Middleager

That's why I suggester water_baby to check again, because s/he apparently didn't know of the charge. And yes Amex is awful, to charge more if it's different foreign currency than USD. And again that's hidden into the rate they use.

You better check again. Every other Cobalt cards, including my wife's and my supplementary card, got charged the extra 2.5% if spending in USD, or if in other currencies it'll be 2.5% extra to USD then another 2.5% to Cad. Check the rates you got charged, vs the mid market rate.

This is really rough. Just curious how many days till the flight were the changes made? We don't know the reasons and which airlines. We've bought air through NCL in the past when the savings were substantial. We are commoners, so we fly economy, and sometimes we'd pay for seat selections, and sometimes take a chance especially for short flight segments. For luggages, if we need to pay, we'd try to wait till just before getting on to buy ahead if there's discount, or wait till airport check-in. There's pros and cons for buying air through NCL, but this is a bad negative to consider for the future. -- For changing from Canadian dollars, there are lots of money exchange places that give better rates than the banks, even bank's Private Banking rates. There was a time I went across the street to buy US$ from a money exchange place, then back to a bank to buy money order (about $1800), saving about $45. Some people wouldn't bother and just buy from bank. For me, that extra half hour, saved me $45.

Do you know of any cruise ship that doesn't need maintenance? You've never seen many drunken elderly people on a cruise, where have you sailed? Maybe your son will be hooked on cruising. We've been on several cruises. Ship happens, with all ships. Cancelled or changed itineraries. Shortened port of calls. Services/shows cancelled. We may or may not like the compensations, sometimes zero compensation. But we always get pampered on cruises, I get to be on vacation with my wife. Life is short, we make the best of it and enjoy it.

Ok, that's a special one, of Scotiabank/Amex partnership. You apply for that card through Scotiabank, not Amex. Amex doesn't list that as a card you can apply through them, or show that card in Amex websites. I don't know of Amex Amex card with no FX fee.

For the immigration/border agents, those IDs may suffice. But the cruiseline may still require you to show passport.

Which Amex card? Most of the Amex cards we know of, charge foreign exchange fees. If paying USD, it's 2.5%. If other countries, they charge 2.5% to convert to USD, then another 2.5% converting to Cad.

It had happened to us before. After booking, NCL came up with an offer of double points, but went up in price a bit. For you, if the price went up, you'd have to evaluate whether the double points is important to you that you'd like to rebook at the slightly higher price. If the price is the same or lower, then it's a no brainer to rebook.

We had bought NCL fare. For long haul (transatlantic, transpacific, or transcontinental) flights, they often do include a checked bag. For short haul or US/Canadian domestic flights, no there is no free checked bags. You can believe as much as you wish that you'll get free checked bag, but there is reality especially proven experience.

If you were NCL, will you book the lowest cost airfare, or will you try to pay higher fare out of the goodness of their heart so passengers will get more benefits?

In the last two cruises we were on, they both offered double up, if you book on cruise. They also both offered to upgrade you to the highest cabin, in the same category.

It's likely the transfer was made by the NCL rep, then the booking. That's because when doing bookings, the CF or CN certs or discounts, to be applied, they need to show up for the person applying. My BIL and my wife were just involved in doing a transfer and booking. The NCL rep was able to do the transfer (no forms or signatures needed, just transferred), then can do the booking.

That's right. No myth. Lattitude members who get priority tender, don't need to get tender tickets. I usually ask the Cruise Next desk. On different ship, sailing, things can be done differently. Sometimes they tell you just to show up (probably because they know from experience there is not line up, especially if tender starts really early), and sometimes they tell you to go to a certain room and wait there. NCL staff will then escort those, to the front of the line. If you have a small group going on a non-NCL excursion, as long as one of them has lattitude for priority tendering, NCL had allowed all to go together.

Didn't many people say NCL was going bankrupt, no way to climb out of the huge debt.

There is a lot to see in Oahu. Driving is easy, other than the traffic jams around Waikiki. Robert's Tours are good, but they start and end in Waikiki. If you like to see Pearl Harbor, it's best to book your time for Arizona Memorial. https://www.recreation.gov/ticket/233338/ticket/16 Other places to see, not too far from airport or Aloha Tower (for ship), include Punchbowl Cemetery, Pali Lookout, Ionali Palace. Even Aloha Stadium Swap meet. No time to go to Polynesia Cultural Center to enjoy it fully. But you can stop at Waikiki for a bit of time. If you still don't want to drive, it can be expensive to hire a private driver, but that gives you flexibility.

We have bought NCL air from Toronto to Rome, then Miami to Toronto, for a Transatlantic cruise before. We did 2day deviation before, and after, and did our own hotel booking, and transfer arrangements. At that time, 2d is the maximum deviation. Interesting to hear they offer 3day deviation now. There are lots of pros and cons to buy air from NCL and there are lots of threads and posts. For us, the money saved was good. We knew were were taking a chance and can get bad flight/connection times. You have to decide if that's for you.

Hmm. So for 17d cruise, 2 weeks plus 3 days, do we (Saphires) get 2 bags or 3 bags each of laundry?

Very soon after 6am when you hear the announcements, you can carry your own luggages to get off. If you have your own transportation lined up, you can be on the way to the Vatican. Do you mean to visit St. Peter's Sq, go into the Basilica, or visit the Vatican Museum & Sistine Chapel (need to buy tickets)? Last time we bought the small tour, before opening to the public, and had a fabulous guided tour inside. We were in the Sistine Chapel for 25minutes. We had breakfast in the courtyard. When we were coming out, there were lots and lots of people, and outside there were lots of people lining up (some to buy tickets, some to get in..)

If it was my wife snoring, the entire ship would hear. So your stateroom (and any other statement) would still be affected. Ok I better be careful, don't let my wife see this.

I wouldn't feel painful or bummed at all. I'd feel glad, and blessed that I have been able to be on cruises, and got those points. So what if I'm 1 point away from the next level. There are other things that are painful, certainly not this.

But why should NCL "honor" you with Platinum, when you haven't earned it? We had been on cruises where we would've advanced to the next status level at the end of that cruise. The rule has always been you earned the night points, and if that gets to the next status, AFTER you completed the cruise, not before, not during. Your initial question (including "probably the most painful number of points") and your repeated comment, all show that even though you did know the rule, you still want to find or hear of some way to bypass the rules. Please don't use the word "honor" to mean how you like to find ways to bypass the rules (heard that some people have been lucky in having a higher status). Your understanding of "honor" is not the same as most people.

We never take the NCL transfer. It's almost always cheaper to arrange our own private or small-group shared transfer. With NCL transfer you have to wait till the big bus fill up, and if the airport has multiple terminals, it can be going around to drop off in all those terminals. But I know, some people feel safer to go with NCL transfers.

You're talking about the existing RBC Avion visa, not the ones issued from the RBC takeover of HSBC, different RBC Avion visa.

Why is 74 the most painful number of points? Many people would've loved to have cruised that many nights. No NCL won't give you special treatment for being close. But you'll get Plat after the next cruise. Plat is a good status to be in, free laundry, free specialty dining, priority tendering, etc.

We had the Scotia Passport visa, which doesn't charge the 2.5% FX fee. It also comes with 6 lounge passes, but the time when they switched from Scotia's points to Scene they messed up and did not transfer about 35,000 points over. After so many phone calls and them admitting they messed up and would get the points to us, they never did. We didn't keep that card. We then had the HSBC WE MC which does not charge FX, then upgraded to the HSBC metal WE MC which came with lounge accesses. Now RBC is taking over, RBC issued Avion visa cards as replacement, which supposedly doesn't charge FX fee -- we'll find out for sure after April 1 when we can start using the new cards.