TACoor

Good to  know, thanks!

Looks like there's a new itinerary this winter, St Petersburg to Key West. Has anyone on here taken that cruise yet? Wondering how it went, what were the ports and the excursions like, what did they cost? Would love to read a review!

For us, the least enjoyable aspect of past cruises has been heading for the deck above the pool or to Spice after breakfast and facing row upon row of "reserved" loungers. We prefer loungers in the shade and those are impossible to find unless you join the chair hogs and put your book and towel on a couple of chairs at the crack of dawn. We're doing Vibe for the first time in January and I expect to absolutely love it. I wouldn't sign up for it for a cool or cold weather cruise, but it's worth it to me for the Caribbean. Or maybe I'm just foolish. But I do get that there are those who buy and then rarely spend time there.

We have Vibe passes for the first time on a January Encore cruise and I'm really looking forward to it! In the past, it's been almost impossible both at the pool and at Spice to find a good place to sit. Everything is staked out early in the morning. When they "close" the walking track on the deck above the pool and put out more chairs (at 9am?), the loungers are packed hip to hip so you practically have to crawl onto your lounger from the foot and then there's nowhere to put your shoes or your drink. Being Floridians, we really don't need more sun, but shade is so hard to find. Also hard to flag someone down to order a drink. So I know we're going to love the Vibe.

15 hours ago, Seas2mountains said:

There are the following Haven suites still available for that sailing:

H6 - 1

HC - 1

HE - 9

HG - 3

 

 

Thanks for the info!

Ship is Encore, 7 days starting January 28. Thanks for all the feedback.

We're booked for a late January cruise, balcony cabin with two specialty dinners plus two for our Latitudes perk. Have already booked Vibe. So I just received our second invitation to upgrade to Haven (not interested in Club balcony upgrade). If they're pushing the upgrade it seems like they're having trouble selling the Haven or want more balconies. In addition, the Roll Call for this cruise is really quiet. So I'm wondering if I should go for it. It would be (minimum) $400 per person to bid. Yes, I know I could bid minimum and give it a shot. How often does a minimum bid get attention? Since we already have specialty dining and Vibe, I wonder what Haven would add that would be worth $800 or more.  And probably more than $800, right?

Seems like with all the cut-backs on theater shows, they could easily move some of the atrium events to the theater, especially in the evening. Frees up the atrium for guest services, atrium bar, peaceful meals at The Local, cruise next, shore ex and so on. The "traffic jams" during atrium shows is incredible.

1 hour ago, yakcruiser said:

I had that problem a few weeks ago and it was suggested to me to clear cache and cookies. And it worked!!

Thanks. I tried that and the problem persists. Guess I'll wait a day and see if their site is still "on vacation."

The website is a mess. I've been trying for several days to compare some mediterranean cruises for next spring and I keep getting "uh oh, looks like our site needed to take a vacation" whenever I try to get more information on a possible trip. Frustrating!

On our next cruise (on the Encore), we will have two free meals as a latitudes perk for the first time plus two specialty meals from our cruise booking. I can't tell from the NCL website which restaurants are included in this latitudes benefit. Is there a certain way I should pre-book our specialty meals? Is it easy to get reservations for latitudes meals and do we have to wait until we're on board to make those reservations? Hope someone can help me out with this.

11 hours ago, SeekingKillerWhales! said:

Hi OP. Sorry you got hurt. Thanks for the heads up on some considerations about what to do if hurt on any excursion, not just beach ones. It's nice when people come on here and share their pain stories so the rest of us have different outcomes. I totally get you were not trying to smear anyone or demand anything from NCL, just sharing some stuff to keep in mind. I'm sorry there are so many jackdonkeys that have to mansplain the obvious as if you couldn't have figured out wearing shoes was a good idea on your own. There's always going to be the psuedosuperior who of course have never made an error in their lives, and live to demean others. Ignore them and those of us who are here to learn new things thank you. 

Thank you! I'd also like to agree with the previous poster who suggested that beach excursion tickets could come with a recommendation to wear water shoes. Not a bad idea.

14 minutes ago, cruiseny4life said:

 

 

@TACoor, I was a bit blunt, I suppose. I just don't like when people want to change nature. Having safety signs, papers stating to wear water shoes...well that would be completely appropriate. I hope your foot and wrist have recovered!! 

Thanks, I appreciate that. I wasn't suggesting that the boulder should be removed. Still a bit of a limp but nothing major. And as most things in life, it was a learning experience.

Gee thanks, folks, for the critical sarcasm. Just to be clear, this was not an "oh poor me, I stubbed my toe, I want lots of attention." The point was that NCL seems to want to know if a passenger is hurt on a sponsored excursion so they can decide how (or if) to handle it going forward, so I gave a little advice as to what might be helpful for them to know and when. I did not ask, nor did I expect to see a doctor - the officer in charge asked me to get evaluated.  To be honest, I didn't see a single person wearing water shoes at this beach or at GSC so I guess they were all equally reckless - but now we're all aware of the advisability of footwear on the beach. Have a good day.

Thanks, good advice.

Just off (4/27) a great 12-day cruise on the Joy. The short version - if you are injured on a NCL excursion, (1) get the names of any witnesses, (2) report it to the Shore Excursion desk the same day, and (3) save your excursion ticket. The long version:  this was a snorkel and beach break on Curacao. At the end of a row of chairs, there was a sandy path to the beach with a lava rock boulder in the middle of the path, so go the the left or to the right. I had been back and forth to the beach a few times, but this time, my bare foot hit another solid immovable rock under the sand, it hurt like crazy, I lost my balance and went down. The result was a bunch of painful punctures and tears on the bottom of my left foot and a huge bruise on my right wrist. Relatively minor injuries, but due to unsafe conditions. Another Joy passenger helped me up and made sure I was okay. There shouldn't be a well-used path with unseen hazards. I was going to let it go, but my husband was determined to address the hazard to protect future visitors. We spoke to the snorkel crew, then the tour operator then (the next day) the excursion desk on the ship. The officer in charge of that group arranged for me to be evaluated and treated in the medical center at no charge to me.  The receptionist in Medical asked why I hadn't come in as soon as I arrived back on the ship, and she and the security office who interviewed me both asked for my excursion ticket, which we had thrown away at the end of the excursion. They also asked about witnesses but I hadn't gotten the name of the person who helped me. They did treat me anyway. By the way, we had signed waivers with both the tour operator and the snorkel crew so they bore no liability, that was understood. We only reported it in hopes that the hazard might be addressed, not expecting anything as a result. But I was glad to have been treated to reduce the chance of infection after hobbling around on a sandy beach after the accident.

Anyone who has recently sailed on the Joy - I have a few questions. We haven't cruised in three and a half years so some things may have changed (no doubt, in fact). What's the outlet/charging situation in a balcony cabin? Still not outlets in the bathroom, right? How many regular outlets are there in the cabin and where are they located? Are there any USB ports? Is it okay to bring a gadget that plugs into a standard outlet but provides three USB ports and two regular outlets?

What toiletries are provided in the bathroom? Shampoo? Conditioner? Bar soap or body wash?

Husband enjoys an occasional cigar. Where will he be able to smoke?

Might have more as I continue to think this through. Thanks for any insight you have!

2 hours ago, wolft927 said:

I will say depending on how close the sailing date is a lot of times they only guarantee you a cabin category. I booked a RCCL cruise 3 days from sailing because my NCL cruise was canceled 48 hours before sailing. May I ask how far out your booking? 

Looking at both mid-February and April.

Is this something new, not being able to select a cabin, it will be assigned just before sailing? We haven't sailed since before covid, but in the past I have always carefully chosen our cabin location - not right at the elevators, cabins on the deck above and below (not over or under potentially noisy public venues), prefer not adjoining rooms. I'm just not happy about being placed wherever they put us. Is there any way to actually select a cabin at booking?

AND the refund went through on March 23, but the FCC is still showing up on my Latitudes account....

We were scheduled to cruise this past January. When Omicron was raging, we decided to cancel for FCC. Two days later, NCL cancelled our cruise. Too bad for us. But I went ahead and applied for a refund - nothing to lose. There was a letter a few weeks ago that my request was being considered but I wasn't too optimistic. Just checked my credit card statement for March today and amazingly, our full fare had been credited back to the card. Nice surprise. With our cash not tied up with NCL, we may consider a different line and won't be constrained by the "use FCC by" deadline.

I haven't even looked at booking a cruise in a good while, but thought I'd start dreaming and planning a cruise so I went to the NCL website. I can't see balcony categories any more, guess they are gone. Pick a room type and they'll assign you a cabin. Want a different deck? Upcharge. Want a different location? Upcharge. It's like the airlines that charge extra to select a seat and more to bring a carry on. I didn't get very far with my reservation but do they also charge by the bag for luggage checked in? One cruise I looked at showed no balconies available other than the assigned cabin, and this is for December. I doubt they only have one left.  I have always been selective on cabin deck and location, so to me this is unacceptable.

We're supposed to leave 1/19 on the Getaway and I'm pretty sure we're going to cancel. Granted, FCC isn't going to get us on a comparable cruise later in the year, but it's just too risky - I'm not worried about getting sick, but with ports turning ships away, entertainment being canceled, possibly being quarantined for days on end .... Just doesn't seem worth it. So sad - this will be our third cancelled cruise in two years.

We were in a regular balcony last cruise (forever ago) and there were no robes. I like to have one to answer the door when morning room service knocks. I asked our steward if we could have two and he brought them - with a Haven logo embroidered on them! I would certainly think they would be available on request with reduced capacity these days.

We agreed to share a table on one of our first cruises on NCL. We were in our 60's and a couple in their low 20's were seated at our table. The first thing the young man said after sitting down was, "So, grandma, what's up?" Sorry but that's just plain rude. His behavior continued through the meal, just brash and abrasive.

Now we only agree to share if there's a wait and we're trying to make it to a show. Otherwise, no thanks!