DaisyGoldberg

We logged in five minutes early because I wanted to make sure we were both in frame, and the lady popped up and took us right away. So don't be surprised if you're greeted BEFORE starting time if you're there. I think they just field these things steadily all day long, so if they have a break and somebody's there, they might as well get you out of the way. The link may only work within a narrow window, however.

Copley Square is a great location and walkable to all the sights, shopping, etc. However, the end of October will be very crowded and expensive. A week earlier during the Head of the Charles race there probably wouldn't be any rooms in Boston at all.

If it's a back to back with identical itinerary it will give you so much freedom - plan to see a show or have a certain dinner but just plain don't feel like getting up from your nap and dressed for the evening? Roll over, sleep til 8, hit the buffet, go back to your room and watch a movie, make it an early night and maybe start the next day earlier than you would have. The freedom of solo travel is doubled when everything is scheduled twice for you!

10-15k for a Haven vacation and you end up at Water World!

Bet it's gone at first drydock.

Having sailed once in the Garden Villa, it's something we'd like to try again, but probably will only happen through bidding for the upgrade. If after the cancellation date our family is in 2 separate cabins, and one of us wins the GV upgrade, am I right that the second cabin people would still be stuck with their costs for their cabin if they canceled it to join us in the GV? That would be the biggest reason not to bid for a GV upgrade as we'd have to figure the cost of that original cabin on top of the bid. Only way around it I can think of is for the second family cabin not to be booked until the GV upgrade is unsuccessful, but that carries its own risks.

Just off the Pearl and the sides at Cagneys were shockingly bad. Steak was good, salad was good, soup was good. The onion rings (all four tiny onion rings) were straight out of a frozen bag and completely unseasoned. The baked potato was virtually inedible - like it had been sitting in a chafing dish for hours. For the first time I can honestly say the main dining room outperformed Cagneys. I didn't have steak there, but I wasn't disappointed in a single entree or side or dessert. In future I don't think we'll eat at Cagneys more than once a trip, and maybe not that if they don't turn it around.

We boarded the Pearl a few weeks ago and were never asked for them. In the past I've handed them over with the passports - man at desk just wanted the passports and pushed them back at me. But I'll always have hard copies just in case.

EDIT - WON'T LET ME DELETE - MY ERROR AS I WAS DESCRIBING THE PEARL BELOW. BUT MAYBE THE PEARL LOOK WILL CARRY OVER TO THE GEM EVENTUALLY? Just got off a couple of weeks ago. The posts are now a calmer brown and the palm tree tops are gone, replaced with simple white bulbs that extend the column. Nothing remarkable. The green deck has been replaced with a light brown/gold as partially seen in the photos above - looks like maybe they had begun to transition the flooring by December? The bright blue inside the pools has been replaced by one that's a bit more caribbean in tone. The only bright blue pops are the umbrellas on some of the tables as seen above. All in all much cleaner and less garish. They are definitely going for muted tones throughout the ship.

I guess the ability to edit is time limited - I made a mistake - Budhi was our steward - Lazaro was our butler!

We went on the Pearl a few weeks ago with my mom in a wheelchair. First, be sure to contact the Accessibility department ahead of time to request the wheelchair assistance boarding (as well as any other aids you might need, like a shower chair, etc) This will then be reflected in your boarding documents. The ramp is quite steep in places, so you will appreciate the assistance. As the previous poster said, once you get through the "show your passport and vax info" line you'll be taken to the elevator and be in security immediately. A couple of people came and took my mom through a separate line where they frisked her, while we and the carry ons went through the metal detectors. She was done before the three of us were, and met us on the other side of the metal detectors. After that, there are lines sorting into different categories, but there are plenty of people to direct you. Moving about the ship is pretty easy - there are some metal bars here and there on the carpet that you need to stop and boost the front wheels over before proceeding, but we found it very accessible. We were using a transport chair - if your mom has a regular wheelchair her experience may be different. In most restaurants we were able to tuck the chair beside us near an empty table as there was plenty of room. When room was tight they would move it out of the way after she moved to the table and return it when we were ready to leave. If she prefers to sit in the chair they will simply move the chair and she can roll up to the table. Since the ships are not sailing at capacity, we nearly always had elevators to ourselves, so none of the jockeying to get on without running over people, or waiting as full elevator after full elevator went by. Very easy in and out.

I was working up a regular cruise trip report, but we’re pretty laid back people and enumerating our naps and board games and what we ate didn’t seem too fascinating, so I thought I’d share some impressions of the Garden Villa as we experienced it on the Pearl last month. This was the first time we ever sailed in the GV and I pored over every cruise site online looking for trip reports or anything that relayed what exactly would happen up there. Was grateful for Sailing12Away’s recent trip report but other than that there was not much to go on but youtube videos of the suite itself in all its incarnations (depending on the age of the video!) We had a fantastic trip and given the opportunity (an incredible deal via bid or another couple to share costs) would absolutely do it again. Regular Haven is still treat enough for us otherwise, and for solo trips a balcony is all I need. In rereading this I realize I tended to point out the quirky things we noticed – please don’t take any of those observations as genuine complaints (except maybe Massport Woman and Disagreeable Buffet Guest). I just tried to cover aspects that caught us by surprise and might help future GV guests plan. The kind attention of the Concierge, Butler, Deck Steward and Steward were amazing, especially how they looked after our Mom. The usual dropoff at the Cruiseport was uneventful – new wrinkle was standing in line to show vaccination/Bermuda travel authorization, at which point we got a sticker on our passports and moved on to the next person who checked our docs again and took us to the elevator and up to security. Short Haven security line (Mom in wheelchair taken separately and patted down). After that a very short line to check in at the desk for keys, show passport. Then we headed over to the curtained Haven area (where we’ve been before). A Massport employee waved me away with “this way, this way!” I stopped, puzzled, pointed to the sign that said “Garden Villa/Haven” and said “even if we’re in the Garden Villa?” She asked if I WAS in the Garden Villa and asked to see my card. I called to the rest of my party that was blindly walking in the direction she had pointed to stop and took my card out, realizing as I did so that it wasn’t going to have my room number on it anyway. But evidently the Haven card was enough and she said she was only moving us to the overflow area next door which was “still Haven” just without the snacks. I didn’t care about the snacks, but I definitely felt her backtracking as she allowed us into the curtained area. This was confirmed when she later walked up to my sister, who was sitting in a chair provided for her by the NCL Haven staff INSIDE the Haven curtain entrance, and asked her if she was in the Haven, the implication being that she certainly didn’t look it. Not nice, Massport lady. The Haven area itself in Boston is quite small and just a curtain/drape section of the main terminal. There were probably 50 chairs in there and a small table of refreshments, plus however many people in the overflow room. We always arrive around 10 and I’ve seen it crowded but never like that. All of us apparently wanted to be first on board! (Padded metal folding chairs, if that detail matters to your comfort level; frankly, it convinced us to just arrive at least an hour later next time. It's not special to wait there if it's packed- might as well be home and whisk right through when you arrive if the bulk of Haven people have already moved through. Doesn't matter how much you're expedited through lines if you end up sitting waiting for the boat to turn over anyway. Eventually when the ship was ready they divided us into two groups based on the letter in our Muster station designation on our key cards. They took the other group first, which I assume consisted of the main Haven courtyard people because there were more of them. Then they called us to form a line. Everyone was taken up together, but the concierge grabbed a butler and assigned him to take the wheelchair and stay with our family the whole way (invoking our cabin number for the first time). We boarded, I taking up the rear, and a crewmember started taking people’s cards. My party was ahead of me with the wheelchair and I knew they were waiting, but didn’t want to leave my card with some random crew member. He didn’t seem to speak or understand English very well, and every time I and another lady asked him why he needed the cards and could we have them back he just kept saying “okay, okay” and holding them in the big stack of cards he was holding. Finally, the concierge came looking for me and retrieved them (he didn’t seem to understand what the guy was doing, either) and we went on our way up to Cagneys. They pointed out the muster station was O’Sheehans but we didn’t go there and sign in or anything. Felt great to be in Cagneys again, though a bit informal given all the luggage (four of us, a wheelchair and walker piled with carry on luggage)