julig22

I was going to take the NCL train but have decided to fly in super early the day before - flying in from Seattle, arriving at 3:30am. Taking the train, then booked on an excursion in Seward for the afternoon, will probably do another the next morning before getting on the ship.

FYI - the train also sells out, so book early! I'm going 2 weeks before you and according to the Alaska Train site, there are only 5 tickets available for the early train on the day before my cruise, everything is sold out the day of. I'm still trying to plan, so have a hotel in Seward reserved (those sell out also) and the NCL pre-cruise train booked - just have to decide which I'll be using.

Just the opposite experience for me, at least for international. Of course if you don't live near a hub you will never fly direct, even if you try to book your own flights. Their standard is 2 legs for domestic, 3 legs for international. Since leg 1 for me is always to a hub, their choices are limited. So I will often get the direct overseas flight while others have various stopovers along the way.

I think you are confusing the Premium Air department with BOGO. They are not the same thing. You don't get upgrades, deals, etc. with BOGO. If that is the case then yes, you are dealing with the correct department, but commenting in a discussion on BOGO, not premium air. Good luck.

Good luck with that. Guess you missed all the negative posts about NCL customer service giving out incorrect information. Again, the air department does NOT handle bookings - but you might get lucky. Sorry to have bothered you by suggesting a simple and clear path. Oh, and I just returned from post-covid cruise #11. 9 using NCL air. 3 with pre-cruise deviations. All solo. A few hiccups along the way, easily resolved by contacting the correct department(s). So I do have a bit of experience.

There is no such thing as a deviation form.- or a deviation department for that matter. The air department is not who you need to deal with. You work with a PCC, if you don't have one, the main NCL reps. Any rep can process your deviation request as long as you are 75 days out and you already have the BOGO promo. Makes no difference if you are solo. Cost of flights does not change with a deviation, although you do get a 25 credit.

Just did the behind-the scenes tour on the SUN - food is NOT mostly from frozen.

Just what are you trying to accomplish by trying to work with someone from NCL Air? Unless you mean premium air, which is completely different than BOGO, there is nothing to work out. They don't take suggestions. Any NCL rep can take care of gateway and deviation requests.

Late bookings should be eligible for bidding, just takes a few days after booking. I've upgraded bookings in the past and gotten new bid options shortly thereafter. I rarely get notification but that might be because I just go to the website at day 110 and check my bid options. Early bidding paid of quite well (almost) a few years ago when I had a sold-out category and they wanted my cabin - got my upgrade very early on. Sadly, that cruise was a covid casualty.

Not everyone is eligible to bid. Not all TA's participate, their clients are not eligible (Big box membership store bookings a prime example). But yes, if your reservation is eligible, you can book through the 3rd party website, usually at day 110.

LOL you can't bid until after the final payment DUE date, which is 120 days. Try again at 110 days.

Just off of the cruise following you, we had more typical Alaska weather (AKA, light rain and WIND - making it super cold at times). I lucked out - had a balcony that wrapped around the back of the ship, so had views from side and back. It was an assigned cabin, I didn't choose it - but loved it!

LOL - 7 points from Diamond, my next cruise (7days) is 4x points, so all those extra points (which the CN rep on my last cruise insisted didn't exist) won't matter. Seriously doubt I'll ever get to Ambassador. And even the one-time upgrade isn't that great of a benefit for me, I already get upgrades by using my NCL card.

For future reference, you do not normally have to actually cancel, just revise. I know it works if there is a price adjustment, can't recall if I've ever just added points. But there are several good reasons to NOT cancel a reservation if you just want to make a price/promo adjustment or you want a different cruise. If you keep your reservation, you keep the booking date which can affect certain things (DSC price changes for one). Plus you keep the applied payments and FAS choices, as well as any booked excursions and reservations (if the same sailing). And yes, you can also move sail dates and retain your original reservation # & booking date, although that one often gets a NO from inexperienced reps. Changes to promos/perks are NEVER automatically applied to an existing reservation. Your reservation has to be manually changed.

And all the seating in that forward lounge will be "reserved" hours before your glacier-day. Think pool lounger saving on steroids. Prior to our trip through the inside passage, there was a presentation by the park ranger. Half the chairs were empty but all saved for later, no place to sit for the presentation.

The difference is between making a change BEFORE or AFTER the final payment due date. Before final payment, you can change your reservation (technically a rebook in the NCL system but you retain your reservation #, payments, excursions, etc.). Believe me, I have done this dozens of times. You get whatever perks are in effect at the time you make the adjustments - sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. The only issue I've ever had was with an onboard CN consultant that wouldn't make a change unless there was a price difference as well. After final payment (which is the situation with the OP) you basically cannot change your reservation without penalty. Certainly not to adjust points.

There will be a mid-cruise laundry special about half-way through each of your 7-day cruises. $29/bag.

Not happening after final payment date.

You get the points in effect when you book. If you change your booking, you get whatever points and perks that you would get if you were doing a new booking. After the final payment date, you can't make changes without penalty - so no, you won't get the current offer. Summer cruises are past final payment date at this point.

It kinda occurs, depending on the situation. Getting off of the Sun yesterday there were issues - rumor is that the workers (not NCL) were having a work slow-down. Gold (priority) and yellow (latitudes priority) tags were called but we stood in line outside the terminal and waited.... When they eventually got their act together, they called for the gold and yellow luggage tags and made the others (who had somehow gotten ahead in line, probably came out a different door) wait, apparently until all the priority bags had been picked up. I did have yellow tags so got my bags and left. One major issue is that people don't follow directions and get in line to get off of the ship long before their tag color is called. In this particular instance, they did not allow people to jump the line - but that doesn't always happen. But yea, I agree it would be a good thing if NCL would do a better job of policing the process.

It's usually in the MDR, not a specialty restaurant. Which makes sense, since there's more variety to choose from, easier for everyone's individual preferences.

Double up is a cruise-next thing. Cruise first is fairly new, never seen a double, doesn't mean they won't sometime. But they do offer different values, so for example $500 for $250.

I copied the schedule from the 2 sea days that we had. Rest of the itinerary would be different.freestyle.pdf I did both the free latitudes tour and the paid one - both were very interesting and informative. The head chef, the stage manager and the laundry supervisor are all very passionate about their jobs, very talkative. Engine control room (lots of computer screens to look at) and bridge were on the paid tour. No captain while we were there but the designated whale-lookout was definitely on duty (they do have to divert if they know there are whales in their direct path). And we got our picture taken, chefs hat and all, in the galley.

They will most likely fly you into either Montreal or Quebec arriving the day of your cruise - unless you ask for a 1-day deviation.

On my most recent cruise, there were 2 groups scheduled for the same night, I don't know if there were others as well. But of the 8 passengers in my group, 5 were newbies that somehow won the dinner. So instead of conversation with seasoned passengers, it was more of q&a's from people new to NCL, so, while it was an interesting experience, it wasn't exactly what I expected. We ate with the procurement officer, so that was OK and somewhat informative but I also prefer to glean information from other guests.