Sailing12Away

I guess I shouldn't tell you that the price dropped another $400.... We're past final payment now so I'm holding off until we get closer to ask for that one time FCC.

Like I said, I've used it a handful of times and every time I request JFK I have gotten JFK. That statement about alternate airports is for folks who literally have just a single flight option from their hometown airport which probably won't work for catching a cruise departure time.

Here.... I did half the work for you. Just scroll through there and you'll see the dailies from that trip.

Search for live trip reviews on the Joy. I did one in September, and there was another person who did one the sailing after mine. There are photos of the dailies from those trips in the threads with lots of info and such.

We did the Tracy Arms excursion out of Juneau on the Encore last summer and it was amazing. Part of why you leave early is because the ship does it's own sailing around the glaciers. No one wants to look at glaciers in the dark - hence the early departure time. Those small excursions to get up close to the glaciers is 100% worth it if you've never done it before.

You can bring her to your room without any problem. Depending on the ship you're on, she won't be able to come to you without you using a keycard to let her into the hallway, so you'll have to escort her to your room. You can give her a guided tour of the areas, but she cannot use the facilities (pool, sundeck, lounge, bar, etc). The only exception is the restaurant where she may be able to dine with you for a fee, but you need to pre-arrange that with the concierge first. What ship are you on? H1 is either an owners suite or garden villa - which means there should be room for mom to join you in your room as an actual guest. You can drop her other room and use that money to pay the extra taxes & fees for including a 4th guest in your suite.

If you haven't already done so, make reservations for the specialty dining restaurants now. Once you're on board, go and make reservations for the special shows - based on what folks are saying the spots fill up quickly. Where are you sailing to? What sorts of things interest you guys when you're on vacation? That will help us point you in the right direction for things to look for or try out so it's a fun trip.

It honestly depends on who they end up going with as the airline, and what your status is with such said airline. We haven't used NCL air for international travel yet, but will a year from now. For our domestic flights, we were always able to use the airline record locator number once given to us by NCL about 30-60 days before flying. Using that number directly on the airline website we could pick whatever seat we wanted, and pay to upgrade to comfort plus or exit row if we chose to. Some airlines had no charge for picking seats (based on where the seat was located), others charged a minimum of $25 just to not sit twinkie.

Unless you're already in a Haven room, if your cabin price dropped by 4K it's time to start looking at category upgrades if they won't give you FCC.

We'll be stopping at Cabo from 11am - 8pm on our Panama canal transit. Since you've been there a bunch of times, any recommendations on things to see/do or places to eat/drink at if we do it on our completely?

Same with us... I have none in my account and don't want any. We're trying to do some non-cruise based trips in 2024, so I have no need to get certificates now knowing I will not be able to use them until at least 2 years from now.

I'll get you into that Haven 3br garden villa one of these days... Most recent policy for covid + people is they stay where they are in their existing rooms (as of my September sailing at least). So folks who booked a suite got to stay in that suite.

If you don't have the drink package, you'll be charged $15/bottle you bring on for a corkage fee. If you take the free at sea drink package, you can bring as many bottles of wine that you can carry in your luggage for no fee at all.

Yet more proof that the most consistent thing about NCL is how inconsistent they are. In September on the Joy the asian chili wings were extremely spicy - like hotter than the buffalo. They used to be a good mix of sweet and spicy, now they were just 3 glasses of water chugging hot. We'll try them again in February when we return, and I'm sure they'll be back to 'normal'.

If you're coming in March, it will be cold. So a carriage ride may not be ideal, but today it was 75 degrees in November.... so you never know. For broadway tickets, look into this: https://www.tdf.org/nyc/7/tkts-ticket-booths You can't be too picky, but you'll save tons of money from the normal prices and get to check off NYC broadway from your bucket list. As for central park, definitely safe during the day. But again, March.... cold. Lots of nooks and crannies hidden in there to see - tons of cool statues to hunt down: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sculptures_in_Central_Park If you're open to walking and the weather cooperates, look into visiting the high line: https://www.thehighline.org/ Right underneath at one end is the Chelsea market which is a fun experience with lots of food options. Right next to the cruise pier is the Intrepid museum, which is also a nice easy thing to visit: https://www.intrepidmuseum.org/Plan-Your-Visit Times Square.... those of us in NY cringe when we hear people intentionally want to go there. I get it, but don't plan on being there more than 5 mins to climb the bleachers, take your photos, and move on. Just don't interact with the characters there unless you want to hand over lots of money to them. 5 mins to say you've been there, and then move on. Again, if the weather cooperates, a visit to the little island is also another hidden fun NYC gem away from the hustle and bustle: https://littleisland.org/ Plus of course the endless museums, monuments, and various other things that make NYC amazing. Even grabbing a dirty water dog and sitting on a bench and people watching will be an experience.

Yeah.... except they would only apply 2 credits per cruise. And we're sailing in Haven (prices are <$300/pp/day currently), so no category upgrade for us. That cruise and the one we just took in September they were chasing us hard to buy CN certificates as we now have none in our account. I figure on our Prima cruise next September we'll pick up 2 just so they leave me alone.

I'm considering trying Princess just for a taste of that nutella gelato! Love the sunset photo for our friend 🐀

That's why you book a fancy room with a balcony so if you do get quarantined you're still able to get fresh air and not go stir crazy.

That's only if the original price you see includes the flights. Then yes, removing the flights will lower the cost. Think of the fancy lines like Oceania and such. That's not what NCL does. The price is the price of the cruise. Then you can add on the FAS drink package and such and you get charged when you add that on. You can add on flights, and get charged at the time you add them on. So there's nothing for them to remove because it hasn't been added yet.

The barometer we use is that the newer ships (Encore, Bliss, Joy) on average go for $500/pp/day. If we see a trip on any of those ships for that price or lower, we book it and watch and reprice if it drops. That locks us in for the room we want at a price we are comfortable with. For the older jewel class ships without the bonus Haven areas (no lounge, no bar, no restaurant) the price we're comfortable with is closer to the $350/pp/day range. On those ships we'd rather just go in a non-Haven suite for much less as the only thing you get by being in Haven that you don't get in a regular suite is that courtyard pool. Nice to have, but not worth an extra 2-3K. 3br garden villas and owners suites have their own set of rules for us as those have extra perks, but that's just us. But generally speaking, you will not see amazing prices on Haven rooms until after final payment date when the room choices are less. If you ever sail on the Joy, consider the HH, HI, and HJ category rooms. They're outside of the Haven area, but not far at all. Significantly larger rooms at cheaper prices than being in the courtyard, and just a short flight of stairs up to that area.

No need to cancel if you're before final payment. Call NCL or your PCC and tell them you noticed the price on your upcoming cruise has significantly dropped in price. They'll check on their end, confirm it has, and give you options to either get the difference or see if you want to move into a higher category. Takes all of 5 mins once you get them on the phone. If you haven't paid off the cruise yet, your remaining balance will decrease. If you have, you'll get a refund to your original form of payment. Sometimes they'll rebook you, and if the perks have changed from when you originally booked to now - you'll get the new perks. Make sure to ask if anything on your reservation will change before you agree to it. Our Panama canal trip originally came with 5 specialty dining credits. On the first reprice, it dropped to the current promo of only 3. But since we were saving $900 it was worth it to us, we can buy back 2 dinners for $100. The 2 price adjustments after that point didn't change anything on our reservation. Once you're past final payment date, I would just be guessing as I haven't done it yet. My current price drop is only $400, so not worth it to call them yet for a February cruise that may drop even further.

Depends on the type of cabin you typically like to book. If you book onboard, you get a free 'within category' cabin upgrade. Meaning you book a BA balcony at the price of a BF. So you save about $100 or so. But it makes things difficult when you want to upgrade that cabin later on as they go by the price of the BF to calculate your price difference increase to jump categories. I think you also get 10% off the price (pre tax/fees/FAS gratuities, etc). There's no harm in waiting until you're on board and talking to them, unless the sailing you're interested in is selling quick and you want a specific cabin. You can always book now, and then talk to them while you're on board still. They can reprice the cruise for you and see if the price has dropped and there's incentives to rebooking. I stopped trying to talk to the cruise next folks when they were trying to tell me my upcoming Panama canal trip would be cheaper if I bought 4 cruise next certificates and rebooked it with them. Except the price they were telling me was $400 higher than what I had paid. So $400 higher, plus the cost of those 4 CN certificates.... yeah, I'm a scientist and not a mathematician but I know that's not actually in my best interest.

I take that $359/pp/day challenge and raise (lower?) you to an incredible price of $281/pp/day. This is without airfare, which can be added in for an extra ~$500 total out of JFK. By far one of the lowest prices I've ever seen.

On sea days we usually do the early Florida dinner time as well. We'll sleep in with breakfast sent to the room at 9:30-10am. Lounge around being lazy and exploring the ship, then early dinner and an open evening for shows or bar crawls.

Just curious what the new drop amount is that you're contemplating. If we're talking <$100, is it even worth it? Several hundred, or in my case for my most recent price drop of $1,890 - yes, it's worth a call. Depending on the room you're booked in currently, do some research first to throw out option B of a complimentary upgrade instead so they have 2 options to work with that would make you happy.