rugerdog

On 10/22/2018 at 6:59 PM, Cruisin Kay D said:

Anyone have any ideas where I could find such a tour?

I, too have the same situation for my upcoming trip in February.  Trying to find a tour to pick us up from the ship and

deposit us at LAX hours later.

5 minutes ago, neverbeenhere said:

 

No difference. 

Okay, thank you.  I think it would be convenient to order it ahead of time, one less thing to remember to do once on board.

17 hours ago, neverbeenhere said:

preorder liquor for your room, around $18 for 375ml (12oz) good for two to eight drinks.

Is there any difference between pre-ordering it and getting it once on board?  Or is it not available unless you pre-order.  

And I like your "two to eight drinks" description.   

Adventurous indeed!   Public transport in Los Angeles doesn't sound like something I'd be willing to tackle after a long flight, and with luggage.  

Today's the big day, Bon Voyage!  Looking forward to your updates, thanks for sharing with us.  

3 minutes ago, Croptop said:

 

I was going to be adventurous but I ended up caving and grabbing an Uber. 

 

US$37 from LAX to the DoubleTree. the DoubleTree has a free shuttle to the port that I will take tomorrow morning.

Excellent!  Thanks for the info.  What was your "adventurous" idea?

I'm on this trip next month, so I'm looking forward to your updates. 

What did you use for transport from LAX to the port?

Enjoy your holiday!

On 10/2/2018 at 2:13 PM, cccole said:

I just returned from a 10 day visit to the island of Hawaii and spent 7 days in Hilo.

 

Don't forget to get flowers at the farmer's market for your room. So, there are so many things to do in the Hilo area and I hope you have a good trip. Cherie

Cherie:

Thank you so much for your detailed and informative post.  I'm headed to Hawaii next month and I appreciate all of your ideas!

Dang, I haven't been a size 8 (never mind a size 6!) since probably 7th grade! But I still love following this thread and seeing all the beautiful clothes. The wonderful ladies on this Cruise Critic thread are always positive and uplifting, and it really is a joy to read. Thank you all for sharing your information, experiences and of course, clothing.

I have joined several roll calls "late in the game", but I did take the time to read the entire thread, and then introduced myself, and became an active participant.... on my cruise this past January, I didn't book it until about two weeks prior to departure. 🙂

It's certainly a disadvantage for cruisers who book a late deal, but surely if a person joins a roll call, the onus would be upon that person to get themselves involved - whether you book two years or two months in advance.

 

I wouldn't join a roll call just to be a wallflower - I would actively try and get involved with those who are already part of it. If I didn't want to get involved, I wouldn't join it.

 

It's a shame the popularity of these events are diminishing because I have met some amazing cruisers across all age ranges.

 

 

 

 

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100% agree.

On all of my previous cruises, the roll calls have been very active. I join and jump in, often late because I book last minute. I have never been anything but warmly welcomed. There have always been cabin crawls, trivia teams, private excursions, etc. that have been organized with overwhelming success. The sharing of ideas and suggestions have been invaluable. To me, this is the whole point of Cruise Critic. :)

Thanks for all of the detailed information and for taking the time and effort to submit pictures and reviews. I really appreciate that you shared the links for these, as well as for Mitsugirly's (WOW).

After seeing all of these pictures, I can't wait to go!

Thank you for sharing your experiences.

I contacted Gina at Calabaza, and naturally she is booked, but she did put me on her wait list in the event of a cancellation. She did offer a few other companies to try.

I will look into St. Lucia. Maybe I will consider two snorkel excursions! pghsteelerfan, which tour company did you use?

And since I'm going on a Disney cruise, the roll call here is nearly non-existent. It seems they tend to use other sites and social media.

A couple of people have told me I can just walk off the ship and find a boat that hasn't filled yet and join that tour. I don't know if I'm that adventurous :o

Thank you for sharing your knowledge, I really appreciate the information.

It appears my best choices are to either jump overboard and swim to Bonnaire, or enjoy a day on the Calabaza in Barbados :D

I know it's not on your list, but I've never seen better snorkeling than at Bonaire.

I'll ask the Captain if he'd consider taking a detour :D I've also heard great things about Bonaire. Perhaps on a future cruise.

Next month I'm headed for a first time trip to the Southern Caribbean with stops in Barbados, St. Lucia, Martinique, St. John's, Antigua, and St. Kitts/Nevis. I want to choose one port to go snorkeling. I've read the individual port of call threads, but I'd love to hear from those who have had experience on these islands and can offer their suggestion for the top choice.

What a great thread! Brilliant idea. I'm always so amazed by how clever other people are.

Hi Steve:

A couple years ago, my cruise ended in Yokohama, and my flight out of Narita was several hours later. Since the airport is a considerable distance from the cruise port, a taxi was rather expensive. Instead, I arranged a private tour with a local company and joined together with about 12 others from the ship. The bus picked us up from the port, stored our luggage underneath the bus, and took us on a great tour of Yokohama before taking us to the airport. It was actually less expensive than a taxi, and it gave us something interesting to do instead of waiting at the airport for hours.

I did a Panama Canal cruise a couple years ago. I don't know if you are interested in doing your own shore excursions or prefer to use the ship sponsored. Personally, I always have done private tours.

In our Cabo stop, we didn't make any plans since it was easy to just get off the ship and walk into the town and just wander around. So I can't be of any help in this port.

In Cartagena, we had arranged a private tour with others on our cruise through the Roll Call feature here on Cruise Critic. I think we had maybe 10 or so people. We toured all the attractions, church, fort, etc. and our guide was amazingly well versed in the history of the city. We had a great time in Cartagena.

I don't know your other ports of call, but on ours we also stopped in Costa Rica. We did a private group tour there which included a crocodile boat trip, seeing and feeding the monkeys, lunch, and a walk through some beautiful lush gardens. It also was fantastic.

Good luck with your planning. You'll have a wonderful cruise.

I've been on the Infinity to Alaska. We are your age, and we also took the parents with us, and we also were hosting. I've also been on ONE cruise with NCL (although it wasn't on the Pearl). I agree with everything the other posters have said. It completely depends on your expectations and interests.

Alaska on a 7 day round trip (if that is your plan) is pretty busy, therefore the activities on board are not as big of a factor. The scenery is compelling and many people spend their on board time simply looking outside and watching for whales. The Infinity is older and not as pretty as some others. By comparison within the Celebrity line, the Solstice is beautiful.

However, in my experience the real difference is the food and the service, both of which have always been excellent on Celebrity. I've never been compelled to eat in one of the fee-extra dining venues on Celebrity, because the included offerings were so great. On NCL, the only time I enjoyed a meal was when went to the extra charge restaurants. If given the choice, I would choose Celebrity any day of the week. Another line may offer more on board activities which likely would be more important on a cruise with lots of sea days. But based on your particular situation, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend the Infinity or, as Suite Traveler said, the Solstice.

If you do choose the Celebrity cruise, the naturalist on board our cruise was very worthwhile. I think we attended every one of his presentations.

One other consideration may be the size of the ship. Depending on your itinerary, I remember hearing that some of the larger ships could not maneuver into the smaller fjords and therefore couldn't get as close to the glaciers. No idea if this is still the case, but at the time we went, that is why we chose the Infinity, it was smaller.

I hope you have a great time with your family!

First cruise in Sept. So, I signed up for one of the Facebook pages for our particular cruise. I just don't get it. It seems like people are going to spend more time worrying about how to decorate their doors, what gifts to give to random strangers, and taking a group photo with those same strangers than they are spending time with their own families or travelmates. I am not a curmudgeon but it seems sort of odd to me. Are people always this absorbed by mixology classes, ornament exchanges, etc. If we don't participate, we will still be OK, right? I want to make memories with my own family and if we meet some folks along the way then great. Any thoughts on this?

My upcoming cruise is also my first on DCL and I am seeing the same thing on our FB group. Although I will not be participating in any of the exchanges, etc., it does seem like this is very popular with those who are partial to Disney.

On ALL of my previous cruises, I have never been part of a FB group, but have always joined the Cruise Critic Roll Call message boards. For me, Cruise Critic has been an absolutely invaluable source if information, suggestions, reviews, experiences that others have been willing to share. The biggest benefit to me is joining with others to form private tours. I have never purchased a ship sponsored shore excursion, and have either organized or joined a tour with other Cruise Critic members. My experiences in this regard have been 100% positive.

One of the great things about cruising is you can be as social or isolated as you wish. Some prefer to spend all of their time sitting on their own balcony with a book, others never sit still for a minute. Over the years, I've met some of the nicest and most interesting people on board a cruise ship. Much to my surprise, this enriches my cruise experience immeasurably.

Wishing you and your family an amazing cruise together!

Thinking about booking the Epic for a December next year. Never cruised on Norwegian before. Can someone answer a few questions ?How good does the free drink package work? Is there a certain number of drinks you can have during the whole cruise?

I heard you have to Make reservations to see the shows. Is there always room during a certain show, or are you disappointed many times?and do they really charge $100 to see Cirque?..

How IS THE food in the dining room?

One last question..,do they serve smoked salmon (LOX) at breakfast in the dining room and buffet?

Thanks for any and all informations. I'm during myself crazy, whether we should stick to Carnival or RCCL again....

I was on the Epic a couple of years ago, and can give you my OPINIONS to a couple of your questions. Obviously, everyone has different experiences, but I'll share mine.

Having only cruised on Celebrity and Princess before, NCL was very different. You do have to make reservations to the shows, but it was no problem getting the times/days we wanted. There was a significant charge to see Cirque, and reviews I had read prior led me to decide it was not worth it. I did not find out for myself.

The food in the dining room, although passable, was just that. I can honestly say that every single meal in the dining room was a disappointment, and we ended up eating anywhere else, if possible. Since they have the "anytime" dining, you don't have regular table mates nor waitstaff. Epic failure for me.

I cannot speak to the drinks package, nor the lox availability.

Overall, NCL Epic was a lovely ship. The customer service, food, boarding experience, communication, etc. were far below Celebrity. However, it is worth noting the price point for NCL was also much lower. I am sure there are those who love NCL, but after my first cruise with them, I am not one of them. :)

I'm so envious of you! I am in Eastern Washington State with a thousand feet of snow and currently freezing rain falling. Roads/schools/business closed. My cruise isn't until April, yet I still am worried we will still be snowed in by then :D

I agree that travel insurance is a pretty small price to pay for that peace of mind. There are a million things that can preclude a vacation from happening, and trip insurance helps cover some of them at least. I've never had to use it, but it is reassuring to know it's there.

Best wishes for your cruise. Enjoy!

I'm very new to the Disney boards and have been reading lots of postings. You've been very informative and helpful. Thank you for your assistance in particular in responding to my questions.

One more vote for loving a trans cruise. After doing several cruises, I've realized that a trans is by far my favorite. Lots of relaxing and time to see and do everything on the ship, without ever feeling hurried or rushed as you tend to be on port intensive cruises.

As another posted mentioned, the Roll Calls for a trans cruise are generally very active, and many on board activities are organized within the group. You can be as involved or as isolated as you wish. If you choose to be social, you will likely meet some amazing people on the ship!

Best wishes to you going forward.

After 30 replies of the same answer, I thought the thread needed a breather. I know it goes forum protocol to hi-jack a thread, but the discussion can continue now.

 

So, ethical or not?

 

Burt

The best response by far :p

The posts actually started to improve from this point forward. Well crafted indeed.

Four legs good, two legs bad.

The far more accurate source is the port schedule for the port you wish to know about. Simply Google search "XXXX port schedule".

Thank you!