GeezerCouple

In case you weren't aware, if you have "two WiFi packages", that covers two devices logged in as guests in your cabin number. That means two can be online at the same time. So if you don't expect that all of you would need to be online at once, you might not need to pay for a third. The ship connection isn't monitoring "whose device it is". GC

They should have some rollaways. Because you are in a suite, I'd suggest requesting a rollaway in advance, through the pre-cruise Concierge. That way, on the off chance that there is a run on rollaway beds, you'll be among the winners. 😉 You can then arrange with your steward if you want the bed kept open during the day, or folded up. And I'd tip the steward extra, but we tend to tip generously anyway. We are fortunate to be able to do so... GC

There are also occasionally questions here about whether those in a Haven suite (often a 2BR) could pay in full for everyone in the Haven suite AND then pay in full extra for a separate cabin, specifically for the extra sleeping space (bed and bathroom). The answer is usually that it's not, but there are reports that it is in fact possible (if one has a good TA, etc., which is often especially helpful to make magic happen). So for those types, getting that extra cabin *free* is indeed a bonus. That's where a lot of us are coming from when we consider the extra freebie room as a plus. But others obviously feel differently... no surprise! GC

Yes, but the statement was: [emphasis added] That is not a universal, full stop. "Numerous sailings" doesn't mean that "the rest of the guests are free" period! (And I wonder how often there are specials... what percent of the "extra guests" are actually taking advantage of one of those specials?) Point is, one certainly cannot count on having that sweet cost structure. GC

There may be "specials" when guests beyond the first and second are "free", but that is not always the case. And besides, if NCL has issued tickets with certain accommodations/services, then that is what they "owe" the guests. We had some vacation rental properties for a while, and one of them was larger, almost like a lodge. I can just imagine telling some guests that because we didn't charge extra for any of the children, they couldn't go to the community pool. Or that they couldn't use, oh, say, the bathrooms. Right. GC

"up and down the elevators to / from their room all the time" Huh? They can use the Haven suite just the same as they would have done, except that now your group has a separate balcony cabin for extra space and sleeping! You may prefer to be more crowded and together, but it's only for sleeping that someone needs to go "up and down", and then come back again in the morning. Perhaps you could, once on board, arrange for complimentary full breakfast room service. Won't be as special as what the Butler can serve, but at least it will be "at your side when you wake up", etc. If we had a crowded Haven Suite, we'd take an "offer" like that in an instant. We'd even pay extra... Or please explain why that person needs to be trekking up and down/back and forth all day, every day to the extra sleeping space? Except for the actual bed, they'd still have access to the exact same Haven Suite while they are awake. And perhaps someone else would like to share the separate cabin so there is even less crowding. Given all the complaints about how little NCL has done when a Haven toilet wasn't working, this seems terrific. IF there is some specific reason why this can't work for your group, it would help the others here if you could explain that. GC

This is very nice, and I'm glad that you will have several other family members around to help out occasionally. (Of course, some of them could need their own attention, but that's a different issue!) I suggest letting the Special Needs/Access Desk at NCL know about this well in advance. They have no doubt already dealt with other similar passenger needs/requests. That includes the food, of course, but it might be good to have the crew who will be in the area of your cabin to be prepared. This could include the steward and any assistants or others who may take over some shifts. This might give NCL a chance to try to have experienced crew there. (Note: I have no idea how NCL handles this, but I assume that they would want to make it as easy as possible for both the guests and the crew.) They will probably give you contact information for someone about food preparation. Because everything needs to be pureed, it's probably not going to work well to wait until there is a menu just before a meal. We've found that they can provide menus the evening before, and then one can select the choices for the next day. That way, the preferred foods can be prepared the right way, be it pureed, no salt added, no <allergy food>, etc. This way you can help your uncle to get the foods that you know he tends to like. Be sure to let them know things like "not spicy" (or for some people, extra spicy!). Give NCL information similar to what you'd give friends if you are visiting for a few days. Does he handle crowds and noise okay? Some of the shorter cruises especially, depending upon itinerary, can be a bit noisy/etc. And try to plan in advance, so that you can get an "accessible" cabin. There aren't too many of those. Not having an enclosed shower will probably be a big help. Will you be needing to bring along extra care items such as waterproof sheets? Enjoy! GC

Those are the rules here, and if you want to participate, then follow the rules. As Charles4515 stated, it's not a good sign if someone's very first post is, in effect, "How can I break the rules here?" And it would be the same *anywhere*. Most groups or locations/places have "rules" of some sort or another. If you don't like them, then select a different choice, and hope that you can find one where you won't need to sort of introduce yourself by wanting to know how to violate the rules that other members obviously has been successfully abiding by for quite a few years. GC

You might want to post also on the Travel Insurance section of CC: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/499-cruisetravel-insurance/? or just browse there as well. After learning about them here on CC, we have always purchased our travel insurance from www.TripInsuranceStore.com They are a broker, and deal with policies from a variety of vetted insurers. We've had several claims (unfortunately), including some large ones, and all have been paid without any nonsense. CALL TIS. The online summaries simply cannot capture all of the fine print, which can really matter. Also, they'll ask you some questions, too, to try to help find the policy that best matches your specific needs. Call soon. For some (not all!) policies, there are deadlines to start the coverage, so the sooner you get started, the more choices you might have. GC

Also, don't forget about the Roll Call for your sailing. Start participating, at least reading, now. Perhaps you'll have a suggestion... or someone else will. Maybe you'll arrange to join a group excursion. Go to the Meet & Greet, and if there isn't one started, either start one, or mention it ("Is anyone organizing a M&G yet?") or such. That would be a great time... right for that first dinner, while you are there with some others. Exchange first names, and if you don't want to ask for cabin numbers of others, perhaps mention your own? We are ordinarily very private, but I can't think of a M&G such that once we were there with the others, we weren't very happy to give out names/numbers/etc. We've almost always arranged at least one private excursion, and had a handful of others join us for the outing. That's when we really learn "names"! (I'm *terrible* with names; very awkward, always has been... 😞 ) Try to mention "dinners" to a couple of people during the M&G and give them a way to reach you. I can't imagine having them take the other chair away. (!??) Enjoy Alaska. That was such a memorable cruise for us. Will you get to Hubbard Glacier? That was a high point of the cruise for us. Have a great time! GC

This doesn't sound quite right, but it may well have depended upon what you told them you *did* want insurance for. We always buy our travel insurance through TIS, and the type of policy we get REQUIRES that we start the insurance within 10-20 days of the first payment (refundable deposit or otherwise; the timing depends upon state of residence). So we have started some coverage >2 years in advance. We only need to insure that initial deposit, and then as we make more payments, we up the coverage accordingly. I'd suggest that you call back and double check this, unless you already know exactly why your type of coverage can wait. (And some types of coverage can wait.) GC

What aspect of the Haven suites are you referring to? Butler service? 2BR/2BA? Haven common area? Some of the nicer cruise lines could be considered to be mostly Haven-like on the entire ship, with the main difference being suite size. Or on some other lines, there are categories that have similar services. Finding the exact physical layout/etc., might be tricky. GC

Thanks very much. That's a handy summary. GC

Apparently some of you aren't aware of the very annoying fact that women's clothing doesn't always have pockets. It can be *so* inconvenient! Grrrrrr! GC

Are those the same sizes sold for home use as are on the ships? For some reason, I thought on the ships, the beds might be slightly smaller. (We never measured!) GC

Given your specific medical situation, I'd suggest contacting the Special Needs/Access Desk at NCL about this. That way, they'll already be aware of your need for these little containers, and can (hopefully!) keep some set aside for you or even deliver a few every day or couple of days (depending upon expiration dates, etc.) to keep in your mini-fridge. We have found all cruiselines (of those we've been on, of course!) to be extremely helpful about any special/medical needs that they are able to help with. Enjoy your cruise! GC

Are the newer Hurtigruten ships also "not classed as cruise ships"? I'm not sure if they also are set up to carry any type of freight or cars, but I haven't seen them - yet. Yes, "cruiseferries" would make sense as a category to those not knowledgeable or experienced with ships of these types or with the terminology. But with only the word "ferry" used, it's hard, at least for some of us with certain experiences, not to have images of something like a Staten Island Ferry come to mind, and it certainly wasn't anything like that. We did enjoy seeing some of the port activity, but at least when we were watching, it was relatively limited. But if someone on board didn't know or happen to watch, it would have been easy to overlook. Within weeks of our return from the Hurtigruten RT coastal cruise, DH got an email from an old college friend. Among other topics, he mentioned his annoyance that his wife had insisted and they were soon to take a trip "in Norway on a FERRY!!" and he was not a happy camper. It was a Hurtigruten ship very similar to the one we had just enjoyed, so DH wrote back with a "not to worry" message and some photos from the ship and the scenery. We especially enjoyed seeing some of the very small, remote towns. The settings were absolutely beautiful. Well, the scenery was stunning the entire way, town or no town. It remains one of our favorite trips ever, and we hope we get a chance to enjoy Hurtigruten - and Norway - again. Thank you for adding some information. GC

You can ask in advance about having a special souffle (or something else) for a special celebratory dinner. We did that for a major birthday for DH. Well, I did it. It was a surprise for him. 🙂 I had made the request in advance, and then I quietly double checked with our Butler to see if it was arranged, and I also found a chance to stop by Jacques on my own to speak with the Maitre d' about it. Worst that could happen is that they say they are sorry, but they can't arrange <whatever>, and then you are just back where you would have been if you hadn't asked. We *love* dining in our suite, either because we have trouble getting yet another Specialty reservation or if we are just exhausted after a busy day. But we made the "special dinner" reservation at Jacques. (Our other favorites are Polo and that sea bass at Red Ginger. Yum!) But our real treat is waking up to the smell of bacon and the aroma of coffee, and perhaps some gentle clinking of the china. (We always tell our Butler to knock and then enter; if we don't want that, we'll bolt the door.) Sometimes we are already awake, sometimes not. They are always very professional and courteous, and take their cues from us. If we greet them or start talking, so do they. If we are still quiet or groggy, they'll just disappear again and we'll see them later. Ah... we cannot wait to get back to Oceania! 🙂 Enjoy your trip! GC

Sorry for the late reply, but I just stumbled across this post/thread. Here is a link to the Hurtigruten sub-forum on CruiseCritic: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/forum/663-hurtigruten/ There should be lots of information for you to browse there, plus some good responses to any questions that you post. We took the Round Trip Norwegian Coastal Cruise a few years ago, and we LOVED it. DH was a bit wary, because I made the "mistake" of using the word "ferry"! I suspect that once he heard that word, he couldn't get images of the Staten Island Ferry in New York City out of his mind, and it is absolutely *nothing* like that. 🙄 Zippo, except that there might be a few cars hidden in the bowels of the ship along with some other freight. And Hurtigruten's new expedition ships aren't ferries at all. We were both *very* pleasantly surprised. We went on one of their cruises that had an "Astronomy" theme for a large group of the passengers, with an emphasis on Northern Lights, no surprise. We were on the Trollfjord, and it was very comfortable. We were fortunate to have an OS (Owner's Suite), which was very spacious. We did manage to peek into a couple of other cabins, and some of them were very small, but that is clearly described on Hurtigruten's website. The food was very good. There was an extra-pay "specialty dining" option (per dinner, not required for the entire cruise), and we found that underwhelming. Some of our meal were clearly from the regular dining room. The service was ridiculously slow. We found the main dining room so much better! The scenery was spectacular. We went in late Feb/early March, so there would be both daylight and night time, plus having lots of snow! If you go in the winter and think you may be on deck (outdoors) to watch for Northern Lights, please note that the COLD was UNREAL. Truly brutal... in addition to the cold, there was wind (regular plus ship movement). We didn't do any excursions such as dog-sledding (DH has severe allergies, alas), but that probably would also have been bitter cold. [Note that I spent quite a few years in the upper mid-west, so "winter" wasn't new to me.] We hope to return, perhaps in the summer. However, those winter landscapes... so beautiful! I wouldn't agree about their coastal voyage ships "not being cruise ships". One of their older ships (if it's still operating) would probably not be considered a "cruise ship", although it has passengers who really prefer that experience. On the other Hurtigruten ships, there were (this was pre-Covid) lounges and bars, nicely served dinners (buffet lunches, with extraordinary selections), and there are regular cabins and some suites, with daily housekeeping/cleaning. One difference was that this is also serious transportation along the coast, so that for any passengers who are on the ship for something like less than 24 hours, they don't need to get a cabin; everyone else must, and that's most of the passengers. So there were a very few souls who would crash on some comfy seating in a lounge. (That may be more of an issue in the summer/tourist season, but wasn't a problem at all when we were on board.) To characterize the Hurtigruten ships as "freighters" and not cruise ships would be, in our minds, a serious understatement. Someone could be on board most of their ships for the entire round trip cruise and never realize there was any non-cruise component to it below the passenger decks. And their newer ships, their expedition ships (such as to Antarctica)... those seen to be even more special. I cannot even imagine someone not considering those "cruise ships". The main thing is to view their website and photos to get a sense of "what's onboard" for each of their ships, depending upon the itinerary one prefers. GC

Yes, our coverage used to have something like this: IF there was an admission, no co-pay. But if there was no admission, then there was a flat $100 co-pay for the ER services. We figured they hoped that wouldn't hurt too much if someone genuinely thought the ER was necessary, while perhaps dissuading someone from heading to the ER for that uncomplicated splinter or such. But disallowing the ER visit cost entirely if no admission resulted from it? That really seems extreme, especially if it is indeed something that even medical professionals would consider an emergency. I do "get it" if it's judged not to have been anything that could be considered a medical emergency, but otherwise... would they really want to risk encouraging seriously adverse outcomes because someone was worried about maybe paying all of the ER costs if admission didn't end up being necessary? Someone with shortness of breath and chest pains might not go to the ER... It *could* be something other than a heart attack, but....... I just find this payment policy very odd, and wonder if that's really how it would be decided. Does anyone have the actual wording of such coverage stating that without an admission, the ER costs are *not* covered? GC

Is this really correct? A "medical emergency" doesn't necessarily require hospital admission, not by most understandings. Think about someone with a broken arm, perhaps hanging at an odd angle (ouch 😠 ). Surely getting medical attention isn't discretionary, something that could wait until some future appointment... And it might need a facility with more resources (equipment and staffing) than a corner "urgent care facility". But that doesn't mean it requires a hospital admission. There are other "medical emergencies" that don't require hospital admission, but sometimes that isn't clear until the immediate ER treatment and some observation, to see IF hospital admission is necessary. However, I do understand that an insurer - or HMO - doesn't want to pay ER-level costs if someone has a painful splinter or something similar, something that is not an emergency. But sometimes ER diagnostics are needed to rule out something that *might* have required admission or surgery, etc. ?? GC

Screaming... due to waiting!? 😱 GC

I would strongly urge you to contact a travel insurance broker who can discuss your particular needs/concerns about travel insurance and can help you find the right policy for you. We use www.TripInsuranceStore.com - but CALL them. But even after many policies and several claims, we still call, to make sure that the terms still fit our specific needs. This could be especially important for someone not yet familiar with the vagaries of travel insurance. The online summaries simply cannot include *all* of the terms and conditions, but a broker can discuss your travel plans and concerns and also ask some specific questions to help differentiate among several possible choices. There is no extra charge to use a broker. GC

What a nice surprise! This reminds me of approximately 15-20 years ago, when my parents were celebrating a major anniversary. All of us are scattered around the country, and we are the furthest from the others. One daughter invited them (her grandparents, obviously) to visit both granddaughters and a few great grandchildren. They planned for the adults to go to a certain favorite waterfront restaurant for dinner that first night. Unbeknownst to my parents, it was arranged that DH and I would fly cross country and [crossing fingers; back then flights were usually vaguely on time] and we'd be already seated at a large table when they arrived. We got in very early, checked in to our hotel, and then went to the restaurant before they even opened for dinner (this was arranged). So we lingered there for quite some time, enjoying the view, watching the main door like hawks. They all approached and my parents were totally oblivous, since they had no idea that "anything was happening". They were brought to our table, and there were truly remarkable expressions on their faces as "who the strangers at the table actually were" registered. Note: It later occurred to me that we were lucky that the shock didn't cause some sort of adverse medical event. I can't even imagine if something like that had happened. IF we could have a do-over, I think we would have tried for a slightly less dramatic start. But all went well, and they talked about it for the remainder of their lives! 🙂 CC is an appropriate forum for this: My parents took the extended family on our first two cruises, back in the mid-70s. And of course, there was no looking back! GC

We looked into annual plans back when we were just starting our serious travels. Before it turned out that the limits wouldn't be enough for most of our single trips, we realized there was a different problem. IF we ended up maxing out an annual policy, we may have already been past some deadlines for certain types of policies for other trips we already had planned. If someone only plans or has deposits/paid for only one trip at a time, this wouldn't be a problem. But in the "before days", we used to plan more than one trip at a time, sometimes several. We weren't willing to run the risk that we wouldn't be able to insure an already planned future trip because of a claim on the current trip. It may also have turned out there were other restrictions, but that alone caused us to rule out annual policies, or at least those that existed at that time. The only annual policy we do choose is for MedJetAssist. MJA does have "per-trip" coverage, but since we often travel(ed!) on more than one major trip a year, the cost of the annual policy made sense. Also, this way we were covered for any shorter/lesser trips (at least 150 miles from home, of course), such as business trips or visits to friends/family. Just make sure that the strategy you are planning would actually work for the types of travel, and the scheduling, that you tend to do. GC