sanger727

Norwegian offers this promotion often. Norwegian's Free at Sea Cruise Deals: Free Open Bar & More (ncl.com)

I don't know what your full itinerary is; I would tell you that tour guides and hotels are VERY cheap in Vietnam. I'm not sure what this tour costs, but I'm sure it's more than 4X what you would pay to plan it on your own. Also, IMO Ha Long Bay is much more worth a visit than Hanoi.

Any of the "shore excursion" companies are third party sellers that don't guarantee the quality or safety of excursions. We personally almost always book locally. We use the ports of call board for recommendations and trip advisor to find highly rated tour companies. And then we book directly. We have had some really exceptional tours going this route. It isn't just about the money; cruise tours tend to be large and impersonal.

There is no need to expedite your passport renewal. You can use a birth certificate and photo ID to board the ship and visit the islands. Bring your passport in case you need to fly home in an emergency; but you don't need to have one for the cruise.

Required proof of yellow fever vaccination is based on both the country you are arriving from and arriving too. The only time I've seen it required was when we went to Tanzania in Africa. If you travel from Kenya to Tanzania you need to have it. If you travel from the US to Tanzania you don't. I've never heard of or seen any mandatory vaccinations for Caribbean cruises. Mosquitos are less common near ocean borders; so typically even if a county has some yellow fever or malaria, coastal areas in those countries are considered clear.

The error here is "think". You are assuming the person is a rational and logical person who thinks through their actions before they do them. Many people let alcohol or emotions rule their actions and do things without thinking of the consequences.

We don't take nearly as much into consideration as the OP is. We feel that our expected and customary gratuities are taken care of by the daily gratuity. That is how the ship advertises it and we don't worry about who it is actually going to or in what amount. The employees have a contract and know how much they will get paid, however that pay gets into their paycheck. We only tip extra when someone provides service above and beyond what we expected.

I'm sure it has to do with cost. They have to use satellite for television and any streaming services. They wouldn't want television streaming options to interfere with people who purchase the wifi packages. I'm sure they have negotiated the lowest possible price for television satellite service.

I don't think anyone said that dropping the AI is a bad thing. Not sure what you getting elite perks has to do with the topic of the OP trying to decide whether AI is right for them.

We were on a river cruise and the e-visas are eligible for airports and land crossings. Not river crossings. As I came to understand it. If the ship had docked at the nearest land hub and gone through customs there, we would have been fine with the e-visa. Instead, the boat anchored in the river and cleared customs there. I know it's non-sensicle, but our tour director spent alot of time the first couple days of the trip helping people with e-visas get regular visas. I don't think they would have done that if e-visas were allowed.

Someone who is elite has a very different choice to make. However, many of us aren't elite and I assume OP is in that boat since they aren't considering free elite drinks as a factor.

I've already taken this trip. We were not eligible for an e-visa. our river cruise company told us that we weren't eligible and people who got an e-visa had to arrange for a regular visa at the last minute. I assure you, getting anything other than an e-visa is difficult and expensive.

That is only for an e-visa. If you aren't eligible for an e-visa, you can't get one online, by mail, or by phone.

If you read the whole article, to get to that number they are counting on third shift workers making a lot more and overtime. That's not necessarily the situation for cruise ship porters. They certainly aren't on third shift. And It says that alot of the workers work less than full time, so they wouldn't be getting overtime. I'm not saying they aren't paid well. But this article seems a bit inflated. Kinda like that report that UPS drivers make $200,000 a year.

I believe that Vietnam visas have gotten more stringent in recent years. When we applied for ours we were told by our cruise company (a river cruise) that an e-visa wouldn't be valid for our entry. We were referred to a visa service to get our visas. Of course, it was alot more than getting visas ourselves. But come to find out that now the ONLY way to get a visa is through a travel company and at the Embassy in Washington DC. You can either go through a Vietnamese travel company or a US one, but you can't do it on your own. It took us a long while to figure that out because it's not reflected on their website; which is why I think it's a recent change.

Where are you getting this info from? Longshoreman Salary | Salary.com "How much does a Longshoreman make in the United States? The average Longshoreman salary in the United States is $60,895 as of September 25, 2023, but the salary range typically falls between $54,930 and $67,283. "

The suggestion was for "cancel for any reason" insurance. For that, by definition, you don't have to provide a reason. What difference does it make to them if war broke out or your dog is sick. Either way, you are covered.

If she doesn't have the appropriate visas, she won't be allowed to board. Even if you don't get off the ship, you are in their waters once the ship pulls in.

I'm not sure how married you are to the idea of doing a wedding on a Celebrity cruise. We got married at an all inclusive resort in Jamaica and those are super inexpensive and easy. Most all inclusives will do the wedding for free so you just have to pay for hair, makeup, and photos.

If you are comparing it to purchasing the drink package, you are better off with AI. The better comparison is how much you think your drink bill would be on the cruise if you pay a la carte. $1,000 for drinks gets you $41 in drinks per day. That's relatively easy to surpass if you have specialty coffee, bottled water, and drinks with dinner every day. Just depends on how much you like to drink of the extra cost drinks.

You need a visa to visit Vietnam. I don't know if the cruise line provides any assistance in getting one but our river cruise did not. Our cruise line advised that we were not eligible for an e-visa based on the fact that we were entering Vietnam at a river port instead of a land crossing. You may be able to get an e-visa.

You may not be able to pay your final bill in this situation. The holds don't come off right away. It's unwise to use a credit card with a low limit like that unless you plan on doing minimal spending. if it's an issue you could always pre-purchase cruise cash or load cash onto your account.

So, this is what Celebrity says: If you feel ill in the days before your cruise, you should not travel. Keep in mind you will need to answer a health questionnaire prior to boarding. A positive test result, or documented symptoms of communicable disease during the boarding process, will result in denial of boarding. We recommend guests purchase travel protection to cover any interruptions to their travel plans such as illness and travel delays. Travel protection is available for purchase through our CruiseCare® program. IMO, You should talk to your primary care physician, and get a lab test if you haven't had one. Get your physician to write a letter that you are unable to cruise due to quarantining for COVID and cancel. You will not be permitted to board.

Tipping isn’t ‘customary’ in those countries. But that’s really local to local. Tips are expected from tourists; and honestly, once we saw the quality of life there we felt good about tipping extra. They really appreciate it. Wages there are low and Your tour guide isn’t getting much of a cut from what you pay Oceania.

I've always tipped on shore excursions. We usually do $5 pp on a half day tour and $10 pp on a full day tour. We typically do small group tours. If it was a large group or mostly a narrated bus ride I would probably tip alot less. Where in Asia are you going? In Japan, you don't need to tip. In southeast Asia, they will certainly appreciate a tip although usually you tip a bit lower than you would in the US.