schmoopie17

When is the cruise? If winter, you probably wouldn't want to arrive the same day as the cruise. Even when it's not winter, flights are getting canceled (as with United the other day). Not usually a good thing to fly in the same day. But as they say on CC...YMMV.

Yep...

Strange...but true.

I think deep down you're happy to get your $11,842.77 back. Take the money and run...or re-book and go on the cruise. A bunch of internet strangers can't determine what you do in life. And just for the record, I'M usually the bad guy,,,😉

Yes, you have to call. If you have a PCC, call him/her. If not, call the regular toll-free number. Unless you used a TA, in which case you need to call them. But hurry up before final payment is due.

@tonyfall1 I see you're relatively new to CC...or at least the NCL board. You probably don't know that this is a subject that has been kicked around on this board for a very long time. I would suggest doing a search for "BOGO" or "NCL Air" and you will be overwhelmed by the number of hits you will get. Many, many...MANY more than the handful you will get to your posting. And you might want to set aside a couple of weeks to be able to get through them all 😁. Have fun sorting through them.

While the thought of hanging out with fellow old farts on HAL is appealing (I turn the big 7-Oh next month)...we prefer casual cruising and NCL fits the bill. No mandatory "look at me in my tuxedo/ball gown" nights, flexible dining times ( as well as flexible booking with refundable deposits up until final payment, for people who tend to change their minds...like us.) We've only been on "newer" NCL ships (Escape, Bliss, Encore, Prima) but will be taking our first cruise on an "older" NCL ship (Pearl) in December. It will be interesting to see how the old girl stacks up against her younger sisters.

There are two ports in Puerto Plata. Might make a difference. We're trying to figure out which port they will be using for our upcoming cruise, since the itinerary only says "Puerto Plata". We have seen instances of NCL using both ports.

The TA I most recently used offered $375 "rebate" after the cruise...plus free prepaid gratuities. A good deal if you can get it. I'm right there with you on the "10%" Veteran's Discount. I have no clue how they calculate it...it's not even 10% off the base fare, as you would expect. They use some sort of fuzzy math because it never comes out to 10% of anything that I can determine. But it's still nice to be recognized with at least something off.

Excellent question. I wish I had an excellent answer 🙃

Same with us. We actually had a Greek cruise scheduled for next September but after hearing about the fiasco in Santorini with the cable car and donkey path, we ended up canceling. (There were other issues, as well, but that was one factor). We may still end up rescheduling again at some point.

Now that your cruise is over and have nothing to look forward to, I might actually have to get a life. Seriously, loved tagging along with you. Still have to get to Anchorage for fish and beer.

Raise your hand if you ever thought dog poop bags would be a hot topic on CC. (Hand unraised)...

If you have a cruise booked, you can go into the excursions under "Explore and Plan'. However, like many other things on the NCL website, it's funky. Some excursions will show the number of reviews (most have 0 reviews)...and even the ones that do show a number, most will not have the actual review attached.

We've always found cloggers to be pretty entertaining dancers.

Was the woman with her paws all over the pizza the same one that coughed all over your food?

Will you later be docking at June Cove, Wally Cove and Beaver Cove? And don't miss everyone's favorite, Eddie Haskell Cove.

I've heard MSC does status match. What, if any "Platinum" benefits did you get on MSC?

I always dreaded having to sit through Grandpa's slides. Until the day he accidentally left the brothel slides in the batch...

Or various other positions? 😁 On a related subject, is this how the term "living doll" was coined?

For your convenience...of course.

Are you sure you're not me? That always seems to happen to me. Usually on a plane, where I'm stuck for a few hours. Or in a grocery store, they wait until they pass me in an aisle and then take the opportunity to cough. 🤮

It depends on the size of the ship and the itinerary and the season. A larger ship means more competition for spots...as well as how big the inside public areas are. For example. the NCL Prima has smaller than usual public areas, which tend to get jam-packed on sea days. I mention itinerary and season because if you are doing northern ports (especially in late fall) the outside decks will probably be deserted, with everyone fighting for the inside spaces.

NCL policy (we know this because we have done this a couple of times) regarding price drop after final payment is that you can request a one-time FCC (Future Cruise Credit). The last time we did this, our cruise fare dropped a total of $1100 after final payment. We called our PCC who submitted a request for the FCC and two days later we received the credit in our account. Note that the one-time request applies to a particular cruise. You can do the same process on other cruises, but only once per cruise.

Just hit 99 today. As we used to say in the Army when counting the days until you get home...or get discharged...I'm a double-digit midget.