Shel71

I sailed on the Breakaway last week before the ban was altered and I took this small USB fan in my carry-on with no issue at all with security. Either they didn't notice it in my bag or they did and didn't care. I did put it in the cupboard each morning so the steward didn't see it. 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0919T22LT

I was on the Breakaway last week and paid for the streaming level for the internet and it was awful. I could not do hardly anything on my computer at all. If I logged in on my phone I could do more, but I could not stream anything. Last summer on the Spirit in Alaska I streamed some shows later in the evening just fine, so if this is what Starlink brings, I'm not a fan.

That's not new. Most countries/places forbid taking shells from the beach. It's illegal in many places.

I got a detailed email with a map on March 14 for our day on April 4th. There were instructions in the confirmation after payment as well.

43 minutes ago, CTCruiser001 said:

 

Yep! The outdoor bar is open until midnight. The inside bar is open until 1 am. 

Just want to clarify this. I can skip the long lines and just go to the outdoor bar to get a drink and sit out there and be able to hear the music? 

Thank you for sharing the late arrival to Costa Maya experience and how it worked with Maya Chan. We're scheduled for there 3 weeks from today and I was worried with the frequent late arrivals that it would really mess up the Maya Chan day but it looked like it worked out well for you! Puts my mind at ease. I really appreciate your detailed posting each day! Enjoy the rest of your trip.

No way to know for sure but I would be looking at the port schedule as the most reliable.

2 hours ago, Pablo Diablo said:

As others have replied, cancelled excursions are credited to your onboard account as refundable onboard credit. On my Prima sailing last week, our port stop at Great Stirrup Cay was cancelled. My purchased excursion was refunded automatically to my onboard account by next afternoon. Of course, if you choose to cancel you would have to do that at Shore Excursions desk on the ship. Be aware that you need to settle any credit balance at Guest Services/Onboard Credit desk before disembarking. Any credit balance will be refunded to you in cash. I don’t know why they don’t just credit back to your credit card, but they don’t. If you try to disembark without your account being settled, security will pull you out of line and tell you to go to Guest Services. So you’ll want to avoid any potential delays if you have an airport transfer and flight booked on disembarkation day. 

The same happened to me in Alaska with a canceled helicopter/sled dog excursion due to rain/fog. I really wish they could have just refunded the credit card as I really did not want to travel with that much cash (that excursion is $$$). I had one canceled through a HAL cruise and it was an easy credit to my CC. 

8 hours ago, Lynda59 said:

I have never waited more than 5-10 minutes in TSA precheck at the NOLA (MSY) airport, but if there is a special event (Final Four, Super or Sugar Bowl, Jazz Fest, etc).  in town there can be long waits at the regular TSA line.  When are you disembarking?

 

We will be disembarking on Easter Sunday, 4/9. Our flight isn't until 2:20 so we have plenty of time, I was just curious what to expect since I've never flown through there before. We wouldn't be able to check in our luggage until 10:20 with the airline at the earliest so we'll take our time at the dock area and wander to an Uber.

We've never flown in or out of the NOLA airport before. I am curious for our disembarkment day how are the average TSA lines there? I have TSA-Pre but my son (18) does not. I am not worried about him going through security alone at all, obviously,  just curious on what kind of timing I can expect. We'll be flying Southwest if that matters. Thanks!

I traveled on the Spirit last July with my 17-year-old son and my parents. Originally we were booked on the Sun but it hit an iceberg and canceled our cruise so we moved our dates to the Spirit instead, kind of quickly. I missed that there was nothing for under 18 there until it was too late. 

There weren't very many kids on the boat that I noticed. My son wasn't all that upset that there was no teen club as he's kind of shy anyway. He had no issue in restaurants, Bingo, etc. (you have to buy the cards for under 18 and play with them). Can't go into the Casino and I remember seeing on the Daily thing that some comedy shows I think they were for 18+ only. We didn't do any of the main shows so no clue there. No movies. We'd go for some drinks in the Spinnaker after dinner. He never really wanted to join us there so I don't know if they would've kicked him out or not. I do remember seeing some kids on the dance floor there a few times.

I will admit my son got pretty bored and I felt bad for him as there wasn't much for him to do. He did sit in the hot tub some on the main deck, not the adult area and nobody bothered him about that. Too cold to swim for his taste. The biggest thing that upset him was the sports deck was open for very limited hours and was always closed by 5. He wanted to play BB and stuff as that was about all there was to do but it was often closed. He loved Alaska though, so I don't think he'd tell you he had a bad time, but I know he did feel like there was just nothing for him to do at all. I am glad I got the unlimited wifi for him so he could watch Netflix movies or whatever in the evenings. If I were to book it for Alaska I would choose a different ship. The good thing for you is your kids have each other and that might help them entertain each other where my son only had me and his 70-aged grandparents.

8 hours ago, RedwingHockeyFan said:

Do you think passengers from the Titanic received a FCC? lol

I wasn't complaining about my FCC and it was offered to me, I didn't request it. I am not sure why it's a bad thing for me to use it?

My son and I both received a FCC due to a canceled cruise last summer due to an iceberg canceling our cruise. I am trying to book a new cruise for the 2 of us to use the FCC we each have. They are both listed on the payment page but it is only allowing me to click one and is only taking one off of the total, instead of both. What am I doing wrong? The total of the two is less than the base fare so they both should apply, shouldn't they?

7 hours ago, Webb Pierce said:

I didn't realize this. Thanks for letting me know, and that the chopper ride didn't feel weird either. This puts my mind at ease. I hope you enjoyed your dogsledding!

Not at all. I got to sit up front with the pilot and the family with 2 kids sat in the back. It was actually weirder when I went with my husband as we were paired with another couple so the other couple was split with one in the front of the helicopter and one in the back with us. Being the single person you're almost guaranteed the front seat which is by far the best views! 😉

I did this excursion alone in June 2018. I was cruising with my parents and neither of them wanted to do a helicopter. I was paired with a family of 4 (parents with 2 younger kids) and it didn't feel weird at all. Once you're on the glacier you go on the sled with a larger group (from another helicopter) and I was paired with another single person for that part. Go for it!

12 hours ago, jerseygirl629 said:

 

How much notice did they give you? Sorry to hear it was canceled.

We were supposed to meet out on the dock at 8:45 AM and when I left my room to run up to grab coffee at 8:20 there was a note on the door that it was canceled. I pretty much knew it would be when I woke up and looked outside at the very dense fog and knew the forecast wasn't supposed to change that day.

I figured it out! I was supposed to sail on the NCL Sun on 7/5 but it was canceled due to the iceberg so we switched to the 7/18 NCL Spirit. I had put in for reimbursement of the airline change fees to NCL and was awarded the $300 offered and they just refunded my card and never sent an email confirming it. My mind was stuck on the Spirit and what the refund could be for and forgot about the Sun stuff!

2 hours ago, Senga said:

Possibly just for the inconvenience.  That would be a pretty pricey port tax!

You'd think they would have told us that if it was just an apology of sorts? Plus, they can't control fog so I doubt they'd comp everyone $150 each, KWIM?

I just can't figure out what this refund is for. We also had our helicopter/sled dog excursion canceled in Juneau but they credited that back to my onboard account and then annoyingly made me take cash instead of refunding my CC so it's not that.

We were canceled last Sunday due to extreme fog/rain. I was sad. This is my 4th time to Juneau. First time (end of May 2014) with my kids and we were canceled. Second (June 2018) and third (Sept 2019) I was alone or with my husband only and we flew. This time was with one of my kids again and canceled again! i think my kids are jinxing it!

We docked at the front section of the Railroad dock on the NCL Spirit last Friday. There was another NCL ship docked behind us as well. You could clearly see where the rockslide was and it made me a little nervous being parked there and walking along there, honestly!

What irked me  is the other docks sat empty all day so we could have and should have been docked in one of those!

Is there a port fee for sailing into Tracy Arm on a cruise ship? We just returned from the NCL Spirit and couldn't get into Tracy Arm or the alternate Endicott Arm due to extreme fog so we just sailed around that day to kill time. I noticed a $300 refund on our credit card for that date from NCL and am wondering if it is a refund for port charges for Tracy Arm? $150 per person maybe?

22 hours ago, Thunderbird19 said:

Shel71,

We will be there next month and want to do the train ride if weather is nice.  In looking at the online brochure for the train company, their  price per adult ($134) for round trip is very close to what is offered through Princess excursion ( cruise  is about $5 more per person).
How did you save $100? Were coupons available at the pier or city Visitor Center? 
thanks.

Yes, I'm on NCL and the price was $179 through them and $134 when purchased directly, so $45x2 in savings to walk a little bit. You could take the town shuttle for $3 one trip or $5 unlimited trips if you didn't want to walk and still save a bit. If the Princess price is $134 then may as well go through them and save the walking.

6 hours ago, DonnaK said:

Do you have to book through the railway in advance, or can you do it at the port?  

 If there is availability on the train you can book on the day in port. If they are full you'd be out of luck so I'd book ahead if this is a must do. 

I just rode this today. We booked directly and walked into town to the station (from the Railroad dock) and it saved us $100 (for 2). We thought it was a very easy walk. My mom and dad are traveling with us and my mom didn't enjoy the walk but she's got some feet/hip issues. There is a shuttle that is at the end of the dock that you can get for $3 for one ride or $5 for unlimited. There were shuttles all over town picking people up and taking them around. No shortage at all. So that would be an easy option for your mother. My parents opted to use this to get back to the ship.

As for the cars, when the train arrived to pick us up it looked like the cruise people were already on it in the back cars. I couldn't see how crowded they were. We got on the farthest back car we could for the regular people and it was pretty open. We all had our own seat and swapped to the other side when the train turned around at the summit so we had the best views both ways. I don't know how crowded other cars were. My advice go away from the direction the crowd is going! We went on the 12:00 train.

6 hours ago, futureAG said:

Is PortValet a free service? We are flying SW so our bags fly free, but is there a charge for the Valet?

 

Also,  do they check you in for your flight 24 hours before? Or is that something I still need to do?  We will do family boarding between A & B group anyway... unless we get lucky at get an A group boarding. We are not paying extra for priority boarding. 

It is 100% free and does work with SW. I used them twice previously (2018 and 2019) with SW. You will still need to check in on your own with SW for your boarding number, but they will print your boarding pass for you.

We were booked on the canceled 7/5 Sun sailing, it would have been our first NCL cruise. We were told we'd receive a 50% FCC (in addition to a full refund). I know that the taxes and fees are not included as part of the FCC, just the base cruise fare. It was myself and my son (17) sailing.

I assume they split the credit in half for each of us, is that correct? Today my half was posted in my NCL account and it's about $100 less than it should be. I cannot see my son's at all and I cannot make an account on the site with his Latitude number for him because he's under 18 so I have no clue what credit, if any, they've given him or how we'd ever be able to access it? How do you access the Latitude accounts of minors?

If his is the same as mine, we're in total, $200 short. Is the FCC based on the base cruise fare or is there something else they take out?