Guindalf

I've NEVER heard of any restrictions of dress in the theater. Not sure where you heard or saw that. Make sure that X are aware of your C&A status to get a matched Elite level. You will start at zero for obtaining points, but you will be recognized at that level. See the link given above for more details.

Here we go again! If you're THAT worried about a couple of dollars a day for waiter/assistant waiter/maitre'D etc. gratuities. then do everyone a favor...DON'T CRUISE! What you are doing is removing part of someone's salary. If you choose not to use the services provided, then why punish everyone in the tip pool? Remember, you're not removing the wait staff's tips, you're reducing the amount everyone, including the room steward, laundry workers and more get.

Sadly, the production show, Six, is leaving the Breakaway, and will not be available from January 26th 2024. We are sailing on February 4th. This is a show I've been wanting to see, too! Is there a schedule that will tell us what, if anything, is replacing it?

Nespresso makes coffee, Starbucks does not! The founder of the latter likes burnt beans, so every cup has a bitter aftertaste. I firmly believe that if it wasn't for the million-calorie fru-fru drinks, Starbucks would have disappeared years ago! I'll be in the Haven on the Breakaway in early February and the two factors that have brought us back to NCL after an eight year absence are the coffee and returning to Coke products!

Not! If you want to cover independently-booked flights and hotels as well as more coverage for the price before and after your cruise, you need third party insurance. Try using something like insuremytrip.com for options.

If you read the T&Cs, you'll see that NO ports are guaranteed and can be removed or replaced for ANY REASON. Your cruise ticket includes acceptance of this and, as such, there is zero legal obligation on behalf of the cruise line to provide alternative ports or replace them with days at sea.

Really? You're being given a perk. If you don't use it, you don't 'get compensated' for it. Of course you'll get refunded gratuities, but that's all. As for the 'free airfare part', you get a free companion ticket if you buy one, so as you're not doing the latter, there's no former. End of.

There are so many posts from people wanting to cruise without a passport. I just don’t understand it.

In my experience, TA-provided OBC is refundable. We use an online TA, the company we're not allowed to promote, that gives us around 5% of the cost back as OBC, and it's always the refundable type. If cruise line OBC is included, it's non-refundable and, on Celebrity at least, used first. We get a refund to our CC a few days after the cruise for any OBC not used, excluding any of the non-refundable type. In fact, on our last trip, I miscalculated and we lost $50. DW now has two Coach and several Guess purses and I have a nice pair of Maui Jim sunglasses by having to use up NR OBC on the last sea day!

The confusion here is between the amenities that go with the suite (Retreat access, etc.) and perks (premium drinks, wifi and gratuities). You DO get the amenities that go with the suite, so if it includes specialty dining and a bar setup, that's what you get. You DON'T get any extra/higher perks. If you had the all included plan before, that level will stay the same (standard drinks, wifi and regular level gratuities - if included) You will NOT be upgraded to premium drinks and higher gratuities. i hope that helps clear things up.

Are there any (potentially cheaper) alternative parking lots for NoLa? It's $25/day in the official lot. I need to consider that I have a mobility scooter, so it needs to either be close or have transportation that can take it.

FTR, I just got off the phone and they can't apply the offer retrospectively.

It's on my Blue Cash card.

To answer the OP's question, we stayed near the airport and used an airport shuttle to get to the hotel. There are services like Seattle Express that will take you to the ship. I think we paid $25 each three weeks ago. We were on Princess, but I'm pretty certain you can get it to an NCL sailing. When returning, we used Port Valet, an excellent service that took our luggage from the ship and checked it in to the airline at the airport. We didn't see our bags from the night before the end pf the cruise until we picked them up in Atlanta, which left us able to go to MoPop (Museum of Popular Culture), check our hand luggage and enjoy the day before our 4:10pm flight. Of course, all bags have an airtag! 😉

No, but it helps you find it if it doesn't!

Well crap! Made our final payment of over $6000 yesterday and just saw this offer!

Seattle was a complete cluster! It was unorganized with long lines and no consideration for rhse in suites or with higher loyalty status, as with other lines. We loved the Apex, especially the theater. Eden is a step above for a specialty restaurant, but Le Petit Chef pales compared to 360! Agreed. I wouldn't say 'never', but it's not as obvious for sure. The pressure to give wait staff (and even the restaurant manager) a five-star review was extremely pressured on Princess. We never noticed it before we started the suite life. The experience without the Retreat is so good, it's not an issue. Thanks to my company asking me to come back and work for them at a good rate means we can take advantage, but we'll be back to 'regular' cruising once it ends. Surprisingly, the air scrubbing was very good on Discovery. We weren't in there during a busy evening, but unless someone was directly smoking near us, we never even noticed a smell! Of course, Celebrity is non-smoking, so this isn't an issue. Never sailed solo, so it's not something I can comment on. There are lines like NCL that have solo cabins, so they may be worth a look. After this cruise, I would put Princess fourth in my list of cruise lines I've sailed, which would be Celebrity, NCL, RCCL and then Princess, with just about every other line coming above Carnival! Of course, I've never sailed Holland America, MSC, Costa or any of the super-luxe lines except for Oceania.

Another option to consider is Celebrity. It's considered slightly upmarket from the others, but has stellar entertainment (especially on the Edge class ships), non-smoking casinos (which can affect the whole ship) and also offers an 'all-inclusive package, If you book before October 4th, that includes OBC and gratuities. The one down side is that deposits are non-refundable unless you pay a higher rate.

I concur with just about everything above! If you want some color commentary and more detail, read my review in this forum.

You will never have to bear the cost of a ship-bought excursion if the port is cancelled. If you've pre-paid, it will be refunded to your ship-board account and any surplus will be returned to you after the cruise. Again, if the port is changed to a tender and you're unable to attend due to a handicap (I also use a scooter, which can't go on a tender), your payment will be refunded. Both of the above are circumstances beyond your control and can be deemed as the 'fault' of the cruise line. As for your comment 'it seems there have been a lot of this going on this year', no, it's no more than other years. It's just that no-one comes here to post that they went to all the ports they were supposed to!

Like Ken, I;m sorry I have no experience of either. Although I'm diabetic, I don't have a sweet tooth, but I try to consider what I eat, but I'm a little more lax when on vacation! Personally, I've never understood putting a.gym on a cruise ship 😉 Anyway, someone once told me that vegan is native American for bad hunter! 😄

Conclusions and final thoughts: I'm not going to rate each item out of 10 or anything as it's the overall experience that counts. This was our 22nd cruise and first on Princess. It was our fourth in a suite on any line (one being on the NCL Dawn, one each on Celebrity Apex and Solstice). I have to say, and others told us before we sailed, that the suite experience on Princess is a LONG way behind that of Celebrity (our first, on the Dawn, was in 2015, and was not an equal comparison). The Retreat lounge is a real benefit, especially on the Edge class ship. Michael's Club is similar to the Concierge Lounge, but slightly better. On Solstice, we even had an exclusive close-up magic show in the Club one afternoon. We didn't NOT enjoy our time on Discovery, but we didn't rave about it either. To use my theme statement, it was... Good, but not great. Our next cruise is to the Caribbean in February. We are booked on the Norwegian Breakaway in a Courtyard Haven Suite. We'll drive down to New Orleans, so avoiding any airport frustrations. After that, it's likely that we'll return to Celebrity as our line of choice. We're also just become Elite on that line. DW turned 65 on the Saturday before we sailed and I reach that landmark next month. I had retired until a couple years ago and going back into the workplace allowed us to have a small amount of spare cash, hence the suites, but I suspect that before long, we'll return to balcony cruising. In the meantime we'll enjoy the suite life! Would we sail Princess again? Yes, if the itinerary suited us. Would it be our first choice? No, not even our second or third. Would it be in a suite? Absolutely not. What we paid for what we got just wasn't worth it.

So in your opinion, every area should have live music 24/7 - or just silence when the band is asleep?

Never having used a lounge before, I didn't know if there were any reciprocal arrangements.