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I live in SFL so taking Caribbean cruises is just easier than traveling by plane anywhere that always just seems to eat up so much time both ways even on short haul. I need to find a fun and affordable 3 day that id like to do multiple times, I was hoping the Norwegian Sky would be it but blah February trip on that just had too many things go wrong and I didn’t care for the ship much at all. I have 2x $250 cruisenext to use over the next few years though, so maybe a short trip on the Gem or Pearl (done in Alaska) will hit a price point I like. Shame the days of cheap rear end cruising from here are very much done these days, I never got to take advantage. Cruise 6 and 7 are booked/booking though. Back on Celebrity with the family for Thanksgiving and really looking forward to that. Did the Millennium a few years ago, also for thanksgiving, and that was a great time. Not done an Edge class yet, maybe that’ll be in the future. Then September 2024 I’m waiting to lock in with Virgin. First time using https://www.cruisecompete.com - I submitted the cruise info I wanted then a bunch of reps send their offers. One was a few $hundred less than the Virgin Voyages site and also had $700 in onboard credit included. Not too shabby, just waiting for them to confirm that. Virgin definitely looks different, and polarizing. Doing Bimini on both of those which I’m excited about. gently caress Nassau, that’s a port day to take advantage of cheaper and quieter stuff on the ship going forward for me, Bimini is ace though and looking forward to going back.
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Jun 16, 2023 16:15
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:41 |
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Virtually all ports I’m still yet to venture to, and should rectify. I need to take the plunge and book a 7+ day that goes further out and sees more interesting places. Recently came back from St. Maarten where I stayed a week and that’s a solid island, would definitely like to go back to Philipsburg in the future too. Of course we saw the drat Sky in dock - part of my negativity towards that ship was the change in itinerary of Freeport (whatever, not been but it doesn’t sound too exciting) and Great Stirrup Cay, to ‘Day at Sea’ and Nassau. I had booked one of the 2 bed villas at GSC for the 12 of us on the trip, as gently caress yeah that worked out at like $70/pp for the best cabin on the island. Everyone saw my face just drop when the announcement came in. I can’t believe people spend 10+ days on that ship. When we were at sea it was like they had no idea what to do with people. Couldn’t even just spend the afternoon in Spinnaker easily watching the water as they were holding an art scam auction in there of course taking up 90% of the space.
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Jun 16, 2023 17:12
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Judgy Fucker posted:I've never been, what's so bad about Nassau? It’s just an incredibly common port and once you done it, there’s rarely a reason to go back. It’s very much cruise port personified, same type of stores you see everywhere with no real personality anymore. Last time we went we did a taxi tour and it basically comprised of going to a set of vendors that his friends worked at, doing the royal steps (which is genuinely nice) and going to Atlantis. I’d definitely stay at Atlantis for a night or two, it’s pretty cool and I’m sure staying there is an experience. There’s also a craft beer bar with the worst tasting beer I’ve ever had. In contrast, Bimini is just fun. The Dolphin House is just wild, and it’s a tiny place you can just zoot around on a golf cart eating conch and drinking Carib, and the people are super nice. Way less feeling of being hustled like Nassau. slidebite posted:Small write up on NCL solo studio experience I nearly did a solo studio the other year, but due to the way NCL have dynamic pricing it worked out cheaper for me to book a balcony room for myself. They look neat tho, and I had a bunch of fun cruising by myself. quote:Only thing I remember from Tortola (admittedly many years ago) were chickens/roosters everywhere lol Everywhere should have street chickens imo.
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Jun 16, 2023 17:49
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EL BROMANCE posted:Then September 2024 I’m waiting to lock in with Virgin. First time using https://www.cruisecompete.com - I submitted the cruise info I wanted then a bunch of reps send their offers. One was a few $hundred less than the Virgin Voyages site and also had $700 in onboard credit included. Not too shabby, just waiting for them to confirm that. Virgin definitely looks different, and polarizing. This got sorted out today, and feels like for a tiny amount of effort it definitely paid off. The Virgin web price was around $3,600 for what I wanted and according to the blurb included the $300 bar tab, albeit I couldn’t see *anything* in the checkout screen to confirm this which was a concern. The dude I hit up on that site managed to get me the same cabin class with the $700 credit for $3,100. The bar tab he can’t see for that late next year yet but thinks it should be easy enough for him to add on before the sail. At work if it doesn’t happen, I’ll do the usual $300/50 deal and won’t lose out at all.
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Jun 17, 2023 06:50
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I know my particular guy used the Virgin equivalent of cruisenext vouchers, as he told me this (I suspected it was the case after seeing the deals you get with those). I know the bids are blind so the TAs can’t see what others are offering, I’m guessing some are going by reputation because there was some offers that were about a $1,000 with less perks. Guess you just gotta throw in an offer and see if it’s good enough for someone to bite. It worked!
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Jun 17, 2023 16:37
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Ha I knew it would be his channel, he’s ok but I get ya. I haven’t watched that video yet. For people I do like, my go to is https://youtube.com/@Cruisewith they mix having fun personalities (super camp British dudes) with probably the best production quality of all of them. Obviously spend their time editing and make concise videos of their experiences while not waffling on aimlessly walking around the ship with no agenda. I’ve seen too many of those, people who think they’re a lot more interesting than they are. Ben and David are just enthusiastic people who love what they do, and do a good job selling the life.
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Jun 27, 2023 00:34
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Make sure your passports aren’t going to expire, and that’s a good chunk of prep done already. Most other things can be sorted, but loving that up… that can cause problems.
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Jul 10, 2023 03:44
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I’m trying to book an NCL trip that has a few in common too, not been that far before so should be fun.
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Sep 20, 2023 02:01
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And booked. I “love” how some cruise lines have mastered the art of holding back the true final cost at every opportunity. First page you think you’re on final cost, no fees and taxes included. I think you then have to even enter the payment details (mine was through a TA this time, but I was going through the direct system too to compare prices) before finding out the room gratuities aren’t included and that’s another $300. At least I have some OBC to counter this. At least with Virgin they were just like ‘here’s the price. Pay it. Hell, pay it all now and we’ll knock 10% off too.’
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Sep 20, 2023 22:49
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I thiiiink Royal Caribbean also have suites set up for that but while they’re not the 50k level they’re definitely not cheap. I kinda feel sorry for first timers who see that regular cabins can be set up for 3 or 4 and the idea of that many adults sharing that space is kinda horrifying. I remember the first time I cruised at 16 was with my parents and we fell for that, and luckily the cruise line realised it was kinda a crappy situation and gave me my own decent sized inside cabin. Given that I was already using the fact that I’d ended up with an adult key card and was using this as the confidence boost needed to order alcohol at the bar, it was a pretty good trip.
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Sep 24, 2023 19:50
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Sorry to hear that man, I hope you get better soon. More important even than iterating insurance, rule number one of cruises is DO NOT HIRE MOPEDS. It’s such a risk because this happens so often, and people get badly hurt and stuck in a foreign country. The cruise line themselves usually warns against it. https://allthingscruise.com/cruise-lines-warn-against-moped-and-scooter-rentals-in-bahamas/
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Oct 31, 2023 19:44
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I’m sitting in Port Canaveral as we’re here for a weekend break, and the Wish just sailed by. Slightly jealous, can’t lie. Just gotta remember that it’s just over 2 weeks til my Celebrity cruise, then a month later my NCL. Very much a fun way to end the year.
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Nov 3, 2023 22:18
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Drove past Celebrity Ascent today on the way to our cruise, looks like she’s in port for a few days before maiden voyage. I still really wanna try Edge class but the itinerary lengths make it hard, just want a reasonably priced 3 day cruise on one of them from Fort Lauderdale really. First time on Starlink and pretty impressed how smooth it is compared to old fashioned ship internet event without upgrading to ‘premium’ packages or some poo poo. Browsing SA is super fast, and things tend to work great or just not at all (photos in WhatsApp just refuse to send for some reason). Please donate to my GoFundMe, I don’t have premium beverage package but want to spend my life at the martini bar.
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Nov 20, 2023 07:18
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There’s a very real issue I have with Edge class… and it’s that they might have to peel me off on the final day. I have very, very few issues with Solstice class as it is, and Edge appears to resolve essentially all of them while making a ton of other improvements too. The only thing I’m not 100% sold on is the infinite veranda, but that just means saving some money on a porthole or inside cabin. I just wish they did more 3-4 night sails from my local port. Definitely intrigued by Princess as never sailed with them, and everyone compares them to Celebrity which can only mean good things.
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Nov 26, 2023 18:17
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It seems NCL have pissed off so many people by calling them relentlessly if you even open their website in a tab that AT&T have added their marketing number to their spam block list.
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Jan 4, 2024 22:02
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I’ve watched a bunch of videos about that cruise and I’m so tempted to get a bunch of friends together to sail it. We can all grow mustaches and try to sneak alcohol on board in the most disastrous ways possible.
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Jan 23, 2024 09:30
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Oof, MSC just absolutely put their foot in it. After going back onboard after a bad experience with crew a few years ago, Ben and David got shut down from filming on board despite the fact they were in the middle of a super positive review. Naturally, MSCs socials are blowing up with people calling them out. What absolute idiots, the dude has a pretty unique name (Benedict) so just flag him on embarkation and make sure staff are treating them well and walk out with getting some actually good press for a change. Morons. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpP9MzA0WXA
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Mar 11, 2024 06:01
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Woohoo, it’s Triple Up week on NCL so you can use 3 CruiseNext vouchers rather than 2 for any cruise, and as I treat anything bought in the past as FREE MONEY that means a trip booked on a whim. Sailing the Norwegian Aqua in October 2025. I know Prima class has a fair amount of negative reviews, but I really want to see something beyond the class of ships I’ve seen a few times with Norwegian now. So Virgin in September and NCL next October. Friends want us to join them in the ABCs with Celebrity in January and ahhhh that sounds amazing but it’s expensive and we’ve already sailed that ship (Reflection, I really want to try Silhouette if not an Edge class).
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Mar 27, 2024 05:26
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Ah weird, our VV in September was also changed from DR to GT but I assumed it was just a one off based on the email, is this what they sent you too?quote:To keep Valiant Lady ship-shape, our Crew needs to perform some extra maintenance that will impact the amount of time we have in port. To ensure we provide you with an incredible experience and the same amount of time in port stops, we're adjusting our itinerary and replacing Puerto Plata with Grand Turk in the beautiful Turks and Caicos. Just checked my OBC and it’s stayed the same. Funnily enough we didn’t bother getting off at Puerto Plata last year because my gf wasn’t feeling 100% and we knew we had it on this upcoming cruise. Didn’t really have any plans beyond going to the port area anyway, and my sister in law really likes Grand Turk so I’m happy with this.
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Apr 2, 2024 21:14
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| # ¿ May 22, 2024 16:41 |
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It seems that every cruise company, no matter how different they sell themselves as, will always find ways to have the most frustrating systems in place possible so you never know exactly what’s going on, I hope it sorts out soon. And better then NCL who canceled a beach house I booked on their island due to weather, and proceeded to give me $1,200 in cash (I booked for the 12 of us) as I left the ship rather than refund my card. Thanks. Yeah for VV we ended up with a good amount of credit, $700 in regular OBC and $300 in bar tab. They’ve also raised the price of our cabin from the $3,100 we paid to $6,100 now which is absurd. Really lucky to have booked this when we did.
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Apr 2, 2024 21:38
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