CruisnDeb

I believe you can call and check-in over the phone and then they will email your edocs.

5 minutes ago, JamieLogical said:

Clearly they expect you to have two phones or a partner with a phone to make use of that QR code!

 

FYI, if you have a QR reader app on your phone, you can take a screenshot of your phone and then open it within the QR reader app.

@Notch8 If possible, I would love if you could post the daily program each day along with the menus 🙂.  Have a great cruise.

18 minutes ago, Keith1951 said:

NCL, what does Free at Sea mean?  When I am looking at cruises to reserve, I see this...FREE UNLIMITED OPEN BAR, FREE SPECIALTY DINING.
If I unclick the Free at Sea button, the price of the cruise goes down.  So, if I choose to use that promo, it will cost me.  How is this free at sea?

Free At Sea is free--what you are seeing is the cost of the gratuities that are added on for the dining and drink part of the package.  So if you decline the free at sea, then they need to remove those gratuities, so the price appears to go down.  The way I look at it, it's like getting a drink package for about $150 for a 7 day cruise--well worth it for me.

https://www.ncl.com/about/terms-and-conditions/promotions

1 hour ago, Agrajag27 said:

Rep assures me that the Aurea Experience allows us to book the Thermal Suite without having to pay anything else, all cruise. That could be more clear on the website. If I had one major complaint as a new cruiser, their website developer needs to get a talking-to. So many things are wrong on it, missing, or not clear.

Yep. That is one of the biggest complaints about MSC the other is the reps screwing up the reservation when you call for a small change. 
 

My first MSC cruise on the Divina, we had an Aurea front corner 1 bedroom cabin with a large balcony (I believe these are suites now.)  I would log into my account to check on my reservation and would find they moved us to a regular balcony cabin. They did this at least 3 times. Luckily I had a TA for that booking so they had the joy of calling and getting us moved back. 

7 minutes ago, Agrajag27 said:

 

There was never a chance of that not being the case with this. You should see us plan Disney. heheh My father-in-law loves to tell people he thinks of it "fondly" as the Bataan Death March.

@Agrajag27 I am getting ready to take what I think is my 15th cruise overall that will be on the Seashore this fall.  I STILL overthink it, I STILL watch all the videos, I STILL look up daily programs from past cruisers....it's ingrained in me to be prepared lol.

2 minutes ago, PTC DAWG said:

Me thinks you are over thinking this..you’ll be just fine..watch a few you tube videos…relax…

 

You also have access to a bar up top for Aurea guests and above…

Agreed.....but I always overthink my vacations lol.  I just like knowing what to expect going in.  @PTC DAWG is correct in that watching some videos of the ship will help.

Just now, Agrajag27 said:

So they have a buffet for thousands of people at ONE location? Wow. I literally had this image of food being out at every bar area and such nearly 24/7. Wild expectations reset.

 

I also didn't realize our Aurea anytime meals are in one specific restaurant. Kinda cool. Going to assume even though they're anytime, they still likely need reservations.

Yep, take pack your patience along with your highlighters lol.  There are busy times and yes, some people will rudely push their way in front of you, but honestly, if you try to go at the not so busy times, it's not bad.  If you look at the daily program I posted earlier, you will see hours listed for all venues including restaurants.  Usually one of the MDRs is open for a sitdown breakfast, which can be nice.

My husband and I had Aurea experience on our first MSC cruise on the Divina.  We did not need reservations for that cruise, we just walked up to the hostess stand and were walked directly to our table.

@Agrajag27 the buffet is Deck 16 Aft

9 minutes ago, Agrajag27 said:

 

So there's some delay to getting your luggage in your room? I guess that makes sense with potentially 5,000 people on board. I assumed we'd head right our rooms first and the stuff would magically be there somehow and then off to wherever. 

 

 

So it's not like on TV where there are like food tables scattered around the ship? Are the buffets only in the MAIN dining rooms? (I think there are just 3) I assumed there would be smaller versions of them at some bars and such. Guess not.

 

 

Definitely doing that, but deciding on how many. Thinking with 7 nights, maybe two or three. I'm VERY put off if I'm reading this right, that if you buy the Specialty food packages they are specific to restaurants. I'm not interested in Mexican or Hibachi (we have a lot of great ones here at home), but can't get just Sushi, Steak and Seafood. And then the whole thing with those plans limiting your menu and if the discount OFF-menu (which we'd do for sure) is worth the price.

 

 

We're social drinkers, but this is surely social and we'll be with our best friends so this is huge advice. The friends think we've gone 100% low-end to see how things go. We're paying for most of it and are surprising them by upgrading most everything. Looking forward to the same sort of wondrous looks that you experienced.

I have to say your responses to these made me giggle lol.  If you google msc seashore buffet, you will get a good idea of the buffet offerings.  If you look at a deck plan, you will see the buffet is it's own thing and location, not held in any of the MDR's.  Also if you google msc seashore daily program, you will probably be able to see a sampling of all 7 days for a sailing.  They are generally pretty similar from sailing to sailing with maybe just specific entertainment like comedians changing.

1 minute ago, Agrajag27 said:

Gotta say Debbie, that this is both great and also overwhelming. My wife will implode when she sees these sheets as she'll want to go over every line item and make sure we're not missing anything. Will we really only get these the morning of? 

You will get your 1st one when you embark for that day.....the rest will be left sometime in the evening for the next day.  I pack highlighters and mark stuff I would like to do the night before I go to bed or the next morning as I'm drinking coffee.  It may look overwhelming, but it's really not too bad.  

There will be plenty to do 🙂 Here is a copy of a recent embarkation daily program.

Just now, PugM0m said:

I have always double checked on our cruises as well. While my group isn't near as large as yours, they are kind of like herding cats. So much easier on me if I can just tell them " meet here every night at whatever time for dinner". 🤣

Thank you so much for the information. 

Yep..sounds like you are the organizer just like me.  Ages ranged from 82 (grandparents) down to 25 (grandkids) and there is no way I'm going to tell everyone, every night, where to be for dinner (especially after a few cocktails 🍹😛

Just now, PugM0m said:

Am I correct in that I have to wait until I am on the ship to make that reservation?

 

No.  I believe the dining reservations open up at 60 days before....I could be wrong on the number though lol.

Also, I want to add, since we were such a large group (18 of us) it was really important to be in the same dining room each night to avoid confusion.  When you first embark, they will have an area setup for dining reservations.  I headed there as soon as I embarked to double-check our reservations.  Glad I did because they had moved us one night to a different dining room.  This was easily changed back to the correct dining room.

4 minutes ago, PugM0m said:

 

thank you. Can my group of 8 make a "standing" reservation in one of the dining rooms for the entire cruise and expect the same table and wait staff? This will be our first cruise with Norwegian, all prior cruises were on Royal Caribbean, so just kind of unsure what to expect. thank you

We had a standing reservation in the same dining room, same time, and same tables.  But the wait staff changed.  The earlier you reserve it, the better chance you have of being in the same dining room with the same table.

1 hour ago, PugM0m said:

Hello, can you tell me if the menus the same in each of the main dining rooms each night?

Yes they are.

4 hours ago, TrumpyNor said:

Thank you both for your replies. 😊 Good idea about having the beds seoarated. Will probably ask for that to be done. Actually didn't think about that possibility in the past... 🤔

FYI I shared a similar room with my son on the Pearl. We had the beds separated and I still managed to bang my head on wall bed a few times. 

13 minutes ago, Mark_T said:

Always interesting to get different perspectives, we have been on Divina twice now, most recently in February this year and still find the YC restaurant preferable to Luminae on Celebrity.

 

Didn't find it dark and only had to return one dish where the waiter had simply picked up the wrong plate and it was rapidly replaced.

 

We also loved the smaller YC section and the resulting very personal service from all the crew.

 

We will certainly sail on her again at the earliest opportunity.

Yep this is why I like hearing the different perspectives people have—2 people can be on the same cruise, and have 2 different takes on it. That’s why it’s important to know why someone disliked or liked it and I’m really appreciative of all the details everyone is providing 🙂. 

4 hours ago, ChiefMateJRK said:

Why would 13 people want/need to sit at a single table.  If I'm at a table with more than six, I'm not hearing what the others are saying.  Would you miss those other seven people that much for an hour if you couldn't be watching them eat?

We recently cruised with a group of 18.  Dinner time was the only time we were able to all be together and connect each day. We sat at the same time, same dining room, every night.  It was at two tables (2 long rectangular tables end to end, with a space between them.)  We enjoyed this setup and mixed it up as to who sat at each table each night.  

Thank you @sandiherbert for all the details on your experience--it's truly appreciated.  

@Devo12 not sure if you used a TA or not, but I would recommend calling them to set it up for you if you did.  We recently cruised with a group of 18.  We all sat together at the same time, same dining room, every night.  It was at two tables (it was 2 long rectangular tables end to end, with a space between them.)  We enjoyed this setup and mixed it up as to who sat at each table each night.  Our TA set it up, and I verified our reservation as soon as we embarked.  Also, I believe it makes it easier to set this up if all your reservations are linked.

5 minutes ago, rrraydon said:

Wanted pizza for a snack at 3p and this was what was available… 😞 

This is very sad.

4 hours ago, Harriet75C said:

Are the drinks packages and dining packages worth it?

I found the drinks package worth it.  We had the Easy Plus drink package which included wifi and also included specialty coffees (coffee machines at the atrium bar and some other bars but not the coffee at Venchi) which was great.  Make sure you add the drink package on at the time of booking--it is more expensive it you try to add it later.

Wow....it would stress me out to fly out the day of my cruise (but I totally get why you need to).  I'm totally jealous you get to cruise twice a month--that's awesome!  Enjoy your cruise and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of your review 🙂 

Thanks everyone for your contributions to my question--you have been awesome with your opinions and details.  I've made lots of notes and hopefully the time will come soon when I will need to decide which ship I want to try my first YC experience on.