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1 hour ago, PATRLR said:

With the rollout of the single, static menu in the MDRs, soon you are going to need to hit the Specialty Restaurants not only for fine dining but for variety.  Again - variety, something I used to get for free, but now I'll have to pay for.  I believe NCL is leading the way with the static MDR menus, but, I expect all the other lines to follow suit soon.

Do we know if the MDR static menus won't be expanded static menus?  The specialty dining menus are static, but I haven't seen many complaints regarding lack of variety there.

1 hour ago, BirdTravels said:

Any onboard cancellations turns into a refundable OBC. 

Do you know if this is the same if pre-booked with FCC?

On 3/29/2022 at 10:13 AM, kuku77254 said:

If you cancel onboard, it goes back to OBC which is better than losing the FCC all together.

Can you confirm that excursions pre-booked with FCC, that when cancelled onboard, in fact becomes usable OBC?

Do you know if this FCC turned OBC might even be refundable?

On 8/23/2022 at 3:35 PM, julig22 said:

I believe that any refunds are considered cash - not refundable OBC, so they should use your existing OBC to book anything new.

hmmmm, just spitballing here, some might say "Hi Jack!"....

Let's say I have FCC expiring at the end of the year, probably won't have a chance to use it all of it by then, would really hate to lose the remainder.

NCL says I can use FCC on prepaid excursions, so let's say I book a $1200 Silver Cove Suite @ GSC or a $500 dolphin adventure at one of the ports, or something else I may not end up doing.

If I cancel once on board, is this really cash? refundable OBC? non-refundable OBC? or does it turn back into FCC and not able to be used during this trip?

If it is cash or refundable OBC, I can just walk off the ship with it at the end of the cruise?  If it can't be that easy, can I take the 3% hit and cash out at the casino, and then walk off the ship with it?

All thoughts and considerations are welcome, any actual experience is most very welcome.

On 8/23/2022 at 2:08 PM, IronRobi said:

2: For the remainder of the ports of call that would be beyond 48hrs, is there a specific order that the OBC is used? I would hate to cancel the excursion in Port 2 only to have the refundable OBC used up right away when it's rebooked, leaving the same non-refundable OBC on our account.

If refundable is applied first, I'd visit the customer service desk and ask nicely for it to be taken from non-refundable first.  

On 8/23/2022 at 2:08 PM, IronRobi said:

1: If we board the ship at approx. noon on day 1, and our first port of call puts us in at 9am on day 3, that's inside the 48hr window. Does this mean there would be no way to do this and that we have to just wait until we're on board and hope the excursion isn't full?

It has been reported here that the exception to the 48hr requirement is for cancellations done on day 1, since they know you can't go negative days to affect items booked for day 2.

2 hours ago, lfdemt said:

For the itinerary is Harvest Caye better than Great Stirrup Cay?

Harvest Caye was fun in 2014, will be going to GSC for the first time.  From what I understand, feels like there's always a 50% chance GSC will be cancelled due to tendering/rough seas issues.  I've not heard of Harvest Caye cancellations.

2 hours ago, lfdemt said:

Is Miami or Orlando better to sail out of? 

MIA to Port of Miami is 15 min

MCO to Port Canaveral is 45 min

My first cruise in 2014 was out of Miami, don't remember it being difficult at all; but it was a long time ago and it was full of firsts so I don't remember any specifics.

I'm cruising out of Orlando for the first time in 45 days; more logistics/costs pertaining to the additional transport distance.

2 hours ago, lfdemt said:

Things I am worried about Joy is the pool situation seems small and crowded.  While go karts sound fun, at $15 a person a race, that is a one and done kinda of thing and that track takes away a lot of deck space.  My son would miss the sport court.  Is there enough to keep the kids busy on sea days that isn't going to cost me a ton of money??  

Second question first, Yes, there's plenty for the kids to do to keep them busy.  However, the Joy was built with for the Asian market (why the pool area is smaller) and most western amenities were kind of crammed in during the retrofit, especially the kid club areas.  The Entourage (teen club) area was put in a tiny corner that completely feels like an afterthought.

Since your concerns are 1. small crowded pool, 2. one time karts w/ fee, 3. no sports court,  NOT going with the Joy sounds like a better fit.  They Joy did have Laser Tag  and the virtual reality pavilion (both with fee).  But even on the Joy, the kids will enjoy the waterslides, ping pong, and other free things along with the kids club activities.

If decision can't be made by ship or ports, dates may play a factor.  If not, look at the bottom line; me, I usually start at the bottom line.

Considering the bottom line and where NCL has decided to put that, perhaps look into competing cruise lines.

Are the departure ports the same? Some departure/return ports are easier and/or cheaper than others (flights, hotel, transport to ship).

1 hour ago, Warbird said:

One thing it doesn’t show is the FCC’s for your spouse.  You have to ask your cruise consultant what they are and take their word for it. 

...

I have to question why one can’t see your spouse’s FCC’s on the website.  The FCC’s were derived from a paid canceled cruise.  

If you go through to the step where you select your spouse as Passenger 2, it will bring up your spouse's credits (at the payment options screen).  Or you can log in under her account to see her credits.

It makes less sense when passenger 2 is a child, FCCs go to the child's account even though they had nothing to do with the original payment and cannot book on their own, but the point is, FCCs are assigned to each passenger.

Wow!

?...typically, they don't cancel.

2 hours ago, lyannea said:

3 more lines are lifting mandates to some embarkation ports - Princess, RCCL & Celebrity 

Now, please put on your thinking cap and 

hear me out.

 

There are 22 countries that still require vaccinations.

Canada is one of them, so anyone unvaccinated cannot get on a cruise to Canada, going to Alaska, no matter what cruise line.

do you see where I’m going ? 

 

Sorry, not really.  But it looks like you won't be going to 22 countries that still require vaccinations.

1 hour ago, roboref said:

Neither does testing. Think about it a test 48 to 72 hours pre-boarding is negative, but the person has Covid, but not enough to test positive. Then the cruiser flies to the port, unmasked, eats unmasked, stays in a hotel that doesn't require masks and gets on the ship. Now they are fully contagious and capable of Covid spread. Explain to me what testing did? 

NCL is betting that the cruiser in your example won't become a medical emergency in the next week.  If he needs hospitalization or worse, it will be after he disembarks, so he's not NCL's problem. 

What testing did do, was keep the other cruiser (the one who already had enough to test positive) from potentially worsening into a medical emergency while under NCL's care and custody.  That would be such a PITA, might require a Med-Evac or involve a death onboard -- too much hassle/negative pub, etc.

NCL wants everyone's money, they just don't want the hassle of having really, really sick passengers - it's not good for business. They're basically saying, "We need your business, contagious or not.  But if you're going to get really sick or worse, please don't do that while you're on one of our passenger manifests, because that would be bad revenue."

2 hours ago, Rob-Bob said:

This really makes no sense.  Non vaccinated needs a test.  Vaccinated does not need a test.  I really need someone to explain this to me.

NCL does not want to deal with a passenger with full-blown symptoms, up to and including death, so:

If the non-vaccinated gets Covid during the trip, they''ll take their symptoms home and deal it off ship.  If they are already at the point of failing a test, they may turn into a medical emergency onboard.

If the vaccinated gets Covid during the trip, they''ll take their lesser symptoms home and deal it off ship.  If they are already at the point of failing a test, they may show lesser symptoms, but probably not turn into a medical emergency onboard.

Likely less to do with virus transmission and more to do with impact on NCL while the passenger is NCL's responsibility.

NCL wants to use incubation time to their advantage so the folks who can get really, really sick, do so after they disembark.  Those who have taken the initiative to be vaccinated are a risk NCL is willing to accept since most of the vaccinated are not getting really, really sick.  It is now accepted that anyone can get it at anytime, so the focus has shifted to risk tolerance and mitigating the effects.

https://countryworldadventures.com/ was posted in another thread

Many scheduled for Taino Bay were switched to Amber Cove in the last month.

1 minute ago, cruiseny4life said:

yes sir, of course mr grammar whatever you want to call yourself. feel better about yourself now? 

 

i'm just a podunk country boy.

just trying to help you sound less podunk.

On 8/4/2022 at 5:44 AM, cruiseny4life said:

 

And then there's me - I could care less.

you mean that you could NOT care less.

you care so much that you COULD care less, vs. you care so little that you could NOT care less.

I booked a guarantee category and room was assigned when I submitted and received the shareholder benefit, maybe they need to assign the cabin in order to issue the OBC?

46 minutes ago, drew2d said:

and the staff did not ever step in.

It's not worth it.  Imagine all the complaints staff would get from those parents who would be so offended if a stranger stepped in to tell their child to behave.  Likely the same reason why you and others didn't step in; it's going to reflect worse on you than anyone else, staff is not there to babysit.

What the club balcony gets over regular balcony:

larger/nicer bathroom, these amenities:

• Complimentary treats delivered to your stateroom
• Complimentary bottle of sparkling wine
• Complimentary choice of one valet laundry or pressing service
• Bliss Collection by Norwegian™ featuring fine linens, pillows and a memory foam mattress or mattress topper

AND

• you get to be charged an additional $2pp/pd for DSC.

On 7/24/2022 at 10:44 AM, mkkao924 said:

I know Apple does not recommend to use AirTag to track kids, and I don't intend to rely on using this solely to track kids, but I am wondering if this even works onboard (at sea) as supplemental method of tracking? For example, when they are in kids club, I might be able to use it to track if they still stay in kids club or they ran out.

It does not sound like it would work well, but even if the horizontal aspects were accurate (forward/mid-ship/aft and starboard/port), there's also the vertical variables (deck 6 vs. deck 14).