Sand and Seas

I hope it's OK with the original poster for me to add another question about boarding at Pier 66 here. (Have searched but only found info from pre-pandemic.) We will be staying at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront the night before our Bliss cruise so we will be across the street from the pier. From research on the West coast departures board it sounds like a good way to start our cruise with the least hassle. Since we will be in the Haven (rare for us!) this trip looking for advice from others on what time to start our embarkation process. We really don't want to join a long line, or sit in the terminal for too long, but of course want to board the ship as soon as possible to start enjoying our cruise😊 Any advice for us?

So excited to see this! We were hoping to confirm the balcony could hold loungers. We were assigned cabin 8746 as our 'one-time Diamond upgrade' for our Joy cruise next April. It shows as category MC on our confirmation, but I could see it was probably a 'secret' large balcony. (Similar ones on Encore & Bliss were confirmed by cruiser videos.) Thanks for confirming 😊

The Amenities list specifies a special room service menu for Haven. Does someone have a photo of it? (Or did I miss it much earlier on this thread?)

All the Diet Coke lovers are getting interested now😋

The Joy is a sister ship to Encore, Bliss and Escape, but the cabin numbering differs. If you check the deck plans for deck 8 on those ships you will see that cabins 8138/8738 are in the same position as your cabin on the Joy. There are videos on youtube for some of the other ships showing the larger balcony with the slant.

You should be able to purchase the airport transfer on board. The Alaska Bliss Dailies for 6/25 cruise were just posted. They mention you can go to guest services by Thursday and arrange the airport transfer. I would suggest you also check to see if your airline participates in PortValet. You can sign up for that at guest services early in the cruise. Have a great cruise😊

Thanks for posting! Very helpful for us😊

Thanks - I checked out the link in your signature. It has been a decade or more since we were on the Spirit. Love the update and your beautiful pictures . It reminded us how much we loved the Great Outdoors and Biergarten😎

It is confusing. Have we seen a US requirement for testing?

Yes, I would agree. Should be able to purchase the airport transfer onboard. I can't imagine that they ever say the airport transfer is 'sold-out'🤔

Thanks for your responses. It seems like the trip from airport to Galveston is the most complicated part of trip🤔

We will be flying into IAH on a Saturday afternoon in late October arriving about 2pm. (Not sure yet if we will go with a shuttle or car-service.) 1- Is it too optimistic to hope that the drive from IAH to Galveston will be less congested than other times I've read about? 2- Will the construction I've read about be completed? It's our first trip to Galveston so we will be staying for two nights prior to our cruise. After reading on these boards, I'm beginning to wish we could stay longer than two nights! (Our cruise ends up in Miami on NCL's Prima)

Thanks for this reference- Just went to their website. In addition to proctoring your own test, they have walk-up sites in several cities.

Two questions if anyone can answer one or both- 1-For the PortValet service, how do you pay your luggage fee to your airline (Delta in our case)? 2-Can you purchase your NCL transfer to airport using your OBC? (We will have non-refundable)

Hmmm.....I can book 'Noise Boys' for $719 (US).....guess I'll wait for that price to go down!

Has anybody heard about the 'Sail & Sustain Mixology Experience' for Diamond and Ambassador tiers? Sounds fun to us!

If HHS will not be covering tests anymore, I wonder if CDC will be easing back on their recommendations about travel🤔 I know that personally, I will continue (for the foreseeable future) to home-test before flying anywhere just for my own peace of mind.

We are definitely saving a SDP for Food Republic. Split over the two days sounds perfect!

Thanks for responding- We love the Food Republic. Just wish they would have it open more often!

We love lunch at Food Republic and usually plan for 'at sea' days when we know it will be open. On our upcoming Alaska Bliss cruise, there is only one day listed as 'at sea'. Is it possible FR will be open for lunch during some of the other days? Some days, we have early morning calls at Juneau and Ward Cove. Would they open FR at 1pm or so?

By looking at the deck plans, there is a good possibility. Although the numbering of cabins on the Joy differs, she is a sister ship to Bliss, Encore and Escape. On the deck plans for the Bliss, the balcony cabins in those same positions are 8138/8738. There is a good youtube video for Bliss 8138 that shows an angled balcony large enough for loungers. Looks like a great deal for a BF cabin😎

I'm starting this thread to list current CAS Hosts on each ship. Over the last many years we have enjoyed getting to know many hosts and then seeing them again on another cruise. Please add for any NCL ships Casinos that you have current information for. To start, I've recently read reports here on CC or social media for these ships: Breakaway- June 2022 Exec Host is Florina Avram, Senior Host Leilani Ferrer (Reported that Florina is moving to Prima soon!) Joy- June 2022 Executive Host is Ralph Galarrita, Senior Host Rodrigo Gem- April 2022 Carey (Lewis?)

Our best have been 'hosted' cruises through Caesars. Everything paid except airfare. Includes drink package, specialty dining and all gratuities paid. On two of our hosted cruises it also included hotel night before in New York (Gansevoort and New Orleans (Harrah's for two days before & after). Cruises have been in Balcony (very happy with) and Haven(woo-hoo!).

I thought in reading about ArriveCan that one person can fill it out for everyone in their cabin. In our case, it would just be for the two of us. Is this correct? Or do each of us need to download the app and complete the application?

I've never seen anything as detailed as the Breakaway/Getaway spread sheet for other ships. If you click on the visual aids on that spreadsheet it does show the cabin numbers on the outside picture of the ship for a couple of different cabin classes.