Malemew

On 11/20/2023 at 6:26 AM, shecritic said:

Thanks for sharing the snorkeling tips for Puka Beach. That sunken pipeline sounds like a cool spot to check out!

 

A couple questions - did you rent your gear on Boracay or bring it with you? And any suggestions for the best place/price to rent if needed? Always good to have a backup plan just in case.

 

Also, any other Boracay activities you'd recommend besides the beach and snorkeling? Looks like a fun place to spend a day.

hey - we took our own mask and snorkel - I didn’t see anywhere to rent any, it appeared to be mainly snack shacks and paddle boat rental (but I didn’t explore the whole of puka)

if you forget any thing, white beach would probably be worth heading too first as that was where all that kind of stuff could be brought. I brought a small waterproof bag from there for £2 and a waterproof phone cover for £1. Very cheap.

56 minutes ago, penlanspice said:

How good was the snorkeling at puka beach? Was it worth the trip

actually yes it was worth it.

there is what appears to be an old sunken pipeline which was over towards where the rocks start to stick out to the right of the beach. 
 

we saw various tangs, triggers, angels, if you look carefully in the gaps between the pipes - anemones and clowns, parrot wrasse I also saw dragon wrasse. Lots to see! There were also some sea snakes but i just kept my distance when I saw them. 
 

2 hours ago, penlanspice said:

Think we'll use this option, ncl wants 41 pounds! To white beach.

if you just want white beach, it might be even cheaper to pick up a taxi when you get there as it’s not really that far 😉

the ‘hoho’ bus is just like a little mini bus and the trip to puka felt like it took quite a while 

Hi

not sure if anyone will find useful. 
we sailed on NCL Jewel. The tenders took us straight to Boracay.

there was a ‘hoho’ bus on arrival, unlimited travel for the day for 200peso. 
we found white beach was quieter with more access to food/drinks/shopping where as Puka was nice but felt busier with less ‘services’ but there was great snorkelling 

the bus did get busy so maybe allow extra time when coming back to ship

Edit : the small shuttle bus didn’t take us to muara town centre, but a small suburb if it can be called that. 

Hi,

I’m not sure if anyone in the future may find this useful, but I thought I’d start this as we found it pretty tricky to find any info on Muara before we came.

My review may be pretty bleak but I welcome others to add any more info. 

in the terminal we saw a tourist info, a desk for the ‘dart’ taxi company. Some small local handicraft stalls, there was a lady selling tickets to the city for 20BND (she was surrounded and we couldn’t work that out as there was supposed to be a free shuttle) 

The money exchange had a long queue because of course you cannot buy BND at home. 
You are not allowed to walk out of the port, a free shuttle takes you to Maura town. 
 

We took the shuttle. There is nothing in Maura. It’s a small town with a few small grocery type stores, a money exchange and some beaches. 
 

It has a bank also,  but they don’t do money exchange. 
 

We tried to use the local taxi app ‘Dart’ - but we couldn’t get anyone to accept our request. 
 

we heard there was a public bus for 1BND that would take you too to capital but that would take 1 hour. 
 

Randomly, a bus turned up from no where offering a direct trip to the capital for 15BND return. So we opted for that. It took about 30 mins. 

We were given 2.5 hours free time in the capital and it was far too long. There isn’t really anything there. We could have gone over to the floating village but we actually didn’t bother (so maybe someone else can write about that below)

We ended up organising a taxi on Dart (yes we managed to get one) to come back to the shop early. It cost us 21BND

The driver was great, told us we were the first cruise this year (November!) and they only come maybe 1 to 3 times a year. This is quite evident as the area doesn’t cater for tourists. She also told us the beaches are desolate, no where for food / drinks etc 

We felt the whole vibe of Brunei was weird. It’s so calm, little to no traffic, the capital felt empty and hardly any people around. Definitely a different pace to other Asian countries. 

This definitely is not a port where drivers offering tours! We got propositioned by one  but his starting price was really high and his car looked like a death trap. so either try hard to book something before you come or at least book the 20BND bus at the port. if you’re the cruiser who just likes to look around the immediate local area, stay on the ship. 
 

At least we can say we’ve ticked the ‘travelled to Brunei’ box - but it’s unlikely we’d return. 

Hey we’ll be cruising with MSc for the first time on 3rd feb 2023 from Barcelona.

does anyone have an idea / know what the theme nights will be and what the dress codes are. I’m hearing things about a flower night, gala night, 80’s night etc. 

do people go to dinner dressed up or is it eat and then get changed. 
 

I don’t want to take / buy extra clothes if I won’t be wearing them again.

thanks in advance e 

Hey

does anyone recall or know the taxi rate from amber cove to puerto plata OUTSIDE of the complex. I see the fixed official fares are $35each way. But seeing as we were meant to dock in PP and now AC, this is an additional expense we didn’t budget for (currently on ship)

also, does anyone recall if people were open to sharing taxis into PP? 
 

thanks in advance 

Thanks all 👍🏼

Hey,

hope you are all well.

we are due on the getaway 7th November. 
Family are asking for gifts duty free cigarettes and liquor.
does anyone know the cost of cigarettes on board vs on land in the states? 
also, if possible, does anyone recall how much 1 litre of gin may be in the duty free?

thanks

Hey hey. Thanks to whoever started this thread 🙂

we are looking at this trip In November. 
 

do you actually do the to pig island in Exuma or is it a purpose made attraction where the pigs have been ‘shipped’ in? 
 

just curious as on the map the island in exuma seems quite a journey. 
 

thanks in advance 

Quite happy this has been ditched, it hiked up prices and wasnt all it was made out to be. We started booking on the US site via a VPN as it worked out cheaper for what we wanted. Hopefully now we can start using UK site again,

Don’t mind bad weather. We are British after all 🙂

Hi folks, 

I was reading a post but cannot find it now. It was talking about being able  to walk from port Stanley to an area where you could see penguins. Not sure if I have imagined it now. Coach travel doesn’t always agree so trying to avoid where possible. 

Does anyone know if there are any actual viewing places by foot or even by taxi with cost. 

Thanks in advance 

On 11/1/2018 at 2:52 AM, Nebr.cruiser said:

We picked up a tour right at the dock that visited the quaint towns, the lake, falls, wonderful views of the volcano, etc.  It was a great day.

Hey ..... can you remember how much you paid on the day? We prefer not to make plans and just see how we feel at each port so this I do would be nice to know ;)

Did any one have any tips for the free day in Homer? We aren’t very fond of fishing and the bear excursions do seems like quite a lot of £££’s.

Hi Malemew

Just to let you know you are in for an amazing trip. Everything was well organised. Just be prepared for some early starts. Alaska is a wonderful place��

Thanks we are on the 2 weeks count down now, very very excited. Any hints and tips that you can think of ? :)

So when I say shore staff I mean people at reservations and customer service etc.

There’s no real concern. Data protection in the Uk and EU has become really strict in light of The GDPR changes recently and it is a right pain in the backside at times. So just wondered how it applied in this scenario.

Like I said it was a random question out of curiosity which popped into my head today. Don’t know why I thought of it. I think it was just in my head that anything that happened on a ship would have no relevance to someone in reservations so would it be shared, vice Versa, etc. I don’t know if I’m explaining myself very well :)

Random question I know, just in light of GDPR and all that, just had a random thought of curiosity.

If a crew on board document anything about you and any possible experience you encounter, would this be visible to shore based staff. So like if anyone raised an issue on a cruise from last year would this be visible to shore based staff this year.

And vice versa I guess.

Random I know.

Thanks for this, am on the same trip in September and have been looking for something like this. However I did think that breakfast was inclusive at the hotels, can you remember how much they were in each place? I thought it was just lunch and evening meals you had to pay for.

Thanks for that and have an amazing time! Any tips when you’re back would be well received ;) I’m just hoping they are expecting us when we go, not much faith after all the carry on we had

Hi.

We have also booked this tour leaving Fairbanks 24/7/2018 after seeing the great price back in January.

A couple of weeks after booking the land tour part disappeared from the booking on my ncl. It changed the title of the holiday to default itinerary name and shows we are at sea for the first week before leaving Seward on 30th July.

I rang customer services at the end of April and after 3 weeks got a short e mail to say yes we have a land tour booked before the cruise.

We have had no further contact from them and are very interested in what is being said on cruise critic.

If anyone has any more information we would like to hear it.

Thanks

Hey sprag, just wondered if you have been allocated your hotels? We are due to go in sept and just trying to get an idea of what we might get 😝

Tip: line the paper bag with a pillow case and roll tight....

Love this tip! I do like good value for money

Hi,

Just wondered if anyone had a copy of the bookable excursions, once on board.

I know there are a lot on line, but in past experience, have seen that more do get added.

Juts trying to get organised :)

Hey,

On southbound 7 night Alaska in Sept. keen to find out if they do the discounted midweek laundry service, and if so does anyone have the cost, day of pick up and drop off of clothing?

Trying to plan ahead for packing :)

We have done cruises with Ncl via the states and the midweek service was offered, but in European cruises it wasn’t.