smashedpumpkins

We sail out on October 3rd to the Bahamas on the Sky. Disembarkation is on the 7th in Miami. Seems like it will be out of the way when we get back but I'm not sure our itinerary will happen for Freeport and Nassau. They might have to swing us to the Caribbean instead. Guess we'll see.

If I book the cruise through a travel portal, can I still apply the cruisenext certificates?

For example, I have plenty of Chase Ultimate Reward points to use towards cruises and travel. I called in and booked my cruise for next week over the phone. Would they also be able to accept these certificates if I book another cruise with points?

We have no travel insurance so the cost will be on us. We joined the ship this afternoon and all is well now. I do plan to look at my credit card when I get home to see if it offers some protection.

We booked a flight for tomorrow morning to the Grand Bahamas. Norwegian notified the ship and updated our reservation to state we'll be joining tomorrow. It's a 4 day (Monday to Friday) cruise.

Our flight was supposed to leave Salt lake City Utah at 5:20 AM and arrive in Houston a little after 9 AM. After some delays our flight was cancelled and we couldn't get on a flight until after 10 AM. We instead flew through Dallas.

We're at a hotel here in Miami now. Crossing our fingers that our flight will arrive as expected and we can finally relax.

Note to readers, don't do it!! Our flight through Houston was cancelled as well as all Houston flights this morning. This will cost us $500 and a day of our cruise. We lost the gamble.

You all mention wearing shoes. What about a pair of jeans, button up shirt and sandals? We're extremely light packers. Our carry on's hold our fins, goggles, snorkel and we don't check a bag. No room for shoes. Would I feel out of place with sandals at dinner?

I hope it doesn't miss this Thursday.

Thank you Clarea. I was referring to the "Airplane mode" icon which simply disables all data transmissions. You can turn those services back on individually. Rather than saying airplane mode, I should have stated turning off data services, voice services and only utilizing your phone for wifi capabilities. (Similar to most tablets)

So the first rep I spoke to stated that minutes are not used whether internationally or locally if the call is made over wifi. I'll keep digging though...

Here's the dialogue. In case you're wondering, "HD Voice & Video" and "wifi calling" are intertwined. Verizon would rather your HD call be over wifi than their network.

JOSHUA: I do see you have HD Voice turned on with the account side. That means you just need to make sure Wifi calling is turned on in the phone.

JOSHUA: You have done that before? You aren't interested in any special rates to use the phone away from Wifi?

You: I have used HD voice before. That's why I was wondering if I could make calls over wifi from another country. I'm not sure if Verizon considers that regular minutes or international minutes.

JOSHUA: When you use Wifi calling connected to Wifi it doesn't count as minutes in the US or outside of the US.

JOSHUA: That is free as far as Verizon is concerned.

Internet ("Wifi") access on the ship would still be through the ship's system, which means you would be paying for those minutes based on whatever rate the ship charged. It is not free.

We have the unlimited wifi package for our cruise. The idea is that we'll avoid using the ship and port cell networks. We'll be in airplane mode the entire time. Instead it's voice over IP (VOIP) which means connecting over wifi. (Whether it be the ship or McDonalds)

For Verizon, this feature is only 5 months old. While it really should not matter, I wouldn't be surprised if Verizon still considers this international usage. I'll give them a call.

Verizon and other carriers have "advanced calling" features that allow you to call over wifi instead of your voice data. Your phone can be in airplane mode connected to a hotspot and your call goes right through.

Latency issues would likely make calling difficult on the ship. I'm more so curious about using a local hotspot. (Heading to the bahamas) Is there any reason this wouldn't work? Have any of you already done this?

Thank you both of you. That extra hour will give myself a bit more ease. Online check-in is already finished. I appreciate the link.

Our ship departs at 5:00 PM in Miami and our flight lands at 2:00 PM. (Norwegian Sky) We're cutting it far too close for comfort. All documents state that we should be on the ship 2 hours before departure. We won't have checked bags, just carry ons. If the plane arrives on time we should be fine but the slightest delay is, well, bad news.

Is 3:00 PM the latest they will let us on the ship? Is there flexibility or is this due to safety/regs?

Thanks.