sloperate

I have carefully checked and find no other listing for this Mediterranean cruise departing Aug. 6, 2023 out of Civitavecchia.

Two small groups of family friends boarding on 3 Aug., from the States. come join the fun

You never know how things will turn out. I put a low bid in for an upgrade from an inside cabin to either a porthole or balcony cabin for a transatlantic from England later in Sept. Both possibilities exceeded $300 to $600.00 total for the two of us.

Called my "guy" this morning to see what he might do in lieu of waiting for the bid process to finalize. $135.00 later was upgraded to a balcony, with all original offers staying "as is".

On 5/18/2022 at 2:14 PM, TifffanyD said:

 

You will get triple points using the NCL card so 9k points (more if you are a higher BoA rewards level). 9k points would translate to $90 in credit which is 3% (slightly better). If you save up to get to 30k points you can move 1 meta (inside to oceanview or oceanview to balcony). If you save up to 60k you get 2 metas (inside to balcony). In this way, the 60k points can bring you better value than $600, depending on the cruise prices and number of pax

Thank you for your help. I think I'll stick with current usage plans and dispose of the BoA card. 

Additionally, what is a META?

a few questions for the experts.....

I'm a casual user of the NCL card, currently with 4200 points and facing a $3000 NCL final bill for an upcoming cruise. We are Platinum Plus members. Usually use a card that gets me a 2% monthly card credit. Normally, I'm billing a few thousand dollars a month for that 2%, 

Is there any real advantage of paying off the upcoming cruise with the NCL card that exceeds the 2% I would be getting from the Fidelity card?

Advance thanks! 

The reality is that quite often cruise lines have more handicapped rooms available than handicapped folks who need them. Who do you think is going to be occupying them with a full ship of passengers and few handicapped folks? 

After initially getting one purely by accident, and probably related to our "over 70" age, I began to ask for them with the stated understanding that if needed for someone actually handicapped we will gladly give it up and move to a regular cabin. When available we have been given one with that stated condition. 

I peruse these threads periodically when checking the roll call of my upcoming cruise. I was prompted to read the obituary for your wife when I noticed your posting. She was obviously "quite a lady". I have come to understand how much you will miss her. So sorry for your loss.

We don't buy drink packages on Carnival or HAL because we don't drink that much. I do get free drinks in the casinos every time we cruise and the server gets a tip - I asked the casino hosts because I wanted to make sure he/she received a tip. So free is free there.

Then, why in the world would you care what the drink package charge is?

Take her with you to check in and she will, in all probability, board with you. She can certainly join you at specialty restaurants, but will be charged.

No!!

For the record, I have rented clubs, as a single digit handicap golfer, in Bermuda during a NCL cruise and found them to be more than adequate. With that experience in hand, I would never consider bringing my own clubs. Much more bother than benefit.

Excited about this review! I will be on the Pearl in Jan 2019!

We will be with you, so I'll follow along here too!

We just sailed on the Dawn out of Tampa a couple of weeks ago. Check in with Norwegian was fast and painless, but getting to board the ship took a long time because customs took so long processing the people getting off the ship (government's fault, not Norwegian.) We got there before 10 and ended up having to wait until after noon to board anyway because of this. Of course, by then the number of people waiting to board was very backed up! So if you are open to the idea of boarding later I think you will be able to board a lot more efficiently. I was told by the company we parked with that Tampa has a small port and not enough customs agents - and based on my experience I don't doubt it.

Who did you park with, and what was the cost? Conveniently located?

1. A quick count on the Pearl determines that there are 27 handicapped rooms not counting the high end suites.

2. One assumes there must be more on the larger ships.

Four times on the Gem!

Skip Moderno, unless you absolutely love MEAT!

Personally. I'd also skip Teppanyaki unless you are among the first diners of the day. Too damn noisy for such a small room when you are not one of the two tables being feted.

Le Bistro is very well done, and very comfortable.

Different people have had different experiences. There have been cases where people who are non-HC but somehow are in a HC stateroom have been moved to a non-HC stateroom because NCL (or other line) decided that another guest required that HC stateroom.

 

The OP has already moved. It's no longer an issue.

Point taken! My positions remain. I will reserve again under the stated position I made in the original post.

So may authorities, so little knowledge!

FACT = I have stayed in a handicapped room by accident (assigned) and intentionally (requested) In the requested

the booking that neither party was handicapped and would certainly give the space up if needed.

It was subsequently not requested.

FACT = In neither situation was any documentation sent that was needed to be filled out.

FACT - Most sailings have more handicapped rooms available than are actually needed.

FACT - The cruise line will want to have every room available occupied, regardless of the FACT that some of the handicapped rooms will invariably be occupied by non handicapped folks.

Absolutely no reason to feel bad. If they didn't ask they are obviously working with a history that suggests they won't need it for a handicapped person. You are not depriving anyone of anything. I'd be willing to bet my next cruise fare that all handicapped rooms available invariably exceed the handicapped need. The cruise line would lose money if it didn't attempt to fill all the rooms based on a cruise history and handicapped need.

NYC was tough, we were awake at could not find anything to eat at 7am on a Saturday! What is up with that -disappointed :(

Mrs. Tabs, goodness gracious, you were in the heart of Manhattan in the most happening city in the world. There were places to eat breakfast in the hotel you were staying in, you could have walked out the door and walked a block or two in any direction and found several more.

N.Y.C. can be very intimidating, I understand that, but sometimes you just have to step out the front door, take a look around and enjoy the sights and sounds..........................as long as you know how to get back to your hotel you have nothing to worry about. Even then you could find thousands of folks who would be happy to direct you.

Come back again, contact me here and I'll give you a list of moderately priced hotels NEARBY to stay in, restaurants to eat in and nearby sights to see. NCL does some neat trips out of N.Y. to Bermuda, which is, I suspect, a place you have never been too and worth visiting.

Nothing is cheap in N.Y., but it doesn't have to be a $400.00 a night hotel, even though I have experienced the hotel several times in past years. Now that I travel on my own "dime", I still enjoy my old hometown when given the opportunity, but I am much more judicious with my monies. You're just not going to get the 7th floor lobby and glass elevators.

Vicki;

So glad that you enjoyed the experience. Surprised that you did not seek cheaper alternatives for the overnight stay in N.Y. You could have done it for substantially less money at more than adequate hotels. We are NCL fans and did the same cruise a few weeks before yours. No St. Thomas though, slightly different itinerary. Fourth time for the Gem; going to do it's sister ship, the Pearl, next January out of Tampa.

Did the Gem 11 night Jan., to Feb. 3. What do you need to know?

My recent experience with Teppanyaki on the Gem, will mitigate against experiencing it again, unless we decide to dine at the first available seating. Firstly, the chefs, food , etc. were all terrific. It was the noise that was the most disturbing if you happened to be initially seated while the two other tables were being feted. Try as you might, you could not carry on a casual conversation with the exciting commotion that was necessarily only a few feet away. Closed, small room....not conducive to "teppanyaki" style dining, in spite of how well every part of it was accomplished when it was your turn.

This was the result of the Gem's island rescheduling after the deadly hurricanes. I must confess at the outset that I am generally not a large fan of island tours, but with friends, decided on this one. I'd been to St. Lucia before, but not off a cruise, so it seemed a possible good choice.

Have to say I'm still not a fan of island tours after experiencing this one. Turns out we were one of three or four filled vans circling the island, one after the other, up and down hills and valleys with short stops at some of the potential attractions....banana farm, waterfall, etc., etc. Almost forgot the active volcano site which was kind of interesting to see. Each stop involved the obviously planned opportunity for some purchase of some local item, which frankly does get a little annoying.

Cost was $75.00pp. Involved two stops during the tour at a site the tour operators owned for some lunch/breakfast items and later some snacks. For me, not the answer. Driver was nice, van was very nice, but I think I could have taken a cab to the volcano site, skipped the rest of the tour and eats and gone to a local beach............perhaps, again, by cab.

My suggestion would be to schedule one of your free dinners at the Italian restaurant on launch day. You'll avoid lines at the main dining rooms on the first day. Gem is a terrific ship, and well worth your visit.

Just in case CruiseCritic readers have not noticed, the lovely GEM will be sailing on longer Winter cruises from/to NYC and CA -- via the Panama Canal -- in January 2019 and January 2020:

 

1. January 2019: 2 to 20 January 2019 NYC/LA [18 Nights], 20 to 27 January 2019 LA/LA [7 Nights], and 27 January to 15 February 2019 LA/NYC [19 Nights] ... take all three as a Back-to-Back-to-Back (B2B2B) voyage for a NYC/NYC roundtrip [44 nights].

 

2. January 2020: 4 to 24 January 2020 NYC/SF [20 nights], and 24 January to 14 February 2020 SF/NYC [21 Nights] ... take both as a Back-to-Back (B2B) voyage for a NYC/NYC roundtrip [41 nights].

 

Hint: Book early [and miss some cold weather at home] -- as I did -- to get choice of cabin and, if doing back-to-back [-to back] sailings, same cabin [have the individual bookings be Linked for on-board convenience].

Never can tell what your posting might accomplish! I'm going to take a very close look at those January sailings in '19 and '20 and see which way, if not both, I might want to travel.

Good info!