QuattroRomeo

Thanks Ron, this is very helpful!

-Pam

Thanks for sharing your experience! Did you break for lunch anywhere? We would like to do a longer tour, so just curious if he suggested anywhere to go.

Glad you had a great time!

Many thanks for the fun review! Sounds like you had a great time in spite of some rough seas.

We enjoyed our Med cruise on the Jade very much-great crew. But the Hawaiian decor could use a makeover..

Thanks for the review, it sounds like you had a great trip!

Did you find that the service in the MDR was good enough so that people made it to the theatre shows without rushing?

In Belize, how smoothly did it go with the tenders- were you able to arrive on time for your tour?

Thank you for your information. We're looking at an excursion for Belize, although it is a snorkelling one, and kind of wondered about what happens if we are late from the whole tender thing. The ShoreExcursioneer T&Cs were rather confusing when it comes to their responsibility vs. the operator's, even though the prices were almost the same. Doesn't seem like there is any more safety going with the middleman here!

If you stopped writing a diary, that means that your cruise was relaxing, warm and fun!..a perfect vacation! Does this mean you are now hooked on cruising??:p

If the OP doesn't respond, you might try asking on another recent review for clarification- in this review, she says they start the transit very early in the a.m.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2293374

If their itinerary reads Panama/Gatun Lake, it's a partial transit through the locks to Gatun Lake. The NCL link makes it clearer maybe:

https://www.ncl.com/cruises/11-day-panama-canal-round-trip-from-miami/ports/panama-canalgatun-lake-panama?cruiseTour=1&destinations=4294934550&cruiseHotel=1&numberOfGuests=4294915774&pageSize=10&cruise=1&sortBy=Featured&state=null&sailmonths=4294915097&currentPage=1&cruiseHotelAir=1&&itineraryCode=PEARL11MIACTGPCGCLNLIORTBBZECMAMIA&selectedPort=PCG

(This is what we have booked for December).

Sagrada Familia is quite unique and beautiful. Link to booking your tour:

http://www.sagradafamilia.org/en/guided-visit/

(If you want photos, our visit to Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is part of our West Med review in my signature line).

Thank you for the review. Is the 'Grand Tour' an NCL tour or private?

This is a ship tour; only ship excursions are possible in this port on a partial transit cruise.

Yes, we took a ship excursion called 'Grand Tour'. It was nice. You are only allowed off the ship in Panama if you have an excursion. We tendered to port. We got picked up by a nice bus. We took a tour of the area on bus first. We then got dropped off at a nice hotel. We then walked thru the hotel to their docks. There we jumped on a boat and sailed around the Gatun Lake. We saw many different birds, toucans and sloths. Then we visited a tribe that lives out on Gatun Lake. Very interesting. Then we went back to dock to board the bus. Once we were back, we boarded the bus to the Panama Canal observation deck at Gatun Locks. There we had an hour to see the Canal process. It was very cool. Then the bus takes you back to Colon to meet the boat. Very nice tour. About 5 hours. Includes water and a sandwich.

Thank you-sounds like you saw quite a bit!

!!Well you must be getting excited as your cruise draws near! Hope you love your city tour! Unless you change! No matter which one you do take, we'll love to hear about it:D

Thanks for the review! Can you describe the Grand Tour in Panama/Gatun Lake a bit? I'm assuming you mean the ship excursion by that name? The description on NCL makes it sound quite varied and interesting!

Thanks! Sounds like a pretty varied day considering we just get a few hours to play with!

Thanks very much! Lots of good information you've provided. Ours will be the only ship in port so may not be too bad for crowds. And as you said, it is such a special area to see snorkeling, that it would be a shame to miss going there when we are so close!

Thank you for the information! Which tour/s did you do from his site? I would like to do the canal and maybe an aerial tram through the forest, plus maybe banana or chocolate plantation; not sure yet! But recommendations certainly help! We have been to central Costa Rica but not the coast. The variety of plants and animals there is just amazing.

We are going to be in Belize for our first time there (terminal is the Belize City dock). I've been researching snorkel tours and, given that the tender requirement will seriously shorten our day, thought we might maximize our time and enjoyment if we did an excursion with a flight to Ambergris Caye on San Pedro Island.

There seem to be a few companies that offer such an excursion, which include a round trip flight, snorkel guide, gear, and boat transportation to Hol Chan and Shark Ray Alley. So far, I've found the following companies: Exotic Eco Adventures, Eco Tours Belize, ShoreExcursioneer, Belize Specialists. I think the latter 2 are brokers.

If you have done this tour, we would appreciate your input!

I know we have to allow time to tender to the terminal and then taxi to the airport.

- Am I missing anything in assuming that this would be a timesaving adventure with a bonus aerial view of the reef, and going to a less crowded caye?

- Any company you'd recommend?

- Will they be flexible about flight times back to the dock, if we want to stay on the island for lunch etc. after snorkelling? (obviously not too late for the tender back).

Thanks for any guidance!

Thanks for sharing your experience! Actually, it looks like you did your homework pretty well-your 'Wrong' list isn't that bad at all!

Welcome to cruising-you have been bitten by the bug!:p

Thanks for the information! I'm going to make sure these stops are on the list for our day in Roatan. It gets harder and harder to find truly local things as ports become more used to tourists!

Yup.

 

The poster advising Delta Dash underscores what this forum is really about. It's like a light from above... a glimmer of hope nested in a dark cruel world of threads about smoking, uncharges, chair hogs, gratuities and room service.

 

Nicely done by that poster, and the OP.

Absolutely right! I can't imagine a more empathetic place than CC, when it comes to potentially missing your ship! Anyone can make a simple mistake; it is so nice that this one could be fixed by reaching out for help!

You're all lucky; whenever I try to join using either my NZ or my Canada address it won't let me as the form on the website doesn't give membership fees for outside the USA!!! :mad:

 

If anyone can get me a form with the fees for NZ and/or Canada I would be grateful. :cool:

 

Please email a scan of it to casofilia at xtra dot co dot nz

 

Thanks

 

Mike

Mike-in Canada, it is called CARP. See http://www.carp.ca

We just renewed for 3 years for $45. here in Canada

I had to fax a copy of my membership card to our travel agent in the US, as NCL apparently asked him for it. But it worked!

We booked a qualified sailing at the end of November, and the promos then were the same as now: select sailings more than 9 months out qualify for the one discount. e.g. balcony went from $1659 to $1587.

Also be sure to specifically mention the additional promo for $100 OBC; I had to tell the travel agent about it!

(This the first time for us to have the stars align and make the sailing that we wanted, actually be a 'select' sailing! so not sure if it was ever different in the past).:p

We have had great times in Belize. We do a private tour "shark/Ray alley. If you are interested I will look up the company. It is a boat tour with snorkeling in two different places. One with small sharks. Lunch on Caye Caulker. Fresh lobster in the summer. Cute little island. They are a great crew and very helpful with snorkeling.

We'd love to know about it if you can remember their name. Did they have their own boat to leave from the port terminal, or did you have to take the water taxi to meet them?

NCL tenders

I've read dozens of threads here about snorkelling in Belize, so thank you to those who took the time to share their experiences! I believe that the private companies, or even brokers, that have their own boats to get you to the sites, seem to be reliable from what you are saying. Of course you first have to get to the port terminal!

With that in mind, can anyone share their experiences about the ship tenders? Will it be challenging to get on an early enough tender in order to arrive on time? For example, if you have a ship excursion I'm sure they will get you on a tender for those, or if you have priority disembakation privileges. But for the rest of us, if we are waiting in line on time (on the ship) for one of the early tenders, will we get on?

Once you were on the private tour, what did you do for safely storing your personal items during the day, at least while in the main boat and then the smaller snorkel boats? (camera, ship card, a bit of money etc). Were there any problems?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Hi Pam!!!!! Happy New Year!

 

Yes, it was a great cruise. Wish you could have joined us!

 

About the Panama excursions: We knew three people who took the little ferry through the canal and loved it, but it was long. They were one of the last excursions back and it took about 12 hours total...they were late returning.

 

The other was the train. I heard one good and one bad review about that. I don't have details about the good one, but the bad one said all she saw were trees. I think that was an exaggeration, but, nevertheless, she was dissatisfied.

 

When you transit the canal the first time, it is really early in the morning. They open the very forward crew deck on 8 for PAX. It's a great view and very close to the action, and it stays open all day for the return transit as well. They also do a narration and provide some history and background through announcements ship-wide and on the TVs. Unless you really want to do the whole canal, staying on the ship is a terrific option. Most of the excursions are really long days. Ray must have done a full transit before? Maybe the new canal will be open when you do it, though.

 

The Pearl has a Great Outdoors and Spinnaker for daytime hanging out. There also seems to be more happening in the Atrium than I remember from being on the Pearl before. It's very much like the Jade as far as I understand. It's just about the right size for getting around and still having stuff to do.

 

Some trivia, but, honestly, not enough. :( That and the cheese rolls were the only disappointments. :)

Thanks for the information! We have actually done a full transit of the canal so for this one, thought we might try one of the excursions. Because we can only do ship excursions for that day, I checked the NCL site for reviews of the Panama excursions, and I think there was but one review! So hopefully that will change as people come back from this itinerary.

We thought the Jade was a really good size, so it sounds like the Pearl will appeal to us! Plus your experience with the crew sounds pretty great.

We're considering a Med cruise in 2017..will let you know if we pick one!