N-8

Great to read. We are on the Dawn in a couple of months and while the entertainment on ships isn't a big deal to me, my wife really enjoys them and glad to see it was fun.

You'll see a wide range of dress attire. Some casual, some business casual, some dress up. The last two cruise post COVID, we still saw people dressing up for photos but its in the atrium or by the stairs. We didn't see photographers wandering around the MDR but there was one a Cagney's the night we ate there (that was one of the pics we bought).

I think it's all about expectations. People need to understand the terms they agree to when deciding to go on a cruise. I only read this board so there could be some confirmation bias going on in this echo chamber but cancelling ports happens and I just hope for our next cruise, our must stop isn't one of them. For me personally, the environmental/guest experience reason rubs me the wrong way but it's not going to stop me from cruising. Like I said earlier though, if there is a place I REALLY want to see, we will fly and spend time there versus selecting a cruise that stops there. Or we pick a cruise that starts or ends at our desired location.

You have the answer but I'm usually booking two to three cabins at once and it's only my cabin that gets the free drinks. I turn down the drinks for the other two cabins since they maybe will have one drink once or twice during the cruise. Love to hear the resolution on this.

Yes, we did it on our last cruise in October. We have another cruise booked and could have got a reservation at 120 days out again but are doing different restaurants this time

I was going to start perusing cruise lines boards to see if they are having similar issues. Not bailing on NCL yet but there seems to be trend of them cancelling/modifying stops right close after the final deposit is paid.

Soon we are going on our 4th NCL cruise. Probably have done 6 or 7 Royal Caribbean/Carnival cruises over the years but all but an Alaska one were Caribbean/Bahamas/Mexico. The NCL cruises have all been European ones. First cruise, no NCL issues BUT there was a bus strike in Italy and excursions involving busing to Rome were cancelled. No worries, we just hired a private driver. Second cruise was on the Star out of Venice. Midnight the day before the cruise, they told us they had engine problems and they were cancelling two Greek Islands AND Montenegro. Ended up picking up Split, Croatia and OBC and a future cruise credit. Third cruise, last year going Israel. Welp, that was the week all hell broke loose a day before we got on the ship so no Israel. Picked up a couple stops in Turkey and OBC. Now for the upcoming cruise, we were just notified that one port has been cancelled and will be a sea day. No compensation for that one. We will still cruise on NCL again after this but also book with the knowledge things can easily change and we may not be compensated for it. International travel can be complicated and I have level expectations for what could happen so it does bother me that much. Also, if there is a place we REALLY want to see, we don't do a cruise there. We fly and spend time in that area. So at the end of the day, I don't get too terribly upset about the changes and understand it will probably happen again in the future and like I said, we will booking our next trip once we buy a couple more CruiseNext on this cruise. The only thing that I roll my eyes at is the "given recent guest feedback" and "sustainability efforts", they are CANCELLING a port. Pretty sure guest feedback isn't hey, let's cancel a stop we paid to go to. Secondly, on this particular cruise, they are extending our stays in other ports which for Edinburgh, we pick up two more hours. But for four other ports that they extended our stay for "optimal guest experience"??? Its 15 minutes for one and 30 minutes for the others. Pretty silly to laud those changes.

Concerning CruiseNext, we had to cancel two cruises (one because of COVID, one because of family changing their mind). Both times, CruiseNext were refunded and put back on our account

Good advice, didn't know that but I usually stick to beer so my bladder usually isn't happy. 🙂 Have to say, on port intensive cruises, I may stop getting the drink package. Trust me, I can easily put down much more than 4 drinks in a day. But EVERY day of a cruise gets old quick.

Agreed. It was either a Carnival or RCL cruise but we were seated with an older couple who were SUPER nice BUT they slowed the service down to a crawl. Every night, they would order one appetizer. Finish it, then order another, finish it. Then sometimes a third. We had small kids at the time and not once did at least one of them fall asleep before dinner was served. I really enjoy NCL's freestyle dining.

Following this. We book it on an upcoming cruise and curious of other's experience.

A lot of this depends on what you like to do, we stayed in Athens 3 nights BEFORE a cruise and one day after. We just stayed in Athens and 3 days for us was perfect. We didn't want to feel rushed off the cruise so stayed one more night but just relaxed and found a cool spot to have lunch and dinner. If you are just going to stay in Athens, I would say two days would work. 19th - drop your luggage off and explore Plaka. 20th - Acropolis and Museum. Fly out on the 21st. If you want to venture out to the other sites (Meteora and Oracle of Delphi), you'll probably need to add a couple of more days.

Also keep in mind, with the free drinks, BOTH persons in the room get it and pay the tips on it. So if only one person actually drinks, that's four a day.... Only reason I say that is that my wife rarely drinks so my breakeven is always a little higher in drink count...

I've used them probably 5 times, couple US, three in Europe. No issues but definitely read the reviews that are posted. Not all tours are equal. Also, as stated above, they are just a booking agent so keep that in mind. For one tour that went to Stonehenge, I looked at Get Your Guide then just google tours to Stonehenge and found the company these used (or at least think I did). Saved probably 30% on it by doing it but also researched the reviews of the actual tour company.

On a NCL cruise last July, we aren't Gold yet but while waiting in line to get our tender tickets, the couple in front of me were Gold. When they asked the person how to get the priority ticket, they were told just show up and show your key card (the husband got a bit agitated because they stood in line for 30 or so minutes just to find out he didn't have to). Later that day while in line to get on tender, I saw others flashing their key cards and hopping in line. So go with the advice most are giving, think that you probably can just show your key card but get with Guest Services when you get on the boat and ask.

We did Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast through a private company MAINLY because there was a bus strike for a couple of days of the cruise (but not during that portion of the trip so we could have used NCL's excursion) and booked everything through a private company. It was great BUT like said above, the traffic was TERRIBLE. I would definitely make sure you understand the private company's policy and guarantees on return time. On the way back, there was an accident and we still made it back to the ship in time but I was a little nervous. The "good" thing about it was that all the excursions were coming back late due to the accident so we beat most of the NCL sponsored excursions back to the ship.

For what's its worth, we've called and also emailed our NCL rep, stating we would like our cruise next moved to this latitudes number and they've done it twice with no problems.

We are on the Dawn in July and was able to make MDR reservations. As others said, not necessary but I grab them just in case.

Funny how you never hear that an airline abandoned passengers who late for their flights....These people caused their own problem. Wish the media would just move on.

We were on a NCL cruise a couple of years ago that changed time zones and we got a notice in our cabin the night before to remember to change the times. It was on the daily as well. We always matched the "local" time when in port but that is just a sample size of one...

I'm "decent" in terms of tech savy but I swear I lose 5 minutes or more each time I log on/log off. The free WIFI is nice to have but don't expect much. I've been on 3 NCL cruises and it's "ok-ish" to check email. Don't get me wrong, it's a nice free perk NCL has but those 150 minutes go fast (not the speed though...)

In Athens 5 months ago, used both Euros and credit card. I always try to use our card and it was not an issue at most places. But also never once ran into a situation where they wouldn't take cash.

We were on the NCL Jade about 5 months ago and service is slower than before but didn't really bother us. At Cagney's, when they took our drinks, I ordered a beer and the waiter came back with two for me. Nice of him because he knew service was going to be a little slow. Not too terribly bad and they did ask us if we were going to a show and made sure we were done by then.

There isn't a lot to do in Majorca but depends what you like to do with the kids. On our NCL cruise that stopped there, in our group of 9, I was the only one to get off the boat and had a great time. Getting off the boat was easy and just walked around town on my own. I really enjoyed going from spot to spot, grabbing a bite to eat or talking to people. Very relaxing day.

Same here. We probably get a NCL mailer every two months but we've sailed with them 3 times in the past three years.