alreadypacked

41 minutes ago, CynCyn said:

This is why I do not like the soap dispensers in hotels and on cruises.  Who knows what someone put into them.  I’ll take my own....

I'm with you there too.

I always pack my own pump hand soap for cruises and hotel trips.

Plus many hotels provide only bar hand soap, which is unsanitary in my book.

9 hours ago, Tinyturtle22 said:

It’s listed as $36 with gratuity for my September cruise. I only liked it when they had shrimp and the pineapple. The salad bar isn’t even good anymore. 

 

I wish they would just convert them all to Los Lobos or the BBQ place. 

I'm unfortunately allergic to shrimp (all crustacean shellfish) the last 5 years so can't really comment on that 😞

But I agree with you about the salad bar--it was microscopic compared to previous years (and even then, never even came close to Texas de Brazil).

DH and I enjoyed it, though, compared to MDR on our recent Dawn cruise (horrible MDR food)--Moderno meats were flavorful and tender. It was mostly just that the salad bar had very few choices. What was there, was very tasty and nicely done--don't get me wrong--but the selections were just...very few (scaled down from previously).

Food in all venues on my 2016 NCL cruise on the Getaway (except main buffet which I never ate) blew me away!

2017 on Escape was pretty good also (but not as good as Getaway 2016).

2018 [again] on Getaway was disappointing.

DH and I already had our 2019 Dawn booked (when the girls and I sailed Getaway September 2018 and I had also previously booked us girls on October 2019 Breakaway due to the low deposits at the time.).

After the disappointing food on DH and my May 2019 Dawn cruise, the girls and I promptly canceled our Oct 2019 Breakaway. We're now on Princess. I hope it's good. Read some concerning reviews there too.

In contrast--US-based land vacations we've taken recently where we ate in local renowned restaurants... we enjoyed much tastier food, at a better price (all expenses considered).

I have been to Dominican Republic many times without incident, but it's been over ten years ago.

My concern is that some of the people that died seemed to be young-ish enough people who were not expected to die in that they [based on available info] weren't already suffering severe illness or ailment of any kind... Like the couple (49 and 63 years old) found dead together in their room with no forced entry.

I've read suspicions of in-room mini bars being the culprit.

Many years ago, we stayed 5 consecutive years at a Cancun AI that had in-room mini bars consisting of factory sealed "mini"s" in a refrigerated cooler (like the cruise lines have).

The last year we stayed there, the "mini bar" consisted only of liquor dispensers which basically seemed to be unsecured bottles of liquor turned upside down on a dispensing mechanism. Something that could easily be tampered with in my opinion. I even saw them in the game/card room where patrons could serve themselves after the waitstaff was off duty. I did not partake. 

I wonder if the mini bars "under suspicion" in some of these DR cases featured factory sealed mini bottles of liquor... or unsecured dispensers as described above?

I believe upsells are the only transactions Post-booking Sales Dept handles.

Back in my early days of cruising, they might even call you to offer a FREE upgrade (you'll see members here reference the "Upgrade Fairy"). I got one once! Free upgrade from inside to ocean view!! Back in 2010.

Now I think they are only "UpSELL Fairies".

Not a PVP.

She is, as you stated, from the Post-booking Sales Dept.

Sometimes cruise lines need to free up cabins in a certain category (maybe to fulfill guarantee bookings, fix a mistake, or other reasons). They will often reach out to already booked passengers and offer a [sometimes] attractive price to get you to "upgrade" to a different cabin category.

Sometimes their offer was great and I took advantage. Other times not.

On 6/17/2019 at 7:07 PM, rkacruiser said:

 

I am NOT upset.  Others, including you, have misinterpreted the reason why I made my original post.  The CC Forums are designed, as I understand their purpose, to share experiences and information of those who choose to post.  I made my original post to share my experience with this insurance claim.  My intent was nothing more.

rkacruiser,

Thanks for your post.

I appreciate your posted experience as it arms me with even more knowledge in navigating the travel insurance landscape.

Your experience was one I hadn't considered, especially if, for instance, I was traveling with [and likely made the travel arrangements for] my elderly mother who is not internet savvy and whose insurance is Medicare based. 

Just off Dawn yesterday. Luz was our cruise director--first time seeing her ever and we thought she was excellent! As well as Vo, the Asst. cruise director.

Not sure what OP means by "non-threatening allergy to seafood"...

After eating all kinds of seafood for over 40 years, out of nowhere I suddenly became allergic to crustacean shellfish (shrimp, crab, lobster, craw (cray) fish. 😞

Face and torso blew up in hives.

Allergy testing confirmed crustacean allergy (can still eat mollusks--thankfully!!!--different species than crustaceans)

I think its good that staff take food allergies seriously. Never thought I'd be dealing with this at this age, but food allergies can be life-threatening. I learned that people can become allergic to anything at any point in their lives.

Sadly, late-blooming shellfish allergy sufferers are unlikely to outgrow the allergy (as some children do with peanut allergy etc).  

I now carry liquid Benadryl and Epinephrine auto-injector at all times.

If you (or someone you know are allergic to a food) take it seriously (even if they don't). 

Looking forward to your review.

We will be on the Dawn in a few weeks.

Would love to see food pictures, menu pictures, and cabin pictures if you have any. Thanks!

4 minutes ago, KermitClin said:

This is exactly what we were trying to do too, and what I've done in the past. However, this time the difference in fare also includes the taxes that we didn't have to pay with the original booking because of the TAXDAY promo that gave us free taxes and port fees. Upgrading our cabin would make us lose that promo and therefore have to pay all applicable taxes and port fees.

I see what you're saying.

Yes, we lost $110 OBC, but the new promo gave us $100 OBC, so only a $10 loss there. And yes, the taxes went up a little, as did the gratuities on the beverage and dining promos, but even with that, the upgrade was less than $200.

Just depends on the various factors of the particular sailing...

Sorry it didn't work out for you; maybe keep checking. You never know.

3 hours ago, KermitClin said:

We didn't make them an offer, just requested how much it would cost to upgrade to a new cabin now. I've since learned that the reason why NCL's offer to upgrade was so high was because it included taxes we didn't have to pay as part of a promo they were running last April when we originally booked. That promo saved us about $400!

We recently upgraded our OV cabin to a mini suite with no problem just by paying the difference in fare (which was under $200).

I simply checked the published price for the new room we wanted via the NCL website, called my vacation planner, told them the room number we wanted, and paid for it. We would never go through their Upgrade Advantage system because we like to pick our specific room number.

Thanks so much for the detailed reply with pictures! Very helpful!

On 9/3/2018 at 1:19 PM, DCLCrazy said:

 

 

 

Thanks for your info. The last time we took Ncl from NYC we walked off, but then stood in that taxi calling line across the street for probably 40 minutes in the freezing cold weather. I’m trying to avoid the taxi line so I was looking into the buses. We had the same 11:30 flight time the last time and got there with 2 hours to spare. I understand what you mean about late arrivals for the cruise ships though.

 

 

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So the NCL transfer buses pull directly into the port?  No need to walk across 12th Ave (where taxis and Uber's wait) to board the NCL bus?

5 minutes ago, janice2348 said:

I would keep a copy of the emails and take them with you. 

Agreed! I printed both my initial email and their response straight away!!

Plus it's on my phone.

1 hour ago, janice2348 said:

I have gluten, dairy and nut restrictions.  Contact the access department about 30 days before you cruise.  They will email a form for you to fill out and return. Do nit try to do this on your own.  Alerting the ship ahead of time allows for them to load special diet items onboard.  It also makes it easier for the staff to accommodate your needs.  

I suggest you have your first onboard lunch in the MDR so you can speak with the maitre d. 

On my previous two cruises they were amazing!  At dinner each night, you will pre-order your next days meals. I would avoid the buffet if possible due to cross contamination but I have read that they will make whatever you want to order. May I ask what restrictions you have? 

I would be happy to answer any questions.  

Just to add to Janice's post...

I emailed the Access department about a week ago to get the form for my shellfish allergy 😞  and DH's distilled water for his CPAP. They responded within 24 hours and told me the form is no longer required; that the information in my email correspondence would suffice and that they had noted the information in their system and that dining and medical staff would be advised.

Anyone else have this experience?

Great food porn review--thanks for posting!!!

We've been on probably 20 Carnival cruises and left because of the deteriorating menu options and overall food quality. We sailed the Getaway for the first time in 2016 and were blown away by the delicious food (and better menu options than Carnival).

In September 2018, we sailed the Getaway again (after a recent menu update) but we longed for the old menu items--the chicken parmesan, spaghetti bolognese, fried brie, pad thai, linguine with white clam sauce, the asparagus risotto, beef wellington... I could go on. It was all so delicious!

2018's menu had a few notables like the cordon bleu and the chicken piccata, but overall we were sadly underwhelmed. I don't cruise just for the food, but since I'm on the ship for 7 days, I want it to be good. Maybe the kitchen was just off on our sailing. It happens.

Glad you loved the food, though and I enjoyed your review! 

Great thread--really enjoying!!!

I've had a smart phone since 2013. I always keep my phone on airplane mode during the cruise to keep from getting texts and calls, but I'm still able to take pictures with my phone. I only take it off airplane mode briefly (only in certain ports where I know what my roaming rate is) to make a quick call or two to folks back home. Then I put it back on airplane mode. I've never gotten any surprise charges.

I sailed for quite a few years (about 2002-2008) without trip insurance (without incident or accident)...

Very thankful for my Cruise Critic education!

Previously, I considered myself young and healthy... What could possibly happen that I'd require insurance?

A few years ago, I developed excruciating abdominal pain and sickness 2.5 weeks prior to my annual 7-day fall cruise.

Ended up in the ER...

Appendicitis.

Needed emergency appendectomy.

If my appendicitis had occurred in the middle of my sailing, I'm not sure emergency appendectomy could've been performed on the ship.

What then? Emergency evacuation? And to where?

My point is that even young, healthy people (or their travel companion) can come down with an unexpected life-threatening medical emergency.

Now, I go the extra step of booking only "primary" trip insurance coverage with "hospital of choice" medical evac.

Sorry that was so long. I will try to be briefer.

 

Our next stop was the customer service desk. Again FTTF was worth the no wait. I converted a couple of carnival gift cards to obc.

 

Next stop Golden Olympia dining room. Finding this place was not easy. First we went to the Silver, were told to go to Golden and then had to find the right desk. We were booked for late seating which would prevent us from seeing any shows. She told us no and what a wonderful table we had pointing to the windows. Little did we know that since so many people never come to the dining room it would not have mattered. Needless to say that did put a dent in the weekends enjoyment as I love the shows and it makes a ery late start to your evening

 

It is now about 2:45. We go back to unpack before muster and No Luggage. Part of the reason we got FTTF was to get unpacked early and be ready to go at sailaway. By 3:15 still no luggage. I asked the Steward and he told me to go to customer service. Again thanks for FTTF. I waited in line for a few minutes and was asked for a specific identification of our bags and the best part my FTTF charge was credited to my obc account for the inconvenice. When I finally got back to the cabin the bags were there but dh was having a melt down over the bags and muster was underway. The security guy came to push us to our muster station.......

 

I can honestly say that this was the worst, most unorganized muster drill I have ever been too. First we were almost all the way aft and our station was almost all the way forward....huh and then... This is Central Florida in August in late afternoon. The heat index was over 100 degrees. People were walking all around, the checkers were missing people, the concrete factory across the port was LOUD and you couldn't hear the announcements and the safety staff was worthless. We were there for 40 minutes. Some people from further down just left. It would have been better to just instruct everyone to watch it on TV...yeah I know...It's the law....but. Carnival you need to train your people better. This could have been a disaster.

 

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Thank you for the review!

Used to love Carnival, but haven't sailed them since 2015.

Mainly because food and "live" entertainment had declined for us.

Must say, even when I was sailing Carnival regularly, other cruise lines we sailed throughout that time held muster indoors and it lasted a significantly shorter duration. We once had a Carnival Muster last 45 minutes outside in Miami heat as the [cruise director] repeatedly pleaded for guests to report to muster stations!

I know Muster is a small portion of a cruise vacation, but after leaving Carnival the last few years, we've fully appreciated the INDOOR muster stations/drills on ALL other lines we've sailed...and they get all the pertinent info in with no problems.

I'm not much for the tropical heat anymore [in my older age] and prefer indoor musters these days!!

When you say nothing, you become an enabler.

Agreed...

But sometimes you have to pick your battles.

IMHO DH did the right thing. Saying something wouldn't have changed anything in this instance.

I'm sure you don't go around chastising friends and neighbors on everything they do that you don't agree with either.

The few service dogs we have seen on cruise ships were very well behaved, as were their human companions.

We would be happy to be on a cruise with them anytime.

 

You may have been on ships with them and not even noticed them because they are usually on the floor by their owner's feet in theaters and lounges, and under the table in restaurants.

It is a shame that the people with fake "emotional support" animals create a bad impression and cause problems for those with true service animals.

Yes!!

That's it exactly.

Sad that people are abusing the system with "fake" service animals (emotional support/comfort/anxiety animals--whatever), because this behavior makes for even tougher acceptance for truly disabled people who need that service animal just to get about in their daily lives.

Just to be clear, I know there's a real need for support animals for veterans suffering from ptsd, abuse victims etc. Not bashing them. Only against fakers who just want to take Fido along.

I would never fake needing a service animal or misuse handicapped parking spaces etc.

I'm appreciative that such is available to those that need them...

And thankful not to need them myself...

Thus far...

To be honest in the UK I had never seen or heard of an emotional support dog until I read CC.

Sorry, to me it is ridiculous. GOOD decision RCI and hope that other US lines follow. Looking on from outside the USA we have often said 'Only in America' (no offense) and are glad that someone 'over the pond' has seen sense.

 

Just to make it clear --- we have nothing other than the utmost respect for Guide Dogs for the Blind in the UK (know one very well .. woof) and Hearing Dogs for the Deaf etc as well as recognised dog support - what you would call service dogs in the US I imagine

 

I find that some people just take advantage and have read about the so called ES Dogs with open jaws. Unreal.

 

We have pets that we stress about leaving at home but they stay at home ---- well, in the K - E- N - N- E- L- S --- shhhhh

 

PS Hubby has just suggested that folk "take a teddy bear" If needs be --- sorry, made me laugh and I couldn't agree more. My 2 small ones come along every year .... but they stay in the cabin !!!

What a great post, Presto2!

Have truer words ever been spoken?

I'm from the US, and I find myself shaking my head daily at the number of dogs in the supermarket, department stores, restaurants etc. Some are in strollers, some in grocery carts, some just walking along beside their owners.

I am in full support of service animals (commonly dogs) who are invaluable to those with disabilities.

I don't hate animals. I have a pet cat and love her immensely. I have volunteered at my local humane society for going on 6 years now. But, pets have their place--for cats that typically means indoors at home.

Dogs have a slightly wider latitude--home, backyard, being walked around the neighborhood, local park, RV vacation, etc.

I have to say--here in Florida, at least--you kind of have to bite your tongue about this issue... Or you might find yourself at odds with friends or neighbors.

Recently, our neighbor asked my DH if he could drop her at the airport on his way to work since it's on his way. He said yes, of course, as we are friends with her and her DH.

When she got in DH's car with her dog wearing a red vest, DH was like, "Why's he wearing that?"

Without shame the first, she said, "I bought it online so he doesn't have to stay in his case and can sit on my lap on the plane."

DH was speechless.

 

This video will explain the process of train travel from EWR to NY Penn Station.

 

The airtrain(monorail) will stop at the EWR train station. From the station you will have a short walk to the platforms. You want to travel on NJ Transit trains not Amtrak trains. Do not confuse Newark Penn Station stop with NY Penn Station.

Thank you for the great video!!

Seeing the train system in action step by step is a tremendous help to us.

Not exactly. You take the Airtrain from EWR to the Newark Liberty International Airport Station, where you will change to a NJ Transit train to New York Penn Station.

Is Newark Liberty International Airport Station actually part of EWR airport or is it just "close to" EWR?

I'm asking because, we were originally going to fly into LGA on Friday May 10 for our Saturday Dawn cruise and take Dial 7 or Carmellimo to our hotel at 135 W 30th St.

But now I'm thinking it might be better to fly into EWR and take the NJ Transit train to Penn Station to avoid getting stuck in traffic. We will each have one large rolling suitcase and backpacks. I'm just concerned about the logistics of using public transport with luggage.

Does the Airtrain drop you right at the NJ Transit station? If not, about how far is the walk from Airtrain to NJ Transit?

Also after the cruise, would it be better to take the NCL transfer bus (or a car service) to LGA and fly out from there? Or should we take the NJ Transit train back to EWR and fly from there?

Thanks