laudergayle

Yes. 6 or more days long.

Do you feel compelled to tip extra? Tipping expectations have become excessive here in the US.

Just a warning. If you make a booking before final payment and pay the “fully refundable (before final pymt)” deposit, DO NOT purchase the Travel Insurance until right before final payment. The insurance policy only has a 30-day cancellation (in most states) and your deposit will be reduced by the insurance amount if you decide to cancel your booking.

I recently read on the list of VC benefits that if you book a Voyager Exclusive cruise more than 9 months out, Silver and above members will each get a $50 OBC applied to the final bill. If I am reading this correctly, I would assume that I will have $100 taken off my DH and my final bill. Has anyone had experience with this, and will the OBC go against the Daily Service Charge?

Wow…I can see why people love YC. We typically just do balcony…but I splurged and booked a Grand Suite Aurea for November. I guess I’ll just have to get our own treats 😂. Really enjoying your LIVE. BTW I would have requested macarons … yum!

Can’t wait to follow along. We booked a similar cruise for next November. Enjoy your holiday.

@Stockjock not to turn this into a tipping thread, but I have a question. We typically cruise NCL which operates on USD onboard. We are average tippers at bars, restaurants and room steward. We took one MSC cruise this past summer to the Bahamas…where they operated on USD and we tipped like we normally do. We have booked World Europa for November. Two questions. 1). Since this is a European cruise, is tipping still a standard protocol? 2). If tipping, is Euro the currency used? One more question…did you get free access to Aurea Thermal Spa. Did you use and did you have to reserve in advance? thanks…and your review helped us decide to upgrade to Aurea Grand Suite.

It’s making me smile, too. Our first cruise in about 15 years was on The Jade, October 2021 to the Greek Isles. It was one of the first out of Athens and Covid tests and masks were required. The ship had a 38% occupancy. It was an amazing cruise, but felt a little like a ghost ship.

Agree.

A call to NCL and request to add middle name is the appropriate answer. At certain times it will be important, especially if flying on NCL flight. Also beneficial to match the name on your credit card.

Thank you for a fun LIVE, and a post cruise recap. Totally enjoyed your energy. Typically we don’t cruise with a group…but we would have definitely crashed your pose’ (however you spell that)! Would you do this cruise again? Same cruise line, same ship, same itinerary, same dates? What would you change? Thanks again. Next cruise?

Yeah your CSS on Bliss was def a dud. Here is my Bliss pix from November and Prima from May. Both were delicious, but the Prima does look better. BLISS: PRIMA:

They could use the card to pay for the cruise to trigger the bonus…even if you paid off the card. That would get them 30k of their own points.

That will definitely be the key…buy them and apply them. We have a CF in our account due to a canceled cruise…I just can’t find the right cruise yet!

IKR. On another thread about this topic, someone discovered in the NCLH Privacy disclosures that Goodwill Credit Ltd. Is a subsidiary of NCLH. So I am a little less concerned about future “credits”. That being said, I doubt I will tie up $$$ in these credits going forward. I would be ok with a CF credit if I was booking a cruise before final payment (+120 days) and the $250/$500 offer was available. what is interesting about Goodwill Credit is if there is ever another catastrophic event that impacts cruising, the individual cruise lines no longer have the liability for those credits. Goodwill Credit could go bankrupt (if structured properly) without affecting NCLH. Just some bad press and lots of angry consumers…but the company would recover much more quickly since time heal all wounds.

Double points on AK Encore has been out there for awhile. Check your cruise confirmation…you may find you already have double points. If it says LATDBLX you already get double points.

My son, who used to work on Linblad ships, claims February is perfect time to see momma whales with their calves. The area around Cabo and Mazatlan, by the mouth of the Cortez Sea (maybe known as Gulf of California)is their playground. Lucky you!!

Awwh, thanks for the kind words. All is well from the slip and has now just become a funny memory. As for Deck 19, if you have kept up with @HBCcruiser on her family NYE cruise, she noted that the “not so public” deck 19 was crowded and invaded by children. Hopefully that was due to the holiday pax load and not what you will experience. Wishing you an amazing cruise. The Bliss is a beautiful ship.

Glad to see Blazing Boots still on the Jade. We enjoyed the show. Hope you do, too.

Thanks for the suggestion. I have to admit it was challenging finding decent airfare…but we did finally score good fares. Now…the hotel, that is another story. We may decide to take an extra day for Seward.

Thank you for finding Goodwill Credit as a NCLH subsidiary. I had tried to do research on the company and came up with a goose egg. It makes me less nervous about purchasing either a CF or CN certificate, as I see this new company as more of a tactic for NCL to better manage these credits on their balance sheets.

We’re doing the 5/13 Vancouver to Seward and then doing the train to Anchorage the morning of disembarkation. But, I’ll keep that in mind for future cruises. I really want to do a B2B someday. I’m really looking forward to your review!

Actually, “Wave Season” is a real event. It is observed during the months of January and February each year. It originated in Canada, but in recent years has crossed the border to cities in the Pacific Northwest, Northeast, New York and even the upper Midwest. ”Wave Season” as its known, is when savvy cruisers switch out their parkas, gloves and shoe shoes for Bermuda shorts, swim trunks and flippie floppies…just before “waving goodbye” to friends and neighbors. And, now you know the rest of the story…Paul Harvey. Or maybe not.

UPDATE on my previous post. I read the new T&Cs and it appears that NCL has off-loaded the future cruise “credit” issuance and management to a company named Goodwill Credit Ltd. The link they provided to contact Goodwill Credit is not a valid link (as of yet). I couldn’t find any company info on Goodwill Credit Ltd., but I sure would want yo know more about them before I purchased the new credit…especially since NCL is absolving themselves from any liability (with the exception of applying or transferring ownership). Legal term below: All CFC(s) are issued by Goodwill Credit, Ltd. and all claims or concerns with respect to the CFC(s) (other than requests for permissible application or transfer) are to be directed to Goodwill Credit, Ltd. at www.goodwillcruisecredit.com. NCL (Bahamas) Ltd., d/b/a Norwegian Cruise Line (including its affiliates other than Goodwill Credit, Ltd.) takes no responsibility for any claim related to CFC(s), including for the loss of identifying credit information. Please contact cruisenext@ncl.comfor all requests related to onboard practices or permissible services including but not limited to application of CFC(s) and CFC transfers.

Good catch on CREDIT. Gift certificates, like Gift Cards have very complicated Escheat laws that vary by state. Many states treat unused cards/certs as unclaimed personal property and the value reverts to the state after a certain amount of time. Also, certificates with expiration dates are illegal in some states. Gift cards and gift certificates have to be accounted for on the balance sheet based on the escheat rules. OTH, Credits are wholly owned by the company. The company has an obligation to honor the credits based on the stated terms and conditions. Credits are also accounted for in a subjective manner based on historical data/trends. The company decides how much and when they move the revenue collected for the Cruise Next credit from “unrealized revenue” to “realized revenue “. I would not be surprised if one of the major changes would be that credits are “non-transferable”. Cruise Next “credits” definitely give NCLH more leeway on how they affect their bottom line.