amazing as they make the seatbelt install almost as easy as UAS/LATCH. Ours was a Britax Marathon, but there are less expensive options available now, especially if you live in the US.

Some people will tell you that you don’t need a car seat. I’m of the opinion that I don’t want to see a trauma centre as part of my island tour, and a bit of inconvenience is worth my children’s safety. The laws of physics don’t change because you’re on vacation. My youngest just outgrew his booster before our last trip, I’ve spent 9 years dragging car seats and boosters around the world. I feel almost naked running through airports now ;)

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