jancl57

Boston area here.  We are in our early to mid 60's, recently retired.  We have been "sheltering in place" since March 14 only heading out to grocery store or pharmacy. But I am the one that ventures out.  We are in good health other then my husband having type 2 diabetes, which puts him at an even higher risk.  One of our daughters is a nurse and one of our son-in-laws is a Boston Firefighter.  So we are always worrying about them.  We drove to visit our grandchildren and waved to them from the street.  

I pray that all our first responders and healthcare workers stay safe and that this invisible enemy will leave us sooner rather then later.  

Our cruise is May 28 out of Rome.  Pretty confident that won't happen.  

Encore, Escape, Bliss, Getaway(booked on the May 28 out of Rome),  Never been on a megaship so would love to.  Have cruised the Dawn & The Pearl and loved them both.  

10 minutes ago, em-sk said:

 

We are getting close to when they start to re position for the summer.  So there is some work to do to get them up to Vancouver/Seattle for the Alaska season and over into Europe for the Mediterranean season.  They might use the 30 days to  get them in the correct location. 

I can't imagine the ships heading to Italy will be cleared in 30 days.  I hope so, we haven't canceled our May 28 out of Rome....yet.

4 hours ago, blcruising said:

Therein lies the inherent risk of the Peace of Mind policy. Once you get your future cruise credit, you got 1 year to book a cruise at whatever pricing level NCL decides to set its rates.

We are booked on the May 28 cruise out of Rome.  I know for certain that if we cancel, which we won't just yet, we won't be able to rebook the same cruise for next year as the price has gone up exponentially .  Pricing of Caribbean cruises have almost doubled since I checked yesterday.  

On 3/7/2020 at 7:07 AM, tallnthensome said:

NCL is just going to raise prices on future cruises. They’ll force those with cancellation credits to pay WAY more for the same cruise they had booked. You’ll be stuck and NCL will get back all the money they had lost from all this and stab people in the back ....If you don’t use your credit, you’ll lose it.  Profits ....long term ....always the NCL plan. That’s what they will do.....

This....I checked the price of my same cruise for May 2021 and the price has gone up exponentially.  Waiting a bit longer to make my decision.  I probably would not cancel if we were taking a Caribbean cruise.  We are on the May 28 out of Rome.  A $2k increase is huge.  Mind you, I am not complaining.  I'm very happy we have been given an option by NCL.  Just disappointed we probably won't be applying our FCC to the same cruise.

20 minutes ago, podgeandrodge said:

JamieLogical has, as I  have been consistently been reading over the past while, been the voice of reason here.  She has consistently quoted the FACTS. I really wish everyone would calm the f down and listen to advice, make their decision as to whether cruise or not and GOTS.(Get off the stage!).  Life goes on.  You've been given an out if you fear Armageddon, but for those of us that believe LIFE GOES ON,  myself and my wife intend to enjoy our cruise!  

Where and when is your cruise?

3 minutes ago, Always Cruising said:

The CruiseNext value will be given to you as Future Cruise Credits, as explained today by a CAS rep in Arizona.  She said full amount ($250), but that could change by  Tuesday.

So the $500 in cruise next certificates that I used as the deposit for my 5/28 cruise won't be redeposited into my NCL account?  Or only $250 of it will be applied to my FCC?  I'm so confused.

On 3/1/2020 at 1:21 PM, Vyhanek said:

I think Coronavirus is on the ships.     I think its inevitable with so much of the crew being asian.    

 

Im just off the Pearl, cruising in the Caribbean.    There was a lot of coughing......a lot.   Is it Corona?    I don't know but there was something that swept the ship.   I wouldn't be surprised if in the next week or two its revealed that there is an issue.      Its going to be an issue with all ships who employ people from Asia.  

 

These employees worked the holiday busy season on the ships and then the ship lets a lot of them go on their yearly break in January because its less busy.    Now that it's late February they are returning back to the ships from their vacations back home.    I really wouldn't be surprised.

I got off the Pearl last Thursday and I didn't notice any people coughing and sneezing.  I thought The crew was amazing the way the were constantly cleaning.  I felt very safe on this cruise.

18 hours ago, Vyhanek said:

I think Coronavirus is on the ships.     I think its inevitable with so much of the crew being asian.    

 

Im just off the Pearl, cruising in the Caribbean.    There was a lot of coughing......a lot.   Is it Corona?    I don't know but there was something that swept the ship.   I wouldn't be surprised if in the next week or two its revealed that there is an issue.      Its going to be an issue with all ships who employ people from Asia.  

 

These employees worked the holiday busy season on the ships and then the ship lets a lot of them go on their yearly break in January because its less busy.    Now that it's late February they are returning back to the ships from their vacations back home.    I really wouldn't be surprised.

We just returned from a 5 day Western Caribbean on the Pearl.  We honestly didn't notice anymore coughing then usual.  I wasn't concerned during the cruise.  Washed hands constantly. Used paper towels to open doors when leaving restrooms, etc.   I am, however, concerned about my next cruise which is out of Rome then end of May.

We are booked on the May 28 cruise out of Civitevecchia.  Shame on us for not getting travel insurance.  Lesson learned.  I'm hoping if things continue to get worse in Italy, NCL will cancel and we will be offered a full credit for a future cruise.  We had award travel for airfare so all that will cost us is a small fee to re deposit miles.  

9 Days till we are on the Pearl

105 Days till we are on the Getaway!

Can't wait!

My brother-in-law's "legal" name in Vincenzo.  He goes by Vincent.  His birth certificate and passport say Vincenzo.  His drivers license says Vincent.  When he made his reservations for his NCL cruise, he gave Vincent as his name.  He made his airline reservations with Vincent.  He has since corrected his NCL reservation so the name on his passport and reservation are exactly the same, complete with middle name.  He is now talking to the airlines to correct his name on the reservation.

Really enjoying your review.  We are sailing on the Getaway May 28!  Thank you for doing this!

10 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

My advice on bidding is to only bid what you are comfortable with. Ideally, you will bid an amount where you will be happy if you win and not regret "overpaying" or happy if you lose and have more money to spend onboard! 

Just did a mock booking on our cruise... showing only GTY balconies now.  So looks like our chances are slim on winning our bid.  We are perfectly ok with it!  We will have a great time... its a vacation!

3 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

My advice on bidding is to only bid what you are comfortable with. Ideally, you will bid an amount where you will be happy if you win and not regret "overpaying" or happy if you lose and have more money to spend onboard! 

Exactly...It will be an adventure!  We have only ever had a balcony.  This cruise wasn't planned.  So we went with an inside.  If our bid is accepted, great.  Not going to up it at this point.  It's a cruise!  We will have a great time.  We are inside mid ship on deck 9.  We really are ok with that.

7 hours ago, JamieLogical said:

 

I am only seeing 22 balconies left on that sailing. I wouldn't give up hope. Maybe look at the current pricing and decided if it is worth it for you to just pay the difference?

Thanks Jaimie.  Struggling with that right now.  The cost of the balcony is $750 more then what we paid for our inside.  We may get lucky.  Think we will just sit tight.  If we don't get it, we can crash our friends mini-suite balcony room!

Jaimie....you are such a plethora of information!  Thank you for that.  We are sailing on the Pearl on February 22 our of Miami.  Have a bid in for a balcony.  A friend of mine had a bid in on a mini suite from a balcony and she heard Friday that her $50 bid was accepted.  I was wondering, when you have a chance, if you could check and see if there are many balcony rooms available.  My bid is in the high fair range.    Thank you!

I have 2 cruises booked and both paid in full.  One Feb 22.  I received the "let's get you upgraded" email the day after my final payment.  The 2nd cruise I have booked is May 28.  I paid balance last Thursday and haven't received an offer to bid email.  We did book the FEb cruise directly through NCL and the May cruise through a TA.    I'm veyr happy with our location on he May cruise so I'm sure we will fine.

We have stayed at a B&B in Rome twice and will be staying again prior to our May 28 Getaway cruise.  It's called "A Peace of Rome". Would highly recommend!

I agree with above....We never fly in day of.  We are on this cruise May 28.  Actually flying in 2 days early!

Enjoy!

We've done Moderno twice, both times on the Dawn.  First time was amazing.  My husband said he would have paid the surcharge for the salad bar alone.  Meats were good.  We really enjoyed it.  Second time was a couple of years later and the salad bar wasn't as diverse as it was the first time and the meats were just ok.  We are on the Pearl next month and have the specialty dining package.  So we are giving it another try.  This will determine whether we do it for our cruise in May on the Getaway.

You don't need reservations for the main dining room.  How many in your party?  We re cruising next month with several other people (13 total). We did make reservations in the main dining room for our group because of the size.

6 minutes ago, esm54687 said:

OBC is just that.... "on board" credit

Makes sense.

We will be on the Pearl next month for a 5 day Western Caribbean itinerary.  We'd both like an internet package.  If I call NCL directly to purchase it, can my OBC be

used or do we have to wait till we are onboard.  In which case we'll have to pay an activation fee.  Thanks.