2animallvrs

Hi Travelbuds,

We're Bob & Judy & are your neighbors in AZ.  We live in NW Phoenix, but our address was actually Glendale before it was rezoned.  We decided yesterday to do a last minute cruise/land trip in Alaska in July, or August, & the deadline to book is today!  This will be our first Alaskan cruise.  It sounds like you two have a wealth of knowledge on Alaska, & are frequent cruisers on Princess which is the line we have cabins being held on.  Is there any way we could text, talk or private message with you today to get some input on what might be the best fit for us?  You can email us at jblucca@cox.net if you are open to this, & we'll reply with Bob's cell number.

Thank you!   

10 hours ago, HBCcruiser said:

There is a great website called cruise deck plans . com that will show you deck plans and photos of cabin. This is a link to the Youtube video of cabin 13106 which is the same category. Yes, it looks like a small balcony 

 

Thank you for your help!  I actually found a video & pics of one of the actual cabins.  The balcony was not only small but had something coming down in front of it, & the window looked out onto a bow area where crew can take breaks.  We were able to get our club suites with lg balconies back & we're already having a bit of remorse about our decision.

9 hours ago, wolft927 said:

So I have stayed in 9706 before. Was our first Have suite and honestly outside the balcony being very very small, we loved the space. Usually cheaper then most of the other Havens. We have stayed in this, 2 bedroom, as well as our upcoming April is in the Aft facing Haven on the joy. I prefer to stay in Havens with separate bedroom space becasue then your butler can just walk in when bringing coffee or breakfast in the moirning if you like. 

Thank you for your reply!  I can see where that would be very nice perk!  We're probably going to regret it, but we went back to our club mini suite with lag balcony.

4 hours ago, Beamco said:

Just stayed in a FFPH on the Joy and I have stayed in one on the Bliss as well. I love this cabin for many reasons - most of all because of the two rooms. This Joy Cruise my daughter slept there and on my Bliss cruise I wake earlier than my wife I would get out of bed make a Nespresso and read and or watch TV without disturbing her. The bathroom is great, lots of storage etc. However if you need a large balcony experience this is not the Haven Cabin for you, the balcony is small on every FFPH cabin - there is not a wrap a round balcony. For us we don't care we spend our outdoor time on the Haven sundeck.

Thank you - we use our balcony quite a bit & were able to go back to our club mini suite with lg deck.  I hope I'm not going to regret it!!!

Oh my goodness, what a day we've had!  Last June, we booked 2 club balcony suites on a 15 day Panama Canal Cruise aboard Norwegian Bliss that sails in 13 days.  We booked through Costco.  My husband called Costco Travel yesterday to enquire about something else & decided to see if there were any cabins left in the Haven & if so, what an upgrade would cost.  We were quoted a great rate, but before booking it, we wanted to run it by the people in the second cabin.  We all agreed to do it, so we called Costco this morning to do the upgrade.  Unfortunately, per the NCL agent to our Costco agent, the cabins we wanted had been taken & they now only had 2 cabins left in the Haven in another category.  These two cabins are: 12106 & 9706.  The NCL agent said she had stayed in 12106 & it had a wrap around balcony & was very nice, so we were going to book them, but wanted to make sure our excursions, speciality dinners, upgraded wifi, etc. would all transfer over first.  It turned into a mess!  We were on the phone over 8 hours!  Our excursions, showed we had not paid so would not transfer, but we have receipts showing everything is paid in full.  In the meantime, another agent came on duty & found the cabins we originally wanted in the Haven were still available, but the department she needed to call was by now closed!  We decided to keep our 2 original club mini suites with lg balconies until morning when NCL's department would be open again, only to find out we had already been switched to 12106 & 9706 & our excursions were lost!  In looking up these 2 cabins, they don't have a wrap around deck as we were told by the NCL agent & in fact, it appears to have an extremely small balcony with an obstructed view!  Has anyone on this site stayed in those Haven cabins on Norwegian Bliss?  We now have to wait until morning to HOPEFULLY, get this resolved.  Fortunately, all our conversations are recorded, so they will hear us repeatedly tell them not to give up our existing cabins, & they will hear the NCL agent misrepresent the cabins she described to us.  If anyone on this site can tell us about those 2 cabins, will you please let us know before tomorrow morning?  

Thank you for your help!

Shortly after I sent my original question, & before any replies had come back, I realized my mistake & saw that the itineraries were very similar. Thank you, notamermaid, for your helpful reply & for suggesting Google maps. I found a map that lists all the castles on the Rhine! Thanks too for all your other helpful tips & pleasant posts. :)

We're first time river cruises & were just ready to book The Enchanting Rhine on AMA when I read Chris & JP's wonderful review, with beautiful pictures, of their Castles of the Rhine cruise in '14. I know we'll have a "cruise day" to view castles, but are we going to miss the majority of them on the Enchanting Rhine itinerary? Thank you all so much in advance -- your help & tips are so appreciated!!! :)

Bob & Judy

Nick,

We began planning for our 2016 river cruise a while back & fully expected to take Viking until we read up a little more on here & did a bit more research. At this point, we think AMA is going to be the best fit for us (very active, early 60's), & the tour we're looking at will work out perfectly to extend our trip with a 12 day Rick Steve's tour out of Salzburg. Check out this site we stumbled upon that rates & compares the different cruise lines -- we found it very helpful! http://riverboatratings.com/ (I hope I'm allowed to include that on this site). If this post gets edited, email us at jblucca@cox.net & I'll send it to you.

Judy

PS Thank you to those of you who answered my earlier questions -- we really appreciate it!

Thanks so much for sharing! We hope to do the same itinerary in July, 2016 & are planning to book by tomorrow. A couple questions -- are there pros & cons to cruising one direction over the other? We'd like to begin or end our trip in Paris -- does anyone know if it would be easier/more economical to make connections to/from Paris via Basel or via Amsterdam?

Thanks for your help!

Bob & Judy

My husband & I will be on the Carnival Breeze in mid Feb. Our ports are Aruba, Curacao & Grand Turk -- of these three, which one would be best &/or most necessary to do a boat snorkel trip in? We've heard the shore snorkeling isn't very good in Grand Turk, so maybe this should be where we book a catamaran or boat excursion. Any recommendations?? Thanks for your help!

My husband & I will be on the Carnival Breeze in mid Feb. Our ports are Aruba, Curacao & Grand Turk -- of these three, which one would be best &/or most necessary to do a boat snorkel trip in? We've heard the shore snorkeling isn't very good in Grand Turk, so maybe this should be where we book a catamaran or boat excursion. Any recommendations?? Thanks for your help!

I just went through this thread & though I don't want to open a can of worms again, I have to say once more how helpful we found Emdee's tips. Though Emdee did not "push" her travel agent on us, we needed a good one who was familiar with the FP area & the PG so we thought we'd check her out, & boy are we glad we did! This TA was wonderful & worked her tail off for us -- she is now our TA of choice -- we'll use her again & again! If Emdee receives a perk for the endorsement -- why not -- she deserves it, & that makes us happy! She did us two huge favors with the tips & letting us know she had a good experience with this particular TA. Though we've never met Emdee, we now consider her our new CC friend -- she just seems like a very nice, helpful person & she's adored by the staff on the PG. :)

We're sailing on the Liberty the end of May (Western Caribbean) & found the Compass on this site: CruiseDailies.com -- click on the option "New! Complete List". I think it's about a yr. old though, so we could be in for a surprise. Also, if you want to see all the menus for the Liberty, go to Cruise Clues. Hope these sites help you as much as they've helped us.

Have a wonderful time!