ighten

Yes and No would be my answer- Two sides to the argument as usual but I do agree the idea of making cruising avail to everyone does in fact mean its a lower class (as in classy - this has nothing to do with class) experience than it used to be --- However - Its also made the whole experience (just like budget LH airline travel available to many more and allowed these companys to survive)

However its also allowed the upsurge of (shall we say) classier operators . So choice is still available so its actually not really affecting anyone.

Class has little to do with tkt price - you cant actually buy it now - as its avail to all classes :)

If its stricly NCL your talking about then - they have simply moved with the times - Booking Haven or Suites has nothing to do with class - it could mean your booked in with people who have packed the cabin with bratty children and grandchildren - its basically roll the bones.It could be a nice experience or it could be trapped in hell.. And to be fair the same thing could happen on comps ships from MArella to Silversea. Its all about marketing and filling the ship.

Are you EU/UK or US

If the travel firm hasnt been paid in advance would it not be easier to simply cancel everything and try another option with a different comany for a smaller party - -what did the trip consist of

ah didnt realise that (never had a cash account) makes sense now

One other thing to watch out for:

 

I have purchased OBC a few times in the past. It usually turns up in my account on day 2 or 3, so if you are relying on it then you may hit problems at the very start of the cruise.

Im confused or could be misising something- why would it matter when it appears in the ship account. You dont technically pay for anything till the last day - your debits just add up then the OBC would credit against them.

Found it poor on a Jade med cruise - only TA I can compare with was Celebs Eclipse which was useless for anything other than email unless we were near to land. I'm on the Jade next week though for its TA so fingers crossed the techs got better and tbf this crossing stays closer to land with less constant sea days

Thanks for doing this - just hovering over a booking for Feb and checking flights and accom in LA. This is very helpful.

What were they thinking??

How to keep the cabins on either side awake all night :D:eek:;)

Book as soon as reservations open 120 days prior to cruise (130 if you are in the Haven). That's in a couple of weeks from now.

 

Sea day prime time dining will sell out quickly (especially on the Epic where there are fewer specialty restaurants).

 

Most popular restaurant is Cagney's and Teppanyaki.

 

We always book a specialty restaurant on the first night (we have the 3 night SDP plus the 2 platinum plus dinners).

 

On the Epic, we use one of our dinners for the Cirque show.

Bear in mind a certain % of the tables dont even show on the "My NCL" page - these are left open for booking onboard. If you find times full get straight to your cabin tv on day one and book.

If your a couple there's also a slight glitch in the way the booking system works - It basically allocates a set number of pre available tables for each of the set amount of covers. So you end up with 2s disappearing very quickly though the 1s are fully available and the same with 4s v 3s. There are no 1s and 3s tables though so carp diem ;) - obviously this doesnt work for Teppanyaki though.

How many in your group - if your a two - change it to 1 (no 1 tables exist - but it opens up all the times)

If it still says nothing avail it means the pre cruise allocation is booked which still means about a third (or more) is left to book once on board - just head straight for your cabin tv screen

Also when the dining on "my Cruise" says no availability (which I dont think it ever does if you enter 1 - its always been the tip when there are no 2s showing to just use it) there is about 33% still left to use on ship through either the tv or just at the desk

selling out quickly - like any new ship - give it another year till the madness stops

Ah brings back memories - nice pics and report

I would say - Food better but its more an adult ship

It does depend on the Itin - which you haven't mentioned

Always had bid offers on sail away rates - It often works out way cheaper - just take into account you will have to add drinks when you do the maths

there is a roll call set up fort his cruise which will probaly cover most of your questions..https://boards.cruisecritic.co.uk/showthread.php?p=56872133#post56872133

Weather - roll the dice and be prepared for anything - our last North route TA on Celebs Eclipse was later in October and had us sunbathing in the middle of the North Atlantic - but its basically not very predictable.

See you onboard

Getaway - for me. Have sailed Epic a few times and its a fine ship thats badly laid out in every aspect. The only plus I would give it is that Epic has a better located Cagneys and Bistro. Getaway has the fish restaurant though - better public areas rather than one long corridor with bars along it and better outside space - the Epic has no proper promenade and feels souless outside. Weirdly though I do like epics mini suite layout - it does tend to be a marmite ship though.

Both of them do look like a block of flats at sea though ;)

Theres no real pattern as its simply an algorithm that takes into account many categories - capacity, current empty cabins, how many empty cabins in each cat (ie sometimes NCL like to move you up sometimes even with no bid as they can fill the ship cheaply by advertising super low prices in the last weeks for remaining insides) - I have a suspicion it also looks at your latitiude account and your average spend onboard.

One thing for sure is its not always based on the bid system if you get an upgrade. We have been moved on EPIC from a last minute inside (that was so ridiculously cheap it didnt make sense - the only ever time we have booked an inside ) to find the week before we had been upgraded to a balcony - no bid involved

Just for info Jade is very popular with charter groups - last year it was prog rock cruise and start trek convention cruise - both on the Jade - both looked like something you would avoid like the plague

We have about the third lvl I think but are taking a last minute price next week - do we still get the already earned benefits on board? Or do you just get zero for booking the last minute balcony price

Its possible the the dock the costa ship used was easy to access under the weather conditions as it didnt have to manoeuvrer around other vessels - most of the time its the side winds when spinning or slipping the ships into docks that are the issue and as the port fills the accuracy of this becomes higher and higher.

Probably a bit to late but I found - when a friend travelled with us - that though the website wont allow it if you use call back then they did it quite simply with no issues.

TBF I think the boards in general are a lot quiter than they used to be - It seemed to happen about the time they upgraded the whole forum look.

When you do the maths its inevitable the lighter used boards Such as Costa - MSC etc would show this to the extreme. Remember English guest on these ships are in the minority which tends to skew everything wether it be board use or review stats.

They seem to have really missed the plot re the mathematics - other than a choice of dining times and free breakfast it can now be over 50% cheaper to take a basic or LM balcony inclluding adding on the drinks package yourself.

Have to say we found the opposite of above.

Restaurants quiet - Samsara we were the only people in... Piano bar our fave location , nice and relaxing for after dinner coffee then drinks before moving on.

I guess it depends on the time of year