bazan

3 hours ago, debenson0723 said:

Also, you can use the Starbucks app or card on the ship.  I just load mine up before boarding with what I guesstimate I will spend.  You do earn their reward Stars on the ship but cannot redeem them while on board.

oh good to know... i guess in a way this route may be better for those of us who do not need the "3 a day" coffee fix to break even. And still able to accumulate starbucks stars is a plus. i am pretty sure while the package is unlimited starbucks but you cannot accumulate stars... and 3 starbucks a day for each of 2 persons  for everyday is many caffeine... lol. i wonder if this is for every ship... we will be on the Joy

As title.. have a trip booked on the Joy for Aug 2022 departing from NY and will be driving to the port... anyone know if there is any hotel where you can leave the car parked during the stay (preferably SPG/Marriott as we are members) ? If not, what is the  parking like at the port?

TIA

5 hours ago, vacation44 said:

When we booked  the Joy this past November for our sailing this Saturday,  I did a lot of research on the Joy non-Haven Suites.  At that time, it came with a lot of amenities which included Bulter and Concierge service, breakfast and lunch at LaCucina and priority boarding.  Within two weeks, they took the majority of the perks .  There are a few threads on it as a few of us were not happy.    They did keep the priority boarding.

 

Regarding the family suite, it is an inside, spacious suite without a window.  The window you see is actually a video screen.     A lot of positive reviews about the actual cabin. 

Thanks.. that's what I thought.. i wonder what perks are left (if anyone can chime in).. it works out in  my case  approx $200per day difference for this "grand" inside suite vs all 4 of us squeeze into a balcony... decision decision... 

5 hours ago, complawyer said:

hop this helps: if  you look at the family suite floorplan, it shows there is a window, so it for sure isnt an inside cabin only drawback is no balcony, which would be a deal breaker for my wife  & I.

 

if a balcony isnt necessary for you, the family suite is almost twice as large as the balcony.

 

in the descriptions of suites and haven suites, they usually indicate a butler and concierge. i checked the joy and this isnt mentioned.

 

if youre thinking about a suite, i would call ncl (or my travel agent if youre using one) and see if tis perk is available. it makes a world of difference (IMHO)

 

have you checked the   haven 2 bedroom family villa ?  this cabin may check all your boxes and then some.

I actually checked the floor plan... it is actually an inside... the windows is a virtual "window"

Hi

2 questions and hoping someone  can help

1) trying to decide between the balcony and the family suite on the joy? 2hat are the perks you receive with their family suite... other than what listed there is nothing saying about special breakfast or lunch like mentioned on the other ship. it seems like these are also ALL inside stateroom as well which is fine as well as for the past cruises we have always been booking balcony but with 2 older kids now (12 and 16) would probably  appreciate more the privacy and space then the smallish balcony that cannot fit 4 anyways. But i would still like to see what extra value we get from the suite. I did try quoting for Haven but the price is really high and doubt it will be worth it for us ( we are doing the NY departure itinerary) 

2) we got emails advicing us that 4 of our Next cruise certs expiring this Aug got extended to dec 31 of this year. do these get the same treatment as fcc credits and can be fully refund i  cash if cannot use? or do i have to start sailing before the expiry date or else forfeited?

TIA

someone told me that the chat feature in the compass app do not allow you to chat with minors (under 18) i.e. eventhough my kids (14 and 10) stay in the same room but still you cannot use the feature to chat with them? This  kind of make the supposingly useful function useless especially if i want to use it to get a hold of my kids in the ship? Anyone with minors has experience to confirm?

thanks

On 5/31/2019 at 3:43 PM, Danish viking said:

Bella Sky has their own cruise shuttle together with Crowne Plaza so that seems like a good option precruise. 

 

Post cruise I will suggest CitizenM, The Square and Scandic Palace that all 3 are located close to the central station and Tivoli and actually all 3 are at the town hall square. 

 

The Tivoli hotel is as the name otherwise suggest not very close to Tivoli, its 15 minutes om foot. 

 

Manon les suites are also some 15 minutes away but just in the other direction. 

Hi Danish Viking,

Thanks for the reply. I took your advise and investigate on Citizen M , Square and Palace. After getting some quotes, only Palace and Square have room that can accomodate 4 (either with rollaways or sofa beds or 2x connecting rooms), wheareas Citizen M will be 2 rooms (but he cheapest if comparing to the connecting room options with the other 2). My question is which of these you suggest.Citizen M will be the most expensive (considering 2 rooms) when compare to the room + sofa/rollaway options). Is the Square comparable to the palace? unfortunaely it dowsn't look like i can take advantage of any of the breakfast included option with either Square/Palace as they suggest me to leave at 6:30am to catch my 8isham flight on departure date.  Kind of want to experiment with CitizenM is it seems funbut just not sure how smallish (or minimal) the rooms are. What would you suggest?

Thanks again

Hi,

We are a family of 4 (2 adults and 2 teenagers 10, 14) We will be staying one night in CPH precruise before boarding the Regal in July 2019. Afterwards we will be staying for another 2 nights in CPH to tour around the city and visit Tivoli Garden. Typical like what we have done in previos europe trip it is likely we will need 2 rooms. I currently have on hold the Bella Sky (just because of the cheaper rate I got) , But someone mentioned it is in the middle of no where and it is not that convenient but the hotel itself is great. I am currently considering perhaps for ease of getting around town to keep my Bella Sky for precruise (not sure about transportation to the port though or even anything to do in the area precruise day... our flight arrive early int he morning)... but for sure it may be more logical to change our post cruise to something more conveniently accessible. I am currently considering Les Suites Manon or Trivoli Hotel... anyone has any recommendation on one or the other (looking for convenience , 4* hotel standard,)? or any other similar level hotel? Our flight will be leaving CPH 8am on departure day so  easy transportation to CPH airport early in the departure morning is preferred.

Thanks in advance.

6 hours ago, Tapi said:

Hey bazan:

 

I don't know if you're referencing my experience concerning pre-booking Cirque shows, but what you describe was my experience as well. Those who pre-booked had to stand in line to get their show times, while I just went on the app (you can also do it from your interactive TV in the cabin), select your times, and get immediate confirmation. Your tickets will then be delivered to your cabin the evening prior to your performance. 

 

We didn't purchase a specialty restaurant package, but you can purchase those once onboard (they will try to sell them to you as soon as you board, and there will also be an information table set up at the Galleria Meraviglia to sell packages throughout the week). Even though I didnt buy the package, I checked restaurant availability several times because I wanted do an individual dinner, and I never found any that was sold out. Some popular times were filled, but otherwise it would've been easy to make a reservation. Enjoy! 

Thanks for the reply. yes that is what I was referring to. Just reading through the respond here does this mean prebooking we don't get charge gratuity? We are on the Dec 29 the sailing  so just trying to sort everything out including port excursions...not sure how busy that week is but looks like excursions are tight (non cruise line operated ones)... so wondering if want to book Cirque on board. Any idea if you can cancel ?

txs

Hi,

I will boardiing the Meraviglia in Dec this year, I am just wondering if there is any benefits of prebooking the Cirque shows prior to boarding. I have read somewhere that even with prebookings., they will just issue you a voucher where you still have to do the long line up to book the times for the 2 shows.  Someone was saying just not prebook but rather once on board use the app to book show at the time you want (no need then to line up again). I wonder if the shows ever sold out? or better yet can we prebook now, but once on board use the app to book show and request refund for my prebook?

Also , this will be my first crusie with MSC, coming from RCCL, I see that you cannot reserve any of the specialty restaurants... so any rationale to buy those package before hand? or those specialty restarant package are only available precruise?

Thanks in advance.

Hi

our family of 4 (kids @ 9 and 13) will be travelling to Alaska this Aug on the Bliss. We will be stopping at Skagway porting at 7am departing 5.30pm. Unfortunately the 3.5hr White Pass train/bus combo compatible to our cruise seem to be all sold out from all the tours operators that i can search through the internet. The only one available with the train seems to be the 7hrs Benett Lake train/Bus. I was even told if we want to do train for that day (Aug 22) directly book with WPR is sold out ... so no diy and have to join a tour. It is our first time to Alaska, so i think it is worthwhile to do the train rather than just touring around the small town. My worries and from my search results some people with kids think the 7 hrs journey is a little too long... esp with kids at my age. Any comments or suggestions ..? txs

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Hi,

Our family of 4 (From YYZ) will be sailing the Bliss in coming Aug. We are trying to combine this with a visit to the Yellowstone Nat Park post cruise. But it looks like flight arrangements may be quite an hassle. For now my plan is to to fly in to YVR (flying into SEA is always preferred but with the layover and the taxes combined it seems flying into YVR and renting a car and dropping off at SEA is still cheaper and give us more time). The issue is the flying out from SEA , the Bliss is scheduled to arrive back SEA at 8am , I have searched and find next to no flight flying out from SEA to either SLC or JAC in the afternoon, the only one I found is at 1pm. Is a 1pm departure too tight ? Not sure if assuming a 10am disembarkation and with SEA traffic will be able to make it. Also any recommendation as to preference of flying into SLC or JAC? It seems like if flying into JAC , I will not get there till the night time anyways so I will have to stay overnight in one of the limited number of accomodations in JAC before driving in to the park the next day. SLC seem to have a wider selection of accomodations and cheaper rentals however driving to the park will be an extra 2-3 hrs (which we are ok).

Thanks in advance

Likewise, we have chosen the 3 meal package for pax 1 and 2. We have 2 kids travelling with us (age 9 and 13) , should we prepurchase (I guess I meant for my 13 yr old son) or should we do on board?txs

Hi,

I will be sailing on the Anthems in May.. I had previously make diner reservation at the Devinly Decadence ... and now obviously has been changed to the Solarium Bistro. When opening up the planner, my reservation is still there with the Solarium, but I got the impression that the Solarium Bistro is a Buffet like windjammer and therefore doesn't need a reservation. Even the Solarium Bistro is no longer appearing as a reservation option. I am just asking this to see if there is something I am missing... if indeed is a buffet like windjammer, I would like to move on and make another reservation somewhere.

Thanks in advance

Sorry ... just bumping out for my questions still looking if anyone have a more definitive answer

1. can i opt for specialty dining package to replace my individual specialty reservations so that i can determine my own restaraunts rather than letting them to assign? if yes do i also book the specialty package now or wait till on board.

2. Anyone know of C&A balcony discounts for platinum level is it in the form of OBC ?

Thanks again.

Thank you all for your replies...

I guess we are still not sure if we can just applied the package to our existing specialty restaurants booking... from what I gathered from the many threads... this is so confusing. But at least now I got my answer why there is no kids price in the planner... guess I have to call back to cancel my 2 "adults" booking for my kids... I will keep on digging .. and hopefully get some firm answers.

BTW... anyone know what is the balcony discount for platinum member and if this is combinable to shareholder benefits? Reason I was asking is because apparently when sending email to claim my shareholder benefits they told me I have $75 of OBC which I have no idea where it came from (I thought C&A discounts come in the form of price discount not OBC)

Thanks

The grande is casual on the first night. It was varied in dress each night anyway. Not everyone was dressed up. They never said anything or denied anyone.

 

 

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Thanks

Hi,

We will be in the May sailing on the Anthem with my 2 kids (7 and 11 yr old) and wife. I am trying to make some planning and have some questions:

1. I think we will be doing 3 specialty dining and therefore the 3night dining package make more sense for us financially. I have already made and prepaid for the reservations for the 3 restaurants we will be going to (not interested in the "prearragement" from RCCL). What's the best way to switch to the package? I heard we can just request to switch to the package once on board (keeping all existing reservations)or do I need to also prepaid and booked the 3 night package in the planner and cancel the individual once on board?

2. Any idea how much they charge for the kids at these specialty restaurant? and for the 3 night package for kids? Are they able to order from the same menu? It will be funny if the kids is having fish and chips or whatever while the adults are having "specialty" dishes

3. I think I have read somewhere the first night dress code at the Grande is relaxed (smart casual?) so I booked our first night there.. but want to confirm if anyone has any experience as none of us has interests to dress up during our vacation but at the same time we don't want to be disrespectful if this is not the case

4. We are platinum C&A member.. and they currently have the buy one 2nd device half price package.. wonder if it make more sense to book on board (we need 2 devices) hoping for any addtional C&A discount or take advantage of the BOGOH offer now.

Thanks in advance