Live from the Dawn, Jan 28 - Feb 8, in the Caribbean followed by a Disney Adventure

[Ken the cruiser]

The Excursion Desk closed for the evening a little while ago before I could ask my question. So I’ll ask it here.

 

The excursion we pre-booked for Puerto Plata was canceled due to lack of interest and the refund was posted to our shipboard account. We then used the App today to book a new excursion, which of course we didn’t get the FAS $50 discount because it wasn’t booked prior to the cruise. We get that. However, we also didn’t get the 10% Latitudes excursion discount for being Platinum. Then my DW found this on the Latitudes Rewards Program Review segment on the NCL website.

 

⁴ Shore excursion discounts are not reflected in the shopping section of My NCL on ncl.com. You will see the discount in the shopping cart and upon check out in My NCL on ncl.com. In order to receive your shore excursion discounts on board, please identify yourself as a Latitudes Rewards member and present your key card in person to the shore excursion desk at the time of purchase.

 

Since we discovered this requirement after the Excursions Desk closed this evening, here is our question:

 

Will they apply the 10% discount after we get back from the excursion - or - do we need to get down there at 7 am tomorrow when they open and see if they will apply it before the excursion - or - are we just out of luck because we chose to book it through the App rather than booking it at the Excursion Desk?
 

Anyone have any experience with this particular issue? 

[odie1024]

1 hour ago, Ken the cruiser said:

The Excursion Desk closed for the evening a little while ago before I could ask my question. So I’ll ask it here.

 

The excursion we pre-booked for Puerto Plata was canceled due to lack of interest and the refund was posted to our shipboard account. We then used the App today to book a new excursion, which of course we didn’t get the FAS $50 discount because it wasn’t booked prior to the cruise. We get that. However, we also didn’t get the 10% Latitudes excursion discount for being Platinum. Then my DW found this on the Latitudes Rewards Program Review segment on the NCL website.

 

⁴ Shore excursion discounts are not reflected in the shopping section of My NCL on ncl.com. You will see the discount in the shopping cart and upon check out in My NCL on ncl.com. In order to receive your shore excursion discounts on board, please identify yourself as a Latitudes Rewards member and present your key card in person to the shore excursion desk at the time of purchase.

 

Since we discovered this requirement after the Excursions Desk closed this evening, here is our question:

 

Will they apply the 10% discount after we get back from the excursion - or - do we need to get down there at 7 am tomorrow when they open and see if they will apply it before the excursion - or - are we just out of luck because we chose to book it through the App rather than booking it at the Excursion Desk?
 

Anyone have any experience with this particular issue? 

We usually book a majority of our excursions once we are on the ship and have always received the $50.00 off once the excusrsion is completed.  I did this as recent as October when I did a Panama Canal cruise and had not booked anything before boarding. The latitudes rewards excursion discount has never appeared so I have always had to go to the Shore Excursion desk to have them apply it.

[Ken the cruiser]

14 minutes ago, odie1024 said:

We usually book a majority of our excursions once we are on the ship and have always received the $50.00 off once the excusrsion is completed.  I did this as recent as October when I did a Panama Canal cruise and had not booked anything before boarding. The latitudes rewards excursion discount has never appeared so I have always had to go to the Shore Excursion desk to have them apply it.

That is good to know. We’re going to head down to the Excursion Desk tomorrow morning around 7 am when they open to get our 10% added as well as hopefully the $50 too. Thanks! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived at Amber Cove in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic! The Carnival Celebration is docked next to us.

 

 

 

We’re going on a NCL excursion around the town today.

  

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 4 - Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic  

 

 

 

 

 

[jimbri]

Wonderful review and photos!

[Ken the cruiser]

We got up early this morning and headed to the Excursion Desk and like others have suggested it wouldn’t have not been an issue to go there after we got back from our tour to have our 10% Latitudes discount applied. But she added the 10% discount while we stood there as well as confirmed the $50 FAS excursion perk would be applied to our account once we completed the tour! Thanks everyone!

[Ken the cruiser]

We had a fun time on our excursion which turned out to be a 5 hour tour! Our tour bus was about 85% full, but as usually there were a few extra seats in the back of the bus where we like to sit. 😁

 

 
Our first stop was the Amber Museum, which was fascinating to see various small critters and plants captured in the amber.

 

 

 

 

 
In the museum they also had a section associated with growing and drying the tobacco to ultimately made DR cigars. I did not know the process took 4 years!

 

 

 
Of course we had to walk through the gift shop where this little guy caught my eye, but unfortunately I forget to check the price.

 

 

Next stop was the General Luperon Museum.

 

 

 

 

 
Then it was time for our visit to the Macorix House of Rum. I apologize for not taking more pictures of the rum tasting area. I was doing double duty by having to drink my DW’s six samples of different rum along with mine! 😁
  

  

 
Then off we went on a walk to visit the famous Umbrella and Pink alleys.

 

 
I couldn’t resist taking a picture of the beautiful parrot along our walk between the two alleys.

 

  

 

 
Then we walked over to an open square where we caught up again with our bus.

 

 

As you can see, the elusive Puerto Plata pigeon was a little easier to find here. 😂

 

 

Along our ride back before leaving Puerto Plata, we stopped to take some pictures of Fort San Felipe which was built in 1577.

 

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

And we’re off again. Next stop St Thomas, Virgin Islands tomorrow around 11 am or so. Thought the field of wind turbines looked pretty cool as we were leaving! 😁

  

 

[Ken the cruiser]

This evening after a very tasty dinner in Le Bistro, we then headed to the early show in the Stardust Theater to watch comedian Anthony LeDonne.

  

 
Then we were off to the Ultra Bliss Lounge at the other end of the ship to watch the game show Wheel of Ill Will. One thing about the 8 pm game shows in the Ultra Bliss Lounge, they usually have a full house every night!

 

 

[Norwaylady]

So late to the party.... But what a start!

Looking forward to follow the rest of your adventure😎

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

4 hours ago, Norwaylady said:

So late to the party.... But what a start!

Looking forward to follow the rest of your adventure😎

 

Hi there again! I would imagine it’s probably a little warmer here than in Norway right now! 😁

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re getting close to arriving at St Thomas. Should be there in another 90 minutes or so.
  
 
And it looks like we won’t have the port to ourselves today! 😂
 

 

Here’s what we’re doing today in St Thomas.

  

  

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

Day 5 - Feb 1 - St Thomas, US Virgin Islands

  

  

 

 

 

[Ken the cruiser]

We have arrived in St Thomas, with the NCL Encore right behind us!

  

  

 

[NJLVW]

I am so enjoying your day to day review. Thank you so much for taking us along on your journey. It makes it easier to pass the time until my cruise day is here. 

[Ken the cruiser]

We just got back from a fun day at the wildlife rescue center learning and looking at a variety of land and sea creatures! It also got us more excited about going to the Galapagos in December! 😁

 

Here are some of the wildlife we saw.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Went to a sea lion presentation which was quite informative.

 

 

 

 

 

We went to the undersea observatory which was quite fascinating. If you look close, you can see the antennas of a crab.

 

 

  

 

 

 

  

 

The Caribbean Reef Encounter exhibit

 

  

 

 

Edited February 1, 2023 by Ken the cruiser

[Norwaylady]

7 hours ago, Ken the cruiser said:

Hi there again! I would imagine it’s probably a little warmer here than in Norway right now! 😁

brrr 🥶🥶🥶 -5 Celsius but feels like -8😅

So I’m more then happy to take your place😎

[massfamilyof4]

Thank you so much for your amazing review! We will be boarding next Wednesday as you are disembarking. Seems so far away!

 

Can I ask you if you have seen cornhole boards anywhere onboard? Several guys in our group of 13 are huge Cornhole players and would bring their bags if so. I have not been able to figure it out.

 

Would greatly appreciate your response! Enjoy your time!!

[Ken the cruiser]

2 hours ago, massfamilyof4 said:

Thank you so much for your amazing review! We will be boarding next Wednesday as you are disembarking. Seems so far away!

 

Can I ask you if you have seen cornhole boards anywhere onboard? Several guys in our group of 13 are huge Cornhole players and would bring their bags if so. I have not been able to figure it out.

 

Would greatly appreciate your response! Enjoy your time!!

I’ll keep an eye out in the Daily’s for any Cornhole contests plus I’ll try to figure out who to ask, and I’ll let you know if I find out anything. 

[massfamilyof4]

40 minutes ago, Ken the cruiser said:

I’ll keep an eye out in the Daily’s for any Cornhole contests plus I’ll try to figure out who to ask, and I’ll let you know if I find out anything. 

Thank you so much! 

[Ken the cruiser]

Tonight while waiting for Cagney’s to open, I took a picture of the bay after the sun had set.

 

 
Then after a very tasty dinner in Cagney’s, we headed over to watch the Duo Forte acrobatic show in the Stardust Theater.

 

 
We were there when the doors opened, as there was only one show tonight for fear of rough seas around 9 pm, so we got a couple of pretty good seats.

 

 
But the best part of the evening was when we went to watch the hilarious Lipsync Battle. It was the best “game show” we’ve seen so far in the Ultra Bliss Lounge! 😂

 

 

 

 
Afterwards at 9 the production show singers provided the entertainment to a fully packed Ultra Bliss Lounge. Many of whom stuck around after the Lipsync Battle.

 

 

 
One last note. Today by accident we discovered there are at least 3 different pier areas (we think) in the St Thomas area, one for Carnival ships (Cruz Bay), one for Royal Caribbean Group ships (Charlotte Amalie West), and one for NCL ships (Downtown St Thomas). So if you ever cruise on ships affiliated with these different cruise companies and wonder why they might offer different excursions, this might be a good reason why.

 

 

[padisneyfan]

Oh my gosh you have the back of my head in your picture from the star dust Theatre.  LOL

Edited February 2, 2023 by padisneyfan

[padisneyfan]

For some reason it attached all those pictures to my post.  Sorry about that

[Ken the cruiser]

We’re going to hopefully see today, but does anyone know if you are Platinum and upgrade your free FAS minutes, in our case 150 min, to unlimited, do they apply the 15% discount off the upgrade charge when you purchase it prior to boarding the ship?