The Traveling Man

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No, the points are added to your account and your status upgraded only at the conclusion of the cruise.

Movie or theater matinee?

Some other cruise lines offer ways to add points to their frequent traveler programs without actually going on a cruise. Celebrity, for example, sometimes emails a link to a promotional video. You watch the video, then take an online quiz about it to receive "Power Up Points." You then can trade in several PUPs for one point in their Captain's Club. The best you can do with PUPs, though, is maybe to add one or two CC points per month. That doesn't amount to much when you consider that passengers receive several CC points per night on board, more for suites than balconies, so trying to bump up your status using PUPs could take forever. NCL does not offer a similar way to gain Latitude points without actually taking a cruise. When comparing the advantages of one Latitudes level to another, Sapphire offers better discounts on shore excursions and wifi than Platinum. You receive twice as much free bottled water. Sapphire members are eligible for priority seating in restaurants, although I've never experienced any real advantage there. You also are entitled to have dinner with an officer. Some Latitudes members say they see no benefit in that perk. I would say, to each his own. Personally, I have enjoyed the opportunity to dine with officers. My wife and I have done it 20 times with a total of 34 different officers, frequently with just one officer at a time, but sometimes with two. Two-thirds of them have been senior officers (three stripes or more). That includes two Captains, six General Managers, four Cruise Next Managers, two Guest Services Managers, and others. Most of these are folks who have the authority to make exceptions to established rules. Quite often, after having dinner with them, some of those senior officers would offer additional benefits to us. We have been invited to tour the bridge, a place which generally has been off limits to passengers for many years. I have lost count of the number of times we have received additional nights in specialty restaurants, extra bottles of wine delivered to our stateroom, or suite dining privileges even when we were booked in a balcony stateroom, not a suite. Breakfast and lunch in Moderno or Cagney's instead of the buffet is something we always appreciate. We wouldn't have received those benefits if we had not gotten to know those senior officers who were in positions that allowed them to extend those extras to us. So, yes, I think that particular Latitudes benefit has some real value.

Airplane? What is it? It's a 1980 movie starring Robert Hays and Leslie Nielson, but that's not important. On our last cruise, the GM managed to keep all the bars open. I don't know how he did it. Howie did it?

Every night?

I try to avoid them since our experience on the Getaway in 2019 when they cut short our cruise by two days so the ship could enter dry dock a couple of days earlier than scheduled. The cruise after that dry dock also was cut short by a couple of days.

It doesn't look like NCL has a cruise scheduled immediately prior to your cruise. That could mean that it already is sold out, so it no longer appears on the website. The other possibility, though, is that it is scheduled to remain in dry dock right up until the start date of your cruise. That raises a couple more possibilities. The repairs may take longer than planned, meaning that NCL may delay your embarkation day and skip one or more ports of call. An even worse alternative would be that workmen would remain on board and some of the work might still be ongoing, with all the fumes, noise, and closed off venues which that entails. Our TA on the Getaway in 2019 was cut short by two days so the ship could enter dry dock earlier than planned. Even that was not enough, however, as the start of the first cruise after the dry dock was also delayed by a couple of days. Let's hope you don't run into any problems, but I just wanted to advise you that it can happen.

We have done three TAs with NCL, one on the Epic in 2018 and two on the Getaway, in 2019 and 2022. None of them were at full capacity. The average passenger age was a bit higher than we have seen on other cruises. Most passengers were experienced NCL cruisers, with lots of upper-tier Latitudes members. Also there were only a few minors on any of those cruises. If your cruise is sold out, it would be a bit of a change from previous years. Hope you enjoy the ship and the itinerary. Bon voyage.

You seem to be correct. There are a few of them on CC. I guess I always look for the best in other people, so when someone acts like a troll, offers snide remarks in response to an earnest question from someone else seeking advice from other CC members, or tries to be "just so cute" with their postings, my first reaction is to assume that they are being genuine, honest, and forthright with their response. So, yes, sometimes responses like that tend to slide by me. It now seems that @n4w thinks that by warning others away from a cruise which he plans to take that he will find himself sailing on a less-than-full-to-capacity ship.

Okay, I'll ask. What's so bad about sailing in the Mediterranean in July? It's hot then, to be sure, but I've done it before and enjoyed it. So what's wrong with the Breakaway in July in the Med?

According to @justhappy in post #16, the Breakaway is scheduled for a dry dock in February 2025, shortly before the OP's planned cruise.

Thank you for bringing clarity to this matter. Your posts are always insightful.

Yes, there is an omelette station in the buffet. They usually have about a half-dozen of the more popular ingredients, such as ham, cheese, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, etc. You can have them mix or match to your taste.

For fans of the NCIS show, you missed the most obvious - Dr. Donald Mallard.

It shouldn't matter whether you use the FAS or Latitudes credits first. What does matter is that you book the fixed price restaurants first. That would include such venues as Moderno or Teppanyaki. Leave the a la carte restaurant reservations for last. The reason is the idiosyncrasies of the NCL computer system. It just works out better this way.

Collect down? Was that an autocorrect spelling of "scroll down?"

We have cruised on the Breakaway twice and three times on her sister ship, the Getaway. Twice were in the Haven. The other times we sailed in a Balcony stateroom. We enjoyed each of those cruises. This past October we sailed a similar itinerary to the one you are planning while on board the Dawn. We had a great time in each of those ports. To be sure, the Breakaway is starting to show its age. It's been five years since we sailed on her, and the reports of wear and tear are not to be discounted. Those issues, however, will likely be resolved during the Breakaway's next dry dock, which will occur prior to your planned trip. Overall, we found the ship to be well designed, the layout was easy to find our way around, and most anything you might want in a ship was available. Some will object, of course, that it doesn't have this venue or that lounge, but I have no complaints about the ship. We always found plenty to keep us entertained and always had a wonderful time on board. If the itinerary appeals to you, I would heartily recommend that you go for it, regardless of what some negative reviews might indicate.

We have done it a couple of times. The first time we took a train that ran straight through to Rome, with a brief station stop in Florence. It took a bit less than four hours. The last time we had several days to visit Italy, so we took the train first to Florence for a couple of days. From there we took another train to Siena where we spent two fun days exploring the city. The next train was to Civitavecchia to board a cruise. After the cruise returned to Civitavecchia, we took the train to Rome for a few days before flying home.

Please let us know what Katty Byrd manages to work out for you. Hope you can follow your plan and get off early.

If you only plan to take one cruise a year, purchase two CN certificates. You may get lucky and find a cruise to book during one of NCL's frequent "double up" offers which allow you to use two certificates for one stateroom. If you only can use one per cruise, though, they now have no expiration date, so just save one until next year. If you only buy one at a time, however, you only get $100 off the $250 value. Your second one receives $150 off, so with two you average getting $125 off each one. Additional certificates purchased at the same time earn the full $125 off the $250 value. It's just NCL's way to encourage you to buy at least two at a time. They used to impose a maximum limit of purchasing no more than eight per cruise. I guess that limit is out the window now, but trying to sell you 12 at a time, particularly to a first-timer, really sounds like strong arm tactics. Sure, the Cruise Next team members do earn Brownie points for every CN certificate they sell, but COME ON, REALLY? 12? Tell that guy to cool his jets.

I have had great success using https://www.trenitalia.com/en.html

I would like to issue a challenge to find the most persistent, most optimistic, and most frequently frustrated cruiser with the greatest number of cancellations during the COVID shutdown. You know who you are. "This thing can't possibly last more than a couple of weeks, so I'm going to book a different cruise for next month." Again, and again, and again. I'll start the bidding at 20 cruises cancelled during the COVID shutdown. Any takers?

We were on that Gem cruise. Boarding in San Francisco on 24 January 2020, we got off the ship in NYC on Valentine's Day. We also were booked on a B2B on the Spirit leaving Cape Town for Tokyo in late March of 2020. Obviously that never happened. We didn't sail again until late August 2021. So happy to be able to cruise again!

@aggie182 So, I have an Aggie joke for you. Know what you call an Aggie five years after he graduates? Boss. Gig 'em.