In July of 2010, I was fortunate enough to go on the pre-inaugural sailing of Norwegian Epic (review here). She was a brand new ship then, still a bit rough around the edges, but it was a delight to be one of the first to explore and experience all she had to offer. This past November, I had the opportunity to sail on her again, this time for a full week.
Continue Reading...There are some services that cruise lines offer begrudgingly. As though they know it’s expected, and they know that it’s likely an easy way to make money, but it’s not something they really enjoy offering. The biggest one I’ve found so far is karaoke. Let me sing you the song of my people.
Continue Reading...Last month, I was able to sail with Norwegian Cruise Line for a full seven days on their Norwegian Pearl. Let me tell you all about it.
Continue Reading...I’m going to be blunt here from the very beginning, because honestly, if you can’t handle straight talk, you shouldn’t be reading this in the first place. So, are you ready? Here goes: If you take a cruise and you don’t purchase travel insurance to go with it, you’re a fool.
Continue Reading...I love educated consumers. I try to be one as well. And when one is spending a couple thousand dollars on a vacation, I do believe in getting the best possible deal out there. Thing is, I don’t believe in screwing anyone over to get it. Service is valuable, and sometimes people won’t realise that until it’s far too late.
Continue Reading...One of the confusing aspects of booking cruise travel is all of the various cabin categories on offer. Each line has different category codes, and telling an E1 from a BB can be challenging when all you know is that you want a balcony cabin. However, the most confusing one of all seems to be the “guarantee” category.
Continue Reading...If there’s one topic that’s sure to spark a firestorm of chatter among cruisers, it’s the topic of tipping. All of the mass market cruise lines and some of the luxury lines as well charge some sort of daily fee for the services provided to you as you’re being pampered on the ship. Some call it a service charge, some call it a gratuity, but no matter what it’s called, it’s being automatically added to your shipboard account. Here’s a few things you need to know about tipping on a ship.
Continue Reading...In all, I have to say that I enjoyed the tiny tiny amount of time I had on the ship immensely. Because of the fact that she’s such a huge ship and there was so little time, it was really impossible for me to get to try out all of the things I wanted. Either the reservations were booked up (Cagney’s, Le Bistro), it was reserved for media only (Spiegel Tent for Cirque Dreams & Dinner), or it just seemed too chaotic to even try to get in on standby (Ice Bar). Still, I was given the opportunity to have almost full run of a brandy-new ship that still had that New Ship Smell, and that’s something for which I am eternally grateful.
Continue Reading...People often ask, “What about motion sickness? Won’t I be nauseous on a cruise ship?” The short answer is: Not necessarily.
Yes, you’re on a ship, and by their very nature, they move. The difference between a modern cruise ship and, say, a ferry or a sailboat is vast.
Continue Reading...Any update on Falmouth, Jamaica? Is this port likely to be ready for my Jan 23rd cruise? If not, will they substitute another Jamaica port? Thanks in advance! – S.C. – North Carolina
As of right now, they’re saying that the port will be ready for January. Matter of fact, there are a number of Holland America and Royal Caribbean itineraries that include that port through the end of the year. They’ve found recently, though, that the port is not quite up to their standards. As such, they’ve been re-routing to either Ocho Rios or Montego Bay. With such large ships as Allure Of The Seas scheduled to be coming in to that port and having it not be a tender port (meaning they’ll be able to dock right there instead of having to drop anchor a ways out and use tender boats to transfer people to and from the island), I imagine that the cruise lines are becoming rather anxious indeed for not only the port itself to be passing inspection but also for the dock to be complete.
While it is highly unlikely that your ship would skip Jamaica entirely (there are a few that re-route to Grand Cayman instead, but it’s rare), should the port at Falmouth not be up to snuff in time for your sailing, you’ll likely wind up in Montego Bay or Ocho Rios.
Thank you for your question, and please feel free to stop back here when you return from your voyage and let me know what they decided to do!
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