mscloyd

So much to see and do in Alaska you could easily find many things to do no matter how many days you fly in early.

No sure about evening but we walked over to Bayside Marketplace first thing the morning of our cruise in 2020 and got tickets for a boat tour of the millionaires homes. It was really nice. Had breakfast on the water while waiting for the boat. Still got to the ship around noonish.

Don't miss Glacier Bay! It is the Quintessential Alaska postcard. The one where you see a cruiseship floating amidst several large glaciers. For a first-time Alaska trip I would definitely make sure to include it. And while I'm at it, if you can book a one-way and spend a few days seeing Denali National Park and Kenai Fjords National Park you will not regret it! Now that is the real Alaska! (I cruised in 2004 with a short land tour and dreamed about it for years so went back in 2021 for 10-days land only!).

They have done the same thing on other itineraries elsewhere. The March 11 NCL Joy Western Caribbean just cancelled their stop in Roatan and substituted Bimini. Citing the same message above. And it was just announced a few days before the cruise. Nothing you can do about that. I get that they want to be as eco friendly as possible, but people are not going to be happy if they get the reputation for changing itineraries all the time after final payment!

I will be there next month and will keep my eye out for it.

I used our free minutes to make calls and text through Whatsapp also. Whatsapp is easy, you download it ahead of time, invite the people you want to keep in contact with so they can download the app also. Then when you want to make a call, log onto your free wifi and open the app and either call or text those people. You can't call people who don't use Whatsapp. I didn't try the wifi calling, but have used it when I was in foreign countries and used the hotel wifi and it worked fine. In theory I don't see any reason it wouldn't work. But I will tell you that the free wifi on the ship wasn't as reliable as say a hotel wifi. Even using whatsapp, sometimes the call wouldn't go through or I would have to call 2-3 times to finish a conversation. Most of the time it was fine though for a few minutes conversation. If you must have reliable phone service I would check your phone company to see if they offer anything and then check with the cruiseline to see if your ship offers the newer Starlink wifi. I know a lot of people travel and pay a lot of money to have streaming capabilities so they will have more reliable service.

Spit out my coffee laughing out loud.

Wow I read through the boards quite a bit and had never read this which is why I shared it. I waited up until midnight on Christmas Day to book only to find it unavailable. My bad...

Just sharing information here. I kept reading that you could pre-book entertainment at 90 days but it still wasn't available. I called NCL and was told that they stopped Pre-Booking during covid and have not resumed it.

Thank you! I didn't think there would be a problem getting one to go back to the port but wasn't sure about going somewhere else.

We have booked Mr. Sancho AI in March 2023. Had hoped to book a dolphin excursion in Roatan but it isn't going to work out so now want to add that in Cozumel. Dolphinarus doesn't show anything available yet and also doesn't have the experience that we are looking for so our only option is Chankanaab. Ship docks at 8 so we would take a taxi and should be able to make the 10:00 dolphin experience. Would spend a little time checking out Chankanaab and will then need to get to Mr. Sancho. Will we have any problems finding a taxi to take us in the middle of the day?

In 2020 we ate at Cagneys (I rate that #1 of the 3), Teppanyaki (#2 - fun but not really unlike what we can easiely and fairly inexpensively have at home), and Moderno (my #3 - have eaten at 2 Brazilian BBQ places before and it was a disappointment in comparison). This was all on the Escape. For our upcoming trip will definitely go to Cagneys but haven't decided on our second one. Everyone seems to rave about Le Bistro but I don't really enjoy french foods and don't like much seafood so probably won't choose that one.

When NCL first removed their testing requirements to cruise there was still a country requirement to be tested for Honduras. But now that has also been removed so I don't believe there are any requirements. But the Honduras websites still say that vaccines and/or testing is required to enter. Maybe just slow to update?

Good to know! We are already in a BB on deck 11 so could upgrade to a BA if there were connecting cabins available. I will definitely check into it.

I booked in January 2022 for a March 2023 cruise. Between January and May 2022 I found 7 price reductions! Each time was between $100‐$200 per cabin (we have 2 cabins). This promo is still higher. Guess it depends on when you booked. My final payment coming up soon but I will keep watching...