oLEEander

Thanks will pass the info along.

Are the “rangers” that come on board to provide the nature commentary actual np rangers? If so do they come with the park stamps? We have a few rabid national park stamp collector’s in our group, and I’m sure someone will be asking me soon.

Similar experience as Vacation44.  Booked 7cabins but 2 were excluded as the designation of those 2 cabins ended with a #. The staterooms were all balconies on the same floor and adjacent to each other. One of which was a connecting state room and specifically booked because of this configuration. We even contacted corporate headquarters as the sale did not mention these booking exclusions.  Basically told sorry about the confusion… just change rooms.  I believe this a way to control passenger #’s as we now have 5 cabins which could hold 3 or 4 passengers occupied by 2.

Thanks all feeling a bit better about this idea. Anyone recall about what time the all clear for disembarking occurred?

Trying to work out logistics for a private excursion at 11:15 in Hamilton. So does the  Escape have forward and aft  disembarking stations once in port.? How early have they started disembarking? How bad have the ferry and or bus lines been lately?  I  know how chaotic it was on the jewel class at times and I can only imagine how bad it could be with nearly 2,000 more passengers. I searched in ports of call Bermuda but couldn’t find any answers to these questions.

One bit of advice I haven’t seen mentioned is if you have a large group for a cabin crawl it helps to break up the touring group into two parts. Have one group start at the top cabins and the other at the lower cabins . Each group has a “herder” to keep everyone focused  and on track without overwhelming the staterooms, stairs and elevators. That way the cabin hosts know when the last of the crawlers have passed through and they can lock up. 

Sorry bad connection dbl post.

We had a group cruise of 26 iirc with 8 cabins. Each cabin received a bottle of wine, a free private cocktail party for 1 hour for the group, and a free 8x10 photo. Most of us chose our group photo for the freebie. Our TA had prebooked all of these, so would assume this was how our points were spent as I never saw the docs you have. I suggest chatting up your pcc to figure out the best options for your group.

Hi All,

 

I have been trying to pay for an upgrade from connecting ocean view cabins to connecting balcony cabins on a cruise in October, unfortunately there are no connecting cabins left. I have been told by my TA that we are on a "waitlist" should I hold my breath for the upgrade even though I am happy to pay for it??

On our very first Dawn cruise we booked an OV as all balconies were already sold out. This was about 9 months out. Our TA had us wait listed for the upgrade. We got the call about 2 weeks out, but by that time we had resigned ourselves to the OV, and turned the offer down. We' d had some unexpected expenditures a tv, dishwasher, and fridge all went kaput within 3 weeks. :eek: we needed the cruise.

Depends on what you consider convenient. When we did the GEM April of 2012 we met a couple from the same area as us. They took the bus to the terminal and we drove. When we got off the ship we got our bags, went to our car and headed home. Their bus wasn't leaving until 2 or 3 in the afternoon. We were 1/2 way home before they even boarded the bus. That, to me, is convenient and worth every single dollar spent on parking.

I think it all depends on your destination. Most buses to nj (where I am) run every 30 min., or so. Everyone mileage and timetable will vary. They will need to check the schedule of their local bus line.

Thank you for the reply and help. Do you know how long before my cruise I need to call in to get the OBC?

I recently converted my 25,000+ pts to cash back and it took 3 days to appear in my bank account. I used the cash option as I'd heard reports awhile ago of obc which became lost. This problem may have been corrected since than but as I had accrued enough points it was easier for me to do the cash back. For less than 25,000 pts. purchasing obc is the better option. I would make hard copies of any obc purchasing transaction in case a problem occurs.

Im not exactly sure what your asking but I purchase a coupon for each member of out family using their name. Right now there is also a 5 pct discount. Not much but better in my pocket.

Thanks I just wanted to be sure that the coupons would not be automatically issued in the name of the person paying .

With the search feature down I can't find if this has been answered before. If I order two coupons will I get two separate confirmations and be able to split them between two cabins. I'd like to purchase one for my son, but don't want to get stuck with a 2nd unusable coupon since I don't have another cruise planned on this ship within the next few months. Hope that makes sense.

The only dailies I've found for the 9 day sails are here.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=41177159&postcount=49

Thanks for posting them Puddles

We did a family cruise a few years ago. We had 25 in our group with ages from 18 months to 72. While I only had experience on one other cruise line, others in the party had cruised a number of other lines. We all agreed after the cruise was over that NCL was the best choice for our family cruise. Freestyle cruising is key when you're dealing with multiple families and a variety of age groups. It's much easier to make plans to fit your schedule, rather than trying to get everyone to adapt to a set cruise line schedule. We also agreed that we didn't have to do everything together so I believe we only all ate together twice,and then we ate at adjacent tables as it was a last minute decision.

We had to drag the kids out of the kids club. As others have said NCL is strict about the age groups luckily all the kids paired up in the different groups so they all had a buddy to start off with. The older ones are still in contact with the kids they met in their groups.

I usually book direct when cruising, but we used a travel agent who specialized in group bookings. We each received a welcome wine pkg., we had a private 1 hour cocktail party, and each cabin received a free photo voucher. We had a great family photo taken on one of the staircases.

Our family cruise is one of my favorite cruise memories. I hope yours is as wonderful as ours was.

From a marketing perspective I think they figure that there are still enough people who haven't done the CT yet and are interested in trying the menu that everyone's talking about.

 

And maybe they've stocked enough mango spheres and goat cheese tartlets in the NCL freezer to last until 2025.

Count me as one of the few folks who has yet to do the CT. I hope to change that statistic on my up coming cruise. So I hope you all can hold off requesting a menu change till I catch up. :rolleyes:

I'm confused as to why this is such a problem. It's an excursion that does not provide a meal. You have ample notice that foods which meet your dietary/medical needs are not available, in the area you'll be visiting. You just make alternate acceptable plans. We have someone in our group who also has celiac, and I can't imagine she would even consider consuming anything while on shore unless she was guaranteed content, and how it was prepped. A situation very unlikely to occur on the islands we'll be visiting. I expect she'll have a variety of sealed snack packs, and shelf stable food packs to bring along on our shore excursions. This is no different than dealing with different dining venues at home some may be gluten free compliant and others not so much. This time the op will be in the realm of not so much.

I've had the same number all along. Booked first two cruises through TAs ( different ones each time), the rest through PCCs. I've even gotten the HSN obc with out generating a new number. All of our bookings were done via a phone call so perhaps that may account for our luck so far.

Hmmm...I wonder if the bar service waiters venture up there.

It's one of the few areas where the bar staff does not have to serve. On the other hand they'll be happy to tell you who's willing to deliver orders there. Some of the bar staff find it hard to contain their amusement after they've returned from the freestyle deck.

Hi All,

 

Ok I have a question for one of you...One of my CC board members is gluten free...Who is the maitre'd they need to contact Him so she will not get sick...

 

Pete

Pete not sure who this is on the Epic. We once traveled on the Dawn with my niece who has severe allergies . There was a note in the cabin waiting for my sister explaining who she had to meet with and an on board phone # to arrange that meeting. Thankfully we didn't have one allergy related incident while sailing but had made contact before our sail date via our travel agent to insure we wouldn't. Hopefully the person you're inquiring on behalf of, has done all the preliminary contact necessary to have all their gluten free food ordered and ready for the sail date. If they haven't by now I believe they'll find it much more difficult to customize their diet when on board. If they don't find a letter in their cabin addressing their problem I would contact someone in the Food and Beverage Dept onboard. I'm sure they would know exactly who is the correct person to contact.

Add me to the growing list of BOA card holders in search of missing points.

My Dec. statement (12/20) showed 999 pts. Missed the 1000 pts.that month with a late posting purchase.

I charged $1,427.63 (non ncl) between 12/21 thru 12/31. $300 of which did not post till 1/03. 1,427.63 x .03 = 42.82 or 43 points, or even subtracting the late posting $300 it would still work out to at the very least an additional 34 points.

The minimum combined points total should have totaled 1033 pts. which should have resulted in 2 - $500 certificates and a useless 1 category upgrade.

All I got was the useless upgrade certificate. My letter is composed and ready to mail to the Tryon address tomorrow hopefully this will be straightened out before my final payment in July! One bit of good news they got the stupid World Points correct on the 12/20- 1/20 statement, though I have no plans to use them.