julig22

It has been said oh so many times.... Just because you miss a port doesn't mean that NCL has collected extra taxes/fees overall. They only have to return any taxes/fees that are in excess.

I did white water rafting as an optional excursion while on the NCL tour. Look at the options offered by Alaska Railroad for some or all if you're thinking of a DIY.

Read the FAQ

Dinner benefit is per eligible person, not per cabin. If there are more than 2 eligible passengers, they can get additional coupons from the CruiseNext desk.

Per posts on another site, you should have gotten an email, they are working on restoring everything.

Or on an excursion that requires ID for some reason, such as crossing an international border. For example, for the Yukon excursions out of Skagway. They have a manifest with all passengers names, they check passports as you board the train or bus, use the manifest for border crossing.

If you go to the search box at the top of the page and enter cruisetour you'll find several previous discussions. I did a 7-day tour many years ago, thought it was good. But read the descriptions carefully, as the emphasis for the tours is different. I recently read a post from someone who complained that everything was by train - well, that's the tour they booked! And for example the tours in Denali may be different, some longer than others.

I'm on the tour before yours (Doha to Dubai). Based on a previous cruisetour that I took, you'll probably book any optional excursions with the tour operator, not NCL. As far as I know, you'll get your tour information when you do your online check-in. Info for excursions might be there, although as I recall from my tour (many years ago) we got the details for excursions from our tour guide after the tour started.

Had dinner with the officers on the Sky last month, the Jewel the month before, the Sun in May and the Star in February (the first time it had been offered).

I've been booked on the Tokyo-Alaska transpacific for April 2024 since November 2021 - when I first noticed it. But according to CruiseMapper, the Jewel won't be going to Asia after Alaska next summer. Going to the Caribbean. It looks like the Spirit and Sky are scheduled in early 2025, but info only goes through April 2025. The Spirit is currently scheduled for long-term charter, so wouldn't be available if that contract was extended. As to entertainment, there aren't any extra activities (go carts, etc) on either ship and due to size, the Sky isn't able to have large-scale production shows. Note - even thought I booked early, the itinerary has changed several times. Was originally going to Petropavlovsk for example, cancelled for obvious reasons. And the itinerary for all the cruises, before and after, has been changed over time - often disappearing from the website.

Huh? I never take the beverage package or specialty dining and never get any OBC. Perhaps something offered by your TA?

Menus often rotate, no way to determine what will be on your cruise - they have 21 or so to choose from. It's up to the head chef to decide, with some consideration as to availability of ingredients. Some ships repeat menus, some rotate, especially if there is a high probability of B2B passengers.

Latitudes points depend on when you book your cruise. Many Alaska and European cruises this summer offered double or triple extra points if you booked during a specific promo time. I got 4x points for my Alaska cruise. Promo code is LATRIPLE. Never heard of anyone getting extra points for buying Cruise Next certificates, which is what I assume you mean by the $1000 on a future cruise.

Regular room service has had a charge for a long time, don't know if it was ever free - but there's always been a charge since I've been sailing on NCL. However, there is now a charge for breakfast, so yes that's new BUT they also upped the menu, so it's more than just a continental breakfast now.

You are correct. Final payment due date is the only determining factor with respect to refunds, US/Canadian bookings. Once past final due date, penalties apply. Pay no attention to the 35%, 40% 75% off second guest marketing gibberish - it's the bottom line price that is relevant.

Yup. And somehow the phrase "Free at Sea" is often interpreted as meaning all inclusive, not here's some stuff we include in your regular fare.

If you don't want to "pay" for the promos you aren't using, book sailaway. Sometimes it's less. You still get the excursion discount but no meal/drink plans, airfare or internet. Or book closer to sail date - the airfare promo falls off at 110 days so prices might go down at that time. Or they might go up.

First of all , keep in mind that unhappy people will post their experiences more often than someone who had a wonderful cruise. However, many of the things you mention are just the way it is many places, not just on a popular cruise. There will be lines for tenders - no way to get a few thousand people off instantly. Book an NCL excursion and you will have priority for the time of your excursion. Yes, some excursions sell out just like tickets to anything, FCFS. Buffet will be crowded at popular times, restaurants will be at capacity, again just like anywhere else. Haven't been on the Getaway recently but as far as I know, every ship has a library if you can't find a quiet place to sit and read. And every ship has washy-washy people and/or sanitizer at the restaurants in my experience. People coughing? That's everywhere.

The no airfare option is possibly a website glitch. I mentioned it to my pcc and she said she could see the airfare option for the solo reservation I was looking at. So at the moment you may not be able to add it online but would have to call if it's something you want. PCC has forwarded the info.

I believe that RealID will also be required to enter some Federal buildings. Not that I regularly frequent them, I'd rather have my DL be sufficient ID regardless of where I go in the US, so paid the extra fee. But because I have a valid passport, it was a simple process.

Thanks -never heard of this before. Good day to book my excursions and pay off my next cruise (due in December anyway). I know from past experience that if the payment drops, they will process a refund so no harm in paying early. And even better, my cutoff date is the 8th, so charges won't be due for 2 months.

Yea, even Oregon, one of the holdout states, finally got their act together and finally started issuing Real ID (not EDL). I've had mine for over 2 years now.

I went to renew my license and asked for Real ID - the guy tried to talk me out of it because there were extra fees and I was using my passport for ID so didn't need it. I paid the fees for Real ID.

Yes, EDL is Real ID compliant. But not the issue. Real ID gets you on an airplane in the US. EDL gets you across the Canadian border. Which is why it's available in states bordering Canada. Not according to the US customs. And last I looked, SD wasn't a border state. EDL was created to provide a convenient, yet secure way for travelers from certain border states to enter and exit the country.