irie0518

If you booked a cruise for 2 and prepaid the gratuities but you end up going solo do they refund the gratuities for the person that did not sail?

Thanks.

I am looking at booking a cruise for Jan. 2025.  My friend might come but may also not be able to.  Just wondering if it is better to book solo and then add her later or book for 2 and drop her later if she isn't able to make it?  Thanks.

7 hours ago, d-train said:

Love the thermal suite on Horizon!

Which ever way you choose, you will enjoy the spa!

Is there a hydro therapy pool on the Horizon?

7 hours ago, Bob NC said:

We were offered an upgrade to a spa cabin on the Horizon that cost less than 2 of us purchasing the pass.

That's what I was trying to figure out.  The cruise we are looking at the inside spa cabin is about $110/person more that the regular inside cabin.  So it looks like that is the better way to go.  Was your upgrade after you originally booked?

Was wondering if anyone knows how much a thermal suite pass in on the Horizon for an 8 day cruise?  Just wondering if it is better to just book the spa cabin or wait and just purchase the pass once on board. TIA

Just wondering if we can just show up at the caves and get a tour or is this something that needs to be arranged in advance?  TIA.

2 minutes ago, Russiamomm said:

Hi.  Upgrade offers are always X2.  Even if you’re solo in a cabin you would pay twice your bid if you win.

Thanks!

Hey there first time NCL cruiser here.  I received an email with a offer to upgrade my cabin.  I am traveling with a friend had her sister.  I will be solo in my cabin.  The offer say $pp.  If I am solo in my cabin would I just have to pay for one or would this require paying for 2.  TIA.

Joanne.

We are on the transatlantic sailing from Lisbon to NYC in November.  We don't leave Lisbon until later in the evening.  We are wondering if we can drop our luggage with out checking in until later.  Or can we complete the whole check in process and still leave the ship and come back on closer to sailing?  TIA.

Have anyone done a night snorkel in Bermuda?  We will be overnighting there in November and would love to go on my first night snorkel excursion.  Any recommendations on tour companies is appreciated.  Thanks.

10 minutes ago, EngIceDave said:

You the lady who got 5 days, mentioned it on the Facebook group?

 

Still wonder how "De-Australia" the ship is now. What kinds of sodas, beer and so on...

No I'm not on facebook so that wasn't me.  When we got back on in Moorea I had a sore throat so I took a test and it came up positive right away.  I felt pretty crappy for 2 days and then turned the corner to feeling better.  The last 3 days in quarantine were the worst.  I was in an inside room and was going stir crazy.  I watched Food network until it started repeating every day and then would just put the Forward camera on and just watch the outside that way. Luckily if it had to happen it did at the best possible time.  I got released from quarantine on the morning of Honolulu(the day we were supposed to be there).  And I didn't have to do the customs thing.  Guest services just came and got my passport and did it for me.  They also gave me free wifi for the rest of the cruise so that kept me occupied a bit.  I guess you didn't watch too many of the live acts but we really enjoyed the rock band that played in the ocean plaza most nights.  And the two solo acoustic guys were pretty good too.  The girl at the piano bar was entertaining, her voice sounded overworked a few of the times we watched her.  There was also a more extensive room service menu.  There was a QR code on the wall by the phone.  Some of the things I got from there were acutally pretty good.

On 4/24/2023 at 2:53 AM, EngIceDave said:

It's now totally official, I have become "old"

 

The music in the MDR is all "my music" with Led Zeppellin, Tom Petty, The Ramones, Madonna, Rick James, Devo and B-52's....

 

We found a banana....well, half a banana

 

 

You just had to get covid.  You could order all the banana's you wanted and they were also bringing me 2-3 of those big $4 bottles of water 🙂 

Myself and my friend Helen are also on this cruise with you too.  We are getting very excited.  We are going RDU to SFO on Tuesday over nighting there to break up the flight.  Wednesday we fly SFO to SYD.  Spending 3 nights in Sydney and then taking the train to Brisbane on the 10th and have 3 nights pre cruise in Brisbane.  Glad we only have to fly one way, that long flight is the only thing I am not looking forward to.  Safe travels maybe see you on board!

19 minutes ago, kaykayozzie said:

I was told that Muster is done electronically ? Is that true? Kay

On my Hawaiian cruise last year just after I boarded they send you to your muster station and basically show you how to put on your life jacket and then they swipe your card and you're done.  So much better than the old way.  Was very quick, they may have waited for a handful of people I don't remember exactly but it was quick and painless.

Safe travels everyone!!  We leave for Sydney on Tuesday with a one night stop in SFO first to break up the flight a bit from the east coast. 

One other question.  The self administered RAT test do we just do a test and take a picture? Does anyone need to witness it?

Does anyone know if the casino will be dealing in US or AUD?  I saw that in lieu of the slot tournament that you get $25 AUD.  That got me thinking if all of the casino will be in AUD.  TIA.

I just spoke with someone at Carnival and they confirmed we will be in Seattle on May 4th at 0700. He couldn't give an explanation why that date isn't available to choose on the returning flights.  I guess I'll just put in the 5th as well.

6 hours ago, mainecruisefan said:

Just checked in. Does anyone else notice that it has us getting to Seattle on May 5 instead of May 4. I double checked the itinerary on Carnival's own site and it says May 4. I just put the correct flight info for May 5 and will sort it out on board later if it is an issue. I really just plan to enjoy the cruise and the islands as we get there.... just a couple weeks before we cruise!

Yes was just checking in too and noticed that as well.  We have flights booked for May 4th and am expected back to work on the 5th.  I hope we can get some clarification on this in case we need to change flights etc.

On 2/22/2023 at 2:04 PM, baloothecat said:

Welcome Lynda! If you don’t have your accommodations booked I’d do that asap. You are going to be in Brisbane during Easter and Australian equivalent of spring break holidays. we booked the 4 day cruise before so we could snorkel the Great Barrier Reef, bucket list item for us. For Noumea we booked Signal Island water taxi turtle tour for cruisers on Viator. I also  read  Amedee Island was good, the ship offers an excursion. Suva- a number of us have booked a snorkel excursion thru untouched Fiji- they have a private group set up for our cruise on Fb Carnival Luminosa April 2023 Fiji Excusions. I also posted their email here in an earlier post. Not sure if they have any snorkel spots left but had other options ie waterfall/village excursion. No payment in advance, they will collect payment in USD on day of.
 

Whatever you do don’t miss snorkeling in Moorea! I’d choose Moorea over Papeete for snorkel any day.  We have snorkeled in Hawaii,Mexico,Caribbean, and French Polynesia has been the best so far.  I posted some private excursion operators in an earlier post. There’s another operator who does small group lagoon tours max. 12 people who may be able to pick up at tender dock. It’s called Corallina Tours, great reviews on TripAdvisor and CC, the owners name is Maui. His morning tour is at 8:30am. Website: 

https://www.corallinatours.com/all-tours/snorkeling-lagoon-tour/

@irie0518 this might be an option for you guys as well if you didn’t book private.  You would need to contact him to see if he’ll pickup from tender dock before booking.   His email is on his website.

Their option at the end of the tour to stay on the island/motu and have lunch and hang out is a great option. We will be having lunch there on our private excursion. You need reservations and reserve the ride back to the mainland,. Recommend to prearrange transport from their drop off on Moorea to the tender dock.taxis are not plentiful on Moorea. Maui might be able to help or give options.This is the website for Coco Beach restaurant to check it out:

https://www.cocobeachmoorea.com/
In high season it books up way in advance. hope this helps!

Stephanie

 

Thanks Stephanie.  We too are booked on the Fiji snorkel tour.  Still looking for our tour operator for Moorea and still looking for what we are going to do in Papeete.  Pre cruise we are spending 3 night in Sydney and then taking the train to Brisbane and spending 3 nights in Brisbane before we set sail.  Do you think we need to pre book thinks in Sydney and Brisbane or do you think we can just book things while we are there?  We are just not sure how bad the jet lag is going to be and getting adjusted to the local time.  

First time to the French Polynesian islands.  Looking for ideas for Papeete. We will be in Moorea the next day and will be snorkeling there. Would love to hear what others have done in Papeete. TIA. 

18 hours ago, baloothecat said:

@irie0518 Joanne I messaged untouched Fiji on messenger and this is the email they provided: untouchedinvestment@yahoo.com

 

This is the info from the post::

“Hi we have snorkelling trips in Suva Fiji. Return transfers from the port to pacific harbour and than return boat transfers from pacific harbour to the lagoon. 100USD inclusive of all return transfers , boat transfers, light lunch and a bottle of water

We dont take big groups we only take small groups i.e 12 pax max passengers that we are taking. So book in now to save your seat .depart at 8.30am , will be back at the port by 3pm.’ Photo below also.

From what I can see they’re on the 2nd group of 12. No $ upfront, payment in cash USD on day of tour. Looks like they’re also offering cultural tours if you’d rather do that. 

Honolulu-The traffic 4-6pm is supposed to be a gridlock and we are also there on a Friday which adds to it. You might want to stop at Leonard’s Bakery for  their famous Malasada before or after Diamond Head-. 

Noumea-,yes signal island is probably very much like Klein Bonaire.

Stephanie

Thanks so much Stephanie.  I have reached out to them.

12 hours ago, ptcflyer said:

For those with US Frequent Flyer Points..... Here is my strategy to get from ATL to Brisbane.   Booked Southwest Airlines with points and companion pass.....    18,000 points for two of us to Hawaii.     And then I booked Jetstar for 2 tickets Plus Bags for about $1,000.      All in for 9000 Southwest points and $500 per person.    I decided to stay in HNL for an overnight to break up the trip.   Planning on spending a few days in 'Brisbane' before boarding.    Not happy about the "Covid" restrictions.   Still trying to figure out "insurance".  

 

John Heald confirmed the insurance offered from Carnival was sufficient to cover the port requirements.  There's a screen shot of it a page or two back on this thread.

On 2/12/2023 at 10:43 PM, baloothecat said:

@irie0518  The other two recommended operators we were looking at in Moorea is 1) Moorea Moana Tours “Moorea Memories Adventure Tour” 3hr tour including photos. 
when I enquired Pierrick replied that they could pickup from tender dock no problem and even suggested a start time at 0830. 2) Moorea Ocean Adventures- have private tours for 2 or more. Biologist onboard and GoPro video included. Replied they would pickup from Tender dock. You can look for others to share the tour to bring the price down.

If interested, we booked other snorkel centric activities for other ports:

Noumea- We booked  water taxi signal island turtle tour for cruisers on Viator, basically a water taxi to a protected island with no facilities for a few hours.

Suva/- We booked a snorkel tour to beqa lagoon on another part of the island thru untouched fiji. they have tours set up for our cruise on fb. They also have others if you don’t want to snorkel. 
Still working on Honolulu. Looking at possibly renting a car and doing our own circle tour or Kaneohe sandbar tour.

hope this helps

Stephanie

 

Thanks so much Stephanie for all the great information.  I will be checking them all out.  We are renting a car in Honolulu too.  We figured with the long port day there that we could see so much more on our own.  I was there last year on a cruise and didn't pre book anything and found I wondered around for so long trying to figure out what to do and ended up not making the most of my time there.  We are going to go straight from the port to Diamond Head and do the hike before it gets too hot and then probably heading up to the North Shore.  Heard snorkeling was good at Sharks Cove.  Then we will probably go to the Waimea Falls.  Do you buy chance know the tour operator in Fiji going to the Bega Lagoon?  Sorry I am not on Facebook.  I had also looked at the water taxi to Signal Island.  I did something similar in Bonaire last year and loved it.  I just need to see if my travel friend is up for that much snorkeling:)  I would at every port if it was up to me.  This is her first really big trip so I want to make sure we are doing things that interest her as well.  We are so excited about this trip!!  Still lots of planning to do.

Joanne.

On 2/10/2023 at 11:59 AM, baloothecat said:

Thanks Fredette! We were in French Polynesia in 2021 on Windstar.  I do have a recommendation for a local operator in Papeete for snorkeling if you are Interested  but am leaning towards a donut boat rental instead. Don’t miss the snorkeling in Moorea- the lagoon snorkeling is fantastic. We booked an all day private snorkel with lunch stop at Coco Beach  restaurant on motu  tiahura in Moorea.

We are looking to snorkel in Moorea as well.  Just trying to research people to book with.  If you have anything you would be willing to share I would appreciate.  First time for me going to the South Pacific and we just booked this cruise this past week so need to get on with the planning.  TIA.