senoragilbert

I'm a teacher AND an only child...yet TOO CHEAP to pay ship prices for excursions! If you have plenty of time for the "what if" scenarios, then go directly to the source. Viator and Shore Excursioneer are still third parties. Dig through reviews here and on Tripadvisor until you find the tour operator. Usually this cuts your price by 1/3 to 1/2!

If you search a little, you'll see several threads on this topic that may answer your questions better, but here's my two cents. My mother-in-law chose airfare as her studio perk to meet us for our spring break cruise. Times are good if a little conservative, there are no direct flights for this route so she has a stop each direction, but the layovers are reasonable. The tickets were booked as regular economy, not basic, on AA, so she was able to assign herself a seat with no trouble. We would definitely do it again! 

1 hour ago, mking8288 said:

 

Do you have a big roll call and if not, it will probably grow as you get closer - and the basics of putting together the M&G can be overwhelming ... unless you have extra help & others around to take care of some of the tasks.  Make it simple, as suggested already, a reminder call should suffice ... instead of making up, printing & distributing invite cards ... and lots of walking on a mega-ship.  

 

Do you have an exclusive (sandboxed) email address for CC use only, or create a sub-email account, ask those folks to email you their names & cabin info, and you can make a batch of calls or leave voice mail as a reminder.  We had about 200 folks on our recent M&G that I didn't run/organize/lead - but helped out with putting together the fun Cabin Crawl as part of the team; and, just went with the flow. The M&G took place 24 hours after embarkation on Day 2, folks are adults & should take personal responsibility to remember and be there (early, as we urged) to attend.  Everyone has plenty to do and I don't think Guest Services routinely do something like this ... within 1 to 3 weeks of sailing, you should know the contact name of your assigned Group/Special Events Coordinator on the BA, touch base with her/him once onboard (usually, a welcome letter with introduction is waiting in your stateroom) to say hello & ask if you wish to try ... have a Plan B.  

 

Good luck & have a great cruise !

Thanks. I know I don't *have* to send out invitations, but I'm glad to do it if it decreases no-shows. I plan to have the family divide and conquer on the first night! I've got 78 people signed up right now but only 28 accounted for by cabin number. I'm not finding the planning overwhelming, but I do a lot of event planning, so it's a joy for me. Why do I need to touch base with the Group coordinator, and why do I need a plan B? Thanks so much!

4 minutes ago, erdoran said:

 Or if you want something written, can you go into the Haven and hand the invites to the concierge?  

Am I able to get to the concierge desk without a Haven key card?

Sorry to hijack, but I'll be scolded if I start a new topic. I'm responsible for the M&G on the Breakaway March 24 sailing. We have a couple of Haven and studio guests who have signed up and asked for a reminder invitation. My MIL is in the studios so she can help me with the other studio guests, but how can I get an invitation to the Haven guests?

Thanks in advance. I've lurked here for a while and used some of the great ideas on this thread already!

Hmm. I know if you want to pay corkage to use the wine on board, you keep it with you and declare it at check-in. If you want them to return it, perhaps you could pack it (carefully) in your checked luggage, so that they will confiscate it. I'm sure you'll be called to the naughty room. You should be able to pick up your wine upon exit (where they keep the luggage before customs). If your time is worth more than money, pay the $15 corkage and be done with it!

(It sounds like the above poster has done this before, so take my answer with a grain of salt!)

2 minutes ago, misguy said:

Here are the teen dailies from our 10-day cruise out of NOLA.  I have teens and the Guppies but not the middle group.  

Teen Dailies.pdf

Thank you thank you thank you!!

Though the days may be a little different on the "standard" 7-day itinerary, this is really helpful. Thank you so much!

Does anyone remember purchasing small items, such as a lanyard or phone stand/card holder, and remember the approximate price? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth paying the shipping ahead of time! Thanks!

@oldsouthcruisingfamily Please don’t forget to take a photo of the teen dailies for us from your cruise! Enjoy your time!

I'm planning our meet and greet on board the Breakaway in a few weeks, and I'm looking for door prizes. I'd like to buy some small things with the NCL logo (lanyard, card holder for phone, pen/highlighter, drawstring backpack, etc.).

I am hoping someone remembers the approximate prices of NCL logo items on board. The prices on norwegiangiftshop dot com look great, but the shipping doubles the cost. So a $2 pen with highlighter is $4, a drawstring backpack is not $3 but $6, etc. However, if this is still cheaper than buying on board, I should get going on ordering in case the shipping takes a long time!

If anyone remembers any costs or has had experience with this, please advise me! Thank you!

12 hours ago, NextLevelPlease said:

A 20 ounce pour of wine sounds about right for the cabin 😄  Whilst getting ready for the show!

Yikes. I was really referring to frozen beverages and mixed drinks with ice. 

On Sky, which is open bar, we could always get our beverages served in our 20-oz. vacuum tumblers. Is that not the case using UBP on another ship?

6 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

You just walk over to the garage, collect the rest of your luggage, and catch the shuttle to the port. 

This was exactly the plan until they raised their prices so much! I think I'll go ahead and stick with that plan. 🙂

3 minutes ago, Saint Greg said:

I just haven't witnessed any serious traffic issues.

This is very helpful. It sounds like we should just go with the plan. For the Breakaway (Julia St), I'm thinking the Fulton Place parking garage is still the best choice (considering we have the extra night at the hotel as well). Thanks, as always, for detailed and patient advice!

16 hours ago, Saint Greg said:

You can park there. You can walk. You can take the shuttle...no problem. The shuttle can go around the construction.

So in your opinion, the reports of construction traffic at disembarkation/embarkation time are overblown? I completely agree that the value for money isn't there (wish I would have booked back in September when it was regular price!) and so I was planning to use the port parking unless there's a reason to do so. Our hotel is the Residence Inn downtown, and the original plan was Fulton for 8 days. If you were me, @Saint Greg, what would you do?

@Saint Greg, you have always gone above and beyond for us out-of-towners who know nothing about NOLA! Thank you! I know you're currently recommending the terminal parking since Fulton's prices have gone up (seasonally) so high. However, is there any way to avoid this construction traffic by say, parking at Fulton and walking to port? Or is even the walking affected by the construction?

11 minutes ago, Jeffcel said:

Sorry don't have them but a couple of tips.

1. Have your teen register and go the first night  - that seems to be when everyone buddies up.

2. They go to the gloe party -  so a white shirt does help.

 

My son has gone 3 years in a row ( no brothers or sisters) - always meets people to hang with.

Yes...my son (also an only child) LOVES the teen club. He also loves that the "teen club teens" are the ones who aren't "too cool" for the teen club! If you have a "not too cool" teen, they will find their tribe!

7 minutes ago, Dawnya00 said:

We are on the same cruise and will also have a 13 yo in the teen club for the first time! I never thought to look for teen dailies.

I did see some of the Entourage activities in the regular dailies that were posted on the Thanksgiving review and blog by "CruiseLikeADavis." I also know a few of their tricks after cruising with a teen several times. There will always be a group dinner in one of the MDRs on the final sea day, they will always have get-to-know you activities on the first night, there will always be a scavenger hunt of some kind on one of the sea days, and they will go to the GLOW party on that night. But do check out the dailies and dig for anything that says "Entourage" or "teen." 

If you have any special needs at all, explain them and let us know how the ship dealt with those challenges. Even if it's something like asthma or an allergy to shellfish. There aren't enough niche reviews out there. I plan to do a photo review of our cruise with attention to gluten-free meals. 🙂

@oldsouthcruisingfamily We're cruising in March, so that would be amazing. Thank you!

If you decide to venture out on Grand Bahama, just ask a taxi to take you to Xanadu beach. There will also be shared cabs going to Lucaya beach, which is also nice, it is right across the street from shopping and little restaurants. We don't mind that there aren't services at Xanadu, so we prefer that.

Oh! And enjoy the Sky. We've been on her twice and loved her! The "kids" pool area forward is a great place to find a few loungers with a view. Just down the steps port side is a shower on deck when you need to cool down.

Just now, GeezerCouple said:

 

Hmmmm.  That's not good.

 

Did you write back again, perhaps with either a "Kindly reply" OR "Could you please confirm receipt of this?" 

 

GC

Yes, you've got a point there. I'll try that now before I go on the telephone offensive.

Just now, GeezerCouple said:

 

We've always had *much* better success dealing with the Access Desk by email:

 

"accessdesk@ncl.com" <accessdesk@ncl.com>

 

And that also means that there is a written record of all queries and responses.

 

I'd suggest putting the ship name and sailing date in the subject header, and perhaps your name unless it is clearly in the "from" line of the email headers (our last names aren't, so we include the last names in the subject header also).

 

GC

 

Yes, I tried that tack. I have a case number that was returned a few minutes after my initial e-mail, but no further response. 

Yes, I did search this topic before I posted. 😂

Does anyone have recent teen dailies for the Entourage teen club on the Breakaway? The closest I can find is a recent Getaway out of Miami. 

Thank you!

Kelly

@Travel Junkie Judy Thanks so much for a quick response. I have no idea if the Access Desk works weekends, but I will call on Monday if they're not! I appreciate the help. 🙂

Did you ever find anything in O'Sheehans that was GF?

@Travel Junkie Judy How did your GF cruise on the Breakaway go? I e-mailed the Access Desk last week and haven't even heard back with the usual form to fill out. I'm a little nervous. Still 72 days to go, but who's counting? ;)