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We are a married couple who LOVES CRUISES! We have spent more than 300 nights at sea on over 50 cruises. We’ve cruised around the world exploring destinations including Australia, New Zealand, Greenland, French Polynesia, Alaska, Iceland, Europe and the Caribbean. Some favorites are repositioning cruises such as transatlantic and transpacific cruises. We have so many more cruise itineraries to come!
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I am traveling NCL in a few weeks. My first NCL cruise. However, I am NOT a new cruiser. I have had TERRIBLE communication with NCL. Representatives have NO IDEA what is going on and they outright LIE to customers and blame customers for issues. I've had paid for excursions that NCL suddenly cancelled and NCL blamed me! I found out on social media that they were having computer glitches but nobody at NCL I talked to admitted it. I had to find out on social media. I also had to INSIST they fix THEIR OWN mistake. Then, 30 days before my cruise they changed my departure flight (I PAID EXTRA FOR AIR CHOICE!) with NO explanation! It took me a week and multiple anxiety attacks to find out (ON MY OWN) that they changed my non stop flight to a one stop flight due to the fact that my cruise was arriving at port 15 minutes later than originally scheduled. For 15 minutes, they caused me a LOT of problems - another flight with one stop causes me to arrive at my destination airport a FULL day later, and I had already paid for my seats on the original flight, so I had to pay again and HOPE they refund the first seat payment. I have NO faith in NCL and am worried that something else will go wrong. I am 20 days away from departure and still scared they will mess with me again regarding my flights home. They don't seem to realize that those of us who WORK FOR A LIVING do not have unlimited FUNDS or vacation time to deal with their inept and secretive back door procedures. I feel like I got a bait and switch with the BOGUS Air Choice, since NO ONE told me that even though I paid $256 extra for the flights that WORKED FOR ME, they arbitrarily could change them due to their INEPTNESS at keeping schedule at sea. I did not choose this cruise line! Friends were already booked and asked me to go and since I liked the itinerary I booked myself on the package. I am a Royal Caribbean and Celebrity cruiser, and will NEVER EVER choose NCL. NCL better REALLY IMPRESS me on the ship because so far, I am not a fan.
Several things to note about guaranteed cabins. Those are the ones that have been canceled or needed rebooked for a different date in the last year or so. Also on several occasions I have seen higher priced for a guaranteed catagory over booking a select your own cabin in the same catagory.
Something a lot of people don’t consider: Cruising during the shoulder season may be less warm but it’s also less crowded, so any cruiser who hates over-crowded ships, ports and the need for tenders should seriously consider cruising Alaska in April or September rather than the peak summer season. Visiting a small town like Ketchikan when 6 or 7 huge ships are in port is pretty miserable and, if you have to tender in (because there aren’t enough piers for 6 or 7 ships), you won’t have enough time to do anything.
We happily sail in interior cabins - so B2B Alaska cruises from Vancouver cost me a bit less than one week in a veranda. Sailed Navigator last January and will repeat this next year - easy sail and again B2B in interior was great cruise and budget friendly. Love your reminder of TA or repositioning cruises - we find deals that are less than premium economy seats on planes and starts our European travel with a relaxing sail.
Celebrity reflection has some smoking deals this September for for short 3 and 4 night sailings with killer prices for balconies and not just inside cabins. $274 PP including port fees and taxes for sep 16-20 sailing on Expedia. Can’t beat that.
What if you are a solo cruiser and what to do the stand by on Holland? Still $99 per day? Inside stateroom all to yourself? Or a typical double the price for a solo traveler at $198 per night? Thank you Jordan!!! I've been so lucky.. always booking a guaranteed cabin. Never have I got one around a noisy area!
I booked an Alaska sailing with HAL's standby program and ultimately didn't get to go as there were no rooms available. On the upside, even though the FAQs state that refunds are processed in 4-6 weeks, I got my refund in 7 days.
Of all the itineraries I think I am most excited to step foot in Turkey than any other place in Europe. Could be the long standing rich culture but for the price we’re paying there has to be a grander more renovated ship. We always sail RC Ships but this has to be the lower end of it cause it seems lacking a lot of this and have things not working properly. That sucks!
Hi guys, great walk-through! I just got off the reflection and I thought it was a very nice ship. I understand the other solstice class ships received some upgrades that reflection has not. Can you confirm this and what they are?
Actually, your comment about no drinks allowed in the pool reminds me of something that I've wondered about for a while now. During the first day of swimming lessons, our instructor would inform us of safety rules around the pool, and one of them was no glass containers, and no alcohol, because of the safety risk if any glass broke in an environment where most people had bare feet and would be sitting on the floor in a bathing suit, and the obvious risks of impaired judgement where one can easily drown. Same thing when a convention social event was held in a waterpark: no one was allowed into the pool because alcohol was being served. So I'm surprised when on cruise ships and resorts alcohol is openly served (in glassware as well) and encouraged around their swimming pools, and wonder how the safety aspect is regarded. Even if a pool is not deep enough to be over the head of an adult, you only need 4 inches of water to drown in. And what about broken glass inside a pool or on the deck? I guess they must have ample lifeguards and staff keeping a very close eye on the entire pool areas at all hours they're open?
Thanks for the update! I think you guys made a good choice: one in the hand is worth two in the bush. You can't just put your life on hold indefinitely while waiting on someone else to see when/if their act is going to come together. Good for you for your good sense to adapt and pivot and not let other opportunities pass you by while still keeping your options open with Villa Vie!
Love your review!! It’s upbeat and not boring! I like how you present each part of the cabin ( as grouped) not show each part as you go through! Kept me engaged!!
I simply cannot understand why you guys would move onto a 31/32-year-old ship. It is already beset with problems what on earth do you think can happen to such an old ship in 3.5 years or even in the very near future. I wonder about people who write about cruising on here exactly what they know about cruising seems a few cruises and they think they are experts.? The ship is old Fred Olsen got rid of it our organization refused it as others have done who understand ships. This is the problem with amateurs who think they know it all.
So I guess what I’m getting out of the tour is this particular ship is it’s not very kid friendly, and there aren’t a lot of included places to eat. Did I get that right?
On land in the states bartenders are enjoined by law from serving wasted customers. I guess it's different on foreign flagged ships. But perhaps the cruise lines could adopt the US laws as guidelines (I didn't say laws) for their bar staff. It's all well that you bought 15 drink tickets but that's practically stupid trying to use that many in a day.
This is absolutely wild and pretty hilarious I'm sure thinking back on it. I do think it's so interesting though considering the difference in trust maybe between men and women. All I'm saying is, as a woman, it definitely requires a different kind of evaluation and consideration of recommendations and going anywhere late at night just out of safety. Not saying you both weren't considering your own safety, I just think women tend to have more of an innate sense of fear based on experience. I wish it were different for sure, that we could be more trusting of strangers and especially strangers who are men, but that's not been my experience so far. Great story though! And I really appreciated how you didn't shame the shop owner or the owners/workers at the club you ended up at. <3
Cancellation policy is what it is. Reasons for cancelling can range from small issues to unfortunate situations. When you book you should be aware of the policy and not expect a refund for any reason. That's what insurance if for. If you choose to not read the policies and then complain because you didn't get a refund, that's on you. Itinerary changes happen a lot on all cruise lines. Sometimes they are last minute. Crew and passenger safety are the number one priority. Of course communication is very important for the guests and it sounds like the crew faltered in this case. However, we had a very similar issue happen to us on Royal Caribbean. As far as the comedian... it's late night comedy. Walk out if you don't like what is being said. Complain to the customer service crew. Word will get back to the booking staff and that comedian will not return. I've been on Carnival (terrible cruise line), Royal, NCL, Paul Gauguin and Viking. Aside from Carnival, they are all great cruise lines and I would not let these three stories keep me from going on NCL again. They do a great job overall.
I'm saying it now, so I'll be wrong and it won't happen. I don't think a living in situation in the cruising world will be successful for YOU!.... hope I'm wrong...
Villa Vie keeps getting delayed, and I wondered if you guys were still going? They keep having inspection issues with lots of mechanical problems. Good idea to wait it out and have the kinks out. Can’t wait to see your tour!
Not quite accurate. One issue (rudder stocks) that took them by surprise and has taken longer than anticipated to get installed because of all the intricacies. Almost there 😃
