mertziek

2 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Then I guess it was the next cruise segment, the one from Dubai to Capetown, that missed so many of its planned ports.  By the time the Spirit got to Capetown, all bets were off.  Some folks were trapped on the ship for days before the authorities at Capetown let them disembark to fly home.

Yes, I believe that next cruise or the one after it was stuck trying to find a port to disembark while the world was shutting down.  We felt very lucky to have stayed one jump ahead of Covid.  Several of our ports closed a day or two after we left.  We were a bit nervous about getting home but had a few days leeway to travel before everything was closed down.  Again, we were very lucky!

4 hours ago, The Traveling Man said:

Here's a link to the roll call for the Spirit cruise that was delayed.  Post #2956 includes the letter NCL sent describing the delays.  The cruise was scheduled for 11 February, but did not begin boarding until Valentine's Day.

 

 

We were on this cruise.  Initially we lost a day from the original cruise itinerary and then a week before the cruise we lost 3 more days causing us to scramble and book extra precruise days in Rome.  Then we got to the port and on checkin found out our DOS was not ready and were told we were “upgraded” to a better cabin before we boarded.  NOT!!!  We were in one of the smallest balconies for 2+ weeks and only spent 4 days in our DOS.  Had we known all of that before boarding we might have canceled the cruise but in retrospect, other than the unexpected room downgrade plus other unfinished parts of the Spirit, we had a great cruise.  After that cruise I became aware of the true meaning of “travel is an adventure” and learned to go with the flow expecting the unexpected at any time.  In the age the ease of last minute internet bookings, it’s much easier to go with the flow and formulate a Plan B very quickly.

By the way - we made all of our ports just scooting ahead of Covid port closures and getting home from Dubai without any delays.  

On 3/11/2024 at 2:47 PM, Baron Barracuda said:

How do you know your missing bag even made it off the ship?  You put it in the corridor the night before and assumed it would naturally find its way to the exit hall.  Perhaps it fell by the wayside aboard ship or some nefarious sole snatched it and took it back to their cabin to examine.  

Then there is the possibility the bag fell off the ship into the water as they were unloading bags.  We saw that happen at a port where 5-7 bags went in the water.  The crew did not seem too upset about it and we did not see them fish the bags out while we were watching.

35 minutes ago, jwindham said:

I just stayed in the W in Santiago and would never recommend it. First the bathrooms are all open to the room with absolutely no privacy at all. I was lucky that I was alone but the comments from others on this cruise (Silversea) that were put up here had a lot of issues, like a father and daughter duo. Also they have no air in the lobby as they have an open terrace restaurant at one end and it was in the 90s when we were there. Miserable place to be. Julia

Thank you.

1 hour ago, asnaleah said:

Friends of ours stayed for a few days post cruise at the W in Santiago. They enjoyed it.

Thank you.

11 hours ago, Carnevale said:

….We didn’t see much of San Antonio but what we did see made us glad we had elected to stay in Santiago.

Thank you for the hotel suggestion. 
It sounds like San Antonio might be like why we stay in Rome and not Civitavecchia when we leave from there.  More happening in Rome.

We have a cruise out of San Antonio, Chile next March but fly into Santiago.  We want to go a couple of days early to do some local touring before embarking on our cruise and it looks like tours from Santiago are easier/better to book and then arrange a transfer on cruise embarkation day to the Cruiseport rather than staying in San Antonio.  Any suggestions on 5* hotels in Santiago?  Or do you suggest staying in San Antonio?  We are looking for a good hotel location for local site seeing as well as day touring out of Santiago or San Antonio.  Thank you in advance.

Since we are particular about the cabin we book and usually see those cabins booked early, we like to book as soon as we find a cruise we want to do.  We’ve booked 2 years ahead several times.  My husband always says he hopes we are still alive then.  😳😳😳

On 12/31/2023 at 2:33 PM, BirdTravels said:

First, no one is going to book a room because of a hot tub on the balcony and cancel if there is not one there. It is just an extra feature of the room. 
 

The ships had a hot tub design, which they have used a similar design before on smaller ships. But it got caught up in some health inspection finding. They have a temporary workaround, should you want to use it. People are being given a generous compensation for nothing a feature of the room. 

Ummm….BirdTravels you are wrong.  Yes, we did book a Viva suite with a hot tub because of the hot tub although we preferred another much less expensive Owners’ Suite set up.  Had we known in advance that there were issues with the hot tubs impacting ability to use it whenever we wanted without having to get our room steward involved, we would have changed our suite to another much less expensive suite by $1,000’s with a better interior room layout.  The paltry OBC given was significantly less than the extra we paid for the hot tub suite.  Also we sailed Prima before the problem occurred and were able to control our hot tub temperature plus use it without a thought given to get staff involved.  The Viva hot tubs were different - as far as we were able to determine - with no ability to control the temps and keep the heat on even when not being used.  That being said - we made a point of not letting it ruin our cruise but it left a sour taste because we felt duped by NCL.  

I’ve looked online and searched here but didn’t find an answer.  Can you explain the difference between the OS and OE designated tours?  Are there restrictions who can book them?  TIA

16 hours ago, fredflint said:

Are you using Chrome?

No.  Safari

No not on VPN but back home recently back from a European/TA cruise so my iPad is confused with foreign sites.  Clearing cache did not help but I looked at the web address and see where if I change it to just NCL.com it corrects the problem.  I could not find a place to click on the currency icon but I often find my iPad is wonky that way.  Thanks for suggestions/help.

Tried to do a search to see if this was asked before no results.  So my NCL account is showing me pricing in euros.  Is there a way to change it to US$’s?  I’ve cleared my cache and still in euros.  TIA

Tipping is very personal.  You decide what you can afford.  Also, we save our tips to the end of the cruise for our butler, steward and concierge.  Some tip them as they use them.  Many use the $10 pp per day rule for the butler and adjust up or down based on service.  Room stewards’ tips based on service.  We often tip them the same as the butler despite being part of the DSC since they do the most to keep our room tidy and clean with the concierge getting about half as much.  We tip bartenders as we are served and same for waitstaff in restaurants - Haven, included restaurants and specialty ones.  Haven Head maitre D’ at the end of the cruise and amount less than our butler.  Around the ship, we tip as drinks are served or for dining service at the time.  Again, you tip what best fits your service and your custom.

3 hours ago, JIMESOPUS said:

After the sub spectacular Prima TA, nevermore was said by me, the raven, and many others.

 

Well never say never. We are going live in 19 days, 2 days pre-cruise in Rome, and 21 days on the Viva. 

Same here.  We did not like the TA on Prima for several reasons (we still had a great cruise though) but we are going with you on Viva mainly to join friends.  Agree - never say never!

1 hour ago, TACoor said:

Thanks. I tried that and the problem persists. Guess I'll wait a day and see if their site is still "on vacation."

Same with me.  🤷🏼‍♀️

1 hour ago, MoCruiseFan said:

Clear your cache, delete cookies.

Did that and still not getting on the site.

Doing b2b round trip in Sept 2024 Boston to New England and Canada.  Doing b2b round trip in July 2025 NYC to Reykjavik hoping to get to Greenland on one of the cruises since I missed it in July 2022.  ☹️  We are booked to keep our same cabin for both b2b cruises which is a big plus for us!   And no international airfare which is crazy expensive these days!!! 

9 minutes ago, D&N LUV 2 TRAVEL said:

Our cruise this past June 4 on the Prima went down $1,800 for the cabin after final payment and our TA applied for a FCC.

She did get one for us for $1,800 and it is a one time adjustment. 2 weeks later the cabin was reduced another $1,000 but got nothing for that.

Yup, that’s why you have to decide when you want to ask for the FCC.  If you wait too long, your cabin category could be sold out and then you won’t qualify for the FCC but if you request it too early, the price could further drop and you won’t qualify for another price drop FCC.  Personally I’m happy if I get any FCC even if the cruise price further drops.

5 hours ago, Turtles06 said:

Just to add another benefit of not waiting until the last minute to book is that you’ll very likely have a much better choice of cabins. Some folks don’t care about that, others do. 

We are ones who cruise mainly first for our cabin and second for itinerary so we book early.  I have 3 cruises already booked for 2025 and 3 for 2024 all in the cabins we prefer.  If pricing drops before final payment, we have our TA reprice our cruise so it’s a win-win for us.  And if pricing drops after final payment, I’ll request a one-time FCC but recognize I may not qualify for it.  When we book we have already decided we are willing to pay the listed price so if we get an FCC for a price drop it’s icing on the cake for us.  YMMV

2 hours ago, musicgal said:

We have a Fall cruise on the Pearl booked and it will be our first with NCL. I am wondering if there are some folks here who can tell me if this cruise attracts any party animals... reason being that our aft cabin is right over Bliss Ultra Lounge which has the bowling lanes and late night karaoke.  Looks like those activities shut down by midnight- but I know that these Fall cruises generally have fewer night owls/ young couples due to school being in session, pools being closed, etc. I'm thinking that folks in our age demographic (60s) will be a little more likely to have a few drinks and go back to their cabins. I really don't want to switch out cabins at this point because of potential noise, but would like to know if we need to bring earplugs.

Never hurts to pack your ear plugs!

I’ve been to Iceland on both the Star in late July and Prima in September.  Our stops in Greenland on the Star last year were canceled due to weather.  The Prima has a lot of outdoor spaces which are better suited to warm weather ports but we always found quiet places.  Plus Prima is a newer ship.  The Star is older and smaller so should be able to get into Isafjordur despite delays in dredging although they should be done with that for next year.  We found quiet spaces and not a crowded feel to the ship.  The Prima allows purchase of movies in your room unless in the Haven where they are included.  The Star has channels showing different movies but not a lot of variety.  I’d load movies on your iPad or laptop and bring those along to watch in your room even if on Prima.  The selection is limited.  Either ship was enjoyable.  The biggest difference is the newness of Prima.  And definitely get a balcony.  The scenery is spectacular in Iceland.  This is one cruise where we sail for the itinerary not the ship/cabin.

They are very picky about applying that 20% FCC to a European cruise.  If your cruise is not listed as a European cruise on their menu but an Asian one, then the 20% can’t be applied.  I tried to apply mine to a TA cruise starting in Europe with 3 European ports but they would not allow that since it’s technically listed as a transatlantic cruise.  I even appealed to Katty Byrd and was denied.

I’d do a 2 day deviation so you have at least one entire day to see Seattle.  

2 hours ago, UKstages said:

 

just to clarify... you personally are not going to use NCL because of the miami situation described in this thread? or something else?

No the person complaining said that they were annoyed and never sailing NCL again.  We were not on the Escape.  But even if we had been, we find NCL to be a good fit for us and would sail with them again.