kjquilts

Normally NCL excursions meet in the theater. There will be instructions where to meet on your shore excursion tickets. It is possible the ship will arrive in St Thomas early. Even if it doesn't there is shopping very very close to where the ship docks. See below link https://www.10best.com/destinations/u.s.-virgin-islands/st.-thomas/shopping/shopping-near-cruise-port-st-thomas/

Here is a YouTube video of an oceanview stateroom on deck 4 that sleeps four. At the end of the video it shows the fourth bed (stored under one of the twins) pulled out. I don't know if that bed pops up so it isn't laying directly on the floor.

Yes, very large balcony Here is YouTube video of 8110 on sister Ship Breakaway Here is YouTube video of 8112 on the Getaway. At the beginning of the video there are a couple exterior shots and you can see 8110 next to the circled 8112.

Yes, 70 B4 staterooms disappeared overnight. I can't find any information on a group cruise for the April 30th Gem cruise by google searching. I don't do FB so not sure if anything shows up there.

What is the date of your sailing? It is possible there aren't any BA balconies available to upgrade to. We are booked on the April 30 Gem Med cruise and the preceding Gem transatlantic cruise. For the med cruise I booked an 04 OV stateroom (04s and OAs were same price) and used 30,000 points to upgrade to a BA balcony. I changed stateroom numbers a couple of times as more desirable locations became available. On Sept 19th all of the remaining BA balconies disappeared. The following has nothing to do with point upgrades because BA is as high as you can go but on Sept 19 there were 41 B4 balconies left on deck 9 and 29 on deck 10. Two days later (9/21) all of the B4 balconies disappeared. It looks like there is one aft facing balcony left and the BF balcony category can be booked as guarantee without choosing a stateroom. I'm hoping there is not a large group booked on this cruise because I don't understand how so many staterooms could disappear in one day.

Here is the footnote for the Unlimited Open Bar Package Discount 7 Unlimited Open Bar Package discount is applicable when purchasing the Unlimited Open Bar Package. Discount is per person, for qualifying Latitudes guest(s) depending on their Latitudes Tier. PATRLR may have a good idea .... don't know anyone who purchases the Unlimited Open Bar Package outright rather than having it included in the Free at Sea package

Here is link to the current NCL CruiseNext Page https://www.ncl.com/cruisenext

We are booked on the Gem T/A April 15, 2023 and the following Gem Med cruise April 30 to May 7, 2023. We used NCL WorldPoints to upgrade both sailings to BA balconies. Both of these cruises offered double points for latitude members and puts me to diamond after the T/A and Larry to diamond after the Med cruise. I've been checking availability daily and the staterooms on both sailings are now just a few cabins apart deck 10 near middle stairs. What concerns me is the very rapid disappearance of balcony staterooms on the April 30th sailing. BA staterooms disappeared just after I changed mine from deck 9 to deck 10 last week. On the 19th there were 41 B4 balconies on deck 9 and 29 B4 balconies on deck 10. Today (21st) there are no B4 balconies and NCL shows them as sold out. It looks like there are just a couple BF balconies available. There are still around 35 club balconies (old mini suites) and a total of 15 full suites including haven available. I've checked other NCL med cruises in April and May and there is lots of stateroom availability. My fear is that there is either a very large group or possible charter on the April 30th sailing. I've tried google searches and nothing comes up. Anyone have any ideas or knowledge about this sailing?

six letters starts with something that rhymes with sea

I looked at a New Hampshire site that shows more than 15 staterooms per category... BA balconies 94 on deck 9 1 on deck 10 BI aft facing balcony 1 on deck 8 MB Club balcony guarantee MA Club Balcony 37 on deck 11 SP Family Suite 12 on deck 10 SD Forward Facing Suite w/large balcony 2 on deck 10 (lol I want one of them) SB Family Suite w/balcony 6 on deck 12 S3 Owners Suite w/ 2 balconies 2 on deck 9 S4 2 Bdrm Dlx Family Suite with balcony 5 on deck 11 I didn't check out interiors or oceanviews - some balcony categories were guarantee

This is the current offer for the NCL CruiseNext Double Up! Offer CRUISENEXT DOUBLEUP! OFFER Booking Window: August 23, 2022 – October 31, 2022 11:59pm EST Offer Details: Book a Balcony or above stateroom on any sailing booked at least 6 months in advance and apply TWO CruiseNext, CruiseNext Haven or CruiseNext Lite deposits. Offer Details for Prima: Book any stateroom on any Norwegian Prima sailing and apply TWO CruiseNext, CruiseNext Haven or CruiseNext Lite deposits on cruises through October 31, 2022. Terms & Conditions Offers are applicable to NEW reservations only. Offer is based on priced category. CruiseNext Lite, CruiseNext and CruiseNext Haven are valid on any sailing length. The standard CruiseNext terms and conditions apply which will cover the category restrictions that are in place. Currency exchange rates are set at the time of purchase. Government taxes, port expenses & fees, general excise tax (GET), and discretionary on-board service charges and/or gratuities are additional. Cancellation Fees also apply based on the booking/sailing date; therefore, Norwegian Cruise Line strongly recommends the purchase of travel protection on all bookings. Offer is capacity controlled and can be withdrawn at any time. Offer and combinability with other promotional offers is subject to change at any time per Norwegian Cruise Line's discretion. Other restrictions may apply. Not applicable to chartered dates and group types: CMI OP EVENT, CMI OP LG EVENT, INCREG & INCLARGE. Applicable to all offices. Here is the link to NCL's web page https://www.ncl.com/cruisenext

Our favorite gin is The Botanist, first enjoyed on the Bliss in 2019. I believe our sailing was the first where the Premium Plus package was available and we made full use of it.

Do you have an NCL PCC? We used ours a couple times to transfer CN certificates. She contacted CN department and took care of it for us. We were transferring either to or from people she was also the PCC for, not random strangers.

Does that really matter? I think he will be a good Cruise Director, well spoken and high energy.

OP asked if CruiseNext certificates could be transferred on line. They couldn't find info on NCL website. CruiseCritic has nothing to do with that. I don't believe CruiseNext can be transferred on NCL website. It is easy to do via a phone call to your NCL PCC or to the main NCL number.

lol your mushroom comment was why I refreshed the page. When it came back on for me she was in the sexy red dress she's wearing now. I really like her.

Livestream went off line so I thought we weren't going to be able to see Katy Perry singing but I refreshed page and there she is 🙂 I really like Katy Perry so was very surprised how out of her element she was at the start of the christening. She did loosen up as it went along.

The livestream link would not take my email address ..... had to go to ncl livestream and register (very easy). This is link https://ncl-livestream.com/register that worked and event is playing

Thanks for your review. Glad you enjoyed the Bliss as she's one of our favorite ships. Did you make it to the Observation Lounge? We spent a lot of time there. Re drawers in the balcony stateroom, there are two large drawers that pull out from underneath the sofa. I wish there was a plug receptacles close to the bed for CPAP machines but am happy there are USB chargers underneath the switch in the lights on either side of the bed. The change to using Ward Cove was a disappointment to us but we've been to Ketchikan several times in the past. This time we took the NCL shuttle to town and then walked to Creek Street and stopped at some shops on the way back to the shuttle. The May 21st Bliss cruise was only at about 60% capacity so we didn't have any trouble with the shuttle arrangement. Some of the other NCL ships have much better Alaska itineraries but our cruising friends had never been on the Bliss so Bliss it was. The Victoria stop is a joke which is a shame because we love Victoria. NCL does have other Alaska cruises that actually spend some quality time in Victoria. For us the Bliss cruise was more about finally being back on a wonderful ship and enjoying the gorgeous scenery. We did whale watching in Juneau and had an easy day in Icy Strait Point. Weather was beautiful so after checking out the cannery/shop building we walked into Hoonah and took the NCL shuttle back. We watched whales right off the dock in ISP and just off shore while on our walk.

Here is NCL's Travel Requirements by Country referenced in their new Sail Safe policy https://www.ncl.com/travel-requirements-by-country Our next two cruises with NCL are April 2023. Gem transatlantic has several Spanish ports and the following Gem med cruises has Corfu, Greece scheduled. Both of those countries are included on the list so I'll be watching with interest. I doubt NCL would drop all the Spanish ports but I could see them dropping Corfu if nothing changes. We are fully vaccinated and double boosted and will continue to follow vaccination recommendations. I know from personal experience that won't prevent one from getting Covid but my case was very mild (exhaustion and scratchy throat). My concern about having non vaccinated fellow cruisers especially on longer or back to back cruises is with the Contact Tracing if positive case of Covid occurs and what does NCL consider close contact. Towards the bottom of the Sail Safe page there is a section titled Thorough & Effective Mobilization Plan in Event of Outbreak MOBILIZATION & RESPONSE followed by a FAQ section.

Here is the link for NCL Sail Safe policy https://www.ncl.com/sail-safe

The way I read it was they were looking for confirmation that NCL's policy has changed and they could bring on wine at one of their ports of call (as well as at embarkation) without being charged corkage since they have the beverage package. I would swear that when I responded some of the posts were not in the thread or I wouldn't have responded since Ziggyyuk confirmed (post #5) they were allowed to bring wine on at a port of call without paying corkage since they had the beverage package. That is the poster I was referring to who confirmed the change in policy.

I believe NCL recently changed their wine and champagne policy and are no longer charging corkage IF guest bringing on the wine/champagne has purchased the beverage package. I would have been so happy if this was in place when we cruised on the Bliss May 21st since we have lots of good wine and drove to the port. There were posts on Cruise Critic when this happened but I don't have time to go looking for them. Here is the NCL link that quote in paragraph 2 of post #1 in this thread was taken from https://www.ncl.com/freestyle-cruise/liquor-beverages

We are 74 and 76 so qualify as senior. We've been on Gem sister ships Pearl, Jewel and Jade several times. We've been on the Star at least twice and have been on Epic and Breakaway sister ship Getaway twice. I would chose the Gem. In fact we have chosen to take the Gem transatlantic next April followed by a Gem med cruise. Reason for recommending the Gem is that she has forward facing Spinnaker observation lounge and aft facing Great Outdoors. Both are favorite places of ours on Jewel class ships. On the Star the observation lounge was turned into suites which is fine if you are staying in one of them. Here is a YouTube Gem ship tour done by Cruisemonkey. This is a little older video and the slide on the pool deck no longer exists. Not sure if the Gem rock climbing wall is still there. However he hits all the highlights and video is only about 20 minutes. YouTube is a good resource viewing ships. I also like to look at the ship drone videos. Here is a Gem example (slide by pool is gone but rock climbing wall still there).

YouTube is a good place to look but you need to be sure poster was on the Spirit after the 2020 refurbishment. Here are a few to get you started This is long Norwegian Spirit - Complete Tour (2020) done by AGC Travel Videos Ship staterooms were all totally redone in the refurbishment. Here is YouTube Norwegian Spirit Balcony Cabin Tour (Post Refurbishment) done by Prof. Cruise. Spirit staterooms are small but video shows huge improvement from when we were on Spirit years ago. Prof. Cruise has also posted some other YouTube videos and it looks like they will be posting a video review of their cruise. Just posting their video "Secret" Multi-Purpose room on the Norwegian Spirit because I thought it was interesting that Spirit has forward facing viewing areas on both decks 12 and 13. There is also a YouTube video NCL Spirit - French Polynesia & Hawaii 2022 posted by Steve&Gen Bazinet. It has shots of the ship mingled with gorgeous scenery photos and great music. YouTube is not allowing the link to be imbedded but you can look it up.