Daniel A

Math was never my strong suit...🙄 I should have written seven or eight hours of your time if you plan to be at the airport two to three hours before your flight. OOPS!! My apologies for taking part in the thread drift. 🙈🙉🙊

It seems to be a relatively straightforward equation. Look into the above-described options and the costs you would incur. If the price is worth it to you to save 6 or 7 hours of your time, then book an alternative. If saving the six or seven hours isn't worth the expense, then bring a good book. (I am saying six or seven hours as opposed to the ten and a half you quoted because in any event, you will need to be at the airport two to three hours before your flight anyway. So, your issue is more about saving six or seven hours of your time.) I hope this helps.

I chalked it up to new hires replacing crew members who got laid off during the pandemic and got new jobs elsewhere. Maybe the newer bartenders don't know they were available pre-pandemic. I can't imagine bartenders personally stuffing olives, but the bartender might be responsible for ordering supplies and stock and doesn't know they're available.

My last cruise on Regal, Crooners didn't have the flights of stuffed olives. When I asked why, I was told that it is up to individual bartenders to have the flights available.

Because you care if they're easily offended, they win by getting inside your head with their values. If I say something that I truly believe, and someone is offended, I'm not really sorry - I just don't care... I wonder how many people will get offended by that? ☺️ P.S. Is it ok if I'm offended if I can't get an olive flight at Crooners?

I'm just wondering if we'll need to get the latest and greatest operating systems and have to replace our current devices to use the new 'upgrade.' Nope....not gonna happen. I'm not buying new devices just so I can spend thousands on a cruise in the first place.

Just show up when you want and the hostess will seat your party at your own table. If you wish to share a table with specific people, just mention that to the hostess. Trust me, the Haven Restaurant's staff will know your preferences after the first day. I wish all land based restaurants were as accommodating as the Haven. You will have a very enjoyable dining experience.

I just took @Sthrngary first post from this thread and made a PDF of it. Here it is. It was done in February of 2022, I don't remember @Sthrngary making up another. NCL Haven Secrets 2022.pdf

Bon Voyage!

You're sailing out of Panama?

I'm just curious - Has anybody bought any AARP gift cards while onboard through their wi-fi and applied that as OBC? One could then take their device down to the passenger services desk and apply the cards to their current account. Would that work?

I think the point is that if you use the gift cards to pay off the cruise and worry about OBC later on, you are probably saving more by getting 8% off the cruise fare. I know I'm spending that money, but I'm not sure what I'll end up spending onboard. I just used $8600.00 in AARP cards to pay off my upcoming cruise fare which included my drink pkg, wifi and crew appreciation. I saved $708 off the cruise fare and the discount AARP gift cards covered the bulk of what I might have spent while onboard. ( Plus, I am getting $950.00 combination nonrefundable and refundable OBC from Princess, Travel Agent, Shareholder, and Casino) I don't think this is a 'one size fits all' type of situation.

As I understand it, Non-refundable OBC gets used before refundable OBC. Thus, in your example, you spent $950 onboard during your cruise. Princess will use up the $800 non-refundable OBC then start to dig into your refundable OBC. In this case they would only be taking $150 of your refundable OBC leaving your account with a $350 surplus. Generally, refundable OBC gets returned to the original form of payment which in this case would be your Gift card(s). That being said, I have seen some people write that they were mailed a check for their refundable OBC. But, given the discounted price of the cards, I don't see Princess refunding OBC that had the discount by giving cash or a check.

That's why I suggested doing it onboard. If they are 'must haves.' then they should wait until they are onboard, but then they'll need to use a CC to confirm before boarding. I ran into a similar problem with HAL earlier this year. ☹️

Another alternative is to book your wife's excursions now with a credit card, and once onboard you might be able to cancel the excursion and immediately rebook it using the OBC. If the excursion is a 'must have,' make sure it isn't waitlisted first. I recommend doing this as soon as you can once aboard so that the excursions don't fill up by people using their OBC to book popular excursions.

Here is a link from Princess which explains how to use on board credits to pay for excursions in advance of boarding: Princess® Cruise Credits - What are Cruise Credits? - Princess Cruises

I'm just curious, does your wife share your name and are you showing a different source of payment for your wife's purchases? I have had no issues applying our $8600 AARP gift cards to both of our bookings, but we do share the same last name and we have our stateroom account set up where anything my wife were to charge will be applied against my credit card. Just a thought.

Maybe there will still be some still available when your TA returns

Yeah, but a balcony is better. Have you looked to see how many balconies are available?

That last sentence is pretty clear.

If the new price for a balcony is less than what they paid for the inside, why make it " a healthy upgrade" I would try a minimal bid first or call Princess (or the TA that has the booking) and see if they'll do an even swap while also keeping the OBC. It's worth a try.

I get decent OBC from my TA. It's refundable OBC so, the same as cash if I behave myself onboard. 🙄

Thanks, it's more complicated now. Both the bank (MetaBank now called Pathward) and NCL stated they no longer have a relationship and Pathward referred my concerns to NCL. NCL reiterated that they no longer do business with MetaBank, but because of my past experience as an NCL customer, they have agreed to honor the card this time as OBC. The NCL rep I spoke with says they will no longer offer gift cards of any type.

Are you Norwegian??????????? 😆

Well... I cannot believe how much I messed up regarding my last cruise in September. As you may have noticed, I left my laptop on board Breakaway, jumped through a couple of hoops and got it back. When I was putting our passports away, I noticed an envelope from NCL on which I had written "$500 Gift Card." I didn't remember ever buying a gift card, but then I recalled buying one before the pandemic shutdown. I bought it to use toward the Eastern Med cruise that I was finally able to book after the restart and take last month. I wish I remembered that card when I was paying for that cruise, but I remember it now! 😒 I don't foresee another NCL cruise in the next 18 months and the card is losing $3.00 a month so now it's only good for $450. I just put it on e B a y at a discount as it will be close to nothing by the time I get to use it. Oh well, hopefully, somebody should end up benefitting from it. Between paying shipping charges for the return of my laptop and losing the use of the $500 card, this cruise is still costing me money. 💸 🤷‍♂️ I think I need another cruise.