TrpngBilly

In our family of four, only two of us dive...me and my daughter (14). She and I want to dive in at least one of our upcoming port stops but the timing of our port visits is less than ideal in a couple ports so we're looking for info on the best option.  Can anyone give some feedback on ease of getting to dive operators that you've used in the past while also considering the quality of diving in the listed ports?  We don't mind arranging transportation if it means a better diving experience.

Havensight, St. Thomas 11am-7pm port call on a weekday

Roadtown, Tortola 6am-2pm port call on a weekday

Puerto Plata, DR 7am-4pm port call on a weekday

Thanks in advance

With the limited excursions by cruise lines for certified divers, does anyone have any experience with any local dive shops in Puerto Plata?  Obviously proximity to the cruise port is a consideration, but can anyone share whether or not they've used a local shop and had success?  Thanks in advance.

On 3/9/2023 at 9:16 AM, jdc987 said:

$9.99 it's available on your app and TV once on board.  Just remember that sometimes it doesn't notify you.  I believe you also can call.

"sometimes it doesn't notify you"

That was our experience with the app last time we cruised.

We'll be in St. Thomas in mid April. Can anyone tell me if there was a selection of tour operators there in Havensight that were offering a Discover SCUBA tour for walk-up or if pre-booking was required?  And, if anyone has any feedback on a Discover SCUBA tour that they used, any of that feedback would be greatly appreciated as well.  The excursion offered through the cruise line has a 16+ age restriction and we'd like our 13 year old to come with us so we're looking for feedback from our cruise friends here. Thanks in advance.

We had a cruise booked on Escape for April of 2023.  In early 2022 NCL emailed an apology along with a 10% credit toward a future cruise saying that the cruise had been cancelled because they were changing the Escape itineraries and they wanted to offer guests on Escape a "new experience". Ok, out of our control so we made other vacation plans because we specifically needed that week.  Fast forward 6 months and we find a slightly different itinerary on Escape for the very same week that we needed.  We love the Escape so we booked a balcony room for the 4 of us and interestingly enough it was a lower fare than our original cruise.  Here's the interesting part; I call NCL to apply the 10% credit that was given to us from the cruise they cancelled on us and it worked out to a whole $2 off our cruise fare.  The NCL rep seemed puzzled too but it was clear that they were simply reading the data that was available to them.  I'm still trying to figure out how $2 is any consolation for a cancelled cruise and I'm open to any thoughts from the cruise critic community.

Just got our cancellation email, it mentioned nothing about a dry dock but indicated that "We have made the decision to alter Norwegian Escape's deployment to offer an even more immersive vacation experience for our guests".  Our sailing was 4/16/23 - 4/23/23 out of Miami.

Just off a cruise that had a port call in St. Thomas.  Here are the taxi rates that were posted on a sign at the pier.

Per passenger from Havensight Mall to destination listed. First rate is for one passenger, second price is for 2 or more passengers.

Airport/Emerald Beach                 $7 or $6

Bolongo Beach                             $10 or $8

Coki Beach/Coral World             $12 or $9

Crown Bay Marina                        $7 or $6

Downtown                                     $4 both

Magens Bay Beach                    $10 or $8

Mahogany Run Golf Course     $10 or $8

Morningstar Beach                     $8 or $6

Mountain Top                              $11 or $8

Red Hook Ferry Dock                 $13 or $10

Sapphire Beach                          $13 or $10

Secret Harbor Beach                 $13 or $10

Island Tours                                $50 or $25

1 hour ago, hallux said:

Be there 15+ minutes before the show or they'll start letting standbys in and you may not get a seat...

Even more than 15 minutes to get a decent seat...and beware of seat "holders"

Anyone have any feedback on the wifi packages as far as reliability on the Epic recently?  We have done the iConcierge APP on past cruises and found it to be marginally reliable at best but I'm wondering if there have been improvements in the last year or so?  Thanks in advance and sorry if it's been addressed already, I couldn't find the thread if there is one.

Remember when we all switched to plastic because it was going to "save trees" by reducing the amount of paper consumed?  Now we're back to using paper in place of plastic...and plastic is now bad...no wonder no other planets have sent their people here, they likely don't want to catch whatever it is that we have.

Great, thanks all.  You helped me arrive at the decision that I was leaning toward.  You know when you just need to hear it from others??? Thanks again.

Ship is scheduled to return to port in San Juan on 2/23/20 at 5:30am.  Has anyone been able to make it to the airport in time for a 8:30am flight departure?

3 hours ago, zqvol said:

 

You can't tell where that water was bottled by looking at the label that you have posted. Any company can buy bottled water from a distributor and  have their own labels put on the bottles. I would be very surprised if NCL has a water botteling facility. You are probably getting whatever bottled water pepsi produces.

Lol.  I didn't mean to suggest that NCL has a water bottling division, I simply meant that they are no longer selling a brand name bottled water but still charging the same price.  Some people find the tap water onboard to have a funky taste, myself among them, so I prefer bottled water to tap water.  And, for the record, when I purchased the bottled water package for our last cruise, Aquafina was the brand featured in the picture...again, not a deal breaker.

We did a daily rental in Port Canaveral on a recent port visit so we could drive ourselves to Disney Springs.  We dropped off after the rental car office closed and then took an Uber back to the ship, it was after 7pm.  We waited maybe 5 minutes for our Uber and I held my keys until the driver pulled up then dropped them into the night box.  Pretty easy.

For those interested or affected;

From NCL website; Due to strong gale-force winds on the Hudson River, Norwegian Gem’s scheduled arrival into New York City has been delayed until tomorrow morning, February 26. Disembarkation is expected to begin at 6:30 AM ET. As such, the itinerary originally scheduled for departure on February 25, has been amended to a 10-day Southern Caribbean cruise. Embarkation will begin on Tuesday, February 26 at 9:30 AM ET. At this time, there are no further changes to the schedule. We apologize for any inconvenience this unforeseen change has caused.

On 2/22/2019 at 5:17 PM, kenns said:

Hi All -

 

I know April 2020 is a year away but I am already looking at April 18/April 19 to April 25/26 as that is school vacation week for those of us in Boston. I am looking at NCL's newest ships: Encore, Bliss, Joy, Escape, Getaway and Breakaway. I can't see any 7 day options for any of these 6 ships for that week. 

 

a) The Encore returns to Miami on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Wednesday, April 22 (3-4 days later) on a 4 day NYC to Bermuda cruise, ending on Sunday, April 26. Does this mean she is deadheading from Miami up to NYC? That would be 3-4 days of no passengers on board. 

b) The Bliss is leaving on a 21 night cruise on the 19th so she is out.

c) The Joy is doing a 5 day Pacific Coastal cruise from LA to Vancouver on Sunday, April 19 to Friday, April 24 (not interested in this cruise due to itinerary)

d) The Escape is showing nothing for the entire month of April - has she been charted out for the entire month?

e) The Getaway returns to New Orleans on the 19th, but doesn't sail again until Thursday, April 23 (4-5 days later) on a 15 night transatlantic from NYC. Does this mean she is deadheading from New Orleans to NYC? That would be 4-5 days of no passengers on board.  

f) The Breakaway has two options:

    1. April 18th to April 22: 4 night Bahamas from Orlando 

    2. April 23 to April 26: 3 night Bahamas from Miami (does she deadhead the night of April 22 from Orlando to Miami?)

 

Unfortunately, given this, I will likely have to go with RC as they have multiple 7 day cruise options that week - unless we do the 4 day on the Encore to Bermuda or wait and see on the Escape. (we're not interested in the Epic or the older ships)

 

Thanks!

I also noticed this a while back, the absence of any 7-day itineraries during that particular week.  We were on the Bliss last week during the Feb vacation and I asked a CruiseNext representative why there were no cruises listed for that week.  She could not give me a definite answer as to why there were no sailings offered, and offered to help me book a Trans Atlantic cruise.  She did say that it could have something to do with the fact that it is a popular week for ships to re position.  Last year we found a 6-day itinerary on the Escape out of Miami.  It turned out to be the week before the ship was relocated to NYC.  We learned that after we docked in Miami the ship would be empty (except for crew) on it's sail from Miami to NYC.  And for what it's worth, we were able to find reasonably priced round trip flights from LGA to Miami that week for the four of us so we could take advantage of the school break here in Massachusetts.  The drive from where we live on Cape Cod to LGA is pretty straightforward and we found a long term parking lot near the airport for less than $150 for the week.  We've actually used JFK and LGA for flights in the past and wouldn't hesitate to do so again given the considerable price differences.

NCL continues to nickel & dime in really creative ways. We’ve purchased the bottled water package on several past NCL cruises, usually they carry Aquafina, which we prefer to shipboard water. Now for the bottled water package they bottle their own for the same price. It’s not a deal breaker but it’s a bit disappointing.

Just now, fabnfortysomething said:

there was a similar thread last week

platimum "perk" of concierge assistance waste of time assuming you can even get hold of the concierge telephone number

they are too busy with Haven guests

Ok, thank you and thanks for letting me know about the past thread, I'll review it.

Where does one "present their key card" to obtain the benefit of utilizing concierge assistance to assist with booking specialty restaurant reservations?  I've always made these reservations on my own but if the platinum perk makes it easier, I'm all for that.

On 1/25/2019 at 7:51 AM, helpwanted said:

You can make reservations as normal.  There should be coupons in stateroom on arrival. Just bring to dinner and show ahead of time.

 

We are Platinum but did not get any coupons for the perk on either of our last two cruises.  We had to go to guest services to claim them and then make our reservations.  Perhaps it has changed so that they are now delivering coupons.

I've had success when two of us from a large group of travelers each made a reservation for 10 (total of 20 at dinner) and the Maitre' D was able to put two tables almost together...it worked pretty well.

On 8/10/2018 at 11:38 AM, 2Oldpeopleinlove said:

When it gets this close—less than a month away—I’m so ready to go that I keep looking for ways to prepare. So far I’ve set aside all my clothes and toiletries and bought a minifan recommended here and compostable plastic straws.

 

Keep me off Amazon! Tell me what else I can do, like downloading music on my iPad last night, that won't cost anything but keep my cruise compulsion satisfied!

I'm guilty as well.  From researching which other ships will be in ports with us when we are in port to checking local newspapers for our ports for any possible coupons or bonus information, I start planning long before the cruise.  At the earliest possible moment, I book dinner reservations and order the on board amenities that we like in the cabin.

At 30 days out I transfer all my cruise paperwork including confirmation emails, cruise edocs, etc. from a plain manila folder to a 1" binder that has sections for each leg of our trip (flights, hotels, transfers, cruise, return flight, etc.).

Over the last few years we've persuaded several friends to either join us or go on NCL cruises on their own and I've been unofficially nicknamed "Isley" which is a combination of Isaac and Julie from The Love Boat.

Happy cruising everyone!

I felt that the lights in the passageways were a little too bright.

Anyone have a theory as to why there is a lack of itineraries sailing to the Caribbean during the third week of April 2020?  I searched for a 7-day itinerary during that week and found none that occupied that week.  At first I thought it might be too early for those to be published but then I discovered there are some during the weeks after that week.

On 1/27/2019 at 12:59 PM, leos037 said:

Post Cruise Review NCL Bliss 1/19/2019

This was our 12th cruise. Second on NCL. (RCL, MSC and HAL in the past)

Cruised with 2 kids 6 and 8. 5th cruise for them. Everyone had a great

time. We look at cruising as floating resort with babysitting. We live in Florida so beach access is not a priority.

Room (5746)

Booked a family ocean view. Great location midship near the elevators and kids club. Pretty quiet aside from gangway deployment woke us up once but was not a big deal. Lots of storage with 2 closets, shelves and a drawers. 2 tvs, pullman bed and curtain to divide the room. Bathroom has a tub and double sink. King size bed leaves very little space to pass by it. 9/10

Food

You will no go hungry on this ship! There are almost too many restaurants!

We used a booking bonus to try Q - BBQ place ( food was good - service slow, pecan pie divine) Cagney Steak House ( Great steak, good dessert, shrimp in the appetizer was not cleaned and was sent back - got grilled shrimp as an apology) French place ( Mushroom soup, escargo and peppercorn steak were amazing. Licked the plate clean!)

Buffet had great variety every night. An unexpected highlight was top notch Indian food. We had it almost every day. On the other hand Asian station was mediocre. Pizza was lousy. Fries were good. 8/10

Water Slides/ Kids Aqua park. /Pools

There are 3 slides on board. I will post rules for all in the photos. Drop Free one ( we ignored it) Aqua racer that we used and a tiny pink slide in the kids park. Aqua racer was fun but carrying tubes up the stairs get old after a while. Crowded during sea days. Kids aqua park is nice but is so close to main pool that it gets super loud. Main pool is small and was usually packed like a sardine can. The adult pool is close to a smoking area and was a no go for us because of it. To few hot tubs. The rule against drinking in the pools and tubs was not enforced 5/10

 

Spa

We thought that $250 weekly pass per person was too much. Bought $59 day passes for port days. Can be only bought the morning of. Spa was nice steam rooms, heated chairs, and a huge therapy pool. Not as serene as some i experienced in the past .

Laser Tag and Go Carts

Some of the main attractions of the ship are go carts and Laser tag. Cost is $10 per person. Despite advertising they do not have "Hero Blastglove " for smaller kids. Gun was a too heavy for my tiny 6 year old. My 8 year old was fine. After getting instructions you play 2 five minute games. Was fun but i thought that games should have been longer. 7/10

Go Carts are also $10 and if you doing doubles $20. Book early as they fill up (also true for laser-tag). You go 4 laps. Fun to do. Make sure you wear shoes with closed toes AND heel for both activities 9/10

Kids Club.

Kids liked it. I was annoyed that it was closed for lunch AND dinner on Sea days so i had to shuffle some reservations. They will feed kids dinner on port days if you sign up. There is a $6 charge for this service. (cheap enough but added the feeling of being nickeled and dimed by NCL) Lots of activities 7pm-10-30 so if you plan for later dinner without kids you are fine. 8/10

Arcade

Its on Deck 5 close the kids club. If you buy Ultimate arcade pass ($25 a day) you can play most of the games that don't have tickets or prizes. Those are that have green tag are included: A star-wars flying game, Pirate shooting game, Jurassic park shooting game, Air hockey, VR ride, and 5 racing games cars and bikes. Prices are around $2 bucks VR game is $10, SW game is $3. Skee ball and basketball as well as claw machines are not included in the pass.

6/10

Overall NCL Bliss is nice ship family friendly ship with lots of activities and lots of food options. We had a good time but not in a hurry to go back because there are other ships that fit our needs better.

Great summary, quick and to the point. Thanks for sharing.