Oakman58

Jeez, all I heard on my 16 day cruise with Princess was ballroom and easy listening dance music. I thought I was going to die.

I knew there were feral chickens on the islands in Hawaii, but I wasn't prepared for how beautifully colored they were.

Thank you for sharing your experience with the medical clinic, and I'm so glad your mom is still around for you to enjoy. We always buy trip insurance and now my wife and I have 3 cruises and 1 land trip in the upcoming year, so we purchased annual travel insurance for the first time. I was surprised how affordable it was considering we are both in our 70's.

A great offer but unfortunately it doesn't apply to 2025 cruises. Oh well.

You can pull the bed out from under the headboard so that you have a few more inches in length. Even so I'm sure your feet will overhang.

Cabin 12238 will have the bed by the balcony according to the deck plans.

I would take the cruise and if you experience less than satisfactory service, never cruise with that line again. When I began cruising with NCL 10 years ago I put them at the top of the list for being a great cruise line. Since Covid, I now put them at the bottom of the list.

Thank you for the trip report and pictures, I enjoyed reading it. I'm not one to reward bad service so if I had your experience I wouldn't spend money with NCL again. This past January I was on Princess for the first time and experienced a less than satisfactory cruise, I won't cruise with them again.

Obviously NCL has put getting back to profitability a much higher priority than providing excellent passenger experience. Even so, brand loyalty will keep most coming back for more bad service.

LOL, somebody didn't update their computer/clock to 2023.

The in cabin coffee maker was one of the things that kept me coming back to NCL. Unfortunately NCL made enough cost cutting changes the coffee maker alone wasn't enough to keep me coming back. At this point it doesn't matter which cruise line I choose, with the exception of Princess. Princess was a one and done for me.

Most hotels and on the NCL K-cups are not used. Instead it's an all-in-one filter and coffee pod and unless you have a similar single cup coffee maker at home the pods would be pretty much useless. I'm a very early riser and I don't want to wake my wife with room service or going in and out of the cabin door to get coffee from the buffet. I think this is all a moot point since I doubt Carnival will ever put coffee makers in the cabins.

I didn't say it was allowed, just that I bring it. I don't think anyone recognizes what it is in my luggage. If it gets confiscated and never returned then I'm only out $35. No big deal. I used it on my last two cruises one with Carnival and one with Princess. BTW, prior to Covid, NCL had a coffee maker in every cabin category of balcony and above. Post Covid you ask your cabin steward for one and you get it.

I'm not a coffee snob but I have to have a cup of coffee first thing in the morning to wake up the internal organs. I bring a collapsible water kettle that boils water and then make instant coffee.

If NCL doesn't want to have room stewards provide ice, then they need to install ice machines on every passenger deck so we don't have to run all over the ship to get ice. Even the cheapest hotels provide an ice bucket in the room and an ice machine on that floor. Since my cruise on the Bliss, I've cruised with Carnival and Princess and with the exception of theater entertainment both cruise lines have exceeded NCL in almost all other categories. Keep in mind that I'm a normal cruise passenger not a Haven passenger. BTW, both of those cruise lines still have a steak filet and lobster night in the main dining room without an upcharge. When's the last time NCL offered that in the main dining room? I'm looking forward to my cruise with Holland in June and Royal Caribbean in September to see how they compare to NCL. While all cruise lines have made cutbacks in service, NCL's has been drastic enough that other lines are more enjoyable. That's my opinion of course.

I certainly wouldn't be tipping that room steward.

If this is your first time on an Alaskan cruise then I would rule out Royal Caribbean because they can't go into Glacier Bay National Park. In my opinion Glacier Bay is a must do for the first time to Alaska.

I guess with the steering wheel on the right side the drive on the left side of the road.

The Aft elevators don't go down to deck 5 so you get off at deck 6 and take the escalator at mid-ship down to 5. Or you can just walk to the forward elevators and go down to deck 5.

Volendam hands down because it goes to Glacier Bay.

I'll be following along with your live trip report. I'm doing a similar cruise on the Luminosa only in the opposite direction, Seattle to Sydney.

We had a starboard side cabin on our Hawaiian cruise with Princess. Because the ship was avoiding weather we arrived in Hilo earlier that scheduled and at night. In the morning I stepped out onto our balcony and was surprised to see a snow capped mountain. It was Mauna Kea (13,803 Elev.) in the distance and it was a beautiful and unexpected sight. My picture doesn’t do it justice. With the zoom lens on my camera I was able to see the observatory on top of the mountain.

He announced on our cruise back in September that he was going to take some time off. I guess he felt it was time for a change because he's now working for American Cruise Lines.

Although it’s quite away off, I’m really looking forward to the cruise on the Spirit. I know I will enjoy the cruise because looking at the deck plans I see the Spirit has the Alchemy Bar and Guy’s Burger Joint. The only thing that could make the cruise better would be an energetic Cruise Director and staff. When we were on the Glory the CD was Christian and he was energetic and very funny.

I really enjoyed reading your report, thanks for sharing your trip with us.