SpainAlien

If the obc is refundable then yes, if however it is non-refundable credit provided by NCL then no

10 hours ago, caitlynambrai said:

@YVRteacher Have you happened to hear what show, if any, will be replacing What the World Needs Now? It will no longer be offered on the Star after October 11, 2023. 

I board on 12th November and What the World Needs Now still shows but does state that it won't be offered after 11 October. I expect it will be an entertainer like a musician, juggler, singer or comedian rather than a full show certainly in the short term

Regarding the special gift, I may be wrong but I think it is a name tag

On 8/1/2023 at 8:08 PM, YVRteacher said:

I’m currently getting food cooked to order. Of course they will do this, but it takes effort on the part of the passenger to communicate well.

To be fair you have specific dietary restrictions and have had trouble with the standard offerings. I am sure that you wouldn't advocate for everyone to insist on food cooked to order just on a whim. For example I couldn't walk up to the indian food counter and insist that they make me a chicken tikka masala or Kashmiri chicken just because there was nothing there that I fancied.

I stayed in an inside cabin on Epic and there was a fridge

On 2/15/2023 at 10:11 PM, Wayfairers said:

We are booking a private tour in Agadir and the tour guide wants to meet up at Hotel Al Maggor.  I see where it is on the map - about a 20 minute walk from the port. However, I’m seeing that a commercial port is used there and walking may not be allowed.  I’ve also seen where there is a port shuttle offered that will drop you in town, but I am unable to find where it drops you.  Anyone know where the shuttle goes to?  Has anyone taken the shuttle?

When are you going? I am there in November and I have the same question as you. If that is before you go I will post and let you know what I find out upon my return. If you are going before November could you please report back?

Many thanks 

7 hours ago, lisabdh1 said:

I did not see any taxis, only cars with signs of peoples names so I would guess they were all booked and so had permission to enter the port.  Yes, you can walk out of the port I did see people doing that, but it would seem to be maybe 15-20 min walk. Taxis were outside the main gate. Best Ride Tours met us at the dock yes. I would say try to look at dock/port area on google maps to see the distance maybe?

Thank you again, i have been scouring YouTube videos and Google to try to get a feel for the port. The tours I am looking at want to pick up at a Hotel in town and I was wondering how to get there.

7 hours ago, lisabdh1 said:

Hi, just visited Agadir on the Sun this past March. Are you talking about a free shuttle? I did not see any free shuttles in Agadir. We docked in a commerical port, very large. NCL has the big buses for their excursions lined up, then smaller private tour operators were allowed in. Very strict regulations for allowing cars/people into the port. I can recommend Best Ride Tour if you are looking for a smaller private tour, they were awesome.

Thank you for coming back to me.

My understanding is that the shuttle was about $15 return trip but that was 5 years ago apparently.

Were taxis allowed in to the port or if not is it far to walk to get out of the dock and are there taxis there?  Are Best Ride Tour allowed on to the pier? 

Many thanks 

8 minutes ago, Jem 12 said:

Brilliant thank you so much, that clarifies several queries, you have put my mind at ease, so grateful to the people on this board who take the time to reply in such a detailed way. 
Now just to try and sort out some trips, there is 4 adults travelling together so will try and do taxis/ hire car where we can. 
 

many thanks and kind regards

 

Elizabeth 

Just a side note, don't forget you can customise your dishes a little if you don't fancy the accompaniments, for example if a dish in the MDR is served with chips you can ask them to give you mash or something else instead,  Also don't forget that you can ask for steamed vegetables to accompany your main course if you find you are missing your veg. Finally, I will often order two starters to try something I have never had before like corn chowder or chicken pho

18 minutes ago, Jem 12 said:

Hi Sorry to hear you have had such a disappointing cruise, we have cruised once on NCL Epic and are sailing on star on Oct 3rd. 

We have got the free at sea, I have already been slightly disappointed to see the internet package is only a certain number of minutes, other cruise have usually been unlimited. Need to read small print more my mistake.

Can I ask a few questions from more experienced NCL cruisers, I know there is a $20 a day service charge. If you have the free at sea ( we are in Uk) do you still have to pay a compulsory gratuity on the included drinks (free) and the two included speciality restaurants. 
Can you get bottled water as part of your drinks package ? We don’t drink tons of fizzy drinks.  Can we refill our own water bottles anywhere with chilled water? 
Di they pour iced water in the dining rooms or do you have to buy bottled water  if not included in package. 
On our only NCL cruise on Epic we thought entertainment was fabulous, so disappointing to hear it so poor now.  We did find Epic a very Smokey ship as casino was in middle of ship and allowed smoking, I suspect Casino will be a no go area for  us on this ship too. 
I am very surprised at how poor most of the reviews are for NCL, wish I had read more before booking, 

I would love to hear from anyone who has already done the around Ireland cruise for any info about the ports. 
Thank you in advance for any replies.

 

Elizabeth 

Hi Elizabeth

Booking on the UK sites you don't have to pay separate gratuities for the free at sea perks, that's why you pay a fixed price for FAS it covers those. 

FAS does not include bottled water but you can get iced water at the bars and it is poured at the dining tables. If you want it at the buffet it is self serve (use a fresh glass every time) and that is also where you go to fill your water bottle but use a fresh glass to decant water into the bottle do not put the bottle up to the faucet.

The $20 daily service charge covers your room steward, waiters, behind the scenes personal so whilst you do not have to tip extra many choose to if they have a great member of staff. 

NCL Star is an older, smaller ship than Epic and the layout is a bit weird (you can't walk straight through from Aqua to Versailles you have to go up, along then back down for example - over the kitchen). It never had the Broadway style show like Priscilla Queen of the Desert but the shows are still pretty good and on a par with small ships on other cruise lines like RCCL and Carnival. 

To add some perspective, I was on Dawn out of Southampton in June and found the food to be generally good but there are some obvious cuts since covid, for example in Teppanyaki the steak isn't fillet any more but it is still just fine.  I am not a fussy eater and have a typical English palate and I was happy that there was always something I liked.  I did have issues with our room steward but i do think that he was overworked and struggling to cope, I hope that will be better on Star in November.

Enjoy your round Ireland voyage, I loved Dublin but spent all day tasting Guinness and Jameson whisky, I will be going back at some point because it is beautiful and my time there was too short. I did the ho ho through NCL.  In Belfast we did a private tour out to the Giants Causeway which was incredible and found another distillery to taste their whisky (Bushmills). 

Hi everyone I am hoping someone can help me.  I am trying to organise a tour in Agadir and everything I am reading says "some" cruise lines organise a shuttle into down town Agadir. Has anyone been there with NCL, do they offer a shuttle and if they do, where does it drop you off?

Many thanks 

37 minutes ago, AstoriaPreppy said:

 

From what I've read, there's a standard "get you into town" shuttle all cruise lines run out of the port area. But I remember reading that NCL specifically has/had a $25 train station shuttle, so you didn't have to transfer to a public bus/taxi to get to the train station. 

 

If no one knows, we'll absolutely ask onboard. We've already got an NCL transfer excursion into Florence booked, but the shuttle/train would offer a bit more flexibility and possible a few more hours in Florence. 

We were on NCL Spirit and there was only the general shuttle not a specific NCL one BUT that was in 2019 so things may have changed since then

Last time we went to Livorno there was a shuttle into Livorno but it didn't go to the train station

We went paragliding and did the zip lines.  We had lunch at the restaurant by the pool and generally had a great day

If you want the US site you can go to app.ncl.com

On boarding day they put all the menus out on display in Bamboo and you can look through them, decide which you fancy and make your dining reservations there.  I was sailing solo so decided on Cagneys and Teppenyaki but when I am with my husband it is Cagneys and La Cucina

I am booked through CAS for my November cruise and I can't book dining, shore excursions or gifts to the cabin from the app or the website. I am hoping that after final payment this resolves itself.

I had a similar experience on Dawn in June and when posting on CC about it got a lot of negative posts saying that I was either not being truthful or over reacting. I am sorry that you are experiencing this, I was hoping that my experience was a one-off.  Go to guest services and make a complaint, it is only by people complaining on the ship that anything will change otherwise it will be assumed to be acceptable.

1 hour ago, shof515 said:

are you limited to just 1 side or can you get multiples? 

I had two without any problem

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

 

You can use your platinum coupons at any specialty restaurant. There is no $$$ limit to the entrée cost like before. They are subject to the same upcharges as the dining package. One of your two dinners comes with a bottle of wine. 

 

The Dining Package offers 1 appetizer, 1 salad/soup, 1 entrée, 1 dessert. 

 

Technically, the Platinum coupons offer 1 appetizer, 1 entrée, 1 dessert (i.e., 3 courses). In our experience, the waiters treat the dinners the same and offer you the 4 courses. 

On Dawn in June as we sat down the waiter told us only 1 appetizer, 1 entree and 1 dessert so maybe they are tightening up on that 

This is the voucher I received on Dawn in June, it says any restaurant 

Thanks everyone, I called yesterday and sorted it out.

Just now, dbrown84 said:

the NCL app that you can install on your cell phone.  You can also make payments thru the app

Ah yes, I get you now. Yes, tried that too, no joy

7 hours ago, dbrown84 said:

have you also tried paying on the phone app?

What's the phone app? I have seen the call back feature or chat is that what you mean?

6 hours ago, McFins said:

 After you call and make payment, if you find that you also have trouble making dinner reservations or excursions online or in the app (for instance telling you to try again later) you can call CAS to book dinner reservations and the Excursion desk to book excursions.   Apparently some with CAS bookings have been experiencing technical issues with such for the past week or so 

It's funny you would say that, I had noticed that I couldn't book excursions this last week, u assumed it was a glitch and NCL would sort it out or it would clear once I made final payment.