Sand and Seas

Did you try calling to talk with another CAS agent? I had a 'rookie' agent a few months ago that said they could give me an Ocean View. I called back that afternoon and was offered a Club Balcony. I hate to hear that they are just offering you a 20%.....just doesn't seem right😒

What time did you leave the ship? We have a late flight so we won't be in a hurry. We were thinking we would leave the room for our steward to get a start on and then hang out in the Haven lounge for as long as possible.

There is a current poster that mentions seeing Six on Bliss this week. See post # 17

@MarkJ, have been enjoying your posts! As we will be on the Bliss in a few weeks, DH wants to know something about the Haven's Horizon Observation Lounge snacks. What times of day do they have snacks there? And perhaps more important to him....do they have fresh baked cookies?

Am I reading too much into the letter from 'NCL sibling' Oceania board? I read it as testing from US ports will possibly end after August. On the other board is a letter from Oceania that a cruiser posted there. It says testing will remain in effect but says 'through the month of August'. Copied in part below : Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors, We look forward to welcoming you onboard Regatta for your upcoming voyage to Alaska. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) decided to end the COVID-19 program for cruise ships operating in U.S. waters. At this time, the testing requirement for cruise ships departing from U.S. ports will remain in effect through the month of August.

I find it most interesting that the letter posted above says through the month of August.....Does that mean it might end for September and beyond? Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors, We look forward to welcoming you onboard Regatta for your upcoming voyage to Alaska. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) decided to end the COVID-19 program for cruise ships operating in U.S. waters. At this time, the testing requirement for cruise ships departing from U.S. ports will remain in effect through the month of August.

Did they make some kind of official announcement? I've tried searching for it as I wanted to read more about what they are saying. I did take a look at the Oceania forum and read a letter that a cruiser posted there. It says testing will remain in effect but says 'through the month of August'. Copied in part below : Dear Valued Guests and Travel Advisors, We look forward to welcoming you onboard Regatta for your upcoming voyage to Alaska. Recently, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) decided to end the COVID-19 program for cruise ships operating in U.S. waters. At this time, the testing requirement for cruise ships departing from U.S. ports will remain in effect through the month of August.

I actually had an extremely mild case of Covid a couple of months ago. Still missed my cruise and turned in for insurance reimbursement. Spent my home isolation planning for another cruise. You and I look at this differently. If I was sick with Covid, Flu or something else contagious, I feel it would be selfish of me to get on a plane and then on a ship.

It was Covid, Flu and bad cold The flu has made me feel worse than Covid did. I wouldn't get on a plane and travel that far feeling that sick and I'm sure the others on the plane or ship would be glad if I stayed home.

Duplicate. sorry

Yes....rather re-book the trip. That's why you get insurance. If I have Covid, odds are DH will get it too. You think we should board when we know we have covid???

I wouldn't want to cruise with Covid or the Flu or a bad cold. I'll continue to take a home test before getting on that plane. However, that doesn't mean we can fly to a cruise-port 3 or 4 days early to relax pre-cruise. As my mom would have said....'This is clear as mud....' The CDC doesn't want to regulate but wants to give tons of 'guidance'. I love to plan cruises, but all of this pre-planning is causing too many sleepless nights😟

Sorry you missed your helicopter tour, but glad you are having a good day anyway. We will be on the Bliss in the Haven so we are really enjoying following along with your cruise. Thanks for sharing with us😊

Have you found information about private transfers yet? We have been in contact with Galveston Saltwater Moms. They have a FB page. Haven't used them yet, but I'm extremely impressed with their responses to my questions. We will be booking with them for transportation from IAH to Galveston prior to our Prima cruise. I had seen earlier threads on this board that recommended them.

Please let us know if/when they update the EU Site.

Interesting news today! Will it change NCL? There is still ArriveCan and Bermuda and who knows where else, but perhaps we are learning to live with it.

Thanks for posting- I went to the link and found it very interesting! Now to see if it changes anything.....

RATS! That Coke machine at the old terminal was our last chance for a Diet Coke😒 Kind of glad our next three cruises are from Seattle, Galveston & New Orleans. Maybe they will figure out some improvements are still needed at their shiny new Miami terminal

Downgraded from the old terminal for those of us who are Plat Plus/Sapphire/Diamond? They used to have the 'old' Haven furniture in a roped off area for those of us in highest Latitude tiers. It was closest to the boarding area and we could almost hear when we were allowed priority boarding.

Has anyone used OnPoint proctored testing with your own home test? Would you recommend them? Their website shows a very reasonable $15 proctoring cost and says they are available 24/7 for appointments. We already have a good supply of home test kits (thanks to our insurance) so it seems wasteful to order the full kits from Emed.

In Vegas a couple of years ago, we saw a guy win $100,000 on 100 play VP. He had to wait to be paid until someone came from Nevada (?) gaming control to audit the machine. It took over an hour or more. I would guess NCL CAS has some sort of similar audit process they do for pays above a certain amount before putting the machine back in play.

Thanks for the great advice! Its very helpful to plan knowing Haven embarkation usually begins around 11am. This is our 39th NCL cruise but our FIRST to Alaska (and just second in Haven). Seeing those pictures you had posted of what the street in front of the terminal looks like during debarkation/embarkation helped us pick the Marriott Waterfront for our pre-cruise stay. We will sit comfortably at the Marriott until 10:30am or so😊

I hope it's OK with the original poster for me to add another question about boarding at Pier 66 here. (Have searched but only found info from pre-pandemic.) We will be staying at the Seattle Marriott Waterfront the night before our Bliss cruise so we will be across the street from the pier. From research on the West coast departures board it sounds like a good way to start our cruise with the least hassle. Since we will be in the Haven (rare for us!) this trip looking for advice from others on what time to start our embarkation process. We really don't want to join a long line, or sit in the terminal for too long, but of course want to board the ship as soon as possible to start enjoying our cruise😊 Any advice for us?

So excited to see this! We were hoping to confirm the balcony could hold loungers. We were assigned cabin 8746 as our 'one-time Diamond upgrade' for our Joy cruise next April. It shows as category MC on our confirmation, but I could see it was probably a 'secret' large balcony. (Similar ones on Encore & Bliss were confirmed by cruiser videos.) Thanks for confirming 😊

The Amenities list specifies a special room service menu for Haven. Does someone have a photo of it? (Or did I miss it much earlier on this thread?)