SunshineGal2022

1 minute ago, AK Dreaming said:

I've sailed over 25 times and I do not have a PCC or travel agent.  I just book on line with NCL.  However, I am planning a family trip with several differnt types of cabins and people from different states.  If I'm going to use a PCC, I'd like to get one that someone can recomend as I've heard stories about unresponsiveness and missed opportunities.  Can anyone recommend a PCC?

You might want to talk to the Group travel department too and see if that is a good option for you 🙂

I love all your pictures and tips!

How was the champagne cruise? 
 

I was wondering about the spa prices on GSC.  Do they have a price list for the items offered at the ship’s spa or Guest Services?  How do you book spa treatments on the island?

12 hours ago, Kuiet-time said:

Any tips on the best way to stay in communication with my family and kids while we are on our cruise. We have a group of 16. 

iMessage seems to work on the ship, even without Wi-Fi.  That may be an option for some people instead of paying for the messaging which may not work.

On 2/1/2023 at 6:51 AM, cruiseny4life said:

There's nothing subjective about burnt "charred" crust pizza. It's horrible. I don't care. You're wrong if you like it. (ok, I'm being slightly sarcastic, but seriously get that charred junk out of my face).

 

As for La Cucina - I agree. We've always had great meals there. Of course it isn't authentic Italian. Go to Italy for that. The burrata is excellent, alas it's gone. Replaced with mozzarella, for your convenience, I'm sure.

 

I was pleasantly surprised by the lasagna. The spaghetti carbonara is perfect for my husband as there's no peas or peppers hiding in it. Just a regular carbonara. The pizza is the best on the ship - doesn't say a lot, but hey it's the best. I really enjoyed the pear salad as it was light which is a nice difference from all the heavy food you find on a cruise ship. We also enjoyed the cartoccio, though the portion was created for a child. And, finally, the spicy shrimp was yum, not too spicy, but you could tell it had some spice in it.

Is La Cucina heavy in garlic or onion?  I can’t eat whole onions or garlic; I can tolerate a little powder of each.  I usually avoid Italian places because of this allergy, but some Italian places are light on spices and I can tolerate them.  (I even found a local Italian place that leaves out garlic in my fettuccine Alfredo! 🙂 )

Pizza usually is okay, as many marinara sauces I can tolerate, but the places with the heavy use of garlic I cannot go to.  
 

La Cucina wasn’t on my list for these reasons, but others I am traveling with might like it, and I want to know if I can eat it if we go there.

(Peppers are intolerable too, I don’t know if they season with peppers, some Mediterranean kitchens do.)

I think it depends on which ship you are on and where you are going.  

21 hours ago, Booboochase said:

We used Shore Excursions dot com, saw them recommended on another thread - it was $139 pp I believe? Part of it was a ferry ride.  Myself and another person were quasi begging the guy who drove the Rebel Yell from the NCL excursion to take us back with them! 

I’ll have to check them out!  

I hope your DH recovers quickly. 

22 hours ago, Lupush said:

It's unfortunate that NCL hasn't made all indoor areas non-smoking yet.  After being on the new ships in the non-smoking casinos, its hard to go back to a smoking environment.

I agree.  California made smoking illegal in most indoor places about 20 years ago (maybe longer).  It’s a rare thing now to see cigarette or cigar smokers here; my children are more used to smelling pot smoke than cigarette smoke.  It’s hard for me to go into places with smoke at all now, and will not visit any casino that allows smoking.  Obviously I wouldn’t expect cruise ships to be completely non-smoking, but I would love it if they all had a well filtered casino that didn’t allow the smoke to drift outside a particular section, or if they restricted smoking to one outside section of the ship.

The NCL website is significantly faster, you can switch between viewing the prices per person or by stateroom, and you have more sort options (like sorting offers and room types!). 😀.  I might be missing some of the new features but those are the ones I noticed. 

I was happily surprised by the changes when I was playing around on the website tonight. 

Hopefully the same IT team can redo the NCL app and fix all the issues with it, too!

Happy to follow along.  We have the same itinerary in June.  We are almost to the point of booking our reservations! 😁

You can call and see if they can move your 17yo to the 2nd person spot in the cabin instead of the #3 spot.  Ymmv, especially if you have airfare and other FAS offers attached to your daughter.  Otherwise just switch plates at the restaurants. 

27 minutes ago, ceilidh1 said:

 

 

Thank you both! So I already booked Cagneys using the FAS credit. If I now upgrade to FAS plus for the additional credits, would I need to cancel Cagneys before booking Teppanyaki?

I think if you call NCL, they can fix it for you so you don’t need to cancel 🙂

On 1/23/2023 at 3:58 PM, aroundtheriverbend said:

 

This is really interesting to me, I just booked an Escape cruise in June and picked up the airfare deal, when I got the deposit receipt (final payment isn't due for another month) it showed AIRDEV - FT LAUDERDALE on the airfare column.  I asked the agent to research why it was saying that when the embarkation is out of Miami.  I really don't think I'd be super happy being on a charter flight.... do you mind my asking, where was your departure city?  I'm Charlotte NC. 

They fly you into Miami or FLL, based on what is available and cheap for them. You won’t know until you get your flights assigned where you are going!

How is the filet at Ocean Blue compared to Le Bistro?  OB has no surcharge. I haven’t seen the best reviews at Cagneys lately so I was avoiding that restaurant.  

8 hours ago, drwbrt said:

I wish I could buy this for all of you.

It will pack nicely next to the $2 bills and ziplocs 🤪

I am an over packer too.  But everyone always knows if they forget something, I am bound to have it! 😂😂

I sent a list to my friend who is going on the cruise.  My list was over 5 pages long. 🤐

some other things I have that you don’t yet:

1. If you are flying, have wired headphones OR a Bluetooth adapter for wireless headphones for in flight movies 

2. ziploc bags

3. Travel size bottle brush and travel size dish soap.  I don’t like my water bottle being dirty and need to wash it more than once a week

OXO Tot Travel Size Drying Rack with Bottle Brush- Gray https://a.co/d/37BCine

4. Travel laundry soap for sink washing clothes

5. Soap sheets (for hand washing when no soap is around)

6. Tiny battery powered flashlight 

7. Tiny battery powered alarm clock 

8. RFID blocking passport holders

9. Tiny pump to inflate water toys (like this one)

FLEXTAILGEAR - MAX Pump Plus Portable Air Pump with 3600mAh Battery USB Rechargeable Lightest Air Pump to Quick Inflate Deflate for Pool Floats Air Bed Air Mattress Swimming Ring (White)… https://a.co/d/cGrf128

10. Waterproof digital watch (Timex style, not Smart watch)

I have quite a few more things but those are the ones I would start with.  #9 depends if you are bringing inflatable floats for the beach for the kids or not, and want to inflate them by mouth. 

I like tiny, packable items because I don’t take too many pieces of luggage with me, but I also want to make sure I don’t forget anything.  My friends laugh at my lists but I am pleased when I have everything I need or want.

45 minutes ago, Sandyshore said:

 

Thanks for the info. I do have one of those clear sleeves, and it's mighty hard to get the card in and out of it. Do the new cards work from inside the sleeve? The old ones had to be swiped...at security, the restaurants, and...IIRC, inserted to open your cabin door. Is there no corner where I could punch a hole myself? 🙄

It was suggested to me to get an ID badge holder with a thumb slot, like this one, so you can slide the card out easily.

Pawfly Vertical 2-Card Badge Holder with Thumb Slot Hard Transparent PC Case Protector for Office School IDs Credit Cards Driver’s Licenses and Passes, 5 Pack https://a.co/d/iBLFD4v

3 hours ago, BirdTravels said:

Boxes are fine to carry ashore. I just like to minimize the "stuff" that we have to pack. 

Will every port allow you to bring the boxed water to shore?  

On 1/29/2023 at 11:15 AM, mking8288 said:

After a light breakfast of fruits, yogurt, smoked salmon bagel, juice & coffee, rested briefly and just checked out the shops here at AC.  Very good prices & wide selections at the duty-free shop vs. onboard Tradewind options as we needed to pickup gifts for someone. Open WiFi for general use is available at some of the stores including one of the cafe.

 

Looked around a bit, photos & then returned to the ship for a buffet lunch. Those taxi-bike are free, seats 2 and drivers worked for tips only. Being hot, humid & sunny ... we used them. 

Breakfast looks delicious!
 

I plan on using these taxi bikes.  What is an appropriate tip/ person ? (I have never tipped anyone performing a similar transport method; my tipping experience generally is with restaurants and barber shops.)  I assume they take US dollars?  Do the tips given tend to change depending if they are going away from the ship or towards it (when it is hotter)?

I think the lowest room available with a sofa is a family oceanview.  It actually looks like a very nice cabin, and allows you to have a second room for sitting and watching TV.  (Or, a desk for you to use your computer on while DH is snoring on the bed in the other room.)

We are looking at going here too.  I don’t know if my son will want to do any of the animal interactions that day, and probably will not know until we are in Ocean World.  Can you add the animal interaction experiences inside the park, if you only booked transportation over there from your cruise ship?

22 hours ago, ctlyf said:

We are considering our first NCL cruise. The itinerary we are looking at is Viva out of San Juan in Feb 2024. We are not cruising rookies but not experts either. We have sailed the most on Carnival (4), then RCL (2) then Princess (1). We typically book balcony cabins (only once were we in an outside cabin and never in an interior) and our last 2 Carnival cruises were in the spa category, which included access to the thermal spa. Looking for any tips, preferences, thoughts. Ideally, if you've cruised NCL and other lines, how they compare, and what you like/don't like. I believe NCL has spa rooms as well, but if you get a regular room, can you purchase a spa access package?

You CAN just buy a thermal spa pass, however the pass may range from $199-299 (depending on the ship and length of cruise).  Just like on other lines, sometimes upgrading to a spa room to start is cheaper than buying two passes separately.

11 hours ago, drwbrt said:

Oh, I forgot. One big issue we had with the internet.

 

Being on WiFi made our devices look like they were in Panama City. It also caused problems with our phones, and Apple Watches, keeping ship time. Add in the time change from LA to Cabo and it was a confusing five days.

 

It was so confusing, in fact, that our safety window for returning to the ship was shaved down to an uncomfortable level. A stupid simple Casio watch may be a nice edition to the packing list.

Thanks for the tip.  I just added a <$20 snorkeling- friendly digital watch to my shopping list. 

9 hours ago, brookie848 said:

So when we cruise, we usually never use our Internet minutes except for maybe the last day to check in for our flight and make sure all is well there.

 

However, this cruise my brother is traveling with us and his kids are staying home with his ex-wife. He is going to want to call/contact them via Facebook (however that is done). I'm assuming that means we are going to need to upgrade to the streaming package?

 

And from what I've read here it might be best to do this on board since we can upgrade/get a discount using our Free at Sea Minutes and our Latitudes discount. We plan on paying for one device and putting it in my or my husband's name (since we are Platinum) and then just let him use our login.

 

Is this the best/most logical plan?

If you upgrade to FAS+, you would get 2 unlimited Internet logins, the Premium drinks, Starbucks, and the excursion credit. You could give him one login and keep the other for yourself. 
 

Messaging children back home is why I would get Internet too.  Some people say they are able to have video chats on the unlimited plan, but they use apps that are not the big social media apps.  

8 hours ago, farmecologist said:

 

Glad you got a good value out of FAS+! 👍

 

We wouldn't drink anywhere near 16 drinks a day, so I'm not sure the 'math' would work out for us.  Also, my wife is a very light drinker...BUT she loves coffee...so the Starbucks benefit of FAS+ certainly needs to be taken into consideration. 

 

While we won't drik 16 drinks a day, the drinks we do try are the 'expensive' ones that we wouldn't normally pay for a la carte, which is the beauty of the package, regardless of the 'math'. 👍 In other words, we can try exotic (to us) things without worry.  I never thought about the "expensive bottle of wine at dinner" thing either.  I enjoy wine at dinner...so an "upscale" bottle of wine seems to have value as well.   Is there a limit to the bottle cost?

 

Thanks for this thread.  We never even considered FAS+. However, we were considering upgrading to unlimited internet anyway...so it seems like I should go do the 'math' to see if it works for us.  I think it just might! 👍

 

 

 

I am considering the FAS+ for Starbucks and Internet alone - especially if Starlink is added before our cruise!  Between those upgrades and I think using 2 days of excursion credits, the FAS+ package equals out in what we would pay.

There’s no limit to the bottle cost, to my understanding.

I would suggest looking at the Family Harbor Interior rooms.  I know Celebration has them, I am not sure about MG.  I think Jubilee will have it too.

The interior room is about the same size, but you get access to the Family Harbor Lounge.  It has cabinets full of board games, children’s movies playing, video games, couches and tables to sit at, and (the best part for most kids), a private snack bar.  There is a beverage station (coffee and soda) and kid friendly food (chicken fingers, brownies, breakfast items, etc) which changes every few hours.  It’s just down the hall from the room, so your children could run down and grab and snack without you going in there.

check out the videos on YouTube 🙂

I have heard the kids clubs are strict on the age guidelines, but you can always ask when you are there about having them together.  
 

But if you had a family harbor room, the family lounge would give you one more place to hang out as a family and they could be together there.