hillbilly73

Thanks for all the replies looks like getting there on Sunday morning won't be a issue. I didn't think about the museum having alerted hours due to the parades we will be contacting them before we go.

The Hilton now has direct access to both terminals (Julia & Erato) through the Riverwalk.

 

That would be a much easier route than from the Marriott.

Thanks for the response sounds really easy to stay at the Hilton, if we stay at the Marriott what is the latest you would take a cab to the terminal with the parades starting at 1:00 and is traffic really a issue with the parades that far in advance of Fat Tuesday?

We are staying pre cruise for a couple of days February 6th to the 8th 2015, 12 days before Fat Tuesday. Currently we a booked at the Marriott on Canal St. we are thinking of switching to the Hilton Riverside. My concern is that the Marriott is too far away to roll our bags to the pier and with the uptown parades starting at 1 PM on Sunday don’t want to feel rushed to get up and grab a cab early to avoid traffic problems looking forward to a leisurely Sunday morning also WW2 museum looks to be closer and that is one the reasons we are cruising out of NOLA this year. The thinking is if we have to we can just walk to the pier from the Hilton and it will be about 16 dollars a night cheaper so the savings are there but minimal. For some that are more familiar with NOLA are these concerns valid and if so worth switching from a hotel right on the edge of French Quarter and on the parade route also if anyone has stayed in both which would you recommend?

NCL only allows transfers the first 60 days from booking. Assuming you are in that window no you shouldn't lose your NCL provided perks.

Looks like Southwest backed off the next schedule release another week.

We are currently accepting air reservations through January 4, 2015. On August 4, 2014, we will open our schedule for sale through March 6, 2015. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

Before our cruise last February my wife had felt so guilty that she didn't get to se her favorite uncle that had just had surgery to remove fluid from his brain the week before. They live three hours away and it just didn't work out. See where this is going?

After our cruise on the Carnival Valor on we had some time before our flight so we explored Old San Juan for a few more hours instead of setting in the airport. My wife and daughter were off taking pictures son-in-law and I just setting in the square when my daughter runs up telling us "Sally is over there". We thought she had lost her mind the only Sally we know is the wife of my DWs uncle. Turns out he was there with her exploring old San Juan before they got on the Carnival Valor later that morning. He was still using a cane to get around and showed us the staples running down the top of his head those were getting taken out after they got back. Needless to say my wife was in tears. We knew they had a cruise coming up he was pushing to make but they always cruise out of NOLA or FLL never had a idea they were cruising out of San Juan.

I'm glad that it worked out well for you. There are too many taxi horror stories out there.

 

Thanks for the advice. Did you get the suite?

 

 

Sent using the Cruise Critic forums app

No after all that we didn't take the upsell. Like you I had heard so many Taxi horror stories when it first happened I thought it was a goner. The taxi folks at the airport, the hotel employees, and the driver going out of his way to return it, everyone were so helpful. It was our first time cruising from San Juan we will do it again the friendly local people we meet alone were enough to make us want to go back.

I wanted to pass along a wonderful experience we had with the taxis in San Juan. We arrived and waited in line for the taxi into Old San Juan. They will fill out a form and give it to you as you are waiting make sure that it is filled in completely with the taxi number before leaving that is very important information we found out later.

As we are pulling up to the hotel the upsell fairy calls from Carnival, being our 30th anniversary I would of loved to upgrade to a suite if the price is right so I was really listening to the Carnival reps sales talk. We unloaded all our luggage and I am still on the phone standing in line to check in I finally finish with the rep and hang up. I hadn't grabbed my backpack out of the van. It had my GoPro with accessories, tablet and about a third of our cash we brought with us. We hadn't checked the form closely and didn't notice the taxi number hadn't been filled in.

My wife being the quick thinker runs back out grabs another taxi and heads to the airport. I watch the surveillance video with the hotel staff unable to make out the number and then my daughter, son in law , and I all go to different taxi stops on the remote chance we see the driver at one of those. Everyone from the airport taxi folks to the Casablanca Hotel staff were doing everything they could top help us find the driver. Turns out the driver was calling the hotel after we had all scattered in our backpack quest. The story ends well the airport staff was able to find the driver the backpack was returned with everything still in it the driver got two tips from us that day one very large and all is well.

Please if you are going to San Juan and taking a taxi when you arrive make sure when the form at the airport is filled in with the taxi number it would of been much easier if we had done that.

Any indication when southwest will open their schedule for November & December of 2014?

From the Southwest site.

We are currently accepting air reservations through October 31, 2014. On May 19, 2014, we will open our schedule for sale through January 4, 2015. This date is subject to change! Please check back frequently.

Haven't booked directly with NCL in a while don't even remember PCC name if they are still around. Called the general number to book today currently on hold 50 minutes still waiting. Now I am just being stubborn to see how long it takes.

You can bet NCL tracks repeat customer rates and as long those numbers are above their projected figure then they are doing their job and the caring about how individual customers are affected is lower. They surely tracked the rebook rate from the October and November cancellations found them acceptable or above so just repeated the offer that is business. They and the customer won't have to deal with it next year it looks like.

That said all it takes is a engine room fire(see Carnival) and the HANDFUL of disgruntled customers become important again and a lot more than 50 dollars OBC would be offered. Numbers it is all about the numbers.

Coming out of the Money Bar in Cozumel I tripped and fell and reached out for a table that didn't give something had to and it was my shoulder. I had not drank any tequila so I was tense lesson learned. The shoulder hurt like heck and swelled to the point of looking like Quasimodo so I was transported by ambulance back to the ship every time we hit a bump anything not tied down was falling on my head. The DW ended up draping herself over me for protection. The ships doctor tried to get me to go to the hospital I was able to beg him to let me stay on board bound up and drugged up as long as I went straight to the emergency room when we got back to KC. Luckily there were only two days left on the cruise so my poor wife had to lay beside me listing to my groans dress me and even tie my shoes for two days. It was a Carnival ship the most comfortable place on the ship was a padded lounger in the serenity deck that is where a spent all day you can't imagine how good it was to find one comfortable spot. Here is where it gets funny we get the FLL airport and Delta is asking for 2 volunteers to take a bump we have flown many times over the years on bump money. My wife sees the look in my eye and says" oh no we are going straight to the hospital when we get home your in pain". I tell her "not 800 dollars worth of pain" you should of seen the strange look the ticket agent gave me. Worked out great they gave us bulk head seats with only us in the row leaving FLL and the connection to KC only 2 hours later. Flying home crowded on two completely full flights would of been murder so it worked out. She finally forgave me six months later as we were boarding our Delta flight to FLL for another cruise.:)

As said, the dates for charters are finalized after original public itineraries are set, hence cancellations.

 

All other mass market cruise lines also charter their ships and cancel cruise from already booked clients immediately if somebody is willing to pay for the whole ship (Carnival included) so this incident is not in anyway limited to NCL - it's the way the mass market cruise industry works nowadays.

The difference here is NCL actually owns the charter company. Management will get the numbers from the current charters and feelers for next year quickly. If they announce a decision by the end of March then no harm no foul. If they drag out the inevitable for a few months then I think that is where the ill will starts to kick in. The need for a speedy announcement by NCL management is magnified by dates starting to leak out on the Sixthman web site. Also in most cases when a line charters at least in the high volume Caribbean they have a comparable alternative sometimes resulting in a better deal for the customer that is not the case this time.

What I really do not understand is why on earth did NCL headquarters decide to move the Pearl to do 10 and 11 day itineraries? Why why why? They knew the Pearl is their Sixthman charter ship so they knew the charters are going to screw up very many of the 10 and 11 day cruises. As the Pearl is NCL's only ship doing these longer cruises during winter 2024-2015 (Caribbean) NCL kind of decided in beforehand "hey, we are only interested in doing 7 day Caribbean cruises on 4, or is it 5 other ships but not doing (almost any) any longer Caribbean cruises next winter from Florida". Why on earth such a decidion? Why not keep the Pearl on a 7 day itinerary where Sixthman charters would screw less their normal cruises. They want everyone fly to NYC and cruise Breakaway? Your only possibility for a longer Caribbean cruise and even that is basically a 7 day Caribbean itinerary plus a couple of additional sea days. :/

The 10 and 11 days attract a older demographics that spends less money than the younger crowd more likely to do 7 day cruises and charters. Hedging their bets on the charters by scheduling the Pearl on the southern really cost them nothing.

I think Houston offered NCL and Princess a VERY good deal to start embarking from there that took another of the smaller older ships (Jewel)they like to use for this run out of the equation. The kind of ship we love. My personal feeling is three western ships ringing the gulf, two departing from destination cities like Tampa, and New Orleans the third from a nice city like Houston but not a destination, is one to many that could be used for this run.

That's just two I know folks out there have many more ideas as to why? We are still holding on to our reservation for the February 2nd sailing but the realist in me has concerns.

By the way NCL isn't the only one that can hedge their bets I still have a sport coat and tie somewhere in my closet.;)

During World War II the passenger liner "Goliath" is sunk by a German submarine. Portions of the ship's hull remain airtight, and some of the passengers and crew survive. Over the decades they build a rigidly regulated society completely isolated from the surface world, until in contemporary times a diving team begins to explore the wreck. (copied from IMDB.com)

 

The location details say some scenes were filmed aboard the Queen Mary.

 

I remember seeing this on tv in the early 80's and liking it. I wonder if I would like it now, being a bit of a film buff and rather anal about production values, probability, anachronisms, etc.

 

This is a FUN thread! Nary a snarky comment.

I recall seeing that movie wasn't part of the plot that the ship was rusting and if they didn't get them to leave water would soon break the hull?

Yes, but $60 of that credit was money you had already paid to Carnival over what you would otherwise have to pay to the independent company so your real gain was only $6.00. At the end of the day it is still money you paid out.

In the case you are referring to they booked a more expensive Carnival excursion without the price guarantee anyway then their personal gain over what they would of spent is 66.00 dollars. It does not matter WHERE that money was spent it has been returned in the form of OBC. Now is the true cost to Carnival 66 dollars no just their cost of goods or service provided. Is it going to change very many minds on booking excursions probably not but in dsterns case where the money was already spent then returned in OBC it is a gain back of 66.00 dollars.

Isn't there a number of expats living on Roatan? I would like to hear from some of those folks but if you already live on a island no need to cruise I guess.

Did the TA send you the booking info immediately after making it ? If they did when did you contact them with the mistake? Good travel agents will send it to you ask for review and contact them within 24 hours of any errors.

If they sent the info and asked for a review you should of followed up. If the agent sat on the booking and didn't get it to you timely then they should pony up the 100 dollars.

Tickets can be canceled within 24 hours without penalty so most errors can easily be corrected. Of course I think but not sure changes in fare pricing would apply that is why I said most, but good agents would know to use this if possible.

If and let me say again if it was sewer gas it could of been toxic its more than just a bad smell. People die every year from this. I would never sleep in a cabin that it was even suspected.

 

No, I'm thinking of St. Maarten and Carnival. Seems to me there were two Carnival ships that had severe enough problems the cruises had huge deviations.

 

Maybe there also was a RCI troubled ship but that would 'in addition' to those two Carnival ships. :eek:

 

I don't have time now but I'll research later.

 

Are you thinking of the RCI ship that was forced to leave San Juan early a few years ago before I think about 300 passengers were aboard? If memory serves about half had passports half didn't RCI flew the passport folks to the next port and the folks without one didn't cruise that week.

My lovely wife has been a corporate travel agent specializing in international travel for more years than we care to mention in offices that also house leisure agents many of those years. She has heard every horror story about being stuck in a foreign country you can imagine. We would never leave US soil without one. With her back ground she is often asked about this for closed loop cruising and her response is always. “You don’t have to have one but if you have the time before your cruise is leaving to get one, it would be a good idea”.

On a personal note I took a simple fall in Cozumel (never again go there and drink only Sprite nothing to deaden the pain) and broke my shoulder with ligament and tendon damage the on board personnel did the best they could but they were unable to determine the full extent of my injuries. After much discussion and insistence to go to the hospital, we stayed on the ship. That really was not the best solution looking back going the hospital and then to the airport home getting home 2 days earlier would have been best and very easy since we had passports no other stops or paperwork would have been needed. Like others have said it’s your choice but personally we look at it like our travel insurance added cost worth it if only needed once and worth the peace of mind if not.

When we stayed there, we only took the smaller of each of our two bags up to the room, they kept the bigger ones downstairs locked up for us.

Thanks for the info we are taking a rolling bag with wetsuits, and snorkel/dive mask fins and snorkels. Was really wondering if we would have to lug that up the stairs.

They have been sold out the next Saturday for at least a couple of months you probably did get the last room. Its a shame your review of the place won't do us any good we will already of stayed there when you are getting off the ship.:)

As soon as we can get into our cabin, we drop our carry-ons, I grab DH's hands and bounce around like a kangaroo doing my happy dance while singing "We're going on a cruise, we're going on a cruise." DH just smiles, rolls his eyes :rolleyes: and holds my hands tightly so I don't hurt myself. It never gets old. LOL

 

Smooth Sailing! :) :) :)

Best post I have read in awhile you can't help but smile after reading it.

While I agree it would be nice for the cruise lines to let passengers know when changes are made in policies that may impact their cruise they are under no obligation to do so. I can certainly understand their unwillingness to undertake that obligation because the can of worms that it would open. The only thing that we are guarenteed for our fare is transportation on the ship and food. Everything else is subject to change without notice, including the ports of call (but most of the lines that I am familiar with will notify passengers of that change if the change is known far enough in advance).

I fail to see how informing the OP of the change is "opening a can of worms"? or any changes for that matter all they are doing is reminding them of things that are public record and posted on the internet. They would insure that THEIR customers don't depend on a third party for the info. A third party that I might add that cruise line personal will readily ask you not to post a problem on until they have a chance to resolve.