timf2001

Seeing as the 225k ton ships are scheduled for delivery every 2 years rather than yearly like the Prima class, it's possible NCL could be planning a separate order for a smaller class of ships to be delivered in odd numbered years and not be ready to announce that publicly yet.

On 8/14/2024 at 12:33 PM, CastleCritic said:

yikes, I was going to look into the Iceland eclipse cruise, that looks like a no.....

 

I dont even want to think about what they would have put on the Panama Canal cruise (though I guess looking now gives some indication, normal sea terrace is $10,500, thats $4k over what Im into it for.)

VV's website claims they are only going to experience 98.5% totality in Iceland.  After experiencing 99% totality this past April, I would feel totally ripped off if I paid those prices to see the eclipse and only got 98.5% totality.  Anything less than 100% totality is just like wearing a pair of sunglasses.

When I was there in May (not NCL, but it's all the same), there was no wait for the cable car when we first got there after our excursion ended.  However, we stopped for lunch at a restaurant just around the corner from the station, and by the time we were done the line was wrapped around town.  We ended up walking down the donkey path, which was a little smelly but not too bad.

The big advantage in taking a ship excursion is they take you to the new port, so you get directly on a bus rather than needing to take the cable car or donkeys up to Fira.

Wonderland could benefit from a menu refresh.  I did it twice in 2017 and 2018, but skipped it this year because the menu is still identical to what it was back then.

Great review!  I was on the week after you and didn't want to spoil too much before the trip, but it's fun to go back and read after the fact.  It's interesting to see the difference in JS layouts.  I was assigned a J3 for my guarantee and was initially disappointed in not having the separate shower, but in the end I think having the bigger seating area, extra closet, and 2 toilets was far superior.

The discrepancy seems to be that check in opens at midnight local time at the departure port.  If you are located in a time zone that's behind the departure port, the date shown would reflect a day earlier since that's what date it would be where you are when it is midnight the next day in the departure port.  If the date advanced a day, it appears they now made it always show the departure port date rather than the local date.

Putting Laser Tag in place of Spice H20 on Encore was a mistake from the start.  I'm glad they are fixing that mistake.

The Vegan restaurant is a stand in Indulge, not a full-service restaurant.  The Thai restaurant replaces Food Republic.  A few of the restaurants and bars have shuffled locations, but are largely the same as on Prima and Viva.

RoyalUp appeared on my reservation page 75 days prior to sailing.  I never received any other notifications.

Whether or not there are cabins still for sale should not affect whether or not you get an offer.  They regularly take bids on sold out cabins.  Booking via a travel agent that does not participate in the program is the most likely reason you wouldn't see it.

It is too early since you are still over a year from sailing.  There should be more excursions added as the date gets closer.

St. Kitts added a second dock a few years ago, which makes tendering much less likely.

In my experience, the 3 night dining package never goes on sale below the standard 20% off.  They recently changed from gratuities added at checkout to gratuities included, but the total price stayed essentially the same.  It's best to lock it in as soon as you can as it can sell out or the price could increase.

I sailed in both an Edge Villa on Celebrity and Yacht Club Duplex on MSC in the past year.  Crowding outside of the Yacht Club on MSC was a serious concern.  It's hard to do a fair comparison though since my Celebrity sailing was well below capacity.  Celebrity is clearly the more upscale experience, from the decor and furnishings around the ship to the quality of the entertainment and excursions.  However, the Yacht Club service was every bit as good, and the private areas had better offerings.  I certainly can't complain when it cost half of what Celebrity did.

7 hours ago, GeorgiaGirl14 said:

66Olds442 if you, or someone else, could investigate while you are on board, if there will indeed be no pool or hot tubs, I would really appreciate it. My hubby recently had surgery and a hot tub might work for him when we are scheduled.  However, standing under a water feature probably would not.

I would just take advantage of the free hot tub in Spice H2O.  Adding pools or spas to the thermal suite would require significant structural work, which is why they are going with water features and extra heated loungers instead.

11 hours ago, Becky Brown said:

I'm sorry.  I typed the wrong room number.  We are in 10190.

 

10190 is even farther from the slides than 10910.  They will not be an issue.

1 hour ago, chengkp75 said:

Doubt it.  Her bottom survey is not due until Oct 2024.

This is exactly why there is a dry dock scheduled for November 2024.

I would not be concerned about being on the first cruise after this, as it should be mostly technical work with nothing major on customer-facing areas.

In the future, you definitely want to sign up for Move Up as early as possible.  My last accepted bid was awarded a full 30 days before sailing.

2 minutes ago, zqvol said:

You need to call and have all of the accounts merged. 

You shouldn't need to merge the accounts if no points were ever credited to it.  Once you switch to the proper number, the new number just gets abandoned.

You don't need to call.  All you need to do is log into the person's Latitudes account who was assigned a new number and search for the reservation.  It will then link the reservation to their proper Latitudes number.

13 minutes ago, Slyfox16 said:

Are Onda and Paloma part of the 3 night dining package and what would that include? Does Prima have the Texas Smokehouse or Churrascoria on it?

No Moderno, and Q is part of the food hall rather than a specialty restaurant.

The Black Friday sale seems to only touch lunches and Unlimited Dining.  The C&A discount they had a couple weeks ago on individual dinner reservations is better than what is offered now.  I too have never seen the minor dining package (3 day in the case of my reservation) ever go on sale below the standard pre-cruise discount.

I noticed the "base price" of the drink package just went up $5 for the first time since I've been watching it, probably so they can offer a bigger "discount" for Black Friday and still net out about the same.

Historically NCL has never run sales on pre-cruise purchases.  The price is unlikely to ever go down from what it is now.

The big advantage to this would be if you lock in the drink package price but don't have to pay for it until final payment.  It also looks like they may be offering 30% off at the time of booking, which would be as good as the best Cruise Planner sales.

10 hours ago, lgbeddow said:

 There will be no open casinos while docked, and there is very little to do there. It will also be damp and cold.

Did you even look at the weather forecast?  It's showing sunny and low to mid 70s from Sunday to Tuesday.  You will be fine.