Michael Vitale
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Posts posted by Michael Vitale
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We were there last week and stayed in the port area all day. Was a wonderful, relaxing day. Huge pool w swim up bars. Restaurant was terrific. All the shopping you could want. Great way to chill and save a few bucks as its all free except food & drinks of course.
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On 8/31/2018 at 7:51 AM, KLA said:
I hear a lot of people really like Krazy Lobster!
I’ve heard of that. I’ll check. Thanks
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Great review, but for me, Nachi was NOT all that. I much prefer Mr. Sancho’s, and will be there on the 14th. Actually had reservations at Maya Chan on the 13th and cancelled after seeing all these seaweed issues. Still not sure what we’ll do in Costa Maya.
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On 8/27/2018 at 8:47 AM, MrB said:
OP here:
My term "forced" is more about those that wish to drink are pushed towards the drink package, not that it is a requirement for sailing. Though I bet there are cruises somewhere that would require a drink package for everyone. I guess you could say that the "everyone in the cabin" rule is sorta kinda maybe a truly forced requirement.
Heck, as a non-drinker, I know that those heavy $$$ drink packages are a tax on drinkers and a subsidy for me. An open bar is actually a tax on me, as I would probably have to pay a bit more than normal, and a subsidy for the drinkers. That's life. Same is true with the casino. If you don't use it, it's a subsidy as the price of the cruise would be higher without it being present.
The same can be said about everything in life. If not for the guy in the $50K Sky Loft suite, maybe my regular balcony would cost more. Convoluted logic at best. Back to the original point, no one is forced to pay for anything they don’t want, except maybe the port fees LOL
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11 hours ago, twangster said:
Welcome to the message boards!
The NCL Sky was known to be a party ship when it was doing 3 and 4 nights Bahamas cruises with open bar. Now that Cuba has opened up to cruise operators she spends much of her time doing Cuba cruises.
The weekend 'booze cruise' market is different than the Cuba cruise market.
Sky still does a 3 night Nassau cruise and a 3 night Great Stirrup Cay cruise on many weekends in between her 4 and 5 night runs to Cuba. When the marketing for these cruises has a huge "Open Bar" graphic as the lead photo you have to know these cruises are more likely to be booze cruises.
Several years ago I did a B2B on Carnival, 4 night followed by 3 night. The clientele was very different on the two cruises. The weekend 3 night cruise was a party boat. I suspect the same may be true for the Sky. On a weekend 3 night cruise it's more likely to be a booze cruise then the following day when she sets out for Cuba she is less likely to be a booze cruise. In reality I'm sure it varies cruise to cruise. A couple of obnoxious drunks on any cruise can set the tone for the pool deck for all. That applies to any cruise line. I don't think the stereotype booze cruise crowd seeks to go to Cuba, but I could be wrong.
Royal has some very interesting Cuba itineraries that have two new ports added to the mix. Check those out before deciding.
Sir, where did you get the impression you are “forced” into ANYTHING ?? They offer a drink package. If you’re non drinkers, don’t buy it !! There, no force involved.
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its unbelievable. Every time one of these sales is announced, everyone gets all excited, so i hurry onto the site to check mine, and VOILA, its even more than what I paid originally !!!! It always goes up !!! I swear, Ive never cancelled/rebooked anything in 9 cruises
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That’s it !!! Thanks
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Drawing a blank (not too difficult for me
) What was the name of that new app where you can add pics and they add music ? TIA
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One word : screenshot
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Apple Music > Radio > Browse Music > Island Jammers Radio
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Interesting. I think I’ll play it safe and bring all my fav items. Thanks for the responses.
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Sailing our first JS in 3 weeks. Can’t wait !! Question for JS cruisers: I hear about these “upgraded toiletries”. What are we talkin here ? Specific brands ? Something that isn’t available in regular balcony cabins, other than the usual shower gel ? I’m usually kinda particular about my toiletries
I’m curious about what I can get away with not packing. What’s actually in the bathroom ?
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Ironically, I just last week purchased the yearly coverage through Allianz. It was $450 for my wife and I. It will wind up covering 3 cruises in my case, and just miss covering a 4th by ONE week
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Wife has a beach bag (RC of course
) We leave everything of value in that and put towels over it on the chair. We then keep it within view as we go in the water. Not that hard to do, unless you’re going on jet skis, or parasailing, or something that takes you a good distance away from your belongings.
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I’m also 60ISH
Don’t need all the bells & whistles, but that said, we were still quite disappointed with Jewel. It’s a gorgeous ship with amazing views, etc. We absolutely loved the solarium. However, it’s very small. Has no promenade. The promenade is the heartbeat of any ship. I’m glad we went because I really wanted to do the itinerary, and experience the smaller ship, but I would be hard pressed to sail on anything smaller than Voyager Class from here on.
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We watched it last night. I thought it was very good. One thing that struck me was it’s no wonder RC went along with this venture, the movie was like a 2 hour commercial. I especially liked the scene where the Rising Tide started to move, and there’s this couple on the top left of the screen in the Schooner Bar,,,,,,,,,,
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13 hours ago, 2Beeze said:
Tim and Michael - I really do appreciate the tip! But since I have already booked the cruise through an online “agent” I believe that option is out
As a business owner myself, I would be furious if employees were losing customers for no reason. But it is easy for something like this to turn into someone’s decision “on principle” and it may turn into that for me. I will enjoy this Owner’s Suite and then probably just not return. It should be possible to deal with the actual employees of RCL, but I guess you are saying in your experience that isn’t true? Kind of makes me moving on even more likely. Bummer, really
I could be wrong, but I think if you ask an agent to take over your reservation they can
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7 hours ago, 2Beeze said:
Cruisers -
I sincerely apologize for the length, it is hard to explain this without fully explaining! But we could use some folks experienced with RCL to help us with this puzzling problem.
My parents cruised very early, in the 1970’s and sometimes took us with them (wasn’t a ton of fun back then if you were under 30!). As an adult we continued that tradition between major life events and our education. I have cruised most often on Disney, Holland America, and Norwegian. However, I have never personally sailed on RCL... that will change in fall 2018 when we will take our very first RCL cruise on the Allure! We have been super excited as we booked this late to sandwich between or NCL Cruise last June and one booked for next Jan. So I dug in, as I do, to researching excursions, learn about the ship, and try to figure the details after making the purchase only a short time back.
But my excitement is now dropping like a lead ball. First, I had a couple of questions that I had not been able to find the answers and so on two occasions in the last weeks sent a message via “contact us” at the RCL site; while I received the auto reply, there has been nothing since on either. Then after researching the excursions, I put two in the cart at the NCL site (this was last Monday). But my husband and both work long hours and he has a long commute as well, so with that and checking on my sister who had surgery that morning, there was not enough time to go over them with my husband before lights out. When we got home from work Tuesday, I went over them with him and went to check out and my cart was empty. That was not the shop, the shot came when suddenly one excursion had jumped by $10 for both of us and the other had jumped by $22 overnight! In my years cruising I had not come across that before. So, I called RCL - I polite and explained the issue.
But in response I encountered a young man who was not only rude, but also condescending and mocking. He said there had been a notification that there was a “sale” Sat-Mon and now it was off. I told him that I went in via a page other than the splash page, but on the excursion descriptions / cart items there was *nothing* about the price being a sale price and nothing about it being time limited. While I was exhausted Monday night, we most surely could have managed to stay awake a relatively brief time to save $30+! But I could not have known. When I told the representative that he said something like “well everyone else saw it, they were calling all weekend, do you think it didn’t show up on your computer alone?” He followed that with a comment that he could “submit a ticket to technical support” to report the lack of the notice/ads on my computer (only, per this rep). It was pointless, that was clear, so I hung up rather than deal with him longer.
We have spent quite a lot of money on s large suite for this cruise, we really wanted to see what the RCL experience would be compared to the others. While I definitely did not and do not expect to be treated in any special way, I was stunned to be treated as if I were not even worthy of basic human respect. And the rep was wrong, there were *absolutely no notices* on the two excursions that we wanted - not a single indication that the price was a temporary or a sale price (on either the Amiga Island Experience or the Perla Community volunteer project). FYI - I also had written a message about this situation (my 3rd in 3 weeks) - but given that I have had zero response from the first two, I have to assume there is not anyone reading those that cares much.
Sorry to unload, but I am so angry. Right now I am so sorry that we booked with RCL. I am 58 years old and since I have worked in mental health for the last 30 of that I have seen and heard quite a lot. Despite that, I was completely taken aback by the attitude and commentary that I heard on the phone call to RCL yesterday. If anyone has s suggestion as to how I might reach someone at RCL other than this kind of representative I would very much appreciate it. Maybe RCL really has so much business they don’t care if they lose us as guests, but it is rally beginning to seem that we may end our relationship with RCL before it has even begun.
Thank you.
The Beeze
The first thing I would suggest is letting a TA handle that stuff. That’s why they’re there. I suggest MEI Travel, a sponsor of this blog, and a terrific agency. I never, ever, ever talk to RC on the phone.
- AlohaLivin, Matt and MikeK
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17 hours ago, Karen4120 said:
Hi
We will be cruising out of NJ 10/27 on the Anthem. We will be driving down the night before from Boston area (close to RI border). WE will be driving in via Tappen Zee Bridge . This has been the highly recommended route for us. Does anyone have a good hotel recommendation in the vicinity of the port. We will be driving in and parking our car at the cruise port. We will be 2 couples requiring 2 rooms. We are hoping to get a place that is easy on/off the highway and hopefully free parking and includes a breakfast would be nice. As far as price I have seen many options under $150 range and hoping to stay in that ballpark. Our travel agent recommended the Fairfield in North Bergen. Someone else said we should stay in Paramus which is a little longer drive the next morning. How is staying along the Garden State Parkway? Is that a good commute into the port? Is it better to get as close as possible on Friday night? Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Karen
As an example, we have stayed in a hotel on the way to Galveston. Hotels in Galveston can run several hundred dollars. We save a fortune by staying in a town called Webster, about 30 minutes short of Galveston island.
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17 hours ago, Karen4120 said:
Hi
We will be cruising out of NJ 10/27 on the Anthem. We will be driving down the night before from Boston area (close to RI border). WE will be driving in via Tappen Zee Bridge . This has been the highly recommended route for us. Does anyone have a good hotel recommendation in the vicinity of the port. We will be driving in and parking our car at the cruise port. We will be 2 couples requiring 2 rooms. We are hoping to get a place that is easy on/off the highway and hopefully free parking and includes a breakfast would be nice. As far as price I have seen many options under $150 range and hoping to stay in that ballpark. Our travel agent recommended the Fairfield in North Bergen. Someone else said we should stay in Paramus which is a little longer drive the next morning. How is staying along the Garden State Parkway? Is that a good commute into the port? Is it better to get as close as possible on Friday night? Any tips/suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Karen
You can save a lot of money by adding just 30 minutes to embarkation morning. Would it be so bad to drive 45 minutes or so ? Staying near the airport, ANY airport, will probably run you twice what it would cost to stay in north Jersey.
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17 hours ago, Joe01 said:
I'm thinking of cruising on Liberty of the Seas for next summer. Done all of the Oasis Class and want a change. We want to visit California and a good combination with that would be a cruise from Texas. I've wanted to sail LB for a while as the prospect of a Freedom Class with the slides appeals to me.
Personally, my reservation is that I am not an American and worry that I would feel out of place sailing from Texas. It felt like that on EN out of Baltimore.
Is this something to worry about or should I consider booking it?
You should have the same reservations that an American has in sailing from Barcelona. Or Civitivechia. Or Southampton. Why on earth would you feel “out of place”, and isn’t that part of the experience of traveling abroad ???
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5 hours ago, Jill said:
Lol, guess hubby and I are in that less than 10%! Last cruise on Oasis last March, we got the deluxe at 30% off. As long as we had 4 drinks and 2 bottles of water, we broke even. We easily consumed that and then some. Works for us! Our Freedom cruise March of 2019 is only showing 10% off deluxe, so I will sit and wait for Black Friday or around Christmas.
Jill, don't forget now, those "30% off" sales are 30% off the ONBOARD price. If you forget, or think you don't want the deluxe package, and then decide after you've boarded that you want it, you'll pay upwards of $60 pp per day. A far cry than the $42 pp you can get it for online
Little French Key
in Shore Excursions
Posted
Quick review on Little French Key,,,,,,
Not a fan !! Heard wonderful things, and was well aware of the fire & obvious issues they're having w their government. But decided to keep our booking and go anyway. The fire was limited to the animal sanctuary, and as sad as that is, it didn't impact the other areas of the resort. However,,,, the other areas are not that nice IMO. Sure, it was scenic, in a Gilligans Island sort of way. Lots of palm trees and jungle-like environment, but as far as soft sand & crystal clear blue water we really didn't see it. Much of the swimming is accessed from a dock area, where chairs/bars are. What was included for the $175 "all inclusive" package (for 2) was a "lunch plate" and 4 drink tokens. The lunch was 1 bbq chicken leg and a side which I don't even remember. Very disappointing. As far as drinks/tokens,,, You can get either 2 cheapo drinks (soft drink, beer, well drink) OR use BOTH tokens for 1 top shelf drink, for example Crown Royal, Johnnie Walker, etc.
Bottom line for me, think of it this way,,, It was kinda like paying $85 pp to spend the day in Labadee without the wonderful all you can eat buffet they set up there. I don't regret going, we made the most of it, but I would certainly never go back, nor recommend it.