CL1978

I am thinking of sailing in November on the Radiance.  Yes, I will inform them of my allergy at time of booking, will meet with the restaurant staff as soon as I am on the ship and know I have to pre-order the day before for my meals.  What I am looking for is how other celiacs actually fared on the ship.  I have had good luck with NCL and Princess, but had an absolutely horrible time on Holland's Koningsdam in December and was sick for the entire trip.  An experience I do not want to repeat.  This will be my first time on Carnival in over 30 years. 

Specifically, I am wondering about Guys, Blue Iguana. and the Lido Buffet.  Guys advertises GF, but the pictures make it look like there is a lot of shared condiments and potential for cross contamination.  Someone mentioned the Blue Iguana has corn tortillas available, but again they were worried about the cross contamination.  The Lido is my last choice, but I prefer a light breakfast and don't need to do a formal sit down for cereal or scrambled eggs.  Lunchtime is normally a salad. Again I've been ok on NCL and Princess, but the Koningsdam used the same utensils to fill the lettuce bowls as they used to grab a roll for the plates.  These are the types of experiences I'm looking for - good and bad.  The specialty dining rooms and MDR should be fine, however if you've had either good or bad luck with these I'd appreciate the feedback. 

Thank you

What time were you allowed on ship? We have a 10:30 test time.

Would someone please provide more info on which excursions they took in Puerto Plato? We are considering the Party at Sea boat. Is it worth it? Starting to consider cancelling the entire cruise if we can't figure out what to do in the ports and things don't settle down. Don't want to take the cruise to nowhere.  Spent an entire week in Aruba and there is tons to do, yet the Getaway had Zero excursions???

We are on the cruise starting the 18th. Have GSC, but no Bonaire.  We're now the ACD cruise and would really appreciate input as to how the current and next cruise go. We also love the thermal spa and the pools. Would love someone to tell us if it is open? 

If the adult couple have platinum status you can book 1 adult in each cabin. 

This will give you 2 sets of the dinning certificates and free laundry in both.

Friends with children do this all the time. 

The other consideration between an aft penthouse and a one bedroom Haven on the Pearl is the balcony size. Pearl's Aft Penthouse balconies have a table 2 chairs AND 2 padded lounge chairs. The same ones used in the Thermal Suite, not the pool lounge chairs. The 1 bedroom Haven suites have a balcony with only the table and 2 chairs. They are about the same size as a Mini Suite balcony. You will have all the same perks as the Haven minus access to the Haven Courtyard.

My wife and I just returned from the 21 day Panama Canal cruise on the Pearl with a deck 10 Aft Penthouse corner suite. If we book an Aft Penthouse again on this class ship we would go with deck 8 or 9. The reason is that the Aft Penthouse suite balconies are only half covered. We spent most of the cruise unable to enjoy the large balcony due to an almost constant rain of soot and trash from the Great Outdoors. The soot magically stopped when we neared ports!

We were looking to book the Getaway East bound 2019. After much time spent with both the Cruise Net office onboard the Pearl (21 day Panama Canal sailing) and NCL booking desk we gave up. We were told the ship was going to drydock in England for a major refit. NCL does still not have a contract for the refit. At one time we were told it would be a 13 day cruise departing 5/2/2019 to South Hampton. Another time it would depart 4/21/2019. Another agent said NCL was looking to add more ports.

We wanted to do the TA to England (no jet lag having 13 days to lose 8 hours) and spend time in Ireland and England. Instead we just booked the Epic to Barcelona and will reach England via Paris on high speed trains.

NCL just does not have their act together about the Getaway repositioning. We needed to book flights and hotels.

Do not know if this info helps.

Barcelona-Sants station is very crowded in the mornings. Lines for the taxis when the ship disembarks. If you are taking the AVE you have to pass through luggage screening. Those lines can be long the closer you are to the trains departing. You can board the trains until about 5 minutes before departure, but luggage space can be very hard to find then. The AVE

We arrived off the Epic last April after the repositioning cruise from Miami. I do not know if things have since then, but 9AM seems very questionable.

Hope some one has a more recent report.

Just a quick note. The forward facing suites have some plusses and minuses. The balcony's are HUGE. Plenty of room for the lounge chairs and tables. You can have 10 or more people and not feel crowed. Wonderful views.

The down side is when the ship is underway the wind is VERY strong. If the door to the balcony is open and the cabin door is opened it creates a wind tunnel effect. At night the stewards close the metal watertight door.

The aft facing suites have a much smaller balcony, but almost no breeze and the slider can be open at night.

Hi. I am also interested in the revised wine list!

Thanks

Bump

Does anyone have a picture of the current wine list on the Pearl? I heard it changed after the refurbishment last year.

We are sailing next month on Aug 8th.

Thanks

PS. We really miss the Oberon Cab being taken off the per glass list!

I guess 13 day cruises are just an unlucky number! I do know NCL will not increase the onboard credit for stock holders form $100 to $250 until the cruise is 14 days or more. Other lines jump to $250 after a 10 day cruise.

My wife and I will be sailing on the Pearl out of NOLA on April 8 2018. Our question is does NCL offer the laundry special more than once on this length cruise?

On all prior 7 day cruises the laundry special is offered about mid cruise. Our 13 day TA cruise on the Epic last April only had the special one time. This was very disappointing due to the fact we had sailed on the Dawn for 2 weeks and had the laundry special twice!

Does NCL have an official policy or is it random?

Thanks