BirdTravels

Main Dining Room. The menu does not change night-to-night. There is one special from a specialty restaurant each night for an additional fee. Main Dining Room - Breakfast.pdf Main Dining Room - Lunch.pdf Main Dining Room - Dinner.pdf

Yeah, the inventories are locked for the bidding upgrades and the control of the reservations are transferred to the ship before departure. Basically, trying to change your reservation the week before cruise is too late.

Normally no problem making wifi calls or facetiming using NCL wifi.

No dance hosts like Cunard. No Silent Disco like Royal. There is live music in all bars at night. Some dancing there. The Theater orchestra section is retracted at night to create a night club for dance parties. You could ballroom dance to disco music (the theme since the main theater show is the Donna Summer life story.

We were recently on the Breakaway and didn't notice any fishy smell from the raw bar or sushi. We'll have to give it a better sniff test on our next cruise.

Recently, upgrades continue until departure time using rooms cancelled at the last minute or no-shows (mainly due to COVID). We got our final "reject" notification about an hour after sailing last month. This email is to confirm that we have received your offer(s) to be upgraded on your upcoming cruise. While your offer has not been selected yet, you may still be selected for an upgrade by our onboard team. Upgrades may be awarded at any time up until 0 hours prior to the sailing departure. Should your offer be selected for an onboard upgrade, your credit card will be automatically charged, and your stateroom will be reassigned. Please check your email up to 0 hours prior to the sailing departure to see if we were able to upgrade you. If you no longer wish to be considered for an onboard upgrade, you may cancel your offer(s) through the link provided below up until 5 hours prior to the sailing departure, provided that your Offer has not already been accepted by Norwegian Cruise Line, and provided that your credit card has not been charged.

NCL is usually pretty lax about check-in times (even during COVID). In the past, top tier (Platinum, Sapphire, Diamond, Ambassador) members had an open arrival time. During COVID, they were trying to reduce crowding and added arrival times for everyone. Have your niece drop you off any time you/she is ready. NCL normally starts Haven boarding around 11:00; Priority Boarding (Diamond) around 11:15; and General Boarding around 11:30. This is a one-off embarkation and first for NCL at the port, so it may be a bit disorganized (or maybe a lot disorganized). The Prima will home port in Galveston late next year. Show reservations can be made at Syd Normans, Deck 7 mid-ship/aft elevator. And you can fix your dining reservations at The Improv (across the hall) Deck 7 mid-ship. We had a wonderful embarkation day lunch at the Food Hall. Have a great cruise on a beautiful ship!

Beautiful! We could not tell. Is there any shaded/covered lounging areas? That was the challenge we had with Ocean Blvd, it is almost all out in the open and, even with SPF 100 sunscreen, we still burn easy.

Have you ever noticed the large number of “complaints” when people “have control of their reservation”? Everything from “I booked an Oceanview cabin and it was small without a sofa and sitting area” to “NCL nicked and dimes me because I didn’t know about the daily service charges” to “It is outrageous that NCL charges for pay-per-view movies” this week. Those people need help understanding what they are buying and what to expect.

It's also the difference between a $27 taxi ride from MIA to PortMiami versus an $85 UberXL+road tolls from MCO to PC (at 10:30 on a Saturday).

Use an NCL PCC. A few PCCs are good. Most are just call center personnel who get paid on selling you a cruise and upselling you on features you don't need (i.e., used car salesperson). If you are an experience cruise and can wade through the upsell, fine. If you are not a really experienced cruiser, you may get that PCC their end-of-year bonus by buying a cruise way more than you need. We had the [mis-]fortune of sitting next to a NCL Senior PCC at dinner on a cruise in August. He sat with his table of friends and spent the entire dinner bragging how he was a senior PCC after working for 6 year (selling a lot of cruises) and talking to his clients about the NCL ships. But, the cruise in August was the first time he had ever been on a cruise ship, and he was anxious to see and learn about what his clients were talking about first hand. And that he had a busy schedule because he booked every possible optional activity on the ship to learn about it.

SIX was wonderful. We lined up early and got great seats on the Breakaway in August. When we returned, we check med and a similar seat to the Broadway show would cost $350 each.

If you are not an experienced cruiser, then using a big travel agent (e.g., a warehouse store) is best. They can assist you with the booking and they will give you a few extra freebies for your cruise. Ignore bidding. A couple of thousand passengers have an opportunity to bid on the handful (e.g., 15) unsold suites. There is a near zero chance of winning a bid.

First it is not a private island. It is a resort in Haiti. It is relatively isolated and protected by armed guards at the gate. The past and current unrest has not affected RCCL from using it as a port call. Just another beach day. We were there earlier this year. No indication of problems.

Times may vary depending on departure time

No noise from medical center. It is only open a few hours a day for appointments. Everything else is emergencies only.

Does NCL give check in times at Port Canaveral? If so, how strict are they with them... can we go early? You get you time when you check in (currently 21 days prior to departure). If you want an early time, log on at 12 midnight eastern time and check in your party to get the best check-in time. Is it best to reserve dinning and entertainment before the cruise or wait until on board? We like to keep our schedules more laid back and spur of the moment and booking those far in advance is difficult for us. Guarantee dinner reservations by logging on exactly 120 days prior to departure at 12 midnight Eastern time. Prime time dining will sell out quickly online. Some are held for on-board booking. (Top Tier Latitudes members, and people in club balconies can make reservations 125 days prior to departure. Guests in Haven Suites can book 130 days prior to departure). On board, popular specialty dining will sell out of prime time (i.e., not 9:30 pm) and will eventually totally sell out for the duration of the cruise. If you get an early check-in time, and actually check-in early and are first to board, then go to show reservations first and book your shows (Choir of Man, MALEVO, comedy shows, Supper Club dinner shows), then go to dining reservations and book your dinners around your show schedule. We are looking at booking a Ocean Villa at GSC (we have three couples going)... would it be worth it? Also looking at booking the Vibe Beach Club for about the same cost for the week. Would you recommend one over the other? Both unnecessary expenses, but if that is what you want, go for it. GSC is a beach day... go sit on the beach... at most, book a few clamshells and enjoy the steerage class beach buffet (picnic food). The pool areas look VERY small and without shade... where is the best location (other than Vibe) for shade and lounging outside? The vibe also has little shade and they won't open umbrellas if it is windy. There is a lot of deck space and the Spice H20 is an adults only sundeck. We have four specialty dining package... what do you seasoned NCL cruisers say is a can't miss? I know food is subjective, but others insight is always helpful! We would book Le Bistro, Byamo, Moderno Churrascaria Brazilian BBQ, and Teppanyaki. The most popular restaurant is Cagney's Steakhouse (which is not on our list of favorite restaurants). Remember that there are dinner shows in the Supper Club if you want... most are complimentary, but one will be for-fee with a better menu. For Lunch, the best food on the ship is Pinchos Tapas (a la carte dining).

You should make reservations exactly 120 days prior to departure. 12 midnight NCL-time (Miami = Eastern Time). Prime time reservations for popular reservations will sell out quickly. 125 days if you are top tier latitudes members or in a club balcony. 130 days if you are in a Suite or in the Haven. If you wait too long, there won't be any advance prime time reservations left (i.e., all reservations will be at 9:30 pm).

Take some cough medicine. Cough drop. Etc to get through check in and boarding. There are no vending machines in the new Miami terminal.

Yes. You can order virgin versions of any drink and frozen drinks.

Los Lobos has a great location on the Ocean Blvd for al fresco dining.

What I find totally inappropriate are the loud speaker announcements in the WJ “if you are done stuffing your face, get out so others can stuff their face”.

What's on TV (hope you're not a TV addict, you would go into withdrawals) 🙂 001 Navigation Channel 002 Bridge Camera 003 Feel Free Channel 004 Port Information Channel 005 Activities Channel 007 Onboard Offerings / Advertising Channel 007 Shore Ex / Cruise Reward Channel 008 Shopping Channel 009 NCL Partners Advertising Channel 010 Safety Channel 011 Cruise Director Daily Show Channel / Replays of onboard game shows 012 BBC 013 MSNBC 014 CNBC 015 FOX News 016 Sport 24 (lots of football a.k.a. soccer) 017 Prime 018 Special Feed 019 Action Movies 020 Drama Movies 021 Comedy Movies 022 Family Movies 023 Favorite Shows

Kinda of a standard channel line up for NCL (not Bliss-specific) 001 Navigation Channel 002 Bridge Camera 003 Feel Free Channel (NCL Advertising) 004 Port Information Channel 005 Activities Channel 007 Onboard Offerings / Advertising Channel 007 Shore Ex / Cruise Reward Channel 008 Shopping Channel 009 NCL Partners Advertising Channel 010 Safety Channel 011 Cruise Director Daily Show Channel / Replays of onboard game shows 012 BBC 013 MSNBC 014 CNBC 015 FOX News 016 Sport 24 (lots of football a.k.a. soccer) 017 Prime 018 Special Feed 019 Action Movies (old movies 020 Drama Movies (old movies 021 Comedy Movies (old movies 022 Family Movies (old movies)023 Favorite Shows (old reruns)

I don't quite understand when someone books a cheap room, then complains that it is not a suite. The Star says that the room is only 158 sq ft and provides a 3D floor plan. Not sure what the expectation was. The floor plan clearly does not show a sofa and love seat in a separate living room and does not show a dining table. The ship had an major overhaul just prior to the pandemic shutdown, so it has the latest features of NCL ships. If someone wants a seating area, you could book a suite with a small living room and dining room area.