whitsmom

We are cruising on the Jewel in October for the Fall Foliage cruise from Bayonne to Quebec.  I have been looking to schedule a pick up for the airport (Quebec City) and trying to schedule our flight home.  We are Delta people so I was extremely sad to find out that Delta doesn't use that airport.  I called Delta and was told that the closest airport from there for them is Montreal.  I am not sure how to go about scheduling transport from port to Montreal (such as a car service or taxi).  When I googled it I could only get info to Quebec airport.  I did see there is a train station nearby but I know nothing about trains so I am hesitant to schedule something like that on my own.  Any help will be greatly appreciated.  I think that Montreal airport is about a 4 hour "train" ride so I'm not sure about driving.

We had several friends on that cruise and they said the same thing.  We were invited to go; however, we already had our Hawaii cruise booked for January so we just couldn't make it work as we aren't retired just yet. 

11 hours ago, Dad2Cue said:

Same itinerary change on the Jewel southbound cruise in October.  We will be skipping Bar Harbor and will stop in Boston instead.  What is going on in Bar Harbor I wonder.  I visited Acadia National Park a long time ago.  I wanted to go to Acadia again but there is nothing wrong with Boston.

We are on the Jewel in October also.  We were looking forward to Bar Harbor as we haven't been there yet but we will enjoy Boston none the less.  We are going October 20th on the Jewel.

I always prepay the gratuities and then give cash directly to those we feel helped make our vacation even better.  I would never remove the gratuities that we prepaid; however, the extra will depend on the service we receive.   

5 hours ago, CynBeth said:

The one time we did a non Royal cruise many years ago was with NCL on POA and loved it!  We went to Hawaii once on our own but much preferred the cruise.  We flew in a few days early and stayed a day over.  We got to see the same things and more plus did not have to keep packing and taking inter-island flights and changing hotels.  Also, one night we went past a lava flow and one day we went around back of Kauai to see a portion of it and we would not have seen those things unless on a cruise.

There was a lady in front of us when we were disembarking and she said that she was on the POA several years ago and it was great but she wasn't impressed this go round. 

2 hours ago, CynBeth said:

The one time we did a non Royal cruise many years ago was with NCL on POA and loved it!  We went to Hawaii once on our own but much preferred the cruise.  We flew in a few days early and stayed a day over.  We got to see the same things and more plus did not have to keep packing and taking inter-island flights and changing hotels.  Also, one night we went past a lava flow and one day we went around back of Kauai to see a portion of it and we would not have seen those things unless on a cruise.

This was exactly why I like to cruise - same room/unpack once.  No complaints with the excursions as those were all excellent.  It was just not having clean towels before 4:00-5:00 pm daily!  We were on excursions every day so we were out of our cabin for most all day so there was no excuse.  I always make my bed anyway so all I require is clean towels and empty the trash.

3 hours ago, Midwest Cruiser said:

We are Trying NCL Encore in Jan of 24 for one cruise because of family on it and they are with a bigger group of friends(of which we also know). I will say I don't think I would book again with NCL except for POA. Their website is extremely clumsy in comparison, their "Unlimited drinks package is tiered" which I don't like. Excited to see what the ship is like and compare the experience when all is said and done. 

With everyone's experience on POA I still would like to try it, just because we don't want to go to Hawaii and sit on one Island for a week and pay to go to the other islands. At least with POA you get a full Island experience with stopping at all of them and an overnight. Not a big deal if we see the cabin steward or not, as long as we can secure extra towels from them if we see them in the hallway.

All the ports were great and the food was good.  We never found our cabin steward at all to even get extra towels.  I always make my bed anyway, it was just the inconvenience of not getting towels in a timely manner.  We went on an excursion that was all day basically and we still had no clean towels.  Hubby walked way down the hall and finally found someone and they gave him towels.  They didn't even ask what cabin we were in.

The ship is older but still pretty. 

2 hours ago, RCIfan1912 said:

We sinned and strayed from Royal a few years ago when we cruised NCL on the Breakaway. Hated the cruise terminal in NYC, ship was big and beautiful but design was a little odd. Lots of traffic jams and bottlenecks. Food was excellent though. Its safe to say we haven't strayed from Royal since and do not plan to. Now we turned Diamond so its very unlikely, plus we love Port Liberty. 

We just turned Diamond after our August cruise.

RCI has been our go to with only 3 exceptions:  Disney once (it was a meeting/business cruise), NCL (Getaway-Family Reunion), and NCL (Hawaii - Pride of America) just this past week.  The ONLY reason I booked the POA was due to time factor and being able to fly to and from Honolulu.

We never laid eyes on our cabin steward once!!! They would show up while we were on an excursion or while at dinner.  Once we had to ask for towels so we could shower before dinner.  We don't like My Time Dining and that is all you get on NCL.  I know RCI has my time dining also but you at least get the option to have a set time, set table, and set servers (which is why we like traditional dining).  The food was okay for the most part but the selections weren't great in our opinion.

We talked to a travel agent we met at one of the bars.  She told us that she brought 40 people on the POA and that she felt the same we did!  She and her group experienced the same issues as us and she wouldn't be doing another group cruise on that ship.  The bartender told us that some of the cabin stewards had as many as 25 cabins to clean and some only had 10!  I guess ours must have been the only of the ones that had 25 to clean. 

Thankfully, our next three cruises booked are Royal Caribbean - lesson learned! 

Shouldn't be an issue if the reservations are linked.  We have do this with our grands before.

On 1/7/2023 at 12:51 PM, JoeOfTheSeas said:

Hey, so as you know, we are going on a cruise soon, 2 passengers, and we would like to have a private table, not to seat with others. I read online about the dining department email, and also about the fact that if we are on traditional dining time, we will be seated with others, and that if we want to have a private table, we need to switch to My Time Dining.

 

We sent an email to the dining department (we understand that approx. 3 weeks prior to sailing is okay) asking to switch to My Time Dining and have a private table, however now I read somewhere that this email is only to request a private table for traditional dining time. We are very confused at this point. 

 

If anyone can clear this up for us, we would highly appreciate it!

 

Thanks!

We have our TA do it with no problem.  If you booked the cruise yourself, then I would email them.  We always do the traditional dining time so that may be a factor.

We use WiFi calling (make sure to set it up before you go--if your carrier allows it).  It worked good for us calling land lines or cell phones.  You can test it at home to make sure that it works.  We keep our phones WiFi calling always turned on as we don't have the best reception at our house.

On 12/25/2022 at 2:58 PM, Beaglebuddy said:

Has anyone tried the private photo session from cruise planner (current around 230$)? It’s a one hour session and you can choose 5 photos from it for digital/print copies. It says the photo shoot can also be done at ports of call (subject to availability). I would love to have a one hour shoot at one of the ports on my upcoming Western Mediterranean cruise, has anyone booked this session and had them come out to the port of call city?

 

We did one on the Harmony this summer.  We stayed on the ship but we were on the Helo Pad.  They took a lot of pictures and they all turned out great.  The only downfall is that your cost for 5 pictures of $500. 

I got mine - 19 days

6 hours ago, BennyandBo said:

Please buy wine when you land and not put in your checked bags for a flight. If they break on the flight it will mess your clothes as well as clothes in other people's luggage.

I have flown with wine but put it inside a travel wine bag that seals and won't leak in case the bottle gets broken.  We usually fly in the day before now, so I can get some after we land.  You can ordered the travel wine bags from Amazon.

We used GoPort for our Hotel near MCO and transportation from hotel to port and port back to airport.  The cost was a good value.  There were 8 people in our party and the total cost was $577.13 (taxes included for hotel and transfers for 8).  $72.14 per person.

What I did last cruise was order a few bottles of wine from the Royal Gifts and they were in our cabin when we arrived.  We just carried the bottle to dinner and then served it and kept it for the next meal.  The two bottles that I bring stays in our cabin for us to serve ourselves.  We get the refreshment package for specialty coffees, canned Diet Coke, fresh juice, and lots of water.  Since we get 4 Diamond drinks each per day it is still cheaper to do it this way.  We aren't big drinkers so I can't see spending the extra for the UBP.  Now, if we were bigger drinkers, then we would totally get the UBP. 

On 11/21/2022 at 9:12 AM, PPPJJ-GCVAB said:

I also am not much of a drinker (alcohol) but I do drink plenty of water, fresh squeezed orange juice, specialty coffees, even a few frozen mocktails every day.  My choice is to purchase the refreshment package and then pay for any alcoholic drinks.  I definitely get the full advantage of the low price (currently $19.99/day) but also get to enjoy a glass of wine here and there!

This is how I roll too!

My price for Refreshment Pkg went down From 707.60 (for 2) on our 10 night cruise to 471.60.  With savings of $236 I purchased it!  I have been watching it for a bit.  Our cruise isn't until October 2023.  I tried to do this for our two 2024 cruises but it won't bring up anything to purchased.

Well, I couldn't help myself!  I booked Odyssey of the Seas for mid-July 2024 and will be taking our Granddaughter with us for her high school graduation gift (her request) so Italy, Greece and Turkey it is!  I'm so happy that she picked those places as we haven't been there yet so that is a win-win for us too!  We will also be flying Delta One as a surprise for her.  Good thing I have a while to save up for this trip. 

4 hours ago, Cakemeister said:

Wow you really jumped into the suite life! I booked my first JS as well, but it was for a little four-day dip into the water as the second half of a B2B.

It was a little over $450 for a suite Vs a ocean view balcony so decided to jump on it since we could get all four suites in a row side by side. 

17 hours ago, KevinJ said:

We had a JR suite on Ovation last June. First thing I did was go to Coastal Kitchen to book dinners. Since we're from the east coast we wanted 5:30 and were able to eat there every night. It was the best dining we've had other than specialty dining. Since JR suites guests are only allowed there for dinner and as space is available, if you are interested get it done right away.

Thanks for the heads up.  We will definitely do that ASAP!

1 hour ago, RCVirgin22 said:

I don't know the S.F. difference between Balcony, Jr Suite or regular suite or how RC codes guests 3-8 in terms of billing. My thought was that since you're basically paying for 2 people anyway due to double occupancy it would be more cost effective to book more than one room per 2 guests, which would amount to more space to spread out versus all being cramped in one room. Would this not be the case?  

I'm wondering this because I've been looking at a cruise with my Sister and her Family and it just seems like way too  many people for such a small space particularly when you add younger kids to the mix. So I was thinking about just going with two connecting Cabins for her, husband & kids and then a third for me +1. 

I have 4 suites with 2 guest in each suite. The suites are all together side by side. The suites are for only 2 people each.

The first time we went we flew into Vancouver and flew home from Anchorage.  This trip it will be Seattle round trip.  Hopefully, we can use our companion fly free coupons thru Delta. 

We are going with family to Alaska (Ovation) in June 2024 and we decided to book Jr Suites (4) for all 8 of us.  My Son-n-Law thinks vacation needs to be at the beach so it took some talking to convince him that he will love Alaska.  After showing the family pictures and videos  from our Radiance cruise in 2018 they all are excited now!!!