Firstin87

We live in an area with access to three local airports. If we use ACL's complimentary or free airfare, can we give them all three airports, have ACL give us their flight options, and choose which one works best for us? How far in advance does ACL book the flights (at final payment?, X days pre-cruise?). Thanks!

We live in an area with access to three local airports. If we use ACL's complimentary or free airfare, can we give them all three airports, have ACL give us their flight options, and choose which one works best for us? How far in advance does ACL book the flights (at final payment?, X days pre-cruise?). Thanks!

@BaumD Thank you! That is perfect. In some ways, I prefer to do laundry myself since it is faster.

Hi, We are experienced ocean cruisers and are looking into a river cruise on either the Glory or Liberty in winter of 2026. I'm finding incomplete or conflicting information regarding laundry services onboard ACL ships. What are the laundry options on either the Glory or the Liberty? Thanks, Cyndy

@mtnesterz Thank you for posting the specific fridge temperature. I also take eyedrops that need to be kept within a certain temp range and thanks to you, I know they will be stored properly.

NCl's 'habit' of making itinerary changes soon after final payment has been an ongoing topic on this board for quite some time. Personally, it is one of my biggest frustrations with the line and is one reason my DH and I are trying other lines. What adds salt to the wound is their phony 'environmental reasons' excuse given at the time. What a crock! It's often related to trying to use less fuel and they know how much fuel it takes to get from point A to point B when they advertise and accept final payments for a sailing. Sometimes, the change is related to the port being overbooked and NCL losing it's slot for whatever reasons a port uses to decide which ship to 'kick out' of it's originally scheduled slot. If that's the case, NCL should tell passengers that is the reason. I share in your frustration and wish that NCL would take this concern seriously and realize that it is costing them future business. I think everyone can understand ports being missed for unexpected reasons (weather, etc.) and that is a different issue. We've had ports replaced at the last minute due to weather and ended up at an enjoyable port unexpectedly.

@tomservo Other possibilities are that this particular butler will be off his contract or has been moved to another position onboard (hopefully they'll find a better fit for him). You'll have a great trip in an aft cabin in Alaska!

@tomservo Hi, Just returned from another trip and saw this, so sorry for the late reply. We did not have any room service delivered to our room, so I can't speak to that. Based on our experience, I doubt that would be a problem. Our issues were related to not meeting our room set up requests/daily needs (i.e., ice in the room. fridge stocked, etc.) and him going on about personal issues he has with NCL, which we found uncomfortable to listen to and unprofessional. It is my understanding that butlers are rotated through different areas, so C may not be serving the aft Haven cabins on your sailing. Looking back and reading your description, my advice would be that if you have any issue with C (a male, last initial D), go to the concierge. Discreetly at a quiet moment, talk to them about the specific issues you are having. Keep it specific and short to your own experience and give examples. If that does not get the problem resolved, go to the General Manager/Hotel Director. You can contact that person through Guest Services. Yes, it is not something you want to have to do on your vacation (and probably don't like to do in daily life), but you should get the services and benefits you are paying for. Nip it in the bud is key. From our experience, once C knew what our expectations were, he met them. His attitudes was a bit sullen, quick to be around us, but we got what we needed every day. Enjoy the trip!

To say it would have been uncomfortable to have talked to the concierge about the butler while onboard is an understatement. With only the one butler serving all 14 aft cabins, assigning a different butler to one or two cabins (if both @erisajd and I had complained) would have made it very difficult for that new butler, especially since erigajd and I were on different decks. That new butler would not have been happy to trek all the way across the ship for just one or two cabins. Plus, once you complain onboard, you are treated as a troublemaker/picky/problem and won't get good service from the new butler or the concierge going forward. Not the way to have an enjoyable Haven experience, for which we are paying a pretty penny. This was a 15 day trip, my issues with the butler (C) began on Day 3, so a loonnngg time to have to feel awkward and get poorer service. Probably the same for erisajd, and we don't know how many other aft Haven cabins had issues with C that do not post on CC about it.

@erisajd Sorry for the late response. I just read this today. So, NCL responded to you - that's surprising. Unfortunately, it is not surprising that their response can be summarized as "we don't care". I wouldn't expect anyone to tell a passenger if they made any personnel changes, so can only hope they did something about moving C to a position he is better suited for. The corkage fee response is ridiculous. We, too, are exploring other cruise lines. We are on NCL for a b2b for most of April, but the four cruises we have planned after that are all on Princess. I'm sure there will be things about Princess that we like better than NCL, some things we won't like as much, no line is 100% perfect, but we are looking forward to the different itineraries and experiencing Princess again after a few years of only sailing on NCL.

@erisajd @david_sobe Interesting point that maybe C could not read English well. I'm sure you wrote it neatly and in clear language, so if that was his issue, he should have gotten help from Patrick or someone. C also told us that he was solely responsible for the aft cabins and that there might be times service was slower than desired because he had to go to the Haven at the front to get most items requested. Perfectly understandable and telling us that was good to know. Unfortunately, the rest of what he went on and on about was really not something passengers should, need, or want to hear. His thoughts about NCL's funding of the Haven is not our business to know. I do hope NCL takes our feedback (and perhaps there are more than just the two of us, erisajd) seriously and moves him to another department. He may be better suited for another position. It would be quite a shame if he was the butler for someone who was a first time NCL or Haven passenger.

Re: the coffee delivery in the Haven restaurant - had the same issue. DH ordered coffee every morning and would prefer just a regular cup from a Mr. Coffee, but there's is a big deal made of French press. I ordered a pot of hot tea and that also took a bit longer than expected most days. Oh, well - the staff were wonderful and the food was good. Iren was an excellent bartender. Especially appreciate that she gave people water every 2-3 drinks to keep from getting dehydrated. And she created some beautiful drinks.

I didn't know that. Maybe that will be a better fit for him.

My thoughts exactly! We chose not to address either his attitude or his behavior (re: ignoring the Do Not Disturb sign) with Patrick for the same reasons. Even if Patrick was willing to assign us a different butler, it would not be fair to that person to have to come to the back of the ship to service our room when the rest of their rooms were in the Haven proper. We did include our experiences with him in both of our post-cruise surveys, but I am certainly open to writing a joint letter about him to whomever would be the appropriate person at corporate. Might be Kathy Byrd, Sr. VP of Guest Services. If you'd like to continue this conversation offline, my email address is clmcclay at yahoo dot com.

@erisajd We were on Deck 9, Haven aft suite, so similar room to yours and we had the same butler (initial C). Wholeheartedly agree with your description of him and had similar issues. Sorry to hear we were not the only ones who were frustrated with him and that your generous early tip was regretted. We’ve always sailed in suites/Haven and have had several butlers, and none have been like this fellow. Like you, we had problems getting our ice stocked; while I did get peanut M&Ms, C did a poor job keeping the bowl full throughout the trip. Similar to the attitude you experienced with having coffee delivered daily, when we asked for bar mix to be kept stocked in our room, C first claimed that it was unavailable, but when DH said he’d ask the concierge about it since we’ve had no issues getting it in the past, the butler miraculously found bar mix that he kept overstocked the entire trip. Butler’s initial attitude of trying to discourage requests, saying things weren’t available or someone else’s job, was a new experience for us. All our past butler’s went out of their way to ensure we were completely spoiled. We met him briefly on Day 1 and planned to go over our wants/needs/etc. on Day 2. While you got to hear stories about India instead of being asked about your wants/needs/etc., we got to hear him vent for over :20 about his disapproval of how NCL funds the Haven, that butlers get in trouble if guests do not eat all the food they bring (but he never honored our request not to bring canapes 3x on the cruise), and other complaints about NCL. DH felt like he treated us as a therapy appoint; I felt like he was discouraging us from cruising NCL or being in the Haven in the future. We also had an incident on Day 4 with C ignoring the Do Not Disturb light. DH was onshore at the time and I was trying to nap. Butler phoned, I didn’t answer; immediately after it stopped ringing, he called back, I didn’t answer again; immediately after it stopped ringing, he rang the bell. I peeked around the door and told him I was trying to sleep, so he scurried away saying, “I didn’t know you were here”. I am confident that had I not opened the door, he would have done so. DH addressed the issue with C the next day, who claimed that he was on a different floor when he called. DH said, “You rang the bell”. C did not even apologize, just quickly left the room. Spent the rest of the trip avoiding each other and the couple times we saw him, it was awkward and uncomfortable for all of us. We included this information in NCL’s post-cruise survey and hopefully C’s attitude and behavior can either be rectified or he can moved to a position that better suits him.

@PurpleTraveller Thank you very much! That is exactly the information I was looking for. Really appreciate your help!

It's just two of us and rereading my original post, it may not be clear that this is a port stop, not disembarkation. Thanks for that link; I'm keeping it for future trips, too.

Hi All, We'll be in Barcelona for the first time in April and are considering do the City Tours HOHO bus (red buses). On a Barcelona port guide, I saw information about cruise port shuttle bus services that take you from your ship to the World Trade Center for 3 Euros each way. There is a HOHO bus stop at the World Trade Center and the site recommended using this shuttle as the walk can be long if your ship is docked farther out. I'm wondering if anyone has done this and can tell me if it's reliable and as good as it sounds. Thanks, Cyndy

@joern Very nice review. Glad you enjoyed your trip. I saw your post from last August where you included the notice from NCL about the VAT in Spanish waters and wonder what you experienced on your cruise with regards to VAT. Do you happen to recall how long before your trip you received the email from NCL? I am struggling to figure our how to get VAT refunded as this will be our first time doing so. We are on b2b cruises on NCL's Dawn in Marchand April, 2025. Cruise leaves from Lisbon, stops at several ports in Spain, 2 in Italy, 1 in France, then docks in Rome (Civitavecchia). From there, we visit several Mediterranean countries before ending the second cruise in Venice (Trieste). How did you handle getting your VAT refunded? Thank you for your help! Cyndy

NCL's shorex descriptions are not always clear and we've learned over time to be very careful about the words used. "Will see" often means "drive by", "will visit" usually means will stop and see, but can also be a drive by. Princess does a far better job of describing their shorex's and I really like how they break down the estimated times for driving to a location, time spent there, etc. Looking at Princess' details and rereading NCL's description, we're confidant enough to book the one that includes St. Michael's Cave. Thank you again for your help!

@Senga - I looked at Princess' shorex descriptions and it was very helpful. @John Bull, thank you for the your help. The ship's shorex uses the cable car and your details were very helpful. Now that we know more about the layout of sites on the Rock, we made our choice and are pretty sure the ship's shorex will take us to both the siege tunnels and St. Michael's Cave. Thank you so much!

Thank you both very much. @Senga, we are on NCL, but checking the Princess site's shorex descriptions could be very helpful. Thank you for suggesting that. Princess does a great job with shorex descriptions (we've sailed them a couple times and have plans to do so three times in 2025). @Milhouse - that is exactly my problem! Trying to get the lay of the land and choose the right tour can be tricky. Thank you for telling me about the time needed for the siege tunnels.

@Senga I've searched, but not found any; it's how I found this thread, though. If you remember anything about those reviews that might help me find them, please let me know. Thanks for your help!

Reading about the private tours has been helpful with getting a sense of what all is there. I'm hoping to find someone who has done a ships/ shore excursion to St. Michael's Cave and find out whether or not it included the siege tunnels.

Hi, We will be in Gibraltar in April, first time there, and will be doing a shorex through the cruise line. We're torn between one that includes the siege tunnels and one that goes to St. Michael's Cave. I can't tell if we will see any of the siege tunnels on the one that goes to the Cave. Does anyone know if they are near each other? Would it make sense that we see both the siege tunnels and the Cave on the same tour? Thanks, Cyndy