keep on cruisin

I have been on over twenty cruises. I understand adding a surcharge, but since many of us use cruising to try things we may never try elsewhere, but don't want to throw money away, thus has always been a part of cruising. 

No I would never order every item, but 2 is not uncommon.  Many times I will ask them to just bring the main and keep the sides, so that there is no extra  waist.

This may very well be a one and done MSC for us if this does not change.  

1 hour ago, sbcs5390 said:

I did have a bartender on a B2B ask me if he could book my premium upgrade for both cruises at the same time. I'm sure he wanted to secure his gratuity. He told me to come back to him for the second sticker. I'm sure this wasn't totally by the rule book but it was in essence a way to use OBC from the first cruise for the second. 

Thank you.

20 minutes ago, bama4cruisin said:

Unfortunately, no.  Each cruise is considered an individual entity.  If you have non-refundable OBC at the end of any of the segments, it will be lost.  If it is refundable, it will be credited to the card on record.

Thank you, I would only use it to upgrade to the premium drink package, and for b2b 5 days the credit I have for 1 would cover a good portion of second week.

My father had mentioned with Princess he was able to carry over, so was hoping it was the same.

Side note question, will remaining OBC we have from the first week carry over to the second.

We are on this sailing too.  Two years in the making.   Can't wait to board.

Many insurance companies have stopped paying for screening without exposure or symptoms.  

I believe once on board you will have the option..  i had purchased the upgrade to the 250 for 1 device and another unlimited.  Then when ncl changed the plans, I refunded the second device and switched to the upgraded free at sea for  both of us at $109 each.  Our planner indicates there are 12 internet plans available, yet I can only view 6.  I am thinking we will be able to upgrade to streaming once on the ship.  We are on Getaway on Sunday so I guess we will know then.

1 hour ago, Fun4Us2013 said:

We were also on the Getaway in October and saw the Fleetwood Mac cover band. Seating was limited due to Covid so it took several nights for us to figure out when to arrive to stand in line to get a seat. Great venue, great band.

Glad to hear.  We will definitely make sure see the show.

Why not pay the upgrade to the aft to get the balcony and then add thermal spa separately.  Assuming those would fall into the budget you have for the upgrade.  

7 hours ago, steveknj said:

We'll meet you there!! (on same cruise)

Sounds good. 5 more work days. The Mrs is hoping they do the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album on this sailing too.

I would like to see these also,  but don't knew how accurate anything would be,  as the Getaway was doing 5 and 9 night sailings Western and Southern Caribbean.  

15 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

NCL does not accept any onboard upgrades or changes. There used to be a permanent sign “The Ship is Fully Booked and No Room Changes Can Be Accommodated”. Otherwise there would be thousands of people at guest services looking for something better. 

This has pretty much always been the case, but several people have stated since the the return to sail that they have been able to once on board.  Presumably after leaving port.  Once no shows and denied board occured.

It has been awhile though since I have seen it.  But I had seen it before we sailed Breakaway in October.  

Pre covid I won a bid once about 30 days out.  Low mid bid as I recall from balcony to Haven.  I think more often than not they come through inside a week.  But with the current testing in place you could get last minute cancelations which open availability to accept later bids.

I always bid but also keep an eye out for price drops.  But always be aware of what you are bidding on. Right now the price for me to just upgrade to the owners suite is less than the minimum  bid.  

On 2/14/2022 at 11:21 AM, luckyinpa said:

im not a teen but i  hate to think of myself as old. but when i was on the BA, i walked past and someone opened the door to go in and just walking by it was seemingly super loud and i wondered, would i go deaf in there..or be able to talk to anyone even. so is as loud as i think inside?

 

signed old..but not..hopefully

We were on Breakaway in October and after stopping in towards the end of the show on the 1st or 2nd night of the sailing we were there every night.  That group of performers played 4 or 5 nights.  The venue was also used for karaoke if I recall correctly.  

The group was amazing, best guitar player I have ever heard.  We stayed for both shows of Fleetwood Mac night as my wife is a huge fan.

While they do repeat some songs from night to night, it was not to many.  Each night had a different theme so in some cases songs fell into multiple categories.

We will be on Getaway on the 27th, and are very much hoping this group is comparable as it was the highlight of the nightly entertainment.

Also be aware, while you have Haven access, your stateroom is not in the Haven.  

You will have a little walk to get to the actual Haven area.

1 hour ago, havanadaydreaming said:

Naturally, we have 2/27 embarkation in san juan.  Ha!  

 

(We had two CCL cruises Q4 with the two day requirement and it was easy breezy.  Used clinic at local grocery, no out of pocket).⁰

We also sail on 2/27, so we'll be tested at the pier.  They are recommending the pcr 2 days in advance, but will accept the rapid test in order to be protected on there refund policies.  I work in an office that does both, so will do both on Friday, but the PCR may or may not come back in time.  

Not that I have seen, but it is possible there is one in the hall past the pool.

3 hours ago, shof515 said:

When i was on the Breakaway at the end of October, the whole process took me about 3 hours. When i was on the Gem in December it was only about hour

 

From my experience, the delays and issues is mostly with eurofins and how quickly they can process hundreds and hundreds of people

We sailed on Breakaway out of NY in October.  Once we got through the Bermuda Travel Authorization line it was a relatively quick process.  

I think with the staggered arrival time properly in place we would have been done much faster.  Our sailing was confusing because the night before everyone that was scheduled to arrive prior to 11 or so was told to come at 11due to the ship arriving late.  

Hopefully it will be nice and smooth on the 27th.

On 1/19/2022 at 10:57 AM, Zoe506 said:

I was able to upgrade to unlimited on the mobile app for only $50. This was about a week before the cruise. My brother tried to do it a couple days before and it wouldn’t let him.

A friend of ours also had the price difference to only be $50 for a 7 day cruise, but we are at $84.  I am wondering if the difference may be they book through Casino's at see.

1 minute ago, AKR2011 said:

I think you answered your own question. New tier announcement coming tomorrow. IT is probably updating overnight. We all have to wait for answers in the morning. 

Thank you, I had not realized it was coming tomorrow.  I was under the impression it was coming late January early February.

Just now, oteixeira said:

Latitudes is being updated tomorrow (I think new tier or name), it might be wonky because they are loading it up.

Thank you oteixeira, I had a feeling that might have been it.

Timing is everything.  

I would not have even been looking had my PCC not called and knocked 10% off the rate, prompting us to book.

I did a search but, but did not find anything, and looked at the first several pages on the NCL board but could not find anything.

We just booked a cruise for next month, and when I logged on, I am not able to access cruise history.  I can see that I am Platinum, and the number of points I have but cannot access the cruise history.

Is anyone else having the same issue.  I do understand it could be due to them getting ready to add a new tier.

Thank you,

2 hours ago, Yinster said:

This situation highlights how contiguous Covid is. You do everything right. You get vaccinated/double jagged. You try your best to be as safe as possible the weeks before cruising. You take the tests before leaving. And then this happens. No logic in how or why. It just does. 

 

Anyone can still get Covid even if they been vaccinated. Hopefully as he has been jagged, he will remain without any symptoms and recover. NCL has obviously changed their policy but try to do it subtly. Well it failed. They should at least have one rep talk through the options with you. 

First off I hope everyone remains asymptomatic and am very sorry they had to deal with that.   That honestly is why we choose to sail out of NY. At least if one of us had tested positive we would have just driven home.   Might have had to fight for the prepaid parking to be refunded.

I agree there should have been a representative at the testing site to assist.  Bad job there by either NCL or the local management, but ultimately it is on NCL. But that being said the offer to be put up at a specific hotel while he was sick(presumably meaning testing positive) was made.  Since they did not choose that option, we don't know if the food stipend would have been offered, or how the follow up would have been handled further testing.

I am surprised they were able to rent a car.   I also would not have gone to the airport to rent it.   Outside locations don't tack on the airport surcharge.  Only the one way.  I was in Fort Myers in July and the price difference renting in the airport vs the local location was over $125. for 3 day rental.

58 minutes ago, Shayhooper said:

Does anyone have a list of which travel agents NCL does the bid process with and which ones they don't?  I thought there were a few but I could be completely off base and recalling incorrectly.

Not sure we would be allowed to answer.  But my suggestion when speaking to a TA ask them if they participate? 

4 minutes ago, missingcruzin said:

Thank you. Fingers crossed. I’ve bid on Haven cabins  and hoping to win one of the bids. 

Our roll call for Breakaway leaving tomorrow started getting bids accepted on Monday, and each day after bids were getting accepted.  Most bids were in the mid poor to low fair.  Alot of upgrades to the 2 bedroom family suites for couples only.  I guess with the lack of children under 12, and a large amount of people still holding out on vaccinating there 12 and up children they did not have as much call for them.  There were 9 available to book Monday night, and at least 4 of them went as upgrades over the next couple of days.