desherry

I am booked on the Jan 4 cruise. Other than swapping Timaru for Lyttleton and earlier Akaroa for Lyttleton, we have not seen any port cancellations. We have had excursions canceled after booking in Melbourne, and have had to book another. It took a long time before anything was offered for Timaru, and some excursions sold out for other ports that we procrastinated on booking. With that said, all the ports had about 6 excursions available with some having more.

I stayed in room 13258 on a LA to Miami cruise this last January. We were directly above the Cavern Club, and the Beatles shows were heard in the cabin. Also heard the band on the pool deck whenever they were playing. That being said, the cabin was great.

On our Dawn TA last May, we used the NCL bus to Victoria Station. It is an easy TUBE ride to St Pancras. There are plenty of taxi's at Victoria Station that could also be used.

Stopped at the Fuerte Amador complex overnight on our Jan 6 Norwegian Joy transit of the canal. The port is under construction, and it was originally to be completed in 2020. Our tour guide stated that officials are saying the terminal will be completed sometime this summer. Because it is an active construction site, the only transport in or out is by bus. The pier is completed, but the terminal building and surrounding area is an active construction site (no pavement, numerous trenches, and construction vehicles).

There are multiple ice cream stations on the Joy. One is on Starboard side in the middle of the Garden Cafe, and the other is on Port side near the Indian food station toward the front of the Garden Cafe.

I left from LA on the Joy on Jan 6. A taxi or uber will drop you off in front of the tent to check in. You will wait in the tent until called by boarding group to proceed to a bus. The bus will carry you about 1000 feet to the screening area (no you can not walk, security will not allow it), and after the scanner checks, you will walk on the gangplanks to deck 6.

I disembarked the Joy on Jan 21, and they were having a mass change-out of crew. While waiting in the theater for our tour to disembark, there were about 200 crew filling out paperwork on the stage of the theater. This may have caused the delays in embarkation. Also, the disembarkment and embarkation in LA on Jan 6 was delayed. We arrived at San Pedro to embark at 10 am, and didn't get onto the ship until after 1:00 pm. They hadn't cleared the ship until about 11:30 am to begin embarkation.

It is in your edocs. It lists the berth and address.

I am on an NCL cruise from LA to Miami on the Joy leaving Jan 6, 2023. I just learned that it will leave from Berth 46 instead of the Cruise Terminal's berths 92 or 93. What facilities are at berth 46? I am staying at the Hilton Doubletree in San Pedro which looks to be across the marina from the berth. Is there transport from the hotel available?

Be aware that the satellite position will cause poor connections as you approach Panama. When I last went through the canal, the ship had very poor connections from Cartegena, Columbia to Puntarenas, Costa Rico. Even the crew had issues contacting corporate offices because of the satellite position..

I have done the "Two Oceans by Railroad" excursion, and enjoyed it. I must state that I enjoy train travel as a disclaimer. The excursion guides gave excellent descriptions of the various areas we passed and of the canal and railroad. Train passes near the canal, and travels about 50 miles end to end. On the Northern end, the railroad diverges away from the locks, and they may not be visible. On the Southern end, the tracks are beside the canal and ships may be seen in the locks.

I have done the "Two Oceans by Railroad" excursion, and enjoyed it. I must state that I enjoy train travel as a disclaimer. The excursion guides gave excellent descriptions of the various areas we passed and of the canal and railroad. Train passes near the canal, and travels about 50 miles end to end. On the Northern end, the railroad diverges away from the locks, and they may not be visible. On the Southern end, the tracks are beside the canal and ships may be seen in the locks.

The procedure was a joint effort by Royal and NCL.

I had the unlimited package on the DAWN Transatlantic this past May. It had numerous dropouts that would be a problem with streaming. Because I was just reading email, it was usable, but slow.

Norwegian supplies all of it's ships out of Miami. They dispatch containers of supplies from Miami to the various docks that they consider capable of transfer to the ship. The issue I believe is in the transport of those supplies from Miami to the various ports. This was covered in one of the videos they put out during the restart phase.

When I went through on the Gem in January 2020 west bound (North to South), we used the right lane (West side) in the Gatun locks and the left lanes( East side) in the Pedro Miguel and Mira Floras locks. We may have been the first ships on a direction shift as all traffic from Gamboa to the Pacific was in the same direction, however, we passed several ships traveling Northbound in the lake and Gatun locks. We followed the Crystal Symphony through the canal.

It depends on the ship size. The Jewel class uses the old locks, but the Breakaway and Breakaway plus classes are too big for the old locks and use the new locks.

Here is a picture from the port side of the Gem entering the Miraflores Lock. We are on the Promenade deck.

Deck 7 will be at the top of the wall. I traveled the canal on the Gem, and this was the case. The Gem is the same class as the Jewel. I would travel the various areas of the ship to get different perspectives. On the Promenade deck was great to see the operation of the mules, the bow was great as well, and the top deck gave great views of the surrounding areas.

A partial transit goes to Gatun Lake and turns around, returning to the ocean that the trip originated on. The most popular ones travel from a Caribbean port through the first set of locks on the Atlantic side and then return. You can also do a full transit usually from Florida to California or the reverse. When booking, a smaller ship will use the old, original locks, but the big ships from NCL and Princess use the new locks. The old locks are more interesting to observe, but to each there own preference. Also, read the book "Between the Seas" to understand the challenges faced by the canal builders.

Traveled from NYC to Southampton on the NCL Dawn from April 28 - May 14. Weather was cold in Nova Scotia and Iceland, but we had a warm day between Halifax and Reykjavik in the upper 60's. Ocean was rough leaving NYC, calm between Halifax and Belfast. Belfast, Amsterdam, and Southampton were pleasant (temps in the 60's).

On my Trans-Atlantic on the Dawn, the initial security checkpoint did not open until 11:00 AM. Once past that, the Canada paperwork check was the main bottleneck, but with that said, we were on the ship by 11:30 AM. This was with 960 passengers. We had arrived at the port at 9:30, and were about the 100th person to get through the initial security checkpoint.