RB9643

There are afternoon snacks (savory and sweet) in the Observation Lounge at 3 pm or so on Joy, Encore, and Prima (the three I've been on). Don't know about ships without an Observation Lounge, but I'd imagine you'll find it somewhere.

I joked with my wife about this last night. I take Ambien, so it would be no problem for me. I can sleep in a bed, on a couch, or even the floor -- no problem. But yeah, pretty ridiculous when you think about. And I snore, quite loudly, according to her. 😮

I'm skeptical. Can you give us more detail? Dates? Cabin? Drink package? Specialty dining, etc?

Oh how I wish I had the discriminating palate you guys have for whiskey. For me it's like/dislike. Not much in between. My preference is Canadian with Seagram's being my go-to. VO and Coke has always been my favorite, but NCL dropped VO this year. I'll always drink Crown if VO isn't available. Our last cruise had Seagram's 83 American (never seen it before). Didn't try it neat but it's perfectly fine with Coke. I did like all the Mccallen's we had in the tastings. I've done 3, one with my wife where I got half of each of her samples. 😄

We're cruising Royal next to Alaska on Ovation. Our last 4 have been NCL. We are super pumped to compare the two. I just wanted to quote the above because you can rest assured the NCL'ers are drooling over your dock while we rock and roll on the tenders. 🤨

or beer with no alcohol a hotdog with no mustard a cheeseburger with no cheese Humans are a wacky bunch.

How clean is anything in your room, really? Can you ever know for certain? At least the coffeemakers have near boiling water running through them.

We have cards for travel we use for the points and benefits, including great cancellation insurance. But per quite surprised to discover that even our random "normal" credit card offers $1500 per person cancellation insurance. Never knew it was there.

Just came in to say this exact thing. Check the benefits provided by the credit card you used. You might be surprised and not even know it was there.

We have found that we use our balcony far less than we think we will. If there are only two of you, the Club balcony is just fine. On the other hand, you will absolutely appreciate, a number of times daily, the bathroom and shower in the Club mini-suite (along with the other little perks).

If the cabin is not connected, then it checks all the boxes for the "ideal" cabin. We had a balcony mid-ship on deck 10 and loved it. Super quiet. We like deck 10 because of the convenient access to 6,7, 8 without always having to rely on the elevators. The upper deck action basically starts on deck 17, so maybe deck 13 would be better for you. It also checks all the boxes.

The current deck plans on the NCL site show the public areas on both ships to be absolutely identical, except that Viva is missing the cigar lounge next to the Metropoliton bar. I don't see any increase in size for Syd Norman's or the comedy club, which is quite unfortunate. What changes on the Viva are you aware of?

We've only moved a hogger's stuff a few times. Usually, we're gone before they ever come. Once, a couple showed up and claimed they were "their" chairs. I just told them to have a crewmember tell us to move. Never happened. Point -- just move their stuff.

Ok. We've always been the last off the ship -- basically walk off, walk to an almost empty luggage area, and easily grab a taxi. However, that's going to change in the future because we've been waiting far too long at the airport for our departing flight. Good to know it's going to be a bit more of a hassle.

Priority disembarkation is available to Gold and above (or so the chart says). We've never used it because we've had late enough flights, so I can't tell you what this actually entails.

The Club Balcony on Joy we were in had the bed by the closets. It was a very tight fit getting at the closets. Definitely not our preference, but there were only two of us. If you've got three using the closet, good luck.

That's why I called it incorrect when you said, "likely won't be denied". It may be just as likely that you ARE denied. Mostly at Cagney's, Le Bistro, and Ocean Blue in my experience.

Remember that you are only allowed one carton per person to be brought back into the US without declaring. That's why I love travelling with another couple. I can finally take advantage of the 4 for the price of 3 deal.

I remember those days. A long, long time ago. I prefer e-docs and printed luggage tags. Don't need to stress whether or not Pony Express lost my stuff.....

Excellent point. Always have your documents ready. I think we had to show them 3 times. The worst thing is a group of 8 in front of you that are constantly digging out the documents that should already be in their hands.

This is not correct.

What is this "mail" thing you speak of?

If you are at the main NCL port, it's pretty straightforward. Not saying it's perfect. But it is better than getting stuck in the old Carnival port. As everyone should do in life, prepare for the worst -- hope for the best.

Exactly. Find "your" bar, get to know the head bartender, tip early. They won't forget you.

The wheat and chaff will eventually be separated. We've never experienced "bad" crewmembers, but some are certainly better than others.