Motegi

I am a watch collector and Pam loves jewelry. I would say that for the most part the shops on board are not the best places to purchase jewelry. You’ll find better prices on the internet and at your local stores. However, you will save on taxes as most items purchased on a cruise are duty free.

If there is a particular watch or type of jewelry that you are after I would check prices at home before you leave to get an idea of the market price. Keep in mind that all of the items on a cruise ship are priced at MSRP and marked down from there. MSRP on luxury goods tend to be very inflated so even a 50% discount (or 90% for some watches like Invicta) may not be a good deal.

Still Pam and I enjoy going to the jewelry seminars and raffles for the freebies. And if there is something that is not too expensive that we want to purchase as a memento of our vacation we may buy as long as it’s not too much more expensive than we could find on land.

Having an internet connection to be able to “google” prices while shopping would be a good idea.

Agree, but the point is it is not for others. I will never cruise on a 5 day smoke filled cruise set up for drinking and gambling no matter where it is.

True. I’m not a smoker or a gambler either.

Considering the target market I’m sure that Royal is planning many of the same things for the Spectrum of the Seas.

I don’t think that NCL is having much trouble selling the Joy. As of the end of 2017 it was apparently already fully booked through the first half of 2018.

Well lucky for you NCLs newest ship, Bliss, will be sailing to Alaska every year! It receives some of the newer design features of the Joy but retains most of the things that the western market customers prefer.

Pam and I are excited to be on its inaugural Alaska cruise on June 2nd!

Here’s another quote from Seatrade News stating:

“The NCLH executive called the introduction of Norwegian Joy to the China market last year ‘nothing short of astounding and profitable in year one, carrying 4,500 to 4,800 Chinese passengers every week.’”

The article goes on to say that Royal is also looking toward growth in the Chinese market once Korean ports open up and will be bringing their newest, Spectrum of the Seas, the first Quantum Ultra class ship to the Chinese market. The first steel was cut on this ship last August and is set to be completed by next spring.

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/china-demise-exaggerated-japan-ports-step-up-asean-unites.html?highlight=Ik5vcndlZ2lhbiBqb3ki

Yes, I did hear that the Joy experiment in China did not really produce the results they wanted. The ship has not been at full capacity for awhile. I am glad they are rethinking their options. Glad Encore was taken off from the exclusive Chinese market too.

Hmmm this quote from an article on Seatrade Cruise News seems to say that the Joy has been a big success:

“The ship has the highest occupany of any in the fleet, Del Rio said, since Chinese often travel in family groups.”

http://www.seatrade-cruise.com/news/news-headlines/china-already-profitable-for-norwegian-company-gets-license-to-sell-direct.html

I’m thinking that they will be keeping the Joy in China for the foreseeable future and awaiting the return of the South Korean itineraries.

We are staying at the Elegant Arthouse Outlook that is just 1 block (0.2 miles) from NCL’s cruise terminal at Pier 66. We booked it on Booking.com for well under $200 per night (and 4% cash back from iBotta).

It is a one bedroom condo with full kitchen and a patio with bay view.

It is centrally locates just 0.5 miles from the Space Needle, 0.4 miles from the original Starbucks, and 0.5 miles from the Seattle Aquarium.

The cost of an Uber XL from the airport to the Elegant Arthouse Outlook is about $40 one way. Then most everything else is in walking distance. Because we are so close we will just walk to the ship in the morning.

Pam and I also highly recommend Roberts Hawai’i for their excursions. You can go on their website and enter your cruise dates to get a full listing of what they offer. They have multi island discount packages as well.

The Roberts tour buses pick up right at port in the same area as the NCL sponsored excursions. The Roberts buses are just as nice if not nicer than the NCL sponsored ones. For many of the tours you will be stopping in the same locations but will be saving lots of money compared to the comparable NCL excursion.

We did this on our POA Cruise last year and chose one tour from Roberts at each port. We also rented cars for one day each on Kauai and Maui. Our highlights that we saw on our own were the Koloa Rum Factory and the Road to Hana.

Thanks for your review! Pam and I are definitely NCL fans but my parents are big Princess fans.

That said, we all went on the NCL Pride of America in Hawaii last April as a group and had an amazing time. I think we’ve turned my parents into NCL fans!

On the POA there are also Hawaiian cultural ambassadors with enrichment activities during the cruise. We all did the lei making class with the kukui beads. Some of the evening shows are Hawaiian themed as well. The ship’s sail by the Kilauea lava flow at night is accompanied by the Hawaiian Ambassador’s narration and prayer. This was an absolutely breathtaking moment that sent chills down our spines.

We really liked the very port intensive itinerary on the Pride of America with every single day in port and overnights on Kauai and Maui that meant we could have plenty of time to take an excursion AND explore on our own.

You all are funny. The original poster was specifically asking for excursion ideas for their group. So staying on the ship is not what they wanted.

One other option is a brewery tour at the Sands Brewery. Not sure about small children though...

http://www.bahamianbrewery.com/

There are some shops and restaurants right around the port now. There is a Fat Tuesdays and a Senor Frogs. For shops there are the Tortuga Tum Cake store, Harley Davidson Apparel, Carolina/DelSol, and multiple souvenir stores. These are all right beside the port.

If you want to go into town you can catch a van at the taxi stand just off to the left nearby Senor Frogs. You could probably get 2 vans for your group. They can take you to the beach or to the Port Lucaya Marketplace. At the Marketplace we highly recommend stopping for a lunch or snack at Daddy Browns Conch Shack toward the back at the waters edge. For $15 you can get a giant plate of fresh caught lobster and conch fritters that is more than plenty for two! He makes a great conch salad too!

If you want a relaxing non-beach day I have enjoyed the Garden of the Groves. It’s a botanical garden near Freeport. You may want to take the ship excursion for this one. The tour guide will go over the history if the island and provide a walking tour through the Garden along with a stop at the Port Lucaya marketplace on the way home.

We are sailing in September and would have liked to have seen that.

On the Divina the operatic performances were excellent and were really what set MSC apart from the other cruise lines. I hope that they don’t dilute things down to Carnival level. That would be terrible.

That’s for the wonderful play by play review! It’s quite enthralling.

We’re sailing on the Seaside in September and will be using this review as a step by step guide!

The last cruise the guest relations rep punched a hole so close to the magnetic stripe on my card that the bartenders and the ship security at the gangway couldn’t swipe my card in their card readers because the lanyard loop would collide! I had to go back to guest services to have a new card made.

We made rervations at the MDR on our last cruise because we wanted a window seat and had a show to catch. We asked the night before and they recommended that we make a reservation in this case.

Unfortunately when we got to the MDR the maitre’d said that there was only one line for all guests. We ended up at least 20 people back and didn’t get our window seat...

I’m glad that they increased the offer for those who were affected.

But from a different perspective perhaps the contractor that they hired was not entirely forthcoming with how much of a disturbance that their preliminary refurbishment would create. I’m sure that there was a list of the work that would take place but I’m wondering if the execs who authorized the work to begin during the cruise realized how noisy and disruptive that it was going to be. I’m sure we’ll never know... let’s see if the same contractor is hired for any future NCL dry docks.

What would have been best was as soon as the passenger complaints began and the Captain saw how severe it was they should have asked the contractors to limit their work and instead shortened the post dry dock cruise for a couple days to make up for the lost time. I’m sure that the Captain is not allowed to make those decisions but I’m sure he was able to relay the condition of the ship to the decision makers.

I was on the Sky for a sailing where they were refinishing a large section of the main pool deck. It involved very large sanders and followed by the application of sealants. This work blocked access to the area from one side of the midship atrium elevators. We didn’t get any cruise credit.

Sorry to hear about having to cancel your cruise.

Hopefully you’ll be able to rebook on the Seaside again in the future!

The list is actually on the first picture at the top of the thread.

The basic drink package is a few wines, a few beers, straight or neat spirits, single mixers, and soda.

If you want the blended/frozen drinks and the gelato you will need to upgrade to Deluxe.

After some consideration Pam and I have decided to go with the new Drinks on Us promo combined with a downgrade to Bella in place of our prior Fantastica cabin for our September sailing.

The only reason we had originally chosen Fantastica was for the drink vouchers so switching to Bella made sense since the vouchers are nullified by the new “Drinks on Us” promo.

We did have to pay a nominal amount more for the Bella cabin under the new promo compared to the previous Fantastica. We also then added the $26/pp/day Deluxe beverage upgrade to this.

Based on our original plans to add the dinner wine package and the water package to our original booking it was only a couple hundred more to just go with the new Drinks on Us promo with the Deluxe upgrade. This will allow us to try the gelato and specialty coffee as well.

Plus apparently the the Deluxe package the gratuities are included in the price and not charged extra per drink like the “Drinks on Us”.

So many thanks go out to Kruise Kween for giving us the heads up about this new promotion!

P.S. The MSC cruise consultant said that the supply of Bella cabins in our category for our sailing was very limited therefore it was very likely in his opinion that we would be getting a one category upgrade as well!

Hi,

Just wondering about the 12 drinks vouchers-are they automatically included with the Fantastica Experience or only if booked on a promotion? We’re booked for a few weeks and no mention of drinks vouchers in our booking?

Thanks in advance.

 

 

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Prior to the new “Drinks on Us” promotion I believe that all US reservations at the Fantastica level included the 12 drink vouchers per passenger. The vouchers should be placed in your cabin by your steward prior to your arrival. They are booklets of actual paper tickets that you hand to the bartenders/waiters when you order drinks.

Now with the change to the "Drinks on Us" for the Seaside and Divina I think they are phasing out the drink vouchers for Fantastica.

BBC (Bailey's Banana Colada). Going to have to give that Funship a try in July ;)

Agree 100%. Although the best version I’ve had of this drink was on MSC because they blend actual bananas into it rather than the banana daiquiri mix that they use on other cruise lines.

Excellent review!

It's great that you were able to do so many activities with the group.

Thanks for sharing.

I bolded the error in your argument. For some, it IS something they do all the time. For instance, I don't wear riding pants to work, but rather a suit, dressed up, day in and day out. On vacation, I prefer to relax and not be required to dress as I do for work. Others who don't get to dress up often like the opportunity to make the effort, and that is fine. Some people want a break from making the effort. To each his own.

That's perfectly understandable as well. But I also think there need to be certain minimum standards that should be enforced. Again, I don't think that everyone needs to be in a suit or even a dress shirt and tie. Just the minimum standards as listed on each cruise lines' own rules and regulations. On the mass market cruise lines the minimum standards are pretty relaxed nowadays.

As I've brought up in one of the other recent threads on this topic, I recently witnessed a young woman dressed in a hot pink bathrobe and bedroom slippers walking around Walmart in the afternoon buying groceries. I'm sure she also feels that she has to wear normal clothes to work everyday so when she's off she should be able to wear whatever she wants. We now see adults dressed in pajamas boarding airplanes. I wonder what they would choose to wear to dinner on a cruise! LOL.

Anyway this thread was for those who WANT to dress up. Not those who choose to go casual. And as I said in my initial response Pam and I have zero issues with being overdressed on most nights.

Peety3 and Pierces, thanks for your replies.

The 70-200 is faster than the 18-270 and would be the fastest lens of the set, but you’re right, it’s probably redundant. I’ll leave it at home.

I appreciate the guidance regarding the helicopter excursion. I wasn’t sure if I would need any extra reach beyond 270 once I was on the glacier.

My DSLRs that I’m planning to take are the Canon 70D and the 60D. Bringing the A6000 instead of one never really crossed my mind this time. I think I may have done it once in the distant past when I first bought the A6000 and only had a couple lenses for it. I still don’t have a super telephoto for it so it wouldn’t be good for wildlife.

Taking the a6000 camera body and lenses would certainly be smaller and lighter for walking about on the ship though. Although, if I took the a6000 and 70D then it would mean bringing both chargers and battery sets and and carrying two sets of batteries on excursions. I may try packing each way and comparing.

I have just started planning my gear for my Alaska cruise in June so this thread is very interesting for me.

On recent cruises I’ve been leaving my DSLR at home in favor of my much lighter Sony A6000 setup. For the Caribbean this worked well but I think it won’t be enough for Alaska.

For Alaska I’m thinking of bringing my DSLRs to capture all of the landscapes and wildlife. I have a Tamron 150-600 and a Sigma 70-200 that I can use for wildlife with a monopod. For landscapes I was planning on using my Sigma 10-20. I have two camera bodies and a double blackrapid strap so I can have two setups at the ready and limit having to swap lenses. I also have a Tamron 18-270 that I can use onboard around the ship for candids when we aren’t on an excursion.

So considering the above, I have a couple of questions for the experts here:

Are there any other lenses that you think I should bring? I am open to purchasing or renting additional lenses if needed.

For our helicopter glacier dogsled excursion which lenses do you think are appropriate? Should I bring the 70-200 and the 10-20 and two bodies? Or just take the 18-270 and one body?

What is the best way to keep the glass from fogging up?