AwesomO

it was really good! we had Jackie for the tour. She customized it to do whatever we wanted, even if we wanted to change something once we got there. Really flexible, friendly, and informative! Great value too. I definitely recommend it!

Someone on our sailing in our Roll Call nearly had their vacation cancelled as well. It was all paid, but had some mixup a couple of weeks before sailing (Gem, 2/17/23) after they had tried to add some upgrades. Received notice that it was cancelled for non payment. They were able to get it reinstated by NCL, but just barely. So yes, I believe it happened and now I'm thinking it happens more than we may be priivy to.

Not sure if you've been yet, but we went to Coki beach in February and the water was much rougher than expected. We had been once before and it was fine, but this time it wasn't. The grade to enter the water seemed fairly steep so you couldn't go too far out. And the waves were rough. one knocked my 5 year old over and down into the water (he had a life jacket on, and I was righ near him). It got a little better as the day got later, so I'm sure it was weather related (clear and sunny, but a bit windy). But yeah, I wouldn't consider it good for a weak swimmer. Even with less waves, the slope into the water just wasn't gradual enough.

we did laundry twice on a 10 night cruise as a family of 4, but we still came home with dirty laundry (which is fine, we werent trying to have everything clean, just trying to have enough for the duration of our cruise). We sailed out of NYC, which was cold, so on day 3 or so, we washed our cold weather clothes to re-wear them for the journey back. We did a lot of swim/beach days, so we were able to re-wear clothes since we may have only worn them for breakfast or dinner or something. The "midweek special" was offered on I think day 3. The little slip was included in our evening daily. But we checked with guest services on whether it had to be used the next day or not, and they said no, that's the regular price and can be used whenever. So we used our free bag first (as a club balcony perk), and then paid to have the 2nd bag around day 6 or 7, when we were running out of space dry our swimsuits haha.

you need to bring towels, they don't provide any. I can't remember about lockers. I just used a waterproof neck puch for my phone and credit cards/cash so I could bring it with me into the pool. The rest of my things, like towels, clothes, etc., I just left on the chairs.

they did this to us too on the Gem out of NYC. We skipped our last stop Tortola, but they didn't tell us until we were back on the ship from what was now our last port day. Also blamed winds. I will say, it did seem like a last minute change since the dailies had already been printed and delivered based on a port day. We later got an updated version. Except for a couple hours one morning, the winds and waves didn't seem a whole lot worse than we experienced earlier in the trip. and even then it wasn't tooo bad. during the captain Q&A, he noted that we'd have to travel at 23knots to make it back to NYC in time, and the wind would have made that impossible. I'm curious if 23knots in February is ever realistic. We were averaging around 20-21knots on our way down. And then on the way back, it was definitely under 20knots. sometimes as slow as 16knots, but we had all that extra time for skipping the port so it seemed we were just taking our time, because the wind and waves definitely weren't bad at that time.

Amber Cove can only handle 2 ships, but Taino Bay is NCL's port and can handle 3 or 4. NCL has been stopping there recently so not sure why they wouldn't today, if weather is cooperating. for what it's worth too-- our itinerary on the app showed Amber Cove but we were actually scheduled for (and stopped at) Taino Bay. If you try to check Cruisemapper and such, it's difficult but it's all just called "Puerto Plata" and doesn't differentiate between actual ports.

yes, they've been removing the dishes from the hallway quickly. At least for us they did. We originally had asked someone where we could put them-- we were going to try to deposit them with the staff in the buffet-- but they told us to just leave it in the hallway. @AK Dreamingoriginally our steward was putting the bed back as a couch and then coming and converting it to a bed in the afternoon/evening, but he stopped doing that on day 3 or 4 🤷‍♀️ Maybe just had too much work

Our room did not have a pullman, but that was fine for us because we knew our son would sleep with us in the bed, while our daughter had the fold out couch. The couch was very hard, so unless you like a firm bed, the pullman might be better. I think they can put a foam topper on the couch for some additional comfort. my daughter had no complaints, but she's only 9.

I'm not on this sailing, but was on last week, and our room was always cleaned in a timely manner. I was surprised how quickly, some days. I'm sure if you have a good steward, they try to make a general note of when people vacate their rooms for the day, and their return habits, and plan cleaning accordingly.

not in support of OP (rules are clear there, and it's frankly embarrassing to try to share flat rate dining experiences), but sure, $70 compared to the cruise fare is small potatoes at that point. But with all the nickle and diming, that $70 isn't likely to be the only thing extra you have to pay for beyond the cruise fare. We spent another ~$500 on board the ship. And that's after upgrading internet, paying for unlimited arcade, and prepaying gratuities before boarding. And lets not even talk about the inflated excursion prices. Obviously we could have spent less, and everyone makes choices for their families as to what they believe is a good value. but just pointing out that that $70, had they chose to spend it, is likely on top of several other charges already. we saved for our vacation, so that's why we could afford it. choices have to be made about where the extra spending goes.

On our sailing of the Gem, I think they had just switched to once a day. On embarkation day, when we first entered our room, we only had two towels in the bathroom (we're a family of 4). We saw our steward in the hall. He was coming in and out still helping to deliver bags. He never introduced himself by name, but made himself known and was very friendly. He asked if we wanted a mattress topper too. When we came back from the muster drill and registering at splash academy, the topper was on the bed, we had extra towels, and the child sized life jackets were delivered. We also needed the couch turned into a bed. He had also asked us about our preferences for that. While we were gone to dinner, we came back to our room with the couch made into a bed. We indicated that we preferred him to return it into a couch during the day, and he was doing that, coming back to turn into a bed later in the evening. But that was all he did, set up the bed. He didn't re-make the bed if we had napped in it during the day, and he didn't empty trash, take plates, etc. When we came back from our first port day, we noticed the bed was left out instead of converted back into a couch. I figured it's because it was a port day and he correctly assumed we'd be out most of the day anyway, not really using our room. But when the final sea days on our return half of the trip came around, he never went back to making it into a couch each morning. There were definitely times I wished it were a couch so I could have some place to sit while my kids napped (balcony was getting too cold), but it is what it is. I'm sure our steward had a good reason for it- either that's what he was instructed to do, or the new work load was more than he anticipated. Who knows. I didn't hold it against him.

I believe Encore was in Taino Bay today, but can't confirm. Gem and Escape were there yesterday. For what it's worth, in our NCL app while on board, Amber Cove was listed as the stop on our itinerary, but we did indeed dock in Taino Bay.

@murex we arrive in St. Thomas in 3 days. We are currently sailing on the Gem! What I've decided is that I will just do Coral World first (so we don't have to wear wet swimwear to Coral World), and then Coki beach after. If we feel Coki beach is too crowded, we will just try to taxi over to Magens bay. Being from NYC, I think we sometimes have a higher tolerance for crowds than others haha. But I've found that taxis in St. Thomas are very expensive when you're traveling as a family of 4, so I don't want to get too carried away. There are rates for a taxi tour (I dont have them off hand), so I'm sure a taxi driver could give you a little drive up to the more scenic elevations.

This might be better suited to the Dominican Republic board, but maybe there are other ports there have a similar set up that I'm not aware of. How much might you expect to tip the tourist guides that are just outside the port at Taino Bay? I know they'll walk with you to the city and give you a little tour. They work for tips. Is $20/per person reasonable for their service that may last 1-2 hours? Or more? less? I just want to be sure I am fairly compensating them for their time. I have no idea if they're paid by the city outside of tips.

They were also told to stop filming and refused, based on what I read. They absolutely didn't deserve that, but I also feel like a little common sense and wherewithal while traveling and this could have been avoided. Dont invite trouble with the locals, no matter where you go. The previous couple was also purchasing drugs, iirc. Either way, I also think its sound advice to avoid the area.

good to know! We will be facing a similar situation of 4 ships in port. But luckily, we are the first to arrive at 7am. I'm think we may stop at Coki Beach first, and then head over to Coral World? Maybe if we do the stops in reverse order, it would be less crowded. I do wonder what time excursions are booked for Coral World on the thenother ships. Our ship had one that didn't depart until 1:30. We may also try to head over to Magens Bay after, if we have the energy. Just trying to plan what the best order may be.

We will be there in about 2.5weeks and I can report back more. But from my research, no tender. 3 ships can dock there. the port itself has a free pool and a few things to do and shops. Geared towards tourists. Puerto Plata downtown area is walking distance, but some report it being... not the best area. But there are sanctioned tour guides outside the port to guide you around that work for tips (though allegedly they can be pushy- guess I'll see soon), as well as guards to keep tourists safe. Some have reported they felt very safe, some folks turn back around and go right back into port. We live in NYC so I'm not particularly concerned. I'm used to seeing the armed guards in parts of the city on occasion so it doesn't bother me too much. We shall see.

just booked our private tour as well after reading this! looking forward to it.

@SanJuanInfoPRThis sounds perfect! I'm not the op but thank you so much for this info!

They're limiting it to something like 2.5-3k cruise passengers a day, if I recall correctly. That's barely enough for even the smaller NCL ships, assuming everyone wants to get off. I suppose they could issue some sort of ticket to limit people getting off- but that opens another can of worms for the cruise line if someone is unable to get off at a cruise port due to guest capacity being reached. We were in Bar Harbor over the summer and it was very crowded, without any cruises in port. The locals are fed up and cranky. If people think NYers are rude and cranky, they haven't been to a Hannaford's in Bar Harbor during the summer months. Local merchants are trying to fight the cruise ban, as posted above. I don't know anything about maritime law, but it sounded like they had a solid legal standing for their lawsuit. Good luck to them.

curious about this also. I selected 12:30-1 for us. I didn't see the need for us to rush over by 10. We live in NYC so travel to the port isn't an issue. I might even send the kids to school in the morning and just pick them up early. But I know check in doesn't necessarily mean boarding time so I'm hoping I don't regret it. I'm not concerned about dinner reservations or anything since I did those online already, and the Gem doesn't do show reservations. There's no Vibe pass to rush for. so I just hope I'm not missing something.

that's so disappointing. and for a new ship, it doesn't look particularly sleek or modern. It just looks unfinished. so bland 😞

yup, all 5 boroughs, including the Bronx (although Staten Island is debatable 🤭), are part of NYC, but they aren't the city, only Manhattan is. Though, I suppose if you're from "up state," then all the boroughs are "the city." But that would be incorrect.

@lfdemtI booked about 2 years ago and I remember the treats perk, but not room service delivery perks. Just that the treats would be delivered to your room, of course.