Sailing12Away

We make a note of when it is occurring, and if we don't have anything else going on and happen to be passing by the place it is held in - we'll pop in. If there's an issue or something we need to chat to someone about, it helps having a face and name to bring your concern to the right chief. I like asking the CN folks about when they're going to offer some wild and new itineraries rather than the same old same old. Sometimes they have good insight to new adventures I didn't know were out there, other times the point is made and they leave me alone knowing I won't need a CN certificate when there's no itineraries that catch my eye.

Very bizarre... Posting this from my phone and no need to prove I'm human. So my theory is out the door. Looks like you'll need to contact someone from the site. 🤷‍♀️

I wonder if it's something with being on a phone vs regular computer? That's bizarre though - and will get old very quickly. I think you usually get the unlimited wifi, so maybe when you're connected on the ship it will remember you better? Otherwise I sense this will be a short live review...

Looking forward to hearing about this. When we were in Cozumel for Thanksgiving we ended up bringing home a bottle of coffee and mango tequila. I'm convinced there's no liquor in them, but haven't been brave enough to keep drinking long enough to find out for sure. Tequila is not so friendly on the following morning. Love it! Not sure what I would do in the case that a particular person fit more than one shirt... maybe multiple ones for different days. Can't wait to see 16 people as twinsies.

Again, it all depends. Going to the cruise our flights have always been exactly what we would have picked on our own. First thing in the morning (6-7am) leaving from JFK. Coming home is a different story. One trip our flight home from Miami wasn't until 5pm - so we took an Uber to a nearby animal sanctuary, stored our luggage in the managers office and played with some animals to kill time. Another trip our flight home from Miami was at 11am and we nearly missed the flight waiting on the NCL transfers - had to get out of line and get a last minute Uber to catch our plane. When we did our POA trip, those flights both ways were perfect - so I guess it just really depends on where you're going and where you're returning to. For domestic, if the savings is truly a few hundred dollars then we will gladly suck it up and use their "free" air promo and just drop the transfers. But for international, for us it was a one and done since we're fat and like the bigger seats. But for all the times we've used the "free" air, we have truly saved a few thousand dollars with no major issues beyond some inconvenience.

As a lover of all things potato related (new Xmas sweatshirt to prove it) this concerns me. First the great wide hashbrown famine of 2023 and now as we roll into 2024 there's issues with the baked variety as well? What's next, soggy fries? Lumpy mashed? Will someone please think of me and my fellow potato lovers?

Just for the folks who have not yet sailed Celebrity.... their main martini bar (the busiest most hopping bar akin to the NCL atrium bar) - yes, there are lovely martinis to try, but the espresso martini comes from a Costco sized pre-made box. Yes, a box of premade cocktail goop that they dump into a chilled fountain and squirt it out from there. I was on line for about 10 mins waiting for my martinis and saw them swapping it out. Immediately changed my drink order from the espresso martini to another one they would make fresh by hand. I will gladly pay a $2 upcharge on NCL for a real espresso martini made with freshly brewed espresso than to get a glass of goop from Costco.

There's no easy answer because it's not consistent. Our last NCL trip with booked B1G1 flights had Iceland Air going. Checked bags were free and we could pay $50/pp to upgrade to comfort plus (we did). Could also upgrade all the way to first class if we wanted. Coming home was on Delta. Could pick the row we wanted and seats in those ~20 rows available to us, but could not pick an exit row or comfort plus or anything else at all. Checked bags were free, but that may just be from my status with Delta and nothing else. So honestly, it's a crapshoot and all depends on the airline.

Just because you don't enjoy private time in your cabin doesn't mean everyone else should cruise the way you do. Having different opinions is one thing, but telling something they vacation 'wrong' because it's not what you do is truly 'wrong'. Some families like to spend time together away from the crowds. That 2br has a miniscule sized living room to gather in. For some people that is more important than trying to fight for a quiet couch to gather around in the public areas.

I just took my first Celebrity trip last month, so I have a fresh comparison between the 2. Honestly, both NCL & Celebrity are mass market cruise lines. Meaning they're way more similar than they are different. Celebrity tends to have a higher price because they roll "free" things into that price. Whether it's a true value add is up to you and how much you'll use it. The Free at Sea (FAS) promo that NCL has been running for a long time is a great value if you like 2+ drinks a day. You pre-pay the gratuities on those drinks at the time you say you want it (about $20/pp/day) and then you have a much higher limit on your drinks than what Celebrity offers. NCL give you up to $15/drink, Celebrity's classic package is only $10 and their premium package is $17. In November we were in the Retreat so had the premium package for "free" (gratuities were all rolled into the trip price so no way to tell what they were charging). For our 2025 trip we have booked with Celebrity we have only the classic package, and recently paid to upgrade when it was on "sale" an extra $7/pp/day (plus additional gratuities) for the premium package. $10 is way too low to us, so we like the sweet spot NCL has of $15 better. If you care about specific brands of top shelf liquor, being able to have bottles of san pellegrino, specialty Starbucks mochafrappawhateverchinos.... you can consider upgrading to NCL's premium drink package. If you just like your fancy coffees, they offer a separate Starbucks package you can add on which gives you unlimited fancy coffees for only ~$10/day. Cafe al Bacio is better though - simply for the fact that they can add booze to their coffee drinks. NCL's Starbucks is literally a Starbucks at sea - so no boozey coffees. Wifi - meh, depends on what you like to do. NCL gives you a set number of free minutes - so you have to log in, do what you want to do, and remember to log out or your minutes will be gone on that first day. Having unlimited wifi from Celebrity was nice, but for us not needed. I'd rather pay less money and use my free minutes when I did need to check email, otherwise wait till we're on land to post pictures here or on FB. Celebrity no longer offers free gratuities, so it's a wash between the 2 lines for that area. You can prepay those gratuities before you get on board so you walk off with a zero balance, or you can wait until you're on board and will be charge the daily pp fee based on the cabin you're in. With the "free" excursions on NCL, that's a sore spot that they haven't rebranded that at all. It's $50 off at each port of call for guest #1 only. So if you have an itinerary with 5 ports and did an NCL excursion at each one - you would save $250. If you were super adventurous and it was a long port day and did more than one excursion, you would save even more. But it's certainly not "free" excursions as there's very few offered for <$100. The one thing I do like with Celebrity is when you have on board credits with them - you can use them before you get on board. So I used our OBC to upgrade our drink package for the 2025 trip. I used our OBC for the Thanksgiving trip to pay for our excursion. NCL makes you wait until you're on board the ship to use any OBC you may have. You can't use them ahead of time like Celebrity lets you do. There's a few NCL ships that offer a better value than others if you wanted to try their Haven experience (go big or go home). Epic tends to have really good pricing as it's a bit of a quirky ship - folks either love it or hate it, but the Haven area on the ship is one of the better ones so a great value if you shop around. We've gotten a 2 bedroom Haven room on 2 different occasions for ~$360/pp/day. Do you need 2 bedrooms for 2 people? Usually no, but it's nice to have that extra space (and toilet) when it's at such a low (comparative) price. The other ship to look at this the Joy - it has a lot of extra Haven amenities as it's one of the newer class ships, and there's rooms in the HH, HI, HJ category which are a great value. They're just outside of the Haven area, so a short 2 flights of stairs or elevator ride, and tend to be bigger cabins with larger balconies at lower prices than the regular Haven rooms. Again, have done those twice for an average price of only ~$425/pp/day. With NCL - the jewel class ships (Jade, Gem, Pearl....) are similar to the M-class ships with Celebrity. A bit smaller, a bit older, smaller passenger counts. As with Celebrity, the fancier the ship the higher the price. Concierge class on Celebrity is probably closest to the "Club Balcony Suite" on NCL. Don't be fooled though - it's not a suite, not even a junior suite, just a marketing play on words. Those cabins will get you some concierge help with booking things, some snacks in the cabin 1-2x during your trip, and a free bag of laundry. That's about it. Again, depending on the ship you were looking at, some offer non-Haven suites at a good price. Those jewel class ships in a non-Haven suite are nearly identical to the Haven experience - but you don't get access to the private Haven pool. Nearly everything else is identical to a Haven experience (you get a butler, priority embarkation, private restaurant for breakfast & lunch) but for several thousand dollars less. So again, if you wanted to splurge a bit to try NCL at it's best, look into a non-Haven suite on a jewel class ship and you'll probably have a great experience at a fair price.

That's a bit loaded and unfair. Amount of children on a sailing is 1000% dependent upon the time of year the trip is and where it's headed. We were on Prima in early September from Iceland to Southampton and there was 10 children on board - 2 of which were my niece and nephew. The only main theatre show we needed reservations for was Price is Right and that was more so because it was tied to your ability to be a contestant. We were on Celebrity Summit over Thanksgiving. There were easily 100-200 children running around and taking over the pools. So it has nothing to do with NCL being "chaos and kids" when my 2 most recent experiences this year with both lines showed the exact opposite to your claim. Stop saying it's over 100% full - they're not allowed to do that. Just because it felt crowded to you doesn't mean they were sleeping people in closets.

If you actually want a response to some sort of issue or problem you had on board, this is probably more appropriate. https://www.ncl.com/case-submission

For folks using NCL flights for international trips - just be careful. The ability to pick your seats and choose to pay extra to upgrade to either comfort plus or an exit row is 100% dependent upon the airline NCL books you with. Our trip to Iceland we had Iceland Air going and was able to upgrade to comfort plus. But coming home from London, we were booked on Delta and not allowed to upgrade at all. Even calling NCL, calling Delta, offering to pay the price difference ourselves - nope. So an 8hr flight home in regular coach. It was thankfully a 2-4-2 configuration and we were ok after snagging the 2 seater, but lesson learned for ourselves that we will not use NCL air for long haul international trips. Had used them about a half dozen times before for domestic trips and always had the ability to upgrade to comfort plus - so didn't think it wouldn't ever be a problem. But nope - not allowed to do it with Delta. Both Delta & NCL just kept pointing the finger at the other one saying "they" controlled the booking and were denying us the ability to upgrade.

Ok, but again - you're saying it's the foie gras that causes the upcharge, and I'm saying that wasn't my experience at all. I have zero interest in eating foie gras, told them I didn't want it, and still got an upcharge for the filet at Le Bistro.

Not my experience. I have zero interest in foie gras, so I had asked for the pork chop (prefer the sides and sauces with that one) but to swap the chop with a filet. Was told there would be an upcharge for the filet, and there sure enough was. So our last trip we skipped LeBistro completely given our options in other restaurants to pick from. @ChiefMateJRK I'll Zelle you $20 so you can get both the filet and a handful of espresso martinis on your next trip 😉

LeBistro now has an upcharge for the filet.... so you might need to rethink that. It used to be my favorite, but I can't justify paying an upcharge when I can get it for free at either Cagneys or the Haven restaurant.

It sometimes gets complicated, so just talk to the server when you get there and bring your coupon with you to the dinner. Our last trip in September we had unused FAS credits as well as the platinum voucher and were trying to use a combination of both to cover my nephew's meal and our dinner at Onda. They over complicate it because the voucher and FAS credit technically do not cover the same things - so they're not directly interchangeable. Based on the fact that all he wanted was a pizza it ended up being fine, but at first they were telling me no and he couldn't use any of our credits since he wasn't in our cabin. On record, my husband and I had to use the voucher since he and I were the platinum guests in the cabin, and my nephew was able to use one of our FAS credits to cover his pizza. So we had him order the appetizer we wanted because our voucher was only for a single app and the credit allowed for 2 per person. It's honestly just dopey shuffling of deck chairs at that point.

We love the Joy. It's going for refurb in January 2024 I believe, so will be fresh and shiny. I know Haven is a big stretch for some, but on the Joy they have a ton of different categories, and the HH, HI, HJ rooms are an awesome value for someone wanting to try Haven. Bigger rooms than the courtyard ones and a few thousand dollars cheaper. I know you mentioned needing 2 cabins, but do the math for the 2 separate balcony rooms vs the 1 single Haven family room. Compare what you get for the 2 rooms (2 bathrooms, specialty meals for all 3 people rather than just 2) vs the price of just the single shared room. March 2nd sailing on the Joy - 2x balcony rooms for 4 people = $4500. Price for the single HH Haven family suite = $7000. The HH room is huge, with both a murphy bed from the wall and a couch bed, with a curtain to separate the space from the main bed for some privacy. Plus you'll all be in the Haven which means no need to buy a Vibe pass. If you wanted to try and put the 3 of you into the HJ cabin instead, it would only be $5800. Easy for others to advise you how to spend your money, but if it were me, I think the Haven amenities on the newer ships are well worth the $1300 price increase. Especially on a March spring break trip that will be packed. Having the quiet Haven area to hide out in will be well worth that upgrade cost, and the Joy has much better bargains to be found.

The nice thing about NCL is that they offer their trips as a la carte. Folks who enjoy those extra things can add them on, folks who don't see as much value or want a lower budget trip can skip them. No need to get the full package if all you want is one thing, or to pay extra for other cruise lines that give you everything for "free". For the specialty dining - you're allowed to go back to the same place more than once. So in the future, if you really enjoyed one place there's no rule that says you can't go back there again. As you get higher up in the NCL loyalty perks, platinum members get 2 extra meals per cabin - so with the regular FAS that's usually plenty for most folks on a standard 7 day trip.

Are the prices similar? Do you have available time to extend your trip post cruise? If your main goal is Venice, it is very easy/fast to take the train from either final stop and just spend a day or more in Venice before going home. Do you have an interest in visiting Croatia? The Epic trip skips that whole area - so if being able to add that country to your map of visited cities is important, that's something to consider.

Order 2, and tell your friends what time to join you in your cabin for breakfast as you drop your butler an extra $20. Honestly, this isn't rocket science here. On Prima I had called the butler in the morning one day and ordered a bunch of different lunch items for our cabin to be delivered later in the day. The biggest issue was shuffling bodies and taking turns eating as the table in the cabin barely fit 2 people despite our cabin being able to hold much more if we had booked it full.

I haven't been on Escape yet, but was on Prima in September and Joy/Encore (sister ships to your Bliss) a few times previously. Each 'category' of ship class is different from the rest, but ships within the same class will be very nearly identical. Meaning a jewel class ship (Gem, Pearl, Jade....) is very different from a breakaway plus class ship (Encore, Bliss, Joy...). Best bet is to look at the ships together by their class to see what if any differences there are in the sister groupings. https://cruisedeckplans.com/ships/cruiseline.php?line=Norwegian I'm biased, but I prefer Joy the most of all as it offers the best value for your money. Those HH, HI, HJ cabins are mid ship so a short walk to the Haven amenity areas, bigger cabins than the courtyard rooms, and much cheaper in price. Joy has all the full amenities - private bar, restaurant for 3 meals/day, observation lounge, pool, sundeck.... If you're only a group of 2, no need to worry about eating at the restaurant. The only time it makes sense to talk to the concierge ahead of time is if you have a big group and want to dine together, or have a special request (wanting to eat off-menu). Otherwise you walk up and you're usually sitting within 10 mins. If it will be a much longer wait, they will sometimes offer you the option to eat at Q for free.

Again - why are you placing an obligation on the original person to "give up" their perks because of an uninvited (or rather unannounced) last minute add-on guest? I assure you, we've traveled with non-Haven guests when we've been in Haven. Maybe you think we're evil and cruel, but having that private place to go away from some of our travel companions is nice. They know we'll be doing some meals without them. They know they can't come to our fancy pool/sundeck area. They know they can't just pop by our room to knock on our door. That last Prima trip with our 'entire neighborhood' we were the only ones in Haven, and it was fine. We had breakfast in our room each morning while the rest of the gang did whatever they wanted whenever they wanted. We ate dinner in the Haven restaurant, they ate at the buffet. We went to the Haven pool, they went to the main pool. They didn't expect us to 'give up' our perks that we had paid for, and we didn't feel obligated to do so either. That's on you. If your guests knew you were booked in Haven, and surprised you but chose to not book Haven - that's on them. They know you won't be able to see them often, I assure you, they're probably fine with it. No need to feel obligated to hang in gen pop because of someone who was just trying to do something nice.

Meh, the one thing I do like with NCL as opposed to say Celebrity that I just sailed with a week ago - NCL offers a la carte pricing. Celebrity (when I booked) included many of the things you mention for "free". It wasn't free, it was just already included in the cost of my room. My price on Celebrity was higher than most of my NCL Haven trips, but if I had chose to add on the FAS Plus, they would have been similar in price and amenities included. Personally, I don't even like the Starbucks brand of coffee. What Celebrity had that NCL lacked was alcoholic coffee - that I would gladly pay an upgrade fee for. Not just the ability to get a fancy frappamochamachiatowhatever-o, but an iced coffee spiked with whiskey. Yup, sign me up baby. Vibe - meh, it's redundant. Just add more wait staff or an outdoor bar area to the Haven pool area. Ships like Prima & Epic have them, so the other ships can certainly find a corner to add one in with a simple limited menu offering. Thermal spa - meh. In all the cruises we've taken I've never stepped foot in the spa once. Not a value add for me, so calling it a 'free' perk won't tickle me at all. But yeah, free cans of soda absolutely. The simple deli style fridge with grab and go bottles of water and cans of Coke - absolutely an easy perk for them to add on. They can monitor for abuse fairly easy without it being a babysitting thing. Classic drink package included for 'free' - again, absolutely. Not having to show my card every single place I went with Celebrity was nice. Even if it's just in the Haven restaurant and bar - nice touch to say "Hey, we know you belong here, everything's included." If you want something more premium, you can flash your VIP card as needed. Gets people to really view the Haven area as a special place to be and hang out. Lots of ways NCL can add small, simple tweaks that don't cost them a lot but increase the perceived value add a lot to narrow the gap between cruise lines.

The last time we were on Epic was pre-Covid and they had a dinner show in the tent. For those who have been on her recently, are they still offering that? The dinner wasn't anything special from what I remember, but it was nice having something to mix up the monotony. We'll be back on her this coming February.