hawkeyetlse

It's the same price, unless your booking is in a different currency (in which case the exchange rate they use may be better or worse for you). But if you are also interested in unlimited internet, then it really makes sense to get the FAS+ upgrade, and that is only available before sailing. You are correct to be wary of the brands that will actually be available on your sailing, because I tried the P+ package on 2 different ships only 3 or 4 months apart, and the brands they had were almost completely different (high-end wine and spirits). I don't necessarily mind drinking different brands, but overall it was a pretty big step down from the first time to the second, so I won't be doing P+ again unless I hear that things have stabilized and NCL is able to provide a consistent experience for people who buy the package. On the subject of sharing wine with tablemates, I have always been allowed to do it (whether or not the others have P+, or any beverage package) but a few times I have noticed some hesitation from the server or I have been told outright that it is technically not allowed (but they do it anyway). I would not be surprised if they crack down on this very soon, because it is kind of a gigantic loophole through which they lose a lot of money. So I wouldn't count on being able to share your P+ bottles in the future.

You can if you buy the certificate (especially when they do the $500 offer) and let it "mature" in your account for 4 months. After that you can book a last-minute cruise if you want. Frankly I don't understand why they have this 120 days restriction in the first place. If they're trying to get people to book NCL for the first time, why put obstacles in their way? So what if it's an impulse booking?

Under the current promo, I’ve been able to double up on two cruises (booked with the NCL Europe office) well after final payment, like 2 weeks before sailing. The EU terms also say 4 months, but evidently they have not been enforcing that at all.

On very full sailings, if you wait until later in the cruise, you may have to be flexible with the time/day or choice of restaurant, or if you’re a big group you might have to give up on eating all together. But you can always find something, and you really should use up your package however you can during the cruise, because it will not be easy to get a refund.

Most upgrades will not reset your booking date, which is what determines your eligibility for these extra points offers. But the only way to know for sure is to call NCL or your TA and ask which promo codes are currently associated with your reservation.

Also, double check that your son is really listed as guest #3 on your booking. It would really mess things up otherwise!

Yes, it will be another $10 per person per day, but they might require both people to take the upgrade. If they won’t let you upgrade just one person, then you should just do it on board. It should be the same price, because $10 per day is just the difference between the published price for streaming vs. non-streaming.

You will get 4 meals each: 2 per person (guests 1&2) for FAS, and 2 additional meals per person (again guests 1&2) for FAS+.

Since your cruises doesn't begin and end in Spain, you won't be charged Spanish VAT from start to finish. But (unless they change things between now and November) you should expect to be charged 10% tax on drinks when in Spanish ports or anywhere near the Spanish coast. If you want, you can try to contest this on board or submit a complaint after you get home.

Sounds like you are booking with NCL Europe or UK. I think this is also why you are allowed to use 2 CruiseNext certificates even on a last-minute booking (in the US I believe you have to be 4 or 6 months out to double up). In Europe, final payment is due 30 days before sailing. So in theory you only need to apply one CruiseNext deposit to secure the booking, and then when you get home you can get them to apply the second one and pay off the remaining balance a month before the cruise.

You can totally do this, even after final payment. If your booking qualifies, you can apply two certificates. And they will refund $250 to your card (or $500 if you added two certificates).

Yeah, I don't even understand the option they were offering you. To pay the full face value of the 4 coupons on this cruise ($1000) and to hope that they refund you $500 somehow at a later date? No thanks! Take the OBC right now. You don't have to spend it on anything, because you will have already spent it all.

I was talking about a PCC, not a third-party TA. Since the OP asked about both.

Yes, once a booking is finalized (initial deposit paid) it’s too late for a PCC to get “credit” for it, so they have no incentive to work on it for you. Unless maybe you let them cancel and rebook you, I don’t know. This is how it has been explained to me, anyway, and it’s why I often get contacted by an eager new PCC when I create a courtesy hold (and why I never hear from them again after I finalize the payment by myself online). I don’t see a lot of advantages in working with a PCC. I’m sure some are better than others, but the hotline agents seem to be able to do all the same things, and they are available all day, every day.

How do you know that? It was originally posted yesterday in another thread by someone called Binky0 and they didn’t say when they sailed.

It's strange that they would do that (give people a blanket refund) and not explain it. We also had unexplained credits on my last cruise, but there was no VAT issue on that sailing and people were told it was an adjustment of port fees (which I also found surprisingly out of character for NCL). Anyway, people who had less than $40 in taxes will be happy and I suppose anyone who drinks more than that can ask for an additional refund.

So much for “you can be assured that different steps were taken in the meantime to avoid similar issues on future sailings” 🙄 If the rule is that Spain charges TVA/VAT at the time goods/services are enjoyed (regardless of when/where they were paid for), the shouldn’t they collect 10% of the entire cruise fare as well, from every guest embarking from a Spanish port? And wouldn’t all cruise lines simply stop sailing from Spain? Why is it specifically NCL that runs into this problem year after year, and specifically for drink packages (and not dining or internet or spa passes or any other add-ons that people pre-purchase to use during the cruise)?

Thanks for posting that, Binky0. What sailing were you on? (And how many days did it take you to rack up $140 in taxes???) I received a similar response a few years back (my refund was somewhat less…), so NCL have evidently been making this “mistake” for a long time now. Their strategy seems to be to take everyone’s money “by mistake” and then only refund it to those who go to the trouble of contacting them after the cruise.

Are you just one guest in the cabin? Then $52/p/d is the correct price, but again it would be the same daily rate for a 7-day cruise.

I meant poorer value compared to a shorter cruise. Obviously FAS+ is always going to work out to be cheaper than purchasing the three upgrades separately, that's the whole point of it. What I was primarily reacting to from your earlier post is that FAS+ does not become cheaper per day on longer cruises. The price per day is always the same, so the overall value decreases as the cruise gets longer (because you never get more than 2 additional dinners). You are still assuming the wrong price for a 15-day cruise. It would be $59 × 15 days = $885. You are still saving money by bundling the upgrades, it's actually less savings per day than for a 7-day cruise (if the other prices you quoted are accurate). Again it's because the value of the 2 additional dinners always stays the same, but they make you keep paying for them every day.

In the past the meeting was often unhosted, but on all my recent cruises (since before Covid) there is always a solo coordinator, and the cruise staff take turns doing it on every sailing. And they take it pretty seriously! This is for both the mega ships, and the smaller ships with no Studio lounge. It’s definitely a nice touch that sets NCL apart from most other lines.

Normally for a UK citizen, your passport only has to be valid for 3 months beyond your stay in the Schengen Area. This is the rule that they will apply when you check in for the cruise, not the conservative, oversimplified six-month rule of thumb that they have on the website. Depending on exactly what you mean by "5 months" and "September" etc. it sounds like you are cutting it close, but you might be OK. Also if you have one of those UK passports with extra months on it (beyond the standard 10-year validity) then your passport may already be considered expired and you will not be able to cruise with it or do many other kinds of travel.

It does suggest what you say, but logically and legally it does not state you can have more than one appetizer/dessert, or that you can have more than one main dish at other restaurants. This was allowed several years ago (when this language first appeared in the terms and conditions), but it is no longer the case. The servers will explain the rules very clearly when they give you the menu. It's a little different at every restaurant, but other than Moderno, they will never (officially) say feel free to order as much as you want for no extra charge. Not even the sides and sauces at Cagney's. Now, in reality, if you ask for another sauce or an extra side, or three desserts for two people, there is a good chance that you won't be charged anything. But the days of people freely ordering multiples of everything (as you can still happily do in the MDR) are long gone.

Still just Heineken 0.0 and some non-alcoholic wines (I only saw a red but I assume they have at least a white, too). This was last week on the Dawn. No Guinness Zero, in fact they ran out of ordinary Guinness halfway through, too. As always, the selection may be slightly (or totally) different on your sailing, so don't count on any particular brand to be available.

FAS+ costs the same no matter how long the cruise is ($49/p/d, or $59 with streaming internet). You may have been looking at the solo traveler's price to get $42/p/d ($52 with streaming). In general FAS+ is poor value on longer cruises, first of all because most people won't keep up the same level of drinking over 15 days, so they don't take as much advantage of the P+ package, and because they still just give you 2 additional specialty meals, even on very long cruises.