Heather1972

Nassau - British Colonial Hilton... worth the money, but nothing special.

Only have to walk approximately no more than 500 feet from your room to the action rather than being at one end or the other and walking 1000 feet. :D

I had to block Carnival on my phone. Sad but true. :eek:

5 cruises with NCL. I've had one upsell email. That was for the Pearl - Alaska cruise. Got the email 2 days before the cruise started. They wanted $1500 for some sort of suite. I just ignored it for that price.

OP did you ever feel or hear music at nite from spice whether on balcony or inside?

You will hear music from spice if you're on the balcony. Once the door was closed, I heard nothing in the cabin. (cabin #13870)

LUCKYINPA -

I was on the same cruise as OP. I'll try to answer some of your questions.

I suggest British Colonial Hilton. It's a short walk from the pier in Nassau. Just google it and you should be able to figure out where to get the resort passes from. We spent another $10 over the food credit we had. I think $5 of that was extra tip. Food is good, just plan way ahead before you get hungry. Beach is nice. Pool is good. Not much else to do. Their kayaks are broken. Why they were left on the beach if they can't be used... I don't know.

I've been to the space center, but we did an excursion through Royal Caribbean. I suspect NCL has something similar.

I was in 13870 which is also an angled balcony. I didn't remember how tiny the balconies were on Getaway until I was on my angled balcony and could easily see the regular balconies. You'll be happy with this cabin/balcony.

Weather wise... just depends on when you are going. We had great weather this cruise. A bit cold the day before coming back. You're only going to want to be in the pool water when we are in Nassau and even that's iffy.

Just back from breakaway cruise. No one checked my boarding time. I did notice that people show up way too early at this cruise terminal. I think in part this is because of boarding times people were able to choose from. There's not much reason to show up at the cruise terminal before 10:30 am or so. I don't even understand their system for handing out the grouping numbers. I was waiting in the terminal by 10:40 AM with a number 7 group card. I spoke to a lady who got there at 9:30 AM and they gave her group number 25. That makes no sense to me.

I bring my own hole puncher. Take care of all our cards while waiting to get on the ship. I don't want to stand in line while I'm on vacation. :D

This is the last thing I want to read before our cruise on an angled balcony this Sunday.

Planning a cruise for my mom's retirement in '18.

 

Ship ideas? We've been on the Getaway and soon the pearl and escape.

 

Length?

 

Best location? Not going to Australia, Hawaii or Japan.. so cross those off.

 

Toss me some ideas which you had your best experience and best ship you liked! I need some ideas and personal experiences!

New ship Bliss to Alaska?

Thanks! We might try to sprint over that way and take a peak at her since we'll be in town.

Hi all -

What time does Vista leave NYC this Saturday? TIA

I can't remember if it was for the escape cruise or the one on the breakaway but I was able to use a second certificate for it. I signed in online and made a payment using the certificate. This was after I already made it deposit with a certificate.

I suck it up and drink Pepsi. It's not a make or break for my cruise.

Heather I would be interested in knowing more about the ocean view cabin to a balcony upgrade that you got. I am not sure what a meta grade or double meta upgrade are. Did you go from an ocean view to an obstructed balcony? Also, did you book the ocean view room yourself and then contact the number to get the upgrade by redeeming your points, or do you book the trip with the redemption department to begin with?

A meta-upgrade is from inside to Oceanview or Oceanview to balcony. Double meta-upgrade is inside to balcony.

For the Alaska cruise, I was able to book OA and then be upgraded to BA. I believe I originally called the number associated with the rewards points system. They told me if I book the highest level ocean view that I would only be able to receive the lowest level balcony. Which wound up not being true. I booked the highest Oceanview and got the highest level balcony. This was after I was transferred back to a Cruise consultant at Norwegian. I did not book this cruise and then later upgrade the cabin.

For our upcoming escape cruise, I had previously booked the November 5 escape cruise that was later canceled due to a charter. My travel agent was able to talk Norwegian into booking it for April 8 with price protection. I paid a very cheap price for an inside cabin IB. I used 60,000 points to go to a balcony. I called the rewards points phone number to do this. I can't remember if I was later transferred to a cruise consultant at Norwegian but they'll transfer you if needed. For this cruise I was able to go from IB inside to BD balcony. There's really no rhyme or reason to how the upgrades work.

I know you weren't into flying, but honestly a lot of the time it's cheaper to fly and cruise out of Miami than it is to do a cruise out of the northeast corridor. I'd check that out.

I was expecting more... especially down the sides. Too much white space!

I am sure I am not the only one who does not want to be reminded of the cruise that was ruined due to the charter by that company. Telling us it's not even full, is like rubbing salt in our wounds. :mad:

I am an avid fan of Cruise Critic and the NCL boards, been reading them for years. I have only cruised with NCL, so there is no industry comparison for me, but I do travel extensively, one or two cruises yearly along with a land based trip or two, so I do know the value of a dollar. Just because I have a limited number of posts on CC does not mean I am a naïve cruiser or uniformed traveler.

 

My absolute, hands down, bottom line, #1 gripe is with the phrase “Nickel and Dimed.” God how I hate seeing those threads. Before anyone says, “Well don’t read it then,” it is sort of like a train wreck. You do not really want to look but you have to and once you start, it is hard to stop.

 

So let’s hear from you all in CC land. Your #1 B**ch, gripe, groan, moan or complaint. Only the #1 on your hit list please, otherwise I could go on for days about……………………………………………...you get the point.

Before I even read your post, the phrase Nickeled and Dimed came to mind. :D

*Sniffles* I was going to be there in a couple of weeks, but those people selling stomach wraps chartered the Escape and my cruise was canceled. :( It looks so pretty.

Here's our video of our Alaska cruise.

Oh and I'd wait to do Alaska on BLISS!

Help me to convince myself to try an Alaskan cruise!

 

I know my husband will love it! I'm a spring/summer, lay out by the pool, give me a beach anyday, kind of person-

I DO love new experiences and I think I would love it too I really do-But-

 

If you are on an Alaskan cruise what do you do on sea days?

I did read that the casino is open-

What are some must sees? Must dos?

 

Anyone out there who like me loved the islands/sand/waves/warm sun and tried an Alaskan cruise and loved it too?

We spent most of our on the ship time outside in the Great Outdoors area on our recent Alaska cruise. The cruise has so many port stops, it doesn't leave a lot of time on the ship. Highlights from our trip was the bus & train ride in Skagway, Glacier Bay and the pedicab in Victoria, Canada.

A big let down for us was the whale watching excursion booked through NCL. We saw more whales from the cruise ship. I had to book through NCL because private tours don't allow for children. I now know why.... we had what looked to be a husband & maybe 3 wives and umpteen kids on the small boat with us. I thought I was going to push the kid named "Jazzy" overboard. Next time I'd do a glacier excursion.

Would I do Alaska again? Definitely! I'd want a longer cruise though. It went by too fast.

Use it... isn't it expanded all the way with the broken zipper?

:-/ I hate hearing about thing through the grapevine rather than from NCL. Now if I only knew when we were leaving Nassau on our "extra" day there.

Points are worth way more if you use them for upgrades. I cashed in 30,000 points to go from an ocean view cabin to a balcony for our Alaska cruise. That was valued at $900 in savings. Cashed in 60,000 points to go from inside to balcony on our spring break 2017 escape cruise. That was valued at nearly $1900 in savings.