lauritagoddess

So good to know it’s the sail date, thanks! Anyone else have an opinion on the arcades? I know that they’re mostly not great, and are way overpriced, but it’s something that both kids love and it would make this trip easier for all of us if they had something they can enjoy doing together part of the time.

So now I’m confused again since the responses above implied completion date rather than sail date. I guess I should call Royal Caribbean to clarify, but I’ve been given inconsistent information from them before. Ugh.

We didn’t purchase the certificates. They were given to use as a goodwill gesture by Royal Caribbean because of a screw up on their end. We were issued the certificates on 1/8/24. The certificates state “Cruise must be taken by 01/08/2025”. This is why it’s not clear to me.

We have future cruise certificates that say that the cruise must be taken by 1/8/25. Does that mean that the cruise must depart no later than 1/8/25, or that the entire cruise must be completed by 1/8/25? Also, which ships do you think have the best arcades? Two of us have kids (one a young teenager the other a young adult) with autism and love arcades, so it is something we’d like to take into consideration. Thanks!

Oh, and the obstructed view I booked is one of the sideways cabins. It seems like it’s a little roomier or at least looks that way, and I like that the window is on side rather than behind the beds.

I bit the bullet and booked the obstructed oceanview. It would have been cheaper to do the inside, but I felt like we needed some natural light. I also saw a video on YouTube where a couple had an obstructed oceanview on the Dawn and said that they could just run down one flight of stairs to deck 7 and have the promenade to have the outdoors, and I figured the same for the Star.

I did check our port times and most of them are pretty early, in our previous cruises on NCL, we’ve done balcony and mini suite. On another line, we’ve done inside and oceanview with two small porthole windows. The oceanview with the portholes was for a cruise that was slightly longer than this one, but the inside was only a few days. I feel like I want some light, so oceanview, but I also want to save money. Would it be too much to be in an inside cabin for 14 days. I didn’t feel claustrophobic when I did an inside, but it was a little disconcerting not having sun to wake up and having no idea what time it was. I feel like I’m leaning now towards obstructed, but I’m still not sure, lol.

That’s good advice, I’m going to check the port arrival times.

Lol, this is exactly why I’m having trouble deciding what to do.

I’m planning to book the 14 day to Iceland, Greenland and Canada next July on the Star. I usually like balconys, but with it being colder where we’re going, I don’t think it would be worth having one, although having a balcony would mean we’d have a sofa which would be really nice on this long a cruise, to have a place to sit other than the beds. But the difference in case between Inside or Oceanview and balcony, is a lot. I had been looking at obstructed oceanview cabins, but have been going round and round with this. Would we be okay for 14 days in an inside or an obstructed view cabin? There will be a scenery that would be great to be able to see from our own cabin which would make a picture window oceanview much better, but it’s pricier than the other options. I want to have money for the shore excursions in Iceland and for a post cruise stay in Reykjavík. So, do you think we’d be okay for 14 days in an inside or an obstructed view? Especially on a cruise with beautiful scenery outside some of the time? Thanks for any input.

Thank you, that’s all extremely helpful.

I’m considering booking an obstructed cabin. I’ve googled and checked this site and YouTube and cruise deck plans, and I’m still not sure what to do. Is the sound of the boats being lowered for tenders really loud? Do the crew walk by all the time? Are the sideways rooms better than the regular obstructed ones? If anyone has any experience or recommendations for specific cabins I’d appreciate it. On and I thought the cabins with by the small lifeboats would be best, but unfortunately those are already booked. Thanks.