PCLMassachusetts

So you would, for a family of 5 in a 2BR Villa, budget $350 for butler and $175 for concierge as a starting point for a 7 day cruise? $525 in addition to the $420 DSC plus extra tips to the steward and kids club personnel, plus auto 15% for drinks all seems a little much... I know that tipping is personal and there really is no wrong answer except skipping out all together, but that guideline seems to be pretty excessive IMO.

 

 

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Agreed. Family of 5, two adults and three kids. No way does the butler earn a $350 tip. Our Butler was great but in reality all he did was bring snacks each day and a movie to our room each night. I felt that a $100 tip for the Butler and $50 for the Concierge was fine.

Being from the MA/RI area we have often eaten in the North End as well as Providence. I'm guessing some of the best available Italian restaurants from anywhere in country are located in these two areas.

We ate in La Cucina twice on our last Dawn cruise. The atmosphere was good, service outstanding and food was much better than we anticipated. No comparison to the North End or Providence, but still good. I am willing to bet that if you try it you will agree.

They were not on the Dawn when we were so I have never experienced them. For those of you who either love or hate them and would like to plan your cruises around them, here is their schedule http://www.joseandpatti.net/schedules/ .

Personally, there are many more important things for me to consider when picking a cruise.

So if you are a citizen of the US, can you still do this cruise with just ID and birth certificate (since it's closed loop) or do you need to have the U.S. passport (for stopping in Canada)? :confused:

Just ID and BC.

On our last cruise I believe that the specialty restaurant menus were in our suite.

There is no room service charge if you are in a suite because you are not using room service, you are using your Butler to deliver the meal. The charge from the specialty still applies if you do not have the UDP, or in this case the dinning credit.

Good info, thanks.

Just a side note. I'm not sure if you have had the NCL pizza in the past but it's nothing to write home about.

I am right in line with the rest of the posters here.

1) Having been in a suite recently and seeing how busy the Butlers are I would never think of asking one to un pack for me.

2) I would rather do it my self. It takes no more than 2o minutes and then I know where everything is.

3) I would never leave my mother to unpack while I went to the MDR.

However, it is listed as a service so feel free to ask and let us know how you make out.

That's correct as to the new cruise, but what about the $100 OBC that you get for the cruise on which you purchase the FCC? [Even so, I still think it would be a big hassle at the point in time the OP is talking about (if it's even do-able at all).]

I would think that the better idea would be to buy it, get the OBC and save it for another cruise. You have 4 years to use them.

Thanks for the points, just thought if I could save a few $$ then it'd be all good. Its a good price for this cruise as it's over Easter school holidays and is 10 nights.

 

Jo

You're really not saving anything on the new cruise by doing it the way you asked. The FCC takes the place of the required deposit but does not negate the amount of the deposit. The amount that you don't pay at deposit time is simply added to the final payment price. In the end you still pay the same amount for the new cruise.

Usually future cruise deposits are booked to a credit card not your room. This is that if they expire there is a CC to credit back to.

No idea where this info comes from but it is not true. They are "charged" to your room account which may or may not be linked to a credit card. If they expire there is no refund given. You use them or lose them.

Thanks for the review and good job not letting the little things ruin your vacation as too many on here appear to do.

Love hearing of all the deals and the last minute booking - going to give it a shot - looking for the Boston - to Bermuda cruise.. fingers crossed -

 

keep the postings coming!!!

Currently the only one from Boston available in May is the May 29th sailing. The only cabins available are suites at $1899 pp. I think the Boston ones sell out more frequently than the NY ones.

So instead of trying to get my son out of my parents room and into ours at midnight, it was easier to pack us up like sardines in one room. Issue was, the one bathroom. But I had read there was a nice mens room right around the corner. (This is not the case. The mens room on the 13th floor is rarely cleaned and has no view? that I thought I had read).

Can't talk about the cleanliness because I only used it once but the mens room with the view, I believe, is on the 12th floor near the pool. The windows are above the urinals.

Thanks for the review. We were just on the Dawn in Dec/Jan out of New Orleans and will be doing the Boston to Bermuda cruise in July 2016. 12th floor suite both times.

The NCL site shows the Dawn doing Bermuda cruises until October 30, 2015. I thought that the Bermuda cruises usually ended from Boston in September. Either the wrong info was entered by NCL or they are extending their Bermuda season and eliminating the Canada cruises from Boston.

We were just in 12520 this past New years. Loved the room and we heard no noise from above. This was the most forward suite with a balcony and the balcony had a corner to it, making it slightly longer than a normal balcony. Loved the room and would book it again.

Safe Size - Estimated to be about 6 inches wide by about 3 inches tall and about 16 inches deep.

Buffet - Can't help you because we don't use it. Once because the kids wanted to try it but it was at the normal lunch time. Much prefer the MDR or Specialty Rest.

The easiest way to get to the terminal from the airport in NOLA is to take a cab. It is a flat fee, I don't recall how much but it is reasonable. If I remember correctly the cabs are located just outside of the baggage claim area, or relatively near by.

Once you get to the pier and drop off your luggage there is a trolley stop to get into the city. We found the city a very walk-able city.

At todays rate, spending $5,071 dollars will get you those OBC's.

Buying the stock as an investment is one thing. Buying it to just get the OBC is pointless. As FireEater has shown, you would need to take an awful lot of cruises to make back your 5g in OBC. Take the 5g and book another cruise!

we did a week in the Keys then Western Caribbean then Dawns repo back home so I only had to drive one way one time for 3 vacations . ;)

Now that is a great vacation.

There's no divider, only a curtain. Bring ear plugs lol

Not sure which SJ you were in but mine had what I would consider a divider not a curtain. This link http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1536165 provides some pictures (not mine). You can see the divider, that rolls on a track, to the left of the couch. However you are correct that that the OP should bring ear plugs as it does not completely section off the room and offers no noise blocking properties.

NO! Would you surprise someone who is afraid of heights by dragging him to the top of the Empire State Building?

French Press in the MDR at breakfast? I only thought that was for the suite passengers at Cagney's. I never thought to ask for it in the MDR.

It was in the MDR on the Gem in 2012. In fact it was the waiter who asked me if I wanted the french press. This past cruise on the Dawn we were in a suite so I can't comment on the MDR.

French press coffee is available in the MDR at breakfast. Not sure about the other times. We got it every morning on our Gem cruise and found it to be somewhat better than the normal excuse for coffee that they served. I really don't understand why NCL has done nothing to improve their coffee.

We are still trying to figure out this cruise thing. I see on the menu that wings come 6 at a time. Can I order 3 orders at once if I wanted to?

yes

Eh, it's not my favorite, but I'm also not a fan of on the bone wings, which is their specialty and lots of folks like them. It's basic pub fair, chicken fingers, burger, wings. It's open 24/7 so it's good for take out when you want something more than the room service menu. I've grabbed chicken fingers and fries for a late night snack before, and I bet if I ever asked, I could get some buffalo sauce on the side to see what all the fuss is about! I'll have to remember that when I'm on the Dawn later this year!

I have tried the wings on both the Gem and the Dawn. I have no clue what the fuss is about because I found them to be terrible. The sauce is ketchup based and ketchup is no where to be found in "buffalo sauce". Take a squirt of ketchup, throw in a squirt of tobasco and that is NCL's version of buffalo. Nasty!