bgTexasguy

Thank you very much for posting this! It is so nice that they started this program. I am looking forward to possibly receiving this coin on our next cruise.

Command Sergeant Major, U.S. Army (Retired).

On August 7, 1947, Kon-Tiki, a balsa wood raft captained by Norwegian anthropologist Thor Heyerdahl, completes a 4,300-mile, 101-day journey from Peru to Raroia in the Tuamotu Archipelago, near Tahiti. Heyerdahl wanted to prove his theory that prehistoric South Americans could have colonized the Polynesian islands by drifting on ocean currents.

Heyerdahl and his five-person crew set sail from Callao, Peru, on the 45-foot-long Kon-Tiki on April 28, 1947. The Kon-Tiki, named for a mythical white chieftain, was made of indigenous materials and designed to resemble rafts of early South American Indians. While crossing the Pacific, the sailors encountered storms, sharks and whales, before finally washing ashore at Raroia. Heyerdahl, born in Larvik, Norway, on October 6, 1914, believed that Polynesia’s earliest inhabitants had come from South America, a theory that conflicted with popular scholarly opinion that the original settlers arrived from Asia. Even after his successful voyage, anthropologists and historians continued to discredit Heyerdahl’s belief. However, his journey captivated the public and he wrote a book about the experience that became an international bestseller and was translated into 65 languages. Heyerdahl also produced a documentary about the trip that won an Academy Award in 1951.

Heyerdahl made his first expedition to Polynesia in 1937. He and his first wife lived primitively on Fatu Hiva in the Marquesas Islands for a year and studied plant and animal life. The experience led him to believe that humans had first come to the islands aboard primitive vessels drifting on ocean currents from the east.

Following the Kon-Tiki expedition, Heyerdahl made archeological trips to such places as the Galapagos Islands, Easter Island and Peru and continued to test his theories about how travel across the seas played a major role in the migration patterns of ancient cultures. In 1970, he sailed across the Atlantic from Morocco to Barbados in a reed boat named Ra II (after Ra, the Egyptian sun god) to prove that Egyptians could have connected with pre-Columbian Americans. In 1977, he sailed the Indian Ocean in a primitive reed ship built in Iraq to learn how prehistoric civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and Egypt might have connected.

While Heyerdahl’s work was never embraced by most scholars, he remained a popular public figure and was voted “Norwegian of the Century” in his homeland. He died at age 87 on April 18, 2002, in Italy. The raft from his famous 1947 expedition is housed at the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, Norway. 

6 minutes ago, RumRunner2021 said:

I'm guessing it says that on the T&C's on the back of the ticket.    @ggTexasGal can likely confirm.

Actually, the back of the ticket goes into lengthy NCL legal jargon equal to, "NCL acts as an agent to book the excursion, but NCL does not hold any liability, since you are out of our care while on the excursion." (Or, something to that effect, only much lengthier!)🙃

Here is an example of how the 1st person booking the excursion in their name, but passenger 2 uses the excursion ticket can go terribly wrong...

Passenger 1 goes and does her thing, then returns to the ship.  Passenger 2 is on the excursion, but sadly there has been a traffic jam that now is holding the ship from leaving the port.  Security calls passenger 1 to report to front desk, because passenger 1's name is on the ship's log as being on an excursion that has not returned.  And passenger 2 is "missing." 

This could happen, and could get very ugly!

43 minutes ago, ggTexasGal said:

2010 onward, explains why you have never paid it.

 

However, there were cruises back in 2008 (or 2009 ) when we did pay it, but we also knew that the possibility existed.

As chengkp75 explained in post 11, it has not been likely since then. (also, see his post 18).

I found our Original Invoice with the Fuel Supplement added:

1 hour ago, Summerstravel said:

Thanks for your information. Can you just relax on the beach on GSC? I do admit it looks like a great place. 

We prefer the Eastern (or Southern Caribbean) to the Pacific coast.  However, we have enjoyed our visits to Cabo and Puerto Vallarta (Mazatlan seemed very dirty when we were there).

You might want to check out these CC pages for the Encore cruise:

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/82-st-thomasst-john/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/202-tortola/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/280-dominican-republic/

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/308-private-islands/ ...(for Great Stirrup Cay)

At GSC you can get a lounger near the beach, possibly with tree shade (or could rent a clamshell).

There are multiple bars (yes, drink package works on GSC, but you will pay port taxes on drinks) plenty of food, activities, and music.  It IS a TENDER port!!!

https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/great-stirrup-cay  (Scroll down the page for map and other info!)

BTW, we enjoy St Thomas (but, love to go over to St John's from there sometimes instead).

I hope these links are helpful for you! 

IF you intend to do both Atlantic (caribbean) cruises and Pacific coast cruises in the future, I would recommend starting with the West Coast, and then go on the Bahamas (and or Southern Caribbean) cruises, where the water and beaches are simply different from those on the Pacific coast.

20 hours ago, Bilge Rat 2 said:

Was there Any Scuba Diving. Any information would Be helpful. 

                                                                                Thank You

From:   https://www.cruisehive.com/things-to-know-about-ocean-cay-msc-marine-reserve/37450   (Using your "Ctrl" key and "F" key, and type in "Scuba" can highlight anything listing scuba activities!)

More experienced divers can join a Two Tank Scuba Dive on Victory Reef. Coral caverns and swim-throughs in water from 35 to 90 feet in depth are home to Loggerhead Turtles, Reef Sharks, Nurse Sharks and large fish such as Wahoo and Mahi-Mahi at Bull Run.Wow!

22 hours ago, KSinSTL said:

Has anyone stayed in cabin 8756 or 8152 above the theater? If so, how is the noise level?  

I can't answer your question, however, have you viewed this video of 8152?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MLbi1xYH-c

(She talks about noise towards the end!)

3 hours ago, elliotlake12 said:

Anyone have contact info for taxi or Uber, PR airport to cruise dock and return? Thanks, NCL is quoting $100 per person for shuttle, seems high$.

 

When we arrived in San Juan (SJU) airport (Jan 2020), I opened the UBER APP on my phone, entered my info, and had a ride for the two of us in about 10 minutes. Cost w/tip to our hotel was about $17.  The next morning to port was $26, but that was because there was a huge delay sitting in line to get into the port.

1 hour ago, Treasure Hunter said:

Ok, That's helpful. Yes I did watch the Embark show but must of missed the detail. And I really liked Blazing Boots so that would great too.  ( of course I would love if it was Jersey Boys. ) If you want to watch dreadful shows go on Celebrity. 

Currently what shows up on NCL website for the Encore (Kinky Boots, not Blazing Boots): Of course, things could change!

Raise the roof every night at our spectacular shows. Winner of six Tony Awards®, Kinky Boots is a must-see Broadway hit. Sing along to classic rock hits at The Choir Of Man or step into a New Orleans speakeasy at Happy Hour Prohibition: The Musical.

There are plenty of shuttle companies available from either IAH (furthest away) or HOU (closer).

A quick Google search should help you find the specific info that you seek.

...we drive to Galveston and park.  (For this trip we will park at HOU and UBER to the port for boarding).

SPORTS COURTS:

Dawn - Deck 14 Fwd

Gem - Deck 13 Aft

Jade - Deck 13 Aft

Jewel - Deck 13 Aft

Pearl - Deck 13 Aft

Spirit - Deck 13 Mid

Sky - Deck 12 Mid

Star - Deck 14 Fwd

Sun - Deck 12 Mid

Pride of America - Deck 14 Aft

It does not seem that the cruise terminal was torn down.

However, it was leased to Auto Warehousing later in 2016.

Google: 12855 Cruise St, El Lago, TX 77586  ...I used satellite view.

3 minutes ago, bgTexasguy said:

The Port of Houston had a beautiful terminal that was utilized by  Princess and the NCL JEWEL (not , Jade) for two years, to the Western Caribbean.  Those cruises took place in 2014 and 2015.

During that time, both Princess and NCL terminated their contracts because of the many (and sometimes lengthy) fog delays that are common in the ship channel.  The problems were compounded by the fact that Container Ships have priority!

 

Previously to the 2014 - 2015 sailings, NCL did have the Dream cruising "Texaribbean Cruises" out of the older port (further up the ships channel).

Oops, I was mistaken!!!  The Jewel did the Fall 2014 to Spring 2015.  Then, the Jade did the 2015-2016 cruises.

The Port of Houston had a beautiful terminal that was utilized by  Princess and the NCL JEWEL (not , Jade) for two years, to the Western Caribbean.  Those cruises took place in 2014 and 2015.

During that time, both Princess and NCL terminated their contracts because of the many (and sometimes lengthy) fog delays that are common in the ship channel.  The problems were compounded by the fact that Container Ships have priority!

Previously to the 2014 - 2015 sailings, NCL did have the Dream cruising "Texaribbean Cruises" out of the older port (further up the ships channel).

2 hours ago, BamaCruiser39 said:

Also on the Gem for the August 15 sailing: there were 40+ excursions this past Friday when we booked the ones we wanted. Now only 5 are showing as currently bookable.

From NCL Promotional Terms and Conditions: ..."guest cannot purchase shore excursions for themselves where the duration of such excursions overlap in time."

Therefore, when logged into your account (after already booking excursions) additional shore excursions for that cruise would be limited to only those that would NOT occur at the same time of those you had already booked.

https://www.ncl.com/termsandconditions/promotions

On 3/25/2021 at 3:47 PM, HBCcruiser said:

If you want to try to get some movement out of the CDC and the Biden Administration, send the CLIA Action Center letter to your representatives. It is easy to do. 

 

https://cruising.org/en/clia-action-center.

Thank you ...done!

Can't help you with suite info on the PoA, but you might enjoy reading:

https://profcruise.com/35-tips-for-your-cruise-to-hawaii-on-ncls-pride-of-america/

Regarding "Onboard expenses that you might not expect:
1) Port taxes on food and beverages at U.S. ports might be added to your account (when/where/% varies) so, just be aware that these might show on your account.  An example: when embarking in Miami, there are taxes charged on drinks while the ship is in port (and within certain mileage from port).  Generally, speaking the amount is about $1-$2 per drink.  At most US ports, NCL will tag these extra taxes onto your Onboard account.

If you want to take fitness classes, and some other events, there might be an additional fee ...check for those.

Try using this link to see if any of your concerns might be addressed.

https://www.ncl.com/about/accessible-cruising

Did you have a cruise cancelled and receive Future Cruises Credit(s)?  That is the message you are seeing, which has nothing to do with Future Cruise Credits usage.

You might want to look at these two (separate) NCL pages explaining Cruise First Certificates and Future Cruise Certificates.

The NCL message you display refers only to Future Cruise Certificates!

https://www.ncl.com/terms/cruisefirst (In particular, note # 9!)

https://www.ncl.com/fcc

20 hours ago, FLAHAM said:

I was on the Escape the following week.  Recently Platinum, I asked about the free tour of the ship.  I was told I could take the tour, but my non-platinum cabinmate (girlfriend) could not.  Is this standard NCL practice?

That is correct.  Bear in mind that there are Platinum Plus and Ambassador members that "out-rank" you and your non-Platinum cabin mate!

We actually got to go on the bridge of the Windward in 1993, while the captain was steering the ship out of St. Thomas... that would never happen today!  I believe our actual last bridge tour was four to five years ago.  We were recently told on an NCL cruise that no bridge tours are being permitted anymore fleet-wide.