Lily5083

This may be a little off topic but still very much related. I just logged in to MyNcl account and discovered something new.

 

I currently have two bookings with NCL. One for January 2016 and the second for January 2017. My 2016 reservation has remained the same (as in appearance) while my 2017 reservation has changed. As I stated in an earlier post I have my reservations locked in CAD and happy with that. I noticed that my 2017 reservation is now displaying in Canadian funds. Here are screenshots of both. Notice the upper right hand portion of the second shot. It is my 2017 reservation and it has changed what it shows. It has also changed all pricing within the reservation. All prices are showing in CAD as well. This is new to me. Has anybody elso noticed this as well?

Just tried logging into my NCL, and I have the same message as well: All prices shown in CAD. I like that, it means I can see the actual price rather than doing conversions in my head, and perhaps means we can purchase things online in CAD rather than calling NCL?

My exchange rate (~2 weeks ago) was $1.11. My PCC said I have locked in that exchange rate for my cabin, regardless of what happens, which is a huge relief given how well our dollar is doing right now ;)

In response to Saraphine:

The main tips I can think of have already been covered; pre-pay gratuities and shore excursions, get some OBC, essentially pre-pay as much as you can before the trip.

For shore excursions, I believe you have to call NCL and book over the phone in order to pay in CAD. Or if you have a PCC, through them.

Based on my research, you are correct in your assumption that anything spend above the OBC gets charged to your credit card, and that any leftover OBC should be refunded to the original method of payment. I might be incorrect about that however.

Hello

Big question: Has anyone else had this happen? I did take pics of it. Also would any other Canadians suggest transfering it to a Travel agent here in Canada. Is there anyother benefits for doing this.

I used a PCC to book our cruise (in CAD$). I've used two different travel agents in the past, and speaking from my personal experience only, we received no extra perks from booking through a TA, and the TA didn't do anything I could not have done myself. I found that my TA would take awhile to respond to emails, and didn't work evenings or weekends, so if a price drop happened during those times, or was only there briefly, we would have missed getting the lower price. That was a big reason I chose to book directly through NCL ... you could call anytime. Therefore, my opinion is that there's no benefit to switching your booking to a TA, but perhaps if you find someone offering a good incentive to use them, or a significantly cheaper price it might be.

The price on my next trip has only gone up since booking, so I can't comment on the price drop not being recognized, sorry.

Does anyone know what NCL's current exchange rate is? (Canadian - USD)

I booked ~ 2 weeks ago through NCL and the exchange rate was 1.11. I just checked with myNCL to purchase onboard credit, and it is showing $50 OBC for $55.56 CAD. Not sure if that means the exchange rate is still 1.11, or if I locked in that exchange rate at the time of booking.

I can confirm that it is. We put our deposit down last week, and were able to book in CAD directly through NCL. NCL has the same exchange rate as RCCL, 1.10. Muuuuch better than the current CAD exchange rate :)

To the best of my understanding, when you put your deposit down, that locks in the rate, which also should protect us if the dollar drops even further. My PCC recommended also pre-paying gratuities and shore excursions, as that would allow us to pay in CAD using their exchange rate, whereas if you wait and pay on the cruise, it goes through your credit card at whatever the current exchange rate is at that time.

Which implies Alaska, Hawaii, and any American living "overseas" or out of the country. I understand it may have been a joke, but with new sales possibly starting on April 1st for real, the post just confuses people.

Ah, thanks for clearing that up! You guys have so many states down there, I didn't realize that wasn't the right number :o

Not really port related, but apparently the Getaway sets off fireworks one night during the cruise. From what I've read on the boards, if you want to watch them from your balcony, it's better to be on the port side. :)

Hi Everyone,

We decided to splurge and get a balcony cabin on our upcoming cruise on the Getaway, and I booked 9278 because from the deck plans it looked like it was one of the "secret" angled balcony cabins. I've researched the angled balcony cabins, and while I could not find a specific reference to this cabin (or cabin 9878 - the starboard side equivalent), the cabins in the same area on decks 10 and 11 were confirmed to have angled balconies.

When putting the deposit down however, my PCC kept telling me that cabin 9278 did not have an angled balcony, and that we'd be better off in the room next door (9280), because then our view would not be partially obstructed by the other cabins jutting out (which he claims is what the diagram shows for cabin 9278). I've been trying to look into it, and I can't find a thread or anything on google that specifically mentions our cabin.

Can anyone confirm if cabin 9278 on the getaway (or breakaway) is an angled balcony?

My apologies if I'm missing something (or am just a bit daft), but could someone further explain the "resident" sale that might be happening on April 1st? I can't tell if it is actually a possible sale, or if it is just an April fools prank :confused:

Do you think being on Deck 10, slightly aft, we would notice the ship motion? That is definitely a concern for me after our last cruise.

Thank you so much for all the replies so far though!

Hi everyone,

We are looking to book a cruise on the Getaway in May 2016 (Western Caribbean), and are struggling to decide between two rooms. I could really use some advice. The first option is to book a mid-ship ocean view stateroom on deck 5, and they have cabins right at the middle of the ship available ($859pp). The second option, which is only $180 more total for 2 people incl taxes, is to book a regular balcony room up on deck 10. There is a balcony room available that is right next to a room that's labelled as mid-ship balcony.

Which would you recommend? I know the price difference is very little to upgrade to a balcony, however we are going with a group of 8, so I am not sure how much we will use it. Also, when we were on RCCL Freedom of the Seas last year with an indoor cabin at the very back of the ship (on deck 9 or 10 I believe), I could feel the movement of the ship quite a bit and found it difficult to fall asleep. When I was on the Royal Princess before that we were deck 8 or 9 mid-ship and did not have any issues (although it may not be equal to compare summer in Europe to January in the Caribbean).

Following! Your review so far has been absolutely amazing :) We'll be booking the Getaway for spring 2016, after debating between it and Anthem of the Seas.

We had him on our Jan cruise. While I thought his activities director Belle was better, he seemed fine to me. He was awesome during the love and marriage game show, but would have liked him to slow down a little during the Quest! Felt like we were doing a lightning round for the whole game.

Note:the only note of comparison is Princess, where I never even noticed our CD the entire cruise.

The pool itself is not covered, however the back row of loungers on both sides of the pool are under a mesh of some type that provides shade.

I found the retreat pool to be very quiet. It was amazing to see the difference in noise level between the main pool and the retreat. You can't even hear the movies when they are playing on the main pool screen.

The only downsides I found with the retreat pool was that the loungers tended to fill up quickly on sea days, so it could be tricky to find 2 loungers together in the afternoon, and that because the middle area is uncovered, if it was a windy day, you really felt it. Granted, said windy day was windy enough to cancel our tendering in Mykonos, so that may not be the case for less severe winds.

Interesting question and despite having literally spending years on over 65 different cruise ships we had never thought about it (waffles in the MDR). But after reading the question it occurred to me that many cruise lines do not offer waffles in their MDR, but nearly all have them in their Lido buffets. I love waffles, but want them right out of the waffle iron when they are hot and not like rubber. In the MDR that probably is not going to happen (even if they had it on the menu). Even in the buffets they will sometimes "stockpile" finished waffles on a heat table....which we refuse. When we want a waffle we ask for them right out of the waffle iron (yummy).

 

Hank

When I was on the Royal Princess in the summer the waffles were being grabbed faster than they could make them, so you were always getting fresh waffles :) I also saw someone ask for a fresh waffle, and the staff just gave them the waffle that was being cooked as soon as it finished. This was at horizon court though, not in the MDR.

When we were on her a month ago it was just certain cocktails that were 50% off, namely the one's without the premium alcohol I believe (the ones near the front of the book). Wine/ beer were not included in the deal.

Hi,

 

Just a few questions for our cruise in April. Do they have luggage valet, where you don't see your luggage until after you arrive to your home airport? ( putting it out the night before)

Have there been any issues with debarkation not running smoothly.. ( lack of immigration workers)? Is there a soda package? Pop Choir songs change?

Thanks!

 

Btw even after 32 cruises, I read and appreciate all the reviews :)

Not sure about the luggage valet, but there is an inclusive non-alcoholic package that includes all sodas, juices, smoothies, etc. Not sure if there is an option for just soda, but I had the non-alcoholic package and it was completely worth it. The bar beside Princess Live makes the best hot chocolates!

Depends where you are debarking from on whether or not everything runs smoothly. We disembarked in Venice and everything was very efficient. Can't comment on procedures for her Caribbean sailings though.

We were just on FOS a few weeks ago, and I only remember seeing 2 or 3 3D shows over the course of the week. They for sure had the latest superman movie, and Turbo. There might have been one other, but I'm not sure. Turbo played at 1:30pm on an at-sea day, and superman was at 8:00pm, which was unfortunate because our late dinner seating meant we couldn't go see it without doing dinner at Windjammer.

They don't take reservations for the other shows. We were just on Freedom though, and with the exception of the Welcome show on the first night (where there was only the one show rather than 2) we never had an issue getting seats.

also, if it helps ... I believe Quest was at 10:30, with battle of the sexes before it at 9:45.

We just came off FOS, and for us, Quest was on the second formal night, so the 5th night (sea day inbetween st.tomas and coco cay). Might be different for you though, as our Eastern Itinerary was backward compared compared to the usual (we started with 2 days at sea, ended with Cococay).

We just got off FOS doing that itinerary.

I'd say St. Maarten has the better beaches, but you can't go wrong doing a beach day at either stop. We personally did an ATV tour that included beach time while in St.Maarten, and did a snorkelling tour out to turtle cove in St.Thomas (both booked through the ship). Snorkelling in St. Thomas is nice because there's turtle cove (which has lots of turtles), and shirpwreck cove (which has a shipwreck). I wouldn't recommend these trips for anyone who gets easily seasick though, as the ride out to the coves was really rough! Might have been our week though ... we had high winds the whole cruise.

My advice would be to look at the excursions offered through Royal Caribbean. I know a lot of people claim they are overpriced and crowded, but our tour groups were quite small, and the same cost as booking through an independent site. If you want to go independent check out 'shore trips' and 'shore excursions group'. Both were recommended to us through our travel agent, and promise money back if your ship cancels that port for some reason.

Unfortunately I can't comment on coco cay as we had to skip it because of the high winds. It does have a section designated for snorkelling though, so if the young ones want to try snorkelling, that may be a good place to do it. It's $33 to rent equipment for the day, which is cheaper than doing a boating excursion (we paid $65).

Our tour operator did not care about shoes, but they were picky about drivers licences.

We were mostly on city streets, but I actually loved that part of it. Perhaps it was mostly because we were first time riders. I found the scenery to be beautiful, and when it was safe our guide really let us gun it and go flying down the roads, which was lots of fun. The small time we went off road was the hardest because the terrain was so uneven (rutted, rocky, and lots of hills), that it was very hard to keep control of the ATV.

Thought I would voice in since we just got off FOS on Jan 19th. Cafe Promenade does still have the free coffee/ tea/ hot chocolate. It's along the back wall as others have mentioned.

I thought Mike and Belle were awesome, so maybe they were just having an off week when you went? Belle seemed to be everywhere, which really impressed me.

I second all of the must-do things mentioned above. I also think the adult games shows (love and marriage, the quest, battle of the sexes) should not be missed.

Freedomfest is something they do one sea day where the promenade is filled with yummy food and cool activities. They have staff members demonstrating food carving, towel animal making, napkin folding, etc.

I thought I would answer my own question/ post a review since others may have the same concerns.

I'm not sure about other tour groups, but for the RCCI tour, it is a max of 12 people, and we had 1 tour guide. The ATVs were all in great condition, and no one had any issues with their ATV stalling or not working during the tour. The ATVs were automatic, and you controlled both the gas and break using levers on the right hand grip. The shore excursion team of FOS recommended running shoes and potentially pants, but it's not mandatory. I wore running shoes and capris, but there were 2 others on the excursion in short shorts and flip flops, and they didn't have any issues. I would still recommend close toed shoes though, just to be safe.

We spent 90% of the time on roads, and were mixed in with the traffic. The guide was great at keeping us together, and either halting our ATV train to wait for a big traffic gap, or sitting in the intersection while we all got around the corners to make sure a car didn't get in the middle of the group. When it was safe to do so he really let us gun it and go flying down the roads, which was fun. Even with the small off road part we did not get muddy or dusty at all. I would highly recommend sunglasses though, to protect your eyes from any dust or small particulates that the ATVs might kick up.

Overall we had an amazing time on this trip. I was nervous at first, but they are great at helping out new riders, and the 1 hr stop at Orient beach was beautiful.