julig22

My exact same experience. Once with United (in Buenos Aires), once with Iceland Air (in Stockholm). Both offered transportation and hotel accommodations, meals included. Both automatically rebooked my flight and allowed me to later change the flight. And United gave me a $200 credit. And per the instructions given with NCL flight information, the AIRLINE owns the reservation 72 hours prior to flight time. NCL would have no reason to call, nor would NCL have information about the cancellation.

LOL, great minds think alike. Just back from Antarctica, going to Alaska (again) soon, went to Norway a few years ago. Bookd on the Japan to Alaska transpacific next April, Australia to Indonesia next December.

Let me rephrase - I'm not surprised when things go wrong. But as far as flights, who booked the flight hasn't ever been a factor for me anyway. In fact, flights I've booked on my own have often been more problematic, as far as delays, than the ones booked by NCL. But I will also admit that I've done enough travelling at this point to know what to do when things don't go as planned - I'm extremely resourceful and flexible, so that helps. And can be quite assertive if need be - hey, old age has its privileges!

CN manager on the Star a few months ago said you can do the same restaurant twice but you only get 1 bottle of wine.

As far as I know, they are phasing out the shampoo/conditioner and just have shampoo. Whether or not that's a permanent change or just a supply issue remains to be seen. But just shampoo on the Star in February.

I don't assume from the get-go that things will go wrong. The savings is worth the risk for me, so far all my cancelled flights have been on return trips and I'm retired so usually not a big deal if I'm delayed. My last cancelled flight resulted in an offer of a fully paid 6-day vacation in Capetown, the same offer given to others on the same flight, regardless of whether or not they booked directly through the airline. Maybe others who checked in earlier got better service, I really don't know. I wasn't in a position to contact the airline until several hours after the cancellation was announced. My biggest issue with the airline is that they just re-booked people on the same flight, 6 days later- a simple Google search helped me find a flight the next day, on the same airline, after they kept insisting nothing else was available. Per the invoice, NCL paid $1800 for my airfare. I paid $599. And I'm using the $200 voucher to fly to Alaska later this summer.

NCL has a working relationship with CC - so yes, access to CC (as well as NCL sites) is free. Meet & Greets are coordinated through CC as well.

I think that kinda depends. Possibly true if the airline is being proactive and rebooking everyone. But if I'm in line/on the phone with the airline they are dealing with me, not putting me on hold while they take care of all "their" passengers first.

So just a FYI, in case anyone is wondering. I booked an OV, used my points to upgrade to a balcony. As often happens, price went down after final payment so I asked for FCC, not knowing if they would even consider the request because of the upgrade or how they would calculate the FCC. I got the FCC, it was the difference between what I paid for the OV and the current price of the OV - which makes sense to me. It wasn't a huge amount - and would have been more if I'd waited a little longer (ship is nearly sold out, so that would have been a little risky) - but I'm happy.

Got my "award" notice today - $250, not huge (not an overly expensive cruise to begin with) but nothing to sneeze at either! It could have been more if I'd waited but this particular cruise keeps going in and out of sold-out status, so took the bird in hand approach, since sold out = no FCC. Took a little over a week to get the response.

Yes. For some reason, my login gets disconnected periodically and I can't respond or see the roll calls. So I have to use my paid account to logon, then logout of the WiFi and can use CC for free - for awhile. Wash, rinse, repeat.... I have no idea why it happens.

Wouldn't that be nice - but I don't think so. The only port I know of with such a service is Seattle. I think there are private companies that will ship your luggage home for a fee.

Bids come out after final due date.

I cruise for the itinerary, not the perks. Absolutely choose NCL because it isn't all-inclusive. If I'm not using it, I don't want to pay for it.

Agree that Alaska is beautiful, leaving for #5 Alaska cruise in a few weeks, #6 later this summer. But then there's Antarctica - and they have penguins!

If you mean port valet, you leave your bags outside your door the last night. Next time you see them will be at baggage claim at your final destination. A unique service provided by the port of Seattle.

That is correct. FCC, when given, is for a price drop on what you booked. If it's no longer available then there is nothing to compare for pricing. You can ask for an upgrade.

Very rarely will NCL do much in the way of discounts for past customers. The have given discounts in the past but that was a long time ago. I've been told the best way to get a discount is to let your pcc know what you're planning, NCL randomly puts discounts in peoples accounts based on their interests. One thing you can do is buy Cruise Next certificates during your cruise, to apply to a future cruise. That can save you from $100 to $250 on a future cruise, possibly more if sailing in Haven. Value varies by when you are sailing, when you book, and cabin class.

I've gotten FCC twice for price drops. I believe the first one was visible in my account, the second one wasn't. I did have to contact NCL to get the 2nd one added to my account. I still didn't see it but my PCC could. You (or your TA) should have gotten an award letter, spelling out the terms of the FCC - and it should be for a full year. If you can find that award letter, you can forward it to NCL and get the FCC you should have.

You used to be able to reserve your excursions if you had the $50 FAS promo, then pay onboard. They changed that just prior to covid, probably about the time they changed FAS to take everything (in the past you had to choose 1 or more, depending on the promo) and added the excursion benefit to Sailaway.

Under certain conditions, they may offer FCC as a COURTESY after final payment. And it is a one-time deal, the promos have to be the same. For starters, your category has to still be available and usually you can't have taken the BOGO airline offer as it is no longer available closer to sailing.

I was speaking with respect to cancelled ports.

As has been explained many times, the port fees you pay are estimated amounts, often calculated years before your cruise sails, and are pooled. If they have an overage they will refund. And in the event they underestimate, they eat the amount instead of adding it to your bill.

Fortunately, the captain/crew are trained to do their jobs, which is to maintain and drive the ship. From what I can gather (based on my IT experience), my guess is that their system is so patched up that it's difficult to impossible to make simple changes anymore. That plus a total lack of communication.

Probably the shirts that they keep telling us weren't available when I sailed in December. I was told they were late, others were told they were on the ship but couldn't sell them for some reason around skus.