tonyfall1

2 hours ago, jgmpuma said:

First day should be OK. Most of the day (seven hours or so) will be spent on the Mississippi, and there is cell service until you hit the Gulf, very late at night.

Thanks.. that is what I suspected.

Hello,

I will be on an NCL cruise leaving NOLA in February. I have the FAS package with a 150 minutes of internet. How is cell phone reception going down the river? I have Verizon and it looks pretty good on their map.  I was hoping to leverage that the first day instead of tapping into my internet minutes. Anyone else do this?

Mine has not been the best but I have called the general number with good results and they have been able to take care of my issues, including an issue with my flight. 1-877-416-9722

Hello,

I will be taking a western Caribbean cruise on the Breakaway in February. I purchased the FAS package. My wife and I both have 150 minutes of internet. I am trying to decide whether I want to purchase the $110 or $180 to upgrade my internet to unlimited or unlimited premium. My wife is fine with her 150 minutes. I think I have read that the Breakaway uses Starlink. How is the internet performance on the Breakaway? I know it's not like it is on land but,  I don't want to pay extra money if the performance is going to be crappy and basically unusable. And is the premium performance better than the regular? Just don't want to throw away $180 on something that may or may not work at times.

And if I don't prepay it just gets added to my bill and paid at the end of the cruise automatically. I assume I don't have to make a special trip to the customer service desk to settle the bill at the end?

Is there any advantage to prepaying these service charges, it seems like a lot of people pre-pay them and I am not sure why?

Hello,

I just booked my first cruise on NCL for February. I purchased the Free At Sea Package. I see there is a few hundred dollar charge for gratuities which I was aware of. As I'm looking at my account it says you can prepay a service charge of $20 dollars a day per person per room.  It says this service charge of $280 will be automatically added to your onboard account. Is the service charge different than the gratuities in the Free At Sea and I would need to pay that also?

1 hour ago, JillK said:

 

Canadian NCL site is showing "Flash Sale" with $250 Cruise First value through the weekend for anyone waiting to purchase the higher value CF.

US site showing the same.. I just booked 2 days ago with a $150 Cruise First. I wonder if they would allow me to change it.

I just booked my first cruise on NCL through a PCC. He offered me a $300 certificate for $150 that I could use for my deposit.

3 hours ago, tonyfall1 said:

Yeah the Princess one is very good.. almost makes me want to switch to them.

Ok I take it back the NCL rep just called me and saved me a fair amount of cash.. LOL.

5 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

It’s such a fun town for a night- I’d just cancel the NCL shuttle and stay downtown by the pier. 

I think I read Ubers are plentiful and easy to get?

9 minutes ago, princeton123211 said:

Its about $40 each way from MSY to the cruise terminal in an UberX so its not actually that great of a deal considering all the time you'll spend waiting around for the bus to fill and then empty etc. 

 

Where is your hotel? It sounds like you might be complicating this considerably. If you are staying downtown in New Orleans, the cruise pier is also right downtown. Going back to the airport would be an enormous waste of time, energy, and money.

 

If you were staying but the airport, maybe you might have a case for this. 

We were planning on just staying by the airport since that's where the NCL shuttle pick up is.  But then I started thinking about not using the NCL shuttle.

12 minutes ago, Albinroo said:

I have also had a bit of trouble getting hold of my NCL PCC at times, but she usually does get back to me eventually. But I am definitely considering trying to get another pcc or ta because she's not always the most helpful either. 

Anyway, we have traveled on NCL Joy and NCL Getaway, and we travel with kids but prefer when there aren't many kids on-board. I would say we never really had a problem with lots of kids running around on these ships, they tend to be at the kids club and by the kids pool, so wasn't a problem for us even though one of the cruises was in July during school holidays. It was the Baltics though, so maybe not the most kids on those itineraries. I think the Breakaway seems great, always the waterfront deck to escape to when some relaxation is needed! Enjoy your cruise!

Yeah the Princess one is very good.. almost makes me want to switch to them.

I finally made the decision to book on the Breakaway. Thursday evening I had put a hold on both cruises and planned on putting a deposit on the Breakaway today. After putting them on hold both companies called me and left me VME's. They also emailed me. I had a few questions and the email from the NCL PCC said not to finish booking until I talked to him. I have emailed and called both of my consultants and the Princess consultant is very fast and getting back with me. I even called Princess customer assistance center they said I can leave my number and they will call me back. They called me back immediately. I have emailed my NCL PCC 1 time and called him twice since Friday and he has never called me back and he told me not to book until I talk to him. The hold expires today. His VME says he works 11-4 on both Saturday and Sunday yet crickets from NCL. I am disappointed because I had decided on NCL but if they won't even call me back to finish the sale, I am worried about what kind of assistance will I get once they have my money. So bottom line is Princess's service has impressed me and NCL has been non-existent ugh.

Hi,

My wife and I are flying in a day early for our NCL Breakaway cruise. NCL is charging us $100 total for a shuttle to and from MSY for our cruise. Seems reasonable but since we are coming in a day early, we will need to Uber to our hotel and then back to the airport the next day to pick up the shuttle. I am wondering if it just makes more sense to cancel the NCL transport and Uber back and forth to the cruise port.

5 minutes ago, victory2020 said:

What port/airport?

New Orleans - MSY

On 9/11/2023 at 8:12 AM, hallux said:

 

Schools in the Northeast (or at least in New York) get a 'winter break' in addition to the holiday and spring breaks.  That Winter break is usually President's week so that would definitely be a week to NOT consider if not having kids on the ship is a consideration.

On 9/11/2023 at 10:23 AM, edspec said:

The drink packages are not equal. NCL doesn’t include waters or specialty coffees. Room servicing is down to once per day which isn’t that big of a deal but the stewards have so many cabins that they’re ready until 3ish on embarkation day. I used to really enjoy NCL, especially for solo trips but am leery of them right now. I have a cruise booked with them in 2025 but will be cancelling if I keep reading the same story of dirty rooms, rooms not made up till late afternoon, etc…

On 9/11/2023 at 10:52 AM, laudergayle said:

Was your cruise last year with MSC a 3-4 or 7-night cruise?  

Is the window to request the deviation from the time I am paid in full until 75 days prior to the cruise. I assume I can't request a deviation when I just have a deposit down?

19 minutes ago, Treasure Hunter said:

New York has winter break the week that includes Presidents Day. We try to sail from NY but this winter will be on the NCL Encore from Miami. Last winter on the Breakaway there were 1800 kids. 

That's what I was afraid of:(

1 hour ago, julig22 said:

If you choose the BOGO airfare, cost of airfare is added to your reservation.  Cost of transfers to/from the airport/port are added to your reservation.

If you choose a 1-day deviation pre-cruise, the cost of the airfare does not change.  You will get a $25 credit on your invoice. The cost of the 1-way transfer is removed, the post-cruise transfer remains.  If you choose to stay after the cruise, you also get a $25 credit and the cost of that transfer is also removed. You might arrive in the morning, before hotel checkin, so be prepared.

 

If you wish to stay near the airport so you can return and take the NCL transfer, you will need to call and have that transfer cost added back. I have done this many times. But be forewarned, not all reps understand that process.  Some will tell you to just go to the NCL rep when you get to the airport.  Nope, I want to be sure that they have a reservation for me.  If you make the request after final payment but before the 75 day deadline the system might charge a penalty - if that doesn't resolve within a couple of days, you'll have to call to get it fixed.  And on rare occasions, they will not allow you to return to the airport (had that issue in Buenos Aires, don't know why).

 

I'm assuming the $25 credit is an incentive to get people to fly in a day earlier - less of a hassle for NCL, so they don't have to contend with people missing cruises due to flight delays on the day of the cruise.

Hope that clears up your questions.

Thanks!

20 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

No, it just comes off your invoice.

 

BTW, even if you do a 1 or 2 day deviation, they will only transfer you from the airport. Our cruise was from Southampton. If we had not chosen to stay at hotel by Heathrow, we not only would have had to take our luggage to London, but also take it back to the airport in order to get the transfer.

Ok so my plan will be to get a 1 day deviation. Rent a room at an airport hotel that has a shuttle to and from. I see quite a few at a reasonable price. Although what is the $25 credit for?

3 minutes ago, ontheweb said:

And not that credit is for the first passenger and not the second. They consider the second as free.I believe but am not sure it would also apply to a 3rd passenger.

So they will book me on a flight a day earlier for the same price and give me a $25 credit? Is that credit for the transfer to the port?

3 minutes ago, julig22 said:

They give you a $25 credit. But you have to factor in hotel and transportation costs.

Thank you, is there no additional cost for rebooking the flight a day earlier?

How much does a 1 day deviation typically cost?

Any issues with long wait times for dinner or the buffet being overcrowded on the Breakaway?

2 minutes ago, tetleytea said:

When I sailed the Regal Princess I was in a full suite, and I got good customer service through the concierge desk offered through the concierge lounge (offered only to full suite guests).   But otherwise I found NCL's customer service to be way better (as in, existent).   When I call Princess now I get 5-minute hold times, but if I have any non-rookie problem that is difficult at all, I get referred to Princess' email line.   But when I email Princess (per the phone agent's instruction) five times, I get crickets.  Nada.  And last summer, I was getting 1-hour hold times.    On NCL, I have gotten maybe 10-minute hold times and got decent help.  

 

If you had asked me two years ago, I would have recommended the Regal over the Breakaway, hands down.  But now I have to go with NCL, and it's not because of the ship--but because of corporate.

Ugh, for some reason I just assumed Princess customer service would be much better than NCL.