keep on cruisin

14 minutes ago, BirdTravels said:

Yup. But you need to plan on doing the makeup lifeboat drill the next day). 

When will they do the main lifeboat drill?  We haven't decided what time to get there yet.

Could also be a wet bathing suit.  If it had been urine, it would be less likely to have gotten the back pillow.

Either way it should have been addressed immediately and no new guest should have ever seen it.

When we won our bid from balcony to penthouse, i had previously paid the grats before the impending increase.  When the bid was accepted it was as is, and they did not upcharge me from balcony grat rate to suite grat rate.  We had excellent service from our room steward and took care of him at the end.

We just got an email from our TA stating they recieved a call from Celebrity.  We were originally in the forward facing corner Oceanview cabin 7003 with a lot of extra space.  The new configuration is now 2 person only.  This does not surprise me as i have not been able to do mock bookings on deck 7 oceanview for about 2 weeks for 3 in the room.  They have upgraded us to a balcony on deck 8.  

We successfully got family balcony up from oceanview last August.  Well worth it, except for the nouse from chairs moving from above in the morning 

Free/reduced airfare has not been a doable option for any cruise/dates i have selected.  Sailings out of Florida or NJ. Tried booking my parents on our April cruise the nearest airport they could use was 3 to 4 hours away from their home.  Not worth it for us unfortunately.

You can make your reservations on line in the cruise planner.  They only take a certain amount of pre reservations though.  You may find specific days and times are not available.  You can also call NCL directly and they can help you with them.

We have booked our reservations for 8 of 10 nights for our upcoming Jade sailing in April.   Chose not to reserve the first night since we are not sure what time we will board with a 10:30 pm departure and 12pm boarding.  The other open night is the overnight in Bermuda.  

Why are they not giving you the option of the promo?  Or is it that they are giving a great deal without the promotion that is enough to offset drink package.  Keeping in mind the drink package promo has a cost of paying the 20% gratuities.

Concierge

We have had good and bad concierge service in our 3 Haven stays on Breakaway.  The first 2 was the same concierge which I don't recall his name but do know he is generally considered very good here. For us he did not say yes to anything.  On the second night we asked for dining reservations in a specialty, did not care if it was Teppanyaki, Cagney or Le Bistro.  He apologized and said there was no available times.  We asked early afternoon so not a complete surprise but had seen enough concierge reviews that the concierge could get in typically.   Didn't push it but asked for what nights he could.  We were told no times available for 3 in a party.  I made my own reservations for all 3 specialties the next morning.  Didn't use him for anything other than debarkation escort after that.  

Our last trip however the concierge was wonderful.  Always had a smile, always said hello. Knew our names by the first night.  He was able to adjust same dining time we had maid with the pre cruise concierge.  Always made sure we knew were to meet before shows for Haven access to by the lines.

Butlers

All 3 have been good.  The first was excellent.

First in the Aft penthouse,  we had breakfast on that fabulous balcony every morning.  Our son loved the M&M's so he made sure we got always filled(until we asked him to just leave what was ther rather than topping them off).  He brought us DVD's, and changed the pillows out.

The second in the Haven proper we really didn't ask him for anything.  I think we did breakfast one morning with an early excursion.  Most morning we took advantage of the haven restaurant for breakfast.

Most recently again in the Haven proper we use them for quire a bit of late night room service(which of course is the evening butler)  the best thing about that trip though was the butler and room steward were able to get me the original remote for the TV so i could connect my Roku to the TV HDMI input(no longer accesable due to removal of DVD players).  This allowed me to us Smartview from my tablet to watch my previously downloaded movies.  They also exchanged out the multiple bottles of sparkling wine we received for water..

So as many have said there is good and bad.  And on the same sailing you will have stories of great and stories of horrendous from the same person.

I do believe part of the issue with the concierge on the first sailing was partially due to us not going to the Haven as often due to being in the aft penthouse.  The next 2 sailings were in the actual Haven area.  While we did not use any concierge services on the second trip he was much more personable with us.  We were much more visible to him.

On a side note others have discussed getting desserts from specialties from the Butler.  We actually did that in the Haven restaurant all the stays, as well as getting the escargot from Le Bistro multiple times.  Not just the nights it was offered in the MDR.  The only request they had for us was if knew we want something if possible give them a heads up either the night before of the that morning at breakfast so the could schedule it better.

The Haven MaitreD also had Chocolate souffle for us one night when we had mentioned how we missed it from our earlier NCL cruises.  At breakfast she told us we had to eat with them that night as she had a surprise for us. 

21 minutes ago, Budget Queen said:

When's the last time,  you did this?   

November 2017 on Breakaway.

We have been able to swap when in the Haven.  Hoping we will be again when in an oceanview in April.  Either way it doesn't hurt to ask room attendant. 

3 days is too long for this to not be resolved.

As long as your 2 possible weeks are not with in final payment you could book both weeks at the current rate, and then on the 2nd cancel the week that no longer works for you.  It would only be a few days to tie up the second weeks deposit as long as you can swing that.  With any luck you could have the refund put through before the billing cycle on the credit card.

22 minutes ago, don't-use-real-name said:

Keep a file on your cruises to see if your son is getting all the points or same points that you have earned.

Booking in a suite gives double points - booking as Insider Offer also is double points. If in the past history

of your cruises you booked more than 9 months out that should also merit double points even though the

program has been discontinued. 

These Rewards Points are important if your son plans on taking more cruises with NCL. Just like you he

will get the perks and promos that go with the status dinner coupons and laundry - liquor or wine will have

to wait till he is 21.

NCL may not give full credit for his travels so double check and keep a file - although from the previous

posts it is apparent that NCL does.

I have all the records.  He has been on all but one of our cruises with NCL so it will be easy enough.   We will be 9 days short of Platinum after our April cruise assuming they don't change tge points again.

Thank you for the replies.  I was pretty sure he got his history credited but did not realize his status did not take effect until after the first post 18 cruise.  

I know I have seen this before but a search did not show anything useful. 

My son will be turning 18 after our next cruise.  At present they say he is not enrolled in Lattitudes.  Based on nights sailed he would be Gold status.  How do we go about making sure he gets his cruise history creditted, or does he not get credit until he travels as a  adult?

We are on this sailing also.  The only problem i had was, upon making the final payment an error popped up, but the payment went through.  I logged in from a fresh window and it showed fully paid.

Now i was able to make dining reservation for 6 of the nights. Although i could only book Moderno for 1 guest.  I will have to call on that. 

Our Balcony to haven Penthouse upgrade last November on Breakaway was 1 month ahead of sailing. 

Thank you for the replies.  We prefer having the 3rd as we have our son with us and we use it to communicated during the day.  We did make do with just 2 last time and probably will again next time.  

Is there any benefit for us to do this ahead of time.  We are still Classic level which has a 10% discount which I know can't be combined.  Is the price any different for doing now vs. waiting until we board?  We only need for 1 device as we have 2 devices from the Go Best option.

Depending on when you booked you may have had old terms and conditions regarding the drink package. 

We have been on tge Summit 3 times.  The first 2 we had the go best option which bumped up the 2 beverage packages to premium and added the classic non-alcohol package for our minor son.

When we booked the 3rd, the terms and conditions for the  go best plan showed they were the same.  We were hove told that since we got the 1/2 off for our son he did not get the best upgrades.  There was no exclusion in the terms and conditions at the time.  They have since updated the printed policies to reflect it.  

My TA confirmed the change despite the printed terms.  I did try when we boarded to show them the printed terms from when we booked and they would not honor. This did not effect our trip we had a great trip. We love the Summit and will be on her again in August after the redo.  The T&C's are now corrected to match.

The sewer smell we have also experienced but as others have said it goes away quickly after departing.

DVD player was gone last year in Haven penthouse. I was able to use the HDMI input. I did have to get the original remote from the room stewart.

I was disappointed to look at our current booking and see that while they are now including the unlimited wifi, they also raised the price by $300 for a 10 night cruise. So not only no savings, but technically more expensive as i can prepurchase the unlimited for $250.

I was on Summit a couple weeks ago, and while i did not see them taking away towels and belongings from chairs, they did take my towel which was on the ground next to the wicker chairs along with my shirt and lanyard.

I don't sit out on the loungers so feel no need to take a chair. I go to hang out in the pool.

They apparently through my items in with the dirty towels. I never did get the lanyard back from them.(it was however replace by Patrick the cruise director)

I did get the shirt back from the laundry and they didn't even charge me for the cleaning.

I brought 2 on last week as well. 1 in carry on and one in checked luggage.

I was also pleasantly surprised to find an actual power strip in the living room area of the family verandah used for the television. We had plenty of charging abilty.