DanaK757

1 hour ago, gdy0354 said:

If you don't use up the $200 OBC deposit it will be refunded within a few days from end of cruise.

To my understand, all OBC has to be used onboard during the cruise.  I think this is where they get you!  The room is "free" but you pay $200 p/p plus taxes and fees and then get the $200 p/p back in OBC to use on the ship!  So really, you are still paying $300+ for the "free" interior room.

I received this offer in my email on 1/26/2023 and I had just booked our 7 day cruise to the Caribbean on 1/24/23 for one of the cruises listed.  I called the agent to see if I could take advantage of this offer and maybe get a credit for the difference in what I paid and what the deal offers.  She called me back and stated she spoke with her manager and since I just bought it 2 days ago and not 24 hours ago and I didn't buy the Holland America cruise insurance, there was nothing I could do.  If I cancel and rebook, I will lose money.  I asked if I could give this "deal" to a family or friends and was told no.

Just some background on me- I have been on only one HAL cruise back in 2012.  I did play in the casino on that cruise, but I did not buy any jewelry.  I had been recently looking online for a few days to book a 7-day Caribbean cruise and signed in under my Mariner ID.  I think me looking and exploring cruises under my Mariner ID might have triggered the email- but I can't say for sure. 🙂

4 hours ago, MidwesternCruiser2 said:

 

DanaK757 -- how was your tour?
I'll be in GT late January and am considering it.
What was the boat's passenger capacity?

Did you see whales and/or other marine life (dolphins, turtles, etc.)?

TIA!

The tour was great! We met them right off the ship and just had to take a 5 min walk along the beach to get to the boat. The boat we were on could hold 60-80 people but there was maybe only 12 of us total! We were able to easily move around as needed. The tour guide was great and very informative. We did get to see whales! We saw a large female with her baby! We also saw a male. They all came right up to the boat so we got great pics. Didn’t see any other marine life. We did get hit with some rain for about 30 minutes, but it didn’t ruin the tour at all! 
 

On 12/12/2018 at 5:17 PM, Cruisegirl70 said:

Might want to check...  my Carnival cruise on Breeze in March just showed a whale watch tour for $124.99 was just added which is cheaper than others I have seen but does not have any reviews. 

I was able to book a whale watching excursion with Carnival for a great price! 🙂

On 12/6/2018 at 11:03 AM, mamkmm2 said:

Gonna be there the same time and haven't noticed that Princess is offering whale watching so feeling kinda iffy about it.  I have read in several locations that a good land spot to watch for whales is from the light house area.  I suspect, like any other whale tour, that it is hit or miss.

I will cruising with Carnival and they aren’t offering an excursion for this either. I have been looking at private tour companies that offer whale watching, but I have only read reviews online- wanted to see if someone has actually used one of these companies before. I didn’t read anything about seeing whales from the lighthouse, I’ll have to research this as well. 

We will be visiting Grand Turk in Feb 2019 and I have seen a lot of private excursions for Whale Watching from Jan-Apr in Grand Turk- this seems to be the time when the whales are in the area. I wanted to get some feedback from anyone that has done a whale watching excursion in Grand Turk. I see there are several companies that offer this excursion, but was interested in getting more opinions/reviews from anyone who has done this recently or in the past. Thank you!