Miss_Confused

3 minutes ago, julig22 said:

They are totally unrelated. 1 is a discount, the other is a form of payment.

If you are booking on your own and the issue is that you can only apply 2 offers, put in your % offer and 1 CN - which serves as your initial deposit. Then make a payment using the 2nd CN. Not sure if you can use a 2nd % without the assistance of a rep.

Thank you so much for the help!!! May need to book another cruise now haha

Does anyone know if there is a way to combine it with a percentage discount offer or a welcome back offer?

This makes me wonder, what about Azamara does not make it a luxury cruise in your opinion 

Price is honestly the only one I can think off (aka Azamara is more affordable than some other options)

13 hours ago, Scots Caz said:

there are two levels of wifi - the standard (which might be ok for checking email but possibly not for teams calls (may depend on how many others are accessing at same time). Your free minutes/discount will be on the standard.

then there is the premium which is an additional $8.95 per day. I usually start with the standard but find I get frustrated and need the premium for working....and still use 4G when in port instead.

Thank you Scots! Ill be trying to keep the work to a minimum but may have to cave haha

27 minutes ago, combine said:

Yes in my experience, you can purchase with your percentage discount partway through the cruise. I did just this last month on Journey.
It was a port intensive cruise so used my phone providers package on land but about 4 days before end of cruise I wanted to use it more whilst at sea. I clicked on full voyage unlimited package and the price quoted reflected just 4 remaining days. My 75% loyalty discount was then applied upon completion.

 

BTW when you receive your key cards in the little leather holders , there is a paper card with a QR code on to scan and log into internet sign up. Worked very well.

That sounds brilliant! Thank you for the information
 

How was the wifi? Not looking to stream or anything like that but want to be aware if it will be one of those loading for 10min situations haha

Hi all,

I have the Western Africa trip booked (18 days) and was considering the options for Internet.

With my membership level I get either 60min or 35% towards the full trip package. For the 35% off does anyone know how that applies? Its a longer cruise and I def want a few decompression days with no internet at the start of the trip but will likely need to at least be able to answer emails, and ideally teams calls, during the second part of the voyage so considering the best option to accomplish this. Is it possible to get the full internet package discount for say 2/3 of the voyage? With NCL you can usually start it 3 days into the trip and still use the full discount so am wondering if its possible with Azamara. Or is the membership discount only applied on packages started day 1?

5 hours ago, sharonann24 said:

We were on the Prima last July for the Iceland to Southhampton cruise and loved it.  My husband and I had a balcony room and my father traveled in a solo cabin.  He had no complaints and found it suited his needs both in comfort and affordability since he would have had to pay double for the balcony.  We personally love Hudson's MDR and that definitely has lovely window and outside views from almost every vantage point.  We are in agreement with the entertainment.  We did get into Sydney Norman's and it was crowded but a great show.  I heard from another post that Donna Summer is no longer part of the rotation so we will see.  We are on the Prima in October for a Southampton to Rome cruise focusing Spain, Portugal and France. We have three speciality dinners and our tours set.  We are Platinum on NCL so it goes to show we like the line.  I think people's expectations of what cruise life are like have really been blown out of proportion.  

I get where you are coming from, and normally I do my research before a cruise but in this case I had little time and the information I did find was not fully up to date (e.g. the menus in the MDR were missing a couple of different aps and a main compared to the ones I found online). Now I now what to expect and will plan accordingly 🙂 

For any next cruises Ill def. book ahead - normally Im a decide on the spot what to do that night but that works less well on NCL. 

4 hours ago, PhillyTravelBug said:

Love the objective review! We

did this itinerary last year and it checked off so many bucket list items. Truly, a great experience. 
 

would you sail with NCL again?

 

Glad to hear you had an overall good experience. NCL’s entertainment has seriously suffered as of late, but not a deterrent for myself.

I think I will do another NCL cruise, even got cruise next credits as overall the value is great. That said I would mainly choose it for something like a Caribbean cruise. Had originally been considering NCL for an African cruise as they have an amazing itinerary but will probably choose another line for that one

11 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Aaahhh... Something like FAS but another cruise line?
OK, apparently Google is a good friend that tells me it's Holland America Line. 😄 

Hahahaha I mixed up my line acronyms there! But yes I meant the FAS - Im a big fan of more all inclusive set ups for cruises as these are vacations where I dont want to be having to think and plan 

Hi all,

Personally have loved and found very useful when cruisers post their view and open up to discussion so wanted to contribute and do my own. Recently had my first cruise with NCL (cruised in the past with multiple other lines) and it was a lovely 10 day Iceland and Norway itinerary on the Norwegian Prima. I was traveling solo and booked last minute so this was for an interior cabin. While I very much enjoyed a lot of the cruise there were some areas that annoyed me and made me question if its the right line for me

Key pro's:

- Overall enjoyed the ship incl. comfort and layout, even though there are thousands onboard you dont feel it and there is a good variety of comfortable nooks which I love. By splitting people up there also was very rarely issues with queues and waiting times despite a full sailing

- Loved the Indulge hall!!! Honestly one of the best things with the sailing. Food was brilliant, portion sizes perfect and they were great at handling dietary issues (very clear on what was possible). The speed of service was a bit of a shock it was that fast, but honestly made for a great meal where you order something and then when ready order the next thing. Only issue was that ordering drinks on the tablets didnt work with your room card so you either grabbed a waiter or went to the bar

- Amazing drinks and bartenders 

- Booked the cruise for the itinerary and it delivered, really enjoyed my 10 days 

- Pricing on NCL cruises once you account for drinks packages, etc. is amazing - one of the best values

Key Con's:

- Food variety was terrible - barring the Indulge hall it was practically the same offering across every venue every day e.g. starters always consisted of the same or practically the same items and you end up having a Cesar salad 4 days in a row (granted a great Cesar ). Every morning it was the same variety of eggs and meats in the same format across all venues - so unless you liked eggs or sweets for breakfast there wasnt much choice. Additionally there was nothing reflecting the areas we were traveling through, even the one time the Buffe claimed a Nordic theme the items had literally nothing to do with the region and Im sorry to say tasted quite bad

- "Entertainment" - personally I dont find an entertainment schedule full of bad knock-off's of cheesy game shows and sales pitches masquerading as parties and seminars all that entertaining. The few actual shows and pieces of music were hard to get seats for and the so called Improv never actually put on any Improv comedy. There also wasnt a single piece of information provided regarding the amazing stops we were having, instead it was all focused on buying crappy bracelets and bingo tickets 

- Solo set-up - a key reason for booking NCL was that they were supposed to be the best at sea for solos. But every daily meetings pretty much always was set at 5pm when we were still in port or during the sail away and any dinner booking followed immediately. The meetings themselves felt like being in kindergarden, everyone facing the "host" who would have some silly icebreaker even 9 days in and allowed for no conversation or interaction between people. It was also typically held in an empty venue with a closed bar, which also didnt help. That said met some lovely people and we organized some fun dinners, etc. but it was not thanks to NCL

- Limited natural light - except for the dining room and the tiny! observatory lounge there wasnt any real natural light. Most areas had no windows or had them covered up so the few areas like the observatory lounge were always so full people were literally sitting on the floor. This likely isnt an issue in a Caribbean cruise where most people are outside by the pool but for Iceland it did cause an issue 

Other notes:

- Main dining room was great at handling requests, e.g. I probably had some lovely asparagus or mushrooms added to my main every day

- Only charging for the additional price above your package in terms of drinks, etc. - found it worked better for me to have the normal HIA package and then pay extra when I wanted a specific wine or diet coke.

- Rooms were very comfortable

- Getting bubbly soda's was a pain haha, found it very odd that closed soda cans and bottles of water were not included

- Overall I noted it was a very American experience, great for having all the lovely stuff I missed from living in the US, but lots of having to bite down my annoyance at certain American styles of service and food style - just a heads up for any Euro, SA, APAC traveling

Thanks all!

Thats really interesting @beatnix @tonyl1956 , how did you find your TAs? Did they have the offer visible online or is it something one needs to ask directly?

@blag think Im just not a very trusting person haha, find that usually the person to fight the hardest for myself is me. Would be very different of course if I was looking for planning help, then a TA can be great

Hi all,

I always read about people saying that using a TA is better, that you get OBC, etc. but most of those posts are made from North American citizens. I have a European passport and have always booked my trips directly but starting to wonder if I am missing a trick here

Any tips as a EU person, for getting the best offers or extra OBC?

Thank you!!! 

15 hours ago, Pablo Diablo said:

Unopened cans can be bought individually at the bars for $3.50 ea. plus 20% automatic gratuity ($4.20 total). Alternatively, you can buy in bulk through Swift (I.e. beverage room service) to be delivered directly to your cabin. Swift room delivery may cost slightly more per can and have a minimum $9.95 per Oder service charge (like food room service) 

.

Thanks - Im fine to pay for it, just somehow failed on this trip

4 hours ago, dexddd said:

Hmmm, seems I've been in a discussion before with someone about this subject. My experience similar to yours that they push gun and cans not part of beverage plan.  Of course, to that person, I was wrong.

 

Was on Prima, sat down in Haven restaurant for breakfast, asked what I wanted, told coke zero, asked can or gun, said can, told will be a charge.  Should have just ordered a screwdriver.

 

 

 

 

Haha so the solution is to upgrade to the Haven?

2 hours ago, L+A+J said:

So f you have FAS drink package, soda from the gun is included but not a can? 
thanks!😊 

Exactly, soda from the gun is incl. - so odd that one cant have a bottle of water but you can have multiple cocktails worth 4x 

1 hour ago, debenson0723 said:

The mini fridges haven't been stocked for a long time. Now there are 3 bottles of water that can be purchased...I put them on the floor under the desk while on the cruise and use the fridge for food.

Ohh what food do you keep on hand? Looking for all the tips haha

9 minutes ago, FLAHAM said:

Order as many cans as you want through room service.  You will pay about $4 each plus the $9.95 delivery charge for the order.

So they def. deliver them closed then

Find it pretty funny that soda is my nemesis here, wine bottles, food, etc. no issues. Can of coke? Oh lord no haha

40 minutes ago, Asawi said:

Just ask for them not to open it. Cans are not included in the drinks package so might get charged for it. Especially if you ask for unopened. Or they may just let it slip. 

Edit: The magic words maybe being " I want to BUY a couple of unopened cans of x" (Even though I have recieved several unopened cans without even asking for them.) 

Will have to try it
Did ask once in the buffe area and the bartender told me they have to open it... even tried getting two cans and they still opened both haha. Guess I need to be more assertive 

It has now been a couple of weeks since my first NCL cruise (on the Prima) and I am now considering if I should book another one 🙂 Learnt so much from this forum so hopping you guys have an easy solution for this minor issue

One of my pet peeves (silly but after 10 days the annoyance accumulated) was the soda situation, especially in terms of having it in the cabin. Overall I didnt find a way to get closed cans - I like having bubbly and cold coke zero or similar. The soda gun was (across the ship) very lacking on the bubbles and when you specifically asked for the cans they would open them and pour over ice as often they werent cold so you would get a pretty flat soda. 

Minibar was stocked with water but not soda's - normally I like this as means I can have several cans of coke and skip the beers and sprite but on this cruise I couldnt get closed cans anywhere haha. You arent supposed to bring soda's ( or anything) on board, the minibar didnt have them, and the bars and restaurants would either give you soda's from the gun or if you asked specifically for a can they would insist on opening it 

So how do I get sparkling cold coke, especially in my cabin? Do I ignore the whole "dont bring things on board" and smuggle cans in? Are there some magic words to getting bartenders to give you closed cans? Do you order room service consisting of a bunch of cans of coke and nothing else at the start of the cruise? Is there some magical cooling bottle then keeps the bubbles? Help 🙂 

On 7/20/2024 at 12:40 AM, kitkat343 said:

If you are docking at r Nynashamn, I assume you would miss the opening at Vassa if traveling from June - August since it opens at 8:30; if that's the case, people on this forum have reported it is also less crowded in the late afternoon (I cannot verify this from personal experience, but I do know the museums in NYC tend to empty out in the later afternoons).  Good luck.  

Oh you dont need to be at Vasa at 8.30 - its fine to come later

1 hour ago, Ellis1138 said:

 

They had simple boiled potatoes on my recent cruise on the Prima. Granted, it was on the "scandinavian" day at the lunch buffet for the Norway/Iceland cruise. But simple boiled potatoes might be a prime example of something the kitchen could make for you special without much work.

 

And you would be shocked at how many people turn into entitled, demanding cruise passengers. It's astounding. O.o

 

 

OMG yesssss - actually doing the Iceland, Norway cruise on Prima so crossing fingers. Do find it hilarious that for us Scandi people boiled potatoes are such a normal must have item, other countries think we are weird. I mean we eat stuff like pickled herring for breakfast and the few times we have eggs they will be boiled and with caviar on top... so we def. do slightly different food
 

Entitled passengers always shock me, I seriously wonder if they act like this in real life. Some people act like they can do anything because its "their vacatioooonnnn and they paid for it". Emmm you paid for a vacation not to treat people without respect

8 hours ago, Anoynmous Phoenix said:

Just ask and if it is available they will get it for you.

 

I often ask for avocado, on the side, with breakfast and lunch.  Similarly sauteed mushrooms.   I also prefer baked potato instead of mashed or "flavoured" for dinner.   My wife will often seek extra vegetables and less meat.

 

Sometimes it slows the service.

 Brilliant! This is very helpful. Have lived in the US before so I am def. mentally preparing for the lack of simple boiled potatoes haha - will get those in port, but crossing fingers for the baked potatoes 

9 hours ago, Ellis1138 said:

If you ask for it, they will be able to get it for you in the MDR, as long as it's on the ship. They do actually have European style breakfasts on NCL ships. I've seen tomatoes, baked beans, cucumbers, etc. Just be very nice when asking, don't demand. 

 

One time, the maitre d' on the Escape had someone run all the way down to the storage place to get me sliced shitake mushrooms for my lunch at the buffet. And recently on the Prima, the sous chef changed the day of mushroom broth just so I would be able to have some for lunch on the day I didn't have an excursion.

 

If something will make you happy and they can do it without too much fuss, they will do it. Veggies at breakfast in the MDR is most likely doable.

Demanding something is never appropriate, thought that went without saying

Thank you for the other examples 

Thank you SuiteTraveler! Thats very helpful

Hi all,

New to NCL and wanted to check how easy it is to have vegetables added to your meals incl. for breakfast? Im Scandi so having sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, etc. with breakfast is a daily habit and wondering how flexible the kitchen is to these additions. On prior cruises both with Azamara , MSC and Costa they are very open to this so just want to ensure Im not coming in with the wrong expectations (below photo is of the Azamara roomservice breakfast, they must have found it funny)

Similarly for lunch and dinner, I pretty much always have a third of the plate with different vegetables - but guessing that will be easy to solve for by just asking for sides - are available sides listed anywhere or is it a case of asking for specific items?