saltsandknit

I do this all the time with my mother and her husband. We book everything for us and them but it is still considered separate bookings. They don’t drink and don’t drink soda we decline the  drink package for them. We drink we want it and it has never been an issue 

There is a hard to see tab just above the safety video 

I would bet money on Bella or Viva as the next one.

55 minutes ago, pbenjamin said:

I find it interesting that people are so desperate for a solution that allows them to wear their card around their neck.  Putting it in a pocket works just fine for me.

That would be great if I had a pocket. Most of my sun dresses do not. I’m not planning to wear an apron

I’m not sure what you are really asking for but I will be on the Gem in 3 weeks and will try to do a live of the cruise. I eat mostly vegetarian but I will eat fish when on vacation. I will post food pictures of my meals if you want to see them. As far as virgin drinks, most drinks on the ship are pre made mixes so it’s not always an easy task. Your best options are the blended drinks. There is a full menu of mojitos with a lot of flavors that your wife  might enjoy. 

As far as specialty restaurants you have better options at Le Bistro and La Cuchina. Your best options as others mentioned are the main dining rooms and the buffet. 

I bring the wine bottle home in my packed luggage. I make a white sangria with it later

3 hours ago, phillygwm said:

Exactly, there's no one answer because it depends on what you like to drink.  I hemmed and hawed before deciding to upgrade.  I like my bubbles, be it Veuve or Pellegrino 🙂  Looking at the menu, there's a lot I just won't avail myself of (don't do much hard liquor other than Bloodys or Margis) but it doesn't take a lot to run up $35.  The bottle of wine at dinner should do it alone.

 

I'm not a big coffee person but IS Starbucks included?  I do like their frappuchinos!

yes Starbucks is included. A latte is $5 a bottle of Pelligrino is $6 a glass of Veuve is $35  a bottle of wine $45+ it doesn't take a lot. I prefer a bottle of wine at dinner, sometimes it's hard to get a second glass otherwise.

It also allows you to book dinner and show reservations at 125 days

I clean my house spotless before a vacation. I don’t care if it’s clean any other time but I have to come home to a clean house. Maybe it’s my way of ignoring the reality that I no longer have a cabin steward and waitstaff. 

5 hours ago, deek72 said:

We've decided to go for the upgrade now but it's not available to purchase on my account, suppose it's too late, we sail on Sunday.

Can you just upgrade at the first bar you go to or do you have to go to guest services? 

There will be a table for drinks packages you can upgrade there. Sometimes it’s in the atrium area sometimes it’s on the pool deck. You can’t miss it. 

The FDA is the one that has to approve it before the CDC will recommend it

1 hour ago, Nataly1982 said:

What other reasons pls? 

There was not a lot of on board entertainment during the day. It was a 15 day cruise with 8 sea days. Usually I love sea days but one can only learn to hula so many times. It was on a smaller ship but I was so bored. I don't plan on sailing Princess again.

I was on a Princess cruise to Hawaii with only 5 children. It was a very quiet cruise for many reasons beyond no children

Just now, scotlandyard1985 said:

I dont have an airfare ( booked outside eu). I really hope that my bid will be accepted 😕 

It looks like the ship is not even half full... 

 

 

 

most of the ships are sailing at around 60% as far as I can tell, most of the suites and Haven suites are open on my sailing, there are still a fair amount of Club balconies as well. I noticed that there were more cabins available this week so I am assuming there were a fair amount of cancellations this past week. I like to watch cabin availability on my cruises.

36 minutes ago, julig22 said:

Did you have an airfare promo?  My understanding is that you can't upgrade if the promos don't match (and airfare promos aren't available within 60 days).  Aldo, when did you upgrade?  Apparently this is a new policy in the past few weeks.

yes I was able to even with the the 2nd guest flies free. I don't know if this was because the Gem had plenty of rooms open or something else but we upgraded with no penalties or loss of all the perks including the air. I can't say it will happen again but it did this time.

Adding this we were at about 50 days to sail we are on the Sept 19th Gem sailing flights had not been assigned to us we got those at about 40 days

29 minutes ago, julig22 said:

NCL is not doing direct upgrades after final payment anymore in the US either, at least not if you booked during a free air promo if I understand correctly.  I just tried, got the same request denied as everyone else. So if my bid isn't accepted, I'll be content with what I booked.  But I'll have to rethink my strategy for future cruises.

I have upgraded past final payment for my next cruise with no penalty. From an inside to a club balcony. This was at about 50 days.

I was talked out of upgrading to premium plus on my last cruise. I spent more than the upgrade cost on coffee, San Pelligrino and bottles of wine at dinner. I upgraded for my cruise in September on the Gem. Now that Starbucks is on all the ships I know I will spend more than the upgrade cost and I get a much better selection of wine by the glass. It just depends on how you like to cruise.

2 minutes ago, CardFanDubG said:

I created the attached list for a Meet & Greet. This may be what you are thinking of.

NCL_Beverage_List.pdf 953.88 kB · 0 downloads

This is saved to my phone. I am trying to drink  through them all 

On my Gem cruise the haven 2 bedroom suites dropped and was flagged as a huge sale the minimum bid was 550$. I have never seen that before

Side car

dark and stormy 

Status doesn’t matter haven can book at 130, club balcony 125, everyone else at 120 day out. 

55 minutes ago, WIBadgerFan said:

Thank you for posting this.  It is the latest version that I could find.

I see that "specialty coffee" which I assume are the Starbucks items at the bottom of the restaurant menus are included.  My question is where to get this at breakfast, instead of the house coffee?  Is it available anywhere on the buffet for example?

 

Question 2: any idea why the package cannot be used on the wine dispensers or Starbucks machines?  The products seem to be identical.

I haven’t sailed yet I will in September all of the new menus show Starbucks as the specialty coffee. I’m assuming you can order it like any bar menu option. 

Just book a table for 4. The dining venue will adjust when you show up. You will be seated at a table for 4 since that is the standard set up

The October 31 date is contingent on the CSO  expiring. With increasing covid cases I think the CSO  will be extended past the end of the year. Vaccines for children over 5 should be available late fall.  My guess is 100% vaccinated will be extended into next spring unless cases suddenly drop or the CSO is allowed to expire. I don’t see either happening right now.