Help, cruise on hold and questions......

[callmebetty]

LOL at "they don't even know a direct flight exists"!!!

 

You can't have breakfast or lunch in Cagney's without a suite. You can have dinner there no matter what type of room you are in but there is a surcharge.

 

Think of embarkation...you walk in, go to the suite area, have some coffee, get escorted around all of the lines, through a curtain behind the desk, and on to the ship, taken up to Cagney's for lunch and then to your room. I love walking onto an empty ship!

If you want reservations, call the concierge and they will make them for you.

 

Apparently, you can call the butler for this handy portable phone they give you from anywhere on the ship (which comes in handy sometimes) and ask him to draw you a bath...I have never done this, but it was listed somewhere as something he/she will do for you if you are so inclined!

 

I think you know which direction I would go in!

[canadianjovigirl]

LOL at "they don't even know a direct flight exists"!!!

 

You can't have breakfast or lunch in Cagney's without a suite. You can have dinner there no matter what type of room you are in but there is a surcharge.

 

Think of embarkation...you walk in, go to the suite area, have some coffee, get escorted around all of the lines, through a curtain behind the desk, and on to the ship, taken up to Cagney's for lunch and then to your room. I love walking onto an empty ship!

If you want reservations, call the concierge and they will make them for you.

 

Apparently, you can call the butler for this handy portable phone they give you from anywhere on the ship (which comes in handy sometimes) and ask him to draw you a bath...I have never done this, but it was listed somewhere as something he/she will do for you if you are so inclined!

 

I think you know which direction I would go in!

 

 

I'm seeing things similar to your way............but should have known there would be so many different answers and opinions which makes me think twice about what i thought i had decided :o

 

You are making it sound very appealing considering we have no clue what is all involved in this cruising vacation - thus why i picked a cruise leaving from Tampa (figured it would be less busy) and the Dawn (figured it would not be as overwheming as some of the larger ships)..........

 

I'm sure we would enjoy the butler and the kids would think the treats etc were awesome............

 

I'm assuming Cagney's is a must do place as everyone keeps mentioning it........

[callmebetty]

Can somebody direct me to where i can find out all the extra costs while on board as my understanding is soda etc is not included and wanting to figure out what i would need for the kids to spend on board and what i figure we would spend on board (not including excursions) as that may help weigh which room i choose...........

 

Regarding soda- I always bring 24 cans of Diet Coke on board. I slap a luggage tag on them and they appear in my room. Last time, our inside stateroom steward emptied out our minibar and stocked them all in there without me asking him to! They serve Pepsi which I am not very fond of. Otherwise, an adult soda card is somewhere around $51 for the cruise.

The arcade is a bit pricey, $1-$2 per game and only requires a room key to be swiped and it's charged. You may want to limit your kids charging privileges because my nephew didn't realize $20 games at $1.50 apiece adds up on his mothers room bill!

Depending on what kind of alcohol you drink- beer is about $28 per bucket of 6, you can get one for 4.50-6.00, mixed drinks are around 8 bucks each including the 15% they add on. Wine can run from 7-12 per glass.

I happen to have my bill from the Gem sitting here so I have some ballpark prices :)

[josephmz]

You are obviously not an impulse buyer.

 

The suite at only $500.00 more is the only way to go. Not certain, but I

assume the suite will be larger than the two cabins combined. The "perks"

are well worth it.

 

As to the soft drink issue, if they drink more than 3/day, the unlimited pass is the way to go.

[canadianjovigirl]

You are obviously not an impulse buyer.

 

The suite at only $500.00 more is the only way to go. Not certain, but I

assume the suite will be larger than the two cabins combined. The "perks"

are well worth it.

 

As to the soft drink issue, if they drink more than 3/day, the unlimited pass is the way to go.

 

Not at all josephmz.............i spend months upon months researching places before we end up there, thus why i am feeling such discomfort with this as i was just browsing and playing around yesterday with the cruise idea and low and behold i have a suite on hold!!!

 

I really havent even looked at all my cruise options on various lines - played around for an hour on RCCL and had a 15 min peak at Disney and then found myself on NCL...............and as they say the rest is history.

[blindrid]

Check how much OBC you get with the balcony/inside combo. The total price when you consider the OBC may make the suite a no-brainer.

 

Exactly what I was thinking. The bad things about the suite is one may get spoiled and never be able to go back to "just" a balcony.

 

You'll enjoy whichever you choose and have fun.

[fast ed]

I just checked both the norweigen and so called "cheap" sites that I use, and all of the cruises out of Tampa on the Dawn to the Caribbean in January, 2014 are currently listed at $429.00 pp for an inside cabin, and $699.00 pp for a balcony cabin. My suggestion to you is not to be concerned about specialty restaurants or other things like butlers etc. at this stage ( first cruise) If you decide you all would be happy together in the room, that's fine. If not, go with the two cabin idea and have a great trip!!! You will find plenty of good food at the various free dining venues onboard.

[canadianjovigirl]

Well i went ahead and booked the suite..............guess sticking with what made me hold it in the first place was the way to go and if not i guess next time we will just have to try something different!!!

 

Guess i can now put this on the back burner until next year, and research while i can and hopefully it will come together to be a great trip and we may become cruise lovers :)

 

I can make changes to my reservation he said so after much more research if i feel the need to at least that opportunity is still there and until then i dont feel like i let a deal slip away.

 

I had no idea what a cruise would cost so guess if i'm happy with the quoted price i will go with it just like i do all our other vacations.

 

Now to figure out what needs to be done in the next year :D

[callmebetty]

The first thing you need to do is make a countdown clock...

Then you prowl the CC boards until it's time to go! It helps if you have an active roll call, it makes it go by just a tiny bit quicker :)

[canadianjovigirl]

The first thing you need to do is make a countdown clock...

Then you prowl the CC boards until it's time to go! It helps if you have an active roll call, it makes it go by just a tiny bit quicker :)

 

 

You make it all sound so easy..............as you have a long list of cruises youve been on!!!

 

No idea on the ticker or that.............

[punkincc]

Well i went ahead and booked the suite..............guess sticking with what made me hold it in the first place was the way to go and if not i guess next time we will just have to try something different!!!

 

Guess i can now put this on the back burner until next year, and research while i can and hopefully it will come together to be a great trip and we may become cruise lovers :)

 

I can make changes to my reservation he said so after much more research if i feel the need to at least that opportunity is still there and until then i dont feel like i let a deal slip away.

 

I had no idea what a cruise would cost so guess if i'm happy with the quoted price i will go with it just like i do all our other vacations.

 

Now to figure out what needs to be done in the next year :D

 

 

Congrats on booking your cruise!! You can cruise the boards in your spare time and find out why we love NCl and freestyle cruising so much!

 

Your date is pretty far out, but someone may have started a Roll Call for your cruise that you can sign on to and meet your fellow cruisers.

 

Keep an eye on the cruise fares, especially closer to the sail date, but before final payment. We were able to book an SJ suite for $1099 per person, about 3 months before sail date, so prices may come down.

[canadianjovigirl]

Congrats on booking your cruise!! You can cruise the boards in your spare time and find out why we love NCl and freestyle cruising so much!

 

Your date is pretty far out, but someone may have started a Roll Call for your cruise that you can sign on to and meet your fellow cruisers.

 

Keep an eye on the cruise fares, especially closer to the sail date, but before final payment. We were able to book an SJ suite for $1099 per person, about 3 months before sail date, so prices may come down.

 

 

Thanks for that info punkincc............but believe it or not NCL rep also told me that but he said i may be able to upgrade and a substantial savings or if we decided to downgrade to 2 cabins to just let him know. I have lots of time so will keep an eye on it.

 

Will spend lots of time on these boards trying to figure all this out and hopefully by departure time i will feel like i have an idea of whats going on.

[callmebetty]

Go to this page - http://boards.cruisecritic.com/f orumdisplay.php?f=434 (or go to the yellow bar near the top of this page, and click on the "Countdown Clocks" link. If you cannot see all the choices, go to this page - http://www.cruisecritic.com/vbulletin/countdown.cfm).

Input all the required information into the form, and choose the picture which you like to appear as part of your countdown clock.

Click the "Create your countdown!" button to generate the code for your clock. The code will appear in the next page.

Copy the code onto your computer's clipboard.

Come back to CC.

Go to your User CP (the link is near the top left hand corner of the page).

Go to Edit Signature (the link is in the list on the left hand side of the page).

Put the cursor to the place in the text entry box with the gray frame where you want the clock to appear.

Paste the UBB code into the text entry box with the gray frame.

Click the Preview Signature button.

Does it look right? If so, click the Save Signature button.

[callmebetty]

As you can see, I have 261 days to go and school has been closed for the past 3 days (and closed tomorrow) so I pass the time here...much more fun than cleaning!

[waverley7]

I know it's early but check out cozumelbarhop.com for your stop there, I have this booked for January and the reviews make it look like alot of fun and a great way to see the other side of the island with time to wander around Cozumel.

 

I like your itinerary and have been to each of the places you are going.

 

You will all probably fall in love with cruising and will not want to do the resorts after this trip! It's addicting!

 

Happy sailing and good luck in your research! :D

[Demonyte]

I think that the choice of suite with that small price difference was definitely the way to go! Only problem you will have is that once you have sailed in a suite on a Freestyle designed NCL ship (Dawn is the first one), you are spoiled for good.

 

We (GF and I) sailed on the Star from Tampa this April in a SJ and it was just great even when we had our cabin directly adjacent to a elevator lobby.

 

As you've been told by the NCL rep, you always have the opportunity to change your booking until the final payment (and upgrade even after that) and that is a good thing to remember. For our repositioning cruise (one odd cruise between winter and summer itineraries/homeports) the more expensive cabins were heavily discounted after the final payment and for example all four owners suites (2 with one and 2 with two bedrooms) were promptly booked by people here on CC. :)

 

About sodas: You can take as much as you like from ashore but be warned that in Tampa the porters won't handle them with the normal baggage (like they do for example in Miami) and you need to haul them onboard yourself.

 

We had a medium size duffel bag full of brewerages (2*12 cans of soda, case of Pellegrino and couple of bottles of wine) and frankly I have to say that without any wheels it was almost a nightmare even though we got to embark among the first passengers and could leave the bag to Cagney's hostess while we had lunch. The waitresses that were assisting directing suite passengers from terminal to Cagney's offered to help me several times but the bag was too heavy for them to handle. :D

 

The fountain soda package for 13yrs and older is currently at $6.25/day/pp plus 15% gratuity so as already said, if they drink more than 3 cans a day, it's worth it. Note that soda package does not cover cans of soda in the mini bar so to get "free" soda after purchasing the package, kids must go to a cafe, a bar or a restaurant to get it.

 

From NCL's website:

Unlimited Fountain Soda

Includes: Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Sierra Mist, Mt. Dew, Ginger Ale, Tonic water, Club Soda.

The entire cruise must be purchased. Non-Refundable.

Prepaid @ $6.25 per person per day x Cruise days plus 15% gratuity

and applicable taxes

Souvenir Thermal mug included in the purchase of the program

[canadianjovigirl]

Thanks everyone................excited to finally have made the decision to try cruising and hope i choose well. I did like the no set dinner times etc as when we are on vacation we dont follow a schedule so who knows when we will be hungry :p

 

I imagine i will just get soda cards and then not have to worry about it. Thanks for the tip about the mini fridge, will be sure nobody touches that as we are used to just helping ourselves to that!!!

 

Lots and lots of researching to do, and not sure if i will get any of that done until 2013 as i am still working out final details for our Cayman Island Christmas trip.

 

I didnt base my choice around ports we were going to, i choice Tampa as i figured it would be an easier place to navigate being our first cruise and then tried to avoid the huge mega ships so we wouldnt be overwhelmed and hopefully there is enough to do on board for everyone.

 

Thanks for all your advice and patience answering questions.......i'm sure i will have a ton more when the real planning begins, for now i am just trying to navigate the boards and read as much as i can :)

 

ohhhhhhhhhhhh and i like to be spoiled so alls good..........

[rajones007]

Congratulations on your booking. You are destined for fun, good times, and adventure.

 

And I think Tampa is a good choice. The port area is nice and clean. But most of all I love the Tampa Airport. I never thought I could use the adjectives "calm" and "relaxing" when describing an airport, but I can when I speak of TPA.

 

Nobody is ever in a hurry and it's never packed with travelers, thus making it an unstressful experience. It's very well laid out and easy to navigate. It's big enough to have all the modern amenities, but not so big it's a huge mess of gates and long walkways and escalators and checkpoints and masses of people all thrown together into an area with a similar layout as an unfinished jigsaw puzzle (like, say, Toronto!). If I had to pick a favourite airport, it would be TPA.

[hammsz]

the biggest thing no one is talking about besides having the bathrooms (one in each room) is opening and closing the door at night, Perks are cool and great, comes with the extra tipping for sure, get the kids the inside across the hall. They might want to play hide and go seek with all the other teenagers in the middle of the night, you dont want them coming back in the room at 330am and waking you up.

[ksimpso3]

Our first family cruise was on the Dawn in 2005 . Our girls were 17 and 16 at the time. We had a mini suite and the girls slept on pull-out couch. It was tight at times, and only one bathroom was a problem sometimes, but overall it worked well. We did put the girls in an inside room across the hall from us the following year, but I was too nervous not having total "control" over where they were at any given time.;) (having teens wonder freely with their own room is sometimes nerve-wracking!) I absolutely think you made the right decision with your suite. The Dawn is a great ship also!! We are sailing her again in January. My girls were too old for the kids club but they did manage to find a few other teens and they spent most of the time on the ship hanging out with them. We cruised in early October so there were not too many on board. I think you will be hooked!! We were!:)

[canadianjovigirl]

Can somebody lead me in the right direction so i can find out what activities are offered on board or is that something you dont find out until on the ship??

[EaglesWin]

Can somebody lead me in the right direction so i can find out what activities are offered on board or is that something you dont find out until on the ship??

 

Check here: http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1670614

 

You will find PDFs of the "Freestyle Daily" for the Dawn that is put out each day listing the activities.

[nosekh]

Thanks for the input on my choice, it was not really intentional i was just researching and this is what happens :D

 

I did get the price of $3500 from him for a balcony and a inside cabin - seems there are no regular balcony rooms that you are talking about to come to the $2500. Can you really cruise for that price for a family of 4 for a week????

 

My kids will be 13 and 15 when we cruise, so hoping there is enough on the ship for them.

 

So there is really no benefit to book early then? I guess the specials will change all the time so who knows when the perfect time to book is.......sigh......

 

Can somebody lead me in the right direction on read up on the tipping aspect as i would not want to get that wrong. Wanting an idea of who and how much to tip those not included in the charge that you can add on and prepay.

OMG ...your kids will love it...stop worrying,,,have cruised 10 times with various cruise lines and my kids have always loved it!!!

Keep going back to NCL website and keep checking the price...they will not tell you if the price goes down....so keep checking..if its lower call up your NCL dude and tell him.

Have a great cruise...from one canadian to another...also Jovi fan:D:D:D