The Traveling Man

Correct, 30,000 points are enough for a single meta upgrade.

Or save the points to apply to some future cruise. Remember that the World Points upgrade is only available up to a Balcony. If you normally travel in a Club Balcony, Suite, or Haven stateroom, then the upgrade option will be of no value to you.

Well, never say never. The Star missed ports of call in Taipei and Hanoi because propulsion problems cut it to about half speed, so you got half back on your fare. A couple of months later, 10 February 2017, we were on the Star when it lost all propulsion and was adrift in the Tasman Sea. We received 100% of our cruise fare, taxes, port fees, gratuities, and "all monies paid" for that cruise, plus FCC equal to 50% of our cruise fare. Now that may have been the last of NCL's magnanimity.

And maybe next month you spot another cruise you want to take where the price difference between OV and Balcony is $3000 or more. If you already have spent all 60,000 of your points on the Sun, you may not have enough points left to take advantage of that next cruise. YMMV, so check carefully before jumping in with both feet. We usually try to keep somewhere close to 30,000 points in reserve and always look for a savings of at least $2500 or $3000 per 30,000 points.

Yes you can. If you earned all your points for purchases you made with Norwegian, you received three points for each dollar spent, so those 60,000 points cost $20,000. Saving $6,215 amounts to a "cash back" equivalent of more than 31%. That certain tops the standard one or two percent on most "cash back" cards. We try to average at least 25% return on our BoA NCL World Points Mastercard. Our best was over 40%. If you intend to cruise frequently with NCL, you may find that it makes more sense to pay for an Ocean View stateroom and just use 30,000 points for a single meta upgrade. Save the other 30,000 points for a future cruise. On many cruises the price difference between Inside and OV is rather negligible, while the difference between OV and Balcony is much greater. Spend your points wisely and enjoy saving money on your cruises!

Sorry, but I misread the title of your thread. I wondered why you would post on the NCL board if you had a question about sailing with Carnival. 😁

Well, you got me. I usually read a thread from the top and respond whenever I see a post that attracts my attention. I usually do not read all of the following posts to see if anyone has already responded. I just go ahead and put in my two cents worth, then continue reading the following posts. Yep, it happens sometimes. So, if my johnny-come-lately posts bother you, you always can put me on your "ignore" list.

If it shows on your account as a balance due, you should contact NCL at once to resolve the issue. If you simply ignore it, NCL might cancel your reservation and not allow you to board the vessel for your cruise. Do not hesitate. Do not assume. Do not rely on assurances from Cruise Critic members. Take care of it NOW.

We had a similar situation once. I spoke to the hotel manager, expressed my disappointment, and we received a significant reduction on our hotel bill. It still didn't offset the disappointment, but at least it was a good faith gesture, which we appreciated.

Because spilling hot soup would be a problem???

Absolutely. The soup in Le Bistro usually is far superior to that in the MDR.

We were on one of the first couple of cruises on the Pr!ma. A group of travel agents took over the OL for much of the cruise. NCL posted signs indicating "closed for a private function." I simply barged in, walked past the signs, and sat down in the OL to enjoy the view. That lasted about ten minutes until I no longer could stand the incessant nattering of all the "VIPs." I wasn't run out by a ship's officer or member of the exclusive group. I just couldn't stand their annoying jibber jabber any longer.

So, maybe 50 out of 4000?

No, they are not. They are committed to making as much money on each cruise as they possibly can, even if that means providing an exceptionally poor vacation experience for the majority of their paying customers.

First, welcome to Cruise Critic. You have left us a lot to unpack here. While the Jones Act applies to merchant ships, passengers on cruise ships are subject to a similar, but different, law, the Passenger Vessel Service Act. It provides for a fine for any passenger on board a ship that is registered in any country other than the US from boarding a cruise in one US port and debarking at a different US port without first stopping at a foreign port. There are similar regulations in place in Europe. For a complete and accurate summary of those details, I would yield to the expertise of another frequent CC contributor, @chengkp75 who retired after serving for years as the Chief Engineer on NCL ships. You mentioned that all of the ports you will be visiting will be in the EU. While it may be possible for you to leave your ship prior to the scheduled port of debarkation, it would be wise to check with the cruise line prior to boarding your cruise. There may be circumstances associated with your particular cruise which would run afoul of the law. This doesn't happen very often at all. In fact it is quite rare, but it does occur occasionally. I would recommend that you contact NCL's Senior Vice President for Guest Services, Ms. Katty Byrd. Her email address is kbyrd@ncl.com. She provided great assistance to us a couple of years ago when we wanted to do something very similar to your plan.

??? Post all you want to. I am a bit envious, though of your total post count (as well as that of several others). You have managed in 2-1/2 years to register three times as many posts as I have in nine years.

That should provide enough time under normal circumstances. We usually plan on a somewhat later flight, however, so we don't have to get up so early, hurry through our last breakfast on board, and rush to the airport to catch our flight. We are fortunate enough to live near an airport less than three hours flying time from Miami. We also have a choice of direct flights almost every hour of the day. Because of that, we can enjoy a relaxed breakfast on board the ship, be among the last to disembark, have our choice of a taxi, Uber, or a shuttle bus, arrive at the Miami airport by 11:00 AM, check in, go through security, stop for a light lunch, then do some people watching before boarding our plane. Our flight lands by mid-afternoon and our short taxi ride gets us home in plenty of time for dinner and a relaxing evening. As for us, then, we would never seriously consider booking a flight out of Miami at 11:06 AM. We prefer to relax, enjoy the moment, and remember that we're still on vacation! YMMV.

We have done this several times when the prices dropped after we had made our payment. On one cruise we even did it twice. When the price of a balcony stateroom dropped to just $100 or so more than the inside room we had booked, we called NCL, paid the difference, and moved to a balcony. A few weeks later when another round of price decreases were announced, we again called, paid an extra $75 per person, and moved into a Haven room. That last upgrade was a couple of weeks before sailing. I'm not sure if it was within 14 days, but it was close to that.

Aren't the tickets for the tour sold at the Shore Excursion desk?

It's called Neo Pop Expressionism. Those paintings were installed when the Dawn underwent a major redecoration program in 2016. Your General Manager Alain Magnier also was on the Dawn when the ship was renovated. He told us that one day when he checked the progress of the dining room update, he noticed the paintings. He went back the next day when the workers were painting over the faux marble finish on the columns and walls and saw that there were broad splotches of paint on the portraits. He was aghast! He just knew that the workers had destroyed thousands of dollars of artwork. The architect / decorator assured Alain that the paintings were supposed to be splattered with swaths of paint. Alain was relieved, but he never has reconciled himself to that particular form of expressionist art.

Another option would be to wait until you have sailed enough times to accumulate at least 75 points in the Latitudes program. As a Platinum member, you are entitled to a free Behind the Scenes Tour on each cruise longer than five days.

According to research done by @Seas2mountains shown in post #26, though, the NCL Viva was the ONLY ship scheduled on December 19th. The restrictions enacted by Bonaire to allow only one ship per day would not have forced the V!va to skip the port. A reasonable assumption, therefore, would be that NCL is doing this to save fuel costs.

In that case, my best supposition would be that NCL will be replacing the stop in Bonaire with a day at sea. That would allow them to travel at a reduced speed to the following port of call. Traveling at a slower speed, although for a greater number of hours, would likely produce a significant savings in the expenditure of fuel. Regardless of any smoke and mirrors which NCL may cite as their reason for skipping Bonaire, the bottom line is most likely just that, THE BOTTOM LINE of their financial statements.

Yes, on the older and smaller ships the concierge desk is at Moderno. On those ships which have a separate Haven area, though, the concierge usually is located in the Haven area, behind a locked door which can be opened by passengers only if they have a Haven key card. We have had several concierges on several different ships either simply ignore us or outright refuse to assist when we showed them the Latitudes status on our card. OTOH, we also have encountered a few who were quite helpful. YMMV.

No, this for the Jade, departing Boston on 26 September 2024.