Sailing12Away

Premium plus beverage package will get you glass bottles of Aqua Pana or San Pellegrino if you like bubbles. The Haven bar can give you bottles to go throughout the day. We don't care for the carton water. But we're fine with just bringing our own refillable jug and having the butler provide either pitchers of ice water in the fridge, or just asking any bar tender to fill up the jug for us. Tap water is fine and tastes better to us than the box water. So either you can pay for the PP plan, or go the free way and just refill it yourself with the tap stuff.

Which do you think you'll use more - the restaurant or the bar/lounge? Alaska is great for that observation lounge if it's too cold to be on your balcony. For us, it's a no brainer, bigger balcony and steps from the bar. So 17 for us.

I'm still sitting here waiting for NCL to catch up to Celebrity's Flora and put out a small, luxury, expedition type vessel. Small hidden gems of the Mediterranean that those behemoths can't reach. Smaller less traveled Caribbean islands instead of the same old same old. Ships that are meant for cold weather sailings to the arctics. Small ships to hit all those hidden gems in the south pacific where you can just jump off the ship itself and start snorkeling, no formal excursion needed at all. Once they come up with something like that, I'll be hooked on NCL again. For now, my money is staying in my wallet as I research the non-mainstream cruise lines.

If I choose to book another NCL Haven trip and any of you are sailing with me, you are more than happy to have my free lobster each time I dine in the Haven restaurant.

If you're in the Haven that's always going to be a less crowded back up option. They have a number of decent apps and small dishes so you don't overdo it. Sometimes The Local has been crowded beyond belief, and other times a ghost town, so it all depends. But pop in there first after doing your muster check in, and you have the Haven or MDR as back up options.

All of the owners suites get free booze and mixers (and free mini bar essentially). Number of bottles depends on the number of days the trip is. Reach out to the pre-cruise concierge to see if they have an updated list (mine is from 2023), but there is some wiggle room as long as you stay within the same price point of what is on the list. For example, we asked for a bottle of Disaronno and were able to get it no problem. If you let them know ahead of time your preferences, the fridge will be stocked with your favorites. We were also able to get the occasional can of grape & root beer soda too, so the more options you give them to surprise you the better.

No, the ship won't wait. Haven't you seen all the hubbabaloo over the group in Africa that was left behind when their private tour ran late? If you book independently, go with a small group (private to your group only if possible/affordable) and give yourself a lot of extra time. If the ship is schedule to leave at 5pm, tell the tour guide you have to be back at 3pm. Better to cut it short and not miss the ship than to be SOL and stuck in Italy without recourse.

If that is a giant mountain of mozzarella sticks I'm jealous again. Stinky about the sun deck being closed. Are there suite only hot tubs up there too, or just lounge chairs?

You know I'm jealous.... Room and balcony look awesome. Lots of little nooks and crannies where everyone can be there doing their own thing or relaxing together if you choose. Curious to hear how the aqua show is tonight from your balcony viewing. Are the rock wall climbers on your side too, or just the other side of the ship? That would be odd to be relaxing on your semi private balcony and suddenly there's a head over the side looking in...

That shirt is perfect for you! Enjoy the trip, hoping everything goes smooth and seamless for you girls.

Love it! Beats the simple boring 1 page MS Word doc I usually draft up for family to keep them on track with our dinner plans. I'm going to have to step up my make shift (non-paying) travel agent side gig! Are you ladies planning on trying the flow rider, or just going to watch and wait for wipe outs? That was always a favorite of Marty, I think he was hoping for a bikini malfunction 😉

Yeah, out of precaution to make sure there were no issues or damages to buildings and for anticipated aftershocks. LGA was opened back up quickly as they had a recent huge renovation where most structures there are up to and above current code.

Yup - just posted about in the land of the free... You're probably used to them being on the West coast, but us here on the East it's always new and an odd feeling. Whole house was rumbling and shaking for about 30 seconds. Thought it was a low plane but then it got stronger and didn't go away. No damage or anything bad here near me, and felt lower than the one we had about 10 years ago. But always an odd thing, not sure how you guys get used to them. For anyone traveling though, airports here in the tri-state area are on shut down at the moment. So again, for folks that like to roll the dice and fly in on the day of a cruise - anything can happen to delay your flight. So CT, NJ, and all airports in NY are grounded at the moment.

Once the job situation is more secure, any day can easily be turned into something to celebrate so that's no problem. Once you're fully retired, between the 2 of us I'm sure we'll find something that works finally with both our schedules for that long overdue gathering. If we time it right with a good deal on an inside cabin, we may even be able to convince some of the less high roller friends to tag along. For now, I'm happy to live vicariously through you and your amazing adventures. I have no problem letting you test the waters for us, as we tend to place priorities on what makes a trip 'good' in the same buckets as us.

That survey was insane. At first I was like 'oooh, these are good tidbits to throw in my butler letter for future trips', then it transitioned into 'well gee, this is getting a bit too close to comfort', and then went full on jumping the shark with those last few. Would love to hear how you guys answered some of them over in the land of open communication 😉 Would love to try Star class one day and that Iconic suite on Celebrity is in the bucket list of winning the lottery activities, but even with my great deal scouring I have yet to find one that was sub 1K/pp/day. Too rich for my blood unless there's a mega celebration going on.

I'd have to dig... I did a live review on Epic a month ago. If you're inclined to search for that thread there are some menu photos in there.

On Epic last month we could not use it for Wheel of Fortune. So I thought I was using up $50 of my non-refundable OBC, but it was still there plus a new charge for $50 that I owed them. So don't count on any 'gambling' things to count. Again, don't count on that. Confirm first with guest services as results have varied with other folks. As to what to spend, $50 is easy for us as we enjoy wine and fancy spirits. So a nice bottle of wine or fancy champagne will set us back $200+ easily for one meal. Wine tastings are about $22/pp, I've seen mojito flights or whiskey flights... splurge for a half ounce of the Louie.... Outside of drinking it onboard, my mom loves a specific perfume. So we grabbed a bottle of that to bring home to her one trip. It's much easier to pack up in laundry and bring home than a full bottle of booze. Can also splurge on those fancy crazy milkshake things in Cocos if there's one on board. Take the upcharge at dinner for a fancier meal. Treat some kids to a skee ball contest in the arcade. Get your nails done. Buy some candy to bring back to the house sitter. There are literally countless ways to burn through $50 without sneezing. Our Prima trip I had 2K to burn through... that was a lot tougher and we tapped out at just under 1K.

Viator isn't a tour company - they're just the middleman connecting travelers with various tour groups. Which is why you'll see the same type of tour offered 4+ times on their website with slight variations, because each is run by a different group. So Viator itself has no guarantees, it's all up to the specific tour company you book through the Viator site. And not all of them cater to cruise passengers or any guarantee at all, so read the fine print before booking. Can you share the details so the rest of us can avoid them?

I'm not even seeing this cruise listed at all. For November 2025 it's only showing me 2 trips in Asia, and they're identical. So something wonky is going on.

We've been on the Joy twice and never had an issue. Paying more for Haven doesn't mean you get anything you want anytime you want. Just means instead of fighting 3000 people for 1000 chairs, you're fighting 100 people for 50 chairs. Going to dinner at 'prime time' 6:30pm will have a bit of a wait at the MDR and at the Haven if everyone decides to eat there that night. Going to the sundeck after lunch on a sea day will be crowded in gen pop and in Haven.

Did you specify it was for the Joy? As UK said and others have said multiple times - just look at the website. The booking information for suites on the Joy is very different from non-Haven suites on other ships. Penthouse suite on the Joy - you get concierge reservation services, and priority specialty dining reservations. That's it. For comparison, this suite is on the Gem. It spells it out the sparkling wine, treats, escort on/off the ship, and invitations to breakfast/lunch. The Joy does not say any of that because it does not include any of that. If you booked through a travel agent, get it in writing. That way when it doesn't happen you can ask them for a partial refund on what they promised you. If you booked through NCL directly, ask them to show you in your booking confirmation where it says you have these perks. Because it won't be there.

Next time it happens I'll just tell them I was planning a girls trip with my friend Magnolia and send them your way to finish the booking. That I wanted us to splurge on a suite and you needed some convincing 😉

I didn't even go on the website today, and lo and behold, another call from NCL. He's not even my PCC that I've used for the last 5+ bookings. Picked up the phone, "hey, I see you were looking to book a trip on the Sun. Anything I can help with to finish that booking?" Honestly, I don't even remember looking at the Sun for myself recently unless it was one of those Asia trips I was pricing out to compare to pricing on Viking/Oceania. Simply told him I wasn't interested in booking anything at all, and he said 'no problem, give me a call when you do'. Didn't even ask "why not?" or give me a chance to tell him that his name isn't Melissa and he's not my guy.

The Joy has lots of options across a wide spread of budgets. If it's available, they have a new 3br Haven cabin (formerly the owners suite) that you can all fit into easily without being on top of each other. Or, if you're in a 2br now, consider downgrading to the cheaper HH, HI, or HJ cabins just outside of the courtyard. Bigger rooms, cheaper prices than what you're paying for the H5. At a cheaper price point and with the downgrade savings you'll have, it may now put Haven into the budget for your folks to get their own 'simple' Haven room. With my shared love of all things potato and puppy related, I would hope I make the exclusive VIP list for that sailing.

If you feel left out, just go on their website and do a mock booking, then leave the sailing in your cart and close the browser. Your phone will be ringing within the hour, and you'll have 2 emails remining you that you didn't finish your booking. I think the next time they call I'll actually pick up and share a few choice words with them as to why I didn't pull the trigger.