johnnypiano

We went to the Brevard County Zoo last year - our 2yo DD loved it!!

If you're doing B2B do you have to show up for the Muster Drill a second time?

My wife and I used to take a week in September nearly every year (usually the second week in September) and cruise to Bermuda. We've been there (or attempted to) four out of the last five years.

We were thinking about doing it again this year, but there are no ships from NCL heading to Bermuda for a seven night cruise in September!!

Why did NCL stop doing these cruises??

How's the weather? Looks like you guys got the first named storm of the season....TS Andrea.

3 minutes ago, Newleno said:

Math is spot on for the march 13 time frame, a 7 day trip land aruba,  public bus in aruba to eagle beach is $10 round trip from the cruise ship.  Specialty restaurants?, pictures?, etc "Shirley" you must be joking.  My math is spot on four our 15 day cruise vacation.  Once again we literally can cruise for 60 days for the price of a week long trip at the hyatt aruba plus expenses, starting march 13.  

 

PS if we wanted to book in february the cheapest room is $1000 per night in aruba hyatt

Correct, if you wanted to book February or March, the prices are friggin' expensive, because it's a last minute booking and inventory is low and it's spring break season.  You really need to look 6-9 months out for a fair comparison.

For the cruise, they clearly have rooms to fill so they dropped the price.  And I'm guessing you priced out an inside cabin.  And you probably priced out Carnival.  None of these are fair comparisons.

If you really look at a fair comparison, of which your comparison was not, the prices are very similar.

Anyway, the point of my original post was not to sway "Beer Belly" from doing a cruise.  My point was that Aruba is not a place to do an All Inclusive resort.

And who the heck only spends $100 on incidentals for a 15 day cruise??

I'm done here.  Buh bye.

21 minutes ago, Newleno said:

15 day cruise for 2 from nyc to nola $1,357.23

service charges for 2 $435

Megabus to NYC for 2 $16

Frontier Airlines Airfare out of nola for 2 $416

Incidentals (while in port/transportation) for 2 $100

Total for 2 for 15 days $2,324.23

 

Priced out a week long aruba trip in March

Hyatt 7 day approx $6000 for the cheapest room

Airfare for 2 $1800

Food/Expenses for one week min $1500

total for 2 aprox $9,300

 

We can literally  cruise for 60 days (4 cruises of 15 days) for the price of a 7 day aruba hyatt vacation.

 

I think your math is a little off.

I went back and checked my invoice from last year, and our flight and hotel (2 people) was $4,200.  And, yes you're probably talking around $1,000 for food and incidentals.  So let's say $5,500 if we're being generous.

For the cruise, not sure where you are finding that NYC - NOLA cruise for $1,300.  To be comparable, I found a cruise on NCL (since we're on the NCL board) that stops in Aruba (since the poster was asking about Aruba).  For a "sail away" balcony, it is $4,422.38 plus gratuities.  And that does not include any of the packages.  

Also, not sure how you've done a 15 day cruise with only $100 for 2 people's incidentals.  For shore excursions, specialty restaurants, pictures, etc, you're talking probably at least $1,000 for the two weeks.

So I'd say they're comparable.

On 2/9/2019 at 9:17 AM, Beer Belly said:

Aruba is on our list for an All Inclusive

Do NOT do an all inclusive in Aruba.  One of the reasons to go to Aruba is all of the great restaurants.  The only decent all inclusive in Aruba is the Riu.  We walked through there when we stayed and it didn't seem that great.  I would advise to stay in a regular hotel and enjoy all the great food Aruba has to offer!  We stayed at the Hyatt and were not disappointed.  Here are some of the great restaurants we enjoyed:

Gianni's - if you eat here get the cheese wheel pasta!  They make your pasta in front of you in a giant wheel of Parmesan cheese and light it on fire.

Flying Fishbone - the food was amazing here, and the tables are on the beach.  

The Lighthouse Restaurant (I think it's called Faro Blanco)- if you go here, make reservations for about 45 minutes prior to sunset and try to get a table by the railing.  The view is quite spectacular!

Madame Jeanette's

Smokey Joe's

Dutch Pancake House 

So it looks like from NCL's post that passengers who wanted to ride out the storm on the ship that were on the Norwegian Sky got transferred to the Escape. Any idea how many passengers got on the Escape in Miami from the Sky?

My husband and I are booked for this weekend's Bahamas cruise on the Sky. We live in South Florida and category 4 Irma is a major problem for us. I am hoping NCL cancels the cruise. But if they do not, there is no way we can leave our children behind in this storm. We DO have trip insurance through Expedia but it doesn't cover for any and all cancellations, and I'm not sure it will cover for this.

 

Does anyone have any advice on addressing the issue with NCL? Have you experienced anything like this? I am wondering if they will issue a voucher or something to apply the cost of this cruise to a future one?

You're in luck:

• Norwegian Sky, September 8 from Miami: The ship’s three-day Bahamas cruise has been cancelled. We will be providing a full refund to all guests, plus a 50% future cruise credit.

From a Miami Herald article:

The cruise line also offered to transport rescuers wanting to get to Galveston.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/tourism-cruises/article170123152.html

No problem at all. My wife and I once left the ship early to go horseback riding on the beach (horses have to be off the beach by like 8am in the summer). I believe we left the ship around 5:30am. Biggest challenge was getting a taxi!! :-)

And once your final payment date has passed, I would not expect NCL to do anything. You purchase your cabin and sale date at the price you agreed to. The reason prices drop is they are trying to fill cabins on the ship - an empty cabin equals lost onboard revenue.

If NCL does anything for you, consider yourself extremely lucky.

If you're talking about the "hump" - type balconies, there is no way you could fit a lounger on one. We had an angled balcony cabin (13890). It gave us a little more room to stretch out, but there was no room for a lounger.

Stay safe! I hope for your sake it doesn't get too much worse and that you'll be able to enjoy yourself over these next two days!

According to the forecast, it looks like Hermine is going to hang out off the shore of NJ for a few days. I wonder whether it will have an effect on Sunday's sailing?

NCL Breakaway departed Bermuda this morning around 8:00am EDT (instead of its scheduled departure time of 2:00pm EDT) in order to beat Tropical Storm Hermine back to NY.

Thanks, everyone, for the feedback. I didn't realize the Canada/NE cruises were so popular! My wife and I were originally planning on the Escape that week. However, my wife's OB has advised us not to go with the whole Zika thing - so we're trying to find another cruise that we can go on. I thought the Dawn would be fun, since my wife has always wanted to go to PEI, but I guess it wasn't meant to be!

I guess it looks like we'll be choosing between Bermuda, Alaska and Hawaii!

I apologize if this has been posted, but I searched and can't seem to find the answer.

On September 9-16 I believe the Dawn is scheduled to do a Canada/New England cruise from Boston to Quebec. I say "I believe", because it is not available for booking on the NCL website. When I try to book it on the "Name Your Own Price" online travel agent, it shows the cruise as available (with prices and all), but when I try to complete the booking it says "we're sorry! An error has occurred".

Any ideas what the Dawn is doing this week? Has it been chartered?

Most of what FDR got was stock and options. Here's the breakdown:

$1,837,500 - Cash salary

$10,276,315 - Grant date value of restricted stock unit awards

$17,752,083 - Grant date value of stock option awards

$1,903,799 - Cash incentive bonus

$24,000 - Cash automobile allowance

$12,975 - 401(k) employer matching

$8,688 - Medical premium

$30,000 - travel expense allowance

$12,000 - personal allowance

$20,000 - tax preparation service

$20,000 - country club fees

$12,988 - life insurance premiums, cruise benefits, etc.

It would be tight. If anything went wrong, it would be tough to make it.

If you want any chance to make it, I would do self-walkoff and try to be on of the first ones off the ship. Have a car service hired and reserved in advance so they are waiting for you when you get off.

We usually plan to start getting off the ship at 8:00am. It usually takes 30-60 minutes for us to get from ship to car. Then figure 30-45 minutes to drive from the cruise terminal to Newark Airport.

Any idea why this chart goes back 12 mo?

Odd...

http://data.cnbc.com/quotes/lind

Lindblad did a reverse merger with Capitol Acquisition Corp. II (a public Special Purpose Acquisition Company). Any trading activity on NASDAQ prior to July 8, 2015 represents Capitol, not Lindblad.

Accorrding to PtzTV - the Norwegian Dawn has run aground upon sailaway and has launched their lifeboats.

Anyone have any further information?

A lot of good ideas here. Thanks.

Where is Clocktower Mall?

If you walk from the ship towards the pharmacy/rum cake factory, the Clocktower Mall is to the left.

Here is what we did for a three day itinerary last September:

Day 1 (Wednesday) -

Take 9:30am Ferry to St. George's.

Rent scooters upon arrival.

Drive scooters around St. George's - see many forts (including Fort St. Catherine), unfinished church, Lilly perfumery, shopping.

Return scooters in SG. Hop on bus.

Stop at Crystal Caves.

Lunch at Swizzle Inn (right next to Crystal Caves).

Bus to Hamilton.

Shopping in Hamilton.

Ferry back to Dockyard.

Day 2 (Thursday) -

Morning Jet Ski tour through Somerset Bridge Watersports.

Taxi to Elbow Beach.

Late Morning/Afternoon at Elbow Beach.

Taxi to Dockyard.

Late afternoon shopping in Dockyard.

Frog and the Onion in the evening.

Day 3 (Friday) -

Early morning horseback riding on the sand dunes.

Rest of the morning/early afternoon at Horseshoe Bay Beach.

Taxi back to Dockyard.

Afternoon shopping at Clocktower Mall.

The only thing I would probably alter, looking back, was I probably would not do Elbow Beach. There are no changing rooms or vendors there. I would probably pony up the $59pp and go to Coco Reef resort. (Or just do Horseshoe two days in a row).

John

I just heard on the radio on the webcam that Brilliance of the Seas is preparing to take on pilot. However, they also said that the port is still closed in all zones.