kitkat343

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/

The medallion and lanyard can be picked up for free at the port.  If you check in later, there are few crowds and it won't take very long.   If you want any other holder (wrist, etc), they sell them on amazon for cheaper than you can purchase through Princess. 

I booked a private excursion to go landsailing on my current cruise.  Hurricane Ernesto didn't hit Bonaire, but did screw up its wind patterns so the excursion had to be cancelled.  I found out at 10 pm the night before.  That night, I wrote to every boat company in Bonaire and thankfully one had availability the next day - we rented a boat and it had a little raft in the back my kids loved riding through the water.   If princess has no excursions, contact all tour providers on tripadvisor who have good reviews and see what they can offer you.  

This was also the only time out of 14 days where the internet was screwed up and extremely slow.  I went to the front desk to see if they could help, and they told me they couldn't help with the internet but they still had some availability on Princess tours.  I scared the poor front desk person when I told him the truth - the other passengers really didn't want my 3 kids on their princess tour, and we are all much happier when my family takes private tours (we take private tours for just our family so no one else has to listen to my kids when they get bored).

If your kids like animals, Roatan would be the highlight of that cruise.  They have monkeys and sloths to play with.  I've used Victor Bodden twice, and have read of Daniel Johnson being frequently recommended by people on another travel forum.  Contact them and see if the animal places are open on Xmas before booking the Getaway.  Roatan also has excellent snorkling/diving, canopy walk/ zip lines at south shores adventures.  

3 hours ago, YVRteacher said:

The internet konked out on me.

 

Again.

 

We are both doing great and are having a wonderful cruise. We have laughed so much and we loved our days in Ketchikan and Juneau. 

I'm so glad you've gotten to have this wonderful experience together!

10 hours ago, 555 said:

That's what I keep reading but I'm positive that they cut back the hours on Tues & Wed. I'd hate to walk all the way to the fort to find it closed. 

I'll keep searching. 

 

 

I just called and it does appear that except for certain holidays both forts are open each day.

Open today: 9:00 AM–5:00 PM

 

• Sunday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Monday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Tuesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Wednesday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Thursday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Friday9:00 AM–5:00 PM
• Saturday9:00 AM–5:00 PM

And they aren't kidding about the closing hours.  Last time I was in San Juan, our NCL ship was late for a 4 pm docking, and we got to the fort at 4:50 and they wouldn't let us in.  the kids really liked flying kites next to the fort, though.  I knew there was a possibility we wouldn't make it, but with a 4 pm arrival there weren't a lot of options for our kids.  They liked the kites and we had a nice meal.

On 8/20/2024 at 5:33 PM, YVRteacher said:

Dinner in La Cucina

 

Wow. Just wow. We were shocked with the new menu and reduced options. There are few pasta dishes and no vegetarian main course options. My favourite salad, the Ensalada Mista, is gone as is the fettuccini Alfredo con funghi. This menu consists of disappointment and cutbacks.

 

 

 

For the appetizer I ordered the pear and Gorgonzola salad without the Gorgonzola. It was basically a pile of too-big lettuce in a bowl. No one even tried to make it look or taste good.

 

 

My dad had the calamari which he normally loves. He took one bite and said it was tough. He winced through the entire plate.  Good thing this was a half order. 

 

For the main course I ordered the Gamberi Fra Diavolo for dad but in a half portion and with regular tomato sauce instead of spicy. This is his plate as it was delivered to the table.

 

We were so, so disappointed in dinner and if we had one word it would be ‘disgusted.’  Nothing was done to make the meal nice. It wasn’t well plated, it definitely didn’t look like the photo standards NCL provides to their chefs and sous chefs and it simply was not good. It wasn’t even next to good.

 

We used a specialty dining meal but if we hadn’t it would have been $97.00

 

including a $35 charge for this (my dinner)

 

This is how it was presented. As I said, disgusting.

 

The fly in the water was free. 

 

I was glad the fly landed in the water and not my Prosecco.

 

We both looked at each at the same time and said “we used to love this.”

 

My dad said, “when you think of the number of good meals we’ve had in La Cucina, it’s sad to see it go that bad.”

 

We looked at the dessert menu and vetoed it. Crêpes were being made one by one in the Garden Cafe.

 

They were sad crêpes. So, so sad.

 

We noticed the Jewel no longer uses Heinz and has switched to sub-par ketchup. Last year I thought the last straw was when NCL discontinued the distribution of free anti-seasick tablets. I was wrong. 

We had to bring ketchup on a cruise for my middle son this year!  He was so sad without Heinz and refused to eat burgers without it.  Thankfully, Princess still uses Heinz ketchup so he was happy on this cruise.

28 minutes ago, 555 said:

I believe El Moro is closed on Tues & Wed. I read something about it but can't seem to find it again. San Cristobal is open every day.

Years ago they use to run a free trolley to the fort but that may be gone now??

btw- Your senior pass is good for 4 people & includes a video at the fort so if your traveling with friends from the ship be sure to treat them to admission. 

Unfortunately, the trolley is currently not running.  Taxis are 5 per person from the port to El Moro.  It's walkable but quite hot, so for our kids we grabbed a taxi.  If your ship is scheduled to arrive late (sailing from NY sometimes arrives at 4 pm or later in San Juan) you can still fly kites next to El Moro.  

4 hours ago, Panhandle Couple said:

However, the more logical and increased port time at the other stops still makes these TWO cruises a good choice for that time of year, which has shorter daylight hours.   If I were to choose, I would have dropped St Kitts or St Lucia to rearrange the schedules.

We have considered this itinerary for next year or later.

 

Will NCL use this itinerary for the cruises on either side of these two?  Who knows.

 

Also, Cruise Hive is not the know it all for cruises.  They published a new (and very different) itinerary for our PC cruise last year that was totally wrong.

I'd also vote to keep Bonaire over either St. Kitts or St. Lucia.  I'd probably give up St. Lucia first, since although the highlights of that island are absolutely stunning, it's a very long drive through windy roads to get to the waterfall/drive up volcano.  When you add in tendering (which doesn't always happen) and the traffic jams that can happen when the ships are in port, that would be my choice to drop.  Someone on another thread noted that these changes occurred in their sailing in December, so cruise hive might be accurate about the changes they listed in their story this time:

I was looking at a cruise this August from NYC to the Dominican Republic.  But it was really expensive, and the thought of paying NCL a lot of money to take me somewhere they cancelled "to save the environment" on my last cruise seemed ridiculous.  So I wound up taking a Princess cruise to the ABC islands.  

But it should be noted that the expensive cruise from NYC to the Dominican Republic in August on NCL actually did actually sell out, and as long as that happens we won't see price drops anytime soon.  It's probably for the best I sailed to the ABC islands with Princess, because NCL dropped Bonaire from its ABC cruises:  https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-removes-coveted-port-from-multiple-sailings/142393 

On the Enchanted Princess now.  They showed up in our mini suite room on day 2, and seemed like a really nice, useful addition.

1 hour ago, Seas2mountains said:

It is impacting us on our December cruise. We found out about the change on Friday when final payment was due on Saturday. I did post it within this thread. 

Oh - I'm so sorry that happened to you.  

Bonaire has been dropped from some ABC cruises.  https://www.cruisehive.com/norwegian-removes-coveted-port-from-multiple-sailings/142393?fbclid=IwY2xjawEx3PNleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHQJhEbxa8Ni7Kc6Lr7GqeXsdTDeqOMs1vBctghqlWJCK5hJuqoS5ZTouHA_aem_HZr4du6nRGAT3Bvxo07OOg. It's Feb, so it might be outside of final payment, although since the cruise leaves from San Juan some people might have purchased airfare. 

10 minutes ago, graphicguy said:

OP....I wish you the best.  As you can tell, the best advice we can give you is to not spend another minute of effort on this.

 

I've been on these boards for a while.  As soon as I think I've read it all, something like this crops up.

 

I have to say, this is the strangest, most convoluted, twisty, turny thread I've ever read.

 

For obvious reasons, there is no refund owed.  Don't know that I'd follow this as some sort of warning or Public Service Announcement.  Might be a cautionary tale about what NOT to do.

 

Best advice?  Don't ever try to do something even remotely like this ever again (if it's not clear by now).

 

And anyone else considering this needs private trip insurance and to contact the insurance to confirm prior to final payment.  that you would have coverage if you miss the reboarding stop.  
 

i emailed my trip insurance when my flight was delayed due to hurricane debbie and they explained what my coverage would be if my flight were cancelled - they’d pay up to 1000 per person for us to meet or reboard the ship. And if you can’t get insurance to cover something like this please don’t try it. 

3 hours ago, beshears said:

Dominica is to be one of our ports next February, and I am looking forward to checking it out. 🙂 You mentioned of the plate of food right in front of your door, which was BAD of whoever did that. It reminds me of when we went to Captain D's Sunday, and someone??? spilled a drink, and it was all over the floor. Now who??? did this, I have no clue, but the least they could have done is told one of the workers there, so they would clean it up. I finally went and told one of the workers, and she got it cleaned up. I guess the person who did it was embarrassed, but then, EVERYONE has accidents once in a while.

Something else to look into - Titou Gouge is really close to trafalgar falls.  It's a bit of a swim in cold water, but you can swim up to the falls there.   The water was pretty cold when we were there last January, so if you have kids that's something to note (adults can handle it pretty well but my kids got cold).  It was warmer in August, but still pretty cold.   I don't know if ship excursions visit both locations - we had a private excursion that did both and then ended in a hot springs place.    

We sailed the Coral Princess to the Panama Canal leaving January 8th.  The kids club staff told us we made the right decision since the previous cruise with identical itinerary over Xmas had 150 kids.  Ours had 9.  My son was only 2, so he was allowed to go to the kids club with parental supervision and because there were so few kids they could help him, which they said they wouldn't be able to do the previous week.

You should sail during the school year, and hopefully Virgin will expand to you soon.  Cunard is another line that tends to not attract children generally.

4 hours ago, complawyer said:

unless you're really into scuba diving, there isnt a great deal going on in bonaire. it's picturesque,

but unless your heart was set on visiting there, personally, i wouldnt mind the extra sea day. been to aruba and curacao, if it is the same docking area, you can walk off the ship and walk to downtown curacao. it's really a nice way to spend the day.

 

also, ive been chomping at the bit to get a chance to visit saint lucia, maybe next year. cruise wise, my dance card is filled thru the end of the year

I think windsurfing is also a popular excursion in Bonaire.  My younger kids are too small for that, so we were actually signed up for landsailing.  Hurricane Ernesto took all of Bonaire's wind the day we docked, so our excursion was cancelled and I can't tell you how landsailing is either, but we had a lovely day on a boat and visited Klein Bonaire, which is a really lovely beach on an uninhabited island perfect for families.

5 hours ago, hallasm said:

I have no experience with offering excursions on the quay in Eidfjord - I would expect, that it will be possible to buy an excursion to Vøringsfossen waterfall when there are cruise ships visiting - but September is low season so the offers might be limited.

I would book in advance through a local operator. Companies like Viator don't make tours but buy from local operators.

 

Hare some links you can explore.

 

Fjordtours

https://www.fjordtours.com/en/norway/things-to-do/sightseeing/tourist-attractions/guided-tour-to-voeringsfossen

 

Fjord Norway 

https://www.fjordnorway.com/en/attractions/voringsfossen-waterfall

 

Norway Excursions

https://www.norwayexcursions.com/en/destinations-in-norway/eidfjord/?srsltid=AfmBOorH6piqcwrh4pwzXrh9JZauaKMMiVaN9jmGK1mQ6hqHfg29d_aU

 

Hardanger Fjord

https://hardangerfjord.com/en/eidfjord/cruise-activities-eidfjord

We've done a lot of cruises and a lot of independent tours, but won't book through viatar or tripadvisor.  I've read too many reviews on tripadvisor where people made requests through Viator and they didn't reach the provider.  Plus the local people running the tours lose a cut of the money.  I use tripadvisor to find the company, then email them directly to book tours.

.    

1 hour ago, bluesea777 said:

 

That's Prins Christian Sound.

 

 

Enjoy the scenic cruising!

 

The Star spent TWO days in there cruising up, down, left, right, repeat on the previous cruise after arriving to Greenland two days early from Iceland (where they did only one port out of 3) - to shelter from the sea storm that was passing along off the southern tip of Greenland toward Iceland.

 

ENJOY! Make sure to visit Gatsby's for the Key Lime Pie and Rum Cake martinis!

 

 

 

Iceland is on my bucket list and we have kids so a cruise would be ideal.  Do you know if most of the ships were able to make most of the itinerary?  

Independent excursions were really easy for us in Alaska, since everything was so close.  Could you tell us what the excursion was and someone may have done something similar with a private operator.

What date were you scheduled to visit St. Kitts?

Have the teens sailed before?  If they haven't and don't know about waterslides, bumper cars or anything else you might be fine.  They'll find a larger group of kids to roam the ship with and will have a wonderful time together.  My oldest is 13 and we are currently sailing on Princes ( a line with very little for kids).  He's wandering the ship with his friends.  We took him on Cunard on the last trip and his friends took him to trivia, and his new girlfriend dragged him to a ballroom dancing class. He was happy because he was doing stuff with teens.