LizG12

I just had this conversation with someone (not on a cruise, but cruise related)

me - I'm going alone on a cruise in Dec

J - that's nice, going with your family?

me - no, I'm going alone

J - but with a tour, right?

me - no, just me

J - you're going to be alone on the ship??

me - well, me and 4000 other people

J - uh, :eek: :confused:

I think it's also partly related to the higher humidity on vacation than at home. Whevener I go anywhere that's got more humidity than home, I get swollen ankles/wrists/etc (cruise or not). It clears up a few days after I get home.

Eating at the buffet, even if I left stuff on the table, about half the time they would clear the table and someone else would be there when I got back.

um, not to be difficult but you know that even if you were not traveling solo, the staff would've cleared the table anyway? It much less of an issue if you use the buffet when it's not so busy.

Signed up early in the day for a table at an ala carte. The maitre'd wouldn't seat me when I showed up.

did he say WHY?

Wow, I had no idea things were so close together! Can't wait to find our way around on Saturday!! Thanks to all of you for your info and help :)

bring an umbrella, they're predicting scattered storms.

By the way, most banks close early on Saturday (noon, 1pm) and not every bank does foreign to US money exchanges, so if you need to change dollars, either get there early, or make sure your bank cards works in the US. (When we went to Canada, using the machines to get Canadian dollars had lower fees than changing US$ to Canadian inside the bank. I don't know if it's the same going the other way.)

we felt secure the ship would wait for us.

I asked NCL about that specifically, she said they don't wait for the buses (they don't wait for flights either) and if it's late, it's the passenger's responsibility to catch up with the ship at the next port.

which has me wondering if I should book a (refundable/cancellable) pre-cruise hotel and/or a NY to Canaveral flight just in case......

(my cruise is late Dec, I'm not usually that nervous about missing a cruise, but 'US Northeast' and 'December weather' isn't always a good travel combination)

Boston is a walking city - if you take the train to Copley Square or the Prudential (basically opposite sides of the same "square") you can walk between the two, then walk a couple of blocks to Newbury St. Walk down (and shop :) ) Newbury St. You'll end at the Boston Gardens. Walk through there, see the swan boats (maybe ride the boats), walk through Boston Common. Go across Tremont and down one of the small streets to Downtown Crossing. Head left to Government Center, Faneuil Hall, Quincy Market. Then walk across to the North End, and take the train back to the hotel.

if you don't want to walk that much (it's going to be hot this weekend!), you can pick up trains in Copley, the end of Newbury St, Park St, Downtown Crossing, Government Center... You're probably not going to be more than a couple of blocks from a train station at any time.

if you're not against taking public transportation, take the train from the hotel (if I looked up the right hotel, you're walking distance to the train - www.mbta.com ) to Park St - you'll be walking distance from Downtown Crossing (shopping), the State House (not sure if/when they have tours), the Boston Common & Boston Gardens (not the same place where the hockey & basketball play), Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market, City Hall (not sure about tours). Quincy Market has restaurants, and across the street (more or less) is the North End which is the Italian district.

Copley Square (also easily accessible on the train, but not a short walk from Park St) has the John Hancock tower (the tall glass building if you've seen pictures of the Boston skyline) and the Prudential (the other tall building). The Prudential has a shopping center, and I think they've re-opened the viewing station near the top of the building.

Massachusetts. The motorcoach route is pretty convenient.

Does anyone have any experience with NCL Motorcoach Program - http://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/...e-pier#newyork - to get to the NY pier? (I hope it's ok to post this on two boards, I asked in the East coast departures board, but since it's a NCL program, figured I'd ask here too)

One way that I was treated differently was that when I shared a meal with strangers (it happened a few times), the waiter would always tell us what kinds of bread were in the bread basket. When I ate alone, he would just slap the bread basket down on the table and walk away. I asked another solo passenger if he experienced the same treatment, and he agreed that the waiter always told them about the break when he ate with someone, but when he was alone, it was "slap it down and walk away."

 

I would have felt funny reporting to guest services that my waiter was guilty of "slap it down and walk away." But when I ate by myself, I brought a book to the table, and after making my selection, I would put the closed menu down on the table, which I thought was a signal that I had decided what I wanted to order, and then read. And sometimes I would get lost in my book, and I would realize that 20 minutes had gone by. And I would ask someone to get my waiter/waitress. Invariably, the waiter/waitress said, "I didn't know you came in here to eat! I thought you came in here to read!"

 

I have a feeling that when couples or groups decided on what they wanted to order, put their closed menus down on the table, and started talking to each other, they were never ignored by their waiters/waitresses saying "I don't know you came in here to eat! I thought you came in here to talk to each other!"

 

So much for treating all passengers the same. And it had nothing to do with how formal the waiters/waitresses were.

 

There were also times that a busboy took my order for something and never brought it to me, and I had to send someone to look for him, and he told me that he COMPLETELY forgot about it. When I asked if he had forgotten everyone else's orders, too, or just mine, he assured me that he remembered everyone else's orders. Mine was the only one forgotten.

if that kind of service happened to me in a 'real' restaurant, I'd be complaining to the manager (and I have, come to think of it). On the cruise, I'll be talking to the maitre d' / head waiter about it. And then guest services.

I'm one of them. I went on the Norwegian Dawn in November of 2006 and was treated abominably in the dining rooms. I didn't know why, because the service charge was added automatically, so they couldn't have been afraid that I would stiff them.

I called NCL and asked about single diners being treated differently than groups in the MDR. She told me that single diners should NOT be treated any differently and there's a guest services desk onboard to report things like that. The dining staff - in all the restaurants - should be doing their best to make it as a good an experience for all the passengers, no matter how many people are at the table.

OTOH, she did mention (and I have no idea if this applies to what you experienced or not) that since the mostly-non-American waiters tend to be more reserved/formal than American waiters, some people take that to be rudeness and complain about that too.

I thought I saw on a restaurant list recenlty that the Java Cafe was complementary on the Dawn? Or is it a mix of complementary and for-sale?