rodndonna

As OP of this thread, I thought I would come back and report on our "can we take a bus to the airport?" experience for our latest cruise. We had our "mystery" NCL BOGO flights assigned about a month in advance of the trip, so had some time to research options based on our flight itineraries - In the end, from London Ontario we now have 5 options for taking a bus from London Ontario to Toronto Pearson (some or all go to downtown for Billy Bishop as well) Robert Q MegaBus FlixBus ONExBus Intercity Bus We discounted using RobertQ as is is quite pricey, and we would have then just sucked it up and drove for that pricing, Of the 4 others, all price in comparably (some with price varying depending on when you bought) at around $25 taxes included per person, varying different schedules (they all seem to have avoided overlaping each other for schedules) and all had differences in options for pickup and dropoff locations. We went with InterCity Bus which seems to be a newer player in the Ontario bus market. They have a terminal in what I assume is the old Grehound terminal downtown London and we picked it as we can walk (or short cab) to the bus terminal, and their schedules worked well our flights for both directions. The process was pretty seamless and our trips were on time in both directions (with a text update to a minor change in schedule in advance). Would not hesitate to use them (or try one of the other bus lines) again.

We are just off the Viva (San Juan) yesterday and really enjoyed our experience. We don't write reviews, but would recommend you check the the NCL thread titled ""Why are people unhappy? Prima class review" The referenced video is a very good overview of the ship. We pretty much agree with everything he stated, and if you watch the video (only about 10 minutes) you can think about pros and cons for your preferences. He does mention that it is geared better for warm weather - and we had perfect weather! Our cruise was sold out and the outdoor space on Ocean Boulevard always had places to lounge or sit at any time. We were lowly insiders and not pool people, so spent almost all of our week on deck 8 (never and issue finding places with shade or sun to lounge/eat/drink) so the Viva was perfect for us for a Southern Caribbean cruise.

I'm with you - I find the bad reviews as useful, and often times, more useful than good reviews. We're looking at doing a cruise on the Epic- which appears to me a favourite ship for folks to hate, We really like the itinerary (7 days 7 ports Southern Carib) so was researching what is it people dislike about it so much and then weighing what that means for us. A review full of "rah rah" is often not that informative sometimes.

Thanks, we do have an eye on another NCL cruise, so will do some homework before we leave on this one and see if they can sweeten the deal 🤔

Thank you both! I totally did not get that the "OBC" I read about was that "extra" $250 for the half off of a $500 I kinda now see the NCL's logic- if someone on board thinks they are going to spend at least $250 on their cruise, might as well get a CN certificate. Thanks for clarifying.

We are about to sail on our first( in many years) NCL cruise. Optimistically I am assuming I will again sail on NCL in the next couple of years. If you were me and understood CN and CF's better than I do - should I..... purchase 2 CN certificates on board (it sounds like we would get some OBC on current cruise with purchase?) we can book a cruise on return using 1 CN, and then, if/when a "Double Up" CN promo comes up, we can apply the second one (for cruise more than 4 months out) I can't see any advantage to purchasing CF's over CN's unless you don't have a cruise to purchase them on - correct?

Will be in Antigua next week (first time) and wondering about walking to a beach. I It appears Limerz or Fort James beach would be walkable (albeit a long walk) from the cruise port. Does anyone have experience walking to either of these beaches? (looks like 45-60minutes walk). Is it a safe walk? Any comments on one beach over the other?

Thanks for the support- we're "verrry" close to doing that ....

I've only glanced through this thread, but will add my 2 cents (which I have not seen-but might have missed)- We are frugal cruisers and are booked on our first NCL (the Viva) in about 15 years on an "inside". We in the past have varied our cabins and justified a balcony or an aft balcony (as high as we have booked) but start as "insiders" and look to upgrade later if it appeals to us, and if there is opportunity. With our upcoming cruise next week (Viva) we cannot upgrade or get into the Vibe due to the occupancy. I was saying today to the hubby, knowing what I know now, I would have just booked an inside (closer to Vibe area) and book Vibe, thinking the cost is comparable (actually quite a bit less potentially) than booking a balcony.For us, the Vive would be a more worthwhile "add-on" experience than having a balcony. Either way, I cannot test my theory unless my lowball bid on a balcony gets accepted or we splurge a bit more for a Cabana in the Vibe which is still available (and costs about the same a recommended upgrade bid for a balcony).

were you from San Juan? I think the November cruise was Europe or TA, so maybe not as full. We are on Viva next week from San Juan and looks sold out. I expect we will likely be facing looongg lines but more likely, just give it a miss as you did.

That $55 is pretty close to what I "budget" for our holidays (I have a holiday excel spreadsheet tracker for our overall travel budget). For cruises, I apply $100/day additional "shore" spending, so for a 7 day cruise,I would budget $700 shore based spending on for the 2 of us and it seems to be a good estimate wherever we go. If it is a more expensive location, it seems we tend to look harder for less expensive options or only splurge on the "better" ports and dial the others back.

I agree! We're on the Viva next week and would love to see the Rumours show. Even though we are fully able, not sure how long I am willing to stand in line to see it, especially if I stand there for an hour or more, and some yoko wonders up and cuts in front.....no way I am doing that.

Was there a final credit on your statement that was then refunded back to your credit card? I am wondering if a credit balance can be applied to your account, but not refunded (so essentially non-refundable OBC) No first hand experience, but we were on the Zandaam last June and met a lady who had purchased a beverage card and was told on board it was non-refundable. She was quite surprised by that (as were we)

Thanks for posting this, wondering as well. We are on the Viva, not sure if options would be different.

I'm not sure I see why it is deceitful or misleading? It seems pretty straightforward to me - you have the option to keep the original program/pricing you booked with OR the option to upgrade to the option provided for the price stated.

Look at your invoice, near the bottom there is a table of "Cancellation Fee Schedule" with dates and $ values. If non-refundable, your deposit is that first entry (final payment date). If a refundable deposit that entry would be $0.

Like you I like to look at it in terms of "value", and the only way to really know is to test the waters. If I were you, I would book the RCL. Worst case it comes up short in terms of experience and now you know for future bookings. It at least gives you a reference for "how much more would I pay for XXX over YYY" . A simple example for us is we have always been inside cruisers on older ships (we're proudly frugal). Since Covid, we splurged up to aft balconies and some newer ships, but what we have discovered is we prefer to save the money and cruise older ships in inside cabins. Ironically, as this is the NCL board, our upcoming NCL cruise is one of the outliers for us where we are "splurging" to check out the Viva. I fully expect we will enjoy the cruise, but in the future not pay the money it typically costs for a new ship like the Viva.

In my limited "booze cruise" experience (just 1 Carnival 4 night from LA late Sept many years ago), being on what some will treat as a booze cruise may not impact you that much. We were newish to cruising and had no idea on the cruise it was considered a booze cruise. Although we drink, we are a little older so aren't generally in the "hopping" areas of the ships and don't have a clue what was happening after 10;00 pm. I think you can always find places to be on any ship to avoid the boozy crowd (at least we always seem to be able to avoid them)

Are they both priced for that week in September? You mention August/September, and if the NCL is in August, it will be more than mid-late September for the RCL cruise.

I've never actually purchased it, but from what I read Standard should still provide 75% credit CFAR (verses 100% for Platinum)?

Sometimes HAL pricing is wonky and not consistent through the process. Have you tried continuing through the mock booking to see if those prices stay the same?

On our last cruise this was the case for the next 2 cruises following the one we were on. It was a Med cruise and they were booked by a Mexican corporation for some kind of company retreats. We also have a radiologist in the family that attended a conference on a cruise. Apparently I worked in the wrong field and for the wring companies ....😐

If you need another vote ... October for better chance of good weather and colours. You mention you like the 10 day in June, so depending on what it is you like and how much you may prefer it, I would factor in "when in June?" If early June when kids are in school there are less tourists but weather can be pretty iffy and cool/cold. Late in June the kids are out of school but your chance for better weather improves quite a bit. I guess I would still weigh those in since you "seem" to prefer the June itinerary.

Yeah - I think so. The whole baggage routing and handling for golf bags (oversize) is separate from normal bags (and why they are more prone to delays and missing connections). Also since it was clearly golf club bags, there could be some VERY expensive clubs in there... and we paid enough for our clubs was happy to see them locked up like that (still worth waaayyy more than our clothes baggage). 😃

It was a lock mechanism applied to the zipper with a plastic bag that has info written on it with a sharpie. Don't recall the codes on the plastic but I assume it was related to the new routing or for the courier maybe?