Northern wanderlust

23 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

Great news!  Please post once you hear back from NCL and let us know if you were successful in getting it extended.

So far, I have not gotten it extended.  I'm still waiting to see if my TA can get anywhere.

8 minutes ago, julig22 said:

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.

I decided to call NCL directly again and spoke with another agent who sees the credit and says they are still active.  She is saying they expire Nov 2023 for book and sail and is checking to see if we can extend to a sail date next year.

1 minute ago, hallux said:

Your FCC belongs to you, not your travel agent.  It should have appeared on your account.

Great.  It never did.  I can't even find an area on there for coupons and credits like the website says I should see.

I was in the same boat as you.

We sailed on the Escape Oct 21 to Nov 1, 2022 and the price dropped $950 pp after final payment.  My TA called and they offered a FCC for $1900 which was awesome.  I never saw the FCC on my latitudes account but my TA said they had it there.  After researching it here I was under the impression I had to have something booked by Nov 1st which is what the issue date should have been as that was when the cruise I got the FCC for disembarked.

I called NCL today to try to use it and was told it expired in January.  The agent I spoke with instructed me to fill out an online form to the customer expierience team and request an extension and said he had never seen one of those not go through.  I just got an email back saying my request was denied.

So apparently they can issue FCC that expire in 3 months?  What good does that do anyone?

I have called my TA to have him look into and am waiting for a call back from him.  

I did note in the email from the customer experience team denying my request that they were happy I wanted to cruise with NCL again.  Guess what?  If I am denied this I am pretty sure I won't be sailing with NCL ever again.

53 minutes ago, The Traveling Man said:

 

During and immediately following the 18 month suspension of cruising due to COVID, NCL occasionally extended the expiration of FCC issued for suspended and/or cancelled cruises.  To the best of my knowledge, however, since the return to cruising in the Summer of 2021 NCL has declined to extend any expiration dates on FCC.

I never saw the FCC on my latitudes account, I think because we had booked through a travel agent.

The crusie embarked Oct 21, 2022 and disembarked Nov 1.  I was under the impression the FCC would be issued after disembarkation.  Which was fine.  And my travel agent is the one who told me we were getting a FCC.  He never mentioned an expiration date, I assumed from research on here and NCL's website that you had to have something booked within a year of the expiration date, which I was under the impression was Nov 1, 2023.

I called NCL today to find out how to use the credit and was told it expired in January.  The agent I spoke with told me to fill out a form with the customer experience team and request an extension and said that he had never seen one of those not go through.  I got an email back from the customer service team saying it would not be extended.

I just put a call in to my travel agent to see if there was anything he could do on his end.

Now I'm cranky.  I just lost $1900.  Why would a FCC expire 3 months after issuing?  I don't get it.

We have a fairly substantial FCC due to a price drop from our cruise last year.  I know we need to have something booked by November 1st to avoid losing it.

If I book a cruise today and use my FCC then decide to cancel it later will I get my FCC back assuming I cancel it before November 1st?

Also, will I be able to book it online directly or do I have to call my cruise consultant?

TIA

6 hours ago, kitkat343 said:

Food is very subjective.  For my family, NCL is the only line in which the food in the MDR is not strong enough for us to be happy with.  We were happy with the MDR food on Cunard, HAL, RC, Princess and (surprisingly and a long time ago even) Carnival.  The reviews on the food on NCL were enough to scare me 7 years ago to get a meal plan (this was before specialty dining was a room perk) for 5 meals, and 7 years ago the meals in the specialty restaurant were all outstanding (and the 2 we had in the MDR were much weaker than the other lines).  So my recommendation then if you are particular about food was to compare the price of a NCL cruise with specialty dining to that of a base price of a different cruise since you'll need to pay the upcharge for food.

 

On my last cruise in January, the food on NCL in 4 of the 5 specialty dining venues was closer to the MDR food on the other lines than being anything special (all the sides in Cagney's were ice cold, they ran out of risotto, and the steak, although cooked to a perfect medium rare was also served cold).  Ocean's Blue was the only specialty restaurant serving a meal worth an upcharge.  I'd recommend only paying the tip/(tax?)/whatever the fee is to get the specialty dining that is included in your room perk, and not purchasing any additional meals beyond those because the food they are serving is really only worth that much.  We tried to eat as much off the ship as possible, and some of the Asian/ethnic food in the buffet was actually quite good.    I think this might be what the previous poster meant.  

I have to agree.  Call me a snob if you will but we found the food in the MDR on Escape to be.....okay, I guess.  The food in the buffet was not good.  We sometimes had trouble finding anything we wanted to eat.  The meals we had in the speciality venues were good.  I think our favorites were Moderno and the tapas place, what is it Pincho's I think.  Cagney's we didn't think was anything special and something I ate there did not agree with me.  We also ate a lot off the ship.

6 minutes ago, mickeysgal said:

We also aren't NCL's target demographics anymore.  No interest in the bells and whistles.  We've been cruising with Celebrity for about 7 years now and zero regrets.  That said, their entertainment can be lacking sometimes.  Ships are swanky and gorgeous without being pretentious.    NCL fit our needs for our upcoming cruise, but generally we agree with the OP...the lack of public space is noticeably apparent.  We felt that way also on the Gem and Pearl.  Our upcoming cruise we popped for the Haven to specifically get away from the overcrowding and chair savers.   Celebrity has the Solarium and it's my favorite place on the ship to relax - adults only.

Our cruise last fall was an 11 day and we saw exactly zero entertainment acts of any kind.  It just really doesn't interest us.  Granted, this was a very port intensive itinerary, we only had one sea day.  If we had more time on the ship we may have been more interested in the entertainment offerings.  Though we have less than no interest in the Mr. Sexy Legs contest or anything of that nature.

Like I said, my past cruising experience is with Holland America and I enjoyed some of the offerings in conjunction with Lincoln Center and some of the history and culture lectures they had.  The atrium on the HAL ships were impressive.  I remember seeing the atrium on the Escape and just thought "that's it?"  Also, the layout there was horrible.  The casino was right there and allowed smoking and it got so bad in the atrium that most nights we would avoid walking through there.  We also felt the food on HAL was much better.

I think ultimately DH and I are not cruisers at heart.  We view cruising as a relaxing mode of transportation to explore different places rather than a destination that happens to go to multiple places.

Just now, flarad said:

We area probably similar demographics. I just need my husband to come to terms with this... 🙂 As we begin to plan our next cruises, I'm curious, what line do you prefer? We like Celebrity but we tend to get a little bored with their entertainment in the evening.  

We are about to turn 40 with 3 kids at home but I think really we are 60 somethings trapped in 40 year old bodies lol.

Most of my cruising experience has been on Holland America but I have my eye on Celebrity.  We haven't been with Celebrity yet but I think that would fit our personalities much better.  We knew that going into our cruise last fall but, as they say, itinerary is king and we booked that cruise for the itinerary.  Celebrity seems like a smaller line with fewer itinerary choices.  

I also have my eye on a couple of Viking Ocean cruises but we may have to wait a few years before we can afford to do those on a semi regular basis....or until we win the lotto.

I will say there is sold out and then there is sold out.  The capacity of the NCL Encore is listed at right around 4,000 passengers but that is if every cabin is at double occupancy.  This is college spring break time so I'm guessing a lot of those cabins had more than 2 people in them.  I tried to find what the maximum passenger capacity for that ship is but couldn't.  Either way, that is a wide margin.

That said, DH and I were on the Escape last fall and it was only at 50% capacity and thank god because I agree with your statement about the public areas being small.  Full disclosure, we never tried to get a lounger by the pool or anything like that, we only walked through the pool area on the way to the buffet but the atrium and public areas like that all just seemed so small.  It didn't feel overly crowded on this trip but I cannot imagine what it would have felt like if it was.

To be fair, we are not NCL's target audience.  We have no interest in anything like waterslides, go carts, tag, or even the entertainment options really.  If the kids are with us it may be different but NCL is not the line for DH and I on an adult trip.

20 minutes ago, www3traveler said:

I would doubt that there will be any trick or treating (way too many food issues and probably very few children).  There will however be a costume party.

Fair enough.  I won't bring any then.  

Thank you for the reply.

We will be on a Mediterranean cruise over Halloween.  What sort of Halloween activities should we expect?  Is trick or treating a thing on NCL ships?  If I bring some candy to pass out to trick or treaters would that be OK or will I end up eating it all myself?

Heard back from my TA today.  We are on the Escape out of Rome on the 21st.  We are in a standard balcony cabin, which is exactly what we wanted.  We didn't even bid for an upgrade.  Nothing interests us this trip.

Anyway, we booked about 2 1/2 years ago and paid about $2100 or so pp.  It is now down to $1200 or so and my TA just told me we are getting a little over $1900 in FCC which is fantastic.  We are thrilled.

The ability to refill my wine glass without having to put on clothes.

I have no tips to offer but I'm jealous and now off to NCL's website to check it out.

Could someone please confirm that?

We are boarding in 2 weeks and I just cannot figure out for certain if we need to test beforehand or not.

We are leaving from Italy and at one point I was under the impression that Greece was only requiring negative tests if you were embarking from Greece but not if you were simply visiting a port.  But the letter I got from NCL the other day was unclearly worded on that particular topic.

We booked through our TA and were assigned our cabin.  I don't know if the TA chose it for us or if they selected a guaranteed rate and that's what NCL gave us but we have a connecting cabin.

We certainly didn't request it.  

But maybe that's why?

On 9/29/2022 at 12:15 PM, ChiefMateJRK said:

Thanks.  That's interesting.  I don't really care what happens to my ashes, but my heirs might (probably not).  I just want them to NOT have them sitting around on the mantle for decades saying "there's Dad."

 

disclaimer: we don't actually have a mantle

This may be totally stupid but if you are a pet owner you'll understand.

My dog was with me for about 12 years before she passed.  The vet offered cremation services but I told DH that I couldn't stand the idea of not bringing her home but the $250 or whatever it was for cremation with return of the ashes seemed absurd so we buried her in our yard.  I went out there 2 or 3 times a day for over a month to visit her and only stopped because the snow got too deep to make the trek.

We agreed it was probably a good thing we didn't have her cremated and the ashes put on the mantle for me to fuss over for the next 5 years.

Now I'm terrified about what I'll do when DH or my parents pass.  The idea of them being far off in the cemetary is depressing.

Medication will likely be needed.

Full disclosure, my first NCL cruise is coming up in a couple of weeks and I have only been on RC once and it was nearly 20 years ago so things may have changed but my experience was that RC absolutely nickel and dimed also.  

While browsing the list of current threads I wasn't paying the closest attention and though you were asking what NCL considered fully waxed and though "yikes!"

Luckily, I looked closer.  Fully vaxed is much less racy.

1 hour ago, nferr said:

 

I don't see he "monotony", it's a large menu with what looks like quality options. The current rotating menu has four or five options that never change and the daily changed offerings. In my experience a lot of those rotating offerings are not that great. I guess we'll see if the quality is better on the fixed menu. That said I would like it if they offered more variety of appetizers on the new menu.

I agree.  I was initially skeptical about this idea but the menu posted looks really good.  With most options that interest me than I normally find on the regular rotating menus.

12 minutes ago, disneysnob said:

We received FCC for our cruise this past July, on the Joy.  It was a significant drop after the final payment.  We had 3 cabins booked and they were all approved.  It doesn’t show up on your account until after the cruise is over. You have a full calendar year to use it, and it’s not transferable.

To use it as in the cruise you book with it has to be done in a year or you have to book something with it within a year?

1 minute ago, hallux said:

On a browser on your computer (might work on a browser on a mobile device as well but it may not work in the app) - sign in, click My NCL in the top right, click on My Account  it'll be there.  Same place other pre-loaded offers and CND's will appear.

Great.  Thank you!!!

27 minutes ago, chefrubba said:

I am on the the Prima in October.  Price dropped after final payment, about $500 per person.  Called NCL two weeks ago and made a request for an adjustment.  It was sent to reservations. I was told it takes about 7 days to get a response. After 10 days had no response so I called back.  I was informed that it was approved but the FCC coupon has not been processed yet.  I am still waiting for it to appear on my account.  I do not know the amount that was approved.

Where does it show up on your account?

My TA says I should be getting a FCC for the price drop on the Escape next month.  

Should be being the key phrase there.  We haven't gotten it yet.  He says it is waiting on approval and we should hear back.  

Who knows.  I get how it works.  If we don't get anything we'll be fine with that.  If we do get something we will consider it a bonus.