kitkat343

sorry - just realized it was my fault.  When I googled princess on my phone, I clicked on the first (sponsored) result and it wasn't actually princess I was calling.

Just now, dog said:

Did you book online?

Why did you phone?

I have never heard of this fee.

 

more information is needed to help you

I booked over the phone.  My princess account is showing no balance, except for the gratuities.  I phoned because I wanted to ask what the price for kids is at the specialty restaurants.  Before I had a chance to ask, the consultant told me I owed 270 per person, but that there was a sale and I could pay less if I paid it in advance.  I told him I'd been told I only owed gratuities at the time of booking, but he insisted this was an embarkation fee I'd need to pay when we embarked unless I paid it in advance.  Since he was offering me 50 per person off, which would bring it close to gratuities I can only assume he was trying to get me to prepay the gratuities. 

And if anyone knows the price of the kids dining in specialty restaurants I'd appreciate that information, since I was a little rattled from my call with princess. 

6 minutes ago, jmelnick said:

Never heard of this one.

thanks - I logged into Princes, and its showing no balance.  I do owe gratuities (which is fine and

I was aware of).  I really wish they'd train phone operators to a level of minimal competence since an inexperienced cruiser might have paid this and would feel very ripped off.  I think he was just trying to get me to pay my gratuities ahead of time. 

Is an embarkation fee a new fee from princess?  I wasn't told about it at booking and now they are telling me I have to pay another 270 per person.   And we're sailing with 5 people so this is a rather unexpected surprise.   I've sailed with princess before and other lines and never heard about this.  I know the phone agents are terrible on all the cruise lines, so I wanted to check with you before paying it.

4 hours ago, DCGuy64 said:

Not saying you're wrong here, you may well be 100% right. However, how can a cruise line know months ahead of time how crowded it'll be?

If you google the website cruise timetables you can see how crowded ports you are scheduled to visit will be.  The site helpfully lists all of the ships scheduled to dock each day.  The cruise lines also have access to the official port schedules, so they are unlikely to use that site but its easier for passengers to access since we don't need to find each individual port's official schedule.

1 hour ago, Ellis1138 said:

My take on cruising is this: If there is somewhere I absolutely must go, then I make sure to go on a land vacation. With the exception of the embarkation port and disembarkation port, no port is guaranteed. And in some cases, even the final port isn't guaranteed. Weather, port issues, tides, all of these can affect things.

 

 

That's a really good point.  When my husband and I travelled alone before we had kids, we were able to plan land vacations to see places we really wanted to visit.  But since we don't have grandparents who are willing to watch our children,  either we vacation with the kids or we don't vacation at all.  With our three children, the options are a cruise with daycare or an all inclusive with daycare (some families are stronger than I am and can take their children on land vacations, and I have nothing but the highest respect for them).  

I'm reluctant to take my kids to an all inclusive, since it is harder to experience as much local culture and historical sites as you can see on a cruise.  It was thanks to NCL that I was able to visit St. Petersburg with a 3 year old, an experience he would never have had on a land tour since there was no way I could have handled bringing him there at that age.  

For many travelers with disabilities or elderly passengers, cruising lets them travel for longer than they might otherwise be able to vacation.  While all cruisers certainly need to accept the possibility of weather or safety requiring cancelled ports, ports cancelled after final payment "to help the environment" are really tough for cruisers who don't have many options.  

On 7/28/2024 at 4:33 PM, shof515 said:

 

Norwegian is not the only cruise line doing this too. For November i booked a cruise on royal Caribbean independence of the seas to labadee, haiti . With the way how that island is right now and the port being shut down since march or so i doubt i will go there for my cruise. Royal, just like Norwegian is keeping quiet and not saying anything about itinerary changes

 

i somewhat expect to get itinerary changes for this oct 13 cruise and the November cruise on boarding day. it will be a piece of paper in the room with the daily schedule

 

Cruise lines love to wait till the last minute for these situations to avoid any last minute cancellations and/or to prevent to giving out any future cruise credits for itinerary changes

Labadee has been cancelled due to the ongoing extreme violence in Haiti.  Labadee is RC's private beach - they invested a lot of money to build it and very much want to return as soon as it is safe enough to do so (and the executives who approved this project must be very greatly regretting their choices now).  RC has very publicly announced closures in advance in large batches and Labadee is currently completely closed through September, and there are reports of Labadee's substitutions as far out as January 2025  https://www.cruisecritic.com/news/royal-caribbean-cancels-shore-excursions-labadee .  It is a bit odd that you haven't been notified yet while some people in January have, but my guess is that they might be trying to avoid adding sea days and are grabbing replacement ports wherever they can.  

The Bar Harbor referendum was passed in 2022, and did not come as a surprise (just as it won't be a surprise if Santorini passes regulations limiting cruise ships).  NCL has had plenty of time to make itinerary changes and notify people prior to final payment for Bar Harbor rescheduling.  It's not like Labadee where the hope is that violence might calm down enough for ships to return - the government of Maine has made it clear that they will limit cruise ships, and the cruise ships need to modify their schedules.      

Does anyone know how far out Labadee is currently cancelled?

On 7/27/2024 at 12:23 PM, 555 said:

Formal night clothing has changed into whatever you decide it to be, so that eliminating a jacket & tie isn't any problem. 

Unfortunately the Princess web site doesn't describe it that way & gives the impression that everyone still dresses formally. 

I feel sorry for the person that packs the extra clothing thinking it's still required. 

My husband is so grateful you posted this - we are traveling with 3 kids and all the stuff they need, so he'll be thrilled to know he doesn't need all of this.  

I've sailed RC, Princess, HAL, NCL and Cunard and have generally found the mainstream cruise lines to be more alike than different.  What you might miss on NCL is the drink package, which I believe is more affordable than competing lines.  

It's a little harder for me to give up completely on NCL since I live near the NYC port and  have young kids who love waterslides and all the kid activities on NCL/RC, but our last cruise was on Cunard and our next one is on Princess.  The two cruises I considered over the past two years with NCL both had itinerary cancellations (the mess with the Prima not being able to reach Isafjorour last year and this year I was looking at a cruise to Norway and Iceland, and one of the stops in Norway that is a highlight - Alesund was replaced with a much less beloved port.).   NCL ships are mostly sailing full though so at least in the short term they aren't facing any consequences to their decisions.

If you aren't comfortable with any cruise line, I'd recommend considering others since they do tend to be more similar than different (except for Cunard.  They are very formal and are a bit challenging for families, but they did take us to all the ports on the itinerary and have really good food.  And my 13 year old son met a girl who took him to a ballroom dancing class, which was quite an unexpected experience for him).   

36 minutes ago, NightOne said:

 

You did a 7 day cruise that went do Olden, Geiranger, and Flam? What cruise line/ship?

It was quite a long time ago - the two year old we took on that trip is 9 now.  We needed to sail Cunard because they are one of the few lines that have drop off daycare for two year olds, and I was trying to find a cruise that sailed to both Geiranger and Flam, and Cunard had only one cruise sailing to both Flam and Geiranger  that season, so we booked it.  At the time, I don't think Olden was nearly as popular a destination as it is today since the Loen Skylift was still being built when we booked and Olden wasn't even a factor in my selecting that cruise.

 I happened to read about the Loen Skylift's opening a few weeks before we sailed and googled the distance from all of 4 of our ports, and was shocked to realize Olden was only 5 minutes away.  The ship tours weren't going there yet so I found a private operator (Olden adventures) that was running buses to both the Loen Skylift and the Briskdal Glacier and we were able to do both (there are troll cars that can take you most of the way to Briskdal if you have a small child or travelers with limited mobility).   We got very, very lucky with being able to do a 7 night cruise that visited Olden, Geiranger and Flam, and I don't know that I deserve that much credit for finding it since I was actually just looking for Geiranger and Flam but sometimes its better to be lucky.

Oh, and one more thing for people to consider in planning Norway - please note that the road to the highest viewpoints in Geiranger is seasonal (it opens after the big annual avalanche) and can open anywhere from Mid May - early June.  We were there 2 days before the road opened, so unfortunately we did miss that but our options were very limited in terms of picking a cruise.  There are several other amazing viewpoints in Geiranger, and they take you to a nice lake my kids liked skipping rocks at if the highest viewpoint is closed.  The kids club on Cunard actually took all of the kids out on deck to see the Seven Sisters when we sailed past, which I thought was very nice of them and couldn't happen on a ship with more children (there were only about 8 kids on that sailing since it left from Southampton, and English parents are fined heavily for pulling their kids out of school). 

1 hour ago, Lolou127 said:

I thought the P and O Iona was designed with this in mind? this is my other thought if Sky is unable to go there.

If Princess change the itinerary there is no option to cancel and get your deposit returned is there?

Technically, cruise lines can cancel any port at any time.  If they change the itinerary prior to final payment, you have  the option to cancel and receive any refundable deposits back.  It is ultimately up Princess as to whether they would  choose to refund any nonrefundable deposits.  This has been an issue on NCL, with ports cancelled after final payment "to help the environment." with cruisers unable to switch to a different sailing or cancel.   I would hope that Princess would be generous with refunds if they cancel the ports that are the highlights of a Norwegian cruise, but there's no guarantee.  

Please note that of the three most popular fjords (Geiranger, Flam and Olden), Olden will remain accessible after the new regulations are in place.  This will allow you to visit the Loen skylift and Briskdal Glacier.  (Briskdal was a lovely bus ride and hike, although the glacier itself hit hard by global warming).  I cannot comment upon this myself, since I visited the Loen skylit 3 days after it opened, and there were no ship tours running there yet), but more recent posters have reported long lines to access the Loen skylift.  I would be concerned about how crowded Olden may become if the other popular fjords are no longer accessible.  You can check cruise timetables to see how many ships will be in Olden when you find an itinerary you are considering booking.

Geiranger and Flam are the two popular fjords that will be affected if the new regulations are enforced.  However, please note that cruise ships can still sail to Hellesylt, which is a one hour ferry ride from Geiranger.  The beautiful viewpoints in Geiranger can be visited in a few hours, so if you have a full port day you would be able to access Geiranger although it will be a bit more expensive and less convenient.     

The other issue is that the fjords are stunning on the clear day we had in Geiranger, but less spectacular on the cloudy days we experienced in Olden and Flam.  If you are only visiting one deep fjord for one day, you might not get clear weather.    

In Flam, the highlight is the Flam railroad, but people on the Baltic forums have noted that other parts of the Norwegian trains were just as beautiful, so perhaps those ports would become more popular if Flam is no longer accessible.  The sail in to the Flam fjord itself is gorgeous, so that would also be lost.  

1 hour ago, Fleur25 said:

Just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful suggestions and advice. We booked an August 2025 cruise that includes Flam and everything else I really wanted to see. We had to book with Celebrity but we're very happy with the ports. 

 

Thanks again for all your wonderful suggestions. I love the folks on Cruise Critic!! ❤️❤️❤️

We sailed on Cunard with a 2 and 6 year old (Cunard is actually a wonderful line, but not designed for small children!  But they take 2 year olds into drop off care and visited Norway so Cunard it was.). And we had an absolutely wonderful time.  I've never sailed with Celebrity, but would always recommend itinerary over cruise ship/line for Norway and the rest of Europe and hope you have a wonderful cruise.

My kids would like to see the fort, and then afterwards have a day pass to a hotel.  Is there anything you'd recommend?  They love waterslides if possible.

If you have limited mobility/limited energy, I'd recommend taking a cab to the top of Toompea Hill and then walking down by yourself.  The joy in Tallinn is walking around.  There are pedicabs you can take if you'd prefer a bit of a ride, or if you have kids there's a train that goes through the old city (its a bit bumpy over the cobblestones).  We had a. 3 year old with us, so we only did the pedicabs and train, but you might also want to consider the free walking tour that leaves from the Official Tourism Office at noon.  It's a town you can explore on your own, but if you'd prefer a tour, you can consider the free tour.  It's beautiful and charming, and I hope you have a great trip!

3 hours ago, debenson0723 said:

If you have a medical condition or disability, all you need to do is contact them and they will comply, even providing the water for a CPAP machine. But I am not aware of any condition that requires soda.

There are several options to treat low blood sugar, such as juice, honey,  hard candy, jellybeans or gumdrops  but regular (non diet) soda is also a possibility for diabetics.  I'm not sure if NCL is required to let you bring soda if they sell it onboard, but I'd recommend contacting the disability office and seeing what they say.

18 hours ago, ontheweb said:

I guess the 3 year old really hurried you otherwise you never could have seen all that. We also did the Vasa as it opened and then went to Skansen. I was telling DW that we were spending too much time there. She finally agreed to move on. We then went to the art museum (I forget its name). And we really hurried through and did it no justice. Ususally, with DW being an art teacher, now retired, we spend a lot of time in an art museum. She especially lingers at almost evey piece of art.

Yes, that's a very good point.  We knew he had a short attention span and researched the highlights of each destination.  He did spend an hour at Vasa, but only saw the open air lemur exhibit at Skansen and just the hands on viking exhibit at the history museum.  The only thing he didn't like was the Royal Armory, so that wound up being a very short stop. He really liked walking around Galma Stan, and also the ferries around Stockholm.   

It really depends on what kind of a tourist are you - do you like seeing the highlights of things and then are happy to move along or do you want to spend a lot of time at one activity?  We did the Baltics with a. 3 year old in tow, so he really didn't want to stay long anywhere so we started our day at 830 at Vasa (you should do that first since its really lovely when it isn't crowded).  Then we visited the open air lemur exhibit in Skansen, then the Viking experience at Historiska (the history museum) and ended our day at the Royal Armory and walking around Galma Stan.   

On 6/19/2024 at 11:59 PM, Shmmr27 said:

(Now I want to see some brick gothic architecture). I am deciding between Rostock, Wismar, Mollibahn at Bad Doberan, and Schwerin. Probably check train schedules next to see what is doable and come up with a couple main points of interest and loose plans, I'd like to see more than one place because we have a long time in port- but won't need to book an excursion so that part is set 🙂

Our cruise stopped in Germany on a Monday, so Schwerin was closed.  Having a 3 year old in tow on a cruise that already included St, Petersburg, traveling all the way to Berlin would have been completely insane.  We did the Molli steam train, and while it was cute I don't know that it's worth it unless you have a kid in tow.  The surrounding towns to the port were quite charming, and we had a lovely dinner in Warmenude.  You won't need an excursion if you aren't going to Berlin, and will have a lovely pleasant day.

10 minutes ago, BenDover said:

Just book a back-to-back 😎

When you leave from Boston or NYC, you need 2-3 days to sail to the Caribbean (as opposed to just doing a run to Bermuda/Florida), which is why the rare 12-14 day cruises from there are great.   I wish they had more of them from NY too.

4 hours ago, Wayward Son said:

I'm going with the consensus that the tour operator was the ultimate cause of this situation. It could have been the family. It seems strange that they were the only ones to miss the ship. But I'm going with the tour company.

 

That said, what is NCL going to do? How many tour operators are there in Ketchikan that can handle the number of people taking excursions from a 4000+ pax ship? Good luck with that.

 

 

 

It is absolutely correct that there are limited tour providers in Alaska, primarily composed of temporary workers.  I've never seen the lumberjack show, and when I sailed to Alaska I docked directly in Ketchikan, so I don't know exactly how many passengers attend this show.  The descriptions other posters have included on the other thread seem to indicate that there are a lot of passengers who attend the lumberjack show, and that it is rather chaotic trying to catch transportation back to the ship.  If this is the case, then perhaps NCL can send a crew member to the parking lot at the end of the show to help direct traffic and also to stay in contact with the port agent/ person coordinating transportation.  If someone had been able to communicate the fact that this family missed their original bus to the people coordinating transportation quickly, then another bus would have been dispatched immediately and this would have been a minor inconvenience for the family and not a national news story.  In a port in which there was more give in the schedule, this wouldn't be necessary - the ship could hopefully wait a bit for a late passenger without delaying its arrival.    

2 hours ago, KennDemon said:

I realized that I never resolved this.

Everything worked out. I was on a different  booking from my sister and father, and they had different return bookings. It took them presenting my bookings and requesting the same flights at the check in counter on the way home for everything to work out.

We have full on given up on booking through NCL. Maybe to get a cheep price and then fiddle to get what we need.

glad it all worked out.  I've seen similar postings in other cruise line forums, so this is a good conclusion to reach across other cruise ships too.  

Since this turned into a national media story, most corporations would be highly motivated to avoid it happening again.  Hopefully, the tour providers subcontracted by NCL will be proactive in the future about making sure all passengers have their stickers before allowing them to reboard the tour buses, and explain to the passengers at the beginning of the tour why it is important for them to keep the stickers on so they will be allowed to rebound their shuttle back to the ship.  

Please make sure that you have the phone number of the port agent, and that you leave your passports in your safe.  Call the port agent immediately if your bus is full and leaves without you.  Ensure that you have a few days supply of all necessary medication. 

When you arrive at the lumberjack show, I would also recommend locating where the port shuttle stop is.  If your tour bus leaves without you it might be faster to take the port shuttle back to the port rather than waiting for NCL to send another bus to you.  I'd recommend taking any possible mode of transportation back to the port available instead of waiting on NCL.  

Given the fact that this was a news story recently, if you are similarly stranded you can also consider using twitter/social media/ the mainstream media to make people aware of your plight immediately.   

If you are docking at r Nynashamn, I assume you would miss the opening at Vassa if traveling from June - August since it opens at 8:30; if that's the case, people on this forum have reported it is also less crowded in the late afternoon (I cannot verify this from personal experience, but I do know the museums in NYC tend to empty out in the later afternoons).  Good luck.  

There are circumstances under which tourists might wander off  and be responsible for missing their bus back to the cruise ship.   If the passengers wandered off instead of meeting the bus at the instructed time, NCL should have made that very clear when they were contacted by the media.  NCL hasn't said it was the passengers fault that they missed the bus, which makes me believe that their story is likely to be true - it seems quite possible that if the NCL tour guides know the sail to Victoria is very tight and the ship can't leave late without arriving late, they might have been in. a rush to load the buses and didn't check for stickers/ tour passes.  And it also seems quite possible that passengers in a rush to get back to the ship could have easily seen the NCL signs and accidentally boarded a tour bus thinking it was a shuttle.  And I can believe a driver needing to get back to the ship quickly thinking it would be faster to have another bus come to pick up 9 people than attempt to figure out who legitimately belonged on that bus (remember not all of the actual passengers on the cruise ship tour might have remembered to keep their sticker/tour ticket).  And no one would be too eager to leave the bus so removing passengers who have already boarded a bus could become very difficult if they absolutely refuse to leave, as we have seen in some airline removals where passengers were restrained and dragged off the bus.  

If the passengers wandered off looking for souvenirs and were at fault, then NCL should tell the media because it isn't their fault if passengers wander away at the end of the tours.  But if these passengers have a record of their attempts to contact NCL to try to explain how they were stranded immediately, then I would be inclined to believe them.  And since no one at NCL has come forward to state that it was the passengers' own fault that they missed the ship (which it can be if passengers ignore instruction to return by a certain time) then I am inclined to believe the passengers.  When the passengers in Africa were stranded, NCL correctly stated that the passengers were on independent tours and therefore it was their fault if they did not return to the ship in time.  If NCL wasn't at fault here, they should have explained that.  The passengers who were stranded in Africa were entirely responsible for their initial stranding but in Alaska it seems likely the passengers were not at fault.