JandC_Cruising

1 hour ago, beckym729 said:

Why are you waiting until tomorrow to call? The letter says the cancellation is good for sailings from March 10, 2020-September 30, 2020. You should have been able to call and cancel when the letter was sent out on Friday evening!

Here is the statement within the "Peace of Mind" FAQ's

Those interested in canceling and opting for a FCC should call Norwegian Cruise Line beginning March 11, 2020 at 1-800-327-7030 (U.S. and Canada).

9 minutes ago, parmus said:

I’m on the Joy on the 22nd. I just received another email about bidding for upgrades which were not going to do.  I’ve seen the Haven go from sold out to having a few cabins left in various categories.  My category is holding strong On price and it’s not the lowest it’s been. I have also seen my category go up in inventory and then back down again.  Lower priced categories have plummeted. I’m minisuite large balcony.

We are on the same cruise..and right now have no plans to cancel.  Hope to see you there!

I've been monitoring the cabins, but frankly stopped doing it as OCDish as usual since we are in a Haven aft already and not bidding.  But I still enjoy the process of monitoring. 🙂

As of this morning, there is only one H6 open on our cruise (it magically opened up last week -- but the one open H4 filled, so perhaps they allocated a bid from an H6 to H4).

The open H6 price is within $125 of what we paid back in the fall -- but without air and free 3rd/4th guest, so no real movement in my opinion.

But the Insides and regular balconies prices dropped by several hundred, at least.  Yet even that seems similar to what you expect within 2 weeks of a cruise to just fill cabins.

There are 110 total "open cabins" on our ship as of this morning. This is 21 fewer than 2-1/2 weeks ago. 

I figure it will be interesting to see what happens this week with cabins -- Do more cancel or does the ship fill up?

4 hours ago, Sand and Seas said:

If you are in the least expensive Haven cabin, what do the minimum bids to higher Haven categories start at for a one week cruise?

We are in an H6 aft haven for the joy on 3/22

min bid on 2 br H4 was $400pp

min bid on DOS was $700

we are happy with the aft so didn’t bid

13 hours ago, Named-Tawny said:

Moet and Veuve are equivallent wines, plus it looks like you can still do the Veuve by the glass, even with the new set-up?

I mean, I get being disappointed, but this doesn't really seem like something that I'd get angry about.

Completely agree.   Restaurants change their wine lists and offerings all the time.  There are a tremendous number of choices still on the lists.

2 minutes ago, julie1963 said:

I was on the Escape a few years ago and whatever I was ordering for me, I was ordering a virgin one for my daughter without any problem.  At first she was always coming to the bar with me, but after a few days, I was just ordering without her.

 

Technically, this should not be done.  However...if you are not "concealing" the fact that the drink is for someone else, then it becomes the bartender's responsibility to either charge --- or not charge  🙂

Helpful hint...just be honest and even slip the bartender a tip early on and you will get the good results!

26 minutes ago, firstimerhaven said:

We are staying in the Haven and will mostly be eating there or specialty restaurants, if that makes any difference.  Also, if I order drinks in the Haven lounge, can I then carry them elsewhere on the ship?  I'm thinking it will be easier to be served there just because of the lack of crowds.

As far as bringing drinks out of the Haven...That is absolutely allowed...Take advantage of their great bar service and don't fight for a drink elsewhere if you don't have to!

Enjoy the Escape...it's great!

I wouldn't expect any price drops for Bermuda until a cruise is inside 120 days (past final payment).  At that point they have the current bookings locked in and they can start adjusting to move inventory.

Last August we did the Escape and prices dropped several times with the biggest two drops coming after 90 days out and then again with 20 days to go.  There was large inventory across the ship and VERY large Haven inventory on this cruise with less than a month to go and that prompted the fare drop.  We were able to direct upgrade from a spa balcony for about the same price as our bid, so we did that.

Looking at the Encore for the same week this summer, Balcony pricing is at least 30% higher than the Escape last summer and the Haven is nearly double -- and only 11 H5's available today --- There were twice that number open last year on the Escape with 30 days to go.  

This summer we are doing the Gem to Bermuda and organized a "group fare" for our family of 6 to 7 cabins.  We are all booked for Inside cabins on this trip and did this before the thanksgiving.  Since then, the fare has only increased.  If we tried booking the same thing today, it would be $230 more per cabin.  (about a 10% increase).

24 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

For value the best tasting we did was the Macallan tasting. For $20 (or $16 with discount) you get a flight of three higher end scotches with chocolate and nut pairing in a tasting environment for less than what you can buy it for at a bar (and most bars on the ship don't carry it). 

Thanks for the quick note on the Macallan tasting! 

We did the "Riedel Glass Tasting" on the Escape, where you try the wines in different styles of glasses.  It was fun, even though the wines themselves were "meh" (we are also leaning on the wine snob end of the spectrum).

I did inspire us to purchase a set of Pinot Noir glasses over the holidays -- NCL provided a discount card/code to buy Riedel glasses online at a 10% discount.

We are on the Joy in 31 days and will  DEFINITELY do the Macallan tasting. 

We did this on the Escape this past summer and enjoyed it.  It was a nice break on our last sea day.  We too sat with friends we had made on the ship through the week.

Like "fastpitchdad" we had a short rib entree that was good.

The show is "cute" and is entertaining.  The wine is fine, nothing spectacular, but drinking it is spun into the story so you do become more engaged in the show.

1 hour ago, chars said:

It really is a personal choice.  Depends on what you like to drink.  Besides top shelf liquor, and better wines and champagnes, you can get bottled water, sparkling water and specialty coffees.  For some people it is worth it, for others, it would be a waste.

This is DEFINITELY a personal choice that depends on YOUR "likes".  Everyone must assess if it is worth it for themselves.

On 2/12/2020 at 10:06 PM, BirdTravels said:

Absolutely not. Don't buy into the NCL marketing. Enjoy your drink package. 

While it is clear it's not worth it for "Bird" ( FYI, one of the most informed and helpful posters on CC, IMHO), only you know your habits. 

Would you want to drink 2 glasses of Vueve every day?

If so, that alone would cost $336 on the regular package.  ($20 upcharge per glass + $4 gratuity per glass) x 14 glasses

If you plan on drinking beverages that are over the $15 threshold, or not included at all (water/coffees), you should do a little calculation and determine if it's worth it.

We upgraded last summer on the Escape and it was absolutely worth it for US.  (Based on what we actually consumed, we saved ourselves over $400 easily)

We have already upgraded for our March Joy trip.

Enjoy your cruise whatever you decide!

We are on the Joy next month in an H6 (aft).  We plan on spending most of our sea days up on the sun deck (weather permitting).

When we were on the Escape Haven this summer,  Gil and Curley were the main servers on the sun deck.  They were incredible throughout the cruise.  I certainly hope the staff is as amazing next month on the Joy!

19 minutes ago, Gracelyn said:

Just wanted to update those that answered my bidding questions. I became inpatient and had my TA call and just book me a balcony. And have a room assigned. 
so I cancelled my bid. 
but would I still have a chance to bid upwards past the balcony I have now paid for? 
gracelyn

Yes. This happened to us on a past cruise as we bumped ourselves up to a higher category and then received the chance to upgrade from that other cabin.

You will likely get a "new" offer to bid.  This time, since you are in a balcony, you will have opportunity to bid on Haven category cabins.

If you do not get an offer within 48-72 hrs, contact "upgradetechissues@ncl.com" 

We needed to do that to get the updated link.

Home Departure City - Chicago

Arrival/Destination City - LAX

Airline(s) used - American

Number of Connections - Direct Going - 1 Connection for Return

Outbound Flight departure/arrival time - 2pm/4:35pm 

Return Flight departure/arrival time - 10:15pm/6:35am (next day) -  connection in Vegas (not enough time there to do anything though 😁)

Did You Pay for a Deviation (before or after cruise)? Yes, flying in one day early.

# of Days Prior to Departure Flights Were Ticketed? Edocs available at 54 days

I immediately logged into AA to add FF#'s, KTA#'s, and change the two of us to better seats.

Very satisfied with the results.  Booked cruise August '19, when it still had Free Air from Chicago.

We had "looked" at these same flights (or similar) back when we booked and AA and United wanted over $500pp for RT ORD to LAX.  Airfare never moved substantially, so all-in-all we got a great deal!

Yes. I don’t recall the exact times but it is open each night. 

16 hours ago, 3CanadianBears said:

If your bid to upgrade to Haven is successful, am I correct that in addition to the set gratuities, you also are expected to tip the Haven staff as they don’t share in the gratuity “pool”?

If you "prepaid" your DSC on your original cabin prior to receiving your upgrade, you do not get charged the "difference" of being in the Haven ($18pp-pd vs. $15pp-pd).  If you do not prepay DSC, then your on-board account will get charged the Haven DSC rate of $18pp-pd.

As far as "expected to tip the Haven staff", well....any tips are up to you.  Saying anything more on that topic opens a Pandora's Box of commentary - I may have already said too much 🤣

Great review!  Thanks!

We are on this cruise this March and staying in an Aft Haven.  Very excited to hear that the Haven sun deck is bigger on the Joy than on the Escape.  We expect to spend a good amount of time up there.🌞

The Escape had the same feature and yes, you could turn it off.

13 minutes ago, NCLGirl2013 said:

Do the adults have the alcohol package? If so, since you can order 2 drinks at a time per card- order your adult drink and a mocktail at the same time. I really don't think any of the bartenders will care, especially since it is just mixers which cost basically next to nothing for NCL. 

Complicated mingling of the cabins to ensure each one has a passenger over 21.

Two of the teens are with their grandparents (1 per cabin).  We were only going to get the drink package for those two cabins if Mock-tails were covered by the soda packages the teens would default to.

The grandparents don't drink much any longer.

I agree most bartenders will not care --- particularly if you are honest with them and slip them an extra $1 or two. However, the teens will likely spend most of their days apart from the various parents so will end up ordering their own drinks on most days.

Thanks!

J

We are cruising next summer and have four minors travelling within a group of 12.  

Is there ANY drink package that the teens can get that will cover Mock-tails?  Or are we stuck with the them paying drink-by-drink?

As best as I can tell, these are not covered in the Soda Package.

Have I missed something?

Thanks!

Jon

Keep in mind that while the Cruise summary page will show that there are all sorts of offers, such as "free 3rd and 4th guest", not all sailings apply that offer. You may have priced a date that doesn't include that offer.

Be sure to pay attention to the color coded boxes on the sailing dates

Example below:

Feb 23 sailing has Free extra guests

Mar 1st sailing has $99 extra guests

Mar 15th sailing has no extra guest discount

Does anyone know how the beverage perk is handled/allowed if a two person cabin has one over 21 and one minor?

We have this issue on a cruise next summer in two separate cabins.

If the perk is taken, does the "minor" default to the soda package?

I assume if this is done, they only charge us with the appropriate gratuities ($138.6 for the booze, $11.13 for the soda)

We are on the Joy March 22nd sailing - Four of us in an H6 - Haven Aft.

Final payment was Friday --- We paid $8300 Total for the four of us (plus two of us had free air)

To book it today would be $11,300!  --- without air promo.

So, we're happy there.....

Meanwhile,  the August cruise I was watching, went up 45%.  It was for a mulit-gen family vacation with six cabins.  I had finally coordinated all the families so I could select a date.  Was going to book all the cabins this weekend to surprise everyone at Thanksgiving.  I hope there is a sale coming otherwise we are going to need to look elsewhere.  ☹️

52 minutes ago, chrisa2711 said:

A related question - if we don't finish the bottle of wine, can we tale it with us back to the cabin? 

Yes. 

Absolutely!  You can share the bottle of wine with your wife without any issues.

2 hours ago, GettotheSun said:

We'd be lucky if we could finish one bottle over dinner, especially if we've been drinking during the afternoon, but if we could take a bottle of Veuve back to the room to have on our balcony the next afternoon, that would rock.

We purchased the plan on our August Bermuda cruise.  We were in the Haven proper and put the plan to use often and got our monies worth without a doubt.  

We are upgrading again this March, when we are in a Haven Aft as well (Joy - 3/22)

While it is true you can get plenty of bottles at dinner and bring extra back to your cabin, I'm not sure if they can give you an "un-opened bottle".  Still wines can easily be recorked to carry back.  To bring Vueve back, pack a Champagne Cork so you can "save" those bubbles.

2 hours ago, GettotheSun said:

In terms of the economics, I was planning on buying a bottle of Veuve and bringing it on the ship anyway, and maybe a bottle of wine too.  I was also planning to buy a 12 pack of water.  If I start to factor out those costs as a partial offset, with the added benefit of champers on our balcony in the afternoon, I'm kinda thinking, yes please.

 

If you upgrade, DO NOT buy a 12pack of water.  The bottled waters are free.  We would both grab bottles any moment from any bar or restaurant throughout the cruise.  The Haven and restaurants stock Aqua Pana (Italian still and sparkling). 

1 minute ago, GA Dave said:

"NO MORE FREE FLIGHTS FOR YOU!!!"  🤣

LOL!!!!  Yes...that may be the case...on the flip side, I think they lowered at least the first specific fare I am looking at by $100pp.

So they are doing some tweaking it seems.