Sailing12Away

Don't get your hopes up too high. Last trip out of NYC there were no cookies, just water and juice. We did arrive later in the day at about 1pm, maybe the cookie monsters beat us to them. We always ask the guys taking our luggage since that's the first stop anyway. Without fail they always point us in the opposite direction everyone else is going and we're in and through in <15 mins.

I've never seen a sale or price drop. It is what it is. So if you're comfortable with the price and want to add the charge to your card now, go for it. That will help split the costs up a bit across different billing cycles. We're interested in trying out the advanced drink package at least once, but our last trip was 10 days, this next one coming up is 15, and the one after is another 10 day. Those prices add up quick on the long journeys. We're not particular to top shelf liquor since we mostly stick with cocktails and it would be a bit wasted on those, but hubby loves his bubbly in both alcoholic and non varieties. Much cheaper to just buy a bottle of sparkling water every other day than to pay an extra $500+ per person.

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It depends on the embarkation port and the folks working. We sailed Haven on the Encore out of Seattle last year. Spent the night before the cruise at the hotel across the street. We had a 10am check-in time I think, went over at 9:30 to drop our bags off and get in early so we could wander the city some more before getting on the ship. They refused to let us into the building until 9:50 since our time said 10am. So we literally sat on a bench staring at the security guard across from us and checking the time on our watch every 5 mins. Granted, no one else was lined up outside that we could see. He finally called us over and said we could start climbing the stairs to the check in desk when he got sick of us looking at him. Other times, they never even looked at the time on our edocs. So it depends.

Butler isn't the one who escorts you on/off the ship or to dinner & shows. That would be the concierge. And they usually leave letters/notices the night before each port of call saying where to meet them and when for the escort service.

Have you looked at the menus yet? https://www.ncl.com/cruise-ship/bliss/whats-on-board/specialty-dining?cid=PS_DIG_NA_NA_GOO_NA_NA_NA_NA_NA_NA&gclid=Cj0KCQiAyMKbBhD1ARIsANs7rEEqj-LBEXbDEeqf4PKhwx9ZJJwxYNOF9EQH8mZ1ucBllTIQVIcf2QcaAooKEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds Not sure if you do seafood at all, but Ocean Blue also has a roasted cauliflower steak and a quinoa & kale salad side dish that they could probably do as a larger entrée sized portion for you. Los Lobos has a lot of veggie friendly dishes, or ones that you could easily ask them to hold the meat from. Food Republic is often open for lunch on sea days. You can get 4 plates for 1 credit, so can always go there and share 4 plates to try it out. The shishito peppers are a favorite of mine. La Cucina you can always do a large dinner size portion of any of the pastas. Or, do a small pasta with a veggie pizza - the pizza is actually good. We usually get a pizza to share and bring half back to the room in a takeaway box to munch on later. So yeah... there's lots of options for you out there. And if the meal is free with the FAS, why not try it, even if it's just for one of each side offered and you can always fill up at the buffet afterwards if you're still peckish.

I remember on our first NCL cruise we were turned away from the 'fancier' MDR because hubby was in shorts. Went to check the menu on the other dining room and when we realized they were exactly the same - we never bothered to try the fancier one on any of our trips. When we're on a ship with both Taste & Savor, we honestly just go to the one with the shorter line.

This ^ 100%. Go to the things that interest you, and you'll find like-minded folks that you'll quickly make friends with. Whether it's the bingo/deal or no deal/trivia events in the atrium, a particular bar, the smaller venues with singers, on your excursions, etc. We have always made new friends on our trips, and even went so far as to make up bookmarks with our contact info on them to give out on our next trip when we find folks we'd like to stay in touch with. Easier than putting a random name into your phone and trying to think of who "Bob" is in your contacts a month later. The only cruise where we did struggle to have conversations with new people was on RCC, but that was shortly after the Covid restart so we try to not fault them too much and are willing to give them another shot. With NCL, no matter where you go on the ship you can strike up a conversation with folks. We're just not good with names.... so we'll say hi as "Hey, it's Kansas City!", or "Look, chardonnay is here!"

No, even with connecting rooms the answer is no for the balconies to be opened up. You'll be able to poke your heads around the divider to say hi and wave, but you won't get one big balcony to use.

We used our credit card in February. Only went to the swim up bar, drinks were about the same as on the ship - about $12-15 for a cocktail.

I'm intrigued by that iced peach bellini soup....

I have that too, although I have until February to get through it 😄

Look at you being all fancy and efficient. It's almost as if you've done this once or twice before... I'll turn you into my assistant travel coordinator one of these days. First task... herding cats, er 🐀's for a group journey because it's the one thing our friend wanted most of all.

Depends on the category of room you're booked in. Folks in the Haven can get nearly anything at any time of day brought to their room, and I think possibly club balcony rooms and regular suites also get no charge for room service. The drinks are a hot topic and stupid rule. Even with the drink package, they charge you for bringing drinks to the room. Makes no sense at all. Even for Haven guests, but they can request a free pitcher of soda for their mini fridge. Just not cans. On one trip I was in Covid quarantine confined to my room. Even then - they still refused to give me cans of soda with my meals. They would put saran wrap over the tops of the cups and send 2 with each meal instead of giving me unopened cans to drink when I actually needed them. If I insisted on closed cans, $3.50 charge per can - even with the drink package, and even being in quarantine, and even being a Haven guest. So yeah.... that part of their policy leaves a lot to be desired. I can understand if someone was requesting a 6 pack a day and pilfering to friends without a drink package. But 1-2 cans with a meal?

That's why the tips for butler and concierge are NOT included in the DSC. Same with the cost for the kids clubs. Or go-karts. Or laser tag..... Each family's use will vary, and not many people want to pay for extra things they won't utilize. All the Celebrity cheerleaders who love to say that they don't nickel & dime compared to NCL, but they just charge you up front for 100 things even if you only will use 70 of them. They're no better or worse, just different. If you use the concierge in any way (shifting reservation times around, booking last minute excursions, anything you would typically go to guest services for, escorts on/off the ship to bypass the normal lines, etc etc) then it's only fair to compensate them. If you don't utilize any of that at all, then you are correct, no tip needed.

Is the 360 dinner that everyone is talking about similar to the Chef Table on RCC?

Being 5 mins from the Belt... my personal preferences are in the exact opposite order as yours. To each their own. Although that 1 mile hike from the gates back to baggage claim at terminal 4 always have us regretting our choice on international return trips. Did the renovations at LGA include public transportation there? It's always nice having a backup option for the airtrain at JFK, but no such options for us at LGA. Haven't been there since the construction started.

Is that a wall of live succulents on your balcony as decoration?

Yup, Food Republic is often open for lunch on sea days. So an easy way to either pay a la carte to try it out, or use a single dining credit to share with more than 1 person.

Butler is for anything inside the room. Special pillow requests Extra blanket requests Extra pool towel requests Preferred time for turndown service Free pitchers of drinks in the fridge Free snacks to the room - let them know what you like (salty, sweet, savory, healthy, pure junk food, surprise mix of the above) Free room service to the room - for breakfast, you can use the card that hangs on the door but feel free to write anything you want on that card Skim through the various Haven threads.... tons of info in there.

Not sure why this is such a big deal... it's clearly from NCL, usually just a postcard sized flyer, and easily fits into your recycling bin in 2 seconds. If I showed you the mountain of trash mail I got this past week alone related to election nonsense and all those stupid hypocrites.... I'll gladly take a brochure or flyer from a cruise line I'm not planning on booking with over that garbage any day of the week. There is literally a big button on their homepage that says "Contact Us". Is that what you're looking for? https://www.ncl.com/about/contact-us Under Guest Experiences is the online form to fill out and tell them why you hate them so much.

Sounds like the drama is between spouse and mom, not sister. It's easy for the rest of us to say what we would do not knowing the full story, but sounds like sis and mom should be sharing and living it large while the 2 spouses are separate. Depending on the drama, even being on the same cruise ship and planning on sharing meals together is not much different then sharing a cabin. I get the family stuff though... I would prefer to travel with my MIL over my own mother any day. One is very independent and respectful of other people's wants/needs/wishes/preferences. The other is a bull in a china shop, their way or the highway to hell for everyone else around.

Yes, we did it on the Joy. My hubby went solo to Q and used 1 credit for the combo platter thing to share with him and my folks, and I used 1 credit to dine by myself at Food Republic for lunch one day.

Inquiring minds want to know how sis got the VIP treatment over mom....

Way to throw daggers and pass judgement on those of us with low brow tastes who enjoy the comforts of mac & cheese (which isn't even offered, I'd be happy if it were). If you're going on a cruise for expensive meals - you're looking at the wrong cruise line forum. Stop acting like they're serving you blue box Kraft made with margarine. Not sure how you can say you don't have options for vegetarian stuff when you can order any of the meals they serve without the meat....