surran12

I appreciate all the replies. It'll be a tough choice between the two ships.

We are looking at taking our first RCCL cruise after going with Disney the past few times. We like to take my MIL with us who has had a stroke and needs a wheel chair or mobility scooter to get around when she is not in her room. I was curious how these two ships compared for passengers with mobility issues. Do the doors of the handicap rooms open automatically? Would she be able to just drive her scooter into the room? Would she be able to charge it right in the room? How easy is it to navigate the elevators with a scooter? Do the theaters or other places around the ships easily accommodate a scooter or wheel chair? I appreciate any help being able to answer these questions. Thank you.

I hope that some reasonable portion of that fine goes to the person who quit his job and reported Princess. No' date=' I don't think he should be set for life based on these actions, but he certainly deserves something for the effort he put forth.[/quote']

 

I do not know how accurate this information still is since the article was dated 5 years ago, but supposedly the whistle-blower will get some sort of reward based off of the fine amount....

 

"In the United States, according to a special provision in the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C, Section 1908 a), individuals involved in reporting a violation that leads to a conviction are eligible to receive up to half of the fine incurred by the company. In the past three-and-a-half years, over one third of maritime prosecutions have resulted in awards to whistleblowers, ranging from $40,000 to $400,000."

 

 

http://www.marinedefenders.com/commercial/rewards.php

I greatly enjoyed reading your review. Thank you for taking the time and posting it. I will be going back on the Fantasy in February and was curious if they held any Matinee performances of the 3 main shows? They did 2 years ago when we were on it on the Eastern Caribbean route and I loved seeing the show earlier and enjoying the pools at night.

Just read through the whole thread...thanks to all for taking the time and finding all the pictures.

We took my mother-in-law on the Fantasy and she is wheel chair/ motorized scooter bound after a stroke. She was in room 8090 which is a category 4B handicap stateroom set up for right handed accessibility and the set up of these rooms are amazing for disabled cruisers. While my wife and I and our 2 children had our own room we easily all could have fit in the room with her. This room is about 1.5x as wide as a normal stateroom. She went the whole cruise thinking we had got her a suite. The two possible issues I could see with everyone being in one room is the lack of privacy and/or different sleeping schedules. The second would be that these rooms only have 1 bathroom instead of the split bath for getting ready for the day. I would say if you could downgrade the categories of the rooms and get the 2nd that would be my choice, but I don't think I would spend more than 2k to try to do it. If it gets that pricey I would have a very slightly less comfortable cruise while knowing you saved thousands. Hope it all works out great.

I also recommend to bring one. When we were on the Fantasy last April we had brought wine but no cork screw and couldn't get the bottles opened by our steward or bartenders, so when we stopped at St Thomas we bought one and had no trouble bringing it onboard.

Just curious if they will have made an acceptable profit off the old ships from the Re-imagining by the time the second ship is ready?

Sorry to hear your weather wasn't too great. I was just on the 24-29th sailing and the crew had been mentioning he weather hadn't been too great lately. Thankfully we had lots of sun and warmth on ours. You're doing a great job on the review. Keep it up.

When we went in April on the Fantasy, we were on the first cruise (according to our server) with a ticketed Disney Jr. breakfast. They advertised it for the Under 8 crowd and held it in Animators Palate. They rotate you in and out pretty quick about 45 minutes or so we were out of there, but we had a great time at it.

I would definitely go with the robe through the Disney store online. My wife also LOVES her robe. She has had others before but wore it maybe once very couple weeks. She wears this one every single day and she also packs it to bring whenever we're going away somewhere for more than a few nights. I have definitely gotten my monies worth.

Thank you everyone for the ideas. I greatly appreciate them.

We will be arriving in Miami Friday night for a cruise departing Sunday morning. I have to children DS 8 and DD 5, what would be some recommended activities in the area to do with them? Thanks for any help

But ... just got this email. "Hurry, Get A Free Bottle of Wine & Chocolate Covered Strawberries" Wow, Wow, Wow. "Free At Sea" no kidding - how much is that worth again ? As platinum members, we already get them - no thanks, not enough to offset the higher prices we are seeing doing what was once "freestyle crusing" on NCL.

 

Prices out of NYC aren't much better ... not that RCI or CCL with their limited availability locally, are "competitive".

 

Now, perhaps Andy Stuart can come with up with offers like those from Oceania that his boss is known for, then we will - perhaps - have another look. :D Keep getting those slick & upscale brochures.

HAHA I know what you mean. It seems like I get an Oceania brochure every week or sometimes more.

When are you looking? For my sailing in November out of New Orleans, the SC on the Dawn is $2699.

 

Come join us!

 

Edit: In regards to your question about balcony pricing, we booked a mid ship balcony for <1000pp, and our booking included the Beverage and Specialty Dining package. This is a much better deal than what we got on the Dawn 6 or 7 years ago.

May I ask what date that is. I just went and looked and the cheapest I can find for 4 of us on the Dawn in November for an SC is 5895. significantly better than anything I have seen in 2017 which is what my start date for my search was.

Did you just check by doing a mock booking?

Yeah i went up to the point where I would choose a stateroom

I have sailed with NCL twice prior and lately with Disney. I have been pricing NCL lately for 2017 or possibly 2018 and am staggered by how much the prices have gone up. I understand prices rise I just wasn't expecting by the amounts I am seeing. I last sailed on the Dawn in 2013 in an SC category room for $4650 the cheapest I am seeing for an SC on the Dawn now is $7100+. The ship will be 4 years older than it was then and the price has gone up by 50%. I now see I can no longer stay in a suite which isn't the end of the world I don't with Disney anyhow, but I was wondering have balcony prices increased by this much as well or is it mainly suite pricing that has increased this drastically?

Thanks for any information

Thanks as always. Just called and was put onto the waitlist and will look at the Navigator to change it on-board if possible.

I was just curious for the Magic out of Miami on that first day where I would go to request a dining change? Is there usually a place in the terminal or is it always on-board and just check the navigator for the location? Though it's unlikely to get fulfilled and is not a deal breaker by any means, we'd prefer to be on main dining with the young ones if at all possible. Thanks for any info.

Go! Have fun!

 

Enjoy your cruise! I hope its a fantastic one!

 

ex techie

Thanks we can't wait. Especially since 2 days ago we thought we wouldn't be on a Disney cruise until next February.

I will remember the tunnel. Thanks for the tip. I was thinking of getting to the port around 12:30 or so but just wanted to make sure that wouldn't be too big of an issue with not having a PAT

Thanks for the information. I was also wondering as I'm driving into the port of Miami is it pretty easy to find out which terminal I need to head to? Are there signs like at an airport informing me what terminal to head to?

Since I booked my cruise Friday night I have been unable to book any activities or complete my online check in. I called DCL and they said some new booking are having this issue and they are unsure if it will be resolved but not to worry I don't need to do the checkin and they can do everything at the port in 5 minutes for me. I was curious as towards what time I can show up to the port of Miami? Do they do PAT like they do for port canaveral?

I think even though the kids can see the castle and monorail, "if "they make a fuss about not going to the parks, a quick kick in the ass of "you've just been on a Disney cruise" is quite appropriate!

 

ex techie

Haha I love it. Thankfully my kids LOVE pools so I think that will suffice and if not we can head to Disney Springs for a little bit.

We will stick with the poly mainly because I've never stayed there and have always wanted to at least once. That and most DVC is already pretty booked up for our trip.