Comments for The Lollipop Road

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by Randy

Randy — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 12:01:43 +0000

Unfortunately, this turned out to be a bad week for cruising the East Coast. I’ve cruised a dozen times during hurricane season and have gotten bitten only twice, but it is a gamble. In really bad weather, the pills only go so far – the onboard doctor can give you a shot that takes effect within an hour…definitely recommend the $90 or so that it costs. A little tip for readers stopping in the Bahamas – if you want to go to Atlantis, rent a room at the Comfort Inn next door and you’ll get free access to Atalantis. The cruise line tours to Atalantis are way overpriced.

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by cos

cos — Sun, 05 Sep 2010 05:09:53 +0000

Just came back from 7 day Carribean cruise off the Jewel. little disapointed because of the Hurricane. We couldn’t do Great Stirrup Cay. Spent two days in the Bahamas were the beach felt like it was sand blasting us because of the wind. Went to Atlantis second day. Nice but not worth 577.00 they charged us for five of us Rip Off. Just to spend about 8 hrs at a Dorney Park like setting! Thursday and Friday Morning the boat was really rocking 12 ft waves. We all stayed in our cabins slept because of seasick pills effect. I did win at the casino. only plus side of this cruise. Otherwise not worth the money I dished out!

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by Randy

Randy — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 13:12:27 +0000

This is one of the issues that I tackle in my book. Booking airfare and hotel apart from the cruise line, although cheaper allows them to disavow any responsibility for those costs in the event of cancellation The only protection would be to purchase trip insurance that covers this type of scenario. In your case, you may have been able to cancel your hotel without penalty, but likely would have incurred a change fee with the airline. In the end, many passengers just live with it – in that case, the best thing to do is just make the best of it. I encourage you to come back and report on your trip.

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by Ed

Ed — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:33:16 +0000

We are on the September 21st Cruise to New England on the NCL Jewel. The Azipod engine repair is a real let down, this is our 4th NCL cruise and it will be our last. They did offer us a full refund and gave us three business days to give them an answer. With our separate airfare, NYC Hotel for two nights and our two week vacation already scheduled that we would lose if we didn’t go I was really disappointed. FYI the info we received removed Newfoundland from the schedule of ports. Instead we have another day of AT SEA sailing. So we waited for five years to see the colorful leaves in New England and instead 1/5 of our time will be onboard the Jewel. In my opinion a cruise should never be fun not a chore to do because you have to. I’m going to find out if they knew about this problem six months ago when we booked then gave us a short notice. I’ll report them to the proper agencies. To me this looks like a bait and switch scam activity.

Comment on Exploring The Pirates Of Nassau Museum by Randy

Randy — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:24:43 +0000

The first photo is the life-sized pirate ship…or as much of it that I could photograph in tight quarters.

Comment on Exploring The Pirates Of Nassau Museum by Slava

Slava — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 17:02:06 +0000

This museum looks like fun. Although the first image is slightly confusing. What is it?
Slava´s last blog ..Sunny vacation in Cabo

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by Randy

Randy — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 12:46:48 +0000

This is an unfortunate situation that occurs more often than you’d probably think. The standard protocol at most cruise lines is to schedule the next available drydock time and cancel a sailing. However, it appears that NCL feels that they can potentially rectify the situation without a drydock – perhaps, perhaps not. You should be able to obtain a refund. Contact your TA and have them advocate on your behalf.

Comment on Cruise Review – NCL’s Norwegian Jewel by Hayyoot

Hayyoot — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 00:29:07 +0000

We are booked on Norweigian Jewel that departs out of New York City on Oct 1st, 2010, and heads to New England, and Canada. We booked several months ago, and now we are fully paid for the cruise. Last week, we received an email stating that this ship has mechanical malfunction, and will have to travel at a reduced speed, therefore, they changed the itenerary of the cruise, they called the change as “a small change”, it included cutting down on the port time from 7 hours to 5 hours in avarage for some ports, they also changed the dates of some stops, but, they will still stop at all planned ports, when you call them and tell them, hey, we were palnning to rent a car and go somewhere, and 5 hours are not enough to do so, we want our money back, they are all trained to tell you that they have good news for you, and that you can buy their shore excrusions if you want to get away from the ship. When you tell them that you don’t want to go on their over priced sedentary shore excursions, they just tell you that thet can’t help you then because the small print in the contract you signed at teh time of booking allow them to change or cancel ports and stops as they please, and you have no recourse.
Now, HERE IS THE BIG SCAM, we found out that this mechanical malfunction has been diagnosed for a while now, they have been announcing the problem about a month before each sailing, if you looked at the ship’s planned itenerary, they have scheduled sailings till April 2012, they have no plans to take it off the route for repairs anytime prior to April 2012, hell, our cruise doesn’t take off till October 1st, and I am writing this post on August, they have ample chance to fix the problem if they wanted to, but, instead, they decided to remain quiet, take reservations for non realestic iteneraries, that are not compatible with their limited speed abilities, and notify the passengers a month or so prior to the cruise about the change, they don’t offer refunds, or compensations of any kind, the only thing they offer you is to talk to the shore excursions desk so that they can plan something for you, since the new iteneraries now offers such a short port time that doesn’t allow you to do anything on your own, this mechanical malfunction weather it exists or not, will end up boosting their shore excursions sales way up, sounds like a good deal (for them of course, only them), . If they have good intentions, why don’t they fix the problem now? Or, at least, why can’t they announce that the ship will be travelling at a reduced speed for the next two years, and just change the iteneraries now, instead of a month prior to the future cruises taking off?
NCL, NEVER AGAIN, if you are like us, and don’t like to dress up for dinners, no problem, go with another cruise line,and eat upstairs, or order room service.
I do stand by my statement, and will be happy to answer individual emails if you have any doubts

Comment on A Day At Blue Lagoon Island In Nassau by Jay Chua

Jay Chua — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:09:08 +0000

Hi Randy,

I just stumble across your blog post..
I have always wanted to visit Bahamas but just didn’t get a chance to do so..

Loving the ideas of hammock:)
I have 2 hammocks myself, and always bring them with me when I travel to a beach paradise.

Jay
Jay Chua´s last blog ..Moon Valley Rustic Tete-a-Tete Swing

Comment on An Outing To Wright’s Dairy Farm And Bakery by Arrows Sent Forth

Arrows Sent Forth — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 18:13:14 +0000

Thanks for your comment today. Love this post–we’ve been thinking of visiting a dairy farm a few hours from here, and now I feel more motivated to make the drive. Looks like fun!
Arrows Sent Forth´s last blog ..Why we travel as a family