fstuff1

Thinking of a Msc MERAVIGLIA cruise since NYC is my nearest port. IF you sailed MERAVIGLIA, how was that casino compared to Edge class?

true, there;s no requirement to gamble on the ship. but you're still gambling at your land casino. you met ncl's profile to get a free cruise. so you're still paying for your cruise from your land casino loses, unless you're gambling smart. gambling smart= price of cruise is waaaaay less than your loses

but they also have cruisenext certificates. $250 for only $125 so $125 free. so that pays some of the port fees/taxes. so with gambling smart, you can have a truly cheap cruise. but i agree with you that for a majority of people with free casinos cruises, it's not actually cheap. they dont gamble smart

i take his meaning as you paid for the cruise with your gambling loses

it is true. gamble smart. post #12: https://boards.cruisecritic.com/topic/2937788-free-cruises-with-caesar’s-not-so-free/?do=findComment&comment=65405533

sky lagoon (not crowded) opens at 12pm. theres a $15 round trip shuttle from bus terminal to there. there's no direct shuttle from sky lagoon to airport. you have to take the shuttle from the lagoon back to the small bus terminal and xfer to the 45min airport bus ($35). or blue lagoon (always crowded) but they drops off at airport

Play only video poker. 1% avg loss at $5 '9/6 ddb' ($25/spin) 2% avg loss at $1 '7/5 bonus poker' ($5/spin) 3% avg loss on $0.05 '6/5 bonus poker' (.25/spin). This is probably THE best game on any ncl ship for low rollers. even at double the coin-in needed to earn a tier point in vp, your loses will (on avg) be ALOT less compared to slots and roulette for example: Sapphire casino tier = 15k points = $75k coin-in slots = $150k coin-in vp $150k x 1% = $1500 loss (on avg) if you cruise 5 times in a year and split your play evenly, that's $300 loss per cruise (on avg)

how do you find out who the provider is?

Doing a b2b on Star in June 2023. 1st leg = ov, 2nd leg = inside. I usually ignore the upgrade emails but i clicked on it this time. min bid ov-> balc seems kinda high? Is the min bid different for every cruise?

Used to be Diamond elite with Caesars in 2021. i didnt goto Atlantic city at all last year because caesars eliminated the free diamond lounges for 2 of their 3 casinos, making it a zoo for the 3rd one because EVERYONE now goes there. Yes, i could have paid (comp $) to goto the 7stars lounge but Diamond Lounge fiasco was the straw that broke the camel's back. I guess i'm not the only mid level gambler that stop playing at Caesars since this year they are re-instituting Diamond lounges at the other 2 casinos. too little, too late for me. Anyway, havent gotten a free ncl offer from them this year but got one from my local casino. yes, the $20/day admin fee is annoying since my other line (Celebrity) doesnt charge it. i turn down the drinks package because free drinks at the casino bar. if tommorow is a port day, plan ahead and stock up on a couple of unopened cans/bottles of beer. for cabin upgrades, i put in a minimum bid ($150/person). it's cheaper but the risk is that you might not get the upgrade which is ok risk for me. so basically for me, it's just port fees/taxes + $20/day admin fee - $250 cruisenext so like $200/person. I guess the free $125 from cruisenext somewhat offsets the admin fee. incidentally, you get $100 obc as a ncl stock benefit. on celebrity, you don't get the $100 stock benefit if it's a free cruise. with the cruisenext certificate and $100 obc, NCL is actually cheaper than a free celebrity cruise if you dont do any add-ons.

I'm on NCL and will be in Sandnessjoen in early June. Their ship excursion prices for this port are expensive. ($200+ so at least $150+ after $50 shore excursion promo) Viator doesnt have a listing for Sandnessjoen. Any suggestions for excursions and excursion companies? Links? Thx

Upgrading on day 2 for 1 day cheaper has been in effect for years. I haven read that it's been changed this year. And it only works till day 2. I was told for day 3+ the offer disappears but you can goto the internet mgr and he can do it at the same upgrade price as day2. But here's something new (2023): It's not upgrading your minutes to unlimited. It's outright buying an unlimited package for $100.

Anyone encounter this special?

Last week I saw breakaway out of n.o for March. Interesting ly, they will sail 2 days no pax for reposition ing n.o to Miami on 1st week of April. Great for the crew, horrible for me. Will probably be on breakaway last week March and will also be on her 1st week Miami. So i have to fly to Miami and book hotel near pier for 2 days :(

So i'm booking my Lhr to southampton bus from national express: HEATHROW Airport London T2,3 (LHR) I'm coming in on Virgin Atlantic. Looks like i'm coming in on terminal 3. $1 booking fee for National Express? anyway around this?

Wait.. Johnny Walker Blue is back?!

I was on the Bliss mexican Rivera cruise in March.The cruise was full because (unbeknownst to me) it was spring break. debarkation was easy peasy. facial recognition machines was used. There were like a handful of people in front of me for like a 1min wait. And this ship had 4k pax. Now the cruise before mine was a cluster like yours. That cruise started somewhere else and ended in LA. No facial recognition machines. Lines and 2+ hrs waits galore. It seems like facial recognition isn't used at that port if cruises don't start AND end in LA. No idea why.

Current great Platinum benefits: 2 specialty dinners, free laundry, wine tasting, lite version of the behind the scenes tour Current great Sapphire benefits: None <In my opinion> Current great Diamond benefit: One time cabin level upgrade (ie: OV to Balcony) Current great Ambassador benefit: Free 7 day Caribbean cruise Moving the free tour would make the Sapphire Tier more appealing and not be the red headed step child of the upper tiers. Also, on my last cruise, CruiseNext had to create multiple behind the scenes tours because there were so many Platinums. And each group had like 20 people which made it hard to hear the ship employee speaking because you can't get near him when space is limited. (Kitchen, laundry room). Note: I don't consider dinner with a random officer (like the gift shop mgr) as a great benefit.

Like i said, nothing great. It's like the red headed step child of the upper tiers. Since there are now soooo many people doing the free behind the scenes tour, ncl could make Sapphire the entry point for that free tour.

Platinum *IS* the tier to achieve: free dinners + laundry Dont remember anything great for Platinum Plus/Sapphire. Diamond is a one time cabin upgrade. i went from OV to balcony but they choose the location. I got lucky with a good balc near the elevator. Ambassador is a one time free 7day Caribbean cruise.

Was on Dawn last month. Could not substitute the dessert for a 3rd appetizer. Last year on the Breakaway, i could. It could also depends on the server.

how is this different than the free tour for Platinums and above?

https://cruisefever.net/most-crowded-cruise-ships-by-passenger-space-ratio/ The formula for the passenger space ratio is simply the gross tonnage (GT) of a cruise ship divided by the passenger capacity of that vessel (Gross Tonnage ÷ passenger capacity). In our list we used the standard double-capacity for each ship. A common misconception is that the gross tonnage of a cruise ship is a measurement of weight. However, it has nothing to do with weight at all. In fact, gross tonnage is a unitless measurement of the volume or space of a cruise ship and includes all of the enclosed spaces of the vessel. This is an important factor, as some areas of a ship’s open-air decks will not be included in the figure. Prima has the most space per pax in the NCL fleet, followed by the Breakaway Plus class (except the Escape). Joy is listed as #2 only because it's max cap is 200 less than Bliss/Encore. But what does that # mean? square feet per person?

non-political walking tours of belfast are free. google it

added 30 amex offers, logged out, logged back in. new offers did not have ncl 😞