njhorseman

I've eaten there exactly once in all my years of cruising on NCL and as far as i recall I didn't make a reservation.

I've never sailed on Princess so I don't have any first hand knowledge of the ship. I've sailed on the Norwegian Jade's siblings the Gem and the Jewel many times and they are far and away my favorite class of NCL ship. All other things being reasonably similar I'd take a 25 night cruise over a 15 night cruise at the same price...and the fact that you get Alaska in addition to the Panama Canal on the Jade cruise is a giant plus in my eyes. It makes the Princess itinerary look very ordinary by comparison. On a 25 night cruise the absolute last thing I'd be worried about are spring breakers and holidays. That cruise is far too long for spring breakers and for that matter most working adults . The cruise's demographic is going to be heavily weighted to retirees

There's no wrong way to do a Panama Canal transit. The strongest suggestion I have for a first-timer is to do the cruise on a ship that uses the original locks if you at all can...but if that won't work for you for one reason or another, then don't hesitate to take the voyage on a ship using the new locks. Beyond that just pick the ship and itinerary that appeals to you the most and don't worry about minor differences. We've done six full transits, all using the original locks. Four on the Norwegian Gem...two in each direction, one north to south on the Oceania Insignia and one north to south on the Oceania Marina. We fully enjoyed each transit.

I don't think any of the Port of Miami garages are fully automated. Per the website: Hours and Access Cruise Days (Cruise Ships at Port) All garages are open and staffed by a parking attendant from 6 a.m. to 5 p.m.

It's open daily for dinner. I've never seen it open for lunch.

Per the official port website that's not true for vehicles with only standard handicapped plates or permits. It's only true for disabled veterans and vehicles with specialized equipment such a ramps, lifts and hand controls. https://www.miamidade.gov/portmiami/parking-information.asp Disabled Parking Miami-Dade County Ordinance requires all guests with a disabled parking permit or license tag to pay standard parking rates except as provided by Florida State Law. However, two hours of complimentary parking will be provided to vehicles displaying a disabled parking permit or license tag In accordance with Florida Statute 316.1964, ONLY vehicles with specialized equipment such as ramps, lifts, or foot or hand controls, for use by a person who has a disability, or any vehicle displaying a State of Florida license plate for disabled veterans (issued under s. 320.084, s. 320.0842, or s. 320.0845 or displaying the Florida Toll Exemption permit, is exempt from parking charges Disabled Veterans Parking Effective July 1, 2016, disabled veterans displaying a Florida license plate for disabled veterans, issued under Florida Statute 320.084, will receive free parking. The disabled veteran to whom the license plate was issued must be in the vehicle for this exception to apply Please note that as long as your vehicle has a State of Florida disabled veterans tag, your parking is complimentary in accordance with Florida Statutes. When you exit the parking facility, please present the Toll Attendant your original parking ticket, driver's license and State of Florida vehicle registration. The toll attendant will have you complete a short form and that is all there is to it

Yes...I think of that as a Warwick Long Bay parking lot, but it also serves as parking for Jobson's Cove.

My recollection is no road access so no parking lot and therefore no taxis...access only by South Shore Park walking path from Horseshoe Bay or Warwick Long Bay and no facilities.

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We've done 4 full transits on the Gem and the bow was opened each time. You'll use the original locks unless there's an operational problem in the Canal and they're forced to move you to the new locks, but that happens only very rarely.

I'm not sure why you are asking this again You already asked this question and it was answered on the NCL board. You even replied after the question was answered so you definitely saw it. @CruiserBruce's reply is correct.

I should have added that some of the OP's other posts mention sailing on the Symphony of the Seas on May 31...which is definitely a cruise from Cape Liberty. For a one night stay I'm not sure i agree with staying at a Manhattan hotel. They'd have to schlep their luggage into Manhattan and then right back to NJ the next morning. If they were to stay at the DoubleTree Newark Penn Station they could take the free hotel shuttle from EWR to the hotel, then because the hotel is connected to the railroad station to get to a Broadway show it's an easy NJ Transit ride from New Penn to NY Penn, which is only a walk or a short taxi ride or even a short subway ride to the Theater District. On embarkation morning it's an easy and inexpensive Uber ride to Cape Liberty. For more than one night I'd agree with staying in Manhattan rather than NJ.

I think since the OP said "There is a hotel close to the Newark airport correct? I've heard there is nothing close to the port." it was reasonable to assume they're sailing from Cape Liberty in Bayonne.

One issue with Art Mel's is that it's take out only...there's no seating in the restaurant nor even immediately nearby.. You have to take your sandwich elsewhere to eat it.

Few would venture into the ocean in early April. I didn't when I've been there at that time. Mean water temperature for April is 67.8 F, so early April water temperature will likely be even a bit lower than that, The water warms pretty dramatically by late May, which is traditionally the start of the beach season. Here's some historical climate data: https://www.bermuda-online.org/climateweather.htm

https://www.flylax.com/lax-it THESE SERVICES STILL PICK UP CURBSIDE IN THE TERMINALS: LYFT LUX BLACK & LYFT LUX BLACK XL UBER BLACK & UBER BLACK SUV LIMOUSINES, TOWN CARS & PRIVATE VEHICLES

No. Ship security will know you haven't left and you will be located and kicked to the curb.

No...no zero count is required. The only B2B's where we have had to temporarily disembark so the ship could reach a zero count were in US ports where USCBP required it. It could also happen in another country if their immigration procedures required it. We didn't even have to disembark in one US turnaround port on a B2B because the previous port call was the first port in the US and everyone cleared immigration there, so nothing had to be done at the turnaround. Since the POA is a totally US domestic cruise there are no immigration requirements or procedures at any point. There are no issues of accounting of money or people. Guest services will provide procedural instructions during the cruise, including whether a new room key is required. No need to bother them on check in day when they're busy attending to other issues. Passengers sailing in the same cabin don't have to touch their belongings. The cabin will simply undergo a little deeper cleaning than on an ordinary day.

For many years I worked for a company in a situation similar to MSC Cruises. The parent company was at the time the largest company in the world based on assets in its line of business. Our subsidiary company was rather big itself, but small compared to our parent. The company was not publicly traded at that time just as MSC isn't, so there was no profit pressure from outside investors. Our early objectives were primarily to build the business by putting customers on the books...customers we attracted from other companies primarily by setting prices below what many of the competitors were charging. Yes, obviously we had our own P&L objectives, but our parent was quite willing to absorb substantial losses early on in order to grow our customer base. We were not under substantial earnings pressure in the short run...momma would give us any additional capital we needed to cover our red ink. Only as we matured did profit became an increasingly important objective. After about 20 years momma decided we were not generating a high enough ROI (it was more complicated than just ROI, but I won't go into the details) and decided to sell our sub. I was fortunate enough to have a job where I knew this was going to happen before 99% of of the employees did. As a result when an early retirement buyout plan became available I took it...which caused a lot of head scratching in our corporate headquarters. After all I was only in my mid to late 40's and as far as most everyone knew I had a wonderful career path open ahead of me. A few months after I left the majority of the staff realized why.

I think it's pretty clear why. The cruise industry "Big Three" are burdened by billions in debt amassed during the long COVID 19 shutdown and need to set prices as high as they can possibly get away with (not to mention cut expenses) in order to pay down that debt. MSC's cruise operations have the financial backing of their parent corporation's container shipping fleet operations, which are known or at least believed to be enormously profitable, so the cruise line isn't burdened with the Big Three's high interest debt. MSC can take advantage of that absence of debt service to set lower prices and build their business by attracting cruisers who see how much less it can cost to cruise MSC than the other lines they've been cruising. Eventually I think MSC will set prices closer to the other mass market lines after they've attracted enough cruisers from other lines.

If you have any future questions I suggest you just ask on this board. We have numerous locals and frequent cruisers who answer questions here every day and have a very good idea of what's actually going on at the moment. While someone's blog can be helpful, information can change from time to time and a blog may not be updated on any regular basis.

FYI, the ferry to Red Hook leaves from Pier 11 at Wall St. and the East River. IIRC Pier 22 was location of the original Fulton Fish Market. You can find the ferry schedule here: https://www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/route/south-brooklyn/

We've cruised Insignia on an ATW cruise segment and my impression is that the "best of the best" are assigned to the ship for the ATW. But right now...I'm a bit sad reading how good everything is because we booked this ATW...the full cruise this time...the day booking opened, but eventually had to cancel . I was really looking forward to the cruise. I hope everyone has a grand time !

99.99% Pier 88. If not, Pier 90, which is the next pier north of 88 and is also part of the same Manhattan Cruise Terminal so there's absolutely no mystery about where the ship will be docked. From NCL's website: https://www.ncl.com/getting-to-the-pier/driving-directions#!#newyork

And now the test format is gone . 👍