kitkat343

Cunard has made cutbacks post pandemic and they are talking about them on that board (the first time I sailed with them prepandemic  there were musicians playing harps in the  common areas and apparently they have cut down on the number of dance hosts).  When I sailed with them in January, for us it was still a lovely, wonderful experience.  Other passengers felt those cuts more significantly.  

On my recent Princess cruise, I also noticed that Princess has taken a bit of a  hit in terms of quality, with their food being weaker than it was before.  But overall they are still delivering a very strong product.

Ultimately, people need to decide if the advantages (which on NCL I believe is the value of their free at sea drink program) outweigh the cost cutting disadvantages (itinerary changes to help the environment after final payment that enable the ship to burn less fuel, cutbacks to entertainment).  I personally found the mainstream cruise lines to be more similar than different so passengers have to decide what will be best for them individually. 

2 hours ago, kaysha2004 said:

I got the same email from my TA for the Bliss Nov. 10-17, and she tells me that NCL won't refund the port taxes and fees for Ensenada.  I'm pushing back.  With thousands of passengers now not stopping there, they are keeping a ton of money illegally.  Anyone else going to push back?

When they cancelled the DR to help the environment on our cruise, each passenger received 10 OBC on their statement in the middle of the cruise.  I'm no expert on this, but if as I've read on the boards NCL is estimating taxes and fees they may refund you during the cruise.  Best of luck to you.  

42 minutes ago, startedwithamouse said:

Yes, younger family nurseries the adults must stay. However, kids clubs, adults are now allowed in there for liability reasons. 

I sailed on the Enchanted Princess in August.  They were still allowing children under 3 with parental supervision in my daughter's room (she is 5, so she was in the younger room).

2 hours ago, startedwithamouse said:

 

 

You can't stay with him at the kids club either, adults aren't allowed in. 

 

  

This is true on most cruise lines.  However, both Princess and Cunard allow younger children to attend the kids club under parental supervision.  My son was 2 when we took him to the Panama Canal on the Coral princess.  One of us had to stay in the kids club to supervise him.  There were only 8 children on board (we sailed during the school year) so the kids club staff had a lot of time to  play with him, and even helped him do the arts and crafts like the bigger kids.  I could sit in the corner and read a book the whole time.   If you are on a sailing during the school year with lots of children, the kids club staff will not have much time for your kids and you will need to keep your child happy.  They will get to play with all of the toys/play structures in the kids zone so it's a lot better than nothing, but a very different experience than being able to drop off.  However, it needs to be noted that drop off cruise daycare at 2 or 3 is hit or miss for many children.  Some kids at these age easily separate and greatly enjoy the kid zone, but others do not want to be apart from their parents, and the parents find themselves having a very different vacation than the one they envisioned because their children refuse to attend the kids club.

Please note that Carnival and Cunard accept children at the age of 2 for drop off care, and all Disney and some RC ships have fee based nurseries for 2 year olds.  

They can pass along any possible governmental fines to the passenger, and they can also ban a passenger from future NCL sailings if they believe a passenger deliberately missed boarding to leave a cruise.  Review of security footage would document the passenger leaving with baggage (or else your friend will have the logistical headache of traveling without their belongings.).  Obviously anyone not reboarding whether deliberately or due to an emergency should please be considerate to fellow passengers and notify the port agent as soon as possible.  I wouldn't risk this, but its totally up to you.

5 hours ago, mommb said:

Most character meet-and-greets are free. Characters will be in various areas of the ship at scheduled times, and may also be found wandering around. 

 

The Royal Gathering gives guests an opportunity to meet several princesses in succession in the lobby. This does require free booking in advance, starting 30 days before the cruise.

 

The kids' club programming does not require any advance reservations -- you can drop off your child at any time the area is open. There will be "open house" hours when the areas are open to anyone, including adults. At other times, you'll need a password (set during online check-in 30 days before the cruise) to pick up your child.

 

You can book other onboard activities and shore excursions when you booking window open, which is 75 days before sailing for a first-time Disney cruiser.

 

There are some childrens activities that have a cost and require reservations, including Bibbidit Bobbidi Boutique makeovers and Royal Tea.

Adults can book spa services, alcoholic beverage tastings, and adult dining.

 

Most activities onboard, including but not limited to theater shows, movies, deck parties, crafts, cooking demonstrations, trivia, live music, and family and adult game shows, don't require advance planning. Once you're on the ship, you can look at the Disney Cruiseline app for a list of all scheduled activities and their locations. 

Thanks - its a last minute booking so I'm relieved that hopefully I didn't miss too much

1 hour ago, ceilidh1 said:

What blows my mind is that is this is how they treat guests who are BOTH (at this point) Ambassador status, plus sail in (EXPENSIVE) suites....how do they deal with the lowly folks with no status and in steerage? Not that this SHOULD have any bearing on how you are treated, but we all know that every cruise line tends to fawn over their suites/much travelled guests - well, apart from NCL it seems. I'm shocked that they weren't jumping at the first complaint! 

As I read this, I kept thinking "and they're in the haven?!"

Hi,

We have sailed on many cruises for itinerary, happily traversing the world with young children in a collection of cruise ships either about to be decommissioned shortly after our sailing or ships that really need to be decommissioned.  But now I am on sabbatical from work, and have the opportunity to take my youngest on a transatlantic.  The thought of traveling by myself with a young child to Europe is a bit overwhelming, so I decided to choose Disney since I think it will be easier to navigate than my usual ships on where passengers are not always friendly to kids (HAL, Cunard) and the kids clubs have more restrictive hours.  What advise do you have for someone who has never sailed Disney?  Is there anything I should sign up for in advance?  Are there any free character experiences or are those paid extras?

11 years ago when I sailed NCL the food in the specialty restaurants was amazing.  When I sailed 2 years ago, there were serious issues, even in the specialty restaurants, where food was served cold and they ran out of half the sides in Cagney's.  Try the buffet, especially the meat carving stations and ethnic food stations.  A lot of the buffet food is not very good but if you try enough dishes you will find some good food.  And 2 years ago, they served freshly made crepes at dinner in the buffet which were very good.  In St. Kitts, I tried to bring leftovers back to the ship and some of them were confiscated by security.  I was very sad because I was hungry on the ship.  

Could you give us a little more detail about the excursions?  If you are docking in Geiranger, the panoramic bus that visits all of the scenic spots in Geiranger only takes 3 hours, so I think you would also have time to visit a fjord center if you wish on a private excursion.  We have 3 kids and hired a private driver.  Our actual driver wasn't great, but if you found a better one you should be able to visit   Flydalsjuvet, Dalsnibba, Eagle Bend and the fjord center in one day, assuming the fjord center is close to one of those scenic spots.

Personally, I'd make sure there was a good buffer in front of the train.  The few people who didn't like it got really bad seats where they couldn't see much (the seats are not assigned, so if you are in the front/middle of the line you'll have plenty of options.  If your ship is delayed, you don't want to miss the train - it can't be rescheduled since later trains usually sell out.    

Stegastein should be fairly flexible.  Talk to the people running the boats about their timing.  

We did the train in the morning, and easily did another lovely tour in the afternoon in Flam (visited a goat farm for our kids) .  You absolutely can do two, but just want to make sure you don't miss the train if your ship is running late.

You can ask your steward to knock on your door tomorrow when its time to clean your room if you want your dad to rest.  We travel with kids and leave the room as late as possible, and the stewards clean the vacated rooms first and they'll let me know when they are done with those and we leave immediately to wait somewhere else on the ship.  We usually have two rooms, and clear out of one and wait in the other.

I just got off the Enchanted Princess.  We booked the Club Reserve because we have three kids and needed a room that could hold 3 passengers and the only room left that could hold that many passengers were a Club Reserve mini suite (we also booked a second interior cabin).  Even in the reserve section, where we had asked on the first day for meals to be brought out quickly food dinner lasted over two hours.  It wasn't the waiter's fault - we could see. how hard he was working.  The reserve dining has access to one additional entree option with dinner, which was generally quite good,  My husband usually selected the reserve option, and I chose something off the main menu.  I'd estimate that 1/3 of the entrees from the regular menu were inedible, 1/3 were okay and 1/3 were actually good.  I started ordering a second entree as an appetizer to get a better shot at having dinner in the MDR, but often ate either at the buffet, international cafe (which was excellent) or pizza.

What concerns me is that I experienced this on NCL - we sailed to the Baltics on NCL 11 years ago.  Back then after reading the reviews on NCL's food, it became apparent we would need a specialty dining package.  The food in NCL's mdr was inedible, but 11 years ago the specialty restaurants were excellent.  The last time we sailed NCL 2 years ago they now include specialty dining as a free at sea perk with the rooms, so most passengers get 2 specialty meals.  And the food in the specialty dining was terrible - entrees served ice cold, and Cagneys the steak restaurant running out of half their sides.  I brought leftovers from lunch from St. Kitts on the ship and was so sad when some of them were confiscated by the screeners because I was going hungry on that ship. 

And it really concerns me to see Princess going down this path of watering down the experience for cruisers.  We travel with kids and can't handle travel without the kids clubs, so cruising is really important to us (an all inclusive wouldn't give us the same opportunities to expose our children to different cultures and places).  And the higher end lines either ban children or don't have the daycare we need.  I'm just really grateful we took as many cruises as we did when it was a wonderful opportunity - we took our oldest to St. Petersburg and the Panama Canal and two children to Norway and they were all really special experiences.   

We had avoided Disney in the past due to the more limited port options (usually Disney cruises have shorter times in port and also less interesting itineraries even when visiting the same destinations), but given the fact that the kids might really love being on a Disney ship it might be something to consider.

If you board the ship on the later side, the medallion line is more likely to move quickly.  So sorry and good luck.

5 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

 

 

Waiter at Moderno: you’re a vegetarian. Is chicken fine?

 

Me: no, chicken is not fine

 

Waiter: so what are you going to eat?

 

Me: the sides and the salad bar

 

My plate from the salad bar

 

 

 

Dad’s plate from the salad bar

 

 

These were raw inside

 

 

This is dad’s lamb. He tried to cut it and said “crikey.” Perhaps it is Australian lamb.

 

 

 

Dad didn’t enjoy his dinner at all. He was absolutely miserable. The service was terribly slow and the meat had come around many times before any sauces or sides were delivered.

 

There are few things I love more than mashed potatoes. I once ate mashed potatoes for Christmas morning breakfast. The ones we were served at Moderno were not edible. They were so salty and full of gritty chunks.

 

 

Dessert was fine.

 

 

 

I sailed NCL 10 years ago, and back then the specialty dining was an extra package you could purchase.  We usually eat the free included food in the MDR on the other cruise lines  but based on NCL's food reviews, we got the specialty dining package, and the food in the specialty restaurants back then was amazing.  Moderno was my favorite on that ship 10 years ago. On my last cruise 2 years ago even the specialty restaurants had issues, with lots of food being served ice cold and Cagneys ran out of all the sides I wanted.  We tried bringing  leftover lunch back on the ship from St. Kitts, and it got caught by the screeners.  I was so sad because I was hungry and when they questioned me I gave them one package of leftovers, and thankfully managed to sneak the rest onto the ship.     

Hopefully, you have long port days because there's some amazing food in Alaska.

2 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

They have restricted the number of large ships to one but NCL Viva was the ONLY ship scheduled on December 19th. Now, there is no ship scheduled in port in Bonaire on Dec. 19th. 
 

I actually completely support the way the government of Bonaire handled this - they stated that in the future they were allowing only one large ship per day (a second ship with fewer than 700 people is also allowed to dock.). They also stated that they would honor all previously agreed upon contracts for more than one ship to dock in the same day, but they will refuse to grant permission for multiple large ships to dock in Bonaire on the same day in the future.  Given the mess that exists in Santorini, it's a good idea for the government to limit the number of cruise ship passengers allowed at one time, so everyone can enjoy this beautiful calm island.  It's also good for the island to grandfather in the old contracts so tourists won't be disappointed if they chose a cruise to see Bonaire.

https://infobonaire.com/bonaires-one-cruise-ship-policy/    

1 hour ago, complawyer said:

while us mere mortals may/will never understand the inner mind workings of NCL, i'm pretty sure that changing ports/itineraries is not being done to piss off thousands of their ship passengers. 

while you may have been disappointed in the cancelation of bonaire, we've been there, and unless youre into scuba diving, snorkeling or surfing, there aint a whole lot going  on in bonaire.

 

curacao is much more picturesque, and interesting to just walk around town. aruba, meh!

 

we've been to a great many carribbean islands, and im still chafing at the bit to visit st lucia

It's a beautiful island, as close to uncrowded as you can get on a Caribbean cruise.  We were originally scheduled to go landsailing there because that's one of the few places where the wind conditions allow landsailing.  Hurricane Ernesto screwed up their wind patterns and that was cancelled.  I emailed every boat provider on the island the night before and was very fortunate that one had availability.  My kids really loved visiting Klein Bonaire, an uninhabited island with beautiful clear water and calm waves perfect for young children.  They even caught a fish with a net standing in the beach.

I think there is also a lot of wind sailing available on Bonaire.

St Lucia is beautiful but tough as a cruise destination - sometimes you have to tender, and there is a long drive through windy roads through the mountains to get to the waterfalls and drive up volcano.  One megaship can make those destinations really crowded and hard to appreciate the beauty of the island.  

I fully respect a cruise line's need to eventually release accessible cabins to the general public so they can be sold rather than sail empty.  But that shouldn't happen 13 months in advance of sailing.  I'm sorry this happened to you.  

17 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

 

Were you on the Enchanted Princess sailing that the OP was on? August 10-24. We were on that same sailing and heard the announcement. I wasn't qualified, because I am A+ and they wanted O+ or O-. If you were onboard, I am glad you heard they had several volunteers. I will say, when donating blood at home, they tell you to not drink alcohol for 48 hours prior to donation. On a cruise, I don't think I would ever meet that specific requirement...

yes I was on the sailing, and have really enjoyed reading your live blog!  I was chasing 3 small kids, so it was nice reading about the things that were available that I missed (for us the fact that the kids actually had a good time on this vacation was enough to make it the closest to a. success we've achieved).

1 hour ago, Lady Meer said:

There was a call for blood on our first ever cruise. That evening I saw one of the medics and (out of curiosity) asked him if the call was successful. He replied ‘Madam, there was a line down the stairs from the deck above’. 

All credit to those who responded. Sadly, I can’t donate ☹️.

yes - on the Enchanted princess we heard they were turning lots of people away they had so many volunteers!

59 minutes ago, JSar said:

Having Bonaire cancelled was definitely disappointing - however at least they gave more time at several other ports in exchange - so the amount of land vs sea time is similar to when we were going to Bonaire. I do wish the sea days were more spread out and mostly at the beginning. And yeah - I was looking forward to Bonaire! I wish it was one of the Dominican Republic ports that was cancelled instead. I have seen no confirmation that this is for "fuel savings" (and that guest satisfaction is a bogus response). BUT - if it is indeed due to dock repairs as I read somewhere... then it is understandable. I also read somewhere else that Bonaire simply wants to enforce one ship/day which means this is out of Norwegian's control. 

I was there last week on a Princess cruise, and the dock wasn't under construction (that's not to say it won't be in the future).  I do agree that losing a DR port would be preferable to losing Bonaire.

50 minutes ago, Travelling2Some said:

We have generally looked first to NCL but have sailed many times on Royal, Carnival  and Celebrity too.  Probably will not do any Carnivals again.  We are going to take a northbound Alaska and Southbound Alaska on Princess with some time on land on our own in between.  Their all-in pricing was a bit better than NCL and I do not like the way NCL has been playing fast and loose with itinerary changes. (We have been burnt several times and do not trust them not to skip Glacier Bay for some BS fuel consumption reason.)   Also do not like that NCL docks all the way out at Ward Cove.  Glad to hear others have liked Princess as this will be our first venture with them.

Princess has historically done a very good job in Alaska.  We sailed them to Alaska many years ago, and loved talks from the naturalist on board.  They've also had puppies onboard in the piazza (not sure about naturalist/puppies currently but you can check here or on Alaska board).

Some people dress up for formal night, but others don't and it's completely fine.  We just got off the enchanted princess, and my husband was fine in a nice shirt and pants on formal night.

We just sailed on the Enchanted.  The food is much better on Princess, and on the Enchanted the rooms were much larger than the Getaway.   

Glad you were able to work something out Caribbeanfever.

When NCL does this, they often make the announcements after final payment.  We lost the DR on a cruise after final payment "to help the environment."  They wouldn't let us switch to another identical sailing 2 weeks later that kept the original itinerary, and we'd chosen the cruise for the DR (my 4 year old daughter was so obsessed with monkeys she told the TSA officer her name was monkey when he questioned her).  I know it's frustrating when ports are dropped for non-emergency reasons, but if it happens outside of final payment you at least have some options.

https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2919290-are-ncl-selling-cruises-to-ports-they-have-no-intention-of-going-to/