Vagabond Knight

Yes, whoever said that "Free at Sea" was extremely misleading was absolutely correct.  They could call it "Freedom at Sea" since you're free from deciding if you think a particular cocktail is worth the price to you, you're generally free from signing charge slips if you get something that falls within your plan's price range, etc., but the name of the program implies no cost when the cost is actually quite substantial. 

Would like to see NCL and other lines be up front about what you're getting for what price, but I guess that will never happen.  In my dreams they'd only be allowed to advertise the starting price of the cruise by using a number that included all non-optional service charges, port charges, taxes and "gratuities."

What the heck is this constant jiggling motion tonight with the ship?  We're midship and it's driving me crazy. Can't read, can't get to sleep.  I love when a ship is rocking, but this is more of a quick wiggling motion that does not feel like normal ship movement. 

We did our first NCL cruise in October on the Dawn.  My husband made all the dining reservations online ahead of time.  The first night, we went to the Venetian at our "scheduled" time, gave them our name and said we had a 7:30 (or whatever it was) reservation.  They told us there are no reservations unless you have a large group.  My husband whipped out his phone and showed them the screenshot of all our dining reservations for the week (which included both MDRs and specialty restaurants) and they acted kind of snippy with us, insisting that there are no reservations in the MDRs.  Asking "Then why was I able to make reservations online?" and showing the screenshot did not impress them... they just looked at us like we were crazy.  The food was excellent on the Dawn for the most part, but the reservations (or no reservations) thing in the MDRs was confusing and rather annoying.

Ship - Dawn

Deck - 8

Stateroom # - 8082

Stateroom Category – OK (Obstructed Oceanview)

Starboard or Port Side - Starboard

Quiet Stateroom? (With comments on problems) – Absolutely not.  1) There are storage/work rooms for the crew next door and across the hall. 2) The first couple of days when everyone is getting used to the ship layout, people are often talking loudly outside the door while trying to figure out whether they're lost or not, due to the room being on a turn at the end of a somewhat confusing hallway.  3) The lifeboat outside the window (which is right next to the bed) also serves as a tender boat, so at tender ports you tend to be awaked by loud whirring motors and banging as the crew prepares the tender and lowers it into the water around 6:15am. 4) There is a crew catwalk right outside the window that provides access to the tender/lifeboat, so there would often be crewmembers talking right outside our window, or going into the boat to clean/check it, or hanging out in it on break.  One day, some crew group held some kind of meeting in the boat.

Was stateroom a connecting stateroom? - No

Balcony View - It is an obstructed view and so you're looking into a tender/lifeboat unless you're at a tender port and the boat has been lowered.  You do get natural light into the room however, because when the tender/lifeboat is in place, it has windows that line up with the stateroom's window. The window in the tender/lifeboat is not clear enough to see through, but do pass daylight.

Balcony Size? Normal or oversized for class? - N/A

Was wind a problem? - N/A

If an aft cabin, was soot a problem? - N/A

Any specific problems with this cabin? - 1) Read the comments regarding the room not being quiet. 2) The layout of the room is awkward because, other than the bed, everything is based in the same small area.  If someone's accessing the drawers, you can't get to the closet. If someone's accessing the closet, you can't get to the bathroom or drawers, etc.  3) There is a fold-down bunk next to the master bed that makes getting out on that side a serious challenge if it's not folded down since it obviously needs to stick out from the wall.  Seems it would hang over the bed quite a bit (we didn't open it) when folded down.  4)  A metal cot (for the 4th person) is under half the master bed and so you cannot store suitcases under that side as we'd normally do.  5) The stateroom supposedly accommodates four people, but we cannot imagine how four people could possibly co-exist in there.  It seems that when the cot for the 4th person is brought out it would block the way to the bathroom and make it near impossible to move around the cabin. 6) One of the drawers would absolutely not stay closed unless you jammed a folded up piece of paper into the side of it.  7)  With the catwalk next to the window, there is no privacy since crew members were right outside the window surprisingly often.

Any other comments? -  Pretty convenient to quickly get to the mid-ship elevators or O'Sheean's.

We've decided to take the Bee Le Havre bus over to Honfleur when our October cruise stops in Le Havre.  Does anyone have any wonderful restaurant recommendations for lunch in HonFleur?  

RCI is always sending me "offers," usually for add-ons/upgrades for the cruises we have booked.  When I open the email in Microsoft Outlook, the text says, for example, "Oops! It looks like these Symphony of the Seas offers were too big to dock here. Click here to navigate in browser."  When I click the link, I get a blank page, except for this message at the top:  "The system is temporarily unavailable. We apologize for any inconvenience. Please try again later."  This happens every time.  The link is going to a royalcaribbeanmarketing.com address.  If I go to the royalcaribbean.com site, it's functioning properly (as well as it ever does, at least).  Does this happen for anyone else or is it just me?  I normally use Chrome, but just in case, I've copied the link and tried it in Firefox and Edge and get the same result.

Our two upcoming transatlantics on the Freedom are listed as "Carnival Journey" cruises.  I've looked at the advertising page for the journey cruises (https://www.carnival.com/journeys) and read the information on there, but I'm interested in hearing specifics from those of you who've been on one of these cruises about the extra activities they say we'll be experiencing.  They list 1) Destinations, 2) Throwback Sea Day, 3) Academy of Fun, and 4) Crew Connections as the extras.  The destinations are obviously specific to the cruise and we are well aware of where we're headed 😉, but please fill us in regarding your experiences with the other three offerings.  Thanks in advance!

5 hours ago, edinburgher said:

There really is little need for a shorex to Honfleur as it is an easy DIY from le Havre by taxi or by public bus (taxi is easier and you should find others to share the ride with you.) And all your time will be " at leisure" and you can do with it what interests you and have lunch somewhere of your own choosing.

 

There are multiple threads and posts on the FRANCE PORTS forum you can read to help you decide.

Thank you, @edinburgher!   Sounds like an even better plan.  The shore excursion is $109 per person and is only for four hours, so taking a taxi would be quite a bit less expensive and give us as much time as we want in Honfleur.  We'll post this in our roll call thread and see if there's another couple who wants to share a taxi in to Honfleur, but sounds like we'll be fine even if we're on our own.

On 6/20/2023 at 10:33 PM, cruiserking said:

For the Le Havre port stop I highly recommend booking the ship tour to Honfleur. Your ship will likely include this excursion. It's only about 40 minutes away by bus and is such a quintessential French town busting with ambience. There are dozens of shops, tons of inviting restaurants. We skipped the guided walking tour included with the tour and spent a delightful 2 hours strolling around this delightful spot. 

Oooo... I like the way you think!  We're booked on the "Colorful Honfleur" excursion on our NCL tour in a few months, which talks about a walking tour and then "some free time at leisure" and I've been thinking that I'd rather have all that time "at leisure."  Actually wondering if it would just make more sense to get a taxi or some other transportation to/from Honfleur since the excursion is only four hours and the ship is in Le Havre for 16 hours!

I am a bit surprised at the excitement over these items.  Kind of looks like a typical children's menu in a family restaurant.  Will sail on Carnival later this year for the first time in years.  What were they serving prior to this if this is an upgrade?

My assumption is that it's probably 10% off the package price, but that the gratuities are charged on the full price rather than the discounted price. Would that explain the difference?

This would be similar to walking into a restaurant with some kind of coupon... others may do things differently, but my husband and I would tip on the price that our meals would be without the discount.

Some folks sailing with us on a 9-day British Isles cruise this fall were asking if there are any "theme nights" for which they should plan.  Since this will be our first cruise on an NCL ship, I have no idea.  I understand that there are no formal nights, but are there any "usual" theme nights to be expected?

32 minutes ago, Norwayfan1 said:

See post 76 on this thread.

Thank you, @Norwayfan1.

Thank you for your research and for posting this, @Norwayfan1.  Sounds like it's actually "official" and goes beyond NCL, so I am very surprised that there isn't more about it out on the internet since it seems like it would affect other cruise lines and businesses in the port city as well.  Perhaps the other lines had already adjusted their schedules accordingly.

I have googled and googled and, except for that one article that talks about the total overhaul of that NCL cruise, I can find no mention anywhere of "new restrictions" about tender ports in Ireland from October through April.  So, is there really such a government restriction or is it simply a NCL policy change?  I have trouble believing that we wouldn't be able to find ANY other articles talking about the restrictions affecting cruises on other cruise lines and/or how it will affect the tourism in the port cities. 

See the article below.  Personally, I would be livid if I were booked on this cruise. 

However, my question is more general as to whether there is actually a new law that prohibits tendering at ports in Ireland from October to April or if this is something that NCL made up?  I have googled and googled and can find no mention of any such law or when it would go into effect (2023? 2024?).  The only mention I can find is in this NCL-related article, and I would think that there would be much more coverage of such a change if other cruise lines were affected, as well as announcements as to how it would affect the port cities and their tourism.

https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-cruise-line-completely-changes-ship-itinerary/105445

9 hours ago, luv2kroooz said:

There will be little demand to disembark the ship at 6am, too. So, you shouldn't have to contend with lines. Be aware sea conditions can get rather rough up there, as they were for us pre-Covid on Jade, so your ship may need to reduce speed which could impact arrival time.

Very little demand from me either, ha-ha!  I was thinking maybe 7:30 at the earliest.  😄

We're on a NCL Dawn British Isles cruise in October and are trying to plan our onshore adventures for Kirkwall, Orkney Isles (this will not be a tender port).   The ship is expected to arrive in port at 6am.  I know that things sometimes happen that can delay passengers being able to get off the ship at a port but assuming nothing too unusual happens, when are we likely to be able to step off the ship?  Thanks!

We're booked on a 9-day British Isles cruise on the Norwegian Dawn on October 5-14 that leaves out of Southampton and will visit various ports in Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Scotland.  Norwegian has a few other cruises available to these locations as well that are a couple days longer.  This one just happened to fit our schedule between two other cruises.  We know we'll only see a small bit of these countries, but we consider it sort of like a beer flight or wine tasting... you taste a little sample of a number of options, and then you decide which one (or more) you like enough to order a full glass.

On 6/15/2023 at 8:18 PM, DingoMom said:

Does anyone know how to make this thread a “sticky”?

Unless the thread is very closely moderated/controlled, similar to the thread on cabins, it will not warrant being a "sticky."  There are already too many extraneous posts that are not price drop and deal alerts (yes, including this one).  😉

Tried again and was able get there today.  Thanks very much @Malleykatt and @gnome12.  Also emailed the distillery and got no response there.  We'll see how it goes with the guides... definitely worth a try!

8 hours ago, Malleykatt said:

Might be worth a look here.

https://www.otga.co.uk

 

 

There is a contact all guides button and you can let them know what you want to visit.

We were very happy with our local guide Davey Malcolm.

 

Can you double-check the website?  This site won't come up.

7 hours ago, fruitmachine said:

Local knowledge is the best here.  Ask the distillery to recommend someone.  

Thank you.  I have emailed them.  I was actually hoping for some "local knowledge" from someone here on cruise critic who is local to Kirkwall (I knew it was a long shot), but your suggestion was excellent. 

I see you are from Edinburgh.  That's another port stop to which we are REALLY looking forward! 

We'll be on a NCL British Isles cruise in October and have a very short day in Kirkwall, Orkney Isles, Scotland.  The ship will only be there from 6am to 2pm.  Our primary interest there is to visit Highland Park Distillery and we want to be there when it opens at 10am.  We would like to hire reliable transportation in the form of a taxi or chauffeured car for three hours that will pick us up at the port, take us to the distillery and stay there to take us back to the port afterwards.  There's one taxi company that we've tried to contact in Kirkwall, but they never responded and we've since seen a number of reviews that say they're unreliable.  Due to the early ship departure, we don't feel comfortable relying on a drop-off and pick-up later scenario. Any suggestions?  

20 minutes ago, NutsAboutGolf said:

I unfortunately see folks acting rudely to the crew on every sailing and don't understand why yet it's a whole different level.  People get "triggered", asking things like "who trained you?", "who's your supervisor?"

Well, some people feel like they have to act all hoity toity, thinking they're impressing friends and others around them, when a bit of kindness and understanding would be much more appropriate. The crew members work their tails off, having to smile through long hours and (fortunately, only occasional) rude passengers.  Most  fellow passengers I encounter on cruises are wonderful, but there are a few who should probably be made to walk the plank (or be made to serve as an "honorary" crew member for a day!).